―I don’t want to die.
???: “Haa, haa, haaa, ha, haa―”
While he panted for breath, his feet got tangled up and he fell, grass and dirt filled his mouth, which he spat out. Drool and bloody vomit both dripped from his lips as he ran blindly through the darkness.
The crystal lamp’s light in the distance had vanished, and even the moonlight had been obstructed, causing darkness to fall.
Even the annoying silence echoing inside his skull, that reliable sound could not be heard. Neither his breathing, the sound of the beating of his heart, nor anything could be heard in the silence of the world as it left him behind.
―I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.
Kicking the ground, he doubtlessly advanced into the darkness before him. However, the darkness did not diminish, and he did not even know where the land his feet were stepping on was.
Yet again, his feet got tangled, and he fell down for the umpteenth time. Each time he did, he lost track of where the beginning of the road was, and by now he did not know where he was going.
He could not help but feel that he was supposed to go to that place.
He could not help but feel that he was not supposed to meet anyone.
―Even so, he wanted to meet a person.
Even now, when he alone was surrounded by unending darkness.
???: “Someone―!”
In the frozen, silent world, where his field of view was covered in darkness, a loud voice cried out.
It was a hoarse voice, one that trembled enough that he tasted blood, one that was supposed to reach beyond the night. However, only the repeated pain of a long silence was given in return for the scream.
Nobody was there. He had been totally left behind.
There was no sign that they would come back. That was only natural. Nobody, wanted to die.
If they were here, if they returned here, if they touched this expanse of darkness, they knew they would lose their life if they came back.
His heart understood the pain of despair. His heart was freezing, and all of the blood in his body ran cold like iced water as his arms and legs refused to start moving.
His self-awareness was ending, and his body was refusing to continue.
However,
???: “No… I don’t want, to die…”
He refused to accept his heart, his emotions, and his soul’s desire to accept the end.
Shaking his head, he tried to push back against the end of his life and fate as if throwing a tantrum. His fighting spirit refused to spread through his arms and legs, but he strained himself to drag his feet which were heavy like lead.
He moved forward―no, he ran away. He continued to escape. He had no objective. He was frantically running. Towards someplace, he continued.
―Far, far away, from beyond the darkness a sound could be heard.
The air shook, the darkness was pushed aside, and the shape of death drew near.
While it distantly approached from behind, he frantically continued escaping as slow as a turtle.
While basking in his unsightly, miserable, and disgraceful behavior, Subaru thought.
―How, did it come to this?
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Subaru: “All the merchants and dragon carriages here—all those who are willing to sell their legs for money, I’ll buy them from you!”
At Subaru’s 『Business Discussion』 all the traveling merchants looked at each other, their faces relaxing at the seemingly tasteless remark, because they all figured it was a joke or something.
However, Subaru wanted to make his intentions clear, so he opened the sack of their traveling expenses that had been entrusted to them and held it up. The contents of the bag were visible as he made a circle around Rem, and everyone’s complexion paled.
From there, everyone aside from Otto, who had been first on the list, began to push and shove to offer up their services.
In the end, of the fourteen traveling merchants there, it was decided that ten would be accompanying Subaru.
They ran into trouble at the start of the discussion, but Otto gave a proposal that beautifully solved it. In a way that no one lost anything―
Otto: “Large dragon carriages and their rolling stock can hold four people, so we can entrust the transportation of the baggage to different people. Later, when we return to the Royal Capital’s guild we can divide the income. This way, we can adjust the rates depending on how much each person worked.”
Skillfully settling the differing opinions, Otto chuckled to himself as he took the lead in explaining things to the group of ten people. While being the youngest, he led everyone to agreement and they immediately began preparing for the path ahead. Furthermore, you could tell by his language that he was naturally skilled as a merchant.
Of course, he lived a merchant’s life, so he was frantically doing this so as to not miss the once-in-a-lifetime chance to sell his inventory he had skillfully managed to seize.
Otto: “I’m happy you bought the oil I had, but what kind of reason do you have for needing the dragon carriages?”
While watching the traveling merchants move luggage, Otto directed a question towards Subaru, who had folded his arms and was worrying about when they would depart.
Receiving that question, Subaru said, “Oh,”
Subaru: “After this, we’re going to return to the Mathers’ domain. Basically, I’m Margrave Roswaal’s servant.”
Otto: “I know him. The 『Demi-Human Enjoyer』Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers. He holds a court rank in the Lugunican nobility among other things, and I’ve heard he’s a rather peculiar person.”
While turning his gaze upwards, Otto gave a wry smile as he worried about Subaru’s reaction. He wondered about how angry Ram would be if she had heard that evaluation just now.
Subaru: “Well, I can’t deny that. His pervertedness is the truth.”
Otto: “Saying that about your employer, huh. No, that kind of answer was exactly the way that I wanted this conversation to go. Still, Natsuki-san, you don’t look like an employee of a noble.”
Subaru: “I’m still in training. I’ve gotten passing marks in sewing and bed making, I’ll have you know.”
Anyhow,
Otto: “If you’re that Margrave’s messenger… then why do you need the dragon carriages? If you do work full time for the Margrave, then wouldn’t you have enough money to pay for some dragon carriages out of pocket?”
Subaru: “Talking about that, how much money was it? I was hoping that they could fit a lot, and that they would be empty… In your case I bought your oil, but it couldn’t be helped.”
Otto: “I give my thanks. And, about the goods you want to transport…”
Laughter passed through their lips, and they found that their kind of humor was similar. However, Otto narrowed his eyes and Subaru froze when he saw the emotion in his pupils.
Subaru had said that he was the Margrave’s messenger, but it seemed that Otto had not fully believed him. Moreover, regardless of the authenticity of his status, he was worried about the dangers that came with transporting things.
It was the natural thing to worry about.
If he truly was the Margrave’s servant as he had said, then why would he hire outsiders to transport things?
Conversely, if he had lied about his status, then they would get stuck with helping a group of people pretending to be the Margrave’s staff. Him paying full attention was only correct.
And, he had no reason to refuse those doubts.
Therefore, Subaru decided to not conceal the reason for which he employed them.
Subaru: “The goods I want you to transport, are people.”
Otto: “People?”
Subaru: “Yes. Human beings. There’s a village near the Margrave’s mansion. It’s a small village, with less than a hundred people. I want to give those people a ride and move them.”
That was the reason why Subaru had suddenly hired Otto and the others.
The dragon carriage that Subaru and Rem were riding on was a large-sized one, one that they had been told was meant to transport heavyweight luggage, and it had a large rolling stock too. The people at the store had told them that the dragon could comfortably pull ten or so people.
Otto: “Human beings… huh. I don’t want to believe it, but you’re probably transporting corpses. If that’s so, then I must regretfully refuse your offer.”
Subaru: “That’s not it. I want you all to come.”
If that was the case, if they had multiple dragon carriages, it would be possible for them to let every villager escape.
At first, before he had encountered Otto, when he had been hurrying to meet Emilia, Subaru had completely forgotten about helping the villagers escape.
To realize this so late, was the worst. The dragon carriage could only take Emilia and those in the mansion, along with the village children, to the safety zone. To get everyone else, he would have to face the danger of coming and going several times.
That kind of significance coming from meeting Otto here by chance was a twist of fate, and it was unusual for Subaru to have fate work in favor of him.
Subaru couldn’t deny that his way of speaking was suspicious, and Otto had a perplexed frown as Subaru uncrossed his arms and prefaced, “It’s the truth,”
Subaru: “Soon, the whole area around the Margrave’s mansion will be involved in a large-scale mountain hunt.”
Otto: “A, mountain hunt?”
Otto leaned forward at the unexpected word, and Subaru affirmed his feelings by pulling his chin while making a meek face,
Subaru: “For a long time witchbeasts, the Juggernauts, have lived in that area. Up until now, a border had been put up, and the humans and the witchbeasts have lived isolated from one another… The other day, a Juggernaut crossed over the border and damaged it. There’s a terrible uproar over it.”
Otto: “So then, the mountain hunt you mentioned is because of that? However…”
In order to try to hang on after being put on the spot by Otto, Subaru stayed silent and suddenly rolled up his right arm’s sleeve for him to see. And, upon seeing it, he stifled a “Ugh,” of surprise that came from the back of his throat.
What was caught by his shivering eyeballs were the remains of the fang and claw lacerations that littered Subaru’s upper arm. Furthermore, he had not gotten rid of his underclothes that had many shreds.
Subaru: “In the kindness of his heart, the Margrave sent me to the royal capital for medical treatment as I was dying. And now that the treatment has reached a break, I’m here on the way back home.”
Otto: “I, I see… that. However, in that case, why didn’t the Margrave make preparations for dragon carriages to accompany you on your way back, Natsuki-san?”
Subaru: “The Margrave had to move the residents of his territory, and he had to quickly finish up. But, once he had checked my body, he made sure that it wasn’t the unlikely chance that it was mischief. So I was his insurance. It means that he has faith in me, though.”
Casting his eyes down in a show of apology, Otto let out a small groan, “Um,” and stayed that way in silence for a short while.
Otto: “I understand. I didn’t want to listen to the whole story, so I apologize. I won’t allude to your wounds, but I’ll explain to everyone what the situation is.”
While anxiously looking towards Subaru, Otto showed his bitterness on his good looking face. He unintentionally memorized the guilt of coming to terms with Subaru’s wounds.
For someone like a merchant, he was a little bit naive.
Subaru: “It doesn’t matter to me. Tell them everything that I told you, it’s okay. It’s better than them being suspicious.”
Having the foundations of a good person, Otto said, “Okay,” and nodded.
While viewing that, his inner thoughts made a fist at his methods, and he felt like more of a bad person.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The merchants gathered their camping supplies and abandoned their encampment. Nearly an hour had passed since negotiations had ended.
All of the luggage had been loaded onto four of the dragon carriages, so the number of merchants with light-weight dragon carriages was nine. The oil was still piled up in Otto’s carriage, who was the tenth person of the group. Subaru and Rem got on their dragon carriage, meaning there were eleven dragon carriages in total―a fairly tight squeeze, but it was possible to give every member of the village a ride.
Parting from those at the remains of the camp who were going to leave for the Royal Capital in the morning, Subaru and the eleven dragon carriages departed for the highway in the middle of the night.
Subaru waved at the small group of merchants Otto had introduced him to―towards those they had left behind and had utterly no connection with.
Otto: “We’ll keep running through the night, and we’ll enter the Mathers’ Domain by the early morning.”
Otto gave Subaru a sidelong glance from the dragon carriage that was running parallel to his and called out to him.
In a situation like this his voice shouldn’t have been able to reach him, however the voice apparently managed to reach him because the Ground Dragons held the Divine Protection of the Wind, or something to that effect. The fact that the wind and the jolting impacts were not received, he guessed it was that sort of an interference.
Having trouble breathing from the sand-blocking cloth, Subaru was meekly saved by the fact that voices could easily be heard. He nodded and answered, “Going without a break is bad,”
Subaru: “Noo! This isn’t the time for complaints. I can lie down after everything has been dealt with, and I splurged on the freight, so I’m unbeatable. I’ll stick through it and run for three days and three nights!”
Otto: “Immediately after negotiations ended you collapsed and fell asleep.”
Subaru: “Huh?! Did you read my mind?!”
Hearing the punch line of that flustered joke, Otto bitterly smiled, and from there Subaru grabbed the reins and moved his line of sight towards Rem.
Subaru adjusted the sand-blocking cloth covering the lower half of his face, while looking straight ahead at Rem’s obscured facial expression. He had reached the point where he could understand her usual blank expression, and Subaru thought highly of himself for that. However, that small joy was not part of the current state of affairs.
In particular, he couldn’t help but let what she was thinking about weight on his mind.
And,
Rem: “Subaru-kun.”
Subaru: “―! A, ah, what’s up, Rem? Did something happen?”
The profile he had been motionlessly watching suddenly called out to him, and he stifled a noise of surprise from the depths of his throat before speaking in an unnaturally calm voice.
Hearing that, Rem said, “No,” and shook her small head,
Rem: “It’s quiet, so I was thinking about your fatigue. The bumping and the sand are cruel, but if you are drowsy it’s okay to sleep. Rem will watch over you.”
Subaru: “I’ll take you up on your words―is what I’d like to say, but my eyes are still clear. Besides, making you do all the work would be uncool.”
Rem: “But Subaru-kun is still recovering.”
Receiving the considerate words Rem had spoken with her posture straight, Subaru found himself at a loss for words.
Her wording was soft, but her intentions were hard and obstinate. At least, it was absolutely impossible for Subaru to dump the responsibility of handling the dragon carriage on Rem.
Like that, with each soft touch, the thorn stuck in his chest was pierced further.
In that way, receiving her full sincerity, Rem’s true intentions were incomprehensible. Knowing that, despite not knowing that, her contradictory heart continued to refuse to cooperate.
Subaru: “Rem…”
Rem: “Yes.”
Suddenly, his anxiety rushed to his lips, and he called out her name.
It was clear that he had accidentally let his anxiety become known, so Rem immediately responded and waited for Subaru’s next words.
Unintentionally, he had stepped into the source of his anxiety. If he were to say, “It’s nothing,” if he were to say those few words, he would be able to turn back, but Rem’s pressing response seemed to make that impossible. However, if he were to be questioned about his recent efforts, he wasn’t sure what he would say to her. If that were to happen, his unknown agony would surely be made visible to her.
If that was the case, then it was clear what he had to do.
Subaru: “Rem, do you have any doubts about what I’m doing ? I’ll give you any explanation you want. The Witch Cult might be on the road ahead, that’s why I hired those merchants.”
Gnashing his teeth, he stifled his feeble complaint, and his anxiety seemed to tremble as he held his voice while letting out his statement. The whole time, his fear was easily heard.
Hearing that sound, Rem shut only one of her eyes.
Rem: “I have been ordered to do so by Roswaal-sama. All of your actions within the Royal Capital, all of Subaru-kun’s wishes, I am to respect them.”
And, she answered like a servant while seeming to examine his expression, causing Subaru’s emotions to freeze over.
Hearing this answer, Subaru froze in place and his face stiffened.
Roswaal had ordered her to obey Subaru’s words.
That was everything.
Subaru: “You were ordered to… by Roswaal…?”
Rem: “Yes. That’s concretely correct, but the order is not the only reason. In the Royal Capital, no matter what Subaru-kun does, Rem will follow your plan. Rem also wants to do this as much as possible.”
She gave a supplement with her words, and one had to wonder how she was able to get into his head so skillfully.
Putting that aside, inside Subaru’s head the sound of her voice continued echoing.
Subaru: “Roswaal’s, Order…”
She had never complained about one of Subaru’s actions, rather, she had obeyed him as if he was her master.
In short, her flattery towards Subaru’s actions up until now could not be said to be her true feelings.
No, on the contrary, even Rem being by Subaru’s side was not of her own desire.
Rem: “Subaru-kun?”
As he frowned while keeping silent and thinking over his doubts, Subaru’s neck began to lean towards Rem. Subaru’s anxiety was visible even at a glance. Even his earlier preparedness was unable to stop the blow.
When it had seemed like he was anxious, she worried about him; when it had seemed like Subaru was going to collapse, she gave him her support; when it seemed like he was isolated and insane, she constantly stayed by Subaru’s side; when Subaru needed someone to be honest and believe in him, she would affirm him and follow him; all of it had been under Roswaal’s order, not from her own will.
If he were to say something more extreme, Rem’s true feelings might not even recognize Subaru’s efforts.
Subaru: “―――ghk.”
Nausea surged within him, and Subaru reflexively gulped down the sour acid that had run up his throat. He held back the feeling of wanting to vomit as he prevented it from leaving, and the feeling changed all across his body to rampaging fear.
His hands and feet went numb, his vision flickered, and his brain itched. Right now, his breathing became rough as he impulsively wanted to smash his skull and thrust his fingers within to tear away at it.
However, he could never stick his finger through his scalp to break through his cranium. Rather, he could only contain the itch by grinding his teeth and grabbing his stomach in an attempt to continue withstanding the oppression he was feeling.
He didn’t want to think of anything. He did not want to think at all.
The more he thought about it, if he thought back to it to the extent of thinking back, if he wished to the extent of wishing, if the thing he desired continued to fade away, the changing shape of his ideal wish would be completely filled with not hope but rather despair and disappointment.
Rem: “Subaru-kun?”
He did not want it. He was already sick of it.
He did not want to think. He did not want to doubt. He did not want to believe. He did not want to risk being betrayed.
At his wit’s end, he cut himself off from all the stimuli of the outside world and shut himself away within himself.
He didn’t know how many times Rem called out his name, but he decided to try to sleep despite his current position, more than anything so that he would not have to continue hearing the voice calling out to him again and again.
At this time, Subaru, he and he alone, was finally truly the only person he could rely upon.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Rem: “―ru-kun. Excuse me, but please wake up. Subaru-kun.”
At the call, he met the sensation of his consciousness being shaken awake.
He felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He lifted his head and vaguely rubbed his eyelids to secure his vision. He started his day with the face of a young girl crowding the projection that was his field of vision.
Subaru: “Rem, huh. What is it?”
His consciousness surfaced from his unconscious, and it was just as he recognized the girl in front of him that the inner part of his chest dully ached. However, he would continue to bear it as long as he could.
Not letting his pain show on his face, Subaru stretched out his arms and waited for Rem’s answer. Having been the one to awaken Subaru, she apologetically said,
Rem: “Soon, we will arrive at the highway crossroads. With the light from the crystal lamps we shouldn’t make a mistake on the road, but even now we are still dependent on them.”
With those words, she pointed at the ground dragon that was still wholeheartedly kicking at the ground―fastened to the underside of its thick neck was a crystal lamp that illuminated their surroundings.
Equipment that produced light did not exist in this world, rather they secured sight at night through lagmite ore that produced a light about as bright as the light of a primitive torch. The alternative would be the natural moonlight, but it was too unreliable to trust.
For ground dragons working at night, it seemed that the lagmite ore provided just enough light for them to run without making a mistake.
Subaru: “Unfortunately, I can barely see anything. Even on the driver’s platform the light is too little for me to be able to see anything outside of arm’s reach.”
The inside of the dragon carriage’s rolling stock was closed off, and the light didn’t reach the driver’s platform. In any case,
Subaru: “So, are you saying that you don’t know where we are on the road?”
Rem: “Yes. I have started to not understand the road ahead of us, so I want to confirm where we are on a map. Could you take out the map I put inside the luggage under your feet, Subaru-kun?”
Subaru: “Underfoot… this?”
There was a rustling sound as he probed around in the darkness with the tips of his toes, and then he grabbed the thing that his foot had struck.
It had a decent weight as he lifted it and rested it on his knee, and he thrust his arm into it and tried to search for the map.
Subaru: “Uh… how are you going to understand the map? Or, maybe I should say, how are you going to find where we are on the map in this dim darkness?”
Rem: “Please don’t look down on a demon’s vision in the dark… is what Rem wants to say, but I don’t have much confidence in my night vision.”
Rem’s facial expression clouded over as she wondered what she could do. And, suddenly, within the darkness, there was a flash in Subaru’s mind. Come to think of it,
Subaru: “Hold on for a second.”
Calling out to Rem, Subaru reached into his own personal small bag and began rummaging within it. Among the things in the bag were a hand towel Rem had asked him to hold onto, some spending money, and other things that he had stored away in his bag. He searched among those assorted things for the texture of the thing he was searching for.
Subaru: “Found it.”
A single cold, hard thing touched Subaru’s hand.
He took it out into the darkness, but even so Rem was unable to confirm what it was and tilted her head to the side. However, Subaru opened the nostalgic thing held in his hand, and pushed the electronic power button.
Subaru: “It’s been a while since I last powered it on, so hopefully it hasn’t broken… oh.”
For a short while there was silence, before the screen rose to the surface with the 『Startup 』effect. It lasted for precisely one second before all those around Subaru were engulfed in a wave of dazzling light.
In a flash, the scene grew bright, and Rem raised her eyebrows in an astonished way.
Rem: “Subaru-kun, what is that?”
Subaru: “A long lost technology, no, a technology from the far future: the Cellphone. It’s just barely still working, you know.”
Since the first day when he had been summoned to this other world, he had kept the power turned off but had continued to carry it around.
When Subaru fell into this world, he had brought goods from his original world along with himself. Furthermore, among all of the personal items he had brought, the one that stood out as being most useful was probably his mobile phone. But then, the battery began to reach its limit.
Subaru: “I had been waiting for a scene where it would be useful, but I didn’t know when that would be so I cut its power. I never would have thought that the scene would be using it as a light source after the sun had set.”
Although it was being used for a different purpose than it was originally intended for, Subaru was still thankful for it as he shone it on the inside of the luggage. The light exposed the inside of the bag; he found the rolled up map immediately and he took it and held it out towards Rem’s lap.
Subaru: “I’ll illuminate it, so that you can see it.”
Rem: “Yes, thank you very much.”
Rem lowered her gaze while Subaru illuminated her field of view, and while Subaru couldn’t be seen by her, he took a small breath.
It seemed like he had successfully kept his trembling true thoughts from being exposed, and,
Otto: “Natsuki-san, what is that? I’ve never seen something like that.”
Speaking in a falsetto, Otto had taken a keen interest in the thing Subaru was holding. He moved his dragon carriage towards them and joined them at their left hand side, then Otto leaned over and peered at them.
Otto: “I’ve never seen a crystal like that… no, it doesn’t seem to be a crystal. Rather, I’ve never even seen the raw materials for that before.”
Otto’s excited investigation drew the attention of the other dragon carriages, and after a few moments another dragon carriage approached on their right hand side. In the same way, the old driver with a bandana wrapped around his head extended his neck and peered into their carriage. However, despite his age he looked at Subaru like a child with his eyes brightly lit up, and his eyes were locked on the cell phone in Subaru’s hand.
If it were a normal day, their reaction would have been nice to see and it would have been nice to talk to them, however the current Subaru was unable to do that kind of thing.
Shaking his head, Subaru prefaced the explanation the two obviously wanted with a “Sorry,”
Subaru: “This is a secret tool owned by the Margrave. The details on how to make it have been lost to time. It was carelessly forgotten.”
Otto: “Uwa, what did you say? I can smell the money from that information!”
In this situation with the surprised Otto, Subaru’s true thoughts were that he felt like grinding his teeth. However, Rem interrupted their conversation, yelling, “I understand.”
She lifted her head from the map, and pointed in the direction they had to go.
Rem: “We have to run in our current direction for a little while longer, until we reach the Great Flugel Tree. From there, we turn to face northeast and run along a highway that is supposed to take us to the Mathers’ Domain.”
Subaru: “The Great Flugel Tree?”
Subaru tilted his head at the word he had never heard before, and the still imperious Otto raised a finger as he said, “About that,”
Otto: “The thing called the Great Flugel Tree, is at the center of the Lifaus Highway and towers so high it seems to pierce the clouds, which is why it’s called the great tree. The part about it piercing the clouds is an exaggeration, but it is of a considerable size. A legend from several hundred years ago about a Sage named Flugel who is said to have planted it is apparently all that remains about the origins of the tree.”
Subaru: “And so that’s why it’s called the Great Flugel Tree, huh. For what reason did he grow it and what were the circumstances around the legend spreading?”
Otto: “I don’t know, it’s just been passed down. Additionally, about this Flugel-san, excluding his tree, not much is known about him as a person.”
And what was that part about him being a sage, was what Subaru thought but didn’t say.
And like that, they continued running straight ahead for a while. Gradually, they reached the point where a large tree on the other side of the night that towered over its surroundings became visible to Subaru’s eyes.
Subaru: “I see… this is, incredible.”
If he were to draw a comparison to his original world, the it would rival the class of large tree known as a 『Millenium Tree』 that he had seen on television features.
If what Otto had said about the age of the tree was true and it was several hundreds of years old, then this tree must have grown in an exceptionally short period of time compared to the large trees on Earth.
Were you to look up at it, the trunk was tall enough that you couldn’t see the top of it. Standing high in the sky, its branches that stretched out far were enormous in number, and it boasted an appropriate number of leaves. In order to support the shamelessly burly trunk, wriggling like a serpent creeping on the ground, were numerous roots sunken into the earth.
It was not part of a large forest, rather it was the only large tree standing in the middle of the plains, so it made an exceptionally good landmark due to how conspicuously it stood out.
Rem cooly handled the reins of the dragon carriage as she slightly adjusted their route, all while Subaru was dumbfounded at the size of the tree. According to the map, it seemed that running northeast from here would let them enter the Mathers’ Domain. As they continued to draw near to their destination, the large tree would soon fade from view. Considering that, Subaru said,
Subaru: “Considering how much battery it has left, I regretfully have to leave taking a photograph behind.”
Peering at the screen, he saw that not much of the battery remained, and he muttered while bearing his frustration. Upon hearing Subaru’s mutter, “Huh, what was that?!” Otto repeatedly asked, “It’s fine, you know!” as he pouted and returned to sitting on his driver’s platform.
Cutting his attention away from the large tree, Subaru suddenly noticed something,
Subaru: “Huh, where’d that bandana guy running on our right a moment ago go?”
He moved his field of vision around in a circle, but failed to find the man who should have been there.
Perhaps he had suddenly fallen back, and so Subaru checked their rear, after all that was where the bandana guy had been running up until earlier, however, the space was empty.
Subaru: “No way, don’t tell me he went the wrong way while looking up at the tree?”
Otto: “What’s the matter, Natsuki-san? Are you looking for something?”
Subaru: “I’m not looking for anything, I’m just looking for your companion, you know. Up until a second ago he was running next to us over here, and he had a bandana that matched his rough appearance. Do you know where he went? Maybe he went to try and return to his childhood by climbing that tree.”
Hitting back at Otto’s carefree and irritated sarcasm, Subaru condemned that oversight.
However, Subaru’s attempt to hit back at that sarcasm was only met with a blank face, and Otto titled his head as if he completely hadn’t understood the meaning of what Subaru said.
Otto: “What are you saying, Natsuki-san? No one was ever running on my other side.”
――Huh?
Subaru left Otto’s words hanging without understanding their meaning as he let out a dumbfounded voice. In that pause, Subaru stared at Otto, expecting him to say it was all a joke, but he showed no such behavior. As if it was from the bottom of his heart, he had answered Subaru’s sentence.
However, more than that, Subaru did not understand its meaning.
Subaru: “What are you saying, you? Just a second ago he came over after seeing your interest or something. Were you dribbling drool down your face or something?”
Otto: “Ah, that thing you called a cell phone. Don’t worry, I won’t endanger myself by looking into its origins.”
Subaru: “This isn’t the time to joke around!”
In the end, Subaru’s language drained the cheeriness out of Otto with a shout, and Subaru looked to his right. As usual there was nothing but a blank expanse there, as if there had never been anything there at all.
However, it wasn’t that he had never existed. His face and his voice, Subaru remembered them well.
Subaru: “―?”
While he was glaring at that space devoid of anything, his field of vision became faintly blurred.
As a haze seemed to take over the space before his eyes it produced a blurry sensation, Subaru blinked several times. However, he could not erase that uncomfortable feeling.
While the dim darkness remained unchanging next to him, he could not help but feel a strange sense of anxiety build up within him.
And so, Subaru reopened his closed cell phone, and illuminated the space to his right.
Originally, he had wanted to find the traces of that missing person, but now he wanted to dispel that strange feeling by discovering its true identity.
And, illuminated by the light――,
Subaru: “―――Ah?”
Floating within the darkness, Subaru made eye contact with an overly gigantic eye.
A roar reverberated, and the Lifaus Plain was overtaken by fog.
――Within the Lifaus Plain, fog had taken over.