As he was bathed in a wave of wind, Subaru was struck by a hallucination directly in front of him.
???: “――――ッ!”
The wind slammed against his whole body like he was floating in a windstorm, in that state he was thrown up and out of the driver’s platform. He instantly extended his fingers but grabbed nothing, and his body tumbled towards the darkness―just before that,
Rem: “――ru-kun!”
The back of his collar was forcefully grabbed to gain control of his movements. Sparks filled the edges of his vision as he was flung downwards so that his buttocks were thrown onto his seat by the figure of Rem, who was tightly clasping the reins with her other hand.
Her well-figured profile was trembling in fear, and she turned her attention towards the direction of the sharply blowing wind.
Rem: “――ッ!!”
She opened her mouth, revealing her sharply pointed canines for a moment as she roared.
However, even her piercing battlecry was swallowed up by the windstorm so quickly that even Subaru, who was very near, could not hear it.
However, despite her shout not reaching his eardrums, it did allow the air to be filled with her mana.
While she was spitting out a chant, her mana began to come together, and the world began to change according to her magic.
An ice spear the size of Subaru’s frame was born. In a flash, its pointed tip was formed as it floated in the air.
After a moment’s delay, the ice spear was shot like an arrow with an appalling amount of force.
Just barely managing to follow it with his eyes, the aim of the ice spear was clearly a shot in the dark, but it landed―he couldn’t see what it hit, but its terminus was unexpectedly close.
Immediately after――
Subaru: “――Phwuh?!”
Once again, he felt the sensation of being grabbed by the neck, and once again in that state he was pulled upwards in one go. Being extracted from his seat in that way, his body futilely tried to resist, before ending up facing the night sky.
Flying over the driver’s platform, he found that he had left the dragon carriage by being launched into the air. Under him, the dragon carriage running at full speed gradually faded away.
Falling. Rather than falling from a horse he had fallen from a dragon―that kind of thought flashed across his mind as he tried to escape from reality, and then Subaru saw it.
Being struck from the side by a huge mass, the dragon carriage was absolutely smashed to pieces.
The solid form of the carriage was crushed as if it was a piece of paper or something, yet the ground dragon pulling it managed to escape―in the form of blood and viscera scattered across the highway; blood and splinters of wood were blended together in the minced meat.
At that unreal scene, Subaru’s mind was dyed white.
The current him became so hollow that he even forgot that shocking image. With such a scene occurring before his eyes, his consciousness flew away and his sanity was vomited up.
Rem: “To the left――!!”
Immediately approaching, she shouted in such a way so that her voice would meet him.
At that moment, his defenseless body tumbled across the hard top of the ground. A dull pain ran through his shoulder and his hips, furthermore, he shouted in protest as centrifugal force made him take a sudden sharp turn.
Rolling, in such a state he was once again thrown down, and he used his fingertips to grab a rope and control himself. After a beat, he raised his head and looked around his surroundings, and he found that he was in the bed of Otto’s dragon carriage.
The canopy of the dragon carriage was only attached by one latch. A hanging rope was entwined around Subaru’s wrist, and despite the violent shaking of the carriage he began to try to stand. At that point,
Rem: “You must not, Subaru-kun! Do not stand up! You’ll leave the ground dragon’s divine protection. Rem and Subaru-kun must not move.”
Noticing that Subaru was desperately trying to stand, Rem sharply admonished him.
If he were to look, he would see that Rem had also landed on Otto’s dragon carriage, and that her right hand was somehow stabbed into the floor to support her body. The shaking made it difficult even for someone with her level of physical ability to stay on the carriage.
By being covered in the ground dragon’s divine protection, it supported his body by lessening the influence of the violent tremors. The ground dragon’s divine protection excluded him from the wind, sound, and the tremors, but he had fallen to a state where he felt too sick to even stand.
Despite what was going on, it was only when Subaru saw Rem’s figure that he grasped an understanding of the current situation.
Basically, Rem had held Subaru in her arms and had jumped from their destroyed dragon carriage to Otto’s dragon carriage. In that brief instant, if her judgement had been at all late the two of them would have shared a fate with the dragon carriage. Their limbs would have been blown off and they would have joined the dragon in becoming a bloody impression on the ground of the field.
Shaking off the shiver of fear that ran up his spine, Subaru flattened himself against the bed of the carriage and raised his voice so that it wouldn’t be lost in the wind.
Subaru: “Wh, what hit the carriage?! What the fuck, was that thing…”
The entire event had occurred in just a dozen seconds. However, enough had happened that his head struggled to keep up with it.
Otto: “How do you not know!?”
However, Subaru was met with a bewildered shriek from Otto, who was looking at him from over his shoulder.
His face was pale and his teeth chattered as he yelled,
Otto: “The fog that emerged! There’s only one being that accompanies the fog and floats through it with a huge body!”
A trembling characteristic of despair had encroached on his voice.
As if making sure that Subaru truly didn’t recognize it, Otto unwillingly shook his head, and with his lungs convulsing as he frantically breathed, Otto yelled with all of his strength.
Otto: “――It’s the White Whale!!”
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
――The White Whale.
He had heard that name once before in this world.
Shooting out fog, it was the name of the monster that had obstructed the highway. In the first world, when they were on their way home, they had decided to take a detour around the Lifaus Highway because the White Whale had appeared there. You could say that it was because of that detour that he had not made it in time, and so a tragedy had occurred at the village and the mansion.
However, other than actually encountering it here, he had never even heard its name again.
Subaru: “No way, what’s with this timing!?”
Half a day ago, in the Royal Capital, news about the White Whale’s appearance was nowhere to be found.
Without any word from Rem, without Otto and the others doing their job of avoiding the White Whale on the highway they frequently used. The White Whale’s had appeared before Subaru and the others had left.
――No, if anything, the worst case was that it had materialized just this second on the highway.
Their time schedules had matched up.
In the first world, Subaru and Rem left on the third day. By that point in time, the White Whale had emerged and the highway was sealed off. Right now it was midnight of the second day―assuming the White Whale’s appearance was discovered in the morning, then the highway being closed off tomorrow made sense.
Basically, there was nothing they could do but encounter it.
Otto: “There’s no way, in Lugunica at this time of year… running into the White Whale, why… dragon, hey dragon. Help me please, help me please…”
Otto grumbled with blank eyes as if he were chanting the name of Buddah for aid.
Having completely lost his will to live, Subaru could tell that his and the other merchant’s fear of the White Whale was sincerely the truth.
In the previous world, Otto had told Subaru that merchants viewed the White Whale as an evil omen. At the time Subaru’s true thoughts were that it was an exaggeration, but now that he had actually encountered the fog and seen Otto’s haggard state, even that kind of thing seemed childish.
With his lips trembling, Otto handled the reins despite being distracted. His ground dragon had sensed the existence of the White Whale, but it was able to continue bearing its panic and disregarded its remaining stamina, instead choosing to kick the ground faster and increase its speed.
Tasting the shaking directly, Subaru looked over his shoulder and strained his eyes to look towards the darkness. His line of sight wandered around as he searched for the White Whale, but the world had been thoroughly covered in jet-black darkness because they had lost their light source. It was naturally dark, but without even a light at hand the danger of the night was obvious. To make matters worse,
Subaru: “It feels like something is clinging to me… if only this fog could leave.”
His cold sweat was different from the drop he felt on his brow; he frowned at the sensation of the palms of his hands being wet.
Even at the best of times one wouldn’t want to go without a light at night, but until the fog left securing visibility was hopeless. In truth, under the running ground dragon’s neck the crystal lamp was still shining light, but the fog carelessly interrupted it and took hold of it, leaving the lamp to manifest less than half of its power.
Subaru: “Rem! Can you see the White Whale!?”
Rem: “The darkness makes it impossible! …But!”
He looked behind himself, side-to-side, and above himself in search for the outline of something resembling a solitary fish. It was that Subaru that Rem sorrowfully responded to, and as if she were at a loss part of her response suppressed.
With that weighing on his mind he looked at the girl, but rather than being able to find the silhouette, he was unable to even examine her facial expression within the deep fog.
The origin of the current state of affairs was that being unable to find the White Whale’s form was causing his fear to build up more and more quickly.
At the beginning, when Subaru found what seemed to be the White Whale’s eye, it might have been even bigger than the largest circle he could form with both of his arms.
If its eyeball alone was that large, then as the name White Whale implied, it truly did happen to rival a whale’s physique.
Subaru: “Though, as expected, Rem's preemptive strike hit. There’s a chance it fell back in the other direction.”
It was probably overly optimistic.
By this point, he had seen magic and the like more times than he could promptly count, but the power that the ice spear Rem had formed with her incantation was so great that were Subaru to be hit by it even once he would likely die three times over.
Even with it having such a huge body, it must have faltered after sustaining a serious wound.
Subaru: “To another dragon carriage…”
Rem: “They have all scattered and fled. As soon as the fog appeared they broke up and fled. If our luck is good, then we will be able to successfully leave the fog without the White Whale catching up to us.”
Indeed, the dragon carriage running parallel to them was gone.
Up until that point, they had been following the other dragon carriages, but according to the manual everyone had dispersed.
――Deep down, Subaru painfully accepted the fact that the others were lost by frustratedly chewing on his lip.
The timing was horrible. The plan he had thought of for the sake of letting the villagers escape had once again collapsed. He had been thinking about defensive plans against another threat, not about what to do if the fog appeared.
Subaru: “Nothing can be done about those regrets. Anyways, we have to quickly escape the fog…”
Tasting the discomfort of the violent shaking churning his insides, Subaru put that problematic thought behind him and expressed his wish to run. If they only had one carriage, they could let Emilia and the others escape while thinking about how to let the villagers escape. The extra time they would lose was large.
Like that, his field of view, which had been focused on the dilemma awaiting him, was taken hold of, and in front of the dragon carriage――
Subaru: “―――!!”
A row of mighty teeth that looked like millstones residing inside an oral cavity moved towards the dragon carriage before his eyes to swallow it whole.
A roar boomed, and that overwhelming sound violence and shockwave caused the ground dragon to cower in fear. Its legs got tangled and cut into the ground, causing the wheels of the carriage’s bed to float as it inclined terribly far forward. The canopy covering the jars of oil tore and was blown away, and Subaru was nearly blown out too were it not for the edge he clung to.
While he frantically clung to the bed of the carriage, he saw at the front of the carriage―through the terrible darkness, only the White Whale’s slightly dirty teeth rising out of the darkness were visible.
At this event, at this moment, Subaru himself became very much aware all too late of his naivety.
Encountering the White Whale and wandering around the fog was his current state. He had thought the fog was already fading and that they were heading towards having a surplus of time; now in this moment, he shifted to questioning how they would be able to survive.
Rem: “――Ruaaaaah!!”
As the moment that the jaw that could comfortably swallow the carriage whole approached, a roar exploded, and an impact shook the carriage as some of the boards shot off.
With a kick, Rem had shot off like a bullet. Her white headpiece yielded to the storm and blew away as her sharp horn was exposed while she changed to her demon form. Rem took out and brandished a large iron ball attached to a chain from some unknown place.
Rem: “――Run past to the left!!”
Otto: “Leftleftleftleftleft!!”
The iron ball smashed into the area just above the White Whale’s upper jaw; a dark spurt of blood gushed out while its open jaw slightly closed. It pried up the ground but its forward momentum wasn’t lost as its giant face approached just to their side. Saliva flew as Otto wholeheartedly controlled the ground dragon as it overtook the White Whale.
The running dragon carriage’s bed on the right-hand side intersected with the White Whale’s huge body without breaking. It was as if it had pressed against a hard rock surface and a scraping sound was made as it was crushed. One of the carriage’s wheels came off with a horrible creak, and the balance of the carriage collapsed as it flipped.
Naturally, this included Subaru, who had no choice but to be thrown down into the darkness,
――Was he going to die?
Just before he received his reward for his late assessment of the situation of having his body heartlessly scattered, an almost indistinguishable light chain sound echoed amidst the thunderous roar, and without any mercy his body was painfully yanked away―as if he was extracted he emerged and was pulled away.
And then,
Rem: “Hiiiiiiit―!!”
Dragging Subaru away with the iron ball in her left hand, her open left hand destroyed the connection between the driver’s stand and the bed of the carriage, and having been cut off the bed became distant―at that moment the ground dragon pulling the carriage neighed as the weight was reduced, and with a flashing roar, Rem threw the large cargo bed behind them.
Having thrown the bed as if it were a heavy ball, it directly hit the White Whale’s side. The sound of lumber being smashed echoed, and the White Whale writhed with its tail smashing the earth, scattering lumps of earth.
The level of damage was unknown. But, the White Whale was certainly still in good health. More than anything, the fact was that it rotated its body in the air and glared towards them.
Otto: “D, d, did we do it――!?”
Despite not knowing what was occurring, he had perceived that they had lost half of the dragon carriage. Knowing they had made a sacrifice such as that, Otto uttered a question in a voice clearly affixed with a mix of desperation and hope.
A booming roar. It was delivered through the ground as a rumble. Approaching from behind, the pressure was like despair given a name. Before these events, the significance of those reveries had been unknown to him.
Otto: “Why, is it persistently coming after us… as if we’re its only prey!”
Raising hell, Otto unhappily yelled curses.
Despite being only one candidate out of their group of eight, they had been enshrouded in an irrational number of attacks. Subaru felt the same way he watched Otto’s figure as he continued to yell foul language that he had hesitated to say.
A sacrifice, or a meat shield―supposing they were going to oppose the Witch Cult, Subaru was likely to use them, he had a feeling they had seen that chink in him.
Besides, one could conclude that that sort of thought was tearing through his composure.
As of now, the threat of the White Whale was still approaching from behind as it swam through the air at a speed that surpassed the ground dragon’s. Throwing away the burden of the cart had helped the ground dragon run, but it was only a matter of time until it would catch up to them. And then, supposing the ground dragon lost, they would be wholly unable to escape with their own strength.
He couldn’t help but think about that. Something like that won’t happen, something like that won’t happen, something like that won’t happen.
But, he couldn’t think of any plan to escape from the situation. He tried to think of a haphazard plan using anything he could use, he even looked down into the expansive fog under their feet but didn’t find any hints.
And so, while Subaru once again couldn’t choose anything and spent his time in idleness, the demon girl came to a decision.
Rem gently walked up to Subaru who was still feeling the violent shaking and clinging to the wall of the carriage. The girl didn’t feel the familiar impacts as she walked and nestled close to Subaru.
Rem: “Subaru-kun. Please take this.”
Subaru: “Huh!? Is it, something that can deal with this situation…?”
He saw a bright future as he slightly raised his head while she pressed it against his hand, and Subaru recognized the heavy weight of the small bag. He frowned at the weight, and immediately from feeling the exterior of the small bag recognized it as the bag they put their gold coins reserved as travel expenses in.
Right now, at this place, how was this money useful?
Having foisted the traveling expenses so that he would carry them Rem coldly and swiftly stood, and Subaru stood with a smile plastered on his face.
Subaru: “R, Rem…? You know that giving me these coins will really throw off the power balance we have… in the end, it sounds like we’re talking about a game… ”
Rem: “Rem will head to the ground, and intercept it. In the meantime, Subaru-kun, please continue through the fog and escape.”
Plainly, with resolution running through her voice, Rem informed Subaru about her plan.
His mouth was too dry to speak, so instead Subaru wanted to knock her down to stop her from speaking.
Rem: “Otto-sama, please watch over Subaru-kun. I promise to compensate you for the damages. ――When you slip out of the fog, please spread the news of the White Whale’s appearance..
Otto: “M, money…!? You say that now but this carriage was my whole life, you know!?”
He heard the back and forth exchange and Otto’s reply. Nevertheless, Otto’s desperation was felt by how he was driving the dragon carriage’s, and Subaru saw Rem loosen her lips in relief.
Thus, Subaru stopped acting like he hadn’t heard her. Subaru and Otto would flee, they would get away from the White Whale and notify and tell others about it.
Subaru: “You… Rem, doesn’t living and returning home sound better to you!?”
Rem frowned at her tragic yet brave decision.
Through the world of unchanging, deep darkness, Subaru could only clearly see her white face.
Subaru: “Don’t go, don’t go! If you die I’ll… I’ll!”
Dropping the bag of gold coins next to his feet, he saw Rem stand before him, and pull him towards her hips.
He was held against her small body by her arms, and he never wanted to be separated from her. If he never had to be separated from this embrace, then he would never leave her.
However, even that couldn’t be done without any hindrances. Because,
Subaru: “Aah…
He began to cry at the fury of emotions within him, and he let out a warm sigh while embracing Rem. In this inappropriate place, she looked down at the origin of the entranced sigh, and Subaru in Rem’s arms looked up at her. With an ecstatic smile,
Rem: “For the sake of this moment, Rem was born.”
Subaru: “What…?”
She spoke, but Subaru did not understand her words.
He felt an impact at the back of his neck, and then Subaru was assaulted with the sensation of the world rolling over.
Leaving the embrace and extending her arm, she had hit the back of his head with a flat hand. His body grew weak, and he collapsed into Rem’s body.
Subaru: “Re, m… What did you…?”
Not only his field of vision but also his consciousness trembled; Subaru even had difficulty holding his neck up, and he frantically clung to the girl.
It was that squirming Subaru that Rem offered a loving gaze to, and she reached for his fading consciousness by whispering in his ear. It was,
Rem: “Rem will be okay. Rem will always follow behind Subaru-kun.”
―There’s nothing else I can do. Always, follow behind me.
(T/N: The narration uses Subaru’s first person pronoun here, so I assume it’s meant to be a thought he has.)
Before departing, before morning came, she told Subaru the truth.
And so, with those words, for the purpose of protecting Subaru’s back, she stood up. Indeed, she stood up.
Subaru: “No… that, kind of thing… not my… inten, tion.”
His consciousness was giving in.
Fading. He couldn’t hold on.
Just one more time, he wanted to strongly hold her.
On his forehead, feeling that tender and soft touch, only to be immediately separated.
And, that was the end.