"I get how you feel. We're all feeling rotten about what happened. But…"
"'Feeling rotten'…? How is that supposed to help anyone? You're useless! Spineless cowards! Every last one of you! Why…why didn't anyone help Lady Crusch…?" Ferris was breathing raggedly as he glared at Wilhelm and Ricardo before falling to his knees.
Neither of them had any response to his tearful reproach. Ferris clawed at the hard floor as they—Subaru and Julius included—could only watch. His beautifully kept nails and fingers warped painfully, almost like he was punishing himself.
"…What's the point of fame and title if I'm useless in a moment like this…?! Worthless! …Worthless, worthless, worthless!"
Tears poured from his eyes as he cursed himself. It would almost have been easier if he had pointed his rage at any of the people around him, but knowing that his rage was directed at his own powerlessness, no one could do anything to ease his grief. Everyone in the room was already regretting their own weakness, their own failures.
"…You made it back, Bro. And you too, Julius."
Unable to say anything to Ferris, who was collapsed on the ground, Ricardo called out when he noticed Subaru and Julius standing at the entrance. Subaru nodded slightly and walked over to the three of them.
"Sir Subaru…it's good to see you safe."
"You too, Wilhelm. Ricardo. Though it's not all sunshine…"
"Apologies for such an unseemly scene… Ferris…"
"—I know, I know."
Nodding to Subaru, Wilhelm called to Ferris. He violently wiped his face with his sleeves and stood up, acting like nothing had happened. He reached his hand out to Subaru's body, examining him as he stood there, still shocked by the scene he had walked in on. Finally, Ferris peered into Subaru's eyes.
"…Yeah, you seem fine. Nothing strange or out of order. What's your name and where are you from?"
"Huh? Oh. The name's Subaru Natsuki, and I'm from Japan."
"It must be deep in the countryside, because I've never heard of it…
Anyway, I'll be with Lady Crusch."
Ferris listlessly brushed off Subaru's answer as a bad joke before turning away and departing from the lobby. Subaru could not think of the words to say as his slender frame moved away.
"Sir Subaru, apologies, but I'll be taking my leave. I'll also be with my master," Wilhelm said before following Ferris.
When the two of them left, the tense air of the lobby softened ever so slightly.
"I got word from Julius that he went out to get you. The lass there and
Wilhelm happened to get into an argument, and, well…"
"It's understandable. Ever since we joined back up, Ferris has been concentrating on healing the wounded and caring for Lady Crusch above all else… Though, it has been a particularly harsh time for Sir Wilhelm," Julius said as he tapped his conversation mirror in his pocket.
He had used that metia to give Ricardo a heads-up that he was coming back with Subaru while they were on their way. Ferris had come down to check out Subaru, which led to starting that scene.
"Haaah, what a shit show…"
Subaru couldn't get Ferris's voice, or the grief and rage he directed at himself and everyone else, out of his head. But he also felt uneasy, wondering what about Crusch's condition could be that bad.
"By the way, you dropped this, Bro."
"Hmm? Wait, what?! This is…"
Ricardo tossed something over to Subaru, whose expression had started to cloud. He caught it only to realize it was a shiny black whip—Guilty Whip, his trusted weapon that he thought he'd lost forever.
"You found it for me? Thanks. That gives me a couple more cards I can play if needed, at least."
"You don't have to thank me. You were the one who used it to tie the duchess girl and that black dragon together. All I did was just untie it and hold on to it."
"If I tied the black dragon and Crusch together, then…? What happened…?"
Ricardo's response just left Subaru with more questions as he hooked the whip back on his hip.
"Exactly what it sounds like. The black dragon that sped out of the top floor flew you and Lady Crusch away from Lust. The duchess was unconscious, so you tied her to the dragon using your whip to keep her from falling."
"And then, after managing that final act, I ended up falling myself? If she ended up okay in the end, I'd call it a pretty clutch play if I do say so myself, but…"
" " Julius paused slightly before affirming Subaru's suspicion. "Ferris has been trying everything he can, but the duchess's condition remains poor."
Crusch had been bathed in Capella's blood, just like Subaru— remembering the fleshy black pattern on his right leg, Subaru felt his mouth dry out.
"Can you be a bit more specific?"
"…I'm sure it has to do with something Lust did. A foreign substance has taken to Lady Crusch's body and is afflicting her. Ferris's lack of composure is the result of her current state. It is unbearable to see." Julius's tone dropped.
Judging from that, Crusch's condition was very serious. Subaru had experienced the terror of something foreign eating away at him right after he was splashed with Capella's blood. It was not just pain or distress—it was repulsive on an entirely different level. If Crusch was suffering the same torment that Subaru had felt in that moment, then…
"—Right! Dragon blood! Capella said something about dragon blood!"
"Dragon blood? You mean the Holy Dragon's blood passed down in the kingdom?" Julius asked, furrowing his brow.
"I don't know if it's anything as showy as some sacred dragon or whatever. Did Crusch say anything herself?"
"No, the duchess has yet to regain consciousness, so I'm sure Ferris has
not heard anything about it."
"So she hasn't woken up… Do you think the blood thing might at least give us a clue?"
"I could not begin to say, but Ferris might be able to figure something out, so we should let him know as soon as possible."
"Ah, yeah, that's right. I'll hurry…"
"—Hold up, Bro. I'll go for you."
" "
It was something that might be able to change the situation. Subaru leaped at the mere possibility, but Ricardo stopped him short. The massive dogfaced man who was like the dictionary definition of a kindhearted person had folded his arms with a rather gentle look on his face, shaking his head with a depth of consideration fitting for a man of his age.
"You haven't seen her yet. Better off stayin' that way."
"…What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said… She's a beautiful lass, which makes seein' her like that all the harder."
It was an answer that not only fanned Subaru's unease but actively made him imagine an even worse situation—but Ricardo was not trying to hide anything, either. He was simply telling Subaru to accept and understand the situation.
He was a nice guy, but he was not trying to protect some youngster's heart from everything bad in the world. In that sense, his was a fittingly wild way of living that respected strength. He did not treat Subaru like a child. He had an adult's thoughtfulness, but he made it clear he was not going to always watch over him like that, either.
"I'll take care of this. You take him to see my boss." Ricardo scratched his head before grabbing Julius's shoulder with his big hand. "—And this ain't like you. Straighten up, ya blockhead."
"—My apologies. I'll leave Ferris to you." Julius furrowed his brow in self-reflection.
"See ya later, Bro. I'm glad you made it out okay," Ricardo said before heading deeper into the building.
"We are using a large room upstairs as an infirmary. Lady Beatrice and Mimi, Hetaro, and TB are there, too, naturally. But Duchess Crusch is…"
"In a different room, right…? Do you agree it'd be better for me not to see her?"
"…Unless the duchess herself desires it."
In other words, he agreed with Ricardo. Honestly, Subaru wanted to confirm with his own two eyes that Crusch was really okay. Even if his comrades were all advising against it. But that was Subaru's ego talking—no one wanted him to go see her in her current state.
"Over here. You should speak with Lady Anastasia."
In the end, Julius brought him to the center of the building without his being able to say anything.
As they left the battered lobby, the walls and floor of the hallway they walked down still showed traces of meaningless destruction. It was clear just what sort of acts the Witch Cult had committed while in control of the building.
Naturally, this was not the only building hit, either. Similar destruction had been visited on several other important structures, but Lust and Gluttony had gone wild on city hall in particular.
—Lust and Gluttony. Thinking of them again caused feelings of shame to well up in Subaru's breast.
"Julius, about Gluttony…"
"…Both sides suffered casualties, but there was no decisive blow. Like the battle on the ground, the chaos of the black dragon's appearance and the flood made escape possible."
"I see…," Subaru murmured faintly.
From the fact that it had not come up yet at all, it had seemed the hope of actually defeating Gluttony was pretty slim, but hearing confirmation that Gluttony had gotten away was unexpectedly depressing.
In just a single day, he had crossed paths with four Archbishops, but Gluttony—the one who had sent Rem into a slumber from which she could not wake, the very person who had removed all memory of her from the world—was special.
Honestly, if nothing else, Subaru wanted to tear Gluttony limb from limb with his own two hands.
"…My apologies, I failed to accomplish the task you entrusted to me." "Stop it. If you keep apologizing for everything, it'll turn into a habit. Ricardo already mentioned that you're not yourself lately. Don't make me call you a blockhead, too."
" "
"We all screwed up here, so all of us are going to have to work together to fix it—or is the Finest Knight going to call it quits after one little blemish on his record?"
Julius's eyes opened wide as Subaru shrugged provocatively. Julius's lips quivered.
"…You really don't hold back. Talking so big even in a situation like this… You really don't know the meaning of fear, do you?"
"I know the meaning of fear. I know the scariest thing there is in this world. I've experienced it, too. Which is why I'm always struggling so hard to avoid going through it again."
Subaru was painfully aware of what had gone wrong. He blamed himself, too. He was reflecting on his own failures. Which was exactly why he could not stop moving forward. The scariest thing in the world was losing the connections he shared with someone precious. No longer being able to wish for the shared blessings that should have been. To have that possibility cut off for all eternity.
And that most terrifying of possibilities was currently threatening every person in the city. So—
"There are still things we can do."
Putting his renewed determination into words, Subaru nodded to Julius.
If you mess up, then make up for it by taking action. You aren't the only one who's frustrated.
Before the threat was broadcast, Julius's brother Joshua had left the inn in order to gather information about Gluttony. From the fact that his name had not come up since, it was safe to assume his whereabouts were unknown. In a way, that gave Julius and the rest of them a strong connection with Gluttony, too—
"—Well, you look better than I expected. That's a relief."
As Subaru was thinking about that, a voice called out from the other end of the hallway. Looking up suddenly, he breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the woman at the other end. The beautiful woman with a soft, gentle face— the woman Julius had sworn to serve, Anastasia.
"What, were you listening? That's not very nice."
"I was walking around a bit to clear my head when I happened to hear your voice. I thought it'd be rude to interrupt y'all in the middle of such an important conversation." Anastasia elegantly touched her hand to her cheek before turning her pale-aqua eyes to Julius and thanking him for his service.
"It's good you managed to bring Natsuki back. Now Garfiel will finally be able to calm down and talk some when he gets back."
"From the sound of that, I guess Garfiel isn't here."
"He's running all over the place out there, hardly taking a break at all. Checking the situation at nearby shelters, hunting down those odd brutes who appeared in the center of the town…and more than anything, searching for his precious general."
"He was looking for me…?"
It was obvious once he thought about it. Subaru had gotten swallowed up by the flood and gone missing in the middle of the fight. There was no way Garfiel would be able to sit still in that kind of situation. He would definitely try to use his nose to go looking for Subaru, so it was not strange at all that he would be rushing all around the city.
"But with the situation being what is, even Ricardo said the scent was gone or too muddled together with everything else. It's funny that Julius was the one to find you when he was originally just going to the Muse Company."
"So then Garfiel's still running around town without knowing anything?"
"I told him to come back and check in here once every hour to be sure, so the next time he comes back, you should be able to see him. But more importantly…"
Anastasia slipped into a deep silence as she looked Subaru over. Subaru instinctively straightened his posture, feeling like his body was being appraised by her intellectual gaze. Anastasia's expression suddenly softened a bit when she saw his reaction.
"Yeah, it doesn't look like you're forcing yourself. There's no hiding from my eyes."
"I'm not trying to hide anything. So now that you've decided I'm healthy, what of it?"
Anastasia stepped closer to Subaru.
"—I was kinda hopin' to have an important conversation with ya, Natsuki," she said quietly.
Subaru lightly deflected both the close range and the pressure behind her voice with a simple "What kind of important conversation?"
"You heard it, too, right? Before she left the tower, the Archbishop of Lust changed the deal and added a bunch more demands— You aren't planning to just give in to them, right?"
"Damn straight. I'm pretty pissed. About ready to snap, even."
When he realized she was referring to the unacceptable marriage demand, a vein practically popped out on Subaru's forehead. Hearing that, Anastasia nodded, satisfied.
"Julius, I'm going to have an important conversation with Natsuki now. Can you manage things while I'm doing that?"
"If those are your orders. However, what might be the nature of this important conversation?"
"You don't have to worry; I won't do anything bad to him—honest."
A not-very-cute, impenetrable smile crossed Anastasia's face as she puffed out her chest.
Acknowledging his master's clear-cut orders, Julius did not question her any further. Looking away from her knight, Anastasia turned back to Subaru. She smiled as he caught his breath, lost in her pale-aqua eyes.
"So then, let's have a little chat. This is a big one, since it'll affect the fate of this city." Anastasia casually stated this as she put a hand to her white fox scarf.
3
An important discussion that would affect the fate of the city.
Most likely that was what she really thought and not an idle exaggeration.
And quickly realizing that made Subaru far more tense. It was like his disorganized resolve and determination had been given direction.
"—After I split off from Priscilla and Liliana, I headed for the Muse Company by myself. And along the way I met up with Julius, which is how I ended up back here."
Subaru took a little breath after briefly explaining what had happened to him.
The two of them were talking in a conference room on the second floor of the building. A map of Pristella was spread out on the table in the center of the room with various characters and signs written on it. The floodgate control towers at the four edges of the city, the floodgates, and even more precise details—
"All the shelters, too? No surprise a city this big has a ton of shelters… That really minimized the damage from the flooding, but they're causing their own problems, too."
The chaos he had encountered at the shelter flashed through the back of his mind as he looked at the map.
Sirius's Authority amplifying the feelings of unease and trapping the city's residents into a negative feedback loop. That same sort of scene was surely happening all around the city. And the ones dealing with that problem in an unexpected way were—
"—Mm-hmm, mm-hmm… Yeah, thank you. That explains a lot. I wouldn't have guessed the missing princess gallivanted off to do that, but if anything, I guess that's very much her kind of thing."
"Ah, yeah, I get you there. She's reliably unpredictable."
Anastasia's mouth curled into a vague smile when they briefly mentioned how Priscilla's insane drive for action was often directed in an entirely unpredictable way, but her expression tensed again just as quickly. She looked straight at Subaru.
"So about that leg of yours that got torn off and then stuck back on… Is it really okay?"
"Fortunately, there haven't been any issues even when I'm running or jumping around. It looks terrible, but I can show you if you want." "Yeah, let me see it." Anastasia immediately nodded.
Subaru was a little surprised, but he rolled up the right leg of his pants.
Seeing the blackened flesh consuming his leg, Anastasia winced slightly.
"It really doesn't hurt? It looks like it should be aching."
"I won't ask if you want to touch it, but yeah, it really doesn't hurt. It feels the same when I touch it, too. But anytime I get injured here, it seems to heal faster."
"…I assume that isn't the greatest feeling, either. But if it doesn't cause you any issues while running or jumping, then I guess that's good, since we're going to be needing you to do a lot more before this is over."
While she still had some hang-ups, Anastasia had accepted the situation as it was and come to the same conclusion Subaru had. There was no way to get rid of the blackened flesh, but it was not affecting his ability to act. Given that, it could drop to the back of the priority queue, and they could focus on more immediately pressing problems. For example—
"—The victims of Lust's Authority, the people working here who were turned into flies… For now, they've all been gathered in one place here on the third floor."
"How did you find out about them without me or Crusch…?"
"The black dragon that was carrying the duchess. We managed to figure out how to communicate. And the people who were turned into flies were still conscious and willing to follow our directions… I can't really say whether it was the right thing to do, though."
Subaru did not have an answer for her doubts, either. If their brains were changed along with their appearance, then there would not be any worries about their anguish at getting transformed, but that would be the same as them losing their sense of self, which would be its own unbearable problem.
But was it even possible to say that they maintained their sense of self after being transformed into entirely different entities? That was not a question that could begin to be answered by someone who had not experienced it firsthand.
"They can't even control their bodies freely, which has at least prevented any suicides. But I'm sure some of them still haven't accepted what has happened to them… It was at least good that we could protect them before it came to that."
"Suicide? That's just…"
"Do you really think that's something we don't need to worry about?"
"Ugh…"
Subaru did not have an easy answer for that question, either. But it was clear that even with how far off the rails the situation had gotten, Anastasia was dealing with things in a much more coolheaded way than Subaru. And it was also clear that she was genuinely relieved at having managed to get things there without letting anyone get hurt or getting hurt themselves.
"As long as you're still alive, there's still hope. But if your body or spirit dies, then hope dies with it. Don't stop, no matter how grim things seem. Just stay alive," Anastasia murmured, more to herself than to Subaru.
And if that strained, desperate clinging was her view on life and death, then Subaru was in full agreement. Stay alive no matter what, even if it meant guzzling down mud to survive. As long as life remained, a chance to fight back would come someday.
And in order to get that chance—
"There's a mountain of other problems to deal with. Wrath's Authority running rampant, Lust's victims going through hell, Gluttony wherever they are and whatever it is they want, and Greed, who doesn't make any sense at all…"
"All we can do is take it one step at a time and crush them one by one." Subaru clenched his fist.
Anastasia looked up at him from her seat in front of the map on the table. Subaru met her gaze before taking a deep breath.
When he stopped to think about it, it was an odd situation. He never would have imagined that, by themselves, he and Anastasia would try to figure out how to deal with the problems afflicting a city that had been plunged into chaos.
"—We haven't spoken face-to-face like this since the night before the
White Whale hunt, have we?"
"What a coincidence. I was just thinking the same thing. We were talking about facing off against a dangerous enemy that time, too, huh…? I guess this'll be our second time as witnesses to history in the making," Subaru replied.
"Witnessing history, huh? That's a pretty haughty way to put it. But yeah, I suppose it's true."
Subaru looked dubious as Anastasia nodded to herself, mulling something over. It felt out of character for her. She was usually so direct about everything, but she seemed to be hesitating for some reason.
"Let's not beat around the bush, Anastasia. I guess we don't really know each other well enough to say we don't need to hold anything back, but you went out of your way to have Julius leave us alone, so you must have something you wanted to talk about, right?"
She had instructed Julius to leave the two of them alone because she had a reason. And hearing that, Anastasia said "Yeah" with a nod and exhaled. And then she looked Subaru in the eye as she began to speak.
"Let me ask you directly, then: Beatrice is an artificial spirit, isn't she?"
" "
Subaru caught his breath. Something about Anastasia's question made it sound like she was already certain of the answer.
Beatrice was an artificial spirit who had been created by the Witch of Greed, Echidna. But there was no way anyone outside Emilia's camp would know that. Which meant that regardless of Anastasia's apparent confidence, Subaru could just play dumb. But—
"—Yeah, that's right. Beatrice is an artificial spirit, and most likely the cultists had her in mind when they mentioned it in their demands."
Subaru quietly acknowledged Anastasia's suspicion without trying to dodge the subject.
Of the three demands added in the broadcast after the flood, the one about turning over the artificial spirit meant, in other words, giving the cultists Beatrice. Which was one of the two main reasons Subaru's response to them was to flip them the bird and tell them to buzz off.
"Her origin is a little unique, but other than being incomparably cute, there isn't anything particularly special about her. I can't even guess what they might want with her."
Not that there was no cause for concern, though. Her mother was that nasty Witch, after all. It wouldn't be that shocking if the same Witch of Greed who had tried to make Subaru a puppet in order to indulge her curiosity had also left some kind of bomb lying dormant in Beatrice, and it was possible the cultists were after her because of something like that.
"I doubt anyone else in the city is carrying around an artificial spirit, so it's safe to assume that they are after Beatrice… Anastasia…?"
Having said that much, Subaru cocked his head. Anastasia was listening to his answer with wide eyes and a look of shock on her face.
"Huh? Uh, yeah…" She nodded, still surprised. "You're awfully…open about it. Even though it might put her in danger."
"We're trying to figure out who the enemy are after, right? They're the only ones who would benefit if I held back now. And given the situation, I'm the one who needs everyone's help the most, so it's natural I lay my cards on the table first," Subaru responded with a shrug.
"…Yeah, they really are the only ones who benefit from us holding back…"
Anastasia's soft response had a heaviness to it, but before Subaru could probe further, Anastasia touched her scarf, which was seeming more and more like a nervous habit of hers, before shaking her head.
"I had thought it would be difficult to say in front of everyone else, but I guess I was worried over nothing."
"Everyone in our camp knows about Beako, so it would've gotten out sooner or later. Besides, I have no intention of negotiating with terrorists, and I assume we're on the same page there, right?"
"Agreed. I don't know what a terro-whatever is, but I refuse to let the cultists get even one of their demands met. If we gave them what they wanted, there's no mistaking they would just sink the city anyway—and I refuse to let that happen."
Anastasia's suddenly overwhelming resolve gave Subaru goose bumps. Feeling it that powerfully from up close finally made him realize what the source of her intense emotions was.
She was burning up from a rage that she could not fully tamp down. It had been hard to notice with her beautiful figure and gentle demeanor and the calm way she behaved, but even so, her wrath had lit a fire inside of her. And the source of that anger was surely something that had happened before she fled to city hall—
"Anastasia, what happened at the Muse Company?"
He had heard from Julius that the Muse Company had been attacked and that at the end of a deadly fight, Anastasia and the others had barely managed to escape with their lives, but at the cost of Kiritaka Muse and the White Dragon's Scale, one of the city's council members and his personal guards, going missing—meaning the already grave situation had only gotten worse.
And on top of that, the normally calm and collected Anastasia could not fully control her own emotions. Subaru was careful broaching the topic, aware that something particularly bad had likely happened.
"…It was after Julius and Ricardo went with y'all to take back city hall." Anastasia did her best to contain the emotion creeping into her voice.
At the same time that they had been fighting over there, Anastasia and the
Muse Company had been viciously attacked—
"—An Archbishop with bandages covering her whole body attacked us."
4
"Lady Anastasia, we've ascertained something troubling." Kiritaka looked pale as he broached the subject.
Anastasia furrowed her brow. She had just received a report from her conversation mirror on the table that the squad dispatched to retake city hall was engaging the cultists. Once the battle started, all she could do was sit and wait for good news. It was frustrating, but given that she could not take part in battle, her only choice was to ride out times like this with prayers and faith in her people. That was why she had silently prepared herself in front of the conversation mirror like always, but—
"That doesn't sound like good news. What happened?"
"I imagine you are aware that I've ordered my subordinates to protect the members of the Council of Ten."
"You mentioned that, yes. If they are captured by the other side, then it would only be a matter of time before the location of the Witch's bones you are hiding gets out. You don't mean to say…" Anastasia's expression clouded. "Has someone been caught—and the location already been revealed…?"
"…No, it is far graver than that. The Council of Ten has been wiped out.
According to the reports, every last member other than me has been slain."
"What?"
Anastasia had prepared herself for the worst, but that was even darker news than she could have imagined. Seeing her reaction, Kiritaka shook his head, visibly agitated.
"Every last one. My subordinates confirmed they were all found dead either at their homes or in their workplaces. Judging from the conditions of their bodies, they were likely dead before the first broadcast occurred."
"Wait a minute; that doesn't make any sense. Aren't they after the remains…?" Getting that far, Anastasia suddenly came to a perfectly reasonable explanation. She had just naturally said "they," but the Witch Cult was not the sort of group that logically worked together toward a single goal. Currently, there were at least three different Archbishops whose presence in Pristella had been confirmed, but the plan to take back city hall had been predicated in part on the assumption that they were ill-suited to working together. When she considered that as well as the fact that the members of the council had been killed, a hypothesis started to present itself. Though it was hard to believe…
"Only members of the Council of Ten know the location of the Witch's bones. And the recovery of the remains is their goal. And yet someone is murdering the people who know that location one after the other… It doesn't make sense unless there are two competing goals at work here."
"One faction that wants the Witch's bones, and another faction that wants to stop them?" Kiritaka had apparently reached the same conclusion.
"…If Natsuki is to be believed, it might not even be only two different sides." Anastasia responded with an even more unappealing thought.
Honestly, it would almost be funny was it not so deadly serious: The cultists were maliciously illogical. Their inability to work together was both an opening to exploit and one of the sources of their utter unpredictability. And as galling as it was to say about the lost members of the council, their deaths could not even really be called the worst outcome, since they meant the remains were still safe from being stolen, and the city wouldn't be immediately plunged beneath the waves. But they also made clear— "I'm sure you realize it, too, Mr. Kiritaka, but…"
"Their next target is surely this company and me. Lady Anastasia, you should prepare to evacuate the premises."
"—What are you planning?"
Dispensing with the details, Anastasia questioned Kiritaka directly about what he intended to do. She recognized his resolve as a representative of the city and his strong sense of duty as a member of the Council of Ten. She could understand his position, but—
"Don't go throwing your life away, y'hear? No matter what happens, just keep breathing."
Kiritaka raised his eyebrows in surprise as Anastasia forcefully stared him down.
"…I'm surprised. I would have expected you to be more inclined to cut losses."
"Did you think I was obsessed with money above all else? My company trades under the motto 'Your friendly neighborhood shop.'"
"Pardon me. Were time permitting, I would have loved to get to know you better over a meal, but…"
"You've got your Songstress you've set your heart on, right? Don't go cheating on her behind her back."
"Yes, you're right—and unfortunately time won't permit it, either."
Anastasia's jaw clenched. He was right. There was no time. If the enemy who was after the council members was coming for Kiritaka next, then the Muse Company would be an ideal hunting ground—and there were far too many people there who could not fight.
"I'm aware it is not my place to do so, but I've already ordered my subordinates to begin escorting all those who fled here as well as anyone who is injured to the nearest shelter. You should take the members of the Iron Fangs and Ferris and escape as well. My subordinates and I will act
separately. It is too dangerous for me to go with you."
"You have some place in mind to go, right?"
"Of course. I have no intention of sitting around waiting to die…" Kiritaka straightened the sleeves of his white outfit and flashed a smile.
—And then, all of a sudden, a shock wave shot through the building, breaking all the windows at once.
"—gh!"
The crashing sound of a storm of broken glass pummeled Anastasia's ears. She immediately dove to the floor.
Always be on guard— Was it not for the habit she had formed as a young girl, it would not have been a pretty sight. She would have been showered by a wave of jagged glass shards. Slipping the conversation mirror she had reflexively grabbed into her pocket, Anastasia looked up.
Kiritaka had also dropped to the floor, but he immediately leaped up and shouted out the door.
"What happened?! Someone report…"
"—Sorry? And thank you."
The voice sent a shudder down Anastasia's spine, and she immediately grabbed Kiritaka's sleeve and pulled him down with all her might. She was light, but when she used her full body weight, the slender Kiritaka could not resist and fell down backward. A golden chain tore through the stone wall, passing right through where he had been standing. A cloud of dust jumped into the air, accompanied by the grating cacophony of destruction as the golden chain spun and wreaked havoc across the entire floor.
" "
Kiritaka just barely avoided the attack thanks to Anastasia pulling at his sleeve. Just a second slower, and he would have been split in two at the stomach. After just barely avoiding disaster thanks to that split-second reaction, the two merchants had barely any time to recover before an unwelcome guest greeted them.
"Ahh, aaaaah, magnificent. Caring for one another, helping one another, entrusting oneself to another—those bonds are what allowed you to survive! You've shown me something so…so wonderfully beautiful. It deserves a round of applause."
A high, cracking voice rang out as someone approached, glass crunching underfoot with each step. Anastasia and Kiritaka caught their breath as the footsteps finally reached them. The half-broken door was kicked in.
Breaking through the door by force, a grotesque figure emerged from the dust cloud—a hideous presence covered from head to toe in white bandages, with silver hair and purple eyes that seemed to be glaring at everything in the world.
It was someone who matched a description Anastasia had heard just recently—
"…The Archbishop of Wrath…"
"Oh, to think you would know little old me without even needing an introduction! How embarrassing. My reputation precedes me, apparently. It
would be nice if it wasn't due to nasty rumors."
When she put her hand in front of her mouth, the chain rattled intrusively. And there did not seem to be any deceit in the way she showed embarrassment. It seemed to be her genuine reaction, which only made her seem all the more abnormal.
Her figure, her presence, her speech—it was almost like she was a foreign entity in the world.
"I am Sirius Romanée-Conti, serving as Archbishop of Wrath. I hope you'll treat me kindly."
The monster, Sirius, bowed politely, greeting them with unreserved affection. In the face of such a twisted being, Anastasia could not help but gasp for air, as if her soul were desperately trying to free itself.
The monster smiling endearingly at them had just seconds earlier wrought destruction on the building. It was weird that she did not seem to feel any shame at that. That she did not seem to think anything at all of it.
"Can you stand, Lady Anastasia?"
The monster was just a stone's throw away. Kiritaka cursed his quivering knees as he forced himself to his feet. Anastasia had started to respond when she felt a swell of animosity rising in her heart.
"Huh? Wh—? Do you even need to ask…?"
A swell of fear rose, threatening to break her spirit as she tried to stand.
She could not maintain the strength in her slender legs, and her gasping for breath grew more and more pained. Forget standing; she was on the verge of collapsing on the spot. But right as that concern flared— "Ugh!" "Hah!"
"—gh?!"
An intense shock wave turned the shards of glass scattered around the room into a deadly whirlwind. The bandaged creature absorbed the full brunt of it with a groan and fell back.
The ceiling cracked between the monster and Anastasia, and two shadows fell to the ground—two small figures, orange ears and tails standing on end, the cat siblings howling on all fours.
Anastasia had been overwhelmed by dread, but when she saw them, her eyes shot open.
"Hetaro! TB!"
"Are you safe, miss?!" "That's the Archbishop… Gh!"
They only glanced back, still focused on Sirius. Their high shouts stirred Anastasia's heart. She stomped her foot with everything she had.
"I'm…fine. This is nothing! But are y'all okay?!"
The kitten siblings were supposed to be sleeping and recovering from the heavy wounds they had endured in order to keep their elder sister Mimi alive despite the incurable wound she had received. They should not have been able to move, and yet here they were. Anastasia was worried that something terrible had happened to Mimi, but…
"That's not it, Lady Anastasia!"
"—F-Ferris?"
Overhead, Anastasia spotted a cat-eared girl—who turned out to actually be the knight who specialized in wind, Ferris—peering down from the hole the two had made in the ceiling. Ferris shook his head as he pointed to Hetaro and TB.
"Ferri used a forbidden technique! The same thing I did with Subawu's leg!"
"Natsuki's…"
Hearing that, Anastasia remembered what condition Subaru had been in when the attack squad departed. After encountering cultists earlier, Subaru had been badly wounded, to the point where he had trouble even walking. But he was still determined to fight, so Ferris had performed a special intervention, using a technique that let him not feel the pain. But if that was the only reason TB and Hetaro were standing, then—
" "
Blood was pooling at their feet. Crimson already stained the bandages wrapped around their bodies beneath their white robes. In exchange for not feeling pain, the two of them—no, all three of them were having their lives shaved away.
Unease swelled, tearing at Anastasia's heart, burning away inside her— "—Miss! Eyes forward!!"
"Hetaro…"
"Sis would have told us to help you no matter how much it might hurt!
We're just following through! What about you? What will you do, miss?"
"I…"
Anastasia gulped at Hetaro's question. He was normally so well behaved and reserved, usually having to be the responsible one who held back the uninhibited Mimi or the boisterous Ricardo. But this time, he was howling and coughing up blood.
Faced with that, what would Anastasia—what would Anastasia Hoshin do?
"—Hetaro, TB, stall for time. Can you two hold out for two minutes?"
The strain visible on her face, she asked them to carry a heavy load on their small backs. The two of them did not even turn, their long tails swaying left and right.
"Sis would say, 'Leave it to me!'"
"We'd be pretty cool if we could pull it off!"
Hetaro and TB were still smiling, even in the face of everything. They kicked off the floor—and then the wall, closing with the enemy. Sirius blocked their staffs with her arms. Faced with the two brothers' teamwork, the monster's purple eyes flared.
"Such adorable sibling love. Are you twins? Ah, how truly endearing…"
"Sorry, but—!" "We're the younger two of triplets!"
The metallic chain spun, crashing into a blue magic barrier. Leaving the battlefield being viciously carved away to the brothers, Anastasia looked up.
"Ferris! Use my people to get Mimi and Beatrice out of here! We'll meet back up outside!"
"—Ngh. Y-yes, ma'am! Understood!"
Seeing Ferris slip away from the hole, Anastasia grabbed Kiritaka's sleeve and ran to the window. The door out of the room had become a battlefield that the two of them could not pass, so they would simply have to use an emergency exit, and it wasn't like there were any other choices. "Ugh, kh…"
Stepping out of the window frame, she set one foot on the ledge outside. At the lip was an emergency ladder that was set up to allow travel downstairs along the outside of the building. Anastasia clenched her fingers tightly, using the pain to stop trembling before climbing down. They had been on the third floor of the building, so they went back inside at the second-floor window.
"It's a little…too soon…to breathe easy…"
Hetaro and TB were still fighting strong on the floor above. The longer it took, though, the more dangerous it became for them, and the more dangerous it became for Mimi, too. It would not be difficult for Ferris to get everyone out of the fourth floor if he directed the Iron Fangs well. The problem was where to go after escaping the Muse Company building—
"—Meeting up with everyone who went to city hall would be best," Anastasia concluded after getting her head in gear.
"Agreed. It would be best to preserve the greatest chance possible of you joining up with them," Kiritaka said, panting.
She understood what he was getting at. It was the same sort of logic he had expressed before Sirius appeared. The enemy was after the Council of Ten, so they needed to limit the damage while preserving a way out as well as they could. Knowing just how hard it would be to get away with that Archbishop harrying them while they tried to escape.
"Try to hurry to the center of the city as quickly as you can. My subordinates and I will draw that thing's attention."
Anastasia could not say anything in the face of his determination. The more calmly she tried to think it through, the clearer it became that that was the most reasonable conclusion. They could not save everyone, so at the very least they needed to make deliberate decisions that would save the most people instead.
"Young master, we've made our preparations. Let's do this in style."
As the two of them went out into the hall, Kiritaka's subordinates, the White Dragon's Scale, were gathering. Seeing them already prepared for battle, Kiritaka calmly shrugged.
"In style, huh? You know, I was always more partial to reserved and calm performances…"
"I don't want a lecture about reserve from the man who fell head over heels for Liliana! What a crock!"
The men waiting for the order to rush past the line between life and death burst into laughter.
It was too close a relationship to be described by a word like subordinate, but Anastasia could see herself in Kiritaka. He loved the White Dragon's Scale just as she loved the Iron Fangs, and he was putting his life on the line to protect his beautiful city alongside his beloved comrades.
No one who saw it could fail to be struck by the tragic heroism of it. The faces of men going off to fight for something they loved, for something they took pride in.
"…That's not fair at all…" Anastasia murmured to herself.
"—Lady Anastasia, I leave Pristella in your hands."
Kiritaka entrusted Anastasia with his beloved city as he prepared to set foot on the battlefield.
Anastasia bit her lip at his earnest plea as he continued—his voice filled with love, expectation, and devotion.
"Please protect this beautiful city…and my beloved Songstress from these villains."
5
"Mr. Kiritaka and the folks from the White Dragon's Scale stayed behind while we retreated with Hetaro and TB—that's what happened at the company building."
"And you joined back up with everyone else here at city hall?"
"Mm-hmm. It was rough with the floodgate opening while we were in the middle of moving everybody. If we'd been any slower to notice, we'd be up the creek by now…but we avoided the worst of it."
Anastasia paused, having finished telling her lurid story. Subaru heaved a big sigh. They had done well to hold off Sirius's assault on the Muse Company and then escape with such minimal losses considering how little fighting power had stayed behind after they committed almost everything to the city hall assault.
"The city's representatives, the Council of Ten, have been destroyed. Mr. Kiritaka's gone missing…and that same Mr. Kiritaka left this town to me to protect—and there's no way I'm not living up to that promise."
Anastasia shook her head at what Subaru was thinking, her clenched hands white as her nails dug into her palms, almost like she was engraving the duty with which she had been entrusted into her skin like a curse.
Subaru finally realized what the real source of the rage she was feeling was.
"Getting saved is a debt, and debts have to be settled. That's my pride as a Kararagi merchant and my obligation if I'm gonna call myself Hoshin."
Anastasia's powerful, pointed determination, her firm stance, made it clear to Subaru just how fierce the struggle at the Muse Company must have been. There was no telling how bad the damage would have been was it not for Kiritaka and his party's heroic rearguard action—and that did not even begin to describe the true impact of the events that had transpired there. If it had not been for him, not only Anastasia but also Beatrice would have been in danger. Every one of Subaru's comrades there, everyone he knew at the Muse Company, had been saved by Kiritaka's decision.
"Debts have to be settled, huh…? Then I don't have much choice but to pay my dues as well."
Subaru apologized from the bottom of his heart to the man who had gone missing for all the rude things he had thought about him before.
After everyone did every last thing in their power to hold the line, they had managed to just barely hang on to a chance to stage a comeback—but there were still many dead who could not be saved anymore, a fact that tortured Subaru's heart. And it only made it worse, given how much he now owed the man, to think that Kiritaka was likely one of them.
"Sorry for going out of order on you. But the gist of it is: I've got my reasons to not back down. And I'd bet you're in the same spot, right?"
"Yeah, you got that right. I dunno what they want with an artificial spirit, but I'll be damned if I let them lay a finger on my Beako."
Subaru clenched his fists, his hatred for the cultists clear to see.
"Mm, that'll do, then."
Anastasia looked down at the map on the table again and pointed to the control towers at the four edges of the city.
"In that case, let's press on. The other things the cultists demanded…"
"About that, I've got something I should tell you."
Of the four demands the cultists had listed in the broadcast, they had covered the artificial spirit, but there was another one that Subaru happened to know about. Naturally, since what they were asking for was—
"The book of knowledge—it no longer exists in this world anymore. Burned to ashes."
"…Care to explain? I couldn't figure anything out about that book, and it has been bothering me."
If he was being honest, it was nothing more than an abominable cursed tome as far as he was concerned. It had been the impetus for Roswaal's actions behind the scenes while they were in the Sanctuary and had driven Beatrice to four hundred years of solitude in the archive of forbidden books. It would be hard for him to view it in a positive light even if he tried his hardest.
And that was also because it was unique in what it contained.
"How do I put it…? The book of knowledge is sort of like a prototype of the Gospels that the cultists have…it's what the Gospels were originally based on and is also a more complete version. It's set up to predict the future
the same way the Dragon Tablet works, apparently."
"That sounds pretty hard to believe, but you said it was burned?"
"Yeah. There were two books, and they were both burned. So it shouldn't exist anymore."
"You keep saying 'exist.' Where'd you hear that?"
"…From the Witch who made them…"
Subaru's face screwed into a scowl. Anastasia's eyes widened at his response. She chewed over the word Witch for a moment, as if making sure she'd heard him right.
"And this isn't your usual joking around, right? You're serious?"
"Yeah, deadly serious. You said it before yourself, right? There were other witches besides the Witch of Jealousy. One even died in this city, and her remains are still here somewhere, right?"
"That's a dead one, though. That's still believable. But from what you said, it sure sounds like you actually met a witch and talked to her. And from the look on your face, it wasn't exactly pleasant, either."
"Yeah, I met one and talked to her, all right. And got tricked and set up by her, too. And, well, a lot happened. You get the picture."
It would be a long story if he talked about everything that had happened in the Sanctuary and in the tomb. It was a bit rude, but there was not much Subaru could say about the Witch Echidna. Or more bluntly, he really did not want to talk about her.
For better or worse, Echidna had lodged some sharp thorns deep in Subaru's heart that were not going to just go away.
"Anyway, the only two copies of it that existed in this world were both burned, so the cultists missed their mark there. It should be safe to just ignore that demand of theirs."
"—But can you really trust what that witch you met said?" Anastasia fired back adroitly.
" "
Subaru was at a loss for a moment, his eyes snapping open in shock at how the gears in his head had just stopped turning.
"You've got your thoughts about her and clearly don't trust her at all. But you still believe what she said. Sounds like she is a bit of a troublesome sort of person for you."
"…I couldn't agree more. You pretty much summed it all up perfectly. I have no intention of trusting her, so it's weird that I don't doubt that at all."
The things Echidna had said, the understanding she had shown: They had all been a performance in order to turn Subaru into her puppet. But did that mean he should assume everything she'd said was a lie? And was that vague uncertainty just him wanting to believe there was more to her, or was he still just getting led around by the nose by that know-it-all Witch?
The same Witch who had sympathized with how painful Subaru's Return by Death was.
"I can't comment on your connection with that Witch, and I'm grateful to at least get a little more information. But…"
"But?"
Subaru furrowed his brow, his uncertainty about what he really thought leaving a bad taste in his mouth.
"The cultists went out of their way to demand it on the broadcast. Maybe they just didn't know the book had been burned, but…I think we should consider other possibilities."
Subaru looked down as Anastasia gently talked around the point.
It did not exist; that was what Subaru wanted to believe: The book of knowledge did not currently exist. If that was a lie, it would mean Echidna had lied to Subaru again. And while he could not explain why, that would make him feel disappointed for some reason.
"—Natsuki."
But as he slipped into a sea of thoughts, Anastasia's voice pulled him back.
"Ah, my bad. Um, so what's left is…"
"There's still the Witch's bones, but we can just leave that for now. The city hasn't been sunk, which is proof enough they don't have the bones yet… though it doesn't tell us anything about Mr. Kiritaka's current status."
"Yeah…and the last demand was…"
"—'The silver-haired maiden's wedding.'" Anastasia supplied the words Subaru struggled to say.
Her gaze bore only a simple question. There was no particularly deep meaning to it, just a doubt born of not being able to grasp what his aim was.
There was no one who could fail to guess who 'the silver-haired maiden' meant. As for why the cultists insisted on that demand—
"That bastard doesn't have any ulterior motive or anything. He absolutely meant it exactly how it sounds. He's serious about putting on a wedding."
"…With everything going on here?"
"He's an Archbishop of the Witch Cult. He'd do what he wanted in the middle of Armageddon. They all would. And what pisses me off even more is he has the strength to make it happen."
The image of the white-haired man carrying Emilia under his arm flashed through his head. When he was taking her away, he had insisted that all that mattered was appearance. A villain with nothing less than a loathsome level of transcendent strength—the Archbishop of Greed, Regulus Corneas.
Subaru could not say exactly who was responsible for the other demands, but he could confidently say that the marriage demand was 100 percent Greed's.
"That freaking nutjob… No, I guess that fits all of them. Beatrice, the book of knowledge that may or may not even exist anymore, the fate of this whole city, and Emilia! You think I'd let them have anything?! Over my dead body!"
It was hard to believe they could concoct a more insane setup. The only explanation he could come up with was that they were all, every last one of them, living under some different idea of rationality or common sense, some extradimensional way of thinking.
—A monster, a blasphemer, a mystery, and a villain. Throw in the not-sodearly-departed, crazed evil spirit for good measure. They were a gathering of all the mortal realm's sins, incarnations of the world's dark side: the Archbishops of the Deadly Sins.
"…I was hoping for just that sort of reaction, but that was even better than
I expected."
Seeing Subaru breathing hard after getting so worked up, Anastasia relaxed her expression in a moment of approval. But there was no mistaking it for a cheerful smile. It was a manifestation of the rage that had created an unstoppable impulse in her heart.
"You looked an awful lot like Ricardo there."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Can't go messing things up between us until after we take back the city," Anastasia joked before her expression turned serious again. "Like we discussed, we won't give them anything. I've got a duty to see through here. To Mr. Kiritaka, for sure, but also to Emilia and Crusch."
" "
"Emilia and Crusch and the rest of you came to Pristella on my invitation. All of you are my guests. Letting you get hurt like this… I ain't gonna take this humiliation lying down."
Her pale-aquamarine eyes were filled with deep resolve, and she stared into Subaru's eyes, asking if he was ready to fight.
"We'll need to be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. Looks like you've made up your mind, too."
"Necessary sacrifices…"
"Everyone's shrinking back 'cause we lost, but can y'all accept where things are standing right now? I sure won't. I'm gonna fight with everything I can lay hands on. I'll worry about excuses for why I lost when I'm dead."
Her usually gentle, peaceful expression was consumed by a savage drive.
"There is always another chance, as long as you're still alive. I won't let people throw away their lives. It's too heartbreaking."
The determination welling from her small, slender body was powerful enough to make Subaru forget she was not someone who spent her time out on the battlefield— No, that wasn't quite right. They were already standing on her battlefield. And when it came to talks like these, Anastasia Hoshin was a grizzled veteran.
"It's entirely possible Lust has the ability to change Crusch and the people she transformed back. And we still don't know where Mr. Kiritaka is, but that's all. And you aren't planning on just leaving your precious princess in some stranger's hands, either, right?"
"—Hell no! If they're going to give us four demands, then we should hit back with a little something of our own."
Subaru was tired of getting pummeled so one-sidedly. Fed up with just doing what he was told.
"We'll save Emilia from that freak, kick Gluttony's ass and get him to spit out Rem's memories, bash Sirius for screwing with the entire city's emotions, and make Capella beg for mercy while changing everyone back!
Then we save the city, and boom, everybody lives happily ever after!"
"Yeah, that sounds good to me."
Subaru thrust out his fist, and Anastasia gently wrapped her hand around it. It was not the reaction he'd expected, but it was at least proof they were on the same wavelength.
Anastasia still wanted to put up a fierce fight, and Subaru could stand behind that sentiment wholeheartedly. So—
"Let's save this city, Ms. Anastasia. We'll do it with our own hands." Nodding to Anastasia, Subaru looked down at the map on the table again. It marked every location in the city, but it could not show the faces of the people living there. So he closed his eyes and imagined something else instead.
He etched Emilia, Rem, and all the people he wanted to save onto the insides of his eyelids.
—In order to keep fighting to save the city and all the people who were precious to him.
6
"Milady. And Subaru, too. So you were here."
Julius was standing in the doorway, a trace of relief appearing in his eyes. Stepping over the crack running through the floor with his long legs, he entered the room and approached the two of them.
In what was surely an unconscious habit, he touched his bangs as his golden eyes looked out across the trampled, scorched-black room on the top floor of the tower.
"Why are you here?"
"Natsuki said he wanted to check something. We only just came up here," Anastasia said, gesturing with her chin to where Subaru was kneeling on the sooty floor. Subaru was looking farther back in the room, to where a distinctive-looking metia was located.
It was the broadcast metia used to communicate with the entire city. It should have been swept up in the battle with Capella and the black dragon's attack, but it had almost miraculously avoided any damage. Subaru breathed easily as he made sure it was still working.
"I see… How did your discussion with Subaru go?"
"It went a little long, but I'd say it was a constructive talk. It looks like he's had it up to here with everything, same as me. How are things on your end?"
"As you instructed, I set the members of the Iron Fangs to patrol in shifts.
For better or worse, there have not been any noteworthy developments…"
"That sure sounds like bad news. Without an obvious turn for the better, things are just gonna get worse as time passes… That's just how unease works," Anastasia responded as she gently caressed her scarf.
Subaru looked up at Julius.
"I visited one shelter before coming here. Any word how things are at the other ones?"
"It pains me to be unable to share good tidings, but unfortunately the situation is poor everywhere. In most shelters, the people are currently in no condition to act, and most are just staring at their feet in fear and anxiety. The
cultists' proclamation has had a profound effect on morale."
Subaru stood up and murmured, "Proclamation…"
"Lust's final threat before abandoning city hall. In addition to announcing the four demands, she also announced that those of us who attacked the tower had been turned back."
"…So she told everyone we lost. Framing it as a defeat is definitely exacerbating things."
Which was precisely what Capella had been aiming for. Sirius's Authority combined perfectly with the psychological effect of the broadcast. Between that and Sirius's attack on the Muse Company while they were going after Capella at the tower, despite their not making any effort to work together, they'd still managed to create the worst possible duet. And because of that, the townspeople's will had been broken, and they were getting pulled into a downward spiral, which was inexorably dragging them further into the depths of despair.
"It pains me to say, but it would be good fortune if they merely lost the will to remain standing. There are many who are responding in other ways.
Several places are on the verge of crossing a dangerous threshold."
"What's happening with those shelters?"
"We are rushing over as fast as we can to limit injuries to the best of our ability, but…"
Julius hesitated, but that was more than enough to make the dark implication obvious.
Still—
"—There's no stopping the flood once the dam bursts. Some shelters are beyond saving. And there have been more than a few deaths, too. It's cowardly to avert our eyes from reality."
"…Milady…"
Anastasia's words forced him to face head-on the fact that there had already been losses. A more satisfactory look finally appeared on Julius's face, and seeing that, Anastasia focused her increasingly scrutinizing gaze on her knight.
"Pretending you don't see it won't make it disappear. The truth is all around us… What's gotten into you, Julius?"
"I would never…"
"This isn't like you at all."
At first her voice was harsh and stern, but it gradually grew softer and more fragile, her eyes wavering. For just a second, the concern she was feeling for him was visible. But she hid it again in the blink of an eye, reopening her pursed lips.
"…There have been victims. And there will be more. Given that we are trying to save as many people as possible, there is no avoiding the fact that we'll have to give up on a few. We don't have enough hands to do everything.
So at the very least we can't turn a blind eye to what that entails."
" "
"At least Natsuki is properly standing on his own two feet. Accepting that there have been losses and demonstrating the resolve for what's to come. But what about you, Julius?"
Doubt filled Julius's golden eyes—no, it had been there the whole time, swaying faintly, unsteady.
And seeing that doubt in Julius's eyes, Subaru finally realized something.
—Wrath's Authority was affecting city hall, too.
Ferris wallowing in his grief, Wilhelm bound by self-doubt and selfreproach, Ricardo baring his fangs in righteous indignation and annoyance, Garfiel running all over town in a fit of anxiety, Anastasia almost desperately doing her best to meet the expectations of the duty she had been entrusted with, and Julius struggling to break free from his indecision.
They were all expressing their emotions, baring their hearts more because of the influence of Sirius's ability. And Subaru was surely doing the same, too.
" "
As Subaru came to that realization, Julius and Anastasia stared at each other. Julius was unable to escape his doubts, and a look of anguish crossed his handsome face as he closed his eyes.
Anastasia's logic was sound. She was telling him not to look away from the reality in front of him and demanding he show the resolve to face a fight in which sacrifices would be inevitable. And hearing that, Julius knew that he needed to set aside the troubles eating away at him. He tried again to steel his resolve. To join his master on the path to a victory that would only open up after he made many sacrifices and suffered many losses.
If you tried to carry a giant armful of abbles, it would be impossible to avoid letting one or two slip away. And eventually the whole thing would come falling down. In order to avoid that, you had to pick which abbles to carry and which to leave behind. Even a child could understand that concept.
However—
"—I think you're misunderstanding something, Anastasia," Subaru cut in for the first time.
The other two looked over at him. While the feelings in their eyes were different, Subaru could tell they were not just emotional. Both were still thinking.
"I swore to rescue this city together with you, but I have no intention of trying to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many."
"…We decided on our main goal. I was pretty sure of that from what we discussed." Anastasia's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me you're gonna start with that unreasonable stuff now, too? If so, then you haven't changed at all from that first time I laid eyes on you back at the castle. Even if it wasn't the
usual path, you've become a proper knight now, haven't you?"
"That's right. I'm a full-fledged knight. And because I'm a knight, there are some things I just can't give up on. That I refuse to give up on. If I gave up on them now, my reputation as a knight would be ruined," Subaru said as he changed positions, moving next to Julius.
He shrugged as Julius stood there frozen in place looking at him, and then Subaru puffed out his chest.
If you were holding an armful of abbles, it was only natural that you eventually could not hold on to all of them. But because he was a knight, the things that Subaru was holding in his hands—what Julius was holding in his hands—they were not just a bunch of abbles. They were something far more precious. Something irreplaceable. They were not abbles that would not say anything if you gave up and let them fall. They were the lives of people. People who could cry and who got angry, too. People with families, with friends and people they loved.
"I have no intention of letting a single one of them fall. Talking about resolve and determination sounds cool, but that's just giving up with extra steps. And there's nothing cool about that."
"—Ngh. Again with your foolishness… There were sacrifices during the battle with the White Whale and in the fight with the cultists afterward, too, but you weren't spouting this same stupidly stubborn stuff then."
"—Don't take me for a fool, Anastasia."
Subaru's gaze sharpened when Anastasia brought up the White Whale and Petelgeuse. He was not going to back down on that point or let it go unchallenged. She was barking up the wrong tree if she thought that was how things would go.
"The people who fought and fell in those fights were ready to give their lives. It's sad that they died, and they definitely didn't want to die, but they knew what they were getting into. And that makes all the difference—we
can't assume the residents of this city are the same."
It was a convenient argument, and maybe it did not really follow, and it was certainly easy to point to the double standard of criticizing one form of resolve while holding up a different kind. But it was a fact that there was a discernable difference. There was a certain resolve required in situations where lives were being put on the line.
"The cultists made this city a battlefield, and that's on them. But it's wrong to let yourself get dragged into that same thinking and start talking about resolve when it comes to the normal, everyday people who got caught up in all this."
"Whether we like it or not, the decision the cultists made is going to cause a lot of people who aren't resolved to get hurt anyway, at which point they're just going to have to steel themselves."
"There. That's wrong. The cultists have made their own decision, and people who actually have the resolve should be the ones to go after them. If you ask me, having that resolve while always keeping that distinction in mind is what it means to be a knight. That's how I would hope a knight would act,
and that's what I teach the kids in the village, too."
After he had been knighted and gotten fawned over here and there, when Subaru finally became a proper knight like he had always imagined, that was the path he had naturally chosen. And when he swore to always live that way, the children had looked at him with sparkling eyes, so ever since he had tried to never bring shame to that vow.
—And because when Emilia, who had been beside him, heard it, her eyes had shone, too.
"I'm Emilia's knight. I want to fight for her. But that doesn't mean I'm only fighting to protect her. Julius is your knight, Anastasia. He wants to fight for you more than anyone else. If you order him, he'll listen to you—but that isn't enough to be satisfied. Because knights are by nature greedy people who want to look cool."
" "
"I always try to look cool even if it kills me. And so does Julius. Because he's the Finest of Knights. That means he tries harder than anyone else to look the part."
Subaru pointed to Julius with his thumb as Anastasia fell silent. Partway through, Julius, who had been listening silently, suddenly caught his breath, and his eyes widened.
An out-of-place, satisfied grin appeared on Subaru's face when he saw how badly that had caught the both of them off guard.
"You talked about necessary sacrifices before. But what I said was 'Let's save this city.' Cities and countries aren't just a bunch of buildings or swaths of land. They're made up of people. At least according to a bunch of mangas and games."
Choosing at the outset to give up on someone and trying to save someone but failing were two different things. It was easy enough to convince yourself to discard a person in order to create a world you could be satisfied with, but—
"—Infecting other people with that self-satisfaction is what makes you no good. That there's a heroic delusion that'll swallow a crowd whole."
" "
Another person suddenly butted in right as Subaru was in the process of trying to turn his naive belief into an idealistic theory.
Subaru caught his breath and turned around. It was a slightly muffled voice that sounded familiar. There was almost a hint of irony in the voice, a cynical, pessimistic, philosophical tint to those words as the man wearing a black helmet met Subaru's gaze.
"Stare as hard as you like, it's not going to change the fact that I didn't bring you any presents. You'll just have to make do with my smile. Not that you can see it like this, though."
"—Al."
The man in the iron helm shrugged as he joked with Subaru from the doorway.
He had chosen to act independently before Subaru and the others left for the assault on city hall, and his whereabouts had been unknown ever since. He slowly stepped into the room and headed over to them. Still under the influence of her intense emotions just before, Anastasia responded gruffly.
"You're back awfully early."
"Strictly speaking, I'm not back, since this is a different place from before, but I feel bad about appearing again right after leaving, too. Sorry for being a nuisance, but I didn't come here because I particularly wanted to, either."
Al remained aloof in the face of Anastasia's sharp response, but he wasn't making light of the situation. As the mood in the room tensed, Subaru spoke up again.
"Hey, I've got a lot I'd like to say, but at least you made it out safe. I was worried you got washed away."
"…I was lucky I happened to be on high ground when the water level started rising. And by chance, I happened to get a message for you, Bro. So don't go shooting the messenger."
Subaru furrowed his brow as Al responded with a casual tone and a shrug. Given the situation, Subaru was hard-pressed to imagine whom the message could be from.
"Messenger? Who would send a message in a situation like this…?"
"—It's from your precious, precious princess."
"—?! From Emilia?!"
Subaru was thunderstruck by Al's startling revelation, and he stared wide-eyed as if questioning whether the man was serious. Because of Al's obscuring helmet, there was no way to glean any information from his eyes, but he nodded.
"Even I wouldn't joke about something like that. It's exactly what I said, a message from your young master—she's seriously doin' crazy stuff behind enemy lines. Scaaaary," Al said with a causal shrug.
In contrast to his usual flippancy or his stinging irony, he gave an actual sigh. He looked Subaru in the eye and continued.
"The blushing bride is waiting for her Prince Charming to come take her away before the wedding—I'm jealous, Bro."
CHAPTER 3
THE NEWEST HERO AND THE OLDEST HERO
1
"—Yes, that's it exactly. As I thought, white really suits you."
"…Thank you…"
Regulus responded cheerfully to seeing Emilia in her new white dress. After getting dressed by #184, she had been led from the changing room to Regulus's room, where he was waiting.
" "
This room was adorned with a twisted splendor far removed from the building's overall cold feeling. Emilia furrowed her brow slightly, chalking it up to Regulus's tastes.
Also, he was wearing a different outfit from when she had seen him in the hallway. It was still all white, but this time it seemed more formal.
Noticing Emilia's gaze, he lightly plucked at his collar.
"Our wedding is a special occasion, after all. I considered wearing my standard, unadorned outfit, but I would never think to embarrass you with a pointless fixation. Consideration for each other, a mutual give-and-take— that's the ideal relationship between a husband and wife. And of course, you needn't worry yourself about troubling me over something as minor as this. I just want you to understand the depths of my generosity and willingness to change myself to a reasonable degree for your sake."
As usual, he talked a dizzying amount. As far as Emilia could follow, the basic content of what he was saying was entirely reasonable, but for some reason, she could not help but hesitate a bit before nodding along.
But one thing she could say for sure was that he was unmistakably one of
the Witch Cult Archbishops. It was clear enough from the broadcast and what #184 had said, and understanding that and then actually standing across from him again in person, it was impossible to ignore the bizarre presence he had.
Her instincts were screaming out in her head. They were telling her that an immense threat to her life was standing there before her. And that reality caused her soul—as it would cause any person's—to cower and want to plead for mercy. That was why he felt so abnormal.
"You look down. A sunken look does not suit your face at all… No, this complex expression is cute in its own way, but it isn't your best look. Is there something troubling you?"
" "
Emilia froze as Regulus casually touched her cheek. She had not thought that she had looked away, but he had closed the wide gap between them in the blink of an eye. Regulus closed one eye as he examined Emilia's stilltense expression.
"#184, did something happen while she was getting dressed?" Regulus pressed the woman standing next to Emilia when Emilia did not immediately respond.
"…Apologies, but perhaps it might be the effect of Lady Capella's most recent broadcast," #184 responded smoothly, as if she had already thought of the response.
"Broadcast? Ah, that. I just ignored it, since that animalistic reprobate's voice is as grating as ever, but I see—hearing that for the first time could certainly upset a girl. That was an oversight on my part."
Loathing and scorn crept into Regulus's expression as he scoffed, accepting that explanation.
"You need not worry yourself about the vile slurs of that blighted, shallow-minded mass of inferiority complexes masquerading as a woman. Unlike her, utterly unworthy of any being's love, your face is worthy of my affections. From the day you were born, you stood above that thing. Have confidence in yourself."
"Ummm…"
"Still troubled? That reprobate really went overboard. I cannot stand seeing that hideous face, but I'll have to lodge my complaints with her directly after this is over. Setting that aside for now, though…what should we do in order to rescue the bride's mood with our joyous ceremony right before us?" Regulus asked, cocking his head.
Emilia thought carefully about how to respond.
She could imagine two main choices if she wanted to escape. The first was to break free from her position as essentially a hostage. Honestly, she could most likely slip away from #184 and get out of the building without too much difficulty. But if she did that, the floodgates would be opened, drowning the city. And from what she had seen of Regulus so far, if she was asked whether he would really go that far, she would be forced to say he almost certainly would. There was just too much risk involved with that gamble, so she had no choice but to scrap that plan.
There was the bank shot where she fought and beat him then and there in a surprise attack—but that was most likely impossible. Her instincts were telling her that she could not defeat him by herself.
The fundamental problem was a lack of options, so Emilia chose the other path: the bitter, painful choice of avoiding a rash decision and devoting herself to using this as a unique opportunity to gather information.
"Such a troubled expression. I was merely asking what to do in order to improve your mood, but do you not have an answer? It is true that we are not officially husband and wife until the ceremony is carried out, but in effect, we should for all intents and purposes already treat each other as such. Given that, what should a proper wife do for her husband? For the sake of our future harmonious matrimony, should you not also strive to fulfill your duty, nay, responsibility?" Regulus's speech accelerated as he quickly grew impatient with Emilia's silence.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Right… I may be a tad tired still. Would it perhaps be okay for me to rest a bit?"
"Tired?"
Regulus arched his brow, putting his hand to his chin, repeating the word tired several times.
"—I see. I was not attentive enough. My apologies. I shall strive to do better. It's only natural that you would be tired with all the sudden happenings occurring all at once. In that case, there is no issue with you returning to your room and resting for a while. There is another outfit planned for you for the ceremony, so you need not worry about lying down in the dress you're currently wearing. My wives and I will take care of the venue's preparations."
"The venue…"
"Yes, there's a chapel attached to this building. It is modest, but well suited for our purposes. We are preparing for the wedding ceremony there. All my wives are here to welcome the newest member of our family. I'm sure that's reassuring news for you. My pride and joy, my admirable, beautiful wives."
He nodded to himself smugly as he threw open the window of the room and waved Emilia over. Standing next to him like he gestured for her to do, she could see the neighboring building by looking out the window.
It was a chapel—or more precisely, a building where weddings and other ceremonies were held. She could see the bustling activity happening inside through the open doors and the big windows lining the walls that allowed in voluminous sunlight. There were several figures moving around the building, bringing in decorations and ornaments and generally preparing for the ceremony. Every person she saw working down there was a beautiful woman, and every last one was wearing a stunning outfit.
"I have had a total of two hundred and ninety-one wives…though sadly, death has forced me to part with many of them. Currently, I have fifty-three wives with me, and that will rise to fifty-four once our ceremony is complete. It goes without saying, of course, that I love all of them equally. Twisted does not begin to describe the idea of a husband who plays favorites. I would never do something so dishonorable. I share the appropriate love in the appropriate way at the appropriate time for all—I will love you and all of them equally."
"Th-thank you… I'll be…sure to keep that in mind…"
Emilia was taken aback as she carefully, nervously tried to find her way to an answer that was maybe correct. She was behaving almost exactly the same way #184 reacted in her fear of Regulus.
Being constantly exposed to his violently oppressive presence was enough to wear down even the strongest hearts. That was likely the main reason his wives all had their will to resist sapped away.
"Good girl. Now head on back and rest. I'll have someone send for you once the preparations are complete."
Fortunately, her limp response did not seem to have hit a nerve, and he merely indicated she should return to her room out of a seemingly genuine concern for her condition. Not resisting, Emilia stepped away from him and headed for the door with #184. She could go back to her bedroom and start planning how to get out of the situation—
"I was thinking, though, it was careless of me not to notice my bride's fatigue, but does it not strike you that the person who was by her side the most should have noticed it, too?"
"—!"
—when Regulus's voice called out right as she was about to open the door. A chill ran down her spine, and she immediately grabbed something else with her outstretched hand.
"—Watch out!"
"Eh?"
#184 widened her eyes at suddenly being grabbed. Emilia pulled her close and leaped to the side. And immediately afterward, a breeze blew through the spot where #184 had been standing, and the wall and door exploded like they had been hit by a giant's hand. The floor peeled away, and the destruction continued in a straight line out into the stone hallway.
" "
The wave of devastation splintered the room and crushed the entrance. Seeing that overwhelming show of force, Emilia was speechless as she clung to #184. Realizing the target of that destruction, #184 tensed and curled up, making herself smaller.
Regulus, who had only casually swung his right arm, tilted his head at the two of them.
"Ah, apologies, apologies. That was careless of me—thank goodness nothing happened to the two of you."
" "
"Anyway, I have something to attend to, so I'll be in the other room. Oh, and perhaps we should have your hair done up before the ceremony? I think that would really amplify your natural allure. You are lovely as is, of course, but no effort should be spared at becoming even more beautiful. Naturally, I am content with my happy and satisfied state, but I would never protest your efforts to improve yourself. Doing one's best for someone who loves you is the most fundamental level of etiquette a person can express, after all."
Regulus smiled at Emilia as if that earlier act of destruction was of little note, then he left behind his wife and soon-to-be wife, holding each other on the ground.
Once his white back was no longer visible down the hallway, Emilia let out a long breath.
"…What was that?"
It made no sense at all. Both the reason for the action and the way that he acted, neither of them made any sense.
"…Thank you for saving me," #184 said before slipping free from Emilia's dumbfounded embrace.
The agitation she had just felt disappeared from her face, and she stood up and adjusted her hair. And then she began to clean up the destruction wrought by a wave of Regulus's hand.
"Wait! This doesn't make sense at all! You were almost killed just now!"
Emilia took issue with how #184 accepted the violence of just a moment before and moved on to another task. Regulus's presence was menacing, and maybe there was some logic guiding his actions and words that others could not follow, but even if that was the case—
"If I hadn't pulled you away, that would have hit you. You were even trembling."
"And what of it? I thanked you for saving me. Please don't expect any more than that from me. Anything more would be overstepping bounds."
"This isn't about bounds or obligations! It's more important, more precious than that!"
#184 stubbornly refused to face Emilia. And Emilia could tell that it was simple self-preservation that was keeping her heart locked away. She could understand it, but that did not mean she could accept it.
"Regulus said that everyone was equal. So does that mean that all the wives in the chapel are like this, too? Everyone is just cowering in fear of him, always watching him, trying to get by without drawing his attention? Just accepting that he tried to kill you… It doesn't make sense at all!"
"That's just one dynamic between husbands and wives. Once you've experienced it more, you will grow used to it…or if you don't, then that will be the end of you."
#184 did not even turn to answer Emilia's desperate pleading. It was enough to make Emilia feel like she and #184 were living in two different worlds.
"That doesn't make any sense at all… Isn't getting married what people who are happy together and love each other do? But I'm not happy, you don't look happy, and none of them look happy, either. Am I wrong?"
"…Yes, you are wrong. Being happy together is not a requirement for getting married. There is no requirement that a husband and wife love each other, either. The only requirement is being around each other all the time— you get used to being married."
#184 did not deny that she did not want to be in her current position, and yet she still affirmed her current status. It was a twisted, misguided point of view. Marriage was something that was supposed to be desired, not just something that couples got used to.
"Please do as he said. Go back to your room and try to rest. Take the dress off if you would like. I will come by before the ceremony to do your hair."
" "
With that, #184 focused on cleaning up the rubble and tidying the wrecked room. Emilia tried to say something to her, but her words faltered and failed to come out. No matter what words she chose, they would not have any weight to them as long as she was unable to do anything about Regulus.
She pulled back her outstretched hand, clenching her fist regretfully at her inability to reach out.
2
"—All right, that should be good!"
Wiping her forehead with her forearm, Emilia nodded in satisfaction at her handiwork.
Rejected by #184, she had returned to her bedroom, but she had not sulked at her own powerlessness in a fit of depression or anything cute like that. She had of course been depressed at her powerlessness, but it also spurred her on.
She could not abandon #184 and the other women forced to be Regulus's wives and constantly endure his whims. Her spirit was roiling with determination. But no matter how much she screamed or pouted, there was probably no way she could change Regulus's mind. And if she tried to fight fire with fire, she would just lose against his overwhelming strength. So she had searched for another path forward, following Subaru's example.
"Subaru wouldn't just rush into things without thinking it through first. It all starts with preparation."
She pulled the sheets over the ice sculpture shaped like her that was lying on the bed, making it look like she was obediently sleeping. No one looking in from the door would be able to notice it was not really Emilia. And having done that, she would spend the time until the ceremony— "Here we go."
She smoothly slipped out the window and headed out to gather more information. Raising her hands, she crafted a ledge of ice on the outside of the building and easily escaped her room. She could have simply escaped at this point, but that was out of the question, given the situation, so she started looking for useful information instead.
"This really was one of the floodgate control towers."
Emilia had headed for the top of the building first in order to get a grasp of her surroundings and where she was being kept, and it perfectly matched the control towers she had seen earlier.
—With the cultists occupying the towers, they had control of the city's floodgates. There was a sinister red flag hoisted from the top of the tower, emphasizing that it was being occupied. And the three other towers all sported the same red flag.
"They took all four of the towers, so the city is helpless…"
Straining her purple eyes to see the other towers in the distance, Emilia slipped into thought.
Just a single gate opening had caused that much damage, so even if she entirely froze the tower she was in to prevent it from activating, there were still three more.
"If only there were four of me…"