Having concluded their discussion with renewed determination, Subaru headed down to the lower floors of City Hall with Anastasia.
The large room where Subaru had been resting was on the third floor of City Hall—right in the middle of its five stories—and had apparently served a role similar to a conference room.
"The top floor got torched by the dragon's breath, see? That's why the fourth floor's the top now. That's where we've gathered all the victims of 'Lust' and had them wait."
"...So if the top floor burned down, what happened to the broadcasting magical device?"
"That one's safe. We detached it and stowed it away. The device itself is roughly the size of a metal box you could carry on a pedestal. Apparently the setup works by having the box pick up sound, then other devices installed throughout the city pick up that sound and relay it."
An antenna—or rather, more like a speaker.
So it was a pair: a metal box and a speaker, two pieces making one set of magical equipment. That both the hostages and the device had been recovered safely was one of the few pieces of good news.
Setting aside the question of whether using the device was appropriate, and the discomfort of calling those people "safe."
"I heard you've been gathering the affected people on the fourth floor."
"Whether they've been turned into flies or dragons, the person's thoughts are still in there. So they listen to us and follow instructions. ...Whether that's a good thing or not, even I can't really say."
"............"
Whether it was fortunate that their minds remained intact was something even Subaru couldn't comment on.
If your entire being—mind and all—had been transformed into an insect, you wouldn't need to mourn the loss of your human form. But that would be a loss of self.
Then again, could one really say it wasn't a loss to have one's physical body taken away and to go on living in that state? The answer was surely something only those who had experienced it could give.
"Can't even move properly. Thanks to that, nobody's killed themselves yet. It all happened so suddenly they still haven't processed what's going on. ...Securing them before they calmed down—that was the best outcome."
"Killed themselves? You mean suicide? Something like that..."
"You think there's no need to worry?"
"———"
That, too, was an answer Subaru couldn't easily give.
What did come across, however, was that Anastasia was handling this extraordinary situation with far more composure than Subaru.
"As long as you're alive, there's hope. But if your body—and especially your mind—dies, that hope is crushed. You've got to live. No matter what state you're in, you've got to live."
Without turning around, without showing her face to Subaru, Anastasia murmured those words.
But if that clinging sentiment was her philosophy on life and death, Subaru agreed with it.
You have to keep living.
As long as you're alive, the chance to fight back will never fully disappear.
For that reason— "Anastasia-sama."
As Subaru and Anastasia descended to the first floor, Julius was the first to notice them and called out to his master.
The first-floor reception lobby was a place Subaru had passed through in an instant before. But even from Subaru's eyes, it was clear that a ferocious battle had been waged here—the traces of fierce combat were deeply etched into every surface.
Sword cuts and magical scorch marks scarred everything from desks and chairs to the walls, and the wiped-away bloodstains still asserted their presence with slick smears here and there.
Julius had been berating himself for letting Gluttony escape, but it was clear enough that he hadn't willingly fallen behind.
"How did your discussion with Subaru go?"
"A little long-winded, but it ended smoothly. Like us, Natsuki-kun's just as fired up about not losing. And so..."
Anastasia nodded at Julius's question, lightly deflected it with a joke, then shifted her gaze toward the back.
On the opposite side of the staircase Subaru had come down, near the lobby entrance, Ricardo's hulking form was swaying. According to Anastasia earlier, he'd gone outside to scout and attempt contact with survivors, but— "Welcome back, Ricardo. How did things look outside?"
"Does this look like the face of someone with good news, young miss? Pretty grim, I'd say. It's probably only gonna get worse as time passes. Those bastards are absolutely vicious when it comes to psychological warfare."
Ricard scowled bitterly and let out a sigh, grumbling about the poor haul.
The dog-faced man scratched and tugged at his head fur roughly, then used hand signals to direct the members of the
"
"The broadcast, boss. That damn awful broadcast."
At Subaru's question, Garfiel poked his head out from beside the staircase.
Subaru asked "Broadcast?" back at the fang-clenching, irritated Garfiel.
"You mean the broadcast where they made their demands? Was there something besides the demands?"
"They didn't say anything all that dramatic. They simply broadcast the news that every force that tried to retake City Hall had been repelled. It was a thoroughly disgusting piece of propaganda—very much in character for that Sin Archbishop of 'Lust.'"
"Thanks to that, every shelter that showed its face lost its fighting spirit. Can't really blame people for finding it hard to stay fired up about retaking their own city."
Julius closed his eyes, Ricardo wrinkled his muzzle.
Hearing their answer, Subaru understood what the Witch Cult's "psychological warfare" meant.
What Capella had blasted out over the broadcast, along with the demands, was the report of Subaru and company's defeat in their early attempt to seize City Hall.
Naturally, citizens without the power to fight would be disheartened by the defeat of forces that did have fighting power. And those who could fight should soon understand the implications of the City Hall assault. They would understand the reasoning behind why Subaru had moved so quickly to strike.
They would also realize that doing so required a certain level of fighting strength, and that the operation had failed despite assembling that strength.
In other words, Capella's broadcast was nothing less than an effort to break the fangs of resistance in everyone sheltering—combatant and noncombatant alike.
"From the City Hall records, we found the locations of every shelter in the city. So we went around to the nearest ones first, in order... but you can guess the results."
Ricard made a big zero-sign with his hand, confirming Subaru's concern exactly.
This was a matter of human hearts. Subaru had no intention of blaming Ricard and the others for their failure to persuade anyone. The Witch Cult's sheer nastiness had outplayed them.
"When the will to fight is gone and the desire to resist disappears, things get even more dangerous from here."
Beside Subaru, who wore an expression of deep frustration, Anastasia touched her chin and whispered.
When Subaru looked up at her voice, Anastasia tilted her head and said, "Right?"
"If you convince yourself that fighting is pointless—that you can't win—then the option of fighting vanishes entirely from your mind. And when that happens, what kind of choice do you think people end up making?"
"Don't tell me you're expecting 'give up in despair.'"
"Huddling with their knees drawn up, sniveling pathetically—that'd be almost cute. But I don't think it'll be that simple. Just because the option to fight disappears doesn't mean the will to live disappears. When it comes to that, what other options are left?"
"No way..."
Subaru grasped the essence of what Anastasia was getting at, and a chill ran down his spine.
At the same time, what surfaced in his mind was an unbearable revulsion toward the Witch Cult for orchestrating this situation.
As if to confirm what Subaru was feeling, Anastasia clapped her hands together.
And then: "The conditions for being saved have already been laid out. In the form of demands. When that happens, people will naturally appear who try to fulfill those demands with desperate fervor. The owners of an 'artificial spirit' and the 'Tome of Wisdom.' Plus 'sacrificial lovers or married couples'—those are sure to be selected."
"You can't just expect everyone to run to extremes like that!"
"No, you're right. Some people might say they'd rather not live at the cost of someone else's sacrifice and try frantically to flee the city instead... Either way, chaos is unavoidable."
If panic spread, this fragile balance would collapse in an instant.
Subaru didn't want to imagine what the Witch Cult would do to this city once that happened. They each held the ultimate authority to wipe everything clean—to start over from nothing.
The dictator switch that could wash everything away.
"Before that happens, we just have to go around and talk to them, right? Isn't that all we can do?"
"That's not realistic."
"But seriously, isn't that conclusion way too pessimistic?"
If everyone ended up terrified by anxiety, there was a real possibility their hearts would break into panic.
If so, the only effective remedy was to offer hope.
"If we tell them we're preparing a counterattack—if we stoke hope like that—couldn't we keep panic at bay?"
"At minimum, I think we need to prepare ourselves for at least some damage. If they don't think getting involved comes at too steep a cost, those people will just get cocky all over again."
"Wait, Anastasia. I feel like the argument we're having has gone off track."
Sensing something off about the direction Anastasia was taking the conversation, Subaru twisted his lips. Anastasia let out an exasperated sigh.
"Natsuki-kun, your stance of never accepting any casualties—it's noble, but it has no grounding in reality. We've already been cut down drastically in the opening moves. There's no path to victory without pain and suffering. You know that."
"The opening and the second move... yeah. But that's different from accepting that there will be casualties from here on out. It's different from preventing a danger that might happen before it even occurs."
"If that approach leads to an overall victory, then I'm for it too. But it won't work. The only people we bring aboard are those who still have the fighting spirit to swim even if the ship goes down. ...Loading up dead weight that'll just drown when the ship sinks—that doesn't win."
"———! Winning and losing!"
"If we lose, everyone goes to the bottom of the ocean! If you can't stomach talk of winning and losing, then it's life or death! Thinking you can save everyone is too naive, Natsuki-kun!"
Subaru flared up, and Anastasia shouted right back at him.
As Subaru moved to close in on Anastasia, Julius stepped forward and extended an arm to hold him back. But Julius's gaze wasn't on Subaru—it was on Anastasia. Standing beside Subaru, Julius narrowed his eyes.
"Anastasia-sama. I understand your feelings. However, I share Subaru's position. If there is a real possibility that what you fear will come to pass, then I want to address it preemptively. Needless suffering for the citizens would be painful for you as well... It plays right into the Witch Cult's hands."
"Julius."
Julius openly contradicted his own master, standing by Subaru with righteous indignation. That attitude surprised Subaru, but at the same time, he found it reassuring.
If Julius—a man who continued to uphold the code of knighthood—was siding with his position, then Subaru must not have been saying anything wrong.
But to Julius, Anastasia stroked the fur of her scarf and said: "Oh? It's not like I'm saying I want to abandon anyone because I feel like it. I don't think everyone in the shelters will panic and run amok. I'm simply saying it's a possibility. We can't deal with every single possibility one by one."
"But..."
"You're not a child, Julius. Be sensible. We use whatever fighting strength we have and do what we can. We will absolutely make the Witch Cult pay. I'll reclaim everything within the scope of my responsibility. But the broader you make that scope, the lower the actual probability of achieving it becomes."
Julius bit his lip in frustration as Anastasia's words cut in coldly, without mercy. And those same words applied just as directly to Subaru's recklessness.
Of course, Subaru understood Anastasia's point too.
Saving one person at the cost of another—that alone was an enormously heavy thing.
Even one person saving one person couldn't be done perfectly, let alone on a wide scale. The more people involved, the further success receded, and the higher the likelihood of a bad outcome.
It was simple arithmetic that even a child could do.
The more rings you tried to juggle, the more likely you were to drop one, trip over your own feet, or find your arms could no longer hold them together.
"Let's have a discussion about how to win. If all you're going to do is whine, I don't need it right now. You understand that difference, don't you? A knight's insignia shouldn't be that cheap."
"———"
At Anastasia's probing statement, Julius shut his eyes tight.
But Subaru, watching from behind, saw his clenched arms drop and his head bow, and understood that Julius was withdrawing his objection.
However.
"Backing down here is what would really damage a knight's insignia."
"...Natsuki-kun, were you even listening? That's no different from how it was at the royal castle. You did receive your knight's commission properly, didn't you?"
"I did. I'm a knight too. And because I'm a knight, there's some things I can't budge on. Things I'm not allowed to back down from."
The more rings you juggle, the more likely you are to drop one—that much was inevitable.
But what Subaru was shouldering as a knight, and what Julius was shouldering as a knight, weren't rings. They were something far more precious.
They weren't rings that fell silently. They cried. They raged. They were human lives.
"I refuse to start out by giving up and letting that shape every move I make. I haven't been that thoroughly steeped in this world's common sense yet."
"More incomprehensible talk... During the
"Don't mess with me, Anastasia. The people who fought and died back then—they had their resolve. It's sad that people died, and they weren't exactly eager to die, but they had their resolve. Having that resolve or not—it makes all the difference."
He knew it was a convenient argument, and it might not even be logical.
But as a matter of fact, it existed. The moments when life was on the line, and the resolve that came with them.
"The people of this city have no obligation to face that resolve. Making this place a battlefield was the Witch Cult's doing. Getting jerked around by their choices is wrong."
"Even if they refuse, that cruelty will fall on people without any resolve. When that happens, won't those people need to find their own resolve too?"
"No. People who've already steeled themselves—those are the ones who should face the enemy. What a knight does is prepare for that and fight to protect those who haven't steeled themselves yet. That's what I expect of knights, and that's the cool image I accidentally sold to the village kids."
After receiving his knight's commission, getting fussed over left and right, and talking grandly about what it meant to be a knight, Subaru had naturally come to believe that.
And because the kids had looked at him with sparkling eyes while he said it, Subaru wanted to be that.
"I'm Emilia's knight. I want to fight for Emilia. But that doesn't mean I only care about protecting her and nothing else matters. Julius, you're her knight—Anastasia's. You want to fight for her more than anyone. But that alone isn't enough for you, is it? Knights are creatures of flashy bravado and insatiable greed."
"———"
"Right up until you die on the front lines, you keep up the cool act, Julius. After all, this guy is the finest knight there is. Which means he's the biggest show-off of them all."
In front of the silent Anastasia, Subaru jerked his thumb toward Julius. Julius, who had been silently listening, showed a slight waver of embarrassment.
Anastasia's stunned reaction, and Julius's response to it, were both so unusual that Subaru—despite the gravity of the situation—couldn't help the corners of his mouth twitching upward.
"Fighting with the lofty goal of defeating the bad guys, but then going into battle carrying the guilty conscience that you might have to abandon someone—that's absurd. We save everyone. We defeat everyone. Before spirit loses to reality, let's make that our decision from the start."
There was a fundamental difference between choosing to discard from the outset and simply failing to pick someone up in the end.
Writing off everything as self-satisfaction was easy enough— "For what it's worth, living for self-satisfaction might just be the most human way to live. I'm with my brother on this one."
"———!"
As Subaru overwrote naive idealism with more idealism, a third party who hadn't been part of the conversation suddenly chimed in with agreement.
Everyone startled at the voice and turned their eyes toward the City Hall entrance in unison. The person standing there squirmed uncomfortably under the collective stare.
"Hey, hey, easy with the intense staring, it's making me uncomfortable. I'm fully aware I'm not much to look at. And I'm not confident I can live up to your expectations either."
"...Al."
Grinning and gesturing innocently, the man in the jet-black helm declared himself harmless—it was Al, an acquaintance who had parted ways with them that morning at the inn and subsequently vanished without a trace.
He looked around the lobby with his usual getup and his usual demeanor, his head tilting this way and that.
"So this is the main crew holed up in City Hall? Nobody else around?"
"...Crusch's group is upstairs. What have you been doing?"
"Me? Well, the second things kicked off, I hauled ass and went into hiding. Then it seemed like things settled down a bit, so I've been scoping things out. There was that broadcast too, so I figured if I came to City Hall, I'd run into my brother or someone else who had the lay of the land."
While displaying an exasperating level of nonchalance, Al fiddled with the seams of his helm, producing metallic clicks as he answered. Even among those besides Subaru, no one could entirely suppress their displeasure.
In this situation, the irritation at someone with at least some fighting power having prioritized self-preservation was palpable.
"Don't give me that look. Was it my fault I was late to the fight? I feel bad about not being there, but that's just how the stars aligned. And even if I had been, I doubt it would've changed the outcome."
"Hey, boss. What's this guy's deal? Is he trying to pick a fight with us?"
Shrugging off Subaru's words, Garfiel was the first to reach his breaking point.
Come to think of it, Garfiel and Al had never met. When Priscilla had shown up at the inn and shattered their gathering, Garfiel hadn't been present.
In Garfiel's eyes, Al was just some strange guy showing up after the fact to spout conclusions.
"Hold on, Garfiel. He's Al. He's a knight—one of the royal selection candidates, Priscilla's. I might not have told you, but right now all five candidates are in the city..."
"Correction, brother. I'm the princess's subordinate, but I'm no knight. I'm not the sort who can claim to walk that noble path. Don't get me wrong—I'm not badmouthing you."
As Subaru tried to stop Garfiel, Al corrected him while adding another barb. That attitude finally pushed Garfiel over the edge—veins bulged on his forehead, fangs bared, ready to lunge.
"Okay, that's enough! That's enough! Keep it up and things'll get ugly, so shut it!"
Before the dispute escalated, Anastasia clapped her hands loudly and shifted the atmosphere.
She glared at Al with those round eyes.
"Showing your face out of nowhere and ruining the mood all at once—did you learn that from your master? Acting nasty will only tank your reputation. Cut it out."
"I appreciate the advice, but unfortunately, it's natural. I've built a reputation for getting on everyone's nerves as a matter of course. Breaking the other guy's rhythm was how I survived, after all."
Al grumbled while sticking a finger through the gap at his neck and scratching at the back of his head.
Anastasia sighed in response, then looked over at Subaru.
"This is getting complicated, but my policy isn't changing. We factor in that there will be casualties, and we still plan how to win. If Natsuki-kun wants to try his hardest to prevent any casualties, then he should think it through on his own. It's not like I want casualties either."
"So for now, you're not telling me to stop going around the shelters?"
"...I'm putting a time limit on it. Either way, we still need fighting strength. If there's someone capable of fighting in some shelter, we need to call on them too."
Reluctantly, Anastasia withdrew her opposition to Subaru's plan. Full approval was too much to ask. For now, he'd take it.
"Keep your communication crystal on you. We'll contact you to be back here by six hours before the deadline. After that, you can't be even a single minute late—keep that in mind."
"Speaking of which, I never heard—what time is the deadline?"
"Tonight, at the hour the date changes. ...We have roughly nine hours from now."
Julius provided the time in Anastasia's place.
If the strategy meeting was six hours before the deadline, then effectively Subaru had three hours of free time. Within that window, he needed to come up with an argument that would satisfy Anastasia.
And beyond that, he needed to find the forces and the method to defeat the Witch Cult before the deadline. Only then could the city be saved. No—that alone wasn't enough.
Retrieving Emilia. Recovering
"There's no time. Is there a map of the shelters?"
"There is. Take as many copies as you need. Cross off the ones Ricard and the 'Iron Fang' have already visited, plus the ones we're still checking on, so there's no overlap."
At Anastasia's instruction, Subaru was handed a map with the locations Ricard had visited marked off. Transferring those marks to a fresh map, it appeared the Iron Fang was prioritizing the more distant shelters first.
Given that Subaru was covering the ground on foot, having the closer ones left over was a relief.
It almost felt as though they had been deliberately left behind for that very purpose.
"Subaru, I'll come along too."
"Julius, no—that's a problem. More people is definitely better, but City Hall can't afford to lose the fighters it has."
Julius offered to accompany him, but Subaru turned him down, citing the shortage of personnel.
Ricard would be continuing his patrol outside, and Subaru planned to take Garfiel along. Wilhelm was upstairs, but asking one man to shoulder the entire building alone was too much.
On top of that, dark clouds were already looming heavily over Crusch's camp.
Hearing Subaru's answer, Julius nodded in frustration.
It was rare to see him this uncharacteristically heated, lacking his usual composure. Subaru gave his shoulder a light pat, then jerked his chin toward Garfiel.
"Garfiel, you're with me. I want to check the other shelters and find anyone who can fight. If anxiety is spreading, containing it is part of the mission too."
"...Owo, got it. Leave it to me."
Garfiel accepted Subaru's request with a beat's delay, then dipped his chin.
Having secured that, Subaru spread the map in his hands and studied which direction to start from, City Hall at the center of
What he wanted most was fighting power—and above all, news of Reinhard's safety.
"Maybe I should hit the shelters around that inn first? The princess probably wouldn't have gone any farther than that."
"That route takes us right through here... Hold on a sec."
As Al pointed at the map and brazenly tried to steer things toward his own objective, Subaru stopped him. Al tilted his head in puzzlement, and Subaru jabbed a finger at him.
"You coming with us or what?"
"I'm coming. I'd be in real trouble left alone. Can't find the princess, and that'd be bad too. If I'd known it'd come to this, I wouldn't have gone off on my own even if told to. But now that it has, I'd better find her, because the consequences will be ugly."
"...Loyal to your master, aren't you?"
A thoroughly backwards way of thinking, but more hands were purely welcome. Garfiel was making no effort to hide his displeasure at hearing Al would be joining them, but this was a time to overlook personal grievances.
And annoying as it was, Priscilla was one of the people Subaru wanted to save too.
"I saw Priscilla about fifteen minutes before the commotion started—she was at the park closest to the main street. If she's anywhere, she'd be at a shelter in that area."
"No kidding. That's huge intel, brother. Then that's where we start."
Al perked up at Subaru's report and enthusiastically slapped him on the back.
Dragging along the jubilant Al and the grim-faced Garfiel, Subaru left City Hall to go searching the shelters.
Watching his retreating back— "He really played the villain, didn't he?"
"Shut it, scarf-fox. It's not like I wasn't thinking about it too. ...If Natsuki-kun comes back and still says the same thing, then I won't even need to think about it."
Anastasia whispered with her venom entirely drained, and her scarf quivered slightly.
No one else noticed that this exchange had taken place.