If Subaru had time to think about what had gone wrong, he would have found himself thinking exactly that.
Try as he might to push the thought away, his mind kept dragging him back to that evening's sunset—the image of the silver-haired girl turning her back to him and walking away, replayed over and over again.
What had gone wrong? Every time the thought surfaced, Subaru asked himself again.
He would admit that he had gone too far with his words.
Cornered by her barrage of words, and still reeling from the physical beating he had taken before that, his mouth had produced something far removed from what he truly wanted to say. The result was a rift between the two of them.
Because the words had come out in a moment of desperation, were they nothing more than a convenient excuse?
Because they had come out in a moment of desperation, were they actually the feelings that had always wavered at the back of his heart?
Where his true feelings had lain in that moment—he could no longer tell.
For Subaru, who had been left in a daze after that parting, the next thing he remembered was being led out of the waiting room in the royal castle by
He was aware that Crusch and
Because feeling that warmth was enough to confirm that the last thread binding him to something had not yet snapped.
"——B-brother."
His consciousness, which had been drifting from recollection to recollection, was pulled back to reality by the sudden call.
A rough voice came at him head-on, and Subaru blinked, returning his senses to the present. When he focused on what was in front of him— "Do me a favor, brother. Don't go making that look on your face outside someone else's shop."
A tough-looking man with a prominent scar running vertically down his face was scowling, his brow furrowed.
Having just returned to find himself staring down such an impactful visage, Subaru slowly rubbed his eyelids with his finger, letting out a deep sigh, and said: "Hey, sir. I don't think it's great customer service to intimidate people like that."
"I ain't intimidating you! If anything, I'm worried about you! I wanted you to know just how panicked I was when I couldn't get in touch with you!"
The shopkeeper's roar came with a heavy slam of his thick arm against the counter, sending the fruit on the display bouncing wildly out of their baskets. They arced through the air toward the crowded street, about to hit the ground and be bruised or turned into sole-stains— "You shouldn't treat food so carelessly."
Rem descended lightly into the space in front of the shop, her skirt billowing with the fluid motion. With a deft pinch, she had already gathered the falling fruit inside her apron, catching them softly and retrieving them before they hit the ground.
Kadomon let out a breath of relief laced with admiration for her acrobatic feat. When Rem offered the recovered fruit back to him, he waved his hand dismissively: "Oh, you're a lifesaver, miss. That's why I ain't got nothin' mean to say. You should stop hanging around with that scary-looking broad of yours. You'll end up miserable."
"Hey, hey, hey, hey—what are you saying? What are you saying?! The one who saved your merchandise from getting wrecked is my companion here! Now, how about a word of gratitude?!"
"The one who caused them to almost get wrecked in the first place was you. Besides, that ain't what I was gettin' at."
Rearranging the fruit back onto the display shelf and folding his thick arms, the shopkeeper snorted and looked between Subaru and the girl standing beside him: "That ain't the same girl you brought last time, is it? The one before was... ah, for some reason I don't remember her that well, but the fact that I don't remember means this one's cuter, right? What a fickle little thing—you're headed straight for hell, you know that?"
"What are you on about, sir? You think a man and a woman can't have a friendship or something? Don't go attaching romantic implications to everything. And besides, first of all..."
He had been about to ask why Kadomon didn't remember
As Subaru fell silent with a strange look on his face, Kadomon took the opportunity to lean toward Rem and whisper: "See? That's the kind of unrepentant attitude he's got. You're gonna have a hard time being in love with a guy like that."
"Thank you for your concern. ...But Rem is doing this because she wants to."
Blushing, Rem cast a brief sidelong glance to check on Subaru. The heat in that gaze made Kadomon realize that any further words would be in poor taste, and he retreated with a resigned shrug.
But before long, his eyes went wide, and with a "that said" preface, he went on: "Setting all the romance stuff aside, my opinion hasn't changed that he's a dangerous guy? ...The way he snuck into the castle hidden in a cargo shipment and forced his way in—I can only think of him as someone with a death wish."
Lost in the bustle of the crowd, the words would have been inaudible to anyone else at normal volume. But mindful of how heavy the content was, Kadomon deliberately lowered his voice.
Hearing those words, Subaru felt something bitter rise in his chest and scratched his head awkwardly as he began to make excuses: "Ahhh... as for that, I'm sorry... or rather, I suppose I might have thought that at some point, or something along those lines."
"So which is it—you're sorry or you're not?"
"I'm sorry. And for not coming to report right away afterward."
"That too."
Kadomon looked down at the back of Subaru's bowed head, exhaling his anger with his breath. With the expression of a man at his wit's end, he said: "Old man
"Honestly, since you actually did something wrong, you should just come clean and let them look down on you for it, you smuggler."
"Shut it, mastermind."
Subaru's cool demeanor completely erasing his previous contrite tone, the shopkeeper clicked his tongue. Then, tracing the scar on his face with a finger, he said: "That day, there was a pretty huge commotion at the castle. Thanks to all that uproar, the fact that you two committed petty theft never came to light. You got lucky."
"Yeah, that's right. Thanks to that, I got to see just how full of holes that castle's security is. Next time, let's aim for the treasury and go for the big job, boss."
"I ain't helping you again! Next time, just get caught and beheaded!"
The shopkeeper stuck out his tongue and made a throat-slashing gesture. Subaru waved his hand dismissively, saying "scary, scary," then let his expression sober as he caught on to the part about "huge commotion."
"Oh, right. So has the whole election thing spread throughout the kingdom by now?"
"Of course it has. For the people of this kingdom, it's not some distant affair they can just sit back and watch. They're choosing the next king. This isn't just about the next few years—it's the tide that will carry forward four hundred years of the kingdom's history. Every corner of the country is buzzing about it."
Kadomon's voice took on a fevered quality as he responded. Then, with a "look here," he turned his head and guided Subaru's gaze. In the direction he indicated, standing tall among the market streets, was an enormous billboard-like structure.
"Well, you probably can't read it unless it's the letter 'I.'"
"What? You're so uncultured. Hey, can you at least read the sign for my shop?"
"I get the feeling there's a pictographic character close to 'I' on it, but the handwriting's too messy to read."
"You're full of it. This stylish, stylized script is all the rage these days."
"For someone still in the process of learning characters, that's a tall order. Someday, once I've properly mastered the 'I-Ro-Ha' of this world's writing system, I'll make gal script the next big thing."
Subaru's ambition to conquer the history of written language.
What was needed was the ability to perceive characters not as characters but as a single image, like a picture. Or perhaps a cognitive ability to blur the line between reality and fantasy. He was fairly confident in the latter, at least.
Anyway— "So what does the sign actually say?"
"I've told you the headline a dozen times. 'Royal Selection: Begins.'"
When Subaru grimaced at the vague answer, Kadomon waved his hand and said "Fine, fine—let me just read it for you then. Miss, mind watching the shop for a moment?"
"Understood."
Without a moment's protest, Rem smoothly slid inside as Kadomon stepped out from the side of the store onto the street. Subaru, feeling only bewilderment at how seamlessly that exchange had gone, shook his head: "Don't just casually hand the shop over to an amateur like that. And Rem, don't just accept it so smoothly!"
"It's just a matter of reading the price on the tag, collecting payment, and giving change. Besides, there are hardly any customers anyway."
"He finally admitted it out loud!"
Led by the now openly carefree-faced shopkeeper, Subaru stepped away from the shop with Rem's figure behind him and made his way into the throng. Crossing the street where people of all manner and size mingled, they arrived beneath the towering billboard that stood even higher above Kadomon's already tall frame.
A crowd of people who had stopped for the same reason as Subaru stood in a line before them, their eyes scanning the text. Subaru craned his neck behind them and, though he couldn't read it, followed along the characters: "It says the news of the Royal Selection's start, and a summary of what it entails. They'll choose the next king before the Divine Dragon Ceremony three years from now, then proceed with the subsequent rituals. There's also a brief rundown of the candidates."
Subaru's interest had been flagging since the information was nothing he didn't already know, but the word "candidates" caught his attention.
His brow twitched in surprise. Kadomon, noticing, nodded with understanding: "Looks like the candidates interest you. There are five candidates in total for the Royal Selection. The two most well-known names are Duchess
"Are they famous?"
"She's a duchess, isn't she? Anyone living in the capital who doesn't know her name would be hard-pressed to find a good reason why. And as for the Hoshin Trading Company, there's no merchant worth his salt who hasn't heard of them. The fact that their representative is a young woman is also a famous rumor, whether it's true or not."
As Kadomon answered while touching his scar, Subaru naturally pictured the two figures mentioned in his mind.
Crusch, with her sharp, sword-like presence and dignified bearing.
And Anastasia, whose light purple hair and pronounced Kansai dialect were almost too distinctive. That the latter was indeed the woman from the rumors was something Subaru, who had seen her firsthand, could confirm. Though thinking of Ferris's precedent, one could never be absolutely certain of anything in this world.
"Well, even if they stack the tomboy bracket, there's a lack of rarity there, so probably no character overlap."
"I don't know what you're agreeing with, but... as it stands, these two are the main contenders. Personally, between the two, I'd say Crusch-sama from the Karsten family—a pillar of the kingdom—has the edge over Anastasia, who came from another country."
"She was called the frontrunner, yeah."
Though, that had surely shifted quite a bit based on the candidates' own declarations that followed.
In any case, the fact that her position and her family's lineage served as powerful backing was undeniable. From the perspective of the common folk who hadn't heard her speech, having her ascend to the throne without incident would be the least disruptive outcome—that much was an unshakable truth.
"So the frontrunner is Crusch-san. The main rival is Anastasia-san... In that case, where would the long shot be?"
"You sure know some old-fashioned expressions. The long shot... that's a tough one, but excluding the two we just mentioned, the other three are practically unknown."
Reading out the names Priscilla,
On that point, Subaru would have fully agreed if he hadn't known the details.
A duchess who was head of her house, a young and capable trading company president, a minor noble from an obscure branch whose name hardly rang any bells, and two remaining candidates whose family names were murky at best.
This information alone was unkind to the citizens watching the Royal Selection unfold.
It was just as Subaru was thinking this— "That said... having a half-elf among the candidates is just plain insane."
Kadomon narrowed his eyes, his lips curling with distaste, and spoke with a rough edge to his voice.
For an instant, the undisguised unpleasantness in his attitude stopped Subaru's thoughts cold. But once the content of his words sank in— "A half-elf, you say..."
"The candidates' backgrounds are listed to some degree, and apparently there's a half-elf named Emilia among them. This is no joke."
"Is being a half-elf a problem?"
"Oh, oh—save the jokes for only when you're being reckless, will you?"
Shrugging and shaking his head, Kadomon reacted dramatically to Subaru's question: "It's not exactly a secret, but half-elves are treated as outcasts wherever they go. In the capital you might spot demi-humans from time to time—lizardmen, hobbits—but elves are rare. And when it comes to a half-elf, they're despised by both sides of their mixed blood. That's just how it is."
Correcting Subaru's ignorance as if it were the most natural thing in the world, the shopkeeper continued without noticing Subaru's silence, glaring bitterly at the text on the billboard: "For people in high positions to have decided this, it's a pretty stupid business. Of all things, a half-elf... No, a half-demon—how can the kingdom entrust itself to that?"
"Half-demon..."
"That's what they call half-elves. A fitting name for someone related to the
Looking down at Subaru, seeking his agreement, the shopkeeper found that Subaru could not respond. Those words had struck Subaru with an enormous shock.
Subaru had, to a considerable degree, held this scarred shopkeeper in good regard.
The fact that he had been one of the first people Subaru properly spoke to on the day of his summoning contributed to that, as did the man's character as revealed through their subsequent interactions. He was someone with whom conversation flowed easily, and a good fellow who was easy to approach.
That such words of contempt for another person could come so casually from his mouth was surprising. And not just any contempt—it was a slander against someone Subaru could not simply brush aside.
"Not everyone has some connection to the Witch, you know."
"Huh?"
"Don't lump them all together just because they're half-elves. Don't write someone off on your own. That Emilia girl—she might be, like, genuinely... thinking about the good of the country or something. She might be a really amazing person."
The words tumbled out in a rush, fragmented but earnest. Kadomon furrowed his brow suspiciously and held up a palm: "I don't know what you're worked up about, but don't go around defending a half-demon. You never know who might be listening."
"Now who's being needlessly paranoid. Walls have ears and Marys have eyes—you've got the very girl we're talking about right behind you who could go 'wham' any second. Correct yourself."
Mixing up "Mary" and "Mary" in his muddled speech, Subaru drew only a weary sigh from Kadomon, who pressed his hand to his forehead: "That's why I said stop. I'll admit my words went too far. See? I'm apologizing."
"...Tch."
The apology didn't feel entirely sincere, but Subaru took it as a place to stand down and sheathed his verbal blade. However, as Subaru withdrew, Kadomon continued: "Think what you want, but a half-elf becoming king is impossible."
"You can't just—I don't—! Why not? Is it because of the Witch of Envy? Just because that Witch happened to be a half-elf, does that mean all half-elves are dangerous?!"
"—That's right."
For Subaru, who had been channeling his frustration into restarting the argument, the voice that answered was unexpectedly cold.
A single word affirming his outcry—it came from Kadomon, and the heat in Subaru's chest was doused. His throat went tight as he looked up at the scarred face.
And in Kadomon's eyes, which now met Subaru's head-on, there was an unmistakable expression of dread.
"Fearing the Witch—that's only natural, a universal understanding shared by everyone. I don't know how ignorant you are, but for most people, that alone is more than enough reason to shun them."
Listen, Kadomon said, speaking as if instructing the now-silent Subaru: "The Witch—the Witch of Envy—was by all accounts a monster on an entirely different scale. Four hundred years ago, half the continent was swallowed by the Witch's shadow. Countless renowned heroes, even wyverns, fell before her. If not for the Divine Dragon's power and the Sword Saint of that era, the world would have been destroyed."
Subaru caught several key words he couldn't ignore, but he could not tear his eyes from Kadomon's trembling pupils. The shopkeeper's lips quivered as he continued: "And yet, the true nature of the Witch who did all that remains a complete mystery. What we know is that she was a silver-haired half-elf. Communication was impossible—words couldn't reach her, and understanding her intentions was out of the question. She simply rampaged as if everything other than herself was unbearably loathsome, destroying, killing, and consuming without end."
Subaru already knew the broad strokes of this information from picture books.
But in Kadomon's tone, laced with negative emotion, there was a raw, lived feeling that no amount of plain text could ever convey.
It wasn't just the picture books—these stories of the Witch must have been passed down through oral tradition among relatives and neighbors for generations. The tale changed in its particulars depending on who told it, but it always converged on the same ending.
Which was: "A Witch of unknowable nature, terrifying beyond measure. If that's the case, how could anyone stand not to distance themselves from even the little that is known?"
"So you discriminate against half-elves because of that?"
"At the very least, it's true that a lot of half-demons have twisted personalities. ...Though whether that's something innate or a product of their environment, I honestly couldn't say."
Kadomon's grimace, as though biting into something bitter, offered a glimpse of his own internal struggle in response to Subaru's strained words.
It had been a short acquaintance, but Subaru believed that Kadomon was, at his core, a good man. He himself understood that what he had said wasn't logically sound. It was just that the emotions that arose at the thought of "the Witch" would not allow any rebuttal to that logic.
"Most people would agree with me. Nobody's going to go out of their way to side with a half-demon and swing votes away from the other candidates. That's just the common-sense way to think."
"————"
In the shopkeeper's attempt to forcefully wrap up the conversation, Subaru felt through his skin the truth of what Emilia had pleaded for at the Royal Selection.
Being a half-elf. It was an inescapable fate for her—a chain of iron that would never allow her to stand at the same starting point as anyone else.
As long as the Witch existed, Emilia would continue to wear her heritage as a shackle.
And that was an unjust obstacle in and of itself, one she was powerless to change.
"That's how things are perceived, and there's no winning from the start. I don't know who decided to prop her up... what a stupid thing to do."
Folding his arms, Kadomon let his dissatisfaction show. His anger this time was directed not at Emilia the candidate, but at whoever had placed her on a palanquin with no chance of winning.
The sentiment did demonstrate his inherent goodness, but as long as his deep-seated prejudice against half-elves remained, it offered little comfort.
Kadomon had called Subaru ignorant. Ignorant of the history of oppression that half-elves had endured, and of the Witch's tyranny that had given rise to it.
But Subaru thought.
What nonsense, Subaru thought.
It was true that Subaru was a walking encyclopedia of ignorance when it came to this world's history. When it came to the Witch's atrocities as well, he could probably barely imagine anything beyond the words on the page.
How deeply the Witch was feared by the people—and conversely, what the half-elves, shaped by that hostile environment, thought of humans—he could empathize with none of it.
But— "——That's enough, villain."
That clear, silver-bell voice had, at that time, shaken Subaru's eardrums with tremendous force.
When he had been crawling on the ground of an alleyway, crushed by pain and humiliation, on the verge of fading away—it was she who had reached out a hand of salvation, and she had harbored not a shred of doubt about her own actions.
Subaru did not know this world's history.
Subaru did not know the history of the half-elves.
Subaru did not know how terrifying the Witch of Envy truly was.
But he knew Emilia.
He knew that the stubborn, endlessly kind girl with silver hair—the girl who acted without regard for her own benefit—had absolutely no connection to the "Witch of Envy."
He knew that despite what should have been an unkind upbringing, she was someone with the heart to be kind to others.
No matter how harsh this world had been to her, Subaru alone— "Do you truly know her?"
Without warning, that question crept into his thoughts.
The unsettling quality of the voice that had passed through his mind made Subaru catch his breath and blink.
The voice was questioning whether the answer he had been approaching was truly correct. He turned back, thought, and shouted in anger at the voiceless voice: What's wrong with you?
But— "Do you truly know her?"
The pure, inquisitive voice left Subaru unable to answer with the certainty he wanted.
The distorted sensation of his inner voice being blocked. It was a seemingly simple yet terribly difficult act—a contradiction in itself, the act of deceiving one's own heart.
The moment he failed to respond clearly to the voice of doubt, Subaru realized that the voice was none other than his own.
The voice repeated in his own words: "Do you truly know her?"
I know her—he tried to cry out, but his throat, still in the midst of deceiving its own heart, would not permit even a tremor.
Subaru did not know how she had lived.
Subaru did not know what she was thinking as she aimed for the throne.
Subaru did not know what she thought of those who equated her with the Witch.
Subaru did not want to know what she thought of him.
"——Hey, you alright, brother?"
"Huh?"
When he came to, a startled face was peering down at him. Subaru jerked back instinctively, leaning away to create some distance: "Wh-what...? Don't just appear right in front of my face like that, it takes years off my life."
"That's a terrible thing to say! I got worried because you suddenly had that look in your eyes! What, is that some kind of chronic condition?"
"Every person carries within their heart a miniature garden they call delusion. People eventually forget the importance of that place, but very rarely there are adults who never forget their little garden. I happen to be one of those people."
"So you've got a nasty case of something, got it. Come on, let's go back to the shop."
The shopkeeper, deciding he'd had enough of Subaru's deflecting humor, turned and began pushing through the crowd back toward the store. Following that sturdy, leading back, Subaru became keenly aware that his own was drenched in cold sweat.
What emotion, exactly, had produced that sweat?
Discovering the answer felt particularly unpleasant, and Subaru's steps were heavy. Then— "Oh, and this might be unnecessary, but..."
Walking ahead without looking back, Kadomon spoke in a voice so quiet it barely reached Subaru's ears: "Stop saying the word 'Witch' out in the open on the street. Me included... you never know who might be listening, or where."
It was not simply a rehash of their earlier conversation.
The gravity in Kadomon's tone made Subaru accept this with a silent nod.
Understanding his intent, Kadomon added no further words.
Just one parting phrase, delivered in a halting manner: "Whoever, wherever..."
—That was the last thing he said, and it lingered.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ A heavy atmosphere hung between Subaru and Kadomon as they walked back.
Honestly, Subaru had not been able to sort out the emotions churning in his chest, and Kadomon, for his part, seemed to regret having gotten so heated in his argument with Subaru.
Thus, the two made their way back through the crowd in silence and arrived at Kadomon's shop.
"——Welcome back. The last customer just left."
Rem answered as she finished handing over merchandise and change with a polite bow, seeing the customer out. Kadomon stood frozen, mouth agape.
And there, right before his dumbfounded eyes, was a row of display shelves completely emptied of merchandise.
Rem, left in charge of the shop, had not gone on a rampage handing out free fruit to passersby shouting "Take it, it's all free!" That much was clear from the basket of payment sitting heavy with coins.
In other words— "My... my shop's average daily sales... in this short time..."
Confronted with a fact he did not want to accept, Kadomon covered his face with his hand and trembled.
As for Rem, she returned the shopkeeper position with a fluid grace, slipped outside, and bounded to Subaru's side. Leaning toward him and looking up with a cheerful expression: "How was that, Subaru-kun? Rem's versatility, right? I heard you were Subaru-kun's benefactor, so I thought I'd at least try to be of some use. ...You can praise me, you know?"
Rem's skirt swayed as she peered at Subaru with one eye, her manner speaking louder than her words. Comparing her with Kadomon, who sat in the shop unable to accept reality, Subaru noticed that his chest felt slightly lighter.
Whether that was from relief at seeing Rem back to her usual self, or from a petty satisfaction at seeing the shopkeeper so thoroughly shaken, he couldn't tell— "Either way, it's thanks to you, no question."
Reaching out to the blue hair offered to him, Subaru ran his fingers through the familiar texture and gently patted her head.
Rem closed her eyes in comfort, savoring the sensation of his palm, her cheeks flushing red with a blissful expression as she let out a strangely sultry "Mmm."
Watching the two of them from behind, Kadomon traced the scar on his face with his finger, still unable to let it go: "I guess it really was the size that mattered after all..."
—Murmuring an excuse for his business woes that came far, far too late.