Subaru had ridden in a dragon carriage exactly four times — a number small enough to count on one hand.
Twice for the round trips between the royal capital and the mansion. Once more when he'd been carried to the mansion after being cut down by Elsa's fangs on the day of his summoning, though he'd been unconscious for that one.
And the fourth occasion — "Using one of those cargo-hauling dragon carriages to sneak into the castle on Kadomon's wicked little scheme… that makes four."
He recalled the memory in vivid, fishy detail — crammed into the cargo bed for his illicit infiltration. Every memory he had of that castle was nothing but an accumulation of wretched recollections, but it was precisely that experience which had given him the idea this time.
In other words, if there was no legitimate shop that rented out dragon carriages — "Then I just need to borrow one from someone who already uses a dragon carriage as their primary means of transport."
Even Kadomon, the fruit shop owner whose business was going nowhere in the capital, had handled a dragon carriage. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered Kadomon saying it was a shared carriage among the shopkeepers in that district. It wasn't unlikely that itinerant merchants without their own shops would be pulling dragon carriages of their own.
"In fact, I've passed by dragon carriages countless times on that street full of open-air vendors. Back in my light novel days, merchants who hadn't set up shop yet were either working as porters or pulling carts on trading routes — that was the basic setup, wasn't it?"
And this line of thinking was affirmed by the innkeeper, who nodded with understanding.
According to him, there were indeed a few people in this village who kept dragon carriages for private use.
Their existence kept Subaru's fading hope flickering. But — "Earth dragons are indispensable to their livelihoods, and for itinerant merchants, they're quite literally a lifeline. I expect the negotiations will be相当 difficult," the innkeeper said, carefully conveying that this was the kind of proposal that would hit a wall.
However, this was the only option Subaru had left. So he shook off the innkeeper's concern — "No — either way, I've got to try. Just tell me which houses have dragon carriages."
And that was how he chose negotiation as his path forward.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ — And yet, those negotiations proved to be every bit as difficult as the innkeeper had warned.
First, the households that actually ran shops in the village and used their dragon carriages for sourcing, trading with other villages, and the like flatly refused any unscheduled use of their carriages. For them, the dragon carriage was a business tool — not something you lent to a stranger on a whim. On top of that, not a single one of them was crazy enough to set aside their daily operations to accompany Subaru on his journey.
And after being rejected by every last one of those shop-owning candidates, things grew even more difficult with the itinerant merchants who conducted their trade with their own dragon carriages.
In Subaru's mind, these merchants — whose selling point was their light-footed mobility — should have been perfect candidates for this kind of request.
"The Mathers domain, you say? Sorry, but nobody's heading there anytime soon."
That was what the tall, gaunt man said before cutting the negotiation short. He was a figure who matched his carriage — a hooded cargo wagon drawn by two slender earth dragons as thin as their owner. When Subaru tried to press on, the man regarded him with his reptilian gaze and added: "And I hate to break it to you, but it's not just me who'd say no. In my case it's purely a cargo issue, but still—"
"Cargo?"
"My shipment's all iron goods — weapons, armor, that sort. Word is prices in the royal capital have gone through the roof. By tomorrow I'll need to have my dragon carriage in overdrive to get in on the action."
He gave the wagon a light pat as he spoke, his gaze drifting toward the setting sun — which was probably in the direction of the royal capital — with a faraway look.
Noticing Subaru had fallen silent, he scratched his head and continued: "Besides — the reason Fleur is this prosperous at this scale is because it's a hub for people like me who stop over on their way to and from the capital. So there should be quite a few people you could negotiate with… but they've all turned you down, haven't they?"
"…Yeah. You're the sixth one."
Subaru reported the result with a grimace, biting his lip in frustration.
In truth, potential candidates who met the prerequisites for negotiation were scattered throughout the village. As the man had said, that was because this village sat along the highway to the royal capital. Subaru had seized on this happy miscalculation and brought his proposal to them with great enthusiasm — "But right now, everybody and their brother's been heading nonstop to the capital. Can't be helped. After all, that whole Royal Selection business is stirring things up. All anyone can smell is the scent of gold."
"So that's how it is, huh…"
Listening to the man, Subaru once again tasted the bitter lesson of his own shortsightedness. Push it to its logical conclusion — why do itinerant merchants go on the road in the first place? They weren't just merchants who happened to move around. Their light-footedness was the vitality needed to leap at money-making opportunities, and the cargo they hauled was what connected that effort to profit at their destination. That was why they endured the hardship of transport.
And now, with the Royal Selection — a matter that had the entire kingdom buzzing — right in front of them, no itinerant merchant in their right mind would let a business opportunity in the capital slip by.
Seeing Subaru deflate under the weight of his own naivety, the man — perhaps feeling a bit sorry for the waning spark of hope — rubbed his sharp aquiline nose thoughtfully.
"On top of all that, there are some nasty rumors swirling around the Mathers domain right now. Even if the capital deal fell through, nobody'd want to go there."
"Nasty rumors… could those be connected to the Royal Selection too?"
"Just the usual whispers and hearsay. Something about a half-elf being a candidate, and someone supporting her… The Royal Selection's still at the stage where rumors are running wild. You heard about it?"
"…No, I'm not really sure about it either."
Subaru lied on instinct, deflecting the question. The man didn't seem to have expected much — he just went "Oh, okay," accepting it without particular disappointment.
Glancing at him, Subaru felt viscerally how vicious a cycle
"Hey, cheer up. I just thought of someone who might take you up on your offer."
" — ! Really?! I was practically on the verge of giving up just now, man!"
"No idea what that meant, but I'm serious. I'll go get him."
With that, the man casually clapped Subaru's shoulder and jogged down the road. Subaru followed him to a shop barely within sight and looked up at its sign.
"…I think those might be drinking-establishment characters?"
He wasn't entirely sure, but some of the characters carved into it used the "Loga script" he'd just started learning, so he could more or less make them out. Furthermore, from beyond the double-door entrance, faint fumes of alcohol wafted outward — suspect, given that it was still broad daylight. Anyone still holed up in there at this hour was making him question their character.
Still, the man had burst in with such confidence that the person Subaru needed must be inside.
"What if he drags out some alcoholic wreck with a serious dependency problem… Is it normal in this world to drive a dragon carriage while drinking?"
Were there things like DUI charges or license suspensions here? Or maybe the concept of a dragon carriage license didn't even exist yet. If the person who emerged turned out to be some hard-faced, booze-soaked freelancer type, Subaru quietly resolved to scatter a handful of gold coins and make a run for it.
And just as he steeled himself for that grim outcome, the door opened.
"Hey — I told you to wait. What are you doing coming over here?"
The gaunt man said this with a deflated expression as he stepped out, laughing. He was reaching back into the shop, apparently dragging someone along by the sleeve.
Craning to peer inside, Subaru shifted his gaze in that direction.
"I mean, I went through all the trouble of begging — if I made you walk over here too, I'd be the rude one. …So, this is the guy?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's him. Here — Otto, introduce yourself."
Roughly pulled along by the man's arm, the person who stepped before Subaru was a young man with grey hair.
He was slightly shorter than Subaru and slender of build. A year or two older, perhaps around twenty. With straight posture and a composed expression, his refined features could have passed for a sweet-faced pretty boy — but — "I'm
He'd been about to start the negotiation on a friendly note, but the wave of alcohol fumes that hit him knocked him out cold. The thick, concentrated stench — enough to make his stomach threaten to reverse course — was emanating from the gloomy-looking young man right in front of him.
As expected — no, worse than expected, the man was thoroughly drunk. He stumbled the few paces to Subaru on unsteady legs, somehow managing to plant himself in front of him.
"Helloooo, I was introduced to youuu, I'm Otto and…euugh, nice to meet you. Ugh. Hic. Ugh."
He burped three times during a greeting that took all of five seconds.
The young man who'd introduced himself as Otto, his flushed reddish face at odds with his otherwise neat features, looked back and forth between Subaru and the gaunt man.
"Soooo, what was it again? A business deal? Was it a business deeeal? Ugh, a business deal for me, ugh, ahaha, ugh — that's a laughable proposition, isn't it, uuuugh?"
He crouched down and, for reasons Subaru couldn't fathom, burst into laughter.
Feeling his last hope die with a final whimper, Subaru shot a resentful glare at the man who'd made the introduction. The man raised both hands in a hurry.
"Wait, wait, wait — I didn't scam you or anything!"
"If you're seriously recommending this guy, I'm questioning your judgment on a fundamental level. This goes beyond DUI arrest territory. At this rate, you'd get stopped just for walking."
The man he'd been introduced to wasn't merely tipsy — he was annihilated. Subaru's suspicion was entirely justified.
The man, seemingly accepting that, roughly shook Otto's shoulders while the man was still crouched on the ground.
"Otto! Hey, wake up, you bastard! You were the one who said if there was a one-shot comeback move to change your situation, you wanted me to introduce you, right?! You gonna let it go to waste because of booze, huh?!"
"One-shot comeback move — !?"
A twitch. The dead-fish look in Otto's eyes suddenly shifted. He brushed off the man's hand from his shoulder, and with a gesture that made his previous drunkenness seem like a lie, he rose to his feet.
"My sincerest apologies for that display. My name is
The crisp, sharp look on Otto's face was the kind that practically made a sound effect.
Subaru was speechless at the transformation. Otto scrutinized Subaru from head to toe, let out a quiet "Hmm," and then — "I see — you're someone of at least moderate standing. This could indeed be a valuable customer. Thank you, Ketty."
"Yeah, yeah. So — deal looks like it'll go through now, right? Well then, I'll take my leave. If you run into me sometime, give me some business. Otto — you owe me one."
Seeing that Otto's behavior was more than sufficient to dispel any suspicion, the man let out a performative sigh of relief, gave a wave, and departed.
Subaru called out words of gratitude after his retreating back, then turned back to face the young man. The Otto who gazed at him now — sizing him up, head to toe — showed not a trace of the drowning-in-alcohol aura from moments ago.
"Now then, let's begin the negotiation. — What is it that the customer is looking for?"
Otto clapped his hands, raised a finger, broke into a full smile, and posed the question.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "I'd be willing to take it on, yes."
Those were the words Otto spoke once Subaru had finished explaining the situation in broad strokes, glossing over a fair number of details.
Introduced by the merchant called Ketty, Subaru had held only the faintest expectation that he might not be turned down outright. So he was genuinely stunned by the immediate willingness.
But the moment he grasped the implications of the response, Subaru seized both of Otto's hands with all his strength.
"Th-thank you! So you'll do it? That helps — seriously, that helps so much!"
"Ow! Ow ow ow! H-hey, you're way too strong! W-wait a moment! I'm glad you're pleased, but there are conditions on my end too!"
Otto's voice rose as Subaru shook his arms up and down, and Subaru finally let go. Opening and closing his now-free hands, Subaru tilted his head.
"Conditions?"
Otto shook out his hands lightly, wincing slightly as he said: "I'll be using my dragon carriage — or rather, my lifeline — for this, so I can't just take it on lightly. Naturally, I can't accept it at the rate of a regular rental service. Especially heading into the Mathers domain right now, there are all sorts of risk factors."
"Of course — that's only natural. I'm not in a position to say 'name your price,' but…"
Subaru glanced down at the bag in his hand, unable to fathom what Otto might ask for. At minimum, if the fee exceeded what remained in his possession, he was finished. Even setting that aside, he couldn't just agree if some kind of trade condition was thrown at him.
Seeing Subaru's wariness show on his face, Otto closed one eye and — "Let's see, then. How about… all the money you have?"
He raised both hands in a shrug, delivering the line with a theatrical, almost playful flourish.
This was the opening move in any negotiation — the first step to sizing up the other party. From there, you'd seize the pace and steer the conversation where you wanted it to go. His intent to do just that gleamed bright in his keen eyes.
And so the battle of words — tongue against tongue, rhetoric against rhetoric — was supposed to begin — "Is that enough? Got it. Then I'm leaving this bag with you. Can we depart immediately?"
—that is what was supposed to happen.
But Subaru simply held out the bag without hesitation. Otto stared in disbelief and, almost involuntarily, took it. Feeling the substantial weight settle into both arms, he swallowed hard, then turned his trembling gaze on Subaru.
"W-wait, that's not how this works!? Normally, this is where we'd start a back-and-forth to narrow down each other's demands!? You can't just hand it over that easily…"
"It'd be a waste of time, and I'd lose the debate anyway. So I'm not going to fight a battle I can't win — and if settling it with the bag's contents works for me, that's exactly what I'd want."
Worst case, he'd lose everything in the bag and still fail to accomplish his goal. Thinking that through, if he could buy a round-trip ticket with all the money he had, that was a bargain.
Otto, overwhelmed by Subaru's decisiveness, pressed his hand to his forehead.
"This might… be a far more troublesome client than I was led to believe…"
"Relax. Personally, I'm not planning to cause trouble for anyone. At least, in my heart."
That statement carried zero persuasive force — something that neither Subaru himself nor Otto, who had known him for all of five minutes, could possibly fail to realize.
"Fine. I put out my conditions for taking the job, and you accepted on the spot. As a merchant, I have my pride. No matter how modest the payment, I'll see it through — UGH!? Wh-what is this, this much money!? How can you just casually produce something like this — ughhpbh…"
Subaru ignored Otto, who had checked the bag's contents and was dry-heaving as though reminded of something traumatic. He clenched his fist before the opportunity he'd finally seized.
A variety of obstacles still stood in Subaru's path, but all of them could be overcome somehow. He still didn't know what lay ahead that blocked Emilia's path, but if he could stand at her side, he'd figure it out. And he was certain that he, Subaru, could find a way to deal with it.
"Just hold on — it'll be soon… it'll be soon."
The corners of Subaru's mouth clearly curved into a smile.
Whether it had been born from the certainty that his goal was within reach, or from a vision of the beloved girl he yearned to see — even he himself, unaware that he was smiling, could not tell.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Then, let me confirm the contract details. The destination is the Mathers domain, territory of Margrave
"The guy whose eyes lit up seeing gold coins doesn't get to complain. Please — my future is riding on this."
"Mine's currently at stake in several different locations at once, I'd think."
Otto spoke while guiding the earth dragon that kicked up the earth and surged forward under his command of the reins.
Otto's dragon carriage was the large, hooded cargo type, and the earth dragon pulling it was correspondingly powerful and massive. Its heavy-set appearance had Subaru worried about speed, but — "That's offset by its endurance. Among the breeds used for long-distance travel, this one has particularly superior stamina. It won't falter even after three days of continuous running."
"Run it for three days and the humans riding it will be the ones who collapse."
"About two years ago, I once pushed one to its limit to avoid missing a certain business deal. Humans are surprisingly capable when they've got death in mind. I collapsed right after the deal closed and spent the next week hovering between life and death, but—"
"When they've got death in mind, huh."
Subaru glanced at Otto from the corner of his eye. Noticing the look, Otto tilted his head as if to ask "What?" Subaru waved off the silent question and, looking down at the galloping earth dragon, changed the subject.
"Anyway, if that's the case, we don't need to swap out this one along the way. So we can pass straight through that village — Hanumas, right?"
"That's right. As a relay point, Hanumas is more capable than Fleur, but if we're well-stocked with water and food and have our own dragon carriage, there's no reason to stop. The assignment calls for express delivery, so we'll pass through without stopping."
Though the entire plan was essentially made up on the fly, Otto's composed manner of speaking carried not a shred of uncertainty. To him, this was just one of many routes he'd traveled countless times. It shouldn't have been any different at his age, yet he somehow carried a gravity that didn't match his youthful appearance.
And yet, this very person had agreed to Subaru's reckless request. The reward, certainly, was a factor — but Subaru still found himself wondering.
"Hey — why did you agree to my request? The fact that you were that wasted is still a mystery in itself."
"You, uh — you don't pull any punches with the hard-hitting questions, do you, Natsuki-san?"
Otto's face twisted into an expression that was more grimace than wry smile.
It was a rare thing — Subaru adjusting his posture for someone who used his surname, something that had happened only a handful of times since arriving in this world. And as he reflected, not for the first time, on his own abysmal communication skills for having blurted out such a blunt question — "Well — if I've already asked, there's no taking it back. So I might as well lay my cards on the table."
"You say that so casually. …Well, to match that energy, I'll keep it brief too — I made a bit of a blunder due to a mix-up of information."
Sighing at Subaru's brazenly shameless attitude, Otto began to explain, in his halting way, the cause of the disgraceful scene at the bar.
The word "blunder" had Subaru furrowing his brow. Otto turned his head toward the cargo bed behind them.
"That cargo bed over there is packed with my shipment for this trip. — Any idea what's inside?"
"…At a glance, it looks like a bunch of pots lined up. Were you heading out to peddle ceramics?"
"Close — but no. A merchant's goods are defined by what's inside, not outside. Those pots are filled to the brim with oil. The plan was to bring them north to
Otto shrugged and let out a self-deprecating laugh at his own miscalculation.
"I imagine it's because of the Royal Selection. The border crossing into Gusteko — a northern country — has been temporarily shut down. When I realized the goods were unsellable, I fought to push through, but… well, they turned me back."
The oil, which was supposed to have fetched a handsome price in frigid Gusteko, had been rejected. He'd had no choice but to try to unload it somewhere within Lugnica. To make matters worse, the iron goods Otto had been trading to acquire the oil — which had been fetching next to nothing for a while — were now in huge demand. Talk about adding insult to injury.
He'd missed the chance to sell the iron goods at a premium, and the market he'd gained for his oil had evaporated. The drinking binge had been nothing more than despair-fueled self-destruction.
"I can't just offload this much oil in the capital easily either… If I tried to sell at a rock-bottom price, that really would be the end of me as a merchant. I was practically ready to give up on life when your offer came along, Natsuki-san."
"With that money — is it enough to cover your losses?"
"If I sold all this oil at market price, there'd be change left over. Thanks to this, my head's still attached to my shoulders. Thank you — truly."
Bowing deeply with an almost worshipful posture, Otto received a dismissive wave from Subaru.
"I feel the same, you know. Honestly — I don't think I'm any less grateful to you than you are to me."
For a while, the two of them engaged in the kind of mutual back-and-forth that amounted to a comedy routine — "It's all thanks to you," "No, no, it's thanks to you," "If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here," "Yes — it was fate that brought us together like this" — deepening their mutual rapport as time passed.
That exchange eventually ran its course, and when a sudden silence fell between them, Subaru's gaze drifted from the highway to the endless plain stretching out beside them. Narrowing his eyes at the expanse of flatland — "Hey, Otto — is there no way to cut straight across this plain?"
he murmured.
Otto, overhearing the murmur, burst out laughing as if he'd just heard the most exquisite joke and slapped his knee.
"You can't be serious. When the 'Fog' descends upon the plain, the
"That dangerous? Hasn't anyone ever, like, hunted it down?"
"As long as you avoid the Fog, the damage is kept to an absolute minimum. Apparently, there were organized subjugation expeditions in the past, but — given that the White Whale is still alive and well today, I think you can imagine how those turned out."
In other words, the hunts had failed, and the resulting toll had made further expeditions unthinkable.
Listening to this, Subaru felt a complicated emotion stir at the mention of the words "magic beast." For Subaru, magic beasts meant the swarm of Jagernauts that had been living near Roswaal's mansion. In the end, every nest in the vicinity had been burned to ash and annihilated — and he'd felt there was something to sympathize with in that outcome. Of course, even for Subaru, who had been killed by them, there was no denying the fact that they were creatures whose ecology made coexistence nearly impossible.
"The White Whale… huh. Is it shaped like a white whale?"
"According to the few people who've witnessed it and survived, it's so enormous that most of them still aren't sure what it even was. They describe a crush of everything around them being obliterated, and them throwing everything away just to survive with their lives."
"That's a terrifying story," Otto said with a long exhale, and he seemed reluctant to discuss the White Whale any further.
From his position as an itinerant merchant traveling far and wide, the White Whale — which occupied the plain for days on end and forced detours upon everyone — was probably an object of deep-seated loathing. He'd be grateful if someone hunted it down, but he wanted no part of it himself. That much was clear from his attitude, and Subaru let the matter drop.
After all, without Otto's cooperation, Subaru couldn't possibly reach the domain. He couldn't afford to offend the man over something foolish and damage their relationship.
Subaru gazed at Otto with eyes suddenly emptied of emotion as the man focused on controlling the earth dragon, unaware of the shift.
Subaru himself was also oblivious to what kind of light now burned in his own eyes.
The situation was moving forward — slowly, but surely — and beginning to show its distortions.
— And so, after pressing on through the night without rest, the forced march came to its result.
"I can see it now. Once we cross that hill, we'll be entering the Mathers domain."
It had been roughly half a day and three hours since the shared journey began.
Subaru and Otto arrived in the Mathers domain in the early morning, just as the sun — which had set during their departure — was beginning to rise again, bathing the world in blinding light.
"We ran nonstop the whole way… Maybe we even beat
"No, I doubt we could catch up to someone who left more than half a day ahead of us. More to the point — we're heading to… where in the Mathers domain?"
"Yeah — Margrave Roswaal's mansion. Do you know the way?"
"Roughly. Leave it to me."
Otto answered in a reassuring voice, his arms deftly maneuvering the reins.
Unlike Subaru, who had managed to catch a few fitful naps along the way, Otto hadn't rested at all during the journey and was running on near-total exhaustion. Yet his response carried a strong, tireless ring.
"Hahahaha! Onward! We press onward! Before my eyes, a shining road unfolds!"
He was actually overdoing it a bit — the slightly manic edge to his enthusiasm read like someone riding the high of an all-nighter, which was almost endearing in its own way.
Setting aside his travel companion's state, Subaru gazed at the mansion now within sight and nose, and for the first time allowed himself to imagine the reunion he'd been trying not to think about.
He expected it wouldn't be easily accepted. He was returning to the mansion when he was supposed to be in the capital, and he'd only gotten halfway through his treatment. He had to brace himself for at least a few cutting remarks.
Still — "I came back to do what I need to do. There's nothing shameful about that. Yeah — nothing at all."
As if justifying his own actions — or making excuses to someone who wasn't there — Subaru repeated, over and over, the magic words that had kept him going. Speaking them here too.
When he said them aloud, they could temporarily banish the anxiety swelling in his chest to the point of suffocation. So Subaru kept saying them.
Scorning the countless words he was supposed to have remembered, Subaru clung to his fragile sense of self with those repeated phrases, propping it up against collapse.
And that determination, backed by nothing more than borrowed confidence — "Natsuki-san… would you let me go this far, at least?"
— was shattered by Otto, who suddenly stopped the dragon carriage as the mansion drew near and they were running through the forested area.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "What do you mean? You're not about to say 'You entered the Mathers domain, so the contract is complete,' are you? That's not fraud, but it's damn close to fraud tactics!"
On the dragon carriage's driver's seat, Subaru grabbed at Otto, who had suddenly refused to go any further. He seized the front of his collar and pulled him close, about to hurl even uglier words at his face — but the ashen pallor of Otto's skin choked the words back down.
Released from the collar, Otto sat down on the driver's seat in silence and straightened his disheveled clothes. Then he bowed deeply to Subaru.
"I'm terribly sorry. I had every intention of seeing this through to the end. But — I no longer have the courage to go any further."
"What are you even talking about? Courage has nothing to do with it. The mansion is just up ahead. The road isn't bad. Please, Otto."
"I can't, even if you ask. And I can't accept the full payment either. I'll return half. So please — let me turn back here."
Subaru had been trying to keep things light, but Otto pressed his hands to the seat and bowed his head, genuinely begging for mercy.
The sight was so profoundly solemn that Subaru couldn't help but catch his breath.
"What happened all of a sudden? What would make you—"
"The earth dragon… is terrified. Nothing like this has ever happened before! The reason itinerant merchants use earth dragons for travel is because of this — they can sense things that shouldn't be approached…!"
Otto's hands trembled on the reins, his face bluish as he looked down at the earth dragon. Sure enough, the dragon stood with its hooves planted, awaiting its master's command — but was breathing in ragged, uneven cycles. It kept snorting in the direction ahead — toward their destination — shifting its body as if to warn of danger, signaling an urgent need for caution.
Seeing the dragon's behavior and Otto's trust in it, Subaru understood.
Something beyond comprehension was waiting ahead.
And he couldn't drag Otto and the dragon into it. He had no choice but to go alone and face it himself.
"You've been a huge help. Sorry for scaring you, Otto."
"Wh—"
Hearing the startled voice at his back, Subaru flew from the driver's seat to the ground. Landing right beside the earth dragon, he lightly slapped his tingling legs, then looked up at Otto.
"I'll walk to the mansion from here. It's not that far, is it? You've brought me this far — that's more than enough. Take all the money."
"I can't possibly — no, forget that — Natsuki-san! You mustn't go! Come back with me! There's fog here right now!"
"The White Whale's going to come out?"
"It's an omen of death for itinerant merchants! When fog covers our path ahead, it's a matter of life and death for us… Forget all that — just reconsider—"
"I'm sorry, but…"
Looking at Otto, who was desperately worrying about his safety, Subaru gave a rueful smile. A man this kind-hearted wasn't cut out for the merchant's life of deception and double-dealing.
Wondering at the career aptitude of a man as decent as Otto, Subaru raised his hand and turned his back on the dragon carriage and its driver.
"Just like you're weighing your life and money on a balance — I'm weighing something just as precious to me on that same scale. And what I hold precious is waiting up ahead."
"Natsuki-san!"
"Don't think I blame you for turning back. On the contrary — knowing it's dangerous and choosing to retreat is the right call. Just knowing that ahead of time is enough for me."
Beyond this road, where Subaru was headed, danger awaited — danger that made even earth dragons cower.
He had to hurry. He had to rush. The answer he was seeking had to be lying right there.
"Natsuki-san!"
Leaving behind Otto, who had called out to the very end out of genuine concern for his well-being, Subaru kicked hard off the forest floor and ran.
He ran and ran and ran, having abandoned the person who had genuinely worried about him without a trace of pretense, and pressed on toward his destination.
He didn't know the exact distance to Roswaal's mansion.
But the clusters of familiar trees were undoubtedly those from the mountains surrounding the estate. The road — well-maintained for dragon carriage travel — remained intact, and following it would unquestionably lead to the mansion.
Before that, there was the nearest village — the one close to the mansion, the one Subaru had visited countless times. It should have been there to greet him, but he felt no need to direct his attention there right now.
Above all, he wanted to reach the mansion as quickly as humanly possible.
If he could do that, it felt like the agonizing limbo of emotions tormenting him might finally resolve itself. Whether it resolved the way he wanted or not — he wanted a change. Any change.
He thought of Emilia. He thought of Rem. He thought of Emilia. He thought of
The reason Subaru stopped running wasn't that he'd arrived at his destination.
What stopped his feet was a sudden sense of wrongness that flashed through his mind.
Even Subaru, who had been focused entirely on running to the exclusion of all else, could clearly perceive the anomaly — namely: "It's too quiet."
Beyond the sound of wind passing through the trees, every other sound in the world had been erased.
Glancing around, there was nothing but trees standing in silent rows. There was nothing there that would actively produce sound. But Subaru, who had spent nearly a month in this place, could tell.
The overwhelming, unnatural silence of this forest — where not even the chirping of insects could be heard.
— And that was when it materialized through the gap in his awareness.
"What — !?"
Crying out in surprise, Subaru stumbled backward instinctively.
His face drained of color, unable to accept the reality before him — and there, standing silently, was an indeterminate figure clad entirely in black.
But his shock didn't end there.
"This person… no, these people…!"
Subaru turned his head, his trembling lips forming words. As if responding to his gaze, more black silhouettes began sprouting one after another along the forest path.
In the blink of an eye, their number exceeded ten, and they had surrounded the alarmed Subaru.
What was even more abnormal was the fact that, despite having appeared in this inexplicable manner, the same endless silence from before continued.
The black-clad figures watched Subaru quietly, without so much as a breath of exertion detectable.
Sensing instinctively that these were not friendly presences, Subaru could do nothing but wait for their next move, unable to utter a single word.
How long did the standoff last?
The tension had wound so tight that Subaru lost all sense of time's passage.
His heart should have been pounding hard enough to hurt, yet he couldn't even hear its own beating in his ears — such was the violent, oppressive silence. And that equilibrium shattered just as abruptly as it had begun.
— By — "— — —"
All at once, the black-clad figures bowed their heads respectfully toward Subaru.
— Subaru's brain completely gave up trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
The beings who had appeared out of nowhere now showed him a respect he couldn't fathom, and then — just as incomprehensibly — they disappeared, leaving Subaru behind in bewilderment.
Unable to speak a single word, Subaru could only stand there dumbfounded. The black-clad figures raised their heads and began to glide away in silence.
They passed by the frozen Subaru without doing a thing, their footsteps as soundless as when they had appeared, vanishing from the edges of his vision.
They had probably materialized the same way — welling up through the gaps in his awareness. He understood that much. Beyond that, they were beings about whom he understood nothing.
And so, after standing rigid for several minutes, Subaru finally grasped that he had been completely left behind. He gave up on understanding them any further and started running.
Their existence had scraped against his anxiety in a deeply unpleasant way.
To shake off the chill that raced up his spine and the dread flooding his heart, Subaru threw himself into running down the forest path again with single-minded ferocity, trying to forget everything.
Subaru had given up on understanding the black-clad figures.
That was why he failed to notice.
That the direction the black-clad figures had glided toward was, in fact, the way back — toward where Otto had been left behind.
And Subaru never once looked back on that fact.