The first thing to invade Subaru's consciousness was discomfort.
"Urgh! Blegh! Blargh!"
The alien sensation of grinding gravel between his teeth, the earthy taste dancing on his tongue layered with bitterness — Subaru coughed it out and opened his eyes.
His vision had plunged into darkness. A cool chill was pressing against his entire body. Noting the hard surface beneath him and the pull of gravity, he recognized the fact that he was lying on his side. Then, slowly letting his gaze wander and growing gradually accustomed to the dark, he understood — he was inside the ruined sanctuary he had seen several times before.
"The tomb, then...?"
He murmured it as if to confirm, and spat out the gravel from his mouth. The taste was still fresh in his memory.
There had been a time before when he'd woken to consciousness with this same gravel in his mouth. In other words, this meant — "So this is right after the first 'Trial'...? Back to this point... no, more importantly —"
If this truly meant his return from the 'Trial,' and therefore his farewell to the past, then it wasn't just Subaru who should be lying here — "—
Right beside him, he spotted the silver-haired girl collapsed in the darkness.
He stepped closer. Seeing the pained expression on her sleeping face, Subaru hesitated for just a moment before reaching out a fingertip.
Having accompanied Emilia through her 'Trial' several times now, Subaru already knew. If an outsider touched her in this state, the 'Trial' would be interrupted no matter how far along it was — and she would be pulled back.
That meant there was no guarantee a third party's interference wouldn't cause her to fail right at the brink of clearing it. In the tomb, touching Emilia required the utmost care. However — "Last time didn't work, and I know it won't this time either..."
Shaking his head to kill his hesitation, Subaru gently lifted Emilia's body into his arms while committing her sleeping face to memory. The instant he did, her pained expression rapidly softened, and her consciousness drifted toward wakefulness — "Su...baru...?"
"Yeah, that's right. It's me, Emilia-tan. Are you okay?"
The drowsy, half-awake call of Emilia upon regaining consciousness. Subaru smiled reassuringly in response and waited for her to fully come to her senses.
He waited for her to recall her situation, accept the outcome of the 'Trial,' and then begin sobbing like a child.
His own weakness, knowing she would collapse in tears and being powerless to prevent it.
Her nobility, in carrying herself with such composure even while breaking down.
At the very least, Subaru held her gently so she wouldn't shatter, his arms wrapped tightly around her until she finally calmed.
*** It was only after carrying the sobbing Emilia to Ryuzu's house and confirming that
Those who wanted to hear what had happened inside — Ram and Otto among them — were told "First, we wait for Emilia to wake," and asked to be left alone for now.
Leaving their expectant faces behind, Subaru stood outside Ryuzu's house and gazed up at the night sky, letting the wind wash over him. A tangled web of thoughts churned in his heart.
"Still... again, huh?"
He touched his left side, probing with his fingertips for a wound that no longer existed — the deep, gaping gash where a blade had carved through him, spilling organs outward. Not that one gets many chances in life to look at one's own innards, but Subaru's experience with that particular scenario had surely surpassed the majority of people in the entire world.
"Whether that's something to be happy about is another matter entirely. I'm not the kind of twisted person who'd feel hunger or ecstasy looking at my own guts... The only one who is —"
The moment those words left his mouth, a voice echoed through Subaru's mind.
— I told you, didn't I? I made you a promise, didn't I?
It had been a lustrous woman's voice, he thought. A voice drenched in blood that carried a wickedly seductive quality, a voice that reached its crescendo watching life slip away — the voice of an aberrant killer.
And Subaru knew that voice, that promise, and that aberrance all too well.
If anything, having his stomach slit open like this wasn't even his first time.
"So the 'Bowel Hunter' is making a comeback here... Give me a break..."
Pressing a hand to his forehead, Subaru groaned toward the sky.
What surfaced behind his eyelids was a raven-haired beauty — the same black hair as Subaru's, grown long and luxurious. A woman who had brandished a vicious blade and taken his life, twice.
She was the threat who had cornered Subaru most severely during the first loop, only to be driven off by Reinhardt's hand —
"I didn't see her face, but it's gotta be Elsa. Besides, I don't even want to imagine there being another one of her. Let's call it Elsa."
In subjective time, more than two months should have passed, but in actual time, barely a month had elapsed since their encounter. The wound she'd sustained back then hadn't been shallow either, yet apparently it hadn't hindered her from killing him in the slightest.
Was the difficulty just too low, or had she fully healed by now?
"Safer to assume she's fully healed, I guess. Considering healing magic, in this world you can recover from anything short of death... I mean, I've died plenty of times myself if we're counting — well, I literally died, so."
There were too many cases of dying and barely scraping back to life, and too many cases of dying and just staying dead, for Subaru to get a clear read on where he stood.
In any case, the conclusion was settled: the threat that had attacked the mansion was Elsa. And if that was the case, the question that remained was — "Why Elsa came to the mansion, and what happened to Frederica and the others."
When Subaru had arrived at the mansion, there had been faint traces of life still lingering in the nighttime estate — a light on in Petra's room, the entryway hall's illumination still burning. The study had been used to access the escape route, so that was excluded, but those two lit areas suggested — "At the very least, nothing had happened yet that night... Right?"
He considered whether he was jumping to conclusions too quickly.
It was possible that the lights in Petra's room and the entry hall had been left on all day, and that Subaru's assumption everything was fine up until that night was wrong. However, the counterargument against that hypothesis was the duration of the crystal lamps' illumination.
"Unlike lagmite ore, crystal lamps need to recharge from ambient mana during the day. From experience, if left on continuously, they can't last even half a day."
During a literacy lesson at the mansion, a crystal lamp he'd forgotten to extinguish had suddenly gone out at night. The memory of Subaru going into a panic, suspecting a time-warp, while Ram brushed him off,
Time remaining: approximately eighty-four hours.
That was Subaru's time limit. And within it, his role for this cycle was — "Defending the mansion from that 'Bowel Hunter' — or at least ensuring the safety of everyone inside."
Whether they had managed to escape safely before that snake-like, spider-like killer was something he couldn't be certain of. He didn't know where that escape route led, but if Frederica and the others had fled the mansion, they should have been heading to the '
And yet, Subaru and Frederica's group had not crossed paths on the way to the 'Sanctuary.' "Either that evacuation tunnel was absurdly long, connecting to some unknown location where they got stuck... or..."
He didn't want to think it, but the alternative was that they'd been unable to escape.
Given the disparity in combat power, Subaru frowned at the high likelihood of that latter possibility.
In truth, the Elsa he had witnessed possessed strength well above that threshold. Even after considerable experience in this other world and having seen any number of powerhouses, that much was clear.
If that killer were measured purely by raw combat ability — "Julius's superior, Wilhelm's inferior... somewhere in that range. No matter how hard I tried, she'd chew me up and spit me out."
As if his base stats weren't already low enough. Comparing them, it wasn't an exaggeration to say the gap was that of a cat versus a tiger. The chance of winning one-on-one was effectively zero.
In the previous confrontation, the outcome had ultimately depended on luck and Reinhardt's intervention.
"If only the invincible Reinhardt happened to pass by again, that'd be ideal... but no matter how much of a protagonist-bonus-riding pretty boy he is, expecting him to show up here is asking too much."
If this were fiction, Subaru would have thrown the script out for being too convenient. Though, in the face of real hardship, he'd welcome that sort of convenience with open arms.
Unable to indulge in escapism any longer, Subaru exhaled and banished his self-pity — "So Elsa's reason for coming to the mansion... same as last time, probably — to interfere with the Royal Selection. In the end, someone hired her to get in Emilia's way."
In the capital,
"But after meeting the other candidates... it's not so cut and dried."
First, from the angle of hiring an assassin to steal an insignia — That immediately eliminated Crusch. Having seen the caliber of that woman with his own eyes, Subaru could say with full confidence: she would never do something like that.
Similarly, by the circumstances, Felt was also out of the running. That left Priscilla and Anastasia — but — "Priscilla... would that arrogant princess really go in for something like dark backroom maneuvering? Unless I've misread her entirely, she's the type who genuinely believes she's the center of the world. I can't picture her proactively pulling strings like that. So that leaves Anastasia..."
The image of the purple-haired merchant woman surfaced in his mind.
Within her gentle features lay the glint of a keen-nosed hunter — someone who could play every angle with a full deck of cards. A quality Subaru himself had taken advantage of.
She might well choose the rational path of kicking someone else out of the race. She had the audacity to embrace the taboo of hiring outside help with money, and the eccentric creative thinking to match. The only element that countered this theory was — "Hard to imagine Julius letting something like that slide... Not that I'm particularly fond of him or anything. Yeah, it's just a feeling, that's all."
Or perhaps she could have hidden it even from that 'Finest Knight' — but the doubt remained whether she would risk putting an irreparable crack in their harmonious master-servant relationship for this.
In the end, Anastasia's involvement was also eliminated, albeit passively — "The candidates are dwindling. Still... there's plenty of room for other theories. Just look at how Emilia's been treated."
If the Royal Selection candidate wasn't the client, then perhaps it was a faction that simply wanted Emilia eliminated from the Royal Selection — those who despised her for being a half-elf choosing a blunt instrument. That, too, was a perfectly coherent theory.
The fact that Subaru could even think "would they really go that far?" showed how naive he was being. The resentment against her half-elf bloodline ran that deep.
"But if that's the case, there's effectively no way to uncover the client's identity. Not unless Elsa herself talks — which she won't."
And to make her talk, he didn't have the power — a perfect circle.
Ultimately, the only options for dealing with Elsa's assault were — "Can't help but feel our camp is laughably weak. I'm completely useless. Otto's a waste of air. Emilia could hold her own if Pack's still kicking, but Ram's stamina is questionable for a drawn-out fight. Roswaal's injured and reliably useless. Frederica — no idea how strong she actually is. And the idea that Petra is secretly some hidden cheat character is just ridiculous. So that leaves—"
Two possible strategies.
One: rush back to the mansion, extract Frederica, Petra, Rem, and
The other was — "What the hell are you sittin' around here moping for?"
Garfiel was looking down at Subaru, who had his back against the wall and was sitting on the ground. Being looked down upon by the shorter boy was a rare experience, and Subaru savored the novelty for a moment before shaking his head.
"Just had some stuff to sort through. Thinking it over. How's Emilia?"
"The princess is out cold, sleeping like a log. Sure hope it don't turn into one of them 'Mororoku's nap lasts a day and a night' situations."
"I don't really get it, but Mororoku naps too much."
Subaru retorted to the habitual idiom that never quite landed, then stood up and faced Garfiel.
Half a head shorter than Subaru, short golden hair, sharp eyes, a white scar on his forehead. Fangs too pointed, a beast-like aura radiating from his entire frame — the kind of confidence that only the strong possess.
The second strategy that had surfaced for dealing with Elsa — this was it.
If Subaru cleared the 'Trial' and freed the 'Sanctuary,' he could take Garfiel out of this place. And if Garfiel's strength was all he claimed, he could serve as a fighting force against Elsa. Considering that running was only a temporary measure, driving her off or killing her outright would be preferable.
"Hey, Garfiel."
"Whatcha want?"
"You're the strongest, right? You've got total confidence that you can't lose to anyone. Correct?"
"Hah? Damn right. Anyone, anywhere — I'll crush 'em, send 'em flying, tear 'em apart, and stand over 'em victorious."
Garfiel answered with some irritation, but his confidence didn't waver in the slightest. Feeling a measure of reassurance in that response, Subaru nodded.
"When we get out of this 'Sanctuary,' I think there's going to be a time real soon when your strength will be needed. When that happens, I think I'll be counting on that strength of yours."
"Huh? What's that mean?"
"Prove those words. That'd be the most reliable thing I can ask for."
He clapped the confused-looking Garfiel on the shoulder and headed back inside Ryuzu's house. When he opened the door, the eyes of the three inside — Ram, Ryuzu, and Otto — all converged on him. Meeting their stares, Subaru made his way toward the bedroom where Emilia slept.
"Barusu, Emilia-sama still hasn't—"
"She should be waking up soon. — Emilia-tan, I know it's hard, but let's talk. Everyone's been waiting for it."
He called through the door, and from the other side came the faintest sound of breathing.
A brief hesitation. Then, after a few seconds, the doorknob turned timidly, and Emilia appeared from the bedroom with her gaze cast downward.
Facing Subaru who stood directly before the door, her lips trembling, she said: "S-sorry for always causing trouble for everyone. Inside the tomb, and now again..."
"Trouble from you isn't trouble, Emilia-tan — it's what I want to do, so don't worry about it. More importantly, does anything feel heavy or painful? If anything feels weird, I'll gently stroke and rub it for you until it's all better."
"Mm. I think I hit my lower back when I fell... it's a little sore..."
"Got it. I'll get right on giving that area a thorough — Ram? Ram!? The tip of your staff is digging into my liver!"
Ram had crept up from behind and jabbed Subaru with her drawn staff just as he was about to crack a half-flirtatious joke. When he pointed this out, she wordlessly drove the tip in further, and Subaru yelped and leaped away like a kicked puppy before she finally relented.
"Emilia-sama, are you feeling all right? Please forget Barusu's rudeness and tell Ram clearly how you're feeling."
"You really are something — pulling that off without comment! Look, I'm actually bleeding a little! How much force did you put into that to pierce through this fairly thick outfit?!"
As Subaru protested while rubbing the lingering sting at his hip, Ram shot him a sideways glance as though looking at a bug and let out a 'Hah' through her nose. Then she turned back to Emilia.
"So, are you all right? If there are no issues with your condition..."
"Y-yes, I'm fine. I have to talk about what happened inside... the 'Trial.'"
Emilia answered ahead of Ram's words, nodding, and stepped to the center of the room. Before long, Garfiel also entered the house, forming a circle of expectant faces around Emilia.
And so, while being scrutinized by everyone, Emilia gave a halting explanation of the 'Trial' and announced its outcome — a repeat of the previous time. If there was a difference from last time — "So why was Natsuki-san able to come through it safely?"
That was Otto, raising his hand slightly and voicing the collective question.
This question was evidence that Subaru had deliberately avoided inserting his own information into the account. It served the dual purpose of gauging Emilia's attitude toward the 'Trial' — "Like I said, I received the 'qualification' to enter. If you want to know where, it was probably at the tomb during the day. As for what happened inside... I faced the same 'Trial' that Emilia-tan did. The result — I think I passed."
His statement sent a ripple of agitation through the room.
Most notably, Emilia — who had also attempted the 'Trial' and failed — showed the greatest shock. Her violet eyes filled with confusion as she stared at Subaru in silence.
Nodding toward her, Subaru continued — "Just to be clear beforehand, it's not like I passed because I'm somehow more capable or anything. The 'Trial' was about confronting your past. For me, who'd more or less come to terms with mine, it was basically a bonus stage. That's all."
"That 'bonus' or whatever is beyond me, but if Suubou says he crossed the Trial... hmm, it is indeed something remarkable."
"But if I'm hearing Emilia-sama's account correctly, the 'Trial' doesn't end with just one, does it? The word 'first' implies there are more to come."
Ryuzu's acceptance and Ram's words. Subaru nodded to both, then stole a glance at Emilia. She still maintained her silence, complex emotions swirling in those eyes of hers.
Imagining what churned in her heart, Subaru nevertheless hardened himself.
The time limit he'd set, and the difficulty of Emilia's 'Trial' — rooted in her 'past.' Weighing those on a scale, there weren't many options. Therefore — "When I cleared my 'Trial,' I heard something. If two challengers enter the 'Trial' at the same time, they can't proceed to the next one. You have to come back on a different day."
"...Hmm, and so?"
"If I and Emilia-tan enter the tomb together, only Emilia-tan's 'Trial' will begin, and I won't be able to face the second 'Trial' myself."
"H-hold on, wait a minute, Natsuki-san!"
Otto cut in with rapid speech, interrupting Subaru. Unaware of the peculiar look Subaru was giving him, he ran a hand through his ashen-gray hair.
"From what you're saying, you intend to take on the 'Trial' yourself? But isn't this supposed to be for Emilia-sama's accomplish—"
"You fool, Otto!"
The name called out in warning came too late. Having heard himself, Otto realized what he'd said and slapped a hand over his mouth. But the content had already reached everyone's ears — including Emilia's.
Awkward Otto, Subaru glaring daggers at him. And watching the two from a distance, Emilia — "What does that mean?"
"Emilia-tan, calm down. That was just —"
"Don't dodge it. Tell me properly. — Please, Subaru."
Emilia looked up at Subaru with pleading eyes, begging him.
No young man could refuse that tearful plea from a beauty, and no young man named
"...That's what it was. Subaru, you knew?"
"Not a clue. Had absolutely no idea until it was just pointed out."
He said this with brazen confidence in front of the visibly shaken Emilia, and Otto and Ram both looked at him as though biting into something bitter, but a single glance was enough to shut them down.
Then Subaru turned back to Emilia — "It's all Roswaal's doing. Honestly, I suspect even his injury is part of the act."
"Even Roswaal wouldn't go that far... Actually, I can't say for certain, can I? When I think about the current situation, that's exactly the kind of thing he might do."
"As frustrating as it is to play into his hand... that's at least partly genuine annoyance. But more than that..."
Emilia looked uncertain. Standing before her as she slightly averted her gaze, Subaru bent down to look up into her face. He watched her long eyelashes tremble with surprise — "I want to help you. I don't know what you saw when you faced your 'past.' But if going through that much pain, crying that hard, and feeling like your heart is about to shatter is what it takes... then I want to reach out my hand to you."
"...Subaru."
"If it's just about taking the 'Trial' and freeing the 'Sanctuary,' I should be able to handle it. If you need that credit, I'll give you everything of mine. My achievements are your achievements. Everyone carries a 'past'... but deciding that all of them must be resolved by the person who carries them — that's not right."
The words Garfiel had spoken to him in the world before death.
Facing Emilia, who was suffering through confronting her past, yet still pushing her toward the Trial — Subaru had been told by Garfiel whether or not it was truly necessary to overcome one's past.
For Subaru, it had been nothing short of a bolt from the blue.
Emilia's eyes widened in surprise, her lips pressed together in thought.
He understood the source of her conflict. Deep down, there was surely a part of her that wanted to recoil from a 'past' she didn't want to face either. The fact that she was the type of person who would never even dream of forcing such a cruel role onto someone else — strong, noble Emilia — was precisely what made her inner struggle so immense.
Because there was no guarantee that the remaining 'Trial' wouldn't be something that would wound Subaru's heart just as the assault of her 'past' had.
"If you're still torn up about it, that's fine. I know it's not something you can decide on right away. — In that case, at least let me have tomorrow."
"Tomorrow...?"
"Either way, dragging Emilia-tan — who's this exhausted — back to the tomb tomorrow and saying 'Now, take the Trial!' would make me the worst kind of drill sergeant. So for the sake of previewing the second 'Trial' ahead of time, I should go ahead and challenge it while I still have energy. If I manage to clear it, that's just a bonus."
By buying one day that way, then somehow scraping together one more, and barreling through as quickly as possible, the fastest timeline would allow them to free the 'Sanctuary' the day after tomorrow.
It was the ideal scenario: no burden on Emilia, their objective achieved, and the mansion's rescue still within reach.
Subaru could tell his proposal had Emilia wavering.
It felt almost like deceiving her in her weakened state, but it was a classic negotiation technique: present a large initial condition, then offer a smaller, true objective as a concession.
She didn't have the mental fortitude right now — emotionally fragile as she was — to reject this second offer after having already turned down the first.
Tomorrow and the day after, Subaru would take on and overcome the 'Trials.' The chance for Emilia to stand as Emilia, at her own pace, would surely come again.
This time, the timing was bad. There was no time. If they hesitated, that unreasonable fate would once again — "I been sittin' here listenin' to you run your mouth, and you just keep spinnin' things your way, don't ya?"
Just as Subaru's calculated scheme was about to come to fruition, that voice — the hold — called out from behind.
The interloper had golden hair, jade-green eyes narrowed ferociously, and fangs too sharp as he stepped forward — "I'm against anyone other than that princess... Emilia-sama takin' the 'Trial.' At the very least, I absolutely, positively, under no circumstances whatsoever want you to be the one to free it."
"What—!?"
An unexpected remark. A statement beyond all anticipation.
Subaru could only let out a confused sound as he tried to process the meaning of those words, unable to connect the speaker with the content.
As bewilderment surfaced in his eyes, the figure pressed further, slamming down an incomprehensible reality — "You get it? I'll say it again. I ain't allowing anyone other than Emilia-sama to take the 'Trial.' Consider this a condition from me — one that even Granny can't twist around."
And so, Garfiel — his nose wrinkled, radiating pure displeasure — spat out his words.