"The Demihuman War — first of all, do you know what kind of conflict that was, Subaru-sama?"
"Like I said before, I've never gone into the fine details. But… it's not like I can't imagine it from the name and the historical context."
"My, how intriguing. Would you mind sharing what you're thinking?"
As Subaru obliged her question, Frederica smiled, covering her mouth with her hand.
Hiding her fangs when she laughed was already a deeply ingrained habit for her. He'd seen her do it countless times.
And yet for all the times she laughed, she seemed reluctant to let others see her smile.
Subaru closed his eyes, scratching his cheek with a finger, and prefaced his response with "Well, let's see…"
"I don't know exactly how long ago that war was, but I can pretty much guess that it wasn't unrelated to the
The Witch of Envy — the absolute symbol of evil, so ancient she'd been relegated to picture books and was considered to have no one alive who knew her. Just the simple fact that Emilia was a silver-haired half-elf was enough for her to receive that kind of unjust treatment. So the ripple effects from that — conflicts sparked by the pettiest of pretexts — Subaru could easily imagine.
"A half-elf means, well, a child born between a human and an elf, right? And if that whole trend of despising half-elves took hold… it wouldn't be strange for prejudice against the very existence of half-children born between humans and other species to start cropping up, would it?"
"…Please, do go on."
"This is all just speculation, but the movement to purge half-elves would feed into a movement to purge all half-bloods. And if we take it even further, you could say the existence of the Demihumans themselves — who are the very reason half-bloods come into being in the first place — is what's scary. Some people might start thinking that way too."
As far as Subaru knew, humans were by far the most numerous race in this world as well. Elves and demi-beasts like the three beast siblings certainly existed, but from his few days spent in the
And being the majority — that alone could serve as justification.
"I'm not saying everyone would think that way, but the loudest voices are the ones that stand out. That's true everywhere. And then it becomes hate the Demihumans… or really, fear the Demihumans, I guess. And while all that dissatisfaction is bubbling over—"
"Conflict erupted between humans and the Demihuman races. The smoldering sparks eventually burst into roaring flames, spreading across the entirety of Lugnica's territory."
Taking up where Subaru left off, Frederica murmured those words in a somber voice.
Sububar watched her as she closed one eye and looked slightly downward. Then, after giving a small nod, Frederica raised her face toward Subaru.
"It was a推测 that hardly needed supplementing — there was virtually no room for objection. …Have you really never heard the details?"
"Never. If I'm this close to being right, then my imagination wins. Or maybe it's all those light novels I've read — interspecies conflict comes up all the time in those."
Still, as a matter of fact, Subaru had never actually thought about such problems in any real way.
Discrimination based on race existed in his original world too, but for him it had always been a distant issue — one that wasn't all that different from the problems of an entirely separate world.
He'd taken a cool, detached attitude — I'm me, other people are other people — and that was probably fair to say. But in truth, it might be more accurate to say he'd simply been looking away.
"But even if I can imagine how the conflict started, I can't figure out how it ended by racking my brains. Still, the fact that it's in the past tense means the Demihuman War itself was resolved, right?"
"Yes, more or less. Though the scars of the war run deep, and prejudice against children born between Demihumans and humans still has deep roots even now."
Perhaps because she herself was born into the demographic that bore the brunt of that prejudice, Frederica's words carried a weight that an outsider simply listening to the story could never fully grasp.
Subbara hesitated to push the conversation further. But as if reading his intent, Frederica sighed.
"I'm sorry for making you walk on eggshells. Shall we continue the story?"
"I'd like to tell you there's no need to force yourself, but if this ties directly into what I need to know, then I can't exactly say that. So please, force yourself."
"My, my. Subaru-sama, you really do have a way of motivating people."
Interpreting Subaru's selfish remark in the most favorable light, Frederica moistened her tongue with a sip from her own cup.
"The Demihuman War began approximately fifty years ago. It continued for nearly ten years… and ended forty years ago, according to the records."
"Ten years… that's long. Back home, there was the Hundred Years' War, the Thirty Years' War — stuff like that in history."
His knowledge of those was limited to what he'd glimpsed in textbooks; he wasn't particularly well-versed in historical novels. But anything with a name like that must have lasted at least that long.
Thirty years, a hundred years — hating someone and fighting that whole time. Just thinking about it was terrifying.
And Subaru had only been in this other world for about two months.
"After all that exhaustion, who the hell could fight some pointless war for decades?"
"Be that as it may, the war began between a single Demihuman settlement and the human population. Ordinarily, it should have fizzled out right there… but a certain event that followed caused the war's flames to flare up all at once. Savage bloodshed erupted across the land."
"A certain event?"
"As soon as the initial skirmish broke out, the King of Lugnica at the time took the situation seriously and dispatched his close aides as emissaries to negotiate peace. The Demihumans also gathered the chiefs of their various tribes to receive the envoys and reach a settlement through negotiation. However…"
Frederica's voice trailed off. Subaru silently tilted his head, urging her to continue. She closed her eyes.
"All the attendees at the meeting — the envoys from the Royal Castle and every last chief — were slaughtered on the spot."
"Slain…? By who? Why?"
"The perpetrators remain unknown to this day. However, both the human and Demihuman sides at the time apparently concluded it was 'the other side's doing.' As a result, a small spark became an inferno, and they were unable to extinguish it easily. Ten years — that's how it ended up lasting."
"What the hell. If they'd just sat down and talked it through properly… but I guess that's a naive way to think."
Given the emotions of the people at the time, that would indeed be the most armchair-general-of-heaven kind of perspective.
The king's close aide dispatched from the Royal Castle — for the sake of his honor after being killed at the meeting site, it would be disgraceful to back down while the culprit remained unidentified. On the Demihuman side, every one of their chiefs had been wiped out. Counting lives by the number was a grim calculus in its own right, but purely comparing damage, the Demihumans had suffered the greater blow.
And on top of everything, there was the underlying tension between the races, born from the existence of the Witch of Envy as a root cause.
Repairing relations was already difficult, and while both sides hesitated, new problems arose that they were slow to address — always one step behind, always playing catch-up. It was easy to imagine how that led to tragedy.
"The Demihuman War ultimately ended with the surrender of the Demihuman faction. That's not to say the Demihumans admitted involvement in the meeting massacre — they simply acknowledged first that continuing the conflict was pointless."
"On a personal note, I think the one who folds first in a mud-wrestling match is the smarter one. Besides, wasn't this basically a civil war? The country had nothing to gain."
"That's precisely right. Lugnica's national power took a massive blow while it was mired in the Demihuman War. The surrounding nations happened to be in a period of relative calm, which was fortunate — otherwise, weakened Lugnica might well have been overtaken by another country."
A silver lining, perhaps. The three other nations besides Lugnica were all too preoccupied with their own domestic troubles, so Lugnica managed to avoid being stabbed in the back.
And the nation now faced a crisis no less severe than the one from that era.
"All the same, being able to make the decision to end such a long war — that's pretty impressive. It must have taken considerable courage, and considering the hardliners' opposition, it couldn't have been easy."
"…The reason the hardliners were willing to stand down was because there existed an overwhelming presence on the human side. The Sword Saint at the time,
"It's not that I don't know the name — I was just surprised to hear it. Small world, huh?"
He'd heard the name a few times. It was Wilhelm's wife's name, wasn't it?
The Sword Saint at the time — that would put her around Reinhard's generation, or maybe the one before. If the woman who'd held that title had single-handedly brought down the curtain on a war that had dragged on for a decade, then yeah — you could really appreciate just how absurd the existence of the Sword Saint was.
"Well, I think I understand the flow of the Demihuman War now. And I can more or less guess at the issues that would've stemmed from it."
"Your speculation from earlier was almost entirely correct, Subaru-sama. You're surprisingly quick on the uptake — I'm genuinely surprised I misjudged you."
"I'll take that as a compliment and keep going — the Demihuman War ended, but the prejudiced glares aimed at Demihumans don't go away easily. I mean, sure, in public places nobody would openly flaunt that hostility, but still…"
In the Royal Capital, on the main streets lined with fruit shops, humans and Demihumans walked past each other in the course of their daily lives. How much hardship had it taken to make such an ordinary scene feel routine — he couldn't say. But while some places had achieved that normalcy, there would always be others in the shadows where it could never be built, no matter how much time passed.
"Places like small, insular villages with few people and no outsiders… put one guy with a grudge in a place like that, and it feels like he'd become a lightning rod."
"My younger brother and I lived in exactly that kind of environment."
Brow furrowed with the pain of recollection, Frederica finally called her brother by a more intimate name, Garfiel, and her gaze turned distant.
"My brother and I are half-siblings — we share different fathers. That's why our family names are different. I carry our father's family name. My brother carries our mother's."
"Family names — wait, yours is… Baumann?"
"Yes. And my brother's is Tinsel. Mother was, well… a very impractical person, and apparently not very lucky either."
Frederica's words were chosen, but not chosen quite well enough. When Subaru showed his confusion through his expression, she prefaced with "I'm ashamed to say it," and continued.
"Mother was nearly sold off to settle a debt, but a Demihuman band of thieves intercepted the slave merchant and seized her. That's where she met my father."
"Hang on! Hold on a second! Something about the way you're telling this feels like it's about to get really heavy!"
"But she was separated from that father almost immediately. Left stranded with me as an infant, she was then captured by another Demihuman group — and that's where she met Garfiel's father."
"I said wait! My bad — I didn't think it was going to get this heavy!"
"That's why I tried to keep it brief without making it sound too grim. In any case, Garfiel was born there, but they couldn't stay with his father either, and the three of us were at a total loss — until the Mathers family took us in."
Frederica laid out her heavy past with remarkable casualness, her eyes brimming with nostalgia as she sighed. Then she stroked the armrest of her chair.
"By that time, the head of the Mathers family was already Master Roswaal, who had taken the reins in his early teens. So for my brother and me, Master Roswaal was truly our benefactor. Being allowed to serve him in managing his daily affairs — I consider it an honor."
"So the two of you were allowed into the '
Based on what he'd just heard about their origins, their mother was apparently a pure-blooded human. That meant she should have been free to come and go from the 'Sanctuary' without issue. And yet, neither in the Sanctuary nor in the mansion had he ever seen any sign of her.
No way — Subaru braced himself for the worst, but Frederica shook her head.
"You needn't worry. After entrusting my brother and me to Master Roswaal, Mother left the mansion right away and disappeared without a trace. I don't know where she went after that. I can only hope she's alive and well."
"……"
Frederica spoke so matter-of-factly that Subaru was left speechless, unable to find a response. In his mind, the worst outcome had been her death. But reality had proven even crueler — simply abandoning them without a word.
However, hearing all this raised a new question.
"If she separated from you like that, then why does Garfiel use her family name? You use your father's, right?"
"There are no records left to speak of, and my only source is my mother's account passed through others — hardly reliable. But my brother took the mother's family name because… he never knew her. And despite his tough act, he's a deeply sentimental person."
"Deeply sentimental…"
Picturing Garfiel in his mind, Subaru crystallized his impression of the young man's character.
He acted faster than he thought, had a foul mouth and no manners to speak of, but he stuck to his principles and wasn't incapable of being reasoned with. He thought of himself as stupid, but he wasn't actually thoughtless or incapable of thinking. The impression was that of a delinquent who still clung to some old-fashioned code of honor.
If you evaluated him on that one point — sticking to his principles — Subaru couldn't deny that Garfiel was a decent, honorable sort.
"Subaru-sama. Do you know how the barrier of the 'Sanctuary' selects who it affects?"
Caught in his thoughts, Subaru was startled by Frederica's sudden question.
He didn't grasp the meaning and was slow to react. He looked back at her with a blank expression, and said "Umm," lacking confidence.
"Honestly, I don't. I know the barrier exists, sure, but I can't actually sense it. I figure it's some kind of magical thing that checks the people who pass through…"
"The barrier probes the bloodline within the body of whatever passes through it. If it clearly detects both human blood and Demihuman blood — the barrier rejects anyone with both. That is its true nature."
"…What are you trying to say?"
Frederica was suddenly explaining how the barrier's selection worked. Unable to read the implications of this revelation, Subaru lowered his voice and threw the question back at her. She gave a small nod.
"Do you understand now why I'm able to be outside the 'Sanctuary' despite the barrier?"
"No… honestly, I don't. Hearing the barrier's conditions only makes it more confusing. On the way here, I saw Ryuzu getting sick from being too close to the barrier, and when Emilia passed through it before entering the Sanctuary—"
Right before his explosive first meeting with Garfiel, Emilia had collapsed after passing through the barrier. Given how powerful it clearly was, it would be absurd to doubt its existence— "Hang on — why—"
A lightning bolt shot through Subaru's mind.
It was the anomaly he'd felt on the return trip after evacuating refugees alongside Ryuzu. When they'd crossed through the forest, passed the barrier, and headed outside the 'Sanctuary,' the moment he parted ways with Ryuzu the guide — that nagging dissonance.
That was the answer to it. Subaru had been bothered by the fact that Ryuzu deliberately kept her distance from the barrier.
"If the conditions are the same… then why the hell was Garfiel bouncing around just fine when he got close to the barrier?"
Garfiel had ambushed them after they crossed the barrier, even performing the feat of hurling the dragon carriage — along with
He definitely hadn't been going all-out at that point, Subaru was certain of that. But Emilia had been rendered unconscious just from passing through the barrier, and Ryuzu had started feeling ill simply from being near it. Garfiel's composure was so wildly different from theirs.
— As though the barrier's effects didn't apply to his body at all.
"Garfiel has atavistic traits, so at first glance his Demihuman blood appears to run thick. But in reality, that isn't the case at all. — The same as me."
"If the thickness of one's blood is the condition the barrier uses to distinguish between half-bloods and full-bloods… then if one of your bloodlines was diluted enough to fall outside that condition—"
"My brother and I have different fathers, but neither of them was a pure-blooded Demihuman. Both were half-bloods. And when they mated with a human mother, the children they produced inherited only one quarter of Demihuman blood — a half-measure."
"A quarter… So that's why the barrier didn't catch you."
Since the barrier rejected half-bloods, it wouldn't reject quarter-bloods. The logic had the feel of a Zen koan, but various pieces of doubt Subaru had harbored all pointed to this being fact.
Now that he heard this, he could finally understand what Ryuzu had really meant when she'd spoken vaguely about Frederica's exception to the Sanctuary's rules.
But this naturally gave rise to yet another question.
"Wait. Then does that mean Garfiel can leave the 'Sanctuary' too? If he wanted to, the success or failure of the 'Trial' wouldn't matter — he could just walk out."
If that were true, it would be a surprise, but a welcome one.
If the barrier wasn't an obstacle to pulling Garfiel out of the Sanctuary, then perhaps there was a way to bring him along when the time came to face Elsa's attack. He'd already written off the chances of defeating Elsa this time around and had been focusing solely on evacuating those who remained at the mansion — but if Garfiel could leave on his own…
"If he can go outside, then maybe…"
"My brother can indeed leave the 'Sanctuary,' just as I can. When I left, he even walked with me all the way to the barrier. However…"
She cut herself off there, fixing Subaru with a gaze. He'd been starting to feel like he'd found a bright spot. But the emotion swimming in Frederica's eyes was so deeply, profoundly somber that Subaru felt his own excitement cool all at once. Then, looking at him, she continued.
"My brother chose to stay in the 'Sanctuary.' And as long as the 'Sanctuary' is not freed, I believe Garfiel will never leave. He's a deeply loyal, kind-hearted boy."
"Deeply loyal… Don't tell me—"
Subaru's eyebrows shot up as the implication hit him. As if confirming his thought, Frederica tucked her chin and covered her mouth with her sleeve.
"He's not the sort of child who could leave the 'Sanctuary' behind, knowing its residents can't escape. For better or worse, he's earnest and straightforward. — A handful of a brother, he is."