All sorts of words had flickered through his mind in response to the sudden, abrupt, and entirely unexpected encounter—but— "Looking at this eye and calling yourself fine is pretty impressive, you know!"
Subaru fired off a retort, raising his voice high as
Currently, Subaru's right eye was covered by a strip of cloth torn from a sleeve, fashioned into an eyepatch that gave him an appearance heaping with adolescent chuunibyou flair. Had this been merely the fashion statement of a one-eyed dragon, it would have made for a funny anecdote later. But for Ram, who knew full well the extent of Subaru's injuries, it was anything but humorous.
Receiving Subaru's jab, Ram tilted her head lightly to one side, the movement causing her pink hair to sway as she gently smoothed it back with her hand.
"I'm sorry, but I don't usually look at you closely enough to tell the difference."
"Thanks for the shockingly devastating thing to say, but did you know? Humanoid creatures basically have two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils!"
"So in other words, the current Barusu is no longer a humanoid creature, but some kind of incomprehensible being?"
"Paradoxically?!"
Returning his usual banter to Ram's exasperating replies, Subaru glanced around through his remaining left eye, scanning for anyone else lying in wait, then searching for an escape route. He needed to buy time and pick his footing.
"Otto, on the count of one-two-three, we scatter and run. You're the one who screams your head off to draw the pursuers. I'm the one who slips away silently and undetected. Any objections?"
"I have tons of them, but more importantly, why are your survival instincts suddenly on full display, Natsuki-san?"
"You idiot, I've been tailed. Look into Ram's eyes. She's got every intention of killing us. No mistake about it. I see those eyes every day back at the mansion—trust me on this."
"What kind of person am I supposed to trust when they say they live under death stares on a daily basis!?!"
Subaru tried to whisper his escape plan, but Otto was apparently weak at picking up on that sort of thing, and the message wasn't getting through. He briefly considered leaving Otto for dead and fleeing solo, but the memory of their earlier exchange of friendship gave him pause.
"Dammit, I thought the cuffs were off, but now friendship's become the shackles holding me back. What do you want from me…!"
"It's you I'm asking that of, Natsuki-san! If you'd just put your intentions into clearer words, we might actually have a conversation! Also, I get the feeling there's a huge misunderstanding happening here, and I'd really like to sort that out too—me being me."
"Keep the comedy routine to a minimum and move things along? Or rather—let me move them along. There's no time to humor you. Wasting time means wasting life."
While the two men pushed blame back and forth, Ram stepped forward and cut straight to the matter at hand. That said, not everything Subaru had said was a joke. He'd been stalling with lighthearted banter while genuinely looking for an opening to escape. After all— "Honestly, I thought the moment you saw my face, you'd attack without a second thought."
"If it had been right after you attacked Roswaal-sama, perhaps. But some time has passed, and my anger has cooled a bit. …You can thank Garf for that."
"Even if the fact that I'm not being wrung out right here and now is thanks to Garfiel, that doesn't easily change my assessment of the person responsible for this mug of mine."
Without lowering his guard, Subaru scratched at his neck with a finger while responding to Ram. Watching his gesture, Ram continued forward with her unhurried gait, and there was no hostility to be seen in her.
At least, she didn't seem intent on attacking without provocation, as her words suggested. But if that was the case, then what Subaru needed to worry about next was— "According to Otto, there's someone you're supposed to meet up with here…?"
"Yes, I know."
"Natsuki-san. I know it's hard to believe, but what's in front of you is reality."
When Ram confirmed this indirect interrogation with a nod, Subaru glanced at Otto and received the same answer. Crossing his arms and curling his lips, Subaru let out a long "Hrrmm"— "If I take this at face value, you showing up here means you're Otto's cooperator… in other words, you're helping the villagers of
"That's correct. Both Garf and Ryuzu-sama are in the midst of
Ram pressed the urgency, trying to hurry him along, but Subaru's unease wouldn't dissipate. He thrust out a palm to stop her, and she fixed him with a silent glare. Steeling himself against the sharpness of that stare, Subaru prefaced with "Hear me out"— "Why would you help evacuate the villagers? Even if I grant that you're acting purely out of goodwill, pulling me into this is incomprehensible. And more importantly, are you seriously the type to let me off the hook just because your anger's cooled down? My questions aren't running dry anytime soon."
"What a barrage of questions. Men who talk too much aren't attractive, you know, Barusu."
"And the woman who's got it bad for a guy even more talkative than me has no room to talk. …Answer me, Ram. As things stand, I can't see any scenario where you'd cooperate with me without reservations. So if you're here regardless, that means—"
Subaru swallowed. The words he was about to speak from his own mouth terrified him.
If things turned out the way he imagined, then what Subaru did in this moment would be— He shut his eyes tight and clenched his teeth, driving the weak words far from his lips.
Don't be afraid. Don't waver. Don't show vulnerability. Harden your heart to steel, and never let it tremble.
—Right now, just be the one unmoved by emotion, unbent by circumstance. A single bar of steel.
"The most plausible explanation is Roswaal's orders. I beat the hell out of him, and yet he still wants to help me? …You probably know more about that part than I do."
"………"
Ram fell silent at Subaru's deduction.
But what came to mind was Roswaal holding the Gospel in his hand. If that prophecy book had been in his possession all along, then Ram—his confidant, the one devoted to him with absolute loyalty—could not possibly be unaware of it.
Of course, she surely didn't know the details. If she had known the contents of the Gospel in full, that would mean Ram had accepted a future in which
"— — —"
But that was merely an impossible supposition. Subaru knew it was nothing more than an assumption. When Rem had been lost, when Ram had been stripped of all memory of her sister's existence—only in that unique situation did Subaru know how the demon sister might react to losing her sibling.
Precisely because of that, he believed she could not have known about a prophecy that would lead to Rem being abandoned to die.
But then, how deeply was she involved in Roswaal's schemes? Roswaal, who still hadn't shown his full hand. His confidant—how deep did her involvement go?
"Answer me, Ram. Why are you helping us? If this is all part of Roswaal's script, then sorry, but from here on out, Otto and I are doing this alone. We don't need you."
"W-wait, Natsuki-san—!?"
"Shut up, Otto. I don't have time for detailed explanations, and if I told you, I couldn't guarantee your safety either, so I won't. But I'm absolutely furious about all this. At the very least, I'm in no state to approach anything with Roswaal's name on it with a calm head!"
Subaru touched the eyepatch over his throbbing right eye, shouted Otto down when the merchant tried to intercede, then stomped on the ground.
The sensation of grabbing Roswaal by his thin neck and squeezing—that memory still lived in his palm. The feeling of harboring murderous intent toward another person, of carrying that intent into action, of the tactile reality that lingered.
It was reeking and viscerally real, and even now, in his calm state, the mere act of recalling it brought on nausea along with a headache and ringing in his ears—a nightmare's memory.
He would never want to repeat that scene. But— "I think what I did was wrong, but I don't regret it. He hurt a part of me I couldn't forgive. So he got what was coming to him."
"…If that's your logic, then wouldn't you have to concede that Ram's retaliation against Barusu would also be justified?"
"That's exactly why I prepared to run the hell out of here the moment I saw you. Otto's idiocy ruined the attempt, though."
"I'm being slandered with no justification, but if I were truly serious, Natsuki-san wouldn't even catch a glimpse of my tail before I vanished."
"Enough about butts—can you only get laughs with dirty jokes, you vocabulary-deficient penny-pincher?"
"I don't understand but I feel I've been grievously insulted! Grievously!"
Ram cleared her throat, interrupting as Subaru and Otto launched into their customary back-and-forth. Subaru narrowed his eyes and glared at her again. Meeting that gaze, Ram exhaled softly.
"…Relax. At the very least, Roswaal-sama's will has no part in what I'm doing here."
"No part in it… Roswaal doesn't? No, that means…"
Ram's denial of Roswaal's involvement left Subaru unable to hide his surprise.
In other words, she was lending her hand to this evacuation of her own accord. And that wasn't the only problem.
"If Roswaal's not involved, then this isn't recorded in the Gospel either…? Wait a minute. If we go down that road, how reliable is the Gospel's writing in the first place?"
When the Gospel had been brought up in conversation with Roswaal, Subaru had been overcome with fury and hadn't been able to get into any substantive discussion about the book.
But if the so-called completed version of the Gospel was truly an omniscient prophecy that depicted all of the future— "How precise would the writing in it be? How massive…?"
If it recorded everything in the world—every conceivable event—then the volume of information would obviously far exceed what a single book could contain. The human brain and its capacity for understanding were far too feeble to perceive every occurrence in the world.
Therefore, Subaru had concluded that the Gospel's contents were selectively curated. And within a range that the holder could comprehend.
"The incomplete Gospel that Petelgeuse had seemed to be a version that added content as time went on… apparently. I never saw it grow, so I can't say for sure."
That fanatic's Gospel had been a book with blank pages in the latter half, filling up as new prophecies were added.
The number of pages was definitely different between when Subaru first held it and when Petelgeuse was defeated. After that, he hadn't been able to read the text himself, and more importantly, the creepiness had been too much to deal with—he'd planned to begin an investigation with Roswaal present, but that idea seemed impossible to carry out under current circumstances.
So even if he wanted to push his analysis further, the sample size was too small, and it was all speculation. But it was a fact that Subaru was looking at the completed Gospel with eyes full of doubt regarding how much of its accuracy could be trusted.
In response, Ram brought her right hand to her mouth in a thoughtful gesture.
"…I don't have the authority to speak on that. While it may not be Roswaal-sama's will that I'm here at this place, my devotion to him remains unchanged."
"You're so obsessed it's frankly terrifying, you damn—"
"But…"
As Subaru sighed bitterly, lamenting that the door to information had been shut, Ram inserted her words. Looking up in surprise, Subaru watched as she spoke in a small voice.
"It's certain that this situation isn't recorded. It's precisely because it isn't recorded that I'm able to be here."
"…I don't get it. In the end, what are you going to do? Are you going to help us? And if you are—is that of your own will?"
"I'll help with the evacuation. And it's my own will. As for Roswaal-sama, now that things have come to this, he likely won't try to stop it."
"Now that things have come to this…?"
The wording struck Subaru as odd, but Ram showed no inclination to respond to his doubt. Which meant the answer lay in territory she couldn't speak of.
In the end, Subaru hadn't been able to probe into the accuracy of the Gospel's writings versus its actual text. All he'd glimpsed was the suspicion that even the so-called completed Gospel might not be all-seeing after all.
"Well, if I at least know that much, it'll give me a slight advantage the next time I confront Roswaal."
Shelving his lingering doubts, Subaru forced himself to accept the situation with words crafted for the purpose of wrapping things up. He didn't even stop to consider what those words might truly mean.
"As for whether I trust you from the bottom of my heart—let's leave that as an open question for later. For now, let me confirm the plan. What's the setup?"
"From the day after you caused your little rampage, preparations for the evacuation have been underway with today as the deadline. The villagers insisted they wouldn't move until they confirmed you were alive, so I had no choice but to waste time searching for the half-dead, half-alive Barusu."
"Sorry my death wasn't black-and-white enough for you, idiot. Still, starting from the very next day after my rampage…?"
Something about the timing niggled at him, but before he could put his finger on it, Ram and Otto together gave him a rough rundown of the escape plan. In short: "Through Ram, the moderates have opened an escape route. Under cover of night, we flee by dragon carriage at full speed. Otto leads the way, and my role is to be the mascot—so the villagers can evacuate the 'Sanctuary' without worry, with everyone in unanimous agreement. That about right?"
"I'm not sure what you mean by 'mascot,' but everyone needs to see that Natsuki-san is alive before they'll evacuate. Well, I suppose it comes down to the fact that neither I nor Ram could earn enough trust to serve as evacuation leaders."
"Coming in handy, the credit I earned during the demon beast incident. You never know how things will come back around—you should do things that risk your life now and then."
"To my knowledge, Natsuki-san, you've been risking your life in all manner of chaotic situations—the
Otto's murmured words carried the tone of someone appalled. Subaru shook his head repeatedly, saying "No, no, no—"
"I've been exposed to the malice of unknown worlds on more occasions than I'd like. For the record, I've also scraped through a death line with a cheerful older sister of a assassin who loves cracking open bellies and throwing organ parties."
"People who boast about painful stories are one thing, but when someone who's clearly been through that many terrifying, painful moments says it, it makes the war stories of those other folks seem pretty laughable."
Subaru gave a thumbs-up, and Otto, managing a weak grin, returned the gesture.
Then, when Subaru sensed the conversation had reached a natural pause— "So, the execution. How much time do we have?"
"If things are as usual, it takes roughly two hours for Emilia-sama to give up and come out of the tomb. She's only just entered the 'Trials,' so even on the short end, about an hour and a half. Even if we use thirty minutes to prepare for departure, that leaves an hour's leeway."
"One hour. That's enough to get through the Sanctuary barrier at least."
Once past the barrier, interference from the Sanctuary side would be off the table. The radicals—who didn't want the Sanctuary liberated and sought to worsen relations with the villagers—wouldn't be able to reach them.
However, there was one problem with the barrier that couldn't be ignored.
Subaru raised his chin to his hand and called out to the pink-haired girl.
"Ram. There's a problem with the barrier. Even if we get through it and the radicals stop chasing—"
"Garf."
"…You knew?"
"He's Frederica's younger brother, and our history goes way back. It's reluctant, but he's been an acquaintance ever since Ram was taken in under Roswaal-sama seven years ago."
The partial information Subaru had gathered at the mansion was casually disclosed.
Despite feeling deflated, Subaru was inwardly relieved that they shared the same awareness. With his composed face, he continued— "Once Garfiel finds out I escaped from where I was being held, he'll absolutely give chase. He was already suspicious of my behavior, and now there's a prison break. I don't think he'll be in the mood to hold back this time. And the barrier—whether he lets us cross it or not is entirely at his whim."
"What's your basis for saying Garf will come? At least in principle, he should be respecting Ryuzu-sama's wishes, so he'd fall on the moderate side. …Well, since he took the step of detaining Barusu, he's not really affiliated with either camp at this point."
"The reason Garfiel would target me… that's…"
The reason Garfiel harbored hostility close to hatred toward Subaru.
It was undoubtedly the lingering scent of the "
Each time he experienced "Return by Death," the scent grew stronger. By picking up on it, Garfiel had developed an inexpressible wariness and hostility toward Subaru. And the result of that fangs-baring response was this incident. Even so, the fact that Garfiel had still treated the near-death Subaru and kept him alive showed a glimpse of his character—impulsive, yet rational.
Having assembled that deduction in his mind, Subaru hesitated over whether to voice it.
It was nothing new, but it was Rem who had first mentioned the lingering scent of the "Witch" on Subaru. And from fragments of her words, he'd picked up that Rem bore an intense hatred toward the Witch Cult, and that Ram was somehow connected to it.
In other words, the Witch Cult was not an irrelevant subject for Ram. Just hearing the name was enough to make Rem lose her composure. What did that fact mean to Ram?
"—Barusu?"
"Oh—yeah."
"You suddenly went quiet. With the face you already have, adding idiocy and incompetence to it really leaves nothing worth looking at."
"You never hold back with the verbal abuse—it's almost refreshing, you are. And, about the reason Garfiel would target me… well, it's because I beat up Roswaal."
Looking away, Subaru avoided mentioning the Witch's scent to Ram. In its place, he spoke of the memory of his one-sided attack on Roswaal.
"If something happens to Roswaal, the Sanctuary bears the burden in turn. I can't imagine Garfiel would let me go after I nearly did something that dangerous."
"…It's a painfully transparent deflection, but I'll accept it. Since Ram is remaining silent about things she cannot say, it would be unfair to force Barusu into confessing what he's figured out."
"Do you have to chip away at me in little pieces every time we talk? …Right, Otto?"
"Not gonna lie, the fact that you're seeking my validation on that is pretty hard to accept, Natsuki-san."
Otto shot Subaru a resentful look as Subaru asked for his agreement. Subaru shrugged off the incomprehensible attitude, and as the two went back and forth, Ram gazed up at the sky behind them, her eyes narrowing slightly in the moonlight.
"—A pale moon. A maddening moon. That night, it was a night like this, too."
She murmured in a voice so faint it was nearly inaudible.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ —Once they moved to action, everything that followed was settled swiftly.
The evacuation had been proceeding without Subaru to begin with. He was needed only as the final piece—the person to start things off in the last stage of the plan.
Villagers boarded the dragon carriages with practiced efficiency. The drivers coordinated their boarding without a hitch, and what had been estimated to take thirty minutes was done in fifteen. Subaru couldn't suppress a sigh of admiration.
"Honestly, even fifteen minutes could've been shorter. By about five minutes or so…"
Given the villagers' alertness, the process could have been even faster. The one who threw water on that efficiency was, predictably, Subaru himself.
When he met up with the villagers of Arlam Village and eagerly dove into evacuation preparations, his blatant appearance—missing right eye on full display—was immediately noticed by everyone.
He managed to calm the villagers, who were ready to shout in outrage at the person responsible for Subaru's injury, by claiming his eye wasn't crushed but rather under treatment—and through that fabrication, he earned their grudging acceptance and the evacuation formation was finalized.
"It didn't feel bad being worried about, though."
Even after seeing it with his own eyes, he still couldn't believe how many people had been shocked by his injury. He'd always believed himself to be
The credit from the demon beast incident—he'd boasted about it earlier, but the truth was, what Subaru had accomplished wasn't that significant.
Rem had been the one to save the children who'd wandered into the forest. Rem had been the one to hunt down the bulk of the Wolgarm pack in the demon beast forest afterward. Roswaal had been the one to exterminate them. There was never a moment where Subaru's contributions stood out.
"…Ah, so that's how it is."
Thinking that far, Subaru grasped the truth he'd been avoiding all this time.
Rem—whose very existence, whose memories, had been devoured from the world by the power of "Gluttony." She now existed only inside Subaru; the world retained only an empty vessel.
The traces of her involvement—physical evidence, memories—were vanishing, disappearing.
Then what happened to the things that had occurred because of her actions?
—Probably, every deed she had done was reassigned to someone else, and the consciousness of everyone around was quietly edited to make the revised version feel natural.
"The people Rem saved are directing their gratitude toward me?"
Come to think of it, the reason Petra had unconditionally attached herself to Subaru was probably because the world had forcibly carved into her consciousness the belief that Subaru had risked his life to pull her out of the demon beast forest.
Otherwise, why would she trust so deeply a suspicious foreigner—unknown in appearance and origin—whom she'd spent only a handful of days with?
In other words, Subaru had been unconsciously sitting atop Rem's accomplishments once again, enjoying the fruits of her labor as if it were only natural.
"…Honestly, I make myself sick. What an idiot and a waste of space."
He spat the words, and realized that everything blessed thing about his current position had been born from her deeds.
The girl with blue hair who remained dear to him, still leaving warmth in his chest. Would she continue to devote herself to Subaru even now, when the world had forgotten her very existence?
Even that might just be the self-serving fantasy of a sentimental Subaru.
"— — —"
"Hm? Ah, don't worry about it. I'm fine. …You're too good for me, you know that."
This was the first time in a week—since the White Whale and Witch Cult incidents—that Subaru rode alone on Patrasche's back instead of driving a carriage. Perhaps bearing a grudge from being forced to haul heavy loads, Patrasche's stride felt noticeably lighter now that she carried only Subaru.
Still, she'd initially fretted over his missing eye, running that rough, sandpaper tongue over his face in a comforting gesture.
Recalling his reunion with Patrasche, Subaru glanced behind him.
Six dragon carriages, evacuating in secrecy. In truth, the creaking of wheels and the sound of travel couldn't be fully concealed, so "secret" was generous. But they were maintaining the lowest speed possible, with everyone mindful of avoiding detection.
Most of the dragon carriage drivers were hired hands who'd taken on the job of evacuating villagers from the Witch Cult in exchange for payment—people who had no real need to be caught up in this conflict. Subaru had worried they might harbor resentment, but seeing them maintaining tension while gripping their reins, that concern was likely unfounded.
At least, they weren't the type to cause problems over emotional complaints at this crucial juncture.
—Just then.
"Natsuki-san! Natsuki-san!"
A voice called from the lead carriage. Turning, Subaru saw Otto riding his beloved dragon
"What is it? The evacuation's going smoothly, I think."
"Yes, it's been going too smoothly if anything. But we have a problem."
Lowering his voice, Otto leaned toward Subaru, who had pulled his carriage alongside. Covering his mouth with one hand so the carriages behind couldn't hear— "Natsuki-san, listen carefully."
"Hmm?"
"—The forest is restless. Something 'tremendous' is coming."
It was a vague, impossibly vague description, and Subaru could only furrow his brow in response. But Otto's expression was utterly serious, and there was no room to laugh it off.
Subaru swallowed hard, glancing between Otto and the forest behind them.
"This 'tremendous' thing—is it coming soon?"
"The words of trees are often imprecise, so I can't say for certain, but at our current speed, we might collide with it. At the very least, we should increase our speed a little—"
Otto suggested this with a sheen of cold sweat forming on his forehead. Feeling the genuine dread in his expression, Subaru decided to order Patrasche to pick up the pace. If they could reach the barrier at maximum speed, everything after that would— "—Well now. Out for a stroll with this big a crowd in the middle of the night, huh? Would've been mean to leave me out."
Just as Subaru was about to break into a run, that voice split the forest's silence and set his eardrums ringing.
Patrasche's feet scraped the earth as she braked to a halt. The black ground dragon lowered her head, baring her fangs, directing the same hostility she had borne toward this opponent once before at the being standing before them.
The blond young man looked at the ground dragon in combat-ready posture and twisted his mouth with amusement.
"Heh. You've seen some real punishment and still don't flinch. You really are a tough broad, aren't you. 'The brighter the stone shines, the more the finger shrinks back'—or however that one goes."
His white canines glinting as he spoke, the Guardian of the Sanctuary blocked their path.
With the vague threat of something "tremendous" dangling in the air.