It's getting close to time to start writing.
I'm aiming for daily updates until the end of Chapter 1, but we'll see how that goes.
"I see, I've got the situation figured out."
She tilted her glass and ran her tongue over the white mark above her thin lips — a woman.
Every gesture she made was sultry. The one who introduced herself as Elsa kept throwing glances Subaru's way while
"So that's the deal — a bidding war to drive up the price. I don't care which one of you shows up with the Emblem. I'll just sell to whoever offers more."
"What a personality. I don't hate it. — So, how much did that gentleman over there offer?"
Ten Holy Gold Coins. That was the amount the other side had put on the table.
Since they were going to match that, the other side naturally assumed they'd have to offer even more.
Deciding that playing it safe here would only hurt his position, Subaru activated his phone's camera function for the third time. The flash fired, slicing through the gloom of the storehouse and capturing Elsa's image on the screen.
Elsa slightly furrowed her brow at Subaru's behavior, but showed no further reaction.
He held the phone screen up to her.
"What I'm offering is this Magic Tool. Probably the only one of its kind in the world — a rare item. According to that old muscle man over there, it's worth no less than twenty Holy Gold Coins."
"Magic Tool…"
Gazing at her own image on the screen, Elsa looked at the phone before her and gave a nod of understanding.
She seemed to grasp that Subaru's approach was a barter, and that it wasn't mere bluster. She produced a small leather pouch from inside her coat — which almost certainly held the client's Holy Gold Coins as payment.
She set it on the table. Metal scraped against metal, and a heavy, weighty sound reached them through the leather.
Felt's cat-like pupils narrowed, and Old Man
"As it happens, my client has given me a certain amount of extra money. If you're going to be stubborn, I could consider adding a little more on top — just to keep the option open."
"Your client… so that means, Elsa, you were asked to pick up the Emblem, just like Felt?"
"That's about it. The one who wants it is my client. — You… could you happen to be in the same line of work?"
Subaru wanted the Emblem in exchange for the Magic Tool, and it seemed Elsa was suspicious of him because of it.
Being asked if they were in the same line of work — well, Elsa's profession was hard to pin down to begin with. If she was hired to pick things up, maybe she was something like a delivery service. Either way: "If I'm in the same line of work, that means I'm unemployed!"
"So the unemployed gentleman over there bid a sky-high price. How much is your owner willing to pay, hm?"
Felt's provocative tone made Elsa silently open the pouch.
Pouring out of the inverted leather bag came the dazzling white-silver gleam of Holy Gold Coins.
The overlapping clink of metal made Felt's eyes shine, and even Old Man Rom swallowed hard. Subaru, for his part, directed his attention less toward the brilliance and more toward counting the coins.
The count, if he wasn't mistaken — "Twenty. Exactly."
"That's all the Holy Gold Coins my employer gave me. It seemed like you thought you could settle the bill with that… but I'm afraid that might be a little tight."
The question was directed behind Felt — at Old Man Rom.
Old Man Rom counted the Holy Gold Coins, then looked down at the anxious-looking Subaru and laughed.
"No need to make that childlike face. There's nothing more unbecoming than a man looking pathetic. — It's true, twenty Holy Gold Coins is an extravagant reward. But I did say that twenty Holy Gold Coins wouldn't be enough."
A large, rough hand ruffled Subaru's short black hair.
Already hungover and now being shaken, Subaru felt his condition take a nosedive.
"From what I can see, this negotiation favors Subaru. I'm sorry to you both, but I'm afraid you'll have to put these coins back in the bag and go home."
Old Man Rom's blunt words sent Subaru's mood spiraling from rock bottom to an all-time high.
Felt threw her hands up in a victory pose, showing no objections, and Elsa merely shrugged, looking only mildly disappointed. Subaru leaped to his feet and pumped his fist in celebration — which was perhaps a touch too enthusiastic.
"What's wrong with that?! It's fine, isn't it?! I'm happy about it! In a sense, this is my first goal achieved in this world! A victory pose is only natural, right?!"
"You didn't even get congratulated, so you're overreacting, brother. As long as there's money to be made, I'm cool with it."
"My employer probably wouldn't mind much even if the coins weren't on hand, either. There's no need to press the issue that far."
As Felt teased the blushing Subaru, Elsa rose to her feet, maintaining her cool demeanor.
Subaru hadn't expected gloating defeat lines, but her lack of concern over failing her mission — for someone in her position — nagged at him.
"Ah — sorry, Elsa. You're probably going to catch heat for this, huh?"
"It can't be helped. If I'd made a mistake, sure, but in this case, it's my employer's fault for trying to skimp on the expenditure."
"Twenty Holy Gold Coins and still not enough — guess I was a little too optimistic!"
"Man, my luck's been on a roll lately! Could this be the dawn of my era??"
Despite the men's sympathy for Elsa, Felt's attitude was spectacularly tone-deaf.
Regardless, the negotiation that had been troubling Subaru could now be considered settled.
This also meant he'd taken a first hopeful step toward repaying his debt to
Ideally, he should have told Satella about Felt, who had stolen the Emblem, and Elsa, who had commissioned the theft. But the only real losses were Satella's mental energy and Subaru's phone.
Though he'd barely spoken with her, Subaru simply didn't have the iron will to throw them in the dungeons over it.
Opportunism, taken to its logical extreme.
"Well then, the negotiation ended in disappointment, but I'll take my leave now."
Everyone watched Elsa rise and leave.
After draining the last of her milk and once again performing that lewd tongue action to lick it clean, she suddenly fixed her gaze on Subaru.
Those black eyes constricted around him, wrapping themselves around something deep in his chest.
"— Come to think of it, once you get that Emblem back, what are you going to do with it?"
The question came from somewhere low, its emotions frozen.
Its timbre sweetly threatened Subaru's eardrums, reaching him with a command that forbade falsehood.
"…Ah, I'm going to return it to its original owner."
The moment the words left his mouth, Subaru realized the enormity of his slip.
He had just declared — in front of the girl who had stolen it and the woman who had commissioned the theft — that he would return the stolen item to the one it was stolen from.
It was tantamount to a declaration of war.
"— Oh my, so you're involved after all."
— It held sufficient meaning to set Elsa's cold killing intent into motion.
"Gu—?!"
A sudden impact from the side.
The blow to his hip sent his body sliding sideways, and Subaru tumbled to the ground gracelessly, unable to even break his fall.
Through the pain and shock, through his spinning vision, he instinctively slapped the ground and raised his head — only to see Felt clinging to his hip, hugging him tight.
"What the—"
"Are you stupid?! Dodge it, you idiot! Are you trying to die?!"
Her retort was drowned out by an even louder shout.
Subaru stared in shock. From his low vantage point, he could see Elsa standing and facing them.
"Oh dear, you dodged it."
Elsa tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled.
In her hand, an incongruous weapon gleamed dully.
— Would Subaru's knowledge identify it as a Kukri Knife?
A knife roughly thirty centimeters long, its blade bent into an L-shape — a type of sword commonly known as an inward curve. He'd heard that the weight at the tip allowed it to cleave through prey like an axe.
With the blade raised, Elsa wore the same smile she'd had moments ago.
Given her stance, the blade must have swung through at least once before. If that was the case, then the one who had saved Subaru — by throwing herself into its path — was Felt.
In a split-second exchange that had occurred entirely outside his conscious awareness, Subaru's life had hung in the balance. The realization sent fear — far too late — racing through his brain.
Warning bells screamed. His heart pumped blood like a drumbeat. Listening to the sound of his entire body thudding with his heartbeat, Subaru couldn't stop the trembling in his supporting arm.
While Subaru cowered in shame, the situation continued to unfold.
"Ohhhhhh!!"
With a roar, Old Man Rom charged at Elsa, the one who had brandished the lethal blade.
He swung the club he'd held throughout the negotiation and tried to crack open Elsa's skull with the spiked weapon.
The speed of his downward swing was extraordinary.
To wield a bludgeon that must have weighed at least ten kilograms as though it were a twig — that was a feat possible only thanks to the might of a Giant.
The club struck the storehouse floor head-on. The impact created the illusion that the entire building was shaking.
Splintered floorboards and scattered stolen goods flew from the shockwave, and before Subaru's eyes as he sat collapsed on the ground, a battle beyond all common sense had begun.
"Fighting a Giant to the death — that's a first."
"Pull it out, little girl. — I'll mince you up and feed you to the rats!"
A horizontal swing from the club struck with exactly the power Old Man Rom had declared.
If that weapon carried speed and force behind it, a poor defense would perform worse than a paper shield. With limited footing indoors and the club cutting off every escape, that alone would be lethal.
However, the skill with which Elsa met it was equally abnormal.
Dangling the Kukri Knife from one hand, she slid her black silhouette through the lethal storm like a shadow.
Facing a weapon that would kill with a single hit, she dodged by the thinnest of margins — a razor's edge in the truest sense — all while toying with Old Man Rom.
This is bad, Subaru thought instinctively.
Something was sounding the most critical of alarms: if this kept up, it would be over.
"It's fine. Old Man Rom's not gonna lose! Since I was old enough to know anything, I've never once seen Old Man Rom lose a fight!"
Trembling lips, unable to do anything but voice his anxiety — Subaru heard Felt shout with a force that seemed meant to encourage herself.
Her words carried an unshakable trust built over years.
The two of them bickered constantly, but they respected each other. That relationship had been forged by their not-insignificant time together.
But unlike Felt — who was shouting her faith — Subaru was pessimistic.
This wasn't the kind of "fight" she had seen before. This was a "killing."
"— Take this!"
Before Subaru's dread could take shape, the battle shifted.
Old Man Rom roared and kicked the table upward. The wooden table that had served as the negotiating table moments ago shattered to pieces, scattering wood splinters that completely blocked Elsa's line of sight.
A curtain of broken timber.
Through the other side of it, Old Man Rom's club was launched with every ounce of his strength.
The overhead blow, delivered without a shred of mercy, carried enough force to crush a car. But — "— Old Man Rom!"
Felt's anguished scream tore from her throat.
And Subaru saw the result of that scream.
Spinning through the air was Old Man Rom's right arm — still clutching the club.
That thick, powerful arm was severed at the shoulder, soaring through the air, scattering blood before slamming into the wall.
Both Subaru and Felt were drenched in a rain of blood from head to toe. But neither had the luxury of focusing on that.
"At least take her down with me—"
Old Man Rom, his right arm severed at the shoulder, bleeding like an open hose.
He launched his massive body forward, pressing nothing against the wound, and swung his remaining arm at Elsa.
The shattered table crashed to the floor. Beyond it, Elsa was in the middle of a blade stroke.
Before the Kukri Knife's edge could flash, Old Man Rom's enormous frame would crush her slender body — that was faster.
That fragile, desperate cry of sacrifice from Old Man Rom was — "I forgot to mention — the milk was delicious."
— intercepted by the flash of a broken glass held in Elsa's free hand.