"So, given all that, I thought it only proper to make my way posthaste to consult with you, Ryuzu-san, who is surely the foremost authority on those two."
"My, how politely and methodically you've laid it all out. I don't mind being consulted, mind you… but when it comes to those two, even I find my tongue rather slow to move."
"So what you're saying is…?"
"It's the same feeling
Subaru's proposal was met with an unenthusiastic expression from Ryuzu, who tilted her teacup. That said, there was no denying that she was a key figure in this matter. Subaru wasn't sticking his neck into this on a whim either—not to such an easy degree.
"I get that their situation is complicated and messy. I've been tangentially involved, after all."
"…………"
"But I don't think that means we should just leave it be. Sure, time might eventually solve it… but both of them are clearly trying to meet each other halfway, and it's just not working out. It's frustrating for us watching from the sidelines, and it's got to be even more frustrating for them. If we can do something from the outside, we should."
"A busybody's pet theory, that is."
"I've built quite the reputation for being dense and shameless, so…"
It wasn't exactly a compliment, but Subaru puffed out his chest proudly all the same, drawing a wry smile from Ryuzu.
In a corner of the spacious room assigned to her, the two sat across from each other at a table. They both raised their cups to their lips at almost the same moment, letting the silence and the green tea moisten their throats. And then— "Hey, got a second?"
From a short distance away from the pair, a voice called out.
Narrowing her amethyst eyes and fixing Subaru with a look that bordered on glare, directing it at his profile—this was
"What's wrong, Emilia-tan? An angry face is cute too, but you'll get wrinkles between your brows, you know?"
"If you think that, then maybe you could lend me a hand! Honestly! Subaru, you meanie! You blockhead!"
"Blockhead's not really a word you hear these days…"
Subaru laughed at Emilia's adorably archaic vocabulary, then set down his teacup. He looked at her properly, and nodded in understanding of her predicament.
"It's quite the spectacle, isn't it? The dream collaboration of a beautiful girl and a beautiful young girl."
"Hearing you say that, somehow, makes me blush."
"If Ryuzu-san joined in, it'd be a collaboration of a beautiful girl, a beautiful young girl, and a beautiful old woman."
"Hearing you say that, somehow, makes me blush."
"Wait, you're okay with that?!"
Expecting to be scolded, Subaru was surprised to find Ryuzu completely receptive. Her cheeks had gone slightly pink as she gazed at the same sight Subaru was watching.
At the end of their shared gaze was a scene of numerous replicas—each wearing the same blushing face as Ryuzu, though none of them were actually blushing—surrounding Emilia.
Twenty-six clones of Ryuzu, brought out from the
With the exception of Ryuzu herself, the representative, the clones had no self-awareness and merely waited for instructions. Though they had no roles, it went without saying that they couldn't simply be left unattended. Their disposition was yet another source of concern for Emilia's camp.
The biggest problem standing in the way was— "Stop staring like that and come help me, Subaru!"
"I'd love to, but those girls don't listen to my orders at all. The only ones they obey are you and Garfiel, right? You've got to, like, sweet-talk them with clever words and nimble hands and all that…"
"That may be true, but… the last time I asked them to 'just stay a little far away,' it turned into a huge mess. Did you forget, Subaru?"
"I don't think I could forget the chaos of three days ago, when they had to assemble a search party to track them down over the mountain."
Responding to Emilia's troubled expression, Subaru recalled the chase from three days ago.
Inside the Sanctuary, there had been crystals that governed command authority over the clones. Two of these had been prepared—one in the tomb and one in the research facility—and they had respectively recognized Emilia and Garfiel as holders of command authority over the clones, a role they still maintained.
As a result, the twenty-six clones remained in a puppet-like state with no budding self-awareness, unable to so much as function without instructions from Emilia or Garfiel. They wouldn't listen to anyone else's orders, and according to Garfiel, if left without any role assigned to them, they would literally waste away and vanish by the time they died of old age—or perhaps just curl up and disappear.
Even so, letting them wither away and die just to eliminate the problem was far too grim an option.
Three days ago, the tracking incident had been sparked by a single word from Emilia—who hadn't yet understood the extent of the command authority's power—causing the clones to each leave the mansion and scatter in different directions to carry out her request to "stay a little far away."
What made it especially troublesome was that the clones seemed to have individual differences, interpreting instructions in subtly different ways. Some moved away from the mansion as Emilia had intended. Others went outside the grounds entirely. And some bolted far, far into the distance.
Without Garfiel's keen sense of smell and extraordinary speed, they might not have been able to bring all of them back. Lovely, doll-like girls wandering about defenselessly was not a problem that could be ignored, and the clones being noticed by others would be quite the issue as well.
"With twins or triplets, people might buy it, but twenty-six of a kind? Nobody's going to believe that…"
Subaru had forgotten the Guinness record from his old world, but he was pretty sure ten was the limit. Without even needing to consider it, twenty-six was well beyond any plausible cover story.
And once the conversation drifted to the question of why a cover story was even necessary in the first place— "Still, there's no doubt that this is forbidden art we're talking about. Frankly speaking, if our origins were exposed, it wouldn't end well."
"Right…"
"The process of using a single individual as a base and constructing a pseudo-od with similar properties to create new ones—it's tantamount to generating infinite military force. Those who want it will want it."
Setting aside practicality, it was a useful method depending on the research. In a sense, the clones could be called an infinite labor force. On top of that, their potential for rebellion was sealed by command authority, and when they disappeared, they left behind no corpse—only particles of mana—so there was no residual evidence.
"It's disgustingly exploitative, though."
"If you feel that way, Suu-chan, then we can rest easy."
Watching Ryuzu smile thinly, Subaru tasted an indescribable sensation.
Revulsion at being used by people he knew, and abhorrence as an ethical problem—that was why these thoughts produced such a sense of rejection in Subaru.
And yet, when he cast those feelings aside and considered this technology as something invisible, something abstract—just how much of its convenience could he resist?
People, himself included, always drifted toward the easier path. He hated that he was weak like that.
"So! What do you think I should do, then?"
Emilia, who had been left somewhat out of the conversation, finally reached her limit and raised her voice.
The Ryuzu clones surrounding her hadn't taken any particular action, but their silent pressure on Emilia was not exactly conducive to mental well-being.
Subaru crossed his arms, pondering.
"For starters, how about giving them an instruction that can't possibly be misinterpreted, so they calm down?"
"An instruction that can't be misinterpreted? Like what? I said 'stay a little far away' and they ran off to the middle of nowhere—what could I possibly say that—"
"Well, how about ordering them to 'be seated'? That can't really be misinterpreted, and they'd have to sit down, right?"
"…Subaru, you're a genius."
Or so Emilia thought. Subaru himself wasn't convinced he was that brilliant, but when Emilia politely asked everyone to please sit down, the clones shuffled over and lowered themselves to the ground one by one.
Watching Emilia surrounded by young girls sitting cross-legged on the floor, Subaru couldn't help but see the scene as that of a kindergarten teacher. The reality was a bit more pressing than that, however.
He would need to come up with a proper solution for this as well. There were a few proposals he wanted to put forward once Roswaal returned, so for now he was waiting for that.
"There are twenty-six of them. If we assigned them names based on the alphabet—first letters and such—we could hit both memorability and individuality, right?"
"There you go again with that scheming look, Suu-chan."
"I wouldn't call it scheming. I'm just wracking my brain trying to make sure everyone I know ends up with a happy resolution."
Subaru flashed a grin, and Ryuzu let out a sigh with a look of exasperation.
He took it in a positive light—her trust in his smile was simply low.
When Emilia broke free from the circle of clones and made her way over, Subaru held out the teacup that had been prepared for her.
"Emilia-tan, good work. As always, you've been through a lot."
"Thanks. But compared to Garfiel, what I'm doing is nothing. He always comes by at every mealtime to give everyone instructions—he's really admirable."
Emilia brought the cup to her lips and let out a relieved sigh, gazing at the clones.
They remained seated where Emilia had told them to, but the ones who usually took care of them were Ryuzu, the representative, and Garfiel, who shared command authority with Emilia.
Garfiel in particular, despite his complaints, took care of them with tireless devotion. The fact that there were no starving or lost clones among the group was largely his doing.
He'd been dealing with the clones since back in the Sanctuary, so his experience was on an entirely different level.
Still, that probably wasn't much comfort for Emilia, who struggled to manage.
"Well, we just have to take it slow, I guess. Garfiel's amazing in his own way, but I think it'd be fine if there were a more… advanced answer out there."
"An advanced answer?"
"As soon as Roswaal gets back, I'll explain it to you, Emilia-tan. Until then, I'd like you to keep looking flustered surrounded by all these young girls—it'll put everyone at ease."
"Geez, you're such a meanie!"
She puffed out her cheeks in mock indignation—a charming gesture.
In any case, the plan he was still formulating wasn't ready to be unveiled yet. He wanted to flesh out the details a bit more before presenting it and basking in everyone's praise.
"So anyway, I'd like to shift our focus away from the clone issue and get back to the original topic?"
"My answer is the same as before. I don't particularly intend to approach those two myself. Neither of them seems to want to worry this old bag of bones. They're putting on quite a convincing show of getting along just fine in front of me."
"They were being that calculating, those two…"
"Calculating's not really a word you hear these days…"
Subaru dodged the glare Emilia shot his way and turned over Ryuzu's testimony in his mind, thinking about the siblings' slyness.
At the very least, they shared the common desire not to make Ryuzu worry. To that end, they even coordinated their stories—enough to keep things settled without a real discussion.
They understood each other well enough, yet couldn't take that final step. And the decisive reason for that lay in— "So it really does come down to their mother, doesn't it? The reason they separated."
"…………"
"Their mother… you mean the one who left them behind in the Sanctuary when they were still little?"
"The details are secondhand at best, and I didn't ask about her character. Well, from what Frederica told me, she was an unlucky person—but that was all. Ryuzu-san, you obviously know her well, though?"
Ryuzu brought her cup to her lips, delaying the moment she would speak. But the gazes of both listeners were fixed firmly on her, and that wouldn't change anytime soon.
Before long, she let out a deep sigh and spoke without turning to face them.
"Their mother—Rishe Tinzel—is not really someone I'd like to bring up."
"You mean someone you'd rather not remember?"
"I didn't dislike her. Quite the opposite, in fact. That girl had a strangely endearing personality… Her circumstances were unfortunate, yes, but the proof that she didn't end as mere tragedy is that she survived. Her family fell into ruin and she was sold to a slave trader. On top of that, a bandit raid destroyed the caravan, and she was taken as spoils of war… She was violated and bore a child. A picture-perfect tale of misfortune."
"————"
Subaru had heard this story once before from Frederica's lips, but it was still a terrible account. Emilia, sitting beside him, was rendered speechless with pity. Perhaps in that final part, the story had exceeded the limits of what she could process.
"But Rishe didn't end as a tragedy. She was favored within the bandit group and survived alongside the children she bore. Of course, that group was subsequently crushed by yet another bandit gang, and once again she was used as a plaything."
"After going through all that, most people wouldn't be able to pick themselves back up."
"But she did. The bandits collapsed, she encountered Roswaal on the road and received his protection, left Frederica and Garfiel in his care, and then left the Sanctuary to search for Garfiel's father."
"…Is that so? Garfiel said he thought his mother had abandoned them."
"…If that's the case, then perhaps that was Garfiel's weakness. Being abandoned—that leaves room for hope."
The word "hope," so uncharacteristic of her, made Subaru catch his breath.
He couldn't fathom where hope could be found in the story she'd just told. Before Subaru could voice that thought, Emilia spoke with downcast eyes.
"She left because she abandoned us, so she'll never come back… Being able to think of it that way—that's the hope that Mom might still be alive?"
"…………"
"If she left for some reason and promised to come back someday but never did… that would mean we'd have to consider something frightening."
"That would be the case, wouldn't it?"
Emilia's conclusion drew a helpless shake of the head from Ryuzu.
The real reason Rishe had left the Sanctuary, as Ryuzu had just recounted. And the reason that promise remained unfulfilled to this day—that naturally led to the worst possible imagination.
The scene Garfiel had witnessed: the moment he lost his mother.
The consistency of that vision with everything Ryuzu had described was painfully clear.
"Do the two of them know about this?"
"Frederica was old enough to understand when Rishe said goodbye. She wouldn't have forgotten. As for Garfiel… I wonder."
"Garfiel remembers too… no, I think he's remembered. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to face Subaru with such a clear expression."
The scene Emilia was imagining might not be the same as Subaru's, but he too felt that the matter of Garfiel's past—his parting with his mother—had been settled within him.
The problem was whether that resolution had been shared between Frederica and Garfiel. Or perhaps Frederica, compared to her brother, was harboring something deeper regarding this issue.
In fact, it seemed more likely that Frederica was the one avoiding Garfiel. Recalling their interactions, Subaru reached that conclusion.
"By the way, what about what happened to Rishe after that? Ryuzu-san, do you know?"
"…I haven't heard a thing. This much, at least, I can say honestly. There are truths even I don't want to know."
Ryuzu turned her gaze away, shielding herself from the truth that she had likely already pieced together in her mind. And she couldn't bring herself to call that weakness, nor to become that heartless.
In the teacup resting on the table, the dregs of green tea trembled with faint ripples.
Watching the slowly fading waves, a listless silence settled over them.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "But if we keep going like this, I feel like we're just going to end up as gossipy bystanders digging into other people's business. What do you think, Emilia-tan?"
"Mmm, th-that's the one thing I really want to avoid."
Leaving Ryuzu's room, the two walked along the hallway, reviewing the progress they'd made so far and growing anxious about the possibility of the matter ending without resolution.
Neither of them wanted to see this conclude as nothing more than busybody gossip. Of course, what Subaru wanted most was to improve the relationship between Frederica and Garfiel, but problems had a way of cropping up while you were busy dealing with other problems. That was life.
"But if talking to Ram and Ryuzu-san leads nowhere… aren't we just out of options? And Roswaal still doesn't seem to be back."
"If we want to avoid relying on the passive approach of 'let time solve it'… the angle really does seem to be family-oriented. But at this point, the current situation of their mother—what happened after the separation—that's probably not the real issue. The issue is the feelings they had when they parted, the feelings they have now after all this time, and what the two of them said to each other when they separated."
"Somehow, I feel like locking those two in a room together and throwing away the key would be easier."
"Emilia-tan, your suggestion is surprisingly brutal, and I can't hide my shock."
Subaru stared at her in surprise, but Emilia pressed a finger to her lips and said with a serious face, "Because it's true, right?"
"What those two need isn't so much time as a catalyst to start talking. They've spent ten years thinking about all sorts of things, after all… If we could just get them to have a conversation, I think things might work out."
"Hnnn, that's also kind of passive when you think about it. In the end, that's not so different from everyone's consensus that time will fix it. The whole 'time will solve it' idea is really just the belief that the timing for that conversation will naturally arrive eventually."
"So we just need to create that timing unnaturally ourselves, right? What I suggested just now was extreme… but I think that's what Ram and Ryuzu-san were saying too. We should leave those two alone and let them work it out themselves."
Emilia lowered her finger and waved it about as she spoke. Subaru listened with his arms crossed, brow furrowed in contemplation.
Was that really the right approach?
He understood Emilia's reasoning, and her interpretation of what Ram and the others had said. If anything, it was logical. What troubled Subaru was simply worry.
Was it really okay to be involved only to this degree? Shouldn't they be doing more, setting things up on their end to make sure everything went smoothly? What if the situation deteriorated further and became even more complicated?
"Subaru."
"Nngh."
Emilia poked him in the forehead with the finger she'd been holding up, bringing him back to reality.
Looking up at him from close below, Emilia said: "I know Subaru is a worrier and works hard for everyone's sake."
"Being told that so directly makes me a little embarrassed…"
"But I worry about Subaru just as much as he worries about everyone else. I want you to believe that it's okay—not everything needs to be shouldered on your own. Those two will be fine, I'm sure of it."
"…Yeah?"
Being reduced to a single word—"worrier"—Subaru felt the weight that had been pressing on his chest finally lift. The invisible burden he'd been carrying on his back, the nameless heaviness he'd shouldered all on his own—that was what it had been.
"I'd be really happy if, once in a while, you could believe in what I say and go along with it."
At Emilia's proposal—or perhaps her assertion—Subaru relaxed his shoulders and exhaled.
It might not end the way he'd envisioned, but in the current situation, it was probably the most fitting conclusion—one that served both as sound advice and as a path toward their goal.
"Alright. Okay, I'll think of a way to make it work—"
"Oh my, if it isn't Natsuki-san and Lady Emilia. What are you two up to?"
Just as Subaru was about to adopt Emilia's plan, an unwelcome interruption arrived.
Approaching from ahead of them in the hallway was a gray-haired young man with an armful of documents. Recognizing him, Subaru stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Come to think of it, there was one more major figure in the mansion whose absence had been completely unrelated to this entire conversation.
He considered that, then imagined just how useful this person could be in breaking through the current impasse, and nodded.
"Alright. Okay, I'll think of a way to make it work and put it into action."
"Could I ask why you're resuming the conversation as though I wasn't here!?"
Before long, a familiar scream echoed through the halls of the Millood mansion.