The conquest of the deathly desert, the
To get through the sandy labyrinth—a nest of mabeasts—the "Beast Master" Meili had joined Subaru and his party as a powerful ally.
That said, the reason they could bring her along in the first place was thanks to Roswaal's cooperation, since it was he who had kept her confined in a cell at the mansion for the long span of a year.
There was the matter of her having conspired with "the Bowel Hunter" to attack the mansion, and naturally, he'd expected there would be some argument over releasing her from house arrest—but— "Not a big deal, right? If you and
Roswaal had granted permission to release Meili with such casual indifference. The reasoning behind his answer was quintessentially Roswaal, but the important thing was that permission had been secured.
And so, Meili was finally freed after a full year of confinement.
"Mmmh! The air outside really is different. Being stuck in that room forever, I felt like I was going to suffocate."
"Well, we did what we could to make sure you didn't feel too terrible in there. It wasn't exactly the horrible existence you're making it out to be, was it?"
"Hmm, maybe? I appreciate the concern, but it's nothing at all like being able to go where you please, big brother. If you don't pay attention to little things like that, the big sister and the little miss are going to get sick of you before long."
Meili pouted, turning around with an armful of stuffed animals.
Incidentally, "big sister" referred to Emilia and "little miss" to
"Is this room okay for me?"
"From what I heard, it's fine. They clean every room here even if no one's using it, so there shouldn't be any issues with dirt or discomfort. Frederica and the others probably gave it a thorough going-over while we were moving our stuff in."
"Hmm..."
Meili looked around the room with open curiosity. It was one of several servant quarters located in the west wing of the Roswaal mansion.
Meili's position after being released from her cell was a delicate one.
They couldn't exactly just cast her out, so the mansion had to look after her—but was she a guest or a servant? She couldn't be kept at arm's length as a full guest, yet letting her fully into the inner workings of the household wasn't acceptable either.
In the end, she was settled into the ambiguous role of a half-committed "ally," and was given a room in the servant quarters on a semi-permanent basis.
Now she was bringing in all the personal belongings she'd accumulated during her time in the cell, ready to transform the sterile room into something that felt like her own.
"Even if you go to all this trouble for me, I might not be staying long, you know? Once I've got a good chance of getting out alive, I might just run off."
"As long as that chance doesn't involve you causing trouble for others or heading back to that scary mother of yours, do what you want. But—make sure you finish the job first. After that, I don't care."
"After I've outlived my usefulness, you mean I can die wherever I want?"
"As long as it doesn't reach my ears, I couldn't care less where or how anyone dies. ...Well, the old cynical me would've said that for sure, but I can't say that anymore."
He reached over and ruffled the head of the chestnut-haired girl standing by the window, where she'd settled the last of her things in the corner. Meili let her head stay under his palm, blinking.
"I want the people I've gotten involved with to have a decent life and a decent death, no matter what happens. You're free to leave whenever, but if you can, send a letter at least. As long as you're doing well enough for that, I'm happy."
Pat, pat—he gave her head a light tap and withdrew his hand. Meili placed a hand on the spot he'd patted and glared at him with a flat look.
"...So that's how you tamed the little miss and Petra-chan, huh? Honestly, there's no guard up with you at all."
"That's really not what I'm going for."
Scratching his head, Subaru made for the door, having finished helping with the move. He had no intention of helping with the room's decoration—rather, there was probably a hopelessly wide gulf between the girl's decorating taste and his own.
Better to retreat before he made things worse by butting in.
"Well, I'll take whatever you say with a grain of salt. Besides, we're heading off to throw our lives away in the Augria Sand Dunes pretty soon anyway."
"Not throw away—pick up. And that part depends a lot on your help, so thanks in advance."
"Yeah, yeah."
Meili waved her hand dismissively, shooing him out. Subaru raised a hand in return. Without even looking at him, Meili pulled her belongings out of boxes with a bored expression, placing them around what was now, tentatively, her own room.
As she said, there was no telling how long she'd stay or whether she'd even come back. But— "She looks like she's having fun, though."
The girl given her own room walked about with noticeably lighter steps, placing her favorite stuffed animals here and there. The sight of her arranging her things carried unmistakably the bright, bouncy energy of a young girl receiving her very own room for the first time—and it was heartwarming to see.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ With Meili's participation confirmed, the roster for the "Heart-Pounding Sage Q&A Tour" now numbered seven—three from the inner circle of Subaru, Emilia, and Beatrice; three external allies in Julius, Anastasia, and Meili; and the one girl to be brought along:
These seven would set out for the Augria Sand Dunes, located at the far eastern edge of the world map.
Getting to the Augria Sand Dunes—a place about as far on the edge of the world as it was possible to be—meant a straight shot east from the real Roswaal mansion. However, the journey was longer than the route to the Watergate City of
That meant this adventure would take forty days round trip at minimum, and with the time spent at the Watchtower itself, it could easily stretch past two months.
So the big question was— "Hey, Petra. I know I've been neglecting you, but come on—can't you forgive me?"
"Not really~. I'm not mad or anything. Subaru-sama should just go ahead and do dangerous stuff far away like always, I suppose."
For Petra, who had already been left in the lurch for a month over the Priestella affair and was now facing a confirmed two-month absence on top of that, her patience had snapped completely.
The girl flitted through the mansion's hallways with quick, sharp steps, her small frame outfitted in a maid's uniform, nose held high. Subaru, for his part, trailed behind her with hands clasped in supplication, desperately scrambling for words to smooth things over.
Now, as for why Subaru needed to try so hard to get back in Petra's good graces—throughout all of history, east and west, when a girl was this upset, the consensus was that the man was usually at fault.
After all, Petra was the leading representative of femininity in the mansion, right up there with the best. The only hopeless boys who might offend her were Subaru, Roswaal, Garfiel, or Otto—well, actually, weren't there a ton more? No, wait—the men were ALL hopeless. If
Anyway— "Look, being stuck in the mansion with Roswaal for a month probably did get suffocating, but this is technically work, so you can't really pick and choose—guh!"
"I wouldn't get angry about something like that! I'm not a child! Frederica-nee-sama and
"A girl who headbutts people in the solar plexus after jumping into their arms—what do you call that if not a child..."
Hit right in a vital point, Subaru collapsed in agony as Petra stood over him, furious.
She planted both hands on her hips and thrust out her small chest—where exactly in that picture was he supposed to sense "childishness"? But a lady was a lady before her body caught up to her spirit. In Beatrice's case, her growth had never caught up, so both mind and body seemed stuck in a holding pattern.
"Wait, Petra—has your headbutt aim gone up a bit? Before, I thought there was a beat between the leap into my arms and the upward thrust."
"...I'm exasperated. I told Beatrice-chan this too—look! You have to pay attention. I grow too, you know. In just one month. I've gotten taller, my legs have gotten longer, and my face has gotten cuter, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, you actually have grown a bit. Taller, and your hair too. Your face was already cute to begin with, though."
Originally, Petra had been the prettiest girl in
To be specific, it had involved a grand sumo tournament held in the center of the village square, with bawling children as participants. Adults eventually crashed the fray, Subaru ended up battered beyond recognition, and the whole thing concluded with him being tossed in the air. A truly baffling rite of passage.
In any case, Petra had been beloved by the entire village, and her departure for the mansion had been widely lamented.
For Petra's sake as well, Subaru wanted to make things as comfortable as possible for her within the mansion. That said, his actual authority inside the mansion was essentially nil, so the most he could do was check in on her daily to keep her from forgetting what normalcy felt like.
"She's a girl who should be having fun, and I couldn't even manage that for her. I get it—even with her sisters there, work, work, work gets suffocating."
"That's... not quite what I'm saying, but..."
Subaru spread both hands in a soothing gesture toward the sulking girl. After a moment's hesitation, Petra threw herself into his arms. He hugged her small frame and stroked her head gently.
"Subaru—not Subaru. Subaru-sama. You're going somewhere dangerous again, aren't you?"
"It's not like it's been decided that it's dangerous. Well, there's talk that it might be, but honestly, this could turn out to be an incredibly cheap and safe tour."
"Which one is more likely?"
"Eight-twenty in favor of safe?"
"That sounds pretty dangerous to me."
When Subaru was backed into a corner with direct questions, his bad habit of being unable to lie kicked in.
Feeling Petra go stiff in his arms, Subaru sighed in exasperation. Then Petra pressed her forehead against his stomach and rubbed it back and forth.
"I'm worried. You're always like this, Subaru-sama. From the first time you came to the mansion, from when I met you in the village. You go through so much, and then instead of resting you run all over the place again... You should take after the master, who doesn't do anything."
"Well, I'm sure Roswaal's probably sweating over stamps when we're not looking too. In terms of actual life-threatening danger, yeah, he's pretty useless, I agree."
"With the mabeasts, with the
"Almost got Otto killed again."
The near-death of Otto—too many times.
He completely agreed on that point, at least. But he really hoped Otto would stop almost dying. If Otto died,
He wasn't about to call it a friendship that transcended death, though.
"It doesn't have to be Subaru-sama. You could have someone else... someone stronger do it. The master, for instance. He's not busy."
"I know, I know. I understand how frustrated you must be with Roswaal loafing around day in and day out. But I'll stop trying to send Roswaal to his death over every little thing. We've got enough infighting in camp as it is."
If Petra started wringing dishwater into Roswaal's tea, he'd probably let it slide. But when her hostility and malice started taking on real substance, that was a problem.
He stopped her before it went any further, but the look in Petra's eyes was deadly serious.
A half-hearted deflection or a convenient line wasn't going to satisfy this girl. Above all, Petra was genuinely worried about his well-being.
Throwing in a careless joke now would be disrespectful to that feeling.
"Well, I do get where you're coming from, Petra. I really do. The Sage's Tower apparently has mabeasts, the desert labyrinth is no joke, and the Sage itself goes on a rampage when you get close to the tower—which is absolutely insane... but even so, I don't feel like leaving this to anyone else."
"...Why? Subaru-sama, don't tell me you think you're strong? That embarrassing delusion is Garf-san's thing."
"Petra, your standards are brutally harsh! I can't let Garfiel hear that!"
Her evaluation standards were apparently so ruthless that hearing them would make most men quake.
Calling Garfiel's attitude toward his own strength a "delusion"—honestly, that wasn't a bad way to put it. However, Garfiel worked tirelessly to turn that "delusion" into "reality." And in his case, he was probably strongest when he was in that state of "delusion."
For that reason alone, this conversation absolutely could not reach Garfiel's ears.
"Well, let's set aside my thoughts on Garfiel's philosophy... It's not like I think there's no one better suited than me. In fact, if you're looking at the desert labyrinth, it'd probably be safer all around to just dump everything on Reinhardt."
"Then why don't you?"
"Why, indeed? I like the attention, but I don't think I'm especially driven by glory or anything."
Honestly, he didn't really know why he felt compelled to do this.
But if he had to put it into words, it would be something like this: "No... at the end of the day, this is what I want to do. I know there might be someone better suited, and that the odds might be better with someone else—but this is what I want."
"Why?"
"It's embarrassing to say... because when she opens her eyes, I want me to be the first person she sees."
He didn't say who. He didn't need to—even Petra would understand.
The girl still deep in slumber—the one for whom the "Sage's" tower might hold the means to wake her. If such a means existed, Subaru wanted to be the one to grasp it.
There might be someone more suited. Someone else's odds might be better. But this was something he could not—and would not—give up. It was Subaru's ego.
"Setting emotions aside, talking purely in logic... I think anyone could wake her up. If this were about some terrible, incurable disease spreading everywhere, and all that mattered was saving people from it, then I'd be fine with anyone developing the vaccine or the cure. If people get saved, I don't care about the process."
"...Yeah."
"But once you inject emotion into it, I want to do it with my own hands. I want to be the one to save her. I want to be the one to wake her. I want to save her with everything I have—everything."
—And so, Natsuki Subaru would go.
There were plenty of stronger people.
There were plenty of more reliable people.
There were plenty of smarter people.
There were plenty of better people.
But he would scorn all of that with his ego, and Natsuki Subaru would go.
Simply because he wanted to save her, and hear her praise him for it. Nothing more.
"I'm selfish, and I'm sorry to disappoint you."
"I really am... disappointed. Hearing that didn't change anything for me at all."
"Hm?"
At this pathetic confession, Subaru reached out to pet Petra's head one last time, bracing for rejection. But Petra murmured in a voice too quiet to hear and looked up from within his embrace.
Her large, round eyes were brimming with heavy tears, and Subaru was startled.
Then— "Hyah—!"
"The solar plexus again!?"
She drove her forehead downward with a sharp snap, and Petra's forehead struck him dead in the solar plexus.
Subaru's knees buckled from the unguarded vital-point strike. Petra slipped free of his arms, leaped back, and stuck out her tongue with a "Nyah-nyah!"
"Subaru-sama is such an idiot! Selfish! Just go wherever you want!"
"Gu—ooh..."
"In two months, when you come back, I'm going to be such a gorgeous woman you'll be stunned! If you miss seeing my growth up close, you'll regret it!"
"Hmm... I genuinely feel sorry about that."
The changes during a child's growth spurt were nothing short of extraordinary. Petra was entering the flower of her thirteenth year—after two months apart, her appearance could genuinely change dramatically.
"In fact, I grew nineteen centimeters between second and third year of middle school myself..."
"Eh, that seems like a stretch..."
Well, in Subaru's case it was probably a rare case triggered by starting from such a low height. Petra was about to cave at the weight of that expectation, but quickly clenched her fists.
And then, holding both fists out toward Subaru, she declared: "Anyway! Subaru-sama, you just go ahead and do whatever dangerous things you want, cause all the worry and trouble for everyone, and then—just like always—come back safe and sound, okay?!"
"When you put it like that, I realize I'm actually pretty troublesome for everyone around me..."
Looking at it from that angle, she really wasn't wrong.
In any case, Subaru extended both hands and pressed his fists against Petra's.
"Alright then—I know I'm always putting you through this, Petra, but I'm gonna head off to the dangerous places like usual, deal with whatever comes up, and come back safe and sound. You just wait here for me, okay? Saying 'welcome back' when we return—that's Petra's exclusive privilege."
"...Can't I say it before Frederica-nee-sama or Ram-nee-sama?"
"Yeah. I promise."
"And the master?"
"Don't worry about that—if Roswaal is the first face I see when I get back to the mansion, I'll be the one throwing a punch."
"...Okay. Then I'll accept that."
She withdrew her fists, and Petra finally let out a sigh, her energy spent. Looking at how it played out, Subaru figured he'd largely been outmaneuvered.
"Oh, Subaru-sama, honestly..."
He had the feeling that everyone he showed his face to would say something like that to him.
He was in no position to hold his head high, Subaru reflected.
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ It wasn't quite the weight of a "rear-guard concern," but while clearing up the issues he'd left behind at the mansion, the last room Subaru visited was that one.
"——"
Only when entering this room did Subaru instinctively hold his breath and muffle his footsteps. He could probably burst in singing at the top of his voice while tapping out a rhythm, and nothing inside would change.
And yet, his unconscious need to maintain silence likely stemmed from the sight of the girl lying on the bed—a sleeping figure that brought a delicate, wistful ache to the heart of anyone who beheld it.
A sleep so deep that Subaru wished, more than anything, she could wake from it right now.
And yet, there was something almost blasphemous about disturbing that slumber. The girl, sunk in dreamlike repose, seemed that sacred.
"...That's probably way too subjective an opinion of mine..."
He muttered in a self-deprecating tone, pulled a chair to the bedside, and sat down.
And there, after a month's absence, he was reunited with Rem's sleeping face—unchanged from before, unchanged from a year ago, still lost in undisturbed slumber.
"I'm sorry I took so long to show my face. I got back, but I had things to sort through... and while I was hesitating, it ended up being the very last thing."
"——"
As expected, there was no reply from the sleeping Rem.
Subaru spoke to her anyway, knowing full well there would be none. But his expression was gentle—the face Natsuki Subaru showed only to her.
A desperate, vulnerable expression he could show only to Emilia.
An expression of trust, like entrusting his life, that he could show only to Beatrice.
And an expression that revealed the weakness Subaru tried to hide—one he could show only to Rem.
"What should I talk about first? ...Well, there's actually plenty to talk about. While I couldn't come see you, I was in a place called the Watergate City of Priestella, and a lot really happened there. There was enough chaos to fill an entire night of storytelling. ...But I've got plenty of time to tell you about that."
Rem lay beneath a towel blanket that covered her up to her chest. Subaru found her hand within the bed and, almost unconsciously, took it as he spoke.
Slender fingertips, a thin white wrist. Softness and the warmth of life were there, yet—strangely—the sensation of blood flowing, no, the sensation of life itself was absent.
Some force kept her body functioning, kept her alive.
But the force that would sustain and fulfill a life—of that, there was none.
Rem's life, caught in contradiction, remained frozen in time within her deep slumber.
However— "I might actually be able to reach it now."
"——"
"I could be raising your hopes only to dash them, of course. The Sage might turn out to be a fraud who doesn't live up to his title, and I might have to come back and say, 'Sorry, his knowledge was useless.'"
"——"
"But."
This was, at last, a means of approaching the solution that had only recently come clearly into view—one that went beyond defeating the Archbishop of Gluttony.
The path that had led to this answer had been laid by others, which was disheartening in its own way. But still, the glimmer of hope was finally within reach— "I couldn't bring myself to ask
At the
That choice had both protected his fragile soul as a person named Natsuki Subaru and simultaneously cut off the one person who might have known a way to save Rem.
Whether Echidna, a Witch who knew the past, possessed the insight to deal with the archbishops now terrorizing the present was unknowable. But if he had revealed the circumstances, her deductions might have at least helped point toward a solution.
Right after rejecting the Witch's demands, he had been confident that his decision was the right one.
But as time passed, as the seasons changed and relationships shifted while leaving Rem behind, that choice began to gnaw at him with doubt.
He had resolved to save her—and yet, he couldn't take any concrete action.
But now, finally, he could break free from that stagnant deadlock and act on her behalf.
The journey to the Pleiades Watchtower—a path to saving the countless people in Priestella who suffered the same fate as Rem. But if he was being honest with himself, the sole thing driving Subaru toward the Watchtower was Rem's existence, nothing more.
He knew this was unfair, inappropriate—but even so, Subaru— "I will get you back, Rem. That is my oath."
Just as she had been there for him in his weakest days, in his darkest hours.
Now, when Rem needed someone more than ever, he wanted to be there for her.
"That hurts."
"—!?"
Subaru had closed his eyes tightly as he put his resolve into words—and at that voice, his head snapped up.
Eyes wide in shock, he looked at Rem—but she was still, her eyelids shut, silently allowing Subaru to hold her hand.
Which meant the voice just now had— "Let go, Barusu. Your hand—you're gripping it so hard it looks painful."
"...Oh. It's you, Ram."
He turned to find Ram standing in the doorway, fixing him with a cold stare. Subaru felt a wave of relief at her gaze—then realized his palm, the one holding Rem's hand, was gripping with far more force than he'd intended and hastily let go.
"Rem's delicate fingers being violated by Barusu's lustful hands—it's quite the sight, and not in a pleasant way."
"Could you stop phrasing it like that? It makes everything I just said sound suddenly... sordid."
When Subaru released Rem's hand, Ram stepped into the room and took it herself. The elder sister gently stroked her younger sister's white, slender fingers, then shot Subaru a sideways glance.
"Do you really think your resolve was pure and noble? Take a moment to examine yourself more carefully before you speak. ...Having the dead ringer for Rem harbor such feelings—it sends a chill down my spine too."
"Relax. Even though you look identical on the outside, the radiance within is so different that you don't move my needle in the slightest. My heart's not so shallow as to judge by appearance alone."
"Good. The last thing I'd want is for Rem to wake up after a year and find that Barusu had forgotten all about her. ...If that ridiculous story about this girl having feelings for you isn't just Barusu's imagination, that is."
"How little trust do you have in me? We've been together a while, you know?"
"Hmph."
With her usual nasal sound, Ram gestured for Subaru to get up from the chair. He complied, and she surveyed the room.
"I need to prepare for departure, which means getting Rem changed as well. She doesn't perspire, so there's no real need for a change of clothes—but I have to wipe her down and tend to her."
"——"
"You're practically drooling. How unsightly."
"Your expression said it all, so I stayed quiet—what more do you want?!"
Receiving Ram's look of contempt, Subaru almost stamped his feet in frustration before remembering where he was and settling for clenching his fists.
Tending to Rem's daily needs—Rem, who had lost her "memories" and her "name" to Gluttony, had essentially no physical reactions. Wiping her down, changing her clothes—none of it served any practical purpose.
It was merely a comfort—a reassurance for those around her that her existence had not been abandoned.
"——"
If we were talking purely in terms of practicality, Subaru sitting here talking to her and Ram tending to Rem's body were both, ultimately, meaningless.
And yet, no one tried to stop these seemingly futile acts—because everyone understood, without putting it into words, that not every action needed to yield a result.
"You feeling like Rem is really your sister yet?"
"——"
Watching Ram tend to sleeping Rem with such delicate care, with a gentleness uncharacteristic of the girl named Ram, Subaru suddenly posed the question.
Even though Ram cared for Rem so devotedly, she held no memories of Rem—her other half—within her. A girl who looked identical to her, who almost certainly was not a stranger. From Ram's perspective alone, her connection to Rem was that tenuous.
But she had lived like this for a full year.
Memories might be lost, but something new could take their place. Was that something—taking shape inside Ram now—real enough for her to feel?
"Sensing that sort of thing doesn't happen overnight. It's one thing not to have the memories—I've never even seen this girl awake. I can imagine she was an outstanding and dignified girl, much like me, but—"
"She was outstanding, all right. Dignified? Not so much, honestly. She was surprisingly spacey, tended to get flustered, and had a habit of going off the rails that gave me trouble more than once."
Losing his other half—that was a separate matter entirely.
Ram responded to Subaru's answer with a flat "Is that so," and— "Dredging up memories that don't exist is a rather bleak form of comfort, don't you think? That's not really my style, Barusu."
"Fair enough. If you say so, then fine."
"...Once she wakes up, if she remembers, we can talk as much as we like. And even if she doesn't remember—as long as she wakes, that's enough to talk about anything."
Peering down at her sleeping sister's face, Ram brushed aside the bangs from Rem's forehead with a fingertip. Rem's white hair slipped across her brow, and Ram let out a quiet breath.
Her profile looked unbearably kind to Subaru.
Even without memories, even if all traces of the past were gone, that didn't mean the bond had vanished.
And even if it had, it wasn't beyond recreation. That was what he believed.
"Well, leave that to me. The 'Sage's' Watchtower—I'll conquer it for sure and bring Rem back. Then we'll have one heck of a sisterly reunion."
And so, deliberately raising his voice, Subaru spoke with deliberate, foolish brightness.
A heavy, solemn mood simply didn't suit the space between him and Ram.
However, Ram turned to look at him with an expression of genuine puzzlement.
"What are you saying, Barusu?"
"Hm?"
And then, with a look that was almost condescending, Ram told him: "I'll be accompanying you on this trip, Barusu. That self-sacrificing tone is a bit much, don't you think? If there's going to be an emotional reunion, I'll arrange it myself."
"That's the first I've heard of it!?"
Ram's eyes narrowed further at Subaru's stunned reaction.
But his ignorance was genuine—what he didn't know, he didn't know, and it wasn't his fault.
"——"
As Subaru pressed her for an explanation, Ram simply covered her ears in refusal.
And so, without any meaningful resolution, the day of preparation drew to a close.
—Ram and Rem, both sisters, would be joining the expedition.
The Pleiades Watchtower tour, aimed at meeting the "Sage"
All told, the party would number eight strong.