In truth, having Shaula mistake Subaru for
Once she'd taken a favorable view of someone, Shaula would at least hesitate to strike. For Subaru, who was already at a disadvantage in terms of strength, that hesitation alone could be the deciding factor between victory and defeat.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine, Subaru. Even if Shaula realizes you're not really her Master, nothing terrible is going to happen."
That was
With her silver hair gathered into a long braid, Emilia fidgeted with the tip and declared confidently in Subaru's direction.
"I appreciate Emilia-tan's seal of approval, but... what makes you say that?"
"I don't really get that phrasing, but Shaula's a good girl. She helped both us and Subaru, so we should be able to get along just fine. If that happens, there won't be any reason to fight, right?"
"...Yeah."
It was perhaps overly optimistic, but being overly pessimistic was equally bad a habit.
Even if Shaula learned the truth, it wouldn't necessarily mean instant hostility. Even if the facts came to light, Shaula could simply choose to stop attacking of her own volition. And Emilia's idea — that they should simply become close enough for Shaula to think that way — wasn't wrong.
Not from a calculated motive of appealing to emotion, but with the genuine desire of not wanting to fight.
"You really shouldn't take Emilia-sama's fuzzy thinking too seriously, Barusu. This is the Sage's Watchtower, and the sand dunes demand both a return trip and a challenge. It never hurts to be too cautious."
"Oh,
"The result of letting my guard down was being thrown underground along with Barusu and Anastasia-sama. For someone as fragile as Ram, that sense of despair was unbearable... Emilia-sama may not understand."
"Hmm, I'm not sure. But maybe the underground around here really is fine? I've been feeling really great ever since we came to the Augria Dunes."
Despite Ram's cutting remarks, Emilia took them in stride. As master and servant, their relationship had been quite good for the past year. While Ram's manner of speaking was somewhat lacking in deference toward Emilia, Emilia seemed to actually enjoy being treated that way.
Perhaps Emilia, who should have had trauma from contempt and discrimination, could sense that Ram's words held none of those negative feelings.
"Even so, Emilia-tan, you've been feeling great?"
"I wonder... maybe the air just suits my skin? Mana can have slightly different qualities depending on the country or region, so maybe that's what it is... But around here, the mana seems to particularly agree with my skin. I'm not sure I'm happy about that."
"Yeah, makes sense. This is where a
Emilia clenched her fist as if brimming with power, but quickly deflated into an awkward, sheepish grin. Subaru felt sympathetic toward her mood, though what she said did hold some truth.
As mentioned, in this zone teeming with magical beasts and danger from Witches, the fact that Emilia's power was growing was something to be genuinely grateful for. Still, the image of Shaula's defeat was burned into Subaru's mind, so it wasn't exactly cause for optimism.
"But the conditions are different now. It's not like before, where she could attack from the tower unilaterally — if they're at a distance where they can see each other's faces, Emilia-tan shouldn't lose."
"What's up? What's up?"
"No, I was just saying you've got insane eyesight. We were super far away and you were launching pinpoint attacks at us from the tower, right? How does that even work?"
"Oh, that's just me connecting my needles to the target with mana, so they get pulled toward it. Hell's Snipe was invented by Master, y'know?"
"...I see. You really loaded that thing with extras, Flugel."
Thanks to that, Subaru had suffered terribly. He doubted he'd get the chance to speak with Flugel, but if some tea party opportunity arose, he intended to let loose with every insult he could muster.
Listening to Shaula's cheerful humming as Subaru sighed— Then—, "Sorry to interrupt the chat, but we've arrived at our destination."
"Oh?"
That was Julius's voice, from the front of the group ascending the spiral staircase leading to the tower's upper floors. Subaru looked up from escorting Anastasia by the hand, and through the figure of Julius standing above and ahead, he could see the ceiling overhead.
"No, not the ceiling — it's the floor of the level above, right?"
"Up there is the fifth floor, 'Celaeno.' The only entrance and exit to the outside world is here — Beatrice and I came in through this floor first."
With the fifth floor looming close, Beatrice at his side offered that clarification. Subaru nodded in understanding, then immediately noticed something off.
If Emilia and the others had entered the tower through the fifth floor after being separated— "How did Gian and the dragon carriage get down to the lowest floor? This staircase definitely isn't wide enough for a carriage to pass through, is it?"
Subaru spread his arms along the spiral staircase he'd come up, checking its width. The stairs were reasonably wide, but not wide enough for Subaru to fit two people side by side with arms extended. A ground dragon might barely squeeze through on its own, but there was no way a dragon carriage could fit.
Of course, making a ground dragon walk up such a long staircase — even if it were possible — would be inadvisable.
"Is there some kind of elevator or something? If so, let's use that from now on. Health consciousness is great, but denying the conveniences of civilization too much isn't good either."
"Sorry, I don't really get what you're saying. ...But the dragon carriage was easy. Shaula picked it up and carried it down."
"...Pardon?"
Feeling he'd caught something he couldn't let slide, Subaru asked Emilia to repeat herself. Emilia frowned at the English response, but seemed to realize she'd been asked to repeat it, and continued with "So—"
"Shaula went 'yoink' and lifted the dragon carriage and the ground dragon, and brought them all the way down."
"No, no, no, no — that's definitely not okay. That carriage is huge — it might even weigh over a ton. And you add the ground dragon on top of that..."
Subaru's eyes went wide at the terrifying statement, but none of his companions denied it. To make matters worse, Shaula puffed out her ample chest proudly and flared her nostrils.
"Like I said, I was the one who carried it. That's totally easy for me! If I left it at the entrance, the miasma flowing in from outside might mess up the lizard, y'know? Just a little consideration. You can praise me for it!"
"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm freaked out that those slender arms of yours aren't actually slender. That kind of superhuman strength... even Reinhard probably couldn't do that."
The biggest surprise package Subaru knew was unquestionably Reinhard, but even he would surely struggle to lift something of that mass — exceeding the limits of the human body.
Splitting the world with sword pressure, walking on water, coming back to life once — all of those might be within his capability, but carrying a dragon carriage with one hand— "Huh, I wonder if he could actually do that. Now I'm starting to worry. Whether that guy's even human."
"Muu — we're talking about me, and Master is thinking about someone else. How jealous!"
In any case, Subaru now understood the circumstances behind the dragon carriage being transported to the lowest floor. He hadn't witnessed the actual transport, so the shock was somewhat muted, but he filed it away as yet another threatening factor in the Shaula-gets-angry scenario.
Well, with that discussion out of the way, the group arrived at the fifth floor. As had been pointed out numerous times, "Celaeno" was the floor where the tower connected to the outside world.
Deep within the tower's cylindrical structure, a single colossal door was installed.
It was so tall one had to look up at it, and its width easily approached ten meters. An unnecessarily massive door, and how much strength it would take to open was questionable—.
"Could this be one of those 'trial gate' things where getting in is also difficult?"
"At the very least, it didn't budge an inch when I pushed it. As a result, searching for you and Anastasia-sama became quite difficult."
Julius nodded as Subaru gazed up at the enormous door with a sigh. Apparently, this door blocked challengers with the very weight its appearance suggested.
For Shaula, who could casually carry a dragon carriage with one hand, it was a different matter, but for ordinary people, opening it was impossible. That was why Emilia and Julius had been unable to go search for Subaru and the others, leaving them to fret.
"But it's definitely seen better days, hasn't it?"
"I think it's because the sandstorms are strong — wind carries sand inside. Take one little deep breath and your mouth fills up with grit right away. Yuck."
Anastasia stuck out her tongue and traced it with her finger to dislodge the grit. Just as she said, Subaru could feel a sandy sensation in his own mouth too, and he realized that the fifth floor, connected to the outside, was perpetually filled with fine particles of sand dust.
"The sand of the dunes carries miasma. If you underestimate it because it's only in small amounts, it could corrode you from the inside. Unless we have business here, we should pass through quickly."
"Then let's do that. My goal isn't here — it's the fourth floor, 'Alcyone.' ...Another staircase is kind of a bummer, though."
"You really are feeble, as always. But don't worry. The staircase between the fourth and fifth floors is way shorter than the one between the sixth and fifth. If it were too far, even I'd get tired of the commute, so I took that into account!"
"Don't jinx it."
Running around with arms spread wide amid the sand dust, Shaula received a chop to the back of the head from Meili. Watching that exchange, the group passed through the fifth floor and headed for the staircase to the fourth.
A faint breeze flowed through the dim, yellow-haze-filled air. Looking upward, the ceiling — the floor above — was visible not far away. The claim that it wasn't far indeed appeared to be true.
And so, heading for the fourth floor, "Alcyone," the group continued walking while exchanging light banter — until they finally arrived at their destination.
The fourth floor wasn't structurally all that different from the fifth or sixth.
The tower's cylindrical form was immutable, and its size didn't change dramatically either. —And yet, the shift in atmosphere was unmistakable.
First, the size of the floor they stepped onto after climbing the stairs was markedly different from the levels below.
Compared to the lower floors, the circular floor was much more narrow. This made sense: a circular wall had been built along the inner edge of the cylindrical building, creating a different use of space from the lower floors that had been single open areas.
The spiral staircase from below connected to the center of the fourth floor, and dotted along the surrounding wall were numerous doors, indicating the presence of multiple rooms.
"This is the fourth floor, 'Alcyone,' where I live. And the 'Green Room' that Master wanted to see is right over there!"
"Green Room...?"
As Subaru looked bewildered by the fourth floor's unique design, Shaula — who had already passed him and stepped onto the floor — made a grand gesture toward a door directly ahead.
The multiple doors on the fourth floor, unlike the fifth floor's entrance, were of a reasonable size. They didn't seem to require any special strength to open, but the doors themselves held a strange sense of incongruity.
True to the "Green Room" name, the door was completely covered in countless green vines, looking like the hidden interior of a jungle left untended for hundreds of years.
"You said I wanted to see it — does that mean
"I don't know their names, but there's a girl and a lizard in there."
"Rest assured. Inside are Rem and that ground dragon — I'm certain."
Shaula's testimony, which carried a somewhat dubious level of reliability, was met with Subaru's hesitation. Ram snorted dismissively at that, and she was the first to stride toward the Green Room.
She reached out toward the vine-covered door and pushed it without hesitation. Despite its apparent stone construction, the door slid open smoothly under her slender arm, revealing the Green Room.
"You coming, Barusu?"
"...Yeah, I'm coming too."
At Ram's probing question, Subaru kicked aside his anxiety and stepped forward. Following Ram, who had entered first, he strode boldly into the Green Room.
However, the moment Subaru and Ram entered, the door quickly closed behind them. Startled, Subaru turned around.
"Hey, we got separated."
"There's no need to panic about everything. —Apparently, this room limits the number of people who can enter. The room's owner seems to object."
Saying that about the change behind them, Ram pressed onward without hesitation. Subaru scratched his head at the explanation and quickly chased after her small figure.
The Green Room lived up to its door's strangeness — the interior was completely saturated with green. Thriving plants crisscrossed the walls, floor, and ceiling in every direction, and from time to time, hanging vines blocked the path, requiring him to duck beneath them.
And in the depths of this green-dominated space—.
"Rem... and Patrasche."
At the far back of the Green Room, there was a small space largely free of the miscellaneous plant life. There, layers of lush green grass had been folded into a bed, dotted with small flowers here and there.
Upon that bed of green and flowers, Rem lay with her unchanged sleeping face.
No color had returned to her white cheeks, and her sleeping face showed no change whatsoever. Her chest rose and fell with faint breaths — but apart from the warmth of her skin, that was the only sign of life.
And yet, the sense of relief was so overwhelming it was almost draining.
"So you really were safe..."
"I told you, didn't I? Or did you think Ram would lie about Rem? What would be the point of that?"
"I'm not saying that, but I can't feel at ease until I see it with my own eyes. ...Patrasche, I'm glad you're safe too."
Smiling wryly at Ram's words, Subaru approached Patrasche, who sat with her limbs folded deeper into the room, beyond Rem's grass bed.
She, too, lay on a green bed much like Rem, in a state similar to resting on the hay laid out in a stable. But there was one clear difference—.
"Is this grass... different from ordinary grass?"
"———"
As Subaru approached to confirm Patrasche was unharmed, the ground dragon nuzzled her nose against his palm. Accepting his beloved dragon's affection gently, Subaru tilted his head at the faintly warm pulse emanating from the green bed she lay upon.
"Apparently, it has the effect of speeding up healing through the power of spirits."
"Spirits...? Are there any? Where?"
"You call yourself a spirit user and you don't know? This room itself is the spirit."
"———"
While stroking Patrasche, Subaru hastily looked around the room at Ram's words. The thriving vines and wall moss didn't reveal any spirit to his eyes, but only after Ram pointed it out did Subaru become aware of the extraordinary density of mana.
It was like being surrounded by high-concentration oxygen — a sensation that calmed both breathing and body.
Healing mana might have a similar effect. If he calmed down and breathed deeply, Subaru — uninjured as he was — felt he too might receive some of its benefits.
"I think I get it. This really is a spirit. ...Can it not talk?"
"The spirit here is an oddball... though, there's no such thing as a normal spirit, is there? Emilia-sama's Great Spirit, Beatrice-sama's own... It seems this spirit in particular doesn't have any real will of its own. It simply tries to heal the wounds and illnesses of any living creature that enters."
"Huh, yeah."
"Something the matter?"
"Nothing major. I was just thinking of a Witch I knew who was similar."
Hearing the word "Witch," Ram seemed to think he was talking nonsense and snorted before stepping to Rem's side. Then, as if the spirit was mindful of the sister watching over her sister, vines began extending behind Ram. They rapidly intertwined and wove themselves into a green chair that supported her weight.
Ram bowed to the spirit's courtesy, saying "Thank you," and settled into the chair.
"That's impressive."
"At the very least, this is certainly the most gentlemanly spirit I've ever encountered. You could stand to learn a thing or two, Barusu — especially from this spirit and from Knight Julius's bearing."
"Neither one of those makes me feel any better."
Shooing away the suggestion to learn from both of them, Subaru continued petting Patrasche. He stroked her head, tickled her neck with his palm, and gently lowered the head she'd raised.
"Take it easy. You saved my hide once again — you've been working too hard. Taking a paid vacation once in a while won't earn you any punishment."
"———"
At Subaru's gentle words, Patrasche curled up her body, closed her yellow eyes, and drifted off to sleep. She had brought them to the tower, and now their mutual safety was confirmed.
That alone was more than enough — Patrasche had done her job.
"Has anything changed with Rem? If this room is Lezontetul's space, could it interfere with Rem's condition somehow...?"
"Unfortunately, I don't think so. Nothing notable — there's been no progress in her treatment. It can't heal what isn't a wound or an illness. That seems to be the judgment."
"...I see."
Even so, the spirit of the Green Room didn't begrudge watching over the sleeping Rem.
It was similarly devoted to Ram, who kept vigil at Rem's side.
"So in the end, nothing changes if things stay like this."
"...If you want to change that, you need to fulfill the purpose you came to this tower for."
"The Great Library Pleiades trial, huh."
His original goal had been to make contact with the "Sage" Shaula at the
But the "Sage" Shaula of the Pleiades Watchtower turned out to be a sage in name only — what they actually found was a peculiar girl who mistook Subaru for the "Sage" Flugel. The Pleiades Watchtower was, in reality, the Great Library Pleiades, and the knowledge proclaimed as Shaula's omniscience was in fact sleeping within the countless volumes stored in that library.
Indeed, the goal had been bent considerably, and the final destination had veered in an unpredictable direction.
"But my goal hasn't wavered — gain the knowledge, and get Rem back."
"...Good. Then that's fine."
Ram averted her gaze as Subaru rolled his shoulders in a light stretch. After that, she gently took Rem's hand and didn't spare Subaru even a glance.
Squinting one eye at Ram's attitude, Subaru pointed at the ceiling.
"I'm going to take on the trials above. What about you?"
"Someone needs to watch over Rem — otherwise, no matter what, it would be worrisome. In that case, Ram will take on that role. After all, I originally insisted on coming along precisely to keep watch over Rem."
"Yeah, that's true. Then I'll leave Rem in your care."
"I can't do much more than watch over her."
"That watching over her is what matters."
Ram, who rarely belittled herself, received those words quietly. Subaru took one last look at Rem's sleeping face before leaving the room. She was lost in a dream where expression itself had vanished — one could neither call it peaceful nor pained.
He reached toward her forehead, where her bangs fell, and touched it gently, as if tickling her.
"Well, I'm heading out."
"———"
Of course, there was no answer.
Ram knew he wasn't speaking to her, so she didn't interject clumsily. Satisfied with that, Subaru headed for the exit.
On an impulse, he reached out to touch the vines along the wall, asking the spirit to "please look after Rem and Patrasche."
Then, just before leaving, he stopped.
"Now that I think about it — you said you couldn't leave Rem alone, but you were free just now, right? Why did you come all the way down here?"
"———"
"You weren't seriously rushing down here the moment you heard I was awake, were you? If something happened, I'd appreciate knowing—"
"Hurry up and go."
"Huh? No, but, if something's on your mind, you should tell me—"
"Hurry up and go!"
Overwhelmed by the oni aura that burst forth from her, Subaru couldn't say another word and was essentially shooed out of the Green Room.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "I can never quite figure out what Ram's thinking, but lately it's been especially baffling."
"Hmm, I don't think so. Ram is actually pretty straightforward underneath it all. And trying to hide that straightforwardness — I think that's cute."
"That's a surprisingly mature thing to say... Are you actually older than her?"
"Of course I am — I'm the big sister here. More so than anyone else in this room... wait, no."
"Hehe — Beatrice being the big sister is an incontrovertible, absolute fact that no one can deny. You may look up to me if you wish."
After leaving the Green Room and reuniting with the remaining members, this was the conversation that arose.
Emilia was displeased at being robbed of the title of oldest in the team, and Beatrice puffed out her flat chest in satisfaction, but honestly, neither of them was acting like a proper elder.
And the question of who was the oldest among the current group was actually a rather delicate topic.
"Hmm? Natsuki-kun, what's up? Got something to say to me?"
"No. I was just noticing that a lot of people here don't match their appearance with their actual age."
"Really? I get told all the time that I look younger than my real age too. Not sure if I should take that as a compliment, but if people underestimate you, that's their problem."
Anastasia smiled with a face full of commercial shrewdness, but her true feelings were unclear.
Anastasia herself was in her twenties, with the outward appearance of a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old. But what Subaru had wanted to point out wasn't such superficial matters — it was the issue of what was inside Anastasia. At this point, Anastasia was still being inhabited by
If Echidna's origins were the same as Beatrice's, then claiming the title of oldest wouldn't be difficult. Though, revealing that fact to settle such a petty dispute was out of the question, so Subaru decided not to bring it up.
Besides, in the current lineup, there were other candidates for the oldest.
"Oh, what's wrong, Master? Hmmm, could it be you've gone off the smell of the Green Room? I get it — I hate that room too. It's so irritating!"
"You literally said I smelled like an egg earlier. And you're fine with that?"
"Well, yours is the kind of smell that grows on you. Seriously! That's not a lie this time."
"Shut up."
Subaru pushed away the sniffling, increasingly close Shaula and glared at the floor above. The fourth floor remained, and those who would take on the upper trials were everyone except Rem and Ram— "What about you? Coming with us?"
"Me? Well, I don't necessarily have to come along, but since the opportunity's here, I'd like to join. It's lonely being unable to talk when there's so much to say. I've been silent for hundreds of years, so I've got plenty I want to talk about!"
Her fond smile paired with such a bittersweet sentiment — even Subaru couldn't bring himself to be cold about it. Emilia and Beatrice, too, probably understood that loneliness. Their feelings toward Shaula leaned toward sympathy, and they had no intention of pushing her away.
"I've taken a liking to this big sister, so I think it'd be good to have her along."
"If we're taking on a trial, having the examiner present is only natural. To ensure there's no cheating, her accompanying us would be the correct course of action."
From unexpected quarters, Julius and Meili offered their supporting words. That made a clear majority in favor of Shaula joining them.
Finally, to unify everyone's will, Subaru looked at Anastasia, who hadn't weighed in.
Meeting his gaze, Anastasia tilted her head.
"Me? I don't think there's any point in being the only one to stubbornly object here, and there's no real reason to object in the first place, so it should be fine, right? And besides—"
"Besides?"
"—that girl seems to be completely taken with you, Natsuki-kun. If we bring her along, she might accidentally spill details about the trial. That blunder would work in our favor."
"Sorry, but I don't know a thing about the trial's contents, so that betrayal isn't happening."
"Well, that's what she says, but..."
Anastasia gave a wry chuckle, and Shaula made a smug face as if she'd been praised.
Whether Anastasia's calculation would prove fortunate or unfortunate was uncertain, but for now, no one had any objections to bringing Shaula along.
It did feel somewhat careless, but then again, letting her wander alone was equally worrisome — it was merely the difference between keeping a dangerous object at hand or at a distance.
"Fine. Let's go together. You don't seem like you'll be much help, but I'll expect some explanations."
"You hear that, shrimp? I'll do my best!"
"Are you the one being spoken to?! What were you even listening to?!"
Shaula's mouth twisted as if she'd been handed an unexpected topic. While Beatrice's angry voice rang out, the group headed for the room opposite the Green Room — opening the door and peering inside, they found a staircase leading immediately upward.
"So the spiral staircase is over?"
"The fourth floor, 'Alcyone,' and the third floor, 'Taygeta,' are connected directly. I don't go up unless I have business, so I rarely make the trip."
"Business?"
"A lady's secret."
Cutting loose the thoroughly unhelpful Shaula, Subaru turned to Julius. While Subaru had been sleeping, Julius and the others should have already been challenging the third floor.
Hoping to hear something useful, the knight shrugged with a composed air.
"I hate to disappoint, but we don't know much of anything either. As soon as you climb to the third floor, you encounter a room called a 'trial,' but..."
"But?"
"What exists there is an enigmatic riddle. We couldn't find any clues to solve it, and frankly, we were at a complete loss."
"An enigmatic riddle...?"
Not getting the full picture from Julius's words, Subaru directed his gaze up the staircase. The upper floor was dark, and he couldn't see anything from below. But its stillness lent it an even more unsettling air.
"It doesn't seem like entering changes anything dramatic. We went in and out without any noticeable effect... We're just being kept at the door, so to speak."
"Not being acknowledged at all — thinking about it that way is infuriating, isn't it?"
Both Emilia and Beatrice seemed to share Julius's sentiment.
In truth, despite calling it a trial, none of the challengers had been turned away. The wariness had only sprouted because the word bore a suspicious resemblance to "ordeal."
"It can't be helped. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. —Let's go."
"Yeah, let's do this."
"Let's do this."
"Let's do this!"
Receiving three different forms of encouragement, Subaru was the first to set foot on the staircase. Treading on each step one by one toward the upper floor — unlike the spiral staircase before, the flight leading to the third floor was of a height comparable to a normal building.
And so, in stark contrast to his preparation for the worst, Subaru reached the third floor, "Taygeta," almost anticlimactically.
"This is..."
The moment he stepped inside, what Subaru felt was a complete sense of incongruity.
A mass of incongruity — no, a space where nothing existed except incongruity.
—It was white. Overwhelmingly white.
It was unmistakably a continuation of the cylindrical tower, and yet what greeted Subaru at the top of the stairs was a space painted white in every direction. The spatial expanse was roughly the same as the floors below, but in the blinding whiteness, neither walls nor any sense of boundary could be discerned. Looking up, the position of the ceiling was impossible to determine, and looking down, only the spot where the staircase was stood out as a black hole in the ground — every other surface was so white it was frightening.
Unable to recognize the floor as a floor, he was struck by the illusion that he might simply keep falling into it forever. The ceiling and walls were the same — Subaru felt that if he lost sight of the stairs leading down from this place, he might lose his mind.
And directly ahead in this white space — right before the stairs — a mysterious object floated.
"A... stone slab?"
Those were the words that escaped Subaru's mouth upon seeing it.
Indeed, it was an object that could be described in no other way.
A single black slab, rectangular and unnaturally smooth in texture.
It could only be called a stone slab if made of stone, but it was clearly different from metal as well, leaving it without another name.
If one were to use a more grandiose term, "monolith" would fit.
The silent monolith had acquired a strange buoyancy and floated several tens of centimeters above the floor.
Or at least, it was supposed to be floating. The white floor played tricks on his depth perception, making even that uncertain. But the monolith hovered there with absolute composure.
It was about as tall as Subaru and roughly two people wide — comparing it to something of similar size, it gave the impression of a tatami mat floating in midair.
"What is this strange material?"
"Put simply, it's the device that poses the riddle to us."
Standing alongside the consciousness-captivated Subaru, Julius fixed his gaze on the monolith.
Having been tormented by it numerous times already, Julius's expression was somewhat harder than usual. The other members had all climbed to the third floor as well, huddling together within the white space as if enduring the unsettling atmosphere.
"Not a room I'd want to linger in."
"I agree. Stay too long and you could lose your sense of equilibrium. Imagine slipping on the stairs while scrambling to escape — that would shorten the life expectancy of anyone watching."
"Hey, Julius. Don't say unnecessary things."
Julius's light quip made Anastasia puff out her cheeks in displeasure. From the look of it, she had apparently been the one to slip on the way back.
But there was no laughing at that mistake. This room was clearly designed to distort human perception. It was as if the malevolence of its creator had been made tangible.
"So what do we actually do about this riddle?"
"You touch the slab, apparently. Then it begins."
"I touch the monolith?"
"Monolith, is it? Strangely fitting name. Let's use that going forward."
Subaru abandoned the oddly impressed Julius and stepped forward as the representative. No one stopped him, so he walked straight up to the monolith.
Up close, the monolith radiated a peculiar sense of intimidation — no, that wasn't quite right. Aside from floating, it was an entirely ordinary slab. Thinking of it as a floating tatami mat actually diminished the initial sense of awe.
"In any case, I'm touching it. Shall I count down?"
"Oh, let me do it! Three, two, one—"
"Too fast! I got it, but—!"
At Subaru's prompt, Emilia, who had raised her hand and volunteered, launched into a countdown. Matching it, Subaru hastily turned back to the monolith.
And— "Zero—!"
On cue, Subaru touched the monolith — and in the next instant, the surface of the black slab began glowing from within, and in a flash, the scene before Subaru's eyes blurred.
No — it hadn't blurred.
The monolith Subaru had touched was glowing black and beginning to multiply.
With its surface blazing, the monolith ejected replicated copies from its back in rapid succession. They ricocheted around the room at tremendous speed, settling at irregular positions and floating in place.
Innumerable monoliths now dotted every corner of the white space, and Subaru was struck dumb by the transformation. And then, through the stunned Subaru's eardrums — straight into his brain — a voice resonated.
*'Touch the most radiant of the heroes whom Shaula destroyed.'* "—?!"
At the sudden voice, Subaru instinctively recoiled and pulled his hand from the monolith. Staggering backward, his back was caught and supported by someone from behind.
He turned around. There was Julius's face.
Supporting Subaru with his right hand, Julius touched his own bangs with his left and said— "What do you think? Did you share in our initial surprise?"
"You bastard—!!"
Subaru's protest echoed through the room, adding another layer to Julius's faint, wry smile.
In any case, the "trial" had begun in earnest.
Great Library Pleiades — Third Floor "Taygeta" Trial.
Time Limit: "Unlimited." Number of Attempts: "Unlimited." Number of Challengers: "Unlimited."
—Trial, Begin.