As he slumped to the floor, Subaru felt the true weight of his abysmal luck.
Not being found was the ideal outcome, but the person who did find him turning out to be an acquaintance was one stroke of fortune. And to make it the very pair he'd met just yesterday — who could say how life would turn out?
His encounter with them yesterday could practically be described as an event designed to help Subaru survive this situation.
"Then, respecting the will of fate and all that, let's just handle this peacefully—"
From a formal kneeling position, Subaru bent deeply at the waist, placed both hands in an inverted V on the ground, and gently bumped the crown of his head against the floor. The DOGEZA technique — a time-honored tradition of the great Japanese empire, proudly proclaiming defenselessness, patheticness, powerlessness, and utter surrender, designed to awaken absolute pity in the heart of the other party.
Having regained his wits but realizing he hadn't actually solved anything, this was the choice Subaru made — a thoroughly obvious act of groveling.
Other options included forceful breakthrough, feigning madness and dancing around, or putting on a show to muddy the waters, but he could already visualize both the first and second options ending in immediate rejection. So he went with whichever seemed to have the highest survival rate, clinging to the mercy of the person before him.
"——"
Silence stretched on, and the weight of it pressed down on both of Subaru's shoulders in his prostrate position. Unable to bear the pressure any longer, Subaru sneaked a glance upward.
Filling his field of vision were the small soles of a shoe—then— "What a boring man."
"Khf—"
Accompanying that bored remark, a front kick was driven straight into Subaru's face.
The force behind it — impossible to imagine any pull had been held back — snapped Subaru's head backward. His skull slammed against the closet door behind him, and through the tear-blurred vision brought on by the pain, the sole of that shoe continued grinding into his face.
The girl who owned that shoe kept her foot on the stunned Subaru and— "I wondered what sort of resolve someone who would sneak into the royal castle might have… and it turns out to be utterly tedious. I won't hear your apology. Besides, if you were going to apologize, you should have done so from the start."
She hurled words dripping with contempt and mockery, continuing to gouge Subaru's cheek with her pointed heel. Groaning from the sharp pain, Subaru instinctively tried to knock the foot away— "Don't move, idiot. The princess doing it personally is her being kind to you. You wouldn't happen to prefer my style of interrogation, would you? I'm clumsy by nature, so I'd hurt you without even trying."
The tip of an enormous sword, drawn silently, was pressed against the throat of the man who had been about to move.
The one-armed man who had done it murmured in a listless voice that was hard to hear.
The thick blade — by Subaru's knowledge, something closest to what was called a "Blue Dragon Blade" — was handled single-handedly with casual ease despite its massive size.
That level of skill, not to mention the bare-handed disparity, meant Subaru, an amateur, stood no chance in a fight.
Unable to even raise his voice at the overwhelming professionalism demonstrated in a move that gave no hint of his intent, Subaru could only watch as the girl, still standing on his face, looked up at her attendant beside her.
"Hey, Al. Don't you dare pull out such a dangerous thing so close to my feet. If my flawless skin were to suffer even a scratch, it would be a loss for the whole world."
"Relax, princess. I don't do anything I can't handle. Besides, you're my benefactor. Just imagine you've boarded the super-reinforced mud boat."
On edge from the exchange between the master and servant before him, Subaru at least judged that moving now would be unwise. But sitting here and watching wouldn't lead to anything good either. At some point, he had to seize the opening— "A mud boat would sink, wouldn't it… Get me on… a big ship…"
Forcing the words out through the haze, Subaru desperately referenced the oddity he'd heard.
The one to slowly tilt her head at those words was the orange-haired girl. She squinted one eye at the fact that Subaru, still under her boot, had spoken without her permission— "You are in no position to speak without my leave, awaiting my judgment as you are. Very well. If your life is so worthless to you—"
"Whoa, hold on a second, princess. What did he just say, kid?"
The attendant who stopped his master from delivering her cruel pronouncement was Al, who leaned in toward Subaru. The girl was clearly irritated at her servant's impertinence, but he was too focused on Subaru to notice.
From within his jet-black helm, Al stared at Subaru with eyes invisible from outside and— "Since yesterday when I caught a glimpse, I had a feeling, but… hey, kid."
With one cheek still being ground under the girl's heel, Subaru looked up at Al with his one free eye. At this attitude, Subaru determined that his hunch hadn't been off the mark after all.
Their gazes locked, and Subaru held his breath, waiting for Al's words. Then— "When the wind blows—"
"…? The bucket maker gets rich?"
"—and they talk about next year—"
"—the demons will laugh!"
"When demons laugh at the gate—"
"—fortune comes!"
Subaru declared the last line with force, still gazing up at Al's face.
Within the jet-black helm, no change in expression was visible to him. But Al shook his head and shrugged his one arm— "Got it. Just as I thought. This one's got me."
"What? You figured it out all on your own? Explain it to me too. What was the point of that incomprehensible exchange just now?"
The girl was visibly displeased at being left out, while Al looked satisfied.
She looked back and forth between Al's attitude and Subaru, whose expression bore a trace of that same feeling— "I am not so magnanimous as to laugh off and forgive one act of disrespect after another. So answer me carefully. What was that exchange just now?"
"If… I had to put it into words, I guess it was like checking each other's hometowns."
"That's supposed to mean…?"
At the low-voiced question, Subaru answered in a similarly low tone. The girl furrowed her brows at the non sequitur, but then seemed to recall something, her eyes narrowing— "Countrymen? Al?"
"Probably, yeah."
Al shrugged again to affirm his mistress's question.
Then he sheathed the Blue Dragon Blade, looked down at Subaru anew, and— "I've got a few more questions now. How about it?"
"If this is going to be an interrogation, I'd appreciate it with katsudon on the side…"
"I prefer unadon myself. Not that you can get either one around here."
Al let out a laugh that could only be identified as such from his tone of voice, then extended his free hand toward Subaru.
Subaru clasped it firmly— "Man, life really is unpredictable, isn't it?"
He muttered this with the feeling of a narrow escape combined with an unexpected surprise.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Amnesia?"
Having gotten to his feet from the changing room floor and earned at least provisional survival rights, Subaru blurted out in a startled voice.
Al, the figure in the jet-black helm, nodded at the repeated question.
He scratched roughly at the gap between his helm and his light armor at the nape of his neck with his one arm— "It's what you'd call episodic memory loss. General knowledge about how the world works, proper nouns for this and that — none of that's gone. But the parts relating to yourself, those just vanished. Pretty textbook, right?"
"At a time like this, hitting me with nothing but katakana loanwords is pretty jarring… So I've been thoroughly steeped in otherworldly fantasy without realizing it?"
Subaru answered Al's appeal for agreement with a wry smile, reconfirming the fact he'd just established. That is to say— "You're definitely someone who was summoned to another world, same as me."
"Assuming my common sense lines up with reality, anyway."
He shrugged — probably a laugh.
Al's demeanor had softened considerably compared to their earlier exchange. The same level of intimacy as their meeting yesterday, no — something even greater could be felt.
In a sense, that was only natural. After all, Subaru himself couldn't help but feel a sense of empathy for the man that went beyond mere sympathy.
"I hadn't really thought about it much, but if I exist here, then it's not surprising that there are other people summoned like me, right? Do you know anyone else who's been summoned, Al?"
"Drop the 'Al-san' thing — it's annoying. I go by Al around here, so just use that. As for other countrymen…"
Adjusting his helm with some difficulty, Al tilted his head down slightly— "Hate to break it to you, but I don't know anyone else. You're the first countryman I've ever met. Honestly, I'd started to wonder if I might just be insane."
Subaru's eyes went wide with surprise. Al saw the reaction and said with self-deprecation, "Because think about it—"
"I have memories of a world that isn't this one, but I don't have any memories of the person who holds those memories — me. An identity that sprang into existence out of nowhere, with an inexplicable set of background settings manufactured from the depths of delusion — could you honestly rule out that possibility? Memories of another world… honestly, to me they felt like nothing but lonely madness. But—"
His tone had been gloomy, but by the second half it was dispelled. He slapped Subaru's shoulder with vigor— "I found a brother. Thanks to you, I'm saved. My memories were real. I wasn't some lunatic with a screw loose. That alone — ah, I'm saved."
Subaru could hear that the relief in Al's voice was dangerously close to tears, and he thought about just how heavy those unbearably lonely days must have been for the man before him.
There had been no one anywhere who could share those memories with him. Subaru was in a similar situation, but Subaru at least had his own recollections to anchor those memories to. Only with both could the solid sense of self called
But for Al, that essential anchor simply didn't exist. Memories of a world no one else in this world knew about — a world he himself couldn't even fully grasp — resided within him. Into that unfathomably vast sea of memories that could earn nothing but incomprehension from others, he had been drowning for an eternity.
Chilled by the weight of that, Subaru asked through trembling lips.
It was something he hadn't thought about much until now, but once conscious of it, he couldn't help but ask— "How long have you been in this world, Al?"
Subaru had spent approximately twenty days in this world, by real-world time. His memories of home were still vivid, and he was still in the state of an otherworldly amateur for whom everything in this strange land felt fresh.
Al was silent for a moment at the question, then— "I came to this world… and it's not certain, but it's been about eighteen years."
"Eighteen—!?"
Stunned by the unexpected number, Subaru couldn't even form a coherent response.
Al nodded at Subaru's shock— "My actual age is hard to pin down without my memories, but… I should be around forty, give or take. I was summoned around the same age as you, I think?"
Touching his chin, Al studied Subaru up and down as he spoke.
Subaru reconfirmed the weight of the man's earlier words, and felt even less able to offer casual words of comfort for those days of suffering.
There was still so much he wanted to say and ask. But thinking that digging into those things might lead to more pain for Al, he couldn't bring himself to—easily— "Then what?"
The sentiment that interrupted Subaru's thoughts was the voice of the third person, who had been silent up until now.
He turned his head. Leaning against the changing room wall with arms crossed and eyes closed, the girl stood there. She tapped her crossed arms irritably with her fingers— "I allowed this diversion from my business. I trust the results were satisfactory, Al?"
"Couldn't ask for more. I can't speak for what it means for you, princess… but at least I know my delusions weren't just delusions."
"You say that with such a clear face and show no irritation whatsoever. —Now, then. Regarding your disposition."
Al stepped aside, and the girl took her place in front of Subaru.
The intimidation radiating from the small girl was so overwhelming that Subaru was involuntarily cowed. The pressure she exuded now was absent during their meeting yesterday. It made him acutely aware of the vast, deep chasm lying between her and himself— "You claim, like Al, to have come from the other side of the Great Waterfall?"
"The Great Waterfall?"
"The uttermost end of the world. The accursed place of finality. The torrent of water that washes away all things in this world — that is the Great Waterfall. It is said that no one who has looked upon its other side has returned."
The girl tilted up Subaru's chin with a finger, lifting his face as she continued.
"Very rarely, someone appears claiming to have come from beyond the Great Waterfall. In most cases, it's base boasting by vulgar types seeking attention… but Al is somewhat different."
"I'd like to know the basis for that judgment…"
"Intuition."
The girl dispatched Subaru's feeble counterattack with a single word.
Leaving him speechless, she turned back to Al behind her— "A single jester to distract me from my boredom is sufficient. That is my decision. Do you have any objections, Al?"
"Oh yeah, tons. Thing is, princess — my countrymen are basically all gone at this point, as far as I can tell. So if you could maybe show a little mercy, I'd be really happy, and flattered, and it'd make my heart flutter—"
"Are you giving me orders?"
"Of course not — I'm begging for mercy! My super-beautiful, super-promising, super-wise, super-wonderful, super-kind princess would never make a choice that would make me sad, right?"
At Al's glib words, the girl received them in silence with a blank expression. Without changing her gaze, she looked at Subaru with cold boredom.
Her fingertip was still holding up Subaru's chin, and the anticipation of her next words terrified him.
Al was emotionally on Subaru's side, but the girl's mercurial moods had already been made clear to him in their brief encounter yesterday. Whether she herself had the power to harm him was uncertain, but she could at least use a short sword and magic.
—If it came to that, he'd unleash even one shot of Shamak and go down swinging.
Subaru's half-resigned thinking was— "Very well."
—cut short by the girl's indifferent remark, unchanged from before.
The girl withdrew the finger from Subaru's chin, drew a fan from her breast, fanned herself, and crossed the changing room— "It was never particularly interesting to begin with. Going through the trouble of beheading someone unnecessary and earning my attendant's displeasure would be equally foolish. An unnecessary effort. An unnecessary hardship."
"So that means… no punishment?"
"Come on, that's way too convenient, bro."
Subaru felt his shoulders slump with relief at the favorable shift in winds, but Al's wry smile brought him back down to earth. Then Al called out to his mistress's back as she headed for the door— "Hey, princess. I'm glad you heard me out, but realistically, what are we actually going to do? You can't just let him go, surely."
"Of course."
The immediate threat to his life had been narrowly resolved, but the fact that what Subaru had done exceeded the threshold of tolerability was equally true.
On that point, it seemed Al had no intention of being lenient. The girl stopped at his words, turned her head back with supreme reluctance— "Don't you understand my intentions, you oaf? —Fine. Take him with us. If he tries to run, cut off his head. I won't mind."
"Fair enough… Actually, hold on. Where are you headed right now—"
"Quiet."
Without hesitation, the girl accepted her own cruel order. At Al's question, she cut him off— "Interfering with my affairs is absolutely inexcusable. Know your place, Al. In this world, only things favorable to me can occur. Therefore, my judgment can never be wrong. Taking that jester along serves my interests. The world will simply arrange itself that way naturally."
"Your self-affirmation is frankly refreshing to hear. Understood."
Al declared his compliance in a favorable tone to match her towering arrogance. Then he turned back to Subaru, lightly nudging his shoulder— "So, you're a prisoner now. Ah, don't try to run. I really don't want to do it, but if it comes to that, I'll cut you in two."
"What about countryman solidarity?"
"When you put duty on the scale against compassion, in this life, duty wins out."
With words that captured the fleeting nature of worldly existence, Al urged Subaru forward with a push to his back.
Still completely swept up in the current of events, Subaru could only advance, caught between the small figure walking ahead and the intimidation of his armed countryman behind him.
"I mean, I know this is my own fault, so I can't complain, but… is this situation actually improving or getting worse…"
"If it hadn't been me who found you, you'd have been beheaded. If that's not an improvement, then what is? Go on — show me your utmost gratitude."
"I am grateful, don't get me wrong… though it might sound strange coming from me, shouldn't you ask why I was hiding in a place like this? I look incredibly suspicious and I'm the worst, honestly."
He did want to explain, but the reason that had driven him there was hardly something he could adequately convey to another person. It was born from nothing more than a vague, suffocating anxiety that had driven him to the point of restlessness.
In other words, his concern was really about the anxiety of not being asked the things he should be asked — a preemptive defense born from weakness. But the girl, as if she'd seen right through his shallow inner thoughts, snorted— "I have a rough idea of the reason. That is why I won't ask. The fact that I was in a somewhat good mood… and, ah, that reminds me."
The girl stopped and turned around.
Orange hair crossed his vision, and Subaru skidded to a halt. She pointed a finger directly in front of his eyes, her lips curving into a graceful smile— "Lingua."
"Huh?"
"Yesterday's lingua. It wasn't bad. Think of that as the reason I didn't behead you on the spot."
With that defined as the reason for her change of heart, the girl resumed walking without looking back.
Subaru stared blankly at her retreating back, turning the words over in his head. Then, finally taking a step forward, he murmured softly— "So basically, my life was saved by a fruit vendor…"
The fact that his feat of sneaking into the castle was also thanks to Kadomon meant that the man's event involvement rate during their time in the capital was reaching absurd levels.
With that trivial observation, Subaru found a measure of peace regarding his narrow escape.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "Hey, is this okay? Seriously? I'm not sticking out like a sore thumb here?"
"Sticking out is the least of your problems — it's straight-up trespassing. Since the princess is fine with it, I won't say anything, but… don't do anything weird. I'm not going out of my way to protect you."
Al tossed this over his shoulder, impassive. But if Subaru looked carefully, Al was also sitting uncomfortably straight, his gaze following his mistress as she walked ahead.
The girl at the front — walking through the upper levels of the royal castle's central tower — strode forward with countless eyes upon her, yet maintaining an air befitting her lavish attire and elegant beauty.
The gazes directed at her came from the fully armed guards lining the corridor on both sides. Walking through a passage flanked by sword-bearing soldiers, Subaru's internal state was anything but calm.
After all, he had originally planned to quietly scout the castle's interior. How had it come to this — right in the middle of a heavily populated area, where a single slip of the tongue from Al beside him could result in decapitation?
He wished the corridor would end sooner. Rushing forward under the silent pressure of the soldiers' collective gaze, Subaru caught up to the girl's back.
No — he had reached the end of the corridor and arrived at the scene of the next confrontation.
"A massive door at the end of the guard-lined corridor…"
The double doors loomed high enough to require looking up, naturally allowing Subaru to imagine the grandeur of the room beyond.
They were in the upper levels of the royal castle's central tower. Having passed through the corridor lined with soldiers on either side, the foreboding feeling that had been gripping Subaru's head only intensified.
As Subaru stood there in dark dread, the girl exchanged words with the towering giant who blocked the door.
The fully armed colossus had removed his helm, and with a keen, intellectual gaze he sized up the girl and Subaru.
He appeared to be around thirty — a man with features that were less refined than rugged. His craggy face bore a stern expression and the aura of a battle-tested warrior.
"We have been expecting you, Lady Priscilla."
In a voice befitting his imposing frame, he bowed respectfully.
The girl gave an arrogant nod at this display of etiquette, then gestured with her hand toward the two behind her— "They are with me. One is my knight. The other is… the lingua delivery boy."
"H—Wait—"
He was about to protest for a better title, but Subaru caught himself, remembering the precariousness of the situation. The knight glanced at Subaru's expressive face without so much as a flicker of his rock-like expression, then regarded the girl— "The lingua delivery boy, then."
"Yes. A wretched jester whose calling in life is to deliver red, sweet-and-sour lingua to me. He's harmless. Leave him be."
"I must first hear Lord Microft's opinion before I can allow entry—"
"What I do is, by definition, the world's choice. How dare you. Let us pass, Marcos."
As if it were a stock phrase, the knight did not protest at the girl's haughty tone.
His calm blue eyes evaluated Subaru, then Al — and in the next moment, those clear blue eyes shone brightly. That was no metaphor, but fact.
He lightly touched his own eyes— "I can detect no dangerous magical reactions or concealed weapons. The only item the knight carries is that greatsword, correct?"
"…Right, 'knight' means me. Yes yes. If any suspicious-looking black-haired guys show up, I'll cut them in half myself."
"If anything should happen, your duty is to protect your liege, Lady Priscilla. Leave all other matters to the royal guard."
The knight's earnest reply to Al's casual joke was met with a vague "sure sure" as Al dodged the question. Then the great doors were opened at the knight's command.
"Everyone inside is already waiting. Please hurry."
"Making the common rabble wait is part of my superiority. The reverse is absolutely unacceptable."
Declaring this with a haughty air far too grandiose for her size, the girl stepped through the doors as she was waved in. Seeing Al follow without hesitation, Subaru steeled himself and went in.
Spread before his eyes was a vast space covered in red carpet.
Brilliantly ornate walls, luxurious light fixtures illuminating the ceiling even in broad daylight. Compared to the cavernous size of the room — something akin to a gymnasium — the sparse furnishings within were a bargain sale of emptiness. Though, given the room's purpose, that was only natural.
At the far end of the center, a slight raised platform held a single throne.
Behind it, a wall was adorned with dragon motifs, and whoever sat in that chair appeared both guarded and enshrined by the dragon behind them.
This was, without question, the royal castle's throne room. That meant the chair was none other than the throne of Lugnica.
After having his eyes seized by the throne that drew the gaze first and foremost, Subaru cautiously looked around.
Inside, unlike the corridor, not a single guard with drawn sword was visible. All the royal guards were stationed outside, and the number of people in the room could be counted on all ten fingers.
And among them— "—Subaru?"
A silver-haired girl stared at Subaru in shock as he stepped through the doors into the throne room.
She blinked, unable to believe he was there, her violet-blue eyes wavering with a tangle of bewilderment and other emotions.
Bathed fully in her astonishment, Subaru's heart pounded with a pain that was almost physical.
It was a mysterious pressure that surpassed any he had endured since sneaking into this castle — and there had been many.
Forcing himself to overcome it, Subaru acted before her next move could come.
He placed a hand on his head, closed one eye, and stuck out his tongue.
"Sorry, I came."
An enormous silence settled heavily over the throne room.