Arc 10, Chapter 19 – "An Enemy Far Too Great"
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――Just how much time had passed since they had started running?
Environs which forbade one from properly feeling the light of outside, and a vague duration of time spent bereft of consciousness. He sensed it had been anywhere from a few hours to half a day since the events had transpired.
Subaru: [Seems like we've miraculously thrown off the pursuers, though…]
Regulating his heavy breathing whilst wiping the sweat ambling down his chin, Subaru looked backward amidst the tepid stench to make sure there were no inaudible footsteps of any invisible pursuers.
Until a few moments prior, they had been under constant pursuit by a troupe of the Kingdom's soldiers, allowing them not even the time to catch their breaths.
Their paths blocked, escape routes lost, the choices of either being caught or forcibly breaking through flickered within their heads incessantly, they made it out by a hair's breadth at every turn――,
Subaru: [We got through it somehow thanks to that profusely massive earthquake… which reminds me, I don't recall ever experiencing an earthquake since I came here, so what was up with that?]
Beatrice: [Betty was also astonished by that rumbling… but for now, it is a chance for us, in fact. Subaru, hold your arm out, I suppose. Betty will apply some healing magic to your burns, in fact.]
Subaru: [Yeah, that's a huge help.]
Saying so, Subaru lowered Beatrice to the ground after having carried her in his arms the whole time.
Beatrice opened and closed her palm as though to ascertain, after which she cloaked Subaru's right arm―― the arm wrapped in a handkerchief in place of bandages, in a pale, healing light.
Feeling the dull, constant pain he had borne subside, he inadvertently let out a lengthy sigh.
Beatrice: [So you really had been grinning through the pain, I suppose. Wish you would've said so sooner if it was weighing on you, in fact.]
Subaru: [Nah, it seriously did slip my mind while we were rushing and I just forgot, I'm telling you. Right at the moment things settled down, the pain came back with a vengeance. H-Hurry up… and help meeee…!]
Beatrice: [Yes yes, a truly helpless child, I suppose. It'll be over right away so don't be a crybaby, in fact.]
Subaru: [Thank you, Beako Mama…! You must be stretched thin on Mana, right?]
Beatrice: [――. To be frank, there is none to spare, I suppose.]
Subaru: […Well, that makes sense.]
Subaru scratched his cheek with his other hand in response to Beatrice's answer, as she treated his burns.
It was unavoidable, after all, they had given quite the lavish performance at Miklotov's mansion. After the rapid-fire Yin Magic of Minya and Shamak, and chaining the use of EMT on top of that, with Subaru as her undependable external Mana tank, Beatrice must have been on the verge of running out of gas.
More and more, he felt the urge to lament his utter isekai inaptitude.
Subaru: [Though, I was in an excessively good state in the Empire… could it be that when my body was turned small, it was filled to the brim with way more hopes and dreams, or something like that?]
Beatrice: [That was an exceedingly unnatural state that distorted your Od, so Betty doesn't have a particularly favourable impression of it, in fact. Don't know how many human body experiments it would have taken to perform that, I suppose.]
Subaru: [Even though he's no longer an enemy, and we've also long left the Empire, the looming darkness of Olbart-san, or I should say, of the shinobi, only continues to deepen…]
Most certainly, the task of kneading the Od, equivalent to something like a soul, into whatever shape one so desired did not seem like it would be possible without practice. If that were the case, then it would be concluded that not merely Olbart but the shinobi village had continued to practice kneading souls, conferring no falsities to the name Vicious Old Man.
Crusch: [――It would seem the soldiers were driven to respond to the rumbling from earlier. The vigilance melded into the wind has faded, and the tension has dissolved. It would be safe to say we have thrown them off for the moment.]
Then, entering the conversation whilst surveying the environs with sharpened eyes, it was Crusch.
Illuminating the sewers with the dim light of a lamp of lagmite ore, her amber iris unconcealed by the eyepatch kept narrow, she watched Subaru as his arm was being treated and fell silent.
For a moment, Subaru found her reaction dubious, but it immediately came to his mind that it must have been healing light―― for Crusch, it reminded her of something close, something arduous for her to forget.
Subaru: […I guess… it's not something we can talk about right now.]
In all honesty, the situation was moving with the inordinate momentum of billowing waves.
Per Subaru's perspective, since the stage he shared with Al at Pleiades Watchtower, there had constantly been something happening one after another, giving him no time to repose his nerves. The entrance of the Church of the Divine Dragon, Crusch's recovery, and the subsequent turmoil at Miklotov's mansion leading him to now becoming the fugitive Natsuki Subaru, it had been rigorous.
――Even though in truth, he had just wanted to speak about Ferris's dismissal upon meeting Crusch.
He wanted to verify with Crusch her reason and motive behind dismissing Ferris, somehow fumble together onto a point of compromise, and aid the two in mending their relationship in the aftermath of their strife.
Ferris would surely call it prideful meddling, but nevertheless he would pay it no heed.
Whom an onlooker would deem as an impatient, selfish man of pride, that was precisely who Natsuki Subaru was.
Crusch: [――To the both of you.]
Subaru: […Hm?]
Crusch: [To the both of you, I am grateful. For the fact that you ran after me, amidst a situation such as that.]
Subaru: [――――]
Subaru clamped his mouth shut upon what Crusch conveyed, the tone of her voice lowered.
Grateful, merely that one word, by his own mind, was far too modest a price for him to indeed feel this half day spent entirely on the run had been recompensed. But at the very least, had they chosen not to run after her back at that place, they could not have drawn these words from her.
Subaru: [But, I can't just say "you're welcome" so easily. My burns hurt, though you did shield me from Tiga, but it's because of you that a fight even broke out in the first place, Crusch-san, and I'm definitely causing worry and trouble for Emilia-tan and everyone else, and my courageous Beako has steeled her resolve to live through four-hundred years of hell with me…]
Beatrice: [Subaru, Subaru, just because you haven't sorted out your thoughts doesn't mean you should be stroking Betty's head around so impulsively and rashly, in fact. Betty's adorableness will be spoiled, I suppose.]
Subaru: [Ah, my bad… you're right! It's been spoiled so much… I can't even bear to look!]
Beatrice: [That's impossible, in fact! Even if Betty's hairdo is a mess, rather than clouding Betty's cuteness, it will come to be the discovery of a new charm point, I suppose!]
With her hair disheveled by Subaru's hand as he found himself with nothing better to do, Beatrice yelped in defeat, though not going so far as to interrupt his healing.
This usual exchange of theirs felt as though it slightly unravelled the anxiety that seemed to have congealed even his organs, a salvation. ――At the moment of Subaru's such nonchalant relief.
Crusch: [Pfft.]
Subaru: [――! Crusch-san, did you laugh just now?]
A faint sound jolted the air, and Subaru unwittingly widened his eyes.
He looked to find Crusch standing by the sullied walls of the sewers, with a hand placed over her mouth. Upon receiving Subaru's gaze, she supplemented a single word, "Apologies",
Crusch: [Watching your exchange devoid of the present tension, I could not resist it. It was my immaturity.]
Subaru: [I can't argue against you about all the anxiety, but it's far better than feeling endlessly tense all the time. Besides, you've shown nothing but a scary face so far.]
Crusch: [A frightening face, you say. I suppose there is also the matter of my eye, after all.]
Subaru: [Nah, even with one of your eyes turned like that, Crusch-san, you're nothing but a beauty.]
Crusch: [――――]
Beatrice: [Subaru…]
Subaru: [Huh!? The mood slightly worsened again!?]
With one hand over her eyepatch, Crusch narrowed her eyes, and as even Beatrice was appalled by him, Subaru flustered about. However, after a short sigh, Crusch slowly shook her head,
Crusch: [You are… no, both of you are truly strong.]
Subaru: [If you're talking about me and Beako, then using the plural is correct. Without Beako, I'd just be another nobody among the riffraff. But you know…]
Crusch: [But?]
Subaru: […This strength, is something you also ought to have held, Crusch-san.]
Crusch pursed her lips upon Subaru's reply.
Observing this, Subaru reflected upon his words as being intrusive. That he had compelled her expression, which had softened for a mere moment, to turn rigid once again.
As Subaru oscillated between what words to continue with, Beatrice tapped his arm.
Beatrice: [Here, all done, I suppose. It should not be critical for now, I suppose.]
Subaru: [Hm, I see, thanks… Hmm, it feels a bit tight, but not bad.]
Beatrice: [Leave the handkerchief as is, in fact. It might feel itchy, but since the skin may become gooey, we'll leave it there to ensure you don't accidentally start scratching, I suppose.]
Subaru: [That's way too damn scary so I'll bear it in mind. ――And, so.]
Offering twofold gratitude to Beatrice for her well-timed intermission, Subaru once again turned towards Crusch. The treatment of his arm had finished, and the pursuers had been thrown off for the moment. With all that, there were a copious number of matters he wished to discuss with her.
What he imperatively wished to verify first, was――,
Subaru: [Crusch-san, do you have any clues out of this situation?]
Crusch: [Clues, hm? I did, prior to things turning to this. However, it was slain to abandon by my own hand.]
Subaru: […Based on the way you're phrasing it, could your clue maybe have been…]
Crusch: [That is correct. It was Miklotov McMahon, prior to his wicked conspiracy being uncovered.]
Subaru: [Oh my god…]
As she indifferently nodded in assent, Subaru looked up towards the heavens whilst feeling his vision turn black, his gaze bouncing back from the not-particularly-tall soiled ceiling of the sewers.
It was the same for Subaru so he could not revile it much, but there were an exorbitant amount of impetuses by which one might consider relying on Miklotov for information pertaining to the Kingdom. The fact that even Crusch, having been placed into a difficult position as a Royal Candidate after the matter with the Church of the Divine Dragon, had arrived at the same reckoning, was a testament to Miklotov's eminence.
However――,
Subaru: [That's the Miklotov-san who had been harbouring a plot to overthrow the nation…?]
Crusch: [That is correct. ――Sir McMahon agreeably welcomed me upon my unscheduled visit. However, purporting to have a scheduled visitor he was expecting, he had kept me waiting in a separate room…]
Subaru: [A separate room. What about that?]
Crusch: [Whilst I was left in the guest room, I witnessed a suspicious wind pertaining both to myself, and to the visitor he would subsequently be welcoming in. Therefore, I attempted to go inquire of his intent, when the men in the mansion obstructed my path―― the rest is as the two of you already know.]
Subaru: [What we saw…]
A slain Miklotov, and the servants and guards who had collapsed just as they arrived at the mansion. Even with the chronology of how things had arrived at their executions elucidated to him once again, it was still an answer he could not easily assent to.
In the end, the problem was that Crusch's basis of distrusting Miklotov was a suspicious wind―― namely, by virtue of the Divine Protection of Wind Reading that she possessed.
Subaru: [――――]
Albeit a matter of course, Subaru could not share the Divine Protection of Wind Reading into which she placed unconditional faith. Hence, beside his desire to trust Crusch, he was bereft of confidence.
And, that was――,
Subaru: [――The same as me, back then.]
Whilst conversing with Crusch, Subaru savored an emotion as though constricting his chest.
A perfect mirror image of a back and forth he had once exchanged with Crusch―― back when the Royal Selection had barely started, when Subaru's vision had been beclouded by his hatred towards Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, the Sin Archbishop of Sloth who inflicted annihilating destruction upon the Roswaal Mansion and Arlam Village; this situation was utterly identical to that time.
Subaru: [Back then, my blood was boiling, my eyes were clouded by the fact that nobody believed me, failing to listen even a little bit to what the people around me were saying…]
His distortion, fully corrupted by hatred and wrath, was seen through by Crusch, and she resolutely cast aside his foolishly frenzied stance. ――Now was a restaging of those positions, inverted.
Crusch's present words and deeds were the same as Subaru's when he had erupted with ire for not being understood, brandishing information gained by a method incomprehensible to others, named Return by Death.
Needless to say, Crusch's conduct appeared to be more reasonable compared to the foolish Subaru of that time.
However, contrary to the powerless Subaru, Crusch had power and position alike.
Subaru: [――Yeah, I can't.]
Beatrice: […Subaru?]
Subaru: [Now that I know she's the same as me, I no longer have the option to abandon Crusch-san here. Whether I have to help her or stop her.]
Subaru bit his lip and tightly balled his fists, as Beatrice quietly watched from his side.
At that time, Crusch had been preparing for the behemoth undertaking of subjugating the White Whale. Yet, she continued to patiently face the ignorant, vapid, insolent Subaru. In the end, she lent her ears to Subaru's words, and aided him with her power to help realize his ambitions.
Now, it was Subaru's turn to do the same. ――To stand by her side if she was in the right, and to stop her if she had erred, even if it meant standing in her way. For that purpose.
Subaru: [Crusch-san, I am――]
Crusch: [――Pause, Natsuki Subaru.]
As he almost vocalised the determination he anchored, Crusch halted him.
However, Crusch's looks were far too austere for him to think the wind had been taken out of her sails. She moved closer to Subaru and Beatrice, shielding them in her rear, her eyes laser focused on the murk of the sewers.
Subaru looked in the same direction as her vigilance, though nothing reflected in his eyes――,
Crusch: [――Somebody is there. Even if you conceal your breaths, your emotions mount onto the wind. My eyes shall not permit them escape.]
Subaru: [――! Didn't we shake off the pursuing soldiers…]
Crusch: [It is likely a party bearing a separate motive from them. Allow me to warn you, remaining silent bears you no yield. Otherwise, I shall deem it as hostility――]
???: [――Wait wait wait! Don't be so hasty! I get it! I get it, alright!]
Unsheathed before anyone could notice, her poniard in hand, it happened just as Crusch poised herself to stand on guard. Pressed by the swell of tension and vigilance in her tenor, a flustered voice responded from the darkness ahead of the channel.
Subsequent to his surprise for the veracity of Crusch's eyes, the voice itself caused Subaru to knit his eyebrows with a "Hm?". ――A voice that he recalled.
Subaru: [That voice just now…]
???: [Shit! I'll come over to you now! Got it? Don't attack, okay? I ain't trying to duke it out with you fucks at all!]
Crusch: [That depends on your next move. I shall inform you that I am unable to make any imprudent promises. Having said that, you are one and we are three, you are outnumbered――]
Subaru: [――Wait, are you… Chin?]
Crusch: [What?]
Keeping her guard up toward the shouting man, Crusch raised an eyebrow at Subaru's question. Nestling up beside Subaru, Beatrice also quietly murmured, "Chin…",
Beatrice: [Thinking back, that was the man we saw in Pristella, in fact.]
Subaru: [Yeah, that's right. Right now, he's being taken care of at Felt's place…]
???: [――And it was that very Felt who told me to come here. Tsk, damn embarrassing.]
Clicking his tongue in displeasure, the man slowly emerged from the darkness with both hands raised.
And as soon as he did so, just as expected, it was the man with shihaku eyes even nastier than Subaru's sanpaku ones―― Rachins, one of the three Tonchinkan back alley thugs who had, at some point, joined Felt's camp.
Subaru: [Oh, Chin…! It's always a refreshing surprise whenever you show up.]
Rachins: [Shaddup! I told you before that my name ain't Chin! It's Rachins!]
Beatrice: [Chin, I suppose.]
Rachins: [I'm telling you I ain't Chin, you runt!]
Beatrice: [A daring Chin, in fact.]
Leaving aside Subaru, who was deeply moved by the face he had not seen in quite some time, Rachins and Beatrice engaged in a fruitless quarrel.
In fact, this was the first time he had seen Rachins since Pristella―― specifically, since they had been caught up together in Sirius's violent display that served as the outset for the Witch Cult's gathering of good-for-nothings. Of course, his safety had also been confirmed in the aftermath, but it was a great joy to see him so energetic like this.
Subaru: [Nah, it sure is great to run into a familiar face. I have so many things I wanna ask――]
Crusch: [Stop right there, Chin, or whatever your name may be. Unlike Natsuki Subaru, I know of you not.]
Subaru: [Crusch-san!?]
In contrast to Subaru's instinctive joy upon reuniting with an old acquaintance, Crusch cast a sharp gaze towards Rachins with her poniard in hand, her vigilance not softening in the slightest.
Now that she had mentioned it, Rachins had not stayed at the Water Plumage Pavillion, and since he had withdrawn from the warfront after the initial encounter with Sirius, there was never an opportunity for him and Crusch to cross paths.
Crusch's caution was justified, and just as he thought so――,
Rachins: [Ahhn? For you to say you don't know me, you're pretty damn heartless, ain't you now, Duchess Karsten?]
Crusch: […What?]
Rachins: [Well, look, I ain't in any position to talk freely with people of haughty high-class status like you, Duchess, but you would've been one of them who learned the sword from my old man. If you're gonna say that you ain't got a clue about that, then I guess my dad must not've done a very good job.]
Crusch: [――――]
And, as Rachins spoke with his long tongue hanging out, Crusch wore a perplexed expression. On the other hand, Subaru could not help but be dumbfounded by the stupidly bold nerve of Rachins.
Subaru: [Dude, no matter how reckless you are, just running your mouth like that is…]
Rachins: [I ain't running my mouth…! Though I may look like this, I was born to that sorta household. And so, though I can count the number of times on a single hand, I've met the Duchess and her family before.]
Subaru: [Seriously? If you're making this up, you've got a dangerously wild imagination, man…]
Nevertheless, when someone spoke with this much absolute confidence, it would inevitably start to sound like the truth, proving that the words and hearts of humans could never truly be relied upon.
With that in mind, Subaru nervously stole a glance at Crusch to glimpse her reaction,
Crusch: [――. ――――. ――――――――. By some possibility, are you the honored son of Rickert Hoffman-dono, esteemed for his noble service as the Royal Instructor?]
Rachins: [Hah! Hear that? Looks like I actually managed to stick in Duchess Karsten's memory.]
Subaru: [For real!?]
Beatrice: [He seems to be for real, I suppose.]
Taking her ample time, Crusch produced the name of a single person as if scraping it out from the depths of her mind. And as Rachins affirmed her identification, Subaru and Beatrice reflexively exchanged glances.
To think that Rachins, of all people, was truly born of Lugunican nobility.
Subaru: [How did someone like that end up as a thug picking on the weak in back alleys?]
Rachins: [Shaddup! Everyone's got their own circumstances, so don't pry!]
Beatrice: [When it comes to circumstances, Betty and Subaru also have a great deal at the moment, in fact. It would seem that the reason you have made your way here, is not unrelated to those circumstances, I suppose.]
Rachins: [Ngh…!]
Subaru: [Yeah. It's as Beako says… Crusch-san, you can put that down. You don't need to worry about Chin over there, probably. You have my assurance.]
Crusch: [――. Any suspicious behaviour, or if the wind so much as stirs, I shall cut him down.]
Rachins: [Behaviour's one thing, but how the hell do you expect me to take responsibility for the wind…!?]
Before Rachins, visibly trembling as he spoke, Crusch slowly lowered her poniard, and dissolved her vigilant posture. Though, with that said, she stopped short of returning the blade to its sheath, and she kept a firm watch over Rachins's conduct with her single eye.
Anyhow――,
Subaru: [Once again, you did well to come here. How did you manage to track us down?]
Rachins: [It wasn't any sorta impressive method. I wasn't the only one searching for you fucks, either. Gaston and Camberley are also off roaming around to look in other places.]
Beatrice: [In that case, you merely happened to stumble upon the right answer, in fact? It truly wasn't an impressive method, I suppose.]
Rachins: [Shaddup, damn runt. I found you in the end, so who cares? Ah, so then what? What'd you fucks do for shit to turn out like this?]
Subaru: [As for that, it'd be a long story if I were to get into it, and I'm not confident you'd be satisfied upon hearing it. So first of all, I'd like to hear from you. ――How are Emilia and the others?]
Knowing full well that it was rude, Subaru brushed Rachins's question aside, and pressed him for answers.
After all, since escaping from Miklotov's mansion, he had failed to get the chance to procure any actual information about what was happening in the outside world. With feelings of unease, worry, and irritability, Subaru's inner heart was a complete mess.
Subaru: [The fact that we're together here with Crusch ought to have reached the ears of Emilia and everyone else by now. And if so, they must be worried and troubled to death…]
A double whammy of the mental burden of worry, and the physical burden of being questioned by the Kingdom. With that, the camp would have been in a great kerfuffle. ――However, those expectations of Subaru's were completely betrayed.
Utterly shattered, in a form he never could have imagined.
Rachins: [Ahh…]
Subaru:[――?]
After Rachins slightly widened his shihaku eyes at that inquiry, his face took on an uncharacteristic expression that seemed to be showing consideration for Subaru, and spoke.
That was――,
Rachins: [The half-elf from your place is being held captive at the Castle. What's more, the other members of your camp have all fled and gone into hiding. ――Just like you, every last one of them is a wanted fugitive, you fuck.]
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――Emilia's detainment at the Royal Castle, and the flight of Rem, Otto, and the others from the Royal Residence.
It truly was bad news that felt as if heaven and earth had been overturned.
Repeatedly attempting to process the information Rachins had conveyed to him, his mind went in circles, round and round and round and round, in order to comprehend it all. By such means, he made every effort in order to somehow understand it.
He made every effort, but――,
Subaru: [Wh-why would they be…?]
Beatrice: […Indeed, Betty hadn't predicted this either, in fact.]
Aghast with his face gone pale, Subaru muttered so, only to then notice the chattering of his teeth.
It appeared that events which were so far beyond one's comprehension could suck even the heat right out of a person. It was to the point his blood had run cold throughout his body, conjuring a hallucination that even the extremities of his hands and feet were turning necrotic from frostbite.
Holding hands with Subaru as he found himself in such a state, Beatrice gently shared her warmth with him. Even so, his body did not stop shivering. ――The situation had become far worse than any superficial imagination of his.
Subaru: [It's my… it's my fault, that Emilia, that everyone else…]
Rachins: [Keh, I guess you'd wanna say some worthless shit like that, but quit acting like it's on you, you fuck. Because no matter how you look at this situation, you've been set up.]
Subaru: [Eh?]
With a shrill ringing in his ears and while staggering due to vertigo, Subaru blinked in surprise. His arms crossed, Rachins clicked his tongue in irritation at Subaru's reaction.
Just then, Rachins had said Subaru and everyone else had been "set up" as if it was completely natural.
Subaru: [When you say we're being set up, what do you…]
Rachins: [It's been one thing after another, without any breaks. On the whole, don't you find it strange? Aren't there way too many inconvenient things suddenly occurring all over the damn place?]
Looking like he wanted to sigh, Rachins shrugged at the dumbfounded Subaru.
In response to his way of putting it, in place of the lethargic Subaru, who seemed like some part of his brain had gone numb, Beatrice responded with,
Beatrice: [That would be both Betty and the others being pursued, as well as Emilia being imprisoned in the Castle… I suppose?]
Rachins: [――. That ain't all though. The other fucks from your camp probably fled without even trying to talk it through because they realized that the enemy was going to have them killed.]
Subaru: [Killed… hk!?]
Rachins: [It's a hypothetical, a hypothetical! In practice, they can't just up and kill a Royal Candidate all of a sudden… That's also why that tomboy was even able to send us away.]
As Subaru's eyes shot wide open at the unsettling word that had been dropped, Rachins kicked the filthy wall in response.
And yet, thanks to Rachins quite patiently discussing it with him, contrary to his blunt attitude, Subaru's ability to think had at last begun to recover bit by bit.
To sum it up――,
Subaru: [Someone is operating behind the scenes to make Emilia drop out of the Royal Selection. And so, my own actions were skillfully used to that end, causing Emilia to be apprehended and brought to the Castle. Otto and the others realized the intentions of the one plotting all of this, and escaped before they lost their own ability to move freely… something like that?]
Beatrice: [There is just one thing Betty would like to add to that, in fact. ――There is also the possibility that Emilia is not the only one being targeted by that scoundrel, I suppose.]
Subaru: [Not just Emilia?]
Rachins: [――――]
When Subaru, prompted by that being pointed out, raised his eyebrows, Beatrice nodded and pointed with her chin. Following that movement, he looked over and saw Rachins making a sullen look, poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue.
It was clearly the face of someone who had been hit in a sore spot――,
Subaru: […By any chance, Chin, was the reason you came here not just because Emilia and Felt are friends now?]
Rachins: [Shit, the damn runt noticed something unnecessary…]
Beatrice: [Betty's role is to fill in the gaps where Subaru is lacking, in fact. Besides, saying "runt, runt" over and over again… do you want to be taught a lesson, I suppose, human?]
Rachins: [In that case, teach your master to call people by their actual fucking names!]
Raising his voice at Beatrice, with whom he seemed to possess a poor affinity, Rachins heaved a deep sigh. Then, after hesitating for a bit,
Rachins: […It ain't just the half-elf from your fucking group who got captured at the Castle. It was Felt too. They dug up some dirt on her, and now that bastard Reinhard has also been prevented from acting freely.]
Subaru: [Reinhard has!? Also, Felt's been detained too… in that case, what they're targeting isn't Emilia, but the Royal Selection itself!?]
Rachins: [So slow on the uptake. Anyway, Felt was suspicious of that, and so before she was hauled off to the Castle, she gave us orders, saying, "Go look for Nii-chan and the others. If you find him, don't leave him alone." Owing to that, I ended up stuck running all over through this damn gutter stench.]
It was understandable that Rachins had been reluctant to speak in the sense of it being a disadvantage for his camp, but having that information versus not having it entirely altered the underlying premise.
Without a doubt, Subaru had concluded that his own actions had only been used as a way to defame Emilia, but it appeared that the aims of this opponent were on an entirely different order of magnitude.
If Emilia and Felt, as well as Subaru and Reinhard, who were involved with them, and furthermore even each of their camps were all at risk of being drawn into this, it was absolutely no accident.
It was a clandestine operation aimed at the Royal Section that would send violent tremors throughout the Kingdom of Lugunica. And, Subaru had happened to previously hear a tale of such scale that was far too great.
Subaru: [Crusch-san, did you hear that!? What you said before…]
Raising his head enthusiastically, Subaru invited Crusch into the discussion that she had been keeping watch over.
Until Rachins had joined them, Subaru had been unable to place complete faith in the validity of Crusch's statements, based on her Divine Protection of Wind Reading. However, the muddy torrent of information that he had just been showered with had been enough to confer a certain degree of credibility to those suspicions he had been unable to fully trust.
Perhaps the designs of Miklotov that had led to Crusch taking up her blade was also a part of this malice attempting to bring the Royal Selection to ruin.
However――,
Subaru: [Hey, Crusch-san?]
Finding her lack of response strange, Subaru looked at Crusch, and could not believe his own eyes. ――It was because Crusch, standing along the wall, was drowsily nodding off.
To start to fall asleep in the midst of a conversation while keeping vigilant, such a thing was an incongruent behavior provided the situation, and something uncharacteristic of Crusch.
As Subaru noticed this and spoke up, Crusch, looking back at him with clearly vacant eyes,
Crusch: […Apologies, a drowsiness has suddenly come over me. I suspect…. it is likely… the burden from my left eye…]
Subaru: [Burden… to begin with, since when have you had that eye?]
Crusch: [I leave… the rest to you… Subaru… sama…]
Subaru: [Hold on a sec!]
Perhaps reaching her limit there, he had thought her upper body was just swaying unsteadily, but then Crusch suddenly pitched forward and collapsed. As he hurriedly caught her, the poniard slipped from Crusch's hand as her strength left her, making a high-pitched clatter upon the floor of the waterway.
And yet, the woman herself heeded not such sounds, and began to make the quiet noises of one breathing in their sleep.
Subaru: [Are you kidding me? In the middle of such an important conversation… she fell asleep!]
Rachins: [Oi, what's going on with the Duchess? They're saying all sorts of shit about her, like that she lost her Memories, that her body was ruined, and that her mind finally snapped.]
Subaru: [Haaah!? What the hell are you saying about Crusch-san!? I'll punch your lights out, asshole!]
Rachins: [I ain't the one saying all that! The hell's up with you, you fuck!]
Beatrice: [Enough, in fact! Stop arguing over every little thing, I suppose! ――From the looks of things, she is merely sleeping, in fact. It seems like she exceeded the limit of her exhaustion, just as the girl said herself, I suppose.]
Interrupting Subaru and Rachins, Beatrice peered at Crusch's sleeping face, making her judgment. The unconscious Crusch did not appear to be suffering in any particular way to Subaru's eyes either; it just looked like a simply exhausted body demanding some deep sleep.
Nevertheless, as Beatrice had said, if this was what Crusch had stated to be a side effect of the Dragon Eye, then sure enough, perhaps that unnatural object was not something to be ignored.
In particular――,
Subaru: […The Sacrament of the Church of the Divine Dragon, and Tiga's testimony. There's no way they're unrelated to the situation where Royal Candidates are being targeted.]
Putting it bluntly, the circumstances were such that it was impossible to think that these things were not related. And yet, paradoxically, that directly led to casting doubt on the organization known as the Church of the Divine Dragon.
The Church of the Divine Dragon was a religion deeply and strongly embedded within the Kingdom of Lugunica. Even if they were to assess them as a potential enemy, just to what extent ought they consider them so?
Given the circumstances, he had no choice but to suspect Tiga, but what of Sakura? ――Of Filóre?
Subaru: [If my worst fears prove to be true, I'd also feel down, but Emilia would really grieve…]
Even without that, Emilia was still detained at the Castle, not aware of whether Subaru and Beatrice were safe, much less Otto and the others.
In order to relieve even the slightest bit of the burden upon her heart, he must play it. The utmost advantageous move.
Resolved to do so, Subaru carried the body of the slumbering Crusch, holding her tightly. Meanwhile, he nodded to Beatrice, who had picked up the poniard and returned it to its sheath.
Subaru: [Rachins, we're getting nowhere here. Since you went out of your way to come here, I imagine you've got somewhere in mind that'd be a little better for us to talk, yeah? Let's go.]
Rachins: [I ain't thrilled about you bossing me around, but I won't pick a fight over every little thing… That said, I can't guarantee that we'll be able to deceive the eyes of those around us in the Royal Capital right now.]
Subaru: […Once again, I'm really starting to feel just how bad of a situation we're in.]
Their enemy was scheming to utilize great, truly great power to entrap Subaru and everyone else.
Perhaps, the fact that he had been able to join up with Rachins here, as well as hear the current circumstances from him, was likely nothing short of a miraculous happening where the considerable force of coincidence had taken his side. Or perhaps calling it a miracle might have been an affront to Rachins, who had tracked them down on Felt's orders.
In either case――,
Subaru: [I also want to let Crusch-san rest somewhere we can be more relaxed. If we can feel a little more at ease in both body and mind, we should be able to talk things through more properly. So――]
???: [――You would be in luck for that! Just now, this very moment, this very instant, I was absolutely dying to extend an invitation to the fugitives throwing the entire Royal Capital into chaos!]
Subaru: [――Wha!?]
In that instant, a voice that stuck out like a sore thumb echoed throughout the sewers, and Subaru, with Crusch upon his back, as well as Beatrice and Rachins, opened their eyes wide in shock and turned around.
The voice they heard was veiled amidst the darkness of the waterway, where the meager light of their lagmite ore did not reach. However, Rachins clicked his tongue "Tch!" in response to that, and threw something in that direction――,
???: [Oooh, let there be light, eh!? Kuhahahaha, truly thoughtful and attentive!]
A hard sound struck the floor of the sewers, and subsequently, a white light illuminated that darkness with dazzling brightness. What had been flung was the lagmite ore itself, emitting light upon impact.
Just as Rachins had intended in his split-second judgment, it exposed the form of the party embraced by the cover of darkness to the vision of Subaru and the others, who had swiveled to face it.
It was――,
Subaru: […A mask?]
???: [Oioioi, the first thing that comes to mind upon seeing me is just "a mask"? Well, that's far too simply just how it looks, just what meets the eye, and not anything more, isn't it? Ponder over it a bit more. Ardently, passionately choose your words, like seducing the woman of your dreams, you. Kuhahahahaha!]
The one who spoke thus, who then broke into a great fit of laughter that caused his body to shake, was a man―― and moreover, he could not glean anything beyond the fact that the individual was a tall man. The reason why was because that man was wearing a black costume that concealed his entire body, with his face covered by a clownlike mask.
The white clown mask faintly emerging from within the darkness only served to underscore the abnormality.
Those words and actions, that demeanor, and that vicious gaze directed through his mask; through their mere five-second long encounter, Subaru could immediately understand. ――This clown mask guy was no decent fellow.
As if to prove it――,
Masked Man: [Go ahead and die, all of you. The only one I have business with, is that woman sleeping over there!]
In an instant, a colossal gout of flames lit up the darkness of the sewers, incomparable to the light of the lagmite ore, and a severe wave of heat surged toward Subaru's party.