Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 7

by Tappei Nagatsuki

  “Like I can think about it calmly! An important girl…who told me she loved me…was hurt and unconscious. Of course I couldn’t think straight!”

  “Boys are so pure of heart, unable to say certain things except in a few places, meow.”

  As Subaru vented with angry shouts, Ferris smiled flippantly as he turned his palm toward Rem, a blue glow coming over it. Even while the look on Ferris’s face struck Subaru with unquenchable annoyance, he couldn’t conceal his relief at how Rem’s expression gradually grew softer.

  There were many things in what Ferris said that he couldn’t just come out and agree with, but the part about triage, prioritizing healing the most heavily wounded, was no doubt the honest truth. Giving shabby treatment to Rem, part of another camp’s fighting strength, and to Subaru, both key players in bringing down the White Whale, was not something his master would ever permit.

  As Subaru’s thoughts reached that conclusion, that very same master—Crusch—appeared, calmly stepping over grass.

  “You are all right, Subaru Natsuki?”

  Even sullied by blood and mud, the sight of Crusch walking straight with her back tall was beautiful.

  Naturally, the elegance she had in no way lost wafted around her, and so, too, the vestiges of the battle; the beautiful woman seemed like the living embodiment of the word Valkyrie.

  “Somehow or other, yeah. Glad you look all right yourself.”

  “I am. But the expeditionary force is depleted to no small extent. Nor will those slain by the White Whale return.”

  When Subaru responded, waving up to her, Crusch drew her chin in, shifting her head pensively. Her gaze shifted toward the corpse of the White Whale, still crushed under the Great Tree.

  Over there, the survivors of the expeditionary force with comparatively light injuries had gathered together. Apparently, their first order of business was to get the Great Tree off the White Whale.

  “What are they doing over there?”

  “We must transport the White Whale’s corpse. With even the Great Flugel Tree sacrificed for the operation, some sort of evidence is required. It is what comes after the battle that concerns me.”

  “Transport…that huge corpse?”

  Subaru wanted to make sure he hadn’t misheard, but Crusch’s demeanor was unchanged. Subaru hurriedly returned his gaze to the White Whale, observing the giant body over maybe one hundred and fifty feet in length as he remarked, “Doesn’t seem doable, does it?”

  “Failure is not an option. The creature was a menace that swam through the skies for four hundred years. At worst, we may have to return with the head alone.”

  Crusch’s words seemed like an exaggeration, but Subaru thought it over and realized her judgment was correct. To begin with, from Crusch’s point of view, the subjugation of the White Whale was a success she wanted all to see to advance herself in the royal selection.

  Naturally, Crusch was not someone of such low character as to prioritize achievements over all else, which the battle had amply demonstrated. But the achievement was simply that grand.

  She was already the most influential of the royal candidates, with high support among the populace, and if this earned her favor with the merchant faction, which had been the final holdout, Crusch’s position would be even more rock solid—

  “Wait, did I wind up pushing us into a bad spot…?”

  The degree of aid he had provided an opponent finally dawned on Subaru. There was no going back, either. He’d done everything so that he could return to Emilia’s camp, but he wondered if he’d overdone it even so.

  Fearing as much, Subaru held far-too-late regrets.

  “Your face has become rather dark—it does not look like the face of the hero who brought down the White Whale.”

  “I’ll get raked over the coals as Emilia-tan’s biggest traitor… Er, what…did you say just now?”

  “The hero who brought down the White Whale—I do not wish to be so shameless as to claim your exploits as my own house’s feats.”

  Returning her gaze from the corpse of the White Whale, Crusch’s expression seemed to impale Subaru like a sword.

  Subaru blinked at the sincere glint in her eyes, turning to face her squarely. As he did so, Crusch gently put a hand to her own breast and stated, “I cannot thank you enough for your cooperation. Were it not for you, we would have failed to subjugate the White Whale, and I would have surely fallen halfway along my path.”

  Speaking those words, she adopted a stance of deep thanks toward Subaru.

  “”

  Subaru unwittingly froze at the heat of the noble Crusch’s sincere gesture of thanks. He had no memory of any human being in her kind of position speaking such words to him ever.

  “Er, ah…no, cut that out. I…didn’t do anything big like that…”

  “You discerned the time and place the White Whale would appear; by your efforts, the expeditionary force, insufficient in strength, was bolstered; when the knights’ morale was broken, you roused them; you proposed a plan to rescue the hopeless situation at great danger to yourself, and on top of that, you executed it splendidly, guiding us to victory.”

  When Subaru replied with halting words, Crusch enumerated Subaru’s actions during the battle and their results.

  Told of his own actions in such an orderly manner, and examining the result, Subaru could only conclude, “Sounds like nothing but the work of a crazy man, if I do say so myself…”

  “Perhaps it would not be accurate to compare your actions to that of a ferocious, raging lion. However, there is no mistaking that you were the driving force behind this battle. If others should belittle your actions, I swear upon my honor that I shall correct them.”

  Crusch extolled Subaru honestly and with a serious look, without any calculation or hesitation. Surely she, the living embodiment of sincerity, truly had not a single smidgeon of falseness in the words of gratitude she had spoken.

  Thinking back to the relationship he had with Crusch until the night before their departure, Subaru could only make a strained smile.

  “I’m surprised. Seems like your assessment of me has improved quite a bit.”

  “This is nothing to be modest about. And I am compelled to recognize that my view of you until a short time ago was very mistaken. Properly speaking, a suitable repayment for such achievements would be to welcome you into my own house, but…”

  “I’ll have to pass on that.”

  Crusch had narrowed her eyes and, in a low voice, invited Subaru to her own side. But Subaru raised a hand and interrupted her cordial invitation.

  “It’s not the same thing as loyalty, but my trust’s already been put where it ought to be. I genuinely feel like you’re a good person, and you’d probably do a great job if you became king, but…”

  Crusch would no doubt be a king to nobly lead the people more than any other. Such was the extent of her character, and he knew just a tiny bit about the powerful reason that compelled her to act in such a manner. A proper reason, and the resolve to endure, was probably something she’d inherited, entrusted by another.

  This included, everything had served to shape the lone woman known as Crusch Karsten. A small human being like Subaru who’d continued lying to everyone could only look at her dazzling form in admiration and envy.

  “—I will make Emilia king.”

  “”

  “Not for anyone’s sake. It’s what I want to do.”

  “…Though I understood as much, to think your reply would be to that extent.”

  Subaru’s reply made Crusch’s lips break into a broad grin as she drew her chin back. Then, she uncrossed her arms, hardened her white fingers into a fist, and pointed it toward Subaru.

  “Very well. Your exploits shall be repaid in a different form. I swear upon the name of Crusch Karsten that this promise shall be fulfilled.”

  So solemnly declaring, Crusch opened her hardened fist and looked at her own palm.

  From then, the tone of her voi
ce dropped slightly as she said, “Now that I think of it, this is the first time I have felt so good about having an invitation of mine rejected. It is a most refreshing sense of defeat, and I can make no show of being troubled by it.”

  “…Crusch, I think you’re an incredible person. If I were out here on my own, I think it’s a sure thing that I’d let that hand prop me up.”

  If he had nowhere to go back to, with nothing certain in his life, and someone on Crusch’s level offered him her hand, he’d likely leap at the chance without hesitation and cling to her, relying on her for everything.

  But the current Subaru had someone else whose hand he wanted to reach out and hold, someone with a wavering back he would support with his own palm.

  Thus, he could not take her hand, but…

  “I’m counting on you for the alliance thing. Even if we’ve gotta become rivals in the end, we can probably get along nicely till then, so let’s do that.”

  “—Subaru Natsuki, I shall correct one thought of yours.”

  Subaru’s reply made Crusch’s smile vanish. She put on a solemn face and pursed her lips.

  Surprised at feeling the atmosphere grow tense once more, Subaru’s eyes widened as he looked at Crusch. To him, Crusch raised a finger, then pointed it at herself.

  “I shall regard you favorably, even when the time comes to determine my mate,” she remarked.

  “”

  “Even if the day we must part ways shall inevitably come, I shall never forget my debt of gratitude toward you this day. Furthermore, even should a time of rivalry come, I shall regard you with the greatest favorability and respect.”

  Crusch lowered her arm with the raised finger downward, firmly declaring it in a crystal-clear tone of voice.

  This time, her conduct sent a chill running up Subaru’s spine.

  It was not a negative feeling. It was simply his feeling overpowered by something so grand.

  —This was the woman named Crusch Karsten, Duchess of the House of Karsten.

  “This would be a pretty dangerous spot if the number one and number two places in my heart weren’t already taken…”

  “—Hmph. I am not thinking as far as accompanying you as a woman. Though my heartstrings have been tugged upon in certain places, my heart is set on fulfilling a dream—and so it shall remain, until someday, I achieve the dream he yearned for.”

  Subaru tried to gloss over his agitation with flippant words, and Crusch smiled thinly as she replied. But the latter half of her words became extremely soft, and those did not reach Subaru’s ears.

  With a blink, Crusch forgot that sentiment, going, “Now, then,” as she continued her words with a sober glance.

  “If possible, at this juncture I would like to return to the royal capital with the wounded and the White Whale’s corpse. But it seems some mission yet remains for you.”

  “…Can tell that ’cause of the blessing, huh?”

  “The power of the blessing is not necessary. I know that look in a man’s eyes.”

  Crusch closed one eye, peering into Subaru’s eyes as she replied thusly. Then, she checked Subaru’s appearance from head to toe and said, “Surely you are not without injury. So you have something you must do in spite of that.”

  “I’ve gotta do it whether I’m hurt badly or not. In one sense, the whale hunt was so that I could do it. I feel bad saying it like that, though.”

  “Oh, really, after subjugating the White Whale?”

  He said it in a way that surely came off poorly, but Crusch showed no sign of annoyance. She seemed curious about the objective Subaru spoke of so seriously.

  “Most interesting—you surely took the alliance with our house in account for that. If so, it is hardly unthinkable for you to request something of us… You require aid?”

  “I do. But…to be honest, I didn’t think it’d be this tough, so…”

  Subaru’s shoulders sank when he looked over the expeditionary force members wounded far beyond his plans.

  With the subjugation of the White Whale finished, it meant returning to the Mathers domain, where Emilia awaited, and confronting the abominable group there. Fighting such a powerful foe required Crusch’s power, but—

  “With all these people hurt, I won’t ask anything reckless of you. Besides, you have to see this with not just your personal feelings but your place as a ruler. Asking you to lend a hand beyond this is just…”

  “—Then how about using these old bones until they fail?”

  Abruptly, a tall figure walked over with quiet footsteps and interrupted the conversation—Wilhelm, the aged swordsman still appearing as ghastly as before, his entire body bathed in demon beast blood.

  The Sword Devil approached, walking with a gait that showed nothing of the wounds to his flesh, and offered the treasured sword in his right hand to Crusch.

  “Lady Crusch, I return that which you lent to me. In addition, let me offer my thanks concerning this matter from the bottom of my heart. It is because of your cooperation that my long-cherished wish has been granted, Lady Crusch—thank you very much.”

  “Your long-cherished wish and my objectives aligned, that is all—you may hold on to that sword for a little while longer. You can serve no role unarmed.”

  “—As you wish. My thanks.”

  Crusch responded briefly to Wilhelm’s words of thanks and looked at Subaru. Accepting her reply, Wilhelm turned his head back to Subaru as well.

  “”

  Now that they were in close quarters again, the stench of blood wafting around him was incredible, and Subaru felt nervous from that surging, aimless antagonism, which felt like a slender blade poking into his liver.

  But the tense atmosphere from before the battle—that had been lifted, and it was a fact that Wilhelm seemed like his spirits had been lifted with it.

  The aged swordsman looked straight at Subaru and, after that, fell to one knee on the spot. It was a gesture demonstrating the greatest of all respect to another, one he had seen the night before they’d set out.

  And then—

  “Sir Subaru Natsuki. It is because of your cooperation that this subjugation of the White Whale was successful. It is you who has granted meaning to all the long years of my life until this day. I thank you. I thank you—I offer my thanks, with the whole of my being on the line.”

  “……”

  This was Wilhelm, he who had offered half his life to the sword and then spent over a decade of life devoted to vengeance. Subaru, engulfed by the vast passion of the gratitude such a man directed to him, was so afraid of blurting out the wrong thing that he was at a complete loss for words.

  It took a while to settle his mind, waiting for the proper words to direct to the old man before him to coalesce—for it would not do to have Wilhelm, a man of such resolve, put on such a shameful display.

  “It’s your own sword that did it, Wilhelm. You thought about how to fight the White Whale, you studied it, you trained, you didn’t give up, you fought it…”

  Having tasted setback after setback over and over, he must have been on the verge of giving up his grudge. Subaru didn’t think he’d thrown everything away, never once attempted to abandon those deep-rooted convictions.

  It was Subaru, who knew more than anyone about the weakness of the heart, about being defeated, about being obstructed by the irrationalities of fate, who could understand the suffering Wilhelm had undergone until his strong feelings went fulfilled.

  “You stuck with it until the White Whale went down because you reaaaally loved your wife. If I helped with that even a little bit, I’m glad. I’m not sure this is the best thing to say, but…congratulations. And—well done.”

  “”

  Prompted by Subaru’s words, Wilhelm lifted his face, his blue eyes opening wide.

  Subaru had arbitrarily drawn comparisons between what he felt and what he imagined Wilhelm felt. He didn’t think his brief words from just then could convey that, and for Subaru to speak as if he understood
probably didn’t amuse Wilhelm.

  But Subaru couldn’t restrain his desire to say it anyway—words to thank Wilhelm for his love for his departed wife still burning fourteen years on, and for his labors, continuing to fight Fate day after day until they led him to victory…

  “—I thank you.”

  Briefly, and with a quavering voice, that was how Wilhelm replied.

  After that, he leaned forward slightly, and after a silence of but several seconds, he rose to his feet. Then, he turned his gaze to Crusch, and when she nodded, he said, “I have received Lady Crusch’s permission. Sir Subaru, I place this body in your hands. Please use it to the fullest for your objective.”

  “That’s super-helpful, but you’re serious?”

  When he glanced at Crusch to make sure, she drew her chin in and nodded affirmatively. When he looked Wilhelm over in all seriousness, he felt both the dependability and the fearsomeness of the man, his antagonism undiminished in spite of having one arm wounded.

  —To Subaru, Wilhelm’s cooperation was a wish come true.

  In the current situation, where every bit of fighting strength was desperately yearned for, he wanted the Sword Devil’s strength enough that a hand might sprout from his own throat. But even an amateur like him could see that Wilhelm’s injuries were grave.

  In the face of Subaru’s doubts, Crusch shook her head.

  “That is not a problem… Ferris!”

  “Yes, Lady Crusch!”

  When Crusch called sharply, Ferris seemed to instantly glide into view in response.

  With a skip in his step, he lined up alongside Crusch, and as the kitty ears on his head made a little flutter, he said, “What is it, Lady Crusch? Ferri’s in the middle of going all around and doing a big job, but of course I’ll prioritize anything Lady Crusch has to ask before everything else!”

  “Hey, don’t drop your responsibilities halfway through the sentence!”

  Ferris, the butt of Subaru’s comment about easily casting aside all sense of duty as a healer, made a sour face. He was still like that when Crusch gazed at the expeditionary force and asked him, “How many of the wounded are in mortal peril?”