Puck had said it. Whatever form a wound might take, the only thing a new wound carried was a fresh helping of pain. Why, in spite of that, had this young man—
“That’s not true at all. I don’t think riding with the miss is hateful at all.”
“…Eh?”
But with Emilia frozen stiff, Petra walked over, taking hold of her limp, dangling hand. Hot, her fingertips felt. With Emilia unable to conceal her surprise, Petra smiled bashfully toward her.
“Miss, you’re the young lady with the potato stamps, right? I saw you coming with Subaru for morning radio aerobics all the time.”
“That is…”
“I could never see your face, but you seemed to be having fun. I know, too, you know? I saw how Subaru had lots of fun talking to you. Subaru, really…… That’s why I’m not afraid of you, either, miss.”
“…Ah.”
Listening to Petra’s words, Emilia felt a pain deep in her nose, raising her voice. Heat welled up from deep within her eyes, too, and her throat suddenly caught. Her cheeks reddened, and her ears were so hot, they seemed to be burning.
“Miss, won’t you ride with us? Everyone’s been saying to leave you alone. But I’ll hold your hand, so…”
“—Mm…mm.”
“You don’t have to feel lonely anymore, ’kay?”
“…Mm!”
That innocent, pure, genuine gaze, disconnected from malice and irrationality, granted her salvation.
To Emilia, estrangement was normal, persecution was inevitable, and discrimination taken for granted, so much so that she had been unable to sense the warmth in Petra’s eyes and voice. That fact made her chest ache.
“Me too!” “I wanna be with the miss, too!” “Come on, quick!”
Other children made a clamor, running around Emilia however they pleased. As they did so, Ram immediately stuffed the children into the dragon carriage, a sight that got a little snort out of Petra.
“Miss, let’s go, too? The others might be a little loud, though.”
“…No, that’s all right. It’s been noisy around me for two months, so I’m used to it by now.”
She shook her head, and she understood how the smile came over her as if by nature.
Holding her hand, Petra led her along. The warmth of her hand made Emilia appreciate the closeness of another person.
“Ram, take care of the Sanctuary, please. Protect the villagers well.”
“As you wish. Be careful along the way yourself, Lady Emilia.”
Grasping her skirt, Ram curtsied politely, nodding with a wry, pleasant smile on her face.
After that, Emilia’s gaze searched for the one who had made that exchange come about.
“Allow me to express my thanks to you as… Er?”
She searched for the young man whose good offices had allowed her to break the ice. However, the white-robed youth was nowhere to be seen, leaving Emilia perplexed.
“Where did he run off to?”
Of those hearing Emilia’s voice, sounding like she’d been left behind, Ram alone sank her shoulders in exasperation.
8
The figure pushed its way through the branches, trampled the grass, and kept its posture low as it mingled with the green of the forest.
Concealing himself in the dense, overgrown foliage, “he” suppressed his breathing and aura, blending in with the darkness.
The residents of the tiny settlement some three hundred feet or so beyond the forest were being evacuated and led away—so that they might escape the trial.
It was unforgivable. What threatened to occur was unconscionable. To prevent such a thing, the figure had thrown caution to the wind to observe their activities firsthand.
The figure endured feelings of unease as multiple shadowy figures, remaining concealed at “his” command, gathered close with a slight sound of footsteps.
Including the figure, they numbered four—insufficient to launch a general attack, but plenty to slow them down. It was ahead of schedule, but like everything else, this was for the sake of their exalted aims.
“He” put a hand in his pocket and placed the small mirror retrieved from it atop “his” palm. However, its role differed from that of the cosmetic mirrors possessed by girls and women; its role was to “connect” to different mirrors.
—It was a metia, a magical mirror that allowed the user to converse over a long distance with another via the mirror on the other side.
Though metia were scarce by nature, conversation mirrors were numerous among them and comparatively easy to acquire. But even among the disciples, only a few possessed them. This was an honor reserved for the fingers—those whose faith had been recognized, and who had been chosen as the Lord Archbishop’s confidants.
“…”
Remaining silent, “he” poured magical energy into the conversation mirror, causing the metia to activate.
It was a process the figure had undertaken several times in the preceding few hours, sending detailed reports about the resources he’d accompanied so that preparations could be made for the trial that must come. Accordingly, an emergency situation like this absolutely had to be reported.
The figure had to communicate with its brethren about the fact that the resources’ movements had greatly shifted. They had noticed the movements of “his” brethren, and were nefariously attempting to flee—
“—I see. It was a big mystery how you got in touch with the others, but I guess metia are super convenient. Although I think it’s important in communication to show your face to the other party, don’t you?”
“—?!”
Suddenly, one of the brethren crouched alongside peered into the conversation mirror, tossing such words “his” way.
The figure hastily looked over, and the next moment, “he” was stricken by a sense of extreme unease. The other party was right next to him, and yet the figure still could not discern the features of the other person’s face. It was as if something was stopping his brain from understanding what he was seeing.
“You don’t distinguish by face, you distinguish by physical nature. When it comes to that, you and I are like girls in a knitting circle wearing the same perfume. Gives me chills, you piece-of-shit bastard.”
As the “white-robed” brethren spoke, he stood up, practically spitting out the declaration.
Then, in front of “him”—Kety, the Witch Cultist, frozen stiff in surprise—the brethren pulled down his hood, revealing rare black hair and foul-looking eyes with the white of the sclera surrounding three sides of each iris—three-whites eyes.
“Your sin is grave, y’know—getting in the way of my sentimental reunion with Emilia and all that.”
As the black-haired youth prattled on with frivolity, a taunting, impetuous smile came over his mouth.
The next instant, the indecipherable enchantment surrounding the youth fell away. Kety’s eyes could now plainly make out the youth’s features, bringing his identity to light.
The features of the traitor who had led the expeditionary force to their doorstep, making a plan that he would oppose them—
“—”
With the most unforgivable of foes before him, Kety reflexively leaped to his feet. There was no need to even look at the two brethren to his sides. They would launch a combined assault on the apostate before them. However—
The instant he drew the cross-shaped blade on his hip, a lower-tone whisper grazed his ear.
“—Too slow.”
The next moment, a silver flash raced into the corner of his field of vision, and the brethren to his right and left gushed blood as they crumbled. Their necks had been slashed; it was obvious the blows had been fatal. And then it was Kety’s turn—
“I recommend that you do not resist. I do not intend to inflict unnecessary pain.”
His efforts had been completely forestalled by the cold tip of a blade against the back of his neck.
Behind him stood a slender knight, and the aged swordsman who
had cut down his two brethren. In addition, a cat-eared demihuman stood behind them, all of them brought by the black-haired traitor…
“Subaru Natsuki…!”
“Ohh, I guess it’s obvious, but, like, wow, Witch Cultists really do talk. That’s a big help.”
Shoved against the ground with his arms pinned behind him, Kety glared up at him—the traitor, Subaru Natsuki.
The youth on the receiving end had an outbreak of cold sweat on his brow. He turned to the other three and spoke.
“Well, at least it went without a hitch. Thanks for the assist.”
“I admit to half doubting you, but having read them properly this far, I cannot but admit you were correct. If they have been made to dance as you expect, our advantage shall only grow greater.”
“Isn’t that pretty much a given, meow? We started evacuating the village so much earlier than expected that it made him try contacting them in a big hurry.”
As the knight and the demihuman concurred with the youth’s words, Kety’s head was in chaos, filled with hatred and incomprehension.
He didn’t understand the meaning of their conversation. It was as if they’d known every last thing in—
“Your face says you don’t get it. Well, that can’t be helped. This time we’re way too good at running rings around ya. Oh, and thank you for helping our disinformation efforts…not that you actually realized you were a double spy.”
“—?”
“The gist is, we totally knew you were a spy. As for how we found you…trade secret. So we went through the trouble of laying a trap for the Witch Cult’s scout, in other words, you.”
Kety was still, eyes wide open, as Subaru Natsuki closed one eye and slowly spelled it out.
And then he stated, “Two hours. You reported to your pals that we were two hours behind schedule.”
Raising up two fingers, he wagged them left and right. Kety’s eyes remained wide with shock as Subaru continued. “During that time, we’ll get Emilia and the others outta here. During that time, we’ll crush the fingers flat. During that time, we’ll prepare to squish your precious archbishop flat.”
At the end of those words, a bold smile came over Subaru Natsuki.
And then he issued his declaration of war.
“I’m gonna give you a real good taste of the terror of being crushed by someone three steps ahead of you.”
CHAPTER 2
SETTING THE STAGE
1
Returning to the time when the expeditionary force continued its moving conference through the use of Nekt…
“We finally know there’s a spy in our midst. If we can make good use of him and feed him false info, we can give Emilia and the others time to flee to safety. Don’t you think so?”
“—”
Subaru spoke thus as he divulged a series of information while on the road toward the Mathers domain.
During the time the expeditionary force’s thoughts were shared via magic, this opinion sent vigorous arguments flying back and forth. While nodding at their various thoughts, Subaru raised a hand and spoke.
“Hey, listen. Just like we talked about, wiping out the fingers is nonnegotiable for kicking the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins’ butt. That said, even just taking out those fingers is easier said than done. We have to be smart about this.”
“Purportedly, making use of your physical condition would allow us to draw out and fight the fingers one by one?”
“I can guarantee it. But either way, the fact that they have a spy means whatever we do will get passed on to the enemy. Even if we take out the spy first, they’ll know something’s up when he misses the regular time to call, so it amounts to the same thing. So I was thinking we flip this around on them and leak intel for him to send them—fake intel.”
As he replied to Julius, Subaru recalled the sight of the village being raided at the end of his last go-around. At the time, every last enemy had launched a combined attack on the village from the forest. Given the numbers of raiders, he was sure he was right in thinking so, and also that Petelgeuse had possessed the finger hiding among the traveling merchants.
—In other words, the traveling merchant named Kety, the Witch Cultist embedded with them.
One way or another, he was in contact with the fingers. Likely, unlike the other Witch Cultists accompanying Petelgeuse, he’d been assigned the duty of gathering intelligence about the surrounding area.
“That’s why we should turn this back on them. If we fool the spy, we fool the whole Witch Cult.”
“So that is why you wish to send Rajan and his group to the traveling merchants and tell them the rendezvous will be delayed?”
Subaru’s roundabout statement seemed to clear up Ricardo’s doubts, bringing him to agree.
Just like last time around, a small detachment of the Iron Fangs would be sent to greet the traveling merchants cooperating with the evacuation. But this time, those select few would deliver a rendezvous time with Subaru’s ruse attached. Before the Witch Cult’s spy could rendezvous with the expeditionary force, they’d dispose of a mountain of concerns he wanted dealt with beforehand, making it a race against time.
Incidentally, Subaru had recommended the fox-man and his team, casualties from the last time around, for those select few, hoping to keep them far from the fight.
“So this is less of a proposal and more an update after the fact. You have such a naughty personality, Subawu.”
“It’s like we’re talkin’ ’bout the little lady… No peaceful death down that path, y’know?”
“Setting Ferris aside, what’s with Ricardo’s assessment of his employer…?”
Ricardo was the one working for her, but his appraisal of Anastasia was harsh. The boisterously laughing thought that followed right after made Subaru assume it was simple lighthearted banter.
At any rate, the operation to confuse the spy was already underway. And, accepting this—
“Then our counterespionage plan is settled. Incidentally, what is the source of this information…?”
“How about I say my…nose for the Witch Cult?”
“—That is a thin basis, but I shall take that as meaning you have one. That is my reply.”
Julius responded to Subaru’s usual vague explanation with his own difficult-to-decipher inner thought. The thoughts he passed through Nekt were opaque compared to those of the others, perhaps because it was his own magic.
But there was no room to doubt the truth of his willingness to cooperate. So it would do for the moment.
“That’s fine, but what about the issue with the letter? Leaving it at just the blank page makes things difficult.”
“Ehh, why? If it’s completely blank, you can write whatever you want on it? Seems convenient to— Ouchie!”
“Sis, please be quiet.”
The cat siblings were the next ones to wedge themselves into the telepathic conversation. Actually, behind the telepathic exchange, a torrent of lighthearted thoughts flowed out from Mimi, but everyone was taking that in stride.
For his part, TB was paying serious attention to the operation. Subaru drew his chin in during the kitty siblings’ exchange, thinking over how to deal with the blank letter.
After all, thanks to that problem, Ram had launched a surprise attack on the expeditionary force, costing it precious time. The operation was in part a race against time, so a loss like that was to be avoided at all costs.
“What should we do, then?”
TB sent over an ashen, nervous thought, wanting to hear a plan to deal with it. Others beside him also turned their minds toward Subaru, waiting for his reply.
At the center of that attention, Subaru folded his arms and told them how they would deal with the blank letter.
And that method was—
2
In the early morning, just as the world began to awaken, Ram lifted her head, sensing an indecipherable presence.
She was midway along the road cutting through open field
s that stretched from the mansion to Earlham Village. Since Emilia had faced a bad experience with the villagers, Ram had left her back at the mansion on her way to prod and persuade the villagers to evacuate.
“—”
There was a slight rustle in the forest. Ram knotted her shapely brows as she sank into thought for a single moment.
Ram was a demon who had lost her horn. By nature, demons were acutely sensitive to changes in the forest and mountains. A sixth sense that differed from the other five informed her of a shift in the wind blowing from the direction of the highway.
Her small nose snorted. Ram, confirming that there was no hint of danger in the immediate vicinity, went down on one knee and concentrated on her forehead. She was activating her supernatural ability of Clairvoyance.
Clairvoyance was a secret art passed down among the demons that enabled them to synchronize with the vision of others, stealing their vision and seeing through their eyes.
Few demons had mastered the art to begin with; currently Ram was probably the only one. While it was activated, her awareness of her own surroundings was greatly diminished, limiting the places she could use it, but it was the crown jewel of reconnaissance abilities.
The master to whom Ram had pledged fealty had many enemies. For that reason, too, the supernatural ability was very helpful.
“—”
She disconnected herself from those deep feelings, concentrating the effect of her supernatural ability, and entered the vision of others.
Even where there were no people to affect, that was no hindrance so long as there were living creatures with the sense of sight. However, creatures with compatible wavelengths were limited, and in the past few days, she had been unable to grasp anything inside the forest where it mattered most.
However, that was not the case this time. She detected multiple compatible wavelengths from the direction of the highway that connected to the village. She entered one of them, seeing through its eyes.
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 9 Page 5
