“The Witch Cult…”
The term made Puck’s eyes go slightly distant. It was the reaction of someone who’d encountered them somewhere before. In point of fact, on previous go-arounds, Puck had really hated the Cult. Subaru thought that correlation went even beyond their causing harm to Emilia, but…
“—So you want to fool Lia into going with you, but how exactly are you going to do this?”
“Hey, watch how you say it! Having even you putting it like that gets a guy bent out of shape!”
However, before Subaru could inquire about that connection, Puck, back to his normal self, switched the topic.
Puck was right to want the details of the plan. Pushing his misgivings down the road and prioritizing the evacuation plan for Emilia and the others was the proper call to make.
“You know the plan from all your eavesdropping, don’t you? After that…my secret weapon comes into play.”
“Secret weapon?”
Puck cocked his head at the grandiose language. Meanwhile Subaru revealed his trump card: a white robe packed into his bag. Subaru immediately put the robe on; he wasn’t built much bigger than its proper owner, so he had no trouble wearing it.
“Plus, that faint whiff of sweet perfume is one hell of a motivator for me…!”
“I wouldn’t really call that a secret weapon, but it seems to be a robe with an odd enchantment on it.”
“Certainly, one robe’s not enough for me to cure Emilia’s confidence issues…”
The proper owner of the white robe was, in fact, Emilia. Incidentally, Subaru said “Emilia’s” because Emilia was an acid burning through his own thoughts. He’d be able to speak with Emilia, touch her, and even savor her lingering aroma. His confidence and emotional stability were both shaky.
Either way, the “Emilia’s” part was a joke, but the power of the robe itself was no laughing matter.
“This robe’s convenient goods handcrafted by Roswaal himself, and apparently has a Block Identification enchantment embedded in it. It’s Emilia’s personal property to begin with…but it’s not like I stole it, okay?”
He thought back as the details of the abominable time when he’d obtained the object came rushing back. It was the robe that Emilia had thrown at him when she was arguing with him during their breakup at the royal palace.
In the time since, Subaru had always kept the robe stuffed in his bag, never letting it out of his grasp. Now it served a crucial role.
“Whatever its origins might be, what do you…… Ahh, so that is your plan.”
“Now I don’t have to explain, but that knowing face of yours still annoys me.”
“One’s nature is a troublesome thing. In my opinion, your nature is a rather complex one as well.”
The words made Subaru feel like Julius was seeing right through him, causing him to demonstrate his dismay with an exaggerated snort. After that, Subaru shifted his gaze toward Puck.
“So there you have it. We’ll be putting on a play for Emilia. You’ll be acting, too, and I’m counting on you to help me explain all this after we settle everything.”
“I’ll put on an act, but make up with her yourself. That, Subaru, is up to you.”
“Gnnn…”
Subaru groaned in frustration at being refused to the bitter end. He couldn’t expect any cooperation from Puck in making up with Emilia. It was something he would have to accomplish on his own power.
Then that meant Puck would cooperate with everything else. Namely—
“So Puck, on that note, I have one favor to ask you.”
“Mm, what is it?”
“Isn’t it obvious? —Convincing the hermit back at the mansion.”
Subaru winked to Puck as he spoke the words, broaching the final remaining problem.
5
“Did I think I would ever again have a chance to look upon that stupid face, I wonder?”
The instant he entered the room, the girl in charge of the archive greeted him with a sharp voice. Hearing the poisonous greeting to which he was accustomed, Subaru spontaneously broke out in a smile.
This was a mysterious room, dominated by countless shelves and the books packed into those shelves. This was an archive that existed nowhere in the world—Roswaal’s archive of forbidden books, protected by its librarian, Beatrice.
Through use of teleportation magic known as the Passage, the archive of forbidden books was connected to doors in the mansion at random. That, Subaru knew already, but what truly surprised him this time around was—
“I never thought it was connected to doors in the village. You’re actually a pretty incredible magic user, aren’t you?”
“…If all you wanted to do was talk, you asked Puckie to do a favor for nothing.”
“Right now, I wanted to get a little foothold before moving on to the main subject. Sheesh, no patience at all…”
Subaru, receiving an even harsher response than usual, made a very slightly conflicted face as he cocked his head. In contrast to Subaru, the girl in the elegant dress made a weary sigh that was incongruent with her outward appearance. The girl with creamy hair in vertical rolls had a sullen face as she sat upon a wooden footstool.
Beatrice—that was her name. She was the guardian protecting the archive of forbidden books, though Subaru’s image of her as part of his busy mansion life was far stronger.
Hence, she too was someone related to Subaru whom it would be unthinkable to leave behind in the mansion.
This was the situation engendered by Puck connecting the Archive to a door in the village. More accurately, it was the result of Puck calling and Beatrice employing the Passage to make the connection.
At the very least, it gave them a chance to talk. Relieved at that fact, Subaru began to broach the subject.
“How much do you know about what’s going on outside? I mean, have you heard?”
“Have I heard anything from anyone, I wonder? I am not in the habit of casually conversing with the people of the mansion to begin with…but perhaps I understand the gist of it regardless?”
“The gist being…”
“—The Witch Cult.”
Unlike Subaru, carefully choosing his words, Beatrice spoke the term with disgust from the bottom of her heart.
“I am aware that those miscreants are lurking in the mansion’s vicinity. Perhaps I even know that you and Puckie intend to sneak that blockhead of a girl out of this place?”
“Is that so? Well, if you know that much, it becomes a short conversation. If anything, it’s a huge help.”
He was surprised by her unexpected grasp of the circumstances, but he warmly welcomed the fact that he didn’t need to make a long-winded explanation. In particular, not having to explain the menace the Witch Cult posed made things a very different story.
After all, the Witch Cult was like a natural disaster, a symbol of malice across the entire world—
“Anyway, the situation’s just as you said. I don’t deny I’m sneaking Emilia out, either. I got through to Ram and Puck, so that leaves getting you to come with m—”
“I am not going with you.”
“Ah?”
Subaru tried to get things in order as quickly as possible, but Beatrice cut him off with a single sentence. Her declaration made Subaru open his eyes wide. Beatrice’s eyes slowly narrowed.
Then, with eyes lacking any emotion, she continued her words.
“Did I say I am not going with you, I wonder? I do not intend to leave this archive of forbidden books, let alone leave the mansion itself. Now that you know this, would you get out already, I wonder?”
“Wait a minute! What are you sa…? You’re not seeing the situation! Well, I’ll explain!”
“I do not require an explanation. Betty will stay here. Does she have any intention of debating it, I wonder?”
Speaking bluntly, Beatrice let her eyes fall to the book sitting upon her lap. It was the usual sight of her concentrating on an overly large book, making it plain s
he was serious about not evacuating.
“Like I’m gonna back down now. Don’t you dare cut off the conversation on your own.”
“Betty has finished speaking. No matter how much you might arbitrarily continue, Betty’s conclusion will not change. Do you have any more time to waste than she does, I wonder?”
“Ugh… If you understand that much, give me a hand and behave while I lead you out!”
“I refuse. No matter who comes—yes, no matter who comes, they shall not enter this archive of forbidden books.”
Beatrice did not even look Subaru’s way as she made the statement, a cold, ghastly aura flowing from her into Subaru. He understood that the feeling creeping up his spine was a side effect of the magical energy pouring out of the girl.
“—”
Beatrice was a powerful magic user. That power was not limited to the Passage alone. Perhaps, in truth, she hid such might that the Witch Cult could not defeat her. Her present poise suggested as much.
“—! Even so, I’m bringing you with me anyway.”
“You are still going on about…”
“It’s not a question of whether you’re strong or not! You’re a girl, and little, and that’s reason enough! I don’t need any other reason not to leave you behind where you’ll be in danger, damn it!”
Cowed by the feeling of oppression, Subaru shouted and marched across the floor of the archive even so.
The sight of him advancing, and the content of his words, made Beatrice’s eyes fly wide. Then the girl closed her eyes, her face looking like she was enduring suffering.
“…Betty will not go with you. Could you please stop attempting to bewitch me, I wonder?”
“I’m not wrong. You’re the one who’s wrong— That’s my answer. We’re done here.”
“So obstinate. I hate that about you.”
As Beatrice made that frail murmur, Subaru walked over, taking her slender arm in his hand. It was the slender arm of a little girl, no matter how powerful a magic user she might be.
He didn’t want to leave her there alone. It wasn’t right.
“—”
Without a word, he pulled on Beatrice’s arm, leading her down from the footstool. If he led her through the door of the archive of forbidden books and back to the village, even Beatrice couldn’t complain then.
“Because no matter how important this place is, it’s not worth as much as your life.”
“—!”
“Beatrice?”
With the door right before their eyes, Beatrice’s feet suddenly came to a stop. Subaru, suspicious of her reaction, looked back—only for his breath to catch at the terrified look on her face.
Beatrice looked between the door of the archive of forbidden books and Subaru, back and forth, and finally spoke.
“…Can I truly do this, I wonder?”
“What do you mean, can you…”
“I have a pact. Betty is the guardian of this room, this archive of forbidden books, and will surrender it to no one…”
“Talking about pacts again…”
The word pact had barred Subaru’s path more than once. Not only was Emilia bound by them, but Beatrice, too, hindering Subaru’s actions.
“I’m sick of hearing about them. You stick to pacts too darn much. You’ve gotta think outside the box!”
“—! Can a human like you comprehend the weight of this pact, I wonder?! Just how important pacts are to Betty, to Puckie…!”
“What’s this human this, human that… Hey, Beatrice, wait!”
With a face ready to break into tears, Beatrice shook her arm loose from Subaru, turning her empty left hand toward him. The gesture was the one she used when driving the pesky Subaru out of the room.
Always she unleashed her magical power the next moment. But this time—
“—Keh.”
For a moment she hesitated.
Thus, during that time, Subaru grasped Beatrice’s arm once again.
“I’ve got y…”
“Aa—”
That instant, their eyes met. And when Subaru beheld the fear and despair so powerfully displayed by her eyes, the sleeve of her arm slipped through his fingers.
A second later, he was enveloped by a shock wave that knocked his feet clear off the archive of forbidden books’ floor.
“Bea—”
“—Farewell.”
His vision contorted before he even had a chance to call her name. The spatial distortion swallowed up his flesh, sending him beyond the door that ought not to exist as she forcibly severed the link to the archive of forbidden books.
“”
He raised his voice. But it did not reach her. His vision was covered in light, rendering him unable to see.
Not the door to the archive of forbidden books, not Beatrice’s crying face, nothing.
“—ther.”
She watched as the door shut before her eyes, and the sight of the youth vanished from her vision. Then the girl hugged herself with her quivering arms, haltingly murmuring to herself.
“—Mother.”
That was all Beatrice said in her tiny, tearful voice.
Her eyes were dry. Her tears had already vanished. Even so, her expression remained one of grief as she spoke.
“How much longer…how much longer, must Betty…?”
Carried by mournful steps, Beatrice collapsed upon the footstool at the center of the room. Then her arms stretched far to one side of the stool—seizing hold of the book resting upon it, clutching it in her arms.
“Mother…Mother, Mother…!”
Like a lost little girl trying to cling to her mother, Beatrice continued to clutch the thick book in her arms, calling out over and over in a sobbing, tearful voice.
But the black-bound book she clutched in her arms would not give her an answer.
6
His vision contorted, and a shock wave came. The feeling of his back hitting something hard made his breath catch.
“—Ha.”
With a short snort, he softened the coming impact. He was now on his back, limbs spread wide, and Subaru’s vision was filled by the blue sky; he could feel the ground through his back— Abruptly, something blocked the blue sky in his vision.
“Though you have surprised me from time to time, this has to be the most extraordinary experience among them.”
“Is that so? I think your fancy-pants comments annoy me more as time goes on, too.”
Subaru bounced the comment back at Julius, appearing upside-down from his point of view, with an extra helping of invective.
The place was a corner of Earlham Village, a moment after he’d been shot out of the archive of forbidden books—apparently, Beatrice had rejected him and teleported him via the Passage, returning him to the village.
Understanding that fact, Subaru got up with a great swing of his legs. Then he turned his head around and spoke.
“Damn that thickheaded loli. I’m the obstinate one? …If you’re gonna make a face like that, why can’t you just come with me? …Shit. If it’s gonna be like this, I’ll drag her out if I have—”
“It might be best to quit while you’re ahead.”
Subaru couldn’t pull his mind away from the sad face he’d seen on Beatrice when they’d separated. However, it was Puck, leisurely appearing behind Julius, who poured cold water on his enthusiasm.
The little cat spirit touched his own whiskers, looking at Subaru, covered in dirt and fallen leaves, as he spoke.
“Covered in grime, huh? Looks like Betty was pretty rough when she threw you out.”
“I hate to say this, but I was literally one step away. But I suppose I have to say that went pretty much as I expected. It really would be best if you—”
“I can’t. I cannot persuade Betty. Didn’t I mention I have a pact?”
“Lately, that’s taken the number one spot on my list of words I don’t wanna hear.”
Puck’s face showed no ill will, but Subaru grandly scowled towar
d him as he replied.
A pact made Beatrice stay behind, a pact prevented Puck from persuading her, and a pact had been the impetus for his breakup with Emilia. Pact, pact, pact—
“If you talk, Beatrice’ll listen. Even though you know that, it’s a no can do?”
“Mm, I can’t. Besides, even if I say it, Betty still won’t listen. I told you the first time she sent you out of the archive of forbidden books, didn’t I? I cannot save Betty.”
“—”
Puck turned his eyes down slightly as he replied. Subaru closed his mouth, unable to say a word.
Staying behind in the archive to persuade Beatrice; at first Subaru had meant to entrust that task to Puck. Considering the daily interaction between girl and kitty, he was sure Puck was the right cat for the job.
But when he unveiled the idea, Puck would not acquiesce, sending Subaru in his place. And sure enough, Subaru had failed to persuade her. And yet, Puck looked at Subaru and continued. “Subaru, it is likely that if you can’t do it, no one can. This is Betty’s answer.”
“I really don’t get what you’re trying to tell me…”
Subaru couldn’t read the emotions hovering in those round eyes whatsoever. The little cat spirit still wouldn’t reveal his emotions as his tiny shoulders slumped.
“Well, leaving Betty in the archive of forbidden books isn’t exactly a bad plan, anyway. I don’t think anyone would breach the Passage without Betty knowing it, and she has ways of defending herself if she’s inside the mansion. Trust me, it’s all right.”
“So wanting to bring her out of there anyway is just me being selfish, then?”
“A selfish thing is something a real man can say and hope to make a reality. How about it, Subaru? Do you think of yourself as a real man?”
“—Great Spirit.”
Julius, watching Subaru’s cheeks go stiff in the face of Puck’s merciless words, interjected with words of his own. When the knight called out to him, Puck curled his long tail around himself and spoke.
“Sorry, I’m not trying to be mean. I know you want to save Betty, and I am truly grateful for that.”
“The Great Spirit’s words are strict, but they bear the ring of truth… What now, then?”
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 9 Page 8
