Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 10

by Tappei Nagatsuki

  “In a true sense, this trial is over. I hope for great things for the next question.”

  “Yeah… Er, next question?! The hell, the trial isn’t just one thing?!”

  “My, did I not tell you when you first entered the tomb? ‘First, face your past.’ You should have paid more attention to the first part…”

  “Stop talking like a Japanese language teacher!! And that deceptive face really annoys me!!”

  Subaru was shocked at the notification that it would be a longer fight as Echidna leaned an elbow against the desk, forming a mischievous smile.

  “The condition for liberating the Sanctuary is to pass the tomb’s trial, three parts in total. I am pleased I was finally able to speak to you about this. My chest is aflutter that I have surprised you to quite this extent.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a real lively look on my face ’cause you didn’t tell me about this back at the tea party, damn it…”

  She’d no doubt been full of frustration concerning the uncooperative visitor arriving for tea with far too little information. Unlike that previous time, he had more he wanted to ask her about, but—

  “Either way, you’re not gonna hand out cheat sheets on the contents of the trials or how to answer, are you?”

  “Of course not. Stealing my fun from me after my death would simply be far too cruel.”

  “Don’t talk about this like some geezer’s fun, sheesh…”

  Wincing from the witchy reply, Subaru slowly rose from his seat.

  There was no longer anything he wished to speak to Echidna about. Nor was there any reason to stay in that place, that fictional world, for long, save for lingering attachment. He’d said his farewells to the regrets in his heart; that was enough.

  “Hey, Echidna.”

  “What is it? Ahh, a grudge to vent, or perhaps you wish to punch me once? Certainly, you have the right to do that much. I know my amusement comes at your expense. But I am a woman. At least avoid the fa—”

  “Thank you.”

  “”

  Echidna’s face froze when she heard those words.

  The sight of Echidna in shock, eyes wide open and taken aback, felt a little creepy to Subaru as he spoke.

  “Even if it wasn’t real, even if I didn’t really say those things to the two of them, thanks to you, I was able to say out loud what I wanted to tell them. To put it bluntly, even if it’s the result of your shitty curiosity, I was able to say goodbye to them— If nothing else, I’m grateful for that. So thank you.”

  “…You are an incredibly interesting person, one I am no longer able to understand to a degree that is…frightening.”

  Echidna’s reply contained neither jest nor falsehood; rather, it felt as if she was speaking from the heart for the very first time.

  After hearing her reply, Subaru shrugged, smiling like a mischievous boy.

  “I’m honored to have frightened a Witch. So how do I get out of this world?”

  “This world has served its purpose. It has already begun to disappear. Nothing save this building still holds its proper shape—exit the building, and you should find yourself in the tomb where you started.”

  “Well, that’s pretty convenient.”

  When Echidna’s answer prodded him to look out the window, the distant sky was indeed warped like some kind of mirage. Having fulfilled its duty, the false world was vanishing back into a distant dream.

  With it went the father who had given Subaru a push forward, and the mother who had sent him off.

  “They already taught me the important stuff, though.”

  The emotions filling his chest and the hot sensations in the backs of his eyes made Subaru rub his eyes once with his sleeve. Then he lifted his face, and there was room for tears no more.

  Subaru turned his back to the Witch and faced the classroom’s exit to bring that world to an end and—

  “That’s right, one more thing. It seems like you want me to challenge this trial again going forward…but I can’t do it.”

  “…Meaning what?”

  Echidna knitted her refined eyebrows as Subaru paused on the verge of leaving the room, turning only his head back toward her. Subaru lifted a finger toward her, wagging it left and right as he spoke.

  “It’s not my job to clear the trial and liberate the Sanctuary. This is a commemorative exam, just ’cause I happened to have an exam ticket on me. It’ll be a different kid who’ll fulfill your expectations.”

  He remembered Emilia, who had challenged the tomb and had surely undergone the same trial. It was her duty to liberate the Sanctuary. Subaru’s challenge had been completely unplanned; he couldn’t raise Echidna’s hopes.

  So he said that last thing, waving his hand toward the Witch he was probably seeing for the last time…

  “Will that truly be the case, I wonder?”

  Subaru Natsuki never noticed Echidna’s deeply suggestive whisper as he was enveloped in white light.

  Then he left the world of the trial—

  2

  The instant he awoke, the first thing Subaru felt was the bitter taste of sand and dust inside his mouth.

  “Blargh!! Ptoo, ptoo! Some weird rock’s in my mouth… Bleh!!”

  Feeling drool and something else shaped like a rock on the tip of his tongue, Subaru retched as he instantly sprang up. When he surveyed the area around his dirty body, he saw an empty room shrouded in thin darkness.

  The cold, chilly air and musty, acrid scent—they reminded him that he was in the tomb.

  “That’s right, I completed it…”

  Now that Subaru was awake, his mind finally caught up as he recalled all that had happened since he collapsed.

  He’d been pulled into the trial, had been reunited with his parents, spoke with them, then returned to reality. There didn’t seem to be any gaps in his memory from start to finish. He remembered it all.

  “Not like I can forget bawling my eyes out like that… Ahh, I’m glad.”

  Leaving his father and mother was a sad, nostalgic memory, but also the ritual that had hardened his resolve.

  Relieved he had not forgotten it, he clenched his teeth as he belatedly recalled why he had rushed into the tomb in the first place—the answer was sprawled on the floor right next to him.

  “Emilia!”

  Kneeling, Subaru saw Emilia lying on the cold floor beside him. Peering at her face, he confirmed she was breathing. He was initially relieved by that fact, but the pained look on her sleeping face stabbed into his chest.

  “—ah, ngh…”

  Emilia was moaning, with sweat on her brow, as her face twisted in anguish and fear. Every so often, she shook her head in denial, as if she were desperately trying to run away from something—

  “A past you don’t want to look at…something you have to face and deal with, huh…?”

  Subaru didn’t know how much time had passed, but Emilia had entered the tomb long before him. That Subaru had come back first in spite of that meant she was having an exceptionally difficult time with the trial.

  Emilia moaned faintly, like she was begging for help, as if ready to break into tears at any moment. The sight of her like that made Subaru’s breath catch. Wanting to somehow ease her suffering, he touched her cheek with his finger. That instant—

  “—!”

  “Emilia?!”

  Emilia’s slender body sat up fast, almost like she’d been zapped with a jolt of electricity. The dramatic reaction made Subaru reach out with his arms, hugging Emilia against his own chest.

  Then, when she shuddered like she was having spasms, he called out to her over and over.

  “Emilia! Get it together, Emilia! Emilia!”

  “—Wuu… Su…baru?”

  “—! Y-yeah, that’s right. You can tell it’s me? I’m so glad.”

  Subaru’s arms had been wrapped around Emilia while he desperately cried out. After some time, the anguished expression on her face finally eased as she slowly opened her eyes.

&nbs
p; She seemed to be coming to her senses, letting Subaru breathe in relief after calling out her name since the episode started.

  “This is… Er, I was…”

  “Take it slow, don’t panic. We’re inside the tomb in the Sanctuary. You came in here to fulfill a very important duty…and, er, sorry for taking so long!”

  Remembering that he was embracing her, Subaru abandoned his explanation midway and pulled back from Emilia’s body. When Emilia hazily turned her head toward him, Subaru scratched his cheek and tried to pick up where he’d left off.

  “Emilia?”

  “That’s right… I began the trial, and then…”

  Emilia’s thoughts returned to the moment right before she’d lost consciousness, to the test. But her reaction had clearly been abnormal, and the sight of her set Subaru’s heart deeply astir.

  Emilia embraced her own shoulders, as if remembering the shuddering from mere moments before. Her face was pale, drained of blood, and he could hear her teeth chattering.

  “I-it…wasn’t me…! I…said it wasn’t…me…but…”

  “Wait, Emilia? Calm down, please. Emilia, look at me, Emilia!”

  “No…don’t look at me like that… No, no, no, you’re wrong… Don’t…blame me…!”

  Subaru’s voice never registered as Emilia cowered on the spot, covering her face with her palms in denial. Her tearful words turned into sobs, and her crystal clear voice was so full of grief that it pained his heart.

  When Emilia crumpled onto the floor, Subaru still had no idea what had happened.

  “It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m here. You’re not alone. It’s okay.”

  As Emilia shuddered in tears, Subaru tried his best to console her, to protect her, to care for her. He gathered her in his arms and gently stroked her back.

  During that time, Emilia continued to sob, seemingly unable to hear Subaru’s voice.

  “…ve me, Dad. Save me… Puck, Puck…Pucckkk…”

  It was not the man at her side consoling her, but the absent spirit whose name she continued to call.

  3

  “She finally calmed down a short while ago and is now sound asleep.”

  Ram whispered the news when she came out of the room after Subaru had questioned her with a glance. Given her considerate demeanor, what had happened inside the room behind her must have been something else.

  While relieved at her reply, he wasn’t relieved enough not to turn his worried eyes toward the closed door.

  “That expression isn’t like you, Barusu. Normally you have such a sloppy face. Now that I have seen that somber grimace of yours, I truly have no wish to see it ever again.”

  “Nobody asked you… Sorry, making you worry about me like that.”

  Ram reacted to those words with a “Ha!” and walked away. Before following in her footsteps, Subaru bit his lip as he turned his eyes toward the door one last time.

  Perhaps repeated regrets over his insufficient strength, his weakness causing failure to pile upon failure, had steeled his heart.

  “Ohh? I wonder, is Lady Emilia already weeeell?”

  Cutting short his lingering sentiments at the closed door, he chased Ram deeper into the building. When he stepped into the room farthest back, he was greeted by Roswaal, lying upon the bed.

  The place was at the back of the building in the Sanctuary devoted to Roswaal’s convalescence. From what Subaru had heard, it was actually Ryuzu’s house, but it was currently on loan, the needs of the lord of the land being the highest priority.

  —Thanks to being able to use that room, he had ended up carrying Emilia, fallen into disarray at the tomb, into the very same building.

  “Yeah. Right now she’s sleeping in her room. Thanks to Ram, she shouldn’t have to see any nightmares.”

  “I used aromatic tea that acts as a sedative. Normally it would not work, but the Great Spirit is not currently at her side, so…”

  After Subaru replied to Roswaal, Ram put a hand on her pouch as she added her words to his. The tea ingredient seemed to be a different one from what Ram had previously used to lead Subaru astray with an illusion; that there were multiple types rather surprised him.

  It went without saying that he ought not to be concerned about bad effects inside his body, but—

  “I still have this nagging suspicion you’ve been serving me poison all that time…”

  “Too large a dose of any base ingredient for tea will become poison, nothing more. You are a petty man to hold a grudge all this time.”

  Speaking those words with a composed expression, Ram stood right at Roswaal’s bedside. For all intents and purposes, the room was host to a one-on-one meeting between Subaru and Roswaal—no other connected persons were welcome.

  “Garfiel dragged his feet, but Ryuzu being so sensible was a huge help.”

  “Due to her age and seniooority, she has learned the value of discreeeetion. Even Garfiel understands that they cannot achieve their objectives without our cooperation, you see.”

  Roswaal’s words made Subaru recall how they’d looked when Subaru had parted ways with them at the tomb. The liberation of the Sanctuary was Garfiel & Co.’s cherished desire. If their side didn’t cooperate, the other side might resort to force, but—

  “If we intend to liberate them, they’ll lend us a hand, huh? Damn complicated situation to be in…”

  “Because Lady Emilia is with us, our interests are aligned. The obstinacy their side has displaaayed to date should ease… Incidentally, I heard that a follower of yours was preeesent?”

  “Follower… Ah, you mean Otto? He’s, well, we stuffed him in the Cathedral for tonight. He actually came to the Sanctuary because he wanted to meet you in the first place, Roswaal, but…”

  “Buuuut what?”

  Roswaal had one eye closed as Subaru scratched his head. The reason for Otto’s absence was exceptionally clear.

  “We’re talking internal camp business from here on. I don’t intend to drag a half-outsider like him into our problems past the point of no return.”

  “I see, a wise decision. It would seeeem that you do not enjoy involving friends of yours in your troubles.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call us friends, but…well, pretty much, yeah.”

  Having mulled over and accepted the circumstances, Subaru shrugged his shoulders, making no great effort to deny the point. From there, despite the absence of Emilia, the subject of their discussion—

  “How about tonight we hammer out important stuff for this camp that we’ve been kicking down the road?”

  4

  “You were the instigator behind the hunt for the White Whale, you dispatched the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult taking aim at the mansion and the village, you formed an alliance with Lady Crusch, candidate for the throne. That seems to be your meritorious seeervice record.”

  Roswaal’s white-painted brow wrinkled as the detached tone of his voice deepened.

  When Subaru attempted to speak about their internal affairs, it was Roswaal’s mouth that summarized the ferocious combat occurring in his absence that Subaru should have spoken about first.

  When they were enumerated like that, even Subaru thought his exploits sounded unreal, but he made no effort to deny them; all of it was pure fact.

  “I had not asked in detail before the evacuation…but I cannot think the contents anything but fiction.”

  “I thought you might say that, but there’s no point hiding it, and I hadn’t boasted about it before! Now come on and praise me!!”

  “Yes, yes, good boy, good boy.”

  “Put some heart in it!!”

  In contrast to the serious Subaru, Ram treated him as flippantly as ever. However, the dull edge to the sarcasm behind her words was likely due to her surprise that Subaru had truly done all of those things.

  And the same seemed to go for Roswaal, silent as he strove to comprehend those facts.

  “These are unexpected, unanticipated result
s.”

  Lowering his eyes with extremely deep feeling, Roswaal spoke thus as his breath trickled out.

  Subaru, utterly convinced Roswaal would praise him in some halfway frivolous manner, was dumbstruck by his reaction. Then Roswaal fixed Subaru in his differently colored eyes as he said, “Subaru. Do you recall the declaration you made at the beginning of the royal selection?”

  “Like I could forget it. Like I should ever forget it. I remember each and every word.”

  Suddenly, he recalled the abominable memory, and the shame and self-loathing of it scorched his breast.

  Even if the numerous people of power and influence in that place had laughed it all off, Subaru alone was not permitted to forget, so that he might never repeat the recklessness, naivete, and stupidity of forgetting what was really important ever again.

  But Roswaal responded to Subaru’s reply with a solemn nod.

  “In that light, I think your meritorious service should be rewarded. You have proven the words you spoke in that place—upon our safe departure from this place, I shall appoint you knight.”

  “”

  “Subduing the White Whale with the duchess and taking down an Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins are exploits that should be commended. You shall be known as Subaru Natsuki, knight. No one will laugh at you anymore.”

  In the name of helping Emilia, he’d opened his big, fat mouth as a youth ignorant of his position.

  His naive dreams were broken on harsh reality time and time again. He had fallen first into despair, then madness; then he’d cast everything aside as he raced forward with vengeance in his heart, only to be saved by deep feelings of love— These were the events that had brought him to where he was now.

  The prestige Roswaal promised would demonstrate all that time had actually meant something.

  It would mean everything Rem had done would also be rewarded; though memories of her actions existed in the minds of none, save Subaru himself.

  “…If doing so gives meaning to that battle, I…gratefully accept.”

  “You should be proud of these exploits. With your own power, you have won the right to stand at Emilia’s side.”