Roswaal’s consent made Subaru’s inner self smile.
“I want one thing and one thing only. I want you to hire me.”
Compared to the extended foreplay, Subaru’s declaration was plain and simple.
The girls behind Subaru were in shock at his statement. The looks on the twins’ faces became mildly conflicted, whereas Beatrice looked seriously perturbed. As for Emilia…
“I-it’s not for me to say, but that’s kind of…”
Her eyes were so wide that even the sublime beauty she was born with lost half its power.
“You’re cute when you’re surprised, but are you that against the idea?”
“It’s not that; you want so little!”
It was like Emilia was angry for him as she slapped the table and closed the distance with Subaru.
“It’s not just the thing with Puck, okay? It’s…like when you asked me my name back in the royal capital.”
Emilia listed the rewards Subaru had claimed to the best of her knowledge. Emilia knew what he’d done to get those rewards; she shook her head like she really didn’t understand.
“You don’t…understand how grateful I feel. I can’t…repay you at all for saving my life and more, if you ask for so little!”
Emilia’s inflection tapered off as she pressed a palm to Subaru’s chest and lowered her head.
Hearing Emilia’s lament, Subaru painfully understood his own thoughtlessness.
Emilia had always felt indebted to him. She wanted to pay him back in some suitable way.
But the same went for Subaru. Subaru had always been indebted to Emilia. And twice he had become indebted to her in a way he could never repay.
He could not repay kindness that had “never happened.”
Before him, Emilia raised up her wavering violet eyes. Seeing the serious look with her plea, Subaru abandoned all thought of kidding around or papering it over.
Subaru decided to convey to Emilia how he really felt with all the seriousness he could muster.
“You don’t understand, Emilia-tan. At the time, that was what I truly wanted from the bottom of my heart, you see?”
“—Huh?”
“At the time, I wanted to know your name. I think being in a new, uncertain land with no idea what would come the next day, if I’d stopped to think about it, there were lots of things I could’ve considered— But I’m a man who can’t lie to himself.”
It was a reward for which he’d died three times.
For nothing more than to see the smiling face of the silver-haired girl before his eyes and to learn her name.
—At that moment, there was no greater reward he could wish for.
“My request to Rozchi’s like that, too. Right now, I’m completely, totally broke. Sure, I could ask for a pile of gold, but why not set myself up so I can make a living long-term?”
“…If you wanted that, you could ask to just live here for free, not as a manservant, you know?”
“Oh, I could’ve done that?! Hey, Mr. Roswaal, could you let me live as a fr—”
Looking at Roswaal as Subaru tried to amend his wish, the man crossed his hands above his head in an X mark.
“I shall honor the first request. A man does not take back his word, dooooes he?”
“Whoa! You’re right! A man doesn’t do that, huh?!”
Subaru tearfully found his request denied because someone had to open his big mouth earlier.
“And I thought for a moment there you seemed actually serious… I must have just imagined it.”
“And then Emilia-tan lowers my rating! That’s kicking me while I’m down!”
Subaru realized he’d passed up the chance to establish the perfect easy life in a fantasy-world environment. He didn’t need to lower the beautiful girl’s opinion of him on top of that.
“Anyway…that’s how it is, so…I mean, Ramchi and Remrin must be straining to take care of this place all by themselves, so please let me work under them.”
“It iiis true that is an actual concern… Though I beeelieve it is as Lady Emilia said, it is indeeeed asking rather little?”
With Roswaal showing a strained smile for once, Subaru put up his left and right index fingers and wiggled them.
“I’m a super greedy guy, actually. I mean, living under the same roof as a super cute, beautiful girl who’s totally my type, what guy wouldn’t want that? Close in body is close to the heart, and opportunities abound!”
“…I seeee, certainly it is as you say. It is rare one gets to work by the side of girls one is interested in, iiis it not? Quiiite pleasant for you.”
“Well, besides.”
Subaru stopped wiggling his fingers and used them to scratch his unkempt hair.
“Besides, you’re not gonna let a guy you know nothing about like me just pack up and leave. And to me, the pros and cons say I should stay with Emilia-tan.”
Subaru knew a few too many inconvenient things. He was declaring his belief that nothing good would happen to him if he left the manor without any means of protecting himself.
If Roswaal had never considered any such thing, no doubt he would have taken extreme offense. But in contrast to Subaru’s awkward feelings about it, “Then it shall be as you ask—I hope we geeet along very nicely.”
Roswaal’s instant reply came with one eye closed, looking at Subaru with his yellow eye alone.
Subaru couldn’t read what he was thinking behind that suspicious twinkle.
Incidentally, Subaru was very embarrassed inside from having made such a strong public confession.
But when Subaru timidly looked at Emilia’s expression…
“Goodness, you really are a hopeless child… Did something happen?”
Her perfectly calm reply left Subaru at a loss for words.
Maybe he was overthinking it? This was just the result of his lack of experience with being around a beautiful girl.
“Man, dealing with a girl I like this much is gettin’ me all worked up…”
Emilia, watching Subaru get fired up on a tangent instead of dealing with more pressing matters, murmured in a little voice, “Which one’s more your type, I wonder…Ram or Rem?”
Emilia put a finger to her lips in a huff, taking what he’d said earlier completely the wrong way.
4
—With the long breakfast taken care of, the matter of what to do with Subaru was largely settled.
Seeing this, the first to stand was the girl with curly hair—Beatrice.
“I see the discussion is settled, so may I take my leave with Puckie, I wonder?”
Beatrice was quick to finish her own meal so that she could leave as soon as possible. Grimacing even then, she seemed about to leave without bothering to put her plates in order when Subaru wagged a finger at her.
“Wait, there’s no need to be in that much of a hu— Hey, at least introduce yourself. I don’t know what your place is here at all. You Rozchi’s little sister?”
“Treating me as that thing’s relative? You are quite accomplished at angering me.”
Beatrice let out a sigh full of disgust as Roswaal, thoroughly bad-mouthed, smiled in amusement. Subaru slumped his shoulders as Beatrice shot him a nasty glare when Puck spoke up.
“Betty’s the librarian of the archive of forbidden books here in Roswaal’s manor!”
“Puckie?!”
Just when it seemed like an argument was about to break out, the gray cat’s statement tore it to shreds. Puck was busy nibbling on the heel of a loaf of bread glazed with sugar for a luxurious dessert.
“Sweet, tasty, meow…”
“Hate to bug you when you’re on a sugar high, but could you tell me more?”
With Puck lost in a sweet daze, Subaru touched Puck’s heavily sprinkled ear, urging him on.
Subaru was toying with it quite a bit when Puck raised his face from the plate.
“It’s because Roswaal’s a pretty accomplished magician, plus he comes from a pretty old family. There’re
lots of books here that aren’t for other people to see. So, he made a pact with Betty for her to protect them.”
“Yes, that’s true. How is Puckie always so right, I wonder?”
Beatrice seemed to agree without thinking, speaking as her hand sprang out to Puck’s other ear. A lovely look came over her as her fingers felt the fur of his ears.
It was the first time Subaru had seen Beatrice with an expression that suited her loveliness.
Subaru’s breath caught. The odd girl out, Emilia tilted her head a bit as she watched.
“You two look like you’re really getting along nicely while playing with the cute kitty there.”
“Getting along nicely with this person is a little…!”
“How could I ever get along with this person, I wonder?!”
Subaru and Beatrice both shot down Emilia’s idea. For his part, Subaru was hiding a blush; for her part, Beatrice looked quite serious.
“Hee-hee. I’m so scary, making two people at odds with each other into my slaves… Meow meow meow!”
Puck was busy being the literal center of attention when Emilia’s outstretched fingers grasped him. Puck was in Emilia’s fingers, unable to move, as she sighed.
“All that said, being the guardian of an archive of forbidden books… The sound of it really tickles a guy’s mind.”
Beatrice was giving Subaru a sullen look as he tickled Puck, but Subaru’s suggestion softened her expression. She toyed with her own long rolls as she gave what was, for Beatrice, a frank reply.
“Perhaps you did not hear Puckie’s explanation? It is the room you entered earlier.”
“Oh, the one with all the books!”
Remembering the great volume of books chewing up all the floor space, Subaru could accept it being that kind of archive. On the other hand, the idea that all those volumes were somehow forbidden made him feel like it was a crime on a completely different scale.
“Don’t tell me this loli’s your unwitting partner in crime…?!”
“That word annoys me every time I hear it. And to answer your question, the very thought that I am an innocent victim annoys me enough, couldn’t I just die, I wonder?”
“Don’t be so prickly, shrimp. It takes calcium and a calm heart to get taller. If you were about as tall as Emilia-tan and me, we’d have quite a little love comedy going on here…”
He left Beatrice to stew indignantly at his comment as he gave Emilia an amorous glance. But Emilia let that comment slide and pressed a different issue with Beatrice.
“Wait a minute. Beatrice…don’t tell me you let him into the archive?”
“…I shouldn’t have to tell you. Why would I ever need to let in a stranger such as him on purpose, I wonder? No, he solved the riddle of the Passage all on his very own.”
A vein bulged on Beatrice’s forehead as she roughly stood up and pushed open the dining hall door.
Subaru, faced with the incomprehensible scene before him, asked like a complete idiot, “Ah? The hallway just…?”
Before his eyes, the open door that should have led to the manor’s hall beyond had opened to a huge room lined with bookshelves. He almost swooned when he remembered that he’d seen it once before.
“This is the Passage. You are trembling as its sublime beauty burns itself into your eyes, perhaps?—Come on, Puckie.”
Beatrice stepped into the archive of forbidden books, looking triumphantly at Subaru as she stretched out her hand. Puck leapt from Emilia to land upon her outstretched palm.
Upon this, Beatrice closed the door behind both her and the cat.
Ram didn’t say a word as she opened the shut door. Subaru’s eyes widened in total surprise.
“Whoa, that’s incredible.”
Beyond the door, closed so roughly a moment before, Subaru walked with his own feet into the hallway beyond. The scene before him a moment before was like a mirage.
“I see. In other words, magic makes it so any door here can connect to any room. Pretty neat for recluses who need to find the john in a pinch.”
Emilia seemed a bit thrown off.
“You actually look less surprised than I expected. What’s a recluse?”
“A guardian who sacrifices himself holding down the fort at home, waiting for weary family members to return.”
“Er…that sounds noble. Are you a recluse, Subaru?”
Emilia was full of concern when a puff of smoke interrupted her and Subaru, tickling his nose.
“Achoo!”
“Yes, yes, shall we continue the introductions? Ram, Rem.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Rem, employed as chief maid by this household.”
“Nice to meet you. I am Ram, working as an ordinary maid in Master Roswaal’s mansion.”
Subaru crossed his arms.
“Wow, you sisters suddenly got nice and formal. Well, not that I’m one to talk, but…”
The twins joined hands and looked at Subaru.
“But Dear Guest…or rather, Subaru, you are our coworker now?”
“But Dear Guest…or rather, Barusu, you work under us here now?”
“Hey, Big Sis. You’re throwing my name back in my face here.”
That was the one thing you absolutely did not do at your first formal introduction. Of course, there was no way for Ram or Rem to know of that rule of Japanese society. Subaru endured the mockery as he turned toward Roswaal.
“So that’s my standing, huh? Not so much a butler as an apprentice maid?”
“In this situation, your doing odd jobs at their discretion seeems best. Dissatisfied…?”
“If I was gonna be dissatisfied I’d have only myself to blame. Well, had to be done, so no regrets. Take good care of me, my seniors. I’m gonna work super hard and break a leg!”
“Break a leg.”
“So it would seem.”
The three seemed to instantly agree on the never-before-raised term. With a yeah! Subaru raised his hands and they high-fived each other. They were already getting along.
“Harmonious relations are a beautiful thing. As your employer, I think it iiis just fine, so long as there are nooo ill feelings, yeees?”
“For some reason, we kinda get along. A lot better than that loli! Way better than with her!”
“You really don’t want to be seen as Beatrice’s friend, do you…”
Emilia’s pitying murmur signaled the end of the gathering.
5
“Well then, shall we be off, Barusu?”
So spoke Ram, commanded by Roswaal to be Subaru’s personal tutor. Her little sister, Rem, was off to the side meticulously cleaning up the dining hall; Ram made no effort to help as she reached for the dining hall door.
“So you intend to call me that full-time, huh?”
“Yes, I do, Barusu. Master Roswaal commands it, so I shall show you around the mansion. Can you at least make sure not to wander off?”
“I’m not Emilia-tan, so I won’t let curiosity get the best of me.”
Emilia’s cheeks puffed up at being teased about getting lost in the capital.
“Su-ba-ru!”
Emilia was about to split off to continue studying various ceremonial roles, mandatory for a royal candidate. Subaru was making a point of burning Emilia’s beauty into his eyes before she left.
“Well, with minor regrets, let’s be off. Lead the way.”
“Yes, let us, Barusu. Until later, Lady Emilia.”
Ram held the hem of her skirt, bowing courteously as she left. Subaru started to follow behind her.
“Subaru. I will, too, but…try hard, okay?”
“Wow, I’m super happy to hear that. I’m really pumped for this!”
Mimicking Ram, Subaru held the collar of his track jacket as he bowed. Emilia shot him a strange look as he did so before leaving the room. Ram had a grimace on her face, waiting as he walked into the hallway.
“That’s quite a sour face, Big Sis. I was just playing around a little. I’m not so ign
orant of maid culture to the point that I think a maid is the same as a manservant. Oh yeah, what about clothes?”
He didn’t think it was very likely he’d be starting life as a servant in his tracksuit.
Prompted by Subaru, Ram put a hand to her mouth and nodded.
“Certainly, clothing is very important. Let’s see, clothing in your size… Yes, we should have some.”
“Awesome. Okay, let’s get me changed, then. I think formal actually suits me pretty well. Let’s make me a refined, high-quality man!”
Subaru smiled with a thumbs-up and a twinkle of his eyes when Ram led him upstairs to take his measurements.
“The servant quarters are on the second floor, so you’ll change there. Your clothing size should be similar to Frederica’s, who quit several months ago.”
“Huh, interesting timing to quit. This Frederica…is a woman?”
“Her dimensions should be right about the same as yours.”
“But she’s not the same gender, right?”
Ram stopped walking and gave Subaru a cold look. She looked tired as she put her hand to her forehead.
“Clothing that is formal, refined, and high quality…which of these do you have a problem with?”
“How about all the above?! Emilia-tan looked like she was gonna pay me and everything, so why do I have to borrow a maid outfit?! What if people think I’m some kind of weirdo?! I don’t want that!”
A trip to a fantasy world without any special talents, save cross-dressing. Subaru would almost have rather died. But, since Subaru had a frightening ability, death was no consolation.
Guided by Ram, he continued to the west side of the manor. Roswaal Manor had a main wing in the center, with a corridor connecting it to the east and west wings. The dining hall and Roswaal’s private study were in the main wing, whereas the empty servants’ quarters were on the western side.
“An empty room on the second… Yes, any room that has no plate above it is fine. Pick whichever you wish for your private quarters and I shall drop off your change of clothes there.”
“Okay, roger that. Hmm, which one…”
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 2 Page 5
