“—Mm, it seems this will become troublesome.”
“Er? It looks like some pretty rough-looking dudes are coming this way.”
“And the one at the vanguard is a commoner, I recall. Goodness, these fools do not interest me even slightly.”
“What are they thinking, coming back after hearing Reinhard’s name like that?!”
“It would seem they have called your bluff about being acquainted with the knight among knights. It is rather easy to understand. Even they have reputations to protect, so they have returned in greater numbers for retribution.”
“Damn it, this day is just nothing but trouble!”
First, he had a close call back on the dragon carriage, then he had gotten on Emilia’s bad side, and now this. Today’s really not my day.
Since the girl was just standing there, Subaru grabbed her hand and dragged her along, carrying the bag of abbles as he rushed deeper down the alley.
She protested, “Hey, what are you doing? Do not touch me so carelessly.”
“Now is really not the time! If you don’t wanna get all beat up before marriage, run!!”
The girl wasn’t very motivated to run as Subaru pulled her down the beat-up alley and plunged into the darkness. The men behind them pursued with a great shout and a flurry of footsteps.
Subaru, cursing the heavens for his truly unlucky day, kept running with a desperate expression on his face.
5
“If we do not hurry they will gain on us. Is this time to play around?”
“I d-don’t wanna hear that from y… Time out, seriously, wait a…!”
They’d been racing through run-down streets for the last five minutes, but the girl was running well ahead of him, showing no sign of losing her breath. On the other hand, Subaru, never one to hold up for long sprints, was about to collapse from exhaustion. At first, he had been in front, but his endurance issues soon switched their positions.
“I’m convalescing, so this is really pushing it… But we’re in a pretty bad spot. Doesn’t look like many people live here… You have any ideas?”
The other group was a fair distance behind them. However, they were in one long alley, so slowing down meant it was only a matter of time until they were caught. He’d have liked to get on a thoroughfare, but all he could see was a maze of other back streets.
“It is not my problem! Everything I set out to do turns out well for me. I do not think deeply about things, for I do not need to. I need only trust in this fact.”
“Yeah, well you lost at rock-paper-scissors to me earlier…”
At least they hadn’t bumped into a dead end, but that didn’t improve their predicament.
Right in front of the winded Subaru, the girl suddenly came to a halt.
“—Mm, this is indeed rather vexing.”
Subaru, still holding her hand, also stopped. He looked at her, wondering what the deal was.
“Hey, we don’t have time to stop here. If we don’t put in as much distance as we can, they’ll catch up with…”
“—I have lost interest.”
“I see, you’ve lost intere… Wha—?!”
Subaru was in utter shock at the girl’s unbelievable statement. She returned his gaze, apparently bored.
“I said, I have lost interest. In the first place, why must I run? I shall decide what I do myself. I absolutely shall not be forced to do anything because of what lowlifes say or do.”
“Th-that’s easier said than done, you know?! That ain’t gonna fly in a situation like th—”
“Mm, I have decided. You shall have the honor of carrying me.”
“No thanks!!”
As Subaru crossed his arms in a clear sign of refusal, the girl scowled as if he was putting a damper on her mood.
“The honor of carrying me is not for just anyone to receive. Only a man who does not know fear would reject such a thing.”
“Do I look like a macho man that can carry someone and run?! Even when I was at full strength, it took everything I had to carry a girl with way fewer style points than you! And I’m about worn out now!”
As Subaru used the remains of his energy in protest, the girl shot him a look of scorn, but he couldn’t use what he didn’t have.
Her games led them to a stalemate costing them precious time. That was the thought in his head when, out of the blue, he heard an aged voice.
“It’s been some time since I’ve seen you. What are you doing here?”
The speaker’s large frame emerged from the darkness. Subaru lifted his gaze to a typical height for making eye contact, but found himself staring at this man’s chest. He raised his gaze even farther to his ugly, balding head.
—A familiar and very muscular old man gazed down at Subaru and the girl.
“Gramps is here to save the day! We can win this—!”
“You’re quick to annoy someone who hasn’t seen you in a while. I’m leaving you here.”
“Wait, I really need your help! It’s, like, the tenth crisis I’ve had in the last month!”
“That’s too many!!”
As they exchanged banter in lieu of greetings, the giant—Old Man Rom—peered at Subaru and the girl.
“What, in more trouble, are you? Causing a ruckus with a woman? Quite the adventurer you are.”
“Do not look at me so rudely, you filthy gnarled tree.”
“Hey, I’m ribbing him, too, but that’s really harsh!! Don’t say that to the old man giving us a get-out-of-hell-free card! Don’t take it personally, Old Man Rom. We’ve just got a little case of excessive honesty here!”
“You certainly are good at wearing a man down. Hurry and hide!”
Subaru covered the girl’s mouth before she could spew insults again and rushed toward the place Rom had silently indicated. There was a pile of scrap wood there that seemed able to comfortably conceal two people.
Subaru pushed the girl down first before squatting himself. She looked like she wanted to complain about the dust, but his hand over her mouth managed to keep her silent.
“We’re okay on this end, Gramps!”
“No, you’re not… I’ll hide you with my body. If they see you it’ll be trouble for me, too, so don’t move.”
Grumbling all the way, Old Man Rom hid them completely behind his huge body. A mere ten seconds or so later, a commotion of footsteps came from a nearby alley—
The leader of the men shouted, “The hell, I thought it was the brats, but it’s the old man! Shit!”
Old Man Rom fielded the foul language with a serene expression.
“What? You shouldn’t surprise your elders like this.”
Old Man Rom hadn’t put any special invective into his sentence, but the displeasure of a giant like him carried a force all its own. The entire group shuddered, the leader included. But one of the members of the group pointed at Old Man Rom and mocked, “Hey, wait, it’s Grandpa Cromwell. Hey, should you really be talkin’ smack to us here?”
The furrows of Old Man Rom’s wrinkled face deepened further in a bitter response.
“I do not like being called that name.”
“Get outta here, old man, or we’ll bust up your loot cellar and make you the laughingstock of the slums.”
“That place has gotten incredibly dirty over the years. If you destroyed it entirely you’d be doing me a favor. So how about I do as I please?”
“Yeah, fine. Now, Cromwell… Did you see two brats runnin’ this way?”
“I didn’t see them. Do you know where my blond daughter is?”
“Beats me. You picked her up off the street, so what’s the big deal? Man, goin’ senile must suck.”
The men waved farewell, laughing derisively as they noisily left the area. Old Man Rom watched their retreating backs, biting his lip as he held back his anger.
As Subaru watched his face through a small gap, he couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He was glad that Old Man Rom was friendly for their belated reunion, but he seemed a li
ttle different from the Rom Subaru knew.
“Hww wong rre…”
“Mm?”
A whisper-like voice interrupted Subaru’s thoughts, prompting him to look to the side. Right beside him was the beautiful girl, so close they were practically breathing the same air, her mouth still covered by Subaru’s palm.
“…you gonng to cvrr my…MOUTH?!”
Chomp.
“—Yipe!!”
At the merciless bite, Subaru let out a high-pitched, puppy-like yelp that quietly echoed through the nook in the back of the alley.
6
“Thanks for hiding us, Old Man Rom. The last time I saw you, I thought you’d had the sense knocked right out of you, but I guess you made it through fine.”
“…Do you want me to change my mind and call those youngins back?”
“You sure are petty for a big guy! With me here, there’s more than enough petty for everyone!”
Subaru grinned and shot him a thumbs-up. Old Man Rom sighed with a worn-out look.
They’d moved from the previous narrow alley to a more open city street. Old Man Rom conversed with Subaru while guiding the pair to a place where they could blend in.
The girl, having kept her silence until that moment, finally tugged Subaru’s sleeve in irritation.
“Hey, you. I see you having an intimate conversation. Who is this old man? Explain it to me.”
“This old man is the face of the royal capital’s slums. The giant’s Old Man Rom—trader for the bosses of the sticky-fingered types and all-around stingy bastard. He’s got bad eyes, loves his cute granddaughter, and he’s not nearly as tough as he looks.”
“That is his worth after having lived a long life? I see. I pity your pathetic existence, gnarled tree.”
“Your lady friend is an annoying little girl, isn’t she?”
Old Man Rom was indignant at the harsh appraisal. Though Subaru’s explanation was the truth, he set that aside and gave Old Man Rom a warm smile.
“I’m so glad I ran into you, really. Even I was getting desperate back there. I didn’t have a clue what I was gonna do.”
Old Man Rom made a strained laugh and casually looked Subaru over.
“…The way you switch gears so quickly really throws an old man off. Seems you managed to escape with your life back then, too…”
His face twisted painfully as he saw the scars on Subaru’s body.
“I may not be one to talk, but it seems that knife wielder got you pretty badly.”
“Nah, that babe only got me in the stomach. All the other wounds are from a thing that happened after.”
“Goodness! Something else happened to you, not even a month later?!”
Subaru thought Old Man Rom’s loud reaction was quite sensible as he reviewed the last month—though in truth, the boy had experienced nearly twice that time. Those turbulent weeks had included the maid sisters, the demon-beast incident, and the Liliana issue.
With Subaru keeping his mouth shut, Old Man Rom seemed to accept things all on his own, shaking his head as he brought up a separate issue.
“—Hey, brat. Do you know where Felt went off to?”
“…Haven’t you heard? Reinhard took her with him, or so I’m told…”
“Reinhard…the Sword Saint? Why would the knight among knights take her with him?”
Apparently, this news was a bolt from out of the blue.
Subaru thought back to how things had gone down at the loot cellar, finally noticing the inconsistency. Old Man Rom was out cold before Reinhard had entered the fray. Rom and Reinhard hadn’t interacted while Subaru was conscious.
“So, what, you just woke up in a wrecked shop without any explanation, and all you could do was wonder?”
“It wasn’t nearly that bleak. I woke up in the guards’ garrison. I appreciated their healing me, but I let myself out right after.”
“Ah, yeah. Not exactly a comfortable place for you, huh.”
A criminal wouldn’t feel at ease waking up in a police hospital. Subaru couldn’t blame him for getting out of there ASAP without hearing all the fine details.
“So that’s why you didn’t hear, huh? Okay. Anyway, let me fill you in on what happened before I blacked out, plus the little bit that apparently happened after.”
After that preamble, Subaru acted out a dramatic retelling of the events at the loot cellar. Old Man Rom watched Subaru’s meaningless theatrics with admiration, and even the bored-looking girl leaned forward, gripped by the performance from start to finish. Subaru concluded, “She was so surprised! And then I said, ‘—I want you to…tell me your name.’”
The girl replied, “Ho-ho, a rather fine choice of words, if I do say so myself. I must grudgingly approve.”
Rom followed up, “Keh, you really told her… Bah, this is no time to admire! The bottom line is that you don’t know any more about Felt other than the fact the Sword Saint took her with him, do you, brat?”
“Part of why I came here today was to do some footwork to find out exactly what happened…”
But he’d hit a roadblock right at the heart of it, the attempt to make contact with Reinhard.
Rom murmured to himself so faintly that Subaru did not hear.
“But… The House of Astrea, of all things…”
Old Man Rom had a serious expression as he lifted his face. Subaru helplessly shrugged.
“Well, I’m gonna see if I can get ahold of Reinhard, so I’ll let you know if I hear anything. I mean, I wanted to find out if Felt was safe and sound to begin with.”
“That’ll be a big help… You seem oddly trustworthy. Is this girl involved with this somehow?”
“No, not a bit. I don’t even know her name.”
“Just how many scrapes do you get into for girls whose names you don’t know?!”
“Hey, back when I didn’t know Emilia-tan’s name, I was pretty desperate, so I don’t think anything I did was that weird.”
Subaru’s indifferent reply made Old Man Rom rub his eyebrows in exhaustion.
“No point thinking about it. All right, fine. I’ll rely on you, so let me know if you find out anything about Felt. If I can repay you, I will.”
“You’re really gushing. It’s because it’s your adorable granddaughter, huh?”
“—That’s right. She’s…like a granddaughter to me, so please.”
Subaru’s jaw dropped at Rom’s straight-up, unashamed agreement with him. He wondered if the blond thief girl really knew how deeply he felt for her. Knowing her, he figured she’d go red in the face and try to blow it all off.
As Subaru’s discussion with Old Man Rom wrapped up, the girl haltingly murmured, “Reinhard… To hear the name of Reinhard here, of all places…”
She suppressed a laugh. Subaru’s relaxed expression tightened again as he turned toward her.
“Hey, it’s not polite to eavesdrop. Don’t go listening in on other people’s business like that.”
“I did not listen in. You two oafs simply began speaking right in front of me.—You. From the way you speak of him, it seems your claim to know the Sword Saint was not a bluff. Are you close?”
“It’d be a bit much to say we met once and became best friends forever, but we’re on good terms, yeah.”
Subaru owed a debt to Reinhard. He had enough of a sense of reciprocity to pay it back…even if he couldn’t exactly imagine Reinhard in a crisis that Subaru could bail him out of.
Subaru asked his new companion, “Well, what do you know about Reinhard? You don’t seem like a fan of his.”
“From what I have heard, he is a rather twisted person. Beyond that, I have only seen him slightly from afar.”
The way she declared someone to be twisted without having even spoken to him suggested it was her own thinking that was twisted. But with the girl’s silence indicating she had no intention to elaborate, Subaru turned his attention back to Old Man Rom.
“Leaving her aside, how should I get in touch with you?”
“All right, all right. Cadmon… Cadmon?”
As Rom explained how to get in touch, Subaru tilted his head at the familiar-sounding word.
Either way, he’d fulfilled his promise to pay Old Man Rom a visit. That was one thing off his to-do list. To take care of the rest, first, he needed something else…
“Incidentally, the girl and I are actually completely lost. I don’t want my adventure to end here before I can fulfill my promise, so ah, could you lead us back to the main street?”
“Mm, all right. Leave it to me. Which street is it?”
“Back to the garrison. Please and thank you.”
“Didn’t you hear me tell you I escaped from that garrison?!”
Old Man Rom’s exasperated shout filled the sky above the alleyway.
According to that sky, he’d been separated from Emilia for nearly an hour.
7
The orange-haired girl gazed at the back alley indifferently and muttered, “At first, I thought the disorder of such a grimy place held promise, but now that I am accustomed to it, it has nothing to draw my eye. It is quite useless for assuaging my boredom.”
She raised the hem of her dress and shook it, a blunt expression of her insufferable displeasure.
“I don’t think the royal capital’s designer drew up these streets to be exciting,” Subaru remarked.
“The world exists for my sake, so should not everything in it serve to amuse me? I have no idea what the man who approved such boring streets was thinking. Royalty should have a keenly discerning eye. Lack thereof seems to have been decidedly fatal of late.”
Just hearing her statement set Subaru’s heart racing. His head whipped back and forth to see if anyone had overheard.
“Th-that’s a pretty arrogant thing to say right at the king’s door, you know…”
The girl snorted at Subaru’s caution, or rather, cowardice.
“A dull reaction and a futile concern. It would seem that you, too, are part of the common rabble.”
“I’m well aware I’m a one-hundred-percent common, ordinary, straight-down-the-middle guy, and I’m fine with it. I don’t want to waste any more time hanging around you, anyway. The girl who’s waiting for me will hate me.”
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 4 Page 7
