Re: Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Vol. 1

by Tappei Nagatsuki

  “That tall wall behind the building…is that…?”

  “I think it’s one of the walls of the city. Which means that we must have come all the way from the city’s center to its edge,” replied Satella.

  Subaru tried to imagine a map of the city in his mind, given what Satella had said. It was likely that the city was built as a square and had walls like this on all four sides. Additionally, either in the center or on the northernmost side there should be a castle, from which these slums would be positioned far away.

  Considering that it had been three to four hours since Subaru and Satella had begun their search, the scope of the city seemed to be a little larger than Subaru had originally imagined.

  “All right, according to what we’ve heard, there should be a master in charge of this cellar who handles all of the stolen goods, but…just how exactly do you want to approach this?”

  “We’re going to be direct and honest. We’ll just say, ‘We’ve had something stolen from us, so if you can find it, please return it to us.’”

  Subaru tried to explain that that wasn’t going to work, but Satella wouldn’t listen to him.

  At her core, Satella was too direct and honest herself. If something was twisted or bent, she couldn’t help but try to set it right. Of course, that was one of the reasons Satella saved Subaru in the first place.

  “All right, I got it. But leave this to me.”

  Because of Satella’s personality, Subaru was all too sure things would get complicated if she was the one doing the talking, so Subaru volunteered himself.

  His backup plan… Well, it was hard to call it a “backup plan” if he was already considering using it, but if things got complicated before he had the chance to put it into action, that would also be a problem. Subaru had made his decision; he wasn’t one to hesitate at times like this.

  Satella looked surprised that Subaru wanted to do the talking, and while Subaru was musing on how cute her surprised expression was, he hurried to try to think of a comeback for whatever argument against it Satella would have, but…

  “All right. I’ll leave it to you.”

  “Look, I understand that it’s hard for you to let me handle something this important, and I’m not stupid enough to think that I’ve gained your trust, but I’ve got a plan, so if you’d just trust me this once—Wait. Huh?!”

  “W-why are you so surprised?”

  “Going by everything that’s happened so far, you’d think that this would signal the start of an argument, right? I imagined you’d say something like, ‘Do you really expect me to just let a good-for-nothing like you, whose only ability is to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide, handle something this important? Don’t make me laugh! I’d expect a dog to do a better job than you!’ Then I, while hurt, would use the opportunity to renew my determination!”

  “I would never say something that mean!”

  As Subaru exposed his exaggerated persecution complex, Satella didn’t look all that happy. However, clearing her throat, she fixed her amethyst eyes on Subaru and said, “Of course I would be lying if I said I didn’t think that you were holding me back in any way, and just when I think you’re finally being serious, to my chagrin you say something completely stupid…”

  “‘To my chagrin,’ huh? I haven’t heard that in a while,” joked Subaru. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders, unable to argue back.

  “Still, even though you act like a jerk sometimes, it was because of you that we were able to keep that little girl from crying, and I don’t think you’re the kind of person to lie or do anything without thinking about it first,” said Satella, looking back over their much-sidetracked journey thus far. “So…I’ll trust you. …If this all works out I might even think that meeting you was all worth it.”

  “You know, if instead of that last part you had just looked up at me and said, ‘Please, do your best for my sake,’ I would have been totally pumped up to do this, you know?”

  “I can’t force myself to say something like that, but… Good luck.”

  This was a girl who could not bring herself to lie for any reason.

  “…All right, I’ll give it my best shot,” said Subaru, breaking into a smile before heading toward the entrance of the cellar.

  The trump card Subaru had, which he wasn’t able to tell Satella about, was the one thing out of what he had brought from the previous world that he could really consider worth anything. Because that thing probably didn’t otherwise exist in this world, there was a possibility he could use it to barter. Subaru would have liked to avoid doing that, but at the same time he was fairly certain that in this world, Satella’s badge couldn’t possibly fetch a higher price than his cell phone, and he didn’t think he would have another chance in this world to use his cell phone this way.

  “Um… Is anybody home? …Er, wait…the door’s open.”

  A sour, spoiled sort of smell drifted out of the entrance to the loot cellar. Subaru went to knock on the door, but from a gap in it, he saw that it wasn’t locked. As he peeked inside, he could only see that it was incredibly dark.

  “It’s hard when there’s not any kind of light… Well, considering the purpose of the place, I suppose it makes sense, and it even serves as a metaphor for the dark feeling of guilt in doing dirty business.”

  Subaru stuck his head inside and tried to look around, but not even the light from the moon reached this place in the deepest part of the slums. He couldn’t see an inch in front of his face.

  As Subaru prepared to go inside, he turned around to Satella. “I didn’t hear anyone answer me, but I’m going to go ahead and go inside, so can you please keep watch?”

  “Are you sure? Wouldn’t it be better for me to go instead…?”

  “If on the off chance someone ambushes us and you’re the one taken out, then it’s all over. If I’m the one attacked, you’ll be able both to help me, and to strike back. This is the most reasonable way to do this, so please let’s just go with my plan, okay?”

  Satella considered Subaru’s plan. After a few moments of silence, she took out of her breast pocket a white crystal, which suddenly shone with a white light.

  “At least take a light. And call me in whether someone’s there or not.”

  “I know, I know. Puck told us to be careful, so I’ll be careful. This is really useful, by the way.”

  “You can find lagmite ore just about anywhere. You really are ignorant, aren’t you, Subaru,” said Satella, unable to contain her shock, as she handed Subaru the lagmite ore. The crystal gave off a faint warmth along with its light, which was about as much illumination as you could expect from a candle.

  “Okay, well then, I’ll go take a look. I don’t think I’ll be gone too long, but you can go ahead and eat without me.”

  “Oh, stop being so stupid. Be careful, okay?”

  “Gotcha. Also, Satella? Don’t come in until I call for you—got it?”

  The courage that Subaru had been building up to prepare himself to enter the cellar had pushed him just enough to say her name. Up until now, he had felt too embarrassed to say it, and had hesitated. After clenching his fist together, excited he was able to finally say it, he looked back at Satella.

  “…What’s wrong?”

  Satella was looking at Subaru frozen, with her eyes open wide. This reaction was far different from any that Subaru expected, and so he tilted his head in confusion.

  “I’m sorry… It’s nothing. Once we get my badge back, I’ll apologize properly.”

  “I don’t know what you’re planning on apologizing for, but I’d rather hear a ‘thank you’ instead. It would be even better if that thank-you came along with a smile.”

  “You dummy.”

  As those two words came out of her mouth, Satella made a little bit of a smile, which Subaru made sure to burn into his memory. Even with his stupid jokes, Subaru was at last able to make her smile.

  If all of this turned out well, he would like to see that smile again, in a brig
hter place.

  “All right. Will it be a snake or a demon that pops out this time? Given the fantasy setting, neither option is one I can just laugh off…” Subaru joked to himself, and with lagmite in hand, he carefully made his way into the cellar.

  In the dim light, Subaru could make out a counter in front of him, across from the entrance. The building must have originally been something like an inn. It looked as though they were using the first-floor bar area without any major changes. On top of as well as behind the counter—which was probably serving as something like a reception desk—Subaru could see a lot of different items cluttered close together. There were small boxes and pots, swords and cheap metallic objects, and many other varied items. It was clear that all of these were stolen items, based on the wooden tags that were attached to all of them.

  “The way the system works, if you rounded up all of these wooden tags and handed them to the guards, it looks like they could arrest everyone at once…”

  However, as was usual with this line of business, there were probably some connections between this place and the not-so-upstanding citizens who offered support. Subaru was suspicious of where most of these stolen items ended up.

  Subaru ventured farther into the cellar, looking for Satella’s badge. But just then…

  “Hmm?”

  Subaru suddenly stopped, feeling something strange under the soles of his shoes. It didn’t feel like he had stepped on something hard; it was actually the opposite. Like the ground he had stepped on was clinging to him; like there was something sticky on his shoes.

  He raised his foot, and touched the bottom of his sneakers. He felt some sort of fluid, something strangely sticky that clung to his fingers, stretching as he pulled them away. It was something that instinctually made him feel uneasy.

  “What is this…?”

  Subaru brought his fingers close to his nose and tried to smell it, but because of the stagnant air inside the building mixing with it, he couldn’t quite pin it down. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t have the courage to try tasting it.

  After wiping the rest of the substance on the nearest wall, Subaru, urged on by a feeling of unpleasant dread, put the lagmite out in front of him and started forward. Then, he found the source of the slime.

  “…Wha?”

  Subaru unconsciously let out a foolish sound as he looked on. In the small visible range of his light, what he first saw lying limp on the ground was an arm. Its hand’s fingers were reaching out as if to grab something, but the other end of the arm, at the elbow, was missing the body it should have been connected to.

  Moving his light and following along the axis of the arm, Subaru saw a leg farther on ahead—a leg attached to a body. With the exception of one arm, that body had all of its other parts, though the throat area was cut wide open. It was the corpse of a large old man.

  “Eek!” Subaru squealed pointlessly as he realized what he was looking at.

  At that moment, Subaru’s mind had blanked out. His thought processes had completely left him, and his hands and feet had frozen in place.

  There was a pause, and then…

  “…Well, you found it. That’s just too bad. Now I have no choice, yes, no choice at all.”

  Subaru thought that it was the voice of a woman. The voice was low and cold, the voice of a woman who seemed somewhat to be having fun.

  “Gwah!”

  Subaru didn’t have the opportunity to turn around. As soon as he turned to face the voice, his body was blown away by an incredible force. He hit his back against the wall, and on impact let go of his lagmite, and darkness closed in as it tumbled into the distance.

  But Subaru wasn’t thinking about that. What now ruled over his consciousness was…

  “Gu…it’s…h-hot.”

  A heat assaulted Subaru Natsuki and completely overwhelmed him.

  —This is really, really not good.

  Feeling the hard texture of the ground against his face, he realized that he had fallen facedown on the ground. He couldn’t move, even when he tried, and he already couldn’t feel his fingers. What he did feel was heat, and it overwhelmed his entire body.

  He coughed and vomited the blood he felt rising in his throat—the source of his waning life. So much came out that it frothed at the edges of his mouth. With his hazy vision, he could see the ground in front of him stained red.

  —You’ve…got to be kidding me… All of this is mine?

  Feeling as though all of the blood in his body had spilled out of him, he reached a shaking hand to try to find the source of the heat that was burning through his body. As his fingertips reached the large cut in his stomach, he understood.

  No wonder it felt so hot. His brain must have been mistaking pain for heat. The clean cut that ran through his torso was so deep it had almost cut him in half. Only bits of skin were still holding him together.

  In other words, he had run right into a checkmate in the chess game of his life. As soon as he realized that, his consciousness immediately began to fall away from him.

  Now, even the heat that had been ravaging him disappeared, and the unpleasant feeling of touching his own blood and organs vanished as his consciousness continued to fade. The only thing left behind was his body, which refused to follow his soul.

  Right before his eyes, he saw a black boot step down and make ripples in the red carpet of his fresh blood.

  Someone was there, and that someone…was probably the one who killed him.

  But he didn’t even think to look that person in the face. It didn’t matter anymore.

  —The only thing he did wish for was that she, at least, she would be safe.

  “—baru?”

  He felt as if he heard a voice that rang like bells. That he heard that voice, that he could hear that voice, felt like salvation to him more than anything else, so—

  “!”

  With a short scream, someone else fell upon the carpet of blood.

  She fell right beside him. There he was, weakly attempting to reach her.

  Her white hand fell, powerless. He lightly grasped it in his own bloodstained grip.

  He felt the fingers of her hand move slightly to grasp his own.

  “Just you wait…”

  He seized his fading consciousness, pulling it desperately back around to buy a bit more time.

  “I’m going to…”

  —find a way to save you.

  In the next instant, he—Subaru Natsuki—lost his life.

  CHAPTER 2

  A STRUGGLE TOO LATE

  1

  “…What’s wrong, my man? You’re staring off into space.”

  “…Huh?”

  When a man with a white scar across his stern face spoke to Subaru, that’s all he could respond with.

  The man with the scar twisted his face.

  “Look, I’m asking you what you’re going to do! Are you going to by that abble or not?!”

  “…Huh?”

  “An abble! You want to eat one, right? You started talking to me, and then you suddenly stopped and stared off into space! I almost freaked out! …So, what’ll it be?”

  The muscular, scar-faced man, put a round, cute-looking red fruit into the palm of Subaru’s hand. Whatever it was, it looked almost exactly like an apple.

  After Subaru looked at the fruit and then back at the man’s face, he said, “No—I mean, didn’t I tell you already? I’m forever and everlastingly broke.”

  “You kidding me?! I’ve had enough of you wasting my time. Get outta here! I’ve got a job to do. I don’t have time to deal with your nonsense.”

  The man annoyedly pushed Subaru aside and went across to another part of the shop.

  Subaru continued to look around, puzzled. “Huh? What? What’s going on?”

  He was so flustered, it was a miracle he was even able to get a sentence out as he tossed his questions around.

  2

  The main road was full of people as always, and apart from the lizard carts that
would pass by, the full width of the street was filled with pedestrians.

  It was still at a time when the day was bright. It wasn’t as though it was really hot outside, but it would be enough to make you think that the wolflike half-humans walking around in their fur coats must be sweating.

  “But this is totally not the time to be reflecting on the state of the setting!”

  Subaru held his head in his hands and twisted about, and his strange poses of distress were enough to gather curious glances from all around. However, now, Subaru really didn’t have the capacity to worry about that.

  “After all…it was just night a minute ago, wasn’t it?”

  The sun was high in the sky. At the very least, according to what Subaru had sensed, it should already be night.

  The night flipped immediately from night to noon. The change was so sudden it reminded Subaru of when he was summoned to this world in the first place. However, that and this were under completely different conditions.

  “My stomach…isn’t cut open, is it?” Subaru lifted up the top of his tracksuit and looked at his stomach.

  Earlier, it had been cut open with what must have been a large blade, and he had bled so much that he was sure he was going to die.

  However, not only was the wound not there, there were not even any traces of blood. Actually, Subaru’s beloved tracksuit wasn’t even dirty.

  The convenience store bag he held in his hand was also as full as it had ever been, and his cell phone and wallet were where they should be.

  In every sense of the phrase, he was back to square one.

  —It was enough to make him feel like he was going crazy.

  Realizing there were gaps in his memory, Subaru tried to think of what happened right before he had lost consciousness.

  His stomach had been cut open and he was moments from being killed. He thought that he had heard a woman’s voice. He had found a corpse in the loot cellar, and the person who probably had killed that man attacked Subaru.