The creeping threat that gnawed at his entire body, the agony as though the blood flowing through him had turned to magma, was peeling away
It was the brutal continuation of an act like tearing off a scab that hadn't healed, exposing raw wounds to the cold air. —The soul, brushing against a reality it could not protect.
What came was pain? Lamentation? Sorrow?
Or perhaps something else entirely—and even that, Subaru couldn't tell.
If there was one thing he could know, if there was salvation to be found, it was only that single thing.
That sensation of despair cut off before it could reach any answer, and a sense of liberation so absurd it felt like a lie— "—Haah, you're still breathing, huh?"
"Guh—"
Released from the agony that had preceded it, his mouth—where bubbling blood should have been frothing—was wrenched open.
His body, hollow as if holes had been punched through his lungs, gasped for oxygen. Just as he tried to taste that odorless, tasteless air to his heart's content, something was shoved forcibly into his mouth.
The unexpected impact sent him reeling backward, and as Subaru coughed, abuse rained down on him.
But he didn't understand what had happened. More precisely, he couldn't see. The pressure on his face was proof that something had been bound over his eyes. His face was tied.
—No, it wasn't just his face. His limbs were similarly restrained.
In that state, someone had jammed something into his mouth.
"Gah! Cough— Why am I— bound— Gah!?!"
"You got a problem, huh? You don't understand what position you're in?"
"Ack—"
The instant he spat out whatever had been in his mouth, a kick to the solar plexus came from the rough-handed brute. The impact knocked the breath out of him, and as Subaru toppled sideways, spittle was spat on him.
The humiliation of being spat upon meant nothing against the pain piercing through his chest. Still, as his sealed vision flickered red with pain, Subaru's mind was swallowed by a sea of confusion.
—Events from barely a dozen seconds prior were scratching at his brain.
"———"
Todd had woken him, dragged him outside the tent, and a vast forest was engulfed in flames. The moment Subaru learned it had been started on account of his own careless words, an arrow struck his back and he fell. The one who fired it was a young-looking girl, and before his eyes, all strength drained from his body as he convulsed.
Bubbling blood from his mouth, writhing in agony, he clung to the sound of
"Hey—how long are you gonna keep fooling arou—"
"Hey, hey, calm down! He doesn't know what's going on! It's not his fault! Besides—here, let's take off the blindfold!"
"—Ah."
His thoughts, lost in a maelstrom of chaos, were pulled back to reality by the conversation overhead.
What he heard was two men speaking. One had a rough, violent voice that seemed the very embodiment of crudeness and brutality. The other was a softer, good-natured voice, mediating between them.
—The faces of both voice owners surfaced naturally in Subaru's mind.
"Tch."
A tongue-click and footsteps, then the man who had been kicking Subaru stepped away. Shortly after, a sigh tinged with exasperation and a wry laugh reached him: "Sorry about that. I know you're probably wondering what the hell is going on, but let's get this blindfold off for you, okay? Can't untie your hands and feet though, so I'll have to ask you to deal with that."
"———"
So saying, the man approached and removed the blindfold from Subaru's head.
A slight sting accompanied by a rush of relief, but before Subaru could savor it, he took a deep breath—once, twice—and then briefly held it.
Then he slowly waited for his vision to return, and opened his eyelids.
And— "…Just as I thought."
As his blurry sight gradually sharpened, what spread out before him was a canvas tent, a bonfire, and the busy figures of Imperial soldiers bustling about.
It wasn't exactly familiar, but it was the recognized encampment of the Empire—the borrowed land where Subaru had run himself ragged doing errands.
"———"
There was nothing strange about the scene itself.
In the first place, this was the encampment where Subaru had collapsed from the arrow wound. He'd been treated while unconscious and awakened here—what could be strange about that?
However, to accept that, the initial shock—the fact that a boot had been jammed into his mouth, and the fact that his limbs were still bound—remained unexplained.
No matter how unfamiliar Subaru was with the ways of the Empire, if it was standard practice to bind and restrain a patient's limbs every time they were being treated, then such a country deserved to fall.
Which meant the situation was different from that— "Am I… dead?"
—Thinking that he had "Return by Death" was the most natural interpretation.
And ironically, the method to confirm it came to him with ease. He just had to crane his neck and bring the green forest beyond the encampment into view.
The dense woodland that Subaru had, through his own careless words, set ablaze—and permitted the Imperial soldiers to ransack—was there. The inferno, the black smoke that should have been rising from it—instead, the forest stood. Stretching left and right, a wall of verdant dense growth filling the horizon, perfectly intact.
"———"
Having confirmed it, the image crystallized clearly in Subaru's mind.
Rem, who had crawled to him as he collapsed from the arrow wound, bubbling blood from her mouth, desperately calling out for him not to die—her existence, her plea.
But Subaru had betrayed that. Right before her eyes, he had died miserably.
On unknown land, the man she'd been forced to travel with—someone she disliked, but who knew her—was dead, and Rem, stripped of her memories, had been consumed by fear and uncertainty. Just imagining it made his chest feel ready to burst.
And at the same time, he thought: —He never, ever wanted to make her feel that way again.
"We happened to find you when we went out for water. Sorry about this, but you're now a prisoner of war."
So spoke the man who crouched before Subaru, a strong conviction burning in his heart.
He recognized that person, wearing a soft smile with downcast eyes. —It was Todd.
The only person in this encampment full of Imperial soldiers who had treated Subaru and Rem with anything resembling friendliness.
A man who had patiently borne company with Subaru, who was hopelessly ignorant about the Empire. In Subaru's eyes, having been picked up by him first had been a stroke of luck.
Right up until the moment he'd endorsed the choice to burn down the forest based on Subaru's words.
"———"
Even though subjectively less than ten minutes had passed, that report, delivered without a trace of worry, sent a chill down his spine.
The unit had been dispatched for the "People of Shudrak." The moment they determined the forest was too difficult to enter for that purpose, the Imperial soldiers had mercilessly burned it to the ground. And as the decisive intelligence that led to that decision, Subaru's contribution had been praised lavishly.
In the Sacred
A great nation that bore a wolf pierced by a sword as its symbol, teaching that only those of the "Sword Wolf" had the right to live. Todd's mentality, perhaps, was not unusual within the Empire.
Hearing there were magic beasts in the forest, a plan to set it ablaze—this, too, was a way of doing things that made sense.
However, Subaru would never be compatible with anyone from the
In any case, this time he must not let the forest be reduced to wasteland.
"———"
He swallowed hard, and Subaru registered the previous events as a failure.
Being killed was one thing, but even if the Imperial soldiers had been taking a safety measure, burning the forest was going too far.
Without Subaru's careless words, Todd and the others might have been able to establish peaceful negotiations with the "People of Shudrak," reaching an accord without bloodshed.
That possibility had been taken away, and the people in the forest had been endangered—no, let's stop making excuses. There was absolutely no way a conflagration of that magnitude had produced no victims.
Natsuki Subaru had taken the lives of the people who lived in the forest through his own careless words.
Even if "Return by Death" had made it impossible to interfere with events in that timeline, he could not escape that fact. —Subaru would never forget it.
"———"
And so steeled, Subaru resolved not to make the same mistake twice.
"Death" was heavy—his own and others'. He must never allow it to repeat. If he thought of it that way, then being able to start over with Todd and Jamal here as a first meeting was a silver lining amid misfortune.
The restart point of "Return by Death" had shifted: instead of collapsing in the grassy plain before Rem, he had escaped the forest hunter and the magic beast's rampage, been picked up by the Imperial encampment, and returned to right around that moment.
From here, he would build a friendly relationship with Todd—and Jamal if possible—and guide them into negotiations without breaking off ties with the "People of Shudrak" in the forest.
For that purpose— "You, are you listening? Being told you're a prisoner out of the blue—it's understandable you're confused, but…"
"—. No, you're right. I am confused. I am confused, but, um…"
Todd crouched down before the silent Subaru, reading his state of mind. Accepting that posture, Subaru furiously debated his next words.
Previously, his relationship with Todd had been good. He should maintain that rapport while continuing the line of having Todd and the others accommodate him and Rem.
On top of that, he needed to carefully select information to restrain Todd's extreme actions.
"I'm surprised, but I get that I'm a prisoner. I remember jumping in the river too. If you pulled me out of there, then you all saved my life—"
"—Wait."
"Huh?"
Subaru was attempting to assess the situation and put on the demeanor of someone pulled from a river, playing along.
But Todd cut him off, thrusting a palm toward Subaru's face.
Blocked by the spread five fingers and palm, Subaru instinctively held his breath.
And then— "—Why were you looking at me like that just now?"
The moment Todd's cold, hard voice reached him, a sharp sensation pierced Subaru's right shoulder.
With his vision blocked and his reaction to the opponent's movements delayed, Subaru turned his eyes toward the wrongness in his right shoulder and understood what had happened.
—A knife's sharp tip had been driven into Subaru's right shoulder.
"—!"
The instant he saw it, his throat produced a voiceless sound.
A tremendous searing heat exploded centered on his right shoulder, and Subaru's entire body went numb with sharp pain. If he didn't stretch his body straight and disperse the pain throughout, his brain—unable to bear misfortune beyond its tolerance—might snap.
The shock of the unintended stab wound was immense.
"Gaaah—!!!"
A clear scream torn by pain followed seconds behind the voiceless sound.
He wanted to twist his body, rub the gouged shoulder, press it—anything to suppress the pain. But Subaru's limbs were restrained; he couldn't even pull out the knife that had been driven in. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
"Hey! What the hell was that scream?!"
Subaru writhed in agony, screaming over and over. Hearing that unusual voice, the one who burst in looking flustered was Jamal, the rough-featured man with an eyepatch.
Just moments ago, Jamal had been the one kicking and brutalizing Subaru. Now, his eyes went wide at the sight of Subaru with a knife sprouting from his right shoulder, still screaming enough to cough up blood.
And then— "Todd, that's not what we agreed! You're the one who told me to stay away from these people since that guy was carrying a noble's knife!"
"Yeah, that was the plan as long as we didn't know who they were. I can see why you'd be angry about that. My bad, my bad."
"…So that means you figured out who this guy actually is?"
Jamal, who had raised his voice, regained his composure upon hearing Todd's answer. But when Jamal pressed him, Todd just tilted his head: "Who knows?"
Todd then placed his foot on Subaru's writhing body— "I didn't bother asking who exactly he is, so I have no clue. But there's a high chance he's our enemy. So—preemptive strike."
"Gu—gyaaah—"
"Oh, that looks painful. I don't mean to make you suffer too much, but—you seem like the type who's good with pain, right? How would you rate yourself on that?"
Todd asked calmly, pressing his weight down on Subaru's body with his foot.
But Subaru, collapsed on the ground, found that with Todd's weight on him, the knife in his shoulder was driven deeper into the wound. He had no capacity to answer amid the replay of unbearable agony.
His vision flickered, his throat burned, and blood-curdling screams tore out of him over and over.
No matter how many times he screamed, the pain showed no sign of ebbing. It never faded—it returned as fresh despair, crashing over him like waves.
"He won't answer. Defiant. He really is an enemy."
"…You can't exactly answer when you've got someone rolling you around like that."
"Hm? Is that so? Whoops. When you're dull to pain yourself, you tend to make mistakes like this. My bad, my bad."
So saying, Todd finally lifted his foot from Subaru's body.
The additional pain vanished, but the intermittent stabbing still gnawed at him, and blood leaked from between the teeth he had clenched to endure the agony.
Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes too, and he couldn't even have the wretchedness of it wiped away.
"You… and here you were telling me off for my bad behavior…"
"—? Weren't you hitting prisoners and subordinates to blow off steam? Don't give me that 'I'm above it all' act. I'm just doing what's necessary."
Meanwhile, ignoring Subaru's pathetic display, the two men continued their conversation above him.
Setting aside the knife-wound incident with Subaru, Jamal was trying to calm Todd down—a scene that would have been unthinkable moments ago.
What exactly was happening here?
Even if his resources were diverted toward enduring the pain, his thoughts refused to come together.
Todd, who had been so kind to Subaru and Rem—why was he doing this— "So why did you stab him?"
By coincidence, Jamal asked the very question that burned in Subaru's mind.
Hearing this, Todd closed one eye, glanced at Subaru writhing in pain— "When I took off his blindfold and he looked at me, his eyes were trying to manipulate me. I understand nervousness or anxiety. Being scared or even crying is fine. —But trying to manipulate someone? That's off."
"Manipulate, huh?"
"An unconscious guy gets kicked awake, has his blindfold removed, and the first thing he does is try to use the face he sees to his advantage? I'm sure some people might do that, but I wouldn't want to deal with someone like that. Better to just kill them."
To the contemplative Jamal, Todd laid out his reasoning with perfect clarity.
The reason he had stabbed Subaru was that Todd had judged him dangerous. And as the best response to a dangerous target, he had moved to neutralize him.
Because Todd had stabbed Subaru's right shoulder. —He already knew the left hand's fingers were broken and useless.
With the right shoulder stabbed and the left hand's fingers broken, Subaru's functionality in both arms was severely compromised.
Todd had simply made and executed that judgment immediately, in order to secure his own safety.
—What do you mean "simply."
"I don't know if he was already thinking that the moment he woke up. Maybe he regained consciousness while being carried and had been eavesdropping on our conversation the whole time…"
"No, that can't be. I was watching to see if he was faking sleep. The moment consciousness returned, there would've been a physiological response. If I somehow missed the act of faking…"
"Then what?"
"Then it would mean he was deceiving me while pretending to sleep, and deliberately scheming to manipulate me. That's even scarier. I think killing him outright is the right call."
Listening to this while fighting the pain, Subaru swallowed in horror.
As Todd spoke, Jamal's voice gradually lost its heat. At first there had been shock and anger at the fact that Subaru had been stabbed, but little by little, that passion was being dismantled.
Todd's voice and manner of speaking possessed a seductive quality that softened the hearts of those around him.
Observing from a third-party perspective, Subaru could finally understand.
Todd nestled close to the other person, showed understanding, and then offered an attractive proposal that also benefited the other side. Having had their initial momentum killed and their mind softened, the listener would consider the proffered proposal and find themselves irresistibly tempted.
What was happening to Jamal before his eyes was precisely that.
And it was the same thing that had happened to Subaru just before "Return by Death."
"The girls he's traveling with are also unknowable quantities, but those two over there are simple enough. Before they cause trouble, let's remove the source of infection."
"Well, I don't mind, but…"
"Or would you rather do it yourself? You were practically rabid when your men got taken out by the blue-haired girl—you need a punching bag, right?"
"—Fair enough."
Todd's dispassionate proposal elicited a crude grin from Jamal.
Without hesitation, Jamal slipped past Todd's side, cracking his knuckles as he advanced. The violent aura radiating from Jamal made Subaru flinch, but what truly sent a tremor through his heart was Todd's words.
Offering Subaru as a stress-relief target for Jamal was one thing, but Todd intended to eliminate Subaru here and find some other way to probe their intentions.
And for that purpose, he would use Rem and—nominally—Louis as leverage.
But no matter what was asked of them, those two couldn't provide answers. No matter how brutal the interrogation, there was nothing Rem could reveal.
Which meant— "—!"
Gripping his molars hard, Subaru used the taste of blood in his mouth as a detonator, searching within himself for a strategy to keep Rem from experiencing this.
In a few more seconds, Jamal's violence would resume, and under those savage blows—held back no longer—Subaru would either be killed or reduced to a half-dead state. Even if Jamal had some scrap of conscience, Todd would not let Subaru live.
Todd, who could order an entire forest burned, would not hesitate to extinguish Subaru's life.
One step. Two steps. Jamal drew closer.
In that interval, Subaru drove his mind to its absolute limit, searching within for the answer—some strategy, some possibility, some miracle to seize— "Go on—scream nice and loud for me, you brat. I'll have you pay off your woman's debt with your bod—"
"—The People of Shudrak."
"———"
Just before Jamal's fist—rehearsing the crude threat of every thug—came crashing down, Subaru's lips had woven that word.
Instantly, Jamal froze. Behind him, Todd's expression shifted.
Jamal's surprise was plain; Todd raised one eyebrow, then— "Oh?"
He smiled.
"The People of Shudrak… So that's the card you're playing here. You seem to have a good grasp of how to gamble, don't you?"
"Todd, this brat's story—"
"Wait, wait, Jamal. You can beat him and kick him later. But it's hard to listen to what someone says when you've smashed their tongue or throat. Right now, we should listen."
"Damn it!"
Having lost his outlet for fury, Jamal violently kicked a nearby wooden fence.
Watching that literal stress-relief from the sidelines, Todd turned back to Subaru. The smile plastered on his face was, terrifyingly, identical to the one Subaru knew.
The same smile as when he'd treated Subaru's finger, invited him to eat, and praised Subaru's contribution to burning the forest—Todd was now smiling at Subaru from the precipice of life and death.
"So you dropped the name 'People of Shudrak.' Should I take that to mean you've got some good news for us?"
"…Yeah. I know where the 'People of Shudrak' in the forest are."
"—! Oh, now that's great!"
Joy flooding his grin, Todd clapped his hands together.
Seeing that reaction, Subaru was certain that the "miracle" he had pulled from within himself was helping to push back the dire situation bearing down on him.
However, this was simultaneously a double-edged sword for Subaru.
After all, Subaru did not know the location of the "People of Shudrak."
He suspected that either—or both—of the masked man who had given him the knife and the archer hunting him in the forest were connected to the "People of Shudrak," but he had no way to contact them and no specific knowledge of their location.
—In other words, this was an enormous gamble with his life on the line.
"How do you know where the People of Shudrak are?"
"…Because I'm one of the People of Shudrak."
"I see, so it really is that, then. Setting aside skin color, you've got black hair, right? I had a feeling. It's well known that the Shudrak are black-haired."
"———"
Having been handed unknown information after the fact—lucky breaks that had landed in his lap—Subaru felt immense relief.
Beads of cold sweat covered his entire body as Subaru added yet more to the tense conversation. The pain in his shoulder had only intensified, and his left hand's broken fingers had begun to protest as well.
On top of that, his body had not yet recovered from the turmoil at the
With a waning consciousness and fraying spirit, he had to keep answering a question where one wrong step meant death. —All of it, to survive and rescue Rem.
To return to
"So then, you'd be a scout of sorts? The outfit and that knife were acquired to blend in, I take it?"
"—. The knife was taken from a traveler. The clothes too. And…"
"You were trying to probe our inner workings. A fairly bold strategy. You really were drowning too—there was even a chance we wouldn't have noticed the knife…"
"But wouldn't that make it more convincing?"
If accused of having a half-baked plan, Subaru would push back with a defiant grin. He would curl the corner of his mouth, bare his teeth, make his bad expression worse. By doing so, he could lend credibility to his claims.
In fact, hearing this, Todd narrowed his eyes, weighing the truth behind those words.
"———"
That silence hung heavy, tightening the noose around Subaru's life.
Honestly, whether his words carried any weight at all, whether his expressions and speech could back that weight up—between the pain and the strain, he couldn't begin to assess.
In the next instant, he could be kicked, spat on, and even have his skull split open for making such a fool's excuse—and it wouldn't be strange.
Todd's stance was impossible to read, which only amplified the tension.
And after a moment— "—Are you selling out your tribe just to beg for your life?"
Todd asked, closing one eye. Subaru swallowed hard.
He had drawn out the words he needed. Now he had to avoid straying from the answer.
Selling out his tribe to beg for his life.
Subaru had declared himself one of the "People of Shudrak," and on that basis, was selling them out.
He must not be caught bluffing. And on top of that, he had to put on the right face and voice.
—The wretched, servile face and voice of a man who would sell his own people to save himself.
"…Y-Yeah. That's right. Selling out my own people."
"———"
"I'm begging you, I'll do anything. If you want, I can lure them out. Anything—anything at all!"
Stammering, cheeks twitching, drenched in cold sweat, Subaru begged for his life.
He had to become someone who clung to his own life, trampled on the lives of others, and would never be viewed favorably by anyone—purely selfish to the core.
It wasn't difficult. He'd seen that kind of person countless times during his days in this world.
He'd never imagined he would end up modeling himself after those most repugnant of sin archbishops.
"What a pathetic piece of garbage. I hate that look in your eyes."
Hearing Subaru's plea for mercy, Jamal spat out his utmost contempt and rage.
At the very least, Subaru's behavior had steered things in a negative direction with Jamal. But bad as that was, Subaru couldn't afford to care about Jamal's opinion.
The one who held the right to decide Subaru's fate in this moment was Todd.
Actual rank or position meant nothing here. The strong trampling the weak—the way of the Empire. He was following precisely that imperial custom.
"—That desperation doesn't seem to be an act, huh?"
Finally, Todd made that pronouncement toward Subaru, who was maintaining his servile expression through sheer effort.
Hearing it, Subaru felt—while fearing premature celebration—a sense of a reprieve. At the same time, it was Jamal who reacted unpleasantly.
"Hey, Todd! You're gonna trust this guy? The word of a lowlife who sells out his own tribe for his own skin—"
"Wait, wait, what are you saying, Jamal? Of course someone who'd sell out his tribe is desperate and servile. That just means he's going to be dead set on proving his value to us. Otherwise, he won't get his precious life back."
"~!!"
The enraged Jamal found his follow-up words strangled by Todd's.
That was, in fact, exactly the assessment of a servile man that Todd had wanted from Subaru. A man who would sell out his comrades' lives to save his own. To make them believe the information he offered had value, Subaru needed to drag his own reputation to rock bottom.
On that note, being stabbed in the shoulder and screaming pathetically must have worked in his favor.
That was the thought he used to console himself, though the pain felt far too steep a price.
"I don't care what happens to him!"
In the end, exactly as Subaru had planned, Jamal was persuaded by Todd.
Todd, patting Jamal's shoulder, said, "Trust me, trust me"—and looked down at the abjectly bowing Subaru as he spoke: "There's no doubt he's desperate to survive. —At least, to save his own skin."
"—! Stop! What are you going to do with him!?"
So shouting, Rem gripped the iron bars of her cage, eyes blazing with fury.
The location was the Imperial encampment. Todd and Jamal, having heard Subaru's servile plea, were now escorting him away from the grounds.
Passing by the cage where Rem had been locked up after resisting during her capture, her opening roar had erupted.
"———"
Subaru, glared at by Rem, looked utterly wretched.
Dragged from the river, his half-dried clothes hung heavy on him. The stab wound in his right shoulder had received only rudimentary first aid. The broken fingers of his left hand were untended, and while the shackles on his feet had been removed, the manacles still kept his hands bound.
Truly a sight no different from a slave's, Natsuki Subaru was being led out of the encampment.
Seeing this, Rem's state of mind must have been a whirlwind of confusion and shock. Of course, Subaru could not explain the situation to her.
The "Return by Death" had reset even that fragile, tentative bridge that might have existed between Subaru and Rem. Everything had to start over.
Rem viewed Subaru as hostile, suspecting him of carrying the
Each time he "returned by Death," the miasma grew more pungent. Rem's wariness had just been ratcheted up another degree.
From her perspective, Natsuki Subaru was nothing less than the incarnation of malice itself.
And since Subaru could find no way to correct that perception without further wounding his own heart, he could take no action here to clear up the misunderstanding.
"…Sounds like a pretty complicated relationship, huh? That girl is supposed to be your companion, and yet she's looking at you like that."
"That girl… No, the two who were with me—"
"Two, what about them?"
"—. I bought them both as props to make contact with you."
For an instant he hesitated, unsure how to respond, but then Subaru declared it in a cold-blooded tone.
The Subaru of now was a man so terrified of death that he would sell out his companions. Naturally, he felt nothing for Rem or Louis—not a shred of feeling, only pure self-preservation at a hundred percent.
He had to prevent them—from being used as hostages. Rem above all.
"So they don't know anything. Pointless to ask them questions… You seemed to have figured most of that out already."
"Kind of, yeah? The little one really does seem to be out of her mind, and the other girl wasn't lying. That said, it's a pain that she doesn't even fully understand why she was causing a scene."
"Tch."
Todd gave a wry smile, while Jamal clicked his tongue in irritation.
Led by those two, approximately twenty Imperial soldiers accompanied Subaru out of the encampment. Subaru was to guide them to the "People of Shudrak" settlement in the forest.
Reveal the location to Todd and the others, contribute to the Empire's victory. Then, as his reward, his life would be spared, and he would make good on the old maxim that even a hated child has a place in the world.
A passable success story for a servile man—if one could ignore that it was impossible.
"You should probably dump those two, right? You went to all the trouble of buying them. If you don't want them, I can take them off your hands after the job is—"
"Hey now, getting ahead of yourself, are we? Being eager is great, but don't forget—whether you're saved or not depends on doing your job well. worrying about those girls should come well after worrying about your own skin."
"Heh, right. I just can't help thinking about the payoff after the job's done."
Realizing that lingering interest in Rem would be exposed, Subaru immediately shifted gears.
Bound manacles meant he couldn't rub his hands together, but his demeanor conveyed the same attitude toward Todd. Fortunately, Todd didn't press further, and waved at Rem inside the cage: "Stay put, young lady. As long as nothing goes wrong, nothing will."
"You think that kind of thing is convincing?"
"Don't know if it's convincing. Whether you believe me or not is your problem, isn't it?"
Hearing Todd's words, Rem fell into bitter silence.
Lamenting that he couldn't provide cover fire or continue the conversation, Subaru burned Rem's figure and voice into his mind, using them as fuel to stoke his resolve.
—He had to get Rem out of the Imperial encampment somehow and escape.
The idea of building friendly relations with Todd and having them protect himself and Rem was gone. —They were dangerous, whether as allies or enemies.
Even as allies, they couldn't be controlled, and their danger as enemies went without saying.
More fundamentally, he should avoid getting too cozy with anyone from the Vollachia Empire.
Their position was extremely delicate—and if handled carelessly, it had the potential to extend beyond a personal matter.
"Alright, let's move out! Everyone, stay alert!"
"I'M the one who gives orders!"
With Subaru steeling his consciousness, Todd called out to his allies.
As the Imperial soldiers responded, Jamal was shouting, his fury undisguised.
—After that, with Subaru in the lead, the party penetrated the Badeheim dense forest.
Their objective was the settlement of the "People of Shudrak" in the forest, and locating it. —However, their navigator Subaru was running on a bluff. He had no idea where the settlement was.
This was, in truth, a gamble taken without even a clear understanding of who the "People of Shudrak" actually were.
"———"
As they advanced through the thick forest, Subaru watched for any opening to escape.
The enemy was numerous, but even in light armor, they were weighed down by equipment that made them less agile than Subaru. If he could somehow slip away, he might make it back to the encampment faster than them and escape with Rem. In fact, that was pretty much his only plan.
Fortunately, the cage holding Rem was easily unlocked from the outside.
The key questions were: whether Subaru could get his hands on that authority, and whether Rem would trust him enough to follow after he opened the cage. And then there was Louis.
"If I said I was leaving her behind, Rem would absolutely refuse to come with me…"
On top of everything, Subaru had already eroded Rem's trust further with the added miasma from "Return by Death."
Even if Subaru desperately made it back, Rem would not welcome his decision to abandon Louis. In fact, she might beat him unconscious on the spot, rescue Louis herself, and leave Subaru alone at the Imperial encampment.
"…Even for Rem, that might be too much. She can't move her legs, after all."
He thought that her current leg condition simply prevented it—but if she were at full strength, it might not be out of the question. And if she did that, it would be a serious problem.
So if he was going to take someone, he would have to take Louis as well. There was no escaping this burden—this negative factor that refused to be discarded.
And— "So how long until we reach the settlement?"
"…About two or three hours, I'd say."
"Two or three hours? That's quick. If that's all it takes, I'm grateful. For us, this was supposed to be a multi-year assignment."
Getting that answer, Todd relaxed his cheeks in relief.
Hearing Todd's words—equipped in light armor with a hand axe hanging from his belt—Subaru remembered that he had left his fiancée behind to join this mission.
Obviously, Todd's decision to wound Subaru hadn't come about because his personal circumstances had suddenly changed.
Todd was an Imperial soldier dispatched into the dense forest under orders, which had forced him to part from his fiancée.
Todd wasn't the only soldier. Jamal too—they all had circumstances, each serving in this operation for their own reasons.
In that sense, there was no reason for Subaru to be in conflict with Todd and Jamal.
It was simply bad luck. Unfortunate coincidences. Poor wind direction. You could line up any number of phrases, and that would be the shape of it.
But— "…I don't know if it's my place to say this, but isn't this careless? Going to the 'Shudrak settlement' with only this many people?"
Walking at the front as a guide, Subaru called back to Todd behind him.
The Imperial party numbered about twenty—guide or not, this was hardly sufficient manpower to search such a vast forest.
To Subaru's question, Todd shrugged: "Can't be helped."
"The intelligence source is solid enough, but command doesn't have that much faith in your word. It's only when we verify it ourselves that the information has value. Besides…"
"Besides?"
"If this turns out to be your trap and we don't make it back, the troops at the encampment will learn that entering the forest is dangerous. Ha—long live Vollachia."
"LONG LIVE VOLLACHIA!"
Todd's casual tone set off an echo among the Imperial soldiers, who chimed in unison.
That thunderous cry of "Long live Vollachia" shook the forest canopy, a testament to the devotion these soldiers felt toward the nation that revered might above all.
In any case— "You got time to worry about us? Hah. After this is done, there's no guarantee your head will still be attached to your body. Best you start sucking up to us."
"Jamal…"
"Don't call me by my name, you backstabbing lowlife. I'll carve you up and toss you out, and as for the women… Hmm, maybe hand them over to the twin generals who fancy the ladies. They'd be thrilled."
"Jamal… quit it with the nonsense talk. It's exhausting."
Subway must have really rubbed Jamal the wrong way, because his looks and his words were nothing short of hostile.
And because his relationship with Rem was also toxic, giving Jamal the casting vote on Subaru's fate could lead to the worst possible outcome.
Soothed by Todd once again, Jamal was told to calm down— "Actually, don't forget that we're the ones who need to stay on HIS good side. He's giving us information that benefits us because he's afraid of dying. In exchange, we save his life. Otherwise, the moment we reach the settlement, the Shudrak will descend on us all at once."
"Bring it on. If they try something, we'll slaughter every last—"
"—Are you serious? I can't sign up for a fight with no chance of winning. You don't want to make your unmarried sister a widow before the wedding either, right? Right, Jamal?"
"Guh…"
Todd used their personal relationship to silence Jamal's reckless outbursts.
Subaru caught a glimpse of a bond he hadn't known about, but he had no room for sentimentality. He had already steeled his "resolve" regarding Todd and the others.
—The meeting, the wind direction, the luck—it was all bad.
"But Rem is more important to me."
And so Subaru decided to turn on Todd and the others.
"—?"
Suddenly, at the back of the formation, one of the Imperial soldiers made a small noise in his throat. He tilted his head as if sensing something, searching his field of view for the cause.
A faint wrongness—something he couldn't ignore. He cast his gaze about through the dense forest, searching, and then— "—Ah?"
In the darkness of the forest, a red point of light had floated into view, and his eyes met it.
"Magic beasts—!!!"
"—!?"
The instant their eyes met, the soldier who spotted it immediately alerted his companions.
The response was flawless—one could say there was no fault on the part of the Imperial soldiers. Those who immediately entered a combat stance in response to his call were equally prompt.
However—the moment they drew their swords, they charged at the magic beast immediately.
—That was, without question, a misstep.
"Roaaar!!"
The soldier who had drawn his sword charged into the forest with a roar, and the opponent he lunged at was a massive serpent writhing with its colossal body—a ten-meter-long snake magic beast covered in green scales.
The same species Subaru had encountered in the forest, it was a bolt from the blue for the Imperial soldiers who hadn't known magic beasts lurked in the forest.
But their immediate attempt to deal with the magic beast's danger—precisely because it was the correct judgment—became the wrong one. —The magic beast's target was not the Imperial soldiers.
The magic beast's target was none other than Natsuki Subaru, wreathed in a massive amount of miasma.
"——!!"
Blocking the sword strike with its scales, the great serpent roared and swept the soldier away with its tail. Its red eyes gleamed savagely, and a tremendous roar shook the entire party.
Subaru, who had spent a year as magic beast bait—a professional in the field—knew this well.
In most cases, magic beasts actively targeted Subaru because of his miasma. But when they were attacked themselves, the calculus changed. Whether it was the
The White Whale had turned its attention to Wilhelm, who had been slicing it apart. The great serpent bared its fangs at the hunter who had shot it.
That same law applied here. The great serpent's target shifted from Subaru to the uniformly equipped Imperial soldiers who had turned hostility toward it.
"—! A magic beast!? Nobody told us about this!!"
Faced with the roaring serpent's hostility, Jamal drew his twin swords with rage shaking his voice. Then—surprisingly—his charge at the magic beast was deft and fierce, a display of formidable skill.
But Subaru couldn't root for Jamal's unexpectedly valiant effort.
This was precisely what Subaru had been aiming for—walking through the forest with Todd's group for hours.
Magic beasts they didn't know about, drawn to Subaru's miasma. Using his own scent to lure magic beasts was routine, and Subaru was a bona fide "magic beast wrangler."
When he reunited with Meili, he'd have an impressive tally of deeds to rival her title.
But right now, he didn't have the luxury of dwelling on that.
"Now—"
Seizing this opening, he would rush back to the encampment and free Rem.
As he lunged forward to run, Subaru felt a chill down the back of his neck. Obeying that instinct, he ducked without a second thought.
An axe slammed into the spot where his head had been, burying itself in a large tree right beside him.
"—!"
If he hadn't ducked, he would be dead.
Shuddering at that realization, Subaru twisted his head just enough to glimpse his attacker.
"———"
Todd's sharp gaze locked onto him.
"—!"
Not letting that gaze catch him, Subaru bolted into the forest at full speed.
If he stopped, Todd would catch him. If caught, Todd would definitely take his life. Those eyes held an iron conviction. An obsidian will.
He felt a terror different from the Sin Archbishops, different from magic beasts, perhaps even different from Reinhard Astrea.
Those eyes were dyed with obsessive tenacity. —They were pitch-black killing intent.
"Guh!?"
Something hard pierced Subaru's back as he ran.
Glancing behind was impossible, but whatever had struck his shoulder-blade area was a thrown knife—coincidentally, the same kind of knife that had come back into his possession in the worst possible way.
With that lodged in his shoulder, Subaru ran, gasping, desperately fleeing.
Behind him, he could sense the battle between the magic beast and the Imperial soldiers continuing, but Subaru was equally desperate to avoid being tangled with other magic beasts and to keep Todd from pursuing him.
Desperately, desperately, desperately—running, running, running.
Lungs burning, coughing blood, stumbling repeatedly, actually falling, body caked in mud—he kept running, desperate to reach the Imperial encampment.
"Rem… Rem… Re… m…"
Reduced to a pace worse than a toddler's, throat parched and gasping, with oxygen, stamina, and willpower all running dry, Subaru clung to his single obsession.
Get to Rem, pull Rem out, save Rem, and go home—to everyone.
To Emilia and Beatrice, Ram and Petra and Frederica, Garfiel and Otto—and, for good measure, Roswaal. Go back to where they all were, and return to Rem those tender times she deserved.
The times she should have spent, the precious times—and in that way— "—Ah"
As if reaching for that fleeting dream, Subaru's feet found empty air.
The ground vanished beneath him, and with his arms useless for bracing the fall, he plummeted headfirst.
Falling, falling headfirst, unable to even scream. His throat wouldn't open.
Just—falling.
Falling and falling, and like bubbles gently popping, his dream popped too— "—Rem."
A hoarse voice slipped out into the void, and Subaru's consciousness cut off there.
"—How long do you intend to sleep, you fool?"
"What—?!"
From the pitch-black abyss, a sudden impact dragged his consciousness upward.
The blow struck his temple—the sensation of being stepped on while lying on one's side. No, not the sensation—it had actually happened.
He must have had the right side of his head against the ground, because the left temple that was stepped on and the right temple pressed into the floor were both in agony. Thanks to that, the sharp pain jolted his consciousness awake— "…Huh? I'm… guh—"
Feeling blood at the back of his throat, Subaru sat up in a daze.
Instantly, pain exploded across his right shoulder, his back, his left hand, his feet—everywhere.
The immense agony made his vision flash red, and Subaru lay back down again, trembling like a fish washed ashore.
The pain that adrenaline had allowed him to partially ignore had come roaring back after he'd lost consciousness. But the fact that everything hurt meant— "…I'm… not dead."
"Obviously. Would a corpse be speaking? Your present condition was far more entertaining than a living clown's antics. You should be flattered."
"What?"
Subaru muttered in bewilderment at the arrogant voice. Once the meaning caught up with him—wary of the pain that would surely return—he slowly sat up again.
Looking around, he was lying on a dirt floor, and several thick branches jutted around him—no, this was a wooden cage.
The image of Rem, revisited so many times in his mind, flashed before him, and Subaru realized he was locked inside a wooden cage. Realizing it, his mind reeled.
Had his escape failed? Was he captured by Todd's men? He panicked—but "There's no need to rush. Your pursuers are not here. I would tell you to rest easy, though I can hardly call this situation comfortable."
"You are…"
"I certainly never expected to see your face again. —Natsuki Subaru."
Those words, spoken with a clear enunciation of his name, came from a man who grinned with the corner of his mouth—a man Subaru recognized with wide-eyed astonishment.
Only the man's eyes were visible through his mask, but he was unmistakably grinning.
—Like Subaru, locked inside a cage, the man grinned with an air of arrogance.