--The dragon carriage began to pick up speed, and the violent swaying and sound of the wind echoed throughout the carriage.
"circle--!"
"It's okay, just hold on tight. There's nothing to be scared of."
Huddled together and enduring the swaying, Emilia smiled bravely. Seeing that smile, Petra, whose eyes had clouded with anxiety, bit her lip and nodded, "Yes."
"She's strong," Emilia thought, feeling the strength in the girl's attitude. She could see that the other children were following the older girl's strength, forming clumps and gritting their teeth to endure their fear.
All the children are strong. They may be feeling anxious and scared and ready to burst into tears at any moment, but none of them give in to their weakness and instead keep their spirits up by suppressing their voices.
Seeing the strength of those children before her eyes, Emilia was able to maintain her composure, refusing to show any shameful behavior.
Normally, a moving dragon carriage should be protected by the divine protection of the earth dragon's 『Windbreak』. The divine protection of the 『Windbreak』 also applies to the dragon carriage that the earth dragon accompanies, and is designed to protect anything under its protection from external influences - resistance to wind, swaying, and the like.
However, the dragon carriage was currently no longer protected by the 『Windbreak』, and the burden of the journey was falling directly on Emilia and the children inside.
The reason why the divine protection had been removed was simply because the dragon carriage had stopped at one point.
The Earth Dragon's 『Windbreak』 protection requires the Earth Dragon to be moving, and is a type of protection that is deployed continuously while it is moving. However, once it stops moving, the effect of the protection is interrupted, and it has the drawback that it takes a while for it to be deployed again.
Due to this history, it was common sense that once a dragon carriage had stopped, it would wait for a certain amount of time for the divine protection to be activated again before starting again.
「――――!!」
The dragon carriage, which was racing through without even stopping, had no time left to adhere to this common sense.
Emilia firmly gripped his hand, feeling the warmth, then raised her head and listened carefully to the situation outside the carriage――on the other side of the hood.
The dragon carriage Emilia and her companions were riding in was originally used for peddling, and so the bed where the cargo was loaded, excluding the driver's seat, was naturally not designed with comfort in mind. The bed, protected by a hood to prevent the cargo from deteriorating, had no small windows, and the only source of light in the sunless interior was the faint glow of the ragmite ore they had brought with them.
They had piled up blankets to make makeshift seats and were all sitting together in one place. Besides Emilia, the other passengers were seven children, and the driver was a young man from the village youth group.
The dragon carriage carrying Emilia and her companions was at the front, followed by four others carrying villagers and peddlers, and they were guarded by a knight riding alone on an earth dragon.
It had been two hours since they had left the village under the pretext of evacuating to protect themselves from bandits that had appeared within their territory - but it was only just a few minutes ago that the situation, which had been calm up until then, suddenly took a turn for the worse.
The group of dragon carriages left the mansion and the village, focusing on being as stealthy as possible so as not to provoke the group hiding in the forest. The twelve groups of evacuation dragon carriages in total split into two groups, the Royal Capital group and the Sanctuary group, and after just an hour they were on a different path from Ram's dragon carriage, leading the Sanctuary group.
For the next hour, even though they couldn't see what was going on outside, the journey of the dragon carriage along the highway should have been relatively peaceful, but...
"--Emilia-sama, I'd like to have a little bit of your time."
Feeling a light touch on her back, Emilia realized that the dragon carriage had come to a halt.
But, before I could wonder what that meant, the rear hood of the dragon carriage was lifted and a white-haired old man peeked out.
The old man introduced himself as Wilhelm Trias, a knight in Crusch's camp, and while he had a gentle smile on his face, he possessed superior skills, something she could sense firsthand as someone who knew battle, even if he was inexperienced.
For that reason alone, Emilia couldn't help but feel an unnecessary sense of tension whenever she interacted with this person. Once again, she was a step late in seeing the person who had spoken to her and responding.
It took Emilia a moment to reply, "Yes." The old gentleman nodded slightly without commenting on the matter, and,
"I am a little worried. Therefore, I would like to take a few knights to patrol the area. If you would allow me to do so, please let me know."
"Patrol?"
"Yes, I'm on patrol. It won't take long. I'll catch up with you and join you soon. Is that okay?"
Emilia was pondering as Wilhelm spoke while bowing respectfully.
There was something odd about the old man saying "patrol," and Emilia immediately realised he was doing it out of consideration for the children around her.
Wilhelm didn't use direct words, and chose to let Emilia and the others he was guarding go ahead. If he was going to take his forces and head towards the "concern" that was,
"I..."
"――――"
"Don't you need me?"
He knew that asking that question was rude to her concern, but he couldn't help it. Hearing Emilia's words, Wilhelm narrowed his eyes. It was the kind of reaction he had expected. However,
"Lady Emilia, please evacuate with the dragon carriage. Please take good care of the children."
Wilhelm looked at Emilia with a smile on his face, but the negative emotion Emilia had expected was not to be found in his eyes. There was only a glint of generous affection, as if watching over a troublesome child, which confused Emilia.
Without allowing me to investigate the reason for his confusion, Wilhelm removed his hands from the hood, turned his back to me, and said,
"We have stopped the train, so we expect there will be a lot of shaking on the journey. Please do not let go of your children."
"a..."
"I guess they are master and servant after all. Your eyes are just like his."
With that sentimental mutter, Wilhelm disappeared behind the hood.
Emilia frowned, not understanding what he was muttering, but soon she sensed the dragon carriage starting to move, and that was no longer her focus.
And so the story returns to their current situation, where they are thrown into a situation where they are tossed about by violent shaking and the sound of the wind, and they are huddled together with their children.
Wilhelm had left the carriages with several other knights, leaving only two knights to guard the evacuation group. Just like the carriage leading the way, the villagers riding in the carriages following behind were feeling the same shock - in other words, feeling anxious, as Emilia realised.
Although she couldn't see what was going on outside, she had a way of finding out.
"Someone collided with the old men behind us. They're fighting."
"Do you know the numbers?"
"There are eight of us and sixteen of the enemy... that's exactly double. But I don't think it'll be a problem. That old man was really skilled, no joke."
As Puck spat out his joking thoughts, Emilia responded by tucking her chin in.
The conversation just now was a telepathic one with Puck, who had not yet materialized, and Puck was able to grasp to some extent the situation outside through the mana that filled the air. Emilia learned about the situation outside through him, and was working to grasp the situation.
Puck, being a high-ranking spirit, actually consumes a considerable amount of mana just by materializing him. If he enters combat, the amount of mana consumed doubles, making it extremely difficult even for Emilia to maintain his existence for long periods of time.
Therefore, taking into consideration the current urgency of the situation, Puck's form is currently sealed away within a crystal stone that serves as a vessel. This is to ensure that he has the strength to use his full power in the event of an emergency.
『Well, it's also to prevent them from being exposed defenselessly in front of children and being used as toys.』
"Puck looks like someone who likes children, so if that can ease the feelings of anxious children, that might be a good thing."
"You're coming up with some scary things, my daughter. Anyway, that's what it's like outside."
Puck responded to Emilia's flippant remark – or in this case, what could be called a flippant thought – and Emilia nodded inwardly, biting her lip at her own powerlessness.
When Emilia offered to help him, Wilhelm, despite knowing her intentions, chose to refuse. This did not indicate a lack of ability on her part, but more accurately, a lack of trust in her.
Even though Wilhelm was benevolent, considering Emilia's position, he could not accept her proposal lightly. Even though they were allies, Emilia and their master would ultimately become political enemies. The difficulty of building a purely friendly relationship between two people was inadvertently made clear to them.
Right now, the shackles of that position are just a hindrance.
He does not have the ability to match the position, nor does he wield the authority. He is known both in and out of the country to be a figurehead, and in fact, it is hard to flatter him that he is worthy of the position.
These shackles restrict his freedom of movement, and he is unable to help the children who reach out to him with trembling hands.
If things are like this, then what purpose does he have in himself――
"ーーSubaru."
The moment she uttered the boy's name in a small voice, Emilia realized how unforgivable she had been. She felt a pang of despair at the shamelessness of calling him by his name in this situation, and the foolishness of having thrown away that right to call him.
His own weakness and shamelessness in trying to cling to the boy he had left behind when he was forced into a corner. How could he call out his name when his actions had hurt him so much, leaving scars that would never heal, tearing at his heart and pushing him away?
If she was qualified to call him by his name now, if there was a situation in which it was permissible to call him by his name, then it wasーー,
"Everybody's okay, so don't worry! No matter what happens, Big Sister will protect you all!"
It will be only then that you can act with the determination to protect someone, just like that boy.
As Emilia called out to them, the children, who had shrunk and were holding hands, raised their heads. Tears welled up in their eyes, and they looked anxious and biting their lips. However, the moment they saw Emilia's amethyst eyes, that faded away somewhere, and they all nodded to each other and spoke in unison,
"It's okay!" "You're the one who shouldn't worry, Big Sister!" "I promised, so it's okay, I'll never let go of your hand."
Making voices that were clearly meant to be stubborn, the children clung to Emilia's whole body. They clung to her fingers, wrists, shoulders and waists. Emilia, who had never felt so much body heat from others, stiffened in surprise. But it was by no means an unpleasant sensation.
However, there was something about what they said that was hard to put into words.
"Promise?... Did you make a promise with someone? What?"
"Don't leave your sister alone," "If you don't stay with her, she'll do something reckless," "She's worried and needs someone to watch over her."
Emilia was shocked and white-skinned at the answers that came back one after the other. She felt a strange rebelliousness at the words, but she kept quiet because she didn't know what she would have done if her children hadn't been there. Perhaps that was also something Ram had told her to do - but she wondered if she had the time for that. And the way he said it was just like...
"――――"
Thinking this far, Emilia's chest tingled with a strange premonition.
The ache, once noticed, only intensified at an accelerating rate, chipping away at Emilia's patience as her eyes wavered in confusion.
Emilia closes her mouth as if deep in thought, then moistens her lips with her tongue. Her lips, which had been drier than she had thought, loosen with the moisture, and she asks a question with a sigh.
"Who told you you were worried about me?"
"Ah, that's no good..."
Petra's expression changed upon hearing the question, and she quickly tried to interrupt. Her shoulder-length reddish brown hair shook as she clung to Emilia, trying to stop her, but it was too late.
"Subaru!" "Subaru said..." "He's worried about his lonely older sister..." "Subaru... Ah, I shouldn't have said that..."
The children all rushed to name the name, and when the last child realized he had said something and covered his mouth, everyone else looked at him in surprise. Petra put her hand over her face and muttered, "Ahhh," while Emilia blinked at the name that was repeatedly mentioned.
"Subaru...?"
She had a premonition. Hearing the children speak, Emilia recalled his appearance.
But a feeling of denial took over, thinking that that couldn't be the case. After all, Emilia had hurt him with such terrible words and left him behind in the royal castle.
At the very place where he most wanted Emilia to reach out her hand to him, she pulled her hand away and turned her back on him. At the most crucial moment, the one he most needed to cling to, she had rejected him.
Why does his name come up at this moment when I feel most resentful of my own powerlessness?
That shouldn't be the case. It can't be the case.
Emilia's life was one free from expectations.
Her expectations are quickly dashed, and her hopes quickly fade and lose their luster. After many experiences, Emilia has come to accept this sad reality as inevitable.
Therefore, she is instinctively afraid of having expectations of the people around her. Even in situations where she wants to do so, her fear gets the better of her and she is unable to open up to them.
To be shunned, to be kept away, that was normal for her.
To be approached, to be desired, was something that never occurred to her.
That's why she acted friendly towards Subaru, and rejected him when he tried to throw everything away for her.
I couldn't believe it. Not because of his actions, attitude or words, but because I couldn't believe my own state of mind in accepting them.
She hoped and hoped and hoped, and when everything she had built up was shattered, Emilia was overcome with more pain than being cut.
Her fear of this caused her to refuse to spend any more time facing Subaru.
It's better to distance yourself than to be distanced from someone someday.
Something decisive was building up between them, before it collapsed.
But still, why--
"Subaru, have you been to the village? Have you come back?"
As the children remained awkwardly silent, Emilia's muttered in astonishment was all that could be heard.
The dragon carriage still continued to race, and the cause of its troubles hadn't yet been shaken off. I couldn't free the children from their anxiety, and yet I couldn't move from where I was.
In the midst of such a situation, the name I heard deeply shakes my heart.
The children's silence was simply confirmation of her question.
If he - Subaru - had returned to the village and was involved in this evacuation, then a lot of things would make sense.
Ram was strangely able to communicate with the extermination squad, even though she couldn't leave the village. The villagers, whose tensions must have been growing with days of growing anxiety and dissatisfaction, went along with the evacuation without any reservations. It was the first time the extermination squad had visited the area, so there was no way they could have easily created such a situation without causing friction with the people who lived there.
All of these difficulties are cleared by fitting the piece that is the boy.
If Subaru had been the one to return with the extermination force, Ram would have been able to negotiate with them without any preconceived ideas. The villagers would have been receptive to a proposal from Subaru, to whom they had owed a great deal, and there was no way they would treat the extermination force he had brought with him with disrespect.
Above all, the way he stayed behind in the village with the extermination squad, drawing out the threat and allowing the villagers and Emilia to escape, was just too much like him. Too much like him.
That was something that was all too typical of the Natsuki Subaru that Emilia knew.
"Why--"
The leaked mutter was colored with tragic tones, and his purple eyes shook faintly with trembling emotion.
If these were Subaru's actions, then they were no different from what he had done up until now. He had hurt her so much, pushed her away, and yet he was still Subaru.
"After all the hurt, after all the suffering, after all the sadness you've caused me… why did Subaru have to do this to me…"
I don't know if they're going to help me.
A question posed to Subaru, who had hit rock bottom in both mind and body at the Royal Selection and at the parade grounds.
At that time, Subaru did not give Emilia an answer.
The answers he received were incomprehensible, and his attempts to rephrase were swallowed and never spat out, resulting in a separation between Emilia and him.
I posed the question, but no answer came.
So to this day, she still doesn't know the answer.
I believed that ending it without ever finding out was the right thing to do for the two of us.
"Why...!"
"That's not possible..."
Petra blushed and curled her lips at Emilia's choked words. The girl acted as if she already knew the answer to Emilia's question, and Emilia gave her a pleading look. However, before the two of them could open their mouths,
"--!?"
The dragon carriage snaked with incredible force, and Emilia and the others inside were thrown around wildly. Emilia quickly grabbed the wall and hugged Petra next to her with her other hand. Petra then grabbed the boy next to her, and the chain continued, barely managing to keep everyone together.
However, there was no time for relief, as the dragon carriage continued to snake its way. It seemed as if it was fleeing from something.
"Leah, someone is coming from behind at incredible speed!"
『--!!』
Emilia looked up at Puck's warning voice and turned her head back.
On the other side of the hood, flapping in the wind and revealing glimpses of the outside, was the cause of this meandering, something chasing after us.
Emilia quickly decides to move to intercept, but as she tries to stand up, a light weight holds her back and she can't move.
She lowered her gaze and saw her children curled up close, looking up at her with expressions of determination as they tried not to let go of the hems of her clothes or her hands.
"I won't let you go!" "Don't go!" "I'll keep my promise!"
The children hold Emilia tightly and won't let go.
Emilia was unable to move, facing the restraints that she could easily shake off if she wanted to. Petra looked up at her, eyes wide with tears in them,
"Will you be the one to make Subaru cry this time?!"
"--!?"
The shout sent shockwaves through Emilia, and this time she was unable to move.
And the moment she stopped moving, the centrifugal force of the dragon carriage skidded to a halt with a loud noise.
The sudden braking caused the vehicle to rotate, and her light body was lifted and swung around, dragging the children with it. However, the blanket she had laid down prevented her from being violently thrown to the floor. Swallowing in the shock, Emilia looked up and shook her head,
"What on earth is going on..."
"Leah! She's right behind you!"
In an emergency, Puck materialized and floated in the air, pointing backwards inside the tilting car. Emilia followed his voice and movement, turning her head and quickly shielding her children behind her, looking at the hood.
A vortex of magical power began to grow around her, and the cold air slowly cooled the narrow carriage. Then, as she heard someone rush over, the hood was lifted up.
And as Emilia tried to chant, her face turned blank.
"Why--"
A boy climbed into the dragon carriage, breathing heavily and his shoulders shaking up and down. Emilia's amethyst eyes shook violently at the sight of him, confused.
With trembling lips and forgetting the situation, Emilia called out his name in a faint, weak voice.
"ーーSubaru."
I called that name.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
--Looking back, Subaru thinks it was a terrible encounter.
Just under an hour after being summoned to this other world, I found myself in a situation where I couldn't understand anything, no matter how much I looked; I was literally at a loss.
He wandered into an alleyway, where he encountered some thugs who preyed on the weak like Subaru, and came close to losing his life just a few hours into his other world trip.
Having been beaten up, covered in dust and mud, and on the verge of being killed at any moment, Subaru came across that silver radiance.
Subaru remembers every single thing she said back then, her behavior, her nobility.
That was something he had never, ever, ever been able to forget, and it was because of this that Natsuki Subaru was still able to stand on his own two feet and live in this world.
"Natsuki-san, what!"
Having cut off the fierce attack of Petelgeuse, Subaru was racing down the Leafaus Highway in his dragon carriage - Otto, whose eyes were wandering across the grasslands as far as the eye could see, called out to Subaru in a high-pitched voice.
Drawn by his shout and gaze, I looked in that direction and saw a vague, slightly wriggling shadow floating in the distance, just skimming the horizon.
This was clearly no optical illusion; Subaru confirmed its existence and clenched his fist.
"There! Otto! Use all your strength!"
"Even if you don't tell me, I'm giving it my all!"
The reins were shook, and a dry sound reverberated as the two earth dragons neighed.
The jet-black earth dragon looked straight ahead, and it was clear that it was exerting all its strength to fulfil the wishes of Subaru, who was standing on the carriage pulling it.
He was saved by their first encounter, and he accompanied her in her search for a while. Even so, he did not abandon the useless Subaru, and even though she was probably overwhelmed with her own concerns, she never gave up on either him or himself.
Subaru learned that she was stubborn, stubborn, opinionated, and kind.
I remember walking next to her and feeling a strange sense of embarrassment and excitement at the same time.
And how those sweet feelings were ruined by my own perverse behavior.
The feeling of your stomach being ripped open, sinking into a pool of blood, and losing consciousness due to the heat of the excruciating pain and the cold of the bleeding.
But her voice and the moment her body was torn apart are engraved so deeply in my mind that I will never forget them again.
He made a vow then. Subaru certainly made a vow.
"I will definitely--save you."
He worked hard to keep that promise. After many deaths, after carving out his own destiny, and after somehow overcoming his suffering, Subaru met her, saved her, and found a smile on his face.
Subaru will never forget the heart-wrenching, overwhelming emotions he felt at that time.
In front of me, the scene that had been blurred by the sprint of the earth dragon began to come together.
It was a scene of a battle between a group of people dressed in black and knights riding on earth dragons. Several corpses were already lying on the ground, and flying around with incredible force nearby were...
"--Wilhelm-san!!"
"Subaru-dono?!"
Subaru called out from the galloping dragon carriage, and Wilhelm, who had singlehandedly slashed away a witch cultist, let out a cry of surprise.
He brushed away his blood-stained sword and gave a questioning look upon seeing Subaru,
"Where's Emilia?!"
Upon hearing Subaru's subsequent shout and noticing the sense of urgency in his expression, he immediately cast aside his doubts and pointed further in the direction they were heading with the tip of his sword,
"Ahead! Straight! Towards the Great Tree!!"
Subaru raised his head and looked further into the horizon.
Before they knew it, they were already halfway along the Leafous Highway and had reached the Royal Capital side - near the Great Flugel Tree, the site of the final battle with the White Whale.
Subaru nodded, and without slowing down, passed through the battlefield where Wilhelm and the others were fighting. He didn't stop to ask if they were safe. Doing so would be an insult to their bravery in battle, and above all, Subaru had already said the words that should have been said as they parted ways.
Subaru had left it to Wilhelm to look after Emilia and the others. Wilhelm had responded to Subaru's request by saying, "Leave it to me."
Therefore, there was no need for Subaru to stop here, and no need for Wilhelm to ask Subaru many questions.
With only a brief exchange of glances, Subaru and his companions left Wilhelm behind in the dragon carriage.
The Witch Cultists stopped in their tracks at the sudden appearance of the dragon carriage, and several of them made preparations to kick the ground in an attempt to chase after it.
"Your opponent is me."
The two black-clad warriors, who had shown a careless opening, were cut down by the blade of the Sword Demon that had approached from behind. The Sword Demon, covered in blood and staining half of its body, looked off with satisfaction at the receding dragon carriage,
"This is the perfect opportunity to repay my benefactor. And I'm glad that the person who asked me for it understands that without even having to say it out loud. What an honor."
Holding the treasured sword entrusted to him by his master in his right hand, Wilhelm took the knight's sword that his subordinate had thrown to him in his left. He held both swords crossed, and from beneath the shining blades, his eyes pierced the enemy.
"I won't let anyone get in the way of a man going to meet a woman. You and I are too bloody to be present at the reunion. —You should all end it by exposing your corpses."
The death sentence caused the Witch cultists, who were supposed to have lost all emotion, to stiffen.
In the midst of the tense atmosphere, the Sword Demon came charging in with a smile on his face, leaning forward. His smile was complex; it was like that of an evil demon who enjoys being covered in blood, but also like that of an old man grinning bitterly at the mistakes he made in his youth.
--The day I seriously began to think that I would be living in another world.
Reunited with her and meeting new faces, Subaru found his place in the world.
As long as I could live by her side, supporting her, doing something for her, I would be content, even if I couldn't see what the future held.
Those days suddenly cracked apart, and times of despair repeated themselves.
There were people I wanted to believe in, and I tried so hard to protect them, but I was in pain when they didn't believe me, and I felt like I wanted to throw everything away, but someone accepted me in that weak state.
He is saved, protected, shows off his uncool side many times, and then finally stands up.
He got up and ran around, got hurt and started over, gathered his spirit and pursued his ideals, and Subaru was fortunate enough to meet her again and spend the same time with her in celebration.
"Natsuki-san, I see it! The evacuation dragon carriage, that's it!"
"Ah -- no doubt about it!"
Spotting the group of dragon carriages retreating at full speed away from the battlefield, Subaru felt his own heartbeat quicken.
Before Subaru could put his excitement into words, Otto and Patrasche, understanding his intentions, accelerated the dragon carriage.
As the distance between us rapidly closed, I could see confusion spreading among the herd in front of us as they noticed us catching up.
Seeing the carriage begin to meander, Subaru felt impatient even though he knew it couldn't be helped. He tried his best to raise his voice so the drivers could hear and stop.
"Stop! It's me! I'm not the enemy! Stop, stop――!!"
It's a desperate appeal, but those fleeing are also in a desperate situation.
With their intentions still at odds, they approached each other until they were almost side by side, when the driver finally noticed Subaru,
"Subaru-sama――!?"
"Stop! This is an emergency! Let me check inside!"
Sensing something unusual in Subaru's urgent expression, the driver took hold of the reins and ordered the earth dragon to stop. At that moment, unable to kill the momentum it had been building up, the carriage began to snake wildly, making a loud noise as it bounced with such force that it seemed it might tip over.
"Oh come on out! Otto, leave Patrasche alone!"
And, unable to even stop, Subaru's body swung down from the carriage, which had begun to slow down. There was no way he could land gracefully, he fell miserably as if being swung around by the force of inertia――He rolled over to neutralise the impact, then quickly got up and went over to the carriage.
The dragon carriage came running towards them, a covered cart tilted greatly from the impact. In response to Subaru's call, an ear flew out of his hair and landed on his fingertips, its tingly heat asserting its presence.
Feeling the heat as a source of hope, Subaru ran over to the dragon carriage, flipped over its hood, and stuck his face inside. As the sunlight filtered through the darkness and his vision cleared,
"ーーSubaru."
When Subaru realized that it was a voice calling his name, like a silver bell, he was hit with such shock that he felt like he might collapse on the spot at any moment.
Ahead of his gaze, staring at Subaru with stunned eyes, was a beautiful girl with silver hair and amethyst eyes. A girl who had pursued her figure time and time again, wished for her time and time again, and been broken time and time again, but still could not give up.
The overflowing emotions hit his chest, and Subaru did his best to stop the unbearable passion from spilling out of his mouth and the corners of his eyes.
I shook my head and instantly dismissed those doubts.
"Yaaaah! Do you understand?"
The faint glow on his fingertips danced in the air, floating around inside the dragon carriage as if responding to Subaru's call. That fantastical scene of exploration soon came to an end.
As Ea floated about searching for her target, her orbit was suddenly disrupted, and the spirit moved to the edge of the carriage, swaying up and down as if to say that there was something there.
He ran over and strained his eyes, searching for anything unusual in the location the quasi-spirit had indicated. He noticed that one of the floorboards had slightly discolored, and that a new board had been used in that spot.
"Puck! Can you just peel this off without damaging the surrounding area!?"
"Why did you suddenly appear and do something like that... Ah, I see."
Puck looked dissatisfied at Subaru's one-sided tone despite it having been a while since they last met, but it only lasted for a moment. Under the floor where Subaru was pointing, the great spirit must have sensed the same thing the quasi-spirit had sensed.
Waving his small hand, a torrent of mana converged and froze one of the floorboards. Subaru stepped on it from above and put his hand into the hole that was created. And then,
"--Found it!"
Pulling out the burlap sack from the bottom of the hole, Subaru hastily peered inside.
Just as Otto had said, it was clear that the place was packed with magic ores. The ores emitted a faint, dim light, and even now they seemed to be gradually heating up――No, in fact, they were clearly beginning to emit a high temperature.
--Was there a time limit? Or was it because he had found it and taken it out? Perhaps the impact of the dragon carriage just now was the trigger.
Whatever the reason, the magic ore in his hand was getting hot - in other words, it was certain that it had entered a sequence that was about to detonate.
"Puck, you can stop this from exploding..."
"I don't think it's possible to stop it. But it's possible to protect it."
Puck shook his head at her plea, but guaranteed Emilia's safety by hinting at the existence of a trump card: Puck would manifest in his true form and forcefully protect everyone from the explosion using his enormous strength.
I understand the principle, and it's probably possible for him to do it.
"That won't do!"
Shaking his head, Subaru rejected Puck's suggestion.
He thought that this plan would certainly be enough to protect everyone, but if he did that, everyone there would see his Great Spirit form, and that strange appearance would be etched into everyone's memories.
The existence of a powerful force and its contractor, Emilia. How deeply will this affect her, who still has deep-rooted ties with the villagers?
I put my hand to my forehead and cleared my thoughts.
Think of a way. The total amount of magic ore is considerable, and if things go wrong, this whole area could be reduced to ashes. In a situation where it could explode at any moment, it's doubtful whether the idea of dumping it somewhere far away would be viable. That said, if he left everything to Puck, it would cast a shadow of anxiety over Emilia's path. Even if he were to be frank and say that nothing could replace his life, it's too early to give up before thinking it through. Subaru has no right to judge whether something is worth more than his life. So he must think. For her, for Emilia, what he can do for her this time, in the truest sense of the word.
"--Is that so?"
A mutter escaped his mouth. Then a single thought flashed across his mind.
Whether or not this can be put into practice is unclear, and the conclusion is nothing short of absurd. However, this is the only possible solution, and the odds of success remain miraculously intact.
The moment the thought occurred to him, Subaru's body moved as if propelled.
He picked up the burlap sack, which was too hard to lift with both hands, and tried to jump out of the dragon carriage while still holding it. However, there was something on his back.
"hang on...!"
Emilia called out to him in a trembling voice.
My feet, which should never stop, stop. My body, which should never look back, turns around. I find myself staring straight into eyes I shouldn't look into. I find myself almost exchanging words, using up time when there is no time to do so.
"Subaru… why…!"
That "why" contained all kinds of "whys" not just of this moment.
It was a reference to his having rushed in at this very moment, to having created this situation, and it must have been something that went back much, much further, a repeat of the conversation they had in that room in the royal castle.
At that time, Subaru had not been able to give her an answer.
The various feelings I had at that time that I couldn't sort out come back to me. None of them were wrong, but they weren't right either.
It was a situation where we got one chance, lost it again, and put it off.
After reuniting with Emilia and having the chance to exchange words, the feelings and words I wanted to convey were like a mountain. Like the stars. No matter how much I tried, they would never run out.
So many words come to mind, rising to my mouth and then disappearing.
The myriad emotions and feelings that had been building up were all racing towards this moment, with all my heart and soul.
What shall we talk about, what shall we convey?
What words to choose, what attitude to adopt.
"Why...?"
Ask again.
Taking a small breath, Subaru spoke just one word.
"--I love you, Emilia."
--That was the only reason why Subaru was living like this, covered in scars.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
Saying this in one breath, he tore through the hood and jumped out of the dragon carriage.
The moment Subaru grimaced as the sunlight burned his eyes, a black body appeared before him, blocking out the sunlight. It was Patrasche. Before he heard Subaru's voice, his partner had already turned away, as if he had understood all of this.
Reaching out, he leapt onto Patrasche's back. He held the hot burlap sack between his chest and Patrasche's back, gripping the reins and pulling tight. The earth dragon neighed, and after a beat, Patrasche took off. Straight towards the sun.
Behind him, Otto looked shocked at Subaru's actions. The driver, a young man with a crew cut, looked stunned. Then, the children and Emilia jumped out from under the hood.
I hear a voice. A voice calling my name. I can't turn around, I can't turn around.
I was able to leave behind everything I wanted to convey and the words I wanted to say.
There was nothing more for Subaru to do in that place. There was only what he had to do now.
Patrasche turns into wind. Due to the stoppage, the protection of the "Windbreak" was not deployed, and the swaying and wind relentlessly attacked Subaru, trying to shake him off. However, the jet-black earth dragon skillfully moved to protect its master, and Subaru entrusted all his trust to it.
Whilst being tossed about by the swaying and wind, Subaru gazed intently ahead.
It had to be here. His certainty quickly turned to fact, and Subaru drove Patrasche towards the thing that came into view.
The heat emitted by the magic stone, the ore heating up on the other side of the burlap sack began to turn red, and the high heat burned Subaru's stomach and Patrasche's back as he held her. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, determined not to let her fall. As the pain drew near, Subaru saw it in his tearful eyes.
--It was a legendary great tree that had been broken off at the roots and lay there for many, many years, and lying at its base was the corpse of a giant magical beast that had lost its head.
It was probably all they could do just to remove the head. The remaining massive body had been frozen to an incredible density to prevent decay, and the air was so cold that your breath turned white just by getting too close.
Sending Patrasche running towards the side of the gigantic mass of flesh, Subaru went to the center of the lying white whale's corpse - there, there was a deep wound caused by the Sword Demon's slash.
"----!"
Jumping off Patrasche's body, Subaru shoved the burlap sack he was holding into the wound. Even though his body was frozen, the gap was large enough for the burlap sack to completely cover it.
Subaru immediately turned around, grabbed the reins of the rushing Patrasche, and quickly spun around, going around the corpse and diving onto the other side of the fallen tree.
Dragging Subaru along, who was half hanging from the ground, Patrasche ran across the grassland. He could feel the convergence of mana behind him, and both Subaru's and the earth dragon's throats roared.
The world was filled with only the sound of violent vibrations and the wind. My body was swung around, and with a crash I realized I had reached my destination.
Subaru's body was pressed firmly against the tree trunk, and Patrasche curled up into a ball and covered him from above.
"----!!"
A violent impact and blast, a deafening explosion roared across the road, and a wave of heat blasted over the corpses and the large tree, scorching Subaru and Patrasche's skin as well.
As the red glow threatened to penetrate his closed eyelids and into the eyeballs hidden deep within, Subaru held on tightly to the weight pressing down on him, clenching his teeth and enduring the pain.
His entire body felt as if it was being swept away by the shock wave, and he felt the sensation of such a massive tree being moved by the explosive force, and eventually the shock and heat wave subsided.
"--?"
Realizing that he had lost all sense of sensation, Subaru looked up in shock.
I tried to call out to confirm, but the ringing in my ears was so intense I couldn't hear anything. My eyelids were supposed to be open, but nothing was reflected, and it seemed that even my optic nerves had been severely damaged.
My outstretched hand touched the skin of the earth dragon beside me, and my palm sensed that its body was definitely moving, and somehow I felt a sense of relief as the tension in my shoulders relaxed.
I can't see anything, I can't hear anything.
But I'm alive, and it seems Patrasche is alive too.
I felt something wet brushing my soot-covered face over and over again. I couldn't see it, but it might have been Patrasche's tongue. At the same time, I felt both cute and dog-like, and scared that the surface was so rough that it felt like my skin was being sanded.
However, no one spoke or moved a finger to try and stop it.
I was exhausted. There was so much going on, so many things happening at once.
Maybe it's ok to take a little break now?
I can feel my consciousness slowly fading away, and I give myself over to the approaching darkness.
My vision is still cloudy. I can't move my body. My ears still can't hear anything.
"----!"
Only a faint vibration in the air caressed my skin, and my head moved in some way to turn in that direction.
I couldn't hear anything. Even though I shouldn't have been able to hear anything, for some reason I felt awful.
I can't hear anything. Nothing right now.
"ーーSubaru!!"
Ah, what is that? -- I heard it, didn't I?
With that final sigh of relief, Subaru's consciousness fell into a deep, deep sleep.