――After Beatrice had thrown him out of the Forbidden Library empty-handed, Subaru returned to the others with a feeling of embarrassment that his efforts had ended in failure.
When Subaru returned to the living room, he was greeted by the same people waiting for him as before he had left. The only difference was that Otto was now sitting where Subaru had been sitting moments ago, and there was a hint of him and Emilia having some sort of face-to-face discussion.
Subaru looked at Otto with disgust at the fact that a man other than him was being friendly with Emilia, and without hiding his disgust, he turned to him.
"I wish Emilia would just die, having such a fun time talking to me while I was away."
"It's not in my nature to wait in silence or waste time doing nothing. I mean, honestly, that's the first thing you say when you get back. I'm really offended when someone takes out their frustration on you."
"Don't think you understand and see through people. All you have to do is buy the oil and keep your promise and that's it. Don't get the wrong idea."
"Can you stop talking like there was some kind of misunderstanding between the two of you?"
When Otto yelled at Subaru who turned his face away and acted tsundere, Subaru abruptly lost interest in him and turned towards Emilia.
She had been waiting for the two of them to finish their conversation without joining in, but when she caught their gaze, she looked up from her seat and said,
"--Have you met Beatrice?"
An anxious question. It was, in essence, a question asking whether Subaru had accomplished his purpose in leaving the room.
The answer to her question is YES, but the answer to her intention is NO.
Even though he was able to make contact, he was unable to bring up the important topic. This is such a poor performance that it makes you want to laugh at the indecisive and weak protagonist of an adult violence movie.
Although, I don't think the difference is big enough to make it something to laugh about.
"No, that didn't work."
"I see. Yes, but it can't be helped. If Beatrice disappears through the Door Crossing, there's no way to find her no matter what you do. Ram and I have never met her..."
"Well, I did meet him. But he was in a bad mood, or maybe he was feeling gloomy, so he didn't answer my questions. It's a silly story though."
"...Did you meet them?"
Subaru interrupts Emilia, who interprets this as meaning she was never able to contact him in the first place, and she opens her eyes in surprise at Subaru's answer. Feeling somewhat suspicious of her reaction, Subaru nods his head and says, "Yes."
"My sharp intuition told me exactly which room he was in. Well, even if I had met him, my communication skills were so poor that I couldn't achieve my goal."
"I've always thought this, but Subaru and Beatrice... they get along well."
Placing a finger to her lips, Emilia murmurs in a deep, thoughtful voice.
Hearing this and reproaching himself, Subaru put on a frowning expression. However, it wasn't an unconscious expression, it was something he'd done intentionally,
"Please stop talking about Bearko and I being good friends. We've been mortal enemies since we first met. She's the kind of person who sucked up my mana right away when we first met, you know? I don't think there's enough time for my negative impression of her to change."
Subaru: "Even though you've made up with Julius after all that happened, Subaru is sometimes so stubborn and pointless."
Subaru: "He's a pathetic guy who continues to mistakenly believe that sticking to his pointless stubbornness is what makes him a man. On top of that, he hasn't made up with Julius. I hate him, for heaven's sake."
"Yes, yes."
He tried to argue against the negative evaluation, but Emilia simply laughed and ignored him. Subaru pursed his lips in dissatisfaction at her attitude, but deep down he felt relieved that the topic had been changed.
Subaru still hadn't fully processed the words he'd exchanged with Beatrice. Combined with the sad look she'd shown at the end, he had no idea how to sum it all up.
"Now that I think of it, where did that Frederica go? Leaving my Emilia-tan alone with Otto was a huge error of judgment."
"We can discuss who I belong to another time… Frederica is currently preparing one of the guest rooms. — Preparing a room for Rem-san to rest."
"Oh, I see."
Subaru's voice dropped a notch in response, and Emilia narrowed her eyes in pain.
Though he regretted making her look like that, Subaru could not help the pain that filled his heart when he thought of Rem.
However, with a blink and a shake of his head, he erased all the sentimentality from his expression, loosening his lips so as not to cause any more sadness to Emilia, who was concerned about him.
"In that case, we should probably pull Rem out of the dragon carriage soon. It would be a shame to leave her there forever… Now that I think about it, I'm sorry about earlier, Otto."
"No, I'm not particularly worried. For Natsuki-san… well, she's a girl with a lot going on. I can't tell her not to act excessively in that state."
"I just couldn't bear the thought of my Rem being touched by fingers stained with Otto's money… I'm really sorry."
"That's what someone who doesn't really think that what they're saying is wrong, right?! And to add to that, I don't think that's a good thing to say to someone who just called another woman 'mine'!"
Subaru: "Isn't this just my cute little love tactic to use you as an excuse to make Emilia jealous? Don't make me say it, idiot."
"You said it yourself!"
Laughing at Otto who kept over-reacting, Subaru then cast a sidelong glance at Emilia. Emilia, who was watching the exchange between Subaru and Otto, relaxed her lips slightly, and, seeing that the sadness from earlier had vanished, she took a breath. And,
"Subaru and Otto seem to get along really well. Even though they've only known each other for a short time."
Subaru: "Oh, you're jealous of that!? Compared to what I'm doing with Emilia-tan, Otto is just a game. I want to seriously play with fire with Emilia-tan."
"Why am I the one being thrown away? It's not about the facts, it's what I'm unhappy about!"
Emilia bursts out in laughter as the two men continue to heat up.
Placing her hand over her mouth and shaking from the urge to laugh uncontrollably, Emilia prefaced her statement with, "I'm sorry."
"I know this is not the right time to be laughing like this, but I can't help it. Do you think we could be together for a really long time?"
"I'm just a traveling merchant, you know? Once my business is done, I'll just say goodbye… I can't stand the idea of a man who doesn't have a partner other than me approaching Emilia-tan."
"I hate myself for being able to tell from this short time of knowing you're saying stupid things without even knowing what you mean--!"
Subaru snorted and curled his jaw as he watched Otto, his face turning pale and clutching his head.
Though to some extent it was an exaggeration, it was his true feelings. Having confessed his feelings to Emilia, Subaru was now approaching her with unstoppable force, and the fact that another man was approaching her made him feel jealous and unbearable.
I'm sure I have stronger possessiveness and jealousy than most people.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
This rambling exchange in the living room came to an end when Frederica returned after finishing preparing the guest room.
"I thought I'd go and see what the nearby villages are like. I've got the deeds for the other peddlers to buy their cargo, so I can distribute it to the villages at my discretion. I'll have the Margrave cover the expenses later, though."
With that, Otto ran energetically to the village, despite the fatigue from his long journey.
Although he appears to be a somewhat calculating merchant, his proposal is nothing less than a means to support the village of Arlam, where 60% of the residents have been evacuated and the village has yet to regain its normal functions.
Seeing him hide that side of him and act so cynical, Subaru couldn't help but feel grateful, and spit on his face to hide it.
"I have prepared one of the servants' rooms as instructed. ... Strangely enough, there were signs that one room had been tidied up very carefully."
"Carefully... second floor, innermost room?"
"--Yes, that's right. That one room was completely clean, as if everything except the bed had been thrown out... Do you know anything about it?"
When Frederica spoke of the room once preparations were finished, Subaru tried hard to keep his eyes steady and sad.
The room she was referring to - the innermost room on the second floor of the eastern side of the mansion - was originally used as Rem's room. When she explained that the contents of that room had been cleared out, Subaru realized just how powerful the effect of Gluttony's erasure of existence was.
"...No. I just had that feeling, it doesn't mean anything."
Subaru replied, but Frederica, understanding his answer, didn't say anything.
She, too, appears to be an extremely skilled maid. Rem and Frederica, the functions of the vast Roswaal Mansion were probably run by these two. Except for Ram.
As he went around the back of the mansion and headed towards the tied up dragon carriage, he heard a small whine calling out to him.
Looking closer, he saw an unfamiliar warehouse-like building - a place that seemed to serve as a garage for storing dragon carriages. He found Patrasche tied up in the building and an adjacent stable-like structure.
The earth dragon, with its jet-black hide, let out a brave cry as it noticed Subaru approaching, and as he approached, it leaned its head towards him in affection.
I placed my fingertips on the tip of his nose, tickling the tough skin.
"Sorry for not properly thanking you earlier, Patrasche. Although it's a little late now after so many things have happened, I'm counting on you in the future, partner."
"――――"
Subaru stuck out his tongue, and Patrasche responded by feeling the roughness of her tongue on his palm. Then Frederica tilted her head to the side, watching the two of them interacting in a friendly manner.
"He's really taken a liking to me. I'm amazed that you've managed to tame such an excellent earth dragon."
"I haven't done anything to tame him, you know? If it's hard for normal earth dragons to get used to me, then maybe Patrasche is just extraordinarily affectionate compared to other earth dragons. Or maybe he's just putting up with me because I'm not that reliable."
Subaru wasn't being modest or anything when he commented on how fond Patrasche was.
It had only been three or four days since they'd met. During that time, how many times had this good-natured earth dragon saved their lives? Since they hadn't been able to give anything in return, they could only say that it had been a stroke of luck to meet Patrasche's loyal dragon.
Perhaps sensing Subaru's self-evaluation, Patrasche stretched out her head, which had been licking his hand, and rubbed her nose against the cheek of the unguarded Subaru. Surprised by the sudden attack, Subaru smirked at the sensation of his face being filed, and,
"I think I understand what kind of person you are, Subaru-sama. --You too have had your share of hardships, haven't you?"
"――――"
Instead of Subaru, who was frantically trying to keep Patrasche company, Frederica called out to Patrasche, who was playing with him, with a gentle look in her eyes.
Patrasche stopped moving for a moment at Frederica's sentimental words, and after turning his reptilian eyes towards her once, resumed toying with Subaru.
Without Subaru realising, it was also a moment when the women's hearts somehow connected.
Anyway,
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Rem. It was cramped and dark, wasn't it? I'll carry you to your room now."
After playing with Patrasche for a while, I headed over to the dragon carriage in the garageーーin other words, to where Rem was, lying down inside the carriage.
Rem's condition remains unchanged as she lies in a deep slumber, and she doesn't complain to Subaru. She doesn't sulk about being left behind, turn her face away, puff out her cheeks, or pout, saying "Subaru-kun is a mean person," nor does she smile when Subaru apologizes.
"--I had heard about it, but I was still surprised."
Behind Subaru, who was lost in sentimentality, Frederica could not hide her surprise at seeing Rem for the first time. When Subaru tilted his head in surprise, she shook her head and said, "No,"
"As far as I know, her features are identical to the Ram I know. The only difference is her hair color… so it's true that they're twins."
"I know you're skeptical because your memories have been wiped, but I'm glad you believed me. I'm even happier if you remember that it wasn't some nasty prank."
Nodding at the reason for Frederica's surprise, Subaru extended his hand and placed it on Rem's cheek.
For some reason, I felt neither warmth nor cold. Although there was no doubt that life was still occurring, there was nothing left in the body.
By confirming this, something he has already confirmed countless times, Subaru would once again inflict wounds in his heart that would never heal.
"Subaru-sama, I would be happy to take you there..."
"I want to do it, let me do it. I want to be the one to take Rem back to the mansion... back to her room. Sorry for being so selfish."
"No, I was a little touched. You have a murderous look in your eyes, but you're so kind."
"I'm also capable of getting hurt by casual insults!"
Subaru retorted to Frederica's words and then picked up Rem. He had already carried her like this several times when moving her, but her body was light.
He stood in front of Subaru with this body, fighting bravely to protect the useless Subaru. The more he thought about it, the more love welled up inside him.
"Hurry, I'll wake you up. So now, get mad at me for feeling the softness of your body under my fingertips."
"It seems like a good line, but it just feels so ruined."
With Frederica's exasperated words as the last words, Subaru and the others left the dragon carriage. As Patrasche emerged from the stables, he gave her a nod of farewell, and then, led by Frederica, they entered the mansion.
To the servants' room on the east side - the place that was originally Rem's room and would become her bedroom.
"You were able to talk to Lady Beatrice, weren't you?"
The words were suddenly thrown at me as we were walking.
Subaru, who was climbing the stairs carefully, looked up at Frederica's back as she walked ahead of him. She narrowed the pupils of her sharp eyes, glaring down at Subaru with a look that could only be interpreted as threatening. However, Subaru, who had been misunderstood by others due to his sclera eyes, knew that this was not the case.
She realized that Subaru was silently confirming her question, and then,
"How are you? I haven't had a chance to see her face since I returned to the mansion."
Subaru: "I told Emilia-tan, but she was fine… I think. She seemed in a worse mood than usual, so I wasn't able to talk to her properly, though."
"That's right."
Perhaps she was worried, as her expression did not brighten in response to Subaru's answer.
Seeing her expression, Subaru suddenly began to wonder about the position of the girl called Beatrice in this mansion.
Up until now, Subaru had never inquired about her position or background.
A girl who resides in the Forbidden Library, a mysterious magically created space in the mansion of Margrave Roswaal, where she is treated by both Rem and Ram as both a guest and a noble.
On the other hand, he has a childlike appearance, adoring Puck, the spirit who made a contract with Emilia, a participant in the Royal Selection, as if he were an older brother. And when he faces Subaru, his behavior seems to match his appearance, and his flirtatious attitude, as in the previous incident - there are many mysteries surrounding him.
"Umm, how long have you been working at this mansion, Frederica?"
"Oh, are you interested? Lady Emilia and the girl in your arms... and Lady Beatrice, you're both very thoughtful people."
Subaru: "Don't just throw Beako in there, I'm not a younger person. You can see that my hands are filled with Emilia and Rem, right? Frederica…to be honest, even though it's only been a short time, I think she's not my type."
"I'm starting to feel disliked."
"That kind of behavior, trying to manipulate me, makes me feel like I'm Roswaal's servant, and that's no good. Ah, it's just a matter of personality compatibility, it's not that I dislike you or anything."
Frederica blinked at Subaru's reassurance, then laughed, hiding the murderous fangs from her mouth,
"I'm not that worried. Subaru-sama, you're quite the worrier."
"I hurt your feelings when we first met. You laughed it off, but I'm sure you were half serious about it."
"――――"
Frederica blinked in surprise at Subaru's words this time, her smile disappearing as she stared at him. The glow of her yellow eyes slid into Subaru's, and he accepted the way they tried to see into his inner thoughts.
"Oh," Frederica sighed softly,
"I don't really have the experience of people reading my mind. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't pry into my thoughts."
"I just cleaned up the place that I had trampled on. I can't really say anything bad about other people's eyes either... well, we're a family after all."
Both parents had bad looks in their eyes, so the son they had was also like that.
At dinner time, the whole family would gather together and silently smooch on their own mayonnaise, and it probably looked like they were performing black magic at the dinner table.
Subaru looked at the memory objectively and made a displeased face, causing Frederica to sigh again.
"It's not that I feel uncomfortable, but it's strange. I can understand why Emilia-sama behaves like that."
"Emilia-tan, what is it?"
"It's nothing. This time, Lady Emilia will definitely get angry with you. So, what are you going to do by asking about my years of service?"
Shaking her head, Frederica returned to the original topic she had digressed from.
Despite feeling something was not quite right, Subaru switched gears and prefaced his answer with, "Umm,"
"To sum up, Beako... I wanted to talk about Beatrice. If you've been working as a maid at the mansion for a long time, I wanted to ask you how long she's been here."
Although he hadn't asked, Frederica was likely a few years older than Subaru - around twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Even if she had been a maid for ten years, she would likely know the answer to the question by calculating backwards from Beatrice's estimated age of twelve years.
However, in response to Subaru's question, Frederica shook her head,
"I'm sorry, but I don't know. Lady Beatrice had been secluded in the Forbidden Archives even before I began working at this mansion."
"Oh, well, I guess that can't be helped. My experience as a maid doesn't directly relate to the time I spent working at Roz-chan's mansion. I've worked my way up through this mansion..."
"No, that's not true, Subaru-sama."
Subaru felt as though the possibility had been denied, but Frederica clearly interrupted him.
She straightened her back in front of Subaru, who was frowning, and a gruesome look was clearly visible on her ferocious face,
"I first worked as a maid in my master's mansion. I was brought in as a servant when I was twelve years old. It's been more than ten years now."
"...Well, isn't that strange? I mean, if you think about it backwards, Bearko has been holed up in that moldy room since she was a toddler."
"Don't you already know that?"
Frederica shook her head, as if to chastise Subaru for not giving up.
Her attitude seemed to confirm the question that had arisen in Subaru's mind, and he clearly realized the answer that he hadn't given much thought to until then.
In other words, the girl in the Forbidden Library was――,
"Your appearance hasn't changed... I guess you're not human after all."
"Since the beginning of the Mathers family, there has been a librarian bound by covenant to protect the Forbidden Archives - that person is the Great Spirit, Lady Beatrice."
There was no sense of lie in Frederica's words, and Subaru had no choice but to accept them.
The girl he had been in contact with up until now was, in fact, a being who existed in a completely different dimension from Subaru's.
"Great Spirit..." his title is the same as Puck's, but his appearance and other things are quite different.
"The absence of a contractor and the relationship of the covenant... No, this is beyond the scope of what I am allowed to say. Please forget about it."
"No, absolutely not."
How many times has this happened that the ignorant Subaru has been led astray by the suggestive behaviour of someone in the know?
Frederica didn't seem to mind Subaru's harsh words and had no intention of touching upon the matter she had just kept quiet about. Subaru sighed, realizing that he couldn't continue her story any further given her attitude and behavior.
I remembered how we had stopped and talked together ever since.
"Frederica"
"Please forgive me, Subaru-sama. I may have been a bit too aloof. I was extremely happy that someone who cared about Lady Beatrice had appeared. Please, forgive me."
"That's fine, but my arm is reaching its limit."
Subaru's upper arms trembling, his face tense as he looked up at Frederica.
He tried to act tough, saying that he had a light body and that it would be fine as long as he had love, but various factors such as physical strength and stamina ignored these pretenses and attacked Subaru.
"Oh, well."
"Why, please move out of the way quickly, please!"
He swore to himself that he would never make the foolish move of lowering Rem to the floor or handing her over to Frederica halfway through, so he pushed aside Rem's request to take her place and hurried to the guest room.
Hearing the sound of light running from behind, he sensed Frederica following him. Reflecting on how ineptly he had ended the conversation, he arrived in front of Rem's room.
"---It took a while."
And Emilia was waiting for Subaru and the others with a bored look on her face.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
I laid Rem on the bed and pulled the covers over her chest.
The rising and falling of her chest was surely an indication of her breathing, and the beating of her heart within her was telling her that she was alive. How much longer would she spend here before she would eventually wake up?
"That all depends on how hard I try."
With this renewed resolve, Subaru pushed Rem's bangs aside with his fingers, then turned to face Emilia, who was standing behind him,
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Frederica and I had a lively conversation. Because of that, the lactic acid bacteria in my upper arms got really bad."
"If the conversation was lively, then isn't that a good thing? What were you and Frederica talking about?"
"When trying to rehabilitate a reclusive girl, I started by asking her questions. There is a close relationship between the duration of her reclusion, how it started, and how you treat her afterwards."
"Oh, I see. Subaru, you know a lot about this 'hikikomori' thing. Amazing."
Subaru: "Emilia-tan's words, even though they aren't meant to be ill, sometimes pierce my heart. Like right now."
What's even worse is that it seems he was simply praising Subaru for his insight.
Subaru grimaced as Emilia tilted her head with a harmless expression, but then responded with a wry smile and a small shrug,
"So, you didn't get any information from Beatrice, did you?"
"You're so tight-lipped, you can't move. By the way, I've asked you many times... Where's Puck?"
"--No, there's no reaction from here either. Sometimes it happens like this, but this time the timing is really bad. I'm really in trouble."
Emilia puts her hand into her chest and pulls out a green crystal. The pendant emits a faint glow, and the mysterious light of the great spirit that resides within it flickers.
This was the vessel through which Puck, under contract with Emilia, resided, and Subaru was aware that he materialized and entered and exited it on a regular basis.
However, as you can tell from our conversation, he hasn't been seen within the crystal for the past few days. Absent - which is odd, but he isn't responding to our calls either.
Subaru: "Is this just something that happens sometimes? But, this is going to cause trouble for Emilia-tan, isn't it?"
"He comes back when I really need his help. So I don't think he's not watching us. But he's never told me what he does when he's gone, no matter how many times I ask him."
Subaru scratches his head and responds to Emilia's apologetic words with, "Hmm."
But even here, he couldn't help but feel disappointed that Puck, who seemed to be in the know, had kept quiet. This meant that a number of important witnesses to the questions that had arisen were now silent.
"Puck and Bearko, you both just kept quiet... I'm at a loss."
"Really? Hey, Subaru, what should we do?"
As Subaru put his hand to his forehead and thought deeply, Emilia said this, asking for his opinion.
Hearing her call, she glanced down, and seeing the pleading eyes that held a certain trust in Subaru, she couldn't help but feel happy at a time like this.
In the midst of this feeling of being trapped, he becomes aware that she is relying on him.
"Since the two people who seemed to know a lot have gone quiet, I think we have no choice but to move on to the next person… Well, even if we know where they are, whether they will talk is another matter."
"Roswaal, right?"
"I think it's about time we had a heart-to-heart talk, including the behind-the-scenes details."
Subaru nodded in affirmation at Emilia's perceptive words.
The fact that he immediately connected with that idea probably coincided with the direction Emilia had been thinking about. Emilia was obviously relieved to hear Subaru's opinion and patted her chest.
"Good, it looks like Subaru will agree. I was worried that he might oppose it again like Roswaal and Ram did."
Subaru: "I might object depending on the content, but basically I fully support Emilia-tan, okay? Even if I do object, I want you to believe that it is out of my love for Emilia-tan."
"Ah, love... Subaru, you say such nice things."
Taken by surprise by Subaru's blunt advances, Emilia turned away. Subaru's cheeks were slightly flushed red, but he clenched his fists. Emilia looked away,
"So, to Subaru who is on my side, I have a proposition."
"Yes, yes, let me know, anything."
As he placed his hand on his chest and bowed respectfully, Emilia turned around with one eye closed and a pout on her face, saying, "I'm doing fine."
Then, after letting out a sigh, she stared fixedly into Subaru's black eyes,
"I need to talk to Roswaal, and there's also the matter of the evacuated villagers, right? That's why I'm thinking of going to the Sanctuary."
"Sanctuary..."
It's a place that has been mentioned many times in the Roswaal Mansion.
Unfortunately, Subaru, who "was unable to reach it," does not know its location, but the refugee team B led by Ram used it as their destination to escape from the Witch Cult.
At the very least, now that the Witch Cult led by Petelgeuse has been annihilated, the threat to the Sanctuary should have been eliminated, just like the mansion.
"I had been told that it was a place I would have to visit eventually, so I thought this was a good opportunity. I've decided that this time I'll have a talk with Roswaal about various things."
"W-w-w-wait a second! You're not planning on leaving me behind, are you?"
"picture?"
Subaru waves his palm at Emilia as she speaks with enthusiasm, putting a damper on her declaration of determination. But still, Subaru has to say it.
Subaru: "I understand that Emilia-tan is motivated, and I agree with that policy, but I don't want to be left behind. I know I'm weak and stupid, but I still don't want to be unable to work hard beside Emilia-tan. I know it's selfish, though!"
Emilia's eyes widened as Subaru desperately clung to her.
But his true feelings were unmistakable. Subaru was following Emilia. If he wasn't by her side, he couldn't protect her. He couldn't move for her.
It wasn't a matter of conceit or anything, but Subaru knew that he needed to be there to help her. This wasn't because he wanted something in return from her, but because it was something that Subaru himself wanted to do.
Emilia looked shocked at Subaru's momentum. Therefore, Subaru decided that now was the time to press on and make her decision unclear,
"There's no point in stopping me. I'll follow Emilia-tan. I won't be left behind. Whether it's the Sanctuary or Roswaal, no obstacle can stand in the way of my burning love――"
"I'm not leaving you behind. Come with me."
"I don't want to be left behind, I don't want to be left behind -- what did you just say?"
Subaru, who had finally decided to lie down on the floor and thrash his arms and legs about, asked Emilia while still in a slumped position.
Emilia responded by placing her hand over her mouth, face slightly red,
"So, come with me. I'll be so anxious if I'm alone."
"Eh, Emilia-tan..."
"I'm counting on you, Subaru. I don't think you're weak or stupid. I need your strength."
"――――"
The impact that those words had on Subaru was difficult to put into words.
Subaru was silent, his mouth hanging open, and Emilia's expression became one of anxiety. She let her raised hand wander, as if debating whether or not to touch Subaru.
"Um, well, what's wrong? Did I do something weird again..."
"Emilia-chan is in charge of my motivation switch. Whether it's on or off, it's all automatic with just one word from you. It's so awesome."
Covering his face with his hands, Subaru toyed with Emilia with those words.
In fact, Emilia is unable to understand the intention behind Subaru's words and is at his mercy, asking confused questions like "Huh? Huh? What do you mean?", but I want her to think that he deserves it.
Subaru himself had experienced being toyed with even more than she had.
"---It seems that the matter has been resolved."
"Wow!?"
From the outside, the exchange between the two could only have looked like flirting, but it was abruptly cut short by Frederica knocking on the open door.
Emilia wasn't surprised by Frederica's appearance, but Subaru couldn't help but glare at her while hiding his pounding heart. Meanwhile, Frederica must have known how Subaru felt, but she didn't show the slightest bit of consideration for his cool, fierce expression.
"I have no objection to you two going to the Sanctuary. However, we need to give you two two days to make preparations."
"Preparation? Will Frederica come with us?"
"No, I cannot accompany you as I am responsible for managing the mansion. Instead, I will tell the location of the 'Sanctuary' to the earth dragon that Subaru-sama has brought with him."
"To Patrasche?"
Subaru's eyes widen at the unexpected suggestion.
Frederica responded to that as if it were a matter of course, "Yes, sir."
"Earth dragons are intelligent creatures, so if we teach them, they will be able to figure out the route without any guidance. That child in particular seems to be very intelligent. There will be no problem."
"You seem like an even better candidate, Patrasche. Really, why did the flag rise?"
"More importantly, there are a few things I need to discuss with you two."
Subaru tilted his head at his partner who had just passed by, but Frederica didn't respond. Instead, she straightened her sturdy frame and fixed her gaze on the two of them,
"If you are going to the Sanctuary, there are a few things I would like you to remember. In particular, please be careful as you are Lady Emilia and you should take into consideration your origins."
"--Yeah, I'm prepared. I've heard it's a cursed place after all."
At Frederica's threatening warning, Emilia tucked her chin in, a determined look in her eyes.
Subaru, respecting her wishes, stood next to her,
"To be honest, I still don't know much about this place called 'Sanctuary' beyond its name… but my ultimate goal is to help Emilia-tan. Please tell me anything you want."
"It's an almost refreshingly pure impurity."
Amazement and admiration crossed Frederica's eyes at the same time, then she crushed those feelings with a single blink and raised one finger,
"So, let me tell you about the Sanctuary. And there's one thing I want you to remember."
"Remember."
"What do you want?"
Subaru and Emilia tilted their heads at the same time, and Frederica nodded "Yes," then spoke in a slightly lower tone of voice.
"--Please be careful of this person named Garfiel. He is the person you two need to be most careful around in the Sanctuary."