Touching upon the core of the information he wanted to hear, Subaru tilted his teacup.
I sip the hot tea, swallow some of my doubts along with it, and then I seriously consider what I should put in my mouth. And then,
"How many of my questions are you willing to answer?"
"...It seems you have a vague idea, but please don't get your hopes up. Due to the nature of our contract, there is little information I can give to Su-bou. I have been strictly commanded to avoid influencing the Trials from outside the Tomb."
"I know that you're already dropping hints at me, but... is this a strict order?"
"――――"
Ryuzu chooses silence in response to repeated questions.
Based on her behavior and words up until now, there are only a few candidates who could influence her in this way. I think it's most likely Roswaal's doing,
"If that's the case, then I'm even more confused about his objectives. Does he want me... for us to complete the Trial? Or not? I don't know if he intends to cooperate or not."
"It would be best if you could reach that answer on your own. Rozu-bou has always been a roundabout, difficult-to-understand boy. He may have grown in stature, but his true nature hasn't changed."
Perhaps because of their long friendship, Ryuzu speaks casually of Roswaal's childhood.
When he said that she hadn't changed, Subaru, who only knew that perverted side of her, couldn't help but shudder at the thought that she had been in that state even before her limbs had fully grown,
"Well, I guess she could have been a bit cuter, yeah, maybe."
"As for Rozu's childhood... well, since it concerns the confidentiality of the Mathers family, I can't reveal any more than that."
"Guuuh, I'm curious... No, am I curious? I don't really need to know that much about his personality."
Subaru crossed his arms and tilted his head, wondering about the source of the question in the first place,
"Okay, let's leave that here. What I need is to know his intentions, not to understand them."
"Again, that was pretty straightforward."
"There's no point in worrying about things that can't be helped. Humans aren't ultimately made to understand each other from zero to a hundred. But still, wanting to understand is what love is. And while I can love Emilia-tan, I can't really love Roswaal!"
Lewes nodded in admiration at the refreshingly dismissive remark, then put his hand to his chin and said, "In that case,"
"I feel like I'm running out of things to talk about with you..."
"Oh, but I'm going to continue asking questions while being careful not to touch on Lewes' contract. I'll leave Roswaal's personality aside for now, but there are other personalities I'd like to ask Lewes, the knowledgeable old hag of the Sanctuary, about."
"Hmm. Well, it's free to just listen, so I'll listen. However, I won't be the only one who will run into trouble if I violate the contract. Don't forget that, okay?"
The young girl leans forward and glares threateningly at me with her eyes looking up.
To be honest, her cute appearance makes her look less impressive, but Subaru hugs her shoulders and reacts with a trembling shudder, saying, "Oh, that's scary," with tears in his eyes,
"Now that we've established the pattern of a scary assailant and a weak victim, it's time for some questions."
"I don't understand why I'm being treated like the bad guy."
"People from long ago said this and that. So, I have a question - you said Frederica and Garfiel were brother and sister, but Frederica was in the Sanctuary, right?"
Subaru scolds the unconvinced Lewes and gets straight to the point with a polite smile. Lewes's expression changes in response to the question, so Subaru shakes his finger.
"Frederica, who was supposed to be in the Sanctuary, is currently serving Roswaal at his mansion wearing a maid outfit. However, when I put together the information I know, something seems strange about this situation."
"Hmm, what's funny?"
"If Frederica is Garfiel's sister, then that means he's half-breed too. And if he's half-breed, then he shouldn't be able to go outside, since the barrier around this Sanctuary hasn't been lifted yet."
The barrier of the "Sanctuary" reacts to half-blood, drawing it inside and not letting it escape.
The thing that had knocked Emilia unconscious, and trapped Garfiel and Lewes inside, was still one of the biggest obstacles standing in Subaru's way.
While we are racking our brains trying to figure out what to do about its existence, there is one exception that has crossed the wall and gone outside.
"There's a way around the barrier. Or the barrier is just a lie."
"That's a lie... I find that rather disappointing. The truth is, I have never seen the outside world in my life. And all of this is because of the existence of that barrier."
"You could say that they were deceived into signing a contract like that… That's a mean way to look at it, you know? If the risk of actually testing it to see if it actually exists is high, it's possible that they wouldn't even think about checking. However."
It's possible that all of the residents of the Sanctuary are deceiving each other about the existence of the barrier.
The existence of the Tomb's Trials has been confirmed without question, so this is highly unlikely to be the case. However, it cannot be denied that there is a possibility that this was done out of a petty desire to keep the refugees of Aram Village here and increase Emilia's fame.
"Considering the backlash that would be generated if the truth were to be revealed, the drawbacks would be too great and it lacks realism. So the latter possibility is automatically eliminated… and only the former remains."
"A loophole... I see. But what are we going to do by finding out?"
"If the loophole could be applied to everyone, it might take some time, but if we use it to let all the residents of the Sanctuary out, then there would be no need for them to undergo the Trials."
Subaru was so bold as to blurt out such a bold statement that Ryuzu was speechless, with a shocked look on her face. Subaru then asked her, "Is it okay?", holding up both his hands and shaking them back and forth.
"Certainly, there are things to be gained from undergoing the 'Trials'. To be honest, as someone who has received some small benefits, I can't completely deny that. But, 'Trials' – in this case, can we just categorize them as 'the past'? Even if you do have to face your 'past', there are times and people you shouldn't be forced to do it with."
"Is that you, Lady Emilia? But hardships do not come at a particular time. If you flee now before the calamity that will eventually come your way…"
"I never said they were going to get away. They were retreating to properly prepare to intercept. It was a strategic retreat, so to speak. Of course there would be times when they had to fight on unfavorable ground, but it was the skill of the person themselves and those around them to rush around to prepare as favorable ground as possible, right?"
Subaru covers up Lewes's attempt to continue speaking, and continues to make statements that justify his running away. Turning one's back is not something to be ashamed of.
"Even if she doesn't face it now, Emilia will surely have to face her past eventually. It's ironic, but the 'Trial' has reminded her of it. So whether she chooses to forget or swallow it down, it's her choice. If that's the case, it's my role to create an environment in which she won't suffer as much as possible."
"...You always try to keep me away from painful things, but you never let me escape from the most painful parts."
Subaru: "If you want to run away from there, that is also an option. That girl… I believe Emilia wouldn't do something like that, though."
"How can you believe that? At least, I can't. Seeing how upset he was when he left the tomb, I couldn't have hoped for that."
"Because I'm totally in love with Emilia-tan."
As Lewes tried to repeatedly deny it with a heavy mouth, Subaru declared nonchalantly.
Sure enough, Lewes, who had looked shocked many times during this conversation, froze with the biggest blank look he had yet.
Subaru smiled shyly at her bewildered expression and scratched his cheek.
"I like Emilia, and I think she's super cute. And, I believe that this super cute girl that I like is surely a strong girl who will overcome any hardship or suffering in the end. I have high expectations and high expectations and I believe that she will live up to them."
"That's... not an answer at all. No matter how much you love someone, there are some things in your heart that you just can't change. I'm sure you understand that..."
"I understand that. Emilia is a girl too. She doesn't just have her strong sides, she also has weak sides and, although they may be incredibly small, ugly sides too."
"I wonder if they're willing to admit it or not..."
"Even if you have weaker parts, believing that your stronger parts will still shine through is what devotion is, right?"
Devotion, for Subaru, is engraved in his heart as the strongest expression of love. He remembers the feeling of happiness he felt when someone gave it to him wholeheartedly.
Subaru: "I'll do my best, Emilia. I believe that she will overcome her weaknesses, and that she will look up and become stronger. I will work hard to bring about an event where she can smile to herself and say that she was right to believe in her."
"...But even so, it's only the person himself who has to face the most painful part of his heart."
"Isn't that obvious? I can't be by Emilia's side as she faces her 'past'. If I were in the 'past', I would have taken the hand of the girl who was crouching and crying, helped her to her feet, and been by her side, cheering her on as best I could, but I'm not there. I can't get involved in the events that happened in the 'past'. Even if I reached out a hand, it would only escape me; viewers can't interfere with the drama on TV."
It's a fact. The past is the past, and you can't touch it.
The 'past' that Subaru thought he had faced and overcome was nothing more than fiction, nothing that was communicated to his real parents; it was merely a story that gave Subaru self-satisfaction.
However,
"Obviously it's better to have at least one reward than nothing at all. The real me can't help you face your 'past'. But it doesn't contradict the rules for my current self to lend a hand to the inadequacies of the past, you know?"
"――――"
"I can't lend a hand, but my words, actions, love… Well, I'd be happy if you put me first, but the current Emilia has received many other things from various people as well. At the very least, she has more possessions than the 'past' Emilia. If she has more weapons to use, she may be able to reach out to the 'past' that was lacking. The difficulty of these 'Trials' is premised on her being able to overcome them in this way, right?"
Having experienced it firsthand, Subaru could repeat the same words over and over again.
"I will help Emilia. I will do everything I can to help her overcome her 'past' and her present self. To achieve that, I will do whatever it takes, even if it means finding loopholes, breaking the rules, or cheating by paying for things. That is my way of devoting myself to her."
"That's... a very selfish way to love."
"I'm neither a herbivore nor a carnivore, just call me an omnivorous guy."
He snaps his fingers, flashes his teeth, gives a thumbs up and winks in a signature pose.
When Subaru brought up that idea at the end of his story, Lewes let out a long, long sigh as if giving up.
"Once again, you've come up with some pretty beautiful excuses for cheating."
"Hehe."
"You idiot... Sorry, but I can't tell you the details of that loophole. However, if you are counting on it, I must say that it's impossible. Frederica being able to leave the Sanctuary was an exception. I can't get everyone out."
Lewes shook her head in denial of Subaru's vision. Subaru was disheartened by her words, and instead of dropping to his knees and slumping his shoulders,
"Well, it can't be helped. If it works out, I'll take it as a profit, so I'll leave it at that. Now, onto the next question..."
"This may sound strange for me to say, but don't be discouraged, Su-bo."
"If I was broken down by something like this, who knows how many times I'd end up in a whale's stomach? I know this may sound like me saying this, but the only weapons I have are my refusal to give up and my deep affection."
Subaru's defiant attitude towards his own powerlessness was refreshing. Facing the shocked expression on Lewes' face, something he'd seen countless times in the past hour, Subaru clapped his hands and said, "Pull yourself together."
"I understand that it would be most heroic for Emilia to just use her full potential and overcome the Trials without having to worry about all this. But as a veteran Trial challenger, Lewes, do you have anything to say about that?"
"I feel like I'm being called something I don't like. And even if you ask me, I can only say that I don't know. After all, I've never taken the Trial, so there's no way I would know the answer, right?"
"bean paste?"
Subaru tilted his head and responded to Lewes's reply in a silly voice. However, what he had just said was certainly a shocking thing to hear.
"You just said you've never taken the Trial?"
"Why are you suddenly using polite language? Of course not. I cannot be allowed to take the 'trials' that are customarily given to outsiders. The same goes for others. As far as I know, nothing like that has happened in at least seventy years. Su-bo is the first."
"No, no, no, no, that's strange, that's strange. Wait a moment, stay, wait, something's strange, the information is confusing. I'll check it in my heart's memo pad, so please give me a moment."
"Just five minutes."
Subaru nodded gratefully at Lewes' surprisingly patient response, and frantically went back in his memory, fingers pressed to his temples.
He went back to the day before the previous loop, and also to just after he had overcome the previous "trial," and while trying to sort out the inconsistencies in his memory,
"--Huh?"
I realized only now that a "discrepancy" that should never have existed had already arisen in that memory.
Subaru's face stiffened as the truth hit him, and he managed to hold back the question by muttering, "What does that mean?" However, the seed of doubt that had surfaced had begun to sprout, and there was no stopping it from growing a stem and blossoming.
In Subaru's memories, Lewes on the night before the Trial said the following.
--No one has ever taken the Trial. Not even once in his life has there been a challenger.
In Subaru's memories, Lewes says the following just before and just after the Trial:
-- He had also taken the Trial, and though he had not succeeded, he had survived. This was proof that there was no harm in trying.
In the space of a day, opinions have flipped completely.
If this were merely an emotional argument, it would be a different story, but if it is based on personal experiences or facts, it's a completely different story. Such a big change in policy would be nothing less than falsification of information on one side, or deliberate lying.
While still in a thinking position, I glanced over at Ryuzu. Ryuzu was waiting for me while playing with her light crimson hair. Dangling her legs that didn't reach the floor on the bed, she was trying to relieve her boredom, looking like a young girl despite her old lady-like nature.
Considering the way she's treated me up until now, I don't want to think that she has any malicious intentions and is trying to toy with me.
If either of these is true, which one should you believe?
Subaru's stance up until now has been that when he comes across conflicting information, he believes whoever he wants to believe, but he can't be so rash in making a decision that would affect Emilia's fate. Especially when the matter is literally a matter of life and death. He must be careful.
This was the third time I had brought up the topic of challenging the Trials with Lewes.
Once they replied that they had undergone the Trials, and the second time they denied knowing about them. It wasn't because they were the majority, but in her opinion, perhaps we should trust the side that claimed they didn't know about the Trials.
Thinking about it like that, it's not impossible to take a positive view of the time when he lied about taking the Trial, as a consideration to reassure the anxious Subaru. However, if that was the case, it would have been fine for him to have said something like that later on――
"There must have been a reason why I couldn't do that... or maybe I was just starting to lose my mind..."
"You just came to a conclusion that was pretty rude to me, didn't you?"
"I'd be happy if you could respect my efforts to see it in a positive light and offset them," Subaru asserted with a determined look on his face.
Lewes sighed as Subaru mixed in some light-hearted jokes into his justification, then shook her head wearily and said, "Oh dear."
"So, have you consulted your heart and come up with an answer?"
"Well, I guess I came to a conclusion like this. Um, maybe Lewes was being very considerate towards me? Like in front of the tomb."
"Consideration?"
Lewes echoed Subaru's question. Subaru nodded and said, "Yes," and made a girly gesture of pressing the fingers of both his hands together,
Subaru: "You said that you hadn't taken the 'Trial' during our discussion, but in front of the tomb you said that you had taken the 'Trial' but it wasn't a big deal, right? Hmm, I'm realising now that maybe you were a bit scared or anxious, or maybe you were just being considerate of me…"
"--Ah, I see."
As Subaru was trying to quickly ease the awkward conversation, Lewes' voice suddenly carried the emotion of understanding. Subaru frowned suspiciously at the sound of her voice, and she smiled,
"Boy Su, I'll tell you something special."
"A good thing?"
"Due to the nature of my contract, I am not allowed to lie. Therefore, when I am asked an inconvenient question, I have no choice but to choose silence in order to avoid answering. There are no exceptions, and it doesn't matter who it is for. Lying is forbidden. Not only for me, but for all the residents of this Sanctuary."
"You can't lie...?"
Subaru can't do anything but bewildered by this sudden confession.
Because, if that was true, then the very premise of Subaru's thinking would be overturned. No, even before that, if what she said was true, the very fact that he had questioned her earlier was fraught with contradiction.
--How could she, who is not supposed to be able to lie, create a situation in which she must lie to get by?
"the..."
"That's the limit of the information I'm willing to give you. You can't ask me any more questions than that. Breaking the contract will bring misfortune to both of us. If you want to know what happens beyond this point, you should question those who have gone ahead, not me, who has stopped."
Having been struck down like a nail in the coffin, Subaru could only close his mouth and remain silent.
If he was rejected like that, Subaru would literally have no choice but to cling to her kindness.
Picking up on that fact alone, Subaru sensed that she too was not lying about her true feelings of wanting to be freed from here.
"Okay, I won't ask any more questions. Let's change the topic. Something else."
"How curious. You know you won't get to the heart of the matter, but you're still going to listen to an old man's chat over tea?"
"I missed breakfast, and I'm practically bored until Emilia-tan wakes up. I don't want to get annoyed at the sight of Roswaal, have Garfiel bare his fangs, or have Otto interrupt me until I'm completely exhausted, so I'll deepen my precious friendship with that loli-baa."
Subaru stood up and collected the two teacups, which had now gone cold. Then, with Ryuzu watching him leave, he headed to the kitchen.
"There's no need to look so worried. I've been working as a servant at Roswaal Mansion for a short time now, you know? I've at least been taught how to make tea."
"Hmm. In that case, I guess I'll just have to wait in anticipation."
"Wow, the pressure."
As he spoke, Subaru refilled the teacup, handed it to Lewes, and returned to his original position. They faced each other and took their first sip.
"That's quite a feat."
"Even if you brew it yourself, the leaves are still the leaves. By the way, that's a different story."
"I can't ask you to continue the story from earlier. Instead… well, if it's something else, I'd like to answer as sincerely as possible."
"Well, I'll take you up on that."
Taking advantage of the young face of Lewes who looked somewhat guilty, Subaru gave a nasty smile,
"Do you know what that bastard Garfiel's weaknesses are, what he dislikes, or what would make you faint just by looking at him?"
"Boss Su, don't you realize that your way of serving others is a little twisted?"
And with that, Ryuzu made the most bizarre expression on his face that had occurred within the last hour.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
After finishing their conversation over tea and washing the teacups and putting them away, Subaru left the building, leaving the lonely loli-baa behind, who still wanted to be alone.
It felt a little longer than just an hour. Before I knew it, the sun, which had only just appeared a moment ago, had risen higher in the sky and the temperature had risen somewhat, making it more comfortable to be outside.
It felt like it was just after 10am or thereabouts.
"The sunlight is just right for hanging out futons and such. What a waste... I feel like I've completely escaped from my reclusive lifestyle."
As a representative of an unhealthy person, it is extremely unfortunate that the first thing that comes out of the sunlight is laundry.
Subaru: "It's getting late, so Emilia will probably wake up soon. She's probably feeling lonely after what happened the other day, so I'll take advantage of her weak moment and imprint my presence on her."
While he made some rather underhanded remarks, deep down he was anxious about Emilia and was eager to get there.
I want to be by her side as soon as possible, for as long as possible, to make her feel safe.
After all――,
"I'll have to leave your side for a bit again tomorrow."
Roswaal will formally propose the release of the refugees of Arlam Village sometime this afternoon. Once that happens, preparations will be made immediately, and we will leave the Sanctuary as soon as tomorrow.
Subaru must once again accompany them back to the mansion.
"If you want to know deeper than this, ask those who have gone ahead, not those who have stopped...that's a pretty longwinded way of saying it."
If you have to take a roundabout approach, you're in a position where you can't get your point across.
Subaru felt sorry for the hassle, but he quickened his pace and sighed.
"I look forward to hearing about your unworthy brother and your troublesome hometown, Frederica."