This sudden and unexpected encounter caused many thoughts to cross his mind, but――
"I can see with my own eyes that you're safe, I'm impressed!"
Subaru loudly retorted to Ram, who had boldly declared this while pointing at her own right eye - the crushed organ.
Currently, Subaru's right eye is made into an eyepatch-like shape using the torn fabric from his sleeve, making for a look that really tickles the chuunibyou innate. If this was just a fashionable one-eyed dragon, it would have become a laughing matter later, but that was not the case for Ram, who should have known about Subaru's dire situation.
Receiving Subaru's retort, Ram in front of him tilted her head slightly and gently stroked her pink hair, which swayed with the movement,
"Sorry, but I don't usually look closely so I can't tell the difference."
"Thank you for that shocking statement, but do you know that humanoid creatures generally have two eyes, two ears, and two nostrils?"
"So, the current Barusu isn't a humanoid creature, but an incomprehensible creature?"
"Paradoxically?!"
Returning the usual exchange in response to Ram's cold reply, Subaru glanced to his left to check his surroundings. His eyes darted around to see if there was anyone else hiding besides Ram, then scanned his field of vision for a possible route to escape to. He had to buy time and decide where to step out from.
"Otto, we'll all split up and run away. You'll be the one shouting loudly to attract our pursuers. I'll be the one to quietly make the escape without saying a word. Any objections?"
"Yes, but even before that, why are you acting so wary, Natsuki-san?"
"The idiot was being followed. Look into Ram's eyes. He's trying to kill us both. There's no doubt about it. I see those eyes on a daily basis at the mansion, so trust me."
"What are you supposed to believe from someone who is constantly looking at you with eyes that look like they might kill you?!"
Subaru tries to whisper plans to make an escape, but Otto seems to have a weak grasp of that and doesn't understand what he's saying. He thinks about leaving them to die and running away on his own, but when he remembers their earlier exchange of friendship he hesitates.
"Damn, just when I thought you'd removed the shackles from me, you've now bound me with the shackles of friendship. What do you want with me…!"
"Natsuki, if you don't put into words what you want more clearly, then this conversation won't work! Also, there seems to be a lot of misunderstandings going on, so I'd like to sort that out as well."
"Can we just leave the comedy there and move on? Actually, I'll move on. I don't have time to keep up with you. It's a waste of time, which means a waste of life."
Ram steps forward, ignoring the men who are blaming each other. However, Subaru's words are not all jokes. On the contrary, he was serious about dragging out the conversation with light-hearted remarks, waiting for an opportunity to escape. After all,
"To be honest, I thought that if you saw my face you would just try and kill me without asking any questions."
"That may have been the case if we had met immediately after I had unleashed my violence on Lord Roswaal. My anger had subsided a bit after some time had passed.... You should be grateful to Garf."
"Even if it's thanks to Garfiel that I haven't been killed here and now, it's not so easy to change the other person's opinion of the reason I look like this."
Still wary, Subaru responded to Ram's words by scratching his neck with his fingers. Watching her, however, Ram's leisurely pace showed no hostility.
At the very least, it seemed that he had no intention of attacking without question. But then, the next thing that worried Subaru was,
"According to Otto, he's supposed to be meeting someone here…"
"Yes, I know."
"Natsuki-san. I know it's hard to believe, but what you're seeing is the truth."
Subaru glanced over at Otto, who nodded in affirmation of his roundabout question, and received the same reply. Crossing his arms, Subaru pursed his lips and groaned, "Hmm."
"If we accept what we see, then your presence here makes you an ally of Otto's… In other words, it means that you're an ally in helping the people of Arlam Village escape from the 'Sanctuary', you know?"
"That's for sure. Both Garf and Lewes are currently in the middle of Emilia's Trial. The main participants have all gathered at the tomb, so now is the time."
Ram emphasized that they didn't have much time and tried to hurry them up, but Subaru's sense of unease did not go away. When he put his palm against her to stop her, she silently glared at him. Bracing himself not to be intimidated by the sharpness of her gaze, Subaru prefaced his statement by saying, "Tell me,"
"Why did you help the villagers escape? Even if I give you the benefit of the doubt and say you were doing it with good intentions, it's still strange that you dragged me into this. Besides, are you the kind of person who won't let me settle things just because your anger has calmed down? I just can't stop asking questions."
"You're asking a lot of questions. Men who talk a lot aren't popular, Barusu."
Subaru: "You're infatuated with a man who's more talkative than me, so your argument isn't very persuasive… Answer me, Ram. I can't help but think that it's impossible for you to put aside any grudges and work together with me under the current circumstances. But even so, if you still decide to attend this ceremony, then that's because…"
Subaru held his breath, fearful of the words he was about to continue speaking.
If the situation was as Subaru imagined, then what he had done here was――
He shuts his eyes tightly and grits his teeth to keep any complaints at bay.
Do not be afraid. Do not be intimidated. Do not show weakness. Be of steel and never waver.
--For now, I just need to become a piece of steel that isn't swayed or shaken by emotions.
"Roswaal's orders are the most plausible reason. Why would he still help me after I was so violent to him...? Maybe you know more about that than I do."
"..."
Ram was silent in response to Subaru's reasoning.
However, the image that came to Subaru's mind was of Roswaal holding the Gospel in his hands, and if the book of prophecy had been in his hands all this time, there was no way that Ram, her confidant, her idol and absolute loyalty to him, would not know about it.
Of course, she probably didn't know the details. If she did know the contents of the Gospel, that would mean that she would have accepted a future in which Ram would leave Rem to die.
"――――"
But that was just an impossible assumption. Subaru knew that it was just an assumption. When Rem was lost, when the situation wasn't as special as it was now, where Ram had forgotten about her existence, Subaru knew how the demon's older sister would react to the loss of her younger sister.
For this reason, I believe she never knew about the prophecy that could have led to her abandoning Rem to her death.
But on the other hand, to what extent is she involved in Roswaal's plot? Roswaal has yet to reveal the full extent of his plan. To what extent is his confidant...?
"Answer me, Ram. Why are you helping us? If this is going according to that bastard Roswaal's plan, then sorry but from here on out, it'll just be me and Otto. We don't need you."
"Hey, Natsuki-san――!?"
"Shut up, Otto. I don't have time to explain the details, and I wouldn't be able to guarantee your safety if I knew, so I won't tell you, but I'm furious about what happened this time. At the very least, I can't keep a cool head when dealing with anyone named Roswaal!"
Touching his throbbing right eye over the eyepatch, Subaru yelled at Otto who tried to block him, then stomped off the ground.
The sensation of jumping on Roswaal and choking him around his slim neck is still in my palm. The sensation of harboring murderous intent towards another person, putting that intent into action, and the sensation of that lingering sensation.
It was a very raw, vivid memory, and now that I've calmed down, it's a nightmare that makes me nauseous and gives me a headache and tinnitus.
I definitely don't want to repeat that scene again.
"I know what I did was wrong, but whether I regret it or not is another matter. He hurt the part of me that I cannot forgive. That's why I suffered the consequences."
Subaru: "…If we go by that logic, then I don't think we'll be able to defend against Ram retaliating against Barusu, either?"
"So the moment I saw you, I decided to run away like a pig. But that bastard Otto was a failure."
「I know you're being unnecessarily slanderous, but if I were to get serious and kick my ass, Natsuki-san, I'd disappear so fast you wouldn't even be able to see my ass.」
"Shut up, you idiot. Are you only good at making people laugh with dirty jokes? You have a poor vocabulary."
"I don't understand what it means, but I feel like I've been slandered in a terrible way! I feel like that!"
In the second half, Subaru and Otto were engaged in their usual exchange when Ram cleared her throat and interrupted them. She then narrowed her eyes again and glared at her, causing Ram to sigh and say,
"...Don't worry. At the very least, this action is not influenced by Roswaal-sama's will."
"Roswaal wasn't involved? No, that means..."
Subaru cannot hide his surprise at Ram's statement denying Roswaal's involvement.
That means she is helping with this evacuation on her own initiative. And that's not the only problem.
"So if Roswaal isn't involved, that doesn't even appear in the Gospel…? Wait a minute. In the first place, how much of the Gospel can we trust?"
When Roswaal mentioned the Gospel to Subaru, he became enraged and was unable to discuss the book in detail.
However, if the so-called complete version of the Gospel is truly an all-purpose prophecy that describes the entire future――
"Just how detailed are the sentences written there, and just how extensive are they...?"
If everything in the world, all possible events, were to be written down, the amount of information would of course not fit into one book, because the human brain and capacity for understanding are far too small to perceive everything that happens in this world.
Therefore, Subaru had concluded that the information contained in the Gospel selected and discarded future details, to the extent that the holder could understand them.
"The incomplete version of 'Gospel' that Duke Peter had was a version in which more and more content was added later on… I don't know for sure though, since I didn't see the scene where the content was added."
The Gospel that the fanatic possessed was a book with the back half blank, and each time a new prophecy was added, those blank pages were filled in.
There was no doubt that the number of pages was different when Subaru first got his hands on it and when he defeated Betelgeuse. After that, even if he examined it closely, he was unable to read the letters, and it felt so eerie that he had intended to begin an investigation in the company of Roswaal, but in the current situation, it seemed impossible to put that idea into action.
For this reason, even if they tried to advance the idea, there were far too few samples to make it anything more than an empty theory. However, it was true that Subaru was harboring doubts about how much they could trust the accuracy of the supposedly final version.
Ram responded by placing her right hand over her mouth and making a thoughtful gesture.
"...Ram has no right to say that. Even though it is not Lord Roswaal's will that I be here now, my heart is still dedicated to him."
"I'm so crazy about you, damn it."
"just..."
Subaru was about to curse and lament that the path to obtaining information had been blocked, but Ram interjected. Seeing Subaru look up in surprise, she spoke in a small voice,
Subaru: "It is true that this situation is not in the description. It is precisely because it is not in the description that Ram is able to be here like this."
"...I don't understand what you mean. In the end, what are you going to do? Will you help me? And if you do help me, is that your intention?"
"I will help with the evacuation. And that is Ram's will. Lord Roswaal will not try to stop us now that things have come to this."
"Now that it has come to this...?"
It was a bit of a puzzling thing to say, but Ram showed no sign of responding to Subaru's question. In other words, the answer was something she couldn't say out loud.
In the end, I was unable to delve into the accuracy of the writings in Roswaal's Gospel or the actual text of the text. All I could see was that even the supposedly complete Gospel may not be able to foresee everything that happens in the future.
"Well, knowing that much might give us a slight advantage the next time we question Roswaal."
Putting his doubts aside for the time being, Subaru forced himself to say something that would convince him in order to settle the situation, without even giving any thought to the possible meaning of what he had just said.
Subaru: "Whether or not I truly believe in Ram will be left open for discussion for a later date, but I want to confirm the details. So, what is the situation?"
"Since the day after Barusu's stupid act, we set today as the deadline and started preparations for evacuation. However, the people of the territory threw a tantrum and said they wouldn't move until they could confirm that Barusu was safe, so we wasted time searching for Barusu, whose life or death was unclear."
"I'm sorry I didn't clearly state that he was dead, I was stupid. But even so, he died the day after my rampage..."
There was something odd about the dates around that time. However, without being able to put into words what it was specifically that bothered him, Ram and Otto roughly explained their escape plan to Subaru. To put it simply,
"Since the moderates have opened an escape route through Ram, we'll escape as fast as we can on our dragon carriage under cover of darkness. Otto will lead the way, and my role will be to unanimously act as a mascot so that the villagers can escape the 'Sanctuary' without worry――is that it?"
"I don't know what this mascot thing is, but we can't evacuate until everyone can confirm that Natsuki is safe. Well, in the end, I guess it just goes to show that Ram and I weren't trusted to lead the evacuation."
"I wonder if my success from the monster incident will be of any use now. Humans don't know when or how they'll respond, so they'll do anything even if their lives are at risk."
"As far as I know, Natsuki-san has had a fairly eventful life, risking her life with the White Whale and the Witch Cult, but have you always had close calls like that?"
Otto muttered, as if exasperated by what Subaru had said. Subaru shook his head repeatedly, saying, "No, no, no."
"I too have had many opportunities to be exposed to the malice of a world I have no idea about. Incidentally, I also had a near-death experience with an assassin-type woman who loved to cut open other people's stomachs and have tripe parties."
"Sometimes people brag about painful stories, but when they hear stories from people who have been through so many painful and scary situations, it makes their heroic tales seem laughable."
Subaru gave a thumbs up, and Otto gave a weak, relaxed smile and a thumbs up in return.
And when Subaru saw that the conversation had reached a conclusion,
"Well then, let's go ahead. How much time do you think we have?"
"If it's nothing different from usual, it will take roughly two hours for Lady Emilia to give up and come out of the tomb. Since she's only just begun the Trial, even if we look at it a little shorter, it will be an hour and a half. Even if it takes 30 minutes to depart, we still have an hour to spare."
"An hour, huh? With that much time, we can break through the barrier of the 『Sanctuary』."
Once they had broken through that barrier, at the very least there would be no interference from the 『Sanctuary』 side.
It should also be possible to avoid the reach of extremists who do not wish for the liberation of the Sanctuary and wish to worsen relations with the people of the territory. However, there is a problem with the barrier that cannot be overlooked.
Subaru raised his head and, with his hand on his chin, called out to the pink-haired girl, "Ram."
"There's a problem with the barrier. Even if we get through it and the extremists stop chasing us..."
"Gaaf, right?"
"...Do you know?"
"He's Frederica's younger brother, and we've known each other for a long time. I don't want to, but we've been acquaintances since Ram was taken in by Lord Roswaal seven years ago."
Some of the information Subaru had obtained at the mansion last time was readily revealed.
Although Subaru felt a sense of disappointment at this, he was secretly relieved that they had the same understanding. "What should we do?" he asked Ram, who had a straight face.
"If Garfiel finds out I've escaped from where I was being held captive, he'll definitely come after me. He was already thinking my actions were suspicious, and now there's this escape. I don't think there's time to worry about going easy on him this time. Whether he crosses the barrier is entirely up to him."
"What is the basis for the idea that Garf is coming after us? At the very least, he will respect Lewes' wishes, so he's on the moderate side… Since he took action to imprison Barusu, he doesn't belong to either side at the moment."
"The reason he's targeting me is..."
The reason why Garfiel harbors a hostility bordering on hatred towards Subaru.
This was undoubtedly due to the lingering scent of the "Witch" emanating from Subaru's body.
Capturing the smell, which grows stronger with each Return by Death, Garfiel feels an indescribable wariness and hostility towards Subaru. This is the result of him baring his fangs and taking action. And yet, in treating the dying Subaru and keeping him alive, we can see a glimpse of his rational, albeit short-sighted, side.
Having put this reasoning together in his head, Subaru wondered whether he should say it aloud.
It may be a little late to say this, but it was Rem who first mentioned to Subaru that he could still smell the "Witch" in her voice. From what she said, or from fragments of it, he somehow guessed that Rem harbored a strong hatred for the Witch Cult and that Ram was somehow connected to it.
In other words, the Witch Cult is not something unrelated to Ram. Just hearing the word "Witch Cult" is enough to make Rem lose her composure. What does this fact mean to Ram?
"--Balus?"
"Oh, yeah."
"What's wrong with you suddenly going quiet? Your face is already so pathetic, but if you add stupidity and incompetence to that, then there's really nothing worth looking at."
"You're so unreserved and merciless, it's almost refreshing. And as for the reason Garfiel is after me... well, it's because I was violent towards Roswaal."
Subaru averted his eyes, avoiding mentioning the witch's scent to Ram. Instead, he recalled a time when he had fought, or rather, attacked Roswaal one-sidedly.
"If anything were to happen to Roswaal, the Sanctuary would bear the burden in the long run. I can't imagine that he would let me get away with doing something so dangerous."
Subaru: "…To be honest, it's an extremely boring excuse, but I'll accept it. Given that Ram is concealing things she cannot say out loud, it would be unfair to cheekily try and force Barusu to think what she thinks."
"You can't even converse with me without giving me all the teasing, can you? Right, Otto?"
"But I don't really understand why Natsuki had to confirm that with me."
Otto shot Subaru a resentful look as he sought his approval. Subaru simply shrugged in response to Otto's incomprehensible attitude. Ram, watching the exchange between the two, looked up at the sky behind them, squinting her eyes in the moonlight, and said,
"---A pale blue moon, a maddening moon. That night was also a moonlit night like this."
He muttered in such a faint voice that it was hard to hear.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
--Once they had taken action, the rest of the action was completed swiftly.
In the first place, the evacuation plans were proceeding without Subaru, and he was simply needed to get the plan started in its final stages.
The villagers quickly got into each carriage and prepared to board. The drivers had been coordinated smoothly and Subaru couldn't help but sigh in admiration at how the departure only took fifteen minutes instead of the thirty minutes he had expected.
"Actually, even fifteen minutes could have been shorter. Maybe five minutes..."
If the villagers had been more conscious, they might have been able to reduce this speed even further. But it was Subaru who put a damper on that.
Subaru reunited with the villagers of Arlam and immediately began preparing for evacuation, but he acted so insolently that everyone immediately noticed that he was missing an eye.
The villagers were about to raise their voices, demanding retribution for taking Subaru's right eye, but somehow he managed to calm them down and lied by saying that his right eye was not crushed, but was currently undergoing treatment, and somehow he managed to gain their understanding, and the evacuation plan was complete.
"I didn't mind being worried about."
Even though he saw it with his own eyes, he still couldn't believe that so many people were surprised that Subaru had been injured.
He had always believed that Natsuki Subaru was an isolated person, complete on his own, insignificant to anyone, someone who had no influence on any of his emotions. When had he come to have so many people who were angry at him?
Although he had boasted earlier that it had been an achievement during the beast incident, what Subaru had accomplished was not such a big event.
It was Rem who had saved the children who had entered the forest, and it was also Rem who had hunted down most of the Urgarm in the Demonic Beast Forest afterwards. It was Roswaal who had annihilated them, so there was no moment when Subaru's achievements stood out.
"...Ah, is that so?"
Thinking that far, Subaru realised the truth he had been burying without thinking about it up until now.
Rem's existence and memories have been devoured from the world by the power of "Gluttony". All that remains of her is inside Subaru, and all that remains in the world is an empty vessel.
All traces of her involvement, physical evidence, memories, disappear and are gone.
So what about the events that have resulted from her actions?
--Perhaps all of her actions are treated as if they were taken on by others, and the perceptions of those around her are adjusted to be as natural as possible in each situation.
"Are the people who were helped by Rem's actions now showing their gratitude to me?"
If you think about it, the reason Petra loved Subaru so unconditionally was probably because she had been forced into thinking that Subaru was the one who had risked his life to pull her out of the forest of magical beasts.
Otherwise, how could they have trusted a stranger of questionable appearance and origins who they had only spent a few short days with?
In other words, although he was unconsciously doing so, Subaru had once again taken Rem's actions for granted and enjoyed them as if they were a given.
"...Even if I say so myself, I'm sick of myself. How stupid and trashy I am."
Spitting out the words, Subaru realised that all of the good fortune he found himself in was due to the sleeping girl's efforts.
The beloved blue-haired girl who still harbors a warmth in his heart. Even if the world forgets her existence, will she still continue to devote herself to Subaru?
Though even that might just be a convenient delusion on the part of sentimental Subaru.
"――――"
"Hmm, yeah, don't worry. I'm fine. ...You're too good for me, aren't you?"
Patrasche looked back at me with a worried look on his face. His movements were extremely smart, even though he was moving at high speed, so as not to disturb the thoughts of his master on his back. Even if he had the protection of the 『Windbreak』 or not, it was clear that he was running with a high level of awareness.
It had been a week since the incident with the White Whale and the Witch Cult that she had been riding on Patrasche's back like this, rather than pulling a carriage.
Perhaps because he was dissatisfied with having to pull something heavy for a while, Patrasche's steps seemed lighter as he put down the load and drove off with just Subaru on board.
Even so, at first she too was worried about Subaru, who had lost his eye, and licked his face thoroughly with her hard, rough tongue as if to comfort him.
Remembering his meeting with Patrasche, Subaru glanced back.
A covert evacuation using six dragon carriages. In reality, it was far from stealthy, as the creaking and running noises of the carriages could not be completely hidden. However, they were still prepared to avoid detection by traveling as slowly as possible.
The majority of the drivers of the dragon carriages were people who had been contracted to evacuate the villagers from the Witch Cult for the sake of receiving a reward, and were people who should not have been embroiled in this quarrel. That's why I was worried that there would be a lot of dissatisfaction, but seeing them holding the reins with a tense atmosphere, I thought that was a needless worry.
At the very least, they are not the type of people who would cause trouble through emotional arguments at such a big event.
--and,
"Natsuki-san, Natsuki-san."
Just as I was thinking that, I suddenly heard someone calling out from the lead carriage. When I turned in that direction, I saw Otto leading the carriage line, skillfully maneuvering his beloved dragon, Furufoo, and beckoning me over.
"What's wrong? I think the evacuation is going well."
"Yes, so far it's going too smoothly. But there's a problem."
Otto lowered his voice and leaned towards Subaru, who was standing next to the dragon carriage. He then put his hand over his mouth to hide him from the carriages behind him, and,
"Natsuki-san, please listen carefully."
"yeah?"
"---There's a commotion in the forest. Something 'enormous' is coming."
It was an ambiguous and vague expression, and Subaru could do nothing but frown. However, Otto's expression when he said it was completely serious, and it was not the kind of atmosphere that would allow him to laugh it off.
Subaru took a deep breath, and glanced back and forth between Otto and his rear.
"Is this 'enormous' thing coming soon?"
"There are many vague parts about what the trees are saying, so I can't say for sure, but at the current speed there's a chance we'll collide. At the very least, let's go a little faster…"
Otto suggested, cold sweat running down his forehead. Sensing the certainty in his terrifying expression, Subaru decided to give orders to Patrasche and speed up the march. If they could get through the distance to the barrier as quickly as possible, the rest would be――
"--Hey. Taking a walk with a large group of people this late at night, isn't it cold to be left out?"
Just as I was about to forget about it and start running, that voice cut through the silence of the forest and vibrated my eardrums.
Patrasche's feet scraped the ground to a halt, and the black earth dragon lowered its head and bared its fangs, roaring at the being before it with the same hostility it felt towards someone it had clashed with in the past.
Looking at the earth dragon, who had entered a fighting stance, the blond young man twisted the corners of his mouth in amusement,
"Ha. You didn't flinch even after seeing all that pain. You really are a good woman. It's like the saying goes, 'The more it shines, the more my fingers shrink around the dazzling stone.'"
As he spoke, the guardian of the Sanctuary stood in his way, flashing his white canines.
All the while hinting at the threat of something ``enormous.''