After achieving his revenge match in the back alley, Subaru stood before the imposing structure of the thieves' hideout at the far end of the slums—the sun already descending in the evening sky.

"F-finally found it... Took way too long, dammit!"

Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, he collapsed in front of his destination he had finally arrived at. It had taken him nearly two hours to get there, running around all over the place. He confirmed the elapsed time only with his cellphone in his pocket. Without a doubt, it was two hours.

"I thought it would be a breeze since I just went there..."

The fact that he couldn't read the characters on the signs was undeniably a significant obstacle for Subaru. In the capital city, filled with many similar streets, Subaru, who lacked knowledge of the area, couldn't rely on the names of places or shops. As a result, he had no choice but to systematically search the streets, trying to recreate his memories.

"Not to mention, I was chatting with Satella and Pack here and there, so my memory of the route was fuzzy."

This tendency became even more pronounced after entering the slum. Unlike a few hours ago, thanks to someone diligently cleaning his tracksuit, the residents' reactions were cold and distant, making them highly uncooperative. Subaru couldn't just jump into such an exclusive ambiance joyfully; his interpersonal skills wouldn't allow it, so even here, he was all alone.

So, he wanted to at least praise himself for making it this far. Thus, a reward for his hard work.

"I'm finally opening it, corn potage flavor. I originally went to the convenience store because I wanted this. It's no exaggeration to say that this was the cause of my summoning to another world; such a sinful thing."

Muttering numerous excuses, Subaru opened the snack bag. A faintly sweet aroma filled the air, dominating his senses with happiness. He took out a snack from the bag and placed it from his trembling fingertips into his mouth. —Bliss, it ravaged his taste buds.

"So tasty... incredibly tasty...! Thinking back, I hadn't eaten anything. This is incredibly tasty."

Chewing the snack, he reflected on the journey so far. His stomach had been slightly empty since he missed out on the apple-like fruit. It had been about six hours since then; he had endured well.

And while he was deceiving his hunger, Subaru also realized that he couldn't deceive his own emotions.

His heart was racing, its beat unnaturally fast. The sensation of blood rushing through his entire body was incomparable to the excitement he felt in the back alley earlier.

His limbs felt heavy, and his mouth was dry, unrelated to the candy. Sharp pain, as if he had been hit on the head, repeatedly surged through his skull, accompanied by a high-pitched ringing in his ears.

――Within this warehouse of stolen goods, Subaru's sought-after answer lies.

Subaru involuntarily gasped, recalling unwanted scenes in his mind.
A room turned into a sea of blood, the corpse of an old man with no arms. Himself, dying with a slit stomach, and the lifeless body of Satella, caught up in it because of him.

"Don't get scared, don't get scared, don't get scared. Am I an idiot... No, I am an idiot. How can I go back without seeing the answer now that I've made it this far."

In the first place, there wasn't even a place to go back to.
Resolving himself, he faced forward and tried to take a step, realizing his knees were trembling.

His lower body was shaking uncontrollably. He punched his knees to forcibly calm the tremor, took a deep breath, and finally began to move.

Under the orange sunlight, the door to the warehouse of stolen goods seemed to refuse Subaru's visit in silence.
Suppressing the illusion caused by his own timidity, Subaru raised his fist to the door,

"Is anyone there?"

Knowing it was futile hope, he lightly knocked on the wooden door.
To his surprise, the dull sound should have echoed both outside and inside. Yet, what returned was an unbearable silence and stillness.
The quietness was horrifying in itself, and even though he knew it was in vain, Subaru banged on the door more violently.

"Isn't there anyone... Is anybody there! Please, answer me... Please."

He didn't want to see the despair of finding death here.
Desperate to deny the reality he didn't want to acknowledge, Subaru hit the door with such force that it began to tilt and the old hinges started to deform.
――It was around that time.

"――Shut up!! Are you trying to break down the door without even knowing the signal and the password!!"

The door in front of him swung open with great force, sending Subaru, who was leaning against it, flying.

He was blasted nearly five meters from the entrance of the stolen goods warehouse and rolled clumsily on the ground. As he raised his head in a daze, he saw an old man at the entrance, his face flushed with anger, glaring at him.

A burly, bald old man.

The jacket, which may have originally been white, had turned brown with dust and years of sweat, looking visibly unhygienic. The faintly wafting unpleasant smell might be caused by that.

Beneath those clothes was a muscular body, hinting at a robust strength that belied his old age.

In short, a big, bald, and incredibly energetic old man stood there.

"Who are you! With that unfamiliar face, what are you doing here? How did you find this place, how did you get here! Who introduced you!"

The old man closed the distance with tremendous speed and grabbed Subaru with his giant hand.

As he felt himself being lifted effortlessly off the ground, Subaru realized he had overstepped his bounds. What happened earlier was an exception. After all, he was just a completely average person.

No matter how good his basic physical strength was, against such an extraordinary opponent, it was pointless.

Being hoisted by the nearly two-meter-tall old man, all resistance drained from him,

"As a token of friendship, please have one."

In the face of the old man's furious expression, he could only manage to throw a piece of corn potage-flavored candy at him.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

After what must have been a meeting that left a terrible first impression, Subaru was invited into the stolen goods warehouse.

He sat uncomfortably on a fixed guest chair at the counter right inside the entrance, adjusting his seat from time to time.

The chair's splintered surface kept jabbing him sharply in the buttocks. If his anus were on the verge of exploding, the chair would be the trigger for sure.

"Why do you keep fidgeting... Are you that concerned about the position of your balls?"

"It's not like I'm worried about that. By the way, give back the bag of snacks. I didn't say you could have all of it."

Behind the counter, standing where the owner would normally be positioned, is a large elderly man. He lifts a small bag, which looks almost comically tiny in his muscular frame, and says:

"What a miser. Hogging such delicious stuff all to yourself, you'll go to hell for that."

"You think a geezer who steals and eats other people's delicious food won't end up in hell? Complaining while ignoring your own faults is a bad habit of your generation," retorted the younger man.

"Speaking gibberish again, huh? That's why young people these days... yum yum," the old man muttered as he continued eating.

"Stop eating it!!"

Leaning forward, he stretched out his arm and managed to snatch the bag of sweets from the old man’s hand. But by then, most of its contents had already been devoured by the elderly man. Subaru inspected the few remaining items and slumped his shoulders in disappointment.

"Oh... my precious corn potage snacks. I might never get to taste them again," sighed Subaru.

"Was that such valuable food? Well, it’s not something I’ve ever seen before. If it's that precious, why not request duplication magic?" suggested the old man.

"Duplication magic?"

"It's magic that can turn one item into two. It only copies the outer shell for living creatures, but food should be replicable," the old man explained while stroking his bald head.

Listening to the elderly man's words, Subaru was once again reminded of the convenience of magic. Reflecting on its versatility, Subaru subtly glanced around the room.

There was no sign of the mayhem Subaru had experienced earlier that evening at the stolen goods warehouse. As always, the place was filled with a disorganized array of various items, sprawling haphazardly in the ample space inside the warehouse.

Noticing Subaru's gaze, the elderly man narrowed his eyes meaningfully and asked,

"What's the matter, kid――are you interested in the stolen goods?"

He hit straight to the point.

The negotiations with the large old man who called himself Rom (he said they could call him Old Man Rom) proceeded surprisingly smoothly thanks to the golden sweets (this is meant literally, not metaphorically) that were offered in response to his angry shouts. Old Man Rom was so engrossed in the unfamiliar taste that he quickly and safely released Subaru.

Afterwards, Subaru explained that he had come on business, and that he had spoken with a middle-aged man in the slums. He conveyed this information to Old Man Rom, who accepted it, and thus they found themselves sitting across from each other at the counter.

On the other side of the counter, Old Man Rom placed his sturdy arms on the counter, poured a drink into a grimy glass, and gave a small laugh:

"Well, there's only two reasons why someone would come here. Either they're bringing in stolen goods or they're looking for stolen goods—one of those two."

"Indeed, one of my purposes is that."

"One purpose, huh. So, that means you have another matter to discuss?"

At Subaru's conditional affirmation, Old Man Rom raised an eyebrow. Subaru nodded and, hesitatingly, prepared himself to ask a question that he was ready to be mocked for.

"It's a ridiculous question, but... Old Man, have you recently died?"

He refrained from adding, “with your neck and right arm cut off.” Judging by appearances, there were no seams on his neck or shoulders. Hearing Subaru's question and seeing his gaze, Old Man Rom's grayish eyes widened for a moment before he suddenly broke into a smile as if time had started again.

"Gahaha, what a thing to ask. I admit I'm an old man on the verge of death, but unfortunately, I haven't experienced dying yet. Though at my age, it doesn't feel like an unlikely scenario."

Laughing as if he had heard a great joke, Old Man Rom offered Subaru a drink, "Want some?" Subaru waved off the sharp smell of alcohol wafting towards him and replied briefly, "Sorry," apologizing for his earlier statement.

Despite apologizing, Subaru's sense of unease only continued to grow.

Right now, the old man Rom-Ji who is exchanging words with him—Subaru had seen his corpse. In this very place, in the darkness, with one arm and his throat cut by a blade, this old man had turned into a silent corpse. However, as if to deny the scene burned into his eyes, Rom-Ji is cramming his large frame into the counter in front of Subaru, looking uncomfortably cramped. His ruddy face tilting a glass is unmistakably filled with blood, a clear contrast to the sickly pale death that had resulted from massive blood loss.

Rom-Ji is undoubtedly alive. And conversely, the same could be said about Subaru. Looking back, like Rom-Ji, Subaru had also sustained wounds so severe that it was normal to be dead. And yet, with a body that bore no signs of those wounds, he was visiting this place. Subaru was beginning to lose trust in his own mind, wondering if perhaps he was seeing a daydream.

"Are you telling me all those sensations were a dream...? Then from where to where is the dream, and why am I in this world?"

The complaints that anxiety had made him forget come surging back as he finds a place to settle down. If that feeling of self-blame, the burning pain of a fatal wound, and the warmth of the girl he briefly touched were all just remnants of a phantasm, then why is he here? He would rather be told that everything from the summoning to this other world was a dream. It would have made more sense than being told that everything experienced after arriving in the other world was a dream.

"Rom-Ji, have you seen a girl with silver hair around here?"

"Silver hair...? No, I haven't. If she had such a distinctive appearance, I wouldn't forget, no matter how much my old head is falling apart."

"Gahaha," Rom-Ji laughed heartily, but Subaru's expression, receiving this, did not improve. Seeing the seriousness in Subaru's demeanor, Rom-Ji stopped laughing and said,

"Drink."

He thrust a glass toward Subaru once more. Pouring an amber-colored liquid into the empty glass from a bottle, he filled it to the brim. Watching this silently, Subaru was told "Drink" once again, in a short tone.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for that. Besides, I'm not a kid who pretends to be tough by drinking."

"Idiot. Drinking and pretending to be tough is what brats do. Drink it down, feel the burn inside your stomach. When you can’t stand the heat anymore, everything will come pouring out."

"That's why you should drink," old man Rom said, pushing the glass towards Subaru for the third time.
Intimidated by his forceful manner, Subaru took the glass and brought the amber liquid to his nose. The strong smell of alcohol sharply hit his nostrils, and he grimaced involuntarily.
Despite striking a resistant stance, Subaru was also filled with the urge to obey Rom's words.
Even though he thought escaping with alcohol was the epitome of an uncool adult.

"Ah hell... whatever!"

He tilted the glass and gulped down the alcohol in one go.
He had no idea how strong the drink was, but as soon as he finished, he felt as if his entire body had caught fire.
The pathway of the drink through his throat screamed like a burn, and he slammed the glass down onto the counter with force.

"Pwah! Gah! It's disgusting! It's hot! It tastes awful! Ugh, it's terrible!"

"Don't keep saying it, you ungrateful fool! Those who can't appreciate the taste of alcohol are idiots who don't know how to enjoy half the pleasures of life."

As Subaru gagged on the rising heat, old man Rom shouted while taking a swig himself. He drank directly from the bottle without bothering to pour it into a glass.
He swallowed at least three times as much as Subaru had drunk and let out a rough burp, followed by laughter.

"Still, that was some good drinking! Feel like you can spit anything out now?"

"... Yeah! A little bit! Old man, I'm going to achieve the other part of my goal now."

Turning his face away from the laughing old man, Subaru wiped the spilled drink with his sleeve and pointed to the back of the warehouse. That's where the valuable stolen goods should be, unlike the poor-quality items scattered around.
Rom's face grew serious. Seeing that, Subaru also spoke clearly,

"I'm looking for a badge embedded with jewels. — I'd like you to hand it over."

Declaring his goal with words.

The initial objective—aside from confirming Satella's safety—the true reason for coming here. The emblem with a gemstone that was stolen from Satella. She hadn't explained why, but it was a piece worth risking her life to retrieve. He had heard that any stolen goods brought into the slums would invariably pass through here. If the emblem at least existed, Subaru could validate the daydream he had witnessed. Yet, in response to Subaru's desperate request, Rom-ji, with a difficult expression, said:

"An emblem with a gemstone... no, sorry, but no such item was brought in."

"…Are you sure? Think harder. Are you going senile or something, getting worn-out?"

"With alcohol in me, I'm in peak condition right now. If it doesn't come to mind in this situation, I can only say I don't know. But—"

Just as Subaru was about to lose his last hope, Rom-ji smiled suggestively and continued:

"I was told beforehand that there would be a significant drop-off today. If it's the emblem with the gemstone, there's a good possibility."

"Could it be that the one bringing it in is... that girl named Felt?"

"What, you even know the name of the thief?"

Rom-ji's surprised words made Subaru instinctively raise a fist triumphantly. The thread he thought had snapped suddenly reconnected here. The name of the girl thought to have stolen the emblem, Felt, had come up here. Naturally, this could also prove the existence of Satella, the girl who had the emblem stolen. At the very least, it could be said that the possibility of the silver-haired girl being an ideal event character born of Subaru’s delusions had diminished.

"I was worried it was just a reflection of my love for silver-haired heroines..."

"I'm sorry to break your strange sense of reassurance, but whether you can buy the brought-in item is a different matter entirely. An emblem with a gemstone would fetch a considerable price."

"Hah! No point in trying to rip me off. After all, I'm broke!"

"That's a non-starter!"

Rom-ji yelled, as if Subaru had dashed his hopes of negotiating for a higher price. But Subaru waved his raised finger side to side at Rom-ji and said,

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sure, I don't have money. But! In this world, money isn't the only way to obtain things. There's always the method of bartering, right?"

Old man Rom kept his mouth shut and did not argue. Subaru responded to the silence urging him to continue with a nod and rummaged through his pants pocket. What his hand pulled out was:

"—What is this? It's my first time seeing it."

"This is a magical device that slices out and freezes moments in time—‘mobile phone!’"

A compact-sized, white mobile phone. Seeing it for the first time, old man Rom's eyes widened in surprise. Subaru quickly inputted some commands, and a moment later, a white light sliced through the dim interior of the shop.
A click echoed, and old man Rom, startled by the light, exaggeratedly tumbled behind the counter. Subaru couldn’t help but laugh at the dramatic reaction.

"What was that just now! Are you trying to kill me! With all these suspicious tricks, don't underestimate an old man!"

"Wait, wait. Take a deep breath and calm down, then take a look at this."

Subaru pushed the mobile phone’s screen towards old man Rom, whose face was red for reasons other than alcohol. Old man Rom squinted suspiciously at the small screen—and then his eyes widened.
Reflected on the screen was his own face just taken moments ago. There was no such technology in this world.

Just as Subaru expected, old man Rom stared intently at the screen and said,

"This is... my face, isn't it? What is this about?"

"Didn't I say? It slices out and freezes moments in time. This device captured old man Rom's moment just now and trapped it inside here."

As he spoke, Subaru turned the camera towards himself and took a picture.
Then, showing the screen once more to old man Rom, who was eager to see the result, Subaru's face with a peace sign was displayed on the screen.

"This is how you can slice out moments of time. Although it's being used wastefully like this, it’s actually meant to capture memorable scenes."

"I see... Indeed, this is... Hmmm."

Putting his hand on his chin, Old Man Rom pondered as he peered into the cell phone.
Feeling the unexpected degree of interest, Subaru sensed the effectiveness of the negotiation.
As if to support Subaru's conviction, Old Man Rom gazed at the cell phone in his hand and said,

"This is the first time I've seen one... Is this what they call a 'magic device' I've heard about?"

"Magic device?"

Subaru tilted his head at the unfamiliar term. Old Man Rom nodded and said,

"It's a tool that allows even those who can't open a gate like a sorcerer to use magic. Though it's quite a rarity, so this is my first time seeing one."

Old Man Rom groaned in admiration as he looked at the cell phone intently, then placed it on the counter.
Turning back to Subaru, he said,

"The value of this thing is certainly immeasurable. I've been in this business a long time, but... this is the first time I’ve dealt with a magic device. However... there's no doubt it will fetch an unprecedented price."

Perhaps excited by seeing a magic device for the first time and having the chance to deal with one, Old Man Rom's voice shook slightly as he prefaced with "because of that,"

"Trading this in a barter would be a significant loss for you. I don't know the value of the emblem you're looking for, but it can't surpass this magic device. If you simply compare the monetary value, you'd be much better off selling this magic device."

It was a piece of advice that didn't fit the image of someone who manages a shady business dealing with stolen goods in the slums.
There was no doubt that it was an enticing piece of advice for Subaru.
In this world, Subaru had no value.
He couldn't use magic, he wasn't exceptionally strong, he had no knowledge, couldn't even read, and to make matters worse, he was penniless.

This dire situation could be slightly alleviated if he could sell this cell phone. At least, the financial worries would be gone for a while.
Given the clear vision of a future where he would obviously struggle for tomorrow's meal, it was something Subaru wanted so desperately that it was a natural choice, as obvious as belching after drinking cola. However,

"Ah, that will be fine. This magic tool will be exchanged for the badge that a girl named Felt brings."

"Why go to such lengths? Is that badge more valuable than this magic tool? Or do you mean to say it has a value beyond money?"

Rom-gee looked exasperated at Subaru's obstinate attitude. While asking about the value of the badge, his latter words had a hint of mockery. For someone living in a place like this, even if he conceptually understood the existence of things more important than money, actually acknowledging them would not be easy. Aware of such values, Subaru shook his head and said,

"To be honest, I’ve never even seen it in person. Even if I exchanged it for money, it probably wouldn't be worth more than this magic tool, and I'd definitely be at a complete loss."

"If you understand it that well, why would you do such a thing?"

"Isn't it obvious? -- I want to take the loss."

Rom-gee’s eyes widened for the third time, and Subaru watched with a feeling of exhilaration. Yes, that was the answer. Even if tomorrow's meal was in jeopardy, even if the future seemed utterly bleak, even if a scenario where he could fill a bathtub with wads of cash was getting farther away, there was value in taking the loss.

"I want to repay a debt of gratitude. Debts and favors should be returned properly. Otherwise, I can't sleep well. I'm neurotic like that, a modern kid. -- That's why, even if I take a huge loss, I will get that badge."

"Hmm… From what you're saying, it sounds like the badge wasn't originally yours, was it?"

"It belongs to a silver-haired beautiful girl who saved me. For some reason, it's important to her."

"And where is this benefactor? Isn't she with you?"

"I'm looking for her right now! Or rather, it might be that being saved by her, or even her very existence, was just a delusion dreamed up by me!”

Clenching his fist tightly, he voiced the fear he had just denied and laughed it off. The situation had connected this far. Satella, that girl, could not possibly be nonexistent. By obtaining the badge, he was determined to meet her once more.

Looking down at Subaru, who was firming his resolve, Rom-gee regarded him with eyes that seemed to view something bizarre from the depths of his heart, and,

"—You, you're quite the fool," he said, letting go of all emotions and just laughed merrily.