—Red. That single color filled Subaru's field of vision.
—!
A man in the Clown Mask appeared out of nowhere—his affiliation and intentions a complete mystery—and as a hello-and-goodbye rolled into one, he hurled a massive fireball at Subaru and the others. The rush of heat seared their skin, and the dim sewer blazed bright as midday. Yet all it accomplished was to make the oncoming flames, swelling to fill the narrow channel with no room to run, plainly visible—stoking a certain kind of despair.
With Crusch on his back, and having already burned through his once-a-day uses of E.M.T and E.M.M, Subaru was running on fumes, with no way to deal with this—
Goddammit!
he spat, rough and raw—and then what followed was a sludgy splash. Out at the edge of his vision, Rachins, who should have been right beside them, was gone. Like Subaru, hed been startled by Clown Masks appearance, but he reacted to the onrushing flames faster—without hesitation, he dove headfirst into the sewage running along the passage, the only possible escape route.
"Subaru! Betty and the rest of us—"
"No—"
Seeing Rachinss split-second decision, Beatrice grabbed the hem of Subarus tracksuit. With all the might her slight frame could muster, she tried to haul him down into the sewage. But Subaru planted his feet and resisted her. At his unexpected reaction, Beatrices voice cracked, "Subaru!?"
"Trust me, Beatrice."
—
Beatrices eyes flew wide as she stared, stunned, at Subarus firm declaration. Their gazes met; her round eyes, patterned with that distinctive motif, trembled, and she held her breath. And before she could say anything, the mass of flame was already upon them. Its overwhelming firepower would mercilessly incinerate Subaru and Beatrice where they stood—Crusch on his back and all—or so it would have… but it didnt.
—!
The flames surged in, scorching skin, the moisture in his body ready to flash to steam—so it seemed—when, just as the heatwave threatened to singe Subarus bangs, it vanished without warning. As if by sleight of hand, as if the sun had been hidden before their eyes, the brightness of the sewer dropped in an instant. All that remained were the weak lights from the lamp at their hands and the shards of Lagmite ore fallen on the walkway, and the sewer air left hot and singed by the gone flames. No—in fact, that wasnt all;
—Why?
"Huh...?"
"Why? How come? At that moment—there, in that spot... why didnt you move?"
In the murky gloom, the white mask of Clown Mask floated into view. Tilting his head—and his mask—Clown Mask looked puzzled. In fact, at some point hed swapped out the blatantly villainous mask hed first shown for another with X-marks over the eyes, a different expression plastered to his face. Irritated by the clowning, Subaru blew at his singed bangs and said,
"You said up front you had business with Crusch. So trying to burn Crusch to death along with us makes no sense."
"—. Ku—kuku—kuhahaha! Thats it? You held your ground on nothing but that? You couldve dragged your partner, the Great Spirit, into it too!"
"...But the gamble paid off."
"What a self-assured guy! As expected of The First Knight of the Royal Selection! So thats how youve hacked your way through until now—trusting your own decisiveness and insight! Amazing, splendid, Im in awe! Utterly, disgustingly enviable!"
Despite the loud words of praise, Clown Masks tone held not a shred of regard for Subaru as he clapped grandly. The thunderous applause split the air and echoed hollowly through the sewer; grinding his teeth, Subaru silently endured the insults wearing the mask of flattery. All of it was so as not to provoke the opponent needlessly, but—
"What just happened is the result of Subarus wits outstripping your schemes. To set that aside and start needling him with character attacks is the very picture of foolishness."
Since Subaru didnt answer back, Beatrice, eyes hard with intensity, snapped at their opponent in his place. At that, Clown Mask put a hand to his head with a "Ta-ha!" and said,
"How devoted, how loving! A spirit and its contractor are like a key and a lock that click perfectly into place. Neither can exist as they are without the other. And that is exactly why! A bond can be poison or a cure!"
"Youre impossible to reason with... Youve got the same repulsiveness that reminds me of a Sin Archbishop."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa—give me a break, have mercy. Of all things, a Sin Archbishop! Dont lump me in with that lot, and besides, arent you the ones being suspected of that in the first place?"
"Suspected? Of what...?"
"Sin Archbishop, he says! Up top they're abuzz with that rumor, Natsuki Subaru. You might be a Sin Archbishop of 'Sloth' on the inside! Everyone's in a total panic going, 'What do we do, what do we do?!'"
"—!"
Clown Mask fluttered his hand as he taunted them, then swapped his mask back to its usual expression. The attitude grated on him every time, but he didn't even have room to comment. Being treated like a Sin Archbishop weighed that heavily on Subaru's heart.
"Me, a Sin Archbishop..."
"Even ridiculous speculation has its limits. If that's true, then what does it make all the times Subaru has thrashed the Witch Cult up to now? Are you going to call that friendly fire from infighting?"
"Who knooows, don't know, don't care! Nobody's interested in the truth; maybe they just want to stage and spread information that's convenient for them in a way that puts them at an advantage. People like that... really tick you off, huh?"
Even as he spoke, Clown Mask swayed about theatrically, unable to keep still. Only that last added line sounded like the true feelings of the eccentric in front of them. Feeling that, Subaru drew in a deep breath, let it out, and then,
"So, in the end..."
"Huh? Huh-uh? Mmm~?"
"What are you after? I get that you're trying to take Crusch with you. But what for, and for whose sake? Dressed like that, there's no way I'm buying the Royal Soldiers line."
On top of being chased by the Royal Soldiers, the fact he was being treated as a Sin Archbishop was enough to give Subaru, who practically has a Sin Archbishop allergy, hives—but he shelved that for now. Focusing the problem solely on the Clown Mask before him, the natural question bubbled up. They were aiming to secure Crusch's person. However, they weren't allies of the Royal Soldiers. —Which naturally led to the guess that they were part of the group that had set Subaru and the others up.
Frankly, even putting Crusch aside, against an opponent who could handle magic to that degree, Subaru and Beatrice, running on empty, had no chance of winning by straight means. They had to somehow draw out information, buy time, and find a breakthrough—and just then,
"—? You—what's that?"
"Mmm~? What is it, what's wrong, if you're trying to stall for—yikes."
At Subaru's frowning remark, Clown Mask looked down at his own body and groaned. What Subaru had pointed out was the black garb that concealed Clown Mask's figure completely—within whose breast something was faintly visible: a blinking light. At the sight of that flashing light, something occurred to Subaru.
"Could that be a 'Conversation Mirror'?"
"Ah! Ee! Oo! No way no how that's what it is, right? I'll have you know! My belly lighting up isn't going to change your fate or anything—"
"The light's only getting stronger. It must be something awfully important."
"Nnngh...! You lot! Right there! In that spot! Just wait a second!"
Spitting as he barked that, Clown Mask turned his back on Subaru and the others then and there. His so brazenly exposed opening left them momentarily dumbfounded. With his back to them, Clown Mask rummaged in his clothes and pulled out something—most likely a 'Conversation Mirror'—and seemed to start talking to someone through the glass. Even while showing them a back full of openings, he wasn't treating Subaru and the others as a threat. As if to say so—it was infuriating beyond belief, but—
"Now's our only chance. Hey, haul me up...!"
A hushed voice struck Subaru's ear just as he'd decided only to move. Glancing toward the voice, it came from the sewer flowing right beside them—there, Rachins was bobbing with his head sticking out of the black surface.
"Chin! You were in the sewer this whole time!?"
"I didn't want to carelessly draw that guy's attention! And there's a chain sunk in the water—it got tangled around my leg and I can't get up..."
"If you'd drowned like that, that would have been the worst way to die, you know."
"Shut it! Just lend me a hand already!"
Hearing Rachins shouting from the sewer, Subaru hesitated for a second over what to do. Of course he wanted to help pull him up, but with Crusch on his back, Subaru's hands were full. That meant relying on Beatrice, but with her weight and strength, it was doubtful she could haul Rachins up; more likely they'd just end up with one more sewer victim. In that case, he might as well make use of Murak, who could interfere with gravity, and at the same time force a way through—
"Ahh, damn it, damn it all! I'm doing this properly! It's a little flashy, and I won't say I'm not acting on my own a bit, but I'm not ignoring orders or deviating or doing anything that sounds so bad to people!"
"—!"
Raising his voice, the Clown Mask stomped his feet and insisted to the other side of the Conversation Mirror. After that, whatever his conversation partner said to him, he tossed back a throwaway reply like someone giving in—"Fine, fine!"—and then—
"Hey, heads up—catch it without dropping it!"
"Huh? Wait—Beako!"
"—That’s dangerous!"
Turning back, the Clown Mask, his shoulders drooping with a sigh, suddenly threw something. The instant Subaru realized it was the Conversation Mirror, he called out Beatrice’s name. As mentioned earlier, with Subaru carrying Crusch on his back, his hands weren’t free. So the one who managed to catch the gently arcing object was Beatrice, who hastily stretched out both hands.
"I-I almost dropped it. What are you thinking…?"
"The folks on the other side of that mirror say they want to talk, to exchange words with you!"
"With us?"
At the words of the sulky-looking Clown Mask, Subaru and Beatrice exchanged glances. Then, cautiously—while keeping an eye on the Clown Mask for any suspicious moves—they peered into the Conversation Mirror in Beatrice’s hands. And in the mirror’s surface, the figure of the Clown Mask’s interlocutor rose into view—
『—Ah, it came through! Um, can you see my face?』
"——"
Hearing that and seeing the person reflected in the mirror, Subaru didn’t know how to react. He hadn’t imagined that the one forming an image in the Conversation Mirror the Clown Mask had handed over would be a girl with a childlike face.
She wasn’t a girl Subaru knew. She looked one or two years younger than him. With long, lustrous navy hair tied high into twin tails to either side and round, prominent golden eyes, she made a strong impression. Within the mirror’s narrow frame, the well-shaped features and somehow fragile air of the girl were set off by a crisp, thin tie at the collar of a white shirt and a jet-black jacket over it—a getup that favored utility over flash: a black suit. She was looking at them through the mirror. The gap between the girl’s earnest gaze and the situation threw Subaru into great confusion.
"You… no—who are you?"
『Um, I’m called White Sheep. I’m afraid the Black Dog over there—the man in the mask—has caused you a great deal of trouble… I’m sorry!』
"S-Sorry…?"
The girl who introduced herself as White Sheep said that and, all of a sudden, bowed deeply on the other side of the mirror. With the force of it, she even dropped out of the mirror’s view, and Subaru’s brain couldn’t keep up with processing it. The Clown Mask—the man the girl had called Black Dog—was obviously dangerous. Yet the girl, who seemed to be on the same side as that Black Dog, was bowing her head to Subaru and the others like this—it was topsy-turvy, or mismatched, as if she were deliberately trying to throw them off.
"Frankly, I don’t know what to think of you people. My own position is hazy as it is, and my head and heart are in a total mess. Give me something to go on."
『Something to go on?』
"If you’re enemies, just say you’re enemies—because I’ll smash right through you." "As usual, I suppose."
When Subaru declared that, Beatrice beside him nodded with a brazen look. As confirmed beforehand, the current Subaru and Beatrice were in a severe mana-shortage, running-on-empty state, their hand in tatters. But there was no need to spell that out. Even if you’re holding a total bust with no combo, bluffing is the trick to surviving in another world.
『——』
At Subaru and Beatrice’s words, White Sheep’s eyes widened on the other side of the mirror. She must be the type whose feelings show easily on her face. You could see her trying to suppress any change in expression as much as she could, but her eye movements and facial muscles clearly weren’t up to it. And apparently she knew that about herself too, as someone who faces a mirror every morning,
『You really say it straight, don’t you. …Aren’t you afraid?』
"I am. But it’s better when the crisis is in my own hands. It’s far better than, while I’m dithering, having the crisis roll off to somewhere beyond my reach."
『—. Once more, I’m sorry. The reason Black Dog messed with you was due to our mishandling, and because he was thinking of me.』
"I get the feeling I’m being told something selfish and self-centered, kuhahahaha."
While White Sheep apologized for the mistake of someone on her own side, the masked Black Dog quite literally kept a know-nothing face. Leaving that utterly unrewarding Black Dog aside, the girl’s gaze on the other side of the mirror shifted—that was proof that, from White Sheep’s vantage point, her attention had gone to Subaru’s back. To back that up, while staring at Crusch asleep on Subaru’s back, White Sheep,
『We would like to protect—no, secure—the person of Crusch Karsten. We need her power.』
「Crusch’s power…? Could that be about her left eye?」
Subaru cast a sidelong glance, becoming conscious of the left eye beneath the eyepatch of Crusch, whom he was carrying on his back. It was entirely plausible she would be targeted either for the obvious abnormality that had occurred to her, or for that Dragon Eye. The fact that White Sheep had gone out of their way to correct “protect” to “secure” was probably because they thought merely promising to ensure her physical safety wasn’t the right way to put it. However, contrary to Subaru’s expectation, White Sheep looked puzzled—『Left eye?』—and,
『We haven’t been told anything about her eye. What we need is the power of the Blessing of the Wind that Crusch Karsten possesses』
「――A blessing」
『Yes. We need that power.――For the battle against the Beloved Child』
With that, she uttered a term he had never heard before, along with firm resolve and determination.
△▼△▼△▼△
――A battle against the Beloved Child.
White Sheep had said they needed Crusch’s blessing for that fight. Told that, irrespective of the Dragon Eye dwelling in Crusch’s left eye, their objective was to secure her person, Subaru felt a mismatch in the focus of the discussion. He hadn’t expected to have the existence of a completely unknown enemy dangled before him here in the first place.
「Feels like things are getting muddled again… so what is this “Beloved Child” supposed to be?」
『They are our enemy. Probably… Natsuki Subaru, an enemy to you as well』
「…Am I right to take that as meaning it’s tied to the urgent situation right now?」
『――Yes. They’re the ones pulling the strings behind the current chaos in the Royal Capital』
Declared outright to be the principal enemy behind this situation, Subaru held his breath. Honestly, White Sheep’s statement was the most welcome thing for Subaru right now. The truth is, he’d been in the thick of confusion, with no clue who the enemy was or what their objective might be. Just having the desired information laid out plainly was enough to raise his opinion of White Sheep. However—
「If you need Crusch for this fight with the so-called “Beloved Child” and approached us for that reason, then picking that masked bastard as your negotiator is one hell of a miscast…」
『N-no, um, the Royal Capital is in a pretty alarming state right now, so unless someone is as capable as the Black Dog, it’s, well, dangerous to wander around…』
「Aaaand besides, it was only that the person I happened to tail by chance turned out to be a hit—I wasn’t choo-sen as the negotiator. So don’t go thinking it’s White Sheep’s fault, you lot」
「How does that make you sound so high and mighty? Don’t tell me you thought that was a save just now? If so, what you lack isn’t sense—it’s an understanding of people’s hearts」
「Kuhahahaha, you pint-sized brat in a sewer-stinking dress. Shall I shut that little mouth of yours for you?」
Because of the intimidating blaze used for threats and his words, Beatrice’s hostility toward the Black Dog was intense. With the Black Dog’s sneering retorts on top of that, Subaru couldn’t find the slightest reason to like him either. Moreover, something in what the Black Dog had just said caught Subaru’s attention.
「Did you just say you tailed someone? Does that mean…」
「Sharp-eyed and shrewd, eh, Sir Knight! Too right, too right! Flailing around blindly for a target is a waste of time, stamina, and life, yeah? So I used a different approach. I meaaaan, I tailed someone who looked likely to find them for me! Right now they’re in the stinking water」
「Stinking… water…」
「Hey! How long are you assholes gonna keep chitchatting! Hurry up and help me already!」
Prompted by the Black Dog, who was answering while swaying his hips from side to side, they looked toward the sewers—just in time for Rachins, who’d been left there, to let out a bellow. On Felt’s orders, Rachins, well-versed in the underbelly of the Royal Capital, had been a huge help in finding Subaru and the others, but it seemed the Black Dog and his lot had made use of that. Even so, that hardly diminished their gratitude toward Rachins—well, only a tiny bit.
「We can’t have him treading water forever. Mind if we haul him up?」
「Haul him up? The guy who’s been soaking in that filthy, reeking water? I figure the discussion would proceed more hygienically if we just left him to sink as he is」
『…Black Dog, if you’ve inconvenienced anyone—』
「Fine, fiine! Maybe I bear a teensy bit of responsibility for him jumping in. And maybe—just a teeny, tiny bit—I thought it would’ve saved us trouble if only the duke on your back had fallen off and the rest of you had ended up charred black」
「Before you tank our impression of you any further with that worthless mouth of yours, how about you get moving already」
The impression 『White Sheep』 had managed to earn was ruined by 『Black Dog』’s needless remarks. With the true intent behind that threatening flame laid bare, his rating as a dangerous individual rose even higher. Keeping that in mind, Subaru and Beatrice took a step back, wary as 『Black Dog』 reached out a hand to Rachins, who had fallen into the sewage. With magic skill like his, merely breaking eye contact from their side wasn’t enough to feel safe. And that wariness of theirs—
「――ah?」
It wasn’t toward 『Black Dog』, who had crouched by the waterway, that their vigilance proved useful, but for sensing a different anomaly. Crack. Somewhere, there was a sound like a fingernail scratching thin porcelain. Reflexively, Subaru’s gaze snapped toward the sound.――Deep in the sewer, in the feeble glow of the Lagmite ore Rachins had tossed at the feet of the 『Black Dog』 and left there, someone’s shadow was cast.
「――――」
A woman. Wrapped in a cloak that was neither quite black nor gray, her wavy dark-green hair stuffed into its collar, her face sickly with heavy shadows under her eyes. For an instant, Subaru wondered if she, too, was an ally of 『Black Dog』 or 『White Sheep』. But before he could press the question, the woman moved within Subaru’s field of view. One hand hung limp; with the other—her left, raised before her chest—she pinched something like a white fragment between her fingers. With a twitch of her fingers, that fragment crumbled.
――In the next instant, a crack spread from the woman’s feet, writhing like a snake across the sewer’s paving stones and rushing toward Subaru and the others.
「Whoa!?」
At the tremendous disturbance, Rachins, who had been about to grasp 『Black Dog』’s hand, let out a cry. The racing fissures didn’t stop at the floor. To the walls, to the ceiling—they leapt from one filthy stone of the sewer to the next, turning milky white the framework that supported the old, damp foundations of the Royal Capital. It was as if everything in sight were being replaced with glass.
『――『Black Dog』!』
Even beyond the mirror, it got through; 『White Sheep』 cried out in a voice close to a scream. But sadly, no matter how much she raised her voice, she couldn’t interfere with Subaru and the others, distant through the mirror.――However, her shout wasn’t meaningless.
「Don’t sob or wail in a shaky voice—I get it!」
At that one shout, the air of mischief clinging to 『Black Dog』 vanished. He spun quickly and planted himself squarely before the spreading cracks. You could tell that, even though it shouldn’t be visible behind his mask, his gaze was stabbing sharply at the woman in the dark. With a grand click of the tongue, 『Black Dog』 clicked his tongue.
「Worst of the worst! You show up here and now, of all times!?」
「You know her!?」
「Someone I never wanted to know or ever meet. Clarissa the Breaker――『Beloved Child』!」
At the name 『Black Dog』 spat out, both Subaru and, beyond the mirror, 『White Sheep』 gasped. The woman called Clarissa didn’t answer. She simply pinched another small fragment from the pouch she held in her lowered hand. It looked like a pebble.
「Wait, wait, wait, wait—if you do that here—」
『Black Dog』 shouted to stop her on instinct, but the stone broke first. A clear snap rang through the sewer――at that signal, the next wave of destruction propagated.
「You’ve gotta be kidding me…!」
New destruction spread through the sewer where the cracks had been racing; the wall right beside them turned milky white, and then the peeling, falling ceiling came down to crush them.
「Beatrice!」 「I know!」
Responding to the call, Beatrice spread her five fingers toward the collapsing ceiling. They had already used both E.M.T and E.M.M and were running on empty, making proper combat difficult—yet making do with a short hand was exactly how Subaru and Beatrice’s partnership worked.
「Murak!」
The chant interfered with reality, and the collapsing ceiling fragments took on a pale light, holding their once-lethal weight down to about that of pumice. Shielding the tall Crusch from that rain of pumice and pulling Beatrice in as well, Subaru leapt back in a big bound――and in the next instant, as the collapse’s weight returned, half the sewer was buried.
「Nice, amazing, shorty! Not a bad split-second call!」
「If you went and got saved along with us, then be crisp and give us the info! About that woman!」
「Ability-user! She splits things! Breaks them! A gloomy woman who’s no fun to talk to! I’ll kill her now!」
Benefiting from Beatrice’s handling and escaping the collapse, 『Black Dog』 shouted with a laugh, raised a gale at the rubble that had fallen and clogged the passage, and blasted a storm of stones down the corridor. It didn’t miss its mark, surging toward Clarissa deeper down the passage――but the instant a light cracking sound was heard again, the stones racing through the air were shattered and had turned to dust by the time they could reach her.
「Is that—her breaking the stones—what’s doing it?」
Fixing his eyes on Clarissa's movements and seeing her left hand let the powdered stone she had crushed fall away, Subaru guessed that the very act hid the logic behind that abnormal destruction. And that the pouch Clarissa held still contained plenty of pebbles for that purpose.
"Hey, fire! If it's something without a physical body, you shouldn't be able to stop it by cracking it!"
"I see your point, but too bad! I've already used up my fire—it's not in my hand anymore!"
"Huh!? —wait, this is bad!"
『Black Dog』's incomprehensible rejection—and as the flustered Subaru watched, Clarissa smoothly, with movements like a sacred ritual, pinched the next pebble between her fingers. Already, the floor and walls around Subaru and the others looked on the verge of collapse; if Clarissa broke that fragment, the whole stretch of the sewers might shatter at once. At this rate—
"—Hey! Over here! Get over here!"
"—t, chin!?"
At that moment, a desperate call rose up from the sewer, and Subaru and the others turned. There, Rachins was floating in the water, one hand clinging to the wall of the channel while the other yanked on something black—A rusty chain. Hauling that mud-blackened thing up from the bottom, Rachins shouted at the top of his lungs.
"It's the Sedimentation Tank! There's a ton of sludge packed in a side chamber off the main flow!"
"Sedi..."
The sudden primer on the sewer's workings sent an electric shock down Subaru's spine. A Sedimentation Tank, filled with rotten sludge—this meant the worst possibility—
"No way, you...!"
"Heh! Your head does work."
Soaked in foul water, hair plastered to his brow in a sorry state, yet with the whites of his eyes blazing, Rachins grinned at Subaru, who had arrived at the same idea, and gave the chain a mighty pull.
The rusted, filth-smeared chain gave a dull clank—then a heavy creak rose from the bottom.
As if to match that sound, bubbles welled up along the waterline by the wall. Small at first, they multiplied, and in an instant sent the black surface seething. —In that moment, the already foul air of the sewers was smothered by a stench like rotten eggs that surpassed it.
Rachins's aim was clear. There was no time to hesitate.
"What about Crusch—"
Conscious of Crusch asleep on his back, Subaru hesitated for a split second over what to do. Thinking of what came next, leaving her unconscious was far too dangerous. In that very instant of Subaru's hesitation, 『Black Dog』 moved. —Suddenly, he was shoved.
"You—!"
"Better this than getting thrown, sent flying, and having it shattered!"
Saying that, 『Black Dog』 leapt headlong into the sewer, dragging Subaru, Crusch, and even Beatrice along with him. Just before they hit the water—suddenly their view was covered in black, and the welcome of the filthy water that should have been there never came. Looking, he saw it was a gigantic, half-formed ball, made by 『Black Dog』 from a mass of earth, trying to wrap them up and enclose them completely—
『Please! Trust me!』
In the spur of the moment, the 『White Sheep』 reflected in the mirror pleaded earnestly. Urged on by that, Subaru, inside the sinking earthen hemisphere, entrusted Crusch's body to the nearby Beatrice and stretched his hand toward the outside of the closing ball. And then—
"—Come on, Rachins!"
"Don't act all high and mighty giving orders!"
Rachins, having finished hauling on the chain, awkwardly kicked off the wall and came flying toward them. Grabbing his outstretched arm, Subaru yanked his slim body into the hemisphere in one go. Tangled together, they fell onto their backs. Almost simultaneously, the hemisphere sealed completely, and the faint sound of a pebble being crushed reached them.
Shaking and a roar came from beyond the thick walls of the sealed earthen mass. But more than that—
"Blow it away. —Goa."
Still piled on top of Subaru, Rachins spat that out and snapped his fingers. —A moment later, red light spread beyond the earthen wall, and the sound and the shock arrived after.
"—!?"
A force like being slugged from the pit of his stomach rocked the world, and Subaru screamed. Even underwater, even inside the earthen sphere, it was hot. Blinding. A blast that seemed ready to tear his eardrums apart detonated.
"—ah"
A soundless scream rampaged inside Natsuki Subaru's body. Round and round and round, heaven and earth spun at a terrible speed; the earthen sphere sunk in the water was swept along with ferocious force, slammed again and again into something massive, battered, his consciousness about to blink out.
What had accumulated in the Sedimentation Tank was combustible gas generated from the mass of filth. Rachins had opened the lid of that Sedimentation Tank, and, by igniting the copious amount that gushed out, had blown away the sewers themselves along with Clarissa, who had been targeting them. —No, he couldn't tell what had become of the sewers. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He couldn't comprehend.
Buffeted without respite by the surge of water and the bounding balls of earth, Subaru clung for dear life, squeezing tight the small, familiar weight and the one he had to protect.
He gritted his teeth and endured.――That was the very best Subaru could do right now.
――――
He gritted his teeth and kept enduring, kept enduring, kept enduring. Until his consciousness was swallowed by a torrent no eye could see, he just, just kept enduring――
△▼△▼△▼△
――When he woke, the first thing he registered was a smell.
Not the stench of rotten eggs, nor the stink of sewage smeared with filth. What drifted to him was the tang of alcohol and the scent of dry cloth. Air warmed without fire passed through his nasal cavity; finding it oddly clean, he drew in a deep breath――and choked.
「Gehah! Goh――! Ofeh!」
「Kyaah, goodness!」
As Subaru hacked and his body jerked with the fit, the weight that had been resting on his chest and belly bounced with him, and he heard it let out that adorable little scream. He opened his eyes and, refocusing his blurry vision with a few blinks, found Beatrice wearing a sullen scowl right beside where he lay. Seeing Beatrice with a blanket draped over her shoulders, Subaru’s lips trembled.
「Beako... are you okay?」
「Somehow, some way, I suppose. It was less a close shave than about a hundred of them, I wonder.」
「That ‘one hair’s breadth’ is literally a single hair, so if you start multiplying it, the meaning changes... anyway, never mind that. More importantly, if you and I are safe, the others――」
「Calm down. Before you make a fuss, look around you, I suppose.」
As Subaru leaned forward, his forehead came to a sharp stop against Beatrice’s hand. With his brow held in place by that small palm, he moved only his eyes—and saw it: on the bed next to the one he lay on, Crusch was also lying down.
「Crusch... thank goodness. She’s all right... isn’t she?」
「Not that I’ve heard, I suppose. But she hasn’t opened her eyes even once since then. How long the strain on those eyes will last is unknown even to Betty, you know.」
「I see... Ah, and Chin’s here too. That’s a relief.」
Beside the relief he felt at seeing Crusch on the bed, her chest rising and falling steadily in sleep, there on a long bench beyond was Rachins, rolled up in a blanket like a cocoon. He hadn’t woken, but perhaps the bench made for poor sleep; still asleep, his brow was furrowed and he mumbled something under his breath.――For the leading player whose quick thinking had saved Subaru and the others, it was a rather rough way to be treated, Subaru thought with a wry smile, but—
「...Where are we?」
As relief loosened his strength and he planted a hand on the bed, Subaru finally arrived at that question. The place was not just different in smell; it clearly wasn’t the sewers to look at, either. The stone-walled room had no windows, and the only light came from a small lamp. By the bedside, a pitcher of water, bandages, and folded cloths were neatly arranged, and the word infirmary drifted hazily through his mind.
「Or maybe a hidden clinic? Like a back-alley doctor’s hideout...」
「――っ！ You’re awake, Natsuki Subaru!」
No sooner had he voiced that stray thought than a voice, almost like an ambush, came at Subaru from his flank. He turned, and there in the doorway stood the girl he had seen through the mirror: a girl in a black suit with long navy hair tied to either side—White Sheep. Meeting face-to-face rather than through a mirror, White Sheep clasped her hands before her chest, opened them, clasped them again, opened them—and after repeating that several times,
「I-I’m so glad... I was on pins and needles, worried something might have happened to all of you...」
「Right... thanks for worrying about us?」
「Yes! No! Um? Which should it be...?」
Apology, thanks, grievances—which to process, and in what order? Unable to decide, both Subaru and White Sheep short-circuited. They had been saved, no doubt. But just before that, they had been threatened by Black Dog, White Sheep’s companion; questions abounded as to what the proper response should be. And just as he was thinking that――
「――White Sheep, you must not trouble Natsuki-dono. You are supposed to be different from Black Dog. Otherwise, we will have to reconsider our approach.」
「――――」
It was a voice from behind the flustered White Sheep standing in the doorway. Hearing it and then seeing the speaker reveal himself, Subaru caught his breath, eyes flying wide. He should have had more than enough surprises for one day already, yet another one arrived. For the person who appeared together with White Sheep was someone Subaru knew as well.
「You... Mr. Russell?」
In a halting voice, the name Subaru uttered was that of someone he had had ties with long ago—a merchant he had met when the Royal Selection first began, whom he had negotiated with to provide logistical support and supplies right after the White Whale subjugation battle; though they hadn’t stood shoulder to shoulder on the battlefield, they had fought the same enemy. Bearing the title of representative of the Commercial Guild of the Royal Capital, Russell Fellow stood there.
"――――"
With his mind in the throes of confusion and turmoil, Subaru could only stare blankly at Russell, so serenely composed. Under Subaru's gaze, the gentleman in a well-tailored suit smiled and gave a deep nod. For some reason, that smile sent a chill down Subaru's spine—the kind of smile that, for a mere merchant, felt laden with far too many designs. And Subaru's foreboding proved correct.
"Meeting you like this is truly a stroke of good fortune, Sir Natsuki. In the face of this unprecedented peril to the kingdom, I humbly ask that you lend us your strength and insight."
"An unprecedented, massive crisis for the kingdom...?"
"Yes."
Though it was a situation in which no one should be smiling, Russell went on, his smile undiminished. It was—
"—The enemy's aim is a quiet, and utterly thorough, invasion of the kingdom. The very heart of the kingdom has already fallen into the hands of our long-standing archenemy, and we stand on the brink of annihilation."
—!
A man in the Clown Mask appeared out of nowhere—his affiliation and intentions a complete mystery—and as a hello-and-goodbye rolled into one, he hurled a massive fireball at Subaru and the others. The rush of heat seared their skin, and the dim sewer blazed bright as midday. Yet all it accomplished was to make the oncoming flames, swelling to fill the narrow channel with no room to run, plainly visible—stoking a certain kind of despair.
With Crusch on his back, and having already burned through his once-a-day uses of E.M.T and E.M.M, Subaru was running on fumes, with no way to deal with this—
Goddammit!
he spat, rough and raw—and then what followed was a sludgy splash. Out at the edge of his vision, Rachins, who should have been right beside them, was gone. Like Subaru, hed been startled by Clown Masks appearance, but he reacted to the onrushing flames faster—without hesitation, he dove headfirst into the sewage running along the passage, the only possible escape route.
"Subaru! Betty and the rest of us—"
"No—"
Seeing Rachinss split-second decision, Beatrice grabbed the hem of Subarus tracksuit. With all the might her slight frame could muster, she tried to haul him down into the sewage. But Subaru planted his feet and resisted her. At his unexpected reaction, Beatrices voice cracked, "Subaru!?"
"Trust me, Beatrice."
—
Beatrices eyes flew wide as she stared, stunned, at Subarus firm declaration. Their gazes met; her round eyes, patterned with that distinctive motif, trembled, and she held her breath. And before she could say anything, the mass of flame was already upon them. Its overwhelming firepower would mercilessly incinerate Subaru and Beatrice where they stood—Crusch on his back and all—or so it would have… but it didnt.
—!
The flames surged in, scorching skin, the moisture in his body ready to flash to steam—so it seemed—when, just as the heatwave threatened to singe Subarus bangs, it vanished without warning. As if by sleight of hand, as if the sun had been hidden before their eyes, the brightness of the sewer dropped in an instant. All that remained were the weak lights from the lamp at their hands and the shards of Lagmite ore fallen on the walkway, and the sewer air left hot and singed by the gone flames. No—in fact, that wasnt all;
—Why?
"Huh...?"
"Why? How come? At that moment—there, in that spot... why didnt you move?"
In the murky gloom, the white mask of Clown Mask floated into view. Tilting his head—and his mask—Clown Mask looked puzzled. In fact, at some point hed swapped out the blatantly villainous mask hed first shown for another with X-marks over the eyes, a different expression plastered to his face. Irritated by the clowning, Subaru blew at his singed bangs and said,
"You said up front you had business with Crusch. So trying to burn Crusch to death along with us makes no sense."
"—. Ku—kuku—kuhahaha! Thats it? You held your ground on nothing but that? You couldve dragged your partner, the Great Spirit, into it too!"
"...But the gamble paid off."
"What a self-assured guy! As expected of The First Knight of the Royal Selection! So thats how youve hacked your way through until now—trusting your own decisiveness and insight! Amazing, splendid, Im in awe! Utterly, disgustingly enviable!"
Despite the loud words of praise, Clown Masks tone held not a shred of regard for Subaru as he clapped grandly. The thunderous applause split the air and echoed hollowly through the sewer; grinding his teeth, Subaru silently endured the insults wearing the mask of flattery. All of it was so as not to provoke the opponent needlessly, but—
"What just happened is the result of Subarus wits outstripping your schemes. To set that aside and start needling him with character attacks is the very picture of foolishness."
Since Subaru didnt answer back, Beatrice, eyes hard with intensity, snapped at their opponent in his place. At that, Clown Mask put a hand to his head with a "Ta-ha!" and said,
"How devoted, how loving! A spirit and its contractor are like a key and a lock that click perfectly into place. Neither can exist as they are without the other. And that is exactly why! A bond can be poison or a cure!"
"Youre impossible to reason with... Youve got the same repulsiveness that reminds me of a Sin Archbishop."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa—give me a break, have mercy. Of all things, a Sin Archbishop! Dont lump me in with that lot, and besides, arent you the ones being suspected of that in the first place?"
"Suspected? Of what...?"
"Sin Archbishop, he says! Up top they're abuzz with that rumor, Natsuki Subaru. You might be a Sin Archbishop of 'Sloth' on the inside! Everyone's in a total panic going, 'What do we do, what do we do?!'"
"—!"
Clown Mask fluttered his hand as he taunted them, then swapped his mask back to its usual expression. The attitude grated on him every time, but he didn't even have room to comment. Being treated like a Sin Archbishop weighed that heavily on Subaru's heart.
"Me, a Sin Archbishop..."
"Even ridiculous speculation has its limits. If that's true, then what does it make all the times Subaru has thrashed the Witch Cult up to now? Are you going to call that friendly fire from infighting?"
"Who knooows, don't know, don't care! Nobody's interested in the truth; maybe they just want to stage and spread information that's convenient for them in a way that puts them at an advantage. People like that... really tick you off, huh?"
Even as he spoke, Clown Mask swayed about theatrically, unable to keep still. Only that last added line sounded like the true feelings of the eccentric in front of them. Feeling that, Subaru drew in a deep breath, let it out, and then,
"So, in the end..."
"Huh? Huh-uh? Mmm~?"
"What are you after? I get that you're trying to take Crusch with you. But what for, and for whose sake? Dressed like that, there's no way I'm buying the Royal Soldiers line."
On top of being chased by the Royal Soldiers, the fact he was being treated as a Sin Archbishop was enough to give Subaru, who practically has a Sin Archbishop allergy, hives—but he shelved that for now. Focusing the problem solely on the Clown Mask before him, the natural question bubbled up. They were aiming to secure Crusch's person. However, they weren't allies of the Royal Soldiers. —Which naturally led to the guess that they were part of the group that had set Subaru and the others up.
Frankly, even putting Crusch aside, against an opponent who could handle magic to that degree, Subaru and Beatrice, running on empty, had no chance of winning by straight means. They had to somehow draw out information, buy time, and find a breakthrough—and just then,
"—? You—what's that?"
"Mmm~? What is it, what's wrong, if you're trying to stall for—yikes."
At Subaru's frowning remark, Clown Mask looked down at his own body and groaned. What Subaru had pointed out was the black garb that concealed Clown Mask's figure completely—within whose breast something was faintly visible: a blinking light. At the sight of that flashing light, something occurred to Subaru.
"Could that be a 'Conversation Mirror'?"
"Ah! Ee! Oo! No way no how that's what it is, right? I'll have you know! My belly lighting up isn't going to change your fate or anything—"
"The light's only getting stronger. It must be something awfully important."
"Nnngh...! You lot! Right there! In that spot! Just wait a second!"
Spitting as he barked that, Clown Mask turned his back on Subaru and the others then and there. His so brazenly exposed opening left them momentarily dumbfounded. With his back to them, Clown Mask rummaged in his clothes and pulled out something—most likely a 'Conversation Mirror'—and seemed to start talking to someone through the glass. Even while showing them a back full of openings, he wasn't treating Subaru and the others as a threat. As if to say so—it was infuriating beyond belief, but—
"Now's our only chance. Hey, haul me up...!"
A hushed voice struck Subaru's ear just as he'd decided only to move. Glancing toward the voice, it came from the sewer flowing right beside them—there, Rachins was bobbing with his head sticking out of the black surface.
"Chin! You were in the sewer this whole time!?"
"I didn't want to carelessly draw that guy's attention! And there's a chain sunk in the water—it got tangled around my leg and I can't get up..."
"If you'd drowned like that, that would have been the worst way to die, you know."
"Shut it! Just lend me a hand already!"
Hearing Rachins shouting from the sewer, Subaru hesitated for a second over what to do. Of course he wanted to help pull him up, but with Crusch on his back, Subaru's hands were full. That meant relying on Beatrice, but with her weight and strength, it was doubtful she could haul Rachins up; more likely they'd just end up with one more sewer victim. In that case, he might as well make use of Murak, who could interfere with gravity, and at the same time force a way through—
"Ahh, damn it, damn it all! I'm doing this properly! It's a little flashy, and I won't say I'm not acting on my own a bit, but I'm not ignoring orders or deviating or doing anything that sounds so bad to people!"
"—!"
Raising his voice, the Clown Mask stomped his feet and insisted to the other side of the Conversation Mirror. After that, whatever his conversation partner said to him, he tossed back a throwaway reply like someone giving in—"Fine, fine!"—and then—
"Hey, heads up—catch it without dropping it!"
"Huh? Wait—Beako!"
"—That’s dangerous!"
Turning back, the Clown Mask, his shoulders drooping with a sigh, suddenly threw something. The instant Subaru realized it was the Conversation Mirror, he called out Beatrice’s name. As mentioned earlier, with Subaru carrying Crusch on his back, his hands weren’t free. So the one who managed to catch the gently arcing object was Beatrice, who hastily stretched out both hands.
"I-I almost dropped it. What are you thinking…?"
"The folks on the other side of that mirror say they want to talk, to exchange words with you!"
"With us?"
At the words of the sulky-looking Clown Mask, Subaru and Beatrice exchanged glances. Then, cautiously—while keeping an eye on the Clown Mask for any suspicious moves—they peered into the Conversation Mirror in Beatrice’s hands. And in the mirror’s surface, the figure of the Clown Mask’s interlocutor rose into view—
『—Ah, it came through! Um, can you see my face?』
"——"
Hearing that and seeing the person reflected in the mirror, Subaru didn’t know how to react. He hadn’t imagined that the one forming an image in the Conversation Mirror the Clown Mask had handed over would be a girl with a childlike face.
She wasn’t a girl Subaru knew. She looked one or two years younger than him. With long, lustrous navy hair tied high into twin tails to either side and round, prominent golden eyes, she made a strong impression. Within the mirror’s narrow frame, the well-shaped features and somehow fragile air of the girl were set off by a crisp, thin tie at the collar of a white shirt and a jet-black jacket over it—a getup that favored utility over flash: a black suit. She was looking at them through the mirror. The gap between the girl’s earnest gaze and the situation threw Subaru into great confusion.
"You… no—who are you?"
『Um, I’m called White Sheep. I’m afraid the Black Dog over there—the man in the mask—has caused you a great deal of trouble… I’m sorry!』
"S-Sorry…?"
The girl who introduced herself as White Sheep said that and, all of a sudden, bowed deeply on the other side of the mirror. With the force of it, she even dropped out of the mirror’s view, and Subaru’s brain couldn’t keep up with processing it. The Clown Mask—the man the girl had called Black Dog—was obviously dangerous. Yet the girl, who seemed to be on the same side as that Black Dog, was bowing her head to Subaru and the others like this—it was topsy-turvy, or mismatched, as if she were deliberately trying to throw them off.
"Frankly, I don’t know what to think of you people. My own position is hazy as it is, and my head and heart are in a total mess. Give me something to go on."
『Something to go on?』
"If you’re enemies, just say you’re enemies—because I’ll smash right through you." "As usual, I suppose."
When Subaru declared that, Beatrice beside him nodded with a brazen look. As confirmed beforehand, the current Subaru and Beatrice were in a severe mana-shortage, running-on-empty state, their hand in tatters. But there was no need to spell that out. Even if you’re holding a total bust with no combo, bluffing is the trick to surviving in another world.
『——』
At Subaru and Beatrice’s words, White Sheep’s eyes widened on the other side of the mirror. She must be the type whose feelings show easily on her face. You could see her trying to suppress any change in expression as much as she could, but her eye movements and facial muscles clearly weren’t up to it. And apparently she knew that about herself too, as someone who faces a mirror every morning,
『You really say it straight, don’t you. …Aren’t you afraid?』
"I am. But it’s better when the crisis is in my own hands. It’s far better than, while I’m dithering, having the crisis roll off to somewhere beyond my reach."
『—. Once more, I’m sorry. The reason Black Dog messed with you was due to our mishandling, and because he was thinking of me.』
"I get the feeling I’m being told something selfish and self-centered, kuhahahaha."
While White Sheep apologized for the mistake of someone on her own side, the masked Black Dog quite literally kept a know-nothing face. Leaving that utterly unrewarding Black Dog aside, the girl’s gaze on the other side of the mirror shifted—that was proof that, from White Sheep’s vantage point, her attention had gone to Subaru’s back. To back that up, while staring at Crusch asleep on Subaru’s back, White Sheep,
『We would like to protect—no, secure—the person of Crusch Karsten. We need her power.』
「Crusch’s power…? Could that be about her left eye?」
Subaru cast a sidelong glance, becoming conscious of the left eye beneath the eyepatch of Crusch, whom he was carrying on his back. It was entirely plausible she would be targeted either for the obvious abnormality that had occurred to her, or for that Dragon Eye. The fact that White Sheep had gone out of their way to correct “protect” to “secure” was probably because they thought merely promising to ensure her physical safety wasn’t the right way to put it. However, contrary to Subaru’s expectation, White Sheep looked puzzled—『Left eye?』—and,
『We haven’t been told anything about her eye. What we need is the power of the Blessing of the Wind that Crusch Karsten possesses』
「――A blessing」
『Yes. We need that power.――For the battle against the Beloved Child』
With that, she uttered a term he had never heard before, along with firm resolve and determination.
△▼△▼△▼△
――A battle against the Beloved Child.
White Sheep had said they needed Crusch’s blessing for that fight. Told that, irrespective of the Dragon Eye dwelling in Crusch’s left eye, their objective was to secure her person, Subaru felt a mismatch in the focus of the discussion. He hadn’t expected to have the existence of a completely unknown enemy dangled before him here in the first place.
「Feels like things are getting muddled again… so what is this “Beloved Child” supposed to be?」
『They are our enemy. Probably… Natsuki Subaru, an enemy to you as well』
「…Am I right to take that as meaning it’s tied to the urgent situation right now?」
『――Yes. They’re the ones pulling the strings behind the current chaos in the Royal Capital』
Declared outright to be the principal enemy behind this situation, Subaru held his breath. Honestly, White Sheep’s statement was the most welcome thing for Subaru right now. The truth is, he’d been in the thick of confusion, with no clue who the enemy was or what their objective might be. Just having the desired information laid out plainly was enough to raise his opinion of White Sheep. However—
「If you need Crusch for this fight with the so-called “Beloved Child” and approached us for that reason, then picking that masked bastard as your negotiator is one hell of a miscast…」
『N-no, um, the Royal Capital is in a pretty alarming state right now, so unless someone is as capable as the Black Dog, it’s, well, dangerous to wander around…』
「Aaaand besides, it was only that the person I happened to tail by chance turned out to be a hit—I wasn’t choo-sen as the negotiator. So don’t go thinking it’s White Sheep’s fault, you lot」
「How does that make you sound so high and mighty? Don’t tell me you thought that was a save just now? If so, what you lack isn’t sense—it’s an understanding of people’s hearts」
「Kuhahahaha, you pint-sized brat in a sewer-stinking dress. Shall I shut that little mouth of yours for you?」
Because of the intimidating blaze used for threats and his words, Beatrice’s hostility toward the Black Dog was intense. With the Black Dog’s sneering retorts on top of that, Subaru couldn’t find the slightest reason to like him either. Moreover, something in what the Black Dog had just said caught Subaru’s attention.
「Did you just say you tailed someone? Does that mean…」
「Sharp-eyed and shrewd, eh, Sir Knight! Too right, too right! Flailing around blindly for a target is a waste of time, stamina, and life, yeah? So I used a different approach. I meaaaan, I tailed someone who looked likely to find them for me! Right now they’re in the stinking water」
「Stinking… water…」
「Hey! How long are you assholes gonna keep chitchatting! Hurry up and help me already!」
Prompted by the Black Dog, who was answering while swaying his hips from side to side, they looked toward the sewers—just in time for Rachins, who’d been left there, to let out a bellow. On Felt’s orders, Rachins, well-versed in the underbelly of the Royal Capital, had been a huge help in finding Subaru and the others, but it seemed the Black Dog and his lot had made use of that. Even so, that hardly diminished their gratitude toward Rachins—well, only a tiny bit.
「We can’t have him treading water forever. Mind if we haul him up?」
「Haul him up? The guy who’s been soaking in that filthy, reeking water? I figure the discussion would proceed more hygienically if we just left him to sink as he is」
『…Black Dog, if you’ve inconvenienced anyone—』
「Fine, fiine! Maybe I bear a teensy bit of responsibility for him jumping in. And maybe—just a teeny, tiny bit—I thought it would’ve saved us trouble if only the duke on your back had fallen off and the rest of you had ended up charred black」
「Before you tank our impression of you any further with that worthless mouth of yours, how about you get moving already」
The impression 『White Sheep』 had managed to earn was ruined by 『Black Dog』’s needless remarks. With the true intent behind that threatening flame laid bare, his rating as a dangerous individual rose even higher. Keeping that in mind, Subaru and Beatrice took a step back, wary as 『Black Dog』 reached out a hand to Rachins, who had fallen into the sewage. With magic skill like his, merely breaking eye contact from their side wasn’t enough to feel safe. And that wariness of theirs—
「――ah?」
It wasn’t toward 『Black Dog』, who had crouched by the waterway, that their vigilance proved useful, but for sensing a different anomaly. Crack. Somewhere, there was a sound like a fingernail scratching thin porcelain. Reflexively, Subaru’s gaze snapped toward the sound.――Deep in the sewer, in the feeble glow of the Lagmite ore Rachins had tossed at the feet of the 『Black Dog』 and left there, someone’s shadow was cast.
「――――」
A woman. Wrapped in a cloak that was neither quite black nor gray, her wavy dark-green hair stuffed into its collar, her face sickly with heavy shadows under her eyes. For an instant, Subaru wondered if she, too, was an ally of 『Black Dog』 or 『White Sheep』. But before he could press the question, the woman moved within Subaru’s field of view. One hand hung limp; with the other—her left, raised before her chest—she pinched something like a white fragment between her fingers. With a twitch of her fingers, that fragment crumbled.
――In the next instant, a crack spread from the woman’s feet, writhing like a snake across the sewer’s paving stones and rushing toward Subaru and the others.
「Whoa!?」
At the tremendous disturbance, Rachins, who had been about to grasp 『Black Dog』’s hand, let out a cry. The racing fissures didn’t stop at the floor. To the walls, to the ceiling—they leapt from one filthy stone of the sewer to the next, turning milky white the framework that supported the old, damp foundations of the Royal Capital. It was as if everything in sight were being replaced with glass.
『――『Black Dog』!』
Even beyond the mirror, it got through; 『White Sheep』 cried out in a voice close to a scream. But sadly, no matter how much she raised her voice, she couldn’t interfere with Subaru and the others, distant through the mirror.――However, her shout wasn’t meaningless.
「Don’t sob or wail in a shaky voice—I get it!」
At that one shout, the air of mischief clinging to 『Black Dog』 vanished. He spun quickly and planted himself squarely before the spreading cracks. You could tell that, even though it shouldn’t be visible behind his mask, his gaze was stabbing sharply at the woman in the dark. With a grand click of the tongue, 『Black Dog』 clicked his tongue.
「Worst of the worst! You show up here and now, of all times!?」
「You know her!?」
「Someone I never wanted to know or ever meet. Clarissa the Breaker――『Beloved Child』!」
At the name 『Black Dog』 spat out, both Subaru and, beyond the mirror, 『White Sheep』 gasped. The woman called Clarissa didn’t answer. She simply pinched another small fragment from the pouch she held in her lowered hand. It looked like a pebble.
「Wait, wait, wait, wait—if you do that here—」
『Black Dog』 shouted to stop her on instinct, but the stone broke first. A clear snap rang through the sewer――at that signal, the next wave of destruction propagated.
「You’ve gotta be kidding me…!」
New destruction spread through the sewer where the cracks had been racing; the wall right beside them turned milky white, and then the peeling, falling ceiling came down to crush them.
「Beatrice!」 「I know!」
Responding to the call, Beatrice spread her five fingers toward the collapsing ceiling. They had already used both E.M.T and E.M.M and were running on empty, making proper combat difficult—yet making do with a short hand was exactly how Subaru and Beatrice’s partnership worked.
「Murak!」
The chant interfered with reality, and the collapsing ceiling fragments took on a pale light, holding their once-lethal weight down to about that of pumice. Shielding the tall Crusch from that rain of pumice and pulling Beatrice in as well, Subaru leapt back in a big bound――and in the next instant, as the collapse’s weight returned, half the sewer was buried.
「Nice, amazing, shorty! Not a bad split-second call!」
「If you went and got saved along with us, then be crisp and give us the info! About that woman!」
「Ability-user! She splits things! Breaks them! A gloomy woman who’s no fun to talk to! I’ll kill her now!」
Benefiting from Beatrice’s handling and escaping the collapse, 『Black Dog』 shouted with a laugh, raised a gale at the rubble that had fallen and clogged the passage, and blasted a storm of stones down the corridor. It didn’t miss its mark, surging toward Clarissa deeper down the passage――but the instant a light cracking sound was heard again, the stones racing through the air were shattered and had turned to dust by the time they could reach her.
「Is that—her breaking the stones—what’s doing it?」
Fixing his eyes on Clarissa's movements and seeing her left hand let the powdered stone she had crushed fall away, Subaru guessed that the very act hid the logic behind that abnormal destruction. And that the pouch Clarissa held still contained plenty of pebbles for that purpose.
"Hey, fire! If it's something without a physical body, you shouldn't be able to stop it by cracking it!"
"I see your point, but too bad! I've already used up my fire—it's not in my hand anymore!"
"Huh!? —wait, this is bad!"
『Black Dog』's incomprehensible rejection—and as the flustered Subaru watched, Clarissa smoothly, with movements like a sacred ritual, pinched the next pebble between her fingers. Already, the floor and walls around Subaru and the others looked on the verge of collapse; if Clarissa broke that fragment, the whole stretch of the sewers might shatter at once. At this rate—
"—Hey! Over here! Get over here!"
"—t, chin!?"
At that moment, a desperate call rose up from the sewer, and Subaru and the others turned. There, Rachins was floating in the water, one hand clinging to the wall of the channel while the other yanked on something black—A rusty chain. Hauling that mud-blackened thing up from the bottom, Rachins shouted at the top of his lungs.
"It's the Sedimentation Tank! There's a ton of sludge packed in a side chamber off the main flow!"
"Sedi..."
The sudden primer on the sewer's workings sent an electric shock down Subaru's spine. A Sedimentation Tank, filled with rotten sludge—this meant the worst possibility—
"No way, you...!"
"Heh! Your head does work."
Soaked in foul water, hair plastered to his brow in a sorry state, yet with the whites of his eyes blazing, Rachins grinned at Subaru, who had arrived at the same idea, and gave the chain a mighty pull.
The rusted, filth-smeared chain gave a dull clank—then a heavy creak rose from the bottom.
As if to match that sound, bubbles welled up along the waterline by the wall. Small at first, they multiplied, and in an instant sent the black surface seething. —In that moment, the already foul air of the sewers was smothered by a stench like rotten eggs that surpassed it.
Rachins's aim was clear. There was no time to hesitate.
"What about Crusch—"
Conscious of Crusch asleep on his back, Subaru hesitated for a split second over what to do. Thinking of what came next, leaving her unconscious was far too dangerous. In that very instant of Subaru's hesitation, 『Black Dog』 moved. —Suddenly, he was shoved.
"You—!"
"Better this than getting thrown, sent flying, and having it shattered!"
Saying that, 『Black Dog』 leapt headlong into the sewer, dragging Subaru, Crusch, and even Beatrice along with him. Just before they hit the water—suddenly their view was covered in black, and the welcome of the filthy water that should have been there never came. Looking, he saw it was a gigantic, half-formed ball, made by 『Black Dog』 from a mass of earth, trying to wrap them up and enclose them completely—
『Please! Trust me!』
In the spur of the moment, the 『White Sheep』 reflected in the mirror pleaded earnestly. Urged on by that, Subaru, inside the sinking earthen hemisphere, entrusted Crusch's body to the nearby Beatrice and stretched his hand toward the outside of the closing ball. And then—
"—Come on, Rachins!"
"Don't act all high and mighty giving orders!"
Rachins, having finished hauling on the chain, awkwardly kicked off the wall and came flying toward them. Grabbing his outstretched arm, Subaru yanked his slim body into the hemisphere in one go. Tangled together, they fell onto their backs. Almost simultaneously, the hemisphere sealed completely, and the faint sound of a pebble being crushed reached them.
Shaking and a roar came from beyond the thick walls of the sealed earthen mass. But more than that—
"Blow it away. —Goa."
Still piled on top of Subaru, Rachins spat that out and snapped his fingers. —A moment later, red light spread beyond the earthen wall, and the sound and the shock arrived after.
"—!?"
A force like being slugged from the pit of his stomach rocked the world, and Subaru screamed. Even underwater, even inside the earthen sphere, it was hot. Blinding. A blast that seemed ready to tear his eardrums apart detonated.
"—ah"
A soundless scream rampaged inside Natsuki Subaru's body. Round and round and round, heaven and earth spun at a terrible speed; the earthen sphere sunk in the water was swept along with ferocious force, slammed again and again into something massive, battered, his consciousness about to blink out.
What had accumulated in the Sedimentation Tank was combustible gas generated from the mass of filth. Rachins had opened the lid of that Sedimentation Tank, and, by igniting the copious amount that gushed out, had blown away the sewers themselves along with Clarissa, who had been targeting them. —No, he couldn't tell what had become of the sewers. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He couldn't comprehend.
Buffeted without respite by the surge of water and the bounding balls of earth, Subaru clung for dear life, squeezing tight the small, familiar weight and the one he had to protect.
He gritted his teeth and endured.――That was the very best Subaru could do right now.
――――
He gritted his teeth and kept enduring, kept enduring, kept enduring. Until his consciousness was swallowed by a torrent no eye could see, he just, just kept enduring――
△▼△▼△▼△
――When he woke, the first thing he registered was a smell.
Not the stench of rotten eggs, nor the stink of sewage smeared with filth. What drifted to him was the tang of alcohol and the scent of dry cloth. Air warmed without fire passed through his nasal cavity; finding it oddly clean, he drew in a deep breath――and choked.
「Gehah! Goh――! Ofeh!」
「Kyaah, goodness!」
As Subaru hacked and his body jerked with the fit, the weight that had been resting on his chest and belly bounced with him, and he heard it let out that adorable little scream. He opened his eyes and, refocusing his blurry vision with a few blinks, found Beatrice wearing a sullen scowl right beside where he lay. Seeing Beatrice with a blanket draped over her shoulders, Subaru’s lips trembled.
「Beako... are you okay?」
「Somehow, some way, I suppose. It was less a close shave than about a hundred of them, I wonder.」
「That ‘one hair’s breadth’ is literally a single hair, so if you start multiplying it, the meaning changes... anyway, never mind that. More importantly, if you and I are safe, the others――」
「Calm down. Before you make a fuss, look around you, I suppose.」
As Subaru leaned forward, his forehead came to a sharp stop against Beatrice’s hand. With his brow held in place by that small palm, he moved only his eyes—and saw it: on the bed next to the one he lay on, Crusch was also lying down.
「Crusch... thank goodness. She’s all right... isn’t she?」
「Not that I’ve heard, I suppose. But she hasn’t opened her eyes even once since then. How long the strain on those eyes will last is unknown even to Betty, you know.」
「I see... Ah, and Chin’s here too. That’s a relief.」
Beside the relief he felt at seeing Crusch on the bed, her chest rising and falling steadily in sleep, there on a long bench beyond was Rachins, rolled up in a blanket like a cocoon. He hadn’t woken, but perhaps the bench made for poor sleep; still asleep, his brow was furrowed and he mumbled something under his breath.――For the leading player whose quick thinking had saved Subaru and the others, it was a rather rough way to be treated, Subaru thought with a wry smile, but—
「...Where are we?」
As relief loosened his strength and he planted a hand on the bed, Subaru finally arrived at that question. The place was not just different in smell; it clearly wasn’t the sewers to look at, either. The stone-walled room had no windows, and the only light came from a small lamp. By the bedside, a pitcher of water, bandages, and folded cloths were neatly arranged, and the word infirmary drifted hazily through his mind.
「Or maybe a hidden clinic? Like a back-alley doctor’s hideout...」
「――っ！ You’re awake, Natsuki Subaru!」
No sooner had he voiced that stray thought than a voice, almost like an ambush, came at Subaru from his flank. He turned, and there in the doorway stood the girl he had seen through the mirror: a girl in a black suit with long navy hair tied to either side—White Sheep. Meeting face-to-face rather than through a mirror, White Sheep clasped her hands before her chest, opened them, clasped them again, opened them—and after repeating that several times,
「I-I’m so glad... I was on pins and needles, worried something might have happened to all of you...」
「Right... thanks for worrying about us?」
「Yes! No! Um? Which should it be...?」
Apology, thanks, grievances—which to process, and in what order? Unable to decide, both Subaru and White Sheep short-circuited. They had been saved, no doubt. But just before that, they had been threatened by Black Dog, White Sheep’s companion; questions abounded as to what the proper response should be. And just as he was thinking that――
「――White Sheep, you must not trouble Natsuki-dono. You are supposed to be different from Black Dog. Otherwise, we will have to reconsider our approach.」
「――――」
It was a voice from behind the flustered White Sheep standing in the doorway. Hearing it and then seeing the speaker reveal himself, Subaru caught his breath, eyes flying wide. He should have had more than enough surprises for one day already, yet another one arrived. For the person who appeared together with White Sheep was someone Subaru knew as well.
「You... Mr. Russell?」
In a halting voice, the name Subaru uttered was that of someone he had had ties with long ago—a merchant he had met when the Royal Selection first began, whom he had negotiated with to provide logistical support and supplies right after the White Whale subjugation battle; though they hadn’t stood shoulder to shoulder on the battlefield, they had fought the same enemy. Bearing the title of representative of the Commercial Guild of the Royal Capital, Russell Fellow stood there.
"――――"
With his mind in the throes of confusion and turmoil, Subaru could only stare blankly at Russell, so serenely composed. Under Subaru's gaze, the gentleman in a well-tailored suit smiled and gave a deep nod. For some reason, that smile sent a chill down Subaru's spine—the kind of smile that, for a mere merchant, felt laden with far too many designs. And Subaru's foreboding proved correct.
"Meeting you like this is truly a stroke of good fortune, Sir Natsuki. In the face of this unprecedented peril to the kingdom, I humbly ask that you lend us your strength and insight."
"An unprecedented, massive crisis for the kingdom...?"
"Yes."
Though it was a situation in which no one should be smiling, Russell went on, his smile undiminished. It was—
"—The enemy's aim is a quiet, and utterly thorough, invasion of the kingdom. The very heart of the kingdom has already fallen into the hands of our long-standing archenemy, and we stand on the brink of annihilation."
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