Chapter 10: Sediment of Trust

"So in the end, even from where you were standin', Boss, you couldn't tell which one's the real missin' royal, that 'Saint' Filore or Felt. Here."

"But you saw that Duchess Karsten had recovered afterwards, right? Royal or not, doesn't that mean her Sacrament power is real? Here you go."

"Yeah, it does. Beako and Rem came with me, and I think they'd back me up on that. What Emilia-tan and the others saw was the real deal. ...Plus, calling Filore a suuuper good kid? Personally, I couldn't argue with that either. She came across as the Emilia-tan type, not a scrap of malice in her. Yup."

With a deep sigh, Subaru thought back to the much-talked-about "Saint" he had met face to face at the Church that day and, in a mood he couldn't quite put a name to, slid the plate in his hands onto the shelf. The cupboards furnishing the noble residence held a wealth of tableware, wood and porcelain alike, and Subaru and the others were in the middle of washing, drying and putting away what they had used for dinner. Garfiel washed the plates at the basin, Petra dried them, and Subaru put them away, in that order.

Since the noble residence was a guesthouse of sorts for Upper Nobles with business in the capital, every corner of it was kept fully provided for, and nothing was ever lacking. Housekeepers could apparently be sent over to cook, clean and see to personal needs when required, but most nobles brought along servants they knew and trusted, so the housekeepers were rarely called on. Emilia's Faction was the same: tonight Petra had seen to the cooking, and the cleanup had fallen to Subaru and Garfiel, who had lost at rock-paper-scissors. And so, as the three of them worked through the washing-up together, the conversation had tumbled into the topic it opened on.

"...Still, if it's the real thing even by your lot's reckonin', Boss, then honestly, me, I'd want her to do somethin' about the Priestella problem."

"But what if that ends up proving Filore's a real royal? Then Emilia's Royal Selection might be over, you know?"

"That's a whole other story, ain't it? This 'Saint' Filore's already gone and stepped out onto the big stage. It's just only the bigwigs know about it yet."

Sloshing up soap suds in the basin, Garfiel answered Petra while he washed. He narrowed his green eyes, wrestling a stubborn stain on a plate with the hemp rag he used in place of a sponge.

"I ain't laid eyes on her myself, but if she's the sort who kicks up that much fuss just by how she looks, you ain't hidin' her even if you try. Specially not if she fixed up the Duchess and means to pull the same thing in Priestella."

"Mm, I'd give that understanding full marks, Garf. You're really learning to read the way society's going. Good job, good job."

"Don't talk like I just took a test! Lemme tell ya, I'm older'n you, Petra!"

Petra patted his head with a face like a schoolteacher's, but with both hands plunged into the basin, Garfiel couldn't fend her off and could only grumble, "Gao, gao." Subaru watched the two of them with a smile, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that the world was flowing somewhere unpleasant.

"As things stand, the Royal Selection's already on a pretty solid yellow light, but..."

If, from here, it turned red, would it ever go back to green? Would Emilia be able to fulfil her role as a candidate properly again?

"—"

To be honest, Subaru worried that the moment the possible surviving princess had narrowed down to two, Felt or Filore, the Royal Selection had shifted into a hunt for the answer to "which of them is the real one, with the rightful claim to the throne." As Emilia's First Knight, he naturally couldn't accept that, but even setting that perspective aside, there was something that didn't sit right with him. It was something they had already talked about on the way to the capital via the Reinhard Running Method.

"Before Filore ever showed up, back when Felt was suspected of being the princess, why didn't everyone just go, 'Right, Felt's the next king, done'?"

Of course, there was no question that this world lacked the convenient, reliable tools for identifying a person, like DNA tests, fingerprint records or dental records. But the grounds for suspecting Felt was the princess were pretty flimsy too: a rare physical feature, and an age that matched the missing princess's. If that was enough to count as proof of bloodline in this world, the Royal Selection could just as well have been over that day at the Royal Castle, right before Subaru made a fool of himself.

"But that's not how it went. And the biggest reason why was—"

"—the Dragon Stone."

Subaru raised his eyebrows at having his conclusion stolen out from under him, and found Petra, who had just finished drying the plate Garfiel had passed her, watching him as she held it out. Subaru nodded, "Yep," and took both the plate and the conclusion off her hands.

"It's supposedly this prophecy slab that's bailed the kingdom out whenever things got really dicey over the course of history... and apparently that Dragon Stone gave instructions to hold the Royal Selection, but..."

"Huh? Way you're sayin' it, sounds like somethin's buggin' you, Boss."

"Nah, the first time I heard about it, I didn't think anything of it, okay? It's a fantasy world, after all, so I figured sure, there'd be mystical items like that. If anything, it got me kind of hyped, but..."

"But it's different now?"

"Yeah. Thing is, I know a few items now that'll tell you what's coming... and I've got some pretty bad history with them, too."

Petra and Garfiel exchanged glances at Subaru, whose face had gone sour, as if he'd bitten into something bitter. He had been living in this other world for nearly two years now, and honestly, it was absurdly full of things that dressed themselves up as prophecy or the guidance of fate and tried to whisper ideas into people's ears. In Vollachia, Abel had treated the Star Readers as enemies, and the Witch of Greed they had met in the Tomb had handed Beatrice a blank book meant to dictate how she lived. And above all, the Gospels said to find their way into the hands of Witch Cultists were rumored to twist their very nature into something evil. How was the Dragon Stone in question any different from those, from interference that bent fate from the sidelines?

"I get the urge to lean on something when people say it points the way to the future. Even more if it's got a track record. But letting someone win a little up front, then raking it all back later in some nasty way, that's a con artist's go-to move."

Let them win where the stakes were low, so you could drag them into the choices that served you later. As long as there was no knowing what they would be made to do when the crucial, big choice came, putting too much faith in those whispered tips about fate, believing they were for your own good, was dangerous. Thinking that, Subaru felt alarmed by the very prophecies of the Dragon Stone, but—

"—"

"Huh? What's with the faces, you two?"

Having laid out his concerns, Subaru found Garfiel and Petra staring at him wide-eyed. They might have been the youngest of the group, but the two of them, one running on instinct and the other on reasoning, were dependable people to talk things through with, and it was rare for them to react identically to a single question. Even if one of them was stumped, the other would come up with a useful answer. That was exactly what he had been counting on. And then, as Subaru puzzled over it, the two spoke up one after the other.

"How do I put it—" "—the idea of doubting the Dragon Stone's prophecies just never occurred to us, so it caught us off guard."

"Wait, it never occurred to you?"

"Yeah." "Mm-hm."

When they nodded in unison, Subaru thought it had to be some kind of joke. But their eyes were dead serious, their faces full of confusion and bewilderment, and Subaru blinked. Their reaction felt like that of people who had run into something truly unexpected, like being shown a way to solve a quiz they had never imagined. It had been a while since he had hit a culture gap like this... no, scratch that, he had just had one recently, over the throne being inherited by bloodline.

"Honestly, I figured that one was a tragedy born of me just not being used to monarchy, the whole 'the king's the top dog' thing... but this goes deeper. Is it more like a religious worldview?"

Different lands had different customs and different common sense, naturally, but with values diverging this fundamentally, it was a wonder no serious friction had come of it before now. He'd thought his life in this other world had been pretty rough, but apparently it could have been worse. It also brought home, all at once, the weight of this country being called the Dragon-Allied Kingdom.

"Petra's a lovely beauty who bloomed in a country village, and Garfiel's a golden rookie who grew up in a hidden village cut off from the outside world."

In other words, both of them had received less of a kingdom subject's education and benefits than people born and raised in the big cities. Yet even they lacked the very idea of doubting the Dragon Stone, which proved just how deeply trust in the Dragon had settled like sediment at the bottom of their unconscious. If that held true for two people with their backgrounds, those whose identity was firmly rooted in the kingdom would be even less likely to think lightly of the Dragon Stone. —And that was exactly why this country had the groundwork to carry out something like the Royal Selection without a moment's hesitation, even with no royals left. In which case—

"—What Crusch was trying to pull off was seriously incredible, huh."

Setting aside whether the ideal itself was right or wrong, Crusch's platform of breaking free of the Dragon's pact had been a staggeringly huge decision to make in a world where trust in the Dragon ran this deep. Subaru was only now coming to grasp that properly. In fact, going by reputation alone, Crusch had been the overwhelming frontrunner of the Royal Selection. The moment the Selection failed to turn into a one-woman affair painted entirely in her colours, it became clear just how hard a sell her pledge was to the kingdom as it stood. —At the same time, Subaru found himself guessing at the real aim behind the White Whale subjugation that had taken place right after the Royal Selection began.

Of course, part of it must have been her wish to let Wilhelm, whom she had welcomed into her faction, see his revenge through. But by slaying the White Whale on her own, one of the Three Great Mabeasts that had tormented people for centuries, hadn't she also been trying to prove something? That she could lead the kingdom with a strong hand without relying on the Dragon's pact: her resolve, and her ideal.

—In the end, thanks to Subaru's interference, the world came to know the White Whale's defeat as the result of a joint operation among three factions, with Emilia's Faction and Anastasia's Faction lending their aid.

Even so, Crusch likely hadn't minded. Wilhelm had his revenge, and though she faced headwinds from every side, Crusch had taken her first step toward carrying her ideal through. And yet, that ideal of hers would be broken in a way no one expected—

"Am I an idiot? No. I am an idiot."

Only once his understanding reached that far did Subaru feel the full sting of his own shallowness. Without grasping the true meaning of the ideal Crusch had nearly had snapped off at the stem, he had gone to see her and comforted her, promising to help out of nothing more than shallow sympathy and feeling. Put that together with the tragic romance between Crusch and the Fourth Prince that Ferris had told him about later at the Mausoleum, and just thinking about how insensitively his words must have skated across the surface made him want to drop dead of fury. But—

"Listen, Boss. Maybe I got no business sayin' this, but you blurtin' out this an' that on pure momentum, that's a 'Garagockle's Lovesickness' kinda deal an' all, but—"

"Part of why we got saved was you being reckless and charging in without thinking, Subaru, so we'd kind of like you not to talk it down so much."

"Huh!? I was just about to say that!"

"Sorry, I wanted to score some points with Subaru."

Petra stuck out the tip of her tongue and apologized sweetly, and Garfiel wilted with a "Gao..." At the words from the two of them, Subaru bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. He'd been surprised at first, and then right away he didn't know what kind of face to make. He did regret the words he'd picked for Crusch, but he didn't want to meet Petra and Garfiel's kindness with a scowl, either. The result was a lopsided, half-formed expression, his emotions all out of step, as he said,

"...Don't go spoiling me like that. Once I start leaning on people, there's no end to it."

"Really? Then I want to spoil you more and more, Subaru. Right, Garf?"

"Dunno if 'spoil' is the right word for it, but you an' Big Bro Otto both look after everybody else and hardly ever look after yourselves. Once in a while I wouldn't mind hoistin' you up in the air like a little kid."

"Last time you did that, Otto went through the ceiling..."

If he remembered right, that tragedy had happened when Otto, having cleared a mountain of work, got drunk, and Garfiel, swept up in the mood, tried to reward him with everything he had. Otto hadn't been hurt, and the alcohol had wiped his memory, so it was a funny story now. Anyway—

"I already figured there was a lot I wanted to do and a lot I had to do... but now there's one more thing I want to check."

Full of gratitude, Subaru reached out with both hands to Garfiel's and Petra's heads. As the two of them let themselves be patted, squirming as if it tickled, Subaru narrowed his eyes at the soap bubbles floating and bursting in the washtub. There were plenty of people cleverer than him who knew more than he did. With people like that around, if he could give his actions and thoughts some reason for him in particular to be here—

"First, I'd really like to properly find out what this Dragon Stone actually is."

What power was at work in it, what will, guiding things toward which future? Being able to doubt that was the strength of Natsuki Subaru, the man from another world. He wanted to believe that. He would start by learning. —If he wanted to truly stand by Crusch and Ferris in the way he wished, after so much helpless frustration where they were concerned. That said—

"...Ferris would probably call this way of thinking arrogant, huh."

△▼△▼△▼△

She had happened to overhear the conversation going on in the kitchen, and was seriously agonizing over whether or not to reach for the door.

"—Looks like they're smack in the middle of the kind of talk that's awkward to walk in on, hmm?"

"—!"

"Oh my? Did I startle youuu? Then I'm sorry about thaaat."

Meili had popped her head out from behind her, and at her words Rem said, "No," shaking her head as she adjusted her grip on the water pitcher. She had come to the kitchen to refill it, since it was running low. Inside, Subaru and the others, who were on cleanup duty after dinner, were washing the dishes in a smooth rhythm while discussing the Royal Selection. Rem hadn't wanted to interrupt, so she had decided to wait outside until the conversation came to a natural pause, listening in the meantime, but—

"Don't you think Big Brother Subaru has a really troublesome personality? Why does he have to try and carry every last thing on his back? No wonder everyone has such a hard tiiime."

When the talk in the kitchen turned to Subaru's personality, specifically the way he blamed himself far too much, Petra and Garfiel were quick to correct him and point it out, and Rem could tell it had quietly touched Subaru. Meili, standing behind her, had apparently pictured the scene inside as well. She remarked on it in her own way and turned to Rem for agreement, then her eyes went wide.

"Don't tell me... Big Sister Rem, are you veeery angry?"

"...I'm not angry, but I do have mixed feelings. Petra and the others just said almost exactly what I told him not long ago."

"Ahh, then of course you'd make that face."

Whatever kind of face she was making, Meili spoke as carefully as if she were touching a sore. Even so, Rem remembered when she had said something similar: Subaru looking ready to take on the blame even for the death of the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony killed in the Prison Tower. Remembering it, she hesitated to write the problem off as simply Subaru's personality. After all, she knew her own attitude was part of the reason he thought that way.

"Besides, what's bad about Big Brother Subaru is that he seems to count nothing but his failures. Honestly, how ruuude."

Rem had lowered her eyes, lost in feeling, and tightened her hand around the pitcher. In front of her, Meili folded her arms and glared at the kitchen door as she let that slip.

"Rude?"

"Well, isn't it? Believe it or not, I like to think Big Brother Subaru saved me toooo. Same goes for Petra and the others, that's why they're cheering him up like that... and then he goes and acts like that. Doesn't it get on your nerves?"

Meili put a finger to her lips and puffed out her cheeks. At that childish sulk, Rem blinked a few times, then let out a snort of laughter before she could stop herself.

"Oh my, are you laughing at meee?"

"I'm sorry. It was just a little unexpected. To me, you and Petra both seemed grown-up for your age."

"You mean cheeky? Well, mine's mostly borrowed from other people, but Petra's comes from her standing on her own tiptoes, so if Big Sister Emilia and Big Sister Rem don't watch out, she might overtake you both, and then you'll be soooorry."

"...I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Nooo? Hehehe, is that sooo?"

Having paid her back for treating her like a child, Meili covered her mouth with a hand and giggled in triumph. Rem let out a breath at the reaction, then looked once more at the kitchen door.

"It seems everyone in this faction has been saved by him at some point."

"Seems sooo. That's probably part of why it's hard for anyone to tell Big Brother Subaru 'no-no' when he tries something dangerous. —But I don't think you need to let it bother you."

"—?"

"Becauuuse, I don't think there's anyone more shameless or out of place than meee."

Pinching her braid between her fingers, Meili shrugged. Rem narrowed her pale blue eyes at the tangle of emotions in Meili's voice.

"...It's a little late to say this, but I resent not having my 'Memories.'"

Meili was clearly carrying something that wasn't light. Unlike Emilia and the others, whom Rem had grown close to in the Vollakia Empire, she had first met Meili in the Kingdom of Lugunica, and in the Dragon Carriage that Reinhard had carried them in, no less. From a rough explanation, she had heard that Meili had originally been an enemy of Subaru and the others, but Subaru hadn't wanted to make things needlessly awkward, and his explanation had been so vague that she never did learn what kind of friction there had actually been with Meili. Still, the complicated feelings on her young face seemed to Rem like proof of a lingering doubt that came from it. And so—

"You shouldn't blame yourself too much either."

"—"

Meili held her breath at Rem's words and stared at her. When Rem met that gaze head-on without looking away, Meili parted her lips slightly,

"Is it really okay to say that? I once tried to kill you too, Big Sister Rem, you knooow?"

"...That does surprise me quite a bit, but it's not something I remember."

"Well, how lucky for meee. ...Though I wonder if 'lucky' is really the word for someone like me."

Meili let the words slip out, less a whisper than a voice on the verge of fading away. Still fiddling with her braid, she dropped her gaze from Rem to the floor.

"Honestly, it all feels a little too convenient, you know? ...What I did got overlooked, and thanks to my Divine Protection the kingdom forgave me too... I bet a really big payback is coming for me any day now."

"Payback..."

"When you do something good, you get praised, so when you do something bad, you get scolded, right? I've just been running away from that the whole time."

Perhaps being forgiven made her feel guilty. Meili's words were pessimistic, and painful to hear. Rem didn't know what she had done to make her think that way. She didn't even know whether to take the remark about trying to kill her as serious or as a joke. Maybe, if she learned the details, her thinking would shift. —But right now, she didn't know. And whatever she could say now, because she didn't know, she could only say now. That was what she thought.

"I don't mean to compare us, but I have a similar worry."

"...You, Big Sister Rem? The same as me?"

"Yes. ...I'd like to think I'm not so naive that I can accept everything that's been done for me and take it as my due."

What came back to her was her own behaviour after she woke without her Memories, in a place with no one to rely on: how coldly she had treated him, treated Subaru, and how she had pushed his hand away. Her circumstances back then had been harsh, but there was a limit to how far that could justify it. And the gifts Subaru gave her were by no means unlimited.

"I have to pay for that arrogance in me. Until I've settled that account, I don't think I even have the right to face it."

"...You're hard on yourself, aren't you?"

"Am I? If it's the price for being hard on someone else... on someone who treated me as precious, then I think it's only natural. But that's my story."

"...?"

As she spoke, Rem took a step closer to Meili, hesitated a moment, then set her hand lightly on the head of the girl looking up at her in puzzlement. And then...

"I don't think it's healthy for someone who's still a child, like you, to be afraid of payback... so I'll fight against that payback. I promise."

"...Ah."

Rem had chosen her words haltingly, and Meili let out a faint breath. Then she bowed her head, Rem's hand still resting on it.

"...You know, Big Sister Rem, even without your Memories, I think you're a proper member of this faction."

"...And what exactly do you mean"

by that, Rem was about to ask, frowning at Meili, who still hadn't raised her head. —That was when it happened.

"Eek!"

Her hand on Meili's head suddenly felt something strange, and a shriek escaped her. She looked, and a small creature had poked its head out, parting the girl's deep blue hair. She registered it as a scorpion with a deep crimson sheen at almost the same instant she snapped back the arm holding the pitcher, and at almost the same instant the half-pitcher of water left inside drenched Meili from head to toe.

"Ah."

Faced with the disaster, Rem the perpetrator and Meili the victim froze in stunned unison. On top of Meili's soaked head, the little scorpion, which had been doused right along with her, clacked its pincers in protest. Its startling entrance had caused the whole surprise in the first place, and yet here it was in a huff. Must be nice. Before the shock had even finished sinking in, the kitchen door banged open.

"Hey, did I just hear Rem scream!?"

"...What terrible timing."

"Huh!? I was worried and that's the reaction I get!? And what's even going on here!?"

Subaru, who had come flying out at the sound of the scream, was surprised in stages. Faced with his usual commotion, Rem wavered for a moment over where to begin explaining. But a laugh came first: "Ahaha!" It was Meili. Dripping from head to toe along with the scorpion perched on top, she laughed.

"Haaah, that's too funny. I don't even get time to feel sorry for myself."

"Why are you so chipper about it? Hey, Petra! Towel! Bring a towel!"

"Whoa, Meili, you're soaked! We need to get you changed right away!"

Petra came pattering over with a towel and set about drying Meili's head, scorpion and all. As Meili let her do as she pleased, Rem, clutching the now-empty pitcher, bowed her head. She had meant to be considerate and ended up drenching the girl instead. A result couldn't get much more backwards than that. But Meili only waved a hand at the remorseful Rem, said, "Don't let it bother youuu," and went on,

"In exchange, I'm going to take what you said earlier seriouslyyy."

"..."

Rem's eyes widened slightly at the look in Meili's eyes, visible through a gap in the towel. Even as they spoke, Petra had circled around behind Meili and started pushing her by the shoulders.

"Okay, let's go get you changed. Subaru, Garf, there's still some cleaning up left, but..."

"We'll handle that, don't worry. Just make sure Meili doesn't catch a cold."

"Don't treat me like a kiiid."

Leaving that sulky mutter behind her, Meili was marched off by Petra. Right up until she vanished down the corridor, she kept fluttering a little wave at Rem. Once he had seen the heartwarming pair of girls off, Subaru looked at Rem with an "Uhh..."

"Oh, is that Sister's water? Then let's at least take care of that first."

"...No. It's my fault Petra had to leave, so I'll help."

"Yeah? Then let's do it together."

Dodging the hand that reached for the pitcher, Rem offered Subaru her help. He looked a little surprised but agreed right away, and at that answer Rem's eyes narrowed slightly into a flat stare.

"...You're quick to say yes to this kind of offer, I see."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Garf, I'm helping too, so move down to the end."

"Sure, that's a big help, but how come I'm the only one you call by some half-assed name, huh?"

"Because Sister called you that, and it just feels right, somehow."

Garfiel, his hands in the washtub at the sink, wrinkled his nose. Rem sensed Subaru giving a wry smile at that and reflexively started to say something—then stopped. Hadn't she only just finished taking a hard look at herself in front of Meili?

"What's up, Rem? Something happen to that cute face of yours?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, it just came out! O-okay, come on, let's hurry up and finish so we can take Sister her water!"

Trying to bluster his way past the slip, Subaru made a show of rolling up his sleeves and shot off to Garfiel's side. Following after him with a sigh, Rem admonished herself as firmly as she could. Until she had settled the account for what she had done, she would not earn the right to face this restless frustration.

"There's still a long, hard road ahead. Katya, Priscilla-san."

When she finally felt she had earned that right, what kind of face would she show him? Without an answer to that either, Rem spoke to the two she held in affection and respect within her heart, and joined the dishwashing line in Petra's place.

△▼△▼△▼△

—A new question had taken root, a new task had been set, and he had resolved that it was time to get things moving. Even so, events rarely play out the way one intends.

More often than not, the road to a goal finds its progress blocked, either by stagnation forced by circumstance or by some unexpected upheaval. In this case, it was the latter that came along to trip Natsuki Subaru up right out of the gate.

"—Fwaah."

With a soft breath, a hand rose to the mouth that had started to stretch wide, hiding the yawn. Still, there was no mistaking it for anything but a yawn, and he could even see tears welling at the corners of her eyes. It was something he often wondered: which counted as better manners, yawning openly or stifling it until your eyes watered? If the answer was that yawning at all broke etiquette, that was the end of the discussion.

"—It's only a humble tea, but please."

As he watched her with such thoughts in mind, a cup was quietly set down on the table: black tea brewed by Petra, showing off the serving technique Ram had drilled into her. As the warm aroma of fragrant leaves drifted up, the guest broke off her yawn with an "Oh my..."

"What a lovely smell. And here I came calling so suddenly, yet you're welcoming me like this... It makes me feel just a teensy bit guilty, hehe."

"No, it's fine. We were just about to have tea together anyway, so I think your 'timing' was really, really good. Um..."

"—It's Sakura Element, Emilia-chan."

With that, the faintly smiling woman, the member of the Church of the Divine Dragon who had introduced herself as Sakura Element, put her lips to the cup set before her without the slightest hesitation. Sakura had come calling at the noble residence where Emilia's Faction was staying somewhere on the line between early morning and morning proper, just as Subaru and the others' heads were starting to work properly. They were hardly in a position to complain, but a sudden visit with no appointment did feel a bit like an ambush—

"I had hoped to pay my respects as well, but Lady Emilia has a great many duties pressing on her and is very busy. Ideally, we would have liked some notice beforehand."

With the visitor throwing off their pace, Otto was more than a little annoyed. His wording was polite enough, but the protest in it was plain to hear, and Subaru could tell his nerves were stretched pretty thin.

"Guess letting off steam yesterday wasn't enough... He seems to think that as long as he talks all formal and proper, he's being perfectly courteous."

"I can hear you, if you please, Natsuki. That is most troubling indeed."

"Yikes, that's not manners anymore, that's a threat..."

Otto would sink his teeth into anyone, allies included, but his battle stance was of course not punishment mode for Subaru and the others; it came from receiving a guest who called for caution. So soon after yesterday, the Church of the Divine Dragon, right at the centre of everything, had come barging into their quarters of its own accord, and nobody was going to pretend that had nothing to do with the Royal Selection. Naturally, Sakura, whom they had shown into the drawing room, had to be here for reasons that warranted keeping their guard up, but...

"It's Subaru-chan, isn't it? If you stare at me that hard, I'll get all embarrassed."

"Oh, sorry. You're so pretty, Sakura, I guess that was a bit rude?"

"My, flirting while you apologise, what a naughty boy. I didn't think you were so slick. I've heard all sorts of rumours about you, Subaru-chan."

"Rumours? About me?"

At the unexpected riposte, Subaru pointed at himself, and Sakura smiled and said, "Yes." Then she stirred her tea with the teaspoon, put the cup to her lips again, and let out a soft breath with a gesture that was somehow sultry. After that, she tilted her head at the vague silence that had settled.

"...Was I maybe expected to say something just now?"

"I mean, the way the conversation was going, wouldn't anyone want to know what rumours you'd heard about me?"

"Huh? But surely Emilia-chan and the others in your own faction know you far better, Subaru-chan. At this point, does it really matter what rumours are going around about you?"

"I see, you say some rather sensible things, I suppose. It's true, Betty and the others understand Subaru best of all. There's nothing to worry about, in fact."

"That's right. Having such a splendid knight makes me sooo proud."

With Beatrice on his lap and Emilia to his right giving him their seal of approval, Subaru was glad on one hand, but on the other the matter of the rumours about him got swept away in a manner he couldn't quite accept. At any rate, counting Petra standing by the wall, Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice and Otto were the ones receiving Sakura after her unannounced charge on the place. So far, his impression of Sakura was of a woman who was hard to pin down, but...

"Sakura, are you good friends with Filore? We only just became friends."

"Oh yes, Filore has told me all about it until I was sick of hearing it. Every chance she gets, she goes around saying 'my Emilia, my Emilia'... Well, I'm her fellow member at the Church, something like a stand-in big sister to her, I suppose."

"Filore's big sister!"

"Huh. There's a pretty big gap in liveliness between you two sisters."

"Only a stand-in big sister, mind. That girl was raised as the Church's hidden treasure, kept carefully, carefully out of sight, so you might say she's the youngest daughter of the whole Church. Teehee."

The corners of her eyes crinkled as she spoke, but the warmth of Sakura's smile never changed by a single degree. Because of that, there was no telling how far her account of Filore could be trusted. Still, the way she described Filore as the Church's hidden treasure, raised out of sight, caught his attention.

"Then may we take it that Filore's absence from public life until now was due to that policy of the Church of the Divine Dragon?"

"I suppose so. Mind you, that all came to nothing once Filore went bursting out on her own, ka-boom."

"So Filore running wild really did catch the Church off guard..."

Anyone who didn't know her would find that impossible to believe, but for Subaru, who had actually talked with Filore, it didn't seem out of place at all. Yesterday too, she'd been ordered to stay behind at the Church against her will, but from the look of her, she'd hit the limit of her patience any minute and go dashing outside on her own.

"Actually, she did dash off. That's why I've come to call on Emilia-chan and all of you today."

"...Huh?! When you say she dashed off, you mean today?!"

"Yes, it happened this morning. I made sure to drill today's plans into her yesterday, and still... she really is such a little troublemaker..."

"No, no, no, is 'little troublemaker' really enough that you can just sit here drinking tea!?"

Even if nothing had been announced publicly, there was no doubt Filore had shot straight up the ranks of the kingdom's most important figures. With someone like that running around on her own, what business did her minder have lounging about here? Faced with Subaru and the others in their fluster, Sakura gave an "Ufufu" as though it were someone else's problem.

"You can relax on that count. Would you believe it, we know exactly where Filore went. Straight to her friend, Emilia-chan."

"Oh, is that all? So she's coming to me... but she's not here!?" "She's not, right!?"

What had seemed like reassuring news fell short of it, and the panic carried on. From the certainty in Sakura's tone, Filore might have left a note or something saying where she was going, but not one person in the faction had seen the girl herself. Naturally, neither Petra nor Otto knew where she was either.

"And of course you don't know either, Beako. You've been with me the whole time since we got up."

"That's right, in fact. Betty went to bed early and got up early with Subaru, brushed her teeth with Subaru, did Radio Calisthenics with Subaru, and then had breakfast with Subaru, I suppose. In all that time, Betty didn't see that noisy girl either, in fact."

"W-what do we do? If something's happened to Filore..."

Heads together, Subaru and the others agonized over where the vanished Filore might be. When she'd first appeared out of nowhere, her very existence had been a shock, and now learning she'd suddenly disappeared was a shock of another kind. Filore was like a storm in human form. Then, beside the flapping Subaru and company, Otto let out a small sigh.

"Hey, what's that about, Otto... Ah! Don't tell me you're thinking that since she's such a headache, it'd be cleaner if she just got blown away..."

"Otto, that's far too Roswaal, even for you, I suppose..."

"Stop smearing my name. And you, Beatrice, don't look at me like that. ...Just to confirm, was Filore wearing the Church of the Divine Dragon's nuns' habit?"

With a vein bulging at the looks from Subaru and Beatrice, who were clinging to each other, Otto then asked Sakura what Filore had been wearing. When Sakura nodded, "Of course she was,"

"Then there's nothing to worry about. Barring something extraordinary, a woman dressed as a sister of the Church of the Divine Dragon is not going to run into trouble on the street."

"Really? Petra, is that true?"

"Yes, I think Otto's right. If someone from the Church was in trouble, somebody nearby would definitely help."

Otto and Petra were so sure of it, as if it went without saying, that for Subaru and Emilia it came as a revelation. "Huh, really."

"But that's only if she gets into trouble on the street, right? If it's more like, say, the sinister, devilish clutches of some evil someone... that wouldn't be foolproof, would it?"

"What is this someone who's all evil and sinister and devilish... Judging by Sakura's attitude, there's no need to worry about that either. To begin with, the reason she's here is—"

"—Otto-chan, you're quick, aren't you? That's right. I came on ahead of her."

Snatching the conclusion Otto had been about to state the moment she was sure he'd reached it, Sakura gave that as her reason for coming to the noble residence herself. It wasn't quite a full explanation, but put together with how headlong the real Filore was, the answer came to Subaru too, a beat behind Otto.

"So Filore took off saying she was going to see Emilia-tan, but since she doesn't know exactly where, she's asking around all over the place as she goes..."

"And you, the stand-in big sister, got here before Filore shows up, and that's why you're sitting with Betty and the others drinking tea, in fact."

"Clap, clap, clap. Exactly right. The children in Emilia-chan's camp are very clever, aren't they?"

Sakura applauded softly in praise, but Subaru and the others weren't naive enough to swallow the compliment whole. Besides, even with people's kindness toward the Church combined with Filore's drive, could anyone really be certain she was completely safe? Emilia seemed to share the same worry, her shapely brows drawing together.

"You sound so sure, Sakura, but I'm worried about Filore. Maybe I should go have a look around the area—"

"—Emilia, may I? A guest has arrived."

Just then, Rem's voice and a knock at the drawing room door cut Emilia's worry short. Every eye in the room went to the door, and Emilia tilted her head. "A guest?" A moment later, the door was flung open from the other side with a bang—

"—It's terrible, Emilia! Help me, I'm your friend!"

"Filore!?"

The one who came clattering into the drawing room, before Emilia's widened eyes, was none other than Filore, the very girl they had been discussing. Her red eyes brimming, she ran to Emilia, who was staring at her, and dove headfirst into her chest without slowing in the least. It hit with the force of a headbutt, but Emilia took Filore's charge without trouble and caught her in her arms.

"Whoa, you startled me. Are you all right, Filore? You're not hurt?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine... No, I'm not! I'm in tatters! Look, not my body, my heart is in tatters!"

"Oh no, that's terrible... Where should I look?"

"I don't know either, so just hold me tight!"

"Okay! Squeeeeze!"

The moment she was through the door, Filore had painted the whole room her own color at a tremendous pace. Emilia met her headlong words and actions without a moment's hesitation, and her gallantry shone. As Subaru watched the two of them hug, Petra came up beside him and gave the sleeve of his tracksuit a little tug.

"...So that's the famous Saint?"

"That's the famous Saint. Well? How far off was she from what you pictured?"

"Pretty far, maybe... Oh, but I think it's nice. Every Saint's different, after all!"

"So even Saints live in an age of diversity now... Doesn't really click for me."

Not even Petra, who was as good at listening as she was at talking, could find the words for how overwhelmed she was. At any rate, the worst case, Filore wandering the capital alone and never reaching the noble residence, had been avoided for now.

"That leaves whatever Filore's after, if she's going as far as asking for help..."

"For now, I don't have a good feeling about it, I suppose."

Subaru agreed with Beatrice's guess completely. Paying them no mind, Emilia soothed Filore in a gentle voice as the girl gradually calmed down in her arms.

"So, can you tell me what happened? What did you mean, help you?"

"Well, you see... something terrible has happened, Emilia."

"Terrible... gulp."

At Filore's drawn-out way of putting it, Emilia swallowed audibly. Looking at her up close, Filore went on. And what she said was—

"—It seems I have to enter the Royal Selection as a candidate!"

In a cracking, tearful voice, Filore bewailed the cruel fate that had been forced upon her. Hearing this, Emilia's violet eyes went wide, Otto put a hand to his forehead, Petra bit her lip on that cute face of hers, and Subaru and Beatrice exchanged a look.

"Called it..." "My bad feeling was right on the mark, in fact."

"What on earth am I supposed to do... Ugh! Sakura!?"

Beside Subaru and Beatrice, who had just pulled off a prophecy nobody wanted, Sakura waved at Filore. With her back to the drawing room entrance, Filore hadn't noticed her until now. At this unexpected run-in with one of her own, Filore, the girl who had brought the storm in with her, let her mouth fall open so wide her jaw looked ready to come off its hinges. —A complete waste of a pretty face.