3.4

Subaru, having skipped out of the inn thanks to Rem's kindness, ran downtown in the royal capital, his feet taking him to the Cadmon fruit store so he could contact Old Man Rom.

"Sneaking into a castle…is not very realistic, is it? Well, nothing's gonna happen unless I make it to the entrance of the royal palace…"

It might have been possible to gain entry by explaining that he was connected to Emilia and Roswaal. But Subaru had few cards to play to even get that far.

"Even if I got to the garrison and explained, Emilia would probably turn down a magic mirror message…"

If he could make it to the foot of the castle, he was confident he could verbally wear Emilia down. Emilia was weak under pressure. He didn't think she'd chase Subaru off after he'd undergone a dangerous adventure to reach her.

Subaru went to Market Street in the hopes of improving his chances of success. He wanted to get in touch with Old Man Rom and relay his plan to infiltrate the Nobles' District as soon as possible.

The day before, Emilia had attempted to contact the royal palace from the garrison, but her efforts had apparently failed. But as it was clear that Reinhard was assigned to the Knights of the Royal Guard, he would surely be attending the royal selection meeting that day.

Before Emilia had left the inn, she'd said that she would ask him about Felt afterward. Subaru wanted to tell Old Man Rom, a worrier in spite of his large frame, as soon as he could.

Weaving his way into the crowd with quick feet, Subaru found the shop sign that was still fresh in his memory. The eccentric colors of the Cadmon sign were easy to mentally associate with the unmistakable scarred face of the shopkeeper.

It's a small world, thought Subaru as he leaped out in front of the shop, when…

"Hey, old guy. Long time no—"

As Subaru tried to call out to the storekeeper, a congenial voice interrupted from right beside him.

"You're late, bro! Just in the nick of time. Lucky you, I was gonna wait just a bit longer before heading off."

A heavy metallic rattle accompanied a muffled laugh. Subaru shrugged off the arm openly wrapped around his shoulders, putting some distance between himself and the very close voice.

"Who are… Wait, you're the guy from yesterday?"

"Yeah, I'm the guy from yesterday. I'm glad you showed up. Now I won't get an earful over it."

Not minding that his arm had been brushed off, the man in the black helmet—Al—patted his chest with his one arm. The appearance of the eccentric swordsman was just as unbalanced as it had been the day before.

Al chuckled again, seeing Subaru's obvious shock at the unexpected reunion.

"Hey, don't get bent out of shape. It's your fault for talking about meeting up here right in front of Princess. She's a sharp cookie to begin with."

"Right in front of…she was eavesdropping! So why are you at the place I'm supposed to meet Old Man Rom, anyway? I get that the girl ordered you to, but not the reason why."

"Hey, don't ask me why. Princess does things on a whim so much, a lot of the time there's no point asking why.—So let's get goin' then!"

"'Goin''?"

Apparently, both master and servant expected him to charge off into a new affair without his misgivings being answered. With Al ready to move out without a sufficient explanation, Subaru furrowed his brows and objected, "Hold on a minute. Go where? You haven't explained one thing to me… I mean, I've got a place I have to get to!"

"Why're you dragging your feet? Hey, it's a big world out there and people get carried away by the currents, so just forget your doubts and go with the flow. It's fun!"

Subaru pointed at Al's helmet, unable to see the expression behind it as he soundly declared, "I don't wanna hear philosophy from a grown-up slacker like you. I've got things to do. I don't have time to mess with you or your princess!"

Subaru had no idea how Al had wound up associated with said princess, but that didn't mean he had to shut up and play along. He continued, "You should really reconsider spoiling her before it gets both of you in really hot wa—"

"—You're looking for a way to get into the royal palace, right?"

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━!"

Al's murmur stopped the stern lecture on Subaru's lips.

"Whoa, that sure worked. That's Princess for you. It's just like she said."

"Wh…what do you know…?!"

"Nah, I don't know nothin'. I'm just saying it 'cause Princess told me to. And it worked, huh?"

Al's shoulders rocked in delight as Subaru bit his lip and held his breath. If what the man said was true, Subaru was dancing on the palm of a girl who wasn't even there. Suspecting he was completely boxed in, Subaru licked his parched lips.

"…I can…get into the castle, if I…go with you?"

The way Al avoided the heart of the matter was unsettling.

"Well… You'll find out if you come along, won't ya?"

Subaru averted his eyes and resisted the urge to click his tongue. Al had tossed the ball into his court and now calmly awaited his reply.

In spite of that, he seemed to know exactly what reply Subaru would give, which burned Subaru to no end.

After a brief, silent pause, the boy scowled in defeat as he raised a white flag.

"—Understood. I'll go with you."

"Don't look so sad. I knew how this was gonna go down the moment you arrived in front of this shop with me waiting for you, just like Princess wanted."

"…You seriously believe in her like that?"

Al didn't reply to Subaru's feeble question, using his one arm to fend off the issue as he moved the conversation forward.

"—Well, out of time. If we don't get a move on, she's gonna leave us behind. She's really strict about that stuff."

Subaru was about to fall into step behind Al, but first he looked back and said, "So there you have it. There's stuff I wanted to talk about, but I'll save it for next time, old guy."

He was speaking to the shopkeeper, who'd been grimacing as Subaru and Al conversed inside the store. The shopkeeper traced his facial scar with a finger and let out a brief snort.

"I don't really mind. Can't be helped… Having a weirdo like that in front of my store was driving my customers away. Get going already."

"I'm not sure Al's the cause of your customers staying away, but… I've got one favor to ask you. You can get in touch with this crazy-huge geezer named Old Man Rom, right?"

Subaru, feeling confidence in the unusual connection, chose his words with great care as he added, "I want you to tell Old Man Rom this:—Subaru Natsuki says, I'm heading to the castle to check on Felt. Wait up for good news."