V10 - CHAPTER 3 : A LONG-AWAITED REUNION

"I have been thoroughly molested. Where, exactly, should I direct my anger?!"

"Oh, shut up, coachman. It's just a little bump, so whatever. I apologized, right?"

"When did you apologize? Surely, you cannot mean your earlier statement of 'Sorry for smackin' ya, I got ahead o' myself'? That was more abuse, not an apology. Am I wrong?"

With the dragon carriage resuming its trot, Otto stubbornly vented at Garfiel from the driver's seat. Perhaps Otto's change in demeanor after having undergone such a painful experience so recently revealed he was surprisingly tough.

Though Subaru was deeply impressed, Otto disregarded this as he gazed up at the heavens and lamented.

"There was a flash of light inside the dragon carriage, and Lady Emilia collapsed, with Mr. Natsuki nowhere to be found! Do you understand how terrible I felt when I was at the end of my wits?! And then to be captured by a man dressed like a brigand!"

"I'm really sorry about that. You were a huge help. Emilia's safe thanks to you. I'm really thankful."

"R-right… Ah, well, if you feel properly thankful, all is well, really…"

"Super easy to please, wow…"

With Otto telling his tale of woe from right after they were separated, Subaru spoke respect infused with pure thankfulness.

In point of fact, it wasn't hard at all to imagine Otto's panic at being attacked. That he had protected Emilia afterward, keeping her safe pending Subaru's meeting up with them again, had earned Subaru's thanks—and enormous gratitude.

"Waaait, what's this brigand thing, you don't mean me, do ya?"

"Whom else could I be referring to?! You forced the dragon carriage to a stop, bullied me with your claws, and forced us to proceed with you until we reached Mr. Natsuki…"

"Right, I was wondering about that. How the heck did you end up where I was?"

Considering how he had been teleported via the power of the crystal, Subaru had assumed it was difficult to discern where he was located. Subaru didn't remember sending up any smoke signals, so how had they met up with him at the ruin?

Subaru's question made Garfiel, riding in the dragon carriage with them, rub his own nose with a finger.

"Me, I just caught the scent of an outsider. Didn't think you'd snuck in all the way to the tomb, though. I'm tellin' ya, I was pretty nervous."

"—My scent, you reached me following your nose? A special scent?"

Subaru lowered his voice a little, unable to let the remark slip by.

Subaru had a special scent wafting around him—the strange physical condition that had been pegged as the lingering scent of the Witch. Rem and the Witch Cultists had been able to sense it, so if Garfiel could sense it as well…

However, Subaru's suspicions were belied by Garfiel's shaking his head and the words that followed.

"It ain't good or bad. The scent comin' from ya is just plain normal. I found ya 'cause it ain't a scent I've smelled before, that's all. It's like, 'Sometimes, even Meimei is busy.'"

"…Sorry, I think there's a bug in the translation between you and me from time to time."

Subaru tilted his head as the enigmatic phrase flew right over it, his nose crinkling as he wondered just what Garfiel was saying. There'd always been words that didn't mesh well from both sides, but he felt like he'd suddenly hit the limits of otherworldly translation.

Either way, Garfiel's nose apparently had not caught what Subaru suspected. That being the case, his next question would have concerned either the ruin or the teleportation—but then something changed inside the carriage.

"—a, huu—"

With a faint exhalation, the girl sleeping on the simplified bed awoke.

"Ah…Emilia!"

Emilia sat up in bed, velvet eyes blinking. Subaru hastened to her side and took her hand, as if to check Emilia's body temperature to make sure she was real.

"I'm glad you're all right. Man, you really had me going for a while there…"

"Su…baru…? Er…"

Emilia looked up at the relieved Subaru, looking like she had no idea what had happened. But when she looked around the interior of the dragon carriage, she noticed the presence of an unfamiliar man and leaped to her feet.

Then she stood opposite Garfiel, shielding Subaru behind her.

"—Who?! I'll say this once, you won't lay a single finger on Subaru!"

"Wait, wait, Emilia-tan! I'm happy, but it's really complicated, everything's all right, so just…!"

"Hah, quite some lip for someone who was sleepin' all this time. Interestin'…!"

"Hey, don't you get all worked up, too! Calm down! Let's talk this through!"

Emilia, taking an unusually aggressive, worked-up stance, triggered Garfiel's combative spirit in turn. Subaru wedged himself between them, grasping Emilia's shoulders.

"Please, Emilia-tan, just relax. Some stuff happened while you were asleep, but it's been worked out already. He's Garfiel. You get it now, right?"

"Garfiel… Wait, you mean the one Frederica talked about?"

Blinking several times over at the name, Emilia looked at Garfiel. When she did so, he puffed out his chest and answered.

"Yeah, that's me—Garfiel. The world's strongest man."

"Right, right, the world's strongest… Huh? What did you say just now? You said world's strongest? With a straight face?"

"I said it, yeah. What's so strange about that…?"

He meant it as an explanation to Emilia, but the unexpectedly grandiose statement surprised even Subaru. Garfiel crinkled his nose, seemingly offended by their reactions.

"You've heard my name, so you heard about all that from Roswaal, right…?"

"I heard your name with the nuance that you were a powerful person, but…that didn't mean physical power, did it…?"

If it meant martial might, the term powerful was being used in an unusual way. But, given the present circumstances, the chances of that seemed rather high, and they still had no certain proof he was an ally.

Subaru had never thought Frederica's telling them to be wary of him would come to fruition like that.

"I'll ask this again, but you're Garfiel who lives in the Sanctuary. You've got a relationship to Roswaal, and right now Ram and the people from Earlham Village are here, too. We can believe you on that?"

"You're free to doubt me, but either way, you've crossed the barrier. It's not like you can turn back now, right?"

"Eh? We crossed the barrier? Since when?"

Emilia's eyes widened in shock at the surreal fact. Incidentally, Subaru was just as surprised as she was. "Hey, hey," said Garfiel toward them, and continued his words:

"Gimme a break. In the first place, didn't you fall asleep when you got close to the barrier?"

"I slept because of the barrier…? Now that you mention it, the crystal got bright then, too…"

"The timing was the same. Meaning they were both reactions to the barrier!"

Subaru snapped his fingers. The crystal's radiating light inside the dragon carriage matched up with the facts. Subaru got the crystal out of his pocket and rolled it on his palm; Emilia nodded deeply as well. Then—

"—? What is it, Garfiel?"

Hearing Emilia pose the question all of a sudden, Subaru followed suit, lifting his face. When he did, he followed her gaze to find Garfiel staring at the crystal with a conflicted look on his face.

He looked like the blue glow made him recall some kind of painful memory.

"Something about this? You probably went through some scary stuff on account of this rock. Besides, I'm kinda wondering why the barrier that made Emilia-tan collapse didn't do anything to Otto or me."

"The rock's nothin' to me. And of course the barrier reacted to Lady Emilia. The barrier's a test that reacts to dirty blood."

"—!"

"Hey, Garfiel. What's this business about dirty blood?"

Garfiel's statement sent pain running across Emilia's cheeks. Angry at that fact, Subaru probed to determine the true meaning behind Garfiel's words.

"Don't make me repeat myself. She's a half-elf. Get it into your…"

"Hah, don't get bent out of shape about it. I'm not tryin' to single out Lady Emilia by sayin' it. Dirty blood don't mean just half-elves. It applies to me, the others… She ain't no exception… She's mixed, just like we are."

"Mixed…mixed blood, you mean?"

Without a word, Garfiel indicated yes to Emilia's question. Receiving his answer, Subaru realized just why he'd heard the Sanctuary was special beforehand—and what was meant by "particular" demi-humans.

"In other words, the Sanctuary is where demi-human people with mixed blood live…"

"Correct… Gotta say, though, you came to the Sanctuary without Frederica even tellin' you that much…?"

"She kept saying she couldn't tell us the details. Within what she could say, she kept saying to watch out, but…because of some vow, she couldn't say much more than your name."

"Vow this, vow that… Huh? Ha, excuses from head to toe. Just like her master, huh?"

Clicking his tongue, Garfiel gave an answer that was closer to a cursing than an expression of malice.

There was no doubting he was related by blood to Frederica, but it was no atmosphere for asking anything him about it. Maybe Frederica refused to speak of him because—

"You don't really get along well with Frederica?"

"Emilia-tan?!"

"If you're gonna ask if we get along well or not, we don't. Besides, everythin' from here on don't concern her. Everythin' from here is about us, and you people who came through the barrier, nothin' else."

Emilia's straight-to-the-point question took Subaru by surprise, but Garfiel replied in a surprisingly calm fashion, sinking his hips deeper into his seat as he indicated the outside of the dragon carriage with his chin.

Subaru understood what his gesture meant: They would soon arrive at their destination, the Sanctuary.

"We welcome you, Lady Emilia and her two servants."

The words of welcome had a title of respect attached, but there was not a shred of respect or warmth in them. Having spoken them, Garfiel replied to Subaru's and Emilia's suspicious gazes with an audible clenching of his fangs.

With that, he spread his arms very wide, indicating the entire area.

"For whatever reason, Roswaal calls this the Sanctuary, but…it ain't a place suited for pretty-sounding words like that. It's a place where rejects gather and live together, a dead-end laboratory."

"Laboratory…?"

"Rejects."

Subaru and Emilia knit their brows as different words tugged at their respective minds. For his part, Garfiel laughed, not concealing his mouth like Frederica did.

"As for me, I think it's more accurate to call it the tomb of the Witch of Greed!"

"The Witch of Greed?!"

As Garfiel continued, Subaru tilted his head at the never-before-heard statement; in his stead, it was Otto, overhearing the discussion inside the dragon carriage, who had an exaggerated reaction.

In a fierce panic, Otto peered into the carriage from the driver's seat and said, "Um, ah, er, excuse me… You don't mean to say this is genuinely related to the Witch of Greed, yes…?"

"Wait, wait, WAIT! 'Cause you got super surprised I'm reacting late, but what's the Witch of Greed to begin with? When people say Witch, they mean the Witch of Jealousy, right…?"

The Witch of Jealousy had plunged the world into the lowest depths of terror; even in the present, she was feared as the most awful of calamities.

Subaru knew only of the Witch bearing the title of Jealousy. He'd never heard of any others. Despite that, the term beyond his expectations sailed overhead, bringing the worst of possibilities rushing to the forefront of his mind.

"Don't tell me the Witch Cult has one Witch for each of them? Seven Witches, so seven archbishops in total?! How hard do you think it was defeating even one of them?!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Having to defeat all of them would be an especially harrowing prospect, but there is fortunately no concern about that. It is just that for a Witch besides Jealousy to become an issue is a very, very great problem in itself…"

Subaru was relieved to have his worst imagination rebutted, but Otto's concern had not been wiped away. Subaru found himself suspicious when Emilia, sitting beside him, took up where Otto had left off.

"Well, you see, a reeeally long time ago, and this would be four hundred years ago…there were six Witches other than the Witch of Jealousy. But the Witch of Jealousy killed them all, supposedly…"

"Seems like she ate 'em. Matter of fact, there ain't much for records left of the Witches the Witch of Jealousy killed. But there's exceptions to that."

"So you're saying this is one exception? There's something odd about the names of other Witches?"

With Garfiel bolstering Emilia's words, Subaru pulled what was left of his question back toward Otto, who sighed as he continued, seeming to detest even speaking the words.

"It is not a topic I enjoy speaking of, but it concerns the traits of Witch Cultists. As you already know, they are adherents of the Witch of Jealousy, but…they do not acknowledge the existence of other Witches. Even merely hearing the name of one is enough to drive them into terrible rampages."

"That's awfully oversensitive…"

"In the Volakia Empire to the south, rumors spread of the name of a Witch besides the Witch of Jealousy. A metia supposedly related to the Witch emerged, but there is no telling whether it was true or false."

The empire to the south, and the Witch Cult—those two elements coalesced in Subaru's memory. He remembered a story Julius had relayed to him while they were traveling together at the height of the campaign to subdue Petelgeuse.

"You mean the story that a single Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins wiped out a city?"

"That is the one. Perhaps the rumor of a metia was fact, or perhaps it was merely a convenient scapegoat after the fact… Either way, the cost was the downfall of an entire city. Speaking about Witches has been strictly prohibited everywhere since."

With Otto concluding his harrowing tale, Subaru nodded in sympathy. Subaru hated the Witch Cult and everything surrounding it, but the current conversation had added one more reason to hate it.

"Isn't it dangerous to spread around scary trivia like that?"

"It's not like it's gonna leak outside. But the old hag says it's the tomb of the Witch of Greed, so there ain't no mistake. It's just like, 'Peromio festered from the point he heard it.'"

"Not that I'm really interested in what was festering, but I take it you don't know the fine details?"

"If you wanna know details, pry 'em outta Roswaal— At the moment, I ain't sure you even could, though."

"—? What do you mean by that? Has something happened to Roswa—"

"I'm sorry. We seem to have arrived at the vill—is this a village? The settlement. Shall we enter?"

Emilia probed deeper to discern Garfiel's meaning, but before she could get anywhere, Otto announced from the driver's seat that they had arrived at their destination. His words made her look outside, whereupon she said…

"So this is the Sanctuary…"

Emilia's whisper-like tone made Subaru let out a similar breath as he narrowed his eyes.

There, after taking so long to cut through deep forest, was cleared space, with a lonely settlement lying within. When it was compared to the image given by the name Sanctuary, it was impossible to wipe away the impression of an undignified, dirt-poor habitation.

Stone towers at the settlement's entrance lay fallen and mossed over. They could see stonework pillars in the distance, all of great age, covered in moss and vines so far as they could tell.

The impression was much like that given off by the ruin, but the settlement gave off a fragment of that only, something Subaru could only call…

"Feels like a pretty run-down place…"

"Just to say it, the people are pretty run-down, too, okay? They're all wrinkled hags and old men. It's got that 'Man or Kegelmo, we all grow old' feel to it."

"That's the first time I understand what one of your sayings means, but man, you aren't pulling any punches."

Garfiel's words about the settlement he himself lived in were absolutely merciless. Some people liked to talk poorly of their homelands out of modesty, but Subaru didn't sense a shred of that from his voice.

It seemed to be a fact that he was alienated from this place, the Sanctuary. Either way—

"Let's keep going until we find a good spot to park the dragon carriage…"

"I see you're back, Garf. You certainly took your sweet time."

"Yeah."

Putting everyone's impressions of the Sanctuary on the back burner, they made the dragon carriage run to the center of the settlement, where Subaru was surprised to hear a familiar voice.

It was tossed their way from the center of the settlement, right along the route the dragon carriage was following.

There, a lone girl revealed herself, her demeanor cool as she stood tall. The sight of the girl made Garfiel dash right out of the dragon carriage; he leaped down, waving a hand with a smile.

"Yo. Pretty rare for you to come out and welcome me back like this. Did the bastard finally kick the bucket?"

"If that were the case, Ram would be turning this entire place into a sea of flames. You should be most grateful to Master Roswaal that it is not so."

"I don't know what ya mean, but geez, that's some thinkin'!"

Garfiel approached her, seeming very amused by the abuse from the girl in the familiar-looking servant's outfit. As he watched from a distance, Subaru's lips slackened in visible relief.

"Hmmm, so that is the older sister of the girl whom you were speaking of. I see… It is quite obvious, but she looks just like the sleeping Miss Rem, yes."

Otto, laying eyes upon the girl for the first time, was deeply moved as he murmured. Just as he'd said, in appearance she and Rem were two peas in a pod, but the individuals on the inside were completely different.

Subaru was reuniting with Ram, the nonworking servant of Roswaal Manor, after several days of separation.

"Ram!"

Ram noticed Subaru leaning out of the dragon carriage and waving toward her. Her pink eyes narrowed slightly, followed by an easy-to-understand sinking of her shoulders.

"I know not where you were, Barusu, but I am disappointed at your late arrival. If only you had noticed something was wrong and come running… Ah, I was a fool to expect such a thing."

"If you don't know where I've been, then follow that part to the end, damn it! Also, this goes mainly for Roswaal, but it's hard to figure out what you people are up to. Also, I need to talk to the man himself face-to-face!"

When Subaru rebutted, Ram replied with a "Ha!" that was the same as it had ever been. From there, her gaze turned toward Emilia, who was right at Subaru's side.

"Lady Emilia, I bid you a warm welcome. As Master Roswaal is awaiting you within, I shall escort you to him. Garf, please guide the dragon carriage and coachman to a suitable place."

"Man, you're rough with people! That's fine, though. Hey, driver bastard. Come with me, I'll show ya in."

"Do you mean me by that?! That is the worst thing you have called me to date, you know!"

Even though he'd introduced himself by name, it was "driver bastard" now. On top of that, the prospect of being all alone with Garfiel made Otto look toward Subaru and Emilia in search of salvation.

Subaru responded to his clingy gaze with a deep, knowing nod.

"I'll bury your bones later!"

"Those are not words ever used with a good connotation, are they?!"

Leaving that lament behind, Otto was led off by the overbearing Garfiel, dragon carriage and all.

Upon their separation, Subaru gave Patlash a concerned rub of her nose, but Otto was no doubt safe under her protection. Perhaps it was strange to entrust a human being to a land dragon, but oh well.

"That Patlash, she's reeeally trustworthy and dependable, isn't she?"

"Plus, where Otto's concerned, I feel like there'll always be uncertain elements no matter how much I'd worry about him."

Watching driver and dragon carriage depart, Subaru said, "Well, then," and turned Ram's way. Having gazed in silence at the previous exchange, she turned her face away from Subaru's gaze with a neutral look and said, "What?"

"…Nothing, I've just been wondering if you were all right. I mean, given how we parted ways, and not being in touch with you at all after, to be honest, I was really nervous."

"I suppose you were. As you can see, today Ram is as robust and adorable as ever. No harm has come to pass for the villagers evacuating to the Sanctuary with me. You may rest easy about that."

"That so? That's, yeah, I'm relieved to hear it… That's comforting."

"—?"

Subaru's shoulders sank with relief, but the odd wording at the end of Subaru's sentence made Ram look at him suspiciously. Her reaction made Subaru grit his teeth, locking down the emotions that had surged as far as his throat before he made them into words.

"…"

"Ah, Ram. It's odd for us to just stand here and talk like this, right? Could you show us in?"

With Subaru sinking into silence, unable to immediately speak, Emilia spoke those words to Ram in his place. Ram slightly knitted her brows at the words, but she immediately said, "As you wish," bowed, and turned her back.

Not probing any further and immediately marching off was very Ram-like, but…

"Subaru, are you all right? You're not angry I butted in?"

"Nah, it's fine. I was just being pathetic… I was just scared of asking Ram about Rem right this moment, you see."

Subaru listlessly shook his head, giving a pained smile at Emilia's consideration for him.

He was afraid to be certain. Several times over, he'd already experienced a sense of loss through Emilia, Petra, and others—but it wasn't something he'd gotten used to. For that matter, hearing it from Ram would probably have the greatest weight of all.

The fact she hadn't asked about Rem's whereabouts under those circumstances was more than enough proof that she had forgotten her younger sister.

"Emilia?"

"It's natural for you to be afraid. I don't think that is pathetic at all, so…"

As Subaru hung his head, Emilia took hold of Subaru's hand, meeting his eyes as she spoke those words in a sincere voice. Floating in her purple eyes were deep worry and a great deal of affection—those feelings gave him some consolation.

Gathering the scraps of his nearly lost courage, he thought he just might be able to find the words to ask her next time.

"Let's go and make everything better. Rem, and lots of other things, too."

"…Roger that. Whatever happens, I'll protect you as your meat shield, Emilia-tan."

Subaru and Emilia were still holding hands as they walked behind Ram, going deeper into the Sanctuary.

—Subaru did not realize that it was he alone who gained courage from it.