3.5

—When Subaru reached Al's destination, he looked up, completely and utterly overwhelmed.

"This is… How to put this…"

Standing beside him, Al nodded to display his sympathy with Subaru's halting words.

"I know, bro. I get it, looking at this and wondering what you should say."

Then, the two met each other's eyes, pointing at what stood in front of them, and said simultaneously, "—Rich people."

The dragon carriage was the very definition of needless extravagance.

The passenger cab was subtly engraved and adorned with numerous flamboyant ornaments. Glittering, radiant gold leaf had been applied to the exterior, and even the wheels had been jewel-encrusted. The land dragon in front also had an ostentatious appearance. The crimson-skinned, two-headed land dragon had extravagant feathers all down its back, with the intricate designs on the reins and bit completing the image of quintessential opulence.

"…People ride this? This isn't some kind of mistake?"

"Unfortunately, even in a vast kingdom such as this, only Princess would ride such an embarrassing thing."

Subaru did a double take as Al patted him on the back and walked ahead of him toward the occupied vehicle.

It was parked on the side of the street, but nonetheless, an unnecessarily huge dragon carriage just sitting there made a large impact on passersby. It received many stares, more out of raw shock than indignation at the interference.

Deeply conscious of their stares, Subaru finally resigned himself to climbing into the dragon carriage. He could almost hear the unvoiced whispers behind him: He's getting into that…

Sitting by herself in a custom seat, a girl greeted them with a crafty smile.

"—You have made me wait some time. Such rudeness can cost you dearly."

The girl's attire for that day polished and amplified her beauty more than ever. The dress was wide open at the chest, presenting her ample bosom with such assertiveness that her sensuality tempted eyes to wander.

"…I'm extremely humbled and delighted by your invitation."

" 'Tis no trouble. You are riding for my entertainment, nothing more. A minor amusement I am slipping in at the last minute."

"So I'm a super-outstanding servant here to serve as your entertainment for the evening? You're gonna make me cry."

As Subaru scoffed at the door, the seated master and servant traded glances with each other. The awkwardness had Subaru grinding his teeth by the time Al said to him, "Sit. We can't get this dragon carriage moving if you just keep standing there. Even if the blessing makes it not rock on the inside, it's a hell of a lot more comfortable sitting down. Besides, Princess hates being looked down upon."

"Indeed, you understand me rather well, Al. So, commoner, that is how it is. Sit down at once. If you continue to tower over me like this, I shall have your height reduced…by about half."

Since it really didn't sound like a joke, Subaru plopped down immediately. That instant, the dragon carriage started. The scenery outside the window moved gently. Very gently.

Al guessed what was on Subaru's mind, trying not to laugh as he said, "Appearances were prioritized at the cost of speed. Form over function. Easy to understand, yes?"

Subaru scratched his head at the way of thinking so different from the world he had come from, but the girl in the carriage prodded him, speaking in a fairly playful tone.

"So, peasant. What is the purpose of your riding in this dragon carriage?"

"Err… Uh? Purpose or not… It's because you told the guy there to invite me aboard, right?"

"No. That was the trigger, but not the reason. I am not asking you why you came here. I am asking you, what is your reason for being here?"

For a moment, Subaru refrained from a comeback as he searched for better words.

It burned him, but it clearly was not the time to get on the girl's bad side. She might just threw him out of the dragon carriage, but worst case, he'd be finding out what it was like to be on the business end of the sword on Al's hip.

Besides, she had chosen her question deliberately—not why he had come, but why he was there at all.

"…Because I need to go to the royal palace. That's why I'm in this carriage."

"Correct. That is your reason for being here. Put another way, so long as you carry that reason with you, you would be hunting for another way to get into the palace, even if you were not on this carriage, yes?"

Subaru lowered his head, unable to refute the girl's words.

"That's…right… Maybe I'd end up sneaking in on one of the rich folks' carriages."

So long as he could not accept "giving up" as an option, Subaru would have groped for a way to get into the royal palace by any means necessary, even if it meant sneaking in aboard a nobleman's vehicle. But as Al pointed out, "That's reckless talk. Even if you could normally, this is a real special day. The checks are gonna be a lot stricter. There's pretty much no way that'd work without help from guards at the garrison and people taking care of the carriages."

Naturally, Subaru had no connections with which to make such arrangements. No doubt he'd have completely failed if he had attempted such a plan without being prepared.

"If that's the case, getting invited here is a huge lifesaver, huh…?"

"So you boarded this dragon carriage because you aim to enter the royal palace. In other words, you believe this carriage is heading to the royal palace… There is no meaning in hiding it. Surely you are well aware of this."

"…Yeah, that's right… And if this isn't going there, let me off now because I'm on the wrong ride."

Al interrupted with a low chuckle.

"Sorry, this is a special express that won't stop until the fourth station down the line."

Subaru raised his eyebrows at the expression, but the girl continued before he could follow up. She glanced over at Subaru as she said, "Luckily for you, this dragon carriage is in fact heading to the royal palace… And do you understand why this dragon carriage is heading to the royal palace?"

"...…"

"I pray you do not disappoint me by being a foolish commoner manipulated by the information before your eyes and fail to miss the obvious. If you are, that makes you a fool whose life bears no value.—Answer with care."

As Subaru swallowed his breath, the girl uncrossed her legs and sat up. She sat with her legs off to the side, her back straight and deep in her seat as she gazed at Subaru and asked, "Why is this dragon carriage heading toward the royal palace?"

"This dragon carriage's…heading toward the royal palace, because…"

Held captive by those two red eyes, Subaru felt his stomach squeezing. The extreme pressure rolling off the girl no doubt would make the weak of spirit buckle then and there.

She was a proud girl who spoke and acted like she viewed the entire world from a position above it. She had an obedient servant and a luxuriant dragon carriage. These formed the outline, and when Subaru added the final piece, the puzzle was complete.

There was only one possible answer.

"…Because you're participating in the royal selection. This carriage is carrying a candidate."

"—My. In other words, you do understand."

"…You're one of the candidates fighting for the throne of the Kingdom of Lugunica, aren't you?"

At Subaru's reply, the girl narrowed her blood-colored eyes and let loose a bloodcurdling, sadistic laugh.

"—Al."

"Right, right, understood. It's what you figured, bro. This young lady is a candidate for the royal succession of the Kingdom of Lugunica.—This is Lady Priscilla Bariel."

Al called the leisurely posing girl Priscilla—a name he spoke with reverence.

Priscilla nodded in satisfaction at her servant's words before looking at Subaru.

"One might argue that even a fool would have answered thusly after being provided with so many hints. Regardless, you may rest at ease. At the very least, you have avoided an immediate shedding of your blood."

"Well, I'm relieved, too. This thing may be huge, but I don't think we'd ever get the smell of blood and guts out of it."

"I would simply arrange a new carriage in that case. Worry less about such trivial things and more about my mood."

"A petty bourgeois like me just can't understand a princess's sense of money."

Priscilla and Al engaged in casual master-servant banter. As Subaru watched, he subtly let out a long sigh.

He'd hazarded a guess when they'd parted ways the day before. Without doubt, Priscilla's haughtiness marked her as someone from society's upper class, telling him she had a strong pedigree. But what had really settled it was Emilia's reaction.

Emilia had been fearful of coming into contact with Priscilla in spite of the robe she wore meant to conceal her identity. If Priscilla was Emilia's political rival, it all fell into place.

In that light, the fact she'd invited Subaru aboard the dragon carriage meant…

"You knew who I was with yesterday, then?"

"It would seem she attempted to conceal herself with some pathetic rags. The way she hid in a nook along the street suited her public image very nicely."

"Why, you. There's things you say and things you don't…"

Subaru was unable to conceal his indignation at Priscilla's mockery of Emilia.

"Hey, lay off, bro. I only just got her to chill out on the spilling blood stuff."

It took only an instant. As Subaru stood up, Al drew his crescent sword and touched the thick of the blade against the bottom of Subaru's chin. One step farther and Subaru's head would roll from his shoulders.

Al continued, "You get how Princess is by now, right? That's her default mode, so just be the bigger man and accept it. If you don't… Well, you chose wrong."

"For a one-armed guy, you're pretty handy with that thing."

"I've lived longer with one than with two. People adapt."

Unable to see Al's face to judge whether he was joking, Subaru clicked his tongue and backed off a step. Accepting this, Al twirled his razor-sharp weapon and returned it to its sheath. Subaru sat back down in his seat and calmed himself.

He scowled as Al's helmet made a satisfied shake, rubbing salt into his wounds. Subaru gazed at him and broached the subject that had been nagging him all this time.

"Is it too rude for me to ask where you lost that arm of yours?"

He was pointing at Al's left arm, the most distinctive thing about him. If he has trouble answering for once, I wouldn't mind, he thought.

—But that spurred a turn of events far different than he had expected.

"Sure, I can see why it'd bug you. It was my baptism to a whole different world. You know what I mean, don't you, bro?"

"—Ah?"

Subaru had meant to gain some measure of revenge upon him, but the unexpected truth washed that thought away. He stared in abject shock while Al toyed with the gap of his helm with his left hand and tilted his head a bit.

"Wha, don't tell me you didn't notice by now? I'm the only one who knows what you're going through, bro."

"—Huh?"

Subaru let out a breath as his eyes opened as wide as plates. Al's words had frozen his thoughts stiff. With his brain blanking out, he was at a complete loss for words.

The boy raised a hand, his head feeling dizzy as he chewed over the implications.

"Wait… Wait. Understand what I'm going… You're, ah, really?"

"Can't really blame you for doubting me. I couldn't believe my ears yesterday. That stuff about how even chance meetings are the results of karma, the red threads… Haven't heard those quotes in eighteen years."

"Eighteen…?!"

That outrageous length of time caused Subaru's voice to catch in his throat. In real time, he had only been summoned one month prior. But if what Al said was true…

"That's right, bro. It's been eighteen years since I got summoned here. I lost my arm around the same time… Right around the age you are right now."

Just like that, Al confessed to Subaru that he'd experienced the same situation. However, Subaru was far from overjoyed at having so easily found someone like him. Al had spent eighteen entire years in that place knocked the wind right out of him.

"Did you ever find out…how, or anything…?"

"What, how I lost my arm, or the summoning? If it's the arm, it was when I didn't know right from left here. It was a plain, ordinary mistake. If you mean the summoning… I still don't know."

"—"

"It's not like I've looked under every rock for the reason I got called to this world… I've been working my ass off to survive."

So Al truly had lived eighteen years in another world. Being blessed with a relationship like Subaru's with Emilia wasn't common. It really did hit close to home: He could very easily have lost an arm or spent his days desperately trying to live, forgetting all about the time. It was by good fortune that Subaru Natsuki was not walking a path quite that bleak.

Priscilla's haughty behavior shattered the gloomy silence that fell over the carriage.

"You two men and your glum faces are dulling the luster of my dragon carriage. From what I have heard, 'tis all trifling issues of the past. Even those clownish tall tales about your homeland beyond the Great Waterfalls make for a more amusing conversation for me."

"Beyond the Great Waterfalls…?"

"Do you not know? At the ends of the maps of the continent, the land ceases at the four corners of the world, with all washed away by great cascades of water—in other words, the Great Waterfalls. From time to time, there are rumors of people who have come from beyond them, such as you and Al. Most are simple nonsense… But Al is different."

"—! Why do you think that? Do you have some kind of concrete reason to think…?"

"—Intuition."

It wasn't what Subaru expected, but the response fit Priscilla perfectly.

"Understand? Nothing happens in this world that is not convenient for me. In other words, my intuition is not a reason, for I require none. It is an answer all by itself. Al is a buffoon of a different breed than the other vulgar peasants and their nonsense. And…it would seem that you are, as well."

"You're unbelievable… Does it really benefit you for me, someone related to your political rival, to ride on the same dragon carriage as you?"

Even if her words were consistent, her actions were not. That was what Subaru was trying to get at. However, Priscilla smiled at him like a carnivore surveying her prey.

"…How about this? I take you, someone related to my political rival, hostage and use you to blackmail her into abandoning the royal selection. Or, I deliver her your head and threaten her by telling her that she is next. Either way, 'tis a simple matter, is it not?"

"—"

Priscilla rolled her tongue around in delight at how Subaru's eyes widened in distress.

It was a possibility he had not even imagined until that very moment. The reason for this was simple: Subconsciously, he didn't think he was valuable enough to capture as a hostage to bait Emilia.

"Your face says that is beyond what you anticipated. That makes you an even greater buffoon, yes?"

Subaru hadn't even considered the risk he could become a liability to Emilia. Priscilla clapped her hands as if she were making sport of her own, hand-raised pet.

"Judging from your eyes, you have taken the girl's side for reasons of passion. Your mad emotions have clouded your vision, making you neglect what lies at your feet… No words exist to describe your foolishness."

Subaru was unable to even let out an ugh as he wilted before Priscilla. He'd meant to rush to Emilia's side because he wanted to help her, to be there for her, but that had turned into a tragicomic farce.

Al interjected, "Hey, Princess, he's from my homeland. Don't tease him too much, okay?"

Priscilla shrugged her shoulders as a look of tedium came over her.

"I am not berating him, whatsoever. This peasant has realized his oversights and fallen into despair and gloom all by himself.—It bores me. You need not overthink things, commoner. Had I intended to use you in that manner, I would have had you dismembered in the street yesterday. That I have not done so, and invited you to ride within my dragon carriage, makes my intentions crystal clear, does it not?"

"…Whether you're taking me hostage or not isn't where my self-loathing's coming from… I'm pathetic for not having thought of it.—And why did you get me to ride this thing, anyway?"

Subaru couldn't help but think that many of his actions had rebounded on Emilia. Priscilla's declarations might have been hard to listen to, but they'd merely brought the facts to his attention. However harsh the lesson, it was the truth.

When Subaru turned a questioning gaze toward Priscilla, she altered her position again, resting her chin on a hand.

"I have told you already. You are here for my entertainment. I think it will be more amusing to bring you to the royal selection assembly than to use you as a hostage or for threats. That is my decision."

Subaru was taken aback by her completely unexpected thought process. To this, Priscilla yawned.

"Everything in this world exists to convenience me. Furthermore, I shall decide the course of whatever I please. Whatever I decide, it shall be. Therefore, all I need to do is decide what will entertain me, and what will not. There is no inconvenience to me."

"—"

With Subaru still dazed, the girl closed her eyes, declining to discuss the matter further. Judging from her posture and demeanor, she intended to nap until the time of their arrival.

Given there was a meeting crucial to the royal selection in under an hour, it was truly bold.

When Subaru looked Al's way, the guardian raised one hand to indicate subservience to his carefree master again, sinking soundlessly into his seat. Subaru was unsure whether he should do similarly and settle in for the long haul when Priscilla added, "If there is one reason beyond my amusement…"

"Eh—?"

"The abbles."

After those two words to a thoroughly dumbfounded Subaru, Priscilla went silent entirely. Since her conduct made clear she would not permit him any questions or doubts, Subaru wracked his confused mind, finally coming up with a single possible answer. In other words, "The old guy at the fruit store saved my life, then…?"

He recalled that, for whatever reason, the shopkeeper had been involved in a large percentage of his exploits in the royal capital. The thought of having survived thanks to something so banal and trivial provided Subaru a brief respite from his self-loathing.