9.2.3

Carrying those words in the manner of a white flag, Subaru and the rest of the expeditionary force arrived at Earlham Village without incident. However, when Ram appeared to greet them, she had a sour look on her face, and Subaru awkwardly shrank as he stood before her. Hah! Ram instantly snorted out as she spoke.

"First you send a blank letter, and now you appear at the head of an armed band? You do not appear to comprehend exactly whose domain this is."

"But you didn't launch a preemptive strike… That means there's room to talk about this, right?"

"That sign was a message for me, obviously. I am the only one who would understand such a thing."

Ram sighed in visible exasperation as she set eyes on the wooden placard Subaru carried at his side. An apology in huge I-script was written on the sign in white paint. This was the master plan Subaru had developed midmarch for countering the blank letter of goodwill—or rather, he'd responded with the blunt truth.

"I should beat you senseless. The characters are so sloppy that I was nearly unable to read them."

"Hey, you taught me these characters! Aren't you used to seeing them by now?!"

"Unfortunately, I forgot about them as quickly as an ingrate forgets the generosity shown to him."

"Unnghhhhh…!"

Ram's characteristically harsh statement left Subaru hemming and hawing, unable to give any retort. Watching his reaction, she folded her arms and continued her lecture.

"So? According to what I have heard, Barusu, you soured Lady Emilia's mood in grand fashion and she abandoned you in the royal capital… How dare you return to show your face?"

"You really have no mercy, do you?! I'm not gonna argue with each and every point, but here I am, daring to return and show my face! Not that I came back empty-handed!"

With a hand, he indicated the expeditionary force lined up behind him to put his exploits from the royal capital on display.

Subaru's declaration caused Ram to narrow her eyes. As she proceeded to survey the expeditionary force, she spoke.

"It is fine to boast, but as your objective is unclear, the humans of the village are on guard. I too am concerned that anything might happen… My songbird heart is nearly ready to burst."

"You mean your heart has wings sprouting from it? Doesn't that make it a really strong heart?"

"If you make too many wisecracks I shall slice that nose off your face."

"Man, it's been a few days and this reunion feels really off-kilt— Wait, my nose?!"

The savage declaration sent Subaru covering his face and backing off a step as his gaze shifted from Ram to the village behind her.

Of course, the ruckus was such that the villagers noticed the expeditionary force immediately, whereupon they turned concerned eyes toward the knights lined up in the village square. However—

"Hey, at the head of them, that's Master Subaru, isn't it?"

"It really is. That's Master Subaru speaking to Miss Ram. He's come back?"

"Ahh, it's Subaru! He's back!"

The villagers' wariness relented slightly when they realized Subaru was acting as the group's representative. Thanks to that, in their eyes, the group was upgraded from "never before seen" to "under the command of someone we know."

"And now we have to upgrade that to 'reliable reinforcements brought by someone we know'…"

"That is no simple matter. In the first place, I have not yet accepted all of this. I cannot readily believe that a letter bearing a wax seal was merely in error."

"That's part of the enemy's trap… You noticed the jerks hiding in the forest, right?"

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

Subaru lowered his voice to a whisper. Ram kept silent with a sober look on her face.

It was plain as day that both the Witch Cult lurking in the forest and the blank letter incident had put Ram on guard the last time around. Subaru addressed Ram's concerns as he moved the conversation forward.

"Ferris, Wilhelm, over here! Ram, you know both of them, too, right?"

Obeying Subaru's call, the pair came over to his side. "Yes," said Ram, looking over Ferris and Wilhelm as they stood side by side; her expression vanished as she straightened her back.

The pair from Crusch's camp acknowledged Rem's posture by granting her their respect.

"I am called Wilhelm Trias. I have come as Lady Crusch's representative."

"I'm Ferris, Lady Crusch's personal knight. Old Man Wil's the captain of the group behind us, so that makes Ferri the vibrant flower, meow."

The austere Wilhelm and the flippant-to-the-last Ferris were a shining example of polar opposites. Ram responded to both extremes by politely grasping the hem of her skirt and making a formal curtsy.

"I graciously accept your polite greetings. I am called Ram. I am employed here, at the mansion of Marquis Roswaal L. Mathers, in the capacity of senior servant."

Ram's cheekiness in naming herself senior servant made Subaru grimace, but he held his tongue. Ram was indisputably in charge of the mansion while Rem was absent. Personally, he would have preferred she call herself acting senior servant, or if not senior for a day, then at least senior servant for the last week, but oh well.

"Either way, these two and the people behind us are proof that Crusch is cooperating with us. This is what Roswaal wants, too. No complaints, right?"

"If Master Roswaal wills it, Ram shall obey— It would seem he accomplished his objective in leaving you behind at the capital. Though I believe he shall have your head for the blank letter, Barusu."

"Hey, can you cut it with the violent imagery? Why do you have such a brutal thought process?"

He felt like he was back in medieval times, but Ram freshly ignored his complaints. Instead she turned toward the representatives of the reinforcements.

"So you have been traveling with my apprentice servant… My condolences."

"Though he is prone to exorbitant actions and showing too much of his emotions, Sir Subaru is a person of high promise. Even at my age, he has aided me many times."

"Ferri won't go as far as Old Man Wil, but…well, I'll just take Ram's words as they were offered. I'll say, mmm, I think he's brushed up a little, meow."

The assessments from Wilhelm and Ferris made Ram sigh with an even more grudging look on her face.

Though the topic was a rather uncomfortable one, Subaru scratched his cheek, glossing over how he really felt. Immediately after, he clapped his hands together and started over, explaining the situation to Ram in detail.

"Anyway, leave smashing the enemies in the forest to the expeditionary force. I want you to cooperate with that and something in a different direction. Are you willing?"

"That depends on the details. I do not wish to make a hasty promise only to have Barusu's filthy, poisonous fangs sink into me."

"Hey, the looks I give you aren't that dirty, you know?!"

"That's a boy for you, not saying it was zero…"

Faced with Ram's poison tongue, Ferris's casual banter, and stern eyes shifted his way, Subaru cleared his throat. From there, having kept them waiting long enough, he elucidated the circumstances required, both in front of and behind the curtain, to make his plan come to fruition.

"I want your help in picking where to evacuate the people in the village and to guide them there. I want to make sure not to involve the villagers while we fight the enemies in the forest."

"I understand what you are saying. However, we have no means of escape."

"I've arranged the legs to carry 'em out on. From here on out, traveling merchants with dragon carriages will be assembling here, bit by bit from every direction. We'll have the villagers get aboard and haul 'em out."

"Assembled from all directions…? How?"

"—Money. We'll just have to eat the costs, okay?"

Subaru's "insurance policy" had cost a great deal of money. The treasury paying it was Roswaal's, and on top of that, it was without his having granted permission. Ram sighed deeply when she discerned that from Subaru's manner of speech.

"…Understood. I will support your effort. It is an emergency, after all."

"Seriously?! Huge help! Worst case, I was gonna have to promise to pay it back when I make it big!"

"Only those who are fit to actually rise to prominence may promise such a thing— However, Ram's consent is by no means the end of the matter."

After giving a stern assessment about his future prospects, Ram shifted an even sterner look over her shoulder. Subaru didn't need to follow her gaze; he knew exactly what Ram was trying to tell him.

The people of Earlham Village were behind Ram, still anxious about their situation. Even if Ram was willing to lead them out, convincing them would prove the highest hurdle of all.

He had prior experience from the last go-around, but the result of that effort still tasted bitter in his mouth. The closest word he had to describe the emotion summoned by that memory was fear.

He'd only scratched the surface of the discrimination and repudiation facing Emilia.

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

Time was short—precious time gained from feeding false information to the Witch Cult. And yet, Subaru hesitated, wondering what the first words out of his mouth ought to be.

"Subawu, if you can't do it, I'll…"

"—Ferris."

"—Master Subaru. Please, let us drop all pretenses. Everyone in the village understands."

However, Subaru couldn't even get that first word out.

The one speaking, interrupting Subaru's word-without-a-plan, was the cornerstone of the village—a small-statured, white-haired, elderly man. He was the one the villagers called Muraosa, a name in no way related to his occupation as village headman. Normally his demeanor made one suspect he was a senile old man, but at that moment, his voice and gaze held no trace of that whatsoever.

Subaru felt overwhelmed by the glint in his eye as the elder touched his beard and continued.

"We understand how dire things must be if you have brought such dangerous persons to deal with it. We have already heard from Miss Ram about the…suspicious presence in the forest."

"No, that's…"

"Stop trying to fool us…! We knew before anyone said a word!!"

Following in Muraosa's wake, the leader of the village's young men raised a bitter cry. The last go-around, his plea had been the trigger for the villagers to put their fears and anxieties on display. This time proved no different.

"So the ones in the forest, they really are…!"

"What's with our lord? Didn't he foresee that this would happen?!"

"Why did the lord speak in support of a half-elf…of a half-demon…?"

The young man's cry ripped the bandage off, causing the villagers to look at one another and share their fears and worries. It was the sight Subaru had most feared, and had most wanted to avoid.

It was the worst of all spectacles, for even with an intervening Return by Death, and so many valiant efforts to deal with so many things, he still hadn't known how to stop things from getting to this point—

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

He probably couldn't eliminate such a deep-seated discriminatory mind-set in that one moment. When he recalled events from the last time around, he thought that a similar compromise would make things easier.

Considering the menace posed by the Witch Cult, the right decision was to kick other issues down the road. If he gained their grudging acceptance, prioritizing the evacuation, then—

"The girl I know, she acts tough, she's stubborn, hardheaded…and she worries about anyone seeing that she's lonely."

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

The words Subaru spoke seemed wholly unrelated to his inner thought process.

The villagers gazed in bewilderment, wondering what in the world Subaru was saying. The members of the expeditionary force had similar reactions. However, their expressions of surprise abated as they listened closely.

They offered their ears, listening to Subaru's words.

"She always chooses to hurt herself for someone else's sake. Even though she gets hurt so easily, she always picks the path that winds up with her getting hurt. She's gentle and kindhearted to the core, she fusses over things like a little kid, she gets teary-eyed even when she hasn't eaten a green bepper, she makes such a cute face when she smiles…"

"What are you talking abo—?"

"—I'm talking about Emilia, the half-elf up at the mansion."

When someone interrupted, Subaru replied with a calm voice.

His answer surprised the villagers. The little smile coming over Subaru's lips surprised them even more. Given the circumstances, and their words of distress but a few moments before, his reaction seemed very much out of place.

"I understand why you're worried. Also that you think the cause of everything is R…Master Roswaal, your lord, and his support of a half-elf girl in the royal selection that began at the royal capital."

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

"That girl's name is Emilia. Really, you all know her already, don't you? She's the girl who's been spending months alongside you."

Subaru's exhortation made the villagers exchange glances. From their reactions, there had to be recognition remaining within their memories. Even if, all that time, her face and her identity had been hidden, they'd seen her with Subaru in the village many times, and at the very least, they remembered the time they'd spent with her.

"I understand that you're all worried and scared. I also understand that when the chips are down, it feels good to blame things on something that's easy to understand."

It was human instinct to protect the mind by slamming the emotions into something nearby. Subaru could not criticize them for that. He, of all people, didn't have the right to do so.

But he chastised himself. His heart was tormented because he understood this so well. Once upon a time, Subaru had coped with pain the way the villagers were doing in the present.

"I'm sure, though, you all actually understand. Pushing your worries onto someone else won't make things better."

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

"That girl is someone who smiled with everyone. That girl is someone who wants to laugh with everyone. I know. She's said so. I want you to stop ignoring that, and stop hurting her."

He had no confidence that his own voice lacked worry and sorrow. He wanted to punch himself for having the gall to say such a thing. After all, it was Subaru who had hurt Emilia, ignored her feelings, and trampled upon her heart more than anyone.

He'd regretted it at the time. The grief had pierced Subaru's chest ever since. Maybe that was why.

He regretted allowing her to make that face. He regretted making her put on that face.

He didn't want anyone else to go through that.

"Please—I'm begging you."

Subaru lowered his head toward the villagers as he made his earnest plea.

The thing he was asking seemed completely unrelated to their most imminent problems, a waste of precious time. Even though Subaru had to speak to them about evacuating, his words were about something completely different. It was as if he was reconfirming for himself just what terrible things had been said to Emilia over and over.

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

Indeed, the villagers looked conflicted, at a loss as to what reaction they ought to have to Subaru's words. Even if it had been the topic they were speaking about, the conclusion clashed with the issue at hand.

Mutual bewilderment left them perplexed. However, that was not the only thing born from it.

"—Petra?"

Hearing the sound of small footsteps, Subaru called out the name of the little girl walking to his side.

The girl with reddish-brown hair—Petra—was a village girl Subaru knew well. She responded to Subaru's call with a nod as she reached Subaru's side, turning around as she stood to face the villagers with him.

Then her next words proved that she did not only seem to be taking his side—she was.

"Why won't anyone listen to what Subaru's saying?"

It was guileless. It was brutally honest. That was why her chastising tore a hole into their hearts.

"Subaru's so worried, he looks about to cry. Why won't anyone help him?"

"That's…"

"When I was in trouble, when everyone was in trouble, Subaru came through, didn't he? He'll probably come through for us today, too, right? Then why…?"

Adults had too many walls up to launch the attack called "innocence" that only children were capable of. With the adults cowed into silence, Petra gazed sadly at them before grasping Subaru's hand.

"The older girl at the mansion, that's the girl always wearing white, isn't it? She was the one bringing potato stamps when we did the radio aerobics."

"…Yeah, that's right. She was the stamp girl. She wanted to mingle with everyone, but she couldn't just come out and say so. That's just how she is."

Subaru grinned as Petra's words brought him back to the peaceful days they'd spent together.

It became a ritual. Every day, Emilia would accompany Subaru down to the village and do radio aerobics with the villagers. Emilia was always watching when Subaru gave his stamp of approval with the potato stamps he'd carved himself.

These everyday scenes were the tangible bonds Emilia had formed with the villagers.

That fact made understanding and hesitation rise upon the adults' faces. But no adult grumbling or hesitation had any traction with children. Other hands rose as different children rushed over to Subaru's side.

"I'm okay with Big Sis, too!" "If Petra's fine with her, then I'm fine with her!" "We won't let Big Bro be the only one to act cool!" "Subaru's gonna cry, so we've gotta help him!" "Yeah!!"

The children made a ruckus; their voices seemed to blow the previous atmosphere away. Seeing the children lined up against them, the anxiety-ridden adults glanced at each other's faces.

They needed one final push. Faced with their indecision, Subaru stepped forward. With both arms, he held on to the children, pulling them in as tightly as he could.

"I don't expect everyone to accept her just like that. But I want an opportunity without you rejecting her at the start. I want you to give her a chance."

"A chance…?"

"A chance to be a girl you can get along with…a chance for you to understand each other."

As Subaru elaborated on his words, his hands let go of the children he had held, freeing him to get on his knees and show that his resolve went far beyond bowing.

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

Even Ram's eyes widened as murmurs spread.

But of all assembled, it was Wilhelm, Ferris, and the other members of the expeditionary force behind Subaru who watched his entreaty in silence.

It was enough. Though it was embarrassing, he had no reason to hesitate.

"Everyone, there's a lot of things I'd like to say, but right now, this is the only thing I want to ask of you. And one thing more: Let us protect the time needed to make that chance happen."

"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"

"Please… This is why I came back."

His voice came to a halt. The villagers were silent.

That was to be expected—as far as they were concerned, Subaru was their savior, yet there he was, pressing his own forehead to the ground as he made his plea…a plea to "let them" protect.

Their positions were completely reversed. But the sight of the Subaru they knew like that was—

"—Oh geez, Master Subaru, there's just no winnin' against you."

Speaking those words, and roughly scratching his head in the process, was none other than the leader of the young men who had caused their eruption of worry to begin with. He had a guilty look on his face as he walked over to Subaru and reached out with a hand.

A dumbstruck Subaru gazed blankly as that hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

Then, with Subaru having yet to say anything, he spoke.

"If you're gonna say you'll protect us and put that much into it…guess it can't be helped."

The conflicted young man's statement was as contagious as the initial worry had been. His words were the trigger for the villagers to say with quaking voices:

"It is so terrible getting old. I'm driven to tears so easily…"

"Goodness, he really is so much trouble. It's blackmail, I tell you."

Complain as they might, the warmth and relief in their voices left Subaru agape. Petra thrust a finger against his forehead, still smeared with dirt, and spoke.

"Subaru, your face is all dirty!"

Petra's words sent the uncontrollable urge to laugh spreading throughout the village.

He knew it was a stretch. He thought they'd say it was too far. And yet, they'd accepted his plea anyway.

The villagers' smiling faces made Subaru sigh with relief.

Truly, the sight was the same as on the days they'd spent to date.

"…Thanks, everyone."

"That is our line, Master Subaru."

This time, the words of Muraosa, representing the consensus of the village, nearly did bring Subaru to tears.