Chapter 10

Ram stretched her hands and gave a cute yawn as she slightly became tired of peeling the potatoes slowly. She was too far away from the goal, with 9/10 potatoes still remaining to be peeled after half an hour of her hard work.

Rem interrupted.

"Nee-San, you don't have to force yourself to do this."

Ram wasn't convinced.

"I wonder why do I keep messing things up even if they are as simple as this. Was I that useless of a person? Haha"

"That's because your strength lies elsewhere."

Rem said with the sweetest smile she could gather on her face which was disguising the pain she was concealing. How could she possibly tell her sister, that her weakness had cost Ram the very thing on which her life stood on. Her horn.

"Still..."

Ram couldn't speak further, she stopped her statement midway as her feet stumbled a little and she lost her sense of balance. The potatoes lost their fresh pallor as they rolled down on the floor.

"Nee-San" Ram hurried towards her and caught her by her back, just when she was about to collapse.

"I wonder...why do I...feel this weak?" And Ram collapsed in Rem's arms.

After carefully laying her down on the bed, Rem ran towards Roswal's study. She didn't even knock on the door due to panicky state of her mind. She saw that two people she cared for most in the world after her sister were present in the chamber, her master Roswal and her love Subaru. Rem explained the situation to them.

Subaru stood up with a distressed expression of his own.

"Subaru before you go, let me tell you something..."

Rem was told to go to her room and take care of Ram.

"Ros-chi, why aren't you hurrying too. Ram can be in some sort of trouble!"

"She is a very fatal trouble"

Subaru was dumbstruck. Everyday the image of Roswal that he'd formed in his mind were slowly being shredded to pieces nowadays.

"If you know something and I know you do...why this calmness? What game are you trying to play?"

"This is no game"

"Then what is it!"

Subaru banged one of his hand on the table so hard that the saucepan kept on it flung down and broke to pieces. And also broken to pieces was Roswal's temperament.

"Calm down! Boy" Roswal said in an exasperated tone, that was far away from his normal clown-like cheerful voice.

"Ram is in trouble, and I can't do anything about it...but you can"

"What do you mean?"

"Ram told you her and Rem's history I guess. So you must know that Ram can't absorb mana from the environment and in this world, any creature who is unable to do that has only fate waiting for him...DEATH"

"No...that...can't be"

Subaru slumped on the chair. His face was a mixture of anger, bewilderment, and self despair.

"Please...please tell me there's a way to save her"

"There is..."

Subaru's eyes sparked with the same intensity as that of a person who's lost in the desert and suddenly found himself facing an oasis.

"But let me ask you this first. What do you think of her?"

"What sort of question is that?"

"A question of utmost importance"

Subaru knew this time the clown wasn't joking. The seriousness on his face was sincere.

"She's like a family as are others, even you... though nowadays I am loosing faith in you."

"That's a pity. But to achieve what you desire, you need to see her as something more...a lover"

"L-Lo-Lover!"

Subaru was stupefied but more so, because somehow that word was echoing in some corner of his heart that he wasn't able to see. That word was scary when he imagined Ram but he vaguely sensed that, that word made him face a desire that he has been harbouring ever since he saw Ram in the new light. But he couldn't fathom his feelings.

"Don't you find her cute?"

"Yes she is very cute. Too cute even, but..."

"I know you and her had a terrible footing since the beginning but she has no ill-will towards you"

This was true. Even though Ram was the one who was always sharp tongued towards him, it was Rem who'd tried to kill him and not her. And in her own way, she had tried to help him anyhow she could.

"I can't make a head or tail of anything now. Please just tell me what should I do."

Roswal closed his lips and stood silently for an minute. Subaru was panicking.

Did he have to cut his hands and provide an offering to some god?

Does he have to give up his life to save her?

No, the clown referred to something like love...so does he has to cut his heart open?

"Copulate with her"

"The fuck"

Subaru fell from his chair. Being a Ex-NEET, he often stumbled upon those words when playing periodic videogames and he new to copulate means to have SEX!

"You can't spout anything from your mouth Ros-Chi"

"But that's the only way. I wouldn't want to let you even touch her if I could but there's no other option"

"..."

"Although I can't force you either. Because if you don't have any feelings for her, she wouldn't receive an iota of manna. So I have a plan."

"And that is..."

"Kiss her. If you do feel something for her, she should attain enough mana to see the dusk of tomorrow."

"But that would mean that I don't...love Emilia-tan"

"Yes. And I can't do anything about it. But do consider, that when she didn't reciprocate your proposal you didn't try to coerce her into thinking otherwise. She was someone you liked...not loved Subaru"

"..."

"Being speechless would amount to nothing. If you don't provide Ram with mana she would die when the clock strikes 12 in midnight. And if she dies...you can pack your things and leave this place"

Saying thus Roswal leaves the study.

Subaru is left all alone in the room with conflicting emotions in his heart. What can he do? What should he do?