1.1.10

Now, Subaru and Satella entered the next stage on the way to completing their task—the slums. And it looked like they were going to have a lot of trouble… That is, until it became clear that an unlikely character would prove themself very useful; very useful indeed.

"Who, you ask? Me! Yes, me! For some unknown reason, the people here in the slums are really nice to me! Just what unknown variable is responsible for this?! Has my charm stat finally been adjusted?! I haven't felt so loved since I was in preschool!"

Back in preschool, Subaru was quite the cute one. His hair was long and he was often mistaken for a girl. Given the change to his current state only took ten plus a few years. The passage of time really is cruel and unforgiving.

"Has something about me changed from before? Do I, like, have something on my face?"

"Well, you do have your evil-looking eyes, short ears, and flat nose on your face…"

"I could have gone without the evil eyes and flat nose description!" retorted Subaru before hanging his head.

Satella put her finger to her lips and thought. "Hmm… It probably has to do with the way you look and are dressed right now. You're covered in dust and dirt and there are even traces of blood. The people who live here also have it hard, so they must look at you in pity and can't help but be kind to you…"

"Right now you're doing a good job of making me feel as bad as I look! But you're right! It makes perfect sense! Damn it all!"

As they say, people with the same sickness pity each other. While it was great that Subaru seemed to be more likable in the slums in an unexpected way, Satella's likability was at an all-time low. The reason again probably had to do with the way that she was dressed.

"The thugs from before made similar comments, but you really are dressed pretty well, aren't you?"

"I guess I do stand out, don't I…?" replied Satella, looking at Subaru nervously, as she rolled down the sleeves of her white cloak.

However, while she acknowledged the problem with her fine clothes, she seemed to be oblivious to the fact that it wasn't just the clothes, but the person wearing them as well.

"Um, I have something I'd like to ask you, but—"

"What's that? This is no place for you and your fancy clothes to be walking around in, young lady, so go on now, get outta here!"

Again, Satella was brusquely turned away as she tried to ask someone for help. Given that her low rate of success had to do with both her good looks and her fine clothes, rather than twice worse off, it was better to say she was "worse off squared." However, it wasn't as though Subaru could suggest that she get all dirty like he was.

"At least you might be a little better off if you take off your cloak…" Subaru suggested.

"…I know, but…" Satella gripped both shoulders of her cloak with her hands, but would not take it off. Subaru thought that her response was a little bit strange, but he didn't bring it up.

As Satella looked down, she lightly brushed her hand against the red flower decoration pinned on her left breast. Subaru, seeing how Satella found comfort in that decoration, couldn't help but feel like smiling, and it made him want to try even harder for her sake.

If Satella couldn't do this on her own, he was glad to make use of his dirty appearance to make progress. I guess this means that good things can come even from getting beat up by a bunch of thugs in an alley, Subaru thought. "Well, don't worry too much. You can leave this to me. Anyway, with the fruits of my labor, we'll soon have her cornered, so let's keep chasing after that criminal. So yeah, with the fruits of my labor, we'll soon have her cornered! So! Let's…keep…searching!"

"I understand that you're happy to be useful for once, but it's really lame when you put so much emphasis on yourself like that."

Subaru had struck a pose with every pause of his sentence, which he thought was cool, but when Satella put it like that, it just made Subaru seem like he was hopping up and down as if to say, Look what I can do!

Satella stared at Subaru with a face that looked like she regretted raising her opinion of him earlier, and Subaru just responded with a weak smile.

It had been little more than two hours since they had met, but with things like this, Subaru already felt as though he had known Satella for a long time. However, this little episode had a different ending than the last few.

"I'm sorry, but I'm already at my limit," said Puck weakly as he leaned up against Satella's neck. His gray coat glowed with a weak light, and his figure blurred as if he were going to disappear at any moment.

"The way you disappear kind of looks like you're dying."

"I tried to stick around longer than usual because I wanted to protect my precious daughter from this evil-eyed guy hanging around her. But when I work myself to the bone, I end up fading away when it's time for me to disappear."

"That's terrible! But leave it to me! I won't let any dangerous guys near her after you disappear!"

"Wait, does that mean it's okay for me to wipe you off the face of the Earth before I disappear?"

"No! Not okay!" shouted Subaru, stepping away and hugging himself.

"I'm joking," said Puck with a small burst of laughter.

After that, Puck looked to Satella, who took from her breast pocket a crystal that was glowing with a green light.

"I'm sorry for pushing you so hard, Puck. I'll do my best from here on out, so you just get some rest."

The green crystal continued to glow with a faint light in Satella's hand as she held it. It looked different from what you might call a jewel. So far as Subaru could tell, "crystal" was the word that fit best.

Puck crawled down Satella's arm and approached the crystal, then reached out and hugged it to its small body. Finally he turned back toward Satella.

"I'm sure you know this already, but be careful, and don't push yourself too hard. If something happens don't hesitate to use your od to call me back out."

"I know, I know. I'm not a child. I can take care of myself."

"I wonder about that… My precious daughter here always makes me worry when it comes to things like this. I'm counting on you, Subaru."

Puck looked at Satella with affection, the way a parent looks at their child. Satella blushed, but also looked annoyed.

With the conversation thrown his way, Subaru beat on his chest. "All right! Just you leave it to me. You can trust my sixth sense. When it sounds the danger alarm, I'll get us out of there in no time!"

"I really don't understand half of what you're saying, but all right. Now with that out of the way, good night. …Be careful."

With a last glance directed at Satella, Puck finally vanished. His small body became a small ball of light, which gradually melted away into the world around it as he disappeared.

Other than the fact that it was a talking cat, this was the first time Subaru had seen Puck do anything spirit-like. Now, having seen this fantastical display, he felt mixed feelings of excitement and awe welling up inside him.

As Subaru was getting excited all by himself, Satella ran her hands lightly over the crystal and put it carefully back in her breast pocket.

From the conversations that they had before, Subaru thought that crystal must be holding Puck's core right now.

"Now it'll be just the two of us…but don't get any ideas. I can still use magic, you know."

Apparently Satella had taken Puck's last words seriously, and was on her guard.

"Hey, the last time I was alone with a girl was in elementary school. I'm not really capable of doing anything. Haven't you been paying attention to my lack of human skills thus far?"

"You're totally hopeless, but then again, I'm convinced. …All right. Let's keep going. But remember, with Puck gone we need to be even more careful than before."

Perhaps shocked by Subaru's proud proclamation of his cowardice, Satella couldn't seem to keep up her apprehensions of him, and so tied back up the front of her robe and went on ahead.

"I'll be the vanguard, so you just keep your eyes on what's behind us. If anything happens, call me right away. You mustn't think that you can handle everything on your own. I don't want be mean…but you're really weak."

"Well, when you put it that way, it's hard to get angry about it…"

If Satella just wanted to push Subaru away, "You're really weak" would have been enough.

Given that she couldn't hide what she truly felt, Satella was soft at the core…too soft, even.

Subaru nudged Satella along, even though it looked like she wanted to say something, and the two continued their search.

Despite all the talk, their search continued in the same way as before. Their methods were basic. Whenever they found someone, they would describe who they were looking for and asked if the person had any ideas about who it might be.

Subaru, who was now doing all of the asking, had gotten better at it after having talked to so many different people. He was starting to hit his stride.

"You know? It might be that Felt girl. She was blond and really fast, right?"

A little under an hour after they had entered the slums and started asking around, they had finally run into some valuable information.

The guy who gave the information was someone that Subaru had gone straight up to and said, "Hey, my brother, how's life?" like they were already friends.

"If it's Felt you're looking for, whatever she stole is probably sitting in the loot cellar. She usually takes things there, gets them tagged, and then the old man who's the master there'll get them sold at a market somewhere else."

"That sounds like a pretty strange system… Doesn't anyone worry about the master of the cellar taking off with all of the goods?"

"The reason he's the master is because people trust him not to do that. But, well, even if you go up and tell him it's stolen, he'll probably just say 'So what?' right back at you, so you'd better be prepared to negotiate a price to buy it back. After all, it's the original owner's fault for being stupid and getting it stolen in the first place!" the man finished with a laugh.

Subaru was able to get the guy to tell him the location of the loot cellar, so they would probably be able to find it soon, but there was a new problem. Subaru and Satella were both penniless.

"That guy said we should buy it back, but without any leverage, I get the feeling this master guy would wipe the floor with us."

"Why do I have to pay to get back something I already own…?"

As the problem veered back toward their combined lack of funds, Satella looked worried. She had a point, of course, but it wasn't like they could expect the loot cellar's master to agree.

In order to solve the matter peacefully, and with certainty, it would be best to follow that man's advice and try to negotiate. However…

"It seems a little late to be asking this question, but that badge you say was stolen from you…does it happen to look expensive? Even if we walk in expecting to be overcharged, it would be impossible to negotiate without having any idea of what it's worth."

"…It's small, but there is a jewel embedded in its center. I don't know how much money that someone might buy it for, but I am fairly certain it wouldn't be a small amount."

"A jewel, huh… That seems like it's going to be a problem."

Even for people unfamiliar with how much things are worth, a jewel is one of those convenient items that you can tell is expensive at a glance. Subaru doubted that there was the technology to produce imitations in this world, so most things that resembled jewels were probably jewels. In other words, they would all fetch a high price.

While none of this new information sounded like good news, Subaru thought there was something strange about what Satella was saying. Even though the badge was supposedly hers, she said that she did not know its value. While it was possible it was something she might have received from someone else, it stuck in his mind.

"Anyway, let's first just find this loot-cellar place. It is possible that we can negotiate a way to buy it back at a reasonable price…"

In the worst-case scenario, Subaru had one way to secure funds, although he was reluctant to use it. And he didn't want to tell Satella until right before he had to.

As they walked, Subaru and Satella spent the next ten minutes talking about various ways they might be able to take back her badge, but nothing seemed to come together.

Now that they were in front of the place called the "loot cellar," Subaru and Satella looked at each other.

"This place is a lot bigger than I imagined. Just how well can the market for theft be going these days?" Subaru said.

"I understand them calling it a cellar rather than a shed…if this place is filled only with stolen goods… Either way I'm not sure the people here have any hope of salvation," added Satella.

Of course, as the loot cellar existed as a place to hold items until they were sold, it was unlikely it would be filled to the brim. It wasn't a high-storied building, but it was wide enough to the point where it looked as though it could function as living quarters for a large number of people. The building was right up against a tall defensive wall, and was in the deepest part of the slums.

"That tall wall behind the building…is that…?"

"I think it's one of the walls of the city. Which means that we must have come all the way from the city's center to its edge," replied Satella.

Subaru tried to imagine a map of the city in his mind, given what Satella had said. It was likely that the city was built as a square and had walls like this on all four sides. Additionally, either in the center or on the northernmost side there should be a castle, from which these slums would be positioned far away.

Considering that it had been three to four hours since Subaru and Satella had begun their search, the scope of the city seemed to be a little larger than Subaru had originally imagined.

"All right, according to what we've heard, there should be a master in charge of this cellar who handles all of the stolen goods, but…just how exactly do you want to approach this?"

"We're going to be direct and honest. We'll just say, 'We've had something stolen from us, so if you can find it, please return it to us.'"

Subaru tried to explain that that wasn't going to work, but Satella wouldn't listen to him.

At her core, Satella was too direct and honest herself. If something was twisted or bent, she couldn't help but try to set it right. Of course, that was one of the reasons Satella saved Subaru in the first place.

"All right, I got it. But leave this to me."

Because of Satella's personality, Subaru was all too sure things would get complicated if she was the one doing the talking, so Subaru volunteered himself.

His backup plan… Well, it was hard to call it a "backup plan" if he was already considering using it, but if things got complicated before he had the chance to put it into action, that would also be a problem. Subaru had made his decision; he wasn't one to hesitate at times like this.

Satella looked surprised that Subaru wanted to do the talking, and while Subaru was musing on how cute her surprised expression was, he hurried to try to think of a comeback for whatever argument against it Satella would have, but…

"All right. I'll leave it to you."

"Look, I understand that it's hard for you to let me handle something this important, and I'm not stupid enough to think that I've gained your trust, but I've got a plan, so if you'd just trust me this once—Wait. Huh?!"

"W-why are you so surprised?"

"Going by everything that's happened so far, you'd think that this would signal the start of an argument, right? I imagined you'd say something like, 'Do you really expect me to just let a good-for-nothing like you, whose only ability is to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide, handle something this important? Don't make me laugh! I'd expect a dog to do a better job than you!' Then I, while hurt, would use the opportunity to renew my determination!"

"I would never say something that mean!"

As Subaru exposed his exaggerated persecution complex, Satella didn't look all that happy. However, clearing her throat, she fixed her amethyst eyes on Subaru and said, "Of course I would be lying if I said I didn't think that you were holding me back in any way, and just when I think you're finally being serious, to my chagrin you say something completely stupid…"

"'To my chagrin,' huh? I haven't heard that in a while," joked Subaru. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders, unable to argue back.

"Still, even though you act like a jerk sometimes, it was because of you that we were able to keep that little girl from crying, and I don't think you're the kind of person to lie or do anything without thinking about it first," said Satella, looking back over their much-sidetracked journey thus far. "So…I'll trust you. …If this all works out I might even think that meeting you was all worth it."

"You know, if instead of that last part you had just looked up at me and said, 'Please, do your best for my sake,' I would have been totally pumped up to do this, you know?"

"I can't force myself to say something like that, but… Good luck."

This was a girl who could not bring herself to lie for any reason.

"…All right, I'll give it my best shot," said Subaru, breaking into a smile before heading toward the entrance of the cellar.

The trump card Subaru had, which he wasn't able to tell Satella about, was the one thing out of what he had brought from the previous world that he could really consider worth anything. Because that thing probably didn't otherwise exist in this world, there was a possibility he could use it to barter. Subaru would have liked to avoid doing that, but at the same time he was fairly certain that in this world, Satella's badge couldn't possibly fetch a higher price than his cell phone, and he didn't think he would have another chance in this world to use his cell phone this way.

"Um… Is anybody home? …Er, wait…the door's open."

A sour, spoiled sort of smell drifted out of the entrance to the loot cellar. Subaru went to knock on the door, but from a gap in it, he saw that it wasn't locked. As he peeked inside, he could only see that it was incredibly dark.

"It's hard when there's not any kind of light… Well, considering the purpose of the place, I suppose it makes sense, and it even serves as a metaphor for the dark feeling of guilt in doing dirty business."

Subaru stuck his head inside and tried to look around, but not even the light from the moon reached this place in the deepest part of the slums. He couldn't see an inch in front of his face.

As Subaru prepared to go inside, he turned around to Satella. "I didn't hear anyone answer me, but I'm going to go ahead and go inside, so can you please keep watch?"

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better for me to go instead…?"

"If on the off chance someone ambushes us and you're the one taken out, then it's all over. If I'm the one attacked, you'll be able both to help me, and to strike back. This is the most reasonable way to do this, so please let's just go with my plan, okay?"

Satella considered Subaru's plan. After a few moments of silence, she took out of her breast pocket a white crystal, which suddenly shone with a white light.

"At least take a light. And call me in whether someone's there or not."

"I know, I know. Puck told us to be careful, so I'll be careful. This is really useful, by the way."

"You can find lagmite ore just about anywhere. You really are ignorant, aren't you, Subaru," said Satella, unable to contain her shock, as she handed Subaru the lagmite ore. The crystal gave off a faint warmth along with its light, which was about as much illumination as you could expect from a candle.

"Okay, well then, I'll go take a look. I don't think I'll be gone too long, but you can go ahead and eat without me."

"Oh, stop being so stupid. Be careful, okay?"

"Gotcha. Also, Satella? Don't come in until I call for you—got it?"

The courage that Subaru had been building up to prepare himself to enter the cellar had pushed him just enough to say her name. Up until now, he had felt too embarrassed to say it, and had hesitated. After clenching his fist together, excited he was able to finally say it, he looked back at Satella.

"…What's wrong?"

Satella was looking at Subaru frozen, with her eyes open wide. This reaction was far different from any that Subaru expected, and so he tilted his head in confusion.

"I'm sorry… It's nothing. Once we get my badge back, I'll apologize properly."

"I don't know what you're planning on apologizing for, but I'd rather hear a 'thank you' instead. It would be even better if that thank-you came along with a smile."

"You dummy."

As those two words came out of her mouth, Satella made a little bit of a smile, which Subaru made sure to burn into his memory. Even with his stupid jokes, Subaru was at last able to make her smile.

If all of this turned out well, he would like to see that smile again, in a brighter place.

"All right. Will it be a snake or a demon that pops out this time? Given the fantasy setting, neither option is one I can just laugh off…" Subaru joked to himself, and with lagmite in hand, he carefully made his way into the cellar.

In the dim light, Subaru could make out a counter in front of him, across from the entrance. The building must have originally been something like an inn. It looked as though they were using the first-floor bar area without any major changes. On top of as well as behind the counter—which was probably serving as something like a reception desk—Subaru could see a lot of different items cluttered close together. There were small boxes and pots, swords and cheap metallic objects, and many other varied items. It was clear that all of these were stolen items, based on the wooden tags that were attached to all of them.

"The way the system works, if you rounded up all of these wooden tags and handed them to the guards, it looks like they could arrest everyone at once…"

However, as was usual with this line of business, there were probably some connections between this place and the not-so-upstanding citizens who offered support. Subaru was suspicious of where most of these stolen items ended up.

Subaru ventured farther into the cellar, looking for Satella's badge. But just then…

"Hmm?"

Subaru suddenly stopped, feeling something strange under the soles of his shoes. It didn't feel like he had stepped on something hard; it was actually the opposite. Like the ground he had stepped on was clinging to him; like there was something sticky on his shoes.

He raised his foot, and touched the bottom of his sneakers. He felt some sort of fluid, something strangely sticky that clung to his fingers, stretching as he pulled them away. It was something that instinctually made him feel uneasy.

"What is this…?"

Subaru brought his fingers close to his nose and tried to smell it, but because of the stagnant air inside the building mixing with it, he couldn't quite pin it down. Unsurprisingly, he didn't have the courage to try tasting it.

After wiping the rest of the substance on the nearest wall, Subaru, urged on by a feeling of unpleasant dread, put the lagmite out in front of him and started forward. Then, he found the source of the slime.

"…Wha?"

Subaru unconsciously let out a foolish sound as he looked on. In the small visible range of his light, what he first saw lying limp on the ground was an arm. Its hand's fingers were reaching out as if to grab something, but the other end of the arm, at the elbow, was missing the body it should have been connected to.

Moving his light and following along the axis of the arm, Subaru saw a leg farther on ahead—a leg attached to a body. With the exception of one arm, that body had all of its other parts, though the throat area was cut wide open. It was the corpse of a large old man.

"Eek!" Subaru squealed pointlessly as he realized what he was looking at.

At that moment, Subaru's mind had blanked out. His thought processes had completely left him, and his hands and feet had frozen in place.

There was a pause, and then…

"…Well, you found it. That's just too bad. Now I have no choice, yes, no choice at all."

Subaru thought that it was the voice of a woman. The voice was low and cold, the voice of a woman who seemed somewhat to be having fun.

"Gwah!"

Subaru didn't have the opportunity to turn around. As soon as he turned to face the voice, his body was blown away by an incredible force. He hit his back against the wall, and on impact let go of his lagmite, and darkness closed in as it tumbled into the distance.

But Subaru wasn't thinking about that. What now ruled over his consciousness was…

"Gu…it's…h-hot."

A heat assaulted Subaru Natsuki and completely overwhelmed him.

—This is really, really not good.

Feeling the hard texture of the ground against his face, he realized that he had fallen facedown on the ground. He couldn't move, even when he tried, and he already couldn't feel his fingers. What he did feel was heat, and it overwhelmed his entire body.

He coughed and vomited the blood he felt rising in his throat—the source of his waning life. So much came out that it frothed at the edges of his mouth. With his hazy vision, he could see the ground in front of him stained red.

—You've…got to be kidding me… All of this is mine?

Feeling as though all of the blood in his body had spilled out of him, he reached a shaking hand to try to find the source of the heat that was burning through his body. As his fingertips reached the large cut in his stomach, he understood.

No wonder it felt so hot. His brain must have been mistaking pain for heat. The clean cut that ran through his torso was so deep it had almost cut him in half. Only bits of skin were still holding him together.

In other words, he had run right into a checkmate in the chess game of his life. As soon as he realized that, his consciousness immediately began to fall away from him.

Now, even the heat that had been ravaging him disappeared, and the unpleasant feeling of touching his own blood and organs vanished as his consciousness continued to fade. The only thing left behind was his body, which refused to follow his soul.

Right before his eyes, he saw a black boot step down and make ripples in the red carpet of his fresh blood.

Someone was there, and that someone…was probably the one who killed him.

But he didn't even think to look that person in the face. It didn't matter anymore.

—The only thing he did wish for was that she, at least, she would be safe.

"—baru?"

He felt as if he heard a voice that rang like bells. That he heard that voice, that he could hear that voice, felt like salvation to him more than anything else, so—

"!"

With a short scream, someone else fell upon the carpet of blood.

She fell right beside him. There he was, weakly attempting to reach her.

Her white hand fell, powerless. He lightly grasped it in his own bloodstained grip.

He felt the fingers of her hand move slightly to grasp his own.

"Just you wait…"

He seized his fading consciousness, pulling it desperately back around to buy a bit more time.

"I'm going to…"

—find a way to save you.

In the next instant, he—Subaru Natsuki—lost his life.