6.1.4

For an instant, Subaru froze, unable to process what had just been said to him.

"—Huh?"

It was less a word and more a sound of doubt that was also a simple indication of incomprehension. But Crusch brushed it off, crossing her slender legs.

"I repeat. Your request for my house to send aid to the Mathers domain—to lend military forces to Emilia—is hereby rejected."

Subaru gritted his teeth as Crusch spelled it out in terms he could understand. Feeling belittled by her composed statement, Subaru flew into a rage.

"Don't f—! Why are you…?!"

"First, the advantage to my side that you so bitterly conceded—Emilia's defeat in the royal selection—has no weight as a bargaining chip of use in these negotiations. Do you understand why?"

"Wh-what the hell? Kissing one of your rivals good-bye should be plenty worth it for you…"

"Do you realize what you have said? As far as Emilia's defeat is concerned, it will come about without any intervention on my part whatsoever."

"What are…"

…you saying? Subaru would have said, but then he realized it for himself.

"As you have stated, without aid, Emilia cannot protect the Mathers domain. Meaning, at this rate, and completely without my involvement, Emilia will be defeated in the royal selection."

"—"

"Indeed, were I to recklessly lend assistance, the knowledge I was involved in Emilia's defeat would itself become a problem with the other candidates. As you are aware, my house is currently the favorite to win this royal selection. If it became known that I booted another candidate from the contest, I could not fail to attract the enmity of all the others."

In other words, as long as she quietly watched, Crusch would gain the benefit Subaru had indicated with no harm to herself. There was no reason for her to court danger unnecessarily; it would be akin to snatching chestnuts out of a fire.

But that meant—

"You're going to let the people in Roswaal's…in that village be slaughtered by the Witch Cult's attack?!"

Subaru had shouted, but Crusch's icy gaze gave him pause.

"I shall correct your misunderstanding. And I am changing the subject, Subaru Natsuki."

"Ugh…!"

"It is Emilia's lack of power to protect her domain and Emilia's lack of ability that has invited disaster upon her populace, not mine."

Lack of power…lack of ability—the weight of those words shocked him.

Subaru felt a need to rail against Crusch's claims. And yet, the childish, emotional retorts welling up within him did not grant him the strength to refute Crusch's sound argument.

"It would seem you have said your piece."

Crusch checked the time, as indicated by the amber light of the magic time crystal above the reception room's door.

"It shall soon be Earth Time. Time for supper. All according to schedule, apparently."

Seeing Crusch about to rise from her seat, Subaru was suddenly stricken by nervousness as he called out, "W-wait!"

He raised his hand to stop Crusch from breaking off the conversation, desperately searching inside his head for some way to keep negotiations going.

"Y-you'll really abandon them? The folks in the village haven't done anything wrong! There's no reason for them to die!"

But the words that came out of Subaru's mouth were little more than a feeble attempt to appeal to another's charity. A faint look of disappointment entered Crusch's eyes as she listened to his immature reasoning.

"I told you. I am not the one whose strength is insufficient…"

"Don't you feel bad knowing and abandoning them anyway?! If you have the power to save them, why won't you?! What's wrong with helping people?! Because it's someone else's land, it's not your problem?!"

"Would you just shut up and listen a little—"

"It's fine, Ferris."

"But Lady Crusch! This time he's gone too far, meow!"

"He has bared his spirit. It does not sit well with my beliefs to withhold an answer."

Though Ferris howled in dismay, he quietly bowed to Crusch's command. Watching him from the corner of her eye, Crusch sat straighter in her chair. After taking a deep breath, she mulled over Subaru's statement.

"You ask is it wrong of me to overlook this, to allow them to die?"

"That's right! You're aiming to be king, right?! Carry the whole country on your back? What kind of king overlooks a whole village?!"

"I shall correct one misconception of yours."

Crusch raised a finger. Her gaze shot right through Subaru, seemingly reproaching him for his frivolousness.

"When I rejected your proposal, I stated one reason. I shall elucidate the other chief reason for my doubts."

Crusch had another reason for not being open to Subaru's proposal—the reason she was abandoning Emilia. And that was—

"And that is because I do not trust your story enough to order my house into action."

Her statement threw the premise of the entire meeting back at Subaru, stunning him.

"Wh…aa?"

"The Witch Cult? Yes, it's possible that they would make a move at this juncture. It would be consistent with their creed and their activities to date. I can make a deduction based on those factors. However, the problem lies elsewhere."

"Elsewhere…?"

"It is a simple matter. How is it that you can determine the exact place, date, and time of where they will strike next?"

Pointing her finger toward Subaru, Crusch's eyes and voice were like daggers.

"The Cult is absolutely inscrutable, to the point that its true nature is completely unknown. It's telling that their organization has survived for hundreds of years while evading destruction, causing immense damage in the meantime. So how exactly have you learned of their next vile act?"

"That's… But you never said a word of that before…!"

"I did not feel the need to be that explicit. Since you could not accept it, I pointed out the heart of the matter for you. If you still cannot, there is but one possibility."

In place of Subaru, cowed into silence, Crusch slowly spelled it out for him.

"Naturally, wouldn't you know about the Witch Cult if you were part of it?"

"Don't mess with—!"

This time, fierce, irrepressible emotion rushed to his throat to turn into a scream. But it stopped just on the verge of that, though not because of Subaru's self-control.

"—"

That reason was the increasingly ghastly aura rising from Rem as she silently watched the exchange between Crusch and Subaru.

"Lady Crusch, surely you jest."

Crusch tilted her head at the modesty of Rem's tone, no different from before.

"There is no way that Subaru could be part of the Witch Cult."

"Is that so? Judging by Subaru Natsuki's statement, if he cannot voice the reason he has such knowledge, I can reach no other conclusion. Have you not sensed for yourself why I say this?"

"—I have not."

No doubt Crusch detected the slight hesitation in her statement. Rem, who could sense the Witch's scent coming from Subaru, had been tripped up by Crusch's casual, leading question.

"At any rate. For both of these reasons, my house cannot lend Emilia aid due to insufficient trust. Moreover, you have not been granted the right to act as a negotiator in the first place, have you?"

"Ugh…"

"Earlier, I threatened you by stating that Emilia's advance or retreat rested upon your shoulders, but in truth, the problem precedes even that. At this juncture, you have no responsibility at all."

—He'd charged ahead alone, tried to protect things alone, and failed alone.

Crusch's words calmly tore into Subaru's bared heart.

"…As you are now, meekly remaining here under my protection, you possess no power that can move me."

"—!!"

Over and over again, her words crashed into him, exposing Subaru's helplessness, pressing onto him his ignorance, driving home his spinelessness, and mocking him for being senseless, rash, indiscreet, and ugly, with backhanded sympathy thrown in for good measure.

Subaru was overwhelmed by the realization that absolutely nothing had gone the way he wanted.

Had he made a mistake somewhere? He was only trying to do the right thing. Thinking himself correct, he believed someone would help him, and so he had searched, beseeched, and begged. Wasn't that what you were supposed to do?

"The Witch Cult is coming! They're going to slaughter everyone in the village…!"

Subaru pleaded with so much anger and sadness that he felt like his throat was about to burst.

He'd seen it. He'd felt each and every one of their deaths. All the precious people he cared about had turned to white crystal as everything in the world froze over.

If nothing was done, the heartless reality of the situation meant that it was certain. That tragedy would happen again.

Why can't anyone understand that?

Why won't people get out of my way and let me prevent such a terrible fate?

"Kill them…just kill them already! Don't you get it?! You can't let people like that live! Kill them! Help me, damn it…!!"

Subaru fell to his knees, prostrating himself as he earnestly implored her for assistance.

If he needed to put his forehead to the floor and beg, he would happily play the clown. As long as Crusch would lend her strength, he didn't mind being looked down upon or insulted. He'd even bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken. As long as his bloodlust could be sated, then—

"—So that is the true motive for your actions?"

But in the face of Subaru's sincere, unwavering, humiliating plea…

"You hate the Witch Cult. That's the reason you approached Emilia, is it not?"

—This woman of influence, who never made decisions based on her emotions, held not the slightest shred of pity.