10.3.3

"…Imprisoned? That doesn't, well, have a very nice ring to it."

Somehow, Subaru managed to recover from the initial shock and wring out those words. Emilia managed to swallow down her own surprise, giving the injured Roswaal a painful stare as she said, "Then, Roswaal, don't tell me that those wounds were from…"

Emilia was in shock as she combined the sight of him wounded with his earlier statement. Neither could Subaru, having arrived at the same thought, conceal his own shock.

"There's someone in this village who can overpower Roswaal, hurt him this much, and keep him captive? That's no laughing matter."

Subaru touched a hand to his chin, nervously pondering a foe powerful far beyond his expectations.

Roswaal was the kingdom's preeminent magic user; the demon beast disturbance had proven that in earnest. Subaru could not believe that anyone could easily put Roswaal through this much pain and suffering.

Who in the world had done this to—

"Wha—? You're still doin' chitchat? You shouldn't push a wounded guy too much. 'Make a mottled Kuchibashi run and it turns black,' you know?"

"—!"

Surprised by the sudden voice, Subaru turned around in a hurry. At the end of his gaze was Garfiel, who'd appeared at the entrance to the room. He took a look around the room and whistled toward Emilia.

"Hey now, what's this greeting all of a sudden? Wha—? Are you that ticked off with me?"

"I'm being on the safe side, since the earlier conversation made me think the most dangerous person here is you."

Garfiel audibly clenched his teeth in amusement. Emilia stood on guard with Subaru and Roswaal at her back, seemingly to shield them from him.

Being shielded by Emilia was a thing in itself, but Subaru blinked hard at a separate issue. Namely—

"Hey, what'd you do with Otto? He was with you, right?"

"Ahh? What, that noisy guy? Him, well… You get it, don't ya?"

Garfiel nodded defiantly, and his sharp gaze turned even sharper. Subaru, sensing bottomless hostility from his statement, felt the hairs on his back stand up.

Emilia lowered her stance, as if she had the same sense from Garfiel as he.

—The atmosphere grew strained. At the drop of a pin, combat between the two would become unavoidable.

"Ha! Fine, if you want a piece of me, I'll be happy to… Daaah?!"

"It is not fine at all. Know your place, stupid Garf."

But the atmosphere primed to explode was smashed apart by the powerful impact sound of an iron tray.

Circling around his back during the exchange, it was Ram who had brought Garfiel down with a single, merciless blow. As Garfiel writhed in agony, Ram looked down at him, sighing as she addressed the others.

"Lady Emilia, Subaru, it is equally unsightly of you to jump to conclusions so quickly. Garf has nothing to do with Master Roswaal's injuries… He may look like a simpleton, but he is not quite that thoughtless."

"…Is that so?"

"Yes, Lady Emilia, he had nooothing to do with it. I was about to say so that very moment."

Roswaal's utterly shameless exaggeration left Emilia lowering her arms, astonished. Then she rushed over to Garfiel, kneeling upon the floor, in great haste.

"I-I'm very sorry! I completely misunderstood… I was certain you'd eaten Otto or something…!"

"Wow, Emilia-tan, your ideas are really something! Even I didn't think he'd gone that far!"

Though it was certainly true Subaru suspected Otto's life had been in danger, he hadn't suspected Garfiel of doing such a thing.

Following in the flustered Emilia's footsteps, Subaru checked to see how Garfiel was doing. Garfiel, shaking the head Ram had struck with that hearty blow, opened his mouth wide at the pair's assertions.

"As if I'd munch on a guy like that. He's noisy, and he says stuff a guy ain't emotionally prepared for, so I ditched him back at the dragon carriage."

"You're being pretty vague there, and you kick up a ruckus even without Otto…"

His suggestive demeanor had caused a misunderstanding that had nearly led to a great disaster. That disaster had been averted by Ram.

"Thanks a bundle, Ram. Don't want any unnecessary bloodshe— Hold on, your tray's all bent out of shape!"

"A necessary loss to stop Garf. Next time, it would seem I should use the corner, not the flat of the tray."

Ram took inspiration from the bent tray for how she would deal with him next time.

Setting Ram's demeanor aside, Garfiel, the victim of her pummeling, plopped himself into a chair in a corner of the room. Then he rubbed his head as he looked at Ram and said, "Ram, if you feel sorry 'bout that at all, how 'bout some tea?"

"Please wait while I head out briefly to gather fallen leaves."

Making a sound from her nose at the grandiose request, Ram really did head out of the house. Subaru had to wonder just what she intended to do with fallen leaves. Though that tugged at his mind, what also tugged at it was the ardor with which Garfiel watched Ram's back as she departed.

"I was wondering this from the exchange at the village entrance too…but what? You have a thing for Ram?"

"She's a fine woman, ain't she? Ain't exactly weird for males to be attracted to strong, capable females."

"We're not dividing chicks by male and female, so stop chirping about that, sheesh…"

Garfiel had replied openly to Subaru's question, but his road to romance was treacherous. Ram's affection for Roswaal ran deep, hanging over his prospects almost like a curse—

That was an unmistakable side of romance in any world, but—

"Well, then. Based on that reaction, you don't look like ya talked about the important stuff yet. You're free to turn into pieces of garbage if ya want, but…you should talk 'bout it to Lady Emilia, at least."

"To me?"

With Ram absent from the room, Garfiel tapped his foot as he refocused the conversation.

Emilia was surprised that her own name was in his statement, but Garfiel paid her surprise no heed, sending his dangerous look stabbing right through Roswaal.

"The fact she got past the barrier means she's wrapped up in our business. What the hell's with this peaceful, pleasant conversation? You people playin' around or somethin'?!"

"I'm not sure why you have a bee in your bonnet, but…this business we're wrapped up in doesn't sound unrelated to this whole imprisoned business."

Garfiel, as snippy as ever, narrowed his eyes at Subaru's assertion. Feeling as if he was facing off against a fierce, overbearing beast, Subaru put the conversation to that point in order in his head and said:

"According to Roswaal, this isn't imprisonment by brute force. Regardless of how you look and act, you can't be short-tempered and violent enough to…"

For an instant, being hurled by Garfiel reemerged in his memories.

"…to do that kind of thing."

"Subaru, you seemed reeeally unsure just now…"

Subaru, on the receiving end of a rare quip from Emilia, looked straight at Garfiel. Receiving his gaze, Garfiel said, "Go on," urging Subaru to continue. "I'll listen. If you ain't the dirt stuck to a half-demon's foot, that is."

"Half-elf. Next time I'll get Roswaal to light your butt on fire."

Garfiel lowered his head as Subaru shamelessly proclaimed he would borrow another's power for his retribution. At his reaction, Subaru lifted a finger, turning that finger to indicate the Sanctuary outside.

"I'll continue. Now that imprisonment by force has been crossed off the list, what other way can I think of? To be honest, I don't have much information to go on…but there's one thing that sticks out in my mind."

"…You mean the barrier?"

"That's right. You're so smart, Emilia-tan."

Coming up with the answer on her own, Emilia had sounded unsure in her answer, but her view was in line with Subaru's own.

If neither Garfiel's brawn nor Roswaal's injuries was responsible for the imprisonment in the Sanctuary, it left the barrier as the only possibility—the barrier with a special effect originally meant to protect the Sanctuary.

If it had been a simple barrier, Subaru might not have come to such a farfetched idea, but at any rate…

"When she came in contact with the barrier, Emilia fainted. According to Garfiel, that's not an effect limited to Emilia—it's like that for most of the people living in this Sanctuary, he said."

"In other words, Subaru…you think that it's the barrier's effect that's keeping Roswaal and the others in here and preventing them from returning to the mansion?"

"There you go again! Exactly. Wow, Emilia-tan and I are in perfect sync today!"

Elated that they were thinking along the same lines, Subaru went for a high five. But, when Emilia tilted her head rather than play along, Subaru gently eased his hand down and looked at Garfiel.

"So, that's what I was thinking, but…am I right?"

"…Sorry, I've gotta drop my assessment of ya. Three steps down from a piece of mud."

"That assessment is pretty out there, but, mm, I'll aim to gradually raise it back up."

Taking that as a roundabout way of saying yes, Subaru nodded and looked over to Roswaal. As he did so, Roswaal closed one eye at Subaru's and Emilia's thought processes, amusement resting in his yellow eye.

"My myyyy, there truly has been quite a change in the span of several days. The optimism in both Subaru and Lady Emilia is quite reassuring. It was well worth making my heart that of an Oni and letting matters be."

"I have a mountain of things to say to you later about that 'letting matters be' part. Keep in mind, if you weren't wounded, the iron fist of my anger wouldn't be a soft thing."

"Myyyy, how frightening."

With Roswaal in such high spirits, Subaru brandished a clenched fist. Whether he'd have seriously let Roswaal have it was another matter, but his irritation at the previous statement was no act.

He'd give the man a tongue-lashing later for his lack of countermeasures against the Witch Cult's attack during his absence.

"But right now, talking about the barrier comes first. Is that reaction the cause of the imprisonment?"

"I cannot call it correct in the strictest sense. However, it is not far off from the truth. It is a fact that the cause of our being hindered here in the Sanctuary is a circumstance involving that barrier."

The barrier had the power to rob mixed people of their consciousness and make intruders get lost in the forest. But it did no harm to those of mixed blood already inside—it lacked the power to hinder Roswaal and the others on its own.

"So the fact you've been stuck here anyway means…"

"That's 'cause the people under the barrier's effect are gettin' in their way."

The answer to his question was bluntly revealed from the mouth of one of the people concerned. When he turned toward the speaker of that ferocious declaration, the sharp, green eyes of the golden-haired man of mixed blood glared back at Subaru and the others.

"Garfiel…"

"Way I see it, it's a simple story. As long as the barrier's up, we can't get out of the Sanctuary. The barrier's got nothing to do with ya…but that ain't very fair, is it?"

"…Then because you want to get out but can't, you're holding Roswaal and the others captive? Even to the point someone gets hurt like this?"

Subaru, feeling like the issue had just become very petty, felt anger toward the short-tempered act. However, when he pressed the issue, Garfiel grimaced unpleasantly.

"Say whatever you want about it. But it's not like it don't have anything to do with ya?"

"…So, for the same reason, you don't intend to let us go, either?"

"No, no! It ain't that, it's way simpler! Your precious little princess can't get out of the Sanctuary for the same reason me and the grannies can't, damn it!!"

"Ah…"

Subaru gaped when Garfiel laughed loudly and pointed at Emilia as he made the statement.

Truly, he was fed up with himself for not having realized such an obvious possibility. It was exactly as Garfiel had said. It was already proven beyond doubt the barrier's effect was active upon Emilia; she, too, was a prisoner of the Sanctuary.

"Can't anything be done about that? Like… Right! If the barrier knocks people out when they touch it, how about having them carried out by people not under its effect…"

"Ah, Subaru, amazing! We could use that method to get people o—"

"An amusing suggestion, but 'tis best avoided. If you do not seek to leave us as soulless husks, at least."

Yet again, a third party intervened in Subaru's conversation that day.

The intervention of an unfamiliar voice caused Subaru to turn toward the entrance. Just like Garfiel had done earlier, a small figure was standing there—whereupon Subaru let out an "Eh?"

She had long, pink hair, doll-like beauty, and pointed ears, all things he had seen before. The features were without doubt those of the elfin girl Subaru had encountered in the forest—

"You're that… Agh—hot-hot-hot-hot-hot?!"

"Here, Barusu. Tea, as requested."

Subaru, surprised by their reunion, instantly began to speak, but the sudden feeling of a hot, steaming drink pressed against his cheek made Subaru yell from the burning pain, tumbling onto the room's floor.

The clumsy servant having returned, Ram gazed down at Subaru's state with a look of scorn.

"Such a big fuss. How unsightly for a man."

"That has nothing to do with being a man or not! You burned my cheek, you know?! What were you thinking?"

Sitting up in the face of heartless, merciless abuse, Subaru vented his grudges with tearful eyes. It was hardly Ram's first act of violence toward him, but this was the least logical of them all.

Subaru was enraged at the high-handedness toward him. "Goodness," said Ram, and pressed a damp cloth to Subaru's cheek as she said, "Please keep quiet about the elf from before."

"Huh?" Subaru said, dumbfounded and wide-eyed as Ram was so close that she was practically touching his ear.

However, Ram said nothing about that and handed a different steaming cup to Garfiel and said, "The very essence of crude tea."

"Ain't that usually said with more, oh, modesty?"

"It is the juice from fallen leaves. You should be grateful it was poured by Ram's hands and drink it to the bottom."

Subaru put his own thoughts aside as he watched the terrible treatment she gave the man.

"Subaru, are you all right? Should I cool your cheek with ice?"

"A-ahh, it's okay, I'm all right. I'm used to Ram doing crazy stuff. It's like an everyday ritual."

"I-is that so… When did things become like that while my back was turned?"

That prompted Subaru to reminisce about the tragedies of his life as a servant. But it was not that upon which Subaru's mind was focused; rather, it was Ram's whisper into his ear.

She'd told him to keep quiet about the elf. But his questions about that were soon answered.

"I'd heard Young Gar brought in humans from the outside again… Quite a rambunctious youngster."

Speaking those words, the elf concerned lowered her eyelids. The voice, the expression, the emotions lacking from the earlier individual—they felt as if they came from someone very old, something that threw Subaru off.

"Err, and you are…?"

"I apologize for my late introduction, Lady Emilia. I am Ryuzu Bilma. I suppose you might call me this village's representative. As you can see, I am a tottering old woman."

"R-right… You are as old as you look…"

When the girl calling herself Ryuzu bowed and named herself, her declaration made Emilia seem conflicted.

Subaru's reaction was the same as hers. Apparently, he wasn't the only one thrown for a loop at Ryuzu, who looked like a young girl, declaring herself a tottering old woman.

On the outside, she looked like an adorable early teen. She was dressed only in a white robe, one that made it impossible to see her limbs past her cuffs and hem. Furthermore, her words and actions from her years of maturity clashed with her appearance—

"It's a loli hag in the flesh…! I thought I might see that stereotype here someday…"

"To think I would be called 'hag' upon a first meeting. The youngster is ruder than even Young Gar and Young Ros…"

"When you add loli to the pejorative hag, it goes from an insult to a badge of honor. It is a status highly esteemed back in my homeland. No, I'm serious."

Replying with appropriate flippancy, Subaru tried to somehow put a lid on the chaos inside his own mind.

Ryuzu was the spitting image of the girl in the forest, but the air she gave off was clearly different. And Ram had forbidden him from speaking of the other girl's existence.

Something's goin' on here, said Subaru's instincts, ringing like an alarm bell, but…

"Hmm… Very well, then. So you must be Barusu… Young Su, in other words."

"Paired with the 'Young Gar' thing, calling me that makes it sound like we'll start getting treated as brothers, but that's fine. Just please at least remember that my proper name is Subaru Natsuki."

Subaru introduced himself to nip the mistaken name, obtained via Rem, in the bud. His line caused Ryuzu to slap her hip, saying, "I get it, I get it," in an elderly fashion before she said, "Now, Young Gar, would you be a sensible boy and yield your chair to me?"

"Ya get ticked off when I treat ya like a hag, but you turn into a totterin' old woman when it's convenient, damn it…"

"Did you say something?"

"Nuttin'…"

Garfiel clicked his tongue and yielded the chair in which he sat to Ryuzu. As he did, he brushed some dust off the chair and, in deeply devoted fashion, lent Ryuzu a hand so that she could sit in it more easily.

"Somehow you seem like some hick from the countryside whose rudeness is all mouth…"

"Oh, shut up, third rate! What are you comparin' me t—? Whoa! This tea's awful! It tastes like grass!!" Garfiel grimaced spectacularly at the fallen leaf tea Ram had poured for him.

Subaru took advantage of that interlude to get the topic back on track again as he said, "So, now that Ryuzu is with us, let's get back to the earlier topic… What's your basis for saying my idea's bad?"

"Earlier, Miss Ryuzu said something reeeally scary sounding, but…"

Emilia glanced sidelong at Ryuzu. Subaru nodded at her words.

"She said 'soulless husks,' right? What did you mean by that?"

"I meant exactly what I said. When the mixed come into contact with the barrier, they lose consciousness. But I cannot call that impression quite correct. The souls of the mixed are repelled by the barrier, it is more correct to say."

"The souls are repelled…? Err?"

Emilia didn't seem to quite get that explanation for the mechanism by which the barrier knocked people out. Subaru gawked at Ryuzu, somehow managing to digest her words.

"In other words, if the mixed force their way across the barrier, body and soul will be separated from each other? And that'll leave the soul inside the barrier without a body… That's how I should interpret 'husk'?"

"Ho-ho, the boy understands rather quickly. That is the long and short of it."

When Subaru replied with his own interpretation, the impressed Ryuzu smiled. After she saw that smile, Emilia's eyes were still wide with surprise when she looked at Roswaal.

"B-but how is that related to Roswaal's injuries? If the barrier's power does not function for anyone except those of mixed blood, someone else inflicted those wounds on Roswaal…and it wasn't Garfiel, right?" Emilia asked.

Roswaal's shoulders sank. "As Ram said earlier, he is not quite thaaat thoughtless of a man— Though I do not denyyy that Garfiel is capable of inflicting such pain upon me."

"Serious…?" Subaru was aghast.

"He is serious."

Ram's brief words affirmed they were true. It meant a great deal coming from Ram, both a realist and someone placing Roswaal at the summit of her mental pyramid. Apparently, Garfiel had the might to back up his claim to the title of world's strongest man.

The exchange was another way of saying, There is no escaping this imprisonment by force.

"Me, I feel like I should be kind of insulted by the way you're talkin', th— Ram, don't make a scary face like that! Anyway, it wasn't me. He got hurt like that 'cause the trial rejected 'im."

Whether he knew the depth of their surprise or not, Garfiel violently dragged the conversation forward. Subaru gaped and gulped, calming his mind down somewhat as he voiced his thoughts.

"…First the Sanctuary has a barrier from a Witch, and now there's a trial. Just gets better and better."

New problems only added to the number of topics. When Subaru scowled at that fact, Roswaal replied, "I suppose soooo," and stroked the bandages over his chest as he continued. "Howeeeever, this is most likely the final piece of information to be added. Those who are qualified obtain the right to take the trial to lift the barrier. My wounds are proof of what happens when that precondition is disregaaarded."

"Disregarded the precondition? For the trial…?"

"The precondition is to have blood affected by the barrier—in other words, to have mixed blood. If anyone else undertakes the trial, their flesh is repelled and shredded."

"—!"

Subaru and Emilia simultaneously gasped in surprise. So that was the cause of Roswaal's own body being bandaged to such an extent. Were it not for the bloodstained bandages, Roswaal's wounded body would be naked—such was the cruel state he was in.

Countless lacerations ran across his upper body, almost like a bomb had exploded inside him, with blood oozing out that very moment. It seemed like perhaps healing magic had little effect, or perhaps something was continuing to wound him afresh—

"So let me get straight to issuin' ya our demands."

Speaking those words, Garfiel pointed straight toward the shocked Subaru—no, toward Emilia. He seemed to be saying that Emilia was needed to resolve the circumstances involving the Sanctuary.

With Emilia's breath catching as she gazed at that finger, Garfiel continued, saying, "Lift the barrier around this Sanctuary. To do that, take the trial. Until that's lifted, no one leaves—not that you personally can leave anyway."