Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 4 Page 11

  “Your face says that is beyond what you anticipated. That makes you an even greater buffoon, yes?”

  Subaru hadn’t even considered the risk he could become a liability to Emilia. Priscilla clapped her hands as if she were making sport of her own, hand-raised pet.

  “Judging from your eyes, you have taken the girl’s side for reasons of passion. Your mad emotions have clouded your vision, making you neglect what lies at your feet… No words exist to describe your foolishness.”

  Subaru was unable to even let out an ugh as he wilted before Priscilla. He’d meant to rush to Emilia’s side because he wanted to help her, to be there for her, but that had turned into a tragicomic farce.

  Al interjected, “Hey, Princess, he’s from my homeland. Don’t tease him too much, okay?”

  Priscilla shrugged her shoulders as a look of tedium came over her.

  “I am not berating him, whatsoever. This peasant has realized his oversights and fallen into despair and gloom all by himself.—It bores me. You need not overthink things, commoner. Had I intended to use you in that manner, I would have had you dismembered in the street yesterday. That I have not done so, and invited you to ride within my dragon carriage, makes my intentions crystal clear, does it not?”

  “…Whether you’re taking me hostage or not isn’t where my self-loathing’s coming from… I’m pathetic for not having thought of it.—And why did you get me to ride this thing, anyway?”

  Subaru couldn’t help but think that many of his actions had rebounded on Emilia. Priscilla’s declarations might have been hard to listen to, but they’d merely brought the facts to his attention. However harsh the lesson, it was the truth.

  When Subaru turned a questioning gaze toward Priscilla, she altered her position again, resting her chin on a hand.

  “I have told you already. You are here for my entertainment. I think it will be more amusing to bring you to the royal selection assembly than to use you as a hostage or for threats. That is my decision.”

  Subaru was taken aback by her completely unexpected thought process. To this, Priscilla yawned.

  “Everything in this world exists to convenience me. Furthermore, I shall decide the course of whatever I please. Whatever I decide, it shall be. Therefore, all I need to do is decide what will entertain me, and what will not. There is no inconvenience to me.”

  “—”

  With Subaru still dazed, the girl closed her eyes, declining to discuss the matter further. Judging from her posture and demeanor, she intended to nap until the time of their arrival.

  Given there was a meeting crucial to the royal selection in under an hour, it was truly bold.

  When Subaru looked Al’s way, the guardian raised one hand to indicate subservience to his carefree master again, sinking soundlessly into his seat. Subaru was unsure whether he should do similarly and settle in for the long haul when Priscilla added, “If there is one reason beyond my amusement…”

  “Eh—?”

  “The abbles.”

  After those two words to a thoroughly dumbfounded Subaru, Priscilla went silent entirely. Since her conduct made clear she would not permit him any questions or doubts, Subaru wracked his confused mind, finally coming up with a single possible answer. In other words, “The old guy at the fruit store saved my life, then…?”

  He recalled that, for whatever reason, the shopkeeper had been involved in a large percentage of his exploits in the royal capital. The thought of having survived thanks to something so banal and trivial provided Subaru a brief respite from his self-loathing.

  6

  —The carriage arrived at the palace and entered through the main gates.

  As Subaru walked straight up the front stairs, he felt painfully aware of just what a little fish he was in that ocean.

  “Hey, um, am I all right here? To be honest, I’m so out of place it’s kinda scary…”

  Subaru looked down at his own outfit before glancing at Al, walking beside him.

  “Well, yeah. We’re basically party crashers. No question they aren’t rolling out the red carpet for the two of us.”

  Al’s ever-aloof attitude suggested he had no qualms about looking far more out of place than Subaru.

  Apparently, his eighteen years in another world had washed away all concerns about dress codes.

  Not only that, all eyes were on the girl walking before them—Priscilla—as she continued toward the central chamber. The corridor was decorated with paintings and other works of art, and guards in full armor lined it on the left and right, swords raised in salute.

  Subaru had difficulty breathing under the pressure even though he wasn’t the object of attention. In the meantime, they arrived at the end of the corridor. He raised his eyes to see an enormous pair of double doors before them.

  “Soldiers lining the corridor, huge doors…”

  The sight of the closed doors overwhelmed him with its grandeur. He felt himself standing straighter just from being in its presence, his discomfort reaching a fever pitch.

  As Priscilla led the party onward, a fully armored soldier in front of the door took a step forward, saluting her with his sword. He removed his great helm and looked over Priscilla and the others with an intellectual air.

  “We have been expecting you, Lady Priscilla.”

  The man was around forty years old, give or take, with an expression that was not so much tough as stern. His face was as austere as an image carved into a boulder, giving off the air of a man who’d seen plenty of combat.

  Priscilla replied to his salute with a haughty nod and turned her head slightly toward Subaru and Al.

  “They are with me. One is my knight, and the other…my abble boy.”

  “Hey…!”

  Subaru immediately started to refute Priscilla, but stopped very quickly when he realized that such a thing was impermissible in that place. The knight’s face didn’t even twitch.

  “—Abble boy, is it?”

  “Yes, abble boy. He is a type of clown, bearing the exalted duty of providing me with red, bittersweet abbles. He is harmless. Surely you do not mind?”

  Without replying to the imperious Priscilla, the knight appraised Subaru and Al as his blue eyes faintly twinkled.

  “I cannot detect any dangerous magic. That sword is the only one you carry, sir knight?”

  “………Oh, by ‘knight’ you mean me. Yes, yes, that’s right. If I see any dark-haired, mustache-twirling villains around, I’ll chop ’em in half with one hand.”

  “Should an incident occur, please concentrate on protecting your master, Lady Priscilla, and leave the rest to us guards.”

  With his casual banter brushed off, Al halfheartedly replied, “Sure thing.” The man dipped his head and shifted his gaze toward the huge doors, which slowly began to open.

  “Everyone is already waiting inside, so with all haste…”

  “I am superior, so it is fitting that the masses wait for me. The reverse is impermissible, however.”

  Entirely self-absorbed, Priscilla stepped through the door, all eyes still on her. Seeing Al follow her without hesitation, Subaru firmed up his resolve and entered as well.

  —As his view expanded, he found himself in an enormous room with a red carpet covering it.

  The glittering adornments on the walls were illuminated by extravagant lighting hanging from the high ceiling. The room had few places to sit considering its size, though a small set of steps led to chairs on the far side of the chamber. There were five seats from left to right, and what stood out most was the one seat in the center.

  Resting against a wall, the innermost chair was fashioned into the form of a dragon, as if to show that he who rested in that chair shouldered the dragon upon his own back, while being protected by it in turn.

  It was a classical throne room of a royal palace. Meaning that chair had to be the throne of the King of Lugunica.

  After the throne caught his attention, Subaru timidly looked around the rest of the chamb
er.

  Unlike the exterior, he couldn’t see a single sword-carrying guard. Instead, he saw rows of elite troops dressed in white-themed uniforms with knights’ swords at their hips—the Knights of the Royal Guard.

  Farther within was a group of apparent civil officials in ceremonial dress, all men of high rank based on their appearance. Their dignified faces suited a throne room.

  And at the center of the room, removed from the cluster of knights and nobles, a small group of people stood in a line. And among them was—

  A silver-haired girl. When she saw the three people entering through the large doors, she called out with obvious surprise.

  “—Subaru?”

  Her wide-open violet eyes wavered with bewilderment, like she was unable to believe that Subaru was there. Inundated with Emilia’s shock and surprise, Subaru’s heart beat so loudly it hurt.

  Now that he knew Emilia was there, he felt joy, but also guilt at having betrayed her to get there. In spite of all the thoughts and feelings that had spurred him into action, he was at a complete loss for words in front of her quivering eyes.

  “Er, Emilia, I…”

  “—”

  Even though this was what he had sought, words just wouldn’t come out. Emilia’s gaze wandered over Subaru as she, too, searched for words, but her lips were drawn tight. Neither of them broke the silence, but rather a voice and bump from behind…

  “What are you doing staring at my servant, you imbecile?”

  “—Err.”

  The touch against his back was frighteningly soft. The arms that wrapped around his chest and neck were outright bewitching. Priscilla, pressing against him from behind, rested her chin upon Subaru’s shoulder so that they gazed at Emilia together, their faces side by side.

  “What are…! G-get off! Emilia-tan’s gonna get the wrong idea!”

  “The wrong idea? Do the bonds between you and I not form a deep and intimate relationship? I permit it. Come close.”

  “I didn’t give you those bonding abbles to have you use them for nefarious purposes!”

  As Priscilla teased, Subaru extricated himself from her and put distance between them. The apparent rejection prompted Priscilla to stomp a heel, narrowing her eyes in displeasure.

  But before any unrest could break out, the familiar voice of a man with delicate features intervened.

  “My, oh myyy. Lady Priscilla, I am dreadfully sorry for the trouble my house’s servant has caused you. And you even cared for him after he became lost in the castle… Please forgive this terrible rudeness.”

  Before Subaru knew it, Roswaal, the character with long, violet hair, was standing beside him with a dubious smile, wearing a formal uniform with a maple emblem unrelated to his status as Court Magician.

  “And so the swindler steps forward. I have no recollection of such a thing. I picked up that peasant myself… And do you have proof that he is any servant of yours?”

  Priscilla had a crafty comeback. However, Roswaal greeted her question with a shrug.

  “Fortuuunately, I do. I have looong been in the practice of marking that which is mine. My family crest should be sewed into the liiining of his uniform.”

  “—”

  Priscilla’s face went blank. She looked at Subaru as if seeking confirmation of the tale. Under her gaze, Subaru turned up the sleeve of his coat and saw that there was indeed something resembling an embroidered hawk in the lining. He showed Priscilla the embroidery as well, to which she responded with a short snort.

  “A cheap trick. Well, fine. Toying with the clown and the imbecile has driven away much of my tedium along the way—And besides, my vassal asked it of me.”

  “Princess, you promised not to mention that p…”

  “Do not be concerned about little things. You’ll never grow taller otherwise.”

  “You shouldn’t expect a guy pushin’ forty to be growing anyway…”

  Priscilla silenced Al with a glance before striding forward, not paying Subaru the slightest heed. She was heading toward the gathering at the center of the room near Emilia.

  Emilia stiffened when Priscilla walked close, but the orange-haired girl passed by without paying her the slightest heed. Emilia slumped her shoulders at being ignored before turning back toward Subaru.

  “But I must saaay, that you were found by Lady Priscilla along the way… Your jinx is truly quiiite something. I wonder what might have haaappened to you if she had not been the one to find you.”

  “The hell? You’re not trying to tell me that peacock is famous for her vast benevolence and compassion, are you?”

  “Oh, nooo. I simply thought that the others might have haaad you imprisoned or cut down then and theeere. In that sense, Lady Priscilla gave you equal odds of survival, depending upon her mood.”

  “Yeah, I get that I’m walking quite a tightrope here… You’re…not upset?”

  With Roswaal speaking to him like it was nothing, Subaru timidly posed the question.

  “Why would I be? After all, I was thiiinking that you might show up. And in truth, you have arrived. It would seem that the family creeest upon your uniform was of some value midway.”

  “Midway…? Er, not really, I thought I was ninety percent likely to kick the bucket just now, but…”

  Subaru inclined his head at the odd choice of words, but it was Roswaal’s face that registered surprise.

  “You were not stopped when entering the castle? Then just hooow did you get in to begin with?”

  “That selfish princess picked me up outside the castle. Er, it’s a pretty long story…”

  They spoke past each other, each with a different understanding of the situation. But before Subaru could bridge the gap, he realized that Emilia was walking resolutely over to him.

  “Why…?”

  “—”

  With a single earnest word, Emilia conveyed the full gamut of conflicting emotions swirling inside her. Her why, with the many doubts within it, made Subaru’s breath catch.

  “How did you…? No, why. Why are you here, Subaru?”

  “That’s…going to be a long story… I suppose I could sum it up in one word, but…”

  “Don’t make light of this. Subaru, I told you. I told you, didn’t I? Don’t you remember…?”

  The way Emilia repeated her words for emphasis made Subaru shut his mouth and avert his eyes. She was, of course, referring to the promise he’d made with her at the inn—the promise to wait for her that he had broken.

  On the one hand, he had indeed broken that promise. But on the other, it was no lie he had gone out of concern for Emilia. And so, relying on a series of coincidences, he had arrived for her sake.

  He wanted her to at least trust his motivation. But before Subaru could clarify how he felt inside, a clear voice echoed from in front of the throne.

  “—All have been assembled. The Council of Elders may enter.”

  The great doors opened once more. The armored knight stationed at the door led a group of old men filing into the chamber. All the men wore robes identifying their station. Each solemn stride made plain that these were men of great dignity and experience.

  The one who stood out the most was a white-haired man with a beard so long it nearly touched the ground. Though his back was not stooped, he stood almost a head shorter than Subaru. Even among the others, the deep wrinkles of his face made him seem especially old, but his eyes were sharp enough to cut steel.

  As Subaru observed the silent procession, he remarked to Roswaal with a whisper, “The Council of Elders, that’s the people running the kingdom in place of a king, right?”

  Roswaal shrugged and stated with extreme disrespect, “Formally they are an adviiisory body, but yes. Matters of state currently rest in the Council of Elders’s hands… But having said that, it is not reaaally much different from when the royal family still existed.”

  It sounded like the Council had been holding the reins since the rule of the previous monarch, apparently a man of littl
e talent in public affairs.

  Al, silent until that point, motioned with his chin toward a section with Knights of the Royal Guard neatly lined up.

  “It’s time, bro. We need to line up over there, not over here.”

  Those assembled had naturally sorted themselves out, with knights and officers on the left, and civil officials and nobility on the right.

  “Seems like it, but is it all right for me to line up over there?”

  Roswaal replied, “The proper thing to do would be to immeeediately throw you out of the castle, but as this will be amusing, you may go with him.”

  Emilia’s eyebrows shot up at Roswaal’s attitude. She approached to object.

  “Roswaal, wait a…!”

  “Unfortunately, Lady Emilia, this is not the time or place for you to argue. If all the facts become clear, Subaru will be staying here…for a very, veeery long time.”

  “But if we let Subaru stand over there, he’ll—”

  “The time for argument is at an end, Lady Emilia. The conference is beginning. To the center…”

  Roswaal’s face tensed as he gazed at the seats around the throne, being filled by the Council of Elders that very moment. The only vacant seat left was the throne of the king at the heart of the chamber.

  And in front of the old men of the Council was a tidy line of people who had given off a special aura since the moment of their birth.

  The girl with orange hair was at the top of the list of three girls with magnificent posture, conspicuous and vibrant. Standing in the center, Priscilla put a hand on her hip and pushed her shoulders back, causing her skirt to sway slightly. Even before the elders that governed the nation, she still had that belittling look on her face.

  To Priscilla’s right stood a girl dressed in clothes resembling an army uniform. The color of her hair was such a deep green it nearly seemed black, but upon closer inspection, the glossy luster definitely reflected green. Her long hair was tied at the end by a white ribbon. Her beautiful, dignified face was trained straight ahead. She was tall for a girl, about the same height as Subaru, but their legs were very different lengths. On her hip, she wore a sword bearing a family crest with a lion baring its fangs. She looked like a beautiful girl disguised as a handsome man.