ReZERO_Starting Life in Another World Vol. 6 Page 4

  “Anyway, we’ve got no choice but to look for help from someone else. Rem, how well do you know the layout of the capital?”

  “Fairly well, since I have come here several times before and spent quite a bit of time looking around with you over the past few days… But who?”

  “First, let’s find an inn. The rest comes after that. At the latest, we need to leave the capital tomorrow or we won’t make it in time. Anyway…I’ll think about everything after that.”

  Subaru bluntly told Rem that they had to prepare to the greatest extent possible. Seeing out of the corner of his eye that Rem had quietly accepted his plan, Subaru looked up at the sky without another word.

  From the other side, darkness was creeping across the sky above the capital. It felt like it was an ill omen.

  The shadow moved eerily and sluggishly, as if implying storm clouds were gathering along Subaru’s path…

  CHAPTER 2

  A PIG’S GREED

  1

  “—I may not look it, but I am a surprisingly avid reader.”

  The girl who spoke was sitting in an extravagant chair, resting one elbow upon it. She was flipping through an exquisitely bound book in her other arm, already perusing the latter half, and the sight made her seem different from the girl Subaru remembered.

  She wore a long-sleeve red nightgown similar to a negligee with an identically colored cape draped over her shoulders. Her voluptuous body was plain to see in her outfit, but the girl showed no outward sign of concern that a man was present.

  The girl was so natural, completely immersed in her book, that it was easy to forget she was in the middle of receiving a guest.

  “—”

  Subaru felt himself unintentionally taken in by the solemnity of her gestures. Her graceful white fingertip traced the characters as her eyes passed over them. The young man felt like he could watch her all day. Perhaps it was because this unknown side of the girl before him had enchanted him.

  “—”

  As Subaru stepped on the carpeted floor in his sneakers, he felt unsure of what to do now that he’d been ignored. He was wondering if he was permitted to enter, but the lady of the household was not paying him any attention. When he’d tried to forcefully begin a conversation, she’d rebuffed him at the first word.

  Surely she wasn’t telling him to wait until she finished reading her book…

  “That’s excessive no matter how you cut it…”

  Though he tried to deny his unease, seeing her leisurely turn the pages made that difficult. In point of fact, Subaru knew that the girl’s personality was not incompatible with such irrationality.

  Her hair was orange, reminiscent of the sun; her eyes were crimson, like a fire that would scorch away everything it touched. She had glossy white skin and a striking feminine figure. The thick perfume wafting around her was like poison. It was difficult for the word beautiful to sufficiently capture the sight of her as she silently examined her book.

  How much favor must the heavens have shown her for her to be loved by all?

  —Her name was Priscilla Bariel.

  She was one of the candidates for the royal selection, as well as the next prospective cooperator Subaru sought an audience with.

  2

  Subaru’s shoulders sank when he learned Reinhard was absent from the royal capital—a fact he’d confirmed after departing from the Crusch compound and while Rem was securing an inn. Reinhard was the last one Subaru had hoped to rely on.

  An elderly couple inhabited the villa in the capital set aside for the Astrea family and had been charged with its care. When Subaru arrived without any forewarning, the two had welcomed him in and lent an ear to his request, but…

  “The young master returned to the main household with his liege, Lady Felt, and her family some two days ago. We can offer contact with him from our side, but…”

  Just as he’d mentioned during his visit to the Crusch residence, Reinhard had left. Even though he remembered what Reinhard had said, Subaru had still clung to a slender thread of hope, but his pleas went unanswered.

  Even if he could reach Reinhard somehow, the distance from the royal capital to the main household of the Astrea family, and from there, the distance to the Mathers lands, was fatal. The odds of him joining their forces in time were despairingly low.

  Subaru said his farewells to the elderly couple. Then, once he was out of sight of the mansion, he clutched his head.

  “Roswaal and Reinhard are seriously useless, and right when I really need ’em, too…!”

  This time, everything was going wrong. One prospective collaborator fell through after another, leaving Subaru truly at the end of his rope.

  If only his Return by Death restore point brought him back to the night when he’d parted ways with Reinhard—

  “If you don’t have it, you don’t have it… Think, think, think, think. I don’t have strength, numbers, time—anything. Racking my brain is the only thing I can do.”

  Desperately turning the gears in his head, Subaru earnestly fought to come up with the next best plan of action.

  Now that he’d scratched Crusch and Reinhard off the list, Subaru had scant few cards left in his hand to pick from. Considering the circumstances, pleading with the Knights of the kingdom would no doubt produce the same results as his negotiation with Crusch. Besides, Subaru felt nothing but mistrust toward them.

  —At the very least, now that Crusch, someone he thought he had a good relationship with, had abandoned him, a storm of paranoia toward others brewed inside Subaru.

  Not even realizing how this was narrowing his already limited options, Subaru could think of only two other people. However, one meant bowing his head to “The Finest of Knights,” someone he hated more than the Knights in general, which was unthinkable.

  That left Subaru with a single candidate.

  Rem caught up finally. Seeing Subaru deep in thought, she called out to him.

  “Subaru, what should we do now? I—”

  “It’s all right. Leave it to me. You don’t have to do anything. Don’t…do anything. Just stay right behind me. That’s enough.”

  After that interruption, Rem turned a frail smile toward Subaru as he continued thinking to himself.

  —I absolutely have to stop Rem from bearing the brunt of everything.

  Subaru knew that if it was to save him, Rem wouldn’t hesitate to hurl herself at danger and cast her life away. He had to protect her, no matter what.

  Subaru was certain that she was emotionally dependent on him, and it was his duty to save her.

  Whatever might happen, he had to avoid losing her. There was no other option. If he couldn’t protect Rem, saving Emilia and the villagers would lose all meaning. Even indulging his hatred of Petelgeuse would be—

  “Wait, that’s…”

  Subaru touched his temple as an exceedingly violent thought instantly came to mind.

  Just then, it had almost seemed as if eliminating Petelgeuse was a higher priority than saving Emilia and the others. Wasn’t that exactly the thing Crusch had pointed out earlier…?

  “It’s all right. Everything’s all right. I’ll…get this right. I’m gonna do it. I…gotta do it.”

  Subaru reassured himself, seemingly speaking for his own benefit. He ruminated on those words and pretended he had noticed nothing, as if he were putting a lid on top of a bottomless pit.

  This was the only way Subaru Natsuki could maintain his own sanity.

  3

  The next morning, as dawn broke, the two returned to the Nobles’ District to follow the slender thread that bore Subaru’s remaining hopes.

  The Nobles’ District on the upper section of the royal capital was lined with dazzling buildings. The showy facade of the stately mansion Subaru and Rem arrived at did not betray their expectations.

  No, it was more appropriate to say that it was showier and more extravagant than they had imagined.

  “No need to ask around for who this bel
ongs to. I can’t imagine anyone would have a hard time figuring out the owner of this place…”

  Subaru was nonplussed. The sight of the luxurious mansion was not one he’d soon forget, even from afar. The roof was painted over with gold that cast the light of the morning sun in all directions, while a number of intricate images had been engraved into the walls. As far as he could see, there were even reliefs adorning the windows, and a number of statues he could only call avant-garde art dotted the courtyard.

  The home was an acute reflection of the tastes of a big spender. Subaru couldn’t help a dry smile when he considered how the spectacle so aggressively asserted the owner’s will.

  As Subaru was rooted to the spot in front of the gates, Rem stood beside him with a dumbfounded expression on her face for once. If the point of the building’s outward appearance was to give guests a shock, it had accomplished its goal ten times over.

  “You’re not gonna tell me this was the previous owner’s style, are you? I feel sorry for him.”

  “Ahhhh, well actually this is the Princess’s tastes at work. It was a pretty extreme makeover, you know? I sympathize with the folks who worked straight through the night, but she slapped their cheeks with sacks of gold coins so they couldn’t complain.”

  “Hey, that’s completely different from slapping people around with a wad of bills. Whacking people with a bag of coins would totally count as actual violence.”

  The man standing on the other side of the gate laughed at Subaru’s joke. The man slid his thick fingers into the gap between his black helmet and his neck and scratched.

  Below his pitch-black full helm, the gateman was dressed roughly, like some kind of bandit. Though he made for an odd sight in general, what stood out most had to be the fact that he was missing his left arm from the shoulder down.

  This casual one-armed man who concealed his face named Al served as the retainer of the woman Subaru had come to see. Calling himself a mercenary, he was similar to Subaru, summoned from the same world. That was the basis for the strange rapport between them, as well as the reason for Al’s friendliness upon their early morning visit.

  “So what are you doing out here at a time like this? As you can see, I have low blood pressure, so I’m seriously not a morning person. If you’re inviting me to go hunting for a bite or something, I might not be completely up for it.”

  “Nothing so tame as a family restaurant. Today, I’m here to speak with your Princess.”

  “Princess…?”

  Unable to see the expression behind the helmet, he had no idea how Al was looking at him at that moment. An unpleasant pause followed as the one-armed man seemed to mull it over.

  “Well, I did get to recharge my supply of maid energy, so I guess I can take a message.”

  “That was more meaningless than I expected. Besides, it’s not like you don’t have any maids in this mansion, right?”

  “Hey now, you don’t understand Princess. You think we can have maids waltzing around when Princess thinks she’s the cutest in the whole world? The only thing we have in the mansion is a cute young butler.”

  “My fault for asking… It might lower the value some, but yeah, can you pass on a message for starters?”

  “Sure thing,” answered Al in a casual voice, leisurely vanishing back inside the mansion.

  Rem, standing to the side and a single step behind him, maintained her silence as her neutral expression tightened. But through her fingertips, lightly grasping his sleeve, he could sense the worry she couldn’t hide. Subaru wanted to wipe away her concerns, but that wasn’t possible when he harbored the same ones.

  “Well, it is ridiculously early in the morning… In that girl’s case, I’d expect her to say something like, ‘You are interfering with my precious time for slee—’”

  “Hey, you can come in and meet her!”

  Al poked his head out from the mansion’s entrance, his laid-back voice interrupting Subaru’s barb.

  For a moment, Subaru was taken aback at the unexpected speed of the reply.

  “I-isn’t it insanely early, though?”

  “You wouldn’t expect it, but Princess is one hell of a morning person. The flip side is that she goes to bed really early at night. Either way, come on in.”

  Al laughed at Subaru’s hesitation and invited them inside with a carefree demeanor. As they followed behind him, it soon became clear that the building’s interior was similarly intense to the exterior.

  Even an untrained eye could tell. Expensive-looking fixtures and pieces of art were on display in the corridor, almost to the point of impeding movement. The apparently compulsive need to adorn even lamps and picture frames with gold felt like a form of insanity.

  “I suppose it’s all a little blinding at first, but you get used to it. It’s not as bad in the morning like this, but the halls are seriously scary at night.”

  “I’m not a little kid, so you don’t have to tell me the halls are scary at night. What kind of adult are you?”

  “The eyes of the statues glow.”

  “Your master’s messed up in the head.”

  When Subaru examined the statues lining the hallway more closely, he noticed they had something like gemstones embedded in their eye sockets. They probably would glow when it got dark. Both purchaser and designer had a screw loose.

  Rem followed behind both of them, and he could hear noises coming from her nose every so often. Rem had a keen sense of smell, and she’d apparently picked up some kind of unsavory scent, staring at the back of the iron helm as they walked along.

  The trek of the mismatched trio soon came to an end.

  “Princess is in the top room up there. The whole floor’s one really decked-out room.”

  “Sounds kinda like a hotel suite. Can we go in?”

  “Well, you can, bro.”

  Al’s reply contained a clear implication when he approached the stairs and indicated the floor above with his thumb. At the unsettling undertone, Subaru shifted a guarded look his way.

  “Hey now, I’m not saying it to be mean. Princess said she’d only meet with you. The young lady’ll be escorted to the guest room.”

  “You think I’ll just hand her over when you were talking about recharging your maid energy earlier…?”

  “You got me there, but don’t worry, I’ll be waiting right here in front of Princess’s room. It’s a pity, but I’ll leave escorting the young lady to my senior, Schult.”

  Anticipating Subaru’s concerns, Al’s voice suggested he was barely restraining his laughter when he snapped his fingers. Immediately, a young man with curly pink hair and red eyes appeared. The only words Subaru could think of to capture the youth’s essence were pretty boy. His small frame was dressed in a butler’s outfit, while his face showed a stern, fervent devotion to his duties, but somehow, he gave off the impression of a pervert.

  “Take good care of our guest, now.”

  “Yes, leave it to me.”

  When Al gave the youth a pat on the shoulder, the pretty-boy butler offered a formal reply and proceeded to escort Rem. Instantly, she glanced back at Subaru, seemingly at a loss.

  “Sorry. Wait up for me until we’re finished talking. All the dangerous people in this mansion, Helmet Guy included, are gonna be on the top floor, so just relax and wait up.”

  “That’s harsh, bro, making me out to be some suspicious guy. Though intruders do say that about me pretty often.”

  Subaru ignored Al’s peevish reply and stroked Rem’s head to put her at ease. Rem almost closed her eyes like she was ticklish, bowing her head as she resigned herself to the inevitable.

  Afterward, she gently drew close to him and whispered an additional word of caution.

  “Understood—please be especially wary of that person.”

  Rem’s eyes looked at Al for only a single moment. Apparently, he’d really set off her alarms.

  “Mm, got it.”

  Though Subaru truly wanted to believe in his amiable compatriot
, Rem’s appraisal of his trustworthiness was more natural. Considering the back-and-forth at the Crusch residence, it was best to regard Priscilla’s people as opponents as well.

  Subaru nodded and smiled. The pretty-boy butler led Rem along, vanishing down a corridor.

  “Phew. Not bad, bro. I see she’s really sweet on you.”

  “If you’re gonna do that, just do a proper whistle. Not that I can whistle with you.”

  It wasn’t as though the weather was cold enough that it physically prevented anyone from whistling. For the most part, Subaru had bitter memories of how he’d tried and failed to learn to whistle since way back.

  “Ah, no can do. Lips aren’t intact. I can’t manage a real whistle.”

  “Th-that so. Sorry ’bout that.”

  The answer was heavier than Subaru had expected, so he abandoned any thought of pursuing the matter.

  “Well, it’s a pity to keep the young lady waiting like this, and Princess gets annoyed and scary if you make her sit around too long. Better head upstairs, pronto.”

  “Short and sweet. Big help… Incidentally, what’s Priscilla’s mood like today?”

  Since he was dealing with Priscilla, her current disposition would affect the results of any discussion to a rather frightening degree.

  “Mm, I don’t think it’s particularly good or bad, so that means you really can’t go in expecting anything. Princess’s moods can change before, after, or during a conversation, and they can go up, down, left, right, or bounce all around the place. What she likes to talk about isn’t set in stone. You need to be good at ad-libbing to get by.”

  “So a no-prep match… The worst kind for me.”

  He climbed upstairs, slipped past a dancing hall, and came to a door—an exceedingly ornamented one.

  “This is Princess’s way-too-big private room. She never calls me inside, so I’ll wait here while you go ahead.”