Volume 3 - CH 8

–The coin flew up, spinning round and round through the air.

On the back of the copper coin there was the image of a dragon indicating it was of Lugnican make, on the face of the coin the year of production was engraved onto it, the appearance of it wasn’t too far from the coins in his world.

Reaching the peak of its ascent, for a brief instant the spinning coin froze like it was sown into the air. Subaru held his breath, while watching the trajectory of the falling coin he moved both his hands with a tremendous speed.

Punching towards empty space with a consecutive barrage, trying to alter the falling coin’s path with the resulting burst of wind.

Letting the coin drop right in front of him, he lowered his knees and leaned in, as the time it was still airborne dwindled. Right before the coin met the ground, he snatched it up in a crossing motion with both hands.

“Come now! Is it the left hand? Right hand? Or maybe even in my mouth?!”

“I’ve had enough of your bluffs. It’s in your right.”

“Oh My Goddess!!”

Opening his trembling right hand, he presented the coin on his palm to the triumphantly gloating girl. Seeing her smile grow bigger, he couldn’t help tremble in embarrassment and hang his head in shame. Transferring the appa from the bag to her hand, catching glimpse of the contents, a mere two appas stared back.

“Now, only two left. Not only making me guess which side of the coin, you even have me guess which hand it’s in. What kind of tricks do you have for me next?”

Does she have no doubt whatsoever? She genuinely seemed to have no interest in what type of gamble he’d bring out. Her attitude was one where no matter what the game entailed, she had unwavering conviction that she’d win.

On the other side was Subaru in a completely defeated state, after losing in his specialty game of coin-catching his 10 betting chips were now reduced to 2.  Mentally he was already feeling pressured.

“Impossible… for this coin-flipping skill that I’ve honed solely through reading manga to be completely ineffective. They even used to call me ‘dazzling Subaru’…”

“I’ll say it again, petty tricks are meaningless before me. I don’t understand the point of your coin-spinning in the first place, there’s no need for me to see the coin.”

Sitting on a broken down crate on the side of a wall, he clutched his knees listlessly as the girl looked at him strangely. A smile appeared on her face as always, but a sadistic expression of her enjoying tormenting the weak was starting to mix in. Seeing such a haughty opponent his manly spirit flared up, he wanted to break that stuck-up nose by any means. But, he didn’t have even a shred of the ability required to do so.

“I only challenged her to a coin flip because I thought I could win and then this happens…  she’s even treating it like it’s completely meaningless! Since it’s come to this all I can do is leave it to fate――”

“Have you decided your method? I wouldn’t mind if you just handed me the two appa.”

“Oi oi, in my country deserting under enemy fire means you’ll be made to commit sepukku. Don’t underestimate the harshness of an angry military officer. And don’t think that I’ll let this off with me being a sore loser.”

The girl’s attitude was like the incarnation of the word pride. However with how pitiful of state he’d found himself in, he almost felt like prostrating himself before her intimidating aura. Struggling to go against it he shook his head, raising his voice he jabbed out his finger.

“The game will be…. Rock Paper Scissors! This is the traditional means for a final-battle used in my homeland.”

“Rock Paper Scissors?”

“What’s this, could it be you don’t know what Rock Paper Scissors is? You don’t do you!? Oi oi oi, how much of a sheltered baby do you have to be to say those words!?”

“A boring provocation, not enough class. While I won’t deny thy charges of being ignorant of the world, I won’t rise to such a low challenge.”

Making fun of and teasing her at the same he was planning to somehow throw off her usual calm-self, but against this girl who saw through him in a single breath it was useless. Even though he provoked her that much she still didn’t pay him any mind. On top of being firmly self-centered, she seemed to think of Subaru as no different from another pebble on the side of the road. A pebble’s provocation couldn’t rise to the level of causing waves in her mind.

“I-i-t’s not like I was scheming anything!? Just because I lost consecutively like that doesn’t mean I’ll do something underhanded to win, don’t look down on me!”

“You waste my time. Hey, hurry up and explain this ‘rock paper scissors’ thing. That’ll be the end of you then.”

Waving her hands out to the side carefree, the girl sneered at him. Getting his provocations flipped on him Subaru couldn’t hide his agitation. Biting his lip in dismay, he brought his hands out front.

“Rock paper scissors is a type of duel where you throw out certain hand gestures while yelling at the same time, depending on the superior-inferior relation of the hand gestures victory and loss is decided. There are 3 different hand gestures, ‘rock’, ‘paper’, and ‘scissors’.  Rock is strong against scissors, scissors is strong against paper, and paper is strong against rock. Got it?”

“Hmm”, she stroked her chin while Subaru bent his hands into various shapes during his explanation,

“Indeed, I understand. That’s quite an interesting idea there. What do we yell?”

“At the ‘scissors’ part of ‘rock paper scissors’ you throw out the hand you plan on using. And by the way, in the case that the same hand comes out it’s a tie and you have to do it again.”

“Is that all? Good, I understand. In that case I choose paper.”

“Mind games right off that bat!?”

In rock paper scissors there is the high level technique of declaring your hand, Subaru shuddered at the level of her reasoning and application. Immediately after explaining the rules, she understood everything completely, and right away chose the method that gives her a mental advantage. It didn’t come out earlier because they were contests of pure luck, the absolute best method for winning――Her ability to choose that is being displayed here.

“My strategy of explaining the rules quickly and jumping into a game of rock-paper-scissors while the opponent was still confused… was crushed!?”

“Let’s start then. Here, Rock-Paper…”

“W-wait, timeout, hey, I haven’t decided on what I want to use.”

Having his makeshift strategy completely seen through, it backfired and now he was the one flustered. However now that she started she continued without heeding him, watching her raise her hand up Subaru had no choice but to match up.”

“”-scissors!””

Throwing out her hand at the same time as her yell, it was paper just like she had declared earlier. As for Subaru…

“Making a flower like me wait, even though you protested so much… it seems like you wanted to give me your appa after all.”

“No! Ontop of being statistically the most common choice, when a person is forced into a game of rock-paper-scissors unexpectedly their hand tightens up, it’s out of my control!”

In front of the girl with her hand laid out flat, Subaru’s hand was tightly balled into a fist while he made up excuses like a sore loser. A schemer drowned to death in his own schemes, Subaru played the part of a drowned corpse perfectly.

“Now then”

Letting out a long sigh, he watched as the girl’s white fingertips reached past him to steal away an appa out from his bag. With this he only had one chip left to bet.

“And by taking even that, I’ll teach thee who knows not thy own place a lesson. I’m at the top of the pyramid, you’re at the bottom. It suits you to crawl.”

“Oi oi, isn’t it a little extreme to treat a person who loses a bet like they’re the bottom rung of pyramid? Even though I don’t have a chance of winning and it seems like I’ll have all my belongings stripped from me and be ruined, my pride won’t let me not bet this last one… aa, am I actually the bottom rung!?”

“Don’t worry. Everything below me is the bottom rung. In this world there’s nothing but things below me.”

“A two story pyramid huh, even if there’s nowhere for me to stay it’s pretty refreshing!?”

Even though the portion touching the ground can be very wide, the place at the top only has one spot. With an extremely tall summit it ends being a pretty crazy pyramid. The pyramid in his imagination was in dire need of some lodging. “Now then,” the girl clapped her hands, bringing Subaru back to reality.

“Let’s bet the last one and have a match.”

“…this is the part where you’re supposed to pity me, like leave me the last piece at least.”

“I’ll make every last one of your appas mine. I’ve already gave me decision. All that’s left is for you to come up with the means, you can come up with whatever method you wish to hand over your appa with. I’m of the nature that I don’t get bored easily, but even so… this is becoming a little tedious.”

Even though her statement was no different from the ones earlier, it could said that she had absolutely no inclination to let him go; to Subaru this was a death sentence. For this girl who had no doubt in her own path, that she would win the remaining appa was already a decided matter――since it’s like this, Subaru had no way out.

“Let’s do another rock-paper-scissors for the last match.”

“Hmm, challenging me right away when you’re at a disadvantage. There might be some logic to that, but whatever you do is useless.”

“No more talk, from both of us. And no more of that lead in like last time either, just a straight match.”

Putting his hand out, Subaru’s first objective was to seal the girl’s mind games. Seeing Subaru’s unexpected attitude she raised her eyebrows, concluding that it wasn’t anything that could influence the odds of winning she shook her head.

“Very well. Let’s start this quickly and end this quickly then, shall we?”

Seeing that she agreed, Subaru pulled his hand back, winding it up. Covering his clenched right hand with his left, he shrunk down while twisting his body, like he was preparing to draw a sword from his hip quickly and strike, pulling his body to the limit, heightening his fighting spirit to the point it could cut.

“Aaaaaaaa!!”

Putting his spirit into it, an overly excessive warcry flooded out from his mouth. Movement without meaning, actions without meaning, preparation without meaning, fighting spirit without meaning. No matter how much force he put into his body, victory or defeat wouldn’t be influenced by such a thing. Even knowing this, no… despite knowing this! Subaru put his heart in soul into his right fist!

The atmosphere in the back alley began to change, from the spirit Subaru put into this match even the girl’s expression began to stiffen. The moment his fighting spirit reached its peak, the two of them moved.

“”Rock-paper-scissors!!””

They shouted. With it their two fists shot out like they would collide, for just a split second all sound disappeared. The air in front of their fists broke apart, in the vacuum left behind speckles of light could be seen exploding―― looking at the fist in front of her, unrest began spreading throughout her red pair of eyes. Subaru noticed this!

The girl’s clenched hand was ‘rock’. As for her opponent Subaru…

“T-this is….”

“Listen and be astonished, look and be amazed. This is the ultimate rock-paper-scissors lethal weapon, passed down from centuries-old.”

Muttering to himself. Subaru’s right hand, it was a shape that defied the girl’s understanding. ――His thumb, index finger, and middle finger were extended in an irregular shape. This was the ultimate forbidden move, tremble and be in terror!!”

“Yes, this is the ultimate form ‘rock+scissors+paper’!”

“What the heck is that!? I didn’t hear that you could use a shape like that!”

“Quite your complaining, loser! I may not have said it, but it’s your fault for not asking! This part here is rock, and this part here is scissors, and this over here is paper. In other words, my hand beats your rock.”

“If that logic works, then shouldn’t a portion of it lose to my rock…?”

“Aaa-aaa-aaa! I can’t hear you!!”

He raised his voice while plugging his ears, with a tap in his step he collected the remaining apple. The last remaining one that didn’t get taken away, he held it as if it were extremely precious.

“I win! I win! I won’t let you complain! Unlike a simple coin toss, rules have a shady side to them. It’s your fault for not putting in the effort to notice! My tenacity triumphs over your good luck! No objections! I’m more positive!”

From her unwillingness to lose to such an improvised idiotic reasoning, and the ugliness of Subaru’s cowardly victory parade, “grrrr” she growled bitterly. Within this short time, for the girl who had always had an air of daringness, her expression was stained with defeat for the first time.

“――In that case, let’s do one last bet.”

“Haa? What nonsense are you speaking, little Ms. Bunny-rabbit? The bet for the last appa ended with my win. What reason do I have to bet any further: NONE!”

“You bet the one appa you have left, and I’ll bet all the ones I’ve won.”

Towards Subaru who was thinking of running away after winning, the girl glared with fire sparkling in her eyes as she made the proposal.

Hearing this, Subaru stopped; staring back at her while frozen in place. The girl’s expression reflected in his black pupils showed her daringness was already coming back, this time with an even fiercer tenacity.

“The match will be rock-paper-scissors again. However, you can only use that ‘rock+scissors+paper’ move one time.”

“Are you serious? I’m just going to say it, but you already have 10 appa…”

“I believe I said I wanted all of them. If it’s not all of them, it’s the same as none.”

An even more refreshing self-righteous reasoning. She tilted her head, ‘what is thy answer?’ she questioned Subaru’s resolve. Hearing this, Subaru thought to himself ‘she’s quite stupid’. Losing herself in the heat of things, and not knowing to quit when you’re ahead is indeed quite foolish. Obsessed with victory

After all, he could never understand the absolute avarice to steal another’s belongings that shaped her very soul. Therefore, upon securing a single appa, and feeling that he had managed to get a good hit on her, Subaru had no reason to accept such a contest.

Even so――

“That old man’s face covered with scars is pushing me forward. Take back the fruit of our friendship. And land a good solid punch on that haughty girl’s face. No! What stupid things are you making me do!?”

“I’ll take that as an affirmative.” The girl confirmed in a deep voice.

Subaru stroked his chin, showing his agreement. Lifting their fists up in air, the final duel entered its starting sequence.

As their fists came down, for a few seconds the world became a slideshow, their thoughts accelerating.

One of the prerequisites for this duel was that the ‘rock-scissors-paper’ move was limited to one use. As this was a sure-kill ultimate move, it would naturally be the first one to be used. This way it’d be a tie, and afterwards it’d turn into a pure game of rock-paper-scissors.

Her tremendous luck was a menace.

Being able to guess heads or tails for 7 consecutive coin tosses, and even being able to recognize which hand he hid it in after he caught it. It was to such a level that if she told him she could predict the future, he’d believe it. But, there’s no way that she could actually do that. Knowing future events, and being able to act to change that outcome is beyond a cheat ability. Such a ridiculous ability would be――”

“Ah, isn’t that describing me!”

“Here I go! Rock-paper-ss….”

Aiming for the moment his concentration was interrupted, her hand swung down. Seeing this, Subaru promptly followed with his own hand.

And――

“Naturally you used ‘rock-scissors-paper’ move. However, you were too naïve!”

Seeing the ‘rock-scissors-paper’ shaped hand in front of him, Subaru’s face warped into a broad grin.

Faced with Subaru’s composed attitude, the girl once again blinked her eyes in bewilderment.

“That hand, what is that?”

Subaru with his thumb sticking up; she called out with a completely chilled voice. Not paying attention to the tone of her voice, he let out a ‘harrumph’ through his nose.

“This is an even more forbidden move, hidden arts ‘bomb’. Even something like the ‘rock+scissors+paper’ move gets blown away by it, the strongest ultimate technique. Blam, boom, the opponent gets their just deserts.”

“What the heck!? Is this just anything goes!?”

“This is the genuine last hidden kind of move. You confirmed the ways you could use the ‘rock+scissors+paper’ move, but since you didn’t ask about different ones I didn’t tell you. With this bomb I deal you direct damage! Pulverization! Honorable defeat! Thunderous Ovation!”

TL: He’s making references to Yugioh, one of Kaibaman’s quotes when using his 3 blue-eyes-white-dragon attack. Funsai! Gyokusai! Daikassai!

爆弾の効果でお前にダイレクトダメージ！　粉砕！　玉砕！　俺大喝采！

Furiously clapping his hands, Subaru drew in the area’s ambiance; trumpeting his victory loudly. The girl furiously bit her lip, pointing a trembling finger at Subaru.

“A-are you saying it doesn’t matter as long as you win!? Have you no pride as a man!”

“It’s all good as long as you win, as long as you win! Don’t misunderstand me! I don’t like fighting! I like winning!”

Petty villain full-speed ahead. Forcing out a magnificent speech, Subaru set his foot down. Turning his attention back, he put his hand over the girl’s finger pointed out at him.

“In the match just now, since you used the ‘rock+scissors+paper’ move you indirectly acknowledged my win as legitimate! In other words you have no choice but to admit to my victory! Hahaha, rock-paper-scissors truly is hell!”

“Grrrr….”

Subaru gloating in victory and the girl growling bitterly. But, the girl soon shrugged her shoulders, “I suppose there’s no helping it.”

Putting her hands on her hips, she puffed out her chest.

“It’s as you say, now that it’s over and done it’s too late to back out now. As such, I’ll say that this bet was your win. Now, do as you wish.”

The girl took a big step forwards as if to say, ‘here’. Taking a stance that emphasized her abundant chest, it was apparent that nothing was supporting her breasts as they shook lightly under her dress. Getting another good look at them once again, they went beyond what he had imagined. This was the first time in his life he’d met such a great person with such giant breasts. Among his ranking of the Roswaal mansion, Emilia’s were the most well-formed. Below her were the twins, but even if you were trying to flatter them you couldn’t call their’s big. As for Beatrice, she didn’t even meet the evaluation standards in the first place.

Therefore, with such a girl pushing her body out as an official prize, Subaru swallowed his saliva.

“O-oi oi oi oi, you’re way too open to this. Can’t you be a little bit more like, “Nooo you dummy, there’s no way I can do something embarrassing like that, so embarassing!”, it wouldn’t hurt you know? If you did that, as a man named Natsuki Subaru, I wouldn’t hesitate to show you some mercy…”

TL: the specific line he wants her to say is a catchphrase from an 80’s show Maicchingu Machiko Sensei, the main character is a female teacher that gets sexually harassed constantly and says this whenever it happens. It’s technically a children’s show (technically).

“In the contest my loss was decided, making excuses on top of that is not something that can be allowed. That’d just make me a poor loser. It’s as you say, I got full of myself from my divine blessing and lost track of what was required to win. It was my mistake. Most of all, for me who has never lost this badly before in my life it could be said to be a valuable experience. As such, there’s nothing to feel bad about. Come hold them.”

Saying that, she stepped even further forward. Overpowered by her forcefulness, for as much she stepped forward Subaru retreated back. Scowling at his attitude,

“You, it couldn’t be… now that it’s actually progressed to the stage of touching my breasts, you lost your nerve?”

“Haa!? Ww-what, I don’t know what you’re saying! Who’s c-c-c-ch-chickening out!? Who spread that nonsense!?  When did they do it, how many hours ago, how many seconds, how many times did the earth spin around on its axis!?”

“… It seems you’ve fallen helplessly for me. Getting cold feet like this, what a pure love.”

Bringing her palm to her forehead in a shocked manner, she gazed at Subaru with charming eyes. Chills ran up his spine, reflexively he hugged his own body in a feminine manner.

“I don’t care anymore, just please let me go. I want to just take my appa and leave. I have a total cutie that I just got separated from for a bit… I’m probably already going to get a full timeout by now.”

Right around now Emilia was without a doubt earnestly searching for the missing Subaru. His strategy of returning before she got out of the guard station and insisting that he had been patiently waiting the whole time didn’t seem like it’d work anymore. Subaru who was led astray by the loveliness in front of his own eyes and wasted all this time had no qualifications to make excuses.

“On top of it all, now that I earned the right to do this I’m hesitating like a no-good bastard. No, the pure-heartedness inside of me is speaking. It’s saying that if my first boob-touch isn’t with the girl I set my sights on then it’s no good!”

“What moldy values… if it’s like this I’m not pleased.”

To touch or not to touch, the respective positions between the two were starting to reverse. Subaru displaying his apparent virginity and chickening out, on the other hand the girl’s pride wouldn’t let her happily withdraw after she herself was the one to offer her body. It had truly fallen into a bizarre state of affairs, with one side retreating and one side pushing forward.

“Hmm, this seems like it’s going to become rather troublesome.”

Abruptly releasing her gaze on Subaru, she turned towards the entrance to the street. Lured in, Subaru turned his attention over there as well.

“Huh, it seems like a bunch of delinquent looking people are coming over here.”

“And the ones leading the pack are some very familiar looking pieces of trash. Oh dear, it seems these fools don’t have a shred of fun in them.”

The girl shook her head with an expression that didn’t conceal her surprise and disdain. Standing next to her was Subaru in a panic, casting eyes on the alley in the opposite the direction of the oncoming group. He didn’t feel any presence of a group coming from that direction, but he had no proof it wasn’t a dead-end either.

“Either way, getting caught here definitely feels like a BADEND. Even after hearing Reinhard’s name they came back, what the hell are these guys thinking!?”

“They must have found out about your bluff about being acquainted with the Knight among Knights. They’ve got their honor too. Putting together their numbers, they came to pay back their debts. It’s that same tenacity to win you were talking about earlier.”

“What sore losers! Even if I forgive myself for not having any pride, I’m the type that won’t forgive others for their prideless behavior!

The sheer egotism espoused by Subaru and this girl.

Leading as the vanguard of the group, the stooges noticed the pair’s existence. Yelling something, they signaled to the group’s rear and some scary looking men broke into a run.

Subaru seeing this,

“Damnit, today is seriously unlucky!”

It started with his attempted fall from the dragon-carriage, and even more so after he got separated from Emilia. If he messed up at all it likely wouldn’t end pretty. He really hasn’t had any decent luck at all. Forcefully taking the hand of the girl standing up next to him and the bag packed with appa, he put on a hurried retreat ――with no idea where he was going he advanced towards the dark.

“Oi, what are you doing, don’t touch me so casually.”

“This isn’t the time for that! If you don’t want to get caught run! Just look at the lewd look on their faces! If you get caught they’d only be able to put that in an adult magazine!”

While forcibly pulling the girl who had little intention of running, “and anyways!” Subaru enunciated out each syllable while rushing forward forcefully.

“You leased out your breasts to me just now! Like I’d let those guys touch them, outrageous! If you get it then dash! B-dash!”

Pulling her arm, he ran down the poorly maintained road; leading her as he headed deeper into the alleys. Behind them, the shouts and footsteps of the men linked together while following in pursuit. He felt his heart beat faster and harder, and felt pain in his lungs ―― while aware of that all, Subaru ignored it as he ran deeper and deeper down the extremely narrow alleyway.

※ ※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Emilia got out of the guard station, returning to the main street it was 20 minutes since she left Subaru alone.

Her main objective was getting in touch with Reinhard ―― Regardless of the time it took, you could say the result ended in failure. Bringing up the subject to her guide Julius,

“Reinhard? For a while now, he’s been busy with something and hasn’t had the time to come here… well, since it’s Emilia-sama I could convey your words to him personally.”

Getting this offer from Julius she somehow or another turned him down, seeing that her objective was crushed she planned to return quickly.

But,

“Julius took up more of my time than I thought.”

“He doesn’t mean any harm, and since I can discern these types of things it wasn’t too uncomfortable for me.  Not to mention his colorful and abundant mana, I definitely don’t dislike that.”

Finally getting out of the guard station and onto the street, out from under her silver hair Puck replied to her words. Responding, Emilia nodded her head “yeah,”

“It’s not like I think he’s a bad person. And I think the things he told us were quite useful, I’m not unhappy with any of that, but…”

“Well, he does talk about himself a bit too much….. if Subaru were there, what would he call it, ‘someone who can’t read the mood’ or something?”

Seeing Puck laugh dryly, she responded with a long sigh; looking out over the road. Even though it was only 20 minutes, it was plenty enough to get tired of waiting. She felt bad making him wait idle for that long. But, more than that she had been feeling a sense of unease in her heart.

“How to say it, it’s just as expected huh.”

“… I thought he wasn’t the type of kid to wait patiently for 20 minutes.”

The unpleasant sense of apprehension hit the mark. Running her hands through her silver hair, Emilia hung her head in shame. On the street spanning out in front of the nobles district, there was no sign of Subaru who had been told to wait there. They wondered whether or not if Subaru had sought shelter in some building while he waited for them, but, standing outside the guard station for a few minutes there was no sign of him appearing.

“It seems he isn’t here anymore… Puck, can you track him?”

“I can try. But right now Subaru’s mana feels pretty weak as a whole, so if I fail I don’t want you to get mad.”

“That way of talking, you’re becoming more like Subaru. ――Anyways, please do it.”

‘Okayyy’, Puck replied softly; pushing his way out through her silver hair he came up to surface. Popping out from under her hood, he settled down on her shoulder. Wiggling his pink nose, he sniffed the air searching for Subaru’s scent―― more exactly, he was smelling for any remnants of mana from Subaru’s body.

To a certain degree, if it was the mana of someone he knew then Puck’s nose was quite dependable. The problem was, how long had passed since Subaru had left. And, the problem of the current state of Subaru’s body which lacked mana. Both of those brought him a tinge of worry.

While Puck was using his nose like this, Emilia was scanning the surroundings for clues about Subaru’s whereabouts. There were very few people along the road next to the nobles district’s entrance and especially few near the guardhouse. The restrictions on coming in and out of the nobles district were pretty strict, if you didn’t have business in the nobles district then this probably wasn’t the type of place you’d want to hang out at. As such, minus Emilia, the number of people visible on the street was probably few enough to count on one hand.

“… that person, I wonder what they’re doing?”

Spotting a person across the street, she was extremely interested in that person’s strange actions.

They were standing at a location a few dozen meters away from the guard station, on the opposite side of the entrance to the nobles district, near a path that headed into the commoners district. On the side of the road, was a place with a wooden box that had been established for the purpose of garbage collection. Leaning up against the wooden box, they person was sticking their head and arms in searching for something.

“I wonder if they’re looking for a lost item?”

This is what Emilia thought, putting a finger to her lips. Glancing over at her shoulder, Puck was closing his eyes and sniffing through his nose with all his might, still trying to pick up on any remnants. He hadn’t signaled for her to start moving yet. Confirming that, ‘OK!’ she whispered to herself and started walking, heading towards the suspicious person.

If Subaru had been here, or if anyone else had been here for that matter, she would have probably controlled herself.  One would normally avoid going up to a person so interested in fishing around in the garbage. But, with Emilia on her own there was nobody around to stop her. And the only one around who could warn her, Puck, was completely oblivious to what she was doing. As such, with no hindrances she had already come up to the person’s back.

“Huh, it’s not here either, princess. I’m stumped, really. I wonder what happened.”

Coming up behind them, the person’s grumbles reached her ears. She could already tell from looking at him from behind, but it was a man’s voice. A man who’s upper body was thrust into the wooden box searching around, he was dressed in slightly dirty lightweight equipment. However, from the fact that the portion around his waist was furnished with a sword as wide as chest one could tell they were exceedingly strong. From the looks of his lower body he was built quite sturdily, there was no doubt at least a portion of that was reflected in his fighting ability.

From the roughness of his voice too, this was someone you’d normally want to avoid touching. But, the person here was someone far outside the norm, a soft-hearted half-elf.

“Um.”

“――Mm?”

Being called out to so unreservedly, the man raised a seemingly surprised voice and pulled his head out,

“Gaa!”

Pulling his upper body out of the wooden box, he hit the back of his head strongly against the crate. Leaning over, this time he crashed his chin forcefully against the outside of the crate. Receiving consecutive hits to the head, the man crouched over.

“Ow-owww, it hurts….! What the heck, me, I’m getting too old old for this……”

“A-are you ok?”

Letting out an oddly pained voice the man consoled himself, as the one who called out to him Emilia felt a bit guilty.

Touching his shoulder,

“Kyaa!”

The man stood up forcefully, Emilia who touched his shoulder was surprised. The man wrapped himself in his arms, turning around to face Emilia behind him.

Because the man was tall, he had to look down at her. And, the moment that man’s face met hers, her bluish-purple pupils widened in fright.

Towards this Emilia whose throat was filled with fright, the man pointed a finger and said.

“Oi, don’t touch me so casually little lady. Those that touch me get burned.”