Volume 4 - CH 48.2

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[Daphne: Eeeehhh~? You want to destroy Great Rabbit? But that child’s so weak and easy to eat, and keeps on multiplying too. He’s one of Daphne’s greatest masterpieces, you know?]

[Subaru: Eat or be eaten… if you go by that kind of philosophy, then what about killing your enemies to stay alive? I was hoping you’d approve of a survival instinct besides appetite]

Subaru decided to strike from the same baseline as Daphne’s own warped morality.

Honestly, he had already half given up on getting any information out of Daphne. After all, he couldn’t seem to get her to say anything useful, and couldn’t even see himself establishing a proper conversation with her.

At first glance, their game of conversational catch-ball may seem to be going smoothly, but the reality was that she was chewing up every ball Subaru was throwing, begging him to throw more, without ever tossing back anything of her own.

However,

[Daphne: Since I eat in order to live, I also have to permit killing in order to live…… Uuu~unn, that’s, nnn, that’s also right, isn’t it]

[Subaru: ――Eh? That worked?]

[Daphne: If Daphne thinks something is right, then Daphne will accept it. Subaruun too, what did you take Daphne for?]

“This is the Witchiest Witch I’ve ever seen,” Subaru sincerely thought. But if he used that as his answer, there’d be no end to it, so he decided to keep it to himself.

Oblivious to that silence, Daphne pouted her lips with [Huu~uuuu],

[Daphne: If you want to destroy Great Rabbit-chan, Met-Met, Dona-Dona, and Milla-Milla can all do it easily]

[Subaru: Wait, whose nickname was that you just called? Dona-Dona…… is Echidona, right? Met-Met… must be Sekhmet. But who’s Milla-Milla?]

[Daphne: Carmilla…… she’s Lust. But she doesn’t seem to want to meet you, Subaruun]

[Subaru: Even though it’s somewhat depressing to hear that the one in charge of sexy things hates me… your suggestion is not gonna work. The Witches can’t leave this place, so you guys can’t help me]

[Daphne: …….Huuuuu, can’t do it huh…?]

For Subaru, who’s used to relying on others, such an offer would have been more than he could have hoped for. If they could go out and help him, they would be more than enough to deal with the Great Rabbit and Elsa, but,

[Subaru: Even if you could go outside……would you be satisfied with just destroying and eating the Great Rabbit and coming back here?]

[Daphne: Daphne’s stomach has never been satisfied in my entire life, you know…]

[Subaru: So, even if there’s a way to get you guys outside, I can’t let you guys go]

Sticking out his tongue at Daphne’s unsurprising reply, Subaru ruled out her proposal. Inside the coffin, Daphne made an [Uunnn~], and,

[Daphne: If that won’t work, then you’ll just have to do your best to eat all of them to the last one, I think. Those kids won’t be able to multiply from zero……haa~ha……]

[Subaru: Nevermind eating… so we have to kill all of them, huh…… and if we leave just one alive, the whole thing will revive… They move in a group, right? But are they always all together?]

[Daphne: Yeah… Even though there are many of them, their consciousness is singular. Like, one consciousness, shared by the whole group. They don’t really have the intelligence to split up]

[Subaru: Is that……so. In that case, we shouldn’t run into a problem where we leave some stragglers alive to multiply…… and then find out “THERE WILL BE MORE PANIC AND HORROR” or whatever, right?]

It happens quite alot in horror movies where after exterminating the bloody monsters, you find out that some of them survived underground to reproduce and you wind up with a “THE PREDICAMENT IS NOT OVER!” ending.

But, at least, it seems the Rabbits aren’t smart enough to pull a stunt like that.

[Subaru: Oh by the way… about how many rabbits are there on average? If they eat each other, then I’m thinking they must have some system for keeping their numbers in range, or…]

[Daphne: ……who knows? Would you be able to count the numbers of droplets in a fog, Subaruun…?]

[Subaru: It’s that level……? No no, I already know I can’t take your word for it. So I’ll just go see for myself]

Just counting the number of rabbits that swarmed him, there must have been more than a hundred. But, considering how they devoured everyone in the Sanctuary, their number must be closer to the tens of thousands.

In order to kill them all, he’d have to think of a better way.

While Subaru sank into thought, Daphne gave a big yawn to indicate her boredom. And then, making quiet chewing motions in front of the silent Subaru,

[Daphne: Subaruun… if you’re busy pondering, could Daphne disappear now? After all, I get hungrier when I exist…]

[Subaru: Preferring not to exist just so you could be less hungry is seriously a mind-blowing statement… But yeah, regardless of how we got here, that was a lot of help. Thanks. ――Also]

Throwing out those half-assed words of thanks, Subaru appended an “Also” at the end.

Seeing Daphne cast him a puzzled expression, he went on with the most scornful voice he could muster,

[Subaru: I’ll annihilate that asshole Rabbit. And I’ve already killed your White Whale. I hope you don’t mind, Mommy-sama]

[Daphne: …………]

[Subaru: Four hundred years, that’s how long those bastards born from your good intentions preyed on the world outside. That’s long enough. ――It’s time I erase them without leaving a trace]

[Daphne: You are merely Human]

In front of Subaru’s declaration of war, Daphne made a reaction which he had never seen before.

Stretching her lips wide, for the first time, her expression revealed something other than “Hunger”.

[Daphne: Try it if you can]

With her red tongue extended from a mouth lined with razor-sharp fangs, the Witch of Gluttony smiled.

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