Volume 3, 12: Secret castle infiltration and its result

Volume 3, Chapter 12: Secret castle infiltration and its result

“When things go smoothly like this, it makes me worry even more.”

Scratching his head, Subaru looked around at his surroundings while sighing. It was a sturdy passageway made of stone, a little less than two meters in width. It was narrow enough that four men side by side were enough to block it up, but if you only consider the movements of servants it was plenty big enough for their use. In comparison, the Roswaal mansion’s hallways were needlessly large which made cleaning a pain.

Anyways,

“I was imagining a whole lot more obstacles―― is it possible we cleared it on the first try?”

An unpopulated passageway―― lurking in the corner of one of the passageways of the Royal castle’s basement, Subaru let out one of many innumerable sighs, unknown to anyone else.

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――“Kadomon pictures presents, Exciting Secret Infiltration Plan”, or so he was currently carrying out this scheme they had crafted not even an hour ago.

“Listen here, don’t ever say my name. You can use this trick to enter into the nobles district... the upper ward, but you’ll need to find some other way into the castle. Now that it’s come to this I’ll ask a person I know here by the name of Henehehe. They’ll be able to guide us back safely.”

[TL: ヘネヘヘ, this really is their name]

Off to Subaru’s side reminding him to not get into any unnecessary trouble was Kadomon, he even went so far as having secured information about the all-important escape route. No matter how much he’d already done, his helpful nature compelled him to do even more, this scary faced shopkeeper. Considering he was accompanying Subaru in his recklessness, you could say his goodness as a person was almost disastrous.

Going by Kadoman’s plan (he’d never take the credit for it though), they decided they were going to sneak into the upper ward by mixing in with the carts carrying goods from the business district. The lower classes: commoners living in amongst the general population, including those in the commerce ward or along the business street, when adding in the slums as well, which occupied the outer circumference of the capital, this seemed to be the entire range referred to as the lower class and their corresponding areas were referred to as the lower wards. The transportation of goods between the lower wards and upper wards appeared to occur at regular intervals, and the control issued by the guard station was said to be relatively lax.

“Do they just trust the merchants that much?”

“Rather than them trusting the merchants, it’s more like they never imagined there’d be idiots stupid enough to do something that would upset the nobles like this...”

The one who answered Subaru’s question was the muscular giant with his arms crossed. Rubbing his bald head once, Rom-jii’s outfit was completely different from usual. In place of the old worn rags he had on just a little while ago was a set of relatively clean clothes. Being questioned by him, Rom-jii finally noticed Subaru’s stares.

“If we made it into the upper district you could say I’d be quite suspicious looking, but if I dress neatly like this it probably wouldn’t go farther than drawing attention. In your case, that’s just another unnecessary concern.”

“Well, in my case I’m actually a servant at a fairly respectable house. Since this is my debut in the capital, there’s been quite a bit of money put forward on stuff like my clothes.”

Facing those scrutinizing eyes Subaru gestured his hands toward his clothes, giving himself a quick look over before laughing. Related to his servant lifestyle at the Roswaal mansion, he received some formal men’s clothing prepared by Rem. She said it was ok to get them dirty, but from the appearance and feel he knew it was something of the highest quality. For someone who was basically from the lower-middle class, taking abnormal care of his things was basically a given.

While in the lower ward the formal clothes were a source of attention, but here in the upper ward he thought the quality wouldn’t stand that much so they were a rather mild choice. While making them understand that point, Subaru redirected the conversation to Rom-jii’s tidy appearance,

“Anyways, ” he said while looking him over.

“Um, it’s that, you know... If Rom-jii is seriously coming along with us I’m a bit worried here.”

Since it was his single greatest source of anxiety right now, he touched on the subject apprehensively. Related to their human trafficking into the upper ward, the person who decided to accompany Subaru was Rom-jii himself. Honestly, Subaru was against him coming along since he wanted to reduce the chance they were discovered as much as possible, but...

“What? When it comes to getting into the upper class area I have plenty of experience! Where do you think all the stolen goods from the loot house gets sold?”

“Annoying! You’re like a father trying to hype up how much of a bad boy he was in the past. Or rather, you do this regularly!? It’s dangerous to rely on this that much, old man.”

Looking at Kadomon for some sense of agreement, the scarface’s attention was absent from the two’s conversation and was instead focused on his own conversation with the driver leading the carts. Subaru watched him not comment on Rom-jii’s coming with them, apparently the old man had used this trick far more than just once or twice.

The fact that the driver didn’t have much of a reaction when Kadomon asked him to smuggle them into the upper ward, lent extra credence to that theory as well.

“I don’t know if I should sigh at how lax the guards are here, or give a thumbs up to the sheer tenacity of these merchants trying to make a buck off it...”

“If a problem occurs, then it’ll bring trouble to Kadomon and the others as well. If there wasn’t this kind of mutual trust we’d never be able to do stuff as unreasonable as this. That’s why it’s only because I’m here that you’re allowed to ride along with us, so where’s my thanks?”

“You’re definitely a bad adult, happily dragging a troubled youth like me down the wrong path. I swear I’ll never be like this old man here, I’ll give you some superficial praise at least though. As expected, Rom-jii! Your head today is shining!”

“Wa-ha-ha, you really don’t know how to watch your mouth you damned brat. Should I kick you off in front of the guard station?”

Reaching such an impasse they let out a sigh at the same time, trading smiles. While shrugging his shoulders, Subaru brought the conversation back to their original topic.

“Nn-so, in the end why did you tag along? It’s not like I mind, since it’s only thanks to Rom-jii that we get a free pass on the cart, but do you really have a reason to be taking such a huge risk like this?”

Kadomon as well, he’d said he was merely an acquaintance of Rom-jii’s but given the current situation that was a little hard to believe. Simply from Rom-jii asking for his cooperation he’d agreed to lend his support, there wasn’t really a clear reason for Kadomon to go along with Subaru’s recklessness so it didn’t make much sense.

At Subaru’s line of questioning Rom-jii made a difficult face, wrinkling his brow.

“It’s about the kid, you said Felt was taken by that ‘sword saint’ fellow right? Since that’s the case, I was thinkin’ there might be an opportunity here to get some information about it.”

Rom-jii had a bitter expression when he said the words ‘sword saint.’ Hearing that phrase, an image of the red-haired youth floated up in Subaru’s mind. If he remembered correctly his residence was also located in the upper ward. He was unmistakably someone from a fairly respectable family, I guess that was to be expected from somebody named ‘sword saint.’ Although, actually finding the house might prove to be fairly difficult, it’s not like they have big nameplates scrawled out on the front gate.

“Not even mentioning the fact that I don’t know which house is Reinhard’s, even if we did find it I can’t really imagine we’d be able to just walk up to the door and ask to meet Reinhard you know? Knowing that good-looking bastard though, I kind of get the feeling that even if we charged in unannounced he’d probably welcome us in warmly... ”

“Brat, you’re the only one that’d do such a stupid thing. At most, I’ll just be doing some preliminary investigation and making some preparations for what comes later.”

“... what comes later?”

Tilting his head, he looked at Rom-jii who was lightly stroking his chin in thought.

“Preparations ‘fer takin’ Felt back. As long as I know where the mansion is, with the right amount of money and connections, learning about about it in more detail should be possible.”

“Uhh... did I just set off a really big event? I’m not one to speak, but Rom-jii you’re giving me the feeling like I just lit the fuse of something I really shouldn’t have.”

While the one criticizing Rom-jii for saying such a radical idea was Subaru, looking at it objectively what they were doing probably wouldn’t be viewed much differently than terrorism. One of them was intending to sneak into the royal castle, while the other was in the midst of drafting up plans to break into a noble’s mansion―― the very nature of the offense made it quite likely they’d be cut down on the spot if they were discovered.

“At least when it comes to Felt, I don’t think you need to worry about Reinhard doing anything bad to her. Speaking frankly, the chance she’s living better now than before is pretty high you know? She could be working as a servant like me, with a fully satisfying lifestyle.”

You might not have been able to tell since she was living in the slums with a filthy appearance, but if you fixed up her clothes and cleaned her up a bit her looks would be pretty decent. If it’s Reinhard, then it wasn’t impossible to think he noticed her aesthetic virtue and decided to take pity on a poor girl struggling in poverty. Shaking his head though, he didn’t think think Reinhard was the kind of guy that would show the kind of compassion typical of an elite looking down on others from his position. Like that, Subaru tried to fit the context into the image he had of Reinhard in his mind and ended up rejecting the notion himself.

In any case, it was hard to believe she was being treated badly. But, towards Subaru’s carefree attitude Rom-jii pursed his lips with difficulty.

“No, I can’t let it be. It doesn’t matter who the other person is, that’s not the problem. That girl has always belonged in the upper classes. ―― Sooner or later though, it’ll cause problems.”

Subaru looked suspiciously at Rom-jii, whose attitude was more earnest than obstinate. While his suspicion somewhat included the parts about Rom being concerned for her wellbeing, it was moreso because he had an even stronger suspicion that Rom’s words were tainted with self interest. But before Subaru could question him about his real intentions,

“Oi, we’re finished on our end. If you’re serious about this then hurry up and get on. We’re on the third wagon. Old man, you usually handle the arrangements, so bring that kid up to speed on things.”

Kadomon had finished his conversation with the driver and came back to tell them the preparations were done. Rom-jii responded to that by waving his hand, staring with quiet eyes at Subaru who seemed like he had something he wanted to say.

“In any case, we need to get past the guard station first. Since it’s you I’m giving you an extra warning, don’t do anything unnecessary. Even if their guard is down, they’re still guards. If we’re caught it’ll end up making our purse hurt quite a bit.”

“I was sort of expecting we’d get beaten to death if caught, but for you to actually be able to settle things with money... this place sure is a hive of villainy. Be careful.”

His innermost thoughts were seized with fear at the realization that he had to perform such an unexpected display of acrobatics. After chasing the dragon-carriage on foot for roughly 300 meters Rom-jii seemed to have picked up on Subaru’s thoughts as concern wove its way into the furrows on his brow. Veins popping on his wrinkled brow, his face reddened and spit flew while he shouted,

“W-wait, kid! Weren’t you going to get off here and sneak into the castle!?”

Seeing through Subaru’s inner thoughts, the running Rom shouted with a face full of unease. While ignoring that, Subaru neither affirmed nor denied his words. But, with an attitude like he was going to close the canopy, his actions were demonstrating he heard it.

――This dragon-carriage was bringing supplies to the castle.

Although he had repeatedly corrected that statement saying he’d just misspoken, Subaru’s ears hadn’t forgotten the words Kadomon let slip at the start. This dragon-carriage’s destination was the royal castle, it was probably safe to assume the food provisions they were carrying would be brought to the castle’s cellar. Otherwise, then the plan of getting off here with Rom-jii and finding a way into the castle together should have had a far better chance of succeeding.

Rom chased after him, having guessed Subaru’s intention, but this place was the nobles district and once they got into the more populated areas he’d have no choice but to stop his pursuit. Just like Subaru had things he had to accomplish, Rom-jii had his own priorities. If he caused a commotion on his own, that benefitted neither of them. Because he understood that point, with a vexxed expression on his face he dodged off the road, his giant body slipping into an alleyway. Seeing Rom’s back disappear behind a corner, Subaru felt a pang of guilt.

In the end, it was like he was throwing away Kadomon’s kindness and Rom-jii’s sympathy. They had given him the most assistance they could possibly give, it wouldn’t be wrong if they thought he was paying that back with betrayal. Even so, Subaru had exploited their goodwill but he had no intentions of making excuses for himself.

――I’m going to be by Emilia’s side.

For the current Subaru, this was truly his only priority. For that purpose, any problems that stood between him were nothing more than words on a page to be ignored.

The capital was a distorted land, where danger spread like a disease. Leaving Emilia exposed and defenseless in a place like this was something that Subaru couldn’t allow on an emotional level.

If he were at least by her side there might be something he could do. In other words, “Even if it’s no good, there’s still a chance I might be able to do something, somehow or another.” Or so Subaru was thinking subconsciously.

――Not noticing that this kind of thinking excessively prideful, or even inhuman.

Among the supply carriage’s cargo there was only the slightest of differences, an unfamiliar face enjoying the smoothness of the paved road as they headed towards the royal castle. Happy with the realization he’d made it this far without something like a bribe, unbeknownst to him the situation was like an unexploded powder keg, growing ever and ever larger.

賄賂の発覚など可愛らしくなるほどの火薬を積んだまま、ゆっくりと、ゆっくりと。

[TL: anyone have a better way to translate this sentence?]

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After the tearful farewell with his benefactors, Subaru had no choice but to challenge this ordeal himself. Blocking his way were countless thousands of crises and hardships, along with the love and friendship born amongst such tribulations. And, his collapsing life, ambition, dreams―― stepping over that and shedding blood while pressing on.

“Or something like that would be ideal... in reality aren’t I in a pinch?”

Easily slipping into the castle’s food cellar and currently walking around in the castle’s interior, Subaru couldn’t help but sigh in wonder at the state of the castle’s defenses―― or rather lack of.

From the point of their journey where Subaru abandoned Rom-jii about thirty minutes had passed, with Subaru riding along with the dragon-carriage he had easily entered the premises of the royal castle. Part way through, before they reached the castle the fourth wagon had strayed off the path, but that probably meant the bribes in it were destined for a different location. If that was the case it should be that the leading three wagons weren’t headed for a location other than the castle, and that Subaru’s life was probably safe for now.

“I guess this is what I get for cohabitating with salted fish. I didn’t expect the salt to stick to my body, but I guess the deodorant powder did its work.”

Noticing that some white powder was still clinging to a few spots on his body, Subaru dusted himself off with neurotic scrutiny while praising his own quick-wittedness. As expected after entering the castle, in order to unload the wagon of course they had to check inside. Faced with the likelihood of being caught, Subaru decided to climb into the crate of salted fish to escape the current crisis.

In actuality, they checked the contents of all the wooden crates next to him, but thanks to a stroke of god-like good luck they never checked the one Subaru had climbed into.

After that, the movement of the cargo itself was done with something like wind magic, Carrying the food provisions to the interior with something other than by human labor. Thanks to that the unnatural weight in the wooden box went undiscovered, and with his primitive hybrid-combination of absurd, reckless, and unreasonable, he somehow managed to succeed with his unlikely plan.

For Subaru the current situation was very lucky, but with the lax surveillance his thoughts immediately drifted towards worrying about Emilia’s safety, so he couldn’t celebrate without restraint. Taking into account all the information he had he slipped out of the food cellar, and thus choosing an area with few people he began moving about the basement.

“Well, it’s nice I managed to get in, but... I seriously have no plan here.”

Honestly, it was nice he got to this place, but he was drawing a complete blank on what to do now. Watching over Emilia from the shadows, if that was possible that was the best option, but as one would expect it didn’t quite seem possible to make it to where she was in the centre of the royal castle without being noticed. At worst, even if he was discovered mid-way through it wouldn’t be impossible to handle it by gradually pressing to meet up with Emilia to have her bail him out, or so Subaru calculated shamelessly.

But now that he had snuck in this far, even though Emilia would probably be angry he didn’t think she would send him away. It’d be enough to just apologize with his whole heart, and rely on her kindness. Thinking with extreme optimism, Subaru ran through the basement passageway. Without even a shred of self reflection, if other people were to see him now how would they judge him? Fortunately or unfortunately there was nobody around to do that.

And,

“Crap, somebody’s coming...”

Feeling somebody’s presence coming from the front, Subaru’s eyes searched his surroundings in a panic. As the location was a passageway in the basement, this was most likely a place only used by servants. Sliding his body into a nearby room, Subaru stood behind the crudely made door.

Luckily for him, there was nobody in the room he snuck into.

This small room was probably something like a dressing room used by the servants. There were several closets lined up next to each other, from the sweet scent he could tell this was room was intended for female servants as some feelings of guilt came to mind. But, he didn’t have the leisure to savor the sensation of the room’s sweet scent. In a hurry Subaru opened the interior closet, confirming that nothing was inside he quietly hid himself in it.

Concealing his breath, it would be fine if he just waited for the presence in the hallway to pass. If he was caught he could probably do something about it, or so he was going about thinking optimistically, but his body’s actions revealed that this wasn’t a situation where he’d get off easily if discovered. Although he hadn’t steeled himself for the situation and his courage was wavering, to him now this was a trifling matter.

First thing was to get through this current situation, he could even try announcing himself and playing it off from there. But, Subaru’s composure in considering his future course of actions...

“――This room stinks.”

...was broken so easily; a girl’s voice called out as the door swung open violently. He was so nervous it felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat. He felt the sound of his blood moving with each pulse while he ground his teeth in despair. This closet was unlike that of changing room locker in that there were no convenient holes for him to peer out from. In other words, Subaru was in the dark and could only imagine what was happening outside based on the actions of the other person.

While feeling his throat closing up from stress, Subaru once again regretted his actions. He underestimated it, made fun of it, and got full of himself. He was too conceited. And now looking at the predicament he was in he understood just how stupid his actions were. Why did he ever just calmly carry out with such a reckless idea, he couldn’t understand the reasoning behind his actions and decisions up till now.

But, while confused and trying to reason things out, Subaru still decided not to go ahead with the option of announcing himself to the other person. He was still hoping that maybe, just maybe, the other person hadn’t noticed he was here. Or so he clung to that thread of hope thinner than a spider’s silk, unable to throw those feelings away.

Subaru held his breath, his whole body tormented with the urge to run.

“――I’m only going to wait five seconds. My princess hates waiting even more than I do, you see.”

He heard a muffled voice proclaim from beyond the wooden door of the closet. It was somehow a voice without much energy, but the intention behind it appeared not to be a lie, from the midst of silence the sound of a sword sliding out of its scabbard was proof enough.

Like this the proclamation he thought was just a bluff turned serious, he was still hoping to pretend like nobody was there and wait for this all to blow over―― but he didn’t have the guts to go through with that choice.

“5, 4, alright I’m done counting――”

“Time-out, stop, let’s talk this over! I’m coming out, I’m coming out right now, just wait”

Hurried by the voice seemingly eager to use their sword, Subaru was pressured through fear to open to door. The closet slowly grated as it opened, the scent that had settled and drifted about in the room flowed in as a refreshing breeze, for just a moment it softly caressed his feeling of despair.

But then again, what followed was going to be a harsh scolding where excuses were useless. Thinking of the current situation he had brought about, it wasn’t something that could be settled with just a light punishment. It’s not like he hadn’t thought about it at all, but it was true to a certain degree he had been overly optimistic in thinking everything would work out in the end.

Since there wouldn’t be much point in arguing about it, before he was completely defeated he would play every card he could play―― and Subaru having come to that determination, looked at who stood before him,

“See, look Al. Isn’t it just like I said?”

It was a certain haughty voice he’d heard before, reflexively raising his head, an orange-haired girl smiled arrogantly while pointing the small fan-like prop in her hand at him.

“For us to meet this buffoon again so soon, even I’m surprised at how much early than expected this was.”

“Aah, I guess so. As expected of Princess, you have quite the eye. And you, you sure have bad luck.”

It was the middle-aged man standing next to her―― sporting a jet-black helmet and bizarre light clothes, same as last time. The first half of Al’s statement was agreeing with the girl, the latter half he uttered with a tone seemingly full of sympathy for Subaru.

Wasn’t this the very situation he wanted to avoid? Getting thrown about without any say. Still, a feeling of relief attacked his whole body, before he knew it he was crouched down, letting out a dry laughter; he couldn’t help but breath out a long sigh.