Volume 4, 28 [A Conversation Over Tea]

Volume 4, Chapter 28 [A Conversation Over Tea]

Feeling the first light of dawn burning onto his eyelids, Subaru sat himself up in the darkness.

It seemed he had fallen asleep while thinking. But since he sank into the sea of thought so late in the night, he had only managed two or three hours of sleep.

[Subaru: This would’ve been unthinkable back in the old world. Sunrises are supposed to be when I fall asleep, you know]

Saying this while giving his body a few turns, Subaru took a quick look around at the others who were beginning to wake in the Cathedral. When they noticed Subaru’s gaze upon them, one by one they waved at him, and he did the same in return. Then, standing up, he headed for the Cathedral’s door.

The crisp morning air greeted him as he went outside, where it seemed the residents of the Sanctuary and some of the refugees were working together to prepare breakfast.

[Woman: Aya, you’re already up, Subaru-sama]

[Subaru: He-yo, good morning. Another fresh morning today?]

[Woman: Sure is. The wind’s a bit chilly though...... looks like you managed to get a good night’s sleep as well, Subaru-sama]

With a smile, the woman with a familiar face called out to him and touched a finger to her cheek. Seeing this, Subaru touched his cheek in the same spot and felt something sticky there―― and noticed there was a trail of saliva drooling down the side of his face.

[Subaru: Wah, no, embarrassing!]

Why was it that short periods of sleep make people wake up even sloppier, anyway? Like when you wake up looking abnormally messy after only a little nap, there must be some kind of rule to this.

Chuckling, and watching Subaru ponder about this unproductive question, another woman―― with short dog-ears on her head, offered him a wet towel. Subaru briefly thanked her, and quickly took the towel and wiped up his mouth.

“Off now?” he looked at them, and both women affirmed that it was. Subaru borrowed the towel so he could wash his face by the pond, and waved them good-day.

Watching the both of them as he left, within the interaction between them he didn’t see a single trace of unease or misunderstanding. There was only natural communication between members of two different races.

Over the past few days―― which, if you include the time rewound by Return by Death, would have been a week, there had been no noticeable conflicts between the refugees and the residents of the Sanctuary.

The refugees were in high spirits, and although he’d hate to admit it, the fact that their Lord Roswaal remained with them must have brought them a considerable sense of reassurance. In reality, the villagers’ faith in Subaru, who ate and slept with them, also played no small part in this. But Subaru, with his low evaluation of his own influence, didn’t take this into account.

Quite contrary to the ominous atmosphere of this place, the residents of the Sanctuary, beginning with the beast-eared woman just now, had grown more and more talkative. At the very least, Subaru felt that it was to the point where the divide between human and half-bloods no longer existed anywhere beyond their thoughts.

[Subaru: The only real thing dividing them was the Barrier, wasn’t it...... I don’t know what might’ve been going through the mind of whoever put up that thing, but that was a pretty asshole thing to do]

If Garfiel’s words could be believed, this place would be the Experimental Grounds of the Witch of Greed. In that case, the one who erected the Barrier to prevent the half-bloods from escaping might have been the Witch herself.

[Subaru: Echidona......huh. At the end of the day, I still can’t figure out what that Witch is up to]

White-haired and white-skined, a monochrome girl wrapped in something of a funerary dress.

Lost her life 400 years ago, yet still bound to the present world, not unlike a ghost. Contrary to her proclamation of not interfering with the real world, she had met with Subaru within the Trial grounds and offered her detailed commentary on his actions.

Then, she hid all the memories inside Subaru’s mind relating to herself, only to allow it to be remembered again through some careless coincidence―― none of it made any sense.

Perhaps, there was some profound reason behind it, he thought.

[Subaru: Or if she just enjoys screwing with people to see what happens, then there’s seriously nothing I can do. Come to think of it, what are you supposed to think of a lady who makes people she just met drink her bodily fluids for no reason, anyway......]

Unpleasant memories of drinking Dona-Tea resurfaced in his mind. But since it was something that was supposed to have happened in the Spiritual world, he really wanted to believe that his actual body hadn’t really absorbed any of the Dona bits.

Anyways, regardless of her intentions, the Sanctuary remained surrounded by the Barrier, and its inhabitants remained trapped within it.

[Subaru: When it comes down to it, the greatest obstacle at the moment is...... Garfiel, isn’t it]

Whether it was to negotiate with Echidona directly or to personally challenge the Trials, the bottleneck was how to deal with Garfiel, whose hostility towards Subaru had jumped up.

If the change in his opinion of Subaru was truly due to the Witch’s stench―― the side-effect of Return by Death, then improving Garfiel’s attitude towards him could prove a near-impossible task.

Whether it was the Wolgarms, or the battle against the White Whale, Subaru had managed to turn the stench to his advantage and create breakthroughs in the situation, but,

[Subaru: I can make it smell stinkier, but I don’t know how to make it go away....... Don’t imagine deodorants would do anything to it. Actually, what am I saying. Stinky or not stinky, what am I, garbage?]

At least, there was a way to intentionally intensify his stench by telling someone about Return by Death. And judging from everything that had happened so far, the intensified odor doesn’t seem to last forever.

It seems, just like any ordinary smell, it will gradually fade over time. But on the other hand, it would also mean that there was no other method to make it go away.

[Subaru: I definitely can’t count on Garfiel’s attitude softening. And though I’d rather not think about it...... if I mess up and Return by Death again.....]

If he dies again, and starts over inside the Tomb, the lingering scent clinging onto Subaru now will be compounded over again with the stench of the Witch. If that happens, it would be terrifying to imagine what Garfiel’s reaction will be.

Facing the worst possible case of losing his life, by starting over, Subaru could alter the result.

And salvage everything―― yet, in spite of Subaru’s greed, the fact is, he hadn’t managed to fulfill everything. And there were still things he could not bring back.

But even so, given the opportunity to do it all over again, Subaru intends to use it to choose a better future than the world that came before. It’s difficult to appreciate a thing like Return by Death, but without that ability, he would have had to continue on through one of those countless abysmal futures.

Yet,

[Subaru: Even if I can repeat it indefinitely...... with every return my relationships will worsen. The difficulty will increase along with the number of times I respawn...... that’s a first, alright]

At this point, it was still possible to establish rational communication with Garfiel. But next time, when the stench is compounded over again, he couldn’t be certain whether he will still be granted an opportunity to speak.

At least, recalling the memory of Rem stealing away his life with her morning star when she could no longer trust him as a result of the stench still left him a lonely sense of emptiness on the left side of his body.

Remembering those he left in the Mansion―― especially remembering the sleeping Rem, the next thought that came into Subaru’s mind was the assassin in black. The reappearance of that happy murderer with her lethal blade, who currently tops the high-score chart of this world for the Subaru-Kill-Count.

Incidentally, also sharing first place was the gray cat-shaped spirit, while the whole flock of people sharing second-place with the kill-count of one was just too many to keep track of.

[Subaru: Now that I think about it, it’s kinda like an inverted kill-counter. Or I guess a “getting-killed-counter” would be more appropriate here? ......Anyways, I need to find a countermeasure against Elsa. If it comes down to a brawl there’s no way I can win, so the only practical fighting strength we have would be a pick between Roswaal or Garfiel]

Roswaal, even with his magical abilities, was still hindered by his injuries. So in the end, the best solution would still be to convert Garfiel into an ally.

And in order to have Garfiel fight off Elsa when she attacks the Mansion, Subaru must break the Barrier surrounding the Sanctuary. And so, the most important steps would be,

[Subaru: Pass through the Trials and liberate the Sanctuary before the attack on the Mansion, reconcile with Garfiel and bring him to the Mansion to repel Elsa to get to the HAPPY END...... or something like that?]

Saying it over to himself, Subaru saw the mutually-contradictory problem and furrowed his brows.

In order to make peace with Garfiel, he must liberate the Sanctuary.

And in order to liberate the Sanctuary, he must get past Garfiel so he could challenge the Trials.

Neither of these conflicting points can be satisfied without the other.

Perhaps there was still the possibility of resolving this through words, but looking back on their conversations last night and his experience of their interactions up to now, the slimness of that possibility made him want to clutch at his head.

For better or for worse, interactions with Garfiel are straight-forward, but it also means that once he’s set his mind on something, it would be very difficult to change it again.

Therefore, if there was any chance left for Subaru, it would be,

[Subaru: Aim for an opportunity to sneak into the Tomb and get in touch with Echidona, or sneak into the Tomb at the time to challenge the Trials, and break through the remainder of the Trials]

Finishing up washing his face at the pond, Subaru arrived at this conclusion, and turned his steps towards a direction quite different from the cooking grounds.

Wiping his face with the squeezed-dry towel, he set his destination toward a sparsely populated end of the Sanctuary. Heading there, passing a small hill, and continuing down a single road――

[Subaru: ......right, I was expecting too much with my opportunism, wasn’t I]

In the middle of the clearly visible path leading straight to the Tomb, seated in the same posture as the previous night, Garfiel was waiting.

――Head to the Tomb first thing in the morning and sneak past Garfiel when he isn’t looking.

He thought he’d pull a free one first thing in the morning, but looks like that’s been instantly foiled.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

[Subaru: It’s good that...... we got a chance to talk, but, where are we going? Actually, it’s pretty late for me to ask this now, but after you lent your bed to Emilia-tan, where has Lewes-san been sleeping? In the wild?]

[Lewes: So I just lent out my home and you’re immediately treating me like I’m homeless...... The fact that you’d say that tells me you might’ve forgotten that I am still the head of this place. I still know a few people who’d let me stay over for a few days]

[Subaru: Yeah, that’s right. It’s only been a few days, but the people here are all unexpectedly nice people]

Recalling the scene at the cooking grounds, and the various occasions when he got to interact with the Sanctuary’s residents, Subaru furrowed his brows, and couldn’t help but wonder if the brewing conflict Garfiel had warned about hadn’t just been an exaggeration.

Stealing a glance at Subaru, who had grown silent, Lewes nodded, [Hm],

[Lewes: Something doesn’t sit well with you?]

[Subaru: No, not if you say it like that...... How should I say this, it’s a bit different from what I imagined. Judging from the way Emilia was treated at the Capital, half-bloods couldn’t have been treated much better. So I thought maybe the half-bloods would be harboring some complicated feelings toward the pure-bloods]

At least, despite being trapped in a Sanctuary referred to as the Experimental Grounds, the faces of the residents didn’t seem to be showing particularly dark emotions. Of course, there must be those who didn’t find this amusing, but Subaru hadn’t caught any glimpse of such negative feelings here so far.

If Garfiel, who didn’t mince words nor emotions, was any indication, his personal emotions seemed closer to indignation than anger. An anger on behalf of others, rather than himself.

Despite their unpleasant surroundings, the morale of the residents was exceedingly high. More than incredible, it was almost to the point of being inconceivable.

In front of Subaru’s doubts, Lewes’ eyes widened in surprise,

[Lewes: What, Su-bo, you may not look like it, but you have more ideas than you let on]

[Subaru: I don’t look like it... that part’s pretty unnecessary, isn’t it...... I mean, I’m confident that I look more intellectual than Garfiel, at least. But, well, I guess I’m pretty thoughtless when it comes to all sort of things]

[Lewes: It’s quite a virtue to be aware of your own shortcomings. You can only begin to improve once you’ve realized where you are deficient...... Ah, we’re here]

Coming to a split in the path, Lewes led the way for the lost-looking Subaru. Instead of heading in the direction of the Cathedral and Roswaal’s residence, they turned towards the other end of the village outskirts, opposite from the Tomb―― and there, they arrived at Lewes’ isolated temporary lodging.

Unlike the sparsely placed houses scattered over the outskirts, for some reason, this house stood alone, far apart from all the others. A word naturally came to Subaru’s mind,

[Subaru: It’s too lonely, isn’t it. Why are you staying in a place like this?]

[Lewes: It can’t be helped. Right now, this is the only building inside the Sanctuary with no one living in it. It may be far away from the center of the village, but it’s spacious, and I quite like it here]

[Subaru: Didn’t you say you know people who’d let you stay over? Why did you choose to live alone? Even though I know quite a few Loli-Grannies in my life it’s still way too sad for me to see a Loli-Granny die alone]

[Lewes: I honestly can’t tell if you’re concerned for me or if I’m being made fun of. Here, come in. I’ll brew you some tea. Though Ram certainly brews it better]

[Subaru: No matter what kind of leaves you put in it there, it’ll still just taste like leaves, so no worries]

[Lewes: You should be more careful about the kinds of things you say]

With a sigh, Lewes invited Subaru into the house through the opened door. It was a large building, about half the size of Roswaal’s temporary residence. In fact, divided into three rooms, it seemed perhaps too large for just one person to live in.

Finding a chair to sit down in and looking all around the room, he saw that the interior of the small room was simple and well maintained. Lewes had said that no one else lived here, but,

[Subaru: For a house that’s not been lived in, it sure feels like someone often comes here. Even for me, being a top-notch bed-maker myself, I’d have to grant the fluffiness of that bed a passing grade...... there’s no way Lewes-san did that]

[Lewes: What’s with that face you’re making as if I enjoy being alone so I come here whenever something happens and just kill time here and wait for things to cool off?]

[Subaru: That must be an awfully specific facial expression I got!]

Still, there was something sad about the possibility that the reason she came up with this rapid-fire explanation was that it was something she had thought about before. He was joking just now when he mentioned dying alone, but it can’t be denied that something about her matched his impression of a solitary old lady.

Silently turning away and occupying herself with brewing tea, her back seemed almost lonely. Seeing this, Subaru looked around trying to find some way to change the topic.

The room was clean and neatly organized. There was a slightly dulled mirror above a dresser. A flower vase without flowers, and two metal shields hanging on the wall. ――Shields?

[Subaru: Why are there shields here? And two of them?]

[Lewes: They’re Gar-bo’s. That kid’s using this place like it’s a storage house]

[Subaru: So he hangs around here too, huh. It does kinda look like a good hangout spot for delinquents now that I think about it...... But, he couldn’t be the one carefully tidying up this place, could he?]

That’d be way too out-of-character, Subaru murmured under his breath as he looked at Garfiel’s shields.

He often saw crossed swords adorning the walls of noblemen’s houses in Mangas, and these shields were slightly tilted in a fashion similar to that as well. But, unlike something that ought to be used as ornaments, these shields were riddled with scratches and dents, and were certainly not mere antiques that have not seen a day of battle.

[Subaru: Then again, what kind of battle can you fight with just shields?]

[Lewes: Back in the day, they would always fight bouts with these shields in the fields outside this house. Each one would hold a shield, and round and round they’d go, bumping into each other]

[Subaru: That sounds a bit dangerous for just playing around...... Mind if I ask who it was that Garfiel played with?]

Over the time he spent in the Sanctuary, he hadn’t met anyone who could have been so intimate with Garfiel. Of course, being an important person in these lands, it was apparent that Garfiel had good relations with the residents at the cooking grounds. But, other than that, did he have anyone he was truly close with? Subaru couldn’t think of any particular names.

If he had to name someone, it would have been Lewes. But just picturing Lewes holding a shield and charging against Garfiel felt incredibly dangerous.

For a while, Lewes stayed silent in front of Subaru’s question. She brought over two cups of steaming tea set on a tray, and handed Subaru one of them as she sat down on the bed. Receiving it, Subaru took a sip while it was still hot, and moistened his throat.

[Subaru: Right, tastes just like leaves]

[Lewes: Tea’s just wasted on you, huh. Well, I already anticipated that so I used the cheaper leaves. ......Even tea leaves are considered precious here, you know]

About once a month, Roswaal would send over precious items and luxury goods here. Subaru, adapting to the situation, did his best to pretend to appreciate the tea, as they sat wordlessly tilting their cups for a while.

Then, after some time had passed in silence,

[Subaru: ――Frederica]

Hearing Subaru’s abrupt whisper, Lewes’ shoulder jumped a little.

Lifting her gaze from her teacup, she looked at Subaru. And, seeing something wavering in her expression, Subaru asked again,

[Subaru: The name of the person bumping shields with Garfiel, is Frederica, isn’t it?]

[Lewes: ......did you hear that from Gar-bo?]

[Subaru: Nah. I pieced it together from some fragmented conversations and got a feeling about it somehow. At least, I just knew that there must’ve been something complicated between Garfiel and Frederica]

At Roswaal’s Mansion, Frederica had warned him to beware of a man named Garfiel.

And when Garfiel heard Frederica’s name, his expression changed, and he wanted to know how she was. It would be hard not to suspect that there was something between them.

And, most of all,

[Subaru: Their fangs are way too similar. If they’re still unrelated, even Buddha wouldn’t allow that]

[Lewes: ......Ahh, quite so. Even I can’t think of a way to deny that]

Faced with this decisive fact, Lewes let out a sigh as if giving up.

In terms of similarities between Garfiel and Frederica, just their vicious fang-filled smiles alone would have been enough. At least, it would be enough to tell that they were not in a romantic relationship or anything like that.

If he had to guess, then their relationship must be――

[Subaru: Brother and sister...... Actually, more like older sister and younger brother. If I were to guess who’s older, Frederica seems more like the older sister type]

[Lewes: Goodness...... I’m impressed that you’d be able to tell all that just from intuition]

Hearing Subaru point this out, Lewes could only show her amazement.

Then, nodding her head thoughtfully, and placing the remainder of her tea back on the tray, she corrected her posture, and,

[Lewes: Just as Su-bo imagined, the owner of these two shields are the siblings Frederica and Garfiel. Frederica Baumann, who had left the Sanctuary, and Garfiel Tinsel, are family bound by blood]

Confirming Subaru’s speculation, Lewes nonetheless spilled a melancholic sigh.

[Lewes: ――And now, owing to their mutual misunderstandings, they have each wound up on diverging paths]

-=Chapter 28 End=-