Arc 6 3: A Little Girl’s Cell

Arc 6 Chapter 3: A Little Girl’s Cell

[Frederica: How’d your talk with Roswaal-sama go?]

[Subaru: You could say that it went as normal as always and that he irritated me more than usual. Give me some sympathy here.]

[Frederica: I’ll just give you an “I see”.]

Subaru’s group left the parlor, and Frederica had guided them towards the mansion’s east wing.

This scary faced hostess with her beautiful, long blonde hair with her courteously worn maid outfit, politely―finally exchanged greetings with Anastasia and Julius as one of the mansion’s honest maids, and talked to Subaru like that, who started to walk with discouragement.

[Frederica: Was Gaaf-chan useful in your guys’ journey and at the city? For him to get heavily injured to the point of not being able to come back even when I told him specific instructions.......I’m worried about him causing trouble for Emilia-sama and the others.]

[Emilia: No don’t worry about it. We made Garfiel work reeaally hard, after all. He’s resting along with Otto-kun right now without causing any trouble....well I’m not so sure about the no trouble part. I hope that they aren’t. But anyways, we did request that they rest.]

[Frederica: My apologies for having my foolish younger brother cause you trouble.]

Emilia was in half-doubt and didn’t finish her followups, while Frederica offered her apologies.

Anyhow, Garfiel was someone that worried Petra, Ram, Roswaal, and Frederica with his behavior, but his mentality changed in some way or another during the incident at Priestella. If you had to describe it, you could say that he matured. He definitely matured.

Garfiel’s strength already stood out as a 15 year old boy.

He was still far from being able to boast himself as the strongest with his strength if you considered the “guts hunting” battle and the “eight arms” battle. But even then, he certainly had a level of strength that contended with not just the Emilia camp, but the superiors of the whole continent as well.

The biggest problem was still probably his immature mentality. If he could control his mental frailness, he would move up to the stage above.

It’s just that, well...that also was something that shouldn’t be rushed. This is because steadily and assuredly becoming stronger to step firmly over the stairs to the next stage was an appropriate way to mature for a 15 year old.

Also―

[Subaru: There’s another reason for him not coming back right away this time.]

[Emilia: Are you talking about Mimi?]

[Subaru: There’s that too, but]

Emilia cuts into the conversation as if through sharp hearing, and Subaru gives her a wry smile.

Even Emilia, someone who was poorly informed on love in relationships, seemed to be interested in the love affairs of other people to a some extent. She was very interested in Garfiel and Mimi’s relationship.

Of course, Garfiel also risked his life and protected himself, which probably caused Mimi to have feelings for him, as she clearly expressed her affection both before and after battle.

Frankly speaking, there’s no man out there who wouldn’t shake upon being struck with affection from a girl he didn’t hate. Subaru was also no exception.

Subaru couldn’t say anything about that phenomenon, considering he was one that experienced it before.

He wanted to monitor the changes that would happen from now on considering how Garfiel loved Ram and the uncertainty of how he’d respond to Mimi’s feelings.

But that was a different concern to think about. Garfiel had a concern left in Priestella city.

[Frederica: ―Subaru-sama? Do you need to ask me something?]

[Subaru: No, not anything in particular. It wouldn’t be right for me to talk about this matter.]

He looked at Frederica’s face with a profound look and then she asked about its meaning.

He thinks about Garfiel’s true feelings while covering up her doubt. At Priestella, a family that Garfiel worried about――it was a family that had golden hair and green eyes, which were traits that would remind one of Frederica and Garfiel, who were brother and sister.

Garfiel’s relationship with them was like his relationship with Frederica.

Surely Garfiel wanted to be proud of it and wanted to report it to his family, Frederica and Ryuuzu.

[Subaru: So I will say nothing. Natsuki Subaru will leave it at that in an ultra-cool way.]

[Emilia: Oh speaking of Garfiel, some reeaally friendly children were at Priestella. About those children.....]

[Subaru: Emilia-tan Emilia tan, you’re gonna make my monologue go to waste!]

His explanation was turning into waste, so Subaru stopped Emilia from talking.

The synergy would be scary if he left it as it is, so he decided that he would make the time to properly explain the gist of the setting later.

Subaru waved his hand with a forced smile at Frederica, whose face became more and more puzzled.

[Frederica: Sorry to interrupt you guys while you’re happily heating up your intimacy, but where are you guys headed?]

[Subaru: Oh, it’s this placed called the “confinement room”. The person that we talked about before is there.]

[Julius: Hm, the usual person, huh. ―I wonder if the conversation will go well.]

[Subaru: It’s something that hasn’t been done before, so I dunno. Anyways, I’ll at least try asking to make sure.]

Julius responds to Subaru’s explanation by going into deep thought with a complex face as he follows him from behind.

In reality, Subaru was also aware of the amount of problems that were related to this proposal. However, if it did go well, then they could lower the risk of their journey by a considerable amount.

[Emilia: Also that girl is relatively familiar Subaru, so shouldn’t it be fine?]

[Subaru: That girl is more familiar with Garfiel than she is with me. Don’t assume that I might be pleased with the cat-like part of her.]

Subaru reacts to Emilia’s optimism like this with a wry smile and then Frederica stopped walking. Subaru and Emilia also stop walking, and then they clearly enter into a different atmosphere level in this mansion.

This was the real Roswaal mansion that was generally arranged so that it wasn’t different from the mansion from before. However, the basement part of the eastern wing―this was the only place that had a clear difference from the previous mansion.

At the center of the mansion, there was the main center wing that concentrated the facilities needed for one’s daily life.

It had a west wing with multi-purpose facilities, such as maids and the guest rooms. And then there was the eastern wing that had a history of the Mathers’ family inheritance―a place that acted as a storehouse/safe where things like books were kept.

The only place that was different in the eastern wing was its basement. There was a clear goal inside of the cold, stone room of the basement of the noble mansion.

[Anastasia: Quite an unpleasant atmosphere floating around in this place, huh.]

Anastasia snorts her nose and then frankly comments on the change in the atmosphere.

There was no denial to her view on the atmosphere, so it was indeed a clear assessment that everyone agreed with. The atmosphere that drifted about in this level of the mansion could not be described in any way other than an atmosphere that gave off an “unpleasant feeling”.

[Anastasia: It still seems different than a miasma, but it certainly does not give off a good feeling to the body.]

[Julius: Other than the matter of the building’s structure―first of all, this establishment’s purpose......well it’s not unrelated to that, but I do believe that this structure allows someone to ultimately be hid inside of it.]

Anastasia and Julius look down at the continuous stairs that headed down the basement of the mansion filled with darkness as they exchange these words.

They were already talking about the “Confinement Room”. Those two started to think of the close to endless answers behind the meaning of the establishment that was located at the basement.

[Frederca: Well then. I will be guiding you all now. Please be careful to avoid tripping.]

Frederica said these words and then guided them down the stairs. Subaru and the rest followed this tall woman from behind as they headed down the basement. Julius also had a face that indicated that he prepared himself for what was ahead.

Their footsteps made while walking on the stone stairs resounded very clearly throughout the space they were in. A cold breeze blew upwards from the basement causing his bangs to shake slightly, which got on his nerves to an incomprehensible extent.

[Frederica: I’m going to open it.]

When they descended towards the basement, they were blocked by an iron door right in front of them. The door had many solid locks installed onto it. Frederica released several of them one by one.

The key to the door makes a sound, the locks are undone, and then the door opens with a creaking noise. A stone pathway is spread out beyond the door, and they see another door yet again deep inside this place.

[Frederica: The person you’re looking for lies beyond this door.]

When she stepped back towards the side of the door, she made way for them to enter, and then bowed. They give acknowledging gestures with their chins in response to her bow, and the four people head straight towards the door to lead Subaru.

―No lock was set on the door at the deepest part of the basement.

He reaches for the doorknob. If he were to push it open, there was a possibility that he would be able to see the inside

When Subaru nervously came in in contact with the door, he started to have trouble breathing, as he looks back.

[――――]

Emilia, Julius, and Anastasia all stared at Subaru’s actions. They nod their heads at Subaru, and then he takes a deep breath. He then puts strength into his arm that grips on the knob.

It makes a sound, then he pushes the door open, and―

[???: Roarrrr, roarrr! Iii’m gonnaaaa eattt youuu!]

[???: Kyaaa. Help me. Nooo.]

[???: goohehehehe. Nobody will come save you even if you cry for help like that.]

The door opens. A lovely voice can be heard as the pathway becomes bathed in light.

A lone girl is seen inside the room on the other side of the open door. A multitude of dolls are placed around her. Her back faces towards the others while she continues to play with the dolls using both of her hands.

She changes into an imitative voice, though they didn’t know what exactly she was imitating. Nonetheless, she was pretty into it.

[???: Nope, they’re coming. Because they were arranged to come here in times of need after all.......hmm?]

This girl who stood up suddenly notices something as she holds onto her small, female dolls in her arms. She looks back timidly, sees Subaru and the others standing still at the entrance dumbfounded, and then opened her round, large eyes.

She had braided, light-brown hair and had simple but lovely facial features.

[Subaru: Sup. How have you been?]

Subaru said these words and raised his hand to her as if nothing had happened at all.

[???: O―onii-san you idiott! At least knock before you come innn!]

And of course, she yelled at him to play off her previous scene.

※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

[Subaru: So yeah, this is the prisoner of this mansion. She will be listening to what we say as an adviser in relation to mabeasts.]

[Anastasia: ......That was a valuable opinion. Thanks.]

Anastasia rounds off Subaru’s words, as she lost interest halfway.

Of course, he felt like that was a typical reaction, so his feelings weren’t hurt. If his hateful judgement for crime was organized in a way that could be respected, then crime would be judged to be wrong, regardless of age.

That was delayed because of the camp’s leniency. Subaru didn’t dislike that atmosphere and environment.

[Emilia: I......]

[Subaru: ――Hm?]

[Emilia: I think what you’re saying makes sense.]

[Subaru: ......Thanks.]

He didn’t expect completely positive reactions, but he was saved from those words.

And then he changes to Meili, who became neglected even though it was a conversation about her. Subaru matches his eyesight with hers and says

[Subaru: I need to talk about how I need your help. Mind coming along with me?]

[Meili: ......Okayy. I will come with Onii-san.]

Subaru made that request, and Meili quietly nodded at him.

Subaru did not point out to anyone about how he felt like he he saw slight tears come from the girl who hid her face with the panda she embraced.

※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

[Meili: I’ve only been to the Augria Sand Dunes twice.]

Subaru and the others’ explanation ended, and Meili said those words while playing around with her braided hair.

She closes her eyes as if looking back at her memories and says

[Meili: I visited to replenish the trump card mabeasts. There were a lot of mabeasts there, so a lot of progress was made, but.....]

[Subaru: But?]

[Meili: Are you guys really gonna go? Anyone other than me will probably die, you know......?]

It seemed that their actions reflected as reckless in the eyes of this girl who lacked moral interpretation.The mabeast leader’s opinion carried weight in regards to how biting they were.

[Subaru: I really want to use your experience as a reference, but your opinion already has a harsh argument with how you say that we’ll die if we go, so it’s too late for that. Also, if it’s just like a desert maze, then we have preparations to break out of it.]

[Anastasia: Yes, that is me.]

Anastasia waves her hand, emphasizing her way of guidance.

However, just avoiding getting lost on the path in this conquering of the desert to get to the watchtower gave 30 points――it was a mark inevitable for failure. Or rather, as long as they couldn’t find an answer to get a perfect score, they would probably have difficulty getting out alive.

The three problems were the “Sand Maze”, “Mabeasts Den”, and “The Sage’s Eye”.

The “Sand Maze” would work out with Anastasia being Eridna, and as for the counter for the “Mabeast Den”, this is what they wanted to prepare for.

That’s why he wanted to hear the details from Meili, but――

[Subaru: How should I put it...do you not know any way to avoid the mabeasts? Or on the contrary, ways to lure them?]

[Meili: Onii-san, if you run on by yourself, a looot of them will definitely come at you, you know?]

[Subaru: I’ve already done that a few times and they were painful experiences.]

It happened one time a year ago at the mansion, and one time a little after that on the plain by a whale. He felt like it was about time to stop this.

Of course, he wasn’t reluctant to do it if there was no other measure to take, but he wanted to avoid being the only one left behind in the middle of the desert if possible.

[Meili: If Onii-san doesn’t want to do it, then maybe you could prepare a lot of people for it. Aaalll of the mabeasts jump at living things over normal food, so maybe something like that.]

[Emilia: That’s definitely a no! I’m against it! I am against it!]

[Subaru: You don’t have to disagree so frantically like that. Nobody will be chosen, so it’s fine.]

That being said, it seemed like no useful opinions were coming up.

Or at least, in relation to the mabeasts’ ecology, as long as Meili couldn’t come up with an effective plan as someone who was better with them than anyone else was, they were helpless.

[Subaru: Yep, guess we’ll have to beat the mabeasts that come at us one by one. Don’t expect much from Emilia-tan or Julius.]

[Julius: I want to know your own evaluation, considering how you didn’t include yourself there........but are you saying we can do it?]

Julius reacts to Subaru’s proposal by asking Meili about the feasibility of it. Upon hearing that, Meili looks at Emilia and Julius.

[Meili: Probably not. Can Onee-san and the others use magic for about a week without rest?]

[Subaru: You want us to have something like a final fight in a trench!?]

[Emilia: I―I’ll try.......?]

[Subaru: You don’t have to! This is the flow of an unreasonable conversation! Emilia-tan’s hair and skin will dry up, so let’s not! Okay, rejected!]

It seemed like the plan to break through by force already had some unreasonable details to it.

Meili didn’t actually know how serious the scene was, but if she wasn’t exaggerating it like a kid, then they would never do the unreasonable.

[Subaru: How about smearing mabeast blood on the dragon carriage and fooling the other mabeasts’ sense of smell?]

[Julius: No, the earth dragon can’t fool them, and there’s a possibility of them not gathering together like sharks. Something like hiring guards........how about hiring a big army for this like you did with the Hakugei?]

[Subaru: Can’t do that either. That was done before by the people who challenged the Pleiades watch tower. Even though it wasn’t as big as an army, it was still a big group that challenged it. You can guess the result. How about breaking the horn of a powerful mabeast and using it as an obstacle to other mabeasts?]

[Julius: If it’s not as overwhelming as a whale, then we’ll be overrun by their numbers. It would be nice if it was simple and we had something like insect repellent spray to avoid mabeasts.]

Subaru’s odor――or rather, the witch’s sent was a spray that brought insects towards him, so he was useless.

Roswaal was the one who constantly managed the barrier to function as a separation between the Alam village and the mabeasts. If barriers were created for the people around him and they each used it to move――it seemed like something like that couldn’t be done.

[Subaru: Perhaps we should have Roswaal hold onto us and we can all attack from the sky.]

[Julius: If we could slip by the sage’s eye, then that may have been an option.]

[Subaru: Ahh, damn, right. We have to consider the “Sage” too.]

His unrealistic viewpoint was denied by a realistic one.

Even if they could evade the mabeasts and the desert, there was still the sage to worry about. Just from how nobody was ever able to slip by this person, it was honestly the only thing they didn’t know how to handle.

[Subaru: If we could at least narrow it down to one problem......]

[Meili: ――Geeez, I guess I have no choice.]

[Subaru: Oh?]

Subaru and the others all sat in a circle in the room, getting headaches from thinking about what to do, and then finally Meili said those words like that. She stands and shakes her small head at Subaru and the others, who were sitting, and says

[Meili: I can go with you guys. If I’m there, the mabeasts won’t care what you do. You’ll be free to keep away from them, make them pets, make them kill each other, or make them eat the sage person.]

[Subaru: We wont do the second half! Or anyways.......]

He opened his eyes wide at that fairly extreme remark, but that proposal surprised him even more.

He was surprised at Meili voicing an opinion he thought she would never say. This meant she was being cooperative, but he was even more surprised about how this meant she was fine with going outside.

[Subaru: Aren’t you scared to go outside? Will you be okay?]

[Meili: It’s not like I’ll be found by Mom right when I leave the mansion, you know? I’m scared of being found, but I can’t just stay in here my whole life.]

He was surprised with Meili being aware of how she had to come out eventually.

But, that may have been natural. He continued to make time to look at how the girl was doing by turn, but even then, there were far more times when that girl was confined in her room by herself. She surely had so much time to think that the silence would become scary.

Being confined in her room by herself was both relaxing and terrifying.

And even if those sensations paralyzed her one day, her heart would be tortured suddenly.

[Emilia: Subaru.......]

And when Subaru felt unusual sympathy for Meili’s heart, Emilia gently pulled on his sleeve. Subaru knew what she was thinking, as he agreed with it as well.

[Subaru: It’s not going out for fun. We have a guide, but we’ll be crossing the desert. And even though we have you, we have to pass through the mabeast’s den. To make matters worst, the sage might see us too.]

[Meili: Isn’t it nice taking a walk after a while?]

Meili says those words to Subaru, continuing to be strong. He didn’t know how much of it was a bluff, and how much of it was her telling the truth, but――

[Emilia: She is the trump card for the mabeasts, right?]

[Subaru: Ahh, yeah that’s right. We’ll be counting on you, Meili.]

[Meili: I’ll try my best either way.]

Emilia and Subaru look at each other, and then they nod at Meili. The girl who accepted their words says that as if overreaching herself and hugged the panda tightly.

And so this became a single step forward towards accomplishing their journey, so Julius folded his arms and said some brief words with a face of admiration as he made sure of the result.

[Julius: I don’t really want to say this, but persuading little girls really is one of your strong points. ......Although, I don’t think it’s really a good skill to be known for.]

[Subaru: It’s because you guys are steadily treating me like a little girl user! In regards to her being a little girl, I’ll have you know that Meili isn’t as small as a little girl, okay!]

Subaru points at the room’s entrance in frustration in response to Julius’ useless words. Right when he did, the person who showed up on the other side of the door was

[Beatrice: ――I was thinking about what was so noisy, only to find out that it was just Subaru making a racket again, I suppose.]

She finished her private talk with Roswaal, joined up with them. It seemed she had another quarrel, but that was put aside as something not worth bringing up, and she sought to cut them off for starters.