Subaru licked his dry lips to moisten them, took a deep breath, and dived in.
“The Witch Cult or whatever it’s called is planning to attack Roswaal’s territory. I want you to lend me your strength so we can crush them.”
Subaru cut right to the issue at hand: These were the conditions necessary for fulfilling his goal. He needed raw fighting power to oppose the Witch Cult. Without Roswaal to rely on, he had to go elsewhere, and Crusch was a good fit.
“I see. The Witch Cult, is it?”
Subaru’s request garnered various reactions from the others in the reception room, but Crusch nodded. When her glossy lips turned up in a wry smile, Subaru was startled by this side of her he hadn’t seen before. Her response had betrayed all of Subaru’s expectations. But the fuse had already been lit. Subaru’s heart beat hard and fast as he waited for Crusch’s next action, when…
“What is the matter? I told you, this is your time to speak.”
While Subaru hesitated, the thin smile remained on Crusch’s face as she inclined her head. The unexpected remark threw him off somewhat.
“Er, I mean… It’s as I said just now.”
“Surely you do not intend to conclude with that request alone? What is your reason for asking this of me? What will come about as a result? What advantage would I gain from accepting your call for aid? One cannot dub this a negotiation when those things are not yet clear.”
Urk. Subaru’s voice caught. Crusch seemed turned off as she closed one of her eyes. From that gesture alone, Subaru knew just how impudent he had been.
“I suppose you’re right about that. Sorry, that was rude of me. I mean, er, bear with me a little; I don’t really have any experience with negotiations like this.”
“It’s only natural to acknowledge personal shortcomings. Do not worry. But this conversation lasts only until supper—keep this in mind.”
Mentioning the time limit directly after a display of generosity plainly showed that she was employing both the carrot and the stick.
“First, the reason I’m asking for your help… Put simply, we don’t have enough manpower, way too little to stand up against the number of Witch Cult attackers. As a result, we can’t fend off the assault.”
“A simple story. But is Lord Mathers not sufficient by himself? He may well be the strongest fighter out of anyone in Lugunica. The Witch Cult should be no match when relying on numbers alone.”
“If they all gathered in one place, that might be the case, but it’s not. There’s only one of Roswaal, and they’ll be attacking at least two places at once.”
If nothing else, the village and the mansion were already two targets for certain.
He remembered hearing “sweeping clean” and the like multiple times. It was possible they’d assault even passing dragon carriages and traveling merchants.
“I see. I understand your position. However, is this not Lord Mathers neglecting his domain? The duty of a lord is to maintain his martial might to keep the peace. If his overconfidence has led him to be lax in these duties, his reputation as marquis will inevitably suffer.”
“I can’t disagree with a single word you said. Anyway, for those reasons, we don’t have enough to deal with the Witch Cult. I want something to fight with, the power of numbers.”
For the purpose of negotiations, Subaru concealed that Roswaal and the power he brought to the table might not even be present.
He glanced sideways at Wilhelm. If his request was accepted, Wilhelm was of course a part of Crusch’s forces that he hoped to borrow. Perhaps understanding the meaning behind Subaru’s gaze, Crusch exhaled as she seemed to sink into deep thought.
“The Witch Cult… They are finally making a move, I see…”
“Mm-hmm. Well, we figured as much when Lady Emilia, a half-elf, rose onto the stage…”
As Crusch murmured and Ferris agreed, master and servant nodding to each other, Subaru furrowed his brows. But before he could ask anything, Subaru shifted his focus to his side—where Rem, seated there, silently pursed her lips as fierce emotion poured out of her. The expression on her profile was intentionally blank, but her internal turmoil was obvious.
The Witch Cult, the object of Rem’s hatred, was now Subaru’s greatest enemy. He probably had the same look in his eyes as she did.
“Your circumstances are clear now. Next, I’ll hear the reason for choosing to ask my house for aid…and your logic in doing so.”
“I picked you and your people because you have the best chance of turning this thing around. Besides, you’ve given Rem and me your hospitality, and I think it’s easier to work with you than the other candidates.”
Subaru had expected this line of questioning, so he had an answer prepared.
Deep down, he believed there were others who were easier to deal with than Crusch. But Subaru’s own sentiments, and the ease of contacting her at the moment, had led him to the current meeting.
“Easier to work with, you say.”
“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I wanted to come speak to you about th—”
“Subaru Natsuki, allow me to correct you about one thing.”
As she received Subaru’s reply, Crusch gave him a beaming smile, rich in meaning, as she raised a single finger.
“My hospitality for you as a host has engendered a misunderstanding. For this, I apologize.”
“…What do you mean, a misunderstanding?”
“I am not treating you like an enemy. However, Emilia and I are already political rivals. Do you see? Emilia stands in opposition to me.”
“Er, but you took us under your roof…”
“Because a contract had been formed. Your treatment is part of that agreement. Regardless of how I treat you in this mansion, it does not change our position as rivals beyond these doors.”
Even the first time around, Crusch had declared that Subaru would be her enemy the moment the contract was over. It was both a sincere statement of fact and a declaration that it was useless to seek anything from her.
“In other words, there’s no chance of joining forces with you?”
“That is a different matter altogether. As I said before, Subaru Natsuki, if there are to be negotiations, there must be acceptable benefits for both sides. Everything until now, including your motivations, have served only to clarify your premises. I merely wish to ask from your point of view what I stand to gain from lending you military strength. After all…”
At that point, Crusch’s words trailed off. She put down an elbow, resting her chin against her palm.
“It could be said that no explanation was really necessary. Now that Emilia’s lineage is common knowledge, we have been expecting the Witch Cult to make a move. Regardless of the circumstances, we were already sure of this.”
Apparently, Crusch had never questioned that the Witch Cult would try something. Perhaps it could be called common knowledge peculiar to her world. Either way, it was working in Subaru’s favor.
“That being the case, this negotiation hinges on mutual benefit. In your case, you would be able to borrow my house’s might to eliminate the menace of the Witch Cult. What of my house, then? This is what I ask you.”
“S-simply saving people isn’t—”
“It would be ideal, in a sense, if that were reason enough for us to mobilize.”
The gaze Crusch turned upon Subaru was like a blade, cutting apart the illusion in his reply as it aimed to inflict a mortal wound. Subaru desperately grasped for a comeback before he was shut down altogether.
“Ahh, right. For example, lending a hand in this time of crisis would mean that our camp would owe you a pretty big favor…”
“—Am I to take that to mean you understand that if I accept your proposal, it would entail Emilia’s forfeiture in the royal selection?”
“Eh?”
The sharp thrust of her comment left Subaru’s mouth hanging open.
“It is natural, yes? Throwing yourself at the mercy of another lord when you
r own territory is in danger is an issue of fitness for the throne. If someone cannot protect their subjects through the rule of law and strength of arms, how can they be expected to shoulder the burden of an entire kingdom? Subaru Natsuki. I shall correct you about one more thing.”
Crusch pointed the tip of her finger toward Subaru, cowed into silence, as if ready to drive it through him.
“By conducting these negotiations, you bear Emilia’s fate on your shoulders. Naturally, everything you say affects her, and it carries the same weight as Emilia’s words. This is not a decision you should make lightly, nor are the words you say easily taken back.”
“…Ah, uh…”
“Moreover, I ask again—should you owe me in this matter, it will mean the defeat of the Emilia camp. Are you truly fine with this?”
It was only at this moment that Subaru began to genuinely understand his position. They were not participating in a lighthearted after-school debate club where Subaru had no real responsibility to bear. Theirs was a great stage where a single statement could alter the fates of many people or even decide the direction the entire kingdom would take.
“But even so…”
Too late, he realized what a heavy burden he carried on his shoulders. But Subaru ground his teeth.
Just as Crusch said, borrowing her strength under the present terms meant that Emilia would lose her place in the royal selection—a failure from which there was no turning back. But if he didn’t lean on Crusch’s strength, all that awaited was the rampage of the Witch Cult’s fanatics and tragedy.
Subaru’s brain painfully creaked from the ceaseless back-and-forth of the scales in his head.
“—Still, I want you to help us.”
“…Even if it means losing the royal selection?”
“It’s better to be alive than not. If you die, that’s the end of everything.”
Subaru’s shoulders fell as he replied, unable to conceal his dejection and despair at his own powerlessness.
If you die, then it’s over.
The terrible spectacle of the ruined village, of Rem, who was sitting right beside him, meeting a cruel death—Subaru didn’t have the courage to witness it again.
He lowered his head and swallowed the humiliation. It was necessary so he could at least save their lives.
“Understood. In that case, the House of Karsten shall not lend you any assistance whatsoever.”
4
For an instant, Subaru froze, unable to process what had just been said to him.
“—Huh?”
It was less a word and more a sound of doubt that was also a simple indication of incomprehension. But Crusch brushed it off, crossing her slender legs.
“I repeat. Your request for my house to send aid to the Mathers domain—to lend military forces to Emilia—is hereby rejected.”
Subaru gritted his teeth as Crusch spelled it out in terms he could understand. Feeling belittled by her composed statement, Subaru flew into a rage.
“Don’t f—! Why are you…?!”
“First, the advantage to my side that you so bitterly conceded—Emilia’s defeat in the royal selection—has no weight as a bargaining chip of use in these negotiations. Do you understand why?”
“Wh-what the hell? Kissing one of your rivals good-bye should be plenty worth it for you…”
“Do you realize what you have said? As far as Emilia’s defeat is concerned, it will come about without any intervention on my part whatsoever.”
“What are…”
…you saying? Subaru would have said, but then he realized it for himself.
“As you have stated, without aid, Emilia cannot protect the Mathers domain. Meaning, at this rate, and completely without my involvement, Emilia will be defeated in the royal selection.”
“—”
“Indeed, were I to recklessly lend assistance, the knowledge I was involved in Emilia’s defeat would itself become a problem with the other candidates. As you are aware, my house is currently the favorite to win this royal selection. If it became known that I booted another candidate from the contest, I could not fail to attract the enmity of all the others.”
In other words, as long as she quietly watched, Crusch would gain the benefit Subaru had indicated with no harm to herself. There was no reason for her to court danger unnecessarily; it would be akin to snatching chestnuts out of a fire.
But that meant—
“You’re going to let the people in Roswaal’s…in that village be slaughtered by the Witch Cult’s attack?!”
Subaru had shouted, but Crusch’s icy gaze gave him pause.
“I shall correct your misunderstanding. And I am changing the subject, Subaru Natsuki.”
“Ugh…!”
“It is Emilia’s lack of power to protect her domain and Emilia’s lack of ability that has invited disaster upon her populace, not mine.”
Lack of power…lack of ability—the weight of those words shocked him.
Subaru felt a need to rail against Crusch’s claims. And yet, the childish, emotional retorts welling up within him did not grant him the strength to refute Crusch’s sound argument.
“It would seem you have said your piece.”
Crusch checked the time, as indicated by the amber light of the magic time crystal above the reception room’s door.
“It shall soon be Earth Time. Time for supper. All according to schedule, apparently.”
Seeing Crusch about to rise from her seat, Subaru was suddenly stricken by nervousness as he called out, “W-wait!”
He raised his hand to stop Crusch from breaking off the conversation, desperately searching inside his head for some way to keep negotiations going.
“Y-you’ll really abandon them? The folks in the village haven’t done anything wrong! There’s no reason for them to die!”
But the words that came out of Subaru’s mouth were little more than a feeble attempt to appeal to another’s charity. A faint look of disappointment entered Crusch’s eyes as she listened to his immature reasoning.
“I told you. I am not the one whose strength is insufficient…”
“Don’t you feel bad knowing and abandoning them anyway?! If you have the power to save them, why won’t you?! What’s wrong with helping people?! Because it’s someone else’s land, it’s not your problem?!”
“Would you just shut up and listen a little—”
“It’s fine, Ferris.”
“But Lady Crusch! This time he’s gone too far, meow!”
“He has bared his spirit. It does not sit well with my beliefs to withhold an answer.”
Though Ferris howled in dismay, he quietly bowed to Crusch’s command. Watching him from the corner of her eye, Crusch sat straighter in her chair. After taking a deep breath, she mulled over Subaru’s statement.
“You ask is it wrong of me to overlook this, to allow them to die?”
“That’s right! You’re aiming to be king, right?! Carry the whole country on your back? What kind of king overlooks a whole village?!”
“I shall correct one misconception of yours.”
Crusch raised a finger. Her gaze shot right through Subaru, seemingly reproaching him for his frivolousness.
“When I rejected your proposal, I stated one reason. I shall elucidate the other chief reason for my doubts.”
Crusch had another reason for not being open to Subaru’s proposal—the reason she was abandoning Emilia. And that was—
“And that is because I do not trust your story enough to order my house into action.”
Her statement threw the premise of the entire meeting back at Subaru, stunning him.
“Wh…aa?”
“The Witch Cult? Yes, it’s possible that they would make a move at this juncture. It would be consistent with their creed and their activities to date. I can make a deduction based on those factors. However, the problem lies elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere…?”
“It is a simple matter. How is it that you c
an determine the exact place, date, and time of where they will strike next?”
Pointing her finger toward Subaru, Crusch’s eyes and voice were like daggers.
“The Cult is absolutely inscrutable, to the point that its true nature is completely unknown. It’s telling that their organization has survived for hundreds of years while evading destruction, causing immense damage in the meantime. So how exactly have you learned of their next vile act?”
“That’s… But you never said a word of that before…!”
“I did not feel the need to be that explicit. Since you could not accept it, I pointed out the heart of the matter for you. If you still cannot, there is but one possibility.”
In place of Subaru, cowed into silence, Crusch slowly spelled it out for him.
“Naturally, wouldn’t you know about the Witch Cult if you were part of it?”
“Don’t mess with—!”
This time, fierce, irrepressible emotion rushed to his throat to turn into a scream. But it stopped just on the verge of that, though not because of Subaru’s self-control.
“—”
That reason was the increasingly ghastly aura rising from Rem as she silently watched the exchange between Crusch and Subaru.
“Lady Crusch, surely you jest.”
Crusch tilted her head at the modesty of Rem’s tone, no different from before.
“There is no way that Subaru could be part of the Witch Cult.”
“Is that so? Judging by Subaru Natsuki’s statement, if he cannot voice the reason he has such knowledge, I can reach no other conclusion. Have you not sensed for yourself why I say this?”
“—I have not.”
No doubt Crusch detected the slight hesitation in her statement. Rem, who could sense the Witch’s scent coming from Subaru, had been tripped up by Crusch’s casual, leading question.
“At any rate. For both of these reasons, my house cannot lend Emilia aid due to insufficient trust. Moreover, you have not been granted the right to act as a negotiator in the first place, have you?”
“Ugh…”
“Earlier, I threatened you by stating that Emilia’s advance or retreat rested upon your shoulders, but in truth, the problem precedes even that. At this juncture, you have no responsibility at all.”
ReZERO_Starting Life in Another World Vol. 6 Page 2