With that, he spread his arms very wide, indicating the entire area.
“For whatever reason, Roswaal calls this the Sanctuary, but…it ain’t a place suited for pretty-sounding words like that. It’s a place where rejects gather and live together, a dead-end laboratory.”
“Laboratory…?”
“Rejects.”
Subaru and Emilia knit their brows as different words tugged at their respective minds. For his part, Garfiel laughed, not concealing his mouth like Frederica did.
“As for me, I think it’s more accurate to call it the tomb of the Witch of Greed!”
“The Witch of Greed?!”
As Garfiel continued, Subaru tilted his head at the never-before-heard statement; in his stead, it was Otto, overhearing the discussion inside the dragon carriage, who had an exaggerated reaction.
In a fierce panic, Otto peered into the carriage from the driver’s seat and said, “Um, ah, er, excuse me… You don’t mean to say this is genuinely related to the Witch of Greed, yes…?”
“Wait, wait, WAIT! ’Cause you got super surprised I’m reacting late, but what’s the Witch of Greed to begin with? When people say Witch, they mean the Witch of Jealousy, right…?”
The Witch of Jealousy had plunged the world into the lowest depths of terror; even in the present, she was feared as the most awful of calamities.
Subaru knew only of the Witch bearing the title of Jealousy. He’d never heard of any others. Despite that, the term beyond his expectations sailed overhead, bringing the worst of possibilities rushing to the forefront of his mind.
“Don’t tell me the Witch Cult has one Witch for each of them? Seven Witches, so seven archbishops in total?! How hard do you think it was defeating even one of them?!” Subaru exclaimed.
“Having to defeat all of them would be an especially harrowing prospect, but there is fortunately no concern about that. It is just that for a Witch besides Jealousy to become an issue is a very, very great problem in itself…”
Subaru was relieved to have his worst imagination rebutted, but Otto’s concern had not been wiped away. Subaru found himself suspicious when Emilia, sitting beside him, took up where Otto had left off.
“Well, you see, a reeeally long time ago, and this would be four hundred years ago…there were six Witches other than the Witch of Jealousy. But the Witch of Jealousy killed them all, supposedly…”
“Seems like she ate ’em. Matter of fact, there ain’t much for records left of the Witches the Witch of Jealousy killed. But there’s exceptions to that.”
“So you’re saying this is one exception? There’s something odd about the names of other Witches?”
With Garfiel bolstering Emilia’s words, Subaru pulled what was left of his question back toward Otto, who sighed as he continued, seeming to detest even speaking the words.
“It is not a topic I enjoy speaking of, but it concerns the traits of Witch Cultists. As you already know, they are adherents of the Witch of Jealousy, but…they do not acknowledge the existence of other Witches. Even merely hearing the name of one is enough to drive them into terrible rampages.”
“That’s awfully oversensitive…”
“In the Volakia Empire to the south, rumors spread of the name of a Witch besides the Witch of Jealousy. A metia supposedly related to the Witch emerged, but there is no telling whether it was true or false.”
The empire to the south, and the Witch Cult—those two elements coalesced in Subaru’s memory. He remembered a story Julius had relayed to him while they were traveling together at the height of the campaign to subdue Petelgeuse.
“You mean the story that a single Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins wiped out a city?”
“That is the one. Perhaps the rumor of a metia was fact, or perhaps it was merely a convenient scapegoat after the fact… Either way, the cost was the downfall of an entire city. Speaking about Witches has been strictly prohibited everywhere since.”
With Otto concluding his harrowing tale, Subaru nodded in sympathy. Subaru hated the Witch Cult and everything surrounding it, but the current conversation had added one more reason to hate it.
“Isn’t it dangerous to spread around scary trivia like that?”
“It’s not like it’s gonna leak outside. But the old hag says it’s the tomb of the Witch of Greed, so there ain’t no mistake. It’s just like, ‘Peromio festered from the point he heard it.’”
“Not that I’m really interested in what was festering, but I take it you don’t know the fine details?”
“If you wanna know details, pry ’em outta Roswaal— At the moment, I ain’t sure you even could, though.”
“—? What do you mean by that? Has something happened to Roswa—”
“I’m sorry. We seem to have arrived at the vill—is this a village? The settlement. Shall we enter?”
Emilia probed deeper to discern Garfiel’s meaning, but before she could get anywhere, Otto announced from the driver’s seat that they had arrived at their destination. His words made her look outside, whereupon she said…
“So this is the Sanctuary…”
Emilia’s whisper-like tone made Subaru let out a similar breath as he narrowed his eyes.
There, after taking so long to cut through deep forest, was cleared space, with a lonely settlement lying within. When it was compared to the image given by the name Sanctuary, it was impossible to wipe away the impression of an undignified, dirt-poor habitation.
Stone towers at the settlement’s entrance lay fallen and mossed over. They could see stonework pillars in the distance, all of great age, covered in moss and vines so far as they could tell.
The impression was much like that given off by the ruin, but the settlement gave off a fragment of that only, something Subaru could only call…
“Feels like a pretty run-down place…”
“Just to say it, the people are pretty run-down, too, okay? They’re all wrinkled hags and old men. It’s got that ‘Man or Kegelmo, we all grow old’ feel to it.”
“That’s the first time I understand what one of your sayings means, but man, you aren’t pulling any punches.”
Garfiel’s words about the settlement he himself lived in were absolutely merciless. Some people liked to talk poorly of their homelands out of modesty, but Subaru didn’t sense a shred of that from his voice.
It seemed to be a fact that he was alienated from this place, the Sanctuary. Either way—
“Let’s keep going until we find a good spot to park the dragon carriage…”
“I see you’re back, Garf. You certainly took your sweet time.”
“Yeah.”
Putting everyone’s impressions of the Sanctuary on the back burner, they made the dragon carriage run to the center of the settlement, where Subaru was surprised to hear a familiar voice.
It was tossed their way from the center of the settlement, right along the route the dragon carriage was following.
There, a lone girl revealed herself, her demeanor cool as she stood tall. The sight of the girl made Garfiel dash right out of the dragon carriage; he leaped down, waving a hand with a smile.
“Yo. Pretty rare for you to come out and welcome me back like this. Did the bastard finally kick the bucket?”
“If that were the case, Ram would be turning this entire place into a sea of flames. You should be most grateful to Master Roswaal that it is not so.”
“I don’t know what ya mean, but geez, that’s some thinkin’!”
Garfiel approached her, seeming very amused by the abuse from the girl in the familiar-looking servant’s outfit. As he watched from a distance, Subaru’s lips slackened in visible relief.
“Hmmm, so that is the older sister of the girl whom you were speaking of. I see… It is quite obvious, but she looks just like the sleeping Miss Rem, yes.”
Otto, laying eyes upon the girl for the first time, was deeply moved as he murmured. Just as he’d said, in appearance she and Rem were two peas in a pod, but the i
ndividuals on the inside were completely different.
Subaru was reuniting with Ram, the nonworking servant of Roswaal Manor, after several days of separation.
“Ram!”
Ram noticed Subaru leaning out of the dragon carriage and waving toward her. Her pink eyes narrowed slightly, followed by an easy-to-understand sinking of her shoulders.
“I know not where you were, Barusu, but I am disappointed at your late arrival. If only you had noticed something was wrong and come running… Ah, I was a fool to expect such a thing.”
“If you don’t know where I’ve been, then follow that part to the end, damn it! Also, this goes mainly for Roswaal, but it’s hard to figure out what you people are up to. Also, I need to talk to the man himself face-to-face!”
When Subaru rebutted, Ram replied with a “Ha!” that was the same as it had ever been. From there, her gaze turned toward Emilia, who was right at Subaru’s side.
“Lady Emilia, I bid you a warm welcome. As Master Roswaal is awaiting you within, I shall escort you to him. Garf, please guide the dragon carriage and coachman to a suitable place.”
“Man, you’re rough with people! That’s fine, though. Hey, driver bastard. Come with me, I’ll show ya in.”
“Do you mean me by that?! That is the worst thing you have called me to date, you know!”
Even though he’d introduced himself by name, it was “driver bastard” now. On top of that, the prospect of being all alone with Garfiel made Otto look toward Subaru and Emilia in search of salvation.
Subaru responded to his clingy gaze with a deep, knowing nod.
“I’ll bury your bones later!”
“Those are not words ever used with a good connotation, are they?!”
Leaving that lament behind, Otto was led off by the overbearing Garfiel, dragon carriage and all.
Upon their separation, Subaru gave Patlash a concerned rub of her nose, but Otto was no doubt safe under her protection. Perhaps it was strange to entrust a human being to a land dragon, but oh well.
“That Patlash, she’s reeeally trustworthy and dependable, isn’t she?”
“Plus, where Otto’s concerned, I feel like there’ll always be uncertain elements no matter how much I’d worry about him.”
Watching driver and dragon carriage depart, Subaru said, “Well, then,” and turned Ram’s way. Having gazed in silence at the previous exchange, she turned her face away from Subaru’s gaze with a neutral look and said, “What?”
“…Nothing, I’ve just been wondering if you were all right. I mean, given how we parted ways, and not being in touch with you at all after, to be honest, I was really nervous.”
“I suppose you were. As you can see, today Ram is as robust and adorable as ever. No harm has come to pass for the villagers evacuating to the Sanctuary with me. You may rest easy about that.”
“That so? That’s, yeah, I’m relieved to hear it… That’s comforting.”
“—?”
Subaru’s shoulders sank with relief, but the odd wording at the end of Subaru’s sentence made Ram look at him suspiciously. Her reaction made Subaru grit his teeth, locking down the emotions that had surged as far as his throat before he made them into words.
“…”
“Ah, Ram. It’s odd for us to just stand here and talk like this, right? Could you show us in?”
With Subaru sinking into silence, unable to immediately speak, Emilia spoke those words to Ram in his place. Ram slightly knitted her brows at the words, but she immediately said, “As you wish,” bowed, and turned her back.
Not probing any further and immediately marching off was very Ram-like, but…
“Subaru, are you all right? You’re not angry I butted in?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I was just being pathetic… I was just scared of asking Ram about Rem right this moment, you see.”
Subaru listlessly shook his head, giving a pained smile at Emilia’s consideration for him.
He was afraid to be certain. Several times over, he’d already experienced a sense of loss through Emilia, Petra, and others—but it wasn’t something he’d gotten used to. For that matter, hearing it from Ram would probably have the greatest weight of all.
The fact she hadn’t asked about Rem’s whereabouts under those circumstances was more than enough proof that she had forgotten her younger sister.
“Emilia?”
“It’s natural for you to be afraid. I don’t think that is pathetic at all, so…”
As Subaru hung his head, Emilia took hold of Subaru’s hand, meeting his eyes as she spoke those words in a sincere voice. Floating in her purple eyes were deep worry and a great deal of affection—those feelings gave him some consolation.
Gathering the scraps of his nearly lost courage, he thought he just might be able to find the words to ask her next time.
“Let’s go and make everything better. Rem, and lots of other things, too.”
“…Roger that. Whatever happens, I’ll protect you as your meat shield, Emilia-tan.”
Subaru and Emilia were still holding hands as they walked behind Ram, going deeper into the Sanctuary.
—Subaru did not realize that it was he alone who gained courage from it.
2
The house was the most intact structure in the Sanctuary.
The residence formed of stone material was about the same size as an average stand-alone house from Subaru’s world. The interior was divided into simple corridors and rooms, feeling like a reasonably comfortable place to live.
Between Roswaal Manor and the Nobles’ District in the capital, Subaru had seen extravagant structures, but one of this size felt much closer to home. But ignoring Subaru’s impressions—
“Myyy, Lady Emilia and our good Subaru. It feeeels like it has been quite a loooong time since I have seen you.”
Roswaal waved to the pair with a fishy smile, something that felt out of place to the extreme.
His eccentric clown makeup, his exaggerated words and gestures, and the very aura of his presence were so unbefitting an ordinary person, it simply felt wrong for him to be inside an ordinary house such as that.
However, now that they were before him, feelings of things being wrong or out of place were trifling affairs.
“First, it is good that you are saaaafe and sound, Lady Emilia. I heard the circumstances from Ram, but it would be difficult to liiiive with myself if anything should have happened to you.”
“If you really think so, you could cough up a more proper reaction to… No, more importantly, what the heck happened to you?”
Roswaal expressed relief at Emilia’s safety, but Subaru and Emilia were left as perplexed as before.
As for why, Roswaal was a painful sight while greeting the pair, lying in bed and wrapped in bandages stained with blood coming from his own body. His unclothed upper body lacked a single space unwrapped by bandages; he had multiple deep wounds and was in a grave condition. That the makeup on his face was unmarred felt like a sign less of robustness than of a bizarre level of obsession.
But he did not give off the slightest hint of being injured, acting completely normal.
“My myyyy, you ask me that? I, too, am but a man. It truly pains me to be seen in such a shameful state. I suppose you are not so geeentle as to refrain from asking why?”
“As if I could! Truly, Roswaal, what happened? To get hurt this badly… And on top of that, you’re…”
His flippant tone about something impossible to gloss over put the genuinely angry Emilia in a bind. Indeed, the wounds were so grave she hesitated to press the point. She wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to force the issue.
Roswaal responded to the discord with Emilia by closing one of his differently colored eyes, specifically the blue one.
“I wonder where I should begin the taaale? In regards to my wounds…perhaps I should call them a baaadge of honor, or the unavoidable consequences of my actions.”
“Please do not paper over things like that.
I am asking a serious question. I want a serious answer from you.”
“Hmmm… It would seem Lady Emilia is not in good humor, either. Considering the place, I do not believe that can be…helped.”
It felt wrong to Subaru that Emilia was taking an interrogatory tone. When Roswaal, apparently agreeing with him, pointed out that very thing, Emilia exhaled with an air of resignation.
“Since I came here—no, since I came in contact with the barrier, I think—my chest has been astir. I can’t calm down. What is this place? Even though it’s called the Sanctuary, it doesn’t feel like any such thing to me. If anything, it’s the opposite…”
“Perhaps you can accept that the tombs of Witches have aaaalways been referred to thus?”
“—!!”
Emilia’s breath caught strongly when Roswaal invoked the other name of the Sanctuary.
Hearing the term from a mouth other than Garfiel’s lent it greater weight. However, since that only added to the information they needed to ask him about—
“Wait, let’s put what we want to ask about in proper order. I feel like we’re just gonna be running around in circles at this rate. We need to get to a conclusion.”
“Myyyy, a most sound suggestion. It seems that our good Subaru’s mental state has changed since last I saw him.”
“That story’s gonna get seriously long, so I’ll brag properly about it later… Ah, one thing, though.”
As Roswaal prodded him, trying to make light of the matter, Subaru stared straight at him before continuing.
“I succeeded in forming an alliance with Crusch. Satisfied with the results of leaving me there now?”
“Ahh, I am most saaatisfied. Truly, truly, you have acquired something difficult and long yearned for.”
“…That so.”
The affirmation felt more sincere than Subaru had expected. While surprised, he accepted it in good grace.
He’d expected as much for a while, but Roswaal really had left Subaru in the royal capital with the expectation that he’d fight hard. Roswaal’s having used that to his own advantage wasn’t amusing to Subaru.
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Vol. 10 Page 12