The iron ball danced around as her right hand gripped its handle. Her good leg was filled with explosive energy. The figures before her thrust their crosses forward in some kind of pose, rushing at her all at once. That instant…
“Do you wish to take even my reason for dying here away from me—?!!”
Rem’s roar rent the air as her leg pushed her up, as if the ground itself had launched her.
To the front, an enormous wall of flame spread out before Rem as she leaped. She broke through that barrier, smashing in the face of an enemy standing beside it. The moment after, a fireball bore down on her, large enough to bury her entire field of vision.
“—!!”
A thunderous shout. An orange glow rose up amid the trees bathed in the morning sun, then another and another.
The inferno surged wildly, burning away the trees, with the very world groaning as the high temperature turned the area to ash.
—On that scorched plain, the charred remnants of a white apron dress fluttered and vanished into the wind.
2
Subaru drooled as he swayed on the figure’s shoulder, not offering any resistance.
He no longer felt most of the pain from the wounds he’d suffered from falling out of the dragon carriage. It wasn’t that he couldn’t feel them, but other pain blotted out anything external, so it didn’t matter.
He moaned, the agony tearing at his heart robbing him of all will to put up a fight.
Back where the dragon carriage had fallen on its side, the figures surrounding Subaru had begun some kind of chant. As he listened to that sound, Subaru felt something alien well up inside his body, wriggling and eating at him from the inside, as if the ringing in his skull wasn’t enough to drive him into raging madness all by itself.
Over and over, he heard someone’s voice over the chant. It sounded different, like the whisper of a woman’s voice—a whisper like a curse.
In her kind, gentle way, she berated the agonized Subaru and drove him mad.
If it went on a little more, just a little more, he thought and then shuddered.
That pain broke the hearts of men. It bent them into unrecognizable shapes. It changed them. It made people into not-people. That was the kind of curse that it was.
“Hu-he, hi-hi-hi, he-hi-hi-hi…”
Suddenly, the corners of his lips curled into a crazed smile, drooling as he seemed to remember something.
The reverberation of the wriggling black thing grew distant, and his attention began to shift from his internal agony to his external once again. Accordingly, he forgot the eerie feeling that had threatened to shatter his heart and began to cry plaintively in response to the more immediate pain.
“U, higu, a, uu…”
Subaru’s body hurt all over. He sought a hand to console him. A voice. Warmth.
But the figure running through the woods, seemingly rushing along a game trail, paid Subaru no heed. It gripped Subaru with such incredible strength that he could not move an inch, and yet the delicate body possessed unimaginable agility, running through the forest like the wind itself.
The depths of the woods had no markings, yet the figure’s steps held the certainty of one with a guide. How many tens of minutes had they been running like that? Gradually, the speed eased, and they finally came to a complete stop.
In front of them was a prominent wall of rock, bare except for the lichens covering its surface. The wall, stretching up above eye level, was a natural fortress that could not be easily overcome without the aid of appropriate tools.
Perhaps he’d taken a wrong turn. However, the figure showed no hint of confusion as he stood before the rock face. Gently, he stepped forward and pressed a hand to one section of the stone.
“—”
The faint goose bumps on Subaru’s flesh were similar to the ones he felt when someone used magic right next to him.
Where his abductor touched the wall before him, the mass of rock blocking his path vanished instantly, as if truly by magic. It was a stupefying supernatural phenomenon. Apparently the hole left by the vanished rock now belonged to a cave. The figure adjusted its hold on Subaru and carried him gracefully into the hole.
The air in the cave was cold and chilly, but the figure’s gait was calm. From time to time, Subaru’s moans seemed to spoil that tranquility, but his kidnapper showed no sign of caring. After advancing several dozen yards, even the light filtering in through the entrance faded. Likely, the rock had been restored, hiding the cave again.
They could see within the hollow space even without the light from the entrance. The narrow, rocky corridor had white crystals at regular intervals, and their glowing light guided the figure down the path. Following that light, the black-robed being went deeper and deeper into the cave, carrying Subaru farther and farther into darkness.
The deeper they went, the more the black wriggling thing inside Subaru’s body began to stir. This time, instead of tearing at Subaru’s internal organs, it licked at every corner of his being, as if showing its affection.
The unceasing pain and accelerating, increasing uncanny feeling made Subaru quiver on his captor’s shoulder. Tears flowed from the corners of his eyes as he continued his frivolous laughter.
Finally, the seemingly interminable corridor of rock came to an end.
The glow of the crystals was a little stronger. He was able to make things out more clearly than in the corridor, and this was an especially large natural cavern.
There, Subaru would come face-to-face with the true “malice” of that world.
“Oh my?”
—There was a thin man.
The man in the cavern, surrounded by shadows, wore black robes like the others. He was a slight bit taller than Subaru, but his physique was skin and bones, as frail as a corpse. His deep-green hair was lifeless; he looked weak and unhealthy.
—Were it not for the madness in his eyes.
The figure carrying Subaru bound his unresisting body to the cavern wall. With iron chains and shackles attached to his limbs, Subaru’s mind appeared absent as he was tossed onto the hard ground.
The man opened his eyes, eyeing Subaru with deep interest. He leaned forward a fair ways, with his hips bent at a ninety-degree angle and his head bent perpendicular to his neck. His gaze, as cold as a reptile’s, shot through Subaru.
“I seeee… Certainly, certainly, this is of great interest.”
He stared at Subaru, taking him all in, and nodded as if he understood something. The one who had brought Subaru knelt earnestly on the spot, awaiting the man’s next words with great reverence.
As the first knelt, the others followed suit. However, the man in the center did not react to the show of respect around him, instead sticking his right thumb into his mouth as he sank into thought alone. It seemed like he might bite his nail for fun; instead, his back molars crushed the digit itself.
Drawing the red flesh from the corner of his mouth, the man paid no heed to the bleeding from his mangled finger as he tossed out a question.
“Could you… possibly be ‘Pride,’ by any chance?”
But even with an insane man calling out to him, Subaru was not in his right mind, either. Subaru watched the self-mutilation, seeming like he wanted to look away but continuing to frivolously laugh all the while. The two men, neither in his right mind, stared at each other. The madness in the eyes of each one seemed to startle the other.
“Hmm… That doesn’t seem to be a reply.”
The man roused his own body, their rivalry disintegrating with a whimper.
The man pulled his thumb out of his lips as he seemed to remember something, with no sign of a dampening mood. He touched his blood-smeared hand to his own forehead.
“Ahh, I see. It occurs to me that I have been rude. My goodness, I have yet to introduce myself, yes?”
A wry, malevolent smile came over him as he acted with wholly incongruous courtesy. Subaru’s insane smile seemed to strike him as proof positive of some kind of int
imacy between them.
“I am Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti—”
The man politely bowed at the waist as he stated his name. After that, he turned his head alone forward and stated his title…
“…Archbishop of Sin of the Witch Cult… Entrusted with the duties of Slooooth!”
The man—Petelgeuse—pointed at Subaru with the fingers of both hands and cackled.
His obnoxiously loud laughter ripped through the tranquility of the cave with a gloomy echo.
3
The guffaws echoed off the walls of the cold, dark cavern.
It was unclear what struck Petelgeuse as so funny he would laugh, but he shook with joy as he bared his bloodstained teeth.
Faced with the man’s amusement, Subaru’s cheeks were stretched from his own dry laughs.
The iron manacles were fastened to him so tightly that his hands and feet had changed color; numbness spread through him thanks to his constricted arteries. It seemed that his welcome was in no way a warm one.
“Ahh, what a comedy! What a very, very, very, very interesting scene. Truly, truly, truly, truly, truly!! My brain trembles…!”
Wild laughter came over Petelgeuse as he traced some kind of symbol on the wall with the drops of blood from his hand. The shape’s lack of meaning made the makeshift mural a reflection of the man’s state of mind.
As the two men with a diminished appreciation of reality faced off against each other, one of the kneeling figures intervened. It was the tall one who had carried Subaru there. The figure murmured something to Petelgeuse.
“—”
It was a whisper like the sound of an insect’s wings, reaching only Petelgeuse. Once he listened to it, Petelgeuse’s wild laughter vanished. He set aside all jest and tilted his head to form a right angle.
“Iiis that so… Ahh, that makes my heart leap; it makes my heart shiver, yes!”
The tone of his voice and his expression were completely different. With a serious look, he changed his tone instantly; this time, Petelgeuse crunched down on the hitherto undamaged fingers of his left hand, one by one, without the slightest hesitation. The sounds of cracked bones and crushed flesh resounded.
“Ow… Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Ahh, I am full of liiife!”
Petelgeuse shook the crushed fingers of his left hand, splattering blood as he looked up at the ceiling.
Unmoved, the shadow watched him, remaining on its knees as it whispered again to Petelgeuse.
“My left ring finger, destroyed! Ahh, what a sweet ordeal this is! For our diligence to have been so richly rewarded… Today, we have shown this uncertain world what love truly is!”
“—”
“Ahh, that is just fine. The remaining bones of the left ring finger have fused with the middle and index. There are still, still, still, still nine fingers left, many, many more opportunities to prove my devotion.”
He stretched out his hand, dripping with blood, and placed it on the kneeling figure’s head as if in thanks. Subaru could not see into their mind as their entire body shook, but they seemed deeply moved by Petelgeuse’s action.
“Yes! An ordeal! An ordeal! This is an ordeal! A test of faithhhh, all to convey our affection! Illuminate! Guide! Ahh, my brain treeeeembles!”
As Petelgeuse laughed in delight, spraying saliva, the figures clapped their hands together in apparent adulation. It was a strange, eerie gathering, one only they comprehended.
The figure’s report became more detailed, but within the tranquil cavern, it was quieter than a mouse’s paws. Furthermore, it was almost as if its purpose was to provide vile material for Petelgeuse’s one-man comedy routine.
Petelgeuse twisted his hips, lowered his body, and leaned forward to bring his face close to Subaru’s.
“Setting that aside, him! Ahh, himmmm! Just what is this man?”
With stinky breath blowing on him at close range, Subaru’s crazed eyes looked up, unmoved.
“Certainly, certainly, certainly, certainly-ly-ly, this is straaange. Turbulent, unfathomable… What is someone like you, not recorded in the Gospel, doing in this situation, on the eve of the ordeal?”
“—”
“Dragon carriage! Ahh, land dragons are looovely! Adorably loyal, diligent in obedience, diligent in work, a marvelous species striving for diligence in all things!”
“—”
“You killed one! Ahh, that too iss good! It drew the carriage, so it could not be helped! Ahh, you have been industrious once again! As long as there are still fingers on my hands, diligence is the most crucial thing of all! Ahh, love! Life! People! Diligence in all things!”
Petelgeuse was so worked up, he bent his body so far back that he almost touched the ground.
He sprang back to his feet like a drawn bow with a look of ecstasy.
“My fingers are so diligent, they brought down a land dragon, a living symbol of diligence! Ahh, my brain trembles. Trembles, trembles, treeeeeeeeeeeembles!”
Petelgeuse, his madness rising to heights unknowable to normal men, had blood trickling out of his nose. As it reached his lips, Petelgeuse licked it with his tongue, his cheeks relaxing with an intoxicated look about him. He closed his eyes, his body shuddering as his fervor reached its peak.
Petelgeuse wildly wiped away the nosebleed with the sleeve of his religious habit and let out a long sigh.
“Ahh… The land dragon that died was slothful, was it not?”
With that, the previous excitement was nowhere to be found as he pointed toward the entrance of the cavern and spoke with a calm demeanor and a deliberate voice.
“Here on the eve of the day of the coming ordeal, the immediate disposal of the wrecked dragon carriage will keep from revealing our existence. We have eliminated all human presence, so there is no concern about witnesses from…others on board? You did take care of them, didn’t you?”
“—”
Petelgeuse, listening to the figure’s report, shook his head. The bones in his neck creaked.
“One other in the vehicle… A blue-haired girl. The left ring finger engaged, demolishing the dragon carriage, and entered combat while the boy was being secured. The girl destroyed the ring finger in the process… It is unclear whether the girl is dead or alive.”
For a while he sank into thought, his head turning left and right like the pendulum of a clock, tilting, twisting, turning, swaying, and finally, leaning forward.
“Unclear…whether…she is dead…or alive?”
Petelgeuse murmured with a hint of darkness in his voice as he raised his face up and looked at the figure’s hollow eyes.
“Are you sloth…?”
As the figure’s eyes snapped wide, Petelgeuse ferociously grabbed both sides of its face. His crushed fingers on both hands smeared its cheeks with blood, but Petelgeuse didn’t care as he yelled, “You left an element of uncertainty here, on the eve of the trial?! That! That, that, thaaat! Is how you faaaaithfully repay the Gospel?! Ahh, such sloths! Sloths, sloths, sloths, sloths!”
It was unclear where a man of skin and bones held such power, but Petelgeuse easily shook the head in his hands, shoving the figure’s back to the ground and straddling it. Then he looked up toward the sky, tears flowing down his cheeks.
“And! My finger’s laziness is my own! Ahh, please forgive the indolence in this flesh, filled with affection for thee! Living solely to work diligently for body and soul of the Gospel! For how things must be! Forgive that I have wasted my time in idleness!”
As tears poured down from Petelgeuse, the figure on the ground let out a sob of its own. Making a humanlike reaction for the first time, it looked up at the sky and prayed, just like Petelgeuse.
“Love! This is love! One must sacrifice for love! Laziness cannot be permitted! I must obey the Gospel! I must return the love granted to me with my own!”
“—”
In a shrieking voice, Petelgeuse gave a command to the black robes.
“The girl whose death is uncertain…
Find her! If she is alive, wring her neck. If she is dead, cut her head off her corpse and bring her here! Reward her with love!”
In response, the figures seemingly melted into the darkness of the cavern and vanished.
As they departed, Petelgeuse was gazed off absently, breathing raggedly on his knees for a while before turning toward Subaru.
“Now then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then.”
Still kneeling, Petelgeuse drew close to Subaru, who was in a crouch.
“So in the end, what are you?”
“Uh, aah…”
“The Gospel does not seem to have guided you here, but Her affection hovers thickly all around you. Truly, truly, truuuly a most interessting thing!”
Petelgeuse stuck out his tongue, drawing near enough to lick Subaru’s eyeballs. The green-haired man clapped his hands, unable to conceal his delight at the boy who was staring at things that weren’t there.
“I should know the faces of all except ‘Pride,’ but having said that, I don’t think the affection you have received is unrelated to the Gospel.”
With that murmur, Petelgeuse reached within his habit and pulled out a single tome. It was a book with a black cover, about as large and heavy as a dictionary. At first glance, he looked like he was simply carrying his favorite book with him, but that was too normal an act for a madman.
“Ahh… I feel the love of the Gospel. My brain, it shivers…”
Petelgeuse rested the book without a title in his hands, calmly and reverently turning the pages.
“You are not recorded within the Gospel. Of course, there is also nothing here about any problems occurring here today, on the eve of the Great Ordeal! In other words!!”
Petelgeuse slammed the book shut, spit spraying as he lifted up the closed book.
“It means you are nothing to get seriously worked up about! Even though you have received such deep, deep, deep, deeeep affection… It is quite an inconsistency!”
He poked a finger at his temple, clawing at it with the nail as if he were trying to dig a hole. He tore the skin, yet the bloody, violent sight right before Subaru’s eyes elicited no reaction. The boy merely continued his frivolous laughter, watching idly as Petelgeuse harmed himself.
ReZERO_Starting Life in Another World Vol. 5 Page 18