The first thing I felt when I woke up was the bitter taste of dust that entered my mouth.
"Can you please remind me in advance next time? I end up in such a mess every time."
There was a texture containing sand in his mouth. Yuexing quickly spit out the residue in his mouth, patted the dirt on his body, looked around, and then
"...Emilia"
Next to her, Emilia was lying on the cold floor. Fortunately, she was still breathing.
"——Ah, woo"
Emilia, whose face was twisted in sorrow and fear, and with cold sweat on her forehead, was in great pain. She shook her head sometimes as if she was resisting, and sometimes as if she was desperately trying to escape from something——
"——Egidona, you are too cruel."
Of course, only the initiator of the trial can cause such a reaction.
"Although I hate the silver-haired half-elf, that's just her "past""
The girl's dissatisfied voice sounded in her mind, and Yuexing sighed.
The weak moans were like asking for help, and the side face looked like he was about to cry.
"Emilia?"
With just a slight touch with her fingers, Emilia's slender body trembled and beat as if struck by lightning. Yuexing was so frightened that she grabbed her shoulders and tried to force her to calm down.
"Emilia! Cheer up, Emilia, Emilia!"
"——Um, is it Subaru? Is it Yuexing?"
"Well, it's me"
Emilia, who was gradually relaxing, slowly opened her eyelids and slowly regained consciousness.
"Here, is... that, I..."
"Now, don't think about anything and try to see if you can stand up."
Emilia held Yuexing's hand, stood up tremblingly, and looked at the surrounding environment.
"Yes... I accept the "trial", and then..."
The memory before she lost consciousness was revived. Emilia recalled the "trial" and suddenly collapsed on Yuexing's body again.
As if remembering how she was trembling just now, Emilia clutched her shoulders, her face was drained of blood, and her two rows of teeth were chattering. The reason for trembling was not because of the cold, but out of absolute fear and rejection.
"No, it's not...it's not me...no! I already said it's not me, I already said..."
"What's wrong, Emilia? Calm down, Emilia, look at me, Emilia!"
"I hate it...don't look like that...don't, don't, no, no...don't make me—"
Turning a deaf ear to the sound, Emilia covered her face with her palms and squatted down on the spot, her cries turning into choked sobs.
No matter how she called, Emilia still seemed unable to hear the sound and kept crying:
The girl crying out of fear kept calling the name of the absent elf
…
"——Finally calmed down and just lay down to rest."
After being looked at inquiringly, Ram walked out of the room and whispered this. He was concerned about the attitude of the room behind him, showing how serious the situation inside was.
"I don't know what kind of past Emilia has gone through, but judging from her reaction at the time, it looked very bad——"
Yuexing on the side shrugged helplessly
"It's really not like you, Barus. Although you are usually casual, but with your current gloominess, you don't want to take a second look."
"Thank you Chicken Lady...I'm sorry for making you worry."
"snort!"
Ram snorted in response, and then took a step forward. Subaru, who followed her, looked at the door one last time before leaving and bit his lip.
Probably blaming himself for not taking good care of Emilia.
"——Alas? Emilia-sama is okay now——?"
Stepping into the innermost room, I was greeted by Roswaal lying on the bed.
The location is a building deep in the "Sacred Area", which is also where Roswaal recuperates. It is said that this is Ryuse's house and is currently being lent to the lord.
——The insane Emilia in the tomb was also sent to this building for this reason.
"Yeah, I'm sleeping in the room now. Thanks to Ram, I shouldn't have nightmares."
"It's the hypnotic effect of the spices. It shouldn't work normally. But now it's because the great elf is not around."
Ram, who was carrying a small bag, supplemented Subaru's answer. The spices he used were different from when he used to confuse Subaru, so Subaru was surprised that there were several kinds of spices.
"I used to suspect that you had been giving me poison..."
"The raw materials of tea become poison if used too much. He just uses them as raw materials. He is a petty man who wants to hold grudges for as long as possible."
After saying that with a nonchalant expression, Ram stood next to Roswaal's bed.
"Although Gafir complains a lot, Ms. Ryuzu is very sensible."
"After all, she is an older person~ Well, it makes sense to be reasonable, and she understands better than Jaffier that we can't achieve our goal if we don't help..."
Liberating the "Sacred Territory" is the long-cherished wish of Jaffier and others. If we are unwilling to cooperate, they will not hesitate to use tough measures, but——
"If you are willing to emancipate, we will help you, right? It's a really complicated position."
"When Lady Emilia appears, the interests of both parties will be consistent, and the other party will not be as stubborn as before... I heard that you brought a companion? Of course, I don't mean the moon star.
"
"I'm talking about Otto, that guy will sleep in the Great Cathedral tonight. Originally, he came to the "Sacred Realm" because he wanted to see you, but..."
"but?"
Roswaal closed one eye and Subaru scratched his head. The reason for Otto's absence was simple.
"Next we're going to talk about things within our camp. I don't want him, who is just half an outsider, to be unable to look back later."
"I see. You're very smart. You don't want your friends to get involved in trouble. That's it."
"To say we are friends is a little bit...but, that's it."
After a brief explanation, the other party explained directly. Subaru didn't specifically deny it, just shrugged, and then talked about the business again, although it was without the person involved, Emilia——
"Leading the expedition against the White Whale, repelling the Witch Cult that attacked the mansion and the village, defeating the Sin Archbishop, forming an alliance with the candidate Lord Cursch, and coming back with these achievements——"
I don't know if it was psychological, but Roswaal's tone was very heavy, and wrinkles appeared on the whitened brows.
What he was talking about was the information that he initially thought should be shared during the internal conversation within the camp that morning, and also the whole story of the fierce battle that took place during Roswaal's absence.
"I didn't listen in detail before evacuating... I thought it was just a delusion at the time."
"I knew you would say that, but I couldn't hide it even if I wanted to, so I said it all in a way that was neither exaggerated nor modest! Come on, praise me as much as you like! Hurry!"
"Okay, okay, great, great"
"It's so perfunctory!"
Faced with Subaru's sudden change of attitude, Ram's reaction was as flippant as usual, but the sarcasm became a bit blunt, probably because the report also shocked her.
And this is the same for Roswaal who calmed down and tried to understand things.
"——What an unexpected result."
Lowering his eyes with deep emotion, Roswaal said this as if he was sighing.
His reaction made Subaru, who originally thought he would add amusement to his compliments, was a little stupid.
Then, with his heterochromatic eyes shining on Subaru, Roswaal said:
"In that case, I would like to repay your merits this way: when you leave here safely, I will appoint you as a knight, the knight of Emilia."
"————"
"The merits of joining the Duke in defeating the White Whale and killing a Sin Priest are worthy of praise. Your name will be known as "Knight" Natsuki Subaru."
The ignorant boy boasted that he would become Emilia's helper
The kid with sweet dreams was frustrated several times in the face of reality, despaired, fell into madness, was controlled by revenge and despised everything, and was finally saved by deep love - that's why he is here now
During that time, the "reputation" guaranteed by Roswaal proved its worth.
"...I appreciate it. If this can bring meaning to that battle."
"That is an achievement worthy of praise. You have earned the right to stand beside Lady Emilia, relying on your own strength."
"Just accept it gladly. A reasonable identity that can stand beside Emilia, isn't it what you have always wanted?" Yuexing smacked his lips. The reward proposed by Roswaal is reasonable and can be said to be a win-win situation for both parties.
Subaru closed his eyes hard and let the bones in his neck crack, then said:
"If you are so serious, you will make me crazy. Although I am very grateful that the topic has taken a big step forward."
"That's really unexpected - well, I am very serious at any time and at any time? And this time is also an appointment - this time we can finally talk to you face to face."
"...It's you, and Emilia who was supposed to come."
"No~ right? There is no doubt that it's "you""
The frizzy feeling of not being understood made Subaru, who turned his face away, hold his breath slightly.
After correcting the other party's intended statement, Roswaal closed one eye - when he was pregnant with a ghost fetus, he would only see people with his yellow left eye.
The look in his eyes and the words he just said made Subaru ask with a disgusting premonition:
"what does that mean?"
"The combination of Roswaal and Ram is the same as the combination of me and you. Ram and I are the guards around the "talking person", so the person Roswaal wants to talk to is "you" instead of "you".
"You"" Yuexing explained
"Then why did you deliberately get rid of Emilia?"
"Isn't that of course——? Bad ideas can only be formed through discussions between confidant accomplices. I am not so naive to let untrustworthy people participate."
"You mean Emilia is not trustworthy? What did you say suddenly?"
Roswaal, who said this calmly while leaning back against the pillow, angered Subaru, of course.
Because he didn’t tell anyone, but he said Emilia was not trustworthy
And the person who said this was none other than Emilia’s backer, Roswaal L. Mezas.