[[]]
"It ends here, villain."
Emilia, a beautiful girl with waist-length silver hair and heterochromatic blue-purple eyes, makes her entrance.
[[]]
"Huh? That's strange?"
Emilia widened her blue-purple eyes in confusion, tilting her head in thought.
She didn't have any memory of this.
In her memory, her first meeting with Subaru was in the storage house while searching for her insignia, and shortly after that, she fought Elsa.
Reinhardt was also bewildered because, in his memory, he heard Subaru's cry for help and rushed to his rescue.
[[]]
"I cannot tolerate your continued mischief—it ends here."
[[]]
"How meddlesome, you lot."
Priscilla drew her crimson-colored fan from her ample bosom, fanning herself while expressing disdain for Emilia's heroic actions in this scene.
"Ah... I..."
Faced with mockery, Emilia said nothing, mainly because she was too confused.
'Is this an illusion? Or what?'
"Priscilla-sama, please watch your words."
Rem stepped forward, refuting Priscilla with a respectful yet serious tone.
In this situation, if it were Subaru-kun, he would definitely retort. Since he's not here, Rem will act on his behalf.
But since Emilia-sama is here, Subaru-kun should be able to overcome this crisis.
"Ignorant masses."
Priscilla had no time to reply; she was already intrigued by this magical screen and focused all her attention on it.
... ...
By this point, many people had arrived at the scene, one after another. Presumably, no matter who else comes, everyone will be used to it.
Some people had already sat on the red chairs, watching the screen displaying the scene.
"Um... Felt-san, do you have any memory of this?"
Emilia asks Felt, who had somewhat participated in the events in the scene.
"Huh? Hey, don't ask me; I don't know what's going on. it's weird. I was indeed planning to run this way, but when I saw Reinhardt was here, I went somewhere else. That is to say, I didn't appear in this alley at all."
"Then... um, what does Reinhardt-sama think?"
Crusch Karsten, the head of the Karsten Dukedom who had lost her memories, asked Reinhardt.
Some people cast expectant gazes at Reinhardt, but Reinhardt showed his apology, bowed, and said:
"I am very sorry to have disappointed everyone. I have no memory of this scene. I only remember Subaru asking me for help, and I rushed to his aid upon hearing his voice. My memory is completely different from the scene shown."
"What happened after that, Reinhardt?"
The most excellent knight, Julius Juukulius, who arrived late, pressed his close friend Reinhardt.
"In my memory, after getting to know Subaru, Subaru left. Connecting Subaru's words, I came to the slums and encountered Felt-sama asking me for help."
"What exactly is... going on?"
Elsa and Meili digested Reinhardt's words; in their memory, this story was another version.
In the version Elsa told Meili, Subaru called a large number of royal capital guards to fight Elsa, and then Reinhardt arrived, defeated Elsa, and was rescued by Subaru.
Just as everyone was thinking, the white-haired old man with an imposing presence, Sword Demon Wilhelm van Astrea, seemed to sense something...
He slightly moved his finger—
"Rom! Ah, hey, old man! Put the sword away!"
Felt, who was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of the giant Rom, saw the Sword Demon instantly placing his sword on Rom's neck.
"Bartz..."
Rom immediately interrupted the Sword Demon's speech upon hearing this.
"Not 'Bartz' or anything, just an old man. Sword Demon Wilhelm Trias, if you want to kill this old man, come on."
"Wilhelm-san!"
Emilia and the others are surprised by this scene.
"Hey, Reinhardt, quickly stop your grandfather!"
Felt said hurriedly.
Wilhelm looked around, then looked at Bartz, no, Rom, and said:
"Married into the Sword Saint family, now called Wilhelm van Astrea."
After speaking, Wilhelm put down his sword, and the atmosphere eased.
"In any case, let's continue watching the screen's content first. Don't miss the important information in the screen due to discussions that may never yield results with the existing information."
Anastasia Hoshin said so.
"I agree with Anastasia-san's suggestion. Let's observe the subsequent developments in the screen first."
Wilhelm put the sword back into its sheath, agreeing with the great merchant.
"Tch, how verbose."
Priscilla clicked her tongue.
"Damn, isn't this a movie theater?"
Next to Priscilla, Al, who had just arrived, looked around and, seeing the familiar place, couldn't help but say softly...
"Ah! Lia, look, I'm making my appearance!"
"Ah! It's brother!"
Beatrice's Puck turned everyone's attention to the screen...
... ...
[[]]
After a long time in various senses, on the screen, facing Subaru's "Satella" address to her, Emilia, who was surprised, was asked the reason by Subaru, and after a moment of stunned silence, shook her head:
"No... It's nothing. There's one thing. After retrieving the insignia, I want to apologize to you."
"Although I don't know what you're apologizing for, I'd actually rather hear 'thank you' than 'sorry.' If you could add a cute smile, that would be the best."
"Idiot."
Emilia responded to Subaru's boring joke with a smile.
[[]]
Emilia, outside the screen, couldn't help but smile, seeming to think of something, and said softly:
"Speaking of which, Subaru is always helping me. Next time I see Subaru, I must repay him in a very—special way."
On the screen, everyone saw Subaru helping Emilia find the insignia to repay her life-saving grace. Facing the matter of helping a lost child, which was unrelated to finding the insignia, Subaru also went along with Emilia's temperament.
Just as Emilia was thinking about how to repay Subaru, her attention was once again drawn to Subaru, who was muttering to himself while illuminating the area with a Lagmite ore—
[[]]
"So, what kind of monsters will appear next? Judging from the style of fantasy works, whatever appears is not a joke."
Subaru walked forward cautiously.
[[]]
"This is really... getting stranger and stranger—"
Elsa, outside the screen, watched all this. This was increasingly different from her memory, and she substituted herself into this scene, thinking of something bad.
"Could it be..."
Elsa had an ominous yet expectant premonition.
In the scene, Subaru arrived at a place that looked like an inn or tavern.
"Ah! It's indeed here. I thought it looked familiar just now. Right, Rom?"
Felt outside the screen said this while looking at this familiar environment.
[[]]
"If I hand over the wooden tag to the guards, I feel like I can catch them all in one fell swoop."
"Hmm?"
Subaru seemed to have stepped on something..."What the hell is this?"
Stepping on it, the "squish" sound entered his ears, and a strange sensation transmitted from his foot to his brain.
Subaru bent down and lightly smeared the sticky substance he stepped on with his fingertip. (and in the eyes of Wilhelm, Reinhardt, and others, they had already seen what it was—)
Blood.
"Ah...?"
[[]]
Most of the people inside and outside the screen widened their eyes together, making incredibly surprised sounds, especially Subaru, Felt, and Rom.
"Rom, this is!?"
"The old man in this scene..."
Rom looked carefully.
In the scene, a huge corpse with a severed arm and a cracked neck was lying there. That was Rom, who was still in shock outside the screen.
[[]]
"Ara." Elsa outside the screen and a female voice inside the screen overlapped, but it is better to say that the voices were exactly the same.
"It seems I've been discovered. Then there's no choice. Hmm, hmm, there's really no choice."
[[]]
This voice? It's Elsa!
Just as a group of people wanted to turn their attention to Elsa, the movement in the scene next stole their attention once again.
[[]]
Thud!
Accompanied by a dull hitting sound, Subaru's consciousness was dominated by scalding "heat."
When Subaru tried to check, everyone already understood the reason.
Subaru's abdomen was torn by a sharp blade.
[[]]
"Subaru!"
Emilia is in fear.
"Subaru-kun!"
Rem was worried.
"Darling!"
Natsuki Rem was concerned.
"Subaru!"
Beatrice was worried.
"Boss!"
Garfiel raised his heart.
"Subaru..."
Reinhardt, Julius, Wilhelm, and others lamented their powerlessness; even if they were strong, they could only watch their friend suffer.
"This is... his intestines... ah..."
Elsa's body trembled while heating up,
"Could it be... this is the reason he wants to kill me... ah..."
"Eh...? How could big brother..."
Meili was a little incredulous.
"Subaru is... Subaru-kun is!"
"Calm down, Rem. Since Barusu is still alive and well, he will definitely overcome this difficulty."
"But... but!"
Rem and Natsuki Rem said in unison, almost wanting to rush in and immediately treat Subaru.
But they couldn't do it.
[[]]
"...Subaru?"
A silver bell-like voice came.
[[]]
Emilia and the others relaxed a little.
"It's okay, I'm here, I'll treat Subaru, right? Right?"
Emilia anxiously asked herself. She wasn't confident because she had a strong, ominous premonition.
In the scene, another scream rang out, completely crushing the hope that had just risen in everyone's hearts.
[[]]
"...Ugh."
Emilia, in the scene, fell down powerlessly, very close to Subaru.
[[]]
"Lia!? What exactly is going on!"
Puck's heart clenched. Looking at this scene, it frantically thought about who else could save its daughter in this situation.
It? No, it couldn't do it at all because it knew very well that it was currently in slumber, and the fallen Emilia could not actively consume her soul power to awaken it.
"If they don't receive treatment soon, Subaru and Emilia-sama will..."
Felix spoke the cruel truth from a doctor's perspective.
[[]]
Subaru desperately reached out to Emilia, even though his body was getting weaker, even though blood was flowing, even though he was about to die.
The boy desperately grabbed the girl's hand.
"...Wait."
[[]]
Subaru said... 'wait?' Did Subaru have any trump cards?
Everyone could only hope so.
[[]]
"I..."
"I will definitely..."
"I will definitely save you."
In the next moment, he—Natsuki Subaru- died.