7
With Meili agreeing to join the heart-racing Sage’s tour, some might think that freeing her from captivity would spark controversy, but the reality was somewhat different.
“That’s fine by meee? Lady Emilia has always had the right to decide how to deal with her. And in the one-in-a-million worst-case scenario, you’ll be the one having to deal with the trouble, won’t you, Subaruuu?”
The master of the mansion had no complaints, and Meili was formally freed from her confinement on the spot.
And though it was a bit of a strange position since she was going to be helping them, she was given her own room in the manor as well. As for what she would do after they finished their current journey, that was for her to think about.
At the very least, Subaru wanted her to have a place to come back to if she wanted one.
With that, they had taken care of half of the reasons they had stopped by the manor. All that was left was…
“Hey, Petra, isn’t it about time you cheered up?”
“It’s not like I’m especially mad. You are free to go to some far-off, dangerous place or whatever you like again, Master Subaru.”
Petra was huffy and red-faced as she went down the hall, leaving Subaru apologizing profusely to her back.
The person who was most against Subaru’s proposed heart-racing Sage tour was Petra. The reason she was angry was none other than Subaru’s terrible habit of breaking promises.
“I know I promised that I would take it easy for a little while after coming back from Pristella…but there isn’t time for that with what’s happened. Please understand. I’m sorry.”
“Whatever! You just don’t get it at all!”
As Subaru tried to apologize for going back on his word, Petra spun around and glared at him. He couldn’t help straightening up under her menacing gaze. As she looked up at him, she sighed slightly.
“You’re going someplace dangerous again, aren’t you?”
“I-it’s not guaranteed to be sketchy, you know? It’s not impossible that it’s just a nice, cheap, safe tour…”
“I worry. You always race out in front whenever it’s dangerous. It was really dangerous in Pristella, too. Mr. Otto and the others di…almost died.”
“Don’t go killing Otto again.”
Otto dies too much as it is.
Subaru understood why people had that general impression, but he would prefer it if Otto didn’t get himself killed off so easily. If he died, Subaru would have to reset. That said, he wasn’t about to declare they had a friendship that even death couldn’t sever.
“It doesn’t have to be you, does it? You could just leave it to someone else…someone stronger. Like, why not the master? He seems like he has plenty of free time.”
“I can understand your daily frustration with Roswaal, but let’s not actively look for excuses to kick him out of the house. I’m worried about the friction in our camp.”
Subaru could overlook Petra doing something like wringing out a rag in Roswaal’s tea, but anything more than that and he wouldn’t be able to stand idly by. Bombs had to be defused before they went off. That was the iron law in all games with affection meters.
“ ”
But Petra’s eyes were serious as she talked about how much he worried her, so he didn’t want to make a joke of it.
He didn’t want to disrespect Petra with a half-assed evasion or a stalling tactic when she was being serious.
“I understand why you’re worried. The desert we are going to is supposed to be crawling with demon beasts and is apparently the Guinness World Record holder for thickest miasma, too. And to top it off, I heard that this Sage isn’t a people person and has been turning away visitors for some four hundred years running… But even so, I can’t just let myself leave this to someone else.”
“Why? You can’t possibly believe you are actually strong, can you, Master Subaru? It’s already more than enough for Mr. Garf to have such a shameful misunderstanding.”
“Your grading curve is seriously ruthless! Don’t let Garfiel hear you say that!”
Petra’s marks were so strict that most guys would shudder if they ever heard how they rated.
Viewing the world through her lens, apparently only wisdom merited any respect, and there were practically no points awarded for strength. Petra was particularly hard to please since she wouldn’t share what she considered most important for scoring.
“Well, setting Garfiel aside for now…it isn’t as if I think there’s no one better for this job than me. All things considered, the safest thing would be to just leave it all to Reinhard.”
“So then why don’t you do that?”
“—Probably because I want to be the first person she sees when she wakes up.”
“ ”
He didn’t say who he meant, but he didn’t have to for Petra to understand.
The girl still deep in slumber—if they could find a way to wake her at the Sage’s tower, then he wanted to be the one to do it.
Even if there might be someone else better for the job, even if it was more likely to succeed if someone else did it, he couldn’t yield on that. He didn’t want to. This was Subaru’s ego speaking, and he was perfectly aware of that fact.
“If I set aside all emotions, then…it’s not a huge deal who wakes her up. If it can save her from that helpless position, then it doesn’t matter who or how.”
“…Mm-hmm…”
“But when you add the emotion into it, I want it to be me. I want to help her myself. I want to wake her up myself. With every fiber of my being, I want to be the one to save her.”
—That was why Subaru Natsuki was going.
Even though there were any number of stronger, wiser, better people.
Even if it was all just ego, Subaru Natsuki was going.
In order to save her. In order to be praised by her. For that reason alone.
“It’s selfish. And I’m sorry for always making you worry.”
“…This is the worst. It’s like nothing’s changed at all.”
“Hmm?”
Subaru had resolved himself to potentially be hated by Petra for that pathetic egotistical confession as he reached out to pat her head. But she just whispered something under her breath and looked up at him.
There were tears welling in her big eyes, which made Subaru waver for a moment.
The next moment—
“Eyy!”
“Isoflavone?!”
Petra’s head slammed straight into his solar plexus.
He made a strange noise at the sudden attack and struggled to breathe, dropping to his knees. Petra slipped out of his arms, pulled down her eyelid, and stuck out her tongue at him.
“You idiot, Master Subaru! You’re so selfish! Just do whatever you want!”
“P-Petra…”
“Go ahead and do all the dangerous things, make everyone worry, cause everyone around you trouble, and then just come back when it’s over like nothing happened, just like always! Hmph!”
“When you put it like that, I’m a pretty troublesome guy, aren’t I…?”
Standing up as he rubbed his chest, Subaru had a moment of self-reflection, unable to say anything in defense of himself after Petra’s tirade.
In the end, he had failed to make her feel better. She, on the other hand, had come to terms with her own feelings and was ready to see Subaru off like always.
Subaru scratched his head pathetically at having to rely on everyone around him again.
“Got it. In that case, I’m sorry for always doing this, but I’m gonna just run headlong toward danger again, and I’ll be back after screwing things up here and there in all sorts of ways, so wait for me. Being the first person to welcome me back after I leave is your special privilege.”
“…You won’t let Ms. Frederica or Ms. Ram say it before me?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
“Not the master, either?”
“I’d beat myself senseless if he was the first person I saw when I came back here.”
“…Mm, very well. Then I’ll accept that.”
She had seemingly been convinced, and after taking a long, deep breath, Petra reconciled with Subaru over that promise.
Even with his propensity to go back on his word, Subaru swore in his heart that was one promise he would keep.
“You are so hopeless, Master Subaru…”
Subaru scratched his cheek as Petra muttered that.
It sort of felt like he was hearing that from everyone he showed his face to.
He couldn’t help but wonder how he would ever make it up to them.
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