CHAPTER 2
OVERCOME SAND TIME!
1
It was a twenty-day haul from the manor to the Auguria Dunes.
The trip had begun with one uneasy morning, but fortunately, there had not been any noteworthy incidents along the way, granting the party a period of peace.
They were heading east in a straight line following the road, passing time in luxurious boredom.
“I had the same thought when we were coming back from Pristella and on the Liphas plains, too, but…the roads seem pretty safe here in Lugunica.”
“The maintenance and safety of the roads play an important role in keeping the peace of the country. Compared to other countries, Lugunica is particularly dedicated. Attacks by bandits and demon beasts are significantly lower as a result.”
“Huh, does that mean other countries aren’t this safe?”
“The Holy Kingdom of Gusteko struggles to maintain their roads since it is covered in perpetual snow. The Volakian Empire and Kararagi Federation are home to many races in their countries, leading to a wide variety of different customs. With such stark differences, clashes are more common. So to answer your question, no, other countries aren’t this safe.”
“You don’t say.”
Subaru and Julius were chatting on the driver’s bench of the carriage as a gentle breeze blew past.
The big carriage was drawn by two land dragons. Subaru was holding the reins while Julius sat beside him and watched their surroundings. They had settled on this arrangement because if everyone was inside the carriage, it would leave them slow to react if something happened, but as the idle conversation suggested, the road so far had been peaceful.
“Yaaawn.”
“—Subaru.”
Subaru yawned at the unchanging landscape and boredom, but he was immediately met with a sharp voice from Julius.
“Yeah, yeah.” Subaru waved his hand.
“I can understand it is difficult to maintain a high level of focus, but allowing an opening such as that is the most dangerous thing you can do. I won’t say don’t let your guard down at all, but at least don’t do it in such an obvious way that anyone can tell.”
“It was a single yawn. I’m sure you’ve yawned before once in your life, haven’t you?”
“Of course. I experience the same physiological phenomena as anyone else. But a knight should possess the state of mind and wherewithal to avoid showing them in front of others. You are still lacking in self-awareness.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s me, the oblivious knight, at your service.”
Julius was as prickly as ever, but Subaru was becoming a master at fending off his jabs.
Between the trip from Pristella and their current journey, he had spent over twenty days on the road with Julius. Subaru had learned how to get along with him.
“I would also say it is proper manners to look at the person you are speaking to when you are having a serious conversation.”
“If someone won’t seriously listen to your serious conversation, that means they don’t think it’s the right time to be having that conversation, right? You should loosen up a little. You’re too tense. Yawn a little or something.”
“ ”
Subaru cracked his neck as he responded with an indifferent tone. Seemingly taken by surprise by that, Julius blinked.
“…I’m so impatient that even you can see it that easily?”
“I imagine everyone thinks you’re just too on edge. I get that to some extent that’s just how it is for you, but…”
“You’re the only one who can recognize it for what it is.”
There was a trace of resignation in Julius’s voice. Subaru simply responded with a husky “Yeah.”
They couldn’t hear the conversation the women inside the carriage were having. Which would suggest that they couldn’t hear Subaru and Julius, either.
They were both men, and their relationship was complicated in more ways than one, but for the moment they were comrades who needed to work together.
Subaru shifted gears, deciding that they should talk a little bit more openly.
“It came up during that chat with Roswaal, but what happened with your spirits?”
“…There’s been no change. They’re still at my side, but they won’t touch down on my arm to rest their wings. They seem to be perplexed as well.”
Julius made the spirits visible when Subaru brought them up.
The faint glimmer of six colors was still following Julius. But they didn’t sit on his outstretched arm and were flitting around seemingly in confusion.
“My blessing seems to still be working as before. That is probably part of what is troubling them. They don’t seem to be able to understand why it is so hard to leave me.”
“Forming another contract…would be difficult since it isn’t like the original one was broken, huh? I know it’s not really my place to speak, but would it be possible to make a deal with another spirit until this is all resolved?”
“It’s a rare talent to be able to borrow strength from passing lesser spirits like Lady Emilia does. The only ones I can draw strength from are those who I have known for years. It’s similar to how you and Lady Beatrice operate.”
“Emilia-tan and Puck are like that, too. I guess it makes sense that your partners are special.”
Scratching his head, Subaru found himself thinking that he had made an unreasonable suggestion.
As a fellow spirit user, he wouldn’t have wanted someone telling him to search for another spirit. If his bond with Beatrice was severed, would he just let her go? That was basically what he had asked Julius to consider.
“Because of that, I can only fulfill my duty as a knight with this sword of mine. Of course, I have trained my sword no less than my spirit magic, but it is still true that it marks a significant drop in my individual strength.”
“When you say your sword alone isn’t strong enough, it just comes off as sarcasm to me.”
Subaru being completely dominated by that sword alone was the starting point of their relationship. At the time, Subaru might as well have been a baby trying to fight against him. By now I should at least be at the level of a five-year-old, though, right?
“It’s the same with Reinhard, but you guys have a bad habit of underrating yourselves. There’s such a thing as being too modest. In fact, that’s something that applies to a lot of settings, if you ask me.”
“I’m tempted to say much the same thing to you, but I’m not so sure—setting you and myself aside, what Reinhard does is different from modesty or underrating himself.”
“How so…?”
Subaru cocked his head in confusion as he imagined the red-haired hero.
Anyone looking at him would see he was superhuman, the strongest, and completely peerless. That was Reinhard van Astrea, so it was surprising that there would be a difference in how Julius and he evaluated Reinhard.
“Please don’t misunderstand me. I am in complete agreement regarding the high level of Reinhard’s strength. Indeed, I suspect on that point every person who knows him would be in full agreement. He is arguably the pinnacle of humanity.”
“It’s shocking enough that I can’t really call that an exaggeration.”
“It’s not just his strength, either. His way of life and self-consciousness are also fully realized. When I first met him, he was not even ten years old, but he hasn’t changed at all since then.”
“Wait, he was like that even back then?”
It was a bit of a philosophical question to ask when did Reinhard become Reinhard, but according to Julius, who had known him more than a decade ago, he was already completely developed by that point.
The boy not even ten years old who lost his grandmother, inherited her blessing, and became the Sword Saint—
“I wonder what it must have felt like.”
“Hmm?”
“Fifteen years ago, Reinhard was about five years old, right? Inheriting his grandmother’s blessing at that age, growing up in a family that inherited the blood of a legendary hero…just what sort of responsibility must he have been saddled with.”
Subaru felt like he could understand the weight of a parent’s expectations a little bit.
Of course, the weight that he had borne, and the one Reinhard carried and the responsibilities it implied, were not remotely comparable, and it was maybe even rude to try to compare them, but still.
“Honestly, I’m weak. I’m weak and don’t have nearly enough strength, so I’m always regretting things. There’s probably not a single night I haven’t wished to be strong enough to not be so helpless.”
“That sounds like you’ve endured quite a number of fruitless nights.”
“Who asked you? …Anyway, it just feels like Reinhard’s in the exact opposite situation. I don’t think he was always the Reinhard we knew from age five, so what must he have felt?”
“…I cannot begin to say what he might have been feeling at the time. However…”
Julius paused and looked up.
His expression softened as he stared down the road they were traveling. Maybe it was more accurate to say he was looking at the sky in the distance and the sunlight shining down on them.
“…seeing Reinhard then was a major turning point for me.”
His voice sounded almost proud.
It was almost as if he was squinting his eyes not from the sun, but from the dazzling object of aspiration that had been burned into his memories as a child and was still fresh even now.
“ ”
Seeing Julius like that, Subaru’s own thoughts wandered to Reinhard.
Just like them challenging the Pleiades Watchtower, Reinhard had also taken on an important role—Subaru was worried about how the transport of Wrath was going.
They had captured Sirius in Pristella, and she was currently being transported all the way to the capital. By the time Subaru’s group found themselves outside the Auguria Dunes, Sirius should be reaching the capital.
It would be best if nothing happens, and Reinhard’s there, so I don’t need to worry, but—
“—Reinhard will be fine. He will surely come through.”
“Don’t go reading people’s minds. It’s scary.”
“Hah. It’s because I’ve been traveling with you for a while now. I’ve started to get a sense for it, I guess.”
Julius brushed back his hair, seeming somehow pleased with himself. Subaru could only sigh.
I guess we’ve both gotten better at dealing with each other.
“At this rate, if nothing else happens, I’ll be able to write a dissertation on you.”
“Don’t worry. At the moment, you’re already the person who knows me best in the world second only to myself.”
“That wasn’t a title I ever particularly wanted, but there you have it! I’ve got my PhD in Juliusology. If Joshua heard that…”
Subaru trailed off as he started to make a joke.
“ ”
Joshua Juukulius. Julius’s younger brother with a serious case of big-brother worship.
And just like Rem, he had had his name and memories stolen from the world, from his family, and was at this moment still sleeping.
“…It would certainly be good for the mood if something happened…”
Guessing why Subaru fell silent, Julius’s smile disappeared as he murmured.
It wasn’t like him at all, but Subaru wasn’t so stupid that he couldn’t recognize that Julius was saying it for his sake.
He wasn’t that stupid, but…
“Argh, damn it. I really am an idiot.”
Scratching his head pathetically, Subaru muttered to himself in irritation.
“ ”
In the end, he and Julius didn’t speak any more that day.
Three days later, the group reached Mirula, the closest town to the Dunes.
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