2
“It…sort of feels like a breeze, but sort of not.”
“…No, there is a breeze. But judging by the strength of it, it will be quite a ways farther before this path connects to aboveground.”
Subaru licked his fingertip and held it up to sense the breeze, and Ram’s pink eyes narrowed.
Trusting the words of the wind magic user, Subaru felt disheartened at the length of the road ahead of them.
—It had already been an hour since they set out, but it was incredibly difficult to walk on the ground in the sand cavern.
Walking alongside Patlash, who was used to the sand, Subaru ignored the discomfort of all the sand in his boots. From the experience he had gotten walking on the sand the past few days, he was managing to get by without slowing down too much.
But there was no avoiding the sand sapping his endurance, so they were taking breaks at regular intervals, and Ram was searching for the others with her clairvoyance during those breaks.
“—No good. Nothing is in range for me. All I can see is Barusu’s land dragon’s vision.”
“You’re on the same wavelength as Patlash? …I guess that makes sense.”
Though they were different species, Ram and Patlash were similar in their haughtiness. But it was a little inconvenient that the only one she could connect with was the dragon who was already with them.
“Lady Emilia and Julius can communicate with lesser spirits, so they should not get lost. On that point at least, I do have to wonder about the maliciousness of this grouping.”
“Guidance from lesser spirits? Yeah, Emilia-tan tends to use that pretty effectively. In my case, the connection with Beako is too strong, and it scares off the lesser spirits, so I can’t really use it.”
“You are just a half-baked mage born of Lady Beatrice’s pity after all. I didn’t get my hopes up.”
“Grrr…”
There was nothing he could say in response to being called useless for gathering information, so he didn’t try. In the end, it just meant that the people who could be counted on to fight could also rely on their abilities in other areas as well.
“She’s hiding it behind a tough front now, but right after we got sent here and before you woke up, Ram was pretty panicky about not being able to find Rem.”
“…That so…?”
“You’re doing fine in terms of keeping Ram calm. You aren’t useless at all.”
While Ram was searching with her clairvoyance, Anastasia quietly mentioned what had happened right after they had been separated from everyone else.
Considering how Ram felt, what Subaru had said earlier really was the worst.
Subaru had seen how devoted Ram was in going to take care of her little sister that she couldn’t remember every day during the past year. Even if someone else doubted her feelings, Subaru at least should not have doubted her.
“Reflect on your mistakes and make the most of them. It’s the same in life as it is in business. And you’re the kind of guy who can do that, aren’t ya?”
“…Don’t change gears on me and start saying nice stuff like that. The witch who made you tried to ensnare me with a similar sort of setup.”
“Ensnare, huh? I’d appreciate it if you could start thinking of me as a different person from that witch. If you’re too stubborn, the girls will never fall for you. Consider that a genuine bit of advice from me.”
“I don’t know any other way to go at things. But I’ll make a mental note of that.”
With that advice on social grace from an artificial spirit, their group continued deeper and deeper into the cavern.
As they went along, the mental stress of walking through a labyrinth of sand where everything looked exactly the same grew ever more intense. Their unease and anxiety at the lack of progress continued to grow, but also there was something bothering Subaru.
“Even though we were on guard about this possibly being a demon beast nest…we haven’t run into a single one.”
“That has been bothering me as well.”
Subaru kicked the ground as Ram agreed.
It wasn’t just that they had not run into any while moving through the cavern. Ram had not caught any with her clairvoyance, either. It was an ominous sort of sign. As if the space they were in really was entirely shut off from the rest of the world.
“There’s no way this is actually some rift in space that’s not connected to anywhere, right?”
“If it is, then where is the wind that we’ve been following coming from? Do you think we’re in the nostril of a giant demon beast and that’s just its breathing?”
“The fact that I can’t actually deny that is scary.”
He had seen the world shattering around him with his own eyes. After that, whatever might happen wouldn’t be a shock. Wherever the rift they were in connected to should not be that surprising.
“You are free to get scared all you want, coward, but keep your stupid ideas to yourself, please.”
Ram’s cold, logical voice rejected the wretchedness that Subaru felt when he realized they were trapped in a dead end.
“Eh?”
“Hold up the lamp— The path.”
Turning around frantically at what Ram said, Subaru held the lantern up and lit the path in front of them.
Even if you say that, it’s just the same straight path we’ve been following the whole time.
In other words, there wasn’t anything new to be—
“—A fork in the road.”
Right in front of them, the straight path they had been walking through the sand divided into two paths.
The fork was nice and neat; there was no notable difference between right and left. It looked like there wasn’t anything to base a decision on other than instinct, but—
“It looks like we are being told to figure it out. What shall we do?”
“As best I know, Zhuge Liang said to always go right in situations like this.”
“Who’s that?”
He could remember that, according to behavioral studies, humans tended to unconsciously go left when they were confused. It was probably something to do with a bunch of complex factors like dominant eye or leg or stuff like that.
Subaru had picked up a wealth of pointless facts, but that was a useful one. Or at least he thought so.
“I always want to check the right path first. That’s my justice!”
“You really seem to trust this Zhuge Liang.”
“Who’s that?”
Ram’s eyes narrowed, and Anastasia cocked her head again.
From just their exchange, it might have sounded like they were just screwing around, but all three of them had serious looks on their faces.
It was already more than two hours since they had been separated from the others.
They had managed to calm down before, but it was time enough for the anxiety and unease to start making waves again. And just at that moment, there was a fork in the path. Honestly, considering how anxious he was feeling, he wanted to start moving again as soon as possible.
“We have no way of deciding. But I don’t really like the idea of relying on Zhuge Liang…”
“For now, let’s just go with what Natsuki wants. The right one, yeah?”
Neither Ram nor Anastasia had enough reason to say otherwise with Subaru wanting to go right. And all three of them shared the desire to get out of their maze of sand and meet back up with everyone else as soon as possible.
“ ”
“Oh right, it’s not just us. You’re here, too, Patlash. Sorry, sorry. I haven’t forgotten about you.”
Patlash’s nose pushed against Subaru’s head. Feeling like his timidity had been blown away, Subaru smiled.
“What? You’ll follow me on whatever path I choose, even to the gates of hell?”
“Nonsense, but the fact that you seem to be basically right indicates it’s a serious case. Really, though, which is best.”
Subaru made up his own translation of Patlash’s intent, and Ram sighed in exasperation. Anastasia clapped her hands watching the two them.
“All right already. That’s enough discussion. If we’re agreed, then let’s move. Time is money.”
“One of Hoshin’s sayings, was it? —Okay then, let’s go. Same formation as before, and let’s be careful.”
Ram and Anastasia nodded.
Following the great strategist Zhuge Liang’s teaching, the noncombatant party resumed their march. They headed down the right path, believing that their comrades awaited them at the other end.
“Honestly, a fork in the road with no hint at all is mean, but it at least rules out the hell of an infinite loop… I guess this really is one of the Sage’s traps?”
“If so, how much time must have been spent digging a hole like this underground? But it is a shut-in pretending to be a hermit, after all. There would be plenty of time in all those years, I suppose.”
“Big Sis, that’s a pretty harsh evaluation of the Sage.”
But he could understand her hostile stance toward the Sage, too. If the sand time and the garden of demon beasts and this labyrinth were all set up by the Sage, then Sinister was probably a better title.
“At this rate, I’m not going to be doing anything other than complaining when we finally do meet this Sage.”
“Agreed. After doing all this, if they’re still not willing to help, then I won’t have any choice. Worst case, I’ll have no choice but to string them up and make them talk.”
“I’m not sure what to say about your grave-robbing approach to things.”
“If there’s something I want, I take the measures needed to get it. This is not some child’s game.”
Her genuine and unshakable resolve was recognizable in her strong tone.
That was a resolve that Subaru would need to have as well. Not the resolve to dirty his hands for Rem’s sake, but the resolve to not hesitate, to take the steps he needed to get the result he wanted.
“In the end, the thing I have to do is the same as always. I’ve never held back before.”
Subaru clenched his fist and tried to fire himself up.
Just then—
“Patlash?”
Suddenly, Patlash stretched her neck and rubbed her nose against Subaru’s shoulder. It wasn’t as if she had suddenly felt the urge to cuddle up with him. There was another reason.
“—A door?”
Raising the lantern, Subaru saw an imposing piece of iron that filled the entirety of the sandy passage. It was an iron wall that blocked the entire passage from ground to ceiling.
The group pressed forward to right in front of the wall and started examining the mass of metal in detail.
“This thing’s big, and it looks thick… Can we move it?”
“…That’s blocking the whole path, so probably not easily. And Natsuki?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you think this is a door? It just looks like a metal wall to me.”
“Eh?”
Subaru caught his breath as Anastasia cocked her head while looking at the same mass of metal as he was. Ram nodded as well.
“It just looks like a bunch of scrap metal in our way. Even with as bad as your eyes are, Barusu, that is an odd conclusion.”
“I mean, I can’t really explain it, either. It just felt like a door to me, I guess…”
Subaru looked at the metal mass—no, the metal door—again.
There was no other reason than what he gave them already. Just for some reason, he had naturally perceived it as a door.
And trying to figure out why, he reached out and touched it—
“—Ah.”
Just then, when Subaru touched the door, it seemed to glow faintly, and then it disappeared. It was as if it had never been blocking their way. There were not even any traces of it left in the sand on the ground.
“What was that…? Did you do something, Natsuki?”
“I mean, you saw it, right? All I did was touch it. I didn’t do anything else. I have no idea what happened.”
Looking at his hand and back where the door had been, Subaru was shaken as he answered Anastasia.
He had no idea what had happened or what that door even was.
“—The important point isn’t what happened, it’s what we do now.”
Ram’s quiet voice put a halt on Subaru’s confusion. As the other two looked at her, she was looking down the passage beyond where the door had been.
“There was a wall…or rather a door blocking our path. And it opened. The passage continues this way. So do we continue this way or go back to the fork?”
“ ”
Subaru looked again past where the door had disappeared from.
Even with the door gone, it still looked exactly the same as the path they had been walking before. There wasn’t anything different about it other than the fact that there had been a door there. But—
“That door had to be here for a reason. And it opened for some reason— Isn’t it kind of hard to imagine it being anything other than the direct path to the Sage’s watchtower?”
“That’s a little too optimistic. But I’m not going to suggest we turn back, either.”
Anastasia put her hand to her lips and chuckled a little at Subaru’s positive interpretation, but she wasn’t against what he was saying.
“Of course, I intend to advance. Even if we go back now, there’s no guarantee there won’t be a similar door on the other route.”
“So might as well take the invitation of the first one that opened? I can agree with that.”
With Ram’s acknowledgment, they were all in agreement.
“All right then.”
Subaru brushed off his knees and started to walk forward, but—
“—Patlash?”
Patlash didn’t follow after Subaru. The black land dragon’s yellow eyes narrowed, and it stared down the path in front of them.
It was a smart dragon with good instincts. It was possible Patlash was sensing something they couldn’t notice. There was a moment’s hesitation, but…
“I know you have always been trying to protect us. But there is no safe place in a situation like this. Sometimes, you just have to roll the dice, and this is one of those times.”
Subaru met Patlash’s gaze. The dragon was quiet for a moment, then she lowered her eyes slightly and made a soft noise.
She understands. Or I guess it’s probably closer to say she was willing to concede for my sake.
“Patlash has you whipped.”
“I figure it’s better her than a woman.”
“How lewd.”
“That’s not how I meant it when I said that joke!”
Subaru heaved a sigh as Ram poked fun at his bond with Patlash, then started walking again.
He reflected on the resolution he had just voiced.
—Right now we just have to roll the dice.
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