CHAPTER 5
AN UNREASONABLE SWORD’S JUDGMENT
1
—The first thing he had to do was really come to grips with the fact that he had died and returned.
They had failed to deal with the Pleiades Watchtower’s five obstacles in time, and in the end, that terrifying black shadow had destroyed everything in the heart of the tower.
And in dying there, Subaru gained a chance to redo things—but this time was completely different from the other loops.
“…The checkpoint is different.”
His fifth death. In and of itself, that was something worth grieving over, but the biggest problem was the new reset point. It had been updated to right after he returned from Reid’s book of the dead. From the corridors of memory.
“ ”
He had expected this.
The Subaru Natsuki before he lost his memories must have used his Return by Death ability in the same sort of way. So the starting point being right after he had lost his memories obviously stood out. Unless the save point updated somehow, the current Subaru couldn’t have restarted from the green room.
So the starting point updating itself wasn’t a surprise. But…
“I was brought back right before the worst moment, with basically no time to prepare anything…!”
By the time he had returned from the corridors of memory, the major obstacles were already in motion—the faint rumble he could feel from the floor was proof of the demon beast stampede approaching the tower.
His time limit was tight.
The demon beast stampede, Reid Astrea, the mysterious giant scorpion, the two Gluttonies, and the brutal shadow that swallowed up the tower. And time’s running out. There’s no time, no time, no—
“—Will you calm down, I wonder?!”
“Aiyah!”
Subaru was digging himself deeper and deeper into a pit of worry, but a forceful smack brought him back to his senses. Beatrice squeezed his cheeks between her hands and looked straight at him with her big, round eyes.
Pressing against him, close enough he could feel her breath.
“Tell Betty what happened in the book, Subaru. Talk to Betty, and we’ll think of something together… That’s our strength.”
“ ”
Beatrice’s words helped him clear his mind of the panic and regret that threatened to consume him.
And as he regained a semblance of calm, the enemies that lay past the panic and regret came into view. At the same time, he realized how shameful he must seem.
And then he remembered the scolding that spurred him on when he was at a standstill just a short while ago…
“Right, time to stand up.”
“Eh?” Beatrice’s eyes widened.
“Nothing, I was just reminded again how stupid I am and how little progress I’ve made.”
Holding on to Beatrice, Subaru rose to his feet.
Echidna and Meili are here, too, and I generally know what the others are doing. I have a good idea what kind of mess they’re probably in, too.
“I’ll keep it short. I couldn’t see Reid’s memories in the book of the dead. Something got in my way. The book is connected to some Odo Ragna thing, and I ran into a troublesome person there.”
All three pairs of eyes widened in shock as he quickly explained everything.
Apologizing mentally for not giving them any time to process these revelations, Subaru moved to the most important bit.
“The Archbishop of Gluttony, Louis Arneb, declared war on us.”
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