2
—Tell us who you are.
It showed up fairly often in stories, but it wasn’t really the sort of thing anyone actually said in real life.
It wasn’t often that someone grew suspicious of your identity and questioned you about it in regular life. Whether you had that question directed at you or you were the one doing the asking, it was something you might go your whole life without hearing unless you worked in a job that tended to deal with that sort of thing.
In that sense, it was not really a question that Subaru was used to hearing. But he could still vividly remember the first time he’d been asked it.
Who was he, and what were his goals? He had been asked that by none other than Rem, when she was suspicious of him when he’d first come to the manor.
“Wait, ‘both of you’…?”
Noticing that something wasn’t lining up with his memories, Subaru couldn’t help the question mark hovering over his head.
Even though they were in the same cell, Subaru and the masked man’s connection was pretty weak. In fact, the two of them being in the same cell had more to do with the decision to jail them than anything else about them.
Treating the two of them the same way was a bit unreasonable.
“Do not dwell on trivialities. It was I who told them that we were acquainted. That is the only reason she asks.”
“You…! Acquainted… That’s overselling it a bit!”
“I spoke no lie. We both recognized each other on sight. What more is there to the term ‘acquaintance’ than that?”
“Th-that’s a crazy sort of logic…”
It was a very forced definition, but that kind of overbearing argument was familiar to Subaru. In fact, there was an acquaintance of his who often cornered him and others with just that sort of logic.
Are there just lots of powerful people like this…?
As Subaru’s head spun a little…
“Hey, what are you whispering about? Answer the question.”
“Ah, right. My name is Subaru Natsuki. As you can see, I am a pitifully and pathetically battered lost soul! And the guy behind me is…ummm?”
“Abel.”
“Right—Abel! A man who hides his face and has a prickly, arrogant attitude, but is surprisingly generous, since he also gave me a knife when I was lost about where to go. I’m sure he’s a playboy who’s made any number of women cry! And you are?!”
“H-hmm…? I am Mizelda…”
Caught off guard by Subaru’s barrage, the woman at the front, Mizelda, introduced herself.
And now that he had enough composure to get a closer look, Subaru realized he had the perfect word to describe Mizelda and the other women—Amazons.
All of them were women, with well-developed and muscular bodies, body paint, not to mention the bows on their back—it all fit the image of a tribal group.
The Shudrak people were exactly what Subaru thought Amazons would look like.
“Though finding out the masked man’s name is Abel is a surprising reveal, too…”
“ ”
“But that is for later! Please hear me out, Mizelda, and the rest of you as well!”
Saving the masked man, Abel, for later, Subaru raised his voice and addressed the women gathered there.
At a glance, they did not seem intent on killing him without talking first, judging both from the fact that they had given his wounds any care at all, and how they appeared open to listening to him.
In which case, if he addressed them earnestly, they might come to an understanding.
“You might know this already, but the empire’s army has set up camp outside this jungle. A girl who’s important to me is being held there, and if I don’t get back as soon as possible, it will be dangerous for her! So please, let me go!”
“ ”
“Also, their army is trying to find the people of Shudrak. They say they just want to talk, but they are prepared to fight, should it come to it. If…”
Subaru was about to suggest that he could mediate to create a space for them to talk, but he caught himself.
It was true that they might have been able to avoid a fight if he could do that, but it was probably impossible for Subaru to make that happen anymore. As far as Todd and the rest of the squad in the jungle were concerned, Subaru was the person who had led them into a trap with a demon beast. They would never trust him, and it would be asking too much to hold out any hope of that.
Subaru had already weighed them in the balance against Rem and chosen to put them in harm’s way for the sake of saving Rem. He couldn’t run from that choice.
“Sorry, let me correct what I said. It is true that they are after all of you. And they set up camp with a large number of people, so if it comes to a fight…”
“You’re saying we’d lose?”
He had been about to say there was no denying the Shudrak would be at a disadvantage based on their numbers and the strategies both sides could employ. But Mizelda’s quiet voice interrupted him.
“Ah…”
Subaru realized he had chosen his words poorly.
The Shudrak were probably a tribe of hunters. They polished their skills for the hunt and were always improving. To tell them they would lose a fight was the ultimate pitfall, an argument that should never be used in order to convince them.
“We know the Volakian army is here. But there is an old agreement between us. It will not come to a fight.”
“Please wait! I don’t know what this promise is, but they’re serious about—”
“Silence!”
“Ngh!”
Subaru tried to move closer but recoiled when he felt a shock run through the wooden cage. Mizelda had hit the cage with her fist, her eyes flashing with indignation.
Subaru had once again chosen his words poorly.
Just as they were proud of their martial prowess, the Shudrak also put extreme weight on this old agreement, whatever it was. And Subaru had unconsciously, and without reserve, stepped all over it.
“The Volakian soldiers move their formations outside the forest to train. They have done this countless times before.”
“Training…like a military exercise?”
Mizelda furrowed her brow, not familiar with the phrase Subaru had used. However, the trap Volakia had set was coming into view.
They had set camps up around the outskirts of the jungle often under the guise of military exercises, and by this point, the Shudrak were used to it.
That familiarity had made them lower their guard, and the Volakian army was using that to encircle the jungle and take on the Shudrak all at once.
“But then why do those soldiers have to go that far to hunt down the Shudrak?”
Of course, Mizelda and the other women standing in front of him were certainly strong. It was easy enough to realize that from the overwhelming spirit that emanated from them. But what was the reason for moving a whole army in and setting this trap in order to deal with them?
It was clear from their reactions that they had no intention of leaving the jungle. They were simply living here. So why…?
“Neither Subaru Natsuki nor Abel speak true. And so their words fall on deaf ears.”
“Ngh! You don’t mean…”
Mizelda slowly shook her head, signaling the end of their talk.
None of the others objected to her cold decision. Apparently, Mizelda was the leader of this group, or maybe even the entire village.
In accordance with her decision, the Shudrak turned their back on Subaru’s plea, rejecting him.
He called out to the group as they moved away.
“Please wait! I’m not lying! Everyone is in danger! The promise… They’re going to break the promise! Rem and all of you are in danger!”
Subaru pleaded with them desperately.
However, their chief’s decision was already made, so they did not stop. The only one who reacted was the little girl, who glanced back curiously, but even so, it wasn’t enough to get her to stop moving.
Subaru pleaded until his voice cracked and he coughed up bloody phlegm, but none of them would lend him an ear.
“Geh… Damn it. Why is it always like this…?!”
Slumping down, Subaru groaned as he let his forehead hit the cage.
His right shoulder, the fingers of his left hand… Because of his injuries, he couldn’t even vent his feelings on the cage holding him in. Battered all over and useless, he couldn’t even make use of his eloquence anymore.
Then what value do I even have?
“…Just not knowing when to give up and shrewd tricks.”
Even though he was drowning in despair that made the world feel darker, Subaru refused to give up and resolved to grit his teeth and fight back against things somehow.
In earlier times, he would have just decided he had reached the limit of what he could do. But he had changed after looking back at everything he’d done before, after reevaluating himself and realizing just how difficult the path he’d walked really was.
He was a little worse at giving up. And that was a light that could illuminate any dark path.
“That was quite the unsightly negotiation.”
As Subaru bit into one of the branches that formed their cage, trying to see if he could make enough of an opening to get out, Abel’s sneering scorn fell on his ears.
It was annoying. But he couldn’t retort. He was the one who had stepped perfectly onto the land mines and blown up the negotiations. It had been the pinnacle of thoughtlessness.
But…
“If I was unsightly, then you were just nothing. Didn’t I warn you not to go into the jungle, since there were dangerous people out there?”
“You did. That suggestion served as a guide. I should give you my thanks.”
“We’re still stuck here even if you do… Damn it, are there no spots that are a bit looser?”
Subaru tried to slam his body into the branches but couldn’t find any gaps in the wooden cell that had, at first glance, seemed to have been put together in a rush. The lattice of thick branches was stuck solidly in the ground as if it had been put together using heavy machinery.
Of course, there was no heavy machinery like that in this world, so it had been made by human hands. Either they had built it together as a big group, or else they had monstrous strength along the lines of Emilia’s or Garfiel’s.
“Making something like this in a village full of women…”
“Do not underestimate the Shudrak people. They are a race of women descended from warrior gods who only have female children, and who have lived in this jungle for hundreds of years. They do not need male assistance beyond what is required for reproduction, and for that, their custom is to capture men from outside.”
“So they’re literally Amazons… Wait, is that why we were captured?”
Catching men and using them as tools to obtain their semen.
That sort of thing had taken place in desolate mountain villages in the ancient past. And this was a foreign land in a foreign world, where Subaru’s concept of what was normal did not hold. It was certainly possible.
However, Abel snorted.
“Worry not. They choose their seed with discretion. The seed of men who would lie and attempt to deceive them would bear nothing but corruption. I am sure they would refuse such seed.”
“…Lie…”
At that, Subaru cursed his shoddy explanation.
The weakness of his explanation was why Mizelda and the others had not believed him, even if the suddenness of having to explain it on the spot had partly contributed. It had not become any less of an outrage that he had no understanding of their ways or what they prided themselves on, just because he was trying to explain things desperately and with all sincerity.
“But it isn’t a lie. The imperial soldiers are after the Shudrak people. And…”
“And?”
“They will use fire as a last…no, as a first resort.”
For the first time, Abel seemed taken by surprise.
Setting fire to the jungle. That was what Todd had done when he’d learned of the existence of demon beasts in the jungle. Last time, the imperial army had chosen to burn the jungle on just Subaru’s word.
If they saw the existence of the demon beast themselves, it was unlikely they wouldn’t choose to burn the jungle this time.
“…Unless they were all wiped out.”
That was certainly a possibility, after he’d decided to set a demon beast on them. His plan had involved knowingly summoning an enemy that might well kill them, so it was at minimum attempted murder, even if indirectly. And indeed, there probably had been some deaths in the process.
Considering that, he felt a heavy lump form in his chest, and a pain like a blockage in his heart. However, even if he would have to live with that guilt for the rest of his life, there was something he couldn’t avert his eyes from.
They probably hadn’t all died.
Seeing Todd’s quick judgment and Jamal’s initiative, it was impossible to believe that the snake would kill all of them. In which case, after they’d slain the demon beast, they would return to camp. And once they did, the imperial army wouldn’t hesitate to burn the jungle again to limit their losses as much as possible. Just like last time.
The Shudrak people would burn.
“…What is that look supposed to mean?”
“Nothing…”
Subaru looked away immediately when Abel commented on his expression, but what he had been thinking about was Abel’s fate.
He would have been caught by the Shudrak last time, too, in all likelihood. In which case, if they had burned, then he would have burned, too. Maybe without even escaping this jail.
“…In which case, I killed the Shudrak, and Abel, too.”
Subaru didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to let Rem or Abel or the people of Shudrak die, either. Which was all the more reason he needed to rise up and find a way out of this.
“Do you not understand it is pointless? They are not foolish enough to have left room for someone of your strength to escape. Certainly not with the wounds you have. Why do you go so far for some trifling woman?”
Abel sounded exasperated as he watched Subaru gnawing at the branches, still trying to resist with all his might.
But his words only lit a fire in Subaru.
“Because she isn’t someone who can be called ‘trifling’ to me. There isn’t anyone who can replace her. She is the only Rem.”
“ ”
“And you—are you satisfied just sitting there griping about what I do? I don’t know why you’re in a place like this, but are you just going to let it end with being captured?”
When Subaru had first run into him, Abel had been wearing a cloak or something and had seemed to be in the jungle with some purpose. And even if that wasn’t the case, from what Todd had said, the knife that Abel had just given away to a stranger was the same kind of knife that the emperor or Volakia usually bestowed on subjects.
It was hard to imagine Abel was out here for no particular reason. Unbelievable, even.
“What do you want to do, just sitting there on the cold dirt?”
“I am simply awaiting an opportunity.”
Abel answered in a terribly quiet voice.
It sounded different from the provocative statements he’d been throwing out, or the ridicule he’d aimed at Subaru. As if his real feelings had slipped out.
“Waiting…for an opportunity? As in a chance, a shot? A shot at what…?”
“I do not know the ‘shot’ of which you speak, but what I await is for the board to be set. Until it is, I have stood by so as not to unnecessarily complicate things by my own hand. I had thought the optimal moment was when those outside the jungle acted, but…”
“ ”
“But if they intend to burn the jungle, then I cannot afford to be complacent any longer.”
Abel uncrossed his arms and slowly stood up. Subaru’s eyes widened, and he froze at the sight of Abel’s slender figure standing before him.
“What is that foolish face for? It is disrespectful to look upon me so idiotically.”
“…You believe me? But the Shudrak…”
“…did not believe you. You, who sullied their pride and brushed aside the old agreement that they zealously uphold. Truly, it was a failure of negotiation that should be remembered for posterity.”
“Ugh…”
Even in his own mind, Subaru knew his negotiations had absolutely nothing to redeem them, so he grimaced, completely devastated by Abel’s evaluation.
“However,” Abel continued, “I am not a Shudrak. Their pride and their precious agreement are as rubbish to me. What matters is only the unvarnished truth that you have brought.”
“…What would you do if I was lying?”
“I would settle it with your life, of course.”
There was a weight to his words that set them apart from joking talk of death.
Abel was serious in saying that he would make Subaru atone for a lie here with death. It was neither joke nor play. He was genuinely, seriously testing Subaru’s resolve.
Sensing that, Subaru reflexively straightened his back. Having stopped his struggle with the cage, he faced Abel head-on. And as Abel looked into Subaru’s eyes, the force of the light in Abel’s eyes increased.
“Answer carefully, Subaru Natsuki. Do you have the resolve to sacrifice everything for the sake of what you wish to save?”
“ ”
He asked this directly. Neither hesitation nor falsehood would be allowed.
There was a power in Abel’s voice that made Subaru believe that if he wove any falsehood into his words here, he would be killed.
He took Abel’s question to heart.
If he could save what he wanted to save, did he have the resolve to sacrifice everything else?
His answer was…
“I don’t have that resolve.”
“ ”
“All I can offer is myself… But if that’s all, then I can gamble everything.”
Subaru put his left hand with its broken fingers to his chest as he said that.
That was his true and honest answer.
If he was told to sacrifice anything and everything, he couldn’t accept that.
There was too much in this world that Subaru cared about, and too many glorious things he had not yet seen, for him to do that.
So…
“What an impudent answer, you spiteful jester.”
“ ”
“However, you did not speak a falsehood. In that case, nothing shall burn today.”
Those words made Subaru feel as if he had escaped with his life.
Subaru broke into a cold sweat when he realized his life had been in Abel’s hands.
Just like before, in the meadow, Abel did not by any means seem extraordinarily strong. Compared to the powerful people Subaru had seen and interacted with in his time in this world, Abel was possessed of a strength within the realm of a normal person. But even so, Subaru felt like he had escaped with his life by the skin of his teeth.
Abel possessed a power that was different from physical strength or skill with a sword.
“In which case, it is simple. You there, girl.”
“Wah?!”
As Subaru was sweating up a storm, Abel suddenly called out to someone. There was a small yelp in response from the shadows.
Subaru turned around in surprise, and, following Abel’s gaze, spotted a girl nervously watching them from the shade of a tree well removed from the cage.
The girl started to run from their gazes, but…
“If you run, you will miss your opportunity, girl. That is not what you wish for.”
“Ugh…”
The girl groaned as Abel beat her to the punch, and then, grimacing awkwardly, she nervously walked back over to them.
“Uu… Uu is…” The girl’s lips quivered nervously. “Mii said not to listen to the men. But Uu is curious. Curious about you.”
“…Me?”
The girl who called herself Uu pointed at Subaru. She nodded as his eyes widened at that unexpected callout.
“You were so serious before. That we were in danger. But Mii said don’t listen.”
“Ah…”
“Why? You don’t know us.”
Why had he tried to get involved, even though he did not have any connection to them?
Subaru’s breath caught in his throat at the way she’d pointed out his meddling. But it had not been her intention to call him out. She was just genuinely curious.
Why had Subaru been so desperate for the sake of someone other than himself? Why had he been so desperate for the sake of the Shudrak, too?
Subaru did not have an answer to those questions, but…
“I didn’t want you to look like that.”
“…?”
“I didn’t want to see you glaring at your enemies, eyes clouded with hatred.”
The girl whose eyes were filled with hatred as she’d carefully observed the death of the person she had hit with a poison arrow.
Subaru still felt guilty about being the cause of that hatred. That guilt swirled, becoming a thorny bramble that tore at his heart.
That was not something that could be repeated. Not something to let happen again.
It was better not to return by death. But even if he did die, if he was able to push the people around him toward a better path in the world where he was reset, then…
“That’s reason enough for me to do all I can.”
“…Uu doesn’t understand…”
She couldn’t grasp his true motive, even after hearing his answer. Of course she couldn’t. Anyone who did not know about his resetting wouldn’t have been able to understand what he’d said.
And Subaru didn’t feel the need to make her understand. There was no need for the girl in front of him to even consider that possibility.
“…Are you satisfied? Neither you nor I have time for an extended conversation.”
“…Yeah, sorry.”
Abel ruthlessly, and with utter disinterest, brushed off Subaru’s conversation with the girl.
Then he turned back to the girl, and she tensed up, looking up at him as if she felt the same sort of pressure Subaru had felt earlier.
“Girl, I have no intention of leisurely chatting with you. The woman from earlier—that Mizelda, was it? Bring her here. She is the chief, I imagine.”
“Mii? What are you gonna talk to her about?”
“Nothing too major. There is just something I would like to propose.”
“Propose?”
Abel nodded deeply, looking at the girl and Subaru, who were both cocking their heads.
And then, even though it was not visible from behind the mask, he definitely smiled.
“Tell her we will take the ritual of blood. That is the quickest way to convince them.”
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