Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Vol. 9 Read online

  Copyright

  Re:ZERO Vol. 9

  TAPPEI NAGATSUKI

  Translation by Jeremiah Bourque

  Cover art by Shinichirou Otsuka

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Re:ZERO KARA HAJIMERU ISEKAI SEIKATSU Vol. 9

  © Tappei Nagatsuki 2016

  First published in Japan in 2016 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights reserved by YEN PRESS, LLC under the license from KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2019 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Nagatsuki, Tappei, 1987– author. | Otsuka, Shinichirou, illustrator. | ZephyrRz, translator. | Bourque, Jeremiah, translator.

  Title: Re:ZERO starting life in another world / Tappei Nagatsuki ; illustration by Shinichirou Otsuka ; translation by ZephyrRz ; translation by Bourque, Jeremiah

  Other titles: Re:ZERO kara hajimeru isekai seikatsu. English

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2016– | Audience: Ages 13 & up.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016031562 | ISBN 9780316315302 (v. 1 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316398374 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316398404 (v. 3 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316398428 (v. 4 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316398459 (v. 5 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316398473 (v. 6 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316398497 (v. 7 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975301934 (v. 8 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975356293 (v. 9 : pbk.)

  Subjects: CYAC: Science fiction. | Time travel—Fiction.

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-5629-3 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-8315-2 (ebook)

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  Contents

  Cover

  Insert

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Prologue: Re:Start

  Chapter 1: The Gospel Known as Warmth

  Chapter 2: Setting the Stage

  Chapter 3: The Self-Declared Knight and “The Finest of Knights”

  Chapter 4: The End of Sloth

  Chapter 5: —A Tale About That, and Nothing More

  Interlude: A Brief Moment in a Dragon Carriage

  Fragments: Rem Natsuki

  Interlude: Let Us Feast

  Chapter 6: To Each Their Vows

  Afterword

  Yen Newsletter

  PROLOGUE

  RE:START

  It was dark. An entire world of nothing but darkness.

  He was tossed into a hazy world, seemingly floating in water with no sense of left or right, up or down.

  His body was unable to move at all. He couldn’t feel his hands or legs, and he doubted his eyes and ears were functioning.

  With his mind so dazed, any thoughts he tried to formulate simply slipped out of his brain.

  Where is this? Who am I? What happened to make it like this?

  What little consciousness he held on to resulted only in ramblings that made the darkness flicker ever so slightly.

  “—I love you.”

  In that pitch blackness, a voice penetrated deep into his heart.

  It hung in his unhearing ears. It reached what should have been his still, unbeating heart. It found his soul, which was still unsure of its own existence.

  He wailed as the voice touched him directly, its wild, mad emotion pressing in on his heart.

  The voice was so terribly fleeting. The whispers wrenched his heart, filling it with such longing that it threatened to shatter.

  Hearing words lovely enough to scorch his soul made him feel like he would go mad.

  If I had fingers, I would touch you.

  If I had a mouth, I would call your name.

  If I had arms, I would embrace you.

  If I had feet, I would run to your side.

  If I had a body, you would never be alone again.

  But none of these wishes could be granted. He had no fingers, mouth, arms, feet, or body to give.

  The feeling was the same… In fact, it was a passion even greater than what he’d felt before.

  The warmth he received magnified his yearning, his emotions many times over, until finally they became sins.

  Sloth, because I cannot wipe away your tears.

  Lust, because I want us to melt together and become one.

  Gluttony, because I want to consume you, to take all of you for myself.

  Greed, because I want to have everything that I love.

  Wrath, because I cannot forgive the absurdity of it all.

  Pride, because I scorn everything that is not you.

  Jealousy, because that is all I feel for the world that embraces you.

  With this realization, the world shrouded in black was filled with an overwhelming sensation of love.

  That instant, the supposedly empty space warped, then shattered as irreversible time began to flow backward.

  It was simple. He understood that he was starting over.

  Where he had ended in darkness, light was born, and if he walked toward it, the world would greet him once more.

  “—I love you.”

  He turned his back on the voice and walked forward. He wanted to turn toward it, but he held fast.

  However, surely, one day he would take her hand.

  “—I love you.”

  The lovely voice called out until the very end, when Subaru Natsuki—began anew.

  CHAPTER 1

  THE GOSPEL KNOWN AS WARMTH

  1

  “—Hey, kid?”

  “Ah?”

  Subaru’s mind was roused by the abrupt calling of his name along with the sensation of his shoulder being shaken.

  The image of the world around him changed in an instant, almost like someone had switched camera angles in his brain. The sudden influx of information startled him, making Subaru feel dizzy as he blinked several times.

  The next moment, the unfathomable shock known as comprehension coursed through his entire being.

  “No way…”

  Subaru put a hand to his forehead as he listened to the sound of his heartbeats pumping blood through his body.

  Subaru had experienced a blank of several seconds interrupting his thoughts a number of times before. It was the result of “Death”—the time between the erasure and resurrection of Subaru Natsuki.

&
nbsp; He’d died. He’d died. “Death” had greeted Subaru once more.

  Moreover, Subaru had lost his life in battle against that wily bastard Sloth.

  “…”

  After overcoming many hardships, much suffering, in the end he’d still lost his life.

  He’d defeated the White Whale and, after that, reorganized the expedition force, bringing it with him as he traveled to Earlham Village to fight the Witch Cult.

  At the end of that anguish, all that joy, sadness, and anger, had all come to naught—

  “—Nom.”

  “Ugyaaaaah—?!”

  Subaru had been covering his face with his hands, cutting himself off from the world, when he was suddenly assaulted by unexpected sensations.

  The feel of hot breath and his earlobe being pinned between two hard points sent the astonished Subaru tumbling to the ground. Wide-eyed from the exceptionally soft sensation, he noticed yellow eyes gazing down at him with a teasing look.

  The owner of those eyes touched a finger to their lips coquettishly as a wry, beautiful smile appeared.

  “The teasing was because you were staring into space, but what a wonderful reaction, meow. Ferri enjoyed it so much that this might become a habit…”

  The sight of his flaxen kitty ears flicking as he continued speaking lightheartedly left Subaru listening with his mouth agape. Eventually he swallowed and called out her—or rather his—name.

  “Is that you, Ferris?”

  “Who else does it look like? Maybe you’re not just daydreaming, but hallucinating, too? You could have swallowed some White Whale mist… Should I give you a proper examination?”

  “…Nah, I’m all right. I just felt like asking. Right, what I was asking about…?”

  As Ferris peered at him in concern, Subaru shook his head before taking a deep breath and examining the area. Ferris was seated directly beside him, and around Ferris, many others—no, properly speaking, they were in a circle with Subaru at the center.

  Beneath his feet lay the grassland. It was clear from the dawn sky above that the sun had not risen yet. With everyone’s gaze focused on him, Subaru sensed a ferocious bestial presence hovering to his left.

  “…Were you the one who spoke to me first?”

  “—? What are you talkin’ about, bro? You had a crazy look in your eyes. Pull it together.”

  The dog face of Ricardo, the large-framed beast man, grimaced with a suspicious look. Subaru, realizing from the exchange that Ricardo had seen his face the instant he Returned by Death, scratched his cheek as he looked over everyone’s face once more, nodding as he spoke again.

  “That was seriously bad for my heart. I mean really, I thought I was back in front of the fruit store again.”

  Exhaling like a deflating balloon, Subaru let the tension out of his shoulders as his palm brushed the ground. The cold dirt, fresh grass, and raw earth under him meant he definitely wasn’t in the capital.

  This was the Liphas Highway, where they’d held a general briefing right after defeating the White Whale.

  In other words…

  “The save point…got updated, huh?”

  It felt like he had narrowly avoided a terrible fate, but it wasn’t something he could laugh at. Still, the silver lining brought him relief.

  2

  When it came to worst cases, some were worse than others.

  Having fought the good fight, only to gain an empty defeat and Returning by Death, was undoubtedly a worst case. But there could have been something even more terrible—namely having no change in restart point and returning to a moment before he managed to defeat the White Whale. Compared to that, this worst case was not the most horrific possibility.

  At the very least, they had beaten the White Whale, fulfilling the Sword Devil’s fourteen-year ambition.

  “—”

  “Sir Subaru, are you all right? Your face appears rather pale.”

  Wilhelm, the Sword Devil, stared at Subaru and expressed his concern. “It’s nothing,” said Subaru, shaking his head immediately, tightening his disjointed thoughts and slackened cheeks.

  Even though he was still reeling mentally after only just enduring a Return by Death, he couldn’t simply use that as an excuse. After all, Subaru and the others were in the very middle of a critical discussion—the briefing to decide what countermeasures to take against the Witch Cult.

  “If you are no longer distressed, let us review the situation.”

  Raising a finger, the elegant knight Julius restarted the meeting. Scholarly wariness and righteous indignation resided in his almond eyes as he requested they carry on.

  “From this point onward, we shall proceed to the Mathers domain to oppose the nefarious Witch Cultists lying in wait. Ideally, this will result in their annihilation and the slaying of the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins commanding them. However, what we must prioritize is the safety of the innocent people caught up in this incident, and in preparation for that—”

  “For the getaway, we have called on the traveling merchants Anastasia and Russel to help us. The messenger we sent to communicate the alliance and the rescue operation should have arrived at the mansion already… Sorry, I’m all good now.”

  Subaru thanked Julius for giving him time to calm down and fully rejoined the conversation.

  Thanks to Julius summarizing the topics at the assembly, Subaru could grasp exactly how far things had proceeded before his Return by Death. Apparently Subaru had already explained Witch Cult Hunting Made Simple, as well as the insurance he’d procured.

  However, he had already learned from the last go-around that his attempts to secure insurance would transform into deadly poison. The letter of goodwill they had sent had turned out to be blank, which had sown distrust. Meanwhile, inviting the traveling merchants to participate had left them open to infiltration by Witch Cultists.

  He needed to implement new countermeasures as quickly as possible, but—

  “Your face suggests that…something is amiss?”

  “What are you, a doctor? Stop looking at people’s faces and figuring out everything they’re thinking, geez.”

  “Want the actual doctor sitting right beside you to examine you from head to toe instead? I wouldn’t mind…”

  As Subaru sank into thought, Julius and Ferris sandwiched him from both sides as they pointed out his troubled expression. Inwardly Subaru ground his teeth at their persistence.

  He certainly did have an issue on his mind. However, he couldn’t come up with a good way to explain it.

  He had to warn them about the Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins’ dangerous Authority, and a number of new problems on top of that, but how could he explain these things in a way his comrades would believe?

  “—No, this is wrong. It’s not good enough. Right, I…forgot some things again.”

  “Hmmmm?”

  When Subaru firmly shut his eyes, the words he found within himself caused Ferris to cock his head in confusion. Julius remained silent with his brows knit as Subaru rued the extent of his own stupidity.

  How many times would Subaru Natsuki make the same mistake before he moved forward?

  “—”

  He opened his closed eyes and looked around at the faces of the fifty-odd members of the expeditionary force. Subaru’s silence had brought tension to their gazes, but they harbored no doubt. What they felt was not fear, but anticipation. There was no sense of despair, only hope.

  After everything that had been spoken, after all the help that had been given…

  In the end, Subaru had even gotten this far only thanks to the support Rem had offered him.

  “…I believe you have immersed yourself in sentimentality enough?”

  Julius sensed the change in Subaru’s demeanor, and his lighthearted prompt invited a change in subject. The man really got on his nerves, but for a short moment, Subaru felt nothing but gratitude toward him.

  He felt equally grateful for the comrades who granted him their own t
hanks and trust.

  “Sorry for being all indecisive earlier. Actually, I have to add to my explanation about the Witch Cult…… No, that’s not exactly it. I realized some things for the first time. I want to speak to all of you about those issues.”

  He didn’t have to worry about how to come up with a good explanation. That was a waste of time.

  All he had to do was not hold anything back, tell as much of the truth as he could, and they would respond with their faith in him.

  Even if Subaru could not reveal the nature of Return by Death, he could uncover the things he learned as a result of it. This was the one way he could share what he knew of the future with his comrades.

  And they would accept his preposterous tales in complete seriousness.

  All because understanding and trust were the greatest weapons in Subaru Natsuki’s arsenal.

  3

  Subaru had gleaned a number of new facts from his most recent confrontation with Petelgeuse.

  One was that a Witch Cultist infiltrating the traveling merchants hired for the evacuation had delivered a blank letter of goodwill to Roswaal Manor. Another was that Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti’s Authority included the worst power imaginable.

  In particular, one aspect of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti’s power—Possession—posed the greatest obstacle to the expeditionary force’s efforts to take down Sloth.

  “Anyone know about…a power to overwrite someone else’s mind with your own, letting you mentally take them over? Some sort of magic that can do something like that?”

  Much of the magic in this new world Subaru found himself in had effects beyond anything he could conceive.

  The basics of magic began with the four elements; then there were a great many other things, like Beatrice’s Passage, Roswaal’s flight magic, the mutant aberrations of magic called curses, and the special abilities known as blessings, too.

  In a world where such incredible abilities existed, Possession had to be possible, too.

  It was with such hopes that Subaru put the question to his lips, but—