Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Vol. 15 Read online

  As the Giltirau swung its tail about, wildly raging with its bestial claws, the interior room was dominated by destruction worthy of the name. The cupboards storing foodstuffs and the cold storage were destroyed, while smoke erupted from the sacks and boxes lining the wall. The floor, struck by the heavy impact of paws, broke apart, and the carpet covering it was destroyed—a moment later, the Giltirau’s vision was blanketed with white smoke.

  A vast quantity of dust sprang up, clouding the air and irritating the great beast’s nostrils. It was enough to rob it of its eyesight and even prevent it from breathing in enough to roar.

  “You fell for it!”

  Then a voice rang out, as if someone—as if the prey was shouting in victory.

  Then it heard that voice, not from the small room but from the previous, wide room.

  “Eat the power of science, baby—Dust Explosion!”

  After a brief noise, it threw something into the small room.

  Something flickered red within the Giltirau’s nearly all-white field of vision—it was one of the candles from the guest room. The candle struck the wall, and for a moment, the reddish flame glowed brighter as it landed upon the floor.

  “H-huh…?”

  But…that was all that happened.

  The candle remained on the floor, showing no further sign of change. The one who had thrown it was frozen in place and sounded like there’d been a miscalculation.

  —The Giltirau’s regal instincts screamed this was a golden opportunity.

  Something had put its opponent into a disadvantageous state. Even if that had not been the case, surely this trick would have been insufficient to put the Giltirau in peril—Nay, it would not underestimate its foe further. It would utilize every store of power.

  It would rend its prey apart, flay its skin, and feast in victory on the flesh and blood—

  “Aghhh, that’s why we told you! We shouldn’t have tried this nonsensical method!”

  “Normally, it’s faster to do it this way!!”

  The instant it leaped out of the little room, the Giltirau picked up a high-pitched voice and an even higher-pitched voice. Clearly different from the prey it had spotted earlier—and the instant after it had that realization, a large quantity of something poured down from overhead.

  It was a liquid. Certainly not water, and it felt slippery to the touch. Bathed in the yellowish fluid, the king felt its fangs trembling at having its proud black mane tarnished. However, it had the luxury to consider this for but a single instant.

  “This is the personal merchandise of Otto Suwen—oil bought with the entirety of his life savings! —How do you like my wares?!”

  As the prey shouted with joy, the king—the Giltirau—had no way to stop what came next.

  —The candles ignited the oil that had drenched the entirety of its body, wreathing the king with abominable flames.

  “!!!”

  The Black King of the Forest had left the wilds, gaining a master, and, to the very end, wondered about the throne it had left vacant.

  Still unaware of what had defeated it, the demon beast was enveloped by flame the same color as its burning humiliation, scorching its body black, torching it until it had been reduced to ash.

  4

  “So you can throw the sound of just footsteps, eliminate scents… Little tricks like that are all your magic can do?”

  “…Having you belittle them weighs upon my mind, but I am impressed you remember such a thing. That said, will these spells prove useful? At most, they can make an opponent turn their head for but a single instant.”

  “Super-useful. We can use this to lure it into the trap… After that, I’ll use the power of science to blow it away.”

  “You certainly seem extremely confident, but this so-called power of science…”

  “A dust explosion, the strongest trick in the book. Using foodstuffs makes it really simple to boot. With a bit of flour and an open flame, it’ll work great. From what I know, it’s guaranteed to send a single monster flying.”

  “We went along with your plan because you sounded so confident, and now look at what’s happened!”

  “Oh, shaddap! Scientific progress comes with sacrifices, you know! Damn, why’d it fail? Not enough dust, not enough flame… Or do the laws of physics in this world just not work the same way?”

  “Arghhh! Stop talking about that and keep up! Ack, it’s no good! Nooo!!”

  With Subaru and Otto angrily yelling at each other, Petra scolded them with a desperate look on her face.

  The noisy trio was being illuminated by the brilliant light of red flames. That was only natural, for at present, they were doing their best to put out the fire in the dining hall—however, the flames seemed to be only getting stronger.

  “You used too much oil, damn it! You sure as hell spread it around enough. How’d you plan on putting it out?!”

  “As if anyone can hunt down such a huge demon beast while holding back! In the first place, it’d be the same result whether I used it all up or not! You’re buying every last drop either way!”

  “Both of you, this isn’t the time!! We can’t put it out! Let’s run!”

  With a frustrated look on his face, Subaru hurled the tablecloth, which had also caught on fire, into the quickly growing flames. There was no sign of the inferno in the pantry burning itself out. It had already spread to quite a bit of the dining hall, and black smoke began to seep out.

  “We managed to defeat the demon beast, but the cost we paid is too high…”

  The source of the flames was the black and charred demon beast—the Giltirau. Just as they’d planned, Otto’s sneaky magic had led it downstairs, where they used a dust explosion in the pantry to bring it down—or not, since the dust explosion had failed. Instead, Otto had secured their victory by using his stock of oil to burn the thing to death.

  The beast was a muscle-brain befitting its enormous frame, especially considering how it never suspected a thing as it fell into the trap. But because it flailed around wildly as it died, the flames had transferred to everything around it, completely setting the mansion on fire.

  “This isn’t a repair job anymore. It’s a tear-down-and-rebuild job…”

  “Is this really the time?! Let’s run! Before we lose the stairs!”

  “Quickly! Quickly!!”

  Subaru found it surreal to watch the familiar sights and spaces catch on fire as the other two grabbed him by his sleeves and dragged him off. Pulled by the pair, Subaru readjusted Rem on his back as they ran from the burning dining hall.

  Otto and Petra used repel stones to drive away any demon beasts that appeared along the way. There were also signs that demon beasts were fleeing the building, instinctively fearful of black smoke and fire.

  “But what if Garfiel burns to death from this?!”

  “Without the Giltirau prowling around, Garfiel can escape, too! Besides, surely he can send demon beasts packing and leap out of the building all by himself, even without using the escape route!”

  Subaru was trembling from unwittingly wrecking the entire battlefield, but even in that situation, Otto remained as clever as ever. Thanks to that, they arrived at the upper floor in good order.

  Fortunately, no other demon beasts immune to the effects of the repel stone appeared. Subaru and company fled into the study, and Petra operated the mechanism on the bookshelf on the wall—slowly, making a sound, the bookshelf moved, and the hidden passage heading underground, linked to the outside, revealed itself.

  “We did it! Subaru! It’s the hidden passage… With this, we can get out of here!!”

  “Yeah, I suppose so… If you head down to the bottom of these stairs and follow the passage, you can escape outside. The exit will be well outside the perimeter. That just leaves…here, Otto, take Rem.”

  “Yes, I understand. I will take very good care of her.”

  Nodding to Petra, who was overjoyed they had made it, Subaru turned his back to Otto next. Then he slowl
y, gently passed Rem from his back onto Otto’s. His movements were careful, so as not to let her fall.

  “Do not drop her. Do not let her get hurt. And do not touch her in strange ways.”

  “Setting your concerns aside, your possessiveness comes across as quite bothersome!”

  “H-hey, you two… Why are you…talking like that?”

  With Otto now carrying Rem on his back, Subaru flippantly warned to be careful. Hearing this exchange, Petra raised a question with a worried face.

  “From the way you’re talking right now…it sounds like Subaru isn’t coming with us…”

  “—Mm, that’s just how it is. Sorry, but I can’t run with you. From this point on, I gotta go it alone.”

  “Why?!”

  When Subaru confirmed her suspicions, Petra’s face paled as she clung to him.

  “Let’s run already! The mansion’s on fire, and it’ll just make more trouble for Miss Frederica! There’s still a lot of demon beasts, and it’s not like you can beat them if you fight them, Subaru! So let’s run!”

  “Er, well, that’s all totally true, but I can’t run from this. I can’t run… Not yet.”

  Even though he was happy seeing Petra try to stop him, Subaru gently took her fingers off him one by one. As he did so, the sadness in her big eyes spread even further.

  In an effort to chide Petra, Otto, standing right beside her, tossed his voice her way.

  “Petra. Mr. Natsuki still has something he needs to do. Until he accomplishes it, Mr. Natsuki will not falter. You understand this well, yes?”

  “But…Subaru’s weak!! It’s dangerous! You should stay with him, Mr. Otto!”

  “The way you said that doesn’t make it sound as if you have much faith in my strength, though!”

  Otto’s voice made Petra shake her head. There were tears welling in her eyes as she looked up at Subaru. Subaru got onto his knees so he was on her eye level and then gently stroked her head.

  “Sorry, Petra. I’m getting you, Rem, and Frederica out of this mansion safe and sound. But it’s not just you three. There’s one more person I have to bring out of here.”

  “Y-you mean Lady Beatrice…?”

  “…Even though she hates trouble and acts all lonely, she’s a total busybody, always trying to do everything by herself, suffering ’cause of the dumb answers she comes up with and cowering ’cause she won’t settle things herself.”

  When Subaru described the girl, the loneliness of her existence made Petra widen her eyes.

  “I mean, Beatrice is pretty much the same age you are, Petra. Your heights might be a little different… Come to think of it, Petra, you might be a lot like her first friend.”

  “First…friend…?”

  Beatrice’s first and foremost friend had been Ryuzu Meyer. There had to have been a tangible friendship between her and Beatrice. If Beatrice carried the scars that remained all that time, then maybe…

  “After I come back with Beatrice, you’ll probably become friends with her. I’m sure you’ll like her, Petra. She’s awesomely fun to tease.”

  “M-more than Mr. Otto?”

  “Yeah. Fun enough that you won’t have use for Otto anymore.”

  Judging from Otto’s expression, he wanted to say something, but Subaru deliberately ignored him.

  Then Subaru stopped stroking Petra’s head and rose to his feet.

  “I’ll go look for Beatrice. I plan to try hard enough that I don’t burn to death, but if I do, carve on my tombstone that I died because of the fire from Otto’s oil, okay?”

  “Inscribing tombstones being too much trouble, I will give you a smacking if you do not return safe and sound. Truly, I will.”

  Otto seemed to wince as he made his declaration. Then he tilted his back, turning Rem’s sleeping face Subaru’s way. The princess, still asleep as always, couldn’t even bear witness to Subaru’s resolve as he prepared to depart.

  That was fine. It wasn’t Rem’s place to see Subaru off. It was Subaru’s job to go to her.

  “—Subaru! Be careful, okay?!”

  Petra offered up her very own repel crystal. Accepting this, Subaru set off.

  He did not reply to Petra’s voice as she called out behind him. Petra didn’t need him to do so, either.

  Bit by bit, the flames were covering the mansion, and the place he had spent many days in was quickly turning to ash.

  —Would the fire reach even the archive of forbidden books?

  As he looked for the door to reach her, Subaru could not help but wonder.

  CHAPTER 4

  NEXT TIME, I’M SURE WE’LL HAVE TEA

  1

  Sensing that the Trial had begun, Emilia’s mind instantly awakened.

  This Trial felt closest to the first one. She was aware of her own existence and firmly conscious that she was undertaking a challenge. It wasn’t like the second Trial, when her own existence was far more indistinct.

  However, there was clearly one point that differed from before—here, Emilia had no body.

  Her five senses had vanished, and her body had been lost. What was present was her consciousness alone—it felt like her consciousness was floating in the sky.

  Perhaps this was what it felt like to have one’s fickle soul cast into the water by its lonesome? In spite of this mysterious circumstance, Emilia felt no sense of danger as she strove to slowly grasp the situation.

  Her nonexistent brain seemed to understand this place posed no danger and that her mind here was able to have such realizations.

  Her surroundings were dark. A space of nothing save darkness spread forth, within which Emilia’s body did not exist.

  That she did not lose herself even so was due to the multiple lights that were floating in the darkness.

  These faint lights of various colors were hovering around Emilia.

  The glow they emitted resembled that of lesser spirits, but Emilia felt no life force coming from these lights. They were inorganic; perhaps they were closer to magical crystals that gave off light? Either way, she and the lights were the only things in that world.

  “”

  They continued swimming in that space, with nothing moving but the flow of time—Nay, in that circumstance, she could not firmly grasp whether even time was flowing or not.

  The Witch who normally served as a guide had not appeared. In the darkness, Emilia hesitated over the unchanging situation into which she had been cast.

  —The situation being what it was, her consciousness naturally ended up drawn to the lights.

  “”

  Selecting a silver-colored one from the multitude of lights, Emilia was just a tiny bit apprehensive when she tried to touch it. The very notion of touching assumed you had a body in the first place. Was that even possible here?

  —Rather than ponder, it was faster to try it and see.

  Reaching that conclusion, Emilia immediately tried it out. Her consciousness overlapped with the light, and this indeed was not touch. It felt more like she was intermingling with it—

  “Hate, hate, I hate you. I really hate you. Really. All of it is true. Always, since the moment I met you…I have hated you. I cannot stand the sight of you.”

  The instant she came into contact with the light, a voice echoed directly into her consciousness. Simultaneously, a powerful, reddish scene leaped toward her.

  She’d switched spaces, and a moment she had never witnessed played out before her.

  The sun was unnaturally large. Smoke was rising from the scorched plains, and standing right beside an enormous, decrepit structure, bathed directly in the scarlet sunlight, was a silver-haired girl marred with blood—Emilia.

  The grown-up version of herself she had only just seen in the second Trial was standing there, blood-ridden.

  “I’ve thought this many times, and I’ve denied it many times…but the nightmare truly has come, so I will say it.”

  A smile came over her bloodied face. It was a smile toward the person she hated most in tha
t world.

  “Perhaps it is true—we should never have met.”

  At the corner of one of her purple eyes, a tear formed a single line as it gently fell.

  The drop coursed down her cheek, and just before it fell from her chin onto the blood-marred ground, the world burst apart and vanished.

  “—!”

  Her consciousness, lacking a body, could not draw in its breath. All she could do was endure the desperate urge to do so with all her might.

  As Emilia returned to the darkness once more, she found herself in a world with nothing but her consciousness and the lights floating around her.

  What was that blood-ridden Emilia in the scene she saw beyond the light just then?

  Thus far, she had seen her own appearance only twice, but she had definitely seen herself in that moment. The problem was that she had no recollection of anything like that ever happening. Or perhaps that was some kind of future that would never exist?

  —No, Emilia instinctively thought.

  Calming her chaotic consciousness, Emilia searched within her memories, turning back toward the very beginning.

  The Trials had always indicated at the start what the challenger was to accomplish.

  In the first, it was, First, face your past.

  In the second, it was, Behold the unknowable present.

  And this third time—it was, Face the calamity that shall come.

  The calamity that shall come— Did that mean it was the future?

  The Trials first showed a past linked to one’s greatest regret; then they showed a present that did not and could not exist; last, the challenger was shown a future she would inevitably have to confront head-on. These were the entirety of the Trials the tomb had prepared for her.

  Would that future, of a place enveloped with some kind of twilight, a future where she would tearfully hate someone, actually come to pass one day…?

  “”

  After a time, neither accepting nor rejecting it, Emilia’s thoughts were interrupted as she realized something.

  The light Emilia had touched earlier was gone, leaving only a palpable void. Even so, the lights numbered twenty, so there were still plenty to go. This was the moment she suddenly grasped the meaning behind the phenomenon.