Subaru had been left behind. Betrayed by Rem, he was left alone at the inn.
He had no transportation, nor anyone to guide him to one.
He scrunched the letter Rem had given him and ran out.
◇
"So this… this is my fault again, isn't it…?"
Rem's eyes were wide open. However, no tears came from them anymore. Not due to her lacking the feelings that would provoke them, but because her eyes had completely dried out by this point.
"Why? Why was I not able to do it?" Rem ran her fingers across her forehead, where the wounds she had self-inflicted were.
No matter what were to happen, Rem believed she would curse herself for eternity. Not only was she a killer, but also a coward—able to take others' lives but not her own.
Why did you have to stop me… Subaru?
Saved by her victim. How ironic…
◇
In order to find a ride to the mansion, Subaru asked every single merchant he could find. However, all his efforts were in vain. No one appeared to be willing to take Subaru to the place he desired.
That was until he found a man sitting on a bench in the middle of a small square. He pointed to a nearby tavern and said, "The one in there might agree to your offer."
Without giving it a second thought, he ran in, only to find…
◇
"Me!?"
Otto got up from his seat on instinct.
"I knew I remembered that place from somewhere! But I never got to meet Subaru there. The way I got to meet him… was… way more embarrassing than finding my past out in a tavern."
Garf grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back to his seat.
"Don't ya worry too much. Ya ain't the one who killed the boss. If ya were, ya would've disappeared. That's how it works, right?"
Otto sighed. "Yes, it's like that. You're right."
◇
Subaru slammed a bag full of coins next to the sleeping Otto, who was jolted awake by the sudden noise. He looked around frantically until he realized the one who had made the noise was the scary-looking man next to him.
"Are you the one called Otto?"
With drool still dripping from his mouth, he nodded at the question.
In no time, both of them had left the tavern.
"I'll accept your payment, but I think this is very reckless, Natsuki-san!"
Otto's pleas amounted to nothing. They gathered all the supplies they would need, and the pair set out for the mansion.
Subaru sat inside the carriage, muttering scattered words. In the background, Otto's quivering voice could be heard. "I think I've just been introduced to someone who could be real trouble."
The letter Rem had left Subaru was still in his hand. The contents of it had not been revealed to the people in the theater room, albeit they could vaguely imagine what was written in it.
"Okay, fine. If you won't trust me, then why should I depend on you?"
Every word that left Subaru's mouth only made Otto more and more nervous. He now looked certain that he had gotten himself into big trouble.
By the time the distance to the mansion was walkable, it was already late at night. No one could say for sure, but it probably wouldn't be long until the sun came out, and—
"I'm sorry, but can we turn back now?"
The dragon had stopped abruptly, and Otto had turned to look at his client. Otto's expression was that of someone terrified; his face was pale.
Subaru, who had barely managed to stay awake, was dumbfounded by this sudden suggestion.
"What!? After coming this far?"
"My ground dragon is terrified. It knows by instinct that this place is too dangerous to approach."
They both looked ahead, but the darkness didn't allow for anything to be distinguished.
"Where are we now?"
Otto pulled out a map. "We're already in the Mathers domain, near a village called Arlam—"
"Got it!"
Subaru jumped off the carriage.
"Natsuki-san, you can't go out there! Let's turn back!" Otto's concern was clear. However—
"This is far enough, Otto. You can take the money and all my stuff."
"I can't do that! Please rethink this, Natsuki-san!"
By the time Otto last shouted his name, Subaru was already far enough away that his voice wasn't clear. Either way, nothing Otto could say would have any impact on Subaru's future actions—or so everyone watching believed.
◇
"How truuuuuly reckless he is." Roswaal couldn't hide the grin on his face. "Even as the kind Otto-kun tries to convince him oooootherwise, he marches ahead with no intel or plan."
"Is there anything else you want to add, I suppose?" Beatrice, visibly irritated by Roswaal's comment, didn't even turn her back to face him. "If there's any comment more you want to say, do everyone a favor and keep it to yourself."
"Hmmm… I doooon't know if I'll be able to do as you say. It will depend on him," said Roswaal as he looked at the black-haired boy running toward the mansion.
Emilia, seeing sparks fly between the two, decided to step in. "I know maybe what Subaru is doing isn't the best course of action, but… he's doing it because he loves us a lot—"
"Is that reaaaaally the case?" Roswaal interrupted her. "I'm not sure about that."
"Wh-What?" Emilia, who was pretty confident about what she was saying, wasn't expecting Roswaal to reject her words. She raised her eyebrows as her voice startled while trying to ask his reasoning.
"Do you think eeeeeverything he is doing right now is for your sake?" Roswaal continued. "You are the one, alooooong with Beatrice, that knows him the best. You should know better than I do what he's feeling, Emilia."
"But he's trying his best, right?"
"Neveeeeer once has he mentioned your feelings, has he?"
The white-haired girl looked to her side. Beatrice's face was—
"Bea… trice…?"
She sighed. "Roswaal is right, I suppose. He's doing this for himself. We're nothing but an excuse."
◇
"What is this?" Subaru, who was running, stopped in his tracks and started looking around. "It's too quiet… hk!"
A cultist appeared right in front of his face.
Everyone in the room halted their breathing.
Before Subaru could even react, a circle of cultists had formed around him, but they—
◇
"They… bowed?" Everyone except Roswaal and Ram muttered in unison.
◇
The cultists bowed to Subaru, and once that was done, all of them disappeared again.
"What was that?" Not understanding the situation, Subaru looked back at the direction where the cultists had left and kept marching toward his destination.
"Damn it!" he screamed.
…
The light of day had finally arrived. The distance to the mansion was now minimal. As he stopped to regain his breath, Subaru looked ahead, where a village could be seen.
"I'm back."
That was the Arlam village—the village where Petra used to live.
But as Subaru got closer to it, something felt off. Despite it being morning, it was awfully quiet. On any normal day, everyone would be starting their day by now.
He knocked on a door. After waiting for a minute or so and receiving no response, Subaru pushed the door open.
Nothing.
The house was empty.
◇
"What is going on? Where is everyone?" asked Petra.
Seeing her old neighbors' behavior, Petra was starting to feel a little anxious.
Thankfully for her, at her side was Frederica, who grabbed her hand. "Don't worry, Petra-chan. Remember that anything that happens isn't real."
But that response… was not what Petra needed. "It's not real for us, but for Subaru… it is."
◇
From what looked like the town square, a fairly large cloud of smoke could be seen. Maybe the people of the village had gathered there?
Subaru looked around. His vision was blurry. His anxiousness made him oblivious to his surroundings. In front of him—
"Hk!" As he took a step back, he tripped on something. His hand was—
"Uhh!" His hand was covered in blood.
Just what in the world was happening?
Before his eyes, the cloud of smoke came from the villagers' corpses.
How could he have not noticed?
His breathing accelerated. Everyone. Every single villager. Dead.
Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded. Burnt. Stabbed. Beheaded.
◇
"AAAAAAAGH!" Petra screamed. She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Petra!" Frederica quickly tried covering Petra's eyes, but her hands were pushed away.
"Don't! This is all the cultists' doing! How can they be such monsters!"
The bodies scattered on the ground were left unrecognizable. But even so, Petra had known their names, hobbies, pets…
Even if the timeline was not the one she lived in… it simply was unforgivable.
Emilia looked at the corpses with her eyes wide open. "The… villagers…" Her mouth wasn't able to articulate any more words. She could only watch as her knight walked past the endless number of corpses.
She held tight to Puck's relic—so tight that a drop of blood fell to the ground. The impotence she felt was immeasurable.
◇
"Rem… What happened to Rem?"
With each step, he needed to see Rem, but fear was taking over his body. He wasn't walking toward the mansion—he was stumbling.
"Righ—Rem… Rem is… Rem… Rem… Rem… Rem…"
He still held the letter, now covered in blood. Throughout the entire journey, he hadn't let it go. Rem's last words before leaving him behind—only he knew what they were
As he stepped foot past the mansion's gate, a bloody mace was sitting right at the entrance. His eyes followed the chain. They followed… and followed…
He dropped the letter.
With his mouth wide open and eyes tearing up, he slowly walked toward her. As he fell to his knees, everyone in the room became aware of the fate of the blue-haired maiden.
Lying on the ground, with a knife struck into her back, was Rem's corpse.