"Survived!"
Morning. Natsuki Subaru bolted upright in bed, eyes darting to the green pepper plant potted on the windowsill.
He reached out and touched its leaves. "Thank you."
It had actually worked. Roswaal really was Diego—though he still hadn't asked what "Diego" even was.
Then again, it might've worked simply because he'd played it safe this time around and hadn't confronted "Diego" head-on. This world that looked so bright on the surface was terrifyingly dangerous. By the world's clock, he'd only been here two days and had already died twice.
Yesterday's roughhousing with the village brats had exhausted him so thoroughly that even the anxiety keeping him on edge hadn't been enough to fight off the crushing fatigue.
Subaru walked to the mirror and stared at the boy who'd inherited his mother's fierce eyes. He stood perfectly still for a good while—not by choice, but because he'd been forced rigid.
The episode lasted about ten seconds before he managed to wrench his stiff right hand into cooperating and pinched his cheek, squeezing a little harder than necessary.
"That doesn't hurt?"
The moment just before had genuinely made it difficult to move. Was this a side effect of Return by Death? He'd need to be more careful with his life from now on.
Subaru flipped open the Tome of Wisdom. After Yimi had handled it, the text inside had started appearing sporadically—fragments fading in and out. Not that it mattered. Subaru couldn't read this world's writing anyway, so he didn't even know what the book was for.
He plucked a green pepper, dropped it in his pocket, and stepped out.
"Good morning, maid-san."
He greeted Rem, who was doing her daily cleaning. But Rem just stood there gripping her mop, silent.
Subaru followed her gaze and found a trail of child-sized footprints leading straight down the corridor to the far end.
Under normal circumstances, Rem's Water Magic kept the mopped floor dry within ten seconds. But there was always a certain someone who managed to run through at exactly the wrong moment.
At the far end of the hallway, a little dinosaur was pressed flat against the wall, tailing the master of the estate.
Roswaal turned his head slightly.
Yimi instantly dropped to the ground and buried her face, pretending to be a real dinosaur.
That Diego really hadn't seen through her disguise. He merely glanced at her before continuing on his way.
"Don't lie on the floor—it's filthy." Beatrice emerged from a neighboring room, grabbed Yimi by her clothes, and hoisted her up.
"Rawr." Yimi hurriedly pressed her face into Beatrice's shoulder to hide it, then stared back at Beatrice through the hood's sagely dinosaur eyes. "You're mistaken. I'm a dinosaur."
Puck floated beside Emilia, propping his chin on one paw in a deliberately mature pose. "Looks like Betty is getting a taste of what it's like to raise a daughter."
"…"
Did disguising as a dinosaur actually work? Come to think of it—Roswaal still owed him a favor, didn't he? It didn't seem like the guy would actually honor it, but this was crucial.
Swallowing hard, Subaru adjusted his expression as best he could and walked forward. He'd learned from the loops in the Royal Capital—when he'd run toward the Loot House, the hostility in his eyes had been spotted immediately. Fortunately, that woman hadn't killed him then.
Rounding the corner, he caught a disapproving glare from Beatrice. The catnip he'd brought back had kept the little cat gnawing until the wee hours. In Beatrice's eyes, he'd basically delivered a recreational drug.
"Hm? Have you decided on your request already, Subaru-san?" Roswaal wore the same amiable expression as always, but between the clown makeup and the drawn-out lilt in his voice, the effect landed somewhere between unsettling and unhinged.
Subaru held his smile as best he could. "As an outsider who just got here, I don't know a thing about this place. I'll burn through my money in no time, too. If possible—could I stay here and work as a butler?"
He didn't want to leave Emilia in this place alone. The only option was to actively investigate the man's secrets, and this was the best plan his short brainstorming session had produced.
Roswaal nodded. "I see~ For Emilia-sama's savior to make such a modest request… You could have asked for something far more extravagant—say, a hefty sum of money—and I would have accepted it, you know~"
"Back where I come from—well, a big place in our—back home, there's an old saying: 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' Without a way to earn a living, even a fortune would get wasted. Besides, my contribution was just warning Emilia-tan when she was ambushed—the one who actually saved her was little Yimi."
Not that Roswaal had gotten the chance to speak with Yimi. Every time he approached, Yimi bolted behind Beatrice or shifted into cat form and hid under her skirt.
"Mew?"
Hearing the first real lesson Subaru had ever been taught, Yimi's ears perked up from behind them.
"Absolutely~ In that case, I'll leave household affairs in your hands while I'm away. If you have questions, ask Rem." Roswaal agreed without hesitation.
"Great!" Subaru pumped both fists—then caught up to what he'd just heard. "Wait, what do you mean 'away'?"
"There's a matter I need to attend to~ I'll leave things here to you."
Said with extraordinary casualness, barely qualifying as a heads-up, Roswaal walked outside and lifted off into the sky.
Magic could do that…
Subaru turned to Yimi—the strongest person in his eyes at the moment. "Can you fly, little Yimi?"
"I can't." Yimi pouted. She'd been burned too many times by her inability to fly.
"You can't, huh…"
If even Yimi couldn't fly, then Roswaal, who was really Diego underneath, was truly unfathomable. But his leaving was a good thing. Maybe searching his room would turn up some clues.
————
Diego had suddenly flown off, but the cat couldn't let her guard down. Seizing the opportunity, she needed to resupply on critical strategic resources at the nearby village.
"What 'critical strategic resources'? You're clearly just indulging a bad habit." Beatrice followed alongside, tugging at Yimi's clothes—and utterly failing to pry her out of the catnip patch.
"Cat grass. Very important." Yimi kept stuffing handfuls into her Storage Space.
"Important enough to keep you up all night? Can't you take after nii-chan and be a proper cat?"
Yimi shook her head vigorously. "Not gonna be a rat-cat."
"That is an incredibly rude thing to call him!"
"So cute!"
Girls' squeals erupted from nearby, startling Yimi.
Checking her Storage Space—now stocked with a sizable catnip haul—she walked toward the commotion and found the village children gathered around a peculiar-looking puppy.
"What is that thing?" Beatrice frowned slightly.
"Dog!" Yimi took a step back.
But it was only a puppy. She'd hold off on treating it as an enemy for now.
Spotting her, the blue-haired girl holding the puppy's eyes flickered with something not entirely pleasant before she put on a friendly smile. "It's a really cute puppy. Want to pet it?"
Beatrice stepped in front of Yimi, her expression blank. "I'd advise you all to put it down."
"Why? It's so well-behaved." The girl named Petra tilted her head, puzzled, and gave the puppy's head a rub.
Seeing that, Yimi reached her finger out toward the puppy too.
The puppy's jaws snapped open and clamped down hard on Yimi's hand.
"Let go of her!" Beatrice summoned a Yin-attribute magic bullet, aiming it at the puppy.
Yimi looked down at the small dog that had suddenly bared its fangs. Beneath its tiny teeth, she sensed a thread of malicious energy.
Yimi opened her own mouth wide and bit down on top of the puppy's head.
"Whine—" The puppy let out a yelp.