Chapter 665 — Arc 10, Chapter 14 – “Traitors”

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――Dragon’s Eye.

That was the expression that instinctively came to Subaru’s mind.

He had not had all too many opportunities to meet the beings that, unlike ground dragons, water dragons, and flying dragons, rightfully bore the appellation of Dragon. Even so, having witnessed the Divine Dragon Volcanica atop the summit of the Pleiades Watchtower and the Cloud Dragon Mezoreia in the Vollachian Empire, Subaru was likely someone with a rather expansive amount of experience with Dragons.

And yet, Subaru’s ample first-hand observations were not the reason why he had such an intuition.

It was more so a sensation rooted in his instincts as a living creature.

When facing a Dragon, one would feel it. ――The distinction, in the hierarchy of existence.

To feel reverence towards a being on a fundamentally different level as a living creature; this was unquestionably how humans regarded Dragons. It was precisely that sensation itself that confirmed it for him.

That was exactly the sensation Subaru had felt regarding Crusch’s left eye upon the removal of her eyepatch.

Subaru: [――――]

An inhuman eye, radiating with golden brilliance and effused with an aberrant light―― a Dragon Eye: with that which ought to be ordained as such in her eye socket, Subaru’s heart shuddered at the sight of Crusch.

What had happened to her body? What did that left eye insinuate? Why would she not cast away her sword even though her wind had been sealed? How had things ended up like this?

Perhaps it was an act of defense, instinctually fearing confrontation with the reality before his eyes, that churned his thoughts into a maelstrom of doubts bereft of any answer.

Swallowing down such formal pretexts, Subaru somehow managed to open his mouth, and――,

Subaru: [――ah.]

――He felt as if his heart had been pierced by her gaze suffused with golden light.

???: [――Shamak!!]

At that instant, Beatrice voiced the incantation in place of the frozen Subaru, her hand held aloft.

Sympathizing with the feelings of Subaru, loathe to fight Crusch, she chose the Yin Magic Shamak, which would tear away the consciousness of the opponent from reality―― in the sense of rendering its target powerless, there were none superior to it; with skill beyond compare to Subaru, she deployed it.

Enshrouding Crusch’s head, it severed her will to fight from this place―― or it should have.

And yet――,

Crusch: [――I perceive it.]

Crusch tilted her head, leisurely evading the whirling black haze that arose in the air without warning.

Beatrice: [――Hk, Shamak! Shamak, Shamak, Shamak!]

Swallowing her astonishment over her first attack having been evaded, Beatrice gave rise to successive black hazes in midair.

With her quick and agile movements, Crusch eluded each and every one of the spells incessantly chained together, drawing close to envelop her, whereupon she finally connected her sword to initiation of the magic, disrupting the spell.

The thwarting of magic before its invocation. ――He comprehended the logic that for all magic, it was not until the collected Mana was given direction that an effect would be manifested, so if one were to disrupt the composition, it could not be materialized, but…

???: [Shouldn’t actually putting it into practice be a different story!?]

She had demonstrated the divine feat of slaying magic before it could become magic, so to speak; with a tinge of wonder in his voice, Tiga leapt upon Crusch from the side.

Crusch, with her sword dancing through the air, received Tiga, who exhibited his skillful finesse in being able to execute simultaneous attacks single-handedly with both his curved sword and kicks, and the battle between them resumed.

Yet, that was――,

Crusch: [I believe I told you. That I perceive it.]

Crusch’s movements, as she calmly informed them of such, had clearly changed, even to the untrained eye.

That change was not only perceptible via sight, but was also something evident to the ears―― that was because, distinct from the conflict just moments prior, there was something that had vanished from the fight between the two of them. Sound.

A duel of steel striking steel, with sparks being scattered: such exchanges had wholly ceased.

Crusch avoided the blade swung and kicks unleashed by Tiga not with her own sword, but merely with the movement of her body.

Even an amateur could understand which, between blocking or evading, was the conduct that granted one more leeway. And, that which enabled it was――,

Subaru: [――The Dragon’s Eye.]

With a gulp, Subaru swallowed a feeling of wonder that he could not stifle in his throat.

In all likelihood, the speed of Crusch’s movements themselves had not changed all that much. It was not the velocity of her movements that had changed so considerably, but the rapidity of her initiation of that movement.

In a battle where one’s life could be exchanged in an instantaneous give and take, if only one person gained “something” that allowed them to shave off fractions of a second from that sequence of instant after instant, the superiority of that individual would be unfathomable.

Presently, what Crusch was doing was eliminating those fractions of a second.

Tiga: [Guh… kuh!]

As if to support that conjecture of Subaru’s, the state of the duel in the office suddenly shifted.

Having launched various techniques that energetically animated his entire body, that sword dance of Tiga which ought to have allowed him to cross blades with Crusch head-on, however imperfectly, was interrupted, and he began to be forced into a defensive posture.

The initiation of his onslaught thwarted, a sword thrust into a gap in his combination attack, and prevented from acting as he wished, agitation showed on Tiga’s heretofore unflappable face as he narrowly managed to resist.

However, even if he were to devote himself to defense, he could not escape unscathed. Blood ran from his shoulder, his thigh, and finally from a single cut upon his cheek crimson flowed, those trails of trickling blood attesting to his struggle.

If this were to continue, Tiga would soon be included among the victims of the McMahon manor.

That was the worst-case scenario that must not come to pass, now that Miklotov could no longer be reclaimed.

Therefore――,

Subaru: [OHHHHHHHH――!!]

While Tiga and Beatrice attempted to suppress her with sword and spell respectively, the howling Subaru cracked the whip he had drawn from the rear of his waist, compelling the tip of his Guiltywhip to whistle through the air.

From the moment he had decided to employ EMT, Subaru’s aim was to subdue Crusch.

The reason he had left the battle up to Beatrice and Tiga until now, was not merely due to his disorientation and astonishment at Crusch’s transformation. It was for the sake of this one and only surprise attack.

Swifter than sword or spell, Guiltywhip’s strike approached Crusch.

No matter the mechanism behind the Dragon Eye, dealing with an unfamiliar attack would――,

Crusch: [――I have already perceived that.]

Subaru: [――ogh.]

An instant later, struck by twin shocks, a pathetic gasp escaped Subaru’s lungs.

The first shock was how easily the surprise attack he had been building up to had been averted. Crusch met the whip loosed by Subaru’s hand with her sword before it could fully extend, knocking its tip to the ground.

It merited admiration that what should have been the fastest attack present had been cut down so readily. But, it paled in comparison to what the second shock wrought.

The second shock was witnessing the eye of Crusch, who had cut away Guiltywhip―― not her Dragon Eye, but her proper, amber, right eye, brimming with a heartrending hue.

Subaru: [――I don’t understand… what that means.]

To put it bluntly without taking care with his words, he was naught but bewildered by that gaze, appearing to him as if she were on the verge of tears.

Even though Crusch was the one acting amiss, Subaru felt like he was being treated as the villain for trying to subdue her. It was not to the magnitude where he could say something like, despite even being killed by her once, the tears of a beautiful woman were unfair.

Of course, if he were to be told that it was a baseless pretext, that would be the end of it.

The expression worn by this true Crusch remained emotionless, lips pursed, only shooting a single glance at Subaru, the wielder of the whip she had repelled. ――But, for some reason, he thought so. Doesn’t she look like she’s about to cry?

――I’ll stop those tears.

Subaru: [――Hk.]

Tiga: [Don’t drop your――!]

While Subaru gritted his teeth at the emotion that had flashed across Crusch’s eye, Tiga, though perhaps misinterpreting it, noticed an opening he could take advantage of, and flashed his shamshir with ferocious speed.

The naked, curved blade whirled, roaring like the fang of a beast, closing in on Crusch’s slender body――,

Crusch: [I told you that I perceive it!]

In an instant, Crusch twisted her body to match the trajectory of the flashing curved blade, evading the sword strike so that it grazed her skin, and raising her voice, she struck Tiga in the jaw with her knee as it shot up.

With a cry of pain, Tiga bent backwards, and flashes of cleaving light launched in quick succession splattered his blood over the office as he instantly protected his vitals.

As he instinctively stumbled back, a powerful kick bored into his torso. Blown straight back, Tiga slammed into a wall back-first, and immediately collapsed.

However――,

Subaru: [I’ve got it from here, my friend!]

Utilizing the meager time Tiga had gained, Subaru closed in on Crusch. Continuing to wield his whip, he aimed for Crusch’s hand which gripped her sword――,

Crusch: [I perceive that as well.]

With a flippant remark, Crusch warded off the strike of the whip with but a flick of her wrist, and as swiftly as the tip of the sword whipped around, it became a thrust, stabbing at the leg of the recklessly approaching Subaru.

That silver light pierced the top of his foot, and Subaru, paying the price for each of his impulsive actions――,

Subaru: [Beatrice!]

Beatrice: [――Hk, you’re a partner who always asks the impossible, in fact!]

Inferring Subaru’s intentions from that single cry, Beatrice used her miniscule body to its fullest extent, pouring her entire soul into realizing her partner’s wish as she berated him.

The instant the blade reached him, it activated. ――The absolute defensive magic, EMM.

Crusch: [――――]

An original spell of Subaru and Beatrice, it invoked the strongest defense, rejecting any and all physical or magical interference by shifting their own existence a half step out of reality. Nonetheless, as this was the first display of power where EMM had been utilized from within the deployment of EMT, its success was a miracle――,

Beatrice: [Love-you’s will be required at morning, noon, and night, I suppose!]

Subaru: [I love you, Beako!]

Whilst offering up the payment she had cutely demanded as the price for that miracle, Subaru immediately switched from the fact that the thrust had not penetrated to setting his sights on Crusch, ready for his next move.

In exchange for an unassailable defense, EMM’s flaw was that it forbade any movement. The moment one would take another step, it would spell the end of their period of invincibility. The subsequent tip of her sword would be mercilessly thrust into him.

Therefore――,

Subaru: [Invisible Providence!]

Before the next blow could be unleashed, he played all the cards in his hand, one after another.

Blood gushing from his nose, the invisible black arm extended from Subaru’s chest, grasping the hand with which Crusch held her sword and forcing an end to the follow-up she was about to unleash. The unseen arm squeezed Crusch’s wrist with ferocity, causing her hand to drop her sword as she lost her martial ability.

Crusch was sequentially hindered from acting by the cards unknown to her in Subaru’s hand, and putting his entire weight into his remaining arms, he pushed her against the wall using all three of his hands, including his magic one.

Subaru: [Crusch-san! Listen to me!]

Gripping both of her wrists and forcibly pinning Crusch against the wall, Subaru pleaded with her.

As he did so, Crusch writhed, attempting to drive her knee into Subaru’s side, but he forcibly pushed his body close, close enough that they could feel each other’s breath, immobilizing her.

Right before his own eyes, Crusch’s heterochromatic eyes of amber and gold looked at Subaru. And, while looking back at her head-on,

Subaru: [This… no matter how you look at it, this is wrong! It’s gotten out of hand! I’m not going to let things continue like this!]

Crusch: [Natsuki Subaru…]

Subaru: [I… I won’t accept any of this! I WON’T ACCEPT IT!!]

As Subaru raised his voice to a roar, Crusch’s face tensed.

After all, the gist of his contentions was the same as when he had ranted words of lament before he had Returned by Death. Still, he wanted to believe that he might obtain a different outcome than he had prior, where he had just stood there and shouted, now that he had given her time to reflect.

Miklotov, all the lives of those at the McMahon estate, none of them would ever be reclaimed.

Despite that being the case, surely there was something he could do aside from sitting back and accepting the worst possible outcome. To that end, it was vital that Crusch laid down her sword here.

The persuasiveness to have her do so――,

Subaru: [――Eh?]

With such expectations in mind, Subaru, awaiting Crusch’s response, let out a hoarse breath from his throat.

That was due to what was occurring before his eyes―― Crusch’s different left and right eyes both suddenly became pointed, and using the reaction of pushing her back off the wall, she forcefully pulled Subaru to the ground.

Taking that which had felt like a surprise attack head-on, Subaru was pitifully torn down on the spot. ――However, it was not a counterattack against Subaru. Rather, it had been the opposite.

――After all, in the next moment, an enormous amount of hellfire engulfed Subaru’s vision with bright red.

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――Feeling as though he could hear a distant sound akin to a steam whistle, his consciousness slowly began to resurface.

Breaking through the surface tension of awakening, what he first experienced when his face emerged was a stinging, painful ache. Feeling it stimulate his full body, especially his right arm, he unwittingly grunted an agonizing groan.

Subaru: [――Ugh.]

???: [――! Subaru, have you opened your eyes, I suppose? Are you alright, in fact?]

Hearkening his escaped groan, a voice immediately took notice of Subaru’s awakening. A voice he was accustomed to, it was that of his partner who would welcome every morning’s awakening alongside him: Beatrice.

However, this awakening, chaperoned by agony, was considerably different from that which he experienced every day.

Subaru: [Bea… ko…? What happened… to me…]

Beatrice: [You mustn’t force yourself to get up, I suppose. The burns are still severe, in fact… If only there were enough Mana, Betty would heal them immediately, but, apologies, I suppose.]

Subaru: [You don’t need to apologize for… burns?]

As his eyelids opened whilst trembling, he could see Beatrice’s slumped face peeping at him. A Great Spirit with large, round pupils filled to the brim with sadness, he sought to immediately console her laments, but then stopped.

Burns; upon hearing that word, his slumbering brain commenced an awakening that lagged behind his body. That was right. If he recalled correctly, then right before he fell unconscious, he had seen flames. And, further prior to that――,

Subaru: [――Crusch-san!]

The tragedy of the McMahon residence called to his mind, Subaru’s body vigorously shot up.

One recollection onset the restoration of the vivacious memories all in one go. The demise of Miklotov, the one who had professed to being his executioner, Crusch, the subsequent scene of attempting to subdue her, and the Dragon’s Eye that sojourned in the resisting Crusch’s left eye―― to far too great an extent, things had taken a turn by leaps and bounds.

However, first came Crusch. In the end, he had succeeded in seizing her using EMM and Invisible Providence. Thereafter, an unforeseen blaze came into sight――.

Subaru: [That’s right, an incredibly powerful flame had flared up… so the pain in my arm, is due to those burns? Shit, it stings…! But, this is barely any――]

Beatrice: [C-Calm down, in fact! Healing magic has yet to be applied due to the shortage of Mana, I suppose! You must remain at rest or you may catch some awful illness, in fact!]

Subaru: [Now’s not the time for that! We gotta focus on Crusch-san rather than me right now. Compared to that, something like collapsing with a fever would be totally――]

Fine; declaring so, he attempted to shake off Beatrice’s disquietude, and it happened at that precise moment.

???: [――Seems you have awakened, Natsuki Subaru.]

Subaru: [Huh.]

Abruptly, he heard a voice betraying his anticipations, as Subaru widened his eyes. Within Subaru’s field of vision, stepping out from the veil of darkness was Crusch, the one whom he was right about to launch into a search for just then.

With the Lagmite ore lamp she held illuminating her vicinity, her left eye covered again with an eyepatch, Crusch trotted up to Subaru whilst he debated Beatrice, and taking his right arm,

Crusch: [As I thought, it seems it is not a wound that can be left unattended. It’s nothing more than first aid, but take this.]

Whilst enunciating so, with the lamp set by her feet, Crusch took an embroidered, white handkerchief out of her breast pocket and gently wrapped it around Subaru’s right arm in place of bandages.

Stains oozed to permeate through the handkerchief where it touched the burn wounds, and upon the softness of Crusch’s touch as she wrapped it, Subaru blinked in stupefaction, unable to keep up with the situation.

Crusch: [――? What is the matter? There is a wind of confoundment blowing around you.]

Subaru: […Well yeah, of course there’d be that sorta turbulence. As far as my memories go, up until just now we’d been, you know, fighting it out with desperate expressions, right?]

Crusch: [I believe it was only you who wore a look of desperation.]

Subaru: [I’m just saying the overall gist of things as I saw it! Between the two of us, if I were making a desperate face, then the ratio of desperation would be fifty percent, yeah?]

Crusch: [I see. That does stand to reason.]

Her inordinately serious visage nodded in concordance to him, to which Subaru could not help but be dumbfounded, as he had frivolously heaped up all sorts of persiflage.

Thereupon, Subaru finally came to notice the queer space they all found themselves inside―― a passageway with a damp humidity that could not be labeled as particularly hygienic was the site of their conversation. What he had been laid to rest on was the chilly, solid floor, the air was humid with a wafting fishy stench, and directing his focus to it once more, it was a space with a prolific sense of sewage arduous to disregard.

Subaru: [Or rather, is this place actually just the sewers?]

Beatrice: [That’s also why Betty doesn’t want you to push yourself for now, Subaru, I suppose. If you were to carelessly contract tetanus or something, it would be quite difficult to heal it right now, in fact.]

Subaru: [So that’s why you two were playing roles of the pretty doctor and the tomboy nurse… I’m super grateful for that, but more importantly―― what’s going on?]

Beatrice: [――――]

Indicating his appreciation for Beatrice’s concern towards his well-being, the reason for the continued stagnation of his understanding was Crusch, who had been about just as proactive as his devoted partner in tending to Subaru’s burns.

Narrowing her eyes at Subaru as he faintly deepened the tone of his voice, she divulged a quiet sigh, and,

Crusch: [We are in the sewers, a short distance away from Miklotov McMahon’s residence. Based on our travel distance, this must be about midway between the Noble and Commercial Districts. Even through use of the sewer system, we cannot slip through the checkpoints that control entering and exiting the upper stratum. At present, that is the obstacle that stands in our path.]

Subaru: [Slow down, slow down, I’m begging you to just wait for a sec. I can’t keep up with this at all. To begin with, what happened right before and after I fainted is super fuzzy in my head. It’s just…]

Crusch: [Just?]

Subaru: [Based on what you said just now… could it be that, Crusch-san, you and I are currently the same party members?]

Crusch: [Paartee memburrs…]

Crusch knitted her eyebrows at the words unfamiliar to her ears; however, Beatrice, who had been already officially certified as having passed the second grade of modern language, nodded to his query with an “I suppose”.

Beatrice: [There is a variety of difficulties at play, but that girl has no hostility towards us, in fact. The one who carried Subaru all the way here while you had fainted was also that girl, I suppose.]

Crusch: [Had you been left behind at that place, you would not have averted a death by burning either. At the very least, I did not sense any falsity in your words. Thus, your death is not to my desire.]

Subaru: [I see. For that, thank you… but still.]

The spectacle he witnessed immediately before he fainted, and the large scars of burns on his right arm, served partway as proof that Crusch had indeed saved him from a perilous situation. It was not possible that Beatrice would go so far as colluding with Crusch to the point of deceiving Subaru.

However, the reason why Subaru failed to pronounce his gratitude upfront owed to how Crusch had phrased it―― Subaru’s death, had not been to her desire. But, what about the deaths of Miklotov and the others?

Subaru: […Crusch-san, did you really kill Miklotov-san?]

Crusch: [――. I had affirmed it at that place as well, but it is the truth. Miklotov McMahon, and the staff he employed at that mansion, were all slain by my hand to abandon.]

Subaru: [――Hk.]

Crusch: [Need I explain the reason as well? That would also be a reiteration of what I spoke at that place, but Miklotov McMahon and his coterie were all traitors, those who were plotting against the Kingdom of Lugunica. Therefore, as one belonging to upper nobility, I bestowed the death penalty by means of the sword.]

Subaru: [That’s… that’s what I don’t get. That they were traitors, that they were conspiring against the Kingdom, what does that even mean? What was he plotting that was so absurd that it made you run out of patience, Crusch-san?]

Crusch: [――At the very least, there is a high likelihood he was utilizing the prophecies of the Dragon History Stone to his own convenience.]

Subaru swallowed a breath, having hastened the conversation to burst the successively emerging bubbles of dubiety.

The information Crusch appended at the very end was about the Dragon History Stone, which was precisely what Subaru had wanted to ascertain with Miklotov firsthand today.

The Covenant with the Divine Dragon possessed potent, mighty influence over the Kingdom, the substantive details of which were engraved into a prophetic tablet―― that was the Dragon History Stone, and also a key item that constructed the basis for commencing the Royal Selection that Emilia was participating in as well.

However, it was an article he had only ever heard of and had never actually seen for himself, so if it were possible, Subaru wished to ascertain its existence personally with his own eyes, that was all.

Subaru: [That Dragon History Stone was being used? By Miklotov-san?]

Crusch: [It is difficult to imagine that the Dragon History Stone, which informs of all great matters of importance to the Kingdom, did not tell of the members of the Royal Family passing away one after another. If that is the case, then what is probable is that the one who had been entrusted with the Dragon History Stone willfully concealed the prophecy that ought to have been foretold, and did not publicize it.]

Subaru: [But… but, isn’t it way too late for that now!? You must’ve had that doubt even before the Royal Selection began in the first place. Crusch-san, that was exactly why you and Ferris――]

The two of them must have possessed the motivation to investigate the particulars pertaining to the catastrophe of the Royal Family’s demise. After all, the fourth prince, a member of the perished Royal Family, was of an especially close relationship.

But then again, even Subaru was not so insensible as to vocalize that and press her.

Crusch: [――That I did not wield the option to distrust, is the utmost extremity of regret for myself from those bygone days.]

Conjecturing the terminus of his discontinued words, Crusch recognized her own blunder.

Of course, to label it as a mere blunder was far too uncompassionate to a person enduring the fresh loss of someone close. He had heard from Ferris that merely a close relationship would be an inadequate descriptor for the relationship between the fourth prince and Crusch, as well.

That must have precisely been Crusch’s premier reason to desire the throne.

But――,

Subaru: [Then… why did you start doubting that, all of a sudden…]

Crusch: [Surely you understand without requiring me to say it. By sending the Church of the Divine Dragon to my doorstep, and deceiving Ferris with guileful words, they schemed to have me withdraw from the Royal Selection.]

Subaru: [――Hk!? Crusch-san, that’s…]

Crusch: [Ferris has a potent sense of duty. My situation was what it was, and he was being tormented by haunting anxieties. Under such circumstances, when whispered cajolery by the man called the brains of the Kingdom, it is no fault of Ferris’s that he erred in judgment. Were it not for that――]

Subaru: [――――]

Crusch: [――Were it not for that, that individual would have never committed an act that tramples upon the vow between His Highness and myself.] [1]

Eyes downcast, voice subdued, Crusch endeavored to crush her emotions.

However, the more her endeavor transmitted to him, the less clear it became towards which side the scales inside Subaru’s heart would tip.

Sentimentally, he of course wanted to believe Crusch. All due apologies to Miklotov, but if Miklotov really were a traitor using the Kingdom for his own intentions, then a legitimate righteousness would suffuse Crusch’s actions. Perhaps, were she to be given a proper trial of law, she might still be pardoned given the extenuating circumstances.

However, Subaru remembered Miklotov’s comment back at the site of the Royal Selection, appraising him as Emilia’s Knight despite Subaru disgracing himself in an intolerable sight.

Crusch was Subaru’s benefactor, and likewise, Miklotov too was his benefactor.

Desiring a conclusion as convenient as binaries between either side seemed far too onerous.

Furthermore――,

Subaru: [Ferris…]

Bearing the resolution to be abhorred by Crusch and thereupon be dismissed as her Knight, he had taken the hand offered by the Church of the Divine Dragon, and selected this option with the foresight of his master dropping out from the Royal Selection.

Even if it meant turning the vow concerning the fourth prince into scrap paper, he had made his choice.

That decision, was not something he wished to so easily label as the outcome of someone else’s designs.

Subaru: […I understand your assertion for now, Crusch-san. I want to discuss it thoroughly until everything is cleared up. There are some other things too――]

Crusch: [Wait, Natsuki Subaru. Your questions are rightful, but now that you have awakened, I would prefer to prioritize moving first. It would be unwise to remain at this spot forever.]

Subaru: [Ahh, here as in the sewers, yeah? Sure, I’d like to change the setting as well, but there’s still things we need to talk――]

Subaru was persistent towards Crusch as she sought to wrap up the conversation, slowly shaking her head sideways. But, the sleeve of his unburned left arm was tugged on by Beatrice.

With a single glance, he could tell that Beatrice’s expression conceived a faint tension,

Beatrice: [On this point, Betty is in agreement with that girl, in fact. In any case, running comes first, I suppose. If we dawdle, the pursuers will catch us, in fact.]

Subaru: [Not you too… wait, hold on hold on, I can’t just ignore that. Running? Pursuers? I don’t get what you’re saying. That makes it sound like we’re in the sewers because…]

Beatrice: [――――]

Subaru: [Because… we have to… run…]

As Subaru articulated it into words, the ill premonition that gradually came over him set off a numbness in his tongue.

Meanwhile, Crusch lifted up the lamp set onto the passageway once again, whilst Beatrice, her eyebrows furrowed in disconcert, repeatedly opened and closed her slim lips in a conundrum of what to say.

From her attitude devoid of futility, and bearings abound in forethought, he could surmise. ――Without jest, Subaru and the others had been driven into a position of being fugitives.

Subaru: [I don’t understand! There’s still too much unexplained! Besides…]

Surveying his environs whilst pronouncing so, Subaru ascertained the absence of any figure besides Beatrice and Crusch and alluded to a distinct anomaly. ――Tiga’s absence.

Subaru: [What about Tiga… he was also in the mansion together with us. Yet, why don’t I see him anywhere around here? What happened, what’s happening, why has it happened such that things ended up this way? Tell me why――]

Crusch: [――Tiga Rauleon, was it? Unfortunately, that man is our pursuer.]

Subaru: […What?]

Crusch’s voice responded to Subaru’s doubt, though that birthed yet another doubt within him.

Things he did not comprehend further accumulated atop things he did not comprehend, and it was only natural he failed to grasp the perfect form of the building blocks that became an aggregate of things he did not comprehend.

With those as his true feelings as he gazed in stupefaction, Subaru peered at Crusch.

Upon his glance of inquiry, she hoisted the lamp upward, illumining her gorgeous face with its white glow to reveal it, her left eye concealed by an eyepatch, and resumed.

That was――,

Crusch: [Presently, the three of us are being pursued. By Tiga Rauleon and the Kingdom’s forces. ――For the charges of murdering Miklotov McMahon, and of being traitors plotting to overthrow the Kingdom, you see.]

Translation Note:

[1] –  The pronoun Crusch uses while referring to Ferris here is あれ, which can be interpreted as distant and even disparaging.