“Is it getting better yet?”

“No, just wait a little longer. Ugh, this is bad, the world is shaking. It’s still shaking! I thought I’d conquered this, but it seems I was wrong. Looks like the soul of a triplet is stuck with me…”

While gazing at the clear stream flowing through the canal, Subaru and Beatrice are taking a break side by side. The location is a street facing the grand canal leading to the city center, where passersby are smiling as they see the two sitting on the edge of the road, swinging their feet over the water.

They’re probably thought to be siblings or perhaps just some tourists fascinated by the grand canal.

“I can’t say both of those evaluations are wrong… The harshness of not realizing the truth is really something. Hmph.”

“If you’re gonna gag while talking, you might as well just get some fresh air instead! You shouldn’t worry so much; do you think I’m here just to keep you company to make sure you don’t feel lonely?”

“That’s so I don’t get left behind, right? Bea, you’re so kind…”

“…That aside, I hope you feel better soon.”

As Subaru leans his shoulder against Beatrice, she braces herself firmly, trying to hold him up with her small frame. Seeing her trying so hard makes his affection for the girl grow, which makes him wonder where the limits of trust truly lie.

It has been about fifteen minutes since Subaru dramatically went down with seasickness, and they’ve been forced to disembark the ferry and walk to their destination to recover.

Emilia, Otto, and Garfiel must have sailed ahead on the boat, heading to negotiate with the Muse Company where Kiritaka was supposed to be.

At first, Emilia insisted on walking with Subaru after he got off the boat, but Otto’s unnecessary advice—“If you keep the person you made a promise to waiting, the more time passes, the worse the impression becomes”—led Emilia to reluctantly leave Subaru behind.

Still, reflecting on how it took fifteen whole minutes to stop feeling dizzy, he couldn’t say it was necessarily the wrong decision, which frustrated him.

“Well, even if we are cautious of Anastasia… there’s no way she’d do something shady in broad daylight in such a bustling place.”

He had some unease about acting alone in an unfamiliar city where political enemies had invited him, which was why Garfiel was acting as his bodyguard. Now that Subaru had become a considerable influence within Emilia’s faction, attacking him would indeed not be meaningless.

Even so, there was a strange sense of trust that Anastasia wouldn’t choose this place to corner Subaru. Additionally, he could add that he held some slight trust in Julius to avoid sneaky tactics.

“I trust you to choose the chivalrous path as a knight, just as your name suggests…”

“Subaru, you look creepy when you mumble to yourself and grin!”

“I’m not grinning or anything! And it’s really unfair to think I was laughing because I remembered that guy! Anyway, okay, I’m standing up now. Let’s go.”

Subaru raised his voice in response to Beatrice’s remark, taking a deep breath as he stood up.

He lightly stretched his limbs and neck, and it seemed the effects of seasickness had finally faded. He did feel some heaviness in his arms and legs, but it shouldn’t hinder his movements.

“Well, even if something goes wrong, Bea should be able to handle it.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on you. But I doubt there’ll be a pinch anytime soon. If someone were to do something reckless in a crowd like this, they’d have to be an utter fool.”

As a candidate for the Royal Selection, they had to choose their means carefully. Subaru always wanted Emilia to appear proper and sweet in public—she was naturally a beautiful girl, so she didn’t need to pretend.

“In other words, the purity that other candidates can’t imitate is the real weapon possessed by the angel Emilia-chan…!”

“I see your thoughts are drifting off in a weird direction again. Subaru, Subaru, look, our destination is this way. Follow me.”

Beatrice had long since grown accustomed to Subaru’s habit of derailing conversations at every opportunity. Grabbing his hand, she led him through the newly arrived streets with the ease of someone exploring their own home.

The Muse Company they were looking for was said to be at the boundary between the first and second streets along the grand canal. Though he had only vaguely heard the explanation while suffering from seasickness, Beatrice must surely have grasped the location perfectly.

However, there was one issue—the convoluted roads of Pristella.

Even though they were supposed to head along the grand canal, the necessary path was blocked by small canals they had to avoid or detour around, making it impossible to go straight. This naturally led to multiple turns, frequent bridges to cross, and needing to leap over canals while carrying Beatrice.

“Check it out, Subaru! There’s a beautifully magnificent fountain over there!”

“Yeah… wait, what park is this?”

The Beatrice, who had let out an awed gasp, pointed at a city park with a large fountain in the center of the grounds. There were no playgrounds in sight, but well-maintained flowerbeds and the fountain provided a feast for the eyes, showing children splashing about nearby.

This was undoubtedly a serene, heart-calming scene. Undeniably, but—

“There’s no way this is the destination, right? The heir to a major trading company is sitting at the edge of this park, playing a big money game? If it rains, the bills will get wet!”

“Has being seasick made you negative? Seeing such beautiful scenery, and what you think of first is such a depressed notion? Bea is disappointed in you as a partner.”

“Old you would’ve turned redder trying to cover up your mistakes; these days you seem to have become quite the chatterbox, which makes your dad sad.”

“It’s way too early to call myself Bea’s father! Subaru, you seriously lack awareness in that regard!”

For some reason, Beatrice reacted excessively to the latter half of his statement, but Subaru didn’t pursue that further since he was satisfied with her outburst. What was more concerning was how they ended up at the park in the first place.

“Bea, you were leading the way confidently, weren’t you? That was confidence based on knowing the path, right?”

“I knew the destination! It was just the route to get there that was a bit uncertain. To avoid getting lost until we arrived, I relied on the method from that book called ‘The Left-Hand Rule for When You’re in Trouble.’ Was that a lie?”

“The Left-Hand Rule for Getting Lost?!”

“The revolutionary method of keeping your left hand on the left wall until you reach your goal!”

“That’s the method for traversing a maze!?”

The tactic Beatrice had suggested was a classic method known for helping people navigate mazes from the starting point to the finish. Its effectiveness was something Subaru would certainly admit, but basic methods often had many drawbacks when it came to application. Especially—

“If you try using the left-hand rule from a midway start, you might get permanently lost in the maze! What if the wall you touched was an inner wall instead of the outer wall?! And anyway, this place is a city layout that resembles a maze, not an actual maze!”

“Ugh! Even if it’s Subaru, I won’t take it lightly if you mock the wisdom of our predecessors. Bea was a librarian in charge of managing the Forbidden Library, you know! Utilizing the accumulated knowledge is essential for life—the weight of history!”

“I’m not mocking the predecessors, I’m mocking you for not being able to make use of such wisdom! What, are you a stuck-up book-smart person who only thinks they understand everything by reading?”

“With curiosity at this age (four hundred years), and the time it took to step into the real world (four hundred years), it can’t be helped that there’s a gap between my own common sense and the world’s time (four hundred years). Even so, you’re an unexpectedly unreliable loli.”

“If you say so that much, then do you have a plan to resolve a situation like this that leaves Subaru at a loss? Tell me.”

With her hands on her hips, Beatrice shot a challenging look at Subaru.

Meanwhile, Subaru, having just shown a rather embarrassing side with his seasickness, felt a surge of determination to show Beatrice he could be reliable.

“Ha-ha! You were right to think this place can feel like a maze, but it was a mistake to think of it as a complete maze, including the left-hand rule. Unlike the left-hand rule’s grim prospects of being stuck with a starting point, I’ve got a much more perfect strategy!”

“Oh? How confident you seem. Just from the vibe I’m already getting, it feels like this is going to go wrong, but go ahead and tell me.”

“Ha! You better not get too cocky! I call it the ‘Being Inside a Rock’ strategy!”

“—?”

With a question mark floating above her head, Beatrice tilted it. It was perhaps a bit too technical for her to grasp immediately, but Subaru cleared his throat before starting to explain.

“Listen up. First, let’s establish our position as the starting point. Then, we head in a certain direction and reach a branching point, right? At that point, we go to both ends of the branching point to check for dead ends. When we find either a dead end or another branch, we come back to the original branching point.”

“…Okay, go on.”

“Now, we’ll calculate both the branch and the number of steps it took while mapping the area. Then we move towards the branch that wasn’t a dead end, and at that new branch, we use the method we just used for the first branching point to continue mapping. By doing this, naturally we’ll fill the path to the goal and create a map of the dungeon’s layers…”

“That’s too time-consuming! By the time we get there, it’ll be sunset, and then it will dawn!”

“Wha—? What’s wrong with prioritizing certainty? Just how many players do you think have safely returned from overly complex dungeons because of this method! More importantly, this is what you have been calling the wisdom of predecessors!”

“Relying too much on wisdom leads to losing sight of the true goal—that’s the wrong pattern!”

The idea of Subaru being shot down was more than disappointing; it wasn’t that Subaru was mocking the past generations.

He was indeed aware that such a plan could take too long and, more importantly, he didn’t even have paper or pen to map.

“It seems we have no choice but to try the last method…”

“What are you planning to do? I think your trust level for Subaru just dropped quite a bit.”

Losing trust from an assured topic only led to an even greater decrease in trust. It’s not uncommon for an effort to go unappreciated.

“Let’s switch gears. And as a compromise between you and me…”

“And?”

“Let’s just ask someone.”

“That’s a good idea…”

Originally, Subaru didn’t really insist on solving things solo. Beatrice’s self-esteem had been the main issue, but it seemed they cleared that up too.

Fortunately, Kiritaka, who ran the Muse Company, was a well-known merchant and public figure involved in city operations. A local would surely know how to find the place.

With that thought, Subaru turned his gaze around to call out to someone. But—

“Even though this is a park, why are there so few people around?”

“I can’t think it’s the time doing this. It’s a perfectly ordinary afternoon, just the right time for a nap!”

Greatly agreeing with Beatrice’s words, Subaru felt tempted to take a nap in the shade of the trees, but he waved that thought away. Just as he was considering heading back to the busier canal area, he noticed—

“—I hear something.”

The sound of wind and the gentle trickling water.

Amid that, a voice—no, a song was tickling Subaru’s eardrums.

“——”

The fragmented sounds of music and song overwhelmed Subaru, making his heart pound. Without realizing it, his feet began to move toward the source of the singing.

And Beatrice, who also noticed the same thing, followed him.

When they finally reached the source, they were completely taken aback.

—In the furthest part of the park stood a small girl singing before some kind of monument.

She was a small girl with brown skin.

With a cheerful face and large, round eyes, she had bright yellow hair tied in two ponytails, adorned with decorations made from nuts and animal bones.

The singing girl held an instrument that was about the size of a guitar or ukulele, strumming it with her fingers as she sang with a vibration in her throat.

The energy carried in her song was overwhelming.

It was as if she summoned winds from nowhere and made the ground tremble—something that should not be felt. Listening to her song, Subaru sensed those sensations surrounding him. This wasn’t an overwhelming loudness but rather a single voice, and the melody was more reminiscent of a ballad.

That one girl generated an energy comparable to an entire orchestra with just her fingers and voice, piercing through Subaru to his very core.

“——”

What astonished Subaru, who even forgot to breathe, was not just the scene of the girl.

A crowd surrounded the singing girl, listening intently to her song without uttering a word. The group easily exceeded twenty people, listening in silence to the music and managing to remain undetected by Subaru and Beatrice standing at the park entrance.

In fact, until they approached closely to confirm, Subaru believed the girl was alone. Such was the control this place had over the girl.

While Subaru trembled from related shock, the girl’s song built up to a climax, and the audience’s excitement peaked—

“—No money, no future, no dreams, just pride. Ah, what do I see? Darkness behind my eyelids. There’s nothing seen beyond the darkness. It’s fading, fading, and the end is coming!”

“What the hell! That’s a terrible song when you actually listen to it!?”

“Yahh!?”

Snapped back to reality by lyrics that condemned dreams, futures, gods, and Buddha, Subaru couldn’t help but shout out.

At that moment, the girl was taken aback, briefly halting her song, almost dropping the instrument, which naturally interrupted the music—immediately after, the mysterious sensation controlling the situation vanished.

As he realized he had done something awful, Subaru’s face went pale.

“Shit, I messed up the mood. It wasn’t like that… Ouch!?”

“You blockhead, you ruined everything! We were finally having a good time, and you just had to do something uncouth. That’s just too harsh!”

Before he could apologize, a sharp pain pierced his toe.

Looking down, he saw a furious-faced Beatrice stomping on his foot. It seemed that she too came back to herself the moment singing stopped but didn’t seem to forgive the interruption.

And then—

“Wh-where’s the song? This is a park… Earlier, I was definitely in darkness…”

“That’s not it, that’s not it! At that moment, it couldn’t be helped… Because, because…”

“I want to defeat Temion and save Draffin when I grow up…”

“I want to support that dream…”

“Tina-chan…”

“Rusベル…”

The audience—who had all been enthralled by the song—began returning back to reality one after another. Some were solidly jolted back, still feeling the song’s influence, while others were using the song as an excuse to feel good; but it was clear all of them were aware they had returned to reality.

And now all of them, having returned, aimed their furious gazes at the culprit who interrupted the magical atmosphere—namely, the famously unsociable Natsuki Subaru.

“—Don’t do unnecessary things!!”

In essence, they all hurled similar curses at Subaru.

**※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※**

“Thanks for all your hard work! Wow, that was a real storm of criticism, eh?”

“Don’t say it so cheerfully! My feet are so stomped on that my right and left are feeling different sizes! Is my right foot okay?!”

“Who knows? This time, I’m not on Subaru’s side, you know.”

As Subaru asked, Beatrice turned her head away in a clear rejection style. He reluctantly checked for himself, and fortunately, his right foot didn’t seem to be swollen twice its size.

Having interfered with that outdoor concert earlier, Subaru had braced himself for a storm of curses from the audience—though not really, since the singing girl managed to defuse it, he was spared major consequences.

The crowd happily approached the girl one by one, exchanging cheerful words, relaying their emotions on her song, shaking hands, and about half of them stepping on Subaru’s foot as they left.

Having some guilt about it all, Subaru couldn’t say a word while Beatrice remained silent, ultimately leaving public opinion entirely against Subaru.

As for his foot, he should be prepared for some bruising inside the shoes and socks.

“Don’t you feel it’s a bit pointless to rely on your healing magic when you might get hurt anyway?”

“It’d be a waste of the mana I’m accumulating. I’d rather wait for it to heal naturally or ask Emilia if need be.”

“Somehow, if you ask Emilia for healing, you’ll only end up displeasing her… But still, yeah, natural healing sounds good. I must’ve been numb to the damage.”

Subaru thought more about Beatrice’s point and chose to follow her wisdom.

Since coming to this world, he had certainly experienced more injuries, but he had grown accustomed to depending on the seemingly omnipotent methods available to heal them. Particularly during the parkour training, bruises, scrapes, and sprains became commonplace, and yet, Emilia and Beatrice would heal them quickly.

Though the fear of pain from wounds didn’t fade, there was a certain arrogance born from feeling “I’m fine if I get a small injury.”

“You always keep me in check whenever I start to slip. Sorry for being so dependent on you. I’ll think a bit more.”

With that, Subaru patted the head of the now-turned-away Beatrice. With gentle touches, Beatrice glanced back at him, leaning toward him lightly.

“Well, if you reflect on it, that’s fine. You can think of that pain as a lesson to bear.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Speaking of which, I’m sorry for getting sidetracked here…”

Subaru and Beatrice’s partner talk would probably make little sense to outsiders. As the party who caused the situation, Subaru intended to do an apology toward the girl. However, he was interrupted.

The girl, now looking at Subaru and Beatrice, had her palm up, pledging—

“I had a flash of inspiration!”

“Huh?”

“Please listen! —The age difference means nothing!”

Leaving Subaru and Beatrice dumbfounded, the girl suddenly began hitting her instrument for rhythm. She clicked her tongue for timing, took a small breath, and began to sing.

“Hey, can you feel it? The age difference in love between you and me. People say it’s strange, but I don’t care about that at all. What I care about always is the height difference in love between you and me. Hey, wait a bit. Please wait a bit. Just a little more, if we stretch, we’ll reach it. If we get a bit closer, surely no one will care about the age difference. So please, just two more years. Just that is all I ask! The distance in our sweet, melting love!”

“As the distance in our love shortens, it quietly ignites into a flame of affection, and soon the stork will bring us children, and our future will be a bright love story!”

“Wha—?!”

Beatrice spiraled as the girl suddenly erupted into song, lyrics sweeping through her, but as the girl loudly concluded her singing, Subaru suddenly joined in, rhyming along. It was basically a spontaneous rap, yet he executed it surprisingly well despite such a knee-jerk reaction.

The last blast of surprise came as Beatrice was astonished to see the two of them high-fiving after their unplanned session.

“Wait a moment! Why… Why on earth is Subaru now suddenly part of the song? And it’s completely ridiculous that you seem to accept this as normal!”

“Come on, Bea, what are you saying? …Song transcends borders, you know?”

“Such beautiful words! I, Liliana, am overwhelmed with emotion. Not quite overwhelmed, but still!”

“I refuse to accept that Bea seems to think you’re wrong…”

With their personalities rather laid-back, yet moving at their own pace, Beatrice was displaying a tired expression in contrast with Subaru’s carefree demeanor. Seeing this, Subaru decided to address the brown-skinned girl directly.

“Just so you know, Bea and I are not in the kind of relationship you’re thinking, and even if Bea grew two years older, she still wouldn’t fall into my usual range.”

“Huh? But doesn’t she look around thirteen or fourteen? I’m talented at observing ages, you know? Well, that’s just called life experience, I guess?”

“You’d be looking at thirteen or fourteen years old, but I’m roughly four hundred and two years at this point.”

“What? Come on, it’s unnecessary to be so stuck up just because I hit the mark!”

The girl either thought Subaru was struggling to respond or totally failed to admit it.

Subaru didn’t bother correcting her, almost finding it tedious, as the conversation had bizarrely gone too far. He needed to steer this back on course.

“So, um, let’s reset the flow here. So, the flash of inspiration was a new song?”

“Not at all! That’s just the case! I’m very explosively expressive in feelings, so while watching you two, I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. I plan on recording it accurately, so take pride in it!”

She was hastily rambling as she placed a hand on her mouth.

“Ah, but that’s not it. Mister, yes, mister! You joined me at the end, what was that? The reaction you had was the first I’ve ever gotten, and it made me overly excited and delighted!”

“That was probably the spirit of the rap god descending suddenly. Even if you ask me to do that again, I probably couldn’t. I don’t have skills or talent like that. Just a moment of sparkle!”

“A moment of sparkle…”

As Subaru stared off into the distance, the girl also wore a somewhat melancholic expression.

An unspoken understanding passed between them. The emotional weight of the moment finally broke the girl’s patience.

“Subaru!”

“Hm, what is it, Bea… w-whoa!?”

The moment he looked down where his sleeve was pulled, the shockwave sent Subaru spiraling off. He bounced along the grass of the park, slamming into the ground and rolling over, resulting in him getting dizzy.

Meanwhile, Beatrice had a burning gaze directed at the brown-skinned girl.

“I refuse to allow you two to take control of the conversation any longer. From here, I, Bea, will take charge. If you resist, you’ll suffer the same consequences as a warning.”

“Wha…?”

“No talking. From the words I just spoke and the questions you’ve heard, just think about responding quickly. Right now, you owe me for stopping that song because it was amazing. But that allowance won’t last.”

With an unyielding voice, Beatrice addressed the trembling girl.

As she witnessed the girl nodding nervously, Beatrice took a breath. Just before the words left her mouth, the girl held her breath, bracing herself for what she’d say.

Then—

“I’d like you to guide us to the location of the Muse Company headquarters.”

“—Huh?”

“I won’t say it twice. It’s either lead us or get punished by me!”

“I-I will guide you! I shall do it!”

Faced with the non-negotiable choices, the girl swiftly raised a white flag in surrender.

Seeing that, Beatrice nodded with satisfaction, only for Subaru, who had just returned, to interrupt.

“If you have a complaint, then say it.”

“Is it acceptable to use all that mana you’re storing to educate me in this fashion?”

“It all depends on the time and situation.”

“You’ve really got flexible thinking, don’t you, Bea? And about the previous exchange… well, it was good that we caught a guide.”

With that, Subaru scratched his cheek and stopped talking.

Having not finished his thought, however, Beatrice looked on with an annoyed expression.

“That girl is famous. She’s probably the renowned songstress, so I think it’s better not to respond poorly to her.”

Earlier, she had introduced herself as Liliana, and her singing prowess was likely undeniable. Though the girl’s personality left something to be desired to match such a title—

“Uh, um, excuse me! What can I do for you? I can guide you or even lick your shoes, anything at all! Just please, spare my life… I humbly request…”

There was a girl on the ground there, prostrating with a pitiful plea for her life.

In correction, she was not just somewhat out of place; she did not fit the image of a “songstress” one bit.

“`

 

---