About half a day had passed since Subaru and Emilia had promised to go on a
date together.
The man's gentle voice contained a masculine eloquence that was the
product of years of experience.
"First, I must thank you for your service during my aaabsence. The situation
was salvaged thanks to your efforts."
His tone was casual, but its firm, unwavering resonance made Ram's
shoulders tremble.
"I do not deserve such praise. Besides, in the end it was settled by your own
hands, Master Roswaal—"
"I mind not. Incinerating harmful beasts in the forest is no great expenditure
of tiiime."
Roswaal waved a hand, speaking as if it was a trivial matter.
Ram was well aware that his claim was not false modesty, hyperbole, or an
empty boast. She could not say a word to refute him.
They were speaking to each other in Roswaal's study on the uppermost floor
of the mansion. As always, their nocturnal chats involved only the two of them.
"Leaving past events aside, let us speak of something more construuuctive.
For instance, what shall become of young Subaru from here ooon, I wonder?"
"…His body is most certainly largely healed. Lady Beatrice made many
complaints, but she fully exerted herself to heal him, so…"
"I wonder what illness has befaaallen her. I have known her for quite some
time, and the boy is the first time I have seen her become so involved. Surely
she could not have…? Ah, surely not…"
Roswaal closed his blue eye as he discarded the implication of his own words.
Ram pretended not to hear the quiet portion at the end, not wishing to disturb
her master's thought process as she said, "Either way, if not for Lady Beatrice, I
doubt we could have saved Subaru."
"Perhaps we should call that young Subaru's good fooortune. Indeed, there
are few more accomplished healers than Beatrice. I am embarrassed to say that
I specialize only in the infliction of harm."
Roswaal shook his head and tilted it to the side a little. The corners of his lips
formed a thin smile. It was a transparent, mild expression, the sort that would
perfectly conceal his pleasure or displeasure from anyone but himself.
"Howeeever, I am guessing, from your stating this as the preface, that his
condition is not so rooosy?"
"Yes. Barusu has had his gate forced back to life after running dry twice in a
short period of time. On top of that, he has been healed from life-threatening
injuries, so…I wonder how well his gate can function after being forced open
and abused like this."
"Is this the diagnosis of Beatrice and the Great Spirit?"
"Yes."
Roswaal folded his arms and closed his eyes as he mulled the report over.
Damage to one's gate, and thus, one's ability to use mana, was a fatal
affliction for any magic user. Roswaal, bearer of the title of court magician,
keenly appreciated the state Subaru was in.
"Though gates mend differently for each person, it would take years no
matter what. He will face a very difficult choice."
Ram nodded at Roswaal's conclusion before voicing how Subaru's condition
was even graver still.
"It is not merely an issue of his damaged gate but the remnants of the curses
as well."
"—I thought the danger of activation has passed?"
"The casters…in this case, the Urugarum…have been eliminated, so there are
no casters to activate the curses…but the rites for them still remain in Barusu's
body."
"So they are intertwined with such complexity that even Beatrice cannot
unravel them… My, my, that is a curse in an altogether different sense… I
suppose this means we must reward his service all the mooore."
Though the rites remaining in the absence of their casters was some cause for
concern, there was essentially no danger of their activating. However, Subaru's
body had taken the bullets that, in the worst case, would have spread to others
still, those not only in his employ but also, more importantly, Emilia.
As a result, Emilia's participation in the royal selection had been preserved. It
was, in every way, service that merited a reward.
"Incidentally, Ram…concerning the iiissue of the demon beasts, did you check
on what I asked you to?"
Roswaal asked with a meek look that was quite rare to see on him, and it
threw Ram off a fair bit. He awaited her reply as she touched her forehead. Her
finger prodded the old wound beneath her headdress. Ram felt the faint throb
of the scar as she made her report.
"As far as I have determined from the corpses that remain, the demon beasts
were all hornless."
Roswaal exhaled at Ram's reply. He leaned back against his chair.
"The demon beasts I mopped up were the same. Howeeever, that makes this
something far larger than an issue of mere noxious beasts, does it nooot?"
"A demon beast with its horn severed will obey the one who severed it. That
would mean some fool directed the beasts toward your manor or your lands in
general, Master Roswaal."
"It is no doubt relaaated to the royal selection. Like the invitation to Garfiel's
land, this has interfered with us considerably."
Ram raised her eyebrows at the invocation of the well-known name.
"Gar…Garfiel, you say?"
Roswaal had a conflicted look as he shrugged. His behavior was aloof, but
Ram was acutely aware that this was no small matter. Indeed, it was a battle
with low odds of victory. They needed every card they could add to their hand.
Ram knew very well that she was one of those cards. Her inability to do
anything but watch Roswaal battle alone chafed at her.
"Let us return to the matter at hand. Do you have an educated guess as to the
'ringleader' who severed the horns?"
"…Tentatively. But the trail has already gone cold. One of the children Barusu
and Rem supposedly brought back from the forest vanished from the village the
next day."
When she'd asked about the girl with braids who the two had brought back,
they had said the villagers all claimed they didn't know the girl. According to the
children, she became part of their group at some point, but they couldn't say
when.
When she pressed further, they told her that it was that girl who had first
brought the demon beast pup to the village, and it was she who had later
brought the children past the barrier with her into the forest. She was all but
certain that girl had been the ringleader.
"First the Bowel Hunter in the royal capital, now the Beast Mage here.
Certainly a strange cast of characters."
"Yet they cannot best you no matter what they throw at you, Master
Roswaal."
"My, such a cheeky thing for you to say. Come."
When Roswaal smiled and beckoned with his hand, Ram cut across the ebony
desk to be at his side. As she did so, Roswaal reached his arm around Ram's
small body, pulling her atop his lap. Then—
"Because I could not be here last niiight for you, it must have been hard on
you."
"I know that you are very busy, Master Roswaal. Even if you leave my needs
for later…"
"Ram, I have always tooold you…"
Ram's eyes were downturned when Roswaal lifted her chin with a finger,
turning her face toward his with a smile.
"You and Rem are among those beings precious to me, so few I can count
them on one hand. Indeed, if some terrible fate had befallen you in this
incident, I am not confident I could have restrained myself."
His finger remained on Ram's chin as the dramatic words Roswaal tossed at
her put an enthralled look on her face. Heat seemed to fill Ram's eyes as she
gazed at Roswaal from close up.
"To Master Roswaal, Rem and I are—"
"Yes, to me, you and Rem are precious, vital, and irreplaceable…"
As their words piled upon one another, so did their feelings as Roswaal
beheld Ram with his yellow eye, pausing for a brief moment…
"…pawns."
So spoke Roswaal to Ram in theatrical style.
His words did not carry the slightest hint of guilt, for he was stating what he
regarded as pure truth.
And Ram, upon hearing her existence described as that of a pawn…
"—Yes."
…her cheeks reddened as she nodded back.
Ram's demeanor was perfectly docile and full of adoration as Roswaal pulled
her even higher on his lap.
"Nooow, then, shall we begin? You pushed yourself quite considerably, yes?
You are quite mana-depleted, even though I told you to take it easy."
"I am very sorry… Please."
Ram untied the headdress atop her pink hair as she acknowledged Roswaal's
words. Roswaal slid a finger past her hair to where a faint white scar rested on
the upper reaches of her forehead.
—It was the last vestige of her life as a wonder child among the demon
people.
Roswaal grazed his finger across the scar like it was a beloved, wonderful
thing.
"—The blessings of the stars upon thee."
Four glimmering colors flowed along Roswaal's arm and converged upon the
tip of his finger to become a white light. The light coursed down his finger and
poured into Ram's scar.
—The technique to transfer mana directly to another demanded exceptional
skill.
If the elemental composition of the mana was not perfectly balanced, the
mana would harm the recipient's body when converted back into energy. It was
a "therapy" that Roswaal could employ because he was attuned to all four
major mana affinities and was accomplished at using them all at a very high
level.
For demons, the horns on their foreheads formed the pipeline through which
mana passed in and out of the body. Their horns, which functioned much like
stronger, finely tuned gates, were the foremost reason the demons were a
powerful race.
But Ram had lost her horn due to external factors, leaving her body unable to
draw in mana or emit power as her body demanded, a loss all the graver
because Ram's body was top tier, even by demon standards.
Left to her own devices, her body would simply wither away. These private
nighttime chats were a daily event so as to prevent that from happening.
Ram felt her body come back to life as mana poured into her through the
horn scar. She let herself luxuriate in the sweet feeling of warmth filling her
body from the inside out when she said out of the blue, "Ah, I forgot something.
There was something else I need to report to you, Master Roswaal…"
"Mm? And what would thaaat be?"
Roswaal continued the treatment with one eye closed while Ram sank into
thought for a while. She seemed to be at odds about how to word it exactly.
"Rem has…fallen in love with Barusu."
"Mm?"
"It would seem Barusu has…grazed all of Rem's weak points."
Rem was the younger twin sister. As her older sister, Ram was painfully aware
of her younger sister's state of mind. Put another way, she knew all too well
that it was not in Rem's nature to be honest with herself.
"Rem has, has she? Weeell, perhaps it is not so mysterious. After all, she does
not serve me out of loyalty, unlike youuu."
Ram remained quiet before her master's assessment of her younger sister in
silent agreement. Unlike Ram, who loyally served Roswaal without asking
anything in return, Rem viewed that as a betrayal of the self.
To Rem, Roswaal was very much "Sister's patron." Since her sister was her
very purpose in life, Rem's thought process never extended beyond that. It was
that line of thinking that made Rem so reckless and rash when it came to
defending her community; take your eyes off her, and she'd eliminate anyone
she viewed as a threat to it without a second thought.
Ram believed Subaru had been saved because he'd gained Rem's trust before
she could assault him.
Of course, all that being said, Ram still regarded Rem as the cutest little sister
in the whole world, someone more important than Ram herself.
—But if someone asked her if Rem occupied the highest pedestal in her heart,
Ram could not simply nod and agree.
"Regardless of Rem's feelings, you shall remain firmly in my hands, Ram.
Where you go, Rem shall invaaariably follow. You seeee, things shall be as
before. Nooothing will change."
"I…suppose so, though now that there is one more precious thing to Rem, the
chance of her acting rashly is even greater, one might say."
"Let us cross that bridge when we get to it. This is important work for
tomorrow, after aaall."
As Roswaal jested, light faded from his palm. The treatment was over.
Ram felt full not only of life but also disappointment as she slid off Roswaal's
lap. After Ram rose from his lap, he rose from the chair.
"Things shall be busier from here on. It shall require much labor, but I am
counting on you and Rem, yeees?"
"As you wish. I am yours, Master Roswaal, as I have been since that fiery
night."
Ram grasped the hem of her skirt and bent her knees in a reverential curtsy.
Roswaal noted her display of loyalty as he crossed his hands behind him and
walked toward the window. He glanced at Ram, following beside him, as he
opened the curtain.
When he looked up at the sky, and the full moon floating within it, Roswaal
narrowed his oddly colored eyes.
"We must be victorious in the royal selection, no matter what…for the sake of
my goal…"
As he murmured, he reached out his arm, wrapped it around Ram's
shoulders, and pulled her close.
Able to feel the warmth of his tall body for a second time, Ram closed her
eyes and leaned into him.
She listened to the voice of the man beside her, her lord and master, the man
she had given her soul.
"…For the day the Dragon dies."