Under the influence of Indomitable, Subaru ran through the undead army like a quarterback, trying to crush as many walking corpses as he could.
When Indomitable timed out, Subaru backed away from the undead monsters closing in on him.
He didn 't panic. The monsters were now fixated on him, but Subaru had cleared a large part of the field for him to retreat through so that he could get back into the garden.
I 'm glad that worked! Subaru thought bitterly. I tried summoning the spirits again. I figured that if there were anything that the spirits of this world would instinctively want to obliterate, it would be an unnatural abomination like the undead.
But nope! The spirits didn 't notice, or they didn't care! I couldn't get them to do anything useful, and then I had to dismiss them so that I could use Indomitable!
At least Indomitable is effective against these monsters. Normally, Indomitable doesn 't work very well against hordes of weak enemies, but these things are so slow and cumbersome that they're easy to avoid.
Ironically, Vollachian peasants would probably be better equipped to fight these things than Vollachia Legionaries are because peasants would be lightly armored enough to use hit-and-run tactics.
Suddenly, the cadavers all turned in unison and started to stagger away.
Subaru looked around with a baffled look on his face. As if commanded by an unseen signal, the army slowly lumbered back toward the forest.
Subaru 's eyes narrowed. Just inside the underbrush, Subaru saw a person wearing a white hooded robe. They held a strange lantern that shone with a violet light, and they seemed to be chanting something.
The undead tried to attack this place, but when they discovered that I was here and that they were going to be dealing with serious resistance, they changed their minds and walked away.
I admit I don 't know much about the undead but these creatures all seem pretty mindless to me. They don't have minds to change.
That tells me that somebody needs to be telling them what to do and that somebody is probably this guy in the white robe.
Subaru silently bolted toward the figure. This meant that he was running through the densest line of cadavers.
Indomitable isn 't ready yet! I sure hope that I'm right about this!
Subaru raced toward the undead until he could smell their charnel-house reek and hear the grinding of their bones as they staggered through the fields. Subaru darted around the marching corpses and heaved a sigh of relief when none of them even turned to look at him. Their orders had changed, and the monsters followed those orders as mindlessly as robots.
Subaru was almost close enough to spit on the hooded figure when he accidentally stepped on a dry tree branch. The hooded figure stiffened at the loud snap, and they spun around to face Subaru.
Subaru pushed himself to run faster, determined to catch them before they fled.
Indomitable is up. I can handle this guy, no problem.
Subaru raised his arms to catch the figure, but the figure twisted himself with almost inhuman agility and slipped aside.
Subaru only got a handful of his cloak. He desperately yanked with all his might, trying to get a grip.
The hood fell, revealing a young man with golden eyes and a small rack of antlers emerging from his brown hair.
The demi-human blanched and bolted away with tremendous speed.
"Hey! Get back here!" Subaru shouted, racing after him.
The lumbering monster closed in on Emilia, and it raised its axe high over its head.
Emilia 's back pressed against the table.
I can dodge its axe! Wait, can I?
It 's so hard to move! I've only been running for a few minutes, but with no mana, I already feel tired, and my muscles ache.
The table and chairs left little room for Emilia to maneuver in.
In desperation, Emilia pulled a silver serving tray off the table, holding it up as a shield as the axe swept down.
Emilia blocked the axe, but the force of the blow knocked her off her feet. Emilia went down in a pile of chairs, knocking them over.
One heavy chair landed on top of her.
Emilia fought to push the chair off of her, but the cadaver was already raising its axe again.
Emilia looked up as the ax, aimed directly at her head, seemed to fall in slow motion.
I can 't move , She thought in horrified fascination as she finally pushed the chair off her. There 's nothing that I can do…
This is how I 'm going to die…
Subaru …
"Mili!" She heard him bellow.
Before the cadaver delivered his stroke, Subaru crashed into him, and the monster broke into pieces, its bones scattering everywhere. The bones rattled and shook on the ground as if struggling to pull themselves together, and then they lay still.
Subaru hovered over Emilia, panting. His eyes were wide with fear, and his face was pale. "Mili! Are you alright?!"
Emilia nodded and slowly got to her feet. "I'm fine, Subaru," She said somberly.
I should feel grateful and relieved that Subaru saved me. But all I feel is embarrassed.
I 'm completely helpless without my magic. I couldn't even face a single monster without needing Subaru to come and rescue me…
Subaru leaned against the wall, panting for breath. His heart pounded in his chest. He wasn 't sure if he'd ever run that fast before in his life.
Oh my God … Another few seconds and Emilia would have been…
Subaru shuddered. His hands trembled as he remembered what had happened in Girali. How close he 'd come to losing her. The awful hours when he believed that he'd lost her forever…
Subaru struggled to catch his breath. He turned to Emilia, and his eyes widened. "Mili! You're bleeding!" He gasped.
Emilia looked herself over in surprise. She saw that her arm had been cut when she 'd been knocked into the chairs. The cut was barely noticeable, and it barely bled at all.
"It's fine, Subaru," Emilia shrugged. "It's just a scratch."
Subaru looked at her as if she were mortally wounded. "Oh my God," He whispered.
"Lord Subaru!" Teague yelled, racing over toward them. "Thank the Gods, you're alright. I saw what you tried to do for my guests. The city guard will be here any sec-"
"Forget the guards! Where are the healers?!" Subaru demanded.
Emilia looked at Subaru incredulously.
Teague blinked. "Uh. I have a healer coming right now to inspect the guests for injuries-"
"When he gets here, send him out here immediately!" Subaru ordered in a tone that brooked no disagreement. "Emilia's been hurt!"
Emilia 's expression hardened. "Subaru," She said patiently. "I'm fine . This is just a scratch. "
"Mili! What if his axe had been poisoned?!"
Emilia sighed. "He didn't cut me at all, Subaru," She said. "I only got cut when I fell into the chairs."
Subaru hesitated. "OK… but what about tetanus?"
"What's that?"
Subaru shook his head. He cupped Emilia 's face in his hands. "Mili," He whispered, sounding frightened. "What were you thinking staying out here with those monsters? I told you to get inside. "
"I tried to," Emilia explained. "But one of these monsters was threatening a woman and her children. I had to help them."
Subaru 's eyes widened. "And you tried to fight it all by yourself?!" He gasped.
"I had to," Emilia said simply. "Felt and Garf were already too far ahead for me to get their attention."
Subaru scowled. "Yeah. I'm going to have a nice long talk with those two, " He growled.
Emilia 's face darkened. "Subaru, stop it. This was my decision. Not theirs. "
"It was a dumb decision," Subaru snapped.
Emilia 's eyes widened. " Excuse me?! " She asked incredulously.
"What were you thinking, Mili?! Risking your life for a couple of strangers?!"
"I was thinking that they were scared and in danger and that I needed to help them!"
"You can't help right now, Mili! You don't have any magic."
Emilia visibly flinched at this. "I am more than just my magic, Subaru, " She said in an injured voice.
Subaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I know that, Mili," He said more calmly. "But I don't want you fighting right now."
Emilia looked up at the heavens in exasperation. "Subaru! You never want me fighting! "
"Yeah! But right now, there's a good reason for that!" Subaru pointed out. "You can't fight monsters with your bare hands and no magic, Mili! If I'd been just a few seconds slower getting back here, that freak would have killed you! Promise me that you won't do anything that reckless ever again."
"Subaru, I had no choice!" Emilia protested. "Those people were in danger! I couldn't just ignore that."
"Mili, I don't want you risking your life for strangers! They're not worth it!"
Emilia 's face grew cold. "Subaru. You don't get to decide when and why I risk my life. My life belongs to me."
Subaru fumed. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Mili," He said slowly. "I am trying to keep you safe . Promise me you won 't do something like this again."
Emilia stamped her foot. " Promise you? So now you 're ordering me to stand aside and watch while others get hurt? Or maybe I 'm just supposed to watch you get hurt! How can you ask me to be OK with that? "
Subaru sighed. "That's… different, Mili! Look, I can handle myself. I know how much you hate feeling powerless, but rushing into a fight like that without magic… it's dangerous . It 's reckless. I don't want you to be in that kind of danger, Mili. You don't need to be in danger. That 's what I'm here for."
"Reckless? You're calling me reckless? Subaru, do you even realize how many times you've thrown yourself into danger with barely a thought of the consequences? Do you remember all those times that I asked you to be careful, all those times that you promised that you'd take care, only to dash off on one crazy plan after another? And now you're telling me to stand back and just watch? Do you even hear yourself?"
Subaru sputtered. "But you're not… without your magic, you're… " He struggled, trying to find the right words to express the unbearable fear of losing her that clawed at his heart without also sounding patronizing.
I still think about what happened in Girali every single day. I 'll never forget it. When I thought that Emilia was dead, I just… I wanted to die.
It seemed almost unfair that the world could keep turning and the sun would keep shining without Emilia being there. It felt like the entire universe was mocking me. If Emilia was gone, everything else should have the common decency to end.
Or at least make sure that I end before she does …
Subaru took a deep breath, and his voice grew pleading. "Mili, you're… you're just more vulnerable right now. I only want to keep you safe. I'd do anything to keep you safe, Mili. If you were gone, I … I couldn't handle it."
Emilia 's expression was unmoved. "Do you really think that I don 't feel exactly the same way? Do you think that I could 'handle it' if I lost you? Or is it only you who should be excused from worrying about these sort of things? " She asked tartly, her expression a mask of hurt and pain.
Subaru swallowed hard. "Mili, I… I know that this has been a tough time for you. I can't imagine how fragile losing your magic must make you feel.
"I don't want you to feel helpless. I hate that this has taken your magic away. But until we find a way to get it back, I just want to make sure-"
Emilia cut him off. "Subaru. You can't just… You can't protect me from everything . You can 't protect me from every danger, and you can't protect me from my own feelings." She hesitated and then pressed on with a sigh. "You… don't understand how it feels. It's like all the progress that I've made, everything I've tried to become ever since the Sanctuary… it's all slipping away. I don't want to be useless, but right now, that's all I feel."
Subaru looked away, and his voice grew bitter. "…This is all my fault, isn't it? For dragging you all the way out here, for not being able to protect you better. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I-"
Emilia 's voice grew sharp. "Subaru! Not everything is about you! " She cried in exasperation.
Subaru looked miserable. "I just… I need you here, Mili. I need you here and safe."
Emilia sighed. "Subaru…" She shook her head.
Subaru struggled for a moment. "Mili, just… what do you need from me?" He asked helplessly. "How can I help?"
Emilia gave the question a good deal of thought. "Just… Help me find my strength again," She said hesitantly. "Don't try to treat me like a porcelain doll. I may not have magic right now, but I can still fight. I can still stand beside you when things get difficult and scary. I need to stand beside you, even if it 's not perfect. You've always told me I was strong… please, just let me prove it to myself again."
Subaru sighed. "Mili! How many times do you need to prove it? "
"Subaru-" Emilia moaned.
"I'm serious, Mili! Remember Elsa?" Subaru cut her off. "The Valley of the Winds! Capella! The bandits! The guards in Picoutatte! The Iotuns! Virgil! Not to mention enduring everything that happened when Roy ate your name.
"How much more will it take, Mili? Where does it stop? Everyone who has ever met you thinks that you're one of the strongest people in the world! Can't you just… take it easy for a while? Can't you just… accept that you have a very temporary handicap and that it's OK for you to lean on me more until you get your magic back?" He asked plaintively. "I just want to keep you safe, Mili. That's all I'm asking."
"Subaru! I am more than just my magic!"
"I know that-"
"I have worked so hard trying to become stronger and more independent, and you always act like that's a problem and that I should stay weak and helpless!"
"That's not fair, Mili, and you know it! I want you to be strong. I'm proud of how strong you are. But if your foot is broken, then you probably shouldn't be running a marathon until after it heals. You can still be strong without fighting and putting yourself in danger. That's what I'm here for!"
"Subaru! You're not listening to me!"
"You're not listening to me!"
"Can I say something here?" Felt sighed.
Subaru and Emilia both blinked. They realized that Felt had positioned herself between them. She looked at the pair with a much put-upon expression.
Subaru and Emilia looked around and found that Teague 's family, the guests, and several city guards had all been watching and eavesdropping on their argument.
Their faces both turned bright red.
"Now, I know nothing about relationships, magic, or any other thing that you've been talking about," Felt went on in a bored tone. "But I do recognize when you're going around in circles. So why don't you both back off for a while before you say something that you'll both regret? The crisis is over. We can figure out the rest later."
Subaru and Emilia looked at each other awkwardly and then nodded.
They both felt humiliated to have been seen arguing like small children, but underneath the embarrassment was worry and hurt. There was a fear that their partner wasn 't taking their feelings seriously or willing to look at the problem from their perspective.
Emilia started to say something, a final barb, an apology, or maybe neither. She hesitated, then sighed, walking off to where the healer was mending the minor wounds suffered by the guests during the attack.
Teague cleared his throat. "Lord Subaru," He began, "We are forever grateful for your heroism this night. Many of my guests only live because of your quick thinking and action."
Subaru sighed and pushed the argument with Emilia to the back of his mind.
I 'll need to think about this later. I need to figure out how to keep Mili safe until we get the collar off her neck. I also need to figure out how to make her accept that she has serious limitations right now. But right now, I want to deal with something easier.
"What were those things?" Subaru asked Teague sharply. "Where did they come from?"
Teague looked uncomfortable. He didn 't answer.
"Seriously?" Felt asked incredulously. "We just fought a legion of those undead monsters and you're going to just stand there and act like they don't exist?"
Teague struggled for a moment. "His Majesty wished to discuss these matters with you personally. He was very specific-"
"Colonel," Subaru sighed. "I don't know your Emperor, and I have no idea what kind of man he is. But I'm reasonably certain that he didn't expect me to be fighting for my life on my first day in the Empire!
"So, the choice is either to make the Emperor change his plans for the negotiations slightly or to royally piss me off because now my family is being menaced, while under the Emperor's protection may I add, by a threat that you're refusing to tell me about! I think I know what option he'd choose."
Teague hesitated. He made a beckoning gesture, and a man whom Subaru recognized as Sergeant Tiberius came over. Tiberius was a grizzled, solid man in his fifties.
Teague took a deep breath. "I received my orders directly from His Majesty," He said quietly. "To disobey or change them would be nothing short of an act of high treason. I humbly beg your pardon, Lord Subaru. But I can not do as you ask. Now, I must depart, being fully confident in my adherence to orders and regulations while leaving you here alone with the extremely well-informed Sergent Tiberius. "
Teague cleared his throat and walked away.
Subaru watched him go and then looked at the Sergeant. "Was there any point to that? " He asked.
Tiberius snorted. "Patricians," He said with disdain. "They always make everything complicated." He gave Subaru and Felt the once over. "So. I believe you had questions?"
Emilia felt exhausted as she waited for the healer to mend her cut. Truthfully, Emilia would have been fine just letting the wound heal on its own but she 'd thought that this was the easiest means of egress from the awkward scene that she'd found herself in.
"You OK, Frosty?"
Emilia turned to see Garfiel standing beside her. His plain, earnest face was unusually somber tonight.
Emilia gave him a dirty look. "Did Subaru ask you to come over and calm me down?" She muttered.
"Nope. I didn't talk to the Captain," Garfiel said calmly. "You just looked like you might need someone to talk to. And since the Captain and the shrimp are out of the running at the moment, I figured that it might as well be me."
Emilia 's face burned. "Garfiel, I'm sorry," She said, bowing her head. "You didn't deserve to be snapped at like that. You're a very sweet boy to be concerned about me."
Garfiel chuckled. "Sweet, huh? Maybe mention that to Ram the next time you see her?"
Emilia smiled. "I can if you wish, but it won't do you much good," She said archly. "She never listened to me even when she knew who I was. "
Garfiel laughed.
The pair stood in silence, waiting for the healer to get around to mending Emilia 's very minor injury.
"Mind if I ask what's going on?" Garfiel murmured.
"What do you mean?"
Garfiel shrugged. "It just feels like I've heard you and the Captain have the same argument two or three times already. Or at least talk about it over and over again."
Emilia sighed. "We talk about it a lot, but we don't ever seem to get anywhere."
"What's the issue?"
Emilia took a deep breath. "Garfiel, how would you feel if you were married to someone and she treated you as if you were… less than her? "
Garfiel gave Emilia a steady look. "Frosty, you do remember who I 'm in love with, right?" He quipped.
Emilia chuckled. "Right. Well… I think that if you were with Ram or anyone else for that matter, who did treat you that way … after a while, you might start to find it very… draining . "
"You think that the Captain thinks he's better than you?" Garfiel asked, struggling to keep the skepticism out of his voice.
Emilia gave him a knowing look. "Yes. I do. But not in the way that you mean."
"Not sure I follow you, Frosty."
Emilia made a face. "Subaru has always felt like he needed to protect me," She admitted. "But I don't want to be something that he needs to protect."
"I don't think the Captain minds," Garfiel offered.
"I mind," Emilia said seriously. "Garfiel, a marriage needs to be a union of partners. I want to share everything with Subaru. Two sets of hands should carry every problem and burden that we face. A wife… should be more than just another burden to carry. Or a pet to be tended to."
Garfiel digested that. "Alright. That makes sense."
Emilia looked at him in surprise.
Garfiel noticed her look, and he shrugged. "Hey. I like strong women! Nothing more attractive than a woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. And frankly, Frosty, you 're one of the toughest ladies I've ever met."
Emilia gave him a wane smile. "Thank you, Garfiel."
Garfiel scratched his chin. "I don't know. I guess I can sort of understand the Captain 's concerns. The three of us are seriously weak right now, whether we like it or not. Until we get these stupid things off our necks… we're all going to be burdens that the Captain needs to carry for a while. And that 's OK. We'd do the same thing for him. Don't get me wrong, if I still felt like a burden after I got this damn collar off, I 'd be mighty pissed too, but for now…" He trailed off.
Emilia sighed. "Garfiel, do you think I overreacted?" She asked in a small voice.
"Not really my place to say," Garfiel said thoughtfully. "But if you want my opinion, I think that you two are both seriously worried right now. In fact, you're both so worried that you're not making any space to think about the other person's worries. So you just keep talking past each other."
Emilia looked morosely off into the distance. "Garfiel, that is a very insightful comment."
Garfiel chuckled. "Comes from growing up in a house full of women."
"The undead are coming out of the Gandahar Jungle to attack the Imperial legions," Tiberius explained. "That's where the rebels are based. The rebels are outmatched in both numbers and materials, and they know it. They're using the walking dead to balance the scales. Quite successfully, I might add. The undead might seem slow and fragile, but they can also absorb blows that would dismember a normal person. They never show fear, and they never show mercy. They've torn whole villages apart with their bare hands."
"What are the rebels trying to do?" Subaru asked.
"Apparently, the rebels have rallied behind a man named Octavian. He claims to be the Emperor's nephew and the rightful heir to the throne. I have no idea if he's who he says he is, but the rebels believe it, and they're trying to push the Emperor off the throne."
Subaru digested that. "Alright. But how did they create an army of corpses."
Tiberius 's face grew grave. "The Horned Witch."
Subaru squinted. "Excuse me?"
"The Horned Witch is a creature that's lived deep within the Gandahar swamps for centuries. She's a great carnivorous hag who devours men whole or places curses on them that turn them into her zombie slaves. She's also placed a curse on the jungle itself so that few men who enter trees ever come out alive again."
"What kind of curse?" Subaru asked.
"According to legend, the witch has absolute control over all the paths through the jungle," Tiberius explained. "As soon as you enter, you discover that no path leads back out again. Instead, every path leads to the Black Morass at the Jungle's heart. That's the witch's lair, and that place is absolutely stiff with giant mabeasts of all kinds."
Subaru mulled that over. "You called this witch 'a creature.' She doesn't sound very much like the other Witches of Sin."
"I don't know," Tiberius admitted. "She might be one of their disciples. Or their heir. Or their creation. It's tough to say. I've never heard of anyone meeting the Horned Witch and living to tell the tale."
"You know any legends about her?" Felt asked.
"Too many. I've heard that the Horned Witch is an ancient Vollachian queen from before the time of the Great Cataclysm who ran into the forest to escape her abusive husband so she learned witchcraft so that she could torment every Vollachian ruler throughout eternity. Others claim that she's the master of the Witch Cult and that she commands all of the Sin Archbishops. Some even say that she's the living embodiment of the Jungle itself, some sort of Great Spirit twisted by dark magic into an unholy abomination."
"Has anyone ever tried to kill her?" Subaru asked.
"Probably," Tiberius admitted. "But it's not like you can just send a legion into the jungle. The paths go around in circles and keep leading you back to the Black Morass so the mabeasts can feast. The Emperor could send whole armies into that festering swamp, and it's likely that none of them would ever be seen again."
"What's the Horned Witch's relationship with the rebels?" Felt asked.
Tiberius shrugged. "Tough to say. If you believe the scuttlebutt, the Witch has been behind or at least supported every single rebellion in the past four hundred years. Maybe it's true, but this is the first time that she's been so overt about it."
"You mean the undead?" Subaru asked.
"Among other things," Tiberius said. "The rebels are only able to hide in the jungle by the Witch's sufferance. She must have given them a way to bypass her curse and ordered the mabeasts to leave them alone. No other way that they could survive in there."
"Has she ever come out of the jungles?" Subaru asked.
"If you believe the rumors, she has," Tiberius replied. "For centuries, there were no sightings outside of a few glimpses by men who somehow managed to find their way out of the jungle again after being driven half-mad by it. But then, a few decades ago, stories say that she started emerging from the jungle and roaming around the countryside at night: A great hooded figure with a rack of antlers like some great stag."
"Roaming around doing what?" Felt asked.
"Making deals with the kholops," Tiberius said darkly. "Those idiots would buy any pig in a poke. She promises fair weather and abundant harvests. And all she wants in exchange is one of your virgin daughters' lives every black moon."
Subaru 's eyes widened. "Seriously?!" He asked.
Tiberius looked a bit sheepish. "Well. That's the rumor anyway," He admitted. "There are all kinds of stories about the Witch emerging from the Jungle to feast on Kholops who came too close to the Jungle, but reliable eyewitness accounts of the witch only go back a few decades. Back then, the Witch appeared to change tactics and she started building up for something major. She began to bring the kholops gifts of food, urging them to join her efforts to overthrow the Emperor. The Horned Witch is a master of treachery. Sooner or later, all those who take the witch 's salt fall under her spell and live out their days as helpless thralls to her power."
"Then why would the 'kholops,' whatever those are, accept her gifts?" Felt asked incredulously.
Tiberius shook his head. "The witch preys on the weakness of the desperate to turn them to her cause. And it helps that she might be the one causing their desperation…"
"What do you mean?" Subaru asked.
Tiberius looked around and lowered his voice. "The Westfold is suffering from a terrible drought, worse than any we've seen in centuries. The crops are all dying. People say that the Witch is the cause. She's sucking the life force out of the land to give life to her undead army."
Subaru 's face darkened. "So she makes the peasants miserable and then uses that misery to recruit them into her army?"
Tiberius nodded. "The rebellion swells under her witchcraft and…" He lowered his voice. "According to rumors, there is a real chance that they could take the Crystal Palace. "
Subaru looked at Tiberius dubiously. I don 't know what to make of this. I know that this 'witch' isn't an Archbishop. I can't imagine Regulus or Capella or even Lye just sitting in the jungle for centuries on end without making life hell for all the folks nearby. And if any of the Archbishops wanted Vincent dead, they wouldn't need an army to pull it off. Regulus and Capella could both kill him before dinner time. I'm pretty sure that even Lye has enough tricks up his sleeve to just sneak into the Crystal Palace and cut off his head.
That said, this Witch, or whatever she is, clearly has a dangerous amount of power. And now, after all these centuries, she 's decided to take a more active hand in the Empire. That sounds dangerous…
Tiberius shook his head. "Did I answer your questions?" He asked uncomfortably. "I may have already said too much. The kholops say the Witch can hear her name being spoken anywhere in the Empire."
Subaru nodded, and Tiberius quickly dismissed himself and hurried away.
"What do you make of that?" Felt asked.
Subaru mulled it over. "I'm not sure," He admitted.
"Do you believe his story about the witch creating the undead?"
Subaru shrugged. "Well… at the moment, it's the only story that we have. I'm not sure if I believe that there is a witch or if it's just a folk tale. But the undead are real enough. And if they're really draining the life from the land, then we could have a real problem on our hands. "
Felt nodded. "And the rebels are threatening to take the Crystal Palace? I can't believe they've been that successful against the Imperial Legions," She said, sounding impressed. "You know that's going to cause some big celebrations in Lagunica."
"Maybe," Subaru cautioned. "We don't know anything about this 'Horned Witch' character or what she wants. But something major has changed recently in Vollachia and her ambitions may go beyond just Vollachia. Imagine the undead finishing up here and then marching north…"
Felt sighed. "You know, Subaru, one day you'll let me have a single happy thought without immediately pouring cold water all over it. And that 's how I'll know that the world is ending."
"Sorry."
"Well, we learned some useful stuff, at least," Felt continued. "We know about the rebellion, that it's going very well, and that they're using the undead as weapons."
"Maybe," Subaru said thoughtfully. "But I think that Tiberius might have downplayed some stuff."
"Like what?"
"I fought those monsters," Subaru said. "They're not going to be able to take down a legion by themselves. They're too slow, too clumsy, and too poorly organized. But they will exhaust a legion so that it becomes easy prey for other attackers."
"Such as?"
"My guess would be other Vollachian legions," Subaru shrugged. "No way that the undead alone are going to let the rebels push right up to the Crystal Palace. If the rebels are threatening to take the palace, then they have to have pulled defecting legions into their army by now."
"And I'm guessing this also tells us what Vincent wants with you."
"Probably," Subaru agreed. "I have no idea what he's going to ask me for, but I am pretty sure that his goal is to help him win his war."
"Well, he doesn't ask for much, does he?" Felt asked dryly.
Subaru chuckled. "Actually, this could be good for us," He commented. "We were worried that Vincent would drive a hard bargain because he thought that we were desperate."
"But now we know it's Vincent who might actually be desperate," Felt finished.
Subaru nodded. "I don't know what he wants. I don't know if we could do it or if we'd even be interested in trying to do it, but if we know that Vincent 's back is up against the wall, then that has to help us in negotiations. "
Felt nodded. "Right. Did you learn anything about the undead while you were running around out there?"
Subaru rocked his hand back and forth. "Maybe. I discovered that they apparently have a commander. A demi-human one. I chased him, but he got away."
A demi-human? " Felt asked sharply. Her eyes narrowed. "Huh. Maybe Sphinx really is involved in this mess. "
"Maybe," Subaru cautioned. "Frankly, I'd like a little more proof before we declare war on Sphinx and the Alliance. Right now, all we know is that a single demi-human happened to be working with the rebels."
Felt made a face. "Good point. In the Empire, it wouldn't be all that weird to see humans and demi-humans working together anyway. Or he could be a former member of the Alliance who bailed after the war was lost and brought their magical secrets down to Vollachia."
Subaru frowned. "I think he was too young for that. "
"You never know. Some demi-humans age very slowly. Like elves. And speaking of elves-"
"Wow. What a smooth transition," Subaru sighed. He saw a familiar expression on Felt's face. "Can I assume that I'm about to get a lecture?" He added acidly.
Felt folded her arms across her chest. "You know, you didn't exactly cover yourself with glory tonight," She said pointedly. "If we wanted to look unified and close-knit to any of Vincent's spies, we failed miserably."
Subaru flushed. "Can we stop talking about me and Emilia? You know, I could retaliate by talking about your love life, " He pointed out.
Felt 's expression grew dangerous. "Don't. Push it. Subaru."
Subaru sighed.
"So, what's going on with you two anyway?" Felt asked.
Subaru sighed. "It's the same old argument," He admitted. "Emilia always wants to push herself, to do more, and to do better. Even if… maybe, especially if this would be the worst possible time for her to do it.
"I don't know what's so unforgivable about wanting to keep my wife safe. I mean, just a few days ago, I thought that she was dead!"
"Yes!" Felt said sharply. "And the less said about that incident, the better!"
Subaru nodded. "…Yeah," He grumbled. He shook his head. "I don't think Emilia understands… what losing her would do to me… what it already did to me …"
"Probably not, since we're not telling her about that," Felt drawled.
Subaru gave her an annoyed look.
Felt 's face grew serious. "Hey, Subaru," She asked awkwardly. "Do you really think it's fair to put all this on Emilia?"
"Put what on Emilia?"
"You're worried that she'll get hurt or killed," Felt said. "I'm pretty sure that she has the same worries about you. You've almost gotten yourself killed five times that I know about! But the difference is that you're trying to make your worries her problem."
Subaru looked indignant. "Why does everybody always take her side? "
Felt raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure that I've never taken her side in my life," She said. "At least as far as my memories go. But if you think that people are always criticizing your side of this argument, then maybe that 's a hint that you should reconsider things."
"I'm just trying to keep my wife safe! She's weak and helpless right now!"
"And if you were in her shoes, would you be willing to hide behind her?" Felt asked pointedly. "If you were weak, would you let Emilia go alone into battle to protect you? Because honestly, I think it's a lot more likely that you'd still try to get her to safety by sacrificing yourself."
Subaru made a face.
Felt shrugged. "You have some valid reasons to be worried and to try to protect your wife, Subaru. She's weak and helpless right now, whether either of you like it or not. But you're still applying a serious double standard here. And it undercuts your whole argument.
"You can't just ask her to grit her teeth and hang back because the collar seals her magic when she knows you'd still be asking her to do the exact same thing even without the collar! It makes you look hypocritical because these goddamn collars that the three of us all hate with a passion are just giving you an excuse to do what you really wanted to do all along. If you're not careful, Emilia might start to wonder if you're secretly happy that she got her magic sealed so that you have an excuse to protect her the way that you want to."
Subaru looked outraged. "That's unfair! That's completely untrue!"
"Yeah. I'm sure that it is. But Emilia's resentment and frustration could make her seriously consider that possibility if you keep pushing this. If you think that she's unhappy with you now, just imagine how she'd be acting if she starts viewing everything you do through that lens."
Subaru mulled that over and made a face. "Do you really think I'm being that unfair? " He asked skeptically.
Felt shrugged. "I'm not sure if 'fairness' has much to do with it, Subaru. But if you're serious about wanting Emilia to hang back and stay safe while she has the collar on, you need to convince her that the problem is the collar . Because if she suspects that you 'll still be having the same argument once we get these damn things off our necks, she really doesn't have any incentive to listen to you right now."
Subaru sighed. "I'll tell you one thing, Felt. The next time I see any more undead, I'm going to obliterate them! Those creatures are too dangerous to be allowed to live. "
Felt frowned. "Uh. Are you sure that we want to do that, boss? "
Subaru looked at her incredulously. "The undead are attacking innocent people and causing a drought! We can 't just ignore that."
"I understand, but declaring war on the undead is also declaring war on the rebels. It's explicitly declaring that we're taking Vincent's side in this fight. Are we sure we want to do that? We don't really know much of anything about either side, much less if helping them would benefit us. It seems a little premature to choose sides."
Subaru shook his head. "If anything Tiberius said is true, then the use of undead qualifies as a literal war crime. That has to trump everything else."
And they almost took Emilia from me …
"I'm not sure if we can make any sort of deal with Vincent," Subaru said more calmly. "But I won't hold back if I run into any more undead. If the rebels want to fight like animals, I'll put them down like animals."
It was late when Subaru finally returned to their quarters. He 'd found a jewelry store that was open late and spent hours looking over the inventory until the merchant delicately told him that it was time to close.
When he entered their quarters, Subaru found Emilia sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace, staring moodily into the flames. The air was warm and balmy, and the windows were all open, but Emilia had started a fire just for light.
Subaru heard a faint snoring and realized that Felt and Garfiel must have grabbed beds in the "women's" quarters."
Subaru took a deep breath. "Hey, Mili," He said awkwardly.
Emilia looked at him and flushed. "Hi, Subaru."
Subaru slowly walked over to the sofa and sat down beside Emilia.
They both stared into the fire for a minute.
Subaru cleared his throat. "Um. I got you something, Mili," He muttered. "Just because… you know, we had a day…"
Subaru handed her a pendant. It was small and simple, but the emerald stone was elegantly shaped into a green leaf.
Emilia accepted the trinket. "Thank you, Subaru," She said, managing a smile. "I know that you were just trying to help before."
The pair sat there, both feeling uncomfortable.
It feels like the argument should be over, but it 's not, Emilia thought.
This argument feels different than the others we 've had, Subaru thought uncertainly. We 've definitely had much bigger arguments, but it doesn 't feel like we're putting this one behind us.
We 're both sorry that we fought, but we're both still sure that we have the right side of the argument and we're not sure how we can compromise on it.
This could get messy.
"Why don't we go to bed, Mili?" He suggested. "We're supposed to leave first thing in the morning."
Emilia nodded.
The next day, the group found themselves back in the carriage, traveling east along the banks of the mighty Tigracy River.
"So we basically saved the town, and we still didn't get these damn collars taken off?" Garfiel complained.
"I can't believe Teague completely forgot about it," Felt grumbled.
Subaru snorted. "Or that after waiting for hours while Teague looked up the only mage in the area qualified to remove these collars, we found out he's out of town, helping the Imperial army against the rebels."
"Captain Tob wasn't very happy about the delay," Emilia noted. "We were supposed to be on the road at dawn, but because of the delays in looking for that mage, we didn't leave until well after lunch."
"I can't say I'm all that concerned for Tob's feelings right now," Subaru remarked.
"Yeah, but we're not going to get very far before dark," Garfiel pointed out. "And the countryside is at war, whether Tob wants us to know about it or not. We're going to have to find a place to make camp tonight, and that might leave us exposed to attack."
Felt frowned. "Actually, that's a good point. Do you think that maybe the undead were attacking the city to get at us?"
"I doubt it," Subaru said at once. "According to Teague, the undead and the living rebels were also attacking the rest of the city, even if their main thrust was at the mayor's mansion. That sort of plan wouldn't make much sense if they were there specifically to target us. The undead must have been ordered to attack the city, and we just happened to get in the way. Teague was lucky that we were there, though. It looks like their plan was to send a second column through the forest and attack the mayor's mansion as a back door into the city and hit the city defenders from both sides."
Emilia frowned in confusion as the carriage rumbled to a stop. She peeked out of the window.
"What is it?" Subaru asked.
"I… don't know," Emilia said in a baffled voice.
Subaru made a face. This sounds ominous …
The group carefully slipped out of the carriage and looked down the road.
Subaru saw that the soldiers from their escort had all crowded around something standing in the road.
The soldiers were all gathered around a strange monument erected at the fork in the road. The figure was a wooden effigy made of sticks with a deer 's skull for a face and a huge rack of antlers. It wore a ragged red hooded cloak over its wooden body. The soldiers muttered to each other angrily and shook their spears at the statue.
"What the hell is that thing?" Felt asked in a baffled tone.
Garfiel frowned. "I think that's supposed to be the Horned Witch," He muttered.
Subaru blinked. "Wait. You've heard of her?"
"Sure. She's a legendary figure down here," Garfiel explained. "She's supposed to live deep in the swamps at the heart of the Gandahar Jungle. According to legend, she's the protector of the kholops, but she also preys upon them."
"Sergeant Tiberius was telling us about the witch last night," Subaru remembered darkly. "He claimed that she was the one creating the undead army. And what are 'kholops,' anyway? Tiberius kept using that word."
"Serfs," Garfiel said shortly.
"You mean like a slave?" Felt asked sharply.
Garfiel hesitated. "No… but the distinction is pretty slight around here," He admitted. "Serfs are more like peasants, but they belong to the land they work on. They can't leave it without written permission from their overseer. They also can't marry or change jobs without his permission. The serfs are given small plots to grow their own crops on the estate that they work on, but in exchange, they owe some truly astronomical rents. According to the books, the kholops owe fully half of the crops that they grow themselves and half of their total labor to their master 's fields."
"That's pretty extreme," Felt remarked.
"Yeah," Garfiel agreed. "And the kholops are treated like shit."
"Worse than Lagunican peasants?" Felt asked skeptically.
"Oh! No comparison!" Garfiel snorted. "Lagunican peasants have some autonomy, and most have at least a little money to spend. They can try to learn a trade or move to a new village if they want to. It's literally illegal for a kholop to learn how to read and write or to ever touch a weapon. I've read that the Vollachian military even kills large numbers of kholops every year as part of their training exercises."
"I've got to be honest, fleabag," Felt commented. "This sounds like propaganda to me."
"Maybe not," Subaru muttered. "If the kholops are really that oppressed, then the Empire probably struggles to keep them under control. A yearly campaign of calculated brutality might be their solution. They might try to terrorize the kholops into staying in line."
"That's disgusting," Emilia said.
Subaru nodded. "Yeah, but we'll deal with that later. What the heck is that statue about?"
Felt made a face. "If Tiberius can be believed," She said slowly, "Then this has almost got to be a sign left by the rebels or their sympathizers. If the Witch really is the patron saint of Vollachian rebels then anyone displaying this kind of effigy must be trying to show support for them and their cause."
"Who would show respect for somebody who's literally using corpses against innocent people?" Subaru asked indignantly.
"Somebody with nothing else to lose," Garfiel answered. "If folks get desperate enough, they'll start grasping at straws."
"Yeah, but Tiberius thinks that the witch might be deliberately making matters worse," Felt mentioned. "Apparently, the Empire thinks that resurrecting the undead is draining the life force from the land. Or maybe the undead are doing it themselves just by walking around."
"What do you mean, 'draining its life force?'" Emilia asked in confusion.
"Tiberius said that the undead are drying out the land and increasing the severity of the drought," Subaru said with distaste. "The witch, or whoever is really behind this, not only gets an army of undead but she squeezes the kholops until they're willing to fight and die for her."
Emilia thought it over. "That doesn't make sense," She shook her head.
Subaru looked at her in surprise. "Sure it does. If the peasants watch all their crops die, then- "
"No, Subaru," Emilia interrupted. "I mean that it doesn't make sense that the undead are causing or exacerbating the drought."
"Why not?"
"Well," Emilia said slowly. "I don't know how the dead are being revived, but when you draw magic from the area around you, it doesn't… dry out. That's not how mana works. If you were trying to feed off the mana in a region to fuel some powerful spell, the region would get darker and colder as you devoured the mana in the region, but it wouldn't get less wet."
Subaru looked skeptical. "Mili," He said slowly. "How do you know that? You just said that you didn't know how the undead were created in the first place. Maybe the spell that animates them requires this as a side effect."
"No, Subaru. It doesn't make sense," She said simply. "Think about it. When you draw mana from an area, it can get colder and darker because you're pulling the energy out of the region. I've seen Daddy do that once or twice when he needed a huge amount of mana. The region gets colder because you're extracting energy from it. But changing something from being wet to being dry doesn't generate any energy. It would actually require extra energy to make that kind of change. The drought can't just be a side effect of raising the undead. If she really were behind it, then the Witch would have to be worsening the drought deliberately."
Subaru mulled that over. I don 't know. I'm not sure if there's any point in speculating about the side effects of a spell that none of us have ever heard of. And I'm not shocked that the Witch or whoever is behind this might be causing the drought deliberately. If you create a legion of undead that are only marginally under your control, you're probably capable of anything.
And that 's a risk that can't be tolerated. I only barely saved Emilia this time. Next time, I could…
Emilia continued, "And even if she is sucking the water out of the land, where would it go? She can't just destroy it. All that water would have to end up somewhere."
"The ocean?" Felt shrugged.
Emilia looked thoughtful. "Frankly, I wonder if we're being premature in assuming that the drought is being caused deliberately," Emilia continued. "Remember, Frederich warned us that the desert was expanding."
"Who?" Felt asked.
"A professor we met in Kararagi," Subaru muttered. "Yeah, he did tell us that, but I got the impression that he was talking about something that would happen eventually, not an immediate crisis. I feel like if the expanding desert was this imminent, then he wouldn't have been struggling to convince folks of his theories."
"Actually, Frosty may be onto something," Garfiel remarked. "Remember, the Demi-Human Alliance was using this same kind of magic during the last war. But I never heard about a drought sweeping across Lagunica."
Subaru frowned and thought that over.
Felt made a face. "Well. Regardless of the drought, I think we can safely say that the Witch or whoever is calling herself that is the major problem in the Empire these days."
Subaru nodded. "I think you might be onto something, Felt. And I think I just got a very good theory about what Vincent wants with us…"
"You think he wants us to fight the witch?" Felt asked in a sinking voice.
"That's my theory," Subaru sighed.
Garfiel chuckled. "Captain, she's not real," He said.
"I can see that!" Subaru snorted, gesturing toward the crude effigy.
"No, Captain, I mean the 'Horned Witch' doesn't exist. She's just a folktale."
Subaru raised an eyebrow. "Garf, not that I don't believe you, but we've bumped into an awful lot of mythical and impossible things lately. A flying island leaps immediately to mind. Maybe we should reserve judgment on this 'Horned Witch' for the moment."
"You can trust me on this, Captain," Garfiel said calmly as the soldiers started to savagely hack the effigy to pieces with their spears. "When I was a kid, Alpha heard about the Horned Witch and she took an interest in the story. It took her weeks of rituals and some help from Roswaal, but Alpha managed to bypass the barrier temporarily, and she came down to Vollachia to investigate."
"And she didn't find anything?"
Garfiel paused. "Well, she found something, but she said it wasn 't a witch. Grams was in a very bad mood when she came home, and she wouldn't talk about it. But she said that apparently the Jungle really is under some kind of weird curse that makes it hard to get out of it so maybe that 's why people think there's a witch in there."
"But what about the undead?" Felt asked. "Someone has to be raising them." She thought about it. "Actually, parsing what Tiberius told us, the legend of the Horned Witch might be centuries old, but the sightings of the witch and the undead are all pretty recent."
Felt 's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a second! Subaru! You said that the Witches' Seals were all weakening! What if this is a real witch creating the undead?! What if she was sealed away in the jungle, and now she 's broken free?!"
Subaru felt a chill as he pondered that possibility.
"Hang on! I thought that all the witches were still locked up!" Garfiel protested.
Subaru thought hard. "All the witches are still sealed away… at least as far as I know , " He admitted. "But the seals are weakening. And Kor ë warned me that the witches are capable of working some amount of magic even while they 're still locked away. I have no idea what the limits are. But they can at least start to cause trouble before they break free. The only active witches that I 'm aware of are Korë and her foe." Subaru hesitated a moment. "The Ryuzus also suspect that Echidna may be free."
"I thought that Echidna was dead!" Garfiel said.
Subaru made a face. "Apparently, to a witch, death is negotiable."
"I… don't know what that means, Captain."
"Well, neither do I," Subaru admitted. "But I've heard it said often enough that I think there might be some truth to it."
"Then that must be the answer," Felt said in a sinking voice. "We're dealing with an honest-to-god witch…"
Subaru mulled it over and then shook his head. "No. I don't buy it."
"Why not?" Felt asked.
"Because you left out one important factor, Felt. Tiberius said that the sightings of the Horned Witch started decades ago. That's a lot further back than us breaching the Sanctuary. Whoever this Horned Witch is, she can't be one of the real witches."
"But the undead are brand new, right?" Felt pointed out. "They don't go back decades."
Subaru considered that and nodded. "That's true…"
"Maybe somebody was impersonating the witch, and then the real one broke free and took over," Felt suggested.
Subaru frowned.
"What about a disciple?" Emilia suggested.
"A what?" Subaru asked.
Emilia hesitated, trying to put her thoughts into words. "What if the Horned Witch was something something like… a cultist dedicated to the Witch? Maybe she or her family lived in the swamps for centuries, staying close to where their Master was sealed away. Maybe she's not a single person but a long line of powerful mages that have lived in the jungle since the Great Cataclysm.
"Then when the Sanctuary was breached, the seals all started to weaken. All of a sudden, the Witch is capable of sharing some of her power with her cultists. That's why they can suddenly raise the dead into an army."
Subaru 's face turned sickly. "Mili, I think you may have stumbled over a very possible scenario. And that means that we could be in very serious big trouble."
Felt looked pained. "Well, that tells me that we definitely want to turn down whatever deal Vincent offers us! " She said at once. "We don 't want to mess with an honest-to-god witch! "
"I don't know, shrimp," Garfiel said slowly. "I've read about what the world was like when the witches still walked free. If there's any chance that we can find a way to keep the witches sealed away, I think we need to take it."
"Fleabag!" Felt protested. "Are you literally insane?! I-"
"This is all premature," Subaru cut her off. "We still don't have any real facts to speak of. Emilia came up with a very possible scenario, but we don't have any proof that it's accurate. We still don't know who's raising the undead or what Vincent wants. Making any sort of decisions based on supposition is just asking to be surprised later."
Captain Tob, the head of their escort, suddenly noticed that Subaru and his friends were watching his men tear the witch 's effigy apart.
"Lord Subaru," Tob said, hurrying over to the group. "Is something wrong?"
"No. We were just curious what was going on out here," Subaru said calmly.
"Oh, we're just dealing with a minor local matter, my lord," Tob said calmly. "Mischievous kholop children sometimes leave those statutes up to scare people."
Subaru stared at him. He expects us to believe that children erected that beast? Tob has to know by now that we 're aware of the witch, the undead, and the rebellion, so why bother to lie to us about it?
"That was a statue of the Horned Witch, right?" Subaru asked casually.
Tob pursed his lips. "Possibly," He hedged. "I seem to remember hearing some old children's stories about a character with that name."
He 's definitely hiding something. The question is, what? And maybe an even better question is why.
Tob is already aware that we know something weird is going on in the Empire. What 's the point in keeping quiet about it? It's just going to make us more suspicious.
Or is this something like what Colonel Teague did? Vincent gave Tob, or at least Tob 's commander, an order. And now Tob will keep carrying that order out even if the reason for those orders has utterly vanished.
"Lord Subaru," Tob pressed on before Subaru could inquire further. "It's getting late. We're preparing to set up camp for the evening. However, we've managed to find you fine accommodations for the night. There's an inn not far away. You and your party can sleep there for the night."
Subaru nodded. "Sounds great."
"The Emperor ordered us to do all in our power to ensure that your visit to the Empire is of the utmost comfort," Tob stressed. "If you need anything, you need only ask."
Subaru nodded. "Thank you, Captain. It's most appreciated."
Tob cleared his throat. "If you and your party will return to your carriage, we should be able to reach the inn before dark."
Subaru nodded. "Of course."
Tob walked back toward his men, and Subaru 's friends returned to the carriage.