Chapter 99: The Dragon's Choice (Patreon)

It took Natsuki Subaru a long while to react. Was this mad dragon, who had turned herself into a little dragon girl, actually jealous?

No way…

"Hey, hey, hey, Miss Mad Dragon, didn't you call yourself the world-ending dragon who tears the earth apart? The one who looks down on mortals like grass and ants?"

Subaru rolled his eyes so hard it felt like a cosmic event, then switched on rant mode in the mental channel with practiced ease.

"So what's with this act now? You look exactly like a little girl who didn't get a hard candy on her way home from school, so she's sitting on the curb kicking pebbles and throwing a tantrum."

"Who's throwing a tantrum?! You rude, stupid mortal!!"

On the lava throne deep in his mind, the black-haired girl shot upright like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her face flushed red with embarrassed fury, and the pair of black dragon horns on her head trembled with her temper.

"I am only making it perfectly clear that you owe me a debt! A debt so huge you couldn't repay it with your entire life!!"

"Remember it well! Next time… next time some mortal mess drives you into a corner and you come crying for my power, even if you cling to my leg and beg for three days and three nights, I won't spare you a scrap! Not one scrap!!"

She spat out the threat. It carried no destructive majesty at all, only a thick note of sulking. Then Deathwing exhaled an irritated breath of scorching air, flung back the black veil of her nun's habit, and vanished into the rising lava storm, cutting the mental link from her side alone.

That left Natsuki Subaru completely lost. From any angle, he had no idea what game this demon living in his heart was playing. But one thing was obvious: the whispers from Deathwing had fallen utterly silent.

"Hello? Still there? Big Chin?"

Subaru asked in his mind, brimming with malice.

"Come on, share your world-ending theories with me again. It feels like I'm missing half the fun when you don't talk."

No response.

Deathwing used to babble on and on, impossible to shut up. Now he couldn't get her to talk at all. He had to admit that ever since this mad dragon had absorbed the Witch Factor, her way of thinking had grown stranger and stranger. Whether that was good or bad, who could say?

What Subaru didn't know was that this was most likely his own fault.

When Amon bound Deathwing to his soul, he clearly hadn't known one thing: the moment Subaru arrived in this world, he had formed a connection with the drifting remnant soul of the Witch of Envy. That existence was the root reason he felt suffocated whenever he tried to speak the truth of Return by Death.

Of course, considering he had never actually used that ability, and would never think of volunteering to others that he held a trump card like a Save/Load trick, by Silver Wolf's logic, if life was a game, If life was a game, he was obviously a cheater running the 'Subaru FLiNG Trainer' mod. No wonder your mission completion rate is an astonishing 100%, and you walk away unscathed from even the worst situations. You can just die and reload. With that kind of power, what couldn't you do?

In the original timeline, Return by Death was Subaru's own authority. At its core it was a BUG born of the incompatibility between him, an otherworlder, and this world. When other people died, they went to see King Yama. When he died, he had nowhere to go, because King Yama doesn't take in Oni from another world. So what then? Even Od Laguna, the origin of the world, didn't know.

One program error is a BUG. But if a pile of BUGs runs, that's just a normal program. Since the world itself didn't know what to do with this otherworlder, it could only restore him exactly as he was and let him do as he pleased.

What the Witch of Envy did was add a restriction to that authority, giving it a mechanism like a 'save point.' That was why, in the original timeline, whenever Subaru died he always revived at the nearest specific point in time, without having to start over from the very beginning.

The Witch of Envy's intention was for Subaru to use this ability to avoid risks and walk toward a happy life. In her eyes, the best thing Subaru could do was drop his savior complex and enjoy a life of shameless indulgence. She never imagined he would use the ability to save everyone and lead them all to happiness, even at the price of enduring endless suffering and torment himself.

That outlook would have made the Witch of Envy of the original timeline break down. Even Deathwing, tied to him now, would think Subaru was simply insane if she knew. If you want to die, don't drag me along with you.

Two souls lying dormant in Subaru's body were bound to entangle and influence each other. But the Witch of Envy's remnant was so faint that Deathwing never noticed it. Only when Subaru forcibly disrupted her control of his body by using the suffocation of his heart being gripped did the mad dragon realize: oh, I actually have a roommate?

What a coincidence. In this world the Witch of Envy was the World-Ending Witch who destroyed more than half the world, and Deathwing was the undisputed world-ending dragon. Two Destroyers under one roof had a certain kinship and hit it off at first sight, rekindling an old, ill-fated bond. After Deathwing absorbed the Witch Factor in particular, Satella's remnant soul became active and even began to influence Deathwing's thinking in return.

One wanted Subaru to live out of love. The other only wanted it because if Subaru died, she'd kick the bucket too. Since neither wanted Subaru dead, the two sides could have a nice talk.

Of course, 'talk' really just meant Deathwing pressing down the Witch of Envy's remnant soul alone and rifling through her memories and thoughts. Even so, Satella's love, so deep it bordered on obsession, inevitably seeped into the mad dragon's mind.

And so came the pretty-girl offensive.

For the Black Dragon King, the tactic was laughably crude. It was hard to say she hadn't picked up some of the Witch of Envy's possessiveness. Dragons were creatures of intense possessiveness to begin with, and the cunning Black Dragon King more so. Whatever she set her eyes on, she had to have!

Before, what she wanted was Subaru's body. Now, thanks to an obsession of unknown origin, she wanted the man as well.

Subaru would probably never dream that the demon in his heart was fast becoming a fresh-faced model in his heart.

As for her choices in remaking her human image, Deathwing had clearly drawn on the traits of the many women Subaru had met in this world. Her looks resembled Emilia with dyed black hair, and her manner of speaking resembled a little dragon girl version of Priscilla.

The reason wasn't hard to guess: Deathwing truly hated that arrogant woman.

The 'kindness' of being scorched by Priscilla's Yang Sword was something she still remembered perfectly clearly.

One day, she would leave that woman with nothing and show her that even with the same arrogant bearing, a dragon's noble blood would always surpass laughable mortals, crushing her completely in both beauty and presence! It would undoubtedly be a magnificent revenge!

At the thought, Deathwing let out an eerie laugh in her deep dragon voice, leaving Subaru baffled. Who knew what had set the dragon off this time?

"Lord Natsuki Subaru!"

Before he could work it out, a slightly uneven but forceful stream of footsteps cut off his thoughts.

Subaru turned and saw the three generations of the Astrea family, who had just finished praying for the dead, walking toward him in step.

At the front, unmistakably, was Heinkel, Vice-Captain of the Royal Guard.

Heinkel was filthy, and his white Royal Guard uniform was caked with blood. Yet he walked with his head high and his chest out, and there was no trace left in his eyes of his old dejection and degeneration.

Behind him stood Wilhelm, serene, and Reinhard, composed, shoulder to shoulder.

Two steps from Subaru, Heinkel suddenly stopped.

The next second, before Subaru's startled eyes, the current head of the Astrea family dropped to one knee without warning and knelt heavily in the muddy ground!

"Swish! Swish!"

Almost at the same instant, Wilhelm and Reinhard knelt on one knee without a flicker of hesitation, one hand over the heart, and bowed their heads to Subaru in perfect unison!

"Hey! Wait! What are you doing?!"

Subaru nearly leapt off Patrasche, completely flustered.

"Old man! Uncle Heinkel! And big bro! What's with the whole-family curtain call?! Get up! Especially you, Reinhard! The great Sword Saint, my sworn big brother, kneeling to his sworn third brother? If this gets out, how will I ever show my face?!"

But this time Heinkel was the one who grew serious. His expression was solemn and his gaze unwavering, with none of the rascally air from when he was drinking away in the little tavern. He spoke in a low voice, with the dignity befitting the head of the Astrea family.

"Lord Subaru, please accept the bow of our Astrea family."

Heinkel's voice was slightly choked, but each word was clear and weighed a thousand jin.

"Fifteen years. As a son, as a father, I hid in the mud for a full fifteen years, numbing myself with desperate searches for a way to wake my wife. I shamed my mother, I drove my father to despair, I let my son grow up in loneliness… Without you, I, Heinkel van Astrea, would be nothing but garbage rotting in a gutter for the rest of my life."

Wilhelm nodded and added:

"Just now, in my capacity as the former head of the Astrea family, I conferred with the current Sword Saint, and together we made a decision: to bestow a sword name upon the current head, Heinkel Astrea."

Heinkel drew a deep breath, overcome with emotion, and clasped his fists in salute, bowing deeply to Subaru.

"It was you who dragged that beast before us. It was you who let me hold this sword again with my head up. It was you… who saved our whole teetering house."

"Great kindness needs no thanks. Today, here, in the name of the current head of the Astrea family, I swear—"

Heinkel's head snapped up. In eyes strikingly like Reinhard's burned a resolve that would never regret even a hundred deaths.

"From this day forth, whenever Lord Subaru gives the command, be it a mountain of blades, a sea of fire, or the abyss of hell, the swords of the Astrea clan will cut a path for you and walk through fire and water, and we will not refuse even ten thousand deaths!!"

Behind him, Wilhelm calmly closed his eyes and nodded gravely. Reinhard's eyes were clear as well, offering his loyalty and recognition without reservation.

The Sword Saint's house, three generations, all swearing fealty. It left Crusch and Ferris on the side dumbfounded. Hadn't your Astrea family already backed Felt? Can you just swap your lord like that?

Remembering Subaru's declaration in the throne hall, when he called himself the 'sixth royal candidate,' Crusch knew those words were no small matter. Since the First Sword Saint Reid, the Astrea family had held a transcendent position in this country, the foremost noble house, one even the late king had to treat with courtesy. If such a house fully backed a candidate in the Royal Selection, the outcome would be all but certain.

Moreover, Subaru's connections already included deep personal ties to the other candidates, and he had even done Crusch herself a great favor. Crusch wondered whether she should step down from her position as commander now and welcome Dragon King Natsuki Subaru back to the royal capital of his loyal Lugnica ahead of schedule.

With that thought quietly forming in her heart, the admiration in Crusch's eyes as she looked at Subaru deepened.

Truthfully, Crusch had admired Subaru from the start. In her view, he was not only a skilled strategist but also an eloquent talker, one who would probably leave even the legendary Great Sage Flugel at a loss for words. She believed that under his leadership Lugnica would surely grow strong and great and achieve new glory!

The problem was that Subaru thought exactly the same of her.

Subaru fell silent for a moment. Then he bent down, pulled Heinkel up with one hand and the aged Wilhelm up with the other, and kicked Reinhard's knee on the way, laughing and scolding in exasperation.

"All right, all right, that's enough! We've been through life and death together. Why go through all this fancy ceremony?"

Subaru hauled Heinkel to his feet and looked at the red-eyed middle-aged man, one corner of his mouth lifting in a confident, bold curve.

"'Not refusing ten thousand deaths'? How unlucky is that? My comrades and my brothers aren't expendables. Everyone has to make it to the end whole and happy."

He turned, his gaze passing over the White Whale's remains to the expedition soldiers, blood-spattered yet erupting in earth-shaking cheers, and finally fixed on the distant eastern horizon.

That was the direction of the royal capital of Lugnica.

"Listen up, everyone."

Subaru shoved both hands into the pockets of his black coat. The breeze stirred the loose hair on his forehead, and in his black eyes shone a sharp, burning light.

"The White Whale that raged for four hundred years has been slaughtered by us. The treacherous officials who were ruining the kingdom from within have been mostly swept away. Now is the perfect time for ambitious young people like us to rise and restore Lugnica's glory. The advantage is ours!"

He turned to Crusch and, before her disbelieving eyes, clasped his fists in salute.

"Lord Crusch, the time has come. Give the order to march home! And while you're at it, cut off this big fat whale's head and take it back as a trophy. The renown of House Karsten will surely reach its peak. I wish you an early ascension to the throne and the inheritance of the realm. With you, Lugnica will be like Stormwind with Varian!"

Crusch: Wait, what, dude?!

As the Duke of the kingdom, she had been about to kneel on one knee and swear fealty herself. How had she ended up the king? This pie falling from the sky hit her so hard it set off a piercing ringing in her heart, and she had no idea what was going on.

She looked at Ferris, but he had the same clueless look of 'Ferri-chan doesn't know anything, nya~', clearly with no idea what to do either.

She looked at Wilhelm, the former head of the Astrea family and now the old coachman of House Karsten, who said calmly:

"Lord Crusch, if you lead, I will follow."

Heinkel beside him gave a light cough, composed his expression, and said gravely:

"I don't know what's going on, but I've seen all the effort the Karsten estate has made these years. You go up there, and I'll rest easy!"

As for the Sword Saint Reinhard, he simply saluted with one hand over his heart and smiled.

"In a sense, this is the dragon's choice as well. Lord Crusch, please give the order."

And so Crusch had no choice but to steel herself and accept the arrangement. She drew her sword and declared in a ringing voice:

"Pass the order to the entire army! Cut off the White Whale's head, and march home!"

"Congratulations, congratulations!"

Subaru clapped and cheered. After all that effort, he had finally found a reliable leader for this hopelessly unlucky country. It hadn't been easy!

"All right…" He tugged his hat brim down and put on a deep, brooding expression. "Now let's go back and see how Emilia and the others have been doing in the royal capital while we were gone."