Chapter 75: Little Subaru Cheats, Sin Archbishop (Patreon)

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

Under the Divine Protection of Wind Evasion, a long column of ground dragons stretched out in several rows and raced forward at remarkable speed.

Nearly every member of the column wore the same garment, the signature white robe of the Hoshin Company. That meant the Hoshin Company's private mercenary corps had come along too, so the journey was smooth and no bandit or highwayman dared cross their path.

In the middle of that endless procession, surrounded and guarded, rolled one particular carriage.

Ricardo and Julius sat out on the driver's seat. Inside the carriage were Anastasia, who had founded the Hoshin Company and was its master, and Mimi, whom she cuddled like a stuffed toy. And there was one more person, the only one who wasn't supposed to be here at all.

Outside, Julius kept glancing inside.

The curtain blocked his view, but that was exactly what made it so maddening.

As the Finest of Knights, proud of his title, he fully respected and revered Lady Anastasia, the one he had chosen with his own hands and who had accepted him.

If Lady Anastasia had truly fallen for someone, he wouldn't exactly object. It was just that he couldn't imagine what someone as shrewd as Lady Anastasia would look like when she liked somebody.

And what troubled him most right now was that Subaru Natsuki was the enemy of every Royal Selection candidate, which made him Lady Anastasia's rival too. Even so, Lady Anastasia had shielded him in front of everyone, at no small cost.

He truly wanted to know what kind of love potion Subaru Natsuki had slipped her.

Of course, he respected Subaru himself. It just didn't compare to how he felt about Lady Anastasia.

While Julius's thoughts ran wild, Anastasia's sweet, playful voice drifted out of the carriage.

"Aww, Natsuki-kun, why are you curled up so far away? Little ol' me did save you once, you know. You're making me lose all confidence in my charms. Is this how you repay a kindness with spite?"

"I just get the feeling that if I move any closer, Julius or Ricardo is going to snap and kill me."

"They're not that violent, are they? Mm, they wouldn't, would they?"

"Even you aren't sure!"

Pfft!

Inside the carriage, Anastasia giggled mischievously.

She wore a plain, pale white dress, but since she was in the carriage she had taken off her shoes and socks, baring small, pale feet. Ten soft, white toes, translucent as jade, always scrubbed spotless and without a hint of odor.

She lay on her side, languid, her calves stretched out straight without the slightest effort to be modest. But the carriage was only so big, and a single stretch of her legs nearly reached the opposite end.

No matter how Subaru curled up or how gentlemanly he tried to act, he couldn't avoid touching Anastasia at all.

And although the ground dragons' special Divine Protection kept the carriage steady overall, a wheel rolling over a stone now and then was unavoidable. Each time, the carriage jolted, and Anastasia's skirt, not short but not especially long either, rode up a little by itself.

Bit by bit it added up, until both calves were fully exposed, swaying and tapping with each small movement of her sideways lounging.

It wasn't enough to stir any particular desire. But Subaru was still a perfectly healthy, vigorous young man, and even when he deliberately held himself in check, he truly couldn't keep his eyes off those pale, delicate legs the whole ride.

"Mm…"

Noticing Subaru's gaze growing slightly hotter, Anastasia's little face flushed. She poked Mimi, hinting that she should pull her hem down.

Otherwise there was nothing for it. She'd get so embarrassed she wouldn't be able to speak properly.

She was a shrewd one, undeniably a shrewd one, but in this department she had absolutely zero experience. All she knew came from the raunchy jokes she'd overheard from married women.

And those were jokes she could never say out loud, no matter what!

Once the skirt covered her calves again, Anastasia finally regained her composure. She giggled prettily. "Natsuki-kun, aren't you curious? Don't you want to ask why I'd pay such a high price to help you?"

"Normally nobody brags like that and says 'I paid a huge price to help you,' you know…"

Subaru shrugged and muttered, though he didn't deny Anna's kindness.

But before Anastasia could give whatever answer she had in mind, he forced himself to put on a stiff, resounding tone. "Well, obviously it's because we're friends!"

"…Oh?"

Anastasia studied Subaru closely, peering at him from every angle.

She kept at it until he squirmed with awkwardness and his expression slipped, giving away that this wasn't what he truly felt. Only then did Anastasia curve her eyes in satisfaction and laugh softly again.

"It's a really lousy excuse, but it does put me at ease. If you're this bad at lying, Natsuki-kun, being with you is actually reassuring. It means you're basically transparent to me. Mm, I like that!"

Subaru: "Please don't say such scary things…"

He wasn't some dense block of wood from a galgame. Of course he knew why Anna was willing to save him.

Friendship was certainly part of it, no doubt about that. But Anna had barely ever hidden her feelings for him.

Love might be a stretch, but liking him? Objectively, he felt it couldn't be his imagination.

Anastasia genuinely liked Subaru. That was a fact. And not some other kind of liking, but the way a girl likes a boy.

Though he had no idea what charm he possessed that could attract Anna.

Still, knowing was one thing. That thin sheet of window paper must never be poked through, because he knew himself. He was a shallow, clichéd kind of man.

Setting aside the fact that he had Pandora as his girlfriend, if he found out Anna liked him he'd be over the moon, bouncing and cheering, and he'd gladly date her.

But even though Pandora had told him to stop overthinking it, and that he shouldn't expose "I have a girlfriend I love, and she is Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory," and that if another girl liked him he should behave normally…

He still resisted it. Doing that would be way too cruel, wouldn't it?

Even if his own Pandora didn't mind, he really couldn't help minding.

So he had to pretend!

As long as Anna didn't poke through that paper herself, then he simply didn't know she liked him, and that meant it was fine. He wouldn't have to betray his Pandora!

If possible, he really wished Anna would lose interest in him soon.

He was already a married man, never mind that. And he himself was a shallow, boring, uninteresting guy. Someone as dull as him didn't deserve Anna's affection.

Mimi hummed and clapped, her eyes sparkling, and it was impossible to tell whether she was praising or mocking Subaru. "Wow, Big Brother is really an expert at playing dumb!"

"It's fine," Anastasia said, patting Mimi with a beaming smile. "This is the first time I've had even a little bit of feeling, and it's nowhere near strong. Since I haven't walked into the trap myself yet, Natsuki-kun can go right on playing dumb, can't he?"

He'd just been roasted.

That was definitely a roast!

Subaru pressed a hand to his forehead and gave a bitter smile. Anna really was sharp. But precisely because she was consistent all the way through, she was formidable, and that was why he feared her.

He feared that he might not be able to stop himself from having certain thoughts.

Still, Anastasia clearly had no intention of letting him go, so he had no choice but to travel with her.

"Come on, don't make such a gloomy face. I did roast you, sure, but that doesn't mean I dislike you, okay? I've got a pretty good idea what kind of person Natsuki-kun is. If I could dislike you that easily, I wouldn't have been so good to you from the start."

Anastasia smiled, chin resting on both hands. Whatever expression or gesture she made, every move was nearly perfect in its cuteness.

She was practically the embodiment of the word "cute."

She giggled and shifted her gaze to the small box behind Subaru. "By the way, what's in that? Even when I had to drag you out of the Royal Capital in an emergency, you insisted on spending time going back to the slums to fetch that box and bring it along. I'm really curious!"

"Ah…"

Subaru had already resolved in secret, after treating Anna badly time and again, to make it up to her in any way he could. Now he froze on the spot.

Cold sweat trickled down his back.

What was in the box was simple. It was his Pandora's original-scent white cloth.

But could that thing be shown?

Well, since Pandora had chosen to leave it for him, she must have considered the risk of exposure, so presumably other people were allowed to know. The problem was that if anyone saw it, wouldn't Subaru Natsuki's image be reduced to that of a total pervert?!

If he'd stolen it, then sure, he'd be a pervert. But not only had he not stolen it, he'd never even dared to wish for it. His Pandora had taken pity on him and left it for him herself!

If anyone called him a pervert over that, Subaru Natsuki would be the first to object!

He did hope Anna would soon stop liking a dull, boring guy like him. But he didn't want her to see him as a pervert and cut off even their friendship, a complete falling-out!

"Th-this is… cough. How about you just count it as one more favor I owe you?"

"…"

Anastasia's trailing silence stretched out long, tinged with obvious disappointment.

Her eyelids drooped, her lashes trembled, and she put on a pitiful, teary-eyed look as she gazed at Subaru. "I thought at least we were close enough by now. I guess I just misplaced my feelings all by myself. Sniff… I get it. I was too full of myself."

"Natsuki-kun actually thinks this Anastasia woman is a total pain, long-winded, with zero self-awareness, ugly, flat-chested, and flat everywhere else. Sniff, I get it! I'll leave right now!"

"Ahh!"

No way.

Was she seriously going to misunderstand like that?

But then again, time after time, his behavior really did look like he was deliberately keeping her a thousand miles away. This is bad, Subaru Natsuki! How can you treat your ultimate best friend and lifesaver this way? You're done for!

"No, no, no! I love Anna the most! Anna is the world's strongest beauty with the greatest talent in the universe, all-knowing, all-powerful, undying and unkillable! Anna is the cutest of the cute, so cute you can't look away, and there's no way anyone could not like Anna!"

Shake, shake, shake!

A blazing head shake!

Fearing that Anna would misunderstand and be hurt, he had no time to think. All he could do was shake his head fast and blurt out, without any thought at all, every opinion he had ever held of Anna, with no polish whatsoever.

But precisely because of that, it was sincere enough that his overflowing honesty could be felt.

"…"

By the time Subaru had spilled it all and realized what he'd said, it was too late.

Facing his frozen face was a corner of a mouth that curled up with irrepressible delight. Its owner was obviously trying to suppress it and not show too much emotion, but even so, those impossibly cute azure eyes were full of small, happy sparkles. It was Anastasia's adorable expression.

"Natsuki-kun getting fooled is cute too, you know. Don't just keep praising me, okay? In my eyes, you're pretty cute too!"

Anastasia smiled brightly, her little mouth pursed, and silently mouthed the words one by one as a retort. It also confirmed that her teary-eyed act just now had all been part of her plan.

She had one scheme after another. And yet, even knowing she'd tricked him, nobody could possibly bear to get angry at her.

Because she really was the world's strongest beauty with the greatest talent in the universe, all-knowing, all-powerful, undying, and the cutest of the cute. There was no exaggeration in it at all!

As for Pandora, she had already left the ranks of mere beauties. She was beyond the universe's best, a level above the world itself, and couldn't be compared.

Realizing he'd said all that in front of everyone, Subaru turned his face away, red to the ears, both embarrassed and annoyed. Yet seeing him like this only made Anastasia more delighted.

She had no experience at all. Still, when it came to coaxing the boy she cared about into making a heartfelt declaration, she seemed to have a natural talent.

Truly worthy of the title Number One Beauty in the Universe, nya!

But just then.

"Hey, Miss. Sorry to say, I've been enjoying the show out here, but I've got to interrupt you. We've arrived."

Ricardo's voice came from outside the carriage, full of regret.

"Nothing to regret. I never planned to go all in at once anyway. Honestly, I don't feel that way right now, do I?"

Anastasia pouted. No one could tell whether she meant it, but at any rate she had accepted reality. She tidied her clothes a little inside the carriage so nothing private would slip out, then was the first to lift the carriage curtain and winked at Subaru.

"Well then, since this is my hometown, it's only natural that the host welcome Natsuki-kun. I'll shamelessly play the prince for once. Will the princess please do me the honor of stepping down?"

"No way. The princess is the one who gets protected, and I'm definitely going to protect you, so I have to be the prince. No wait, you're the princess, but I don't have to be the prince, I'm just Subaru Natsuki. I'm getting out!"

Subaru retracted it lightning fast. He'd nearly fallen for Anna's trap again, but this time he caught it in time and avoided the pitfall. Clutching his box, he hurried out of the carriage.

Anastasia shook her head with a hint of regret and a coy laugh, then stepped down together with Mimi.

She took a light breath of the sweet air here.

"It's been so long. The scent of Kararagi. Just as everyone is bound to love me, the world's most talented beauty, I'm sure you'll fall in love with this place too, Natsuki-kun, won't you?"

But Subaru was already staring, dumbstruck.

Kararagi has ten major cities in total, and this was one of them, as well as the base city of Anna's Hoshin Company. But none of that mattered.

What mattered was that, in Subaru's eyes, this place was practically like going back to his hometown!

He couldn't call it identical, but it was basically no different!

On the main street, people in yukata or kimono and wooden geta were everywhere. The houses had Japanese-style doors, and if you had sharp eyes, you could see tatami mats straight through the open ones.

There was even a public bathhouse, and more than one!

One of them even boasted three hot spring areas, openly labeled "Men's Bath," "Women's Bath," and the legendary "Mixed Bath" that he had never once experienced!

The moment he arrived in Kararagi it felt like going home. If Anna, Ricardo, and Julius hadn't been right there, Subaru would have wondered whether he'd been sent back to his own world.

He murmured without realizing it, "This place is simply my hometown…"

"Oh my, are you saying goodbye to me? You mustn't. It's still too early. I'm not that fond of you yet. Still, I'm pleased that Natsuki-kun is being so forward!"

Anastasia stifled a giggle, but she soon noticed something was off. Subaru's eyes were glued to the "Mixed Bath" of the public bathhouse.

So that's what you meant by hometown. Because there's a mixed bath, you were ready to adopt it as your new home on the spot?

Mimi quietly edged away from Subaru. "Big Brother is a lecher!"

Julius: "Subaru, so you're that kind of person?"

This surely wasn't a good match for Lady Anastasia!

"I am not! Sure, it caught my attention, but that was an accident!"

He'd only been thinking how wonderful it would be to bathe together with his exquisite Pandora in a mixed bath, just the two of them. That was all he was thinking. He had no intention of going to a public mixed bath to look at other girls!

"Ahaha! Right, right, this is something you can only see in Kararagi. How about it, young man, want to give it a try? Just say 'yes,' and I'll become the poor victim forced to drag you over there. Then I won't get looked down on either. Haha, woof!"

Right as Subaru was frantically trying to explain himself, another voice cut in to crack jokes.

"Come on, give me a break. If you keep talking like that my reputation is finished. I came here to build influence, and at this rate I'm doomed… By the way, who are you?"

"Known to all, famous far and wide, a lazy layabout who sleeps through life and still gets by everywhere he goes. That's me, a wolf uncle of the dogkin folk, woof. Just call me Hal."

A tall, handsome wolf man in a black kimono, lounging lazily with one hand tucked inside his clothes and a blade of grass hanging from his mouth, burst into hearty laughter. He was clearly cheerful and ridiculously outgoing.

"He calls himself a wolf man, but he has a 'woof' verbal tic?"

Subaru's eyes lit up. Setting aside the fact that this odd uncle had teased him right off the bat, he felt this guy could be very much his type. His natural favorability could go straight up to seventy.

Of course, since the guy had teased him, it was only at sixty for now!

"Ah, don't mind it, don't mind it. It's an old habit," the wolf uncle said, waving a hand and laughing. "Back in the village, the elders taught us from childhood to take on this tic to pass as dogkin. Now I can't fully drop it even if I wanted to, woof!"

"Mm-hm, let me do the introductions."

Anastasia stepped forward and stretched out both hands, one toward Subaru and the other toward the wolf uncle.

"This is Subaru Natsuki. He's suspected of liking mixed baths, but since he's Natsuki-kun, I believe he didn't mean it that way. He's under my protection, so nobody is allowed to bully him. If anyone is, stop right now!"

"And this one is Halibel. Well, he's the so-called Eulogist, one of the four strongest in the world's four great nations. Simply put, the strongest in Kararagi."

Subaru: "Huh?"

Shock!

"The Sword Saint is like that too, and so is Halibel. Could it be that the world's strongest are all this friendly, approachable, and dependable?"

Hearing that, Halibel burst out laughing. "Haha, woof. That's not entirely true. At the very least, the Mad Prince of the Holy Kingdom is bloodthirsty, and you should stay away from him if you can. As for Blue Lightning… hmm, hard to judge. That one's a weirdo!"

"Still, you think so highly of me, that's great. Young Natsuki, I'm giving you a hundred points! Little Anna, your eye for people is excellent. I fully support you two getting married right away, woof!"

Anastasia gave up, mimicking Subaru and pressing a hand to her forehead. "That's a long way off. Stop saying things like that. You reek of weird uncle!"

"It's not like I've fallen for him already, and Natsuki-kun doesn't feel that way right now either. Since you're an adult, learn to read the room and stop making trouble, or I'll have everyone gang up and beat up a shameless old weirdo like you!"

"Haha, sorry, sorry."

Though he apologized, Halibel remained as easygoing as ever, not looking the least bit remorseful.

Subaru's gaze shuttled between Anastasia and Halibel, and he noticed something. "Anna, you and Hal seem pretty close?"

"Don't be jealous, young man. I'm a weird uncle, not a love rival. With this age gap, I'm practically her father's generation."

Halibel laughed heartily and, without any hesitation, exposed the past.

"Well, back when little Anna was very small, the village sent me to kill Ricardo. Little Anna stood in front of me and, with her incredible eloquence, talked me out of finishing the job. So you could say we became acquainted by fighting, or rather not fighting."

Subaru and Julius: "Huh?!"

Wait, wait, that's way too explosive. You just got praised for being a nice guy, and in the next breath you say you once came to kill Ricardo?

Julius and Subaru looked at each other, stunned. Neither of them was from Kararagi. Julius was Anastasia's First Knight, but he had joined later, so he knew almost nothing about her past.

Anything Ricardo and Anastasia hadn't told him, he didn't know, especially anything about Anastasia's history in Kararagi.

In that respect the two of them were equally clueless.

In that instant, an alliance was born!

There might be minor differences, but in this Kararagi where everyone else knew everything and only the two of them knew nothing, Subaru and Julius instantly formed an unbreakable alliance!

"Don't be so surprised. Ricardo and I are both wolfkin, from the same village. Back then Ricardo risked exposing the village, so he had to die."

As Halibel spoke, he winked at Ricardo. Ricardo showed no resentment at all and nodded, laughing heartily along. "Our wolfkin were in a truly dangerous position back then. There was nothing to be done."

"Wait, wolfkin?" Julius hadn't looked into it before. Ricardo had always told people in Lugunica that he was dogkin, but he was actually wolfkin?

"I see. If that's the case, it makes sense."

Subaru was dumbfounded, then indignant. "Hold on, am I the only one who doesn't know anything? Why does it make sense just because he's wolfkin?"

Julius, the only chance to build an unbreakable alliance was for us to be each other's one true soul friend.

But you betrayed me!

We once stood together in a realm of ignorance, driving out the all-knowing people of Kararagi. Yet you betrayed me, betrayed our shared ignorance.

You stole a scrap of knowledge and lied to me. A chance to form an alliance comes only once, and if you don't seize it, then let the war begin!

Let the war begin, from the skies of Kararagi to the earth of the tenth city, let Halibel boil over, let Ricardo fall!

"Mm… Natsuki-kun doesn't know the story of 'Iris and the King of Thorns,' right? That's fine. I'll patiently tell you the parts you don't know, so don't worry."

Anastasia quickly walked him through the backstory in an easy-to-follow way.

"Many years ago, the Holy Vollachian Empire had an emperor called the King of Thorns, who deeply loved a woman named Iris. But at a crucial moment, the wolfkin and the mole-rat folk betrayed Iris, and she died. The King of Thorns was furious and swore to wipe out every wolfkin and mole-rat person."

"At that time, ninety-nine percent of the wolfkin and mole-rat folk died. The survivors fled to other nations. But none of those nations wanted to be an enemy of the Empire, so no one would shelter them. The two races had no choice but to hide their identities. If they were discovered, the country they lived in would forcibly deport them to the Empire, where they would be beheaded."

"To this day, although other countries can't be bothered to enforce that, the Vollachian Empire still has the law that any wolfkin or mole-rat person encountered is to be beheaded without condition. So both races have kept their identities hidden to avoid being found by the Empire."

"As for wolfkin, the only ones left in the entire world are the people of the village where Ricardo and Halibel come from. Anyone who wants to leave the village must swear never to reveal their identity. If it's exposed, the village sends someone to silence them, so the village's location isn't leaked."

"That's why Halibel was carrying out the mission to kill Ricardo back then."

When it came to teasing and mocking, she could be as mischievous as they come. But when it came to serious matters, nobody was more reliable than Anastasia.

She had keenly noticed that of everyone present, only Natsuki-kun knew nothing, which made him feel out of place. That wouldn't do.

She didn't want her Natsuki-kun to be left out, even if nobody did it on purpose.

Subaru wasn't so sensitive where he himself was concerned, and he didn't feel he'd been wronged. But he could clearly feel Anna's care for him.

With so many people around, though, he was too embarrassed to thank Anna. Ricardo and Halibel would tease him relentlessly. So he forced himself to ask as if nothing were going on, "Then why can both Hal and Ricardo openly call themselves wolfkin now?"

"Woof haha!"

Halibel and Ricardo exchanged a look and burst into hearty laughter. "Isn't it obvious, young man? It's because the Eulogist is one of the world's strongest!"

Strength!

Before Halibel rose to power, the wolfkin did have an infamous name and had to hide to the extreme.

But once the Eulogist's great name became unshakable, Halibel could openly stroll around all of Kararagi as a wolfkin.

Even now, the village's location is no longer a secret anywhere in Kararagi, a place everyone knows about, yet it has never suffered a single attack.

Because no one could, no one dared, and no one wanted to bear the wrath of Halibel the Eulogist!

Surely some in the Empire already knew a wolfkin community existed in Kararagi, but the Vollachian Empire still turned a blind eye all the same.

There was no other reason for all this than Halibel's peak strength as one of the world's strongest!

Subaru smiled in relief. "Right. My thinking still hasn't fully switched over."

In a world where power belongs to the individual, if you're strong enough you can do anything. Yes, that was his dream too, wasn't it?

If he became strong enough, no one could stop him from being with Pandora openly.

"Strength…" Julius's eyes burned bright as well.

Whether to protect Lady Anastasia properly, or so that the next time Subaru met someone like Bowling Ball III he could be protected by Julius, Julius wanted to grow stronger too.

Strong enough to protect both Lady Anastasia and Subaru!

The Finest of Knights was generally strong enough, but compared to someone of the Eulogist's level, it still fell far short.

Subaru sighed with genuine feeling. "Still, looking at this, Anna is really something. I knew it already, but if even Hal was won over by Anna, then… hm."

He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been flattering himself.

In other countries, you could say Anna's defenses weren't the very best. But once she was back in Kararagi, even the Eulogist had been won over by her as a child, persuaded to abandon his mission, and, like Ricardo, had become her friend across the generations.

You could say there was basically no danger, unless the Sword Saint himself came to hunt her down.

And he'd had the nerve to boast earlier that he'd come to Kararagi to protect Anna too… How embarrassing.

Seeing Subaru grow flustered, Anastasia covered her little mouth with one hand, her eyes curving as if she'd discovered some great secret. "Oh my, oh my my, that expression. Could it be, Natsuki-kun, that you're embarrassed?"

"Quit teasing me!" Subaru hadn't even finished when Anna, closing in like the wind, cut him off.

Rising on tiptoe and leaning close, the adorable girl with the curved eyes whispered softly, in a voice that only the two of them should have been able to hear. "It has nothing to do with strength. It's because Natsuki-kun said he'd protect me that I like it, and I'm happy, you know?"

Th-this is a little over the line, isn't it?

All that filled Subaru's field of vision now was Anna's pale lavender hair, long and naturally curled.

"Woof ha-ha-ha!"

Halibel seemed to be seeing something marvelous, something he'd never dared imagine and thought he'd never see in his lifetime, and burst into hearty laughter.

Right. If it was now, he could tease little Anna until she was too embarrassed to face anyone!

Anastasia was truly formidable, so formidable that in some respects she was the most formidable person in all of Kararagi. Even when she was little, she was always the one teasing others, and nobody could out-tease her. Nobody had ever managed to embarrass her.

Even the Eulogist, the strongest in all of Kararagi, had only ever been forced to admit defeat when it came to teasing.

But now, there was a chance!

Halibel and Ricardo exchanged a subtle look. Yes, right now Anastasia had an opening!

The two shameless old weirdos snickered with their "woofs" and were about to start in on some nasty teasing.

"By the way, Uncle Halibel, why did you come out here? You even came to greet me. Have the big shots of Kararagi banded together and hired you?"

Before the two shameless old weirdos could speak, Anastasia, whose sharpness had no equal, had already turned smoothly and was cheerfully chatting about business.

"Tsk, woof…"

Halibel clicked his tongue, regretting the lost chance. But chewing on the green grass in his mouth, he couldn't pretend not to have heard. Business really was important, so he honestly answered:

"Yeah, little Anna knows, right? Or rather, that's exactly why you came back. Even with the Royal Selection in Lugunica at such a critical moment, I'm the same, of course. Everyone's on edge right now."

At the mention of such important business, Subaru snapped out of his embarrassment over Anna's teasing and turned serious. So did Julius and Mimi, of course.

Right then, a plump, round, panda-like, rather comical fat man approached. "Let's go back first and talk in detail, everyone?"

"Hey, Chuden, you're here? Slow as ever. Hal got here way faster than you," Ricardo said, raising a hand in greeting.

"How could I compare my legs to the Eulogist's…" Chuden said with a wry smile.

"Mimi will introduce, Mimi will introduce!"

Mimi bounced up and down. She wanted to be serious for once and enjoy the thrill of it. "This small-eyed big fat man is Vice President Chuden, the vice president of Miss's Hoshin Company. He's very nice, he keeps everything running in Kararagi, and he always gives Mimi candy. He's a really, really nice person, like Big Brother!"

"And this is Big Brother. Big Brother's name is Subaru Natsuki. Big Brother is good to Miss, and good to Mimi, and he gives Mimi candy, so he's a really, really nice person. That means Big Brother and the Vice President will definitely get along!"

"And then there's Julius. But Julius is too stiff and never brings Mimi candy, so he's a nice person but not a really, really nice person. But, but, he'll definitely get along with the Vice President too. That's it!"

Julius: "…"

He took note. From now on he would bring Mimi candy, never be left out again, never again be the only one who was merely nice while everyone else was really, really nice!

"I see, so you're Miss's First Knight? A pleasure, a pleasure."

Plump, panda-like Chuden shook Julius's hand right away, then turned to Subaru with a hint of assessment and appraisal. "So you're Subaru Natsuki, the one who whisked Miss away? A pleasure to meet you as well."

But Subaru didn't mind. If anything, he took an instant liking to Chuden for it.

This was a sign of Chuden's devoted loyalty, and also proof of how well-loved Anna was. Precisely because Chuden was loyal to Anna, he held a faint grudge against an outsider who had caught her attention. That was a good thing.

Chuden led the group back to the Hoshin Company's local building.

All along the way, locals of Kararagi, young and old, waved and smiled at them, calling out greetings without pause.

Some greeted Anna, Ricardo, Mimi, and Chuden, some greeted Halibel, but most of them, the vast majority, greeted all of them at once.

It was clear that whether it was Anna's whole camp or the free-spirited Hal, they were all the best sort of good people in Kararagi, on wonderful terms with the local folk.

Which meant that if anyone locally wanted to harm them, the moment the slightest hint of it surfaced, some neighbor would surely hurry to tip them off.

To be a person like that was truly admirable, beyond reproach.

Chuden had been quietly watching Subaru the whole way. When he saw Subaru's sincere, heartfelt sigh, he gave a small nod in secret. It seemed Subaru really was, as Mimi said, an honest sort.

When the group reached the Hoshin Company's building, Chuden had already arranged a banquet in advance. It featured a large spread of Japanese cuisine, extravagant and lavish, a display of serious wealth.

Hal the Eulogist treated himself as one of the family and dug in. In truth, he wasn't really an outsider. He hadn't joined the Hoshin Company, but if Anastasia ever needed anything, he would naturally help.

After all, even setting Anastasia aside, Ricardo was his peer, fellow villager, and friend since childhood. That alone made them very close.

During the meal, Anastasia deliberately watched Subaru and Julius. If either of them couldn't stomach the local Kararagi food, she would immediately and considerately have it swapped for dishes better suited to the Kingdom's taste.

Luckily, that didn't happen.

Julius didn't care what he ate. As the Finest of Knights he was strict with himself in every respect, and as long as it wasn't some choke-it-down disaster of a dish, he could eat anything.

As for Subaru, there was even less to say. The so-called local Kararagi cuisine was purely Japanese food, and he was too moved to speak.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and rested a while, the group went to the Hoshin Company's council hall. Only then did the real business begin.

"I don't know how much you know about the situation here from the Kingdom's side, so I'll go through it in detail."

Halibel said, "There are three developments. First, recently the Witch Cult has become far more active and killed quite a few people. I've been doing my best to wipe them out, but more Witch Cultists keep coming from other regions. I suspect the Witch Cult is planning something big, but sadly I don't have enough intel."

"Second, there's a crazy woman who calls herself Zarestia and wears a mask every time she shows up. Her target is clearly the Witch Cult, so I figure she's one of their victims."

"But this crazy woman has a big problem. She doesn't just kill Witch Cultists. Anyone who has been in contact with Cultists or carries the Witch Cult's taint, she hurts without exception, without bothering to check whether they were just victims captured or harmed by the Cult. Plenty of people have been left half dead."

"Third, according to intel, another woman of unknown appearance has shown up recently. She seems to be searching for that crazy woman who calls herself Zarestia. According to the reports, she's something else, and her strength should be far greater than the crazy woman's."

"Still, even though this second woman isn't as crazy as the first and doesn't kill much, she's got everyone on edge, especially with that formidable ability of hers… The big shots couldn't sit still any longer and sent me to investigate and handle it."

"Based on the sightings I've had of the Witch Cult and those two women, taking everything together, I think it's very likely they'll all converge here soon. So I decided to just sit and wait, and you happened to come back."

"Hal here isn't as sharp as little Anna. So tell me, can you work out anything from this intel?"

Three tangled-up pieces of bad news had kept all of Kararagi uneasy.

A situation of this scale was no wonder it required calling out the Eulogist, and no wonder Anastasia rushed back in such haste.

Anastasia mused, thinking carefully.

"Hmm, first, one thing is certain. The woman calling herself Zarestia is definitely not Zarestia. After all, you've judged that the other woman is much stronger than her, and the real Zarestia could never be that weak."

Good, another completely unfamiliar name.

But Subaru didn't ask, so as not to interrupt Anna's train of thought. He looked at Julius with eyes hungry for answers, and Julius, having learned by now that Subaru lacked a lot of common knowledge, lowered his voice on his own and explained.

"Zarestia is a legendary, world-famous great spirit, one of the great spirits older than Lord Puck, the Beast of the End. She is Kararagi's great spirit since ancient times, with terrifying power, probably even stronger than the Eulogist."

That was why Anastasia could so firmly declare the crazy woman wasn't Zarestia. If anyone in the world had strength far above an ancient great spirit like Zarestia, it could only be the Sword Saint.

And the Sword Saint was clearly neither a woman nor in Kararagi.

"As for the Witch Cult, those disgusting things have always been impossible to figure out. I can't think of anything either…"

Hearing Anastasia say that, Subaru asked instinctively, "I don't know why the Witch Cult has become active, but since lots of Cultists have come from elsewhere and they're unusually active, might there also be a Sin Archbishop coming?"

He'd learned of Sin Archbishops back when he asked Otto about the Witch Cult.

Whoosh!

The instant Subaru's words fell, everyone present turned to look at him in unison. His heart skipped. "Did I… say something wrong?"

Surely his words weren't absurd?

"No…"

Hal the Eulogist took the grass from his mouth and fell silent for a moment, then gave a faint, wry smile. "It's just that I never expected such a guess. But then again, with these numbers and this level of activity, maybe it's just that I didn't want to think about it. The odds are actually pretty high."

"Only, if there's a Sin Archbishop, that's going to be a real nightmare!"

The mere possibility of a Sin Archbishop's presence instantly made the atmosphere in the entire council hall unbearably heavy!