46: The Four Questions (Part One)
"I don't dislike you for speaking frankly about things that are hard to talk about."
After a moment of silence, Echidna finally opened her mouth.
She looked at Subaru and spoke.
"Let me hear it. What do you want to ask me? I'm very interested!"
Relieved to have received permission, Subaru quietly exhaled.
Then, he finally asked the question that had puzzled and troubled him for so long—something that needed to be resolved.
"What happened in Emilia's past?"
"Ugh~~"
Echidna showed a look of disgust. The pressure radiating from her gave Subaru the feeling that his very soul was being grasped.
—He felt he shouldn't push further. But wasn't Emilia's power necessary to break the deadlock?
Subaru pinched his thigh hard, forcing himself to suppress the cowardly thought.
Even if Emilia's combat abilities weren't considered, Subaru still wanted to help that kind-hearted girl.
Defeating Sloth alone was already an extremely difficult task—there was no reason to leave behind a ticking time bomb likely to explode at any moment.
"Since you could see my trial, you must have seen Emilia's too."
"Don't misunderstand, Natsuki Subaru. You're ultimately a guest invited to this tea party. And this place is my dominion, a castle of dreams under my control. If you make unreasonable demands here, it reflects poorly on me."
Echidna looked up at Subaru with her unfathomable, dark pupils.
"But... but still, the host should treat the guest properly, right? Echidna-chan... right, Typhon?"
A timid voice interrupted, causing Echidna to withdraw her overpowering aura.
Two others appeared at the tea party.
On Subaru's right was a pink-haired girl he had seen before. On his left, a green-haired young girl he hadn't met.
"You're not like Minerva. There's no need for you to stand on the same side as him. Besides, you should dislike him, right?"
Echidna pointed at Subaru and questioned the pink-haired girl.
"Like Minerva-chan's reason? There's... nothing special. But, Echidna-chan, didn't you... lie to me before?"
Compared to Echidna's clean, crisp speech, the pink-haired girl spoke hesitantly and softly. Yet within that weak voice, there was absolutely no sign of submission or compromise.
"I... I don't like this person. But, I also... won't side with someone who lied to me. Someone who lied to me, someone who hates me—I will never forgive them."
—That must be the reason for the altered time of return by death.
After processing the girl's words, Subaru understood the cause and effect. And then, suddenly, he had this thought.
"Oh~ we finally meet~"
Just as Subaru turned to observe Echidna again, the green-haired girl called Typhon suddenly spoke to him.
"You~ are such a cold person~"
Facing her suspiciously, Subaru tensed up as Typhon pouted her cheeks.
"Hey Subaru~ are you a bad person? I've always been wondering~"
This unclear question made the already cautious Subaru freeze up.
"Hmm hmm~ I see~ In that case, let's check."
As if noticing Subaru's confusion, Typhon jumped down from her chair and approached him. She smiled, revealing her teeth, and reached out her hand. Subaru instinctively tried to evade, but Typhon grabbed him faster.
"Only through pain can sins be redeemed."
With a sensation as if his wrist had been torn off, Subaru also felt a strange sense of liberation—as if he had been freed from a heavy burden.
—What just happened?
Subaru stared at the little girl. She smiled widely, holding Subaru's right arm against her chest.
"Oh~ it doesn't hurt, which means you're not a bad person~ That's great!"
Though the situation was strange, Subaru managed to stay calm—for now.
"Sins become thorns that cannot be ignored."
The next moment, Subaru's entire body shattered like glass.
"Even though you're not a bad person, you think of yourself as a sinner~ Subaru~ you're so kind~ It's really~ so sad~ it hurts, doesn't it~ right~"
Typhon crouched down and gently stroked the collapsed Subaru's head. Her hand's touch and her voice expressed genuine sadness, which in turn evoked a deep fear in Subaru's heart.
"Typhon's task is complete. Next is~"
"I understand."
Typhon turned toward Echidna.
Echidna's voice responded.
Typhon nodded in satisfaction and then dissolved into glowing particles and disappeared.
"You actually let her out... well, I'm not good at healing anyway."
There was a hint of displeasure in Echidna's voice. Without needing to see it, Subaru could tell from the trembling ground what had happened.
In the next moment, a storm of fists engulfed Subaru.
"Let's start over."
With a snap of her fingers, Echidna restored the small hill to its original state and sat back down in her chair.
Subaru, now healed by Minerva, also sat down across from her.
The pink-haired girl who had quarreled with Echidna had been forcibly taken away by Minerva. Once again, only the two of them remained.
"Then let me show you—how the Frozen Witch was born. The one most prone to falling into sin, and the tragic event of the Elior Forest a hundred years ago."
Echidna spread her arms.
The world spun, and in the next instant, Subaru found himself in a forest.
The two of them followed the perspective of an unknown spirit.
They saw an elven village—not the kind with small magical creatures, but one where people resembling Emilia with pointed ears lived.
Witch Cultists were already living in harmony with the villagers, and the leader of the Cultists was none other than the impossibly handsome Petelgeuse.
The Invisible Hands pierced Fortuna's chest, and because of a misjudgment, Petelgeuse killed the person he staked his life to protect.
His mind finally collapsed.
And the young Emilia, who saw her beloved "mother" murdered by the person she adored the most, lost control of her magical powers.
The Elior Forest, once filled with laughter and joy, was turned into eternal frozen wasteland by a young girl's heartbroken screams.
"Welcome back. How do you feel?"
"Terrible."
Returning to the tea party, Subaru answered Echidna's question with disgust.
The past he had seen was so tragic it struck fear into his heart. Emilia's past only raised more questions within him.
"Three questions remain."
As if noticing Subaru's thoughts, Echidna held up three fingers. Her gesture dispelled the confusion in Subaru's heart.
"Then, tell me the information needed to defeat the Great Rabbit."
"More accurately, it's not 'Great', but 'Many'. It was misheard and became 'Great Rabbit.' The demon beast Great Rabbit is a negative legacy left behind by the Witch of Gluttony, Daphne, and is one of the Three Great Mabeasts."
"Listen closely, okay? You all seem to think the Three Great Mabeasts are just slightly more troublesome versions of ordinary monsters, but the right word to describe them is 'calamities.' And in terms of difficulty of subjugation—the Many Rabbits are overwhelmingly the hardest."
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