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I decided to do some heroic tale since I wanted a little break from the backstory novel. I just wanted something lighthearted. I wanted to do something short since I took a 6 day break from tling for exams, so this way it’d be less downtime for release. But unfortunately there’s barely any Rem in these parts.I was still pretty frustrated about the spoilers for like a month and a half. When I saw that the actual translation gets less reaction/discussion than the spoilers, it just felt humiliating and made me feel pathetic. Whenever I released a chapter from it, I literally couldn’t sleep that night. But I’ll just leave it at that, because I’m really happy now that I bought the Rem IF novel. I’m so excited I can’t even be frustrated about that stuff anymore. Whenever I think about it I get excited. I can’t wait for it to come.

So yes, I did buy the Rem IF novel, and it was 34,800 yen(only the novel). I think it was actually a decent price, considering how much buying all the BDS would cost, plus I was seeing it being sold for like 40,000yen, and I was willing to spend up to $500 anyways. I have said before that I was going to get this no matter what. As for what I feel, I don’t feel any buyer’s regret at all. I truly don’t. I’m just really really excited. I’m so happy about the purchase. I wish it would get here faster, but it won’t be coming until early June, somewhere around there. I’m so excited for summer. I really don’t mind spending money for these books at all. Because this is a one-time thing, you know? I’m not sure if I’ll be translating anything after I’m done with re zero. Plus I don’t really spend money on anything unnecessary. Outside of the essentials, I just spend money on Rem merch, or whenever I go out with friends. And I do plan on buying more Rem short stories that are out there, even if they cost $100-$200 eventually, not right now though.

I want to have all the Rem content I could possibly get. I feel relieved that I don’t have to worry about not getting the Rem IF novel anymore. I highly doubt anyone would scan a 300 page book, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I’m not taking any chances. I want to get all this content while I’m able to still translate, since I’ll never know when I’ll have to stop translating when I get too busy with life. I want to leave something behind for her that I can be proud of. If I’m missing something key like the Rem IF in the stuff I leave behind, then I’ll regret it for sure. I won’t be surprised if people think “34,800 yen for a single book? That’s crazy. You’re crazy.” It’s fine with me since I’ve done many things and said things for Rem that nobody else would, I’m not bothered. I’ll gladly accept any title that has to do with Rem. And I guess I have a duty to get these things because of my reputation as the biggest x. But anyways, it’s a very special book to me. It’s not just a book. It’s my favorite kind of content I read from this series. It’s something I’ll have on my bookshelf, and years later I’ll look at it again and it’ll remind me of the time I fell in love so unexpectedly. I wish I could have kids with Rem and grow old with her.

Last thing, the crossover book came in. I will be doing the Rem chapter only, not sure when though. Thanks for the support. I love Rem

[???: ──Still, what a stupid thing you’ve done. But it does make our job easier!]

Subaru stopped his cheeks from twitching as the man spit dirty saliva and laughed.

They were in a dim cabin, and the windows were sealed so that they couldn’t see outside. Light only came from the Ragmart light crystal, and it was still only enough to faintly see their surroundings.

A gang he was now familiar with that acted as rough as they looked. That’s how Subaru assessed them.

[???: If you continued staying at the mansion, nothing would’ve happened because of that monstrous maid, but now you’ve sealed your fate by showing up. You got a bit carried away, don’t you think?]

The gang, who were “just like thugs” with a crude aura, altogether consisted only of 8 people, counting the ones that were in and out of the cabin. These people were at the top of the list of men who treated Subaru cruelly with vulgar looks on their faces.

[???: Oh? So cuuuuute. You’re shaking, aren’t youuuu. Go calm her down, Mr. Handsome.]

Next to Subaru, who was acting frustrated, there was a girl faced down shaking her head. Once the man saw that and spoke to him with a mocking voice, Subaru took her hand to protect her from the laughing men.

[Subaru: It’ll be alright, calm down. You don’t have to worry, it’ll all work itself out……]

[???: How brave. As if this is something that’ll work itself out. We were always careful to avoid being found by that maid. Well, as long as we have the woman, you aren’t needed. After we beat the hell out of you, we’ll let you go.]

Seeing Subaru cheer her up, the man cracks his knuckles loudly to show off. When Subaru took a breath, he realized that she held his hand back tightly.

It was a native dress that only covered her body minimally. She looked lonely with her exposed white shoulders, so Subaru hugged her gently to hide her from the men.

She holds her breath, and the men whistle. Then it happened immediately after.

[???: ──Are you serious about getting her back!?]

The door opens roughly along with that voice. The sunlight lights up the room in darkness, and once Subaru squinted reflexively, he saw a person’s shadow out of breath standing while being backlit.

When the shadow came into focus after several flashes of light, Subaru noticed that it was a young man. He was well dressed, and he caressed his hair randomly.

The boy looks around the room, notices Subaru and the others, and widens his eyes. And then,

[???: Oh, Liliana! I finally──wait, who’s that guy?]

[???: He’s someone from the mansion where she hid, and they were caught……Master?]

The eyes of the boy looking at Subaru sharpen, and his face suddenly flushes. Once he saw the thugs acting carefully to not hurt the young man’s mood, he figured that he was their boss──the mastermind.

Subaru makes that judgement, and the young man breathes near him heavily with his nose.

[???: You bastaaard! W─Who said you could touch her like that!?]

[Subaru: Oaah!?]

The enraged boy kicked Subaru into the wall with all his might.

Subaru’s head spins as he got hit with sudden violence, and the thugs around him take his place as they shout.

[???: M─Master, what are you doing!?]

[???: T─T─This guy was getting all intimate with my Liliana!]

The boy, shaking off the men who were holding him back, kneels before Liliana, who he forcefully pulled away from Subaru. He holds his hand out to Liliana, still facing down, and he says,

[???: Ahh, Liliana. We finally meet. It is your servant of love, Kiritaka. When I heard that you were brought to that infamous mansion of the “Demi-human lover”, heart-breaking fear overflowed like spring water. Ah, ah, Liliana……]

The boy named Kiritaka continues speaking to her, acting like he was getting drunk off his own words. Subaru could only frown since he knew his colleague had such a bad reputation that he couldn’t really say that it was a false accusation. While patting her shoulder, he looks back at the thugs and says,

[Kiritaka: Do you all not have any thoughts on working for ‘him’?]

[???: He’s a boss that’s generous with his money. He can have that thin bodied girl, while we take it easy for a while. ‘He’ would probably overlook us doing that for a bit.]

Based off the thugs’ grumbling, it seemed they also knew that ‘him’ meant the boss. Subaru finds out about how they are tight on money and anticipates that he was going to be wrong about all of the fuss around Liliana.

He’d thought that they were surely going for Liliana because of the “Song”, but it looked like she herself was the one Kiritaka, the mastermind, had the hots for.

Expressing love sure may be like paranoia, but the boy couldn’t see what else there was to it.

[Kiritaka: What’s wrong, Liliana!? Why won’t you look at me with your lovely eyes?]

Kiritaka, who had been appealing for love with nothing but passion, knits his brows in response to the girl that continued to keep silent.

[Kiritaka: Why won’t you speak……they must have done something awful when they took you!]

[???: Please let it go, Master! We did as you said. Not to be rude, but there’s no way anybody would think of doing something to a girl with a body this thin……]

[Beatrice: ──Annoying squirts won’t shut up, I suppose.]

When Kiritaka and the others started quarrelling, a girl’s low voice interrupts them.

Kiritaka, hearing that with his face lifted, has his facial expression dyed with surprise. He was the only one who noticed it at this time. ──That the voice of the girl in his face was different from the one he sought.

[Kiritaka: W─Who a─are you!? You’re not my Liliana!?]

[Beatrice: I don’t have the faintest memory of being named by you people.]

Subaru puts aside his retort inside of him that was ‘Didn’t they do that halfway through?’, and the girl stands up as her pigtails shook. But unlike Liliana’s hair, it was braided into quite elaborate drills.

[Beatrice: Inside and outside, a total of 9 people. ──An amount I can count on my fingers, I suppose.]

The next moment, inside and outside of the hut, there was the sound of men screaming roughly in a violently blowing storm.

11

Attacking the gang going after Liliana was a simple plan Subaru proposed.

[Subaru: A decoy plan where we try getting caught, since we couldn’t find out where they go after chasing them away, and get taken to the mastermind. Good thing they weren’t an energetic gang.]

[Beatrice: You made me go this far. Of course it was going to go well.]

Beatrice lets out a sigh. She was using the towel Subaru gave her to wipe off her hands and feet.

She wipes off the paint that changed her skin color, and her brown appearance was slowly returning to its usual light skin. Subaru folds his arms while looking at Beatrice, who was wiping her whole body diligently.

[Subaru: Still, the more you return to your usual appearance, the more I feel like something’s weird about that getup.]

[Beatrice: ……And whose proposal was it again to make me look like this?]

[Subaru: I mean, yeah it was my proposal, but……I didn’t think you’d look this pitiful.]

When Subaru shrugged his shoulders as if to lament Beatrice, blue veins showed on her forehead.

Beatrice’s current appearance was a disguise to trick the attackers──in other words, exposing dancer fashion that Liliana would usually wear. There wasn’t a significant difference between Liliana’s constitutional feminineness and Beatrice’s constitutional feminineness, so why did he feel more pity for Beatrice?

It was probably because he knew how she usually looked and that she was someone he was friends with.

[Beatrice: If Nii-cha didn’t ask me and if it wasn’t for that girl’s sake, then I wouldn’t have done this, I suppose.]

[Subaru: Well, by using that as an excuse and expecting it to go well, you surprise yourself with how bad your personality is. ……Still, all in all, you really are simple.]

[Beatrice: I feel like you just made a ridiculously irritating assessment of me.]

[Subaru: I complimented you. It’s the latest trend of signs of moe. Not sure if it’ll stick 10 years later, though.]

Subaru ignores Beatrice’s look as she scowled, and he views the disastrous scene in the cabin. On the floor all over the place, there were the beat up thugs that invoked Beatrice’s wrath. Subaru finds that Kiritaka, the mastermind, was now trapped under the large men, and so he put his hands together and prayed.

There was a condition for the decoy strategy, which was that Liliana couldn’t be exposed to danger. Making Rem be her guard, someone the men were being careful of, was a no. Putting Emilia under the bus would be outrageous, so Subaru and Beatrice had to be the perpetrators.

Therefore, Puck asked and convinced Beatrice, who was hesitant, and she was made out to be Liliana, getting taken away from the girls as they screeched, and the decoy strategy was put into action.

Although, Subaru, the one who directed the plan, didn’t expect it to go this well.

[Subaru: It’s scary how fitting you are with my own plans. But since we’ve met the mastermind, Ram’s efforts were in vain. Now there’s even more of a chance that Ram spews venom when she comes back. This is too depressing.]

[Beatrice: If you have time to complain, you should tie these guys up so they don’t get away, I suppose. The younger sister will be here before long, and we’ll have to take these guys back.]

[Subaru: That’s when they’ll have a scary discussion with Roswaal. He’s in this with us, though he had it coming.]

It was the conclusion of the expression of love that went too far. This basically meant that stalkers were scary no matter what age and no matter what world it was. Kiritaka, who foamed at the mouth and fainted, was the only one who knew what was so great about Liliana besides when she was singing.

[Subaru: Anyhow, that was a disappointing conclusion. If the white clothed guys knew that we captured the boss, they would have surrendered and abandoned ship. With this, I think the case is closed.]

Subaru still felt something was missing, but for the time being he just dropped his shoulders in relief. Then, what he picked up with his hand as he reached out was a Lutta given to them generously that was inside a case. It was an option they brought along after Beatrice disguised herself as Liliana.

[Subaru: It’s undamaged, right? Who knows what Liliana would demand if it broke.]

Subaru, with a simple posture, takes out the Lute carefully and plays it with his fingers. He confirms that it can make a light sound, and Beatrice was surprised when Subaru started to play a random tune.

[Beatrice: You can play…that instrument?]

[Subaru: The ropes of it aren’t really that different from an acoustic guitar. I borrowed it from Liliana every now and then in these past 3 days, and I can usually play it if it’s a 70’s folk song.]

Back at his original world, he would borrow his father’s guitar and spend his free time playing and singing folk songs. It was useless practice since no one was there to listen, but his creativity was finally flourishing now that he crossed over worlds.

[Subaru: Copyright won’t catch up, so I guess now is the time I should start a renovation in this world’s music.]

[Beatrice: As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve seen a human improve only skills that are useless as you are. What’s the point of being good at only those things?]

[Subaru: The fact that there is no point makes me burn with passion. That’s what being romantic is.]

Listening to Subaru’s nonsense, Beatrice made a completely astonished look and sighed. Then, without any particular meaning behind it, she starts to listen carefully with her eyes closed.

With a curious, calm look on her face.

[Subaru: Sheesh. ──Guess I have no choice.]

It would be awkward to stop playing in front of Beatrice when she was already ready to listen.

While Subaru used that as an excuse, the two of them had a peaceful concert alone until Rem came running into the cabin with a worried look.

12

[Emilia: So our attackers and the song have nothing to do with each other?]

Emilia, hearing about the circumstances from Subaru, murmurs that with her eyes wide open.

The decoy plan safely ended as a success, and as for the attackers and the mastermind brought into the mansion, they should now be having a nice little chat with Roswaal and Rem.

Subaru went to Emilia and Liliana while he waited for them to get something out of the interrogation, and he was now done with telling the details to the two people who were in suspense this whole time the strategy was carried out.

The two finished listening to the story at the mansion’s courtyard, and they both were relieved now that a peaceful solution was in sight.

[Emilia: Really, thank goodness. Subaru, you aren’t hurt anywhere, right? And is Beatrice safe?]

[Subaru: They roughed me up a bit so I want to cry, but I’ll act tough since I’m in front of Emilia-tan. Beatrice also turned back to normal, changed clothes right away, and shut herself in a room.]

[Emilia: I see. ……Beatrice was so cute too. It’s kind of a shame.]

Subaru smiles wryly at Emilia, who became despondent.

As for Beatrice, she must’ve suffered from having to be a dress-up doll. When she came back, she immediately changed clothes, threw the clothes at Subaru, and quickly disappeared into the forbidden archives.

[Liliana: Is that so? ……I really wanted to thank Beatrice-sama, that’s too bad.]

Then, Liliana, who had been silent up to this point, let that out quietly.

As one would expect, it seemed like Liliana also had a lot of thoughts on being presented with the settlement of an uproar focused on her, since she was the victim of a pretty insidious stalker.

[Subaru: About that mastermind Kiritaka, do you know him? From what I’ve seen, he seems to have quite the crush on you, but maybe it’s his bad eyesight.]

[Liliana: Ignoring that last part, uh, I do know him. It was before I came here, and before I came to Warwar. There was a commercial town I passed by, and I think there was a heir of a famous merchant family.]

[Subaru: I thought it was going to be like the rich man who got fed up with you, but it’s exactly like it. ……Did you not know that you were being followed…or well, I can’t believe you weren’t aware of it.]

[Liliana: He liked the songs a lot, and treated me with stuff like delicious food……but I wanted to leave it at that and say goodbye.]

[Subaru: So you’re saying that everywhere you end up, you always cajole someone?]

Perhaps Liliana’s looks were in high demand in this world, like with the rich man at Warwar. It was a view that conflicted with Subaru’s, as someone who thought Emilia looked the best.

Being stared at rudely by Subaru, Liliana holds onto her thin body with her arms.

[Liliana: W─Why are you looking at me with dirty eyes all of a sudden? Have you finally fell for my charm, knowing that everyone else is so interested in me? Did I steal your heart?]

[Subaru: There, there. I’m really glad that it looks like you are back to your normal self. You are not being stalked because of your own clumsiness, so don’t have shame. Here, I’ll give you your Lutta back.]

[Liliana: Hmph. That doesn’t satisfy me at all! But I’ll take back my Lutta.]

He pushes the Lutta against Liliana, and she accepts it with a dissatisfied look.

Still, if she was fine then she was fine, even if it was just on the surface. The more he could get out of her, the better.

[Subaru: What is it, Emilia-tan? Why are you looking at me with those kind, cute eyes?]

[Emilia: No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about how Subaru is as dishonest as Beatrice.]

Subaru tilts his head in confusion at Emilia, who gave a slight chuckle.

[Liliana: But with this matter, now I owe a lot to everyone. So I can’t just start talking about a story of a new hero with the lord. I have so much regret. There’s no more hope.]

Liliana viewed the situation objectively; in this situation she put herself in, on one hand, the immediate problem had been resolved, and she was depressed with a shocked look on her face. From her point of view, she was someone who caused trouble repeatedly at the mansion.

Even Liliana, someone who shined with shamelessness, didn’t want act any more bold than this.

However, if Liliana knew Roswaal’s true motive, she truly was worrying over nothing. Rather, since Liliana the bard had a debt to get involved with the royal election, you could even say that this strife actually lead to a beneficial result.

[Subaru: Well, Roswaal will tell you about that part of the story. He might even give you a backhanded compliment for indebting yourself.]

[Liliana: ……? What do you mean by that?]

[Subaru: You’ll find out soon enough.]

Emilia and Liliana both tilt their heads in response to Subaru’s speaking. Emilia couldn’t wrap her head around the situation behind the scenes, though it would’ve been nice if at least Liliana could, and it was cute how she was trying to help out of purely good will.

Then, Subaru gets up from the lawn as he went “All right”, and he looks up at the mansion. It had been nearly one hour since the start of the interrogation──this should be about the time when they got some sort of information out of them regarding the situation.

[Subaru: It wouldn’t be right to make the stalker’s victim and the assailants confront each other, but I do want to see what Roswaal has to say about this. I’m gonna go check it out for a bit.]

[Liliana: Oh, then before you do that, I’d like to leave my instrument and a change of clothes in my room.]

With a serious look, Liliana, who heard that he was going to where the mastermind was, requests him to prepare her things. It’s true that it wouldn’t be suiting to have the clothes Beatrice wore and the Lutta in the confrontation room.

[Subaru: Then let’s leave behind the luggage first. Emilia-tan, you can go to the office.]

[Emilia: Yeah, got it. We need to discipline the evil people properly, after all.]

Emilia, who was gentle and cute, clasps her slender hand as she was in a huff.

While feeling pleasant, Subaru heads towards the direction opposite of Emilia with Liliana. Emilia was heading to the office from the courtyard, while they were heading to the east wing where the guest room was at the front.

And so──

13

Emilia, who had been going up the mansion from the courtyard using the main wing stairs, suddenly raises her face because of a sudden presence. She sees Rem land on the landing of the stairs that headed up to the third floor, swirling her skirt.

Emilia, seeing the short edge of her skirt swaying gently, blinks with surprise.

[Emilia: Rem, it’s dangerous to run like that through the corridor.]

[Rem: ──. Emilia-sama, sorry. But it’s an emergency.]

[Emilia: An emergency?]

Rem, someone who was usually calm, showed a rare sight of being in a panic, so Emilia raised an eyebrow. Then, Rem trots up to Emilia, and she looks around the bottom of the stairs.

[Rem: Weren’t you with Subaru-kun and Liliana-sama?]

[Emilia: Um, they went to go leave the luggage in the room. ……Did you find out something?]

[Rem: Roswaal-sama got them to spill most of the beans. Things like the ringleader is the heir of the company Muse, the person named Kiritaka Muse, and that he is after Liliana-sama because of an extreme crush.]

[Emilia: Yeah. Subaru did tell me that much……]

As for Liliana, she herself had no idea how much of an infatuation he had, and it was strange to her. But Rem shook her head in response to Emilia’s reply.

[Rem: Sorry, but that’s not the point. About Kiritaka, he hired thugs and paid them to bring Liliana-sama to him. Though, his efforts came to nothing because of Subaru-kun’s decoy strategy……]

[Emilia: There’s more to it?]

[Rem: According to Kiritaka, he kept insisting that he had no memory of hiring the white clothed group and that he had nothing to do with them.]

The moment Emilia heard that, she understands why Rem was in such a hurry and jumps down the stairs. With Rem next to her, Emilia ran as fast as she could to the east wing, where Subaru and Liliana went──to Liliana’s room.

[Emilia: ──They aren’t…here.]

Emilia doesn’t find the people she sought in the room left open, and her voice trembles because of her own blunder.

14

On top of the rattling cart being pulled, there was Subaru wrapped in a bamboo mat, glaring at the sky.

Liliana and him were going back inside the mansion, and just when they realized they were hit, they were in this situation. He was laying down facing up, and he only saw the blue sky.

It was the worst situation. He was tied with rope from the top of the cloth that covered him tightly, and he couldn’t move at all.

Once he made a guess based off this situation of pain being left slightly on his head and being wrapped in a bamboo bat,

[???: Oh, looks like this lad woke up too. Sorry for treating you roughly.]

The voice Subaru heard came from someone that noticed he woke up.

When he moved his head to see where the voice came from, he saw a white clothed person sitting. Subaru confirms the bad taste of having pure white from top to bottom, and he was pretty much right about the situation.

He thought they’d caught their boss, but the white clothed people kept acting──so, they were unrelated.

[Subaru: Which means that the Liliana fan and the song are separate matters! This is too complicated!]

[Liliana: I’ve got it. Please listen. ──Liliana: The Name of a Guilty Flower.]

[Subaru: Shut up! This is not the time to be saying that!!]

Subaru roars upon hearing the voice of the girl wrapped in a bamboo mat just like he was.

He wasn’t in a place where he could see Liliana, but at the very least, it seemed she had enough composure to say her usual slightly stupid comments. While feeling relief inside thanks to that, Subaru looks at the white clothed man.

[Subaru: Anyways, would it be safe to say that we’ll be able to talk without you hitting me and kicking me?]

[???: ……Yeah, that’ll make it easier for us too. I should’ve said this earlier, but our top priority is to transport you peacefully.]

[Subaru: You really should have. You’re not very convincing.]

When Subaru made that reply, the man said “You got that right” with a soft chuckle. Then, the man takes off the hood of his white clothing, exposing his unshaven face to the air. It was a middle-aged man in his 40s.

[???: We are the mercenary “Scales of the White Dragon”.]

The man, face exposed as he named his organization, was looking to negotiate. While feeling the shaking of the cart platform, Subaru also felt like there was something off about his attitude, which was relatively rational considering how he roughly kidnapped him.

[Subaru: Hey, I think I’m going to feel sick. Can’t you sit me up before we talk?]

[???: If I do that, you’ll then want to lean against something, so it’ll be too much to deal with. I got carried away and tied you up too tight, practically like a pole, so it’d be a pain to make you stand too. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to lie down.]

[Subaru: I’m going to vomit once I hit my limit. All I have is mayonnaise inside of me. Feel the horror of my white vomit.]

He only ate the minimum amount of food this morning because of the decoy plan──he had only slurped mayonnaise he reproduced in the different world, so if he did throw up, that would be the only thing to come out of him.

Then, when the man gave up and threw his hands up upon hearing Subaru’s reply, a different voice came into the conversation.

[Liliana: Is this not a dragon carriage, but a brave ox Farrow carriage? Feels like you’re using a pretty outdated animal. It’s antique now.]

[???: I don’t care if you’re trying to shock me, being sarcastic, or trying to praise me with that, but nothing good will come out of doing any of that, so shut your mouth for a bit.]

Subaru tilts his head as much as he could, and at the corner of his eye he sees someone’s feet caught. It looked like Liliana was laying down facing the opposite direction of Subaru, and she was moving her tiptoes repeatedly.

[Subaru: I wouldn’t really put it as one disaster happening after another. Maybe more like experiencing two disasters and still not figuring out what’s going on.]

[Liliana: The success of the careless decoy strategy completely backfired! I wonder what Mr. Maid has to say about this as the one who proposed it.]

[Subaru: If I can just smack you for acting like you’re not a part of this, I won’t even care what happens anymore.]

Somehow Subaru was keeping calm thanks to Liliana managing to act the way she usually would.

They were actually completely in the palms of the white clothed people’s hands.

Just like Liliana said, they went to an insecure place after the decoy strategy’s success, and they were attacked. The situation had the two groups cooperate, even though they hadn’t even planned to do so, and the groups led them around by their noses.

[Subaru: Now’s about the time when the ones in the mansion should’ve probably noticed that we aren’t there……]

The fact that he had only a few people dedicated to pursuing meant that it was going to be difficult for them to get immediate help.

Even out of the little personnel he had, Ram was out of the mansion to investigate. There was no way Emilia and Roswaal would act directly, and whether Beatrice would help or not was unknown.

Which would mean that the only one who could surely do something was Rem.

[Liliana: And she has to guard the others too, so I’m guessing we can’t count on it?]

[Subaru: ……Yeah, that’s right.]

Those words hit Liliana where it hurt, as if she had predicted Subaru’s thoughts.

If he didn’t have much options with his forces and the situation, then how would he guarantee their safety──

[Subaru: We won’t rely on anyone else, and it’ll depend on our own negotiation.]

As ready to talk as to act, he carves the path to release them, one that wouldn’t incur the anger of the person they were dealing with.

Fortunately, the person had intentions of talking with them. Subaru had no choice but to come up with a solution they both would agree with, and struggle so that they could be released safely.

[Liliana: Do your best, Mr. Maid.]

[Subaru: There’s a higher chance it’ll work if you don’t say anything. I’m not going to repeat it again, so just keep that in mind.]

[???: Are you two just about done talking?]

The man who had been waiting for Subaru and Liliana to stop talking gets in Subaru’s eyes again, perhaps thinking that this would be a good time to do so. The man sinks down onto the cargo platform and sat cross legged.

[???: So I’ll introduce us again…….we are the mercenary “Scales of the White Dragon”.]

[Subaru: Sorry, but I just left my hometown so I don’t really know much about the rumors here. That woman probably doesn’t know about it either, seeing as she’s a bard that goes wherever life takes her, a rootless wanderer. Plus, she’s a bit dumb anyways.]

[Liliana: Hey, Mr. Maid!? Why’re ya callin’ people stupid?]

The conversation was going to stop moving forward, so Subaru ignores Liliana’s complaint. The man with an unshaved face also treats Liliana the same way, ignoring her voice as he felt his chin.

[???: Even if you aren’t familiar with it, I can’t do anything about that. Even in Lugnica only one area knows this name, and it’s already been almost 10 years. We can’t push ourselves as much as we did back then, too.]

[Subaru: Back then……did you guys reform or something? If you’re going to be naughty, you should consider how old you are.]

[???: We neither broke up nor retired. Though, there was a reduction in activity. This is because there’s a final job we have to settle. We won’t throw in the towel until it’s taken care of.]

The unshaven man says that with a low voice, determination in his eyes.

A strict aura, and a hint of a tragic man. Subaru guesses that he had some uncommon circumstances, and he sighed while lying down.

[Subaru: What is that last major task needed for you guys to throw in the towel?]

[???: Our mercenary group’s safekeeper took every single bit of what we owned and betrayed us. We’re going to get back what he stole. We won’t stop until then.]

[Subaru: ……? What does that have to do with Liliana?]

Liliana couldn’t possibly be the betrayer, considering their ages.

[???: You see, that damn backstabber built a mansion at our town. That’s where he went on a spending spree and lived the good life. ……We found his tracks. We were going to get our money back immediately and make him pay. But, that bastard!]

[Subaru: ────]

[???: The bastard noticed that we found out where he was, hid the money in a cave, of all places, and sealed it from the top with a “Metia”. The key to remove that seal is the “Song”.]

[Subaru: The song……! So that’s how it’s related.]

As Subaru heard the unshaved man’s angry voice, “Song” ran through his mind like thunder.

The old man that welcomed Liliana and taught her “the song that shouldn’t be sung” ──that person was the safekeeper that betrayed the “Scales of the White Dragon”. The song wasn’t hiding how the old man built a fortune. The song itself was the “key to the seal for the treasure the old man hid”.

The old man forced Liliana to take care of the key, who happened to pass by, and he drove her out of town to keep her away from the seal. The “Scales of the White Dragon” noticed that Liliana knew about the song, and so they tried to capture her. Kiritaka was just an idiot. Just noise that complicated the situation.

[Liliana: So the one who betrayed you was Warwar’s rich man. Do you want revenge?]

[???: It’s too late to bear a grudge against that guy who betrayed us, so we don’t care about that. What we want back is the treasure…all we want is a significant amount of money. We have to get it back.]

The man facing down had a serious look as he lowered the tone of his voice.

For some reason, they needed a large amount of money. They also didn’t have time to waste.

[Subaru: Do you know where the cave with the money is?]

[???: I do. So all we need is the song to remove the seal. In other words……]

[Subaru: You’d be extremely happy to have Liliana remove that seal with the song.]

The problem was solved, and Subaru and her were released safely.

Subaru looked very cheerful since he found a common ground and a way for them to be released safely. He calls out to Liliana, who shook her tiptoes, to get her approval.

[Subaru: Hey, Liliana. You were listening, right? As long as you sing that “Song That Shouldn’t Be Sung No Matter What” in the cave, the problem is settled. So……]

[Liliana: ──Fuse]

[Subaru/???: What?]

The foolish voices of Subaru and the unshaved man overlap.

It was because Liliana’s answer was so unexpected that it made them speak in unison unintentionally.

Liliana stretches her tiptoes firmly. It was almost looked like she was saying that she wouldn’t change her mind──.

[Liliana: I don’t sing to open the seal to caves, nothing like that.]

[────]

[Liliana: Songs are…songs aren’t replacements for stuff that will eventually disappear, like treasure and gold. I refuse! Songs, stories……bards, don’t you dare look down on them!]