Chapter 112: Natsuki Subaru Begins to Understand the Greed Route's Past

On Natsuki Subaru's side, he was honestly starting to feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Emilia's soft, supple little body squirmed restlessly in his arms.

Natsuki Subaru could tell that Emilia probably wasn't doing it on purpose—it was more like some unconscious behavior of her body.

But even so!

As a healthy man in body and mind, Natsuki Subaru simply couldn't withstand such temptation.

For some reason, compared to the way Emilia had looked earlier when she came to his room wearing that thin, flimsy nightgown, this current pure and obedient version of Emilia was even more tempting to him.

Hiss—now... what was he supposed to do right now?

Natsuki Subaru only felt his heartbeat racing, his mouth dry, and his brain seeming to short-circuit into mush.

It was something like... teaching Emilia the knowledge of becoming a king?

Wait... teach her what, exactly?

Natsuki Subaru couldn't help but cover his face. He'd never been a king himself, so how was he supposed to know what to teach?

Just then, as if she had sensed what was on Natsuki Subaru's mind, Emilia spoke up.

"It's okay, you know. Just staying together with Subaru like this is already wonderful. Mm, and if I could also chat with Subaru, I'd be even more content."

"Chatting?"

Natsuki Subaru tried to subtly shift his rear, but finding it didn't help at all, he gave up.

He began to ponder what the two of them should talk about next, when suddenly he thought of how docile and obedient this Emilia was.

And so he couldn't help wanting to learn about the memories this Emilia before him held—memories from another world of possibility.

On another timeline, just what kind of story would unfold between him and Emilia?

Thinking of this, Natsuki Subaru organized his words and posed the question to Emilia.

"The past? Mm... that's quite a long story."

Emilia rested her head lightly against Natsuki Subaru's chest, closing her eyes and feeling the vigorous, powerful heartbeat coming from behind her.

"In my eyes, the Subaru of the past was an omnipotent god."

Emilia murmured, then began to recount the story of her and Natsuki Subaru bit by bit, starting from their very first meeting.

Natsuki Subaru listened attentively, but slowly began to feel that something was off.

Their first meeting in the Royal Capital, the mabeast incident at the manor, the Royal Selection in the Royal Capital, the subjugation of the White Whale, the defeat of the Bishop of Sloth...

While Natsuki Subaru nodded along now and then to Emilia as she told the story, his mind was filled with questions.

Strange... the experiences Emilia-tan was recounting, one after another, each and every one, matched exactly the development of the story in that first batch of memories he'd originally obtained, down to the smallest detail.

What on earth was this?

As Natsuki Subaru sank into thought, Emilia soon reached the experiences within the Sanctuary.

Only here did things get to the crux of the matter. As Natsuki Subaru listened on, his state shifted from contemplation to gradually gaping his mouth wide open.

What did she mean by... he had excluded Emilia and Garfiel, and single-handedly liberated the Sanctuary on his own?

Before the Great Rabbit arrived, while Garfiel hadn't reacted in time, he had swiftly cleared the Sanctuary's three great trials and transferred the villagers?

And it was only after the Great Rabbit attacked and beat Garfiel into critical injury that he brought Roswaal over to rescue him?

Natsuki Subaru clutched his forehead, feeling a wave of dizziness. This... what on earth was any of this?

He had originally thought that what happened on the timeline of another possibility was simply those "realities that shouldn't exist" that he had seen during the Sanctuary trials—those worlds that continued moving forward even after his death.

And yet, the experiences Emilia was recounting to him before his very eyes differed vastly from what he had imagined, leaving him utterly bewildered.

And the content Emilia recounted afterward was even more explosive:

He had won over Reinhard, and even won over Elsa as well.

Combined with Garfiel from before, the combat strength of his own faction had already ballooned to a downright terrifying degree.

By this point, Natsuki Subaru no longer knew what expression to make.

The Bowel Hunter was one thing, but winning over Reinhard? This... [text input, please]?

So he was actually that strong, able to drag even Reinhard onto his side.

And there was Elsa too...

In disbelief, Natsuki Subaru looked back on everything he himself had experienced in the Sanctuary in his memories.

The Great Rabbit's arrival, the Bowel Hunter's attack on the manor... and he had merely been an ordinary person tied up by Garfiel.

It was only with Otto's help that he had managed to break free, and only through countless agonizing deaths that he had barely found a route to clear the situation.

But who would have thought—the version of himself in that other world of possibility had been this fierce.

Eating that well, huh? Natsuki Subaru was truly, fiercely envious.

Just what was the cause of such divergence? He wanted to clear it easily and rampage through it all too. Was there some piece of intel he'd missed and failed to grasp?

Natsuki Subaru scratched his head in thought, but before he could even form a clue, he again heard Emilia mention the matters of the others.

Otto—this man who should have helped him so much—had been unable to play any role in this Sanctuary incident.

Feeling that he would only drag Subaru down, Otto had taken his leave after the Sanctuary incident and vanished without a trace.

At this moment, the words Otto had spoken before leaving after the liberation of the Sanctuary were reaching his ears, relayed by Emilia.

"No matter what you face, you never rely on anyone. As long as someone is by your side, you protect them entirely by your own strength."

"I can't be of any help to you, yet I still trouble you to divide your attention to protect me. So I think I'll leave instead—this is probably the only way I can repay my debt to you."

Natsuki Subaru furrowed his brow and concentrated, pondering the words Otto had spoken. While many things remained unclear in his mind, he also faintly felt a sense of unease in his heart.

Accomplishing everything relying only on myself?

It really... doesn't sound like my style, when I've always been relying on everyone to move forward.

Natsuki Subaru narrowed his eyes and sighed with emotion, but after he heard Emilia's next words, his expression instantly froze.

"Betty—if I could, I wouldn't want to bring her up... but I can't keep anything hidden from Subaru, so..."

Emilia, whose lips had been curling up slightly from leaning in Natsuki Subaru's arms, seemed to have her face rapidly darken as if by instinct the moment Betty was mentioned.

Natsuki Subaru lowered his head and saw several emotions he couldn't comprehend flash through Emilia's eyes—resentment, and seemingly mixed in as well... a barely concealed killing intent.

Natsuki Subaru's heart went cold. What had happened this time? How could Emilia despise Betty so much?

Could it be that, after she came to rely on me, she grew jealous of Betty, who had formed a contract with me?

Natsuki Subaru was baffled, and continued listening with trepidation.

Sure enough, because of him, Betty's fate had also deviated from its original course—indeed, this time the two of them hadn't even formed a contract at all!

After the Sanctuary incident ended, Betty had begun to close off her own heart.

Because on the day the Forbidden Archive was burned to ashes, Natsuki Subaru, worried about consoling Betty, had forcibly taken her out of the Forbidden Archive.

As a result, the spirit's heart not only failed to receive any salvation, but instead fell into an even more miserable whirlpool.

...

PS: Let me say a few words here about the plot arrangement going forward. My initial idea was to use this side-story arc to write a little about Emilia, Ram, and Betty, who hold the memories of the Greed-if line, because they all met miserable endings of having their bodies saved by Natsuki Subaru but not their hearts.

So I'm thinking about whether I can use this arc to let them attain salvation. Don't worry here—at the end, when the arc concludes, they will all remember everything that happened within the arc. In the author's setting, the if-line is equivalent to a different-time growth experience of Emilia and the others; they are ultimately still the same person, and only by carrying the memories of past failures will they walk toward a better future.

Also, going forward, I'll speed up the pace at which visitors increase. The likes of Priscilla, Crusch, and Anastasia, who watched the film earlier, will enter the manor, and now that they hold the memories of the Colored Jewel-if line, they'll be officially meeting Natsuki Subaru for real. On top of that, there's Elsa and Meili from the film-watching, and the self-isolating catgirl Ferris from the Arrogance line (because the author quite likes Ferris, but in the original work Ferris is a guy, so in this book's setting Ferris has always been a girl).

When they were watching the film, this group was already bickering with each other. This time, with Natsuki Subaru present, they'll bicker even more viciously behind the scenes. I hope I can write out the interesting parts. If I don't write it well, don't flame me—first trust, then question! (laughs)

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