Chapter 69 69: 【Passerby Demon】Serestia!

"Come to think of it — where did Petra go?"

The chubby kid among the children scratched his head, puzzled.

"I know, I know. Petra just got called home by her parents to help out — she should be back soon."

The little girl with twin pigtails seemed to be a close friend of Petra's, which was why she kept track of her whereabouts so well.

And as if to prove her right, it wasn't long before Natsuki Subaru heard a shout from somewhere nearby.

"Hey — everyone, I'm back!"

Natsuki Subaru looked up to see a small figure come jogging out from between the rows of houses, their chimneys trailing lazy wisps of smoke into the sky.

Short chestnut-brown hair. A big red ribbon tied at the top of her head.

Bright green eyes. A pale yellow blouse. It was Petra — the little girl who would one day become a maid at the mansion — where had she gone? — hurrying toward them at a trot.

"Petra~! Over here, over here!"

"Subaru, Subaru, look — the Petra you were looking for is here!"

The children lit up the moment they spotted her, grabbing at Subaru's clothes and pointing the way.

"Alright, alright — I see her."

Natsuki Subaru smiled wryly and fixed his gaze on Petra as she drew nearer, a quiet feeling of wonder moving through him.

This strong, self-reliant little girl would one day be taken on as a new maid at the manor — and she'd become something like an ally, someone he got along well with.

She always met people with a happy smile on her face. Lively and bright, through and through.

And then, by pure chance, his eyes met Petra's curious gaze.

Crack.

Whether it was his imagination or not, he couldn't say — but in the instant their eyes locked, it felt as though something had shifted in the unseen world.

And that feeling seemed to be borne out almost at once.

Petra, who had nearly reached the group at a run, inexplicably began to slow — her pace faltering, each step more unsteady than the last, until she was barely shuffling forward.

She dropped her head, hiding her expression from view.

Then, all at once, she stopped. Her legs gave out beneath her and she crumpled to the ground.

"Aah——"

As though seized by a shattering headache, Petra pressed her hands hard against her skull and let out a piercing, agonised cry.

The sound was loud enough to draw every eye in the area.

Natsuki Subaru was the first to react, breaking into a run toward her.

The sight of Petra like this brought back the memory of the first time he'd seen Rem at the manor.

Rem had looked exactly like this — as though her skull was being split apart from the inside.

It was what happened when the brain was flooded with an enormous surge of information all at once.

The thought made Natsuki Subaru's expression go rigid.

Which meant that Petra — she might be carrying memories from another possible timeline too.

But that was something to think about later.

Right now, what mattered far more was Petra's safety — because whatever was happening to her, she was clearly in tremendous pain.

"Petra — can you hear me?"

Natsuki Subaru reached her side in moments. He called out to her in a steady, gentle voice as soft light bloomed from his hand — the glow of Water-attribute Healing Magic — and he passed it over her body in slow, careful sweeps, paying particular attention to her head.

But even so —

"Why — rabbits, so many rabbits!"

Petra squeezed her eyes shut, arms wrapped tight around herself, shaking uncontrollably.

She seemed to have fallen into some kind of waking nightmare. The look on her face was one of pure, undiluted horror.

"Aaah———stop, stop — don't gnaw at me, don't eat me!"

Petra's face twisted into something terrible — every feature crumpled together, as though she were enduring a pain that no human being should have to bear.

Subaru's Healing Magic did nothing. And yet, little by little, the trembling throughout her body began to subside.

But then tears began streaming from behind Petra's tightly shut eyelids, and her whole being seemed suffused with grief, as she murmured in a broken voice:

"Subaru… why… why did it come to that — where the only way out was to take my own life with my own handkerchief…"

"How… how can anyone ever break free from this endless cycle of death…?"

At those words, Natsuki Subaru — standing closest to her — felt a violent shudder run through him. He stared at her, stunned.

Rabbits… the cycle of deaths… the Jealousy Witch's world-ending loop?

They were only fragments, scattered words — but Subaru's mind was sharp enough to seize on what mattered.

What was flooding into Petra's mind right now — could it be his two deaths in the Sanctuary?

But — how was that even possible?

The others — Emilia, Elsa, Rem — had each received memories from other possible timelines of this world.

But what Petra had received were memories of his own deaths?

Heavens above — why was fate so cruel to this girl?

Natsuki Subaru couldn't hold back a quiet, anguished lament.

No one knew better than him what those memories meant — the memory of being gnawed apart by the rabbits, the agony of taking his own life inside the shadow of the Jealousy Witch.

Those were things no girl several years younger than him should ever have to endure.

And as he'd half-expected, it wasn't long before Petra lost consciousness entirely, collapsing where she knelt.

"Ah! Petra!"

The other children, who had been running after Natsuki Subaru one by one, now crowded around Petra in a ring.

They were too young to do anything of real use — all they could offer was the warmth of worried eyes fixed on her, willing her to be alright.

Betty stood beside Subaru, her small hand tucked in his, and Ram came over to him as well — both of them moving to check on the situation.

Just as the two of them were about to open their mouths and ask what had happened —

The clear sky went dark without warning.

Thick clouds had rolled in from nowhere, blotting out the sun entirely, not a single ray breaking through.

The whole village seemed to lurch from midday into dead of night in an instant.

No — it wasn't just the village. As far as the eye could see, every patch of sky was swallowed up by those roiling dark clouds.

The sudden, violent shift in the weather made everyone instinctively look up.

What they saw looked like the end of the world. Over the distant forest, a massive tornado had torn itself into existence, churning the black clouds above the village into ragged, broken shapes.

And what made it even more terrifying was this — that tornado, far away as it was, was moving.

And the direction it was moving was headed straight for the village.

A howling wind came screaming out from deep within the forest — moving with terrifying speed, flattening a wide swathe of trees in its path — and it would reach the village soon.

And when it did —

Every last person in the village would die in the disaster.

The possibility flashed through Natsuki Subaru's mind in an instant.

"What in the world is this? There's no way this formed naturally!"

Natsuki Subaru broke out in a cold sweat, his mind racing for an answer that wouldn't come.

None of the future memories he carried had contained anything about a catastrophe like this.

At that very moment, Betty — standing at his side — fixed her gaze on the distant tornado with an expression of grave solemnity, and called out to him in a loud, clear voice.

"Subaru! That presence — it's one of the Four Great Spirits. The Great Spirit of Slaughter. [Wayfarer] — Zarestia!"

The name hit Natsuki Subaru like a blow to the chest. One of the Four Great Spirits, sharing her name with Puck — also known as the most beautiful death god — he had some knowledge of her.

But the question was: why would the Great Spirit who embodied Slaughter be here, at this point in time?

And what sent a leaden weight sinking through him was the sight of her approach — because it left no room for the hope of negotiation.

"Subaru — she's coming for us. Just like her title says, there's no reasoning with her at all. She is nothing but a pure, unalloyed killer."

Natsuki Subaru's expression hardened. He gave a single grim nod, then turned and shouted to everyone around him who had any fighting strength left to give.

"Everyone — prepare to fight!"

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