Chapter 83: The Mutually Unacquainted Ferris and Crusch

"Acting fierce and throwing around threats — if it's a contest of force we're talking about, our side certainly won't be afraid."

Priscilla declared in a loud, ringing voice, her eyes glinting with amusement.

Some people, it seemed, had vastly underestimated the gold content carried by the title of Royal Selection Candidate.

Even in this mysterious space, the four sisters would not be lacking for backup.

"Lady Anastasia, your First Knight Julius is here, awaiting your orders."

A head of crisp, short purple hair, handsome features, dressed in the proper uniform of the Knight Order — Julius knelt on one knee before Anastasia, his expression reverent.

Although his thoughts were still somewhat tangled from not being able to make sense of the situation, the immediate state of affairs was perfectly clear.

The importance of guarding his lord outweighed everything else.

"Ah, it's Little Yuri — you've come just in time!"

Anastasia let out a delighted little cheer, took a step forward, and with a face full of smiles reached out to stroke Julius's hair.

"There, there — this is Little Yuri's reward."

Julius felt helplessly at a loss. Why did it seem as though his lord had become… how to put it, more lively and adorable? Or perhaps more innocent and pure?

It was true that, in the past, Anastasia had always been smiley too, but as a merchant her depths had been profound and her thoughts deeply hidden.

But now… as a Spirit Knight, he could fully sense that the Anastasia before him bore not the slightest trace of pretense.

She was genuinely happy in every single moment, doing everything as her heart willed, as if she had thrown off the shackles of the past entirely.

"Lady Crusch, Wilhelm is here to await your command."

Seeing Julius step forward to bolster his own master's standing, the [Sword Devil] Wilhelm naturally was not about to drop the ball at such a moment.

He came to stand before Crusch, placed one hand over his chest, and bowed low in respectful salute.

"Wilhelm… you're that Sword Devil from House Astrea, aren't you? Hello, and thank you for your help."

Crusch awkwardly tucked the loose strands of hair around her ears back behind them, somewhat at a loss before Wilhelm's sudden show of goodwill.

But at the very least, she did know enough to give polite thanks.

"Wh— Lady Crusch, you do not remember me? Wilhelm — one of the most steadfast supporters of your faction!"

Wilhelm froze in place, hand still over his chest. In disbelief, he raised his head and looked at the utterly bewildered Crusch.

"Have you lost your memories? Have you suffered an attack on the mental plane, or perhaps been struck by some kind of special curse?"

He could no longer maintain his composure. Crusch was the very backbone of their faction.

Once Crusch lost her memories… he dared not even imagine the consequences.

"Ferris! It's urgent — come over here quickly and check whether Lady Crusch has been hurt!"

No longer daring the slightest hesitation, Wilhelm called out in a loud shout to the figure behind him.

"Wilhelm? Sorry, but apart from Lord Subaru, I no longer take orders from anyone now."

Dressed in a lively blue skirt yet wearing an utterly gloomy expression on her face, the cat-girl Ferris shifted her death-still eyes and threw Crusch a glance.

The beautiful green-haired figure was reflected in those eyes of hers — eyes like a stagnant pool of dead water — yet stirred no ripples whatsoever.

"And besides, that woman over there — I don't know her at all."

Ferris said coldly, then turned and walked straight off in Elsa's direction.

"Compared to your side, I'd rather join up with Elsa over there, who's traveling alongside Lord Subaru."

This string of words and actions from Ferris, falling on the eyes of those who knew her, was nothing short of utterly staggering.

What did it mean — Ferris didn't know Crusch?

Julius's pupils contracted sharply. No matter how he tried, he simply could not imagine what kind of upheaval had befallen his friend.

"Ferris, just what on earth are you saying?!"

Bad enough for Julius — for Wilhelm, the current situation could only be called outright terrifying.

Inexplicably, two key figures of his own faction had both lost their memories!

Why was it that just after they had finished subjugating the White Whale, when the situation was at its very best, such an upheaval should occur!

What on earth was this…

Wilhelm stood with eyes wide open, unable to collect his wits for a long while.

"Grandfather, take care of yourself — very soon you will understand the full story of everything."

At this point Reinhard let out a sigh, gripped the [dragon sword] in his hand, and walked out into the space between the two opposing camps.

"Everyone, how about cooling your tempers for the moment? The story on the screen has only just begun."

"Eh, but didn't Subaru just already… could it be that the picture on the screen isn't finished yet?!"

Anastasia recalled the time before they had been transported here, to Emilia's cinema.

In another cinema space exactly identical to this one, they had been watching Natsuki Subaru's various experiences at the manor — as well as his deaths.

Suddenly — no one knew who let out the startled cry first — everyone's line of sight was in an instant drawn to the screen that had lit up once again.

The image on the screen seemed to have returned once more to the very beginning — the moment when Natsuki Subaru woke up again.

"A new day has come — it's the morning of hope!"

Brimming with vigor, Natsuki Subaru flung off the covers, leapt up from the luxurious large bed, planted his hands on his hips, and struck a smug opening pose in celebration.

"That's right, Natsuki Subaru — today is precisely when you take a great leap forward!"

Natsuki Subaru proclaimed with a booming laugh.

But as his laughter went on, his voice grew smaller and smaller, until at last it choked off — like a rooster with its neck grabbed in someone's hand.

Because once Natsuki Subaru had stood up, he noticed something.

At this very moment, the sisters Rem and Ram were standing directly across from him, staring at him with a peculiar look in their eyes.

"What the heck! If you two were over there, then at least say something! How embarrassing — I want to die of shame!"

The moment he thought of the chuunibyou pose he had just struck in his excitement, Natsuki Subaru wished he could shrink back under the covers and hide there forever, never coming out again.

"Sister, Sister, the guest seems to be quite confused."

Rem leaned her head in close to the front of the big bed, looking Natsuki Subaru over with curiosity and puzzlement.

On the other side, Ram likewise leaned her head over, forming a left-and-right symmetry with Rem.

"Rem, Rem, the guest seems to have something wrong with his head."

"Hahaha, Ram, how is it you're still as sharp-tongued as ever — it's just like going right back to the very beginning."

Natsuki Subaru rubbed his head with a loud laugh, hoping to ease the atmosphere by way of the joke.

The Rem and Ram sisters directly across from him, however, were not having any of it.

The two maids' gazes were both wary and filled with cold detachment.

From Natsuki Subaru's point of view, the coldness coming off the two of them could only be described as terrifying.

It was now that he too sensed that something was off.

The place he'd woken up in was wrong to begin with!

Other than the first day, when he had been assigned the luxurious large bed to rest on because of his guest status,

afterward, as one of the manor's servants, he had always slept in an ordinary room.

"Haha… 'guest' and so on — what a nasty joke to play, really."

Natsuki Subaru pulled a strained smile to the corners of his mouth, gave two dry chuckles, and pressed his hand to his chest as if in pain.

A bad premonition was welling up out of him in an endless stream.

The motion of covering his chest caused him to lower his head subconsciously.

Until he saw that his palm — which by rights ought to have been covered in wounds — was at this moment as smooth and clean as a mirror.

The wounds… had vanished?

The brow Natsuki Subaru had been furrowing began, bit by bit, to lift, and in the instant that he grasped a certain possibility, his pupils contracted sharply and his mouth, too, fell abruptly wide open.

The terror on his face was as if, at this very moment, he had laid eyes on something utterly dreadful.

"...Huh?"

In the end, only a single bewildered, uncomprehending sound — squeezed out from Natsuki Subaru's throat — echoed in the silent room.

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