Conversation
Shaking his head to dispel the dizziness, Subaru began to observe his surroundings.
Tall, familiar trees surrounded him, and a decaying stench came from behind.
Turning around, he saw a terribly dilapidated stone structure.
The facility, which looked like a fossil on the verge of collapse, was built deep within the forest, leaning against a rocky cliff.
"Where is this?" ×2 Hearing the questioning voice, Subaru looked at the two people around him—Emilia, the one responsible for magic, and Rem, who had insisted on staying to protect him.
"We should have arrived at the Sanctuary. I didn't expect the 'Gate' from 400 years ago to still be usable. I wonder how the others are..."
Before he could finish speaking, Rem suddenly pulled out her morning star and stared alertly into the forest.
However, it was clear the person approaching had no intention of hiding. A few seconds later, Subaru and Emilia also heard footsteps, and then the man he had seen in the previous loop emerged from the forest.
"A woman who looks a lot like Ram, a silver-haired half-demon, and a fierce-looking boy. You must be the rear-guard team. Not bad."
Unlike the fierce attitude from last time, the man's demeanor this time was clearly much better.
"You're the one Frederica mentioned... that person, right?" Obviously distracted by being reminded of the past, Emilia hadn't remembered the man's name.
Seeing the man's expression darken a little, Subaru quickly added,
"Garfiel?"
"That's right. I'm Garfiel, the strongest man in the world."
The man named Garfiel puffed out his chest and declared confidently.
Subaru looked at the overly confident Garfiel and, taking the situation and Reinhild's gender into account, suppressed the urge to make a sarcastic comment.
"Is everyone else okay? And can we recover past memories here?"
"Ah, oh, you're Lady Emilia? They're all in the village. Come with me. To recover your memories, you just need to participate in the trial. I'll take you there tonight, since you're a hybrid too."
"Don't get the wrong idea. You guys are the only ones who nitpick wording like that. I never said Lady Emilia was special, okay? Tainted bloodlines aren't just limited to half-elves. Others and... me too... we're all hybrids. The 'Sanctuary' is a place for demi-human hybrids to live..."
As he walked, Garfiel explained the situation about the Sanctuary. Summing up his explanation: the Sanctuary is Echidna's testing ground, and hybrid demi-humans cannot leave.
However, if they clear the Sanctuary's trials, they can leave.
Non-hybrids who attempt the trial will be gravely injured by the Sanctuary's power.
"Wait a second—does that mean Emilia can't leave here unless she clears the trial?"
Garfiel nodded.
"It's okay, it's okay. The mansion isn't safe anyway, and I'll definitely pass the trial."
Subaru paused in surprise, then realized Emilia didn't know the Witch Cult's target was her. Still, her optimism and kindness lifted his spirits. —Worst case, after this incident is over, I'll handle the trial myself.
"Excuse me, Lord Garfiel, how did you know we were there?"
Garfiel, walking ahead, stopped and turned around, rubbing his nose with his fingers as he responded to Rem.
"I sensed a huge magic wave and came over. Then I smelled the scent of outsiders. I didn't expect someone to come... this deep in. Honestly, I was panicking. If I hadn't noticed who you were, I probably would've attacked immediately."
Subaru noticed that Rem had, before he realized it, moved between him and Garfiel. Subaru patted her shoulder to reassure her, and she nodded.
"You can also smell that special scent from Subaru-kun!!?"
Perhaps startled by Rem's shocked, disappointed, and hostile look, Garfiel subtly stepped back and sniffed again.
To Subaru's surprise, Garfiel shook his head.
"Not good, not bad. This guy's scent is totally normal. Nothing unusual about it. I just followed the unfamiliar scent here."
...Excuse me—sorry to interrupt, but are you saying you didn't smell the stench? Not that kind of fundamentally revolting odor?
Subaru grabbed Garfiel's shoulders in excitement. Garfiel, annoyed, shook off his hands.
"You doubting me or something?"
"Subaru-kun!!!"
"Calm down, calm down, I'm fine."
Though Subaru tried to calm the others, he himself was far from calm.
He closely observed Garfiel, who continued explaining the Sanctuary, but couldn't read anything suspicious from his expression.
He discreetly asked Rem in front of him and confirmed: though the witch's lingering scent on him had started to fade, it was still more intense than that of the Sin Archbishops.
—In the previous loop, Garfiel had killed me due to the witch's scent after the Witch Cult attacked. —In this loop, Garfiel says he can't smell the witch's scent at all.
The contradiction between the two timelines instantly put Subaru on high alert.
Maybe it was because of the seed of suspicion growing in his heart, but he suddenly noticed flaws in Garfiel's words throughout the walk.
"Garfiel, when you say you can leave after passing the trial, what do you mean? Also, which trial is the one about knowing the past?"
"Huh? What do you mean which one? There's only one trial. As for leaving, it's about breaking the barrier."
—First, Garfiel says there's only one trial. So the first trial must be the one about confronting the past. And this perception likely reflects the common understanding among Sanctuary residents.
If Sloth attacks, the locals probably won't let us participate in the Sanctuary trial.
"Did Frederica tell you that the Sin Archbishop of Sloth might attack here?"
"Of course. But don't worry. I'm the Shield of the Sanctuary, Garfiel.
Anything that threatens the Sanctuary, I'll eliminate."
Looking at the confident Garfiel and remembering his actions in the previous loop, Subaru suddenly wondered if he had become paranoid from dying too many times—he even suspected Garfiel of doing it on purpose.
But no matter how he looked at the man in front of him, he just seemed like a confident idiot—or rather, a powerful musclehead.
"Sigh... "
"…..Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
Subaru quickly looked away and started thinking: should he change the order of actions? At Sloth's pace, they might not even be able to take the trial by tonight.
—Should I play it safe? Who knows what might happen if Emilia takes the trial? What if she breaks down immediately? —Should I take a risk? If Sloth flies in with Invisible Hands, Emilia will definitely notice.
And since he should still be in his true body, Emilia going berserk is way too likely.
Maybe it's worth betting on solving everything in one go with the trial.