--
--――.
--------------a.
I felt the shaking, the impact, and the sensation of being hit in the face.
This shook his consciousness from its void, and Subaru woke up to reality.
He tried to lift his face and raise his torso, but was stopped by the shaking. His hands slipped, and just before he was about to fall headfirst to the floor again, the weight supporting his stomach prevented him.
He felt something heavy and hard pressing down on his stomach. He placed his hand on it and confirmed that it was a bag stuffed with gold coins――and then his memory recalled the moment just before he lost consciousness.
"--Rem?!"
"Natsuki-san?! Have you woken up?!"
Throwing the bag of gold coins he was holding to the side, Subaru looked around at his surroundings while still on all fours. The darkness was as thick as ever, and there was no doubt that they were on the dragon carriage, being tossed about by the violent shaking.
Right before his eyes, in response to Subaru's cry as he woke up, Otto turned his head in his direction. He saw Subaru shake his head and try to step forward,
"Please don't move. You hit your head and your blessing has worn off. The earth dragon is sprinting at full speed, so there's no time to worry about you, Natsuki!"
"Such things are unimportant! Rem, what happened to Rem?!"
Subaru yelled back at Otto's voice, moving his eyes from one end of the carriage to the other. The carriage had lost the carrier it had been pulling, leaving only the carriage, giving it an unbalanced shape. There was only a limited amount of space for a person to ride in, and there was no need to frantically look back and forth to convey that she was not even there.
Still, I can't accept it until I actually see the facts.
"Answer me, Otto. What happened to Rem…!"
"That young lady..."
Seeing Subaru in such an excited state, raising his voice and looking as if he might jump at him, Otto must have realised the danger of not responding to Subaru.
He took a deep breath and made the difficult decision to say the next thing.
"In order to allow our dragon carriage to escape... I went down to meet the White Whale."
He conveyed the fact that the exchange that had taken place just before he lost consciousness had been carried out exactly as it was.
"――――"
Subaru took a deep breath at those words, and then,
"Go back."
"teeth?"
"I told you to go back. Save Rem, Rem. Go back now!"
In the narrow space inside the coach, Subaru closed the distance even further and grabbed Otto.
Otto, who was busy trying to control the chaotic earth dragon, was unable to respond to Subaru's violent behavior and, when he was grabbed by the collar, he panicked and said, "Hey!"
"A-are you serious?! Going back...what will happen if you go back?! Haven't you seen the terror of that monster, the White Whale?! It's suicide!"
"I told you to go back and save Rem because you saw that monster up close!"
Otto shook his head and refused to follow his orders, to which Subaru yelled at him, his veins flaring.
The threat of the White Whale was burned into Subaru's eyes. With its massive size, it could swim faster than a dragon carriage, and with a flick of its tail it could easily blow away a large vehicle. What's more, even in the mist, it easily pinpointed their position, and even when hit with Rem's magic it didn't take much damage.
Without a doubt, this is the most difficult enemy I've faced since falling into this other world.
Compared to that, it would be much easier to see how to deal with Elsa in her human form, or how to take on a horde of countless Juggernauts.
But I can't imagine any vision of winning that.
"That's why I can't leave Rem here...!"
Subaru was well aware of the strength of the demonized Rem.
It is this understanding that tells her that even she is nothing more than a powerless weakling before the white whale.
If I leave her behind, I will definitely lose her.
There would be no point in that. Then there would be no point in Subaru surviving. The reason Subaru had returned was to save her. To rescue her.
Her presence is indispensable to the future Subaru desires.
Without Rem, Subaru would lose sight of himself. He would no longer be able to accept himself. Subaru needs her, someone who can accept him.
"I won't let you do something stupid like stalling for time. If we're going to run away, we'll all run away together! Otto, go back! Otherwise…"
"Are you an idiot?!"
However, Subaru's voice was blown away by an even more angry shout.
The hand that had been gripping his collar slid upwards and was grabbed by the other hand, and in an instant his feet left the floor and he was slammed backwards into the driver's seat.
"Agh!"
"It's a big mistake to think that you can forcefully convince a peddler who may be leaving the road alone without his divine protection."
Subaru's wrist was twisted and he was rolled onto his stomach, pinned down by Otto's right arm, one of whose hands was still gripping the reins.
Subaru groaned at the unexpected counterattack, and Otto exhaled heavily.
「Please understand. That is the state you are in right now. If you go back in that state, what do you think you can accomplish? Are you going to waste the feelings of that child, that child who stayed with us?」
"You have no right to talk about Rem! You abandoned Rem… you left her to die, how dare you talk about her! Go back! Save Rem right now!!"
"Ah! That's ridiculous!"
Subaru struggled and tried to free himself from the grip on his arm, but Otto clicked his tongue. He just stared straight ahead, letting the earth dragon run straight ahead.
"You've seen the White Whale, but you still don't understand how terrifying it is! It has ruled the world for decades, and there have been countless attempts to kill it! The fact that it has yet to be killed is a testament to its strength!"
Otto spat out words at the disobedient Subaru, "Do you understand?" he asked, his voice filled with intense anger and frustration.
"Hundreds of armed people are challenging him, but they still can't kill him! What good would it do for us to go to a place like that without weapons or the strength to fight?! To rescue the girl who is standing in front of him?! We can't even do that! There's no way we can!"
"Before we even started...!"
「There are some things that are obvious! The extermination squad organized by the Kingdom of Lugnica… there is no way that there is anyone who can defeat a monster that even killed the previous Sword Saint…!」
His confession was squeezed out like a trembling cry, as if he was trying to hold back tears.
Otto himself harbors a rage towards him that he can never erase, but the other person is too great a presence to direct his anger at.
In order to teach this to the ignorant Subaru, he repeatedly speaks words that make others realize just how great he is, and does things that break their hearts.
"The holy sword..."
Subaru, who had not been willing to listen to anything up until then, suddenly lost his enthusiasm. In his shock, his lips spun with one of the words Otto had just blurted out.
『Sword Saint』――That was the title given to the strongest person that Subaru had seen when he had fallen into the other world, and to him it was a symbol of strength itself.
Even if the previous Sword Saint was not the same person as Reinhard, if he had the power to bear the same title as him,
"And the white whale that killed it..."
Could this mean that he is greater than Reinhard?
Subaru felt fear rapidly take control of his heart.
Reinhard's existence, his strength, was the very definition of "strength" that Subaru wished he could have. If even Reinhard had to kneel before that powerful presence and give up his life――then,
"Is that even possible? Why did this happen?"
I want to help Rem, I want to rescue her. If I don't return right now, that won't happen.
Even though the heart understands this, the essential fighting spirit does not reach the limbs and the soul.
Looking at the crumbling Subaru with pitying eyes, Otto said in a small voice,
"I am weak, and you are weak. That's why we can't help that girl. --We can't catch up to that girl's strength."
--But Rem isn't strong either.
Subaru should have known that, he should have known, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything in rebuttal.
With its head bowed, the earth dragon abandoned itself to the swaying of the carriage and raced straight through the darkness.
Rem, who he had left behind, was still moving away.
Without even trying to stop her, Subaru moves away from her. Continues to move away.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
Five minutes, maybe ten minutes? Subaru had been looking down for a while now.
"Natsuki-san, that is..."
Otto had been riding the earth dragon in silence up until then, but then he caught sight of something ahead and called out to Subaru.
Slowly, Subaru raised his head and crawled next to Otto, looking in the direction Otto was looking in. --Up ahead, he saw a dim light blending into the darkness.
"It's obscured by the fog... but it's human light!"
"Can we get through the fog...?"
"Even if they managed to get out, it's night outside, so it's unnatural for there to be a light... They're probably someone who got caught up in the fog like us..."
As if to confirm Otto's guess, a person who had also noticed us came running towards us. After a while, we saw a dragon carriage pull up next to us, and the person sitting in the driver's seat called out to us,
"Finally... at last I've been to a human...! Hey, this is just fog, right!? That means the white whale... the white whale has appeared...!"
A middle-aged man, foam at the mouth, screams in a literal panic.
As if he had found a ray of light in the midst of the night fog, he lined up next to our dragon carriage and demanded an answer.
Even though he knew that her voice contained a hint of pleading for help, hoping that it was just a misunderstanding on his part, Otto shook his head.
"Yes, it's the White Whale. We've already encountered it. We've been lucky enough to escape, but until we get through the fog, we don't know when or where we might encounter it again."
"I, is that true?! Ah, this is the worst. Why, why did this happen..."
As he watched the man clutching his head in despair, Subaru glared at Otto's profile as he explained beside him. When he said "fortunately," it felt as if he had completely forgotten the fact that he'd left Rem behind.
Without realizing whether his anger was justified or a way to divert his guilt, Subaru called out to Otto, "Hey."
"What is it, Natsuki-san?"
"Don't talk nonsense, Otto. Fortunately, you said it like that… Rem, how did Rem feel about us…"
Every time he mentions Rem, whom he left behind, a pain runs through his heart, as if thorns were choking him. After seeing that threat, he can no longer even think of the hopeful prospect of Rem using all her wits to survive the White Whale.
In this situation, Subaru had no choice but to acknowledge it.
Rem remained behind, and once again died to save Subaru and the others, to save Subaru.
"Who are you talking about, Rem?"
Her tragic resolve and feelings,
"--teeth?"
"No, so what about Rem? There was no one with that name among the other fallen merchants... Who are you talking about?"
Unable to grasp the meaning behind Subaru's words, Otto tilted his head.
That gesture clearly seemed like a violation of Rem's last wishes.
--He raised his fist and struck the side of his face with all his might.
Suddenly, a violent tremor hit the dragon carriage, and Subaru lost his support and fell behind the driver's seat. Otto, who had also fallen onto the driver's seat, clutched his face and quickly got up, turning his gaze towards the collapsed Subaru.
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
Otto stares at Subaru's atrocities with wide eyes, unable to believe them. But Subaru is also unable to believe his words and actions.
Subaru pulled himself up, biting his lip and saying, "Don't mess with me."
"What the hell are you talking about...! You're pointing at Rem, who stayed behind to let us escape, and asking who she is? Don't mess around! Do you... want to be killed...?"
"I don't know what you're talking about! What's with you, you're suddenly saying weird things... Have you gone mad after seeing the white whale?!"
Subaru kept insisting, but Otto continued to deny it.
Subaru's vision turns red with unbearable rage. Time seems to pass awfully slowly, and the murderous intent spurting out of him commands him to snap the thin neck of the man in front of him.
He reached out his hand, forgot everything, and tried to crush that ungrateful life――
"Wh, what are you guys doing?! Now's not the time to be arguing!? If you have the time to make a fuss, then just make the fog..."
Seeing the two of them yelling at each other and in a dangerous state that seemed like it might escalate into a murder-suicide, the man in the dragon carriage traveling alongside them let out a cry of dismay.
There was no way the man's desperate voice calling out to them to stop could reach the two men glaring at each other. Subaru was about to act on his hostility towards Otto, not even hearing the man's voice.
The reason his actions were stopped just before he could move was due to the action of the dragon carriage next to him.
However, the man's earnest persuasion did not necessarily lead to the two reconciling.
"Through the fog, fleeing from the white whale--"
The man who was talking about a realistic escape plan was thrown from behind into the mouth of the white whale, which was swallowing the dragon carriage along with the ground.
The white whale swallowed the earth dragon pulling the carriage and pointed its mouth straight up, and a tremendous sound of destruction and a death roar rang out from the chewing mouth of the white whale.
The Earth Dragon screamed as it bit into wood and iron, grinding flesh with its grindstone-like teeth. The man's voice was not heard amid the sounds of destruction, and vanished before reality.
"Wha--"
Subaru and Otto were rendered speechless by the soundless approach and devastation of that enormous body.
Otto's eyes flickered at the sight of the White Whale once again, and at its menace, Subaru,
"Why, so... you're here..."
Subaru blurted out in a trembling voice, his eyes fixed on the white whale's flank as he dropped to his knees.
The white whale, still alive, was busy savoring the dinner in his mouth, as if he had not the slightest interest in the despair of the two insignificant beings beside him.
"The fact that you're here means..."
What happened to the girl who stayed behind to attract this giant?
Faced with such an overwhelming presence, I couldn't help but ask a question that already had an answer.
Of course, there was no way the monster before Subaru could answer his question. The white whale slowly swallowed the food in its mouth, then lowered it into its stomach, and as if inspecting its next prey, it looked down at the dragon carriage that was running alongside it - Subaru - with its large eyes.
"Uh, ahhhhh――――!!"
Unable to bear the pressure, Otto, who had been the first to lose his mental balance, cried out.
The Earth Dragon also realized the presence of the White Whale, and, following the orders of its master holding the reins, increased its speed even further. For just a moment it pulled away, frightened by the overwhelming mass that was following it from behind,
"Why why why why why... you were so relentless in pulling us apart... you should have... separated us..."
Clinging to the accelerating dragon carriage, Subaru's strength waned as he ignored Otto's words. Hearing his cries and lamentations, it was as if he was turning a blind eye to his own despair.
"What? Just us! In this darkness... Why... Is there some kind of landmark or something...?"
Otto's sobbing cry, refusing to face the impending death, was heartbreaking. However, as he shouted, Subaru sensed an image that he could not ignore.
The white whale is relentlessly pursuing Subaru and his friends. The monster is approaching Subaru and his friends as if it were a marker. It is――
"No way..."
Rolling behind the driver's seat, Subaru fixed his eyes on the white whale swimming behind him.
The darkness that fell upon the world was so deep that even the giant's body was vaguely hidden, making it difficult to make out. However, even within that darkness, I was able to get a vague glimpse of the front of the giant body, the front of the monster approaching with its mouth wide open.
There is also a distorted horn protruding from the white whale's head.
--The Juggernauts that roamed the forest of magical beasts looked like large wild dogs with horns.
And the magical beasts that were created by the witch's powers have a habit of being attracted to the witch's scent that Subaru gives off and attacking him.
"That monster... the white whale... is it a demonic beast...?"
Having spoken of the unbelievable possibility, Subaru shook his head at the reality he could not accept.
But if you think about it like that, it all makes sense. It's why he was the first to set his sights on Subaru's carriage among the many scattered carriages, and why he continued to target Otto's carriage after he jumped on board.
It was also the reason why Rem had prepared herself for death, descended to the earth to buy time, and yet still caught up with the dragon carriage.
The presence of the white whale chasing after them in the darkness. Rem's attitude as she chases them seems to indicate that she has noticed something, but she hesitates.
"Is it my fault...?"
Is it because of Subaru's presence that the White Whale is relentlessly targeting the dragon carriage, chasing the witch's scent that is clinging to him?
Rem had realized this truth before anyone else, and so she had gotten off the dragon carriage of her own accord to protect Subaru. To protect Subaru. For Subaru's sake.
"No, Rem... I... I didn't do that... it's my fault...!"
Subaru crouches down and covers his face as an unbearable weight and grief washes over him.
The fact that he had lost Rem, the fact that he had made him lose her, tormented Subaru from both the outside and the inside of his body. Subaru was overwhelmed by this sense of despair,
"Natsuki-san..."
Otto approached from behind and touched my shoulder while calling out to me in a quiet voice.
His fingertips trembled, and he looked unsure, as if he didn't know what to say to him. His hand weakly gripped Subaru's shoulder,
"Ohhh..."
"Please die."
The next moment, his body was pushed forward with force, lost its support, and was thrown headfirst off the dragon carriage.
--teeth?
My field of vision turned upside down, and my body was thrown off and spun violently, losing track of where it was.
In a world that had been turned upside down, I saw Otto stretching his arms out towards me and laughing loudly. His mouth was wide open, revealing his white teeth, and drooling.
"You, you, it's your fault! You, you, if they are coming after me because of you, then you'd better take responsibility! Ahaha! Die, please die! Die, save me!"
Seeing his crazy, laughing form, Subaru realised his mind had been worn down.
Hearing Subaru's feeble mutterings, she clung to him and pushed him off, showing just how cornered she was.
The moment he reached that understanding, Subaru's body also reached the ground.
He was slammed mercilessly onto the ground from behind, and without exaggeration, all the air in his lungs was squeezed out. His roar was accompanied by the sound of his bones breaking, and as his body continued to roll, it inflicted further damage on his injuries, causing him to vomit blood.
The fact that he had landed on soft, grassy ground was of no solace in the shock he had just felt.
Bleeding from his forehead, scraped on the ground, the pain in his dislocated left shoulder muffled his voice, and part of his broken rib was pressing against the inside of his stomach. When he opened his mouth to resist the urge to vomit, his shattered molar was splattered onto the grass along with the overflowing blood.
The impact was so strong that it took away the ability to even be aware of the pain.
Subaru vomited profusely several times, slowly raising his head and gazing blankly at the light of the dragon carriage that had thrown him off, running off into the distance.
Strangely, I didn't feel any resentment.
It was true that the pain and suffering had taken over her mind, but for some reason she also had a strange feeling that made her unable to blame Otto.
Or perhaps, he was simply caught up in the situation and somewhere in his heart he forgave it, thinking that it was something he had to do in order to survive.
"--Hmph, howl."
Such sentimentality was quickly halted by the taste of blood filling my mouth and the sharp pain that pierced my whole body as I remembered.
"----!"
Appearing before Subaru's very eyes as he fell was an extremely gigantic presence that blew him away.
--It was so enormous, its strange appearance made him keenly aware of the folly of resisting it.
Right in front of the fallen Subaru, so close it could reach out and touch him, the white whale exhaled fishy breath from its oversized mouth, as if to confirm Subaru's presence.
To a small human, even the mere breathing of a white whale was like a storm. There was no way he could support his injured body, and a single breath sent him rolling across the ground, his broken bones twisting in pain until his throat exploded.
Looking down at the writhing Subaru, the White Whale didn't move, as if toying with him.
In the face of such a calm, unwavering, overwhelming advantage, no one could call it carelessness. It is a completely different level of living being.
It's exactly like an ant challenging an elephant. It's like a man challenging a whale, especially in the ocean. What's more, the man is completely injured, so there's no way it could even be called a fight.
--Die. Be killed.
Dominated by pain and a nausea, Subaru senses it approaching closely.
The feeling of despair that he had already experienced countless times. The disappointment of losing himself. And above all, the feeling of helplessness that he was once again halfway there and unable to accomplish anything.
They approached Subaru in a friendly manner, put their arms around his shoulders in a familiar manner, and he could tell they were laughing at his embarrassing behavior.
I no longer know what went wrong or anything.
But now that he had lost Rem, Subaru had nothing left. Even his pathetic attempts to survive seemed a foolish act of resistance.
It was a pointless, boring, and terrible way to live; I got nothing done.
I feel the nose of the white whale approaching right in front of me.
Inside the open mouth, strong teeth that could easily crush even an earth dragon with its tough scales, were grinding, chewing and disintegrating Subaru's flesh, bones and soul.
He was about to make a sore loser noise, telling me to just kill him, to hurry up and get his fangs to him, but
"I don't want to die..."
This time, Subaru was truly filled with despair at his own weakness, unable to even do that.
A sense of helplessness like I'd never felt before sends a cold chill down my chest. My whole body's blood freezes and I feel so disappointed that everything goes dark before my eyes.
"No... I don't want to die... Help me... I don't want to die! I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die... No, no, no... Help me, Rem, help me..."
Whimpers, complaints, an endless clinging to a filthy life spill out of his mouth.
Clinging to the lives they have already lost, to the lives they have made others lose, the weak who could do nothing, the losers who could do nothing, the trash who can't protect anything, still cry out that they value their lives.
Crawling, rolling, sliding through the sea of blood, biting into stones, throwing away all will and pride, leaking urine, their tears and saliva mixing with the red of blood, they long for their lives.
It was pitiful. It was pitiful. This sight was the very definition of disgrace.
Everyone would turn a blind eye to the absurdity of it all, hurling scorn at it, and calling it painful to even look at. I don't think clinging to life to that extent is beautiful.
It was pitiful. Even the life of an insect was somehow endearing. The self-pity of degrading even the dignity of a noble and proud existence was the very definition of "pig lust."
"No, I don't want to die... Help me..."
And yet they continue to crawl, still fleeing, still weeping in desperation for some chance to stay alive.
His body had lost strength at some point and he could no longer move forward. His fingertips no longer had the strength to stroke the grass or dig into the earth. He had finally squeezed out all the energy he could muster to cry out, and the last of his strength was to roll his body sideways.
"I don't want to die..."
And so, as Subaru rolled onto his back, he began pleading for his life.
That was my last resistance. I couldn't do anything anymore. I couldn't think of anything. I couldn't make anything happen, I just had to let it happen.
But the shock never came.
The familiar feeling of death, the terrifying future of being gnawed at, never seems to come.
The fear of waiting for an end without knowing when it will end can easily break a person's heart.
Writhing in an unbearable horror, Subaru struggled with his trembling body, searching for that despair as he looked around,
"...picture"
--I suddenly realized that the white whale, which should have been close by, was nowhere to be found.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
From then on, Subaru just kept running, driven solely by his desire to live.
"I don't want to die... I don't want to die, I don't want to die..."
He was out of breath, his legs were unsteady, and blood was dripping into his eyes, obscuring his vision. But Subaru ran on, not minding that. His vision was already blurred by the darkness, by the mist, and he couldn't see anything. Right now, Subaru didn't even realize that blood had gotten into his eyes.
In the arms of a night where neither stars nor moon can be seen, Subaru cannot even see his own limbs. Even though he is running, his feet are firmly on the ground, but he has no idea if he is really running on the ground.
Or perhaps, without realizing it, Subaru had already been swallowed whole by the White Whale, and was now simply moving through its interior, towards its stomach, as if to end his life.
"High."
Subaru's mind frightened at the terrifying thoughts that crossed his mind, and he ran, tears streaming down his face.
I no longer know whether the tears are due to pain or despair.
Subaru was alone everywhere in the darkness.
Subaru had lost Rem, been abandoned by Otto, and even the White Whale had abandoned him.
No one would pay any attention to Subaru, who had lost all sense of reason to exist.
"I don't want to die."
I don't even know why I think that anymore.
What is the meaning of being alive? What is the point of not dying?
I can't save anyone, I can't protect anyone. I can't do anything, there's no way I can do anything.
What is the point of such a man being alive?
There is no answer. I don't know anything. It's a vague proposition as to whether there even is an answer.
Will there ever be a day when the answer is revealed? And if so, will it be up to me to grasp it?
Was my incoherent thoughts a form of self-defense to distract from the pain and fear? Or was it my own mentality that was so self-centered even in a situation like this that was horrifying?
Still running. Still fleeing.
That thing he had left behind, that powerful demonic beast that would continue to swim as long as the mist remained, there was no telling when it might catch Subaru's scent and make its appearance again.
Or perhaps even that kind of fear would be a waste for Subaru right now.
"--a?"
Just when I had exhausted all my self-deprecating thoughts and could no longer think of anything to say to insult me, it suddenly came to me.
--We passed through the end of the fog and suddenly the moonlight shone into view.
Subaru's body continues running, unable to fully believe that the darkness that seemed endless has suddenly ended, as if he suspects that if he doesn't keep running, the soft moonlight will disappear.
After driving for a while, Subaru finally realized that this was not just a convenient delusion.
Once he came to accept it, he felt the blood flowing through his limbs, and the fact that he had survived permeated his brain.
However, what welled up inside me wasn't joy at having seized life,
"Again... I'm..."
After another pathetic struggle, all he felt was disappointment in himself for having managed to grab hold of life.
Even though the life he had so craved was in his hands, it no longer brought him any emotion. Instead, an unbearable sense of guilt welled up inside his chest, and a feeling of shame he had forgotten even existed began to approach, burning his entire body.
"Rem... Rem...!"
She covers her face and the hot tears she can't hold back continue to flow.
Even though he knew he had no qualifications, no value, Subaru could do nothing but call out that name and continue to comfort his soul.
I wonder how much time passed as I sat down and cried.
It made a slow creaking noise as it made its way underneath the crouching Subaru.
"Y-You were..."
It was a dragon carriage and earth dragon, smeared with blood and pulling a body that had lost its original shape, staggering towards them.
It looked familiar, and there was no doubt that it was the Earth Dragon that Otto possessed.
However, the young man who had pushed Subaru off the carriage pulled by the earth dragon was nowhere to be seen.
"Why you… that guy, Otto?"
The question came out of my mouth, but of course there were no words to answer it.
Subaru unsteadily stood up and walked towards the approaching dragon carriage, and as he looked up at the horribly damaged carriage, he noticed something.
--There were several daggers shaped like crosses stuck into the area around the driver's seat, and traces of blood.
They came through the mist and attacked.
It is impossible to imagine what Otto must have been like in that frenzy, after barely escaping with his life, and then facing the despair that followed.
But what had happened was clear when he saw this earth dragon moving on its own.
"...let's go"
Muttering softly, Subaru lifted his injured body and climbed into the driver's seat.
Kicking the stabbing blade away with his foot, he grabbed the nearly torn reins with his free hand and swung them, imitating what he'd seen, to give orders to the earth dragon.
Unlike the feel of the rope being swung by its master, the earth dragon looked up at Subaru with round, confused eyes. However, as if something had occurred to it as it watched Subaru repeatedly swing the reins, the earth dragon slowly began to move forward, following the road.
--Under the silvery glow of the moon, the dragon carriage slowly begins to move.
They had both lost someone important to them, and so they seemed to be licking each other's wounds, slowly, slowly, while being mocked by the stars.
Slowly, slowly, the dragon carriage continued to move.
I kept running.