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Chapter 308 - Extra 3:Beautiful Girl, Beautiful Young Girl, and Beautiful Old Girl

"Well, that's why I came here to talk to Lewes-san, who is probably the leading expert on the two of them."

"That was a very careful and orderly process. I don't mind being relied upon, but...when it comes to those two, my tongue tends to slow down."

"What do you mean?"

Subaru: "I feel the same way as Ram and Kubo. The problems those two have are their own problems. I don't really want to interfere and stir things up from the outside."

 Lewes tilts her teacup to the side at Subaru's suggestion, looking reluctant. However, it's an undeniable fact that she is the key person in this matter. Subaru isn't sticking his nose in for fun so much that he can just back out.

"I know that the situation between those two is complicated and troublesome. Even if it was just a passing encounter, I was involved in it."

"..."

"But even so, I don't think it's something that should be left alone. Sure, time may eventually resolve the issue, but… I'm sure both sides are trying to come to an agreement, and the fact that it's not going well is bound to be frustrating for those involved, as well as those watching. If you can do something about it from the outside, it's best to do so."

"That's just my opinion as a busybody."

"I have a reputation for being insensitive and brazen."

 It was probably not something to be praised for, but Subaru puffed out his chest proudly, causing Lewes to chuckle wryly.

 In the corner of the large room that had been assigned to her, the two of them sat facing each other across the table, and almost at the same time, they took their sips from their teacups, quenching their thirst in silence with the tea.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

 A voice was heard from a place a little distance away from the two people facing each other.

 Her round amethyst eyes narrowed as she glared at my face. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice. It was Emilia, who had no intention of joining in the conversation.

"What's wrong, Emilia-tan? Your angry face is cute, but it makes your brows crease, you know?"

"If that's what you think, you can at least lend me a hand! Seriously, Subaru, you're so mean! You're so stupid!"

"I haven't heard of 'Anpontan' lately..."

 Laughing at Emilia's adorable use of dead language, Subaru put his teacup down. He then looked at Emilia once more and nodded in agreement at the situation she found herself in.

"It's quite a spectacular sight. A dream match between a beautiful girl and a beautiful young girl."

"When you say that, it makes me feel embarrassed."

"If Ryuzu-san goes in there, I wonder if it will be a competition between beautiful girls, beautiful young girls, and beautiful old girls."

"When you say that, it makes me feel embarrassed."

"Is that really okay?"

 Subaru was surprised to see that, rather than getting angry, she was ready to accept it. With a slight blush on her cheeks, Lewes was looking at the same thing as Subaru.

 Before their eyes, the two of them saw a scene unfolding before them, with Emilia surrounded by many other Lewes with identical blushing faces.

 --A total of 26 copies of Lewes were taken out of the Sanctuary.

 With the exception of Ryuzu, who was the most obvious example, they were all clones with no self-awareness and simply waited for instructions. Although they had no role to play, they obviously couldn't be left alone, and their treatment was one of the worries facing Emilia's camp.

 The biggest problem facing us is that

"Don't look at me like that, Subaru, help me out too."

"I'd love to, but those kids never listen to my orders. The only ones who can get them to obey are Emilia and Garfiel, right? You know, with clever words and smooth talk."

"Even if you say that… I just had a hard time the other day when I asked you to 'step away'. Have you forgotten, Subaru?"

"I guess we'll still remember the commotion that occurred just three days ago, when search parties were organized all the way to the other side of the mountain."

 As Emilia responded with a troubled look on her face, Subaru recalled the chase that had taken place three days ago.

 The crystals that controlled the authority to command the clones were located within the Sanctuary. Prepared in two locations, the tomb and the research facility, they recognized Emilia and Garfiel as the holders of command over the clones, and they continue to carry out that role to this day.

 As a result, the twenty-six clones remain in a doll-like state with no self-awareness, unable to function properly without Emilia and Garfiel's instructions. They are not willing to listen to orders from others, and according to Garfiel, if left alone without any role to play, they will literally crouch down and disappear until they die.

 To see that happen and then have the source of worry disappear would be a very unpleasant choice.

 The chase three days ago had been triggered by a single word from Emilia, who was unaware of the extent of her command authority, which caused the clones to each leave the mansion and scatter to carry out the command to "step away for a bit."

 The trouble is, there seem to be individual differences among the clones, and they respond to instructions in slightly different ways. Some took Emilia's command, "Stand apart for a moment," as intended and left, some went outside the mansion, and some ran off far away.

 Without Garfiel's sense of smell and leg strength, they might not have been able to bring everyone back. A cute, doll-like girl wandering around unprotected is not something that can be ignored, and being caught catching the clones is no small problem.

"Twins or triplets might be one thing, but no one would believe twenty-six triplets..."

 I forgot what the Guinness World Record was in my previous world, but I don't think it was even close to ten siblings. There's no need to take that into consideration, and it's not something that can be covered up with that.

 When the conversation turns to the question of why there is a need to deceive in the first place,

"However, it goes without saying that the technique used was forbidden. To be honest, if our true identities were revealed, it wouldn't be an easy thing to deal with."

"That's right."

"Using a single individual as a base, the creation of pseudo-Od creates beings with similar properties - it's the equivalent of creating an infinite fighting force. People will want it, after all."

 Putting aside its practicality, it could be a useful tool depending on the research. In a sense, it's no exaggeration to say that they are an infinite labor force. What's more, their command authority seals off any possibility of opposition, and when they disappear, they don't leave a corpse behind, turning into mana particles, so there are no aftereffects.

"That's too much shit."

"If you think so, then we can rest easy."

 Seeing Lewes smile faintly, Subaru felt an indescribable sensation.

 Subaru feels aversion to people he knows using him, and an aversion to the ethical issues involved.

 But when we remove all of that and think of this technology as something invisible, how much of its convenience can we resist?

 People, including myself, tend to go where it's easiest. I think it's terrible to be weak.

"So! In the end, what do you think I should do?"

 Emilia, who seemed to have been left behind in the conversation, spoke up, seemingly reaching her limit.

 The copies of Lewes surrounding her don't take any particular action, but they continue to exert silent pressure on Emilia, which is not good for her mental health.

 Subaru crossed his arms, wondering what to do.

"For now, how about we give them instructions that can't be misconstrued and make them behave?"

Subaru: "For example, what kind of instructions can't be misinterpreted? Even if I just tell them to move away a little, they go far away, so what if I say…"

"Anyway, if I give the command 'sit down', there's no way they'll misinterpret it and they'll sit down, right?"

"...Subaru, a genius."

 Subaru didn't think it was that bad, but when Emilia said, "Please, everyone, sit down," the clones all sat down on the spot.

 Seeing Emilia surrounded by young girls sitting cross-legged, she somehow looks like a nursery teacher, but the truth is that the situation is a little more desperate.

 We will need to think of a good way to deal with this as well. I have a few things I would like to propose to Roswaal when he returns, so I will wait for him to return.

"There are exactly 26 of us, so if we gave them names using the initials of the alphabet, we could have both easy-to-remember characteristics and individuality."

"There you have it again, my devious face, Sue-boy."

"Evil schemes are unpleasant to hear. I'm just trying to rack my brains to make sure that everyone I know ends up happy."

 When I pulled my cheeks up and laughed, Lewes sighed with an exasperated look on his face.

 He wondered positively whether she trusted him or not, and whether her smile was showing a low level of trust. And then, as Emilia, freed from the clones' encirclement, came towards him, he handed her the teacup that had been prepared for her,

"Emilia-tan, you must be tired. Thank you for your hard work every time."

"Thanks. But compared to Garfiel, my hardships are nothing. Garfiel is always coming over to give orders before every meal, so he's really great..."

 Putting her mouth to the teacup, Emilia took a sigh of relief as she gazed upon the duplicate.

 They remained seated as instructed by Emilia, but the ones usually looking after them were the leader, Lewes, and Garfiel, who shared the same command authority as Emilia.

 Garfiel in particular seems to have been looking after them tirelessly despite his complaints, and it's to his great credit that no one starved to death or got lost among the clones.

 He had been in contact with this duplicate since his time in the Sanctuary, so his experience was different.

 However, this will be of little consolation to Emilia, who is struggling to do well.

"Well, we'll just have to take it slow. Garfiel is amazing, but I think it would be good if there was a more advanced answer."

"An advanced answer?"

"I'll tell Emilia-tan as soon as Roswaal returns. Until then, I want you to reassure me by showing me how flustered you are surrounded by little girls."

"Come on, that's so mean."

 The way he puffs out his cheeks in indignation is adorable.

 In any case, the plans that are currently being drawn up are not ready to be made public just yet. They would like to work out the details a bit more before announcing them and enjoying all the praise.

"So, I want to take my mind off the issue of replicas for now and get back to the topic at hand, OK?"

"My answer is the same as before. I have no intention of influencing those two… well, not really. It seems that neither of them have any intention of making this old man worry. They both pretend that they're doing pretty well in front of me, after all."

"Those two were acting like fools..."

"I haven't heard of the term 'chokosai' lately..."

 Subaru dodged Emilia's glare and thought about the cunning of the siblings in question after hearing Lewes' testimony.

 At the very least, they both share the awareness that they don't want to worry Ryuzu. To that end, they can even agree on what to do without discussing it.

 Even though they know so much about each other, they can't take that final step. So what is the decisive reason behind this?

"So it's their mother that caused them to break up, right?"

"..."

"The mother of those two… is that the mother who left them in the Sanctuary when they were still little?"

"I only heard about the situation from second-hand sources, and I haven't asked about his personality. Well, from what I heard from Frederica, he was just unlucky, but that's all. Lewes-san, of course, you know the details, right?"

 Ryuzu put his mouth to the teacup, postponing the timing of when to open his mouth to speak. However, that wasn't enough to avoid the gazes of the two people staring at him forever.

 Immediately she sighed deeply and, without looking in my direction,

"I don't really want to talk about their mother, Licia Tinsel."

"You mean someone you don't want to remember?"

"It's not that I disliked her. In fact, it's the opposite. The girl had a strangely likable personality... Her circumstances were unfortunate, but the fact that it didn't end there is proof of that. Her family fell into ruin and she was sold to a slave trader, and then her caravan was destroyed in an attack by bandits. She was taken back by the bandits as a war booty, and she became pregnant... A textbook example of a path to misfortune."

"――――"

 He had heard it once before from Frederica, but it was a terrible story. He was speechless at how pitiful Emilia was beside him. It was possible that he had crossed the line of comprehension with that last part, though.

"However, Rishia's misfortune did not end there. She was well-liked by the bandit group and survived together with her child. However, that family was also crushed by another bandit group, and once again she was used as a plaything by them."

"Normally, it's hard to recover from something like that, right?"

"But they recovered. After the bandits collapsed, Rishia was taken in by Rozubo, whom she met on her journey, and left Frederica and Garbo in his care before leaving the Sanctuary to search for Garbo's father."

"--Is that so? Garfiel said he thought his mother had abandoned him."

"...If that's the case, then maybe that was just Garbo's weakness. There's more hope for him if he's been abandoned."

 Subaru took his breath away at the word, which was not like hope.

 Where in that story could he find hope, and how? Before Subaru could answer that question, Emilia lowered her eyes and said,

"They abandoned us, so they won't come back... Is that hope that there's a chance your mother is still alive?"

"..."

"If they left for a reason, and promised to come back someday, and still don't come back... it's a scary thing to think about."

"That seems to be the case."

 Lewes shook his head in frustration at Emilia's conclusion.

 The true reason why the two mothers left the Sanctuary, as told by Ryuzu, and the reason why that promise has still not been fulfilled to this day - it naturally leads to the worst imaginations.

 Garfiel witnessed a scene from the past in which his mother was lost.

 The consistency with the scene is clear.

"Do you two really know about that?"

"Frederica had already come of age by the time she and Rishia parted ways. She probably hasn't forgotten. As for Garbo... I wonder."

"Garfiel remembers too... No, I think he does. Otherwise, I don't think he'd be able to show such a bright face to Subaru."

 The scene Emilia is recalling may not necessarily be the same as Subaru's, but Subaru also believes that Garfiel's past events - his separation from his mother - have been resolved.

 The problem is that Frederica and Garfiel have not come to a common understanding of this issue. Or perhaps Frederica has deeper lingering feelings about this issue.

 In fact, it seemed more likely that Frederica was avoiding Garfiel. That was the impression Subaru had as he recalled the exchange between the two.

"By the way, what about Rishia-san after that, Lewes?"

"...I haven't heard anything. This is not a lie. I don't know the truth either, there are some things I don't want to know."

 Averting her eyes, Lewes turned a blind eye to the fact that the answer was probably already there within her, but she could not bring herself to call that a sign of weakness.

 The small amount of tea remaining in the teacup on the table ripples.

 As I watched the ripples slowly disappear, a somewhat sad silence fell over me.

※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※

Subaru: "However, if things continue like this, I have a feeling we'll just end up being a bunch of curious bystanders digging into the details of the situation, what do you think about that, Emilia-tan?"

"Um, Myu... I really want to avoid that happening."

 Leaving Lewes' room, the two walked down the corridor, taking stock of their current results and trembling in fear at the thought of what would happen if they continued on their current path and didn't see any results.

 I don't want to see him end up as someone who just digs up gossip. Of course, my greatest wish is to improve the relationship between Frederica and Garfiel, but that's life, and problems will come up while you're taking action.

"But if talking to Ram and Lewes hasn't resolved the issue... then surely we're at our wit's end? It looks like Roswaal hasn't returned yet."

"If you try to avoid relying on the passive method of saying that time will heal everything, then the approach is definitely one that seems to be about family. But in this case, the current situation of the two mothers… or what happened after they broke up, is probably not the issue. The issue is how they felt when they broke up, how they feel now after time has passed, and what they said when they broke up."

"Doesn't it seem like it would be easier to just lock them in a locked room?"

"I can't hide my surprise at Emilia-tan's plan, which is way more outrageous than I expected."

 Subaru looked shocked, but Emilia placed her finger over her lips and said with a serious look on her face, "But isn't that right?"

"I think what those two need isn't time, but a reason to start talking. They've both had ten years to think about a lot of things… so if they can just find the time to talk about it, I think things will work out."

"Ugh, that seems a bit negative in its own way. In the end, that's not much different from everyone else's opinion that time will heal. Basically, saying that time will heal is just the idea that the right time to talk about it will come naturally in time."

"So why don't we just make that timing unnatural? What I said earlier was a bit extreme… but I think that's what Ram and Lewes were saying too. We should just leave those two alone and leave it up to them."

 Emilia removed her finger from her lips and shook it. Listening to what she was saying, Subaru crossed his arms and furrowed his brow in anguish.

 Is that really okay?

 It's not that I don't understand Emilia's reasoning, or her own interpretation of Ram and the others' words. In fact, it seems logical. Subaru is simply worried.

 Is that level of involvement really okay? Won't things go smoothly unless we set up more on our side? Won't things just get even more complicated and end up in an even more difficult direction?

"Subaru."

"Hmm."

 As he was thinking this, Emilia lightly poked him on the forehead with her raised finger.

 As Subaru was brought back to reality, Emilia looked up from nearby,

"I know that Subaru is a worrier and tries his best for everyone."

"It's embarrassing to hear you say that, but..."

"But, just as much as you are worried about me, I am also worried about you. I want you to know that you don't have to bear everything like that. I'm sure those two will be fine."

"...I guess so."

 Being dismissed with the word "worried" made Subaru feel as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.

 What I had been carrying in my chest, what I had felt like I was carrying on my back, was in fact a kind of shapeless weight - something that I had taken on of my own accord.

"I would be happy if you could sometimes believe what I have to say and go along with it."

 At Emilia's suggestion, or should I say assertion, Subaru relaxed his shoulders and let out a sigh.

 The outcome may be somewhat different from what we had hoped for, but given the current circumstances, I believe this is the result that is most in line with both the reference opinions and our objectives.

"Okay. All right, then let's think about it somehow..."

"--Oh, isn't this Natsuki-san and Emilia-sama? What are you doing?"

 Just as he was about to adopt Emilia's plan, something got in the way.

 Approaching them was a grey-haired young man carrying a large amount of documents in his arms. Recognizing him, Subaru put his hand to his chin in thought.

 Come to think of it, there was one other key person in the mansion who wasn't listening to the conversation, and whose absence had nothing to do with it.

 Thinking about it like that, and then imagining how useful he could be in breaking through the current situation, Subaru nodded.

"Okay. Alright, let's think of something and put it into action."

"May I ask why you resumed the conversation as if I wasn't even here?"

 Finally, a familiar scream echoed loudly throughout Milord's mansion.

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