Chapter 175: How could my star be wrong? All those who dare to oppose him are guilty!

— So as not to alarm her mother, Petra had activated her authority the very instant her body began to change.

By [Compression]-ing the whole process of slipping off her mother's back and walking out of sight, she achieved something close to a deletion of time.

"Subaru, wait for me."

Petra gazed far off toward Earlham Village, remembering that Subaru would be attacked there by a white-haired Great Spirit.

So she didn't waste a single moment. Invoking the Compression authority she held as the Witch of Melancholy, her figure flickered once, twice across the ground — and then vanished.

Petra's thoughts were pulled back to the present.

Though it felt as though a long stretch of time had passed, she had already [Compressed] her own thoughts down to a single instant — so to everyone watching, she seemed to have only just finished answering the question of who she was.

And that name was no longer any kind of restriction for her now. She could say it aloud freely, and everyone was free to remember it.

"I am... Petra!"

"Petra Leyte!"

She turned her face aside, her cool, distant gaze sweeping over everyone present, and parted her red lips, her voice trembling as she spoke.

In everyone's eyes, Petra now wore a long gown adorned with vivid colors, its lines tracing a slender, graceful figure, her shoulders and neck delicate and lovely.

Slight as her frame was, the moment she stood at the very center of the clearing, held in everyone's gaze, she seemed utterly, incomparably radiant.

"P-Petra, how did you...?"

Natsuki Subaru was the first to break the silence, stepping forward and looking the girl before him up and down, unable to be sure.

Though she called herself Petra, she looked so different from the sweet girl he remembered that at first he couldn't quite believe it.

But looking into her eyes, feeling the excitement and affection brimming within them, Subaru found himself momentarily speechless.

Petra — yes, this was indeed his Petra.

But why was she here? Hadn't he had the villagers take her along to evacuate?

And why had she suddenly grown up?

Could it be connected to the moment before the viewing, when she'd called herself the Witch of Melancholy?

A tangle of thoughts knotted together in Subaru's mind like snarled threads.

By comparison, Petra's own reaction was simple and pure.

She didn't invoke her authority at all. She simply ran straight at Subaru.

And then — she crashed headlong into his arms! Yes, quite literally, a collision!

"Oof!"

Caught completely off guard, Subaru let out a pitiful yelp.

He felt like his chest had truly suffered enough for one day.

Getting body-slammed one after another by Rem, Emilia, and now Petra left him wanting to cry without a single tear left to shed.

Especially Petra!

Even though her body had grown up, she still barreled into him just as recklessly and heavy-handedly as ever!

Seriously, couldn't anyone just hug him properly? One after another, they kept charging at him like freight trains...

"Subaru! I've waited for this day — waited to see you again — for over four hundred years..."

Subaru heard Petra's tear-choked voice clearly against his ear.

He couldn't see her expression, but her face was surely wet with tears — like a stray kitten that had wandered for a long, long time and finally found a home.

Hearing this, Subaru — who a moment ago had been grumbling to himself — felt his gaze soften.

He patted Petra's smooth back gently with one hand, resting the other lightly atop her head.

He had no idea what she'd been through, but that didn't stop him from comforting her wholeheartedly.

Looking at Petra like this — she'd even grown up entirely — it had to be, it just had to be a very long story.

"If there's ever a chance, tell me your story slowly, someday. When that time comes, I'll listen to every word."

Subaru said it with a smile brimming across his face.

"Mm!"

Petra answered, forcing herself to brighten, before something occurred to her and she asked urgently.

"So — what about that white-haired Great Spirit who tried to hurt you before?"

"I remember — I sent her away myself. But then time suddenly reversed, and I don't know if she'll come back again."

Petra spoke earnestly, word by word.

"I'm strong now — I can do anything! So Subaru... my star, I'll protect you forever."

"If that white-haired Great Spirit dares to hurt you, I'll kill her!"

As she spoke, Petra released their embrace, meeting Subaru's eyes, and declared with the devotion of a believer before her own god:

"After all — whether now or in the future, if anyone gives you trouble, that just proves they're guilty."

"And my star has never done a single thing wrong!"

"...!"

Subaru's mouth fell slightly open as he stared at Petra, startled and at a loss.

In his eyes, Petra's face — lovely and pretty even without a trace of makeup — wore an expression of intense focus, as if she were quietly waiting to see how he'd respond.

But whether in the past or now, he had no idea how to face such an ardent, sincere confession from such a lovely girl. He couldn't recall ever having done anything that would make Petra love him this deeply.

Was it because he'd once saved her?

That thought crossed his mind, but he shook his head a moment later.

Probably not, he decided — after all, every time it came to Petra, he'd just done what felt natural to him.

In the forest, he simply couldn't stand by while those Mabeasts carried the children off.

At the manor, it was only after going to Rem's room that he'd discovered Petra had been desperately keeping watch at her bedside the whole time.

Back then, little Petra had had no obligation at all to stand there facing down the Bowel Hunter, yet she had staked her life to shield the sleeping Rem all the same.

Simply because Rem was someone he cared about — someone the man named Natsuki Subaru held dear. That alone had been reason enough.

"Huh? Am I going to die too?"

Off to the side, watching the spectacle with no idea what was going on, Zarestia scratched her head, her eyes clear and utterly baffled.

But no one present paid her any mind — everyone was holding their breath, watching the two at the center of the clearing with tense attention.

"I've received your feelings, Petra. But don't worry — it's all over now. No one's hurting me anymore."

Subaru said it solemnly.

Hearing his words, Petra pressed a hand to her chest and let out a long breath.

Whether it was because of the words 'I've received your feelings,' or because he was no longer in danger,

or perhaps... both.

In any case, once the tension suddenly drained out of her, Petra's body went limp, and her whole form shrank abruptly from that of a grown woman back into her original girlish shape.

Then she toppled forward, leaning against Subaru's shoulder.

Though she'd exploited a bug in the world's time-reversal and no longer had to pay with any more of her future possibilities,

the world was fair in other ways — wielding the authority of the melancholy factor still placed an enormous strain on the body.

Take the Sin Archbishop of Greed, Regulus, for instance: if not for two authorities working in tandem, he too would have killed himself outright when his heart simply stopped.

Yet even with such limitations, in actual combat they barely affected Petra at all.

Simply because she was the Witch of Melancholy, wielding the authority named [Compression]!

Even the pain and strain her body suffered from using the authority could itself be compressed away entirely, letting her extend her combat duration indefinitely!

In short: Combat Endurance — MAX!

To sum up this whole mechanism in one line—

Scared to tears — that's Lady Petra for you!

____

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