Chapter 196: Loud Bang, White Light, Sudden Change!

As evening fell, Earlham Village was strung with lanterns and alive with noise—bustling and full of excitement!

In the wide-open square at the very center of the village, the villagers had brought out the best of what each household owned and laid it all out in a row, kicking off the festival.

Racks of grilled meat stood in the most prominent spot, free for anyone to help themselves to, so long as they didn’t waste it—eat until your stomach burst.

Besides that, all sorts of drinks unique to the village were set out as well, to quench everyone’s thirst.

Right at the center of the square, a bonfire had been built up, easily two or three men tall—a structure that, for all its rustic origins, carried a real beauty born from the villagers’ ingenuity.

The people of Earlham Village, warm and unrestrained by nature, were now dancing hand in hand beneath that bonfire, throwing themselves into the steps of some local custom with obvious delight.

As their guest—and the benefactor of the entire village besides—Natsuki Subaru sat with his beauties in a patch of ground that had been specially cleared for them.

Around them piled up gifts the grateful villagers kept bringing: food, drink, or woven cloth and carvings made with real care…

“Eh?! Which little brat put a bug in here this time? Looks like a rhinoceros beetle larva!”

Natsuki Subaru was rifling through his pockets, curious what the kids who’d swarmed him earlier to stuff thank-you gifts into his clothes had actually given him.

He’d just pulled out some candy and a pretty green stone when out came a curled-up, warm, still-wriggling grub. He flung it away with a yelp, wiped away the cold sweat that wasn’t really there, and let out a long breath.

Then came the anger—though mostly, it was the sting of embarrassment.

If he remembered right, something just like this had happened before.

During the manor’s final loop, when he and Ram had gone to save Rem after she’d stubbornly run off into the forest to shoulder everything alone, he’d received a thank-you gift from that same pack of kids.

Back then it had been a bug too. He couldn’t believe he’d fallen for it again!

“Hmph, look at you, Barusu—how embarrassing~”

Ram, lying face-down in Natsuki Subaru’s lap, couldn’t resist teasing him, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile.

Well, after the thorough spanking Natsuki Subaru had given her earlier as punishment, Ram had settled down quite a bit—her voice had gone soft and gentle.

But of course, she hadn’t settled down all that much.

Even now, her bottom still red and stinging from the spanking, she’d chosen to lie in Natsuki Subaru’s lap rather than sit on the rough ground—but true to form, she was still doing her best to keep his attention fixed on her.

As far as Ram was concerned, she wanted Barusu’s gaze to land on no one but her, to watch no one but her.

Even lying in his lap had only happened because she’d blushed and begged for it earlier, in front of the astonished eyes of the other women.

“Please, Barusu~”

“Please… let Ram rest here a little while, nya☆!”

Ram pressed her hands together beneath her chin, tilting her head just so, carefully striking the most adorable pose she could manage for Natsuki Subaru.

And she’d finished it off with a wink, utterly shattering whatever defenses he had left.

“So… so cute!”

Natsuki Subaru had clutched at his pounding heart at the time, looking every bit like a man shot clean through by Cupid’s arrow!

“Hehe!”

Ram couldn’t help laughing where she lay in his lap. Sure, the whole point of today’s outing had been a date between Barusu and Emilia, but as far as she was concerned, she’d come out of it pretty well.

Smack!

Just as Ram was quietly basking in her own triumph, Natsuki Subaru brought his hand down without mercy, shattering all her little fantasies and setting her already tender, sensitive backside stinging all over again, until tears welled up in her eyes.

Natsuki Subaru flexed his hand, savoring how good that slap had felt—and wondered, with some confusion, why he seemed to be getting a taste for it.

As for Ram putting on her delicate, wounded act beneath him, he decided to pretend he hadn’t noticed.

“Subaru, the village is so lively tonight. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.”

Seeing Ram get punished again, Emilia couldn’t help a soft laugh behind her hand, before turning her glistening eyes toward Natsuki Subaru with a smile.

“Mm! Rem’s never seen anything like it either, but it feels… really novel. Does Subaru want to go dance for a bit too?”

Beside her, Rem nodded in agreement, reluctantly pulling her gaze back from the couples dancing hand in hand before the bonfire, then turning it, full of expectation, toward Natsuki Subaru.

The look on her face made it plain enough that she’d already decided she wanted to be the one he chose as a dance partner.

Natsuki Subaru couldn’t help but smile—but then, this was just Rem’s way, wasn’t it.

Once she fell for someone and her affection for them maxed out, she never hid her feelings again—caring for him, being good to him, folding her love into real action, chasing after it boldly and passionately.

“God, my past self was such an idiot—and pathetic too!”

Natsuki Subaru rubbed his forehead and sighed, shaking his head. Ever since coming to the village, he kept thinking back on everything he’d been through, but he couldn’t even bring himself to sympathize with who he used to be.

Talk about stubborn—fixated on Emilia and only Emilia, all because she’d been the first person to save him in that alley, unconditionally, expecting nothing in return.

Wasn’t that basically imprinting, like some baby bird?

Did that mean, deep down, he was secretly some kind of bird? Ha, now that was a stretch.

“Sure, how could I not join in on something this lively?”

Natsuki Subaru answered with a smile, handing Ram off—still draped over him—to Elsa, who stood waiting nearby, as casually as if passing along a parcel.

Then, under Ram’s resentful stare, he brushed off dust that wasn’t there and got to his feet.

“Ah, what a shame, Ram—what a real shame!”

“If someone hadn’t been so clueless, if she’d said something sweet instead, she wouldn’t have gotten her butt spanked red and lost her chance to dance with me.”

Natsuki Subaru stood with his hands on his hips, laughing heartily at Ram, who’d gone red with frustration at his teasing.

“Hmph, Ram never wanted to dance with some lecherous Barusu anyway!”

“It’s bound to get hot over by the bonfire—you’ll be sweating buckets and miserable, serves you right!”

Ram turned her face away, though by now the only thing about her still putting up a fight was her mouth.

Natsuki Subaru could see right through that, and he doubled over laughing. Just as he finally caught his breath and opened his mouth to say something, everything changed in an instant, far off in the distance.

A thunderous boom, like something about to shatter their eardrums, rolled closer and closer, spreading through the village in an instant like ripples across water.

Then the entire village fell silent all at once, as if someone had hit a mute button—every sound gone.

It wasn’t that no one was making noise—it was that every sound had been swallowed whole by that single roar.

Natsuki Subaru’s brow furrowed as he scanned their surroundings, trying to work out where the disturbance had come from, but he couldn’t pin it down.

But even as he puzzled over it, the women around him all went tense, their expressions sharpening as they drew close around him.

They didn’t know what had happened, but they knew one thing for certain: they had to protect Natsuki Subaru, no matter what, and not let him come to harm!

At the same moment, Halibel—who’d been keeping a constant watch over Natsuki Subaru—flickered out of his shadow and, in the blink of an eye, placed herself between him and whatever lay ahead.

The next instant.

A blinding white light flared up, lighting the entire sky, forcing everyone to instinctively shut their eyes.

And then, ringing in their ears… came the sound of something like a barrier, spiderweb-thin, cracking and shattering apart.