Chapter 197: Wait, what do you mean... the Sanctuary exploded?

“What just happened?”

Once the white light and the deafening boom had both vanished, Natsuki Subaru lowered the arm he’d thrown up to shield his head, frowning as he stared warily at the sky above the distant forest.

The utterly baffling incident left him scratching his head.

Could it be that the mana on his end was simply too dense, and it had triggered some kind of “Great Shift”?

What if he ended up separated from everyone and teleported to some other continent or country? (LOL)

Subaru almost laughed at the thought, but in reality, as an ordinary man with zero combat ability and no powerful magic to speak of, if he really got teleported away, he’d probably be the first one to die.

The thought sent a shiver through him, and he tightened his grip on Betty’s hand beside him, drawing a puzzled look from her.

Subaru only managed an awkward smile in return, though inside he was flooded with relief — and grim resolve.

From now on, he absolutely couldn’t afford to be casually separated from Betty. If something like that really happened and he ended up alone, only to run into someone hostile toward him…

Then what he’d be facing might genuinely be a matter of life and death — there was no telling.

Because he had no way of knowing what timing the Witch of Envy, Satella — who handled his save points for him — considered “safe” in the first place!

And even she might not be able to find him if he got teleported far enough away!

This sudden sense of crisis had Subaru’s whole body wound tight.

Add to that the earlier explosion and blinding white light, and his worry only deepened.

Danger felt like it was closing in.

While Subaru sank into thought, Emilia and the others considerately left him be, silently forming a circle to keep watch on their surroundings.

He was the one pillar all these women relied on, the one they trusted most — so everyone was waiting for him to decide.

Before long, Subaru finally snapped out of his thoughts.

He knew there was no point dwelling on it further.

Right now, the priority was to find out what was going on and decide whether the villagers needed to evacuate early again.

He took a deep breath, meeting the gazes of the women around him — some bewildered, some gentle but resolute — and was about to speak his mind.

That’s when a whooshing sound tore through the sky not far off, and a black speck began drifting slowly down from above.

As the speck neared the ground, everyone realized it was a person — and one they all recognized quite well.

It was Roswaal.

“Ohh~ Seems like everyone’s having quite the good time here today—”

His face done up in clownish makeup, Roswaal drifted down to the ground on his magic, then spread his arms wide in greeting, his voice lilting in that peculiar rhythm of his.

“Roswaal? What are you doing here all of a sudden? Wait… does this have anything to do with that explosion and the white light just now?”

Subaru stared at Roswaal, grim-faced, brow furrowed as he tried to work out the man’s motives.

In truth, he was on high alert around Roswaal right now.

He even half-suspected the commotion earlier might have been Roswaal’s own doing — the man had, after all, been keeping himself scarce these past few days, not even showing his face in the dining room.

It was hard not to wonder if this guy was cooking up something shady behind his back again.

Catching the faint edge of accusation in Subaru’s tone, Roswaal’s smile slowly faded, his expression turning serious.

He fell silent for a few seconds before finally speaking, the words coming out strained.

“How unfortunate — that has nothing to do with me.”

“What just happened was simply because — Sanctuary ‘exploded.'”

Roswaal crossed his arms and studied Subaru’s reaction closely, hoping to glean something from it — only to come up empty.

Because the moment those words registered, the utterly dumbfounded look on Subaru’s face was impossible to hide, proof enough that he knew nothing about it.

Roswaal’s eyes darkened for an instant. Sanctuary was bound up with his teacher’s resurrection — for it to explode without warning was something he simply couldn’t stomach not understanding.

For a fleeting moment, he actually considered just killing Subaru outright, forcing a Return by Death so the man would go investigate Sanctuary for him.

But unfortunately, Subaru hadn’t yet been set on the proper track — at this point, he didn’t even know where Sanctuary was, let alone what it was, much less how to look into it.

Of course, the bigger reason was—

Roswaal’s gaze swept discreetly over the group surrounding Subaru. Betty alone would be more than enough to hold him back, and beyond her there was the Bowel Hunter, skilled in close-quarters assassination, and the Admirer from Kararagi, Halibel…!

He couldn’t win. There was simply no way he could win.

He even broke into a cold sweat when Halibel sharply caught the flicker in his gaze and shot a glare back at him.

Huh? What was Roswaal even talking about?

Subaru was thoroughly confused, trying to puzzle out Roswaal’s meaning.

Could someone please explain what the hell “Sanctuary exploded” was supposed to mean?

The trouble was, given the impression everyone currently had of him, he wasn’t supposed to know anything about Sanctuary — so he kept his mouth shut for the moment.

Sure enough, unable to contain himself, Roswaal was the first to speak.

“This happened without warning. I ask that Lord Subaru and everyone else return to the manor with me, so we can discuss sending someone to investigate Sanctuary.”

This time Roswaal dropped his usual strange, theatrical tone — probably because he genuinely was in a hurry.

After all, Sanctuary held the body of his teacher — the Witch of Greed, Echidna — the key to her resurrection. He couldn’t afford not to be anxious.

“Alright, let’s head back, then. But we should leave someone here to guard the village.”

Subaru mulled it over for only a moment before agreeing to Roswaal’s request. He glanced around at everyone and, in the end, decided to leave Elsa behind in the village.

Petra, being familiar with the villagers, might have been the more practical choice — she’d be able to act quickly whether it came to evacuation or anything else.

But he had no real confidence in Petra’s combat strength, or in how long she could sustain her use of that Authority, so he settled on leaving Elsa instead.

Just then, Subaru’s gaze happened to land on Emilia — and on the crystal stone bearing Puck that hung around her neck — and he suddenly stiffened.

Because only now did it occur to him — hadn’t it been a while since he’d last seen Puck?

Between the whirlwind of events that morning and his date with Emilia, he’d been so busy he hadn’t even noticed Puck had vanished.

And the scene felt uncomfortably familiar… wait, wasn’t this exactly the same setup as back during the Sanctuary arc?

The thought made Subaru’s eyes narrow, and he shot a hostile look at Roswaal.

Damn it, was this that old mule’s doing again?

This Roswaal really was a one-trick pony — same three moves every time. Making Puck go offline seemed to be the only card he ever played.

Getting a little too dependent on that one trick, aren’t you, mule?

Subaru shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it for now.

Partly because he wasn’t even sure Puck had really gone offline again — maybe the spirit just didn’t feel like coming out and interrupting him and Emilia, or was off taking a nap somewhere.

For now, better to head back to the manor and see — see exactly what Roswaal was scheming.

With that, Subaru quickly set off, the group falling in around him.

Roswaal walked at the front. Ram rode on her sister Rem’s back, while Subaru was carried by Halibel.

Before long, the group made it back to the manor, passed through the courtyard, and arrived at the foot of the building.

But what none of them expected was that, right then, two figures who had absolutely no business being there had appeared beneath the manor.