Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu

(Thank you Aaron, Roanz, Kizarat, Lucky, Jeffry for helping me with proofreading on the Live Draft! <>

ARC 4THE EVERLASTING COVENANT Chapter 46 [Partners With Bad Affinity]

[Subaru: If I have bad affinity with this, what kind of a.s.shole would have good affinity with this!?]

In front of the girl in complete bondage, Subaru blurted this out in protest.

The Witch of Gluttony―― was what they called the person who appeared before him.
Settled inside the slightly tilted coffin was a girl about 150cm in height. Her shoulder-length grayish hair was woven into two pigtails. White and splendid, with small b.r.e.a.s.t.s―― in fact, she looked no more than 13 or 14 years old.

[Subaru: But all tied up in restraints, and eyes blindfolded…… it"s hard to believe she"s the age she looks like]

Girls her age should normally be fantasizing about having "Superpowers that normal people don"t have" or "Secret latent abilities that can pose a threat to other people" or stuff like that.
Thinking back on his middle-school days, Subaru was fantasizing about being a master of concealed weapons at the time and hid a bunch of sewing needles in his school uniform.

[Subaru: Well, I wound up falling over, got stabbed by needles everywhere and couldn"t stop crying…]

Reminiscing on his cringe-worthy history to no one in particular, Subaru couldn"t quite make up his mind on what to do with the Witch in front of him.
After all, every other Witch up to now had taken the initiative to one-sidedly made the FIRST ATTACK before Subaru could do anything.

[Subaru: ――――]

Directly facing him, the girl inside the coffin still lay silently without showing any reaction.
Since first impressions are crucial, the silence was beginning to weigh on Subaru, who was finding himself uncharacteristically indecisive about how to break the ice. He at least needed to know if his partner was friendly or not before he could decide whether to be all buddy-buddy or act like a sarcastic twit.

[Subaru: …………]

Both waiting for the other to move, silence continued to dominate the tea party atop the small hill.
While this situation persisted, the overwhelming pressure from the Witch in front of him gradually ate away at Subaru. Even with her body immobilized, and her eyes sealed behind blindfolds, the threat emanating from her tiny body was truly befitting of a Witch.

Echidona had so happily introduced him to the Witches of Pride, Wrath and Sloth, yet she hesitated when it came to this one.
Perhaps the Witch of Gluttony, Daphne, was just so decisively different from the others.

[Daphne: …………unn]

[Subaru: ――――!?]

Sweat gathered on Subaru"s forehead from the tension, and just as he was about to wipe it with the back of his hand to keep them from dripping into his eyes, a sudden movement from Daphne"s direction gave Subaru a start.
Inside the coffin, the girl wrapped in restraints slightly turned her head, while the sound of her respiration reached Subaru. In antic.i.p.ation of what she might do, Subaru"s entire body a.s.sumed a state of caution.
And then,

[Daphne: ……zzuuu, mnya]

[Subaru: ――You were sleeping!!??]

[Daphne: ――FUNYA!?]

The moment he heard what sounded like snoring, Subaru jumped forward protesting.
A loud stomp went out over the gra.s.sy hill, and, startled by the sudden sound, the Witch inside the coffin jolted, squeaking.
Unable to see with her eyes blindfolded, she turned her head left and right,

[Daphne: Wha, what is it? Somewone was tryying to sleeep here……]

She drooled out that complaint with an exceptionally sloppy tone.
It was unclear whether she was talking like that because she was half asleep or if that was just the way she talked, but at least the overwhelming pressure from earlier had vanished.
"Was I just overthinking it…?" Subaru couldn"t hide this deflated sensation.

[Subaru: Uh, y-yeah, my bad. I got a little hot-headed there. Didn"t mean to yell like that]

[Daphne: Ehhh~? But getting startled by stuff like that, Daphne would feel troubled…]

[Subaru: Guh…… please forgive me. Cheer up, ok? Please don"t get mad]

[Daphne: But I wawsn"t getting mad? If I get mad, I"ll get all huungry. But anyway, who are you?]

Rejecting his apology, Daphne immediately went on at her own pace to ask her own question.
With just two or three sentences exchanged between them, the rhythm of the conversation had already been all messed up, and Subaru was starting to get an idea of what Echidona meant earlier.
――This Witch"s pace of conversation couldn"t match up with Subaru"s at all.

Letting out a sigh at the unsettling road ahead of him, Subaru lightly shook his head to get rid of the off-put expression on his face, and, replacing it with an ultra friendly smile,

[Subaru: My name"s Natsuki Subaru. For some reason I got invited by Echidona to her Witch"s tea party…… uhh, well, basically a tea-drinking friend. Yeah, something like that]

[Daphne: Heeee~~? Dona-Dona has friends? Subaruun too, you should be more careful with your choice of friends, you know? If they hear you"re friends with a Witch… your real friends and family might.. hate.. you… youknow……?]

Hearing Subaru"s self introduction, Daphne threw in an extra piece of advice. The fact that the latter half of her sentence started trailing off was probably because she was falling back to sleep.
Seeing her blatant exhaustion, with her shoulders heaving up and down inside the coffin, with [Oy oy], Subaru tried to snap her out of it,

[Subaru: Why"re you so tired out? Does that coffin drain the lifeforce out of whoever"s inside or something?]

[Daphne: Nooo, it doesn"t? Daphne"s just, tired, that"s all, and my stomach"s empty and going all guu~guu~ and I have no energyy……is there, anything, to, eat…… haa, haa…]

[Subaru: Panting just from talking is like the epitome of childhood-sickly-const.i.tution you know…… In terms of food, we only got some Dona-tea and some cookies on the table]

In fact, they were some cookie-ish mystery treats to go with the tea. But, knowing that the tea was Echidona"s bodily fluids, the cookies might very well be made of Echidona"s body cells or something.
Since he couldn"t gulp it all down at once like the tea, Subaru made a point of not touching it. But, hearing that there was food, the reaction [COOKIES!?] from Daphne was pretty clear,

[Daphne: Th, th, th, that would do. That would doo, Daphne, put it in Daphne"s mouth please. Hurry, aaeee, hurryy……]

[Subaru: If we take it out of context that request can be totally misunderstood so can you please be more careful with that!? But well… I guess I"m not enough of a s.a.d.i.s.t to keep someone who wants it so badly waiting]

Subaru picked up the plate of sweets and approached Daphne"s coffin, intending to place the cookies in her mouth. But, before he could do so,

[Daphne: Ah, but but, wait Subaruun, can you wait a momennt?]

[Subaru: Hn? What. Just so you know, we only got one flavor here. There"s no chocolate in there so it"s probably just plain flavored. If you tell me you don"t like it, I won"t force you to eat it all up and not leave anything behind or anything like that]

[Daphne: That"s not it…… it"s just, I don"t want Subaruun to come too close when you feed Daphne]

[Subaru: That"s a pretty difficult request when you"re asking me to feed you, isn"t it!?]

His approach having been rejected, Subaru stood there holding the plate of cookies, at a loss about what to do.
All the while, the girl in the coffin slightly pushed herself up,

[Daphne: Please don"t misunderstand though… it"s not because I hate you or feel biologically repulsed by you or just can"t stand you at all or anything like that you know…]

[Subaru: Those rea.s.surances totally just made you sound less credible! Reason! Tell me a reason!]

[Daphne: Subaruun"s smell, if you get too close to Daphne, it"ll be like pooison]

[Subaru: My body odor"s like poison!?]

Hearing that even more hurtful comment, Subaru quickly raised up his arm to smell himself. But there was nothing particularly striking, although, humans are usually slow to notice their own odors.
Subaru looked himself up and down, but,

[Subaru: I smell? I really smell? I took a proper bath after coming to the Sanctuary though? I didn"t have soap like back at the Mansion, but considering I"ll be around Emilia, I did ensure the minimal level of personal hygiene…… No, I mean, this is the spirit world isn"t it? Would the harsh surface conditions really carry over in here?]

[Daphne: Noooo, it"s~not~like~thaat. Uuuum, shouldn"t, you understaand, Subaruun?]

[Subaru: Not at all! That just sounds like it"s all my fault here! How am I supposed to just understand? Tch!]

While Subaru was flailing his arms around shouting this, Daphne shook her head left and right, slightly rocking her coffin. With the sound of creaking wood, [How should I saay this…] she continued at her own unique tempo,

[Daphne: If I smell Subaruun"s smell, Daphne will want to eat Subaruun more than the cookie, and that"ll make Daphne feel all troubled you know…]

[Subaru: ……Eh? Sorry, I didn"t quite understand that]

[Daphne: Compared to vegetables, Daphne likes meat more, and hard meat is better than soft meat, that kind of thing, you know…]

Suddenly, Subaru felt a chill shooting up the back of his spine.
Holding his breath as he stared at Daphne, there had been no change in her appearance since the beginning. Still bound inside her coffin, her bondage prevented any movement from her body, and her eyes, still sealed behind her blindfolds, never once looked upon Subaru.
If those restraints were not for fas.h.i.+on, then what were they for――

[Daphne: From what I can smell, Subaruun"s meat is so muscled and sinewy, and the bones are thick too, must be reaally…… just what Daphne likes. So, if you get too close, you"ll smell so nice that I"ll want to eat you]

[Subaru: E-eat me…… in the s.e.xy sense?]

[Daphne: In the eating-raw sense……]

Hearing the slightly different interpretation, Subaru gulped down a breath.
Then, quickly putting some distance between himself and the girl, Subaru grabbed a cookie from the plate once he made sure that he was at a safe enough distance.

[Subaru: I-I"ll try to throw it to you from here, but sorry if I miss your mouth, ok?]

[Daphne: That"s okay, Subaruun. Just try to toss it so it hits the coffin. Then I can pick it up myself]

[Subaru: That sounds incredibly disconcerting, but uh….. alright, here goes!]

With a small swing of his arm, Subaru lightly tossed the cookie toward Daphne"s mouth.
The cookie that was the size of a 500-Yen coin traced out a surprisingly perfect trajectory, and flew neatly into Daphne"s mouth. This unprecedented degree of control was just the result of Subaru"s extreme concentration.
With the precision of threading a needle, he had managed to shoot it right into Daphne"s mouth. Catching it on her tongue, Daphne ate it up in an instant,

[Daphne: Omnyuomnyu….. nnnn~, soooo tasty~. Dona-Dona"s flavor…]

[Subaru: I don"t know if that means she made it herself or if she used dark magic to infuse some of her own body parts into the cookies…… I"m throwing the next one!]

[Daphne: Oooo, I can"t waait. Ooommn…… hey, gimme more……]

[Subaru: That"s gonna throw off my aim can you please keep quiet!?]

Trying to shut down Daphne"s erotically provocative encouragements, Subaru continued throwing cookie after cookie. It was an almost infuriating scene of two people playing with food, but then, seeing the serious look on Subaru"s face, one might feel discouraged from reproaching him.
Although Daphne had to occasionally move her head, the cookies landed in her mouth in the end. And, just as Subaru was starting to feel relieved that they could clear all the cookies on the plate this way,

[Subaru: ――ah]

A strong wind swept across the small hill, blowing the nimbly tossed out cookie off-course. Flying far out of the way of its target, it headed over the table and for the side of the hill. Falling like this, it might as well be food for the ants―― or so Subaru thought, when,

[Daphne: NoooOooo…… such a waaaste]

With her extraordinary sense of smell, Daphne realized that the cookie was flying away. She followed the cookie"s demise with her sightless vision, and, in the next moment, Subaru saw it.

[Subaru: ――――!?]

A violent sound rang out, as a sharp claw gouged destruction into the earth.
Rolling up a cloud of soil and dust, the a.s.sault of the unceasing sound expanded as it reached the falling cookie,

[Daphne: Aa, mwu]

Daphne stuck out her neck, caught the cookie between her red lips and happily slipped it into her mouth. After chewing with an almost indiscernible noise, she licked her lips and let out a sensual [Hohh],

Having witnessed the whole thing, Subaru fell speechless.
Noticing Subaru"s silence, Daphne gave a little sniff,

[Daphne: Subaruun…… isn"t there, still two left? Don"t be mean……]

The girl with flushed cheeks and quivering lips, like a baby bird waiting to be fed, was definitely adorable.
If one could overlook the blindfolded eyes and the full body restraints binding her inside the black coffin――

[Subaru: ……No, there"s definitely no way to be unfazed by this]

And the crab-like legs that emerged from the sides of the coffin, carrying its host in this bizarrely unconventional sight.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

===

*Daphne is so cute* >_

===

(This one is by , it captures the dynamics so well :3)

===

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
I’ll try to finish Part 2/2 tonight! Though I might release it tomorrow if I’m not satisfied with it.

===

Chapter 47 Live Draft: