Subaru felt as if he had just narrowly avoided a car crash.
"…What did you just say?" Subaru asked.
"Betty has chosen Subaru to kill her, in fact," Beatrice explained, holding out a small dagger that blazed with some kind of magical energy.
"Wow," He said in a humble voice. "I'm… honored. You've met so many amazing people over the course of your long life, and you chose me to kill you? I'm… I'm really very flattered, Beatrice."
"Yes, yes, you are, I suppose," Beatrice said, waving a tiny hand dismissively. "Now, can we get on with it?"
"Well, hold on, Beatrice. You've been waiting for this moment for a long time. I want to make sure I get it just right for you. You deserve that," Subaru replied. "Damn, after all these years, someone with as big a gift as you for patience and planning must have so many ideas about how you want this to be done. Which one did you settle on? You're your mother's legacy, so it's very important that no one gets the wrong idea about your motivations. I want to make sure that everyone in the whole world knows how such an important act in world history was carried out."
Beatrice blinked and glanced away, seeming to ponder this.
That's it, Beatrice. Think about people talking about you after your death. Imagine those people deciding that the final moments of a four hundred year old Great Spirit were lame and underwhelming. Imagine them saying that Beatrice died due to weakness and fear.
Pride is always the perfect manipulator.
"So I guess this means that we're not going to go out and find 'that person?'" Subaru asked, sitting down on the futon.
Beatrice shot him an annoyed look. "We would never have found them, in fact."
"Oh, really? Because I'm pretty good at finding stuff. Why do you think that we'll never find them?" Subaru replied.
"'That person' does not exist for Betty," Beatrice snarled, but her eyes were filled with tears. "If they existed, they would have found Beatrice by now!"
OK, I can't really argue with that logic, but the question is: why? What has changed? What does Beatrice see today that she didn't see before that makes her believe this?
"Well, like I said, maybe you need to go look for them? Maybe there's a reason they can't come to the library? Maybe 'that person' needs Betty the same way that Betty needs 'that person?'" Subaru replied.
"Betty belongs in her library!" The Great Spirit thundered, stomping her foot. "Betty has waited here in accordance with her mother's wishes for four hundred years! Why should she leave it now?"
Beatrice stood there, gasping for breath.
"You just answered your own question," Subaru said quietly. "You've been waiting in this library for four hundred years. You're right. If 'that person' was going to come find you, they would have done so by now. But that doesn't mean that 'that person' doesn't exist. It just means that waiting here for them isn't accomplishing much. You should leave the library because staying in it just isn't working."
Beatrice shook her fist at Subaru. "And I suppose that Subaru thinks he could be 'that person,' in fact? He thinks that Subaru could banish Betty's loneliness? But Subaru has already given his heart to the elf!"
Subaru's eyes widened.
Is that what this is about? Subaru's fear of saying the wrong thing in this precarious moment rose up like smoke threatening to choke him.
"Oh, I see," Subaru murmured. "You're not upset because I think that I'm that person.' You're upset because you think that I'm 'that person.'"
YOU ARE READING
Devil lost in another world from zero
Fanfiction[666] gave him two choices: End the world or Become the last Devil. However, why did the sacrificial choice seem wrong? Why did he have to be alone to face the world-his loved ones? As the last devil, Issei fought the blissful world, not to protect...
