Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Volume 4 - Chapter 47.2

Chapter 47.2
[Subaru: So uh…… mind if I ask what that is?]
Still not recovered from the initial shock, Subaru threw the two remaining cookies to Daphne as requested . Both of which also missed due to his trembling fingertips, but, with the deft footwork of her coffin, Daphne easily caught them in her mouth .
Looking like she was enjoying their sweetness to her heart’s content, Daphne let out a [Uuunn~] as Subaru somehow squeezed out his question .
[Daphne: What that is… even if you ask Daphne, Daphne couldn’t see so Daphne wouldn’t know…]
[Subaru: I mean the uh…… super shiny awesome-looking mobile coffin you got there . In my narrow, shallow knowledge, coffins usually don’t come with legs and don’t make high-speed insect-like movements like that]
Making GICHI-GICHI noises, the coffin slowly clambered back to its original position with Daphne in tow . The base of the coffin plunked onto the grass with a thud, and the crab-like legs withdrew into the sides once more . The movement was not unlike a turtle pulling its legs into its shell .
As if picking up Subaru’s sentiment, Daphne laughed [Aahaa],
[Daphne: You mean Centipede Coffinn? It’s because Daphne can’t move freelyy, so I made this child to make up for it… He’s usually a good, quiet child you know?]
[Subaru: Made it… . . it’s a, living creature……?]
Even though it was making organic movements with organic-looking organs, Subaru wasn’t so sure if he could group that thing with living organisms . Though of course, it was definitely not mechanical .
[Daphne: It doesn’t need to eat… or drink… but Centipede Coffin stays alive by absorbing Mana, you know? So it won’t feel hungry… which makes me kinda jealous]
[Subaru: It eats Mana…… nevermind, we can leave that for another time . More importantly, you said you made it? You can, make living things?]
[Daphne: Instead of living things…… it’s more like Mabeasts… Daphne takes some intentions and feelings and stuff and whooshwhoosh it around, and a creature comes out]
Daphne squirmed around a bit inside the coffin . None of the words that came out of her mouth gave any concrete idea of what that actually entailed, but, even from that vague explanation, Subaru got the sense that she was capable of something outrageous .
――To create living things, is surely the work of Gods .
While, in his original world, there was genetic engineering and forbidden sciences like cloning, to create new life out of nothing was certainly something only Gods could accomplish .
But, whether that should be considered blasphemy against life or attainment of inconceivable powers would depend on who you ask .
[Subaru: Unless…… “Daphne’s inauspicious legacy”…… and creating the Mabeasts, meant exactly what it sounded like?]
[Daphne: Eun~ eun~?]
[Subaru: White Whale, Black Serpent, Great Rabbit…… are all of them like that crab coffin of yours? Just things you created……?]
[Daphne: Mnn~mhuu~…… . Uuunn, such nostalgic names… Yeah . The Whaale, Snaake, Raabbit, they’re all children Daphne made]
[Subaru: Why!!?]
Baring his teeth as he heard her words of affirmation, Subaru closed the distance between them, shouting, sending spit flying .
His face red with anger, he thrusted his finger towards Daphne,
[Subaru: Why the hell would you create monsters like that? Do you realize, for the 400 years after you died, what kind of havoc they’ve been wreaking in the world outside!? How many tens of hundreds of people at a time fell victim to their……!]
The fierce battle on Lifaus Highway resurfaced in his mind .
Wilhelm’s obsession and screams for the memories of his murdered wife, and the cries of rage from the lines of knights―― were all for the tragedies brought about by the White Whale and by the Witch who birthed him .
As for the Great Rabbit that attacked the Sanctuary, if Subaru’s subsequent efforts fail to bear fruit, then Emilia, alongside everyone else in the Sanctuary, would be devoured .
If this cycle of natural disasters that is the Great Rabbit was also a consequence of the Witch before his eyes, then,
[Subaru: Why did you do it!? Tell me! Why did you create monsters that are the cause of so many people’s suffering!!?]
[Daphne: ……? But, bigger animals means more food to eat, riight?]
[Subaru: ――a, uh, huh?]
Daphne replied to Subaru’s impassioned words, looking confused .
Thrown into an unexpected train of thought by her answer, Subaru groaned stupidly before his tongue could catch up .
Seeing him like this, a mystified expression came onto Daphne’s face,
[Daphne: The White Whale, it’s huuge, right? If we eat that child, don’t you think lots and lots of people’s stomachs would be filled?]
[Subaru: What . . ’re you……]
[Daphne: Great Rabbit too, it’ll keep on multiplying all the time . Soo, as long as we have that child, we can just leave it to become more and more and no one will never have to worry about food, right?]
[Subaru: Multi……ply?]
Though he was hearing Daphne’s words, his mind couldn’t understand them at all .
If those shocking words really meant exactly what they sounded like, then Subaru would have absolutely no idea what this Witch in front of him was talking about .
Honestly, from the bottom of his heart, he had no idea what she meant――
[Subaru: Wh . . a……what? You created the Mabeasts… to solve the food problems? The White Whale and the Great Rabbit were supposed to feed people stricken by hunger? Even though, thanks to your thoughtfulness, all those people were eaten instead!?]
[Daphne: ……? But, if you want to eat the other without considering the possibility of being eaten yourself, don’t you think that’d be super selfiish?]
[Subaru: …………]
[Daphne: Besiides, don’t you think there are already too many Humans and Demihumans for this world? If those children can lower the number a bit and put things right again, Daphne thinks that’d be pretty good tooo]
[Subaru: Th-then why does the White Whale spit fog that erases people’s existences, and the Great Rabbit eat up whole villages to its heart’s content……?]
[Daphne: I don’t know much about how they hunt… how they grew up, how much they eat, where they eat…… even if I knew, it still wouldn’t fill Daphne’s hungry belly…]
Seeing Daphne’s smile as she said this, Subaru finally understood .
The meaning of Echidona’s words, he finally understood it .
She had warned him that his affinity with Daphne was the worst it could get .
At first, Subaru thought it was referring to her off-beat tempo that clashed his impatience, and had so optimistically thought that it was merely a mismatch of personality .
――But the mismatch between Subaru and Daphne was in their very systems of values .
Rather, it was not only with Subaru . Her value system probably wouldn’t align with any human being at all .
Her perspective was of a completely different dimension than that of Humans and Demihumans . And it was not just because she was biased towards the Mabeasts she herself had created .
The strong makes food of the weak――this was the only principle within her considerations . To acknowledge the existence of food, to increase its volume, and to consume it . All else was trivial .
He had nothing to say to that . The very structure of their minds were fundamentally different .
Of all the Witches Subaru encountered up to now, in spite of their quirks and misunderstandings, he felt that he was nonetheless able to hold conversations with them .
But, in the end, all these girls were Witches . They were Witches . The only seven in this world, Witches in the truest sense of the word .
[Daphne: Subaruun too…… everyone thinks way too little of Gluttony, don’t they?]
[Subaru: …………]
[Daphne: In the first place, as long as you’re alive, isn’t the desire to eat the most important desire there is? After all, if you don’t satisfy it, you can’t go on living…]
[Subaru: …………]
[Daphne: Even if you have no peace, no one to love you, no one you could tell your feelings to, no way to maintain your sense of self, or obtain the things you wanted, or even if you have nothing at all to aspire to… none of these would kill you, would they? But……]
[Subaru: …………]
[Daphne: If you don’t eat, you’ll die, you know?]
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, only Gluttony is directly related to life and death .
In the proper sense, Gluttony should be the desire to eat beyond what is necessary . But what Daphne was referring to was desiring to eat in order to survive .
In that regard, Subaru couldn’t deny it . What she said was true, one of the truths of life itself . But it would be a mistake to disregard all else in favor of that alone .
[Subaru: Part of what you said is right…… but that kind of thinking……]
[Daphne: Then why don’t Subaruun try it… what it feels like to be starved to your limits? Once you do…… I’m sure you’ll understand what Daphne’s saying]
That was just something a Witch would suggest .
Slowly, Daphne raised her body inside the coffin . With the sound of ripping paper, Daphne easily released the intersecting chains . Pushing aside the loose white bondage with her arm, Daphne hopped out of the coffin and landed barefoot onto the grass .
The tiny figure gave her arms and legs a shake, checking over her stiffened body,
[Daphne: I hate being on my own feet… belly feels so empty when I do…really does…you know……]
Doing this little warm up, Daphne was already out of breath .
But, facing her, Subaru couldn’t move an inch . Even his breathing was sealed .
The immense pressure emanating from this little Witch’s body held Subaru firmly within its grasp . It was as if his whole body was being gripped by a gigantic palm .
[Daphne: It would be nice if I could just eat Subaruun like this, but Dona-Dona and Met-Met would get angry…… Uuuunn~, just the left eye should be alright]
Saying this, Daphne placed a hand on the blindfolds over her eyes .
“Don’t release her bondage, don’t touch her body, and don’t make eye contact”―― all of these, Echidona had warned him of before she summoned Daphne .
But Daphne herself had unfastened her restraints, and though he hadn’t touched her, his body was immobilized by her pressure . And, as for the last warning,
[Subaru: ――――]
Her left eye was golden .
Nothing out of the ordinary, only the round pupil of a little girl .
Lifting the blindfold over her left eye, Daphne stared at Subaru .
As if being penetrated by her golden pupil, Subaru remained frozen still . And then, she blinked a few times,
[Daphne: That . . should be enough…]
Saying this, with the same beleaguered movements, she made her way back to her coffin . And, just as she looked like she was about to collapse, the mobile coffin gently caught her inside .
Stirring her body around, Daphne found the most comfortable position . All the while, immobilized on the spot, Subaru quietly chewed something in his mouth as he watched her,
Daphne yawned and placed the blindfold back over her eyes . The fabric in the interior of the coffin slowly peeled open and wrapped her tiny body snugly inside, binding her in its grasp .
Like it wasn’t even there, her bondage operated entirely on her will .
[Subaru: What just happened…… also, why… do you……]
[Daphne: You still haven’t noticed it yet…?]
Just as Subaru was about to ask her why she would restrain herself, Daphne interrupted his question, while giving her body a wriggle inside the coffin as if to make sure the restraints were properly fastened .
The moment her words entered his ears, Subaru furrowed his brows as though he noticed something .
[Subaru: Ah, ugh……?]
Pain . It was Pain .
Rising in Subaru’s waist was a pain that gave the illusion that a hole had been opened there, forcing his body to bend .
His guts wrenched as sensations of thirst and hunger protested with overwhelming starvation . Groaning, writhing in the unbearable pain, Subaru’s knees collapsed onto the grass .
Saliva drooled from the edge of his lips as he desperately tried to endure the pain . Hunger, hunger, hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger hunger .
[Subaru: Aa, aaa, AAAaaahh…… hur . . ts……]
The intense hunger sent his consciousness scattering and his thoughts into disarray as he lost all sense of reality .
Panting, writhing, he rolled back and forth on the ground . His movements only exacerbating the hunger, Subaru wriggled, convulsing like a caterpillar on the bed of grass .
Starvation, maddening starvation . Famishing . Life-threatening . A gaping hole, there’s a gaping hole in his stomach . Dying, he’s going to die, he’s going to die if he doesn’t eat . He’s going to die . He’s going to die .
[Daphne: You still haven’t noticed it yet…?]
Looking down on the writhing, suffocating Subaru―― although her eyes did not actually see him, Daphne kept a grasp of Subaru’s condition through sound and smell .
He couldn’t understand the meaning of her words . Notice what, notice what when the hunger was driving him insane? Although he understood that she was behind this, there was no room for resentment in the face of this hunger . He wouldn’t be able to bear it if he didn’t fill this hunger . Right now, the only cog holding together his sanity was the thing he had been chewing on since――
[Subaru: ――――]
What, was Subaru, eating, right now?
[Daphne: You noticed iit? That’s Gluttony, you know]
Hearing Daphne’s words, Subaru noticed it―― the pinky and ring fingers on his right hand were missing .
Where did the missing fingers go? There was no need to look . He was chewing on the fragments of his pinky finger right this moment .
Profuse blood seeped from the torn-off stumps, dyeing the green grassfields red .
Watching the droplets fall, Subaru’s mind went blank .
With the passing of the seconds, something slowly came to fill that blankness . An emotion, of,
――Ahh, spilling blood is such a waste .
Simply a desire to quench his thirsting throat, and the disappointment of his unsated hunger .
-=Chapter 47 End=-