Re:Zero Arc 4 Chapter 63 [An Empathy Towards Death] (Part 3/3)

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Translator: TranslationChicken

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Editor: TranslationChicken

(Thank you Kizarat, Rodolfo, Roanz, Aaron, Kam, Mohamad, Patrick, Relax Gaming, HX, Rhino, Cormorant for helping me with proofreading on the Live Draft! <3)

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ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO TAPPEI NAGATSUKI, THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF RE:ZERO, THIS IS A TRANSLATION OF THE FREE JAPANESE WEB NOVEL INTO ENGLISH

JAPANESE WEB NOVEL SOURCE: HTTP://NCODE.SYOSETU.COM/N2267BE/229/

Previous Part 2/3: https://translationchicken.com/2018/01/20/rezero-arc-4-chapter-63-an-empathy-towards-death-part-2-3/

 

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[Subaru: ――e?]

The knife that had entered through her back protruded from her chest, slowly carving out a vertical gash―― from the top of her ribs down to her waist.
Beatrice’s small body shuddered with the motion of the blade.
And Subaru only watched in stupefaction.

[Beatrice: ……it’s]

Softly, Beatrice’s lips murmured something.
She lifted her face to look at the petrified Subaru.
Her expression, and the emotions in her eyes, all seemed to be telling of some excessively grand tale,

[Beatrice: Finally……]

[Subaru: Wait…..]

[Beatrice: ――――a]

Even Subaru himself didn’t know what he was trying to say.
And before her formless emotions could take shape, Beatrice’s voice trailed into a sigh.
With that final sound, Beatrice’s body faded into a faintly shining mass, and, in the blink of an eye, scattered as golden particles of light.

Her delicate body, her cream-colored curls, her charming, impertinent face, and her extravagant, cumbersome, yet perfectly-suiting dress, all vanished into nothing――

[???: ――Oh my, that’s disappointing. It’s my first time cutting open a spirit’s bowels, and it’s already gone]

A step behind where Beatrice had vanished, stood a woman holding her murder weapon in hand.
Subaru could already identify her just from the first sound of her voice. From the first moment, he was certain, yet his mind refused to register what should have been impossible. But, within seconds of seeing it with his own eyes, his awareness recovered as he clenched his teeth.
A tooth shattered with a crack. Tasting blood, locking his glare, he screamed.

[Subaru: ――ELSAAAA!!]

[Elsa: Oh, but what can you do?]

The back of the Kukri-knife crashed into the side of his screaming skull.
The blunt impact instantly shattered into his head as the unstoppable force slammed Subaru’s body against the wall. The only resistance he could muster was to keep Rem from flying out of his arms.
Profuse blood poured from the shattered gap, his eyes went dark and his limbs would not respond to his will to fight on. Yet, even so, Subaru caught Elsa in his strobing vision, tossing the Kukri-knife between her hands.

[Subaru: H..ow……how’re you alive? I checked, I checked and you were dead……!]

[Elsa: Mmhmm, that’s right. I was dead. If I was burned to ash back then, I probably wouldn’t be here right now]

Elsa absently answered the shivering Subaru.
Impaled and crucified, Elsa was certainly dead. She was dead. He was sure of it. But then what was she doing here? Or, was he in some nightmare where Elsa also had clones like Lewes?

But there was blood dripping from Elsa’s limbs, and the hole where her chest was pierced through was only bandaged by a strip of cloth torn from her cloak.
Seeing the dark battle wounds littering her body, there was no doubt that this was the same person as before. The only question was whether she was alive or dead.

[Subaru: You aren’t…… immortal, by any chance, are you……?]

[Elsa: Well that’s impossible. I just hang onto life a bit more shamelessly than others. Speaking of which, that girl was really something. I can count on my fingers how many times I’ve taken this much damage to my body]

[Subaru: …….What a coincidence. I can also count on my fingers how many times you’ve tortured me to death]

Subaru’s remark may have been ironic, but it was certainly not a joke. However, apparently taking it as such, Elsa smiled and did a quick spin on the spot. Then, holding her fingers to her lonely, half-severed braid, Elsa silently looked down at Subaru,

[Elsa: This girl here, I’ve never heard about her]

[Subaru: ……Then how about you pretend you didn’t see her and let it slide?]

Understanding the meaning behind her words, Subaru raised this suggestion to Elsa. Even if there wasn’t much hope of her accepting his advice, it would at least buy him some time for his limbs to start responding to his commands. It was a stupid conversation, but he needed the time.

[Elsa: She definitely wasn’t a part of my plans, so I guess it wouldn’t be a problem…… the spirit girl, the oversized maid… the little maid was kind of a bonus]

There were three targets. Beatrice, Frederica, and the tacked-on Petra.
Even with his consciousness glowing white-hot, Subaru sharpened his ears so as not to miss a single detail. The fact that Rem wasn’t marked as a target must have meant that whoever hired Elsa had forgotten Rem’s existence. He had previously thought that Frederica was the employer, but her death sent him back to the drawing board.

[Subaru: Come to think of it, you lied, didn’t you]

[Elsa: Lied?]

[Subaru: About Frederica. ――Back in the Forbidden Library, you talked like you only killed Petra, but how do you explain that?]

Subaru gestured toward Frederica, lying at the side of the hallway. Following his gaze, with an [Aah], Elsa nodded as if having understood. Then, she turned back to Subaru,

[Elsa: Hers wasn’t a beautiful death]

She made this paltry remark.
The murderer’s definition of beauty wasn’t something he’d want to understand. But after taking someone’s life, was this all she had to say? Rage churned inside him, but he knew it wouldn’t mean a thing in front of Elsa and the Kukri-knife in her hand.
As much as he wanted revenge, his body hadn’t recovered nearly enough to strike back.
Just like this, strewn on the floor in front of Elsa’s murdering blade, the outcome was already decided.

――So, this was as far as he would go.

Acknowledging his impending “Death”, Subaru ran the information he had gathered in this loop through his mind, alongside the new, confounding mysteries. And then, there was his exchange with Beatrice, and the final expression he saw on her face.

Why did the girl who kept telling Subaru “I want to die” and “Please kill me” shove him out of the way in the end? Promptly noticing that Elsa was alive, she pushed Subaru away. But just what was it supposed to mean when she did this? Subaru wasn’t stupid enough not to realize it.

[Elsa: I don’t like that look in your eyes]

[Subaru: Huh? ――Gbha!?]

With these words, the flat of her blade struck against his face once again.
His left cheekbone was shattered, and several cracked teeth fell onto the floor. Collapsing, another blow struck him from the opposite side. Intense pain raced through the bottom of his right eye, and, with a flash of her blade, his left ear was sheared off.
Then, switching between the edge and flat of her blade in turn, Elsa carved, crushed, and scourged Subaru’s body. Denying him the impending “Death” he had expected, she dealt him pain upon pain upon pain as blood and wails leaked from his mouth without end.

[Elsa: Struggle on until the last moment of your life. Otherwise, what is the point of living?]

[Subaru: ……as if I’d want to take life advice from you]

A strike. His forehead split open, and he felt the illusion of the contents of his skull spilling as he collapsed.
His consciousness grew distant at the solid impact, and Subaru could feel his body steadily being drawn into that frozen world.

So, this is where he dies.
Even if he lost consciousness now, he had no illusions about what falling unconscious in front the Bowel Hunter would entail.
This was the end. This time, this would be as far as he gets.

Next time, he won’t fail again. Next time, for sure.
The expression on your face at the very end. I won’t forget it, no matter what.

[Subaru: ――Beatrice]

In her final moments, the girl who had told him “Kill me”, had tears within her eyes.
With that sight seared into his mind, Subaru’s consciousness was slowly swallowed, into darkness, into nothing.

 

-=Chapter 63 End=-

 

 

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Next Chapter: https://translationchicken.com/2018/01/22/rezero-arc-4-chapter-64-a-world-that-was-falling-apart-part-1-3/

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I hope Betty and Subaru team up again soon ;-;

Let me know if you find typos ❤

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Chapter 64 Live Draft:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/re-zero-arc-4-64-16531972

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Next Chapter: https://translationchicken.com/2018/01/22/rezero-arc-4-chapter-64-a-world-that-was-falling-apart-part-1-3/