A Show Worth a Life

“Now, no sense talking on our feet! Have a seat! It pains me that I can't even prepare tea, but please forgive me that.”

Smiling, saying this as she guides me to a chair of the sitting set, is the gaunt woman, Nare.

At the way she acts, I felt a strong sense of something off.

“............You, aren't scared, of me?”

Karashia, Keranko, Fateu, Sarelka, Doj, and all the other servants.

All of them, every last one, when they saw me, cowered in fear.

<Because of that, our information gathering went nowhere, and we had a hard time of it, didn't we.>

And yet, this Nare shows no such sign, whatsoever.

She speaks to me with an easy air, as if greeting a friend she hadn't seen in a while.

“Hahaha! Scared of you? Why? You're an adorable, little furball, aren't you?”

Ah, she's a good one.

Dropping my guard, I accept Nare's invitation and sit down in a chair of the sitting set.

<Hey!!>

“Ah, that's right. Little furball, first, would you tell me your name?”

“Emi.”

“I see, so you're Emi? What a lovely name!”

<Emi! You're letting your guard down way too suddenly! This Nare is strange! Normally, people don't respond this cheerfully to a furball that just burst in after carving up the door! There's definitely something behind this!>

Hah! Good point!

She called me adorable, so I just couldn't help letting my guard down.

Is this the true head's, knack for winning people over......!?

<You're won over by just that exchange? If so, Emi, aren't you way too easy!?>

With Omake-sama pointing that out, I go back on alert.

While sitting in the chair, I apply 【Body Strengthening】 even more than usual and string 【Magic Slash Thread】 all around me.

Seeing me like this, Nare gives a wry smile in spite of herself.

“You don't have to be so, nervous. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. No, I have zero combat ability, you see. In the first place, I can't do anything, would be the more accurate way to put it? What is with your physical abilities? How can you destroy a demon sword with your bare hands?”

“......You saw that? From where? Answer.”

“Fufufu, from this room...... you see. I can ‘grasp everything’ that happens inside this mansion. From the moment you first leaped into the mansion, I've been peeking at your actions. I wanted to know what on earth you are, you see. I was observing you.”

......What does that mean!?

<She is likely the owner of that kind of ‘special ability’. I've seen a similar ‘special ability’ on an Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast before.>

“I wonder when it started...... before I knew it, I'd become able, to do this sort of thing. At any rate, rude as it was, I watched everything you did from here. Actually, I went to see you in person just once. Did you notice?”

“Eh?”

“It was when you ‘first’ entered this mansion.”

“‘First’? No way, you mean the loops? The very first, loop? When, did you come to see me?”

“Probably around the time Karashia was drained of all her magic power by the demon sword and died?”

That was the very, very end of that loop.

<Ah, come to think of it, we heard some noise at the very end! So that was the sound Nare made.>

“After all, you're my first guest in several hundred years...... an Irregular I've waited so long for. I wanted to see what kind of person you were, not through my ability, but actually with my own eyes! I must say, that getup wrapped in fur did have quite an impact. It surprised me!”

With that, Nare laughs merrily, her shoulders shaking.

Then, once she had laughed her fill, she opened with this.

“Now then, Emi. What did you think of the show that's been running in this mansion? Did you enjoy it, even a little?”

“............Show?”

“Yes! A slaughter show spun from messy family ties! Quite a stimulating spectacle, wouldn't you say? It's an ultra-long-running production that's been going on for several hundred years! The price: one of my lives per performance. You watched for free, so you're truly lucky.”

As she says this, Nare takes a knife from her pocket and taps its blade, against the side of her neck.

......This one.

This woman, Nare Luclees.

That she is trapped in the repeating loop, she is well aware.

She understands that her own death is the loop's trigger too, and, knowing that, she goes on repeating this stretch of time.

<Why, on earth......>

“Come, come, let me hear your impressions.”

Nare is laughing.

The knife nicked her neck, and a little red blood trickled out.

“......Tasteless, and boring.”

I answered honestly.

“Oh, is that so? At first, it really did my heart good! I watched it over and over, enjoying it immensely...... but well, I see, I see. It seems I'm not cut out to be a playwright after all! A self-indulgent work no one can relate to is truly the lowest of the low of the low! I have no choice, but to say so!”

Not looking the least bit offended, Nare says this, laughing boldly as ever.

“Nare, stop dying.”

“Hm?”

“If you die, time, loops. Right?”

“Exactly! You catch on fast! You're so smart! Good girl!”

“I, am sick of loops. Let me out, of this mansion.”

“......Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that.”

“......Haah?”

In spite of myself, I let out killing intent for real.

The murky black magic power pouring out of me makes the room shake.

The table of the sitting set, rattles.

In the window glass, a single crack, pishiri, appears.

“Hahahahahaha!!”

But even bathed in such killing intent at point-blank range, Nare doesn't change her attitude.

She laughs happily and claps her hands.

“What is that, Emi, that absurd amount of magic power!? Are you really human!? Wonderful, truly wonderful, Emi! You're truly wonderful!!”

“Screw that!! Hurry up and let me out of here!!!”

In my irritation, I grab Nare by the collar in spite of myself and pull her toward me.

“Hahaha, sorry, sorry. My apologies, Emi, calm down? Even if you kill me, time will just rewind again, you know?”

“............”

......Still glaring at her, I let go of Nare, whom I'd pulled close.

Straightening her rumpled clothes, Nare looks unruffled.

“My, my, sorry, Emi. For teasing you like that. Hahaha...... after all, you're my first guest. I got a little too happy myself.”

“............”

“Hey, Emi. You want to get out of this mansion. Right?”

I've been saying that for a while now.

Without hiding my displeasure, I give a small nod while leaking 【Intimidation】.

“Like I said, I can't do that.”

“............”

“No...... I thought I couldn't.”

“......What does that mean?”

Before I knew it, the smile had vanished from Nare's face, and she wore an utterly serious expression.

Nare sits up from where she'd sunk into the soft back of the chair and leans forward.

“It's impossible for me alone. But Emi, if your power is added to it...... it might just be possible.”

Having said that much, Nare got up from the chair and started walking toward the door leading to the hallway.

“......What?”

“Follow me, Emi. You want to get out of here, don't you? Let's cooperate...... for that will also lead to granting my wish.”

I hurriedly chase after Nare.

“Your wish? What is it?”

“............”

Nare, a smile pasted on her face, walks on.

She pushes open the door I carved up and broke, steps out, and makes her way down the strangely quiet hallway to the kotsu kotsu kotsu of her leather shoes.

“Before I tell you that. Emi...... I'd like you to listen a little, to my personal story, of sorts.”

When Emi gets truly angry, she's pretty scary.

But right now she looks like a furball.