A Random in Re:Zero

"I can't believe it... Julius must be devastated."

Emilia covered her mouth, shocked by the news. My reaction was very different from hers.

"Ha ha ha..."

Because of me, a royal candidate had died. She was one of the most relevant characters not only in the plot, but in this world.

Covering my face with one hand, I laughed at my own stupidity.

"I screwed up too badly."

Of course, Emilia had no idea what was going through my head when I acted the way I did upon learning of Anastasia Hoshin's death. Her eyebrows raised in response.

"Leandro? Why are you laughing?" The half-elf asked, perhaps afraid I'd be happy about it.

"He's nooot laughing because he doesn't care or becaaause it amuses him, Lady Emilia. Everyone has their own way of processing this maaatter of death."

Surprisingly, Roswaal stood up for me, his playful tone restored. Perhaps he did so because this loop was already doomed. I wasn't sure if that was the reason, but I didn't think too deeply about it.

I raised my head and looked at him.

"Do you know how it happened?"

Roswaal raised an eyebrow, looking back at me as if I were the culprit... In fact, in a way I was, and he knew it.

"I heard she was killed the same way as Russell Fellow. There were several puncture holes in her body."

"Several? But there should only be one bullet left... It shouldn't be possible unless..."

Roswaal cut off my train of thought with a fairly solid conjecture.

"Everything points to a serial killer, and it seems he's going after the most influential merchants in the royal capital."

"But the knights should be able to catch him, right?" Emilia clasped her hands to her chest as if praying for it.

Roswaal shook his head, looking almost sad.

"I'm afraid that even if they do, the damage has already been done. Russell Fellow and Anastasia Hoshin were the bigwigs in the local business. If this was a ploy by some ambitious merchant to climb the ladder or simply get rid of the competition, then they've gotten what they wanted and won't do anything flashy again."

All those words felt like daggers stabbing into my chest, increasing my guilt. At the same time, anger began to boil over again.

"Son of a bitch, you're going to pay for this!"

I was determined to keep my promise and teach the killer a lesson. But first, I had to find him. The good news was that I could now identify him by sight.

Due to the gravity of the events and the implications of the assassination of a royal candidate, Roswaal decided to postpone the return trip slightly, and we headed to the crime scene, where Anastasia's body was still located.

Surrounding her were Julius, Ricardo, Tivey, Mimi, and Hetaro. Their expressions of suffering and despair intensified my remorse, but I didn't look away.

The three brothers wept openly, while Ricardo bit his lip in frustration. Meanwhile, Julius...

He looked terrible. Not only had he lost his beloved lady, he'd also lost his knightly pride and with it, his motivation to live; I could tell just by looking at him.

I noticed other royal candidates among the crowd. Crush had come with Felix and Wilhelm, standing quite close to the circle of knights surrounding Anastasia. Priscilla and Aldebaran, on the other hand, watched the scene from a more distant position.

Emilia stood beside me, looking distressed by the suffering of Anastasia's group.

"They're all very sad... Who was capable of doing something so cruel?"

I bit my lip, but didn't say anything. The half-elf seemed to want to comfort Julius and the others; she really was a good girl, with a big heart.

Suddenly, I spotted a single head of red hair among the crowd. I made my way to it and wasn't surprised to discover that its owner was Reinhard.

"Hey! Here!"

"Leandro?"

He approached without the slightest difficulty, as people seemed to automatically move aside to let him pass (even if they hadn't noticed him). I grimaced when I thought that might be one of his blessings.

"I know it's a bad time, but I think I have a lead on the killer."

"Really?" He was genuinely surprised to hear that. "But how?"

I had to pause for a few seconds to gather the courage I needed before saying my next words.

"Because I'm partly responsible for this. Or rather, I made it possible."

Fuck it. I didn't have to hide it if I was already determined to use the RBD to fix this. However, I first needed to find the killer or uncover more information about him so I could stop him without fail.

Reinhard's face completely transformed when I said that.

"You what?"

"I can't explain everything here. There are too many people."

He had a conflicted expression, but he nodded. Depending on what I said next, things could get better or even worse.

But I no longer cared about the consequences.

***

Now in a more private place, I told Reinhard everything about Nadir, the revolver, and the brothel, including the reason for the connection between Russell's and Anastasia's murders.

"So we have a supposed merchant armed with this 'revolver' that you say can kill even a knight if caught off guard..."

"Yeah, it's a shitty situation. But we already know he's a guy in his twenties, with short brown hair and red eyes. Just use that criterion to find him among the citizens, right?"

"Unless he left the royal capital." Reinhard pointed out.

"I don't think so. He's very confident, and he definitely won't want to leave the game now that a power vacuum has formed, as it's the best time to take the lead. We might even be able to identify him based solely on which merchant prospers the most from Russell and Anastasia's deaths."

"I'd rather catch him as quickly as possible. A person like that doesn't deserve to remain free for even a second longer." For the first time since I 'met' him, Reinhard was showing an intense emotion, which was anger. It made sense, as this hit close to home due to his friendship with Julius and his heroic morality.

"You're right... Try to be discreet, it wouldn't be good if he realized we were after him."

Reinhard nodded, but his leg was moving frantically. His anxiety was evident.

"I really appreciate you compiling this information."

Despite his words, his face didn't reflect gratitude: quite the opposite. I had literally made Russell and Anastasia's murder possible, as well as the capture of their killer.

I also made mass reproduction of the revolver possible, since if my calculations were correct, more experienced blacksmiths might be able to replicate it by reverse engineering.

In fact, that would explain how Anastasia died from multiple gunshot wounds. Perhaps the killer managed to obtain more bullets using the same method or something similar.

The Sword Saint's blue eyes continued to stare at me intently. I tried to pretend I didn't notice, but it was impossible. I clicked my tongue in frustration.

"... Just ask the damn question, Reinhard."

"Why did you want to create such a dangerous weapon, knowing it could fall into the wrong hands? You didn't even know that man when you gave him the design."

My cowardice and arrogance would be exposed with a proper explanation, but it was the least I could do. There was no more room for evasions or lies.

"Because I'm afraid. Because I know I'm not enough to defeat the enemies who will come. I'm terrified of all the pain, all the suffering they'll make me feel... I don't want to go through what he did."

"He? Who are you referring to?"

I blinked in surprise, Reinhard's confusion making me realize I had thought the end of my statement out loud.

"I can't seem to get the ghost of Subaru out of my head. How long am I going to keep comparing myself to him? I know I'm not a worthy protagonist, but it's no use dwelling on that thought."

"Leandro, are you okay?"

"... Hurry up and put that son of a bitch in a cell. I'll keep looking on my own."

Seeing that I didn't want to talk about my feelings, Reinhard gave up asking.

"I understand... Be careful."

He walked away, disappearing from my sight in the sea of people. I sighed and leaned against a wall. I still hadn't figured out how to end this loop, even if I managed to catch the killer.

"I have to die... So I can save them."

As I was thinking this, I heard a whistling sound. I turned my head toward the source of the sound and my eyes widened in fury. It was a strange man, a face I had never seen but had imagined before.

Short brown hair, red eyes, and a youthful appearance. The prostitute described him in broad strokes, so just like I had when I saw Diane, I noticed a fair number of details that hadn't been mentioned.

One of them was the sharp face and the wicked gaze of the killer. The very bold man was beckoning me with a mocking sneer.

"It's him!"

Without hesitation, I started running in his direction. I knew I was heading into a trap, but that wasn't the least of my worries at the moment.

I thought about shouting for Reinhard, but it didn't seem like a good idea. The assassin must have been eavesdropping on my conversation with him, and if he chose to reveal himself to me, it was most likely because he had a way to escape the Sword Saint.

"I won't let you get away!"

I pushed myself to the limit, concentrating mana in my legs to empower them. My running speed increased noticeably, and I began to close the gap.

When I figured I had it within reach, I jumped to catch it, but then...

"Ugh!" I crossed an empty space and fell to the ground with a crash. "What the fuck!?"

A second before I laid my hands on him, I saw the killer disappear like a mirage.

"Okay, we're far enough away now." Said a voice whose origin was not visible but sounded very close.

BANG!

There was a pop and suddenly my leg jerked with horrible pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Blood gushed from the bullet wound, but the killer didn't stop there.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

My arms and my other leg suffered the same fate, being pierced by other projectiles.

The pain made me want to roll on the floor, but I was unable to move my limbs due to the shock.

"You know, this wasn't supposed to be so hard. You made it complicated."

For a moment, the gunfire stopped. That didn't make me feel any better, as the pain from my wounds was stinging, burning, and tearing.

"No one could see me, no one could know it was me. How did you find out?"

"It was easy, because you're a fucking asshole!" I yelled at the voice. In response, I got shot again, one in the groin.

There's no way to do justice to the agonized scream that came out of my mouth at that moment. The pain was unbearable, and for the first time in my life, I wished for death to escape this torture.

An invisible force grabbed me by the collar of my uniform and lifted me up. My theory was confirmed when the assassin's figure appeared with an iridescent effect.

"I must congratulate you for cornering me to this point. You're the first to defeat my Divine Protection of Invisibility. Of course, that doesn't mean you can repeat the feat. Your detective game ends here."

It was ironic to die by the weapon I had brought into existence. Even if this idiot were invisible, he couldn't have gotten his hands on me so easily without the revolver.

"Do you have any last words?" He asked with a smile, feeling just as arrogant as I did.

"Yes... El Shamak!"

The magic separated the assassin's mind from his body, causing him to temporarily lose control. His grip loosened, and without wasting any time, I punched him in the face, sending him flying.

I retrieved the revolver and tried to fire, but there were no more bullets in the chamber. I cursed and threw it at my enemy's face, but missed, and the weapon slid away. He smiled and stood up, wiping the blood from his lip.

"You're going to fall..."

"THAT'S MY LINE!" I exclaimed, throwing punch after punch, but I was too weak and he dodged everything effortlessly.

I tried to shield myself from their attacks, but my efforts were useless. My strength was rapidly depleting, and casting a spell accelerated the process.

I was dying from bleeding.

"You're persistent, I admit it. However, even you must have noticed that you've already reached your limit. Your fate is sealed."

I was taken down with a simple one-two punch. To top it all off, my enemy stomped on me, laughing with delight at my cries of pain.

The world gradually darkened, and the pain began to subside until I couldn't feel it anymore. My body was numb, slowly shutting down.

With my last breath, I issued a warning that only I understood.

"Get ready for round two, you motherfucker..."