Just now joining us, Julius?
Thanks for gracing us with your presence.
Please... You will tarnish my reputation.
But I am not the man called "Julius."
Let's see...
Perhaps I shall go by "Juli."
Even if it is temporary,
a man with a knight's status must never lower himself to the rank of mercenary.
The man you see here is not Julius Juukulius, the knight,
but a simple wanderer called Juli.
A proper household's code of chivalry is a real pain, huh?
What a joke.
It seems you're doing better than I expected.
How are you holding up?
Well, there were only some scratches!
A little spit fixed them right up!
What about you?
Been busy writing apologies for going all-out on an amateur?
I wasn't referring to that.
I was talking about your scars of victory from the witchfiend subjugation.
But I'm glad your wounds from before seem to have healed.
Thanks to our combined efforts, we managed to take down the White Whale.
But it's not over yet.
I have a score to settle with those Witch Cult bastards that picked a fight with me.
Once that's done, the White Whale's subjugation will be complete.
The Witch Cult is next!?
Can we trust allegations that the White Whale and the Witch Cult are connected?
We only came to serve as reinforcements for the White Whale's subjugation—
What was that for?
If you can't believe him,
then you just need to believe me!
I'd prefer it if you believed me, though.
I don't like to think about it,
but I've run up against the Witch Cult before.
I learned it then.
Didn't you look into that, Old Man Wil?
I would not term it definitive evidence,
but the distributions of Whale appearances and Cult activities
coincided in several respects.
That makes it doubly credible!
On that note,
we're going to head for the Mathers domain.
The Witch Cult is hiding in the forest there.
The way we defeat them is as simple as it gets.
Raid them before they can read our movements,
and crush them!
Is there a way to protect the villagers?
I asked Anastasia-san and Russell-san
to talk to the merchants along the highway.
Under the condition that Margrave Mathers buys their cargo at asking prices,
they'll ask the merchants to evacuate the Arlam villagers and Roswaal mansion residents.
And a messenger from Crusch-san's household
is headed for the mansion with a handwritten letter.
There will be chaos if we don't notify Emilia and the rest about the alliance and such.
Sounds like we're all ready.
Yeah!
We have never enjoyed such an advantage in a battle with the Witch Cult.
Yeah.
With Julius and his crew, we don't have to worry about being outnumbered.
I would like to offer one correction.
My name is Juli.
Please take care to use it.
Save the role-playing for situations where it actually matters!
The battle with the White Whale was so tough, I thought I'd die.
Some of us did die.
Others vanished, never to return.
Let's get ourselves a decisive victory without losing anyone here.
Let's all return home alive!
So, you really pulled out a win?
Huh?
The subjugation of the White Whale
was a long-standing desire of the Imperial Knights.
It seems I owe you my thanks.
You don't have to force it.
For putting an end to a calamity that all nations ignored for far too long,
I thank you.
I'm...
grateful to you too.
For coming to back us up.
Even after what happened.
About that, I was...
Oh, damn it! Crap!
I know, okay!? I know all too well now!
It was my fault.
Sorry. I... I apologize.
I apologize as well.
I cannot take back my words and actions,
but I apologize, from the bottom of my heart, for belittling you.
I'm sorry, but...
I hate your guts.
I feel bad for what happened, and I'm grateful you're here.
But I still hate your guts.
Seriously, I hate you from the deepest, darkest depths of my heart!
That is fine.
I have no intention of befriending you, either.
All right, as I say every time, let's get this fight started.
Bring it on, Fate!
You must be exhausted, Lia.
You should rest a bit.
No.
I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep.
What about you? Aren't you tired?
I'm fine.
The forest barrier is all fixed up too.
You don't have to worry about anything!
Yeah.
But...
This feels like the time
I found a cockroach in the corner of a quiet room.
You were drawn to the smell, huh?
Perfect cockroach bait...
Do I really smell that bad?
Thanks for coming to meet me.
Sorry to drop this on you when you just got here,
but I'll talk things out with your boss.
So don't get in my way.
If they'd stuck around long enough for me to order them
to gather their stuff and go home, this would've been easier.
I have been waiting for you, believer in love.
I am a Sin Archbishop in the Witch Cult.
Archbishop of Sloth,
Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti, at your service.
I welcome you, beloved child, blessed with love.
Wonderful!
Hey.
I really appreciate the unexpected welcome.
But I'm not sure I really feel this "love" you keep bringing up.
It always begins suddenly.
Everyone, on a certain day,
realizes that they are loved.
They feel the love!
The love! The love! The love! The love! The love! The love! The love!
Um, and what am I supposed to do now?
Ah, the rich scent of the witch's love...
You wouldn't happen to be Pride, would you?
Of the six Sin Archbishops,
only Pride's seat remains vacant.
You have
received the Gospel, haven't you?
The Gospel?
My brain
trembles!
Presentation of the Gospel, proof of love...
Proof! Proof! Proof! Proof!
Huh?
My Gospel has no account of you.
That book is the Gospel?
Then why did you appear here?
Why visit here?
What fortune are you here to deliver!?
Oh! So that's the Gospel!
I see, I see...
I understand, I understand.
You should have just said so.
Aw, darn it! I'm sorry!
What?
My Gospel is, well, you know...
I used it as a coaster, and it got messy.
So I threw it out.
Proof of love!
Authority of Sloth: Unseen Hand!
What?
It's just an "unseen hand," right?
So if I can see it, I can evade it!
You can see my Unseen Hand!?
Okay, I'm just about done buying time!
Prepare to be buried alive!
Suffer, as you regret the things you've done!
How... How could this be?
My fingers, so cruelly, so mercilessly,
so chaotically, so arbitrarily, so artlessly, so meaninglessly...
My brain... My brain trembles!
Yikes, that guy's kinda scary.
I think all the Witch Cult members are like that.
Yes, of course...
Fine... Fine.
I understand. Let's do this. I'm ready to do this.
The time has come to learn which of us is worthy of her love!
Her love! Yes, her love!
Sorry to interrupt your fun, but...
—ove?
I have someone else lined up to take you on!
I-It's over... Right?
He's very much dead!
The capital's most powerful healer guarantees it.
I see...
Wilhelm-san, I'm sorry I asked something so unreasonable of you.
Was it unreasonable?
Isn't cutting someone down without warning, from behind,
the worst thing a knight can do?
Chivalry is becoming a thing of the past.
You need not concern yourself with that.
Hmm... Doesn't look like he's carrying anything useful.
You sure are ransacking his corpse like it's the obvious thing to do, shorty.
I'm not shorty. I'm Tivey.
I think it's our right to search out the spoils of battle.
What is this?
I think it's the book that Betelgeuse called a "Gospel."
Eep! This is a Gospel!?
Oh, no! I touched it!
I can't read it...
Ferris, can you read this?
Whoa, nyo way! Don't point that thing at me!
And don't do something as stupid as trying to read a Gospel!
Is it that dangerous?
The Gospel is the proof that one belongs to the Witch Cult.
They're basically their sacred texts.
Sacred texts?
Rumors say one is delivered to anyone with the potential to join the cult.
And once a person gets it... Imagine that.
They're nyow a devout member of the Witch Cult.
How shady can you get?
Well, I guess I'll take this with me.
If I can decipher it, maybe I can figure out what the Witch Cult really is.
Hey, hey, we've butchered the enemies here,
so shouldn't we go make sure the others have butchered their enemies too?
You know, as adorable as you look,
you say some pretty disturbing things.
Aw, I'm adorable? You're makin' me blush!
Then the subordinates that Betelgeuse called "fingers" number ten, in total?
I think one of them is pinned under there.
Ten minus one is nine!
So nine are left!
Then, shall we go?
But he really is dead, right?
He won't come back the second we look away, right?
Fine... If you're that worried, we'll make sure.
We crushed two fingers here.
A few of the cultists were skilled, but they posed no real threat.
Driving them off, we made no error.
I'm glad it went well for you guys too.
I'll take that as a sign that your news is good as well?
Yep, we took out Betelgeuse!
And since this guy is such a worrywart,
we blasted him to bits with one more "kaboom" after we killed him!
All to bits!
Then, that leaves the simple task of mopping up the remnants, huh?
We'd better hurry and take care of 'em before my lady turns into an old granny.
Oh, that was my best joke, y'know!
We rendezvous soon with the dragon carriages you arranged.
Let us eliminate the remaining fingers and greet our victory together.
Okay, Subaru-kyun, time for the bait.
Put out that smell!
Breathe in...
And out...
And out... And out... And out...
Hey, hang on! Don't be crazy!
So I guess...
Once this is all done, we'll go back to being friend and foe.
How confident of you to worry about what is yet to come.
Well, sorry.
It's going almost too well, so I may have lowered my guard.
Get down!
What is this?
What's goin' on!?
The Unseen Hand...
Betelgeuse should be dead!
So who's—
Subaru-dono!
Damn it!
Ah!
My brain... trembles...
Who are you?
Wh-Who the hell are you?
Are you Betelgeuse's...
Finger, yes!
Let me go...
I am a finger,
one who reciprocates love.
A faithful, diligent disciple who will carry out
the Ordeal, following the guidance of love!
A copy?
A replica of... the original Betelgeuse?
If so, this couldn't... possibly get any worse.
Sniff, sniff.
The love that hangs from you does not compare to that of a mere follower.
It is equal to that of a Sin Archbishop.
It is exceedingly
displeasing, dissatisfying, disagreeable, discomforting, disproportionate, discordant!
But that is the proof that you are Pride!
Don't make me keep saying it...
I'm not even close to Pride.
I've never gotten a free book, even as a membership perk!
My! Are you being stubborn?
Still, soon enough, you will quite readily...
The Gospel...
The guidance of my love!
The Gospel that allows me, though inexperienced, to return love!
It isn't with me now!
Was it you?
You? You? You? You? You? You? You? You!?
Did you steal it!?
Wha...
A spirit?
A spirit!
Spirit! Spirit! Spirit!
Spirit!
Damn it.
Is that all you can do?
If so...
I'm dismayed. Disappointed. Dejected.
Are you two slothful!?
My life is spilling out...
My blood is running dry.
My diligent pulse, my life's support,
is stopping... disappearing.
Ah, my brain... trembl—
The first Sloth we defeated was a double,
and this was the real one?
No,
this may not be a matter of which is real.
You mean that there may be more than one Sin Archbishop of Sloth?
Either that...
Or all hundred followers, including the fingers, are the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.
I dragged you all into this.
If I'd realized it sooner, I could have avoided this.
I knew what kind of power it was, so I...
Subaru-dono.
I am sure that many thoughts are running through your mind right now.
And I am certain none are half-hearted.
But while it may be inelegant of me, I must say this.
Fight!
Even if you have regrets,
even if you have remorse, you must fight.
If you have made the decision for yourself to fight, to struggle,
then fight with all you have.
Do not give up for one second, one moment, or one instant.
Cling greedily to the victory you have within your sight.
If you can still stand, if your fingers still move,
if all your teeth have not broken.
Stand and fight.
You must fight.
You're telling me to get stronger?
No.
I am telling you to be strong.
Ready to go?
Yeah, let's go.
Lend me your wisdom and strength!
We're gonna start evacuating the mansion and village!
Don't waste a single second!
Right now,
the Witch Cult still hasn't noticed that the plain is wide open.
We can get Emilia and the others in carriages, and get them to safety in plain sight.
With Emilia-sama and the others safe, that's one less weight on our mind.
So we can focus on subjugating the Witch Cult.
Fighting isn't easy when you know you have a weak point!
Talk about hitting close to home...
But you're exactly right.
While I'm at it, let me say one more thing.
Subaru-kyun, you should really make up with Julius soon.
Soon? We already reconciled after our fight.
You didn't see?
That was just for the time being, right?
You still subconsciously harbor resentment.
You can rely on Julius.
But I admit he is a bit unapproachable and incomprehensible.
Go on, hurry up.
Okay, fine!
Uh...
So, hey, there's something I wanted to say to you...
A Flash of Sloth
You are...
truly lazy, aren't you?
Lazy you say? Well put on something new.
How do you understand obedience at all?
You are still wondering about that?!
In the morning you must be up and ready for duty after an hour...
and then you better work till after midnight!
It's expected of you to spend the entire time at work?
Yes!
Your schedule should be packed to the brim!
To hell with the extra hours, give us our hard-earned money!
Let's just forget all about extra hours and have a glorious time of obedience everybody,
in order for us all to receive the love of the gospel!
Cutthroat!
Next time: Nefarious Sloth
There is nothing more beautiful than complete obedience.