Glossary

• Out Of (convenience store)

Subaru: They said we’d be doing glossary explanations, and we start with a silly convenience store from my old world?

Emilia: What’s a… convenience store?

Subaru: It’s a handy little store with most things you need for everyday life lined up on the shelves. Out Of is a major chain with stores opened up all over the country. There were two of them within two hundred meters of my house, and it felt like they were eating into each other’s business. I understand the strategy of trying to be dominant, but isn’t that overdoing it?

Emilia: Um, I’m not really sure what you’re talking about, but I’m sure you’ve got it just right.

• Demihumans – Demihuman Species – Demihuman Tribes

Subaru: From the mental image I have, I’d think of those as non-human humanoid races, but is that about right?

Emilia: Mhmm, that’s more or less exactly it. Famous demihuman tribes include elves and dwarves. Giants and pygmies. The beastmen are divided into the beastmen tribes and the half-beastman tribes. When you include the half-blooded as well, there’s rea~lly lots of them.

Subaru: From a quick look at the capital, I’d have to say it felt like the humans were the most common. It looked like the demihumans and the humans were living together, but are there conflicts between the species now and then?

Emilia: There are different relations between the demihumans and the humans depending on the country, is what I’ve heard. They’re coexisting in Lugunica now, but it seems there was a civil war between the demihumans and the humans a little while ago. It affects me too, but…… I hope I can help reduce that sort of misunderstanding.

• Royal Selection (Choosing the Throne)

Subaru: Having the royal family’s bloodline wiped out really just stinks of a dangerous conspiracy or something.

Roswaal: They made sure to look into that ve~ry carefully, so there’s no mistake. Making it look like an illness…… is also a line of thought that was considered before coming to this conclusion. Everyone in the royal family truly passed away without any shady dealings behind it.

Subaru: That’s an extremely polite way to say you’re sure if it. ……Regardless, it’s thanks to that that Emilia-tan gets a try at it. And since it’s called a selection…

Roswaal: Well of cou~rse, there are other candidates as well. Every one of them is filled to the brim with a drive to make the throne their own. Aha~, this is going to be fun, isn’t it?

Subaru: At the very least, Emilia-tan and I feel nothing but unease over that smile on your face right now.

• The Royal Capital Lugunica

Subaru: The most important city in the Kingdom of Lugunica…… the largest city, and it also happens to be the place where I was first summoned.

Reinhard: The capital’s population is roughly three hundred thousand people. However, that’s only the number of permanent residents, and with the number of people entering and leaving the capital, taking a precise count is difficult.

Subaru: Incidentally, if you look at the entire Kingdom of Lugunica, around how many people live there?

Reinhard: The population of the entire country is said to be around five hundred thousand. However, this, too, is not a number that was accurately gathered by travelling to the different territories. It’s the sum of the numbers drawn from the lords of the various lands; however, due to the possibility that in some areas it’s been inflated for tax collection purposes, perhaps it’s not reliable.

Subaru: I wasn’t expecting to hear about the dark side of the capital here……

• Kadomon’s Fruit Store

Subaru: This store belongs to ‘Mister Save Point’. Since I get pulled back here for some reason when I “Return by Death”, when I think that maybe he was the starting point for “Return by Death”, it freaks me out a little.

Kadomon: Quit yer mumblin’. If yer not gonna buy an appa, get lost already.

• Emblem

Subaru: It’s a badge-like thing in the shape of a winged dragon that has a red jewel in its mouth.

Felt: That’s the one that I got asked to go steal, from the silver-haired girl. If things hadn’t gone south afterwards I could have traded it for holy gold coins…… Damn, I really messed up.

Subaru: But if you’d made that work, doing it would have been a crime against the royal family. It’s the qualification to participate in the Royal Selection, so all the guards in the capital would have been in a frenzy searching for it.

Felt: ……So that means it wasn’t gonna work out either way, then? Damn it all!

• The Forbidden Library

Subaru: There’s a painful rumor that this is what the little girl who’s a shut-in at the Roswaal mansion calls her room.

Beatrice: Do you want to be blown away, I suppose? Closed off from other spaces by Betty’s “Door Crossing”; that’s the Forbidden Library, you know. Connecting to only one of the doors in the mansion, the connected door is continually changing.

Subaru: And despite all that, I can find it pretty easily.

Beatrice: You’re just too odd, you know! Normally, it shouldn’t be that easy…… Ah, it’s infuriating, I suppose!

• Contracts

Subaru: If you don’t trust me, I don’t mind writing it down in a document. It can be used as evidence at the trial later.

Beatrice: Rather than putting it on paper, tie it with your soul. In this world, that’s how contracts are thought of, I suppose.

Subaru: Tying it with your soul sounds so cool. You tie yourself to it, is how you think of it, right?

Beatrice: Ignoring that and moving on, demihumans and beings related to magic view them seriously. With older races and spirits in particular, you can think of it as something that’s sure to come up, I suppose.

Subaru: They were saying that Emilia-tan and Puck are bound together by a contract or something, too.

Beatrice: And what a regrettable thing that is, you know. If only there wasn’t a contract between Bubby and that girl, I’d peel him away from her by force, and never let him leave my side, I suppose……

Subaru: What are you talking about all dreamily, you loli? Scary.

• Gate

Subaru: It’d be alright to think of this as an organ that magic users require to use magic, wouldn’t it?

Rem: Yes, although since it’s not something you can see with your eyes, perhaps the term ‘organ’ isn’t quite correct. It gathers in mana from the atmosphere, converts it into magic, and then releases it back out. That is its function.

Subaru: Superior magic users have more and larger gates. Roswaal is probably abnormal, though

Rem: As a magic user, Roswaal-sama has been blessed by the world. Nee-sama, Emilia-sama, and Rem are above average, and Subaru-kun is below average. No, well below average.

Subaru: We didn’t really need that comment about ‘well below’, did we!? I get it already; you don’t have to say it out loud!

• Master Swordsman

Subaru: From what I’ve heard, it’s a really grandiose title, and it really resonates with my hyperactive imagination.

Reinhard: I’m honored that you’ve taken a liking to it, but for me personally, it feels like I’m still far too inexperienced to bear the title. The title of Master Swordsman that’s been handed down from one generation to the next, that is.

Subaru: I remember you cutting a building and the sky in half, but that’s still not enough? Were the Master Swordsmen of history nothing but monsters like that?

Reinhard: It’s said that the first Master Swordsman used only a single sword when facing off with a dragon. That sword has been passed down to me as well, but frustratingly, I’m not able to draw it at will. When not even a sword will recognize me as such, isn’t it presumptuous to call myself the Master Swordsman?

Subaru: Well, the way I see it, you can only think of it as the sword asking too much.

• Satella

Subaru: Um, so I’m pretty sure they said she’s the “Witch of Envy”…

Emilia: I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk about this.

Beatrice: Even speaking the name of the abominable witch is offensive, I suppose.

Rem: Please don’t disappoint Rem by speaking of it so lightly.

Ram: It’s probably meaningless to expect that kind of delicacy from Barusu, though.

Subaru: What’s with everyone ganging up on me…

• Return by Death

Subaru: Just like it says, it’s the power to rewind time by dying, returning to a specific point and redoing the world.

Ram: Indeed Barusu, your helplessness has finally spread through your entire body, hasn’t it.

Subaru: Will you quit patting me on the shoulder with a sad face like you’re trying to console me!? I can talk about it since this is sort of a meta discussion, but even I don’t know why I have this ability! It would have been so nice to get some kind of simple cheat that made me super-strong!

Ram: Be that as it may, the way that your hasty judgement won’t allow you to see anything but a dim future is really the thing that makes you a Barusu, Barusu. All hail “Return by Death”, indeed.

Subaru: Damn it, I can’t deny that…… just you wait. One day, the promise of my future will triumph!

• The Great Waterfall

Subaru: Further east beyond the furthest east; I was told that’s the sort of phrase that makes people snicker at you.

Puck: The Great Waterfall, you see, is the waterfall that falls from the edge of the world. At the end of the continent, when you go to the brink of the world, the sea is cut off and there’s a waterfall that never ends. It’s the end of this world, and if you were to fall in there, not even the spirits know where you would disappear to.

Subaru: That’s pretty scary. I get it. That’s why people laugh at you when you say you come from beyond the Great Waterfall. That Reinhard jerk, I guess he was actually making fun of me after all…… 

Puck: It’s even said that only the dragons know what lies beyond the Great Waterfall, after all. Although they clearly exist, dragons don’t have any lairs, and it’s said that they have a paradise all to themselves on the other side of the waterfall, and occasionally, they come to this continent to stretch their wings.

Subaru: Just like it says, it’s a vacation to spread your wings; I can’t put it very well, don’t laugh!

• Loothouse

Subaru: It’s where all the items gathered by the capital’s light-fingered good-for-nothings are collected, in a good-for-nothing cave.

Rom: Don’t put it like that; you’re making it sound bad. It’s a good-for-nothing central office.

Subaru: Changing what you call it doesn’t change what it is! How long have you been involved in that kind of work?

Rom: It’s been since I came to live at the capital, so…… I guess it’s been fourteen, fifteen years, then? It’s been quite a while, even for me…… I probably won’t be able to wander around that area again for a while.

Subaru: Please take this opportunity to look for an honest job. It’d probably help get Felt’s light-fingered habits under control.

Rom: You talk a lot for someone who knows nothing……

• The Natsuki Family

Subaru: Pops and mom and me, a family of three. Since the eldest son, me, was transported here, I guess the family tree ends there.

Emilia: D… don’t say such sad things. Come now, Subaru, maybe you’ll have a new little brother or little sister born, right?

Subaru: That’s not even a joke, and it scares me. Once they’ve realized I’m gone, it seems like they’d feel free to start producing siblings for me, and it scares me. I don’t want to imagine my parents having that kind of plan!

Emilia: But I’m sure they’re worried about you. ……I hope you’ll be able to set their minds at ease soon.

Subaru: ……I don’t know about that. Maybe things are actually more comfortable for them without me around.

Emilia: Subaru……

Subaru: There’s no way that’s true. No one should know that better than I do.

• Bubby

Beatrice: Bubby is wonderful…… Bubby’s fluffy fur has Betty’s heart in a grip that will never let go, I suppose. He’s so furry it’s a sin, you know……

Puck: Hehe, that’s because my fur never misses being brushed daily by Lia’s own hand. I always want to look my best when I’m out in public; it’s expressing that, myep.

Beatrice: Oh Bubby, you’re just too much, I suppose…… Betty is all aflutter, you know.

Puck: Honestly, Betty, you really are someone who enjoys being pampered.

Subaru: You’re getting off-track right from the start, you flirters! This is the start of the second half of the glossary, right!?

• Half-elf

Subaru: A mixture of elf and human blood…… that’s the right idea, isn’t it? I was wondering, are there any halves from species other than humans and elves?

Emilia: Um, hmm…… I wonder. I’m not really sure, but normally when people say half, they’re talking about a child born from a human and an elf. And as for their numbers, there’s almost none of them.

Subaru: As far as the circumstances around that go, it feels like they’re probably complicated in a lot of ways.

Emilia: They’re not really… thought well of. That’s why having someone treat me like you do, Subaru, is rea~lly precious and…. mhmm, it saves me.

Subaru: If my ignorance can be useful to you off-screen, I couldn’t hope for anything more.

• Bowel Hunter

Subaru: ……Is this a topic that we really need to dig into deeply?

Elsa: It’s alright if you don’t want to worry about it. I don’t think that I’m well understood, or that I would want to be, after all.

Subaru: This is the nickname for the person who’s standing proudly atop my kill counter. Even speaking about it from outside the story, it sort of feels like my sliced guts are aching.

Elsa: I’m certainly hoping to get a good look at them next time, so please take good care of your guts.

Subaru: This is the least happy I’ve been to have someone speak kindly to me in my entire life.

• Shut-In

Subaru: Day and night, in order to defend the peace of mind of the family who comes home tired out, these warriors sacrifice their own futures and fight on. Their only solace comes from moments spent with their loves on the other side of the monitor.

Emilia: Somehow, it sounds like a re~ally difficult job…… Were you a shut-in as well, Subaru?

Subaru: *Ahem*

Emilia: ? Hmm? Did I say something wrong?

• Magic Stone

Subaru: This refers to rocks that accumulate mana, that contain a bit of magical power…… I think. For heating water in the bathing room, and as tools in the kitchen, it seems they’re used quite frequently.

Ram: They’re closely tied into the foundations of life, indeed. Magic stones themselves are clumps of pure, colorless mana, but by adding properties to it from the outside, you can make it useful in various ways. Like the magic lights that illuminate the night in the capital, there are many settings where they are essential. It’s just……

Subaru: It’s fine for the capital and urban areas, but they’re not able to be supplied to the countryside and the corners of the nation, I take it? Well, even in the slums, I didn’t see anything along these lines; it’s not hard to imagine that that sort of dilemma would come up.

Reinhard: It’s unpleasant that the only thing I can say is I wish it was better. I’m always wishing that I was able to do more for the places that people live. …I’m ashamed of my inability to do enough.

• Mabeasts

Subaru: Ah, so you do have this sort of thing. Creatures that are treated this way, sort of like monsters.

Roswaal: When you say monsters…… I’m no~t really su~re what you mean, but mabeasts are ge~nerally thought of as artificial life that is instinctively fixated on bringing harm to people.

Subaru: Artificial life… you mean the skills to create life and such exist in this world!?

Roswaal: Maybe I misspoke a li~ttle. I did say artificial, but they weren’t brought forth by people. They were given birth by none other than the witch. Life that was created by the hand of the witch, to bring harm to people, is what we refer to as mabeasts. Their forms are close to beasts that already exist, bu~t every mabeast has a horn, so it’s easy to be sure what you’re looking at. That’s setting aside a few exceptions, of cou~rse.

Subaru: The witch…… the witch, huh. I guess you’re not going to tell me the details of that?

Roswaal: That carries over into the next part of the glossary, doe~sn’t it?

• Witches

Subaru: I got beat up pretty good last time when we were talking about the “Witch of Envy”.

Puck: I think you might say that the witch is the sort of enemy of humanity that goes down in the history books. Generally, when you say witch, it means the “Witch of Envy”, but to someone familiar with the old world like me, there were six other witches as well. If you asked if I knew them…… well, I guess it’s sort of like I didn’t.

Subaru: I read a little in passing about the “Witch of Envy” in a fairy tale. She’s universally recognized as an object of fear by this world, isn’t she. They’re still really afraid of her, aren’t they?

Puck: She didn’t entirely perish, after all. In a shrine in eastern Lugunica, near the Great Waterfall, the “Witch of Envy” is sealed even now. So, the time when everyone can rest peacefully really hasn’t come.

Subaru: Wow, that’s…… one long-lived witch.

• The Witch Cult

Subaru: A word that’s been applied to insane, baseless rumors. As for what it means…… I think I can give a vague guess.

Rem: Is that so? Please explain.

Subaru: It’s because just before this, everyone was saying all kinds of bad things about mabeasts and the witch. The witch cult has gotta be some kinda group that reveres the witch or something. From the way you overreacted, Rem, I can tell that they’re a malicious, famous bunch.

Rem: For you to know that much…… you really must be involved with them, Subaru-kun……

Subaru: That conclusion leads to a bad end no matter what I say, so cut it out! This is just the sort of thing anyone could figure out!

• Mana

Subaru: You hear it a lot in games and such, the name that’s always used for a mysterious, invisible particle.

Beatrice: I’m not sure what you’re going on about all of a sudden, but I’ll ignore it and move ahead, I suppose. Mana is the basic element of magical power, that’s mixed into the atmosphere…… more or less, you know. It’s indispensable for using magic, for spirits to maintain their existence, and for living things to survive, I suppose.

Subaru: I kind of get why spirits would need it, but even humans and the like would die without it?

Beatrice: If food and sleep are necessary power sources to maintain the body, then mana is a necessary power source to satisfy the soul, you know. If either of them is depleted, it’s impossible to maintain life, I suppose. Having said that, for a human to lose enough mana that they would die of weakness is not something you see at all often, you know.

Subaru: That totally felt like a flag being raised right there!

• Magic

Subaru: Here it is, fantasy! It’s just not the same without it!

Rem: It’s good that you’re enthused about it, but you have no talent at using magic, Subaru-kun. Maybe it’s the sort of wistful thing where you long for something you can never have, though.

Ram: Through a gate, the mana that fills the atmosphere is pulled into one’s body. Then, by means of an incantation, the mana that was taken in is changed and given properties, and activated by expelling it back out of the gate – that summarizes the basics of magic in this world.

Subaru: There are six different affinities; they’re fire, water, wind, earth, shadow, and light, wasn’t it? No matter what kind of effect the magic produces, they can be generally classified into one of these six, I heard.

Rem: Rem is water, nee-sama is wind. Subaru-kun is shadow, and so on; each affinity has different things it’s particularly good at. When you reach the level of Roswaal-sama, you have things like being as suited as possible to all the affinities. Emilia-sama is fire, but the conditions for spirit arts users are a bit different.

Ram: That concludes our explanation of magic that’s simple enough for both Barusu and a dog to understand.

Subaru: Are the two of you suffering from some kind of disease where you’ll die if you don’t make me the butt of a joke?

• Metia

Subaru: And unexpectedly, it’s an explosive third magic-related item in a row! Here at the end, we present the metia.

Felt: And I’d like to lead off by saying that they can be sold for ridiculously high prices; the one you used to negotiate with me is like that, too. From what Old Man Rom says, it seems they’re super-rare.

Old Man Rom: Indeed, because an individual’s background and training are crucial to magic. A metia that allows you to ignore all that, and produce the same sort of effect as magic, is something that’s prized. It’s also said that, aside from the ones that they know how to produce, creating new ones is impossible.

Subaru: In the worldview here, they’re ancient weapons…… or that’s how they’re treated, I guess. One might be miraculously unearthed now and then; that’s the sort of rarity we’re talking about.

Old Man Rom: Metia are generally discovered in excavations, that much is a fact. It seems that the original meaning of metia is “an impossible gift”. With their utility and rarity, it’s a fact that they’re exchanged for high values anywhere.

Felt: Well, setting aside the behind-the-scenes stuff, the way that they can be sold for a lot is enough for me. I’d love to somehow or other find another one, and warm up my wallet.

Subaru: You’re an incurably romantic brat, aren’t ya……

• Appa

Subaru: The fruit of wisdom that Adam and Eve ate, and the reason they were driven from the garden of Eden. It gave the two of them, who knew nothing, the power to think, and brought down the displeasure of God upon them…… the apple is the proof of that sin. This is the name of an exceedingly similar fruit. Now that I think about it, I never did realize my goal of obtaining one.

Kadomon: Yer a really noisy kid, ain’tcha. If yer not gonna buy one, get outta my face already.

Subaru: Alright, alright. ……Next time for sure, I’ll buy one of your appas, pops.

• Loop

Subaru: So, this is how you refer to the collection of time-reversal concepts, including the Return by Death that’s wrapped around my situation.

Emilia: You still don’t know why you’re able to return back through time, do you, Subaru?

Subaru: At this point, all that’s been revealed is the condition for activating the loop. Who’s doing it, what their goal is, what they want me to do…… I know nothing more than when I first got dropped here.

Emilia: When you hear something like ‘He can come back after he dies’, it sounds like something you’d think was a good thing……

Subaru: The painful memories still hurt, and I’m the only one who remembers what happened in that length of time, not to mention that dying itself leaves you feeling a sense of loss…… but, well, it wasn’t all bad stuff.

Emilia: ……Subaru.

Subaru: There’s times when, rather than having some worthless power, it’s more precious to maybe have a chance to take back something that you couldn’t otherwise undo. That must be the kind of power that I have.

Emilia: Mhmm…… I can’t say it in the main story, but I rea~lly rely on you.

Subaru: Yeah, count on me. …Even if you do forget, I’ll remember it, after all.