The carriage gently rolled to a stop just outside the mansion. Unprompted, Ram opened the door and stepped out. Emilia followed her out, exiting the carriage with next to no grace. Yogiri got up and walked to the door, where Ram promptly closed it.
Yogiri, slightly exasperated, opened the door, and stepped out of the carriage.
"Ram, don't be rude to Takatou-sama, he's a guest at the mansion now, remember?"
Emilia gently reminded Ram of her duties.
"Ah—Emilia-sama, I was simply afraid dear guest would assault me when he stepped out."
Emilia pouted.
"Jeez… Ram, be a little nicer to Takatou-sama, he's a good boy."
"Emilia-sama, is it not strange to call him a good boy while also referring to him as Takatou-sama?"
"W-Well… I guess—"
"Incidentally, Emilia-sama, what has this brutish perverted dear guest of ours done to deserve being called Takatou-sama by you?"
"Ah… That is… He…"
Emilia feigned embarrassment to save herself from having to explain why she was so reverent of him.
"Hey, Ram-san, did I do something to upset you?"
"Yes, dear guest, you were born."
"You know, they say pranksters play pranks to get people to pay attention to them because they're lonely."
"Jeez, that's enough, you two. Let's go inside already."
"As you wish, Emilia-sama."
Ram began walking toward the mansion, with Emilia and Yogiri trailing behind her.
Yogiri turned to Emilia, having made a sudden realization.
"Come to think of it, who was driving the carriage?"
"Hm? Now that you mention it…"
Emilia turned around and looked at the carriage, but nobody was there.
When Yogiri woke up, he finally got a good look at his room, with sunlight pouring in. It was a very ornamental European looking room, which reminded him of a French palace. There were windows to his right that were stained pink and blue, as well as a painting above a mantle that housed two flowers— one pink and one blue.
Having never bothered changing out of his clothes, he woke up in his school uniform, which was now reduced to a white shirt, a tie, and a pair of pants and shoes. He had left his jacket back with Rom, because he thought that the giant clearly needed money, what with the state his home was in. He still felt a bit guilty about it, even though he had only been defending himself.
Yogiri sat up and slid off the side of the bed, before walking out of the door of his room. He found himself in a warmly painted hallway. There were portraits on either side all the way down the hallway, with the occasional table and an ornamental flower atop it. He decided he would just walk to the right, since he had no idea where he was going.
As Yogiri walked down the hall, he noticed something strange. The flowers and portraits were repeating every so often down the hall.
Being someone that played video games fairly often, Yogiri comprehended the situation well enough.
"Hm… So it's like a looping hallway.."
The trick he had always used was to just pick a random door until he got the right one.
As Yogiri opened a door he had randomly chosen, he found, on the other side, a massive library.
It was probably the largest library he had ever seen, in fact, it made no sense that such a library, containing bookshelves extending far beyond where the mansion itself would normally end, could even fit in the space it was located.
He turned his gaze every which way, enamored by the splendor of the library he found himself in, and in the midst of doing so, a childlike female voice called to him.
"Is it not rude to ignore a lady when she is right in front of you, I wonder?"
She sounded haughty and full of herself. Yogiri shifted his gaze from the sea of books to the voice, and saw the girl in question.
She had a porcelain pale doll-like face, with golden hair that curled off like a drill on either side, pointing downward. She was wearing a pink and white dress with frills all over, and as well, she was wearing long socks that were striped dark and light magenta.
Yogiri recognized the feeling he got from this girl as being akin to the feeling he got from the Enju droids in his old home. She definitely isn't what she looks to be.
"Would you stop staring at Betty, I wonder? It is quite rude."
The girl, calling herself Betty, looked slightly angry.
"Sorry."
"If you realize your mistake, all is forgiven, I suppose."
Betty had clearly not expected him to apologize so honestly, but quickly recovered.
"Just how did you get in here, I wonder? Betty thought that it would be a bigger challenge for you."
"I just guessed a random door."
Beatrice twisted her mouth into a sneer, and let out a haughty hmph
"Never mind, I suppose. Just be glad that you were lucky enough to pick the right door, and leave. Betty has other things to do besides entertaining someone like you."
"But didn't the looping hallway outside intentionally lead me here?"
"You are truly testing Betty's patience, I suppose. Did I not say to leave, I wonder?"
"Could you at least tell me your name?"
"Betty is Beatrice. Now leave."
Her cute, doll-like face was twisted into a frightening scowl.
Yogiri turned to leave, but—
Beatrice sniffed the air, and then spoke.
"Wait, I suppose."
Yogiri stopped, and turned towards her.
"For what."
"Can you just stand still, I wonder?"
Yogiri stood still as asked, and Beatrice approached him, one hand raised with her palm facing him. The gesture felt threatening.
She got close up to him and put her hand on his stomach.
Suddenly, Beatrice scrambled back from Yogiri. She was paler than before and sweating profusely. Her eyes were widened and her pupils shaking like pinballs.
"L-leave. Leave n-now, I s-suppose."
Yogiri turned and opened the door, before walking out it.
Those eyes…
The door slammed shut.
"Why would mother want me to contract with that…?"
The hallway seemed to cease looping after that prior incident with the short-tempered short-statured loli; Beatrice. Yogiri could see the end of the hallway now.
"It's pretty strange to intentionally lead people to your room and then kick them out as soon as they come in…"
And so Yogiri walked to the end of the hallway and down the stairs, unsure what to do.
He had been informed last night that the head of the household—Roswaal L. Mathers—was out on business. He likely wouldn't be back until later today.
Yogiri decided to just go down stairs, find the kitchen, and make breakfast.
Nearly an hour later, after a lot of searching, Yogiri finally found the kitchen and began to work. He took stock of the ingredients available, and decided he would make a very basic western style breakfast, with beans, pork, and potatoes.
While he worked, he noticed an intense gaze on him from the doorway to the kitchen. Although, there was no danger, so Yogiri decided to just ignore it. It was probably some of the maidstaff, and if they didn't want him to cook he wouldn't.
Some time later, he was done cooking. He hadn't seen that person that was staring at him, which was odd, but it probably didn't matter.
Yogiri decided to take his food into the dining room to eat.
When he entered, he saw someone that looked remarkably like Ram, but had blue hair and a bigger chest. Yogiri thought she definitely deserved to wear a maid outfit with an open top like that.
Yogiri walked over to the table, set down his plate and silverware, and then began eating. Asaka had taught him a lot of cooking; sometimes even western recipes, but the lack of available seasoning made the food taste worse than usual.
As he ate, the blue haired Ram clone continued to stare, but said nothing. Eventually, Yogiri decided to break the ice.
"Are you Ram's twin or something?"
"Yes, Rem is Ram's twin sister." She said in a monotone voice, with a blank face.
"Your name is Rem?"
"Yes, dear guest, Rem's name is Rem."
Another robotic reply.
"...Are you okay with me cooking in the kitchen like I did?"
"I request that you ask for food from me, instead of making it yourself."
"Okay. How long until the head of the household is back?"
"Rem thinks Roswaal-sama will be back in a few hours."
Considering how emotionless every reply was, Yogiri guessed that Rem either hated her job or hated him.
Yogiri scooped up a potato with his spoon and ate it.
He looked back at Rem, and noticed something peculiar. Her palms were both bleeding.
"Are you okay? What happened to your palms?"
"Do not worry about it, dear guest," Rem sharply replied. He could feel her glare on the back of his head as he turned and went back to eating.
As Yogiri continued to chow down on breakfast, he decided that he should just go exercise outside. Asaka had thoroughly drilled into him the idea of going for a good run after a hearty meal.
In the early hours of the morning Rem was walking down the south-wing third floor hallway of the Mathers mansion. Her destination was Yogiri's new room. She wanted to ask him if he had any food preferences, as well as about his clothing situation.
As she entered his room, she saw him lying on the bed.
He was clearly sleeping, and she didn't want to disturb him, so she simply walked over to the curtains and opened them, to let some light in.
As Rem did this, she noticed that Yogiri's sleeping face looked like that of a worry-free infant.
She walked past his bed toward the door. She breathed with her nose, but rather than inhaling the scent of a sterile and clean room, she caught a whiff of something far worse.
Scenes of her family dying, her village burning, of her beloved sister Ram's horn being cut off—of black hooded figures with red eyes on their uniforms.
The Witch's miasma.
Her eyes widened, and she could no longer breathe. She grabbed her heart. A witch cultist, right here, as a guest of this mansion.
She clenched her fists, and her nails dug sharply and painfully into her palms.
Yogiri had good stamina, but the yard was so big it was more like an entire field, so he ended up feeling extremely exhausted after only a few laps.. As he made his fifteenth lap, he spotted Emilia sitting under the gazebo talking with Puck. She had a worried look on her face.
Yogiri decided to stop jogging, and walk over to say hello to Emilia.
As he reached the Gazebo, Emilia noticed him, her face shifted into a smile.
"Oh, Takatou-sama! How are you?" Emilia asked, in a cheery voice.
"I'm fine. I'm just waiting for Roswaal-san to get here."
Although that was true, Yogiri didn't have much to do to wait, and it was pretty boring.
Yogiri noticed a few glowing orbs floating around Emilia.
"Hm? What are those?"
"I'm talking to the lesser spirits."
"The lesser spirits?"
It sounded like an interesting magical concept, Yogiri was interested.
"You don't know what lesser spirits—you're pulling my leg, right? Well I'll explain anyway—They're beings made of mana that can use magic. Spirit users can contract with them to use their mana through the spirit's gate and cast magic, like I do with Puck. There are lesser spirits, spirits, and great spirits, which are more powerful versions of the previous one."
"Gate?"
"A gate is the organ in a person's body that allows them to cast magic."
Yogiri wondered if he had a gate. He was from another world, after all.
"Hmm… Could I do that too?"
Yogiri thought casting magic would be kind of cool.
An androgynous and cheerful voice spoke up.
"I can check your compatibility with spirits if you want, Yogiri. But first we need to know what type of magic you use!"
Puck had floated out from behind Emilia's neck and said as much.
"Type of magic, like elements?"
"Something like that. There are four types of magic; Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind."
"Could you check which one I can use?"
"Sure!"
Puck lifted up his hands and put them onto Yogiri's forehead.
"Myon, myon, myon, myon, myon, myon."
After a few seconds of magical sound effects, Puck spoke up. His eyes widened, and his mouth was slightly agape, but then he dialed back to his normal cheerful self.
"Y-your element is Yin!"
"Yin? But aren't there only four types of magic?"
Did he get a lucky roll in character creation?
"Well, there are two types of magic I didn't mention, since they're so rare; Yin and Yang. Yin is used to remove or hinder things, and Yang is used to create or improve things."
"So like buffs and debuffs, huh?"
Yogiri remembered debuff magic as not being particularly useful in any games he played.
"I don't know what that means, but sure. Anyway, If you want to try out magic, I can temporarily hook into your body and let you try."
"Sounds good."
"Now, focus and think of what your gate looks like. Imagine mana flowing out of it and out of your hands. And then say 'Shamack'"
Yogiri did as asked, imagining the mana flowing from his gate and into his hands, before leaving those hands in the form of a spell.
"Shamack."
The incantation was said, and nothing happened.
Puck froze, and widened his eyes. And then he stumbled a bit before going back into the air. He slowly and clumsily flew back behind Emilia's neck.
"Puck..? Puck, are you okay?"
Emilia was clearly worried.
"Did it not work?"
"Sorry, Takatou-sama. It seems like it didn't. Puck said he's going to take a break."
"It's alright. I'm gonna go take a bath. I just exercised."
In a poorly lit and very dirty tavern somewhere on the eastern wall of the capital, a man wore a dumbfounded expression on his face.
That man, sporting hair so bright red that it could be called the embodiment of a flame, as well as possessing a charming face, was investigating something he had heard about through the rumor mill recently.
A few residents of the slums had claimed to witness Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter, walking towards an apparently locally famous location known as 'the loot house'.
Even if they had been lying, which he knew they hadn't been—due to his divine protections—he would have investigated anyway. Such a thing was too big to ignore.
Elsa Granhiert was known as a mass murderer so brutal that her nickname alone provoked a primal terror in most people. It was almost as bad as the name of the Witch, for those in the slums especially.
However, where this man, Reinhard Van Astrea, had been expecting a brutal crime scene with corpses splayed around, guts hanging from the ceiling and such—
—What he found instead was almost completely incomprehensible.
Elsa Granhiert was laying on her back, looking like she had fallen out of a chair. Any normal person would mistake her for being knocked out, if they didn't notice her lack of breathing.
But Reinhard knew she was dead.
There was one other corpse, which equally lacked many wounds. She looked simply like she had fallen and gotten scratched up.
The implication that a being powerful enough to kill Elsa Granhiert and someone else, leaving no wounds, existed, was horrifying.
Even Reinhard, all powerful as he was, a being without equal, had an emotion resembling fear crop up in his mind, before being forcefully shoved down never to be seen again.
Reinhard decided he would find who did this killing and reward them for the bounty of killing Elsa Granhiert, and a thief.
"I failed… My daughter—she's… I could've stopped this from happening…"
First, he needed to question the sobbing old giant next to him.
Yogiri was bored out of his mind, but finally, Roswaal-san had arrived.
He had gotten out of the bath earlier and been offered clothes by the maid twins, which he put on.
Now, he was standing outside on the lawn, next to Emilia, waiting for Roswaal to arrive.
"Why does Rem keep glaring at me like she wa—"
"Miss Emilia, dear guest. Our lord and master, Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers, has arrived."
"Let's go inside then."
Yogiri wanted to see Roswaal, not only because his name sounded weird, but because he was probably the best chance Yogiri had of getting any information about Japan, or the means to go back there, at the present moment.
As Yogiri and Emilia trailed behind Rem and Ram, they were mostly silent. Eventually, they reached the dining room of the mansion.
The trio walked through the doorway into the room, a tall man loomed over them.
He had blue hair and clown makeup on.
This guy seems pretty weird.
Everything about Roswaal displeased Yogiri—although, that was probably normal. He didn't think anyone in their right mind would be comfortable when seeing this man in front of them for the first time.
To the left of Yogiri was a hallway leading out of the dining room where Yogiri recognized Beatrice, whom he had met earlier today, was standing there impatiently.
"Myyy myyy, this is the young Yooogiiiriii Taaakaaatoouuu I heard so much aboouut? Hooow very niiice to meeeet you! I am the heeeaad of this household, Roswaal L. Maaatheers!"
Sporting a cheery voice very much befitting his clown-adjacent likeness, Roswaal introduced himself to Yogiri.
"And ooooh myyyy! Is that Miss Beeeaaatriiiice? You haven't jooined us for dinner in quiiite a long time!"
The way Roswaal spoke was definitely grating on Yogiri, who glanced at Beatrice and, through eye contact, learned she felt the same.
For some reason, from the moment Yogiri had entered the hall, Beatrice had been glancing at him, almost fearfully, like a scared animal.
Yogiri couldn't remember ever doing anything threatening enough to warrant this reaction.
"Shut up you perverted clown. Betty is here to see Bubby, and no one else!"
Emilia leaned toward Yogiri and whispered,
"Beatrice calls Puck 'Bubby'. She's quite taken with him."
Suddenly, Puck floated out of Emilia's hair.
"Well, Lia, I'll see you later! I'm gonna go play with Betty!"
Yogiri found it a bit odd how caught up on meeting Puck Beatrice was when they had apparently been playing earlier, but he paid it no mind.
Puck shot off toward Beatrice, and she snatched him out of the air and into her hands.
"Bubby!"
Beatrice let out childlike squeals of excitement and affection as she began petting and cuddling with him.
"Bewildering, isn't it?"
"Bewildering…?"
Yogiri was incredibly confused at how such a childish person could speak so archaically.
Now that dinner was officially underway, everyone was seated at the extremely long wooden dining room table. Roswaal sat at the far end of the table, while Yogiri sat next to Emilia. Rem and Ram were standing off to either side of and behind Roswaal, giving off the impression that they were ready to serve him in any matter at a moment's notice.
Everyone was just polishing off their meal, which had been extremely uneventful. Emilia had spent the entire time blankly staring in a random direction. Rem kept her classic 'glare at Yogiri when he's not looking' policy. Roswaal was staring blankly at Yogiri. Ram kept repeatedly glancing at Yogiri, shaking her head, and then looking away. Ram's behavior had been repeating for several minutes, and Yogiri frankly wondered why she was doing it. It seemed like she wanted to do something, or say something, to him, but he couldn't think of a reason why she would.
Noticing that the room was silent and nobody was particularly paying attention to anyone but Yogiri or, in Emilia's case, the wall, Roswaal decided to interject.
"Soooo, Yogiri, I hear you helped Lady Emilia with her busineeeeess in the Royal capital?"
Roswaal already knew exactly what had happened, his book had given him all he needed, and he had interpretation down to a science.
"Yeah. She said she needed help finding some insignia and I went along."
Yogiri decided to exclude the "only doing it to get back home" part.
"I seeeeee… Then I muuuust thank you! Had you noooot helped her, Lady Emilia would have been ooout of the running for the Royal Selection!"
Royal Selection?
Yogiri had figured Emilia was a noble, and the insignia was just a status symbol. He knew nothing about a Royal Selection.
"What's the Royal Selection?"
"Well you seeeee… The Royal family all died sooome time ago, and because of that, Lugnica needed a new king! Soooo, the Counsel of Wise Men created a cooompetition to get the most votes. Whoever gets the most voootes wins! Lady Emilia happens to be a paaart of this competition."
Yogiri more or less understood. It was an election to determine the new king. In other words, a democracy.
"And the insignia decides whether you participate or not?"
Yogiri thought as much, as Roswaal had said that Emilia would be out of the running without his help.
"Sooooo you understaaaand! In that caaase, you also understand I must reward you fuuuully. You may have aaaaaanything you wish for!"
"I'd like to live here as a guest and have access to the library's books."
Roswaal smiled widely at this. He stroked the leather-cased black book in his lap.
"Yeeees you may stay as a guest. I will have to ask Miss Beatrice if you caaan use the library."
Beatrice warily glanced at Yogiri.
"I-I have no objections, I suppose…"
Yogiri had no idea if this place had a different language, but if it did he would just ask Roswaal to help him out. Yogiri knew better than to be humble when offered such a massive opportunity.
"Theeeen if that is settled, I shall take my leeeeave!"
Roswaal said as much in a whimsical voice, and took his exit, with Ram and Rem neatly trailing behind him.
"Finally, that old clown's gone, I suppose. Let's go play, Bubby!"
Beatrice also took her leave, and left Emilia and Yogiri alone.
Emilia spoke up.
"Hey, Yogiri. Why'd you ask for access to the library?"
"I want to research Kararagi and see if there's a way back home from there."
"Then you lived in Kararagi?"
Emilia was confused. Yogiri had mentioned wanting to go back home, but she figured he was from Gusteko or Kararagi. It sounded like he was saying that he was not from Kararagi but that Kararagi was close to where his home was.
"No. But my home was pretty similar."
"Where is it then?
A place similar to Kararagi but not Kararagi was not a place that Emilia had heard of, even in rumors.
"I thought I told you before."
"And I said Lugnica is the nation farthest east in the world… Eh? Are you trying to say you're from beyond the Great Cascade?"
"The Great Cascade?"
Emilia decided she had enough with what she perceived as him pulling her leg.
"Stop with the tomfoolery! If you don't want to tell me where you live, you could have just said that…" Emilia pouted.
Yogiri's dumbfounded expression only deepened.
Tomfoolery…?
What an outdated expression.
"I can't read any of this."
Yogiri had attempted to thoroughly browse the shelves in the library for anything mentioning Kararagi, but the text on the spines of the books was unreadable.
That was what he had told Roswaal, which led to him getting Ram as a tutor for the language.
Hence, the present situation:
Yogiri was currently sitting down in an armchair with Ram over his shoulder. She had been tutoring him and was surprisingly professional, though she was a little close…
"Now then, dear guest. Please study on your own."
Ram left him with his papers, and walked away from the armchair.
After a number of long hours of independent study, Yogiri had finally completed his assigned studying. Ram had told him to work on his own, and he had done so as diligently as he could. He figured learning the language would be extremely important if he wanted to go home.
So, having finished, he stood up to go find Ram and have her scrutinize his new skills, only to see her laying on his bed, facing away from him.
"I guess I was so focused I didn't notice you doing that… Could you get up?"
Ram didn't respond.
Yogiri decided to just go to sleep. It was late anyway.
He got into his bed, pushing Ram a little to the side to make room, and turned in for the night.
Meanwhile, Ram was shaken. Pervgiri had been so bold to simply get in bed with her, a defenseless maiden. It was completely unfathomable and incomprehensible. That being said, the bed was extremely comfortable…
Ram woke up feeling extremely refreshed and warm, it was probably the best sleep she had gotten in her life, oddly enough.
She hadn't even dreamed of that night…
Over time, Yogiri and Ram through these tutoring sessions had gotten much more interaction with each other. The two bonded over their love of sleep and comfort in particular. They had also bonded on one other thing: their sense of justice and self importance. That is to say that they both thoroughly believed that preserving their lives was more important than sacrificing themselves in some foolish notion of heroism. Ram particularly hated that sort of stuff, and Yogiri agreed that it was overrated. Their answer to the trolly problem was simply to not get involved, so that nothing would be their fault. After all, unless the trolley is coming towards you, what are you even losing by pulling the switch or letting it be? However, if the trolley is going to kill you, it would be better to pull the switch and make it go towards other people instead.
Over those four days Yogiri had also talked with Emilia on a semi-regular basis. She would often talk about things like spirits and her days. Puck was seldom ever there, though when he was, he was his usual cheerful self, if not a little overprotective of Emilia.
Yogiri had seen Roswaal a few times, but rarely spoke with the man. One thing that was odd to him was that Roswaal would frequently look at his maids almost with a remorseful expression. But it was none of his business, so he ignored it.
Beatrice was typically pretty quiet, and since Yogiri didn't know the language yet he seldom went into the library. When he did, Beatrice was either playing with Puck or reading the same black book silently and with intense focus.
The one person who was still a total stranger to Yogiri was Rem, who would mostly just glare at him and speak in a monotone to him, with an extremely stiff diction.
However, on the fourth day, Yogiri was completely bored out of his mind. For the past four days, his only activities to do were working out, talking to the same few people, and learning the language, and it was all a bit mind numbing.
So when he heard that the maids were going to visit the village, he decided he would definitely tag along.
Meili had more or less set up a perfect plan, and all the pieces were in place. All she had to do was kill one of the mansion residents and kidnap the village children. It was a strange contract, but she didn't really bother caring about that part much. This specific buyer was always strange. Although, she had begun to wonder where her big sister Elsa was. Mama had been angry about Elsa being missing, but Meili was calm. Big-sis could never die, it was simply impossible.
Suddenly, Meilia noticed that one of her marks was currently very vulnerable. A black haired boy, who she had been informed had joined the mansion as a guest, was currently completely alone staring at the forest.
All she had to do was put on the innocent little girl act, go up to him, ask him to check out her dog, and then leave. The target would die that night, and she could kidnap the village children with one less potential obstacle, as well as an objective down.
She approached the black haired boy and tugged on his sleeve, and he turned around. The boy looked and saw the dog in her arms.
He spoke words Meili could never have prepared for.
"Why does your dog want to kill me so much?"
Meili broke out into a cold sweat. She had been compromised and she knew it. Immediately, Meili sent out an alert to the wolgarms in the forest. The plan was simple, with a hole in the village barrier, and this boy being completely isolated, she would get a few wolgarms—no, he had sensed her killing intent, she would need more than a few; she would send at least ten wolgarms through the barrier to kill him. That would be perfect.
As the signal was sent out, Meili retreated into the forest, and the young man merely watched.
She waited, crouched behind a tree, and heard barks, howls, and the pitter-patter of wolgarm paws as they rushed their target. They were sure to kill him.
Suddenly, the little dog in Meili's arms, her ace, went limp.
"Huh?"
She no longer felt her connection to it. She no longer felt her connection with any of the mabeasts she had controlled. She was totally isolated. The only way this could happen is if every single mabeast she had under her control was killed instantly.
What the hell could do something like that!?
Every nerve inside her was screaming out in terror. A being that could kill the thousands under her command in seconds was far more than simply scary, it was completely terrifyingly horrific. She felt like she needed to get away from where she was and go somewhere else; anywhere else. Where would she be safe though? She felt like nothing could escape what just happened to her mabeasts, like it could happen anytime and anywhere to anyone, that there was simply no avoiding it—that was what her every instinct told her.
Yogiri watched the little girl run away. He wondered why she would avoid him if she wanted to kill him so much. Then he heard howling and footsteps. Suddenly, nearly ten or more wolf-like creatures, which had singular horns on their heads, charged out of the forest and jumped over the fence towards Yogiri. As they leaped with their mouths open, ready to gore him, Yogiri unleashed his power.
Every single wolf that had been charging towards him was carried by their momentum through the air, before slamming into the ground with a thud and laying there, dead.
Yogiri could tell something else was controlling all those wolves, but since every single wolf was under the control of one thing that wanted to kill him, Yogiri figured it would be better to just kill all of the wolves and the one controlling them.
As he began turning around, figuring he should probably go meet back up with Ram and Rem, he saw the two approaching with some of the villagers behind them.
"Dear guest, we heard the howls of the wolgarms and came looking for you, but did you defeat them all on your own?"
Rem spoke first. Apparently the villagers had heard the howls of those wolf creatures—called wolgarms, and figured there was trouble, so they came to check it out.
"Yeah, but there was some girl with them, I think. She didn't really want to kill me, but she definitely was involved with those wolgarm things. She ran away into the forest, but I think I killed her."
"As expected of Yogiri-sama."
For some reason, Ram was expressing deep admiration.
Rem held a stony face like a dam ready to burst, little beads of sweat rolling down her face.
"You okay, Rem-san?"
"Yes, I am fine, dear guest. More importantly, we have purchased all of the supplies we needed, so I recommend we go back to the mansion."
Rem was as robotic as ever in her reply, although there was something like a hesitation in her speech when she said 'dear'.
"Indeed, Yogiri-sama. Emilia-sama may get worried.
Ram concurred as well, so they went back.
Rem's thoughts were filled with horror and rage. There was a witch cultist right there, sharing a bed with her sister and living in her mansion, it was all but confirmed now.
Yogiri had just finished lessons with Ram, but he wasn't very tired, so he went to take a walk around the mansion. As he walked along the hallway, he noticed something.
Killing intent was sharply pointed right at him from behind. Yogiri heard the sound of chains shuffling. Right as it was about to get dangerous, Yogiri decided to kill the person behind him.
"Die."
The assailant limply fell to the floor, and Yogiri heard chains yet again, as well as another, heavier thump after the light thump of the assailant hitting the ground.
And then, he noticed a red haired man approaching him. Yogiri had never seen this man in his life, but the man's walk was confident, and his approach was made as though he knew Yogiri personally.
Suddenly, Yogiri felt killing intent from the man, right as he got very close in his approach.
The man lifted his fist. A shadow covered the entire hallway.
Yogiri unleashed his power, killing the source of the killing intent, but the man did not fall. Yogiri assumed he was being controlled somehow.
After a large amount of time gathering evidence, and questioning the man he had found at the loot house, Reinhard had finally arrived at the location of Yogiri and Emilia with proper proof of their great deeds, and rewards as well.
It was fairly late, although not quite bed time. Reinhard approached the door to the mansion and knocked, where he was greeted by no answer. After several successive knocks and some time waiting, Reinhard decided to merely open the door and walk inside. He then walked around, attempting to find Yogiri.
Eventually, on the third floor of the mansion, on the south-wing hallway, Reinhard found Yogiri. He was walking silently, with a blue haired maid behind him.
The blue haired maid pulled out a morning star, and picked up the morning star for a swing. Reinhard could not react in time, before—
"Die."
The blue haired maid dropped to the floor with a thud. She had died instantly, without a sound. She had merely dropped dead from the commanding words of this man.
Reinhard felt fear yet again. This was far worse than before. When he remembered what just happened, he wanted to run away, he wanted to get away, he wanted to kill Yogiri, he wanted to kill Yogiri, he wanted to kill Yogiri, he wanted to kill Yogiri, he wanted to kill Yogiri. He will kill Yogiri. Kill Yogiri. Kill Yogiri. Kill Yogiri. The Od Laguna demands it. Kill Yogiri. The Sword God demands it.
So, he walked towards Yogiri and lifted his fist, making ready to punch him.
"Die."
And then, as his fist shot forward, nothing happened. He had thrown a sluggish punch, and Yogiri had merely stepped backwards.
That was when Reinhard noticed something strange. He could no longer feel any of his Divine Protections within his Od. He could no longer feel the connection of the Dragon Sword Reid. He felt like all of his power was gone. It felt incredible. He was unchained.
Reinhard fell to his knees, and began sobbing.
"T-thank you! Thank you Yogiri-san! I've finally been freed!" He began sobbing louder, singing Yogiri's praises, and crying.
"In the first place, who are you?"
Yogiri was completely baffled by the situation.
Yogiri more or less understood by now. He had killed two gods who were forcing Reinhard to kill him. Reinhard had come here originally to reward him for killing that woman at the loot house—whom he learned was a dangerous serial killer. But when Reinhard saw Yogiri kill Rem, the gods went crazy and forced him to attack Yogiri.
"But, since you killed the Od Laguna, I think Divine Protections will no longer work."
"Divine Protections?"
This was a term Yogiri had not encountered before.
"They are special blessings from the Od Laguna given to those it favors. They give certain special abilities to people."
Yogiri couldn't help but feel a little bad. He had more or less just made every person in the world a normal human with some magic.
"How come they wanted me dead?"
"I cannot pretend to understand the intentions and thoughts of the Od Laguna and Sword God, but I imagine they likely saw you as an incredible threat."
Basically, Yogiri was too powerful and the two gods wanted to get rid of him to balance the world out. It made sense.
"So what are you gonna do now?"
Reinhard had basically been freed of his duty because he was no longer under the control of the gods, so he was free to do as he pleased.
"I suppose I'll simply follow you."
Reinhard gave a smile at this.
"I don't mind."
Yogiri had no qualms with letting Reinhard join him, since he seemed like a good person.
Ram woke up feeling like she had slept a lot worse than she had been sleeping recently. She turned to see Yogiri was not in bed with her, and for some reason felt sad.
Maybe her frustration with a lack of attention from Roswaal made her feel this way about Yogiri's company. She couldn't really understand any of what she felt towards the boy. Ram decided she would figure it all out today.
She looked through the window and saw it was still dark out, she had woken up in the middle of the night. Ram decided she would go get a drink of water and try to go back to sleep.
Exiting Pervgiri's room, Ram entered the hallway and turned right, looking to go downstairs to the kitchen.
As she turned, she saw something blue in the corner of her eye.
Her eyes widened, and her pupils shook.
She fell to her knees, and vomited.
Her sister, Rem, was lying dead on the floor.
Right outside of Yogiri's room.
She had gotten too comfortable and trusting with Yogiri, and her sister had paid the price.
"AAAAGGGGHHHH!"
Ram screamed, and ran towards the stairs, and down it. She entered the lounge, where she saw Roswaal, Emilia, and Yogiri, as well as the Sword Saint. She didn't pay any mind to anyone but Yogiri.
"You!"
Her voice was shaky but filled with rage.
"Why did you kill my sister?! Why did you kill Rem?!"
Ram was gone by this point. Rage had consumed her. That was how much Rem meant to her.
"She tried to kill me."
A lie. How could she ever believe that?
"Liar! You murdered Rem!"
"The morning star on the floor is pretty clear evidence she tried to kill me."
Yogiri was so calm it pissed Ram off. Why did he care so little about murdering her sister?
Then, Ram began to process what Yogiri had said, and remembered.
There was a morning star on the floor next to Rem's corpse. Rem was laying on the ground, but her hand was outstretched.
Rem had tried to defend herself from Yogiri.
"I see now…" was all she had to say, in a quiet and listless voice.
"El Fu—"
"Die."
Ram collapsed with a thud to the ground. The mana that had been at her palm dissipated into the environment.
As everyone watched the girl crumple to the ground, a certain mouse colored cat stared at Yogiri with a mix of worry and hate.
What nobody had noticed was that Yogiri had hesitated slightly in killing her.