The thing spoke up to her, with a calm, uncaring voice.
After Frederica had divulged the details on the location of the Sanctuary of Kremaldy and some other details, she had explained that it would take around 2 days of preparation before Yogiri & co. could go to visit Roswaal, whom they had a number of questions for.
Frederica made the decision not to join them in this journey, and instead put the position of navigator and coachman on Otto, who was more than glad to take up that position, for obvious reasons related to business with a rich noble.
Yogiri was in Beatrice's library having a lesson, when he remembered something that Beatrice, who seemed smart, might know something about.
"Hey, Beatrice."
"What is it now, I wonder?"
Beatrice seemed vexed by his interruption, but it didn't really make much difference to his learning.
"Well, I killed an archbishop of something or other and after I did that some weird stuff tried to invade my body, do you know anything about that?"
By this point, Beatrice was more than capable of understanding that questions in this sort of situation were pointless, so after recomposing herself she answered him.
"It was probably a Witch Factor. It's what gives the archbishops of sin their incomprehensible powers, I suppose. Just which archbishop did you kill?"
Yogiri had to think a moment about this question, and search his memory, but he sort of remembered.
"There was a guy that kept yelling about love, I think he called himself Sloth, but he was honestly pretty much the opposite. After that, we found some crazy lady in bandages, a shapeshifting pervert, so probably she was Lust, and then two kids talking about eating constantly, and then some weird lady that could teleport and called herself the Witch of Vainglory."
Beatrice could no longer keep her surprise contained.
"T-That many?! And a Witch? Just what in the world are you!?"
"Oh, there was also some giant creepy worm that could remove big cubes out of things with its mind. Actually, it killed those two kids, not me."
Beatrice was too mentally exhausted to even exclaim at this.
"Why must you be so incomprehensible, I wonder?"
She merely went back to the lesson after this. Although, Yogiri spent most of it thinking about how cool he would look with the powers of a Witch Factor.
It had been two days since they came back to the empty mansion, and it was finally time to depart for the Sanctuary. So, they loaded their carriage and said goodbye to Frederica and Beatrice.
It was not a very tearful goodbye, as Frederica and Beatrice had both heard of what happened at the capital, and thought surely nothing that bad will happen again.
Obviously, nobody knew to knock on wood after thinking such a thing. It was another world after all.
And so, the group set off toward the Sanctuary to meet with Roswaal and question him on numerous things.
The carriage began moving, as Otto took the reins and commanded the land dragons to move forward.
Yogiri and Emilia were sat in the back of the carriage on the benches. Emilia was wearing a blue gem necklace, given to her by Frederica, on top of her green gem necklace.
However, the current silence was broken, as a sudden darkness filled the carriage.
"Eh?! Wha―"
The darkness was centered on an area next to Emilia, and slowly a thing came into view. It was a male, humanoid looking figure made of black, in the most literal sense possible. He was wearing what looked like a trench coat and a bowler hat.
"I see… A world like this ought to be mostly weaklings! Such pathetic amounts of energy, and these two especially seem weak!"
The man turned to Emilia.
"Let me start with you, since you are the strongest one in the local area! Very well, let us fight!"
Emilia quickly jumped up and went into a fighting stance at the opposite side of the carriage from the figure, with her palm pointed toward him.
Suddenly, an electric guitar sounded loudly from the man.
"Eh?! What is that sound?!"
"An electric guitar?"
Emilia and Yogiri were surprised by the sudden sound, but it mattered little.
"My name is Deluge, of the Gales of Obliteration!"
The music began picking up, and just as the beat dropped―
Suddenly, the man pulled out two daggers and ran towards Emilia.
"Raaa―"
He screamed as he charged, but was interrupted.
"Die."
Yogiri activated his powers and the man fell to the ground with the music still playing from him.
Yogiri approached his corpse and searched for the source of the sound, before coming across an old mp3 player.
"Seriously?"
Yogiri turned off the power switch of the mp3 player, cutting off the music.
The darkness slowly dissipated, and Yogiri looked towards Emilia, only to see her on the ground as her blue gem necklace glowed brightly.
"I guess I couldn't see this because of the darkness."
Yogiri pulled the necklace off, and was about to throw it when the light became blinding.
Yogiri had been wandering in a dark hallway for what felt like an unknowable amount of time. After the necklace's light had consumed him, he had found himself in a forest, where he saw a small elven girl who looked to be around 12 or 13 years old. He had tried to ask her where he was, but she ran away. Yogiri figured it best to not follow her, as she might just not want to be bothered, so he walked in the opposite direction and ended up at some stone ruins.
There was a large entrance into the ruins, and with nothing to go on for finding Emilia and Otto, he figured it best to just wait there for them. For all he knew, those ruins could be the Sanctuary, after all.
And so, he entered the ruins, and wandered, and then found himself here, after a mysterious transportation.
Rolling hills of lush green grass surrounded him, and there was a bright clear sky above him. It looked almost fake, and he could see nothing on the horizon either.
On top of one, more prominent hill, sat a table, two chairs, and an umbrella. In one of those chairs, there was a woman. Her skin was more than just fair, it was almost white, and her hair matched this. But her outfit, a black dress, and her eyes which were also black, broke up this color.
Yogiri figured that if anyone had any idea what was going on, it was this mysterious and well dressed woman who also happened to be on the top of a hill.
So, he went up the hill, and just sat down across from her.
"Hey, where am I?"
Yogiri asked the question of his location to the woman, who suddenly snapped her gaze onto him with a jolt.
"Wha―What d― can I do for you, Master Yogiri?"
The woman, who previously looked a bit nervous, was suddenly very composed.
"Well, I just asked you a question, but I'll ask it again. Where am I?"
"You are currently inside my domain, or castle. This is actually a dream, but not harmful, I can let you out whenever you want to leave of course, I would never trap you, but really staying here won't be bad for you, time doesn't really progress outside while you're in here. I forgot to introduce myself so allow me to right now, but my name is Echidna and I'm the Witch of Greed, but not like in a bad way, I won't hurt you like Satella would. In fact, I actually died a long time ago and my soul is trapped here along with the souls of the other witches aside from Satella who still lives. Why don't we have some tea, I assure yo―"
While Echidna rambled on and on, Yogiri pondered for a moment.
When Echidna had first met him, she had said his name, despite them never meeting before that. So how does she know his name?
"―And then you can ask me anything you like, I will answer your questions to the be―"
"How did you know my name?"
"―st of my… What?"
"Huh? Did you not hear me? I said, 'how did you know my name?' When I first came here, you called me Master Yogiri, but I never really told you my name."
Echidna, who had been rambling up until now, suddenly widened her eyes. Eventually, however, she regained her composure.
"I… may have omitted one small detail of your arrival here. You see, I can view the memories of anyone that enters my castle. For all intents and purposes, every detail of your life up until now is known to me."
"Oh, it's just something like that? Just please don't look at the embarrassing memories."
"Ah, you mean like the one where you… Eh? T-to… and then… and you keep saying Enju…"
Echidna began profusely blushing, and Yogiri could have sworn he had heard something about Enju from her, but it would make sense for her to know about Enju if she could see his memories.
And then, a realization hit Yogiri with the weight of the truck that sends people to other worlds.
"Wait… Did you see the memories of me―"
"I must say, you were quite cute as a child, and your crush on Enju was even cuter! Although, of course, I didn't mean to pry."
Echidna had feared Yogiri, and still did, but she understood now that she could get away with anything as long as it wasn't with the intention to harm him. Even so, she was being careful, and she could not be nearly as horrible as she usually was.
"Please stop looking at those."
"Eh? You're being much less concerned than I thought you would be. Regardless, I'll stop teasing you. To answer your first question, your physical location is in my tomb, where I died 400 years ago. But your soul is currently inside my castle."
"Is your tomb in the Sanctuary?"
"Yes, it is. Do you have any other questions you would like me to answer?"
"Not really, can I leave?"
Yogiri had gotten his answer, and decided it would be best to leave, but then―
"Actually, you said this is a dream right?"
"Yes, I did say that."
"Then you can control it right?"
"Indeed, it is fully under my control."
"Can you make a soda?"
"―"
Echidna stayed silent and processed his request.
"Eh? That's it? A soda?"
"Yeah. I've been in here for a while and I kind of miss soda. Can you make a Dr. Pepper for me to drink? Actually, if it's copyrighted and you can't, you can make something off brand too."
"Hah? Why would copyright be an issue? In the first place, that's a trivial thing to make, but I would've expected you to ask for something like extremely high quality food, an extremely comfortable bed, or a woman to sleep with."
Although Echidna was scared of Yogiri, her burning passion to learn and teach made her want to keep him as long as she could to gain everything possible to gain from the situation, but he seemed more content with simple things like soda than anything long lasting like a feast or a good rest.
"Why would I sleep in a dream? You said it's easy, right? So can I have a Dr. Pepper?"
"Fine."
As she said this, a can of Dr. Pepper appeared on the table, almost like it had been there the entire time. Yogiri grabbed it, opened it, and drank it for a bit.
Eventually, he finished the soda and put the can back on the table, where Echidna got rid of it.
"Okay, now let me leave the dream."
"Is there not anything else you'd like to learn? I am the Witch of Greed, and not just anyone can meet with me. Many people come across the world seeking my knowledge, important people."
"I don't have anything I want to ask. Can I leave?"
"Yes…"
Sighing, Echidna made a portal open. However, before he could leave, she would have to take a precaution.
"One more thing, a Witch usually takes compensation, you know?"
"I don't really have any money left."
"I don't need money, we Witches operate using promises, you know. So promise me never to tell anyone outside anything about me."
"Sure. That's pretty easy."
Yogiri turned from Echidna and walked through the portal.
Echidna decided to merely erase his memory of her. While he might be able to be trusted to keep a secret, him remembering her and therefore knowing of her poses a large threat, as it seems anyone he is aware of, he can kill instantly.
Yogiri slowly walked through the stone halls of the tomb.
"That Echidna girl was pretty good looking."
His thoughts were mostly of his recent conversation. It was good to know he was near the Sanctuary, but talking to a witch was a bit interesting. Yogiri had thought she would be evil and scary, but she really just seemed like a teasing older sister or something.
Of course, Yogiri would uphold his promise to her, since it didn't seem like too big of an issue to keep it in the first place.
Yogiri walked through the dark stone hall towards the light at the far end, and eventually emerged to find an odd scene. Otto was knocked out on the ground outside the carriage, which was further back and looked to be undamaged.
There was also someone new that looked to have the same color of hair as Frederica. He also wore no shirt, and chose instead to just wear a pink and black vest, as well as a blue gem necklace identical to the one that had presumably sent Yogiri to Echidna's dream.
Suddenly, the blonde man noticed Yogiri, and began approaching. Yogiri chose to stand there and wait for him.
Although it seemed like the man had been the one to knock out Otto, for all Yogiri knew that would be a completely incorrect assumption.
"Who are 'ya?! Doesn't matter, I'll send 'ya packing out of this forest like Hoshin in the Winter."
The man― from close up, he looked to actually be a boy― spoke up to Yogiri after reaching him. Yogiri looked at him for a moment, and upon seeing his sharp teeth, made the connection.
"Are you Garfiel?"
"Who told ya' that name, outsider."
"Frederica."
"And how do ya' know 'er?"
"She works at Roswaal's mansion. Actually, she sent me, Otto, and Emilia here to talk to Roswaal. Is he here?"
"Why're ya' actin' so unconcerned?! Anyway, if 'yer tellin' the truth, I'll answer 'yer question, but first, tell me where Ram is."
Yogiri had to search his memory a little bit, but remembered who Ram was.
"The pink haired maid? She―"
He then realized it was unwise to tell someone that personally knew Ram well enough to call her by her first name that she was dead and he killed her.
"―randomly collapsed and died in the mansion. Nobody knows why."
"―"
Garfiel furrowed his brows.
"Ya' paused in the middle of the sentence. You lied, didn't'cha. So ya' better tell me 'yer jokin' and she's alive, or else I'll assume ya' killed her."
"She tried to kill me, so I killed her."
"I get it, so it was self defense, right?"
Garfiel nodded in understanding and seeming agreement, and then―
"DIE YOU BASTARD!"
Garfiel lowered his stance and began using his divine protection, but he couldn't call out to it.
"Wha…?"
"Damnit!"
Garfiel decided to fight the old fashioned way, and made to charge Yogiri and kill him―
"Left foot."
Garfiel lost the feeling in his left foot and shin, and almost lost balance, but managed to stay standing.
"I think I missed. Right foot."
And then, he lost feeling in his right foot. Accidentally shifting his weight, Garfiel tumbled to the ground.
"Damnit! What is this?! What did you do, bastard!"
Figuring it would be useful to intimidate him so that he gives up, Yogiri replied.
"Anything I want to die, dies. That's what happened to your feet."
"You think I'll believe somethin' like that? And even if it's true, I'll just have to be fast enough to kill ya' before ya' can kill me!"
Garfiel put his palms to the ground and pushed up, attempting to propel himself at an angle where he could hit Yogiri and kill him.
"Arms."
Suddenly, his arms lost feeling and collapsed, sending him back to the ground.
"Ugh, damnit… 'Yer tough all right, I'll give ya' that, but…"
Garfiel's body began bulging, and changing.
"Ya' should've ran a while ago!"
His body had transformed into something more akin to a massive anthropomorphic tiger than the humanlike body he had before.
"Now die!"
Garfiel attempted to move his arms and legs to stand back up, but noticed that he couldn't anymore.
"Huh?! I can't… I can't move! How did you…?!"
He began wriggling, trying to move his torso in such a way that he could move towards Yogiri and finally attack him. He began slithering like a worm would towards Yogiri. As soon as he was in range, he planned to bite Yogiri's legs and then bite into his throat.
As soon as he got in range, he went for the kill.
"This is for Ram!"
"Die."
Garfiel's body stopped moving, and his head fell to the ground as he no longer had the ability to control his neck or back muscles.
Garfiel had died instantly, without warning and without knowing.
Yogiri turned around and saw that Otto was no longer on the ground face down, or anywhere else he could see, so he just decided to walk to the carriage and find Emilia.
Opening the door to the carriage, he found Otto hiding in a corner with a pale complexion, while Emilia was still collapsed on the floor.
"Hey, Otto. I killed that blonde guy that attacked us, so we can get moving again."
Otto, upon hearing his name from Yogiri, turned to him and let out a loud yelp.
"E-Eh?! You ask that of me after instantly killing something with your mind in front of me?! In the first place, I don't even know if I'm next!"
"Well, I probably won't kill you if you don't attack me first."
"I-Is that supposed to be reassuring?!"
In the end, Otto chose to accept Yogiri's explanation as truth, since he had just seen that Garfiel was only killed after Yogiri had been attacked by him, and Yogiri had even given Garfiel time to explain himself. That did not, however, make him any less scared, and he ended up puking once they finally arrived at the sanctuary itself.
"This place is more of a slum than an actual sanctuary. What's with the depressing atmosphere?"
Yogiri had arrived here hoping it lived up to it's name, but seeing all the sad demi-humans and barely standing buildings, his hopes were dashed.
Emilia, who had woken up earlier as evidenced by her walking beside Yogiri, agreed completely.
"I agree… But, I really am excited to see so many demi-humans in one place! I wonder if there are any other elves or half-elves?"
"I saw an elf earlier actually, she was really small and had pink hair. Maybe she lives here or something."
"Eh? Really? Were her ears as long as mine or longer than them?"
Yogiri tried to remember, but couldn't. He didn't really remember much about her except that she was small, elven, and had pink hair.
"I don't know, but if I find her again I'll try to figure it out."
"Seriously? Thank you! But, why are you helping me?"
"I just want to go back home."
"You could really have some more prudence when you talk, you know!"
"Who even says prudence anymore?"
Eventually, the pair arrived at the building Roswaal was housed in, and Otto came back from having parked the carriage to meet them outside it.
They all three knocked on the door, and―
A young female voice called out from the other side through the wooden door.
"Who might it be?"
Yogiri decided to speak up, having been declared, through unspoken agreement, the leader of the group.
"We're from the Mathers mansion. We came to see Roswaal."
"Ah, I see. Please enter."
The door slowly opened, and on the other side was a warmly lit dining room with a young girl standing in front of it. She wore a white cloak, the collar of which went up above her mouth, and had long pink hair. Her skin was of fair complexion, and she had long elvish ears.
She looked to be about twelve or so years of age, although being an elf, she was probably much older.
"Please have a seat. I will prepare some tea."
The trio sat down, and eventually the girl came back with some tea to drink.
She placed a cup in front of each person and poured them some tea, before sitting down at the far end of the table.
The girl was about to speak, but Emilia spoke up first.
"E-Excuse me, are you… Are you a half-elf?"
"Yes, I am."
"R-Really?! I'm a half-elf too!"
"I see… As I was about to say previously, I am Ryuzu Shima. It is nice to meet you. Visitors do not come by here often, aside from Roswaal and his maids."
"I'm Yogiri Takatou, this is Emilia, and he's Otto Suwen."
Otto had wanted to introduce himself to make a better impression, so he had a disappointed look on his face.
"Then, if you would like to speak to Roswaal, he is behind that door."
The girl, Ryuzu Shima, pointed to a door that was to her right.
"Thanks."
Yogiri stood up, and walked over to the door before opening it and walking through.
He looked backward, and called out to Otto.
"Stay in there, please."
And then, Yogiri waited for Emilia to enter before closing the door.
In front of them was a bed, which had Roswaal L. Mathers lying down in it covered from head to toe in bandages.
"Aaaaah, if it isn't Yogiri and Miss Emilia. To what do I owe the pleeeasure of seeing you two?"
"Why did you leave in the middle of the situation at the capital?"
Yogiri cut right to the chase.
"You see, I had some uuurgent business to attend to!"
"Isn't the witch cult invading the capital pretty urgent too?"
"It is a Mathers family tradition to manage and maintaaaain the Sanctuary."
Emilia, upon hearing this, went red with anger.
"And your tradition is more important than the lives of those in the capital? What would you have done if we died there?"
"You didn't die. I had faith in Yogiri, and it paaaid off."
Though Roswaal did ignore the lives of many people, Yogiri had to agree with him in this instance. He couldn't have saved all those people, and caring about all of them would also be immensely difficult. In the first place, he has no obligation to do so if someone is already dealing with the issue.
"Okay, so can we leave now?"
"The simple answer is you caaaan't. You see, the entire Sanctuary is protected by a magical barrier aaand if a demi-human tries to leave it, their soul is taken from their booooody. In other words, they are made into an empty husk."
"I can just kill the barrier."
"What."
Roswaal did not expect this outcome. He had known Yogiri could kill people with his mind, but to say he could just kill a powerful magical system made by Echidna herself was almost unfathomable.
"Ahhh, but if the barrier is freed by the normal means, Miss Emilia would gain the trust of the demi-humans living here aaaaand she could send them to Arlam village, which wouuuld boost her votes in the royal selection."
Yogiri decided Roswaal made a reasonable argument.
"Sure, so where do you do these trials."
"Ahhh, that requires sooome explaining. You see, this place is the very place where the Witch of Greed, Echidna met her end. In order to participate in the trial, you must eeenter her tomb."
"Thanks."
Yogiri turned around and began walking towards the door.
"Okay, let's go Emilia."
"Eh? Now?"
"Wouldn't it be better to do this sooner than later?"
"But what about questioning Roswaal?"
"Didn't we already get the answers to everything?"
Emilia couldn't say they hadn't, but she felt that there was something she was missing.
Yogiri began walking again, with Emilia trailing behind him, and they walked through the door back into the dining room.
"―but he's… Oh, hello Mister Takatou and Miss Emilia."
"Hey, we're leaving to go do a trial and open the barrier to the sanctuary."
At this, Ryuzu began paying rapt attention to them, looking directly at Emilia.
"I see. Then, good luck."
She made a sort of bitter smile while saying this.
The two arrived at the large stone building which was assumedly the tomb of Echidna.
They ascended the stairs, and Yogiri followed. They didn't really know much about how the trial worked, but it was assumed by Yogiri that Emilia would somehow enter Echidna's castle and do some tasks or something similar. However, it was also entirely possible it was a physical puzzle, like in a Zelda dungeon or something similar.
Both entering the dark stone halls, they walked for a while before eventually entering the main chamber, and finding just a door on the other side.
Emilia opened it hesitantly, and stepped inside, but―
"Eh?"
There was just a corpse in a glass box. The room was dark, so it was hard to see, but the corpse was so pale that it faintly glowed.
"Oh, that's Echidna."
"But where is the trial?"
They looked around the room and saw nothing but smooth stone walls and the box containing Echidna's corpse.
"Maybe we have to do something to the corpse?"
"Just why do you get such disturbing ideas? This is definitely the Witch of Greed's tomb, so where's the trial?!"
"Let's go back and ask Roswaal. He probably knows what's going on."
"And that's what we saw when we went in there. So, where are we supposed to take the trial?"
This was certainly troubling to Roswaal. From the sounds of things, when they entered the tomb, they had seen no lights and not even passed out for a dream. In fact, they even opened the door to Echidna's corpse without even attempting the trial.
What could be gathered from this information was that the barrier was gone. That, or it had lost power somehow. This was something that hadn't been in Roswaal's book at all.
"I see."
Roswaal stood up, and began walking outside.
"Eh?!"
"He can walk already?"
Suddenly, just as Roswaal had left and closed the door, the door opened once again, gently.
"Greetings."
The person who intruded was Ryuzu Shima.
"I would like to question you on what happened to young Gar."
"He was―"
"Yogiri killed him."
Emilia randomly spoke up and told Ryuzu this.
"It was self defense, he tried to kill me first."
"T-That's a lie, I saw what happened!"
Yogiri was extremely confused on why Emilia was acting like this. Was it that time of the month or something?
"I see."
"Eh? That's all you have to say?"
"What do you mean?"
"Wasn't he important to you or something? I mean, seriously, just take your revenge already. Hey, I'll give you a tip! If you don't show any killing intent and just teleport him somewhere or something, he'll probably die without ever being able to kill you!"
"Why are you suddenly acting like this?"
"Acting? This is the reality, you buffoon. Ever since meeting you, I've realized something. Nobody has ever cared about me. Roswaal uses me for the royal selection, and you use me to get home, and puck uses me just so he can pretend he's a father or something, but nobody actually cares about me. You all just use me for your own self satisfaction. Hey, wanna know something? I forcibly broke the contract with Puck pretty recently. When I did that, I learned a whole lot, like how I froze my entire village to death, or how Pandora killed my mom. Remember Wrath? Sirius? She was my mom, I know that now. And then I think about how you effortlessly incapacitated Pandora, and it's terrible. A being like you existing is the very worst thing I can imagine right now. You're single handedly bringing ruin to the world greater than the Witch Cult could ever. You killed the Od Laguna, you killed the entire Witch Cult, and you didn't even have to work for either. You just said 'Die' all cool like and they stopped living. But a person like me has had to suffer my entire life all because of bad luck. For the rest of my life I will be seen as a disgusting witch because I was born to the wrong mom. And the worst part is they're not even wrong, because I killed my entire family. What I want is revenge on the world. So hey, here's your choice. Either kill the barrier and let me leave and use you as I please to kill things I don't like, or get killed. Both are good for me, really."
As she spoke, a deranged smile crept up Emilia's face, eventually turning her serene beautiful visage into some sort of twisted nightmare.
"Actually, I think I killed the barrier a while ago because it was making me nauseous."
"Ah, I should mention I'm not Ryuzu Shima and have no connection to Garfiel. My name is Echidna, though most call me the Witch of Greed."
"What?!"
And in an instant, the psychotic smile which she donned on her face fell down to a straight line.
"Ah, I see! I see now! I should just die! The whole world should just die! You, die!"
Suddenly, from Yogiri's perspective, the entire room turned pitch black. Outside the window, most of the area was also pitch black.
"Is there a sane person in this world?"
Suddenly, Emilia collapsed to the ground. A light thud sounded as her head hit the hard floor and began bleeding.
"Didn't you know her well? Does it hurt to have to kill her like that?"
"When she revealed she was a psychopath that wanted to kill the world I stopped caring about that."
"Ah, but you were following her to go back home, won't that be impossible now?"
"I already know where I should go for information on that sort of stuff, but if it's not there I'll just have to figure it out."
"You hadn't even thought ahead yet?"
"Actually, where are you planning to go after this?"
"I intend to travel the world and learn all that I can"
"I'm actually heading to a place where a sage apparently lives, wanna come with me? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of knowledge there."
"Ah, that sounds splendid."
Some time later, the two finished casually conversing next to Emilia's corpse, and walked outside.
It was now snowing, and Roswaal was standing in the snow. Opposite to him were thousands of white rabbits.
"Oh my. It seems you finally came out of there, but where might Miss Emilia be?"
"Actually, she's dead. She… had a sudden stroke and died."
"Ah, I see. then this world is already too far gone for me to revive you, teacher."
"Actually, I'm right here."
Echidna's words went unheard by Roswaal.
"Then, I suppose it's time for the slate to be wiped clean. I will cause as much destruction as I can and then take my own life."
Roswaal flew away, and Yogiri and Echidna were left alone with the thousands of rabbits.
"What's with the crazy rabbit population here?"
"That is the Great Hare, a mabeast that constantly clones itself and moves towards mana sources to find sustenance."
Yogiri looked back at the Great Hare. They didn't look particularly menacing, but the sheer number of them was intense. Suddenly, they all began moving towards Yogiri at the same time.
As some of the front ones got close to Yogiri, he could detect some killing intent and would kill them, but since they just kept coming it was impossible to get rid of them all.
"Can't you kill them all at once?"
"I can try, but it might hit some other stuff next to them."
Suddenly, all of the rabbits fell to the ground limply and stopped chattering their teeth.
"I thought you said it would hit other things next to the rabbits."
"I did, some of the grass over there died."
"Excuse me! Mister Takatou, Miss Emilia is―"
Otto ran out of the door which Yogiri and Echidna had just come from and looked to be worried by the pale complexion he had and the face he was making.
"―Eh? Why is it snowing… Nevermind! Mister Takatou, Miss Emilia is dead!"
"I know."
"Huh?!"
Yogiri and Echidna explained the situation to Otto, and he mostly accepted it. Not only had Otto not gotten very close to Emilia, but once he understood how twisted she was he began to be glad she was gone.
"Then what shall we do now, Mister Takatou?"
"I think we should go back to the mansion and find Beatrice before heading to the Pleiades Watchtower."
"You shall be going nowhere."
Suddenly, a feminine voice sounded from the snow.
The trio turned to look at the source, and saw a lone woman. She was wearing a red and black Kimono, and had kitsune features. Her eyes were red, and her hair was silver, styled in a ponytail.
On her waist was an odd sheathe-like contraption with what looked to be the handle of a katana on it.
The woman grabbed the sheathe and moved it up and forward, before speaking again.
"You killed my husband didn't you?"
The woman pointed at Echidna.
"I did n―"
"Prepare to die."
The woman pressed a button on her sheathe, and her sword flew outward before being grabbed by her in a flashy swinging motion. It had a red blade and a white guard, but the handle was black.
The woman rushed forward, but―
"Al Goa."
Echidna produced a ball of fire which shot toward the woman, who merely disappeared.
"Something like that isn't powerful enough to defeat someone like me."
She suddenly appeared behind Echidna.
"Ul Dona."
Suddenly, a stone wall surrounded Echidna which blocked the blade of the woman.
However, a second swing of the blade blew away the entire stone wall.
"Aren't you going to do something, Mister Takatou?"
"Why would I? This isn't really my business. Echidna might have seriously killed her husband."
Echidna jumped back to dodge a slash, and shot off another fireball at the woman, who dodged it with ease.
"You killed my husband! You killed Pico, you wretched whore!"
"Who? I honestly do not recall a person with such a name."
"He wore a black hat and coat, and used daggers. You must have seen the daggers, he would never go down without a fight!"
Suddenly, a sort of realization dawned on Yogiri.
"Actually, I kind of remember someone like that. He called himself Deluge, not Pico."
"If you do, then is this fight not your business?!"
"I guess you're right. Hey, I actually killed your husband in self defense, it wasn't Echidna!"
Calling out to the woman was the best Yogiri could do, and it seemed to work.
"Are you merely trying to spare your friend? All the same, then. I will rip you apart and then her, and then the male next to you. Actually, I wonder, do you have some sort of hidden power?"
Using her powers, the woman, whom was actually named Ragatha, could peer into what made up the being of a person.
What she saw in Yogiri was that anything that he ever became aware of that tried to kill him, died.
So, she tried a different approach.
Snapping her fingers, time stopped moving.
Being a goddess, something like this was fairly easy, especially for someone of her power. She mostly used a sword and fancy movements so she could look powerful, and have fun, but she could have easily killed Echidna just by saying a word.
"If you never notice the attack, killing you should be easy, right?"
She reached for her sword.
"But first, I should check if you're important. If I kill too many highly important people the world might implode or something."
Being a goddess, checking something like Fate value was also quite trivial.
"Wha―"
Her vision suddenly began twisting and turning, and she lost her balance and fell to her knees.
She felt a nausea that was impossible to ignore or get rid of, her guts felt as though they were physically twisting into each other.
The only thoughts in her head right now were of escape. She needed to leave, she absolutely had to leave.
However, no matter how much she wanted to leave, she couldn't even will herself to move. After seeing what had just been viewed, Ragatha could not focus on a single thing but what she had seen. Her fear of it dominated her mind completely.
What she had seen was a total dead end. It was the destination of all fates, where nothing beyond it existed. It was an end that would conquer all, something that no thing in any universe could ever even hope to beat.
To this thing concepts like Fate were naught but a tactless joke.
The idea of fighting such a thing was completely insane. When she had found out that her husband had been killed, she thought it would be simple to come here and get her revenge on the mortal that somehow did him in. He was not particularly strong in any sense, and a very strong mortal could have killed him. When she came here, she assumed that whatever had been waiting for her would be easy to deal with, to kill.
She had been naive, naive, naive, naive, naive. By checking its Fate value, she understood now. Using just a thought, this thing could kill anything. Nothing, object or phenomenon could live past its final judgment. There were no actions that could be taken to prevent its decision. This was the sort of thing that it was.
It was completely absurd to even believe such a being could exist in any universe. It was difficult to describe in words what this phenomenon, like a great calamity or curse, was. It was madness to believe such a thing could have a personality or act like an ordinary, every day person.
She felt as though even if she escaped to a completely different side of the sea, she would still be within range of this thing.
Ragatha looked down, and saw her own kimono and the ground were covered in her vomit. She felt as though she could never stand up ever again. Even if this thing let her live, it seemed she might go insane. Normally, that would be completely fine, but she still feared what she might do if she lost her sanity. She worried that by some horrible accident she might attack this thing, and that would be it for her. She would die in the truest, most literal sense of the word. This was the first time in all her life she had ever dreaded things like death, or her own knowledge of things like the existence of souls.
She needed to calm down and escape. She was a goddess, not some simply mortal. Something like death shouldn't concern her, but her husband's death should. In the first place, how did he die if he's a god? No, it didn't matter to her. No need to think about useless things such as that, she would recollect herself, leave, and make up a plan to deal with the killers of her husband. She needn't remember any of what had just happened.
Suddenly, Yogiri heard a splash in front of him and saw a pool of vomit on the ground, but the woman that had attacked them was nowhere to be seen.
"Eh? Mister Takatou, where did she go?"
"I don't really know."
"Is that not concerning to you?"
"As long as she doesnt come back and attack me, I don't really care."
Echidna walked back to the group.
"Did that woman leave? I saw her disappear, but I'm wondering if she's gone."
"I don't see her anywhere. Let's continue walking to the mansion."
"―so, we are going to the Pleiades Watchtower to learn from the Sage how I can go back home."
Yogiri, Echidna, and Otto had come back to the mansion, and Yogiri explained everything that had happened to Beatrice, as well as what they are going to do next.
"And I should care about all this for what reason, I wonder?"
"I thought you would want to go to the Pleiades Watchtower since it's where the Sage lives."
"So I am to ride in a carriage with you and a piece of the soul of my mother?"
"To the Pleiades Watchtower."
"You must first form a contract with me, I suppose."
"Sure, I guess."
Beatrice made a sort of amused face at this.
"You are oddly quick to agree to a contract with me. Do you even know what it entails?"
"Is it like a soul binding pact or something?"
"That is a good guess. I would take some of your mana to resupply my own, and in exchange I would fight for you. The contract would also allow us to both know where the other is vaguely."
"Okay, so what do I do to form a contract?"
"Hold out your hand."
Yogiri did as he was told, and held out his hand, which Beatrice grabbed.
"The contract is formed."
Yogiri was disappointed by the lack of flashy magical effects, but the contract seemed like a good deal to him.
The carriage would take around five days to prepare, so in the meantime everyone aside from Frederica and Otto would relax.