——How many times have I come to this room to meet her?

When Subaru first encountered Beatrice, he easily uncovered her plan using the illusion to wander the mansion, and he stepped into this Forbidden Library.

I think the impression of our first meeting was the worst for both of us.

Having mana siphoned from his sickly body, Subaru was swiftly taken down. After that, Beatrice repeatedly teased the vengeful Subaru.

Each encounter was filled with mutual insults, yet they oddly got along well, accidentally arriving at the hidden Forbidden Library.

In the roughly two months Subaru spent at Roswaal’s Mansion, he and Beatrice had spat at each other many times, engaging in childish exchanges.

With the Royal Selection officially beginning and after returning from the Royal Capital, their interactions began to change.

Beatrice rejected Subaru. To understand why she was so obstinate, Subaru learned a part of her past and fate in the ‘Sanctuary’ where she wasn’t present.

Then, speaking as if he understood, he endeavored to grasp the girl’s solitude—only to be crushed by Beatrice’s heart-wrenching sobs, which had long since dried out over the span of four hundred years.

After that, there was nothing he could say to the exhausted girl. Soon after, Beatrice lost her life, disappearing while protecting Subaru, leaving only her final expression imprinted in his memory.

Because that face was burned into his mind, Subaru was driven back by an intense passion.

——This time, without barter, he would take the girl away from here.

“I will take Betty away from here…?”

As soon as he entered the room, Subaru declared boldly, prompting a bewildered response from Beatrice. Gripping her gospel tightly, she curled up on a stool, knees to her chest and said,

“Is this none of your business? No one asked you to do such a thing.”

“It’s not about whether I was asked or not. I’m taking you out of here. That’s already decided.”

“Why don’t you just hurry up and get out? Go be comforted by that little girl.”

“Shut up… It’s a war, isn’t it!? If we’re discussing that, it’s a war, isn’t it…!?”

Subaru, having his dignity reminded of a previous incident at the mansion, strained his voice to cover the inner humiliation.

At their exchange, Beatrice snorted and averted her gaze.

“Well, we don’t have the luxury to play around. We don’t have much time left. Do you even grasp what’s happening outside right now?”

“…I know that there are unwanted guests inside the mansion. After a big maid and a small maid did something, two monstrous figures have begun rampaging.”

“One of those ‘monstrous figures’ is the ally I brought. I think we won’t lose in terms of fighting power, but unfortunately, I have a feeling that just one step of willpower might determine the outcome. So, we can’t stay complacent.”

“While the ally buys time, it’ll be arranged to escape the people in the mansion… A rather unclear strategy regarding whether we trust our allies or not.”

“It’s too apparent that that guy is too soft-hearted for such a plan.”

Garfiel’s condition, current until returning to the mansion, was at about 80-90% effectiveness due to the ‘Earth Spirit’s Blessing’ recovery effect. Coupled with his unwavering will to fight, his combat ability is rated quite high. However, it seems unlikely he’s prepared with the resolve to kill the opponent, which could lead to a lack of decisiveness and a slight drop in evaluation.

On the other hand, Elsa’s condition is naturally perfect. Her inexplicable combat power would fairly match a fully-awake Garfiel from Subaru’s viewpoint. Her tendency to somewhat enjoy battles leads to lower scores in combat efficacy, but Elsa possesses an unfathomable immortality. It’s hard to believe that she could die after being killed several times. The temporary assessment leans slightly in Elsa’s favor.

“If everything goes as planned, Garfiel should hold Elsa down while Frederica retrieves Rem. Petra has joined with Otto, so we should be able to rescue everyone but the last remaining person.”

“The person who needs rescuing… is Betty, isn’t it?”

“That’s exactly right.”

Petra, having met up with Subaru on the first floor of the mansion, coordinated the evacuation of Araham Village’s citizens with Otto and was instructed to help with minor tasks around the mansion before disengaging.

By the time Subaru reached the Forbidden Library, it was likely that they had already escaped.

“So you’re getting taken out by me. If you don’t want to hold hands in a run, I’ll carry you or do whatever, so just come along quietly…”

“Quit insisting, will you? I don’t need your help.”

As Subaru stepped closer and reached out to her, Beatrice’s low voice rejected him. Stopping just in front of Subaru, she turned her head, gesturing within the Forbidden Library.

“Listen, this place is Betty’s domain, a separate space beyond the corridors of time. This is Beatrice’s Forbidden Library. No matter what threats exist outside, nothing can reach Betty’s Forbidden Library. Your concerns are merely unfounded worries.”

“Not quite. The randomness of your Forbidden Library gives you a robust advantage in escaping, but it has a fatal flaw. Plus, the opponent knows about that flaw.”

“A fatal… flaw?”

Beatrice narrowed her brows, clearly unable to overlook those words. However, Subaru nodded at the stern girl’s gaze and gestured to the door behind him.

“The strength of your ability, which connects randomly to doors within the mansion, is indeed powerful. But it only works on the ‘closed doors’ inside the mansion. In other words, if doors within the mansion are left wide open, eventually, we will inevitably reach this Forbidden Library and connect only to this Forbidden Library.”

“―――”

“It’s a ridiculous method. Surely you hadn’t noticed that. Until I actually witnessed it, I wondered how I couldn’t have realized this simple thing.”

When Elsa discovered the escape route through ‘Door Traversing’ and raided the Forbidden Library comes to mind.

Once Garfiel, the obstacle, is removed, Elsa will undoubtedly arrive here using the same method. And she would take Beatrice’s life.

“Of course, I’m not underestimating you. Even if she were to enter here, I don’t think you’d just easily lose. However, her mysteriousness is truly on a different level, based on my life experiences. If I can avoid confronting her, that would certainly be best.”

While defeating Elsa is a condition he wishes to achieve, it’s not an essential requirement to escape this loop. If the client is Roswaal, then at least surpassing the time limit of the event surrounding the ‘Sanctuary’ would eliminate the reason for Roswaal to keep hiring Elsa.

In that case, it’s proven that Elsa would withdraw over the commotion with the royal insignia.

For now, if they can just weather this assault on the mansion—,

“Beatrice. This place is not safe either. If you weren’t here, that guy wouldn’t go wrecking the library. So for now…”

“Why does that woman know how to break Betty’s ‘Door Traversing’?”

“――――”

Prompted by a reasonable persuasive point to encourage her escape, Subaru urged Beatrice to leave.

However, the crux of the matter was whether Beatrice had even been listening to what he had been saying until then; the words she muttered were entirely different from what he was seeking.

In front the stammering Subaru, Beatrice remained atop the stool.

“When I first encountered Betty’s ‘Door Traversing’, it’s impossible to immediately grasp how to break it. It must have been someone who knows about Betty.”

“Beatrice, we can’t afford to talk about that right now…”

“It’s Roswaal.”

Deception wouldn’t work.

With the speed of thought before reaching a conclusion, Subaru instinctively held his breath.

Seeing Subaru’s reaction, Beatrice understood everything. That Roswaal had hired Elsa to kill her, and that purpose was to eliminate her. That meant—

“The Gospel of Roswaal has written of killing Betty…”

Oh? Beatrice exhaled softly without waiting to hear Subaru affirm or deny her.

In that exhale, somewhere, a sense of relief might have been felt. Unable to ignore it, Subaru pressed Beatrice.

“What was that sigh for? What are you acting as if you’ve figured something out!?”

“As you see, it’s understanding. If the words of Roswaal’s Gospel commanded him to do so, it seems Betty’s fate is settled.”

“What the hell is that…? Roswaal’s book is Roswaal’s book, yours is yours, right? Does it say in yours for you to be killed by Roswaal!?”

Pointing a finger aggressively, Subaru glared at the gospel in Beatrice’s arms.

If it were like in the previous loop, it surely should be filled only with blank pages that had persisted for four hundred years.

At Subaru’s shout, Beatrice raised her somber expression and opened the pages of the gospel. She spread it toward him for him to see—revealing an unending expanse of blank pages.

“There’s nothing written. It remains blank just like before.”

“――! If that’s the case, there’s no reason for you to be killed according to Roswaal’s book! Like before, you decide what to do!”

“…You mean, ‘Betty decides’?”

“Exactly! Since there’s nothing written, you must have held all the choices of the time. For small matters and big matters alike, you decided your own path. So for this time too, there’s no reason for you to be danced around by others’ choices—”

“What did Betty choose during her days up till now?”

Subaru’s fervent words were crushed by that deeply painful question.

Tilting her head and staring at Subaru with a lonely gaze, Beatrice flipped through the blank pages, tracing the ‘blank time’ of her life.

“Ever since guarding the Forbidden Library entrusted to me by my mother in Roswaal’s mansion, I’ve spent countless solitary times… Where in that time was there the time of Betty? What remains of Betty’s life lived in this blank time? What have I done, and who was I?”

“Bea…atrice…”

“Betty’s life, her four hundred years, are just like this gospel; they remain pure white. They were empty. There’s nothing I’ve chosen for myself, nothing I’ve obtained for myself, nothing I can use to prove I exist… They don’t exist.”

Closing the gospel with a sound, Beatrice placed it softly on her lap. As she stroked the nameless cover, she spoke in a quiet voice.

“A blank book, just like that. Even if Betty were to be lost here, it’s just one more blank book that’s lost. A book that should not exist for anyone, just something placed on a shelf—losing it would feel refreshing.”

“What happens to the person who would need that blank book?”

With a frail expression, Beatrice seemed ready to easily abandon her four hundred years and her future. Trying to reign in her heart, Subaru struggled to find words.

Still, if he did not continue to speak now, she would surely abandon herself.

“You said it was all blank. But that book is indeed placed on the shelf. Someone might know about its existence and want to take it one day, so it’s unforgivable for it to be disposed of without consent.”

“A book without a title, without an author. Even if such a rare ‘someone’ existed, they would only be disappointed if they opened it and checked what’s inside. I don’t want to witness the disappointment on someone’s face who chooses that blank book.”

“In that case! Then why was that book placed there?”

“――――”

As Subaru pressed further, Beatrice looked at him with her emotionless eyes.

Faced with this question, he felt as if he were being pressed by a looming meaning. Still, Subaru lifted his face and continued if he could reach Beatrice’s distant heart.

“Even if someone picks it up and is disappointed, what was that book there for? Isn’t it because there is meaning behind books being created?”

“The author who created the book made it for someone. It looks blank to everyone, but to that ‘someone’, it must appear differently. So if there is meaning, the moment it is passed to ‘someone’ is when the book’s purpose is born.”

“Then…”

“Then until it is passed to that ‘someone’, it shouldn’t be disposed of, right?”

Subaru gasped.

He realized, just how cruel a hope he was about to speak of. Seeing Subaru’s expression, Beatrice wore a painfully pained smile.

“So… If Betty was really just a single book… Then… I could have waited for that day.”

Eventually coming day when ‘someone’ would turn its pages.

If Beatrice were merely a book.

——But, Beatrice is not a book. She is a girl who has trembled in loneliness for a long, empty time.

“If I were just a heartless, mindless book, I could have believed my mother’s commands without hesitation. I could have been beloved Beatrice to my mother forever.”

If she could remain an unfeeling being, merely decorated like a doll, she wouldn’t have wavered.

If she were to be a book, an unchanging existence throughout the passage of time, she would not have to lament.

But Beatrice could not be that.

“But Betty is a being with a heart. With time, things that I want to believe become difficult to believe. I begin to worry. There have been many nights when I couldn’t remember my mother’s face or smiles and desperately clung to my memories!”

“――――”

“There were times when I felt unable to endure being alone and wished for someone to touch me! But in the end, everyone leaves Betty behind! They leave with some convoluted reason saying something more important than I am! Even mother! Roswaal too! —Even Ryuzu!!”

Tears threatening to flow down her face, Beatrice screamed.

Upon hearing Beatrice’s cry of Ryuzu’s name, Subaru recalled Beatrice’s past he heard in the ‘Sanctuary.’ Ryuzu Meier, the one who became the basis for those currently present Ryuzus.

The story of the girl who sacrificed herself to protect the ‘Sanctuary’, and the brief yet undeniable bond she had with Beatrice. —The scars within Beatrice’s heart remained now.

“So, enough already.”

Beatrice suddenly lost her momentum, her tone dropped dramatically.

Returning her warped, passion-filled expression back to her usual indifference, she pulled the book on her lap closer.

“Betty’s Gospel does not engrave Betty’s future… I’ve already understood that. Mother had long since forsaken Betty’s fate.”

To have no future inscribed means the owner of the gospel’s future has reached a dead end.

Beatrice had described Subaru, who held Petelgeuse’s Gospel, as possessing a book with stopped passages. The same thing has happened to her.

“If Roswaal’s Gospel has etched Betty’s fate… What an irony. But I feel a sense of security. Knowing Roswaal, he would surely not hold back.”

“You might be killed by someone from a past relationship… Why would you feel secure?”

“Of course.”

Beatrice nodded at Subaru’s strained voice.

Then with a fleeting yet tender smile on her lips, she said,

“If it’s Roswaal’s, it means that if Betty is mentioned in the Gospel, then… Mother never forgot about Betty.”

——It’s grotesque.

In the smiling expression of Beatrice, Subaru felt he was on the verge of being swept away by an emotional torrent.

It’s grotesque. Beatrice’s apparent joy in touching a mother’s love was far too grotesque to bear. Such a thing, this would never be a mother’s love.

“What are you planning to do?”

Biting his lip, Subaru stepped forward while restraining the rising emotions within him.

The moment he released an unusual aura, Beatrice’s expression darkened with caution.

“Did you hear, Betty? What are you planning to do? Let me tell you, if you intend to do something, I won’t go easy on you. Betty has already accepted her fate.”

“What do you mean, accepted your fate? You’re not any different from Roswaal! No, even worse than him, who’s at least aware of what’s happening. You’re hopelessly twisted!”

Anger surged within him.

For a long time, Subaru battled with this feeling after touching the series of events surrounding the ‘Sanctuary.’

Angry at himself, angry at the witches who toy with him, angry at Garfiel, who downplays his feelings with childish obstinacy, angry at Roswaal, who tries to affirm his own fragile feelings by adhering to the writings, and angry at Emilia, who can’t trust her own love for Subaru—

—Now, he was angry at Beatrice and the people surrounding her who cornered her in this way.

“You’re an idiot. Loosely talking about fate and your mother’s orders, it’s painful to watch from the sidelines. You have a heart? You can’t be just a book? Of course, you can’t, idiot! Have you completely lost any sense of reason after isolating yourself in this musty room?”

“Wha…!?”

Beatrice’s eyes widened at Subaru’s roar, and after a moment of surprise, her rage flared.

Standing on the stool, the girl pointed a shaking finger at Subaru.

“You! Who do you think you’re talking to!? To call someone a fool, fool? How dare you say such things to me… to you… what do you know about Betty!?”

“Of course I know you’re a fool, and I know what you are. I understand you far better than you do, you fool! Fool! Fool! FOOL!”

“Y-you…!”

As Subaru raised his middle finger and hurled insults, Beatrice’s face turned crimson, and she struggled to find words, too furious to come up with a retort.

And once she allowed even the smallest gap, Subaru happily intruded without restraint.

“Four hundred years of nothing? You’re jesting! For four hundred years, you just huddled and sobbed! With all that time to think, why are you still so fixated on a single answer? Just because there’s nothing written in the book, does that mean you did ‘nothing’? Are you an idiot?”

“I-it’s impossible that I didn’t consider it! Surely! How many times has Betty tried to see if the writing in the Gospel changed…? But no matter what I did or how long I waited, it never changed! So!”

“THAT’S the foolish part! Just because nothing is written in the book, does it mean you tried hard to make the words appear like you’re trying to draw out a new year’s card? These days, no one does that! If all that ultimately failed, then doubt other possibilities!”

“An alternate possibility…”

“To be blunt, the possibility that your mother delivered the wrong book.”

At Subaru’s words, Beatrice fell silent.

However, quickly after, she bit back at how ridiculous that line of reasoning was.

“Stop making things up! There’s no way my mother would do something so foolish! You can’t possibly understand… you can’t possibly understand her deep and profound thinking!”

“Ah, I don’t give a damn about your mother’s thought process! What I’m talking about is you! You just said that your mother would never do something that ridiculous, right? Is that truly the case? Can you say that with certainty? Have you ever questioned your mother?”

“Wh-what are you…?”

“Four hundred years! The book that should be floating letters remains completely blank! The man you were told to wait for never showed up! You’ve spent an eternity alone, had more time than you could waste to think, yet you never once thought it was odd? Did it not strike you as strange!? ”

To believe someone for four hundred years is often seen as an incredibly beautiful trait. However, that itself is profoundly distorted. Especially if that meant exclusively pondering that person and their words.

Even more so for Beatrice, who was already on the verge of giving up on having any wishes come true.

“Nothing is wrong with my mother! It’s only natural! She’s my mother! Can you doubt what your mother says?”

“Of course, I can doubt it! Do you have any idea how little credibility I place in my mother’s words? When I heard that a satellite fell into ‘Aichi Prefecture’ instead of ‘the atmosphere,’ I stopped believing huge news like that without confirming it! That happened in third grade!!”

He would never forget the day he got caught up in such words and ended up being laughed at in school.

Since that day, Subaru ceased to take his parents’ words at face value. In fact, he lost trust in his father’s words long before that.

“While you’ve never questioned her even once for four hundred years!? In my mere twenty years of life, I multiplied fights with my father until my fingers couldn’t count anymore! In two decades, this is what I’ve done! You had twenty times the opportunity to evaluate, yet you never had any such feelings?”

“W-what are you trying to make me say!?! I don’t get it at all! Your purpose, the meaning of your words, I can’t understand anything! I don’t understand! ”

“Then let me clarify it for you! As if to hear your foolishness and your foolish mother!”

Approaching Beatrice, who was raising a hand to her head, Subaru took both her hands.

With their faces close, glancing at the tearful girl, Subaru declared clearly.

“Stop being swayed by a blank book and a promise made four hundred years ago. —Choose what you want to do, Beatrice.”

“――――”

“Four hundred years. That’s more than enough time to go through a rebellious phase, isn’t it?”

Beatrice, who continued to faithfully follow her mother’s command.

Her stiff commitment to uphold promises birthed the girl’s solitude and empty time.

To Ekidna, even that time of anguish might have seemed sweet, but from Subaru’s perspective, that’s an unspeakable vice.

To forget how to cry, yet strive to understand what ‘heart’ should be—this is disgusting.

Even with her arms held, Beatrice turned away from Subaru while on the stool.

Positioned at the top, their line of sight was nearly level. Averting her gaze down, Beatrice began to tremble.

“S-so, do you mean… that you want Betty to break her mother’s command?”

“……….”

“Throw away everything I’ve believed in for four hundred years and become free… Just that simple, you would tell Betty to do that?”

Her quivering voice slowly regained composure.

Then, as her voice shifted from uncertainty to something more weighty, Subaru felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

Since arriving in this other world, this sensation had been honed without needing doubt.

In other words, it was his instinctual feeling towards an ominous presence.

“—Are you asking this Beatrice to break her contract!? In such a presumptuous manner!?”

“—ZAH!?”

It felt as though a blast of wind hit Subaru head-on, and he was flung backward.

Rolling from his back onto the ground, he felt the air escape him as he slammed into the wall. Every bone in his body creaked, and he brought himself to slowly rise.

With a furious expression, Beatrice looked down at Subaru from atop the stool.

“The contract is absolute! It’s absolutely so! All the more so, it’s a promise made between a witch and a spirit. For you to tell me to unilaterally break it, especially from the spirit’s side!? You don’t understand anything! Such a thing is never permitted! By anyone! No matter what existence it is! Even Betty herself would never allow it!”

“—That’s rich coming from you, who was thinking about finding a backdoor to that contract! You thought of getting killed rather than doing it!”

“――――!”

Exhaling as if to expel the pain, Subaru slowly sat up.

Beatrice, still furious, showed no sign of softening her expression, full of adorably maliciousness. Looking up at her face, Subaru laughed wickedly.

“Your reasoning is absurd, Beatrice. Don’t you even realize your own contradictions? You can’t have gone unnoticed, can you? You’re intelligent.”

“Be quiet.”

“No way! I won’t! The breaking of agreements? That’s fine by me. If you hate keeping promises to the point of death, then quit! No one would blame you.”

“Betty would blame you! Why don’t you get that!?”

“The hell do you mean by that! If keeping that promise means you would die then breaking it and surviving is obviously the better option! When is that such a strange choice?”

Beatrice, who retained her commitment to upholding contracts, fell silent at Subaru’s nonchalant disregard for the very notion.

Right now, Beatrice must think Subaru is an incomprehensible monster.

However, it is he who finds it odd to be perceived that way.

Keeping promises is undoubtedly important.

He’d endured many scoldings from Emilia for breaking promises, and that brought him pain on countless occasions. Therefore, Subaru understands the importance of keeping one’s word.

Even so, Subaru does not hesitate to call for Beatrice to break that promise here.

The reason, as he had just said to Beatrice.

“If someone tries to have you killed for keeping that promise, I’ll tell them to fuck off.”

He’d make her break promises so she could survive. That’s not even a matter worth contemplating.

“I-what a brazen, harsh thing to say…”

“I know it’s brazen, and I acknowledge it. But it’s precious to me, so I won’t back down.”

Subaru’s attitude had been determined from the start. In the end, it was entirely up to Beatrice’s heart.

Beatrice struggled to mask the confusion and bewilderment arising from Subaru’s dismissive behavior toward the concept of contracts. Naturally so. To a spirit itself, a contract holds such grave importance.

Throughout their interactions so far, it was understood that relationships between spirits and spirit users must remain solid and unyielding.

Yet, even with that clarity, Subaru resolved.

More than that, she is far dearer.

“If you’re… ‘that person’…”

Beatrice’s overbearing attitude concerning the contract was fading before Subaru’s excessive stance on it.

Beatrice’s expression grew slightly vulnerable as she faltered.

The one, who for four hundred years held firm to a shape-less existence based on her mother’s orders.

Ekidna’s heartless whim had sentenced, to learn whom ‘that child’ would choose.

Beatrice longed to be liberated.

By the words of Subaru, shaken, her eyes began to shimmer with moisture.

“You will…”

Her moist eyes locked onto Subaru’s frozen figure.

Then trembling her lips, she uttered, like a child seeking reassurance.

“Will you become Betty’s… ‘that person’?”

It was a question that could put an end to the past four hundred years.

Or maybe, as per Ekidna’s command, it was the very words the witch had desired.

Could Beatrice find that formless existence known as ‘that person’?

The witch must have entrusted her curiosity to her daughter, making her dwell in solitude for four hundred years.

And now, the culmination of those long days lay within that single question.

Staring straight at Beatrice, Subaru stated clearly.

“Don’t be an idiot. —There’s no way I’d ever be ‘that person’ for you.”

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

In the Forbidden Library, following an overwhelming shockwave, Beatrice began to return the books blown away by the winds to their original positions.

Fortunately, while some fell to the floor, none had their bindings torn.

Reflecting on the force with which she exerted herself inside the Forbidden Library, Beatrice felt relief at the minimal damage caused.

These books had continued to share Beatrice’s lonely times for four hundred years.

Her wish to be just one of those books is not a lie, nor flowery thinking. It’s something she had imagined many times.

Beatrice thought it was absurd to harbor such hope.

“That’s how pathetic I’ve been…”

That realization was bound to be embarrassing.

Yet more than that, there was a raging anger in her small heart.

“What’s up with that guy… What the hell is he…?!”

Recalling the irritating person that sprung to mind, Beatrice felt her feet nearly stamp in frustration.

She wanted to direct her pent-up emotions somewhere, but every corner of the Forbidden Library was a treasured place she was told to protect by her mother.

Finding nothing with which to unleash her frustration, she could only wait for the emotional swelling to subside.

After returning the last book to the shelf, Beatrice sighed, smoothing her hair. She then prepared to pick up the black-bound book at her designated position—only to stop.

The blank book. Just toss it away, huh? How easy it was for her to say that repeatedly.

Yet at the crucial moment when Beatrice would choose to be dismissed, she had rejected that notion so decisively. Truly, it’s all too incomprehensible and frustrating.

“I’m so tired of it all…”

Even that surge of emotion wouldn’t last.

Beatrice halted puffing her cheeks and placed the book she hesitated to hold close to her heart.

Ultimately, until the very end, she could find no way to protect her heart without leaning on this.

According to Roswaal’s Gospel, an end is nearing Beatrice as well.

With what kind of feeling should she await that ending?

Should she think that it’s finally over?

She believed that would be her sentiment. Yet, the moment it approached, she found herself bewildered.

——You’re an idiot, she had been told. For some reason, that remark lingered unnervingly within her heart.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Crumpled from getting blown back by a shockwave, Subaru gasped as he hit the wall of the corridor.

Just as the pillar smacked into his side, he groaned and writhed in agony.

“Gah! Whoa… this is unreal…! Right in the middle of a conversation, that idiot…!”

Before him, the door slammed shut accompanied by a loud sound. Subaru reached desperately for the door, casting a resentful gaze at it. Naturally, the scenery beyond the crack was completely different from that of the Forbidden Library—just a guest room.

The ‘Door Traversing’ had activated, flinging Subaru out of the Forbidden Library.

“There’s no way I’d make them so mad they throw me out… Damn it, I should’ve picked my words better!”

While his words hadn’t been wrong, the way they were conveyed and perceived got lost in translation.

As a result, Subaru was ejected from the Forbidden Library, pushing the conditions for success further from his grasp.

“Whatever, I can’t stay here like this. I need to find another door to get to Beatrice!”

“Natsuki-san…?”

A voice called out as Subaru turned back, flailing at the other doors. Recognizing the familiar voice and name, he widened his eyes in surprise.

Peeking from the next room was none other than Otto, who he thought was separated from him. Underneath Otto, Petra, in the same posture, looked over at them too.

“Y-you two…? Why are you still in the mansion? I told you to escape as soon as you got the doors open!”

“Unfortunately, the situation outside has changed greatly…”

Otto, with a pale face, shook his head at Subaru’s pressing inquiry.

In this situation, he wouldn’t joke. The fact that Otto had given up on escape meant something significant had happened.

“What’s happening? Keep it short.”

“Monsters. For some reason, they’re swarming outside the mansion and we can’t move.”

“Monsters!?”

Subaru’s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected response. Glancing at Petra for confirmation, the girl nodded vigorously in response.

“Uh, there are no magic dogs like the last time—just loads of different monsters! Two-headed snakes, kangaroos, and so many more!”

“Are those the ones that live in the surrounding forest?”

“Yeah, but… they shouldn’t be able to get through the barrier.”

“Another barrier, huh…?”

Previously, during the monster incident, the reconnection of the barrier between Araham Village and the surrounding forest of the mansion had been confirmed. Caution against the softening of the barrier was prioritized, and in such a short period of time, an oversight was unlikely.

Most importantly, why would the monsters that had crossed the barrier surround the mansion?

“Just like with that puppy situation, does some sort of strange will guide them? How are the villagers in Araham? Are they okay?”

“They didn’t confirm any monsters when they were doing the evacuation, and we safely mobilized the dragon cart we received from the duke. They should be fine, Patrasche-chan is guiding them.”

“Got it. That’s a relief.”

Trusting in the wise Earth Dragon was better than relying on any random person guiding them.

As he hoped that Patrasche would manage well, Subaru grimaced, realizing a situation contrary to what he knew was developing yet again.

An unprecedented incursion of monsters.

Naturally, this had to be connected with Elsa’s assault in terms of timing.

“Where are Frederica and Rem?”

“I haven’t met with Frederica or Rem, but… I don’t think getting through those monsters is even an option.”

“Then both of them are still inside the mansion. The fact that the monsters haven’t entered yet is the only luck we have, but I wonder how far Garfiel has been able to hold them back.”

Petra was praised for stroking her head, commending her strong heart for keeping her cool in such a critical situation. At Subaru’s age, it wouldn’t be unusual to wet himself and cry.

Though, it was true that the situation wouldn’t allow them to remain idle.

“Where are we right now? Which part of the mansion?”

“We’re in the East Wing. Garfiel should be facing off in the West Wing, so I avoided that area to prevent us from taking damage…”

“In that case, the escape routes we can use are…”

Recovering Beatrice was essential, but it was also mandatory to help Otto and the others escape.

Subaru racked his brain to find possible locations on the mental map he had drawn. However, his pondering was interrupted by a voice.

“Oh? Here you all are, waiting on purpose, huh?”

Everyone froze like they had just been grazed by a cold blade against their neck.

Instinctively, Subaru pulled Petra closer, and turned to look behind cautiously.

The light diagonally streamed into the hallway as someone purposeful approached, footsteps clearly echoing.

Eventually, the figure stepped into the illuminated area.

“Garfiel! What the hell is he even doing!?”

“Showing off your intestines properly as three of you together—”

The moment Subaru screamed, a shadow of intestinal horror lunged at them, having kicked off the ground.

 

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