I break free from Julius’s arm and stand alone, turning to face the “trial.”

In front of Subaru, a multitude of replica monoliths spread out in the white space, centered around the monolith he was touching. Honestly, there are so many that counting them sounds like a chore.

“This is the ‘trial’… is that right, Shaula?”

“Seems good enough, right? I wanna see my master do well!”

“Quit talking like it’s a drinking party or something…”

I wouldn’t know since I’ve never been to one, but it probably feels about that casual.

With Shaula cheerfully cheering from behind, Subaru looks around the room, still enveloped in white—a layer so warped it messes with the perspective, height differences, everything.

The only notable changes are the scattered monoliths, but there’s not much difference between them and the first one. Bigger or smaller, it seems each has varying sizes, but other than that, they all float and are made of a mysterious material.

“In terms of hints, it’s definitely gotta be that thing from earlier…”

What springs to mind is the voice that resonated inside his head the moment he touched the monolith.

“—The hero who was destroyed by Shaula, touch upon his most glorious.”

Rather than a sound coming through the eardrum, it felt more like a whisper directly in his brain, a voice that, because it wasn’t exactly sound, lacked the concept of “someone’s voice.”

In a way, it intruded into his thoughts like a sentence he himself had conceived. The thought had no audio at all. Therefore, he couldn’t tell who the voice belonged to. If anything, it was like himself.

“Is that voice I heard the judgement for the trial? If that’s the case…”

“Subaru, I’m sorry to interrupt your deep thoughts, but I have a few points to discuss. It won’t hurt to listen to those before you start tackling this.”

As Subaru tilts his head in confusion, Julius speaks up, the one who made the earlier joke.

Near the staircase down, Emilia and the others were grouped around the monoliths, all of them posing with puzzled looks. Seeing Julius beckoning them, Subaru shrugs, as if to say, “Oh, I see.”

“Right. While I was asleep, everyone else was already trying their hand at this trial. No wonder there’s some progress.”

“It might not be progress worth mentioning, though. So, Subaru, go ahead and touch the nearest stone tablet… I mean, ‘monolith.’”

“So, you really like the name, huh? Not that I’m against it or anything…”

Narrowing his eyes at Julius’s peculiar fixation on the monolith’s name, Subaru walks up to a different replica monolith to the right. Coming closer, he notices it’s slightly smaller than the first monolith.

“When I touch this, am I gonna get ambushed or something?”

“You’ll be fine. If something like that happens, for the rest of your life, Beatrice will be your right arm.”

“Oh, then I’ll be your left hand, Subaru. So don’t worry!”

“With those assumptions, I’ll be left without both arms!”

Thanks to the strong reassurances from Emilia and Beatrice, Subaru musters up his courage to reach for the monolith. There’s no great anxiety about the act of touching itself.

With his companions encouraging him instead of stopping him, there’s no need to doubt safety. The only concern is the possibility that the monolith replicas are hiding some shocking truth—

“Oh?”

With apprehension, as his fingertip touches the monolith, the black stone tablet bursts into blinding light. The brilliance takes Subaru’s breath away, causing him to instinctively cover his face with his arm.

And when the light faded, in front of Subaru—

“Huh? Where did the monolith go?”

“Hehehe, it’s right behind you, Master!”

“Behind…?”

After blinking, Subaru confirms that the monolith which had been right in front of him has vanished. As he’s surprised by this fact, a smug-looking Shaula urges him to look behind.

When he turns around, at the base of the stairs—where the first monolith had stood—there it is, the original monolith. The rest of the monoliths have completely disappeared from the room.

“So… what does this mean?”

“It’s returned to its original state. Therefore, I would say you have failed the ‘trial.’ Of course…”

With Subaru looking glum, Julius casually approaches the original monolith. When he stretched out his hand and touched its surface, that voice echoed in his head once more—

“—The hero who was destroyed by Shaula, touch upon his most glorious.”

As that was stated anew, once again, more monoliths replicated from the first one, distributing the “trial” throughout the room at the same speed as before.

In a way, it’s like a “retest.”

“I see. Until you arrive at the answer, you can reconsider as many times as you want,” Subaru muses.

“That’s our guess for now. By the way, regarding this monolith, I’ll clarify that you won’t reach the answer by touching randomly…”

“Oh, so it’s just a bunch of trial-and-error then, huh?”

Subaru bluntly synthesizes Julius’s mild way of saying it. Hearing that explanation, Emilia and Meily visibly feel embarrassed, patting their own heads.

The notion that they should just touch and check all of them makes sense given their track record. Yet that means it clearly didn’t work out.

“Given the ‘trial,’ there’s a need to solve problems and provide answers, huh?”

“It seems the questioner dislikes it if you just throw the answer without showing the steps taken,” Julius comments.

“Ugh, isn’t that just like a teacher who won’t give you points unless you show your work on tests? It’s effective for cheating prevention, though.”

Finding the answer without a solution seems like it only leaves room for cheating or intuition. In grade school, there would often be questions where intuition would lead you to the answer, but the point of math is to learn the methods rather than just slip by on guesswork.

I remember being indignant when I lost points for vague workings during my elementary school days—

“Looking back, the teachers were actually right…”

“Natsuki-kun, it’s bad timing to relapse into your memories, but your time to act is actually starting now. Come on, come to your senses.”

“Huh? Ah, sorry about that. But am I on stage now?”

Pulling Subaru back from recollection, Anastasia has her hands on her hips. When Subaru tilts his head at her request, everyone exchanges glances.

The content was the same, so I’ll paraphrase it and combine it.

In essence—

“The hero who was destroyed by Shaula, it’s your job to extract that information, Subaru.”

“While we were waiting for you to wake up, we all tried the ‘trial’ several times. The only problem is that we weren’t clued in on whether this girl is actually Shaula,” Emilia explains.

“To us, Shaula was seen as the ‘sage.’ After all, we had an image from the coin design, so it didn’t quite connect the dots to think this girl was Shaula.”

Such were the responses of Emilia and the others, who hadn’t been able to converse with Shaula until now.

Seeing Shaula, who has been interacting on a friendly level, it’s hard for Subaru to believe this was the same girl who had kept quiet, but it made sense that discussions wouldn’t progress if they were kept silent by the only tower’s connection.

But Subaru had concerns too.

That even if Shaula were able to speak freely,—

“Let’s ask her for the time being. Hey, Shaula. If you’ve destroyed the hero, could you tell us all the names that come to mind?”

“Leave it to me! A second-rate job would be remembering the names of every person I took down… A first-rate like me doesn’t remember after a hundred!”

“Yeah, I thought so!”

With Shaula giving a strong thumbs up and a wink, Subaru slapped his knee.

It was just as he had feared—Shaula’s head seemed completely empty.

Given the way she had been chatting, Subaru expected that it was likely she would forget, with the possibility that she didn’t remember the hero whose death she was responsible for.

“That said, if we just end it there, we wouldn’t make any progress. Miss Shaula, do you really recall nothing? Even the smallest details would suffice.”

“That’s all well and good to say. You see, I just picked off any intruders smart enough to approach the tower, and those pesky corpses were taken care of by the magical beasts outside.”

“Hmm, but isn’t that strange? The ‘trial’ is meant to open the tower’s knowledge, right? If it indicates events after Shaula began guarding the tower, that changes the timeline.”

Shaula pouts, at a complete loss for what to say, but Anastasia points out the oddity in her statement. Realizing the significance of her words, the rest of the group nods in agreement.

Indeed, it’s hard to believe that the problems inside the tower would concern matters that occurred only after she started to guard it. Therefore, the timeframe indicates that “Shaula destroyed the hero” is from before the tower’s creation.

“So in other words, this is before the random slaughter began. Come on, try to remember. You see, too much nourishment to the breasts and butt can lead to poor memory!”

“This appearance was chosen by Mother! But still, even if you tell me to remember, honestly, nothing comes to mind. You’re talking about pre-tower, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Pre-tower. During that time, does anyone have a recollection of killing… or destroying someone?”

Surrounding the stairs, they tried desperately to rekindle her memories around Shaula. However, with all eyes on her, Shaula just lets out a “Ahh” without any sign of improvement.

“Whether it’s true or not, you’ve been around for four hundred years, right? You must’ve taken down a couple of famous faces in that time?”

“What do you think I am, Master? Just a girl playing with flowers!”

“That’s not a girl, it’s more like a caterpillar!”

“Subaru, that was harsh, don’t you think? If she’s trying to remember something she wants to forget, there’s no need to force it.”

“Emilia-chan’s kindness is beautiful and her charm points are off the charts, but this one is the type that gets worse the more you pamper them! I can tell because I’m the same!”

He declares confidently, but the fact is, Shaula isn’t not remembering because she doesn’t wish to; it’s merely because her memory capacity is weak.

This is a sensitive topic, especially given their group’s challenges regarding memory, but for Shaula, it’s a different issue.

“It’s not completely wrong to pick random names, is it? Anything mentioned could come up with the answer, though how it connects to the monolith is anyone’s guess…”

“You’re right, Natsuki-kun. Even if you find the answer, how do you touch the ‘most glorious’?”

Since the monolith that vanished indicated that the “trial” was a failure, it’s clear that the final answer involves touching the “correct monolith.”

The issue, however, is finding that “correct monolith,” and even after digging into Shaula’s memory, there’s no guarantee of getting an answer.

“But then, staying stuck isn’t getting us anywhere, right? The naked lady’s being so cooperative, so we ought to ask things we think may lead to answers!”

Interrupting the adults who were stalling at the start of the issue, Meily, still clinging to Shaula’s uncovered shoulder, pipes up. She absentmindedly fiddles with Shaula’s scorpion tail, glancing at the monoliths with a bored expression.

“Without any magical beasts around, the conversation isn’t moving, and this place isn’t fun at all! I just want to go back home already!”

“――――”

At Meily’s rather blunt words, everyone falls silent. After a moment, as she turns towards Subaru, asking, “What’s wrong?” he pats her head.

“…. What’s going on?”

“To be honest, I think you’re right. It is a sandy and scary place full of magical beasts outside. Let’s hurry this up, solve all the problems… Wake up Rem, get all the ways to help those in need, and get out of here.”

Wasting time by being anxious before even trying is a drain on valuable minutes.

It seems like the kind of trap that someone malicious designed who prepared this “trial.”

“Master, Master! Actually, right beside that little one, there’s a head that’s easy to pat!”

“I told you. You’re the same as me—a type that gets lazy the more you pamper. So, I’ll be tough from here on out. Remember quickly.”

“Reeeally?”

Sulking, Shaula puffs her cheeks, looking completely pouted. Though in just a few seconds, she begins to whistle away nonchalantly, making her easier to deal with.

“Well, we have a request from our young lady. Let’s try without holding back any possibilities we have in front of us.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. It’s nice to know we can afford to fail a bunch of times. Usually, life is a one-shot deal… so it’s a gentle problem.”

Though driven by Meily’s push, Julius and Anastasia concurred.

Alright then, it’s time to remember the “hero destroyed by Shaula.”

“To begin with, a name that rings a bell… let’s see. Oh, what about Reid? The first ‘Sword Saint’ or whatever, you killed him, right?”

“IIIHHHHH!!”

“Kya!”

“Third base!”

The moment the name slipped out casually, Shaula let out a high-pitched scream and jumped back. With that reaction, Subaru leaped forward to catch a toiling Meily from the fall.

Safely landing Meily back on the ground, he watches as Shaula flees farthest into the room, now pinched small.

“Hey! I’m sorry! I don’t know what just happened but come back!”

“Pleases don’t say anything too scary, Master! You’re seriously cruel. This is a disaster! A maiden’s crisis! This is your responsibility!”

While joking, Shaula’s voice quivers as she walks back, trying to retain some bravado while failing miserably. But it’s clear that this is pure fear.

Understood, that must only be directed towards one person.

“What’s with this first ‘Sword Saint’? What’s so terrifying about him?”

“Don’t be absurd. He’s Reinhardt and Wilhelm, the ancestor of the Astraea family. There’s no doubt about it; his sword skills are legendary, and he was regarded as a person of great character. Sure, he had some bold and carefree stories that don’t overlap with Reinhardt’s, but… if he weren’t so, the history of the Astraea family would have been distorted until now.”

“I mean, when you look at history, some excellent rulers can be seen as worse characters when you take a different perspective. Compared to that, this doubt isn’t too severe or wild…”

“Good heavens, you make no sense! Fine then, let’s hear it from her—for the facts come from a living testimony. Come on, let’s hear what she has to say.”

As Subaru struggles to imagine the details of Reid’s character from Shaula’s reactions, Julius quickly tries to jump in. Subaru lets out a chuckle in the margins, recalling the first time he thought he understood as much as one could.

“Miss Shaula, your opinion of the first ‘Sword Saint’ Reid Astraea, give it to us candidly.”

“He was human trash!”

“Give us your candid opinion!”

“Don’t sweep it under the rug!!”

Julius tries to overlook the inconvenience of what he wishes to avoid hearing, only for Subaru to yank him back into reality. Pointing at the dirty-faced Shaula, Subaru continues.

“Listen! The truth about the history you’ve wanted to know is right there. It’s a living testimony. You can keep rattling off stories of Reid Astraea—the sword saint and paragon of humanity—fill our ears with tales as you wish!”

“Well, generally speaking, anyone with a greater talent tends to hold confidence. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it should be something to be proud of. After all, when it comes to those who carve their names in history as the pinnacle sword fighters, it’s appropriate behavior seen in light of the times—”

“Never knew you were such a hard worker!”

Julius stumbles over his own words.

Given how he has little choice but to grapple with dreams entangled with disillusionment, it seems rather difficult to suppress the truth from someone like Shaula without getting caught up in the tide of memory.

Regardless, her divulging of the “truth about Reid Astraea” flows without pause.

“Eh, anyway, he was just a bad guy. The type of brat who just grew up being a bully, he thrived on picking on weaklings. Honestly, to him, most people were weak, so every fight he picked was just him being a bully. I got totally wrecked too.”

“But, Shaula, even though you’re that strong, did you really take all that damage? Hmm, but you were still small back then, weren’t you?”

“I’ve always been this way since I was born! So I’d still be the same back then… but he was a total outlier. It was beyond ridiculous.”

Such expletives hurled at the past hero leave Subaru shaken.

The overflowing resentment seems to paint a vivid recollection of bullying from her point of view, unearthing the narrative of someone who faced a bully remembering the one who acted out.

“Remember it well—those who perpetrate will forget their deeds, while those who have suffered will never forget it. That’s a common truth…”

“Given the example of Reinhardt, I’m not surprised, but wow, to think that he could hold his own against you shows how much of a beast Reid Astraea must have been.”

“I swear he was the absolute worst, but if he fought me ten times, I could at least make him use both his hands once. I wasn’t just a punching bag all the time!”

“…I see.”

That’s all Subaru could muster. Winning one time out of ten seems rather tall, as it’s hard to believe he would ever get Reinhardt to use both hands against him.

He finds plenty of rationale to feel a sense of satisfaction from that resistance.

“Anyway, we can put Reid aside for now. It seems like asking about him is pointless if you weren’t the one who destroyed him.”

“—Yes. That’s correct. There are priority matters to dwell on.”

“Didn’t it take you all this time to come to this conclusion?”

Whether for academic interests or mere hobby, it’s impossible to discern, but Subaru figures that Julius won’t be of any use for a while now.

No matter how bad things might end up for Julius, Subaru finds there’s little reason to care about the ancestor of Reinhardt amidst the current state of affairs. No matter how remarkable the bloodline may be, Reinhardt himself shines bright enough to overshadow it all. And, at least, when it comes to the aspects of “father,” he had confidence in his own better luck.

“So then, if we can leave the crazy ideas on names to the experts…”

“I understand. I will follow suit.”

“I didn’t say you were in charge yet, but fine. You do you. Beatrice, you back him up.”

“Understood.”

Assigning the task to someone who appears enthusiastic shines a light on well-wrought strategy. With the knowledge of a four-hundred-year-old Beatrice backing them up, they have a solid assist.

“So what do we do now?”

“We’ll wander a bit more closely around the area.”

With Shaula being accompanied by Julius and Beatrice, they wanted to leave the hero portion in their hands while inquiring into the spatial irregularities.

The configuration of the replicas—if this unevenness has meaning, it wouldn’t hurt to look for any sort of laws.

“First off, the one directly facing the staircase… it’s the original one.”

“It’s the monolith that presents questions, right?”

As they keep a careful distance, Subaru led Emilia and Anastasia around the monoliths.

Upon nearer observation, the scattered monoliths were found to vary surprisingly in size. The largest resembled that of the original monolith series, while the rest was a whirlwind of smaller replicas.

“At a quick glance… there’s about seven or eight that match the original’s size?”

“I think so too. The ones really far away appear noticeably smaller. Touching those would restart everything again, right?”

“That sounds as if it has prior experience… oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to say anything.”

Catching a sad glance from Emilia, he halts any unnecessary comments. As he stands in front of the first monolith again, Subaru leans in to consider.

“Touching the hero who was destroyed by Shaula, we ought to touch the most glorious… sounds quite cool if you say it that way, huh?”

“It’s definitely a vague way to put it. Unfortunately, if this is depending on Shaula’s memory, it’s but a shortcoming of the question.”

“Well, sure, that’s about right.”

Even if they’re calling it a “trial,” depending on someone else for the answer—especially someone who’s now being positioned as the tower’s caretaker—feels exceedingly unfair.

While they’ve been able to interact with Shaula relatively peacefully—though they didn’t plan for it—the alternative might’ve led to a gruesome battle. Even if they managed to enter the tower, dealing with Shaula might become unavoidable.

“If that were the case, passing this ‘trial’ would become impossible indefinitely.”

“If the goal isn’t to allow anyone to pass the ‘trial,’ then that’d be a right answer. Setting a powerful guardian as a defense mechanism and putting together that the guardian can’t allow passage if killed—what a malicious barrier.”

“But Subaru doesn’t see it that way… right?”

“Well, yeah.”

As Subaru touches on security issues, Emilia appoints hopeful gazes his way. Now faced with those glances, Subaru chuckles, affirming her thoughts.

In his faint eyes, he sees through the looks of Emilia and Beatrice. Whenever they view him like that, Subaru grows weak. He realizes the same happened with Rem, Garfiel, Otto, and even Petra. It’s as if there’s an endless loop of them passing through, barring just Patrasche and Ram.

“Ahh, I feel like I see a pattern forming.”

“—?”

“Just my thoughts.”

His bravado won’t work on someone who can peek through his chiaroscuro defenses. But it’s fortunate to know there are allies leaning toward the same perception.

Nevertheless, returning to the problem framed as a “trial,”—

“Generally speaking, problems are meant to be solvable. If you’re truly trying to hide something, you’d best do so without leaving any potential for discovering it.”

“But, this place isn’t like that… Do you suspect that for real, Natsuki-kun?”

“Didn’t Shaula mention it? This is a massive library that holds all the juicy knowledge. I can’t believe that clever phrasing just came from her own head; she must’ve been learning and parroting those words. This means someone or something created this library for Shaula in the first place—Flugel—with the intention of sharing knowledge.”

Thus, as one probes, they can uncover the oddities that rise out of the current situation.

The creator of this grand library, Pleiades, must have intended to employ its purpose to function as it should. For that filtering condition, they had placed ‘trials’ and left Shaula here.

“From the start, only those who could befriend Shaula could utilize this place, huh?”

“But, Shaula was told to wipe out anyone approaching the tower, right?”

Exactly so.

The order given to Shaula was to “eliminate anyone who approached the tower.” The fact that Subaru and the others managed to engage her positively was merely a stroke of luck. Recklessly concluding that without this fortune, they wouldn’t even qualify to challenge the tower feels unreasonable, yet—

“What’s needed is muscle, luck, and the charm to befriend Miss Shaula? I must say, that’s a peculiar set of criteria,” Subaru reflects.

“…Yeah.”

If someone lost against Shaula, if they ended up killing her, or were unable to have her cooperate—each scenario would nullify one’s qualification for entering this grand library of Pleiades.

That’s a radical theory, yet upon laying out the conditions at hand, Subaru concludes only that.

Although he feels ill at ease about accepting this boundless possibility.

And then—

“Hmm… hmm?”

“Emilia?”

“I feel really murky inside… It feels just wrong here, around my chest.”

As she utters the concerned moan, Emilia touches her chest, appearing deep in thought. Subaru feels another urge to glance south quickly, but he holds back just in time.

Clearing his throat, he questions Emilia’s feelings.

“What do you mean wrong?”

“Well… there’s something that’s bothering me.”

“But it might not even be relevant, and I thought you might think it’s something only you’d understand,” she adds.

“At this point, I want to know whatever you’re thinking. It’s not like my thoughts are definitively correct, and it’s generally a good move to consider all sides.”

“Oh, really?”

She seems to feel a tad more at ease at his words. Then, she continues, “Well, when you touched the monolith, didn’t a voice echo in your head?”

“That’s right. It’s a creepy setup, after all. What about that?”

“Isn’t that voice really similar to the one from the ‘trial’ in the graveyard?”

“――――”

At Emilia’s remark, Subaru and Anastasia go quiet simultaneously. However, their silence carries a different weight; for while Anastasia’s hills upon her words yield a lack of confusion about them, Subaru’s holds a nugget of understanding formed from surprise.

The “trial”—it’s something from the graveyard belonging to the witch Echidna.

The bizarre incident where one confronts their past and alternative present. Subaru hasn’t gleaned many details since he bowed out midway through, but based on stories from Echidna in the graveyard, there was mention of a third ‘trial’ as well. It’s something Emilia overcame.

No, it’s not so much about the content of that “trial” or its grueling challenges that matter at this point.

What’s crucial is how, during that ‘trial,’ he also was brought to realize the contents revealed through “his own voice.”

Now recalling, “How could I have missed this? Is it because it reminded me of something unpleasant?”

“Subaru, you really dislike Echidna, don’t you?”

“――!”

“The savior turning out to be the villain—makes someone like me think this way,” he admits.

Since the holy realm, Subaru and Emilia have discussed the witches maybe once or twice; they’ve indirectly skirted more profound topics concerning the trial without much probing.

But what they share is the sentiment of “Echidna has a terrible personality.” Emilia takes a more delicate stance, while Subaru balances it heaviness.

“Wow, it surprised me to hear Echidna’s name.”

“Oh, right. Anastasia’s spirit is named Echidna too. Their mannerisms are pretty much the same. Strange.”

“It’s debatable if it’s just strange, but well, I see. It bears a resemblance to the ‘trial.'”

Upon hearing the talk of the “trial,” someone had commented on how closely it resembles the other, reminding him of the words coming back to haunt them.

If it shares features as similarly considered, perhaps it’s possible that this place connects in some form or fashion with the graveyard.

“Considering that, this ‘trial’ also allowed for limitless attempts, right?”

“Additionally, the trials exist across floors: three, two, and one—all having three!”

“――――”

Both Subaru and Emilia exchange looks, the realization hitting them in sync.

The sage’s name, countless lapses occurring over four centuries could easily cut across to that time when the ‘witches’ held sway over their age—history invariably intertwining in a way one ought to expect.

“Yeah, but sorry. It might not lead us to that conclusion.”

Just as Emilia thinks through those thoughts, her tone betrays her anxiousness with an uncertain contrast as she pauses midway.

Exactly as she said, while there’s a chance there’s some connection to the graveyard, it doesn’t link at all to this “Taygeta” ‘trial.’

Continuing, the herald of the “hero who was destroyed by Shaula” remains firmly tethered to Shaula.

“…Or is it a case of mistaken relation?”

“Natsuki?”

“What if this is one of those places structured to not be solvable without dealing with Shaula? Maybe that’s fundamentally flawed?”

The tower is the “sage’s” structure, while that place was the “witch’s” graveyard.

The questioner indulges in palpable malice, but if there are indeed other similarities to be had, then there’s room to consider all possibilities.

The “witch” tested people with “trials,” but doing so brought no supernatural punishment for failing to produce results.

If the “sage” similarly tests people with “trials,” failures will result in avoiding needless hardship.

“The possibility of clearing the tower without the presence of Shaula…”

“Natsuki-kun, if you think you’ve pieced something together, then—”

“Shhh.”

Deep in thought, he positions his hand upon his chin, one eye squinting in concentration. Seeing this, Anastasia almost succumbs to excitement but is interrupted by Emilia shushing her.

With a finger to her lips to induce silence, Emilia gazes intently at Subaru, her lilac eyes shimmering with anticipation.

Unbeknownst to him, Subaru dizzily wanders through possibilities.

In this ‘trial,’ the essence of “Shaula” isn’t crucial. It’s entirely possible challengers may fight against a Shaula they had never known—as long as she existed, that is.

Sensing something ephemeral brewing…

“Even if we don’t know who Shaula is, if she exists…”

“――――”

“We’ve mistakenly linked Flugel’s accomplishments to Shaula’s name. The ‘sage’s’ contributions were thought of as along with Reid’s or the ‘Dragon God’ when sealing those witches. However, the ‘Witch of Envy’ would never qualify as ‘heroic,’ nor could she be said to have been destroyed.”

Establishing that the initial premise may be faulty, renders clear.

Or perhaps, unbeknownst to Subaru, there exists an epic tale that the sage Flugel had imposed upon Shaula. It seems incredibly irrational that neither Julius nor Beatrice would not have thought about it as pressing.

Conclusively emerging, as he reverently thinks aloud:

“If Shaula isn’t Shaula to us… if we’ve misidentified her.”

Clearly repeating his earlier statement, he’s acknowledged not in circles but leading to an unresolved issue.

“Beatrice! Come here a sec!”

Following the enlightening possibility, Subaru rises to his feet, beckoning Beatrice.

While Julius, who’s been laboriously engaging Shaula, struggles to unlock her memories, Beatrice, who was nearby, bounces rapidly on her feet at Tesco’s call. Once close, she beams at him.

“Is that expression, dear Subaru’s, the one she likes?”

“You love me at all times, don’t you?”

“Especially, I do!”

Beatrice’s unabashed response brings a wry smile to Subaru’s face. He reaches out to her, and she meets his clasping hand firmly, her gentle blue eyes taking in him.

Her eyes question, “What do you want me to do?” So he nods.

“It’s simple… I want to jump high with Murak!”

“…Surely, you aren’t thinking of giving up and smashing the ceiling, are you?”

“Don’t be so blatantly dismissive. Of course, I’m not. I want to overlook this monolith from above.”

“You’re going to look down on the monolith?”

At Subaru’s declaration, Emilia whips her head in surprise, glancing back at the monoliths.

Whether the outcome remains inconclusive, Beatrice shows no inclination to inquire further. With a gentle sigh, she grips his hand tighter and murmurs, “Murak.”

With a tender pulse of pale purple energy at Beatrice’s chant, she softly wraps Subaru in a whimsical aura of lightness.

The magic pushes down the weight of gravity and heightens agility. With a gentle bounce, he soars nearly a meter high, and with a strong push against the ground—

“Here I go!”

Subaru leaps impressively into the air, his height reaching six, seven meters. Strikingly, he doesn’t hit his head on the ceiling that should be there.

Within the utterly white expanse, the layers continue to stretch, as if there were no limiting ceiling. As a result, Subaru now holds a clear view of the entire room from above.

“—As I suspected.”

“Did you achieve your goal?”

“Almost. This place is unbelievably wicked.”

Listening to his mutterings, Beatrice beside him nods approvingly.

As their bodies plummet back toward the ground, they easily face the descent, for the buoyancy given makes touching down satisfyingly easy. Once Subaru lands and places Beatrice on the floor…

“I’ve got the name of the hero.”

“Really?!”

After witnessing his leap of logic, Subaru declares confidently. The shock and surprise widen Emilia’s eyes, and Anastasia gasps as well.

Hearing Subaru’s statement, those engrossed in conversation—Julius and the others—shift their focus toward him.

“Did you figure it out, big bro?”

“I cracked it. With the tricky thoughts of that malicious examiner shared for now.”

“As expected of my master! How thrilling! I admire you!”

As Subaru raises a thumb in affirmation, Shaula hops onto his back dramatically, shaking her head hard in a state of admiration. Off to the side, Julius stares intently at the group of monoliths.

“I have no intention of doubting you now. Please inform me how you concluded your answer.”

“Trust me, it’s not some convoluted affair. The fact that no one could crack this only highlights how rare those who could solve it really are.”

In that regard, the question remains inherently cruel.

Overcoming the barrier set forth by Shaula, deciphering the contents, and recognizing the downplay of those likely to possess the resulting knowledge has dwindled considerably.

“The hero who was destroyed by Shaula has the name Orion.”

“Orion…?”

Everyone gazes perplexedly at Shaula after Subaru’s words. Yet Shaula hastily sways her head in denial, asserting.

“No, no, no! It’s someone I know nothing about! Even if I did assassinate him, there’s no way he’d arrive at this place to begin with, which means he can’t be a hero. So I don’t think I’m at fault! Check out this intellectual arsenal! I’m so smart!”

“Despite my initial doubts about the possibility that a named entity might slip her mind, it turns out that isn’t the case. This ‘Shaula’ in question isn’t her at all.”

“I’m the only Shaula! The name was granted by my master!”

“Even that name bestowed by your master has a premise in itself.”

Julius points an accusing finger at Shaula and urges her back, pressing forward to stand by the original monolith.

“The source of Shaula’s name… could it possibly turn out to be again something that only Subaru knows?”

“It’s not exclusively my knowledge, but not common knowledge either. In fact, there’s a star in my homeland called ‘Shaula.’ The meaning translates to ‘sting’ but refers to the sting of a ‘scorpion.'”

Just as Shaula has displayed herself asserting her scorpion tail, it has hinted strong significance. Either way, there are a few conditions that remind one of ‘Shaula’ = ‘Scorpion’ = ‘Sting.’

“According to lore, the hero Orion met his end after being stung by the scorpion sent to capriciously mess with him and ascended as a star. Thus, the scorpion that killed Orion also became a star in its own right, and to this day, the tale goes that Orion’s soul fears being chased by the scorpion in the skies…”

“When Subaru explains, the epic of heroism sounds somewhat disappointing.”

“Anyway, there’s a concept of likening stars to people and animals—constellations if you will. You could also call it an asterism… So, when viewing the monolith from above…”

With Beatrice’s magic granting him buoyancy, Subaru surveys the field of monoliths.

In this white void, scattered black monoliths emerge in view—ofen mistaken for a color contrast, they stand out against this white domain like a series of black stars.

Fitting a number in with the same size as the first monolith… there are exactly eight.

Matching both the number and layout arrangement of the prominent stars forming Orion’s constellation.

Finally, if it’s tied with ‘touch upon the most glorious’—it becomes clear—

“The center monolith must be the initial one. I reckon its tale matches one of the main stars, probably aiming for Alnilam… mapping out the shape of the constellation… that of Orion, must be established.”

“So, what now?”

“Considering the phrase ‘most glorious,’ that’s a trap of sorts. You see, stars shine in many ways; some shine constantly, while others may flare brightly at times. In this light, two stars in Orion are worth noting for the trait of ‘most glorious’…”

When staring down from above, positioned toward the upper left, Betelgeuse stands for Orion’s right shoulder, while down on the right, rises Rigel, located at Orion’s left knee.

With Rigel shining with constant brilliance and Betelgeuse being a variable star that flickers brightly now and again.

And thus, both may answer the challenge, giving a slight misalignment to the issue but—

“Me, I’d go with Rigel.”

Yeah, there are too many bad sentiments around Betelgeuse.

“———”

After circling around to formulate an answer, Subaru reaches out toward the monolith representing Orion’s left knee, Rigel.

Therein lies an answer—hopefully the factual one.

Simultaneously, he grasps the hidden malice layered within the framework of this ‘trial’ and ever-rising obstacles expecting to await on both second and first tiers.

“———”

The starkly radiant, white room bathes in an illuminating light.

Sound and visuals slipping away, everything being swept away; eventually—

“…Ooh.”

When the blinding light clears, Subaru and the others find themselves within a stone-carved space—standing still at the center of a chamber encircled by uncountable bookshelves.