"Mother!"
Just like Puck before her, the newly born Beatrice spread her arms wide and leapt straight toward Eriri—completely ignoring the fact that Puck was still nestled in Eriri's embrace.
"Wait—Betty, you're crushing me!"
Caught between Eriri and Beatrice, Puck cried out loudly.
Hearing the cute voice coming from beneath her, Beatrice lowered her head and immediately saw the flattened pink-furred cat beneath her chest.
Startled, she quickly backed away from Eriri's arms and grabbed Puck's front paws with both hands, her face shining with delight.
"Wah~ Onee-chan, you're so cute!"
Because Eriri had imprinted Puck's information into Beatrice's soul while infusing her with cosmic energy, she instantly recognized Puck's identity the moment she saw her.
The same was true for Puck—that was why she affectionately called Beatrice "Betty."
"Of course I am! After all, I was created by our two mothers themselves!"
Puck pulled her paws free and crossed them proudly in front of her chest, her adorable feline face radiating confidence.
Seeing that, Beatrice didn't feel offended at all. In fact, she found Puck even more endearing.
"Hehe~ I was created by our mothers too, and I'm cute as well!"
Watching the two little ones bonding so quickly, a gentle smile appeared on Eriri's face. She reached out her hand and softly stroked Beatrice's head.
"Puck, Betty—welcome to this world."
...
After successfully creating Puck and Beatrice, Eriri and Echidna left the old castle and headed toward the nearest town.
This time, they didn't use teleportation or the cars stored in their Storage System. Instead, they chose to travel in a luxurious dragon carriage.
Though the road was made of dirt, it was relatively smooth, and since the dragon carriage had been specially crafted by Eriri, the ride was incredibly stable—without even the slightest bump.
If not for the scenery flashing by outside the transparent windows, one could easily mistake it for being stationary.
The earth dragons pulling the carriage were energy constructs created by Eriri. Even without a driver, they steadily advanced along the road toward their destination.
The interior of the dragon carriage wasn't very large—only about a dozen square meters—but it was more than spacious enough for the four of them.
At the center sat a mahjong table, where Eriri, Echidna, Beatrice, and Puck each occupied a seat.
At the moment, Puck wasn't in her cat form but had taken on her alternate form—a little girl with long pink hair, pink cat ears atop her head, and an adorably cute expression.
This was Puck's other form!
Thanks to Eriri's adjustments, Puck could freely switch between her feline and human forms without restriction.
As for the so-called "final form" from the original story, Eriri had simply deleted it—after all, Puck in her normal state already possessed full control over her power, making such transformations unnecessary.
As the Witch of Greed, Echidna was still intensely curious about the knowledge of other worlds, even if she was no longer as obsessive as her original future self.
Mahjong was one of the games she had learned from another world, and it had quickly become one of her favorites.
However, in the Re:Zero world, she rarely had enough people to play with. Only when she visited the Saekano world would she invite Eriri and the others for a few rounds.
Naturally, Puck and Beatrice—being newly born—were fascinated by the game. Under the guidance of Eriri and Echidna, they quickly learned the rules of Japanese mahjong and how to calculate points.
As the four happily played together, the dragon carriage had already covered most of the journey and was nearing the town.
Just then, another dragon carriage sped toward them from the opposite direction.
As the two vehicles drew close, the man driving the other carriage caught sight of Echidna through the window as she pondered her next discard. Startled, he immediately yanked the reins tight, forcing his dragons to halt abruptly.
The sudden noise from the carriage instantly caught the attention of its passengers. A moment later, a black-haired girl with a single ponytail—dressed so revealingly that she was practically half-naked—poked her head out from inside.
"Master, what's going on? Why did you stop the carriage all of a sudden?"
Leaning against the man's back, she asked curiously.
Beside her, a red-haired young man wearing an eyepatch over his left eye, his whole demeanor carefree and unruly, also leaned halfway out of the carriage.
"Flugel, what's the matter? Did you suddenly need to take a piss or something?" the redhead teased with a loud laugh.
"Don't joke around, Reid. I think... we don't need to go to Echidna's mansion anymore," said the man named Flugel, smiling awkwardly but with meaning behind his words.
"Oh? So you're giving up on inviting the Witch of Greed to join us?"
"Not exactly. Because I just saw her—with my own eyes—inside that carriage we just passed!"
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's turn around and chase them!"
The red-haired man, Reid Astrea, the First Sword Saint, climbed all the way out of the carriage and sat beside Flugel.
"Of course!"
Flugel laughed heartily, pulled the reins, and urged the earth dragons forward, turning the carriage around to chase after the luxurious one that had passed them.
These three were none other than two of the Three Great Heroes who had sealed the Witch of Envy—Flugel the Great Sage, Reid Astrea the First Sword Saint—and the Great Sage's disciple, Shaula.
Although Echidna had long abandoned her plan to find others who shared her dream of saving the world after joining the chat group, Flugel had still sought her out. However, she had decisively refused his offer.
After all, she had already chosen her own way to bring salvation to the war-torn world.
Now, Flugel had come again, with his disciple and Reid in tow—hoping to convince Echidna once more to join their alliance of salvation.
After all, to them, Echidna—wielder of the Tome of Wisdom—was an indispensable existence.
...
Half an hour later, Eriri's group of four finally arrived safely in town.
Because Eriri's dragon carriage was much faster than any ordinary one, Flugel's group not only failed to catch up—they actually fell even farther behind.
It wasn't until more than ten minutes after Eriri and the others had entered the town that Flugel's carriage finally rolled in.
Following the road, Flugel and Reid quickly spotted the luxurious dragon carriage parked in a lot nearby. They immediately stopped theirs beside it.
"Finally caught up. Hopefully, they haven't gone too far," Flugel said, jumping down and glancing toward the still, silent luxury carriage.
Reid, however, strode right up to it, his eyes widening in curiosity as he examined the well-behaved earth dragons standing at the front.
"What kind of breed are these dragons? They pull so fast that I'm tempted to get one myself," he said in awe.
Shaula smirked teasingly from the side. "Wow, Reid, I didn't think a lecher like you would ever show interest in an earth dragon. Why don't you just go make one your companion?"
"Huh? You brat! Talking back to me? Careful, or I'll teach you a lesson tonight about respecting your elders!"
Reid's gaze immediately drifted toward Shaula's full chest, his grin turning lewd. Shaula instantly felt a wave of discomfort.
Even though her own choice of clothing was boldly revealing—enough to seem almost seductive—Reid's shamelessly direct stare still made her skin crawl.
She crossed her arms over her chest and quickly retreated behind Flugel.
"Ugh, you're disgusting," she muttered.
"Tch, no fun," Reid spat with an exaggerated pout.
Seeing the two bicker, Flugel quickly stepped in to defuse the situation.
"All right, that's enough, you two. Let's focus on finding Echidna. Hopefully, this time she'll agree to hear me out."
"Yeah, let's go, Master! Ignore that pervert," Shaula said firmly.
Flugel gave a helpless sigh, then simply smiled and began walking off in a random direction.
Since Flugel wasn't sure which direction Echidna had gone, he decided to stop and ask around at nearby shops.
After a few inquiries, they finally learned the direction Eriri and the others had taken. The trio immediately quickened their pace and followed after them.
Meanwhile, Eriri and Echidna were strolling leisurely down the street, their arms linked affectionately. Walking a little ahead, Puck and Beatrice curiously explored every shop and stall along the roadside.
Everything around them was new and fascinating, especially for the two who had only just been born. Their hands clutched the money Eriri had given them, and anything that caught their eye, they bought without hesitation.
In less than fifteen minutes, their hands were already full of treasures and trinkets.
Just then, as Echidna whispered something softly to Eriri, she suddenly heard someone call her name from behind. Stopping in her tracks, she turned around—and saw three familiar figures running toward her from the distance.
Among them was Flugel, someone she had met before, accompanied by two others she recognized immediately despite never meeting them in person.
Although the memory recordings Eriri had uploaded to the chat group only included the first two seasons of the anime, Echidna had no trouble recognizing the red-haired man and the black-haired girl who hadn't appeared in the adaptation.
They were Reid Astrea, the First Sword Saint, and Shaula, Flugel's disciple.
And as for Flugel—someone she had met once before—there was no mistaking him.
After all, her Tome of Wisdom allowed her to perceive all knowledge within the Re:Zero world, so knowing their identities was only natural.
She simply hadn't checked her own entries recently, so she hadn't known Flugel would appear here today.
"It's been a long time, Great Sage Flugel."
Echidna smiled warmly at him, then shifted her gaze toward Reid and Shaula.
"These must be the First Sword Saint, Reid Astrea, and Shaula, correct? So these are the companions you were seeking."
"As expected of the all-knowing Witch of Greed," Reid said with a smirk, taking two bold steps forward. "Your reputation truly precedes you—and what's more, you're breathtakingly beautiful. Would you honor me with a little... personal exchange?"
Before either Flugel or Shaula could speak, Reid had already crossed the distance, his eyes gleaming with lust.
The First Sword Saint—the ancestor of the Astrea family—was notorious for his vile temperament, his behavior enough to be called degenerate. For him, groping or harassing women was nothing unusual.
And given his overwhelming confidence in his own strength, it wasn't at all surprising that he dared to say such words to one of the Witches of Sin.
Standing behind him, Flugel hadn't yet realized how serious the situation was. To him, this was just Reid being his usual shameless self. He had seen this play out countless times—Reid would flirt, get slapped, and then laugh it off. Nothing more.
He assumed Echidna wouldn't take it too seriously and that it wouldn't hinder their conversation.
However, for the current Echidna, Reid's lewd words were more than just rude—they were outright offensive. The smile on her beautiful face instantly vanished, replaced by a chilling coldness.
And for Eriri, that was something far worse.
Because Echidna was hers.
No one—absolutely no one—was allowed to covet her.
Eriri slowly turned around, her face expressionless, her blue eyes fixed on Reid as though she were looking at a dead man.
Flugel, Reid, and Shaula all froze. For several seconds, they could only stare, stunned into silence. Then, realization slowly dawned on Flugel and Shaula—but Reid's attention was already elsewhere.
Having completely forgotten Echidna, his eyes were now fixed on Eriri instead.
But before he could utter a single word of flirtation, Eriri's cold, emotionless voice cut through the air.
"Have you decided how you want to die?"
"Huh? What did you just say?"
Reid, too entranced by her beauty, didn't catch her words at first and reflexively asked back.
But Eriri didn't bother to repeat herself.
She simply raised her right hand and clenched it slightly in midair.
In an instant, Reid was lifted off the ground as though an invisible hand had gripped his throat. His limbs flailed wildly, his face turning crimson as he struggled uselessly against the unseen force.
The overwhelming power of the First Sword Saint—rendered utterly meaningless before her.
—
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