Three days had passed.
In a luxurious mansion, a young noblewoman reclined lazily on a wine-red sofa. Her bright orange hair flowed freely over smooth, fair shoulders. In her slender hands, she held a manuscript and a cherry, eating leisurely while reading.
At this moment, Al, still in his long-standing bandit disguise, entered and scratched his helmet upon seeing Priscilla like this. "Princess…"
Priscilla lifted her gaze. "Hm."
"Hm? What's that supposed to mean… I have something to tell you."
"What?"
Al hesitated, then sighed, raising his only hand. On it lay a letter.
"It's from Lady Emilia."
"Half-elf?" Priscilla raised an eyebrow, taking a cherry into her mouth. "Why would she write to me?"
"Uh… well…" Al hesitated again, finally saying helplessly, "Lillian… is dead."
Priscilla paused mid-chew. Slowly, she said, "…Is that so? Did it say how?"
Her reaction was calm, as if the matter didn't stir her emotions.
"He was killed by members of the Witch Cult."
"Pity. He was quite an interesting fellow."
"Yes, Lillian was entertaining. I even specially told him not to meddle with dangerous affairs…"
"Nothing else? Then leave." Priscilla cut him off. Seeing her fingers pale and knuckles tense from clutching the letter, Al said no more, placed the letter on the table, and left.
The room fell silent. Priscilla's gaze lingered on the letter. "The promise I made hasn't been fulfilled… and now he's dead. Is that acceptable?"
The letter offered no answer, lying silently on the table. A flicker of sunlight appeared, and with it, the table it rested on was sliced cleanly in half, scattering to the floor.
---
"Glug, glug, glug."
Finishing the water from his kettle, Lillian wiped his mouth, hung it back at his waist, then ate a few fruits, crunching loudly.
He still hadn't left the forest.
Three days had passed since the Witch Cult attack and Geuse's death, yet Lillian remained. Not for any other reason, but because of Geuse's final words: —"As the one who kills me, you will inherit the 'Sloth' Witch Factor."
Lillian felt it—he sensed what he had gained after Geuse's soul was burned away. The sensation was strange; he couldn't fully control it yet. He stayed in the forest to experiment with the power before leaving.
For him, mastering this power would be a major boost to his combat ability. Moreover, he was curious to see what form the power would take.
It wasn't necessarily the [Unseen Hand].
The "Witch Factor" manifests differently in each person. Excluding those who cannot adapt, the stronger one's adaptability, the more powerful the derived abilities. Poor adaptability yields weaker powers.
Geuse, or Petelgeuse, was the weakest of the Archbishops because his body adapted poorly to the Witch Factor. Even with forced integration, he could only use a fraction of its potential. This explained why the Witch of Sloth could wield over a thousand high-power Invisible Hands, while he could barely manage one-tenth.
A direct comparison is Archbishop of Greed Regulus. His adaptability to the Witch Factor exceeded even that of the witches themselves, granting him massive power—though, admittedly, his mind was somewhat unstable.
It seemed highly adaptable people often had mental instability. Lillian had begun to experience some psychological effects after being killed by Greed, but for now he kept his violent persona suppressed.
Furthermore, adaptability also explains why the Witch Factor manifests differently in different people. For example, the Witch of Greed Echidna had a Greed Witch Factor, but her powers weren't combat-oriented—showing the variation clearly.
In other words, inheriting the Witch Factor did not guarantee Lillian would gain [Unseen Hand]. He would have to explore and understand it himself.
Still, he did not feel elated or arrogant at gaining this power. Even Reinhard couldn't easily defeat Greed—much less himself. His priority was understanding and countering Greed's abilities, not confronting him head-on.
"Operating alone is no longer viable."
Finding those "wives" on his own was impossible; he needed "eyes and ears." And right now, he had none.
Since arriving in this world, he had spent less than two months here. In such a short time, he had no opportunity to gain any authority.
Should he try to find a candidate and demand their loyalty? Impossible.
Lillian sat by a stream, watching the small fish swim. He thought to himself: three days ago, Emilia and Subaru returned to the mansion. If Rem and Ram were dead, they would have no choice but to get information from Beatrice.
Although Betty hadn't acted, even if she remained in the forbidden library, she could feel the intense mana fluctuations from such a fierce battle. She must have witnessed it and known how it unfolded.
If that was the case, she would likely tell Emilia and Subaru that Ram, Rem, and even Lillian were dead. Then the news would spread; many in the royal capital would hear it and assume he was dead. If he appeared carelessly, it would cause many problems.
Looking at his reflection in the water, he felt some lingering resentment.
The resentment was directed at Beatrice. He knew she wasn't obligated to help him, but the two archbishops were clearly insane, weren't they? A little intervention wouldn't have hurt. Even if she didn't save him, saving others would have been fine. He had allowed himself a brief glimmer of hope… in Beatrice.
It was a somewhat selfish thought, but understandable from Lillian's perspective. If roles were reversed, he would have acted. So his anger, though partly misdirected, was natural.
"I still have to rely on myself."
He muttered the words and took a book from his chest—a Gospel.
It had belonged to Geuse. After Geuse was killed, the book naturally fell into his hands. A poor imitation of Echidna's "Book of Wisdom," it contained very limited predictive power. Moreover, the text was strange, incomprehensible to Lillian.
Perhaps only the book's original owner could read it—but Lillian didn't need to. In his view, all prophecies were nonsense. If someone could foresee all futures perfectly, and the future was unchangeable, Echidna would have gone mad long ago. Otherwise, she would have become a detached being, uninterested in meddling with the world.
"Geuse… Petelgeuse…"
Lillian stared at the book, feeling sympathy for the one who had spoken to him in his final moments.
Geuse, one of the founders of the Witch Cult a century ago, had once been a knowledgeable and gentle High Elf. Back then, the cult wasn't as ruthless; it aimed to study why witches devoured the world.
Geuse, stationed in the forest, had connections with the elves and had fallen in love with Emilia's foster mother, Fortuna. The two had cared for young Emilia together. Then disaster struck: Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory, launched an attack. Geuse, to protect everyone, forcibly used the "Sloth" Witch Factor, lost control, and caused a catastrophe.
After killing Fortuna and descending into madness, he was taken by Pandora. When he reappeared, he had become "Petelgeuse." This disaster also triggered Emilia's power, causing her to enter a century-long frozen slumber, only to be awakened later by Puck, with her memories sealed…