"The Book of Wisdom..."
Still that same bed. Roswaal, his injuries now more than doubled, lay quietly upon it, staring at the ceiling.
Ram was right—it was over. The Book of Wisdom that had guided his path was burned to nothing, though he had done everything exactly as it dictated.
What am I to do now, Teacher?
Roswaal narrowed his eyes and met Natsuki Subaru's gaze. Subaru, whose only job the whole time had been to draw fire, wore a look of utter bafflement. But with that horror-show makeup on his face, Roswaal couldn't read his mood.
Roswaal was a man who'd go to any length to reach his goal. Ram and Rem counted as fairly important to him; harm to either could set off his fury.
And yet it was precisely he who had leaked the Witch Cult's movements, deliberately driving people toward death, siccing two Sin Archbishops on Natsuki Subaru at once to make his life hell... Regulus? Who was that?
Through the Book of Wisdom, Roswaal could faintly deduce Natsuki Subaru's power. He knew this man possessed the ability to reset events, and he'd wanted to cultivate this cowardly fellow into his own most perfect 'accomplice,' staking two maids of no small importance to him on it.
And himself as well. He'd long since prepared to be slowly torn apart and devoured by the Great Rabbit; after the reset, his next self would still act according to exactly the same logic.
But now everything had been resolved with such ease.
Was this the change you made after several restarts? Not only did you win over a powerful figure the Book of Wisdom had overlooked, you even had Ram's horn healed. How many times exactly did you restart to reach this result?
A moment ago he'd taken a mana surge like that head-on and survived. This man Natsuki Subaru was not as simple as Roswaal had imagined.
"Why do I get the feeling Diego isn't actually all that strong?" Natsuki Subaru studied the man on the bed, his injuries now twice as severe, with a complicated expression.
This was the number-one enemy he'd placed at the top of his list? A brawl with Ram hadn't even made as much noise as the Great Rabbit—what the hell was Yimi so scared of with a guy like this?
Beaten down this badly, Subaru didn't even have the heart to land a punch on him, even though it had been agreed that the first punch would go to him.
That line, instead, Roswaal took to mean: 'I made every possible preparation to counter you, and in the end you didn't bring out any strength worthy of all my preparations.'
He gave a soft laugh. "Very well, Natsuki Subaru-san—the you of right now truly has earned the right to be proud."
"Die—Roswaal is the kingdom's foremost mage. Ram merely won by luck, taking advantage of his unhealed wounds."
Sparing a glance at Yimi, sprawled in cat form across Beatrice's lap and itching to move, Ram grabbed Roswaal by the collar. "But even this is not enough. Roswaal-sama, please swear a 'Vow.'"
"A Vow?" Yimi lifted her cat face and looked at Beatrice.
Beatrice rubbed her head. "Contract, Vow, Covenant—of these, a Vow is the kind used to bind oneself. Once a Vow is established, breaking it brings very serious consequences."
Yimi's eyes lit up; she pressed her front paws twice against Beatrice's thigh. "Then, make him swear one right now. A Vow to never chase the kitty again."
"Chase? I can't imagine what you're talking about~." Roswaal spread his hands, disavowing any acquaintance with Yimi. "Or is it that you've done something to provoke my anger, little miss, and so you'd seize this chance to make me swear such a Vow? Come to think of it, the moment we met you wore a guilty look and kept dodging me~."
The moment he said it, Beatrice, who was holding Yimi, subtly turned her face away.
Roswaal: "?"
Had he actually guessed right? But the only things that could rouse his anger, apart from Rem and Ram, were matters concerning his teacher.
Yet his teacher was also Beatrice's mother, and if this little girl had truly done something to her, there was no way Beatrice would still be holding her so calmly.
Hearing Roswaal refuse to cooperate, Yimi rose onto all fours and began hissing at him, tail lashing as she readied to attack.
Ram hurriedly pushed Roswaal back down. "Roswaal-sama, obeying the victor's arrangement is something you're in no position to refuse right now."
"Oh~ so you, as my maid, would lecture your own master so forcefully? To not stand on my side at a moment like this. How it wounds me."
Roswaal unwound his bandages, a pale-blue light surfacing over his chest. "Still, I did lose, after all. I've never done such a thing before, but this way I'll never be able to chase you down again."
"There we go—the Diego crisis is over, so you can sleep easy from now on, hm?" Beatrice cupped the little cat's upper body and swung her side to side, sending Yimi's hind legs swinging along with her.
Is that really it, then?
Yimi eyed Roswaal's face suspiciously.
Kitty doesn't understand Vows. Kitty's afraid of being tricked.
She looked at the task now displaying as complete, and with that, only one world remained.
Yimi's mood soared, and she started meowing out the tune of a nursery rhyme.
"..."
So going to another world was a lie after all, right?
Watching the lively little cat, Beatrice buried the lower half of her face in the fur atop Yimi's head.
It had to be a lie. She hadn't detected anything wrong, and the child could heal others all on her own. Or was it that, when she healed people, she took something onto herself?
Beatrice stared at the top of Yimi's head, lost in thought.
Natsuki Subaru clenched his fist. "Somehow this is really infuriating. I haven't forgiven him, but I'm forced to let him off for now... Little Yimi, could you heal him up so we can beat him again?"
Because on the surface this man counted as Emilia's single greatest backer, and compared with the other candidates Emilia's advantage was already slim; losing his support would deal her a blow far worse than merely halving her chances.
"Garfiel, not now—onee-san!"
Before Subaru's words could get an answer, the voice of Rem, standing guard outside the door, snatched away everyone's attention first.
"I never heard that you've gotta ask permission to see someone living in your own house."
The youth who'd greeted Natsuki Subaru at the center of the pit forced his way in. "Yo—quite the crowd. You're more popular than I figured, Roswaal-sama."
"If only that were true~. Was there something you needed?"
Garfiel eyed him sourly. "The Trial's been wrecked. You can clear off, Roswaal-sama. We can't ever get out now."
This truly was something of a surprise to Roswaal.
"Did something happen?"
"I don't want to talk about it with you." Garfiel folded his arms and shifted his gaze to Natsuki Subaru. "Have your boss explain it to me."
"..."
Natsuki Subaru was far more calculating than Roswaal had imagined.
"The Trial still exists. The spellwork Mother left behind was not destroyed." Beatrice delivered the news to them.
Emilia gripped the pendant at her neck. "I understand. I'll complete it."