[ "Echidna? Did you think of something?" Subaru noticed her hesitant expression.
"To be honest, I don't really recommend you do this. Because it is truly too dangerous."
"What do you mean?"
"What if I told you that I could give you a chance to speak with the 'Witch of Gluttony', Daphne?" ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Hmm?"
"Huh?"
"Oh?"
Now, even the most knowledgeable ones here—Roswaal, Beatrice, and Puck—were dumbfounded.
"Is such a thing even possible? If it's true, I hope she isn't the kind of Witch I'm imagining,"
Otto said.
Just as long as she wasn't the type to kill people on sight.
"Could it be…"
Emilia recalled that after her third trial, she had also come here and met a Witch who wouldn't let her look back.
She felt like a very nice Witch.
—
[ "The Witches should all be dead. You're talking about speaking with that Witch; how could that possibly be done?"
"Then, what about me, speaking with you here and now? How do you explain this situation? You should know that by now, the fact that I am deceased is already a truth that needs no further elaboration. Sekhmet, Minerva, Typhon, Carmilla, Daphne—the souls of those deceased reside with me inside this Castle of Dreams. Before my body was destroyed and sealed by Volcanica, in order not to lose them, I took the initiative to collect them."
"You collected their souls… So, you can call the Witches here…"
"It is only a matter of possessing my body. To describe it literally, during that time, I and they will completely swap." ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
So that was how it worked.
Roswaal, Beatrice, and Puck showed expressions of 'I see.'
"By the way, how come you three, who have the most knowledge, didn't know about this either?"
Garfiel asked.
"Betty was asked by Mother to wait for 'that person' a very long time ago, I suppose. So I don't know anything about what happened afterward."
"For me, it's because of my contract,"
Puck said vaguely.
"As for me, ah, as for my ancestors, they were~ busy with certain matters at the time, so I~ didn't know either,"
Roswaal said.
"You bastard, always with the 'certain matters, certain matters'. How long are you going to keep playing the Riddler?"
Garfiel said.
And Roswaal still maintained an expression that said,
"Keep watching, and you'll find out~"
—
[ "You're the one who made the suggestion, so why are you so terrified?"
"I told you it's dangerous. You probably have a misunderstanding about Witches; you only know me and that person after all, neither of us harbors any hostility toward you. If things go wrong when you interact with the other Witches, the possible situations range from safe, dangerous, very dangerous, extremely dangerous, to absolutely dangerous."
"What about 'Gluttony'?"
"It is absolutely dangerous."
"By the way, what happens if I die here?"
"This is a world where only the spirit is invited; it has nothing to do with death. Of course, if you sustain an injury that feels fatal to the spiritual body, even after the spirit returns to the physical body, the mind will remain in a crushed state."
"In other words, I'd become a vegetable? That's a much higher risk than outside. Let's do it."
"I wish you great success."
Then, Echidna's appearance dispersed and decomposed into particles, and then gradually reconstructed… ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Is she coming? The Witch of Gluttony."
Otto was somewhat nervous.
"…"
The others remained silent, also very tense.
"Is it that Witch?"
Emilia looked at the screen—
[ "Oh, we finally meet!"
"Huh?"
"Huh? What do you mean by 'huh', huh? That's very impolite, you know."
What appeared was an ordinary little girl with bare feet kicking against her legs, puffed-up cheeks, brown skin, and green hair.
She looked to be about the same age as Petra.
She didn't possess the bewitching beauty of Echidna, but was just an ordinarily cute girl. ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Ah… This is the legendary Witch of Gluttony, Daphne, who created the Three Great Mabeasts to plague the world?"
Otto was dumbfounded.
Isn't this just a farm girl?
"Listening to this voice… it's not her,"
Emilia lowered her eyes slightly.
It wasn't that Witch.
—
[ "You are… no, you're a Witch too, right?" Subaru found it somewhat hard to believe.
"Yeah, you heard from Dona, right? As for you, let me think, Baru! I'll just call you Baru!"
"Uh… I'm not asking this to treat you like a child… do you know about my conversation with Echidna?"
"More or less. I heard it from inside Dona, after all."
"Inside Echidna… that information is rather concerning… Anyway, it's great that we can have a minimum level of communication. Without further ado, about the rabbits…"
Subaru leaned forward, but Daphne didn't seem to intend to answer directly, instead asking:
"By the way, Baru, are you a bad guy? I've been really curious about that."
"A bad guy?" ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"A bad guy?"
The Subaru inside the screen and Emilia outside the screen questioned in unison.
What bad guy?
"If we're talking about whether he's a bad guy, Subaru-kun definitely isn't. In fact, he's an incredibly gentle person,"
Rem said.
And Emilia, Beatrice, and the others also nodded.
Subaru was absolutely not a bad person.
—
[ Daphne swung her legs back and forth, asking once more:
"I'm asking you, are you a bad guy or not a bad guy? Which is it?"
"A bad guy… You say? No, I don't really get the meaning of the question…"
"Hmm, I see. Then let's verify it for you." Daphne smiled, baring her teeth, and reached her hand out toward Subaru.
"Mm!"
"Just holding it is enough? Can we find out something just by shaking hands?"
"Mm!"
"I-I see. Once you're satisfied, you have to talk with me, okay?"
Then, he reached out his hand to shake Daphne's—
"Sinners must only endure pain to atone for their sins."
"What? Huh?"
"Oh, since it doesn't hurt, that means you're not a bad guy. Hooray!" ]
.....
〜Inside, the Theater〜
"Subaru-kun's right arm!"
Rem outside the screen was utterly shocked.
As for why she was shocked, it was naturally because—the Witch of Gluttony, Daphne, was holding Subaru's right arm, smiling cheerfully.
The bizarre and jarring image of the suddenly lost right arm and the little girl smilingly holding a person's right arm was a double shock.
"What is going on here?"
Old Man Rom was puzzled.
—
[ "Oh, AAAAAHHH! My arm, my arm… my arm!"
"It doesn't hurt, right? If you make a big fuss, Dona will dislike you, you know."
"You, you, you! You, what… give it back! Give it back to me!" Subaru was completely frantic, trying to claw back his arm.
"Sin shall turn into a wedge, and will never let the sinner go." Daphne said, and in the next moment—
CRACK—!
Subaru's entire body shattered onto the ground, quite literally in pieces here and there. ]
.....