"If such a Divine Protection existed, I'd actually love to have it. Unfortunately, I'm a man without any Divine Protections at all," Gojo Satoru said with a casual shrug.
"As for why I know exactly what you're thinking and what you're going to say at our first meeting... it's because I know you better than you imagine. And for me, this isn't our first meeting."
"Do you really think Betty can be fooled by such a low-quality lie?"
"No, no, no. To be honest, I don't believe I've told you a single lie so far. Yes, that's right," Gojo recalled briefly, speaking with total sincerity. "Looking at you, it seems I'll have to go through the standard procedure again."
Seeing that Beatrice still looked guarded and entirely unconvinced, Gojo rubbed his forehead, sounding a bit helpless. Then, under her cold gaze, he stepped in front of her, grabbed her small hand, and pressed it directly against his chest.
"Feel it carefully. Remember the scent of the Witch on me now, and watch the change that's about to happen. I said that I have experienced 'Return by Death' twice—that is, time rewinding. This is already our third meeting..."
After gaining a slight understanding of the mechanism, he and Subaru had agreed that this special ability was best called "Return by Death," just like in a GalGame.
The familiar sensation appeared once more.
Inevitably, the unstoppable, unobservable black hand materialized inside his body and ruthlessly crushed his heart. The momentary stagnation allowed everything to be completed in an instant.
In Beatrice's perception, the man's heart had been perfectly fine one second, only to be destroyed by some unknown force the next. Instinctively, she began to gather mana to strike, but the shattered heart began to regenerate itself before she could even act.
"Don't worry about the heart. Just focus on what I told you to feel," Gojo's voice rang in her ear.
Beatrice wanted to argue, but the incredibly dense scent of the Witch that suddenly erupted made her furrow her brows in spite of herself.
"What you just said..."
"Is exactly what you heard, literally." Gojo picked up his teacup and took another small sip. "It's really not easy explaining this to you every time. For the experience of dying over and over again, don't you think you owe me some compensation, Beatrice?"
"Why should Betty compensate a guy who is so deeply entangled with the Witch?"
"By the fact that I'm risking my life to tell you this. Don't you understand the bond between us yet?" Gojo said with a squinting smile. "If it weren't for trust, I wouldn't use this method to talk to you over and over again. Say, why don't you tell me something that no one else knows? Something that would make you trust me instantly with just one sentence? Otherwise, explaining this every time is a real pain."
Listening to Gojo's rambling, Beatrice remained silent. she began flipping through the book in her hand as if searching for something.
"Don't bother looking. The rest of that book is blank. There's nothing to see."
Beatrice's movements stiffened at Gojo's words. Then, without any warning, she suddenly raised her hand toward him. The moment the Forbidden Library's doors flew open, a gale swept through the room.
Yet, Gojo remained standing exactly where he was, unmoved.
"See? I told you so." Gojo spread his hands, sporting an "I-told-you-so" look.
Beatrice kept a cold face as she slammed her book shut. Suddenly, she asked, "What is your name?"
"Eh? I didn't say?"
This time, Beatrice hopped down from her chair and struggled to drag the heavy seat toward him.
"Tsk, a development that hasn't happened before," Gojo remarked, raising his hands in a mock gesture of surrender while pointing toward the stool. "Gojo Satoru. Such unladylike behavior isn't becoming of you, Beatrice."
Beatrice stopped in her tracks and snorted coldly. She abandoned the chair and returned to the small table with the teapot. She picked up the book—the one that was blank in the back and that she looked at every time he entered the library—and shook it.
"Do you see this? If there is a next time, destroy it."
As she said this, she was facing away from him. In an angle he couldn't see, the corners of her mouth curled into a devious arc, filled with the smug satisfaction of petty revenge.
"Really? Every time I came in before, you were reading that book. I asked to see it and you refused, acting like it was your most precious treasure." Gojo leaned in close, sliding his sunglasses down to peer at the little girl with his ice-blue eyes.
"Of course," Beatrice turned her head, her cute face devoid of any expression. It seemed she took everything with a grain of salt.
"You aren't trying to pull a prank on me, are you?"
"Even if it were a prank, would Betty be able to see it?"
"True enough," Gojo nodded in agreement.
Beatrice tilted her chin up slightly. The things this man named Gojo Satoru said were a bit too exaggerated. However, the changes in his body and the evidence provided made this absurd story much more credible.
After all, if magic couldn't do it, that didn't mean Satella, the Witch of Envy who once devoured half the world, couldn't.
If that's the case, let him deal with the 'next me.' Beatrice figured that if a stranger suddenly burst into the Forbidden Library and destroyed the Tome of Wisdom her Mother had left her, she would likely go insane. Having waited for hundreds of years, the blank Tome was her only source of hope and spiritual support, however faint. If it were destroyed, she might truly fight him to the death.
'Hmph, that's what he gets for using Betty's cup,' Beatrice thought mischievously.
"By the way, Beatrice, do you know about curses? Specifically, the kind that can continuously absorb mana until the person dies?"
"You've restarted so many times, yet you still need to ask a question that anyone with a bit of experience would know?" Beatrice replied mockingly.
"Why else would I come to you for help?"
"Those who specialize in such things are called Curse Technicians... most of them come from the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko in the north..."
Beatrice set the book down and walked over to a bookshelf. Her eyes scanned the spines before she reached for a specific volume.
"Curse Technicians, huh? What a familiar name. Back where I used to live, there was a group of guys called Curse Users too. Like rats in a gutter—not very strong, but they loved doing disgusting things."
Gojo reached out and helped her take the book down from the high shelf.
"You knew and still asked me?" Beatrice snapped, feeling like he was intentionally wasting her time.
"No, no, no, it's different. The Curse Users I know don't use this method of absorbing mana to kill. They're usually much more violent and direct."
Beatrice took the book and placed it on the table. As she opened it, she said, "This kind of curse usually causes death the moment it is triggered. There is almost no chance of saving the victim."
Gojo immediately caught the nuance. "Is there a way before it triggers?"
Subaru was fine before he went to sleep, which meant the curse hadn't been triggered yet, even though it was already on his body.
"Of course. An untriggered curse is as fragile as a knot in a string; it can be unraveled easily."
"Is there anyone in the mansion who knows such a curse?"
Beatrice glanced at him and gave a cold, mocking snort at such a "stupid" question. "No. Such talentless garbage has no value in being studied. Besides, if someone truly wanted to kill via that method, there are much simpler ways—like forced mana extraction."
Beatrice pressed a hand against Gojo, her expression suddenly turning expectant. "Would you like to try it?"
"Not interested. If you want, I can bring someone in for you to try it on later."
"Che, coward."
Gojo placed the blank book on the floor, sat on it, and sank into thought. Beatrice's words, having lived in the mansion for so long, were highly valuable. Since no one in the mansion knew the curse, it matched his previous analysis.
Meaning: 'The Curse Technician is hiding in the village. That's the only time they had a chance to apply the curse.'
Now that he understood this, things were easy. He just had to wait for the date to end, bring Subaru to Beatrice to lift the curse, and then follow the trail back to the village to find out who was behind the shadow.
"You've been a huge help, Beatrice. Without you, I wouldn't have figured a lot of this out." Gojo had resolved a major headache. "I might need your help in a couple of days to lift a curse or something."
Beatrice frowned. "People who bring trouble like you are the most annoying."
"It's no trouble at all. Besides, we're friends now, aren't we? I'll help you too, right?" Gojo stood up, appearing ready to leave.
"Help me? Betty has nothing she needs your help with," she said dismissively. She closed the book on the table and dragged her chair back to the shelf to put it away. "If you really want to help me, then stop bothering me..."
Beatrice finished putting the book away and went to have a sip of tea. Remembering her cup had been "defiled" by Gojo, she felt another surge of annoyance. But as her eyes swept over the table, she froze.
The table was empty. Something... was missing.
By then, Gojo had already reached the door of the Forbidden Library and opened it.
"I'll take care of this. I'll destroy it just like you said."
The thing? Destroy it?
Beatrice's heart skipped a beat. She whipped her head around and saw Gojo standing by the hallway window, holding the Tome of Wisdom left to her by Echidna.
The doors to the library were slowly closing, and Gojo's smiling face was gradually disappearing from view. At that moment, Beatrice's heart leaped into her throat. She realized exactly what Gojo was about to do.
"No—!"
Beatrice screamed in panic, her surging mana forcing the closing doors back open.
However, it was too late.
Gojo stood by the window and flicked the Tome of Wisdom out toward the blood-red sunset.
He said "flicked," but the thick book exploded completely while still in mid-air. It was annihilated. The cover, the pages—everything was blown into fragments smaller than grains of rice, drifting down like a flurry of snow.
Seeing this, Beatrice's heart seemed to stop. She was frozen in place, watching helplessly as the library doors shut in front of her.
Thump.
The closing of the door made a soft sound.
In the hallway, Gojo turned back to the door and rubbed his chin in thought: 'Judging by her look, she wasn't playing with me, was she?'
Just then, a deafening explosion erupted from the side of the mansion, accompanied by a faint scream. Gojo looked toward the source of the sound and saw a cloud of dust rising from the side wing.
A second later, a tiny figure burst through the dust, charging toward him.
"You... BASTARD!"
Seeing Beatrice's face full of fury and murderous intent, Gojo realized what had happened. Clearly, what Beatrice had said earlier was a total lie intended to trick him.
Seeing this, Gojo flickered his body and appeared high above the courtyard.
"Beatrice, I think there's been a massive misunderstanding between us! Think about it—you were the one who told me to destroy that book. I only did it because you said so! You can't blame me for this—"
Before he could finish, a dense barrage of purple crystal arrows rained down toward him.
At the same time, the commotion in the courtyard caught the attention of Subaru and the others.
"Beatrice? Satoru?"
Puck, who was yawning incessantly on top of Emilia's head, forced his eyelids open and mumbled after seeing the two in the air, "How did those two end up together?"
"Puck, this is no time to sleep! Hurry and go talk to Beatrice!" Emilia took Puck off her head and shook him gently, sounding anxious.
"It's fine, it's fine," Puck yawned. "Betty isn't a bad kid; she knows when to stop. Besides, it's not even clear who would win or lose. Plus, Roswaal is here too."
As Puck spoke, his voice grew softer and softer until he finally crawled back into Emilia's pendant and fell fast asleep.