Chapter 59: The Male Lead Arrives, Yumesaki Departs
Doing whatever she wanted to do?
Beatrice sank into silence.
She had been inside the Forbidden Library for a full four hundred years. Just to wait for the arrival of That Person, she had closed off her own heart, only to find out that That Person didn't even exist in the first place.
Waiting for four hundred years felt like a cruel joke.
But now, an opportunity was laid out right in front of her. Perhaps, from now on, she could finally live for herself.
Doing whatever she wanted to do—it honestly sounded pretty wonderful.
Yet, Beatrice still couldn't bring herself to make a firm decision.
She didn't even have enough courage to step out of the Forbidden Library, simply because she had been cut off from the rest of the world for far too long.
Yumesaki didn't press her either.
To put it plainly, the one who had to make the choice was Beatrice, not Yumesaki. Naturally, Yumesaki wasn't going to stick his nose into such a monumental matter.
This was something Beatrice had to figure out all on her own.
Of course, Beatrice could also talk it over with someone else, like the cat spirit Puck who stayed by the heroine Emilia's side.
Puck was just like Beatrice; both were spirits created by the Witch of Greed. In Beatrice's heart, Puck was already the equivalent of an older brother.
Therefore, Beatrice could discuss things with Puck, given how close the two of them were.
But Yumesaki was different. He and Beatrice were just people meeting for the very first time.
Their relationship couldn't even be considered decent; they were merely strangers who had just crossed paths.
Because of that, he had absolutely no right to interfere with Beatrice's future, nor did he intend to do so.
Seeing Yumesaki close his mouth and keep quiet, Beatrice understood what he was thinking.
She let out a long sigh and stopped questioning him.
Instead, she fell back into silence, beginning to contemplate her future life.
Should she continue to stay here, or should she do exactly what Yumesaki suggested—leave this place, live the life she actually wanted, and do whatever she pleased?
For a while, Beatrice just couldn't make up her mind.
As for Yumesaki, he simply kept flipping through the magic books in the room.
His original goal in coming here was for the magic books anyway. The reason he told Beatrice that the person she was waiting for didn't exist was partly out of pity, and partly as a fair trade.
What kind of trade?
An exchange for reading the books, of course.
If he hadn't shared this plot point with Beatrice, would she have ever allowed Yumesaki to casually lounge around and read the magic books in the Forbidden Library?
Not a chance.
After all, these magic books were incredibly valuable treasures. Any single book brought to the outside world would fetch an astronomical price.
Wanting to read magic books without paying a single cent—how was that any different from daydreaming?
Beatrice was definitely not the type to let Yumesaki enjoy a free ride.
Time slipped away once more, spanning about three days.
During these three days, Yumesaki didn't step a single inch out of the Forbidden Library, completely immersing himself in studying the magic books with absolute dedication.
On the other hand, Beatrice actually left the library twice during this period.
Yumesaki figured she went looking for Puck, but unfortunately, it seemed Puck hadn't returned yet.
As a result, both times Beatrice came back looking utterly disappointed.
A subtle ripple vibrated through the air.
On this particular day, while Yumesaki was engrossed in a magic book, he suddenly noticed something strange.
At that exact moment, the entire world began to vibrate faintly.
Then, time started to reverse right before his eyes.
Just a second ago, the sky outside the window was painted with the colors of twilight, but in the very next second, the view outside had instantly shifted back to broad daylight.
The moment time snapped backward, Yumesaki felt as though he was squeezed into a crack between dimensions, completely unable to move.
Or rather, it felt as if he had been temporarily disconnected from the world itself.
Granted, this sensation of being cut off didn't last long, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Yet, in that mere instant, time had regressed from dusk all the way back to midday.
And absolutely no one else was aware of this besides him. Even Beatrice herself didn't show the slightest reaction.
It was as if everything was exactly as it was supposed to be.
Yumesaki couldn't help but lower the book in his hands, turning his gaze toward Beatrice.
Noticing his stare, Beatrice looked up from her own book, "Why are you looking at me like that, suppose?"
"Did you really not notice anything just now?"
Hearing Yumesaki speak up, Beatrice looked back at him with a bewildered expression.
Notice what?
She had absolutely no idea what Yumesaki was talking about.
What could possibly have happened for him to suddenly blurt out something like that?
Yumesaki sighed and said, "Time just reversed. In a single flash, it went from evening back to midday."
The confused look on Beatrice's face instantly hardened into absolute seriousness, and her gaze turned sharper than ever before.
"Are you saying... Return by Death just happened, I suppose?"
Return by Death was the exclusive authority belonging to the male protagonist, Subaru Natsuki.
After Subaru Natsuki was summoned to this world, every time he died, time would reset, snapping back to the exact moment he was first summoned.
He was the one who coined the term Return by Death.
Aside from himself, no one else knew about this ability. In fact, every time Subaru Natsuki tried to speak of this power, he would always be forcefully stopped by an unseen force.
But this time was different. This time, Yumesaki had already revealed the plot to Beatrice. Even though Beatrice hadn't felt the reset herself, hearing Yumesaki's words made her realize that the story had officially begun.
This meant the male lead, Subaru Natsuki, had been summoned to this world and had already met his very first death.
That was why the world's time had just been reset.
To be honest, this whole concept made Yumesaki feel that things were a bit ridiculous.
After all, resetting time on this scale was just way too overpowered.
Previously, Yumesaki had always guessed that Subaru Natsuki's Return by Death might not actually be a literal time reset, but rather him receiving a memory of his own death.
Kind of like precognition or predicting the future.
But looking at it now, he had definitely underestimated the Witch of Envy, Satella.
That woman was truly terrifying. As it turned out, she really was capable of completely rewinding time.
Even though Yumesaki had mastered time magic himself, with his current capabilities, he had absolutely no way to reverse the time of an entire world from night back to midday in a single breath.
Back in Fairy Tail, Ultear had merely reversed the time of the world by a single second, yet it completely drained every last drop of Magic Power in her body.
It had even aged her instantly from a young woman in her prime into a white-haired old lady.
She went from a powerful Magic Supporter straight to a regular human being.
From that alone, one could see just how massive the price was to rewind time.
Yet the Witch of Envy managed to pull this off effortlessly. What was even more ridiculous was that she didn't just rewind time once to save Subaru Natsuki.
Yumesaki recalled from the original plot that on the very first day Subaru Natsuki arrived in this world, he died more than just once or twice trying to save Emilia.
Later on, whenever a new arc began, he would constantly die and restart several times over.
And every single time he died, time would rewind.
Yumesaki couldn't quite wrap his head around it. He couldn't help but ask Beatrice, "How exactly do you think the Witch of Envy pulls this off?"
Rewinding time on such a massive scale and with such high frequency was honestly nonsensical.
Beatrice replied casually, "Half of this world was once swallowed by the Witch of Envy, in fact. She holds authorities unknown to anyone else, so resetting time might not be a difficult feat for her, suppose."
Hearing this, Yumesaki couldn't help but nod. That was probably the real answer.
Right at that moment, Beatrice suddenly spoke up, "I plan to leave this place to look for my brother. Do you want to come with me, suppose?"
Yumesaki shook his head and said, "I'll pass. Instead of watching the drama unfold, I'd much rather stay here and read these magic books."
Beatrice couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, tossing a quick jab his way, "You really are a magic maniac, I suppose."
Yumesaki offered a faint smile, not bothering to argue with her. In reality, he had never been any sort of magic maniac.
He just found magic to be interesting.
On his long journey through different worlds, aside from traveling and enjoying good food, Yumesaki felt he should probably have another hobby.
Like collecting various types of magic, for instance.
After Beatrice left, Yumesaki continued to quietly read the magic books in the room.
During this time, the world's time reversed once more, signaling that the male lead, Subaru Natsuki, had bitten the dust yet again.
Yumesaki paid it no mind.
However, what surprised him was that after that second death, the time-reversal phenomenon never happened again.
One had to keep in mind that in the original plot, Subaru Natsuki didn't just die twice on his first day.
It was more like four to five times.
The fact that the time rewind only happened twice and then completely stopped—what did that indicate?
It indicated that Beatrice had actively intervened in the plot.
Only with Beatrice stepping into the narrative could Subaru Natsuki's fragile little life be secured so easily.
This caught Yumesaki a bit off guard. He hadn't expected Beatrice to move so quickly.
It looked like with Beatrice now possessing knowledge of the plot, the male lead Subaru Natsuki would probably suffer a whole lot less in the future.
At the very least, he wouldn't end up like the original timeline where he was brutally murdered over and over again by Rem.
Thinking back to Subaru Natsuki's experiences in the story, Yumesaki had to admit that the guy was truly tragic.
In the world of anime, there weren't many male leads quite like him, dying repeatedly throughout the plot.
Furthermore, his method of dying was different every single time—dying in new styles, dying with brand new levels of extremity.
Of course, as tragic as Subaru Natsuki was, he really didn't seem to learn from his experiences.
Every time he died, it felt like he completely wiped the slate clean, barely taking any lessons from his previous failures.
Or rather, he did learn a bit, but just not enough.
That was exactly why he made his own life so incredibly miserable.
If this power had been given to someone else, the plot would have been completely turned upside down.
After all, the authority of Return by Death was genuinely broken, offering infinite trial-and-error attempts after making a mistake.
For a prime example of this, one could look at the protagonist of Summer Time Rendering, Shinpei Ajiro. Just looking at how he utilized his power showed the absolute correct way to handle a death loop.
But what was interesting was that the version of Subaru Natsuki who seemed so incompetent in the main story actually showed his true teeth in the various "What If" scenarios.
In one of those timelines, he had even driven the knight among knights, Reinhard, straight to the brink of absolute despair.
From that, it was clear the guy actually had the competence within him.
It just wasn't entirely clear why he remained so completely helpless in the main storyline.
Oh well, whatever. The guy had nothing to do with him anyway, so there was no point in overthinking it.
Back to reading, back to reading.
Not long after, Beatrice returned. Coming back along with her were the main hero and heroine, Subaru Natsuki and Emilia, as well as Puck.
Puck even specifically dropped by the Forbidden Library to look for Yumesaki.
However, by the time the spirit arrived, Yumesaki had already packed up and left.
Since all the books in the Forbidden Library had already been copied once by Yumesaki, there was nothing left in this place to catch his interest.
More importantly, not long after Beatrice had stepped out, the Golden Gate inside Yumesaki's body had successfully connected to a brand-new world.
Driven by pure curiosity toward this new universe, Yumesaki decisively departed from the library, heading straight into the unknown world.
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