Ram seemed to have made up her mind.
She turned toward the head of the household and spoke firmly.
"Roswaal-sama, Ram is very worried about Rem going alone. Please allow Ram to accompany her."
"Of course~! Grin-kun is one of our precious companions! Ram, we absolutely must bring him back alive!"
Roswaal spoke with such theatrical righteousness that even the half-conscious Grin almost reacted on instinct.
"Cough… cough… you fake bastard… it was you… you arranged this… cough…"
His voice was so weak that almost no one heard him clearly.
Seeing him stir, Emilia quickly grabbed his hand.
"Grin! Grin, can you hear me?"
But this time, Grin gave no response at all.
Emilia stood up in panic.
"I want to go too!"
Roswaal immediately stretched out an arm to block her.
"Lady Emilia, for your own safety, you must remain inside the mansion. This could very well be a trap set by another faction~"
Subaru Natsuki also tried to persuade her in a low voice.
"It's really too dangerous outside, Emilia. Let's… let's wait a little. Rem is strong, so she'll definitely be okay."
"How… how can this be…"
A deep sense of helplessness welled up inside Emilia.
She looked at Grin's pale face and clenched the crystal holding Puck tightly in both hands.
Puck… what should I do?
Puck, please save Grin.
At that moment, Grin himself had already lost all sense of reality.
It felt like sinking into a bottomless bay, falling endlessly deeper.
He no longer needed to breathe.
His vision had gone out of focus.
And from far away, his ears could only barely catch fragments of voices.
"Grin… Grin… wake up soon…"
"Grin, don't sleep so deeply… it's time to get up…"
"Grin… next time… let's go see the cherry blossoms together…"
Buzz—
Ripples spread through the space above Grin's body.
A black magic circle unfolded instantly, and from its center emerged a pitch-black book.
Its pages flipped on their own before suddenly stopping at the section for Beauty and the Beast.
Multicolored light flared like fire, and the illustration of the half-wolf, half-lion beast rapidly filled with color.
Under everyone's gaze, the strange graffiti-like script on the page began to fade.
[Beast Prince — Unlock Condition: Trapped in a curse.]
[Status: Unlocked.]
Abilities: Beast instinct, physical combat, noble etiquette
Divine Protection: Blessing of the Forest — Verdant life will fill your beastly body, and all plants within sight will share their life with you.
Beatrice was the first to notice that something strange was happening in the room.
The potted alpine lily of the valley by the bedside suddenly began to wither.
"Emilia, get behind Betty."
Emilia looked at her in confusion.
"What is it, Beatrice?"
"Do not ask questions. Come quickly. Something is happening."
Even without Puck present, Beatrice's tone left no room for argument. She was fully prepared to protect the girl.
Roswaal also noticed that the plants in the hallway and outside in the courtyard were starting to wither as well.
"Oh my~ Could it be that even the mansion's flowers have fallen under some unusual curse?"
Beatrice widened her eyes and carefully observed the surrounding flow of mana.
Soon, a look of astonishment appeared on her face.
"The life force of these plants… is gathering inside Grin!"
…
"So you really are with the wolves, Meili!"
Petra's weak voice rang out across the open forest edge.
At that moment, she was pinned beneath the claws of an enormous wolf-like demonic beast.
Riding on its back was the little girl herself—
Meili Portroute.
By now, Meili had completely shed the quiet, harmless persona she had worn in the morning.
Her simple clothes had been replaced by an exquisitely tailored dark violet dress trimmed with lace.
Her pupils were striking purple diamonds, and when she lifted her eyes, her gaze looked dreamy and sweet in a way that only made it more unsettling.
"Petra, if you say that, I'll be sad."
"But honestly, I'm surprised. You actually managed to hide the other children. That's impressive. If I hadn't noticed in time, I probably wouldn't have caught a single one."
Petra was terrified, but she still forced herself to speak bravely.
"We were friends. Why would you do this?"
"Of course we're friends, Petra. Don't worry. As your friend, I'll make sure you die peacefully."
Meili smiled with quiet sickness in her eyes.
The giant demonic beast beneath her—King Ulgarum—seemed to understand her meaning. It slowly lifted one front paw and aimed it toward Petra's neck.
At last, Petra could no longer hold back her tears.
She squeezed her eyes shut and cried out in despair,
"Someone will come save me!"
"Haha, Petra-chan, you're so adorably naive. When you say someone will save you, you don't mean those two older sisters in the forest, do you?"
Meili glanced mockingly toward the deeper woods.
"Sorry, Petra-chan. Those older sisters are already surrounded by demon beasts. They may meet the gods before you do."
"No! I made a promise with Brother Grin! He'll definitely come save me!"
Petra's voice had gone hoarse.
Even facing death, the little girl still sobbed softly.
Following Grin's instructions, she had secretly told the other children to hide in the cellar and not come out before nightfall.
But Meili had spotted Petra on her way to warn the village chief.
She had protected everyone else—
and forgotten herself.
"Don't be ridiculous, Petra. Brother Grin? You mean that guy who got bitten by Ulgarum at noon? Hahaha. He's probably a dried-up corpse by now."
Petra shook her head violently.
"No! He'll come save me! He definitely will!"
She could not let herself stop believing.
Grin was her last lifeline.
"...That's wrong."
A flicker of confusion passed through Meili's expression.
From the mental feedback returning through Ulgarum, she had learned something impossible:
the one who had been cursed did not seem to have died.
"How is that possible? Judging from the amount of mana drained, it already exceeded the total capacity of five normal people…"
Awoooo—! Awoooo—!
From deep in the forest came the miserable howls of Ulgarum.
The wind carried unrest through the woods, first stirring the leaves into a dense, rain-like rustling.
Crack. Crack!
Then came the sounds of trunks splitting and vines snapping, spreading rapidly through the empty forest.
A moment later, deeper growls rolled up from the woods, heavy and violent, like war drums beating against the trees.
A shrill scream tore through the dusk.
And now and then, severed monster limbs could be seen flying up into the air.
ROAR!
A deafening roar shook the entire forest.
The storm had begun.