Subaru, who was trapped in a maze of thoughts, suddenly noticed something strange about the witch sitting opposite him.
Echidna, who was sitting leisurely on a chair talking to Subaru, frowned slightly, as if she was hesitating about Subaru's thoughts.
"Have you thought of something?"
“…To be honest, I don’t really recommend it.”
"But, that means we can break the situation...right?"
Echidna closed her eyes, neither affirming nor denying Subaru, but her attitude itself was affirmative.
The witch, who was proud of her vast knowledge, thought of the possibility that Subaru had not discovered it. As soon as Subaru leaned forward, Echidna immediately stretched out her palm to repel him and restrain him.
Then, the witch said to Subaru who was annoyed:
"I hope you listen. I don't recommend this method because it is really dangerous."
"I know it's dangerous, but..."
Although the words were hesitant, the true intention must have been conveyed. Echidna shook her head after receiving it.
"The danger is not outside, but here. You will encounter danger in this place."
"Over here...? What on earth are you going to say..."
"——I give you the opportunity to talk to "Gluttony Witch" Daphne, what if I say so?"
"————"
The other party gave an impossible proposal, and Subaru's breathing rhythm was disrupted.
The expression of Echidna in front of Subaru remained serious. This was no joke. In this case, what the witch said was true, but even if she was telling the truth——
"All the witches should be dead. How can I possibly talk to that witch?"
"Otherwise, who am I who is talking to you here now? How to explain this situation? I am a deceased person, and you know it even now without saying anything."
"That's right..."
"Sekhmet, Minerva, Typhon, Camilla, Daphne——"
In front of the foul-mouthed Subaru, Echidna touched her chest and called these names nostalgically.
That is the name of the witch that has become a thing of the past. Subaru had heard it in previous encounters.
"——The spirits of those who died are with me in this castle of dreams. Before their bodies were destroyed and sealed by Polkanika, I collected them myself in order not to be lost."
"You have collected souls...so, you can call them here...?"
"It's okay if you use my existence as a possessed object. During this period, as the literal meaning indicates, I will exchange with them."
"Really……!"
If it is true as she said, it would be amazing, and most importantly, if you can talk to the "Gluttony Witch", you may get clues to defeat the "Big Rabbit".
However, in contrast to Subaru who saw a glimmer of light, Echidna looked unhappy.
"...You obviously brought it up yourself, why are you so scared?"
"Let's just say, it's too dangerous. You may have misunderstood what kind of existence a witch is. You only know me and "that", and neither of us is hostile to you."
"Will other witches be hostile to me?"
"...If you use the wrong response method, it will be dangerous, safe, very dangerous, intensely dangerous, and absolutely dangerous."
"In this lineup, I care about the safe person... Where is "Gluttony"?"
"The one who is absolutely dangerous"
Echidna closed her eyes and rubbed her eyebrows because the witches were difficult to deal with. However, her attitude towards those witches was quite close, and the relationship between the witches should not be bad.
Subaru also has a few friends who, although they are friendly, have different stances. This is probably how it feels.
"I understand your worries, but if I ask you, you will still help me with this, right?"
"If you really want it, then I can't stop it. And, personally - I can't say I'm not interested in what kind of sparks you will create when you face them."
After saying that, Echidna stared at Subaru, the darkness in her eyes shining with boundless curiosity——
But Subaru was not pushed over and raised the corners of his mouth in response.
Facing the witch's smile, respond with pride as someone invited to the witch's tea party
"By the way, what will happen if you die here?"
"This world is only a spirit that invites you, so it is a world without death. Of course, if you receive an injury that makes your spiritual body think that you will die, then even if you return to the physical body, your soul will still be riddled with holes."
"In other words, you will become a useless person. Isn't the risk greater than outside?"
"Then, don't do it?"
Subaru couldn't help shouting when he heard that he might become a cripple, and Echidna responded with a provocative smile.
Her smile lit a fire, and he wouldn't be deterred
"I want to do it"
"——Then I wish you good performance."
Her last smile made it unclear whether she was truly praying for Subaru's struggle.
Because the joyful desire inside, like a child's joyful anticipation of results, is too strong.
Moreover, Subaru immediately lost his composure to care about this matter.
"————"
Echidna's smile suddenly dissolved into the air, and the particles that made up the witch dispersed. Echidna's existence decomposed, and then formed a completely different appearance again.
That happened in the blink of an eye, and then, across the table, across the table from Subaru was——
"Oh~ finally we meet~"
"……What?"
"What? What else? What do you mean? You are such a cold guy~"
After saying that, the man waving his bare legs in front of Subaru puffed up his cheeks.
Sitting there was a girl of about ten years old - someone who could hardly be thought of as a witch.
Brown skin, cheerful and lovable face, innocent girl
She has dark green hair, big, round red eyes, and a white dress with blue flowers in the details. She looks very cute, and she has the same blue flower hair ornament on her head.
Innocent, like a girl who embodied these words, Subaru took a breath
If the content of the exchange with Echidna just now is correct, the girl in front of her is——
"You... no, are you also a witch?"
"Well~ did you listen to what Donna said~? You are--I~ remember it is-Ao! It's Ao--!"
Dona refers to Echidona, and concave refers to Subaru, right?
The girl's answer was just like her apparent age, or even younger. Subaru couldn't help but flinch. Indeed, as Echidna said, dealing with the witch is a tough battle.
"That shouldn't mean having to deal with a child...have you talked to Echidna about me?"
"How should I put it? Basically~ I heard it from Donna~"
"There's really interesting information in Echidna... All in all, it's great that we can have a minimal conversation. Although it's very direct, Rabbit..."
Subaru was full of enthusiasm as he leaned forward to ask about Big Rabbit. However, facing his attitude, the girl tilted her head and interrupted him.
"By the way, are you a bad person? I've always cared about this -"
"...Bad guy?"
The question with unclear intentions made Subaru stunned, so the girl shook her legs that could not touch the ground and let the chair swing back and forth.
"Are you a bad person or not? Let me ask you this. Which one is it?"
"The bad guy...means? No, I don't understand why you ask..."
"Yeah~ Got it~ In that case, let's confirm it——"
Seeing her innocent smile, Subaru realized how difficult it was to talk to the witch.
The girl ignored his emotion and jumped off the chair, walking barefoot on the grass and approaching Subaru.
"Yeah!" Then he gave a toothy smile and stretched out his hand.
"... Do you want to shake hands? Can you tell anything by shaking hands?"
"Hmm~!"
"I know, I know, I know, if you are satisfied, can you listen to me?"
It felt exactly like interacting with a little girl. While feeling withdrawn from the atmosphere that was even more childish than the children in Alam Village, Subaru took the girl's hand. Her hand was small and soft, but her body temperature was very high.
, it’s a child’s hand. It turns out that the spiritual body also has body temperature. Just when I thought of this——
"——Sins can only be redeemed through pain."
"What?"
He couldn't hear clearly, and Subaru planned to ask her what she was talking about again, but he received a slight shock first. Along with the feeling of his wrist being pulled off, there was also a sense of liberation from a heavy burden.
What happened? Subaru looked at the girl, who was smiling and holding one hand on her chest.
It was an adult male hand that was broken from the shoulder and exposed in a twisted section - Subaru's right hand.