All of the villagers came rushing out of the graveyard, shouting exclamatory remarks. At the same time, Roswaal just sat on the ground, looking into the sky with a lost expression.

It was only when a weak Ram opened her eyes and cupped his cheek that Roswaal finally showed a change. He broke into tears and held onto Ram, who smiled faintly at this.

Subaru began to praise Beatrice for her work, and it made Emilia happy to watch the dynamic between them.

While all of this was going on, nobody paid attention to the field in front of them. So nobody noticed the last rabbit .

It was only when it began to twitch, squirting its blood around it, that somebody saw it.

You stumbled off of Patrasche, grabbed the rabbit by its neck, and squeezed. There was a loud crack, and it stopped moving.

You then collapsed weakly into the snow. Most of your burns had healed, but there were still some remaining, along with bone fractures and bleeding.

The cold snow felt nice on your body, but it caused your injuries to feel like they were burning at the same time.

Now, you didn't have much strength left after exerting yourself to crush the last rabbit, so you were lucky that Otto was with you.

After they carried your body to Otto, Garfiel, Elsa, and Meili had decided that you should be taken to the Sanctuary as soon as possible so that your wounds could be healed. Garfiel could use healing magic, but he was also exhausted after fighting countless mabeasts, so he was only able to heal you enough so that you wouldn't die, as your regeneration was so slow now that it couldn't stop all of your bleeding. He then sent you off with Otto and Patrasche. The dragon carriage had been left behind, but Frederica could take care of it for now.

So now, Otto picked you up while looking pale. He just saw you squeeze a rabbit to death, and it was disturbing.

"Don't... judge. That thing... would have eaten us all alive. So I killed it." You were gasping as you tried to breathe because the combination of injuries and the sharpness of the freezing air made it painful to take air in.

Otto gulped, and helped you limp over to where everyone else was now celebrating. Subaru was in the middle of swinging Beatrice around in the air when he saw you.

"(Y/N)! What in the world happened to you?! Someone, go heal him now!" He put Beatrice down and pointed to you.

There was a collective gasp as everybody saw the excess of dried blood on your body and the burns that still remained. Since most of your clothes had been burned away in the fire, you adorned part of Otto's cloak, but it didn't conceal your condition whatsoever.

Emilia covered her mouth as she gasped, and she ran down to where Otto was still helping you walk.

"(Y/N)! Stop moving! I don't know why you aren't regenerating, but you shouldn't be walking! You are seriously injured!"

Otto stopped where he was, and looked at you.

You gave him a nod, and you stopped as well. You weren't a medical expert, but you knew that you were in a bad condition. The pain attested to that.

Emilia gasped again when she saw what was in your hand.

You had carried the dead rabbit with you without realizing it.

"(Y/N)! Why are you holding that?! How did you find that?! I thought all of the rabbits were gone!" Emilia began to look around to see if there were any more rabbits around, but Otto shook his head.

"Actually, this one was injured, but (Y/N) killed it when he saw it. Am I correct to say that this is, or used to be, the Great Rabbit?" Otto explained what happened while also asking a question.

Emilia nodded her head, and since you finally realized that you were still holding the filthy beast, you let go of it.

As it plopped onto the ground, Emilia created a flat table of ice. She and Otto laid you onto it, and Emilia immediately began to cast healing magic.

You could already notice that you were feeling a little less pain, so her magic was obviously working.

After a few moments, Subaru and Beatrice came running toward you. Behind them were the villagers, but you didn't really notice that since your face was facing the sky.

"(Y/N)! What happened in the mansion? And why is there a dead rabbit right there?" Subaru asked as he stood beside your body.

You took a sharp breath, then began your explanation. "I killed the rabbit just now. And long story short, I fought Elsa and got her to join me. But I-'

"What?!" Subaru grabbed your shoulders and was about to shake you around when Emilia gave him a stern look.

He mouthed 'sorry', and let go of you.

"Subaru is impulsive, I suppose," Beatrice commented.

"It's fine..." you gasped out.

Subaru composed himself before he accidentally injured you. "You... recruited... the Bowel Hunter?" He looked shocked because Elsa was the cause of his very first death, and she still scared the crap out of him, but you somehow recruited her.

"Yep. And Meili. I guess they technically work for me now."

Emilia and Subaru couldn't believe what you just said. Beatrice just did her thing and looked adorable.

"I know that we just sent all but one of those rabbits - one of the Three Great Mabeasts - into another dimension, but why do I get the feeling that you just did something even more impressive?" In all honesty, what you had accomplished blew Subaru away. And he didn't even know about your contract with Echidna.

'(Y/N), do not tell them about our contract. This is a very bad place and time to do so, so I suggest explaining it sometime in the future. And can you please close your eyes? I can see that girl from here, and I do not wish to even think about her.'

'I don't know about that... They might think that I just gave up and died.'

You thought about it, and mentally shrugged. 'Eh. Who cares? What's the worst that can happen?'

Since you couldn't think straight through fatigue and pain, you closed your eyes without giving any warnings, and just like you predicted, Emilia began to panic.

"(Y/N)! Stay awake! Don't give up! There's a lot to live for, so don't die! Just hang in there a little longer!" Emilia couldn't increase the effectiveness of her healing spell, so she couldn't do anything but provide a few words that were supposed to keep you from giving up on life.

Subaru, on the other hand, raised his hand to slap you back from the dead.

You didn't know about the slap, but you did know that everyone started to worry about you, so you opened your mouth and explained, "I'm just closing my eyes. Why in the world would you think that I gave up? I literally just told you about what I did, so why would I let myself die? That would be kind of counter-productive, if you ask me." It was less painful to talk now, so you didn't need to gasp as you talked.

And the result was a collective sigh of relief from the crowd around you.

Emilia was relieved, but she pouted. "Don't scare me like that! At least warn me before you close your eyes!"

"Sorry..." you mumbled. At this point, you were really tired, and the effect of Emilia's healing made you feel really warm, despite the chilling conditions.

That, or you were getting hypothermia.

Either way, you were about to fall asleep. That is, until you felt yourself being poked in the side. You opened your eyes, and turned your head to the side, where you could see Beatrice staring you down.

She then flicked you in the head, which hurt more than you expected it to hurt. "Ow! What's that for?! Can't you see that I'm injured?"

Beatrice humph'd. "That is what you get for causing the Forbidden Library to burn, I suppose."

Subaru picked her up and put her down away from you. "Even so, Beako, that was mean, don't you think?" He playfully chastised her, and she seemed irritated by it.

"Betty could have hit (Y/N) a lot harder, in fact. His punishment was fair." Beatrice crossed her arms and looked away from you.

This resulted in you sighing. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. I pretty much just burned down the thing that you have been overseeing for who knows how long, and you only flicked me in the head. I won't complain."

'Of course, the Forbidden Library burning down is of no significance. I know every piece of information that was in every one of those books, so this presents no loss to us.'

You were too tired to think of a response to Echidna, so instead of straining your mind for a response, you decided to finally do something about your fatigue. "Can someone move me inside? I don't care where it is, but I really need to sleep right now." Right after you said this, you yawned, demonstrating your point.

Emilia looked around, and was obviously trying to make a decision.

While she was considering what the best thing would be for you, Subaru answered for her. "Well, the nearest house is pretty far from here, but Beako can just use Door Crossing to get us there, right?"

Beatrice puffed her cheeks out and pretended to whistle.

"...Beako?" The Great Spirit's behavior made Subaru feel like something was wrong. After all, she wouldn't be acting like this if everything was perfectly fine, right? She would probably comment on how easy that would be or say something snappy.

Beatrice stopped whistling, and sighed. "Betty used all of her mana defeating the Great Rabbit, I suppose. She cannot cast spells right now, in fact.

Now, this was an interesting development. One that made Subaru twitch his eyes. "You're... kidding, right?"

Beatrice shook her head. "In addition, I cannot draw mana from anybody but my contractor. This is a very disadvantageous situation, I suppose."

Subaru fell to his knees. "Seriously?! I thought that I finally had a really OP spirit on my side, but you used all the mana that you've been collecting in that fight?!"

Emilia patted his head, and Beatrice looked jealous. But as soon as Emilia took her attention away from you, her healing weakened slightly, and you blacked out.

Time Skip

When you woke up, you had to squint your eyes because bright light was shining through a window that had no curtains on it.

You stretched and yawned. "How long was I sleeping?" you mumbled.

"You were sleepin' longer th'n a horpi' in a narmu!"

You jumped when your question was answered by somebody who you didn't see in the room. After blocking the bright sunlight with your hands, you were able to see Garfiel, who was sitting close to the bed you were sleeping in.

He smiled when you finally noticed you. "Captain told me ta' bring ya to th' ol' gatherin' place."

Garfiel's almost indecipherable speech was not what you needed right now, but you were awake enough to understand what was going on. "Ok. Just give me a minute."

You sluggishly rolled out of the bed, and tensed up when your bare feet hit the cold floor. Now that you seemed to be fully healed, you couldn't block out the low temperature's effect on your body just by focusing on your pain.

Garfiel saw your reaction to the cold, so he pointed to the corner of the room. "We got ya some clothes. They might b' old, but they'll do."

You followed his finger, and saw what he was pointing at. Neatly folded on a stool was a set of (F/C) clothes. There was a cloak, scratchy-looking pants, and some leather shoes. This wasn't ideal, but at least you had something to wear.

Garfiel walked out of the small house. "I'm waitin' for ya out here." You heard him mumble something, but all you could make out was a quiet 'thanks' and 'big sis.'

You gave him a small smile and a nod as he closed the door, then you undressed. Otto's cloak was actually quite comfortable, but it was now stained with blood and some other nasty things.

Once you walked over to your new clothes and finally examined them, you found that they were not as bad as you had made them out to be. While they looked scratchy, they were actually soft, so these clothes were actually pretty good. Not nearly as good as the clothes that you wore in your world, but these would do, just like Garfiel said.

After a minute, you walked outside in your new outfit with Otto's dirtied cloak in your hand. You didn't know what to do with it, so you decided to just take it with you and give it to the merchant when you saw him.

When Garfiel saw you in your new getup, he didn't react much. He just started walking, and you followed him. "Hey, where exactly are we going, and why are we going there?" you asked. At this point, you didn't know what was going on because you hadn't seen this part in the anime.

Garfiel's lip curled up. "That bastr'd Roswaal's th' one who hired them girls that attacked th' mansion, an' the one who made it snow an' get those rabbits here. So he's gonna pay f'r what he did." He didn't explain anything else, but the snarl did go away, and Garfiel's expression immediately changed into a starry-eyed one. "But you an' Captain did good, didn't ya! That Bowel Hunter's a really strong'un, an' you got'er ta' join ya with that little blue 'un too! An' I heard that Captain banished that Great Mabeast ta' another dimension! That is so cool! I feel like a jupstrin' on tarhac!"

It took a second to process what Garfiel was trying to say, but you think you got the gist of it. Apparently, he was geeking out over all of the things that you and Subaru did over the last day or so.

This made you wonder something. "Hey Garfiel, how old are you? I know that everything that Subaru did was cool, but you seem to be perhaps a little too excited about what happened." You understood the awesomeness of Al Shamak, but Garfiel looked like a little kid whose parents actually got them what they wanted for Christmas. For comparison, Garfiel was usually a lot angrier and more serious, like the type of older person that every person hates.

"Eh? What d'ya mean, I'm too excited? I'm fourteen years old! This 's normal!" Garfiel stopped where he was and began to defend his display of awe.

"FOURTEEN?!" you yelled. Garfiel was a few years younger than you, which was weird. He would be in middle school or be a freshman in high school if he was in your world, and this was just messed up.

Garfiel looked puzzled when you yelled. "Why is ever'one shocked when they find out my age? Captain did the same thing you did when I told 'im too."

You scratched your head, trying to find a way to say this without getting beat up. "Well... you seem a lot stronger than a fourteen year old, so it just surprised me."

Your response was good, because Garfiel laughed and patted you on the back. "Of course I'm strong! Don't mistake age for strength, 'cause that'll bite you in th' butt one day!"

And with that piece of advice, Garfiel continued to guide you to wherever the 'ol' gatherin' place' was.

Time Skip

Outside of the meeting spot was the dragon carriage that had been left at the mansion, with the ground dragon that Otto had used before Patrasche standing in front of it. This ground dragon had been placed in the mansion's stables, and it had been freed before it could burn to death in the fire.

This carriage must be how Garfiel got back to the Sanctuary. Now, his presence raises a few questions. Are Frederica and Petra here? Are Elsa and Meili here?

As you and Garfiel walked into a building that looked like an abandoned church, you heard a painful-sounding slap, which answered one of your questions, since this was Petra slapping Roswaal with a handkerchief, and she hit him hard.

The clown's face was already beginning to swell from previous strikes, and Garfiel ran over to him as soon as he opened the door so that he could get in on the action.

As Garfiel ran, you examined the room. Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice, Petra, Frederica, and Otto were standing on one side of the room, and Roswaal was currently in the middle, with Ram sitting down in the far side of the room.

Most of them looked up and smiled when they saw you. "(Y/N)!" They all said your name in relief, because with the exception of Emilia, who healed you, the last time that any of them saw you was when you passed out in the snowy field.

You brought your hand up as a greeting. "Hey. Thanks for helping me out, all of you." You tossed Otto the cloak that he had given you, and he caught it. Of course, he immediately dropped it because of all of the blood and everything else on it.

You looked at Roswaal, whose expression was one of a suspicious person. You had opposed his orders, and you didn't die. He still didn't know how you did it, but he definitely wanted to know.

Of course, you weren't going to tell him anything, or anybody else for that matter. Looking down at the man who had caused you so much trouble, you sighed. His reaction wasn't what you expected, and it wasn't as fun as you thought it would be.

This didn't stop Roswaal from trying to ask. "(Y/N), how did you- gaaah!" As soon as he opened his mouth, Garfiel swooped down and punched Roswaal with so much force that it sent him to the wall.

The demi-human brought his knuckles together. "I got ya'!"

Roswaal weakly got up from his crumpled position, his face now so swollen that you didn't know if he could talk or not.

"(Y/N)..." he mumbled with his puffy lips. "Hwow did you violatwe da contwact?"

Everybody turned to you, and you just shrugged. You actually found a really good lie, and it would work well. "Isn't fire an obstacle? I killed two birds with one stone and became an obstacle for Subaru while using the fire to kill mabeasts and pressure Elsa to join me."

With your fake, but convincing, answer, Roswaal seemed complacent. To him, you found a loophole and outsmarted him.

Everybody else turned to you, obviously wanting to ask a question. It was Subaru who asked it. "(Y/N), what does he mean by a contract?"

"Well, when I first asked him to teach me Yang magic, Roswaal made me go into a contract with him. I had to do him favors equivalent to the amount of magic I learned," you answered. You weren't proud of this contract, and looking back, it was a really bad idea. The only reason that you accepted it was because of Roswaal's threats of the unknown.

You expected everyone to hate you a little for allowing yourself to become a tool for Roswaal, but Subaru did something unexpected. He laughed.

"Ha! How can you be so stupid?! It would only be worse if you sold your life or soul or something!"

You shuffled your feet when he said that. "Well, about that..."

Subaru stopped laughing when he heard that. "No way... You are the biggest idiot that I know!" He started laughing even more, to the point that Emilia had to stop him.

"Subaru, don't be a meanie! (Y/N) must have had a reason for it, so don't make fun of him. Right, (Y/N)?"

"Well..." You simultaneously shrugged and breathed in through your teeth while tilting your head slightly to the side, making the 'I don't know...' expression.

"So (Y/N), you broke your promise with me?" Ram asked from across the room. "Did you not promise to not do what Roswaal-sama asked you to do?"

You slowly turned towards Ram, sweat building on your forehead. The bad thing about lying was the holes in just about any story.

'As you are in such a terrible situation, I suppose that I will assist you.'

After being silent all day, Echidna finally spoke to you. 'Her precise words were, 'Do not do what Roswaal-sama wants you to do. I love him, so please help me stop him from going down the path that is destroying him.' You did exactly that. Without the fire, everybody may not have survived the attack by the mercenaries who you have recruited. You are welcome for that idea, by the way.'

'Thanks, Echidna. You're a lifesaver. Literally.'

You cleared your throat before replying to the pink haired maid. "Ram, you asked me to help you stop Roswaal from going down the path that is destroying him. I did just that. If I didn't start that fire, somebody might have died, so I just made it so that Roswaal couldn't have his way."

Ram considered your answer, then nodded her head. "In that case, forgive me for my words. Thank you for everything you did."

She apologized quickly, which seemed a little weird, but you accepted it. "It's fine, Ram. I'm sure that you've been through a lot too, so I don't mind."

In fact, everybody in this room had been through things that no normal person should have to experience.

But nobody let it show. All of them had, one way or another, grown as a person, and everybody - including you - is stronger because of it.

"Don't ya want ta' hit 'im too, (Y/N)? Stop standin' there an' throw a good 'un right to th' face!" Garfiel and everybody else had already taken their turn punching Roswaal, so you were the only one who hadn't hit him yet.

You had been standing still this entire time, but you finally started making your way towards Roswaal. As you cracked your knuckles, you replied, "Don't mind if I do..."

To be honest, you thought about using Akra while punching Roswaal, but that might actually kill him. Even though you hated him, killing the clown might not be the best idea.

So you settled for using only the strength that you already had. You took your stance in front of Roswaal, reared your arm back, and used your entire body to send the most powerful punch that you could possibly muster.

Your fist made contact with Roswaal's nose, and it went 'crack'. The man himself was sent back to the wall, where he had barely gotten back up from.

This hurt your knuckles, but it was worth it.

"Okay, now that we've gotten all our scores settled, I'd like to talk about where we go from here," Subaru said, taking control of the conversation.

You walked back to where he was, but the fact that Beatrice was sitting in his lap made it a little harder to take Subaru seriously.

Ram helped Roswaal up, and she sat on a bench, placing his head in her lap. Roswaal's nose was bleeding, but it was being stopped, so no blood got on her clothes. Never less, there was something wrong about that picture.

"As much as we all hate him, we still need Roswaal," Subaru stated.

Everybody, including you, didn't necessarily like this idea. Voicing his thoughts, Garfiel said, "But Captain, are ya seriously sayin' he's one 'f us now? If not for you and ever'one else, it would've been a disater f'r the mansion and every'ne here. And he's the one who planned all that!"

Subaru calmly replied, "Still, we need Roswaal's strength. Emilia can't compete in the Royal Selection without his support. It's natural that everyone wants to get even with him, but we can't just say goodbye and send him off."

Garfiel gritted his teeth. "I don't agree with this."

You sighed. "I don't like it, but I agree with Subaru. As long as we can make sure that Roswaal doesn't try to pull something off again, I'm fine with keeping him with us."

Garfiel looked at you, puzzled. He was even more confused when his sister said something. "I am willing to forgive the Master."

He glared at Frederica. "What're ya sayin'?! He put ya and the mansion in-"

Frederica interrupted him. "Regardless, I am still alive. Because you saved me. Because (Y/N) helped me."

This only served to make him angrier. "That's just hindsight!"

Frederica's face then gave away that she was reflecting on the past. "I have been in the Master's care for more than ten years. I accepted his aid in achieving my own goals, and I am here today because I learned so much from him."

Let me guess. He used her for his goals too. Because Roswaal doesn't seem to be the type of person who would help her just because she agreed to become his maid. He doesn't help people from the goodness of his heart.

While you were inner monologuing, Garfiel continued to argue with his older, and taller, sister. "You think your life an' your debt are th' same thing?! He used you an' (Y/N) an' Ram to-"

Otto, the other competitor for best boy, interrupted Garfiel this time. "Sorry to interrupt this heated debate. It's natural that Garfiel would be angry. But what I want to know goes along with what (Y/N) was saying. How much does the margrave intend to yield to us?"

Everyone turned to Roswaal, since they were thinking the same thing.

"I believe your concern is when and where I might become your enemy again, but you needn't worry about that," Roswaal mumbled from behind his swollen lips.

"You think I'm gonna trust a single thing ya say?!" Garfiel snapped at Roswaal.

"I suppose not," Roswaal replied. "So... I will prove it to you in a form that you can see." He lifted himself off of Ram's lap, and began to undress.

"No thanks," you covered your eyes and started to walk out.

A hand grabbed your shoulder, stopping you in place. Uncovering your eyes, you found that Emilia was the one who had grabbed you. "(Y/N), look..." She pointed at Roswaal, who had taken the bandages off of the upper part of his body.

There was a blue magic circle-looking thing on his chest, and you could tell that there was one on his back as well.

There was a general gasp when everyone saw it, but you couldn't tell what it was. But it obviously meant something.

From on top of Subaru's lap, Beatrice explained, "That's an oath sealed with a curse, I suppose."

Roswaal then proceeded to explain why it was on him. "I lost my battle. Therefore, per my oath with Subaru-kun, I cannot harm any of you. If I break this promise, my soul will be tainted, and my body will burn away in the flames of hell. Then, I will descend into nothingness. That is what this promise means."

This sounded oddly familiar, and it finally clicked. "Um... is that thing on your back from the contract between us?" you asked Roswaal.

He nodded. "It resides on me because I am the one who created it. Even if you would not have agreed to swear your soul, this would have still been present, so you would have suffered a terrible fate if you were to violate our contract."

You gulped, thanking yourself for not doing any more stupid things after making that contract.

Taking back control of the conversation, Subaru stated, "But still, this means that Roswaal can't betray us." Turning his head over his back, Subaru asked, "Garfiel, what do you say?"

"Swear it, Roswaal. Swear you'll never do th' stuff you've done ev'r again."

Roswaal nodded his head. "Never again shall I attempt to sacrifice anyone here in order to achieve something else. I swear upon the soul of my beloved teacher."

'Nooooo! Don't swear it on me! (Y/N), he can actually kill me if he breaks that promise! Make him say something else! I refuse to allow someone to create a contract sworn upon me without my explicit consent!'

'Um... I think that it's too late for that. And, he obviously cares about his teacher more than anything else, so I can guarantee that he won't break that promise. You're not in any danger.'

'Hmph. If I ever disappear because of this, I'm going to make sure that you regret this decision for the rest of the short life that will await you.'

'Bet.'

'...What?'

While you left Echidna confused, Petra was talking about how she could not forgive Roswaal. "You tried to do something awful to the people of the village! They all trusted you, and then you..." She sniffled. "I thought you were a good person, too!"

Roswaal received these words without a hint of regret. "Your words cause me pain," he said in a flat voice.

"But..." Petra stuttered, "But I don't want to be stubborn and make things harder for everyone. So... I'm never going to forgive you!" Tears were now freely falling from the twelve year old's eyes. "Not ever... but that's all!" Bawling, she turned to Frederica, and buried her face in the demi human's chest.

Frederica put her arms around Petra and patted her head. "Very good," she said, comforting the conflicted girl in her arms.

Seeing this, Garfiel finally made his decision. "I'm only agreein' for my sister and this little girl. Don't forget that!"

Roswaal nodded his head.

"Now," Subaru added, "Does anyone have anything else to say?"

You considered saying something, but Emilia beat you to it. "I do," she confirmed as she raised her hand.

Subaru craned his neck toward her. "Okay, Emilia-tan. You have the chance to say anything you want."

Emilia let her hand fall. "Then I'll take you up on that and say this." She cleared her throat, and addressed everyone. "You're all being weird. Roswaal hasn't even done the most important thing yet. We can't end the discussion before he does that."

'What in the world is she talking about? Is there something I missed?'

'Hardly. This girl is childish and idealistic. I am sure that she is about to say something that is completely absurd but obvious at the same time.'

Explaining what she meant, Emilia stated, "When you do something bad, you have to say, 'I'm sorry.' You've all been telling him to do this and say that to prove he regrets it. And Roswaal, you said you'd swear on your teacher's soul, but isn't there something you should say before that? Roswaal, did you say that to them, even once? I didn't hear it."

Subaru turned to Roswaal. "Apologize, Roswaal. If you're going to be working with us from now on, that's the right thing to do as a human being."

Roswaal obeyed, and he began to bow. "I am sorry."

Apparently, this was satisfactory for Emilia. "Good." Smiling, she added, "That's enough."

'See? What a foolish being. How can she be satisfied with such a meager action? If it only took a 'sorry' to fix issues, this world would be free of conflict! How disgusting.'

'I don't know why you hate Emilia so much, but I'm going to have to stay neutral for this one.'

'But I thought that, in a relationship, the female is always correct~?'

'If you think that, then you don't know me. If you're wrong, I'm going to let you know. I'm past the simp stage.'

'I am not familiar with that word, but I understand what you are saying. Now, I do believe that you can ask your question now.'

You cleared your throat, gaining everyone's attention. "So, as you probably know, I recruited Elsa and Meili while they were attacking the mansion. Does anybody happen to know where they are?"

There was an uncomfortable silence after that question, and it only made you more curious as to the location of the two females. "Does anybody know where they are? Did they do something, or..."

Emilia shook her head. "No. But..." She shuffled her feet, obviously uncomfortable about something.

It was Petra, out of all people, who answered your question. "I was sooo happy to see Meili, but when she saw me when we were getting on the dragon carriage, she ran away! And then the woman with her chased after her, so we don't know where they are!"

Seriously? "Well... that sucks. I guess that I have to find them now." You turned towards the door, and started to walk out of the building.

As you opened the door, you added, "Oh yeah. Roswaal? You better find a way to end that contract between us. I'm not putting up with it anymore."

You didn't even hear his response because you closed the door as soon as that came out of your mouth.

'(Y/N), come to the graveyard. There is something that I must show you.'

'Wait, what? Do you know where Elsa and Meili are?'

'As much as I loathe this fact, I am not aware of their whereabouts. What waits for you at the graveyard is something much different.'

'Okay then, I'll head over there.'

You began to jog over to the general direction of the graveyard. You could have used Akra, but that would be, in a sense, cheating. If the situation didn't require it, you didn't want to use the strength-enhancing spell so that you could become stronger without having to rely on it.

So it took a quarter of an hour to arrive at your destination. You almost took a wrong turn at one point, but Echidna thankfully steered you back in the right direction.

When you got there, all that met your eyes was the same graveyard that you have already been to, but with melting snow, which caused the area around it to become slightly muddy.

'Echidna, what did you want to show me?'

"You know, I think that you should name me something else, so that people don't discover our contract."

You froze when you heard this. Not because you didn't expect to hear her voice, but because it came from something that you didn't expect to hear it from.

Walking out of the graveyard was a pink-haired woman, who would have been identified as Ryuzu Shima, the clone that Emilia thought had died. She had an expressionless face, and walked awkwardly, as if she wasn't used to having that body.

"(Y/N). You finally see me in a physical body, but you say nothing? How disappointing."

When you heard her speak again, you were sure of it. Echidna had managed to do the impossible.

She has resurrected herself, and now the world is reintroduced to a Witch.

The Witch of Greed.

Hey guys! I'm sorry for the late update, but thanks for waiting it out!

We finally meet 'Omega' (I don't know if I'll keep that name for her)! But on the other hand, I have some news that might not be so good.

I'm going to be taking a break from writing so that I can do some research, read the LN, do some planning, and just give myself a little more time to unwind from everything that's going on.

However, I plan to be back in the second weekend of September, so I'll only be gone for about a month.

I'll see you then!