At Betty's command, the pitch-black arrows tore through the air and shot toward Shiro from every direction.
However, whether it was to prevent the surrounding bookshelves from being damaged or because Betty only intended to teach Shiro a lesson—The arrows merely looked frightening.
Even when they struck the floor, they failed to leave behind so much as a fist-sized crater.
Despite loudly threatening to kill him, she was holding back with every attack.
Compared to the twin maids who acted respectful on the surface while clearly rejecting strangers inside, or Emilia, who subconsciously guarded herself around unfamiliar people because of her appearance—
Perhaps the girl calling herself Betty was actually the easiest person in this mansion to approach.
Shiro casually thought about this as he weaved between the incoming arrows.
Since she had no real intention of hurting him, he naturally had no intention of harming her either.
So while dodging the black arrows, Shiro slowly made his way toward the door with the two books in hand.
"Thanks, Betty."
Leaving those words behind, he yanked the door open and quickly slipped outside.
Then—
BOOM—!
A seemingly endless barrage of black arrows drowned the Door Crossing Betty had created.
"Get out of Betty's sight already!"
Left alone inside the Forbidden Library, Betty shouted furiously at the tightly closed door.
Only after Shiro's footsteps completely faded away did she turn around and return to her original seat.
After a brief hesitation, she picked up the book she had left on the round table and opened it again.
Before long—
After seeing the contents on the page, she silently closed it once more and placed it on her lap.
Then Betty simply sat there alone within the empty Forbidden Library, staring blankly at the Door Crossing she had created.
...
After leaving Betty behind, Shiro stored the two books he had "borrowed" from her inside his Gift Card.
Then he wandered alone through the corridors of Roswaal Mansion.
Before long, a silver-white figure outside one of the mansion's windows caught his attention.
"Emilia?"
He instinctively called out the silver-haired girl's name.
It was indeed Emilia, who had disappeared after saying she needed to inform Roswaal about their arrival.
At this moment, under Shiro's gaze, Emilia stood in the vast garden performing a series of exercises unique to this world.
Hearing his voice, she stopped moving and turned around.
"Oh, Shiro."
This world had no strange custom requiring people who were not close to address each other only by surname.
In fact, many orphans like Felt did not even possess surnames.
So Emilia simply called him Shiro without hesitation.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"Sorry. By the time I finished speaking with Roswaal yesterday, it was already very late."
"I was worried I might disturb your rest, so I didn't come back to see you."
She spoke as Shiro walked out from the corridor and approached her.
"I probably would've slept pretty well if it weren't for those two maids..."
Remembering the twin maids who had come to mock him at the crack of dawn, Shiro let out a weary sigh.
At his current level, sleep was no longer particularly important.
But if he had the chance to sleep a little longer, he still enjoyed indulging himself once in a while.
"Sorry about that."
"Ram and Rem are just a little... straightforward."
"But they're both really good people."
Emilia responded to his minor complaint with an awkward smile.
Judging from her reaction, she had clearly grown used to the twins' attitudes.
'Can that really be described as "straightforward"?!'
'What kind of maid tells a guest to his face that she was worried he'd sleep like a dead pig?!'
Shiro shouted internally at Emilia's evaluation.
Then he remembered that Emilia herself had a slightly airheaded side.
Considering her personality, perhaps seeing Ram and Rem that way was actually... perfectly normal?
So Shiro gave up on arguing and changed the subject instead.
"Whatever. Waking up early isn't necessarily bad."
"But what are you doing?"
"It's part of my contract with Puck."
"One of the conditions is that I have to exercise a little after waking up and before going to sleep."
"Puck says it's necessary to help me maintain my figure."
When a Spirit Arts User formed a contract with a spirit, they had to fulfill the conditions requested by that spirit in exchange for using Spirit Arts.
A great spirit like Puck, who possessed a physical body of his own, naturally imposed stricter conditions than minor spirits that barely possessed consciousness.
Although calling them "strict" was perhaps inaccurate.
Puck's conditions were simply strange.
Among the ones Shiro knew about were—
"Emilia must regularly brush Puck's fur."
And—
"Emilia must not be picky with food."
Despite being a great spirit who practically worked nine to five himself, Puck demanded that his contractor behave like a model student and well-behaved child.
From a certain perspective—Puck truly suited the role of a parent.
Shiro unconsciously patted Emilia on the shoulder and sighed sympathetically.
"You've got it rough too..."
"Eh? Why would you say that?"
"No... Just consider it a passing thought."
Shiro looked away, unable to face Emilia's innocent expression.
"Oh, right!"
Emilia suddenly remembered something.
She raised one slender white finger and gave him a serious reminder.
"Could you stay quiet for a little while?"
"Just for a moment."
"I'm going to talk with some minor spirits."
"Is that also part of your contract with Puck?"
"Mm."
"To become more proficient with Spirit Arts, this is one of the exercises I need to practice."
"Then while you're talking to the minor spirits, can I stay nearby and watch as long as I don't make any noise?"
"Eh?"
Emilia tilted her head and blinked curiously at Shiro.
"Shiro, do you want to become a Spirit Arts User too?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"For certain reasons, I'm interested in spirits as a form of life."
"So I'd like to use this opportunity to study them a little."
In this world, spirits were lifeforms similar to souls.
They manifested by wrapping themselves in a shell formed from mana.
In that case—If Shiro could discover a method for creating an artificial spirit without its own consciousness...
And obtain a person's soul...
Could that soul be placed inside such a shell and thereby resurrect the person?
That possibility had entered Shiro's mind the moment he learned about the nature of spirits.
So regardless of whether it would ultimately succeed—Even if only to fulfill the promise he had made to Ryuu—He wanted to try.
…