Breakfast at Roswaal Mansion was unexpectedly ordinary.
Bread, salad, and tea.
A classic Western-style combination.
After breakfast, Shiro returned to the room where he was temporarily staying and sat down at the desk.
The two books he had taken from the Forbidden Library were lying in front of him.
Out of curiosity, he had already skimmed through The Red Ogre Who Cried.
Sure enough—Its contents were almost identical to the story written by Hamada Hirosuke.
That proved one thing.
Before Shiro and Subaru, people from other worlds had already crossed over here.
Shiro even suspected that this continent might actually be connected to Earth somehow, and that Subaru had simply been transported here from the Earth beyond it.
There was some circumstantial evidence.
At the easternmost edge of the Kingdom of Lugunica was a place called the Great Fall.
According to what he had heard, the entire continent was surrounded by the Great Fall.
If so, Subaru's belief that he had "crossed into another world" might simply be mistaken.
Perhaps he had merely been summoned from somewhere beyond the Great Fall—Transported from one end of the same world to the other.
Still, compared to that speculation, the private conversation Roswaal had with him after breakfast was far more important.
'If the Od remains intact, changing into another body isn't particularly difficult.'
'But if you want to recreate an entirely new body and achieve something similar to resurrection, things become much more troublesome.'
'When a soul comes into contact with the outside world, it requires a medium.'
'Ideally, that medium should possess extremely powerful regenerative abilities and must itself be an exceptionally rare material.'
'And among all possible choices, the best would be—'
"Dragon blood..."
Shiro muttered while lying across the desk.
No wonder Ram had reacted so strongly when Roswaal offered to help earlier.
Dragons were symbols of this nation.
Their position in Lugunica was practically equivalent to that of gods.
Even the ruler of the entire kingdom had to be selected according to prophecies connected to the Divine Dragon.
Trying to obtain dragon blood within the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica would probably be considered even more treasonous than assassinating the entire royal family.
"Tch. Roswaal really isn't a good guy either."
"Every word he said was practically hinting that I should go slay the Divine Dragon."
Then again, it made sense.
Because of Emilia's appearance, her support among the Royal Selection candidates was probably the lowest.
For Roswaal to suddenly support her, he was either hoping to gain enormous merit by backing the future ruler—Or he had some completely different objective.
Judging from things now—It was probably the latter.
"Still, even Roswaal probably couldn't predict that I can get dragon blood without fighting the Divine Dragon Volcanica."
That was right.
Shiro actually had more than one way to acquire dragon blood.
Besides the Divine Dragon Volcanica, Orario's Dungeon was filled with various dragon-type monsters.
For example—The Valgang Dragons and Wyverns he had encountered during the expedition with Finn and the others.
More importantly, Shiro had previously accepted Ouranos's request to defeat the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
Even if the blood of those dragons lacked powerful regenerative properties—Shiro could simply ask Stella to give him some blood while she was using Dragon God Possession.
In fact—Shiro felt that Stella under Dragon God Possession was closer to the very concept of a [Dragon] than any dragon he had ever encountered.
Perhaps even the One-Eyed Black Dragon he would eventually face would be less "dragon-like" than Stella in that state.
So fighting the Divine Dragon Volcanica was absolutely a last resort.
Unless he had no other choice—Shiro would never take that path.
"So in the end... I still need to go back first."
Shiro placed both hands on the desk and pushed himself upright.
As he did, his gaze naturally fell upon the book lying nearby.
Since it was not a grimoire, Betty had not actually stopped him from taking it out of the Forbidden Library.
At most, she had launched a symbolic attack to warn him.
Shiro picked up the book.
Its appearance was dark and oppressive.
Four large words were written in pure white Lugunican script across the pitch-black cover.
The Witch of Envy.
Compared to the name Satella, people of this world seemed to prefer calling her by the title "Witch of Envy."
Perhaps it was because—Compared to a name like Satella, which sounded almost strangely girlish—"The Witch of Envy" was far more frightening.
The moment people heard it, they could immediately imagine a demon that had once destroyed the world.
But Shiro had personally seen Satella when Subaru died.
She had not resembled the monster described by that thug—Someone who supposedly wanted to kill everyone she saw in the cruelest way imaginable.
Quite the opposite.
Standing alone within that endless black mist, Satella had looked more like an ordinary lost girl.
Helpless.
Lonely.
Shiro knew better than to judge someone entirely by appearance.
Still—That had undeniably been the impression she left on him.
So what exactly had happened several centuries ago—To turn her into the witch who supposedly devoured half the world?
With genuine curiosity, Shiro slowly opened the book.
...
Knock, knock—
Shiro had no idea how much time passed before a knock at the door pulled him from his focused reading.
"Come in."
He called toward the door.
Creak—
The blue-haired maid entered carrying a tray.
"Excuse me, Guest. This is today's afternoon tea."
Rem placed pastries and tea leaves on Shiro's desk.
"Afternoon tea?"
"Yes, Guest."
"It is already the fourteenth hour of the Sun."
"Sister came earlier to call you for lunch, but you appeared too focused on your reading, so she chose not to disturb you."
"Since Rem was worried that Guest had gone too long without eating, Rem prepared something and brought it here."
"Wait."
"If your sister really came earlier, why didn't I notice?"
"No matter how focused I am on reading, there's no way I wouldn't hear something as obvious as knocking on the door."
After becoming an Adventurer, Shiro's five senses had grown extraordinarily sharp.
Even while concentrating on something else, information from his surroundings continuously entered his mind.
He could even notice an insect jumping nearby.
Of course, receiving that much information constantly would drive anyone insane.
So in daily life—Especially when focusing on something—Shiro automatically filtered out irrelevant information.
Unless someone launched an attack against him, most minor disturbances were simply ignored.
But if Ram had truly come to his room—There was no way he would have failed to notice something as obvious as knocking.
Rem's next words, however, completely exceeded his expectations.
"Sister did not knock when she came."
"?"
A question mark practically appeared above Shiro's head.
"So you're saying Ram just barged into my room during lunchtime?"
"I thought that faint feeling of being watched earlier was just my imagination."
"Where exactly did that maid etiquette you two are so proud of disappear to?"
Faced with his accusation—Rem proudly puffed out her chest.
Then she answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Because Sister is amazing, it does not matter."
…