Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

It was a very long time before he finally stood up, panting.

"I didn't expect it, it really is like this, so this is how it is!"

Roswaal's face turned deathly pale with pain, and he lost control of his bladder, but his eyes lit up. He had actually guessed that Subaru possessed the ability to 'modify the past,' but he hadn't guessed that the trigger condition would be his death!

But this explains everything; he really did save his teacher himself.

His dark thoughts abruptly stopped there, and he stared blankly at Tsugumi, who was still in spirit form.

In the past, he could have used Subaru Natsuki without any scruples, just to make Subaru's abilities allow him to achieve the best possible result, successfully kill the dragon to obtain its blood, and find the possibility of reshaping his teacher's body and reviving him.

But now that possibility is gone.

Because before them, there was now a demon who was like an 'observer'.

What kind of existence is this?

In Roswaal's limited understanding, he was undoubtedly an existence like the 'observer' from outside the world, a being even his teacher Echidna knew little about.

Within the Holy Flavia Empire, there exists a profession known as the 'Star Singers,' who, like prophets, chant the songs of the stars, firmly believing in the existence of a supreme being beyond the world who can observe everything and please them.

It is untouchable, undefeated, and indestructible, and those who please them will gain a global perspective and the favor and blessings of fate.

Now, the demon that appears before us is undoubtedly an existence of the same level as the observer, a superior being that humans can never reach.

The contract it signed with Subaru Natsuki guarantees that whenever Subaru is in an insurmountable predicament, it will appear without restraint and destroy everything in its path.

There couldn't be anything worse than this.

918

637. Roswaal's Four-Hundred-Year-Old Story of a Simp

"Your teacher's soul is trapped here, isn't it?"

Tsurugi turned his head to look at the dark and murky stone tomb. He could sense that there was a coffin inside, but there was no corpse inside. Instead, there was a witch's factor of 'greed' stored within.

This factor created a subspace here, and within it existed the aura of six witch factors.

"Resurrecting the dead is no challenge for me; even restoring an incomplete soul is a piece of cake," Tsugumi said calmly.

"The only problem is the world's reaction and why should I help you do this? You know what I mean, Joker."

“…I understand.” Roswaal lowered his head with a wry smile.

He is a smart man, without a doubt. Faced with the absolute superior being before him, any of his trump cards are meaningless.

He said you have to say yes or no, and you can only accept it if he says no—in the memories of the world that destroyed him, Roswaal felt only powerlessness.

The opponent's true power far surpasses that of the World's Chosen One; it is an 'infinity' that Roswaal cannot comprehend. And that swordsman Reinhard, even if the power he bestowed upon this world was limited, he possessed none of the self-restraint or demands of a hero.

The world is just a game to him.

Subaru Natsuki is his only voter and only pawn in this world, so any scheme against him might succeed once, but it is impossible to achieve a successful outcome.

After all, he's not a gentlemanly chess player. Once he's at a disadvantage on the board, he won't hesitate to grab the board and smash it on your head.

"I have no choice but to trust you."

"Good, at least you're a smart person." Tsurugi nodded approvingly.

"Then tell me everything you know. When I searched your soul last time, you should have already sealed and hidden some of your memories, right?"

Roswaal nodded; that was probably his last weak act of resistance as he faced the devil before his eyes for the first time.

But this time, he had no reason to hide anything, so he told them everything he knew.

"The story begins four hundred years ago, when I..."

"It's too long, condense it for me!!!"

Roswaal took a deep breath, paused for a moment, and briefly described the information that Tsugumi wanted to know.

This story begins four hundred years ago. Back then, witches were not the demons and monsters that everyone hates today. In fact, witches were like sages, inspiring both respect and fear.

They are possessed by sinful factors, possessing all sorts of powers and abilities, which they use to do all sorts of things, good or bad.

For example, the Sloth Witch Sekhmet, who used immense power to drive dragons to the other side of the waterfall and banish them from this world.

Another example is Typhon, the arrogant witch who judged all sinners with an incomprehensible attitude and slaughtered countless people.

The Gluttonous Witch Daphne created the 'Three Great Monsters'—an abnormal group—hoping to solve humanity's food problem through the monsters themselves or by killing humans, but also believing that humans should be prepared to be preyed upon by the monsters.

Witches are like that; their nature is abnormal, or rather, only an abnormal nature can adapt to and acquire the corresponding power and strength from the great sin factor.

Echidna is undoubtedly a member of this group. Her insatiable thirst for knowledge leads her to use her wisdom to help others, but it also leads her to do many horrific things in her pursuit of the unknown.

To achieve a certain dream, she made a pact with the 'Sage', the first 'Sword Saint', and the 'Divine Dragon' four hundred years ago, embarking on a path together.

She was the designer of Flanders, the city of earth dragons. She was also one of the founders of Kararaki, and once completely outmaneuvered the sage and the swordsman.

It can be said that the story from four hundred years ago is a very standard plot of Japanese fantasy RPG.

However, during this process, the sage suddenly disappeared, leaving Echidna to continue her path alone once again. Later, the Witch of Envy appeared, and the Three Heroes went to stop her plan to devour the world, with Echidna joining them.

However, during this process, she was pursued by the Melancholy Demon Hector. Echidna was no match for him and erected a barrier around the Sanctuary. Her disciple Roswaal fought the Melancholy Demon but was severely wounded. In this critical moment, Echidna deliberately appeared to buy time, allowing Ryuzu, one of the four artificial spirits she had created, to sacrifice herself as the core of the Sanctuary's barrier, thus repelling the demon.

In this battle, Roswaal suffered multiple fractures and was completely paralyzed, while Echidna embarked on her path once more...

918 >>

"Got it, you're a simp too." Tsugumi interrupted his self-narration, raising an eyebrow at Roswaal.

This guy, who was suffering every day because he couldn't release his magical energy, was taught by Echidna, and the day he was relieved of his pain by having his magical energy drawn out through a kiss, was seen by him as an encounter with love for his teacher.

"You know she's a witch, so why do you think she loves you?"

"I never expect my teacher's love," Roswaal said with a wry smile.

"But I just want to go back to that time, back to when the teacher was still here..."

This is what obsessive love is like; when Roswaal was powerless to help, Echidna never returned.

She traveled the world, collecting the souls of every dead witch—Minerva, who fell into a trap and went mad; Camilla, who burned to ashes in the flames; Daphne, who withered and died in the desert; Typhon, who disappeared in the flood; Sekhmet, who was killed by a dragon and fell into the Great Falls; and Satella, who died from the rampage of her witch genes.

In her quest to collect the souls of these witches, she herself perished, becoming the last witch to die. Her soul was incorporated by the dragon Polcanika into the spell that sealed the Witch of Envy beneath the towering and secluded Sage's Tower.

This is all the secret Roswaal knows, all the answers.

"What's the difference between the Witch of Jealousy and Satella? Why did Satella suddenly consume the Witch Factor? Who is the mastermind behind the Witch Cult? So you still know nothing."

"Then what's the point of your filtered story!"

Tsugumi remained unmoved by Roswaal's story, instead asking these questions with the air of a proper RPG player.

Roswaal genuinely didn't know this time.

Ultimately, he wasn't a great figure four hundred years ago. The story of the Three Heroes and the Witches was on another level, and he had neither the qualifications nor the ability to participate in it.

Perhaps Puck knows something, but Echidna erased all of Puck's memories of himself, Beatrice was bound to the Forbidden Library by her agreement, and Ryuzu was stored in the Sanctuary as the core of the seal. Roswaal already knows the most.

"If you want to know more, you'll have to attend the teacher's tea party..."

Roswaal gazed at the tomb before him, and said with longing...

“But I can’t go in. Only specific people can enter the teacher’s tea party. Only those specific people can enter after passing a trial.”

"So this person is Subaru Natsuki, right?" Tsugumi picked at her ear and glanced sideways.

"That kid really is destined to be a protagonist? So I'm guessing, he was actually some kind of sage four hundred years ago, right? After all, he wasn't a dragon or a red-haired guy, and his martial arts skills were pretty terrible..."

Although he didn't know the details, the story of Crimson King had already given him a rough idea of ​​the plot.

First of all—Natsuki Subaru traveled back 400 years, or perhaps he returned to 400 years ago sometime in the future, or maybe it's some kind of "what if" scenario, anyway, it's pretty much the same principle of manipulating time.

There he met his companions and embarked on a relatively normal adventure in another world. He then met girls like Echidna and Satella, among whom Satella and the current Emilia must have some kind of intricate connection.

Then, in what was supposed to be a normal adventure, Satella encountered an enemy and was either deceived or forced to use an unsuitable witch factor, which resulted in either her turning evil or developing a split personality.

The version of the story in the Witch Cult tells of Satella eating other witches, but Roswaal's version, as an eyewitness, is clearly different. Therefore, the claim that the Witch of Envy blew up half the world was either a frame-up or the result of manipulation.

Then, the grand plan of the mastermind behind the scenes to do something to the world failed, the Witch of Envy was sealed away by the Sage Sword Saint and the Dragon God, and for the sake of the later plan, the two protagonists, Subaru Natsuki and Emilia, appeared.

Tsugumi wasn't sure what the details were—

But the story will probably go this way!

He even had a premonition that the mastermind behind this was probably someone who did all this nonsense for love or world peace.

For example, the classic plot involves destroying the material world to allow humanity to achieve immortality in the spiritual world, connecting them forever without barriers...

The typical trope of Japanese villains who, with a savior complex, generally love humanity.

After all, if a lover is like this, it's better to hate someone!

“Natsuki is a sage…” Roswaal blinked; he clearly hadn’t considered this possibility, but if things progressed in this direction…

Perhaps, no, if that's the case, then many things make sense!

Only a sage can be included in his teacher's plan, and only then will he have the ability and opportunity to revive his teacher and change the past!

918>>>>

But from another perspective—a sage couldn't possibly be unaware of the treatment he would receive for his abilities, which means...

"That kid was probably plotting against himself four hundred years ago. Who would have thought that iAngTV's top anchor would be himself?" Dongjiang grumbled.

He initially felt guilty for his oversight, but then he remembered that the kid was probably torturing himself and was the real number one anchor on iAngTV, so he suppressed his pity.

Then Tsugumi glanced at the subspace and frowned slightly.

Getting here isn't difficult; the problem is that forcibly breaking through will trigger a self-destruct mechanism that Tsugumi is very familiar with.

It's unclear where she learned it, but Echidna transformed her and the other witches' souls, which were possessed by the Great Sin Factor, into structures similar to those of humans from another world. This caused the subspace to be damaged if anyone forcibly broke through it, and the damaged subspace would take them in and directly pollute the Memory Corridor, triggering a reset.

This self-destruct mechanism does not lead to the destruction of the world, but rather to a localized area of ​​the world entering a reset state, dragging the people in that area back to square one.

Tsugumi will be forced into an awkward situation similar to facing Doctor Strange's Dormammu.

Well, he doesn't really need to take shortcuts. Since this level is most likely something that Natsuki Subaru created for himself four hundred years ago, let him clear it himself.

Anyway, he'll just go in with us.

"Alright, go back by yourself. Remember to do what you're supposed to do after you've explained everything. I won't interfere too much, and I'm too lazy to deal with unnecessary things."

Tsugumi waved her hand, then slowly dissipated, leaving behind Roswaal with very complicated feelings.

Roswaal quickly returned to the mansion, acting as if nothing had happened.