Whose youth romance story begins with a witch's trial?!

"Although I tried to find clues in Mag's notes and conversations, the results were not ideal."

—Speaking of which, when I was on a date with Emma before, I did see Heero chatting with Mag in the library. Was Heero already trying to find clues at that time?

"Not ideal?"

"Hmm... that Mag is more troublesome than anyone I've ever met before, tsk." Hiro showed an annoyed expression, while making a clicking sound that was not at all like a Japanese Nadeshiko, but rather had the feel of a yakuza boss.

“Marge is neither as easily manipulated as Emma Coco, nor as stupid as Leia Naya. Although I have tried to elicit information and give false testimony, it has not worked on her.”

"So, I'm afraid we'll have to rely on you for this—you have to find a way, whether it's to be sincere or in some other way, to find out what that con artist is hiding, Chang Rong."

Hiro issued a mission to Chang Rong, indicating that on this witch island that has already reached its end, he, as an 'early-stage NPC', still has unfinished missions to complete.

-

As always, thank you for Chenguang Moxin's unexpected help!

Thanks to SaltyFishTears for the food!

261. Let's play a game.

"Although I also tried to translate that ancient book, unfortunately, the act of 'translation' itself follows the notes I learned from Mag. In other words, if she really wanted to hide something, I probably wouldn't have been able to detect anything unusual for a while."

Nikaido Shiro held the ceremonial sword in his hand, observing the patterns and material on the dark red longsword while talking to Chang Rong beside him.

"Tsk... I can't even translate the ancient witch's script. I'm still far from being qualified to guide the world."

"I feel that both the way of judging and the target itself are already quite outrageous..." Chang Rong muttered under his breath, while fiddling with the witch killer potion in his hand.

What kind of good person would fantasize about becoming a god who can correct everything and judge injustice during high school?

It turns out there really was such a person, but that god ultimately failed to reach the end of the ascension to godhood, turning from a gay man into a dead gay man.

"I may have thought too extremely back then. I have to admit that I wasn't always right. At least I failed to perceive everything Xiaoxue did, misunderstood Emma, ​​and, to make matters worse, fell in love with you, you idiot rabbit..."

Hiro sighed helplessly. His flawless and perfect resume became tattered and riddled with holes almost instantly after arriving at Witch Island. Especially after being kidnapped by this white-haired rabbit in front of him, even the character he had initially set up completely collapsed. It can be said to be the biggest 'mistake' in Hiro Nikaido's life so far.

Of course, if Hiro were to go back to the beginning of it all, she would simply choose to pedal even harder and more diligently.

"In order to continue to correct the world's mistakes in this imperfect identity, and also to introduce you to my parents, I naturally have the desire to leave Witch Island. Emma probably has her own thoughts as well. Although Noah initially probably just wanted to escape reality, whether it was her current situation or the fact that she knew nothing about painting, I could feel the change in her over the time we spent together. She gradually gained the courage to face the future and move forward."

"Um... when we're talking about this kind of topic, could you please stop hitting the ritual sword with the fire poker at the same time?"

Although the topic itself was full of the warmth of a family, almost like an old married couple reminiscing about their child finally growing up, the bizarre image of the 'old wife' constantly pounding the dark red ritual sword with a fire poker still made Chang Rong unable to help but complain.

"Hmm? Don't worry about it. I'm just testing whether this sword is genuine. Since it's a ritual artifact used in ancient texts to awaken and resurrect the Great Witch, its quality should be guaranteed. If it gets broken by a mere fire poker, then there's no point in continuing the bone-chopping, ice-chopping, and vibranium-chopping tests."

"There's absolutely no need to test those things! And what if they actually got damaged?!"

Hiro's serious nature backfired at this moment; even a genuine ritual sword would probably only be a piece of rebar left after all her messing around with it.

"Hmm... Don't worry, I will choose to commit suicide and start this day anew." After a moment of thought, Hiro responded to Chang Rong with an incredibly gentle smile.

We need to leave Witch Island quickly! If we let these people continue to master magic, they'll inevitably cause trouble sooner or later!

Since overcoming the taboo of suicide, Hero has been fully prepared to treat death rewind as a save/load game. According to Coco, Hero even considered participating in the Witch Island battle royale again after his death and achieving godlike status.

Moreover, it wasn't just Heero; in fact, after suppressing the risk of rampant killing intent brought about by the witch factor, the other prospective witches gradually integrated this magic more into their lives to varying degrees.

Leaving aside people like Rhea and Meruru who have always made a living using magic, even aspiring witches like Emma, ​​Hannah, Milia, and Nanoha Kaori, who didn't particularly like their magic before, have started using it frequently in their daily lives to improve convenience.

Chang Rong had no doubt that if things continued like this, sooner or later there would be a scene where the silly little dog Emma would stare at her with empty eyes, demanding that she either hand over the strawberry cake or be hit by a witch killer spell.

As for Hannah, she's already made levitation magic a standard skill for sex, while Nanoha uses illusion magic like a free pornographic film to seriously watch. On the other hand, Noah, who used to rely on magic, has gradually broken free from the constraints of AI after arriving at Witch Island.

If they continue to dawdle like this, even after they return to normal society, it will probably take them a long time to adjust to the impact of losing their magic and becoming ordinary people again.

The thought of Hannah gracefully leaping from the second floor, Nanoha Kaori groping around, Sherry attempting to elbow the steel coil, and Hiro accidentally falling into a puddle made Chang Rong realize that finding Xiaoxue, retrieving the witch factor, and leaving Witch Island was of utmost urgency.

In short, I should hurry up and go find Marge. Although I still have no idea how to get closer to her, I should at least take some action.

"Then Hiro, you can experiment slowly—but don't actually break the ritual sword. I'll go find Mag to see if I can find out the specifics."

"Break it? Hmm... good idea. Perfect, Sherry can make up for the lack of a hydraulic hammer on Witch Island—"

"You're the one who doesn't really want to leave Witch Island, aren't you! This isn't even sword forging anymore, it's just plain sabotage!"

Upon hearing Chang Rong's instructions, Hiro suddenly seemed enlightened and immediately decided to take the ceremonial sword to play a chopstick-breaking game with the mysterious blue-haired detective. Chang Rong could only hurriedly and loudly try to stop him.

Are you kidding me? Putting aside what would happen if the rest of the ceremony were ruined, the main problem is that the president is still exhausted and can't do anything about it. If the two of them settle their accounts later, I'm afraid Heero will glare at me and descend from the sky, demanding another best-of-three match...

As I said before, I am a Sigma man, and I will never be troubled by those sentimental love stories before speedrunning the main storyline!

As a result, the investigation into the 'ritual items' did not make much progress, and Chang Rong could only carry out the last task given to her by Hiro—to try to pry more information about the witch's resurrection ritual out of Mag.

Based on previous experiences, Chang Rong vaguely summarized a pattern: Hiro's action and intelligence seemed to be inversely proportional to the distance between the two of them.

Despite having returned to the early stages of the third playthrough through death rewind, Hiro was not only decisive and resolute, but also able to handle the affairs of the prospective witches in an orderly manner. However, ever since that night when she won the cup, this black-haired disciplinary committee chairman has visibly begun to embarrass herself.

However... perhaps this also shows that I am a safe enough person for Hero to trust, someone who can temporarily relieve her of the heavy burden on her shoulders. Only in front of me can Hero unscrupulously show the naivety and recklessness that is appropriate for her age.

—Otherwise, there's really no way to explain Hero's series of silly behaviors every time she sees him, like being called "Little Head Hero King" by the big-headed king...!

Using this reason to try to reconcile with herself, and after repeatedly telling Hiro not to go looking for the mysterious blue humanoid hydraulic clamp, Chang Rong took out her phone and opened Baosheng Mag's chat avatar.

"【Marge, I have something I'd like to discuss with you. If you don't mind, could you spare a little time?"

"【Hehe... It's too formal for you to say that, Chang Rong. But I'm a girl after all, so it wouldn't be good to be too forward. Since you need me, Chang Rong, come find me! My first clue is—a place I often frequent. I hope you won't disappoint me too much. If you can't even find me with the first clue, I'll really be heartbroken and cry!】"

The information on the screen made Chang Rong frown. Marge's reply was very much in line with her usual style; she truly was a seasoned con artist.

"Do you have any clues about the places Mag frequents—Hiro?"

Chang Rong casually asked Hiro, who was pouring the Witch Slayer potion onto the ritual sword, while secretly observing to confirm whether this guy was really just 'testing the ritual equipment' or thought that his third playthrough save file was broken and was preparing to clear the prison map with one click, loot the bags, and start a new save file.

"Where does she usually hang out? Let me think..."

Beep beep beep~!

Just as Hiro was resting his chin on his hand, categorizing and summarizing the refresh mechanism of Baosheng Mag from his past memories, Chang Rong's phone suddenly rang again.

"【By the way, Chang Rong, you're not allowed to ask for help from outside the game, okay? If you could help me out freely, it would be too disappointing, both as a game and as a sign of your sincerity. Please indulge my little whim, okay?】"

"Waaah..."

Upon seeing the message, Chang Rong wore an expression as if she had swallowed a fly, as if Er Qiao had guessed her next words before her. She could only put away her phone, wave to Xi Luo, and indicate that she would go first.

"Marg seems to be enjoying herself. Anyway, I'm going to go find her now, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any information from her."

"Anyway, you just need to walk up to her, pat her head, and say a few lies to fool her, right?" Hiro snorted coldly, her tone sounding somewhat displeased, before she had even finished investigating.

"Please don't portray me like one of those child traffickers that adults made up decades ago to fool children..."

Chang Rong complained helplessly, if there really was such a convenient head-patting technique, he wouldn't have had to go through so much hardship with everyone on Witch Island. He could have just gone to Meruru from the beginning, rubbed Meruru with his left hand, and rubbed the warden's bird head with his right hand, and directly activated the Witch Island modulation mode.

Oh right, it seems that I actually did that in my third playthrough, so it's alright then.

However, Hiro is a really strange person. I told her that my plan to leave Witch Island was thwarted, and she said that Mag might be hiding something and I could go and find out what was going on. I said I would go over there, and she said, "You scum."

After saying goodbye to Hiro and leaving, Chang Rong also began to think about the place that Mag had mentioned as "frequently appearing".

From a purely rational perspective, it seems that Mag appears on the execution rack in the courtroom quite frequently... but it's clearly not related to the current playthrough.

The answer should be the library, since Mag loves reading when she has nothing to do, and the translation of the witch's ancient book was mostly done in the library.

Having confirmed the answer in his mind, Chang Rong immediately went to the library on the second floor of the castle.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, which smelled slightly musty, Chang Rong found herself in front of the usually quiet library.

To be honest, Chang Rong didn't particularly like the library. Before retrieving the information about Xiao Xue from that "veteran" witch trial, his impression of the library was that it was a place where he was subjected to various mysterious and intimate acts by female teachers, who used all sorts of positions to strip him of his teaching qualifications.

After regaining her memories of the previous witch trial, this library became associated with an even heavier past for Chang Rong.

In a sense, this library is the actual 'end point' of that witch trial. The young lady of the plateau killed the girl who called herself the vulture due to the explosion, and used the magic of blooming to turn her into the cherry tree that is still quietly blooming today.

Alice witnessed this atrocity, and the girl who controlled the rainbow became another ghost, closing her eyes forever in a corner of the library.

However... those are all things of the past that have been traversed. This castle has been repeatedly washed by the blood and despair of countless aspiring witches, and now it is time to give it its original, pristine appearance.

"……what?"

Despite having just expressed a lot of sentiments, Chang Rong suddenly felt embarrassed when she walked into the deepest part of the library and realized that Mag didn't seem to be there.

"Beep beep!"

A text message notification suddenly went off on my phone, and at the same time the library doors were pushed open again.

"Hoo hoo hoo... What did you suddenly call me here for...? Huh, you stupid monster? Have you already finished playing detective house with that terrifying superhuman woman?"

The mysterious pigeon spirit, Natsume An'an, appeared in the library. An'an yawned and rubbed her eyes, and immediately showed a happy expression when she saw Chang Rong and went over to her.

Chang Rong waved to An An in greeting, then turned her attention to her phone screen.

"【Oh dear, you chose the library after all! I'm so happy, Chang Rong! Looks like you weren't eliminated in the first round. So—how about we play a game?"

"...?"

"?"

Chang Rong stared blankly at his phone screen, while Xia Mu An An tilted her head, looking at Chang Rong with equal confusion.

Sister Ma, what are you stirring up now?

-

Thanks to Chenguang Moxin for the sudden, unexpected help!

262. A room where you can't leave without OO. MKII

"What's wrong? You look like an idiot... Are you so engrossed in playing detective games that your brain has been assimilated by that terrifying, super-strong gorilla woman?"

Inside the library, An'an, who was there for some unknown reason, raised her overly loose sleeves, which resembled a bathrobe, to cover her face and began to criticize Chang Rong with sharp words.

"Hehe, I've never lost a best-of-five series with the club president, okay? — By the way, my dear writer, what brings you to the library all of a sudden? Are you out of inspiration and here to gather material?"

Chang Rong snorted coldly. Since Mag hadn't sent any more messages after the ambiguous "play games" text message on his phone screen, he could only put his phone away for the time being and ask An An, who was standing next to him, why she had suddenly decided to go to the library.

"Don't mistake us for mediocre people who only plagiarize inspiration from other people's works! Truly great writers never draw a single drop of inspiration from others' works. Works written that way are like Noah's magic—industrialized assembly-line garbage devoid of any core beauty!"

An'an waved her arms and retorted angrily. Although this pigeon spirit still has zero representative works to date, she has already developed a arrogance that many professional writers cannot match in terms of literary pride.

"I see. But if you never learn new knowledge, won't you run out of inspiration and have nothing to learn?"

"Gulp...! I, I would never have such a problem! You really underestimate me. Just the fact that you, you stupid monster, are alone with me in the library right now, I only need to use my brain a little to come up with 114 different stories!"

Chang Rong's casual question seemed to have hit An An's sore spot, and she quickly put her hands on her hips and tried to defend herself in a relaxed manner.

"As expected of a great writer, since that's the case, could you just pick three topics to talk about? I'm really curious."