Offer blocks to the end times

Ram was overjoyed to see Roswaal at the dinner party and insisted on standing behind him, but Roswaal made them sit down as well.

"Anyway, this is a celebration. Let's toast to Ram's recovery and to the guests' arrival," Roswaal said after rambling on for a while, then raised his glass to everyone, who responded in kind, and the atmosphere became very lively.

However, three pairs stood out most at the banquet: Wilhelm and Theresa, Ram and Rem, and Ais and Lefia, which made the atmosphere somewhat awkward.

So Subaru went over to try and form a friendship with Emilia, but Emilia was with Riveria.

While chatting happily, Natsuki Subaru had no choice but to move closer to Hashirama and start a conversation.

“Rem spoils Ram too much, and after Ram recovered from her injury, Rem seems to be overly enthusiastic,” Natsuki Subaru quietly moved to Hashirama’s side and whispered. Hashirama nodded, “It’s normal for siscon to be like that, but wait a minute, let me calculate.”

Hashirama used his favorite divination technique again, and after a while he got the result. It turned out that the demons here all had two horns, but twins only had one horn, so they were considered taboo and had to be executed.

However, during the execution, the baby Ram displayed great power, which is how they survived. But unlike the genius Ram, Rem is very ordinary and does not have great power. Because she is often compared to Ram, she has become very self-conscious.

However, things took a turn one night when the Witch Cult attacked the Oni village. Young Ram lost her horn in the battle and subsequently made a pact with Roswaal, pledging allegiance to him. Only then did they come here to work as maids.

However, the Joker's hand is vaguely behind this attack.

Chapter 707 Meeting but Not Recognizing Each Other

He casually edited the divination results and sent them to Subaru Natsuki. His eyes were confused for a moment before returning to normal. Then, his expression darkened, and he covered his face with his hands. "So that's what happened. No wonder Rem did that."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Hashirama didn't quite understand, but Natsuki Subaru shook his head slightly. "Nothing, I just realized something that's been bothering me."

"Is that so?" Hashirama looked at the two sisters, then at Subaru Natsuki. Subaru probably understood why he had been killed by Rem. "Let bygones be bygones. She was a beautiful girl."

"A beautiful girl, or rather, a maid. I'm still a little scared," Natsuki Subaru muttered to himself. Senju shook her head and ignored him.

However, after Natsuki Subaru calmed himself down for a while, he returned to normal. "By the way, that magic just now was amazing. It could actually transmit information directly."

"Yes, that's a type of magic that allows communication through thought with people who speak different languages," Hashirama casually remarked, while also sharing some magical knowledge and a few intense battles with him—information he obtained from the Skywing race.

"Wow, that's amazing. I couldn't survive in a world like that," Natsuki Subaru shuddered as he looked at the world in his mind. Who would want to go to a world like that!

After dinner, Riveria and the others took a bunch of books and followed Rem to their room to rest. Hashirama checked on Beatrice through the contract and found her excitedly playing on the computer, currently watching anime.

Hashirama, who was eager to give Beatrice the right guidance, was kept behind by Roswaal, and the two began to plot again. "Lord Hashirama, I had prepared a final plan, but it's much simpler now."

"The final plan?" Hashirama looked at him speechlessly. Roswaal nodded. "My original plan was to put Emilia on the throne, then slay the dragon, break a certain spell, and then resurrect a certain person, but now..."

Roswaal swirled his wine glass, his face focused. "Now, with just Hashirama-sama's help, we can proceed to the final step."

“No problem,” Hashirama nodded. “About the cost.”

“Of course, I’ve already thought it through,” Roswaal replied, swirling his wine glass. “I’ll use everything in this castle as a price, including the Forbidden Library, Beatrice, Emilia, Ram, and Rem. Once Lord Hashirama succeeds, they’ll all be useless.”

“You really are ruthless,” Hashirama shook his head. “But they won’t willingly follow orders.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I have their contracts, and I can just transfer them to you,” Roswaal said casually, his eyes filled with coldness.

“Forget about Emilia, I’m afraid Subaru Natsuki will come and cause trouble,” Hashirama shook his head. “But I’ll take the others, my castle is short of professional maids.”

“Yes, Emilia still has some use,” Roswaal nodded there. “She is the piece I chose to break the ‘trial’.”

"Trials?" Hashirama asked curiously. Roswaal explained, "There is a magical seal on Master's grave. Only those who pass the 'Trials' can break the seal. But to enter the Trials, one must be a half-blood."

"Is that so?" Hashirama nodded. He did think of Ais and wondered how her trial there would go. However, after asking Roswaal, Hashirama learned that the trial was being conducted in an illusion.

“Then, I’ll make some preparations. Two days from now, we’ll take Emilia to the Sanctuary to resurrect my teacher, Echidna,” Roswaal said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Sanctuary, huh? But let me make this clear beforehand: if you die too peacefully, you won't be able to be resurrected," Hashirama emphasized again. (By the way, was Roswaal's teacher also a clown?)

"Don't worry," Roswaal shook his head dismissively, sighing, "Her soul is still wandering in the Sanctuary. We'll go there in two days."

Hashirama asked curiously, "But why two days? Is there some kind of procedure?"

"There's a barrier outside the Sanctuary; it's easy to get lost there if you're not prepared."

Roswaal explained, but Hashirama shook his head. "No need for that. I have something good here."

After saying that, Hashirama searched inside his ring and pulled out a box-like magical artifact. "This is the most powerful barrier killer; it can even break the seals of the gods!"

This was actually something Thousand Hands bought from Wiz. Aside from being a bit expensive, it surprisingly has no side effects. Of course, it's useless for adventurers facing low-level seals.

“Well,” Roswaal hesitated for a moment, then continued, “we still need to follow the proper procedures, otherwise a sudden collapse of the barrier will cause a lot of problems.”

"Is that so?" Hashirama idly started calculating, and then learned that the Sanctuary was a protective shell prepared by Echidna. However, to his surprise, Echidna was very active in the divination results, somewhat like the fairies in his dreams.

"Strange, is there a dream world here too?" Hashirama wondered for a moment, then recreated a small dream world and, following the unseen connection, linked the two together. "Open up, dream world!"

The small dream world suddenly exploded, and then a gray mist-like entrance formed in front of it, where there was a wide open hilly area. "As expected, the witch is related to the demon. She actually created such a huge dream world with just her spiritual body."

"What is this? I've never seen magic before," Roswaal murmured, looking into the gray fog. Hashirama also directed the entrance to the gray fog to move. After a while, the two saw a white table set on a hill, with tea set and pastries on it. A white-haired girl in a black robe was sitting on one side, reading a book.

She was quite surprised to see the two people outside, but then her expression turned very proud. "You actually managed to find this place. So, what do you want to ask?"

"So you're Roswaal's teacher? I never imagined you'd create such a world," Hashirama said casually, while Roswaal exclaimed excitedly, "Who is she?! She's not my teacher Echidna at all!"

"Who are you?" The girl inside was also very annoyed. "I am Echidna, the 'Witch of Greed' who even transformed into a thirst for knowledge after death because of her desire for all wisdom! How dare a mere clown question my existence?"

"Huh? What's going on?" Hashirama looked speechlessly at the two people he didn't recognize. "Oh right, he's Roswaal, and he claims to be Echidna's student."

Chapter 708 The Dead Witches

"What a joke! My student Roswaal has long gray hair and yellow eyes. Who is this blue-haired, heterochromatic clown?" the girl inside said unhappily.

Roswaal was also very angry. "My teacher is gentle and virtuous, takes the world as her responsibility, and has lofty ideals and ambitions. How could she be such a petty and narrow-minded person inside!"

"Hey, do you guys have anything that can prove yourselves? Ideally, something the other side knows about and that can't be copied," Hashirama said, also getting confused.

Roswaal nodded and took out a black book. "This was given to me by my teacher. A real teacher would know what this is!"

"Huh? The Book of Wisdom? Why are you holding it? I remember only giving it to Rhodes and Beatrice. Did you steal it?!" The girl inside looked at Roswaal suspiciously, but she also took out a black book. "This is the real 'Memory of the World,' recording everything that happened in the world. Wait, why are the future events constantly changing? That's impossible! Without the addition of new variables, how could the world suddenly change? And keep changing? That's just not possible!"

"Are you really the teacher?" Roswaal seemed to change his attitude slightly, but the girl ignored him completely. "How could that be? A new source has appeared in the world, and the magic it generates makes the Book of Wisdom unable to predict anything."

"A book that can predict changes in the world?" Hashirama was very interested. This must be something like a supercomputer; by inputting all the conditions, it can predict future changes. "Can you sell me this book?"

"Get out of here," the girl said impatiently, flipping through the book anxiously. "Damn it, I didn't expect the Book of Wisdom to be unusable. What will happen to the ending I prepared for?!"

"What exactly happened?" Hashirama asked, looking at Roswaal. "Is she really your teacher?"

“Well, I’m not sure either,” Roswaal’s expression also turned somewhat grim. “He looks and has a different aura than my teacher, yet he possesses the memories of the world. I need to investigate him thoroughly.”

"This is inexplicable," Hashirama said speechlessly. He had thought his divination was wrong, but it turned out to be correct. However, neither of them would admit it. Was something wrong?

The two were still arguing, while Hashirama watched speechlessly from the side. "Um, Echidna, let me see your book of world memories."

"Are you kidding me? This is my treasure!" Echidna's expression turned ugly, while Hashirama rubbed his hands together. "If you don't let me see it, I'm going to take action!"

"Hmph, do you think I have no power to resist?" Echidna said unhappily, and then began to speak, "Daphne, the 'Gluttony Witch' who created a beast different from destiny to save the world from hunger!"

As she spoke, an object appeared beside her: a small, upright coffin containing a person bound in restraints, their eyes also covered by hard, black eyelids.

A girl covered up by a veil.

"Oh, if you want to eliminate famine, you might as well study rice. And why is it the same name as someone in our family?" Hashirama complained from the side, and then a cracking sound seemed to come from inside the coffin.

“That’s right, the monsters she’s creating are causing a lot of trouble for the world,” Roswaal added sarcastically.

Echidna's expression turned sour as she continued, "Camilla, the 'Lustful Witch' who wants to fill the world with love and give emotions to non-humans!"

Another figure appeared on the side. It was a girl with light red long hair, a slender figure, and an ordinary face, but she was radiating light, which made people pay attention to her.

"Tch, if you want to be this, you'd at least have to look like Freya," Hashirama casually projected Freya's image, leaving Echidna and Roswaal stunned. However, the light on Camilla's body suddenly went out, and she became quite ordinary.

“I can’t believe such people exist in this world, but I won’t give up,” Echidna finally broke free from Freya’s charm after a long while. “Come out, Minerva, the ‘Violent Witch’ who heals everyone with violence because she laments the world’s strife; Sekhmet, the ‘Sloth Witch’ who drives the dragon back to the other side of the Great Falls in pursuit of a peaceful life; and Typhon, the ‘Arrogant Witch’ who judges people with naivety and cruelty!”

As she spoke, three more figures appeared around her: a blonde, blue-eyed girl in a short skirt; a pale beauty with purple hair and a black robe; and a girl with brown skin and green hair.

"What the hell is this about healing with violence? A peaceful life has nothing to do with dragons! Kids shouldn't play judge games like this!" Hashirama complained slightly. "Besides, Freya is a goddess of beauty. You haven't seen her true appearance, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to speak right now."

"What goddess of beauty!" Echidna was very annoyed. "I haven't even asked you who you are yet, or why you suddenly barged in here. This is an important place where the Witch of Envy is sealed."

“Me? I am a god from another world,” Hashirama replied casually. Echidna looked helpless. “Has another madman who claims to be a god appeared in this world? He dares to call himself a god just because he has mastered a little magic. It’s laughable.”

"Anger," Hashirama said, somewhat displeased, glancing at Roswaal who was deep in thought. "If there's nothing else, would I kill someone to steal their treasure?"

“Well,” Roswaal hesitated, “she must be related to the teacher, but if she’s the one sealed in the tomb now, where is the real teacher?”

“How ridiculous! I am Echidna, and I don’t recall ever taking on a disciple who speaks with Hector’s tone,” the girl inside said, clearly displeased. “Do you think you can defeat us with your strange methods? How naive.”

“I,” Roswaal stood there, seemingly confused as well.

The five witches beside him also looked outside, seemingly preparing to take action. Hashirama shook his head helplessly, "The existence of soul fragments reappearing is actually something else. There are more than three hundred like you in my house. I can suppress you with a single finger."

"Buddha's Finger," Hashirama said, conjuring a giant finger inside and manipulating the people inside. The newly appeared people frantically fought against the finger.

Hashirama found their fierce fighting somewhat amusing, but when he saw the girl in the coffin trying to pull off her blindfold, he suddenly exerted force and suppressed them. Who knew what kind of eye technique they were using! He didn't want to fall for a genjutsu!

"So, what do you have to say?" Hashirama looked at Echidna inside with amusement. Her expression kept changing. Several witches were shouting, "Who is he? Echidna, how did you let this strange person in?"

Chapter 709 Selection of Trials

“No,” Echidna shook her head. “Those of you who share memories should know that I have never been in contact with the outside world. It was he who forcibly opened the entrance to the City of Dreams from reality, which is why I called everyone here.”

"Reality?" The witches looked outside and realized that the scene outside was completely different from the scene inside. Hashirama also dissipated his fingers. They tried to touch them and found that their limbs that touched the gray mist disappeared immediately, but would recover after they withdrew.

"No need to try. You are just existing in a dream. You are still a bit short of interfering with reality," Hashirama looked at them with interest. He thought it would be good to use them for experiments and then bring his three hundred fairies into reality. "However, if you are willing to become my subordinates, I can revive you in reality."

"Resurrection?" The witches shook their heads, seemingly sensing Hashirama's danger. "We're sorry, but we have no intention of becoming anyone's subordinate. Echidna, you'll have to figure out a solution yourself!"

With that, the witches vanished like smoke. Echidna glared fiercely at Roswaal, then looked at Hashirama. "Don't even think about it! Without sufficient knowledge of the unknown, I won't easily submit!"

“That makes things simple,” Hashirama conjured rows of super bookshelves within. “Hmm, I happen to have a super library at home with over ten billion books.”

"Deal!" Echidna stared intently at the bookshelves. "Does such a place even exist? It's practically a universe of knowledge."

However, Echidna then looked at Hashirama with a suspicious gaze, "Is all this knowledge true?"

“Of course,” Hashirama nodded, “those are people from thousands of years ago.”

"The culmination of civilization—you can't understand the sheer power of human creativity without experiencing a technological explosion."

"The Big Bang?" Echidna murmured, her eyes lighting up. "I'll give you everything I have in return. Can you grant me that knowledge?"

“Of course, I also need a librarian like Beatrice,” Hashirama nodded, then looked at her, “but we need to sign a contract first.”

“Beatrice? She’s the librarian in charge of my archives. Can I trade her for her?” Echidna said, her eyes darting around. “I have an important mission here!”

"Are you kidding me? Beatrice has already been sold out once," Hashirama said speechlessly, then looked at Roswaal beside him, "Have you guys even confirmed the other party's identity? This doesn't seem like a solution at all!"

Then the two of them quickly started talking about various magical issues and things that had happened, until they both became puzzled.

“I,” Roswaal instinctively felt that this was not his teacher, but through conversation, the other person did seem to be his teacher. This sense of confusion left him somewhat bewildered.

"Why don't we call Beatrice over and let her sort it out?" Hashirama suggested. The two nodded, and then Hashirama opened a spatial rift. Beatrice was happily watching anime on the other side, but then she turned her head away unhappily. "Is there something wrong? I'm busy right now."