"Hehe! Kazuma, it's your first time riding in such a big dragon carriage, huh? It's awesome!"
Inside the dragon carriage, Aqua looked at Satou Kazuma with a smug expression.
This was a custom-made dragon carriage she had asked Russell to make.
The previous few times she rode in a dragon carriage, Aqua had been stuck in a corner because there were no seats. To avoid this, she had found Russell and asked him to help her customize this special dragon carriage.
Although the previous few times, she had insisted on trying to win against Satou Kazuma in rock-paper-scissors.
Not only that, they also hired a coachman named Otto from Russell.
They heard that he had borrowed money from Russell to buy a bunch of oil to do business, but he lost it all in a few days. He had no choice but to sign a contract to sell himself off, working for Russell and becoming the coachman to take them to the Sanctuary.
Satou Kazuma's eyes swept over everyone in the carriage.
On Emilia's side, Natsuki Subaru and Roswaal were traveling with them.
And on his side, besides Aqua, Beatrice was also with them.
After all, the person they were going to see in the Sanctuary was Beatrice's mother, Echidna.
Of course, there was also a dangerous person.
Elsa.
Even though Elsa's personality was a bit nasty, her fighting power was very good.
To prevent any accidents from happening in the Sanctuary, Satou Kazuma still brought Elsa with him.
Of course, this was also to keep a close eye on Elsa.
Back in the royal capital, Satou Kazuma had tried to get Elsa to work in the food business, to satisfy her desire to cut things.
But the knife in this guy's hand always moved towards the customer's stomach without her thinking, and there were a few times that almost caused a tragedy.
Satou Kazuma realized that if he didn't watch Elsa a little, something bad might happen. All he could do was keep this person by his side.
As for Meili, she was at least behaving well in the royal capital.
Satou Kazuma felt that Meili seemed to be copying Elsa in her actions. To avoid another super strong person being born in the future, it was best to keep them apart as much as possible.
"Kazuma-sama, your eyes are so great~"
Elsa looked at Satou Kazuma's gaze on her and had a very flirty expression on her face.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you saying?"
Satou Kazuma felt ashamed.
Originally, Satou Kazuma was thinking of bringing Ram or Rem with him, but he later gave up on that idea.
They were leaving the royal capital, and the mansion still needed someone to take care of it. If they only left Ram, who didn't do any work at all, the place might be a mess when they came back.
And even though Ram was strong in battle, Satou Kazuma could still clearly remember the times she had accidentally hurt him (killed him).
He definitely couldn't bring this person!
"By the way, Emilia, I feel like I haven't seen Puck much lately."
At this time, Natsuki Subaru looked at Emilia and asked.
"Now that you mention it, that's true. This guy, does he feel even more free than Aqua?"
Satou Kazuma added from the side.
As a great spirit, Puck should have very strong power.
But Puck was never around in battles.
Is it too much for a great spirit to work nine to five every day?
That's even worse than Aqua!
"Puck used to not come out for a whole day sometimes, but I've never seen anything like this."
Emilia lowered her head worriedly, holding the crystal pendant on her chest with both hands.
"Hey, Roswaal, did you do something?"
Satou Kazuma looked at Roswaal.
"I did have such plans before, planning to find a way to restrict Puck's actions. After all, Puck is a very troublesome part of my plans."
Roswaal said with a smile. At this moment, he had returned to his clown makeup and spoke in that strange, up-and-down, sarcastic tone again.
After all, everyone had gotten used to his 'weird' appearance, and it was a bit strange to suddenly become a normal person.
"I knew it was you!"
"Wait a minute, I did have such plans, but I didn't have time to carry them out - the original plan was to wait until you dealt with the Witch Cult incident, and then find an opportunity to use magic on Emilia, but unfortunately, you found me first, and I didn't have a chance to do it."
After Roswaal finished speaking, he shrugged his shoulders,
"I think Puck can't appear because of your own reasons, Emilia."
"My own reasons?"
"Puck signed a contract with you, so his mana will be supplied by you. Perhaps it's because your mana is gradually becoming insufficient."
Roswaal explained,
"There is also a possibility that there is a problem with your mental state, Emilia. The contract will also be affected by your mind. Perhaps it's because you've been feeling unsure lately."
"Unsure..."
Emilia muttered to herself.
Ever since she heard the name Fortuna from Geuse, Emilia had been thinking about it.
Sadness was always hidden in her heart.
"I see... Thank you for being honest, Roswaal."
Emilia said to Roswaal very seriously,
"But I also hope that you won't do those dangerous things again in the future."
"Don't worry, I know. After all, now... there's more than one path to choose."
Roswaal narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Aqua, then his gaze quickly shifted back to Emilia,
"But don't worry, Emilia. Since I've already promised to support Emilia in becoming the king as a supporter, I won't break my word."
"Roswaal, Aqua and the others are here."
Natsuki Subaru reminded him.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter who becomes the king in the end."
Satou Kazuma yawned.
Satou Kazuma was not interested in things like becoming king at all.
Managing a country or something, it just felt like too much trouble to even imagine.
What's more...
Satou Kazuma couldn't even imagine what the country would be like if Aqua became king.
It would definitely become a living hell...
If he could, Satou Kazuma just wanted to be a small rich man, living his own carefree life.
The candidate identity that Aqua made up was to allow them to enjoy special privileges during this time.
Satou Kazuma didn't expect to encounter so many troublesome things.
"You're so casual."
Roswaal said with a smile.
"By the way, what about Geuse? Did he not come?"
Natsuki Subaru asked with some doubt. He thought Geuse would come to the Sanctuary no matter what.
"Geuse said that Emilia is now able to be independent and doesn't need him to be with her, and he also has some things he needs to take care of."
Satou Kazuma said.
Geuse was now investigating the matter about Fortuna and even went to the dungeon to ask Regulus.
But he had gained nothing so far.
Everyone chatted as they rode the dragon carriage to the Sanctuary.
After a long journey, the dragon carriage finally stopped slowly.
"We seem to have arrived."
Roswaal smiled and looked out the window, then prepared to get out of the carriage.
"Wait a minute."
"What's wrong?"
Roswaal turned his head to look over, and Satou Kazuma walked towards him.
"There's something very important to take care of."
As Satou Kazuma spoke, he took something out of his luggage.
Magic-sealing handcuffs.
Satou Kazuma directly handcuffed Roswaal's hands.
"....."
"Just to be safe, Roswaal."
"Okay..."
Roswaal nodded. He really couldn't say anything right now.
Satou Kazuma and the others got out of the carriage. What came into view was an extremely old building.
"Kazuma-sama, we've arrived!"
At the same time, the coachman who was in charge of driving the earth dragon also got out of the carriage and walked to Satou Kazuma, saying with a smile.
"Thanks for your hard work, are you called..."
"Just call me Otto, Kazuma-sama!"
"Okay, Otto, then I'll have to trouble you to wait here for a while."
Satou Kazuma said to Otto, and then walked towards the building with Natsuki Subaru and the others.
"Roswaal, what is this for?"
Satou Kazuma asked.
"This is the place of trial."
"What is the trial?"
"I don't know exactly what it is, because I don't have the qualifications to participate in the trial. Only those with half-blood can participate in the trial - and only those with half-blood can freely enter and exit the Sanctuary."
The half-blood Roswaal was talking about refers to those who have half-human and half-demihuman blood.
Emilia is one of them.
"Then when Emilia goes in, will she start the trial directly?"
"In theory, it's not time yet, so it should be fine."
"It's so dark in here."
Natsuki Subaru said as he looked at the surrounding environment—
Suddenly, the scene in front of him changed.
A lush green grassland appeared in front of him, with an incredibly blue sky overhead.
He was clearly just in a closed building!
What exactly happened?
"Kazuma! Aqua! Emilia!"
Just as Natsuki Subaru called out the others' names, he suddenly saw a small pavilion in front of him.
A woman dressed in black robes was looking at him with a smile.
Snow-white long hair fell down. Her white skin and refined features made up an almost perfect face, except for the deep black eyes that gave people a scary feeling, like a pair of black holes that were about to completely swallow Natsuki Subaru.
"You've finally come~"
The woman said with a smile.
"Who are you? Did you cause all of this?"
"My name is Echidna, or rather, the name Witch of Greed is easier to understand."
Echidna smiled at Natsuki Subaru and gave her name.
"You, you are Echidna?"
Natsuki Subaru looked at the other party with some surprise.
"Oh? It seems you already know me. Then please sit down."
Natsuki Subaru sat in the seat opposite Echidna. The latter snapped her fingers, and a cup of tea instantly appeared in front of Natsuki Subaru. He directly picked up the tea and drank it all in one gulp.
"Because this is made from my bodily fluids~"
As Echidna said these words with a smile, Natsuki Subaru almost spat it out.
"Where exactly is this?"
"This is the city of dreams that I created~ It is the place where the soul is. It is only your consciousness and soul that have come here."
"City of dreams..."
Natsuki Subaru felt like his head hurt a bit.
Roswaal had said earlier that the Witch of Greed Echidna's soul still existed in some way.
Is it in this city of dreams?
"What do you want to know? Many people dream of seeing me~"
Echidna stared unblinkingly at Natsuki Subaru.
So-called greed is her thirst for knowledge. She wants to know everything about the world.
And she is also the most knowledgeable person in this world. The entire Forbidden Library is her masterpiece.
And that is only a part of it.
Her power is the Book of Wisdom, which is the memory of the world, making Echidna know almost everything that has happened in the world.
At this moment, Natsuki Subaru's body suddenly trembled. He felt an unbearable pain in his heart.
"As expected of a qualified person. You adapted quickly~"
Echidna said. Everything that was happening now was within her calculations.
"What are you saying..."
"It can activate the sloth factor in your body and increase your resistance. It is because you have the Witch Factor that you You were able to come here... Wait!"
Echidna's face suddenly changed greatly. Her brows furrowed first, then she leaned forward, looking at Natsuki Subaru with a shocked expression.
"Why isn't it there? What's going on here? What exactly happened?"
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you talking about?"
Natsuki Subaru's physical condition recovered a little, and he asked, panting.
"Where did the sloth factor you should have go? Sloth Archbishop, that guy should have been killed by you!"
"No, Sloth isn't dead. Or rather, he returned to his original appearance and became that person named Geuse."
"How is that possible? That's not what I saw!"
Echidna looked at Natsuki Subaru in disbelief,
"What did you do?"
"It wasn't what I did, but what Aqua and Kazuma did!"
"Aqua? Kazuma?"
Echidna had never heard of these two names.
Her soul is in the city of dreams - everything Echidna knows is what the past self used her power to see.
But what happened before was completely different from the future she had seen.
What exactly happened?
Just as Echidna was confused, a strange voice suddenly sounded in the surrounding environment.
"Hey, Subaru! What are you doing!"
"Aqua?"
A smile bloomed on Natsuki Subaru's face.
And Echidna was extremely shocked.
The city of dreams is her exclusive domain. Why would outside voices come in?