Caelus received extremely warm thanks. Heinkel, with the brazen personality he had developed from years of drinking, even stated directly that if Caelus could be recognized by the insignia, the Astrea family would definitely support his election as the new King.
Of course, this was just a joke. However, if Caelus were willing, it would be quite simple for him to become King. It was just that he had no interest in it whatsoever.
As for the final candidate, Caelus did not go to meet her because she was not in the Royal Capital. He only learned a bit about her situation. She was a noblewoman who had lost several husbands and built her power base through marriage.
One night, as Caelus sat in his room browsing the Astrea family's library to learn about the world's history, secrets, and magical knowledge, he suddenly felt a thick black mist appear before him.
When the black mist completely dissipated, he found himself sitting at a table with a sumptuous breakfast laid out before him. Heinkel and his newly awakened wife were acting all lovey-dovey, while Reinhard stood to the side with a helpless but happy smile.
Caelus remained unfazed, calmly finishing his breakfast. Time had now looped back to the morning after he had restored the memories of Reinhard's mother.
It seemed that as the protagonist on the stage of fate, things were not peaceful on Subaru's end.
However, Caelus was curious about one thing. If this time loop went back to before he had eaten the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, what would happen? Would those three siblings reappear, or would they remain as they were, vanished?
As for trying to take back what had been eaten from Caelus, that was simply impossible.
Anything eaten by Caelus, whether food or abstract concepts, would be immediately partitioned by Equilibrium and then consumed by the various concepts within his body.
Not to mention that the strength of this world's time reversal could not affect Caelus. Perhaps only The Final Boss, who could move against the flow of time, could personally intervene to reverse Caelus's time.
"A pity the reversal did not go back far enough. If it had gone back earlier, I could have tried to see if I could eat another portion of Gluttony."
Caelus thought to himself, then maintained his previous pace of life, browsing the Astrea family's collection and spending each day leisurely. After all, Reinhard was already using his connections to help investigate information on the Sin Archbishops of the Witch Cult, but he likely would not receive any news before this cycle ended.
After another few days of peace, the familiar black mist surged again, swallowing the world.
Caelus returned once more to that day's breakfast, which surprised him slightly. Although the gift of memory he had sent out could not directly increase Subaru's combat power yet, the improvements to memory and thinking capacity took effect immediately.
Even so, why did this guy die a second time? Could it be that he did not gather enough intelligence during his first death?
It did not matter to Caelus. He still had books to read. Even being in a time loop was fine.
After reading for a few more days like this, the familiar black mist surged over once again.
At breakfast, Reinhard looked at Caelus, who seemed to be pondering something at the table, and asked with concern, "Caelus? Is something wrong? Is today's breakfast not to your liking?"
"It's nothing. I am just thinking about some things."
Caelus finished his breakfast and, after some thought, decided to go find the boy to see what was going on. The first death could be called an accident, the second could be lack of information, but this third death... could he have encountered some powerful enemy he could not oppose, even with sufficient information?
At this time, Subaru was also breaking down. To stay and be with Emilia, he had requested to work at this mansion from its owner, Roswaal. Although the two maids working here, Rem and Ram, did not seem to welcome him, they were not particularly excessive.
But after a few days of such a peaceful life, one night when he went back to his room to sleep, he woke up to find that time had looped back.
Subaru was instantly bewildered. He did not even know what had happened. How did he die for no apparent reason?
The second time at the same point, he prepared himself, but for some reason, he grew sleepier and sleepier that night. If not for the sound of sliding chains in the hallway, Subaru would have fallen straight asleep, though the sound gave him a huge fright.
To escape the enemy's pursuit, Subaru decided to tell everyone that an enemy had infiltrated the mansion. To his surprise, the person dragging the morning star and making the chain sounds was actually Rem, the younger sister of the twin maids.
After dying the second time, Subaru was completely baffled. Why was he being hunted by Rem?
So, after repeating the initial process this time, Subaru observed Rem carefully for a few days. He could only feel her faint loathing for him, but finding no reason for it, he decided to run away first.
As a result, he was hunted by Rem in the forest and bludgeoned to death by the morning star. He was even tortured before he died.
Dying three times in a row had made Subaru somewhat withdrawn, especially since the third death was particularly painful. He did not want to see the twin maids at all now. He locked himself in his room, still crying out for help, hoping that Caelus, who might have been watching from the sidelines, would help him.
But just as there had been no response when he was being tortured and killed in the forest in the previous timeline, Subaru's repeated calls this time also received no answer.
In fact, in the previous timeline, Caelus really had not been by his side. But this time, Caelus was indeed watching the boy curled up on the bed in self-isolation, and he had no intention of intervening.
The reward had already been given. At worst, after a few more deaths, the seed of memory would sprout due to the intense emotional power brought by death. By then, Subaru would gain some self-preservation ability and should be able to solve the current deadlock.
His main goal this time was to see exactly what had caused the boy to die three times.
However, for the time that followed, Subaru mostly kept himself locked in his room, not communicating with anyone. It seemed the intense pain brought about by his previous death meant he needed some time to recover.
Yet even so, an accident still occurred.
Subaru was dragged out of his room and subsequently informed that Rem had met with an accident. She had fallen into a deep sleep, and her life force was being continuously drained, supposedly because she had been cursed.
Rem's sister, Ram, became exceptionally agitated, stating that the suffering Rem was enduring was all brought about by Subaru, and that it was the work of this guy who reeked of the Witch Cult.
After learning about the curse from Beatrice, the spirit in the mansion's library, Subaru suddenly realized that his previous two deaths seemed to have been caused by a curse.
The near-photographic memory brought about by his experiences allowed everything from the past to replay before him.
Subaru suddenly discovered the possible source of the curse. It was on that day when he and Rem had gone to the village to prepare food, and he had been bitten by a dog.
And today, in the original timeline, was exactly the time to go to the village for food supplies.
Because her sister was on the verge of death, Ram had begun to lose her mind, attributing all the fault to Subaru and seeking to hunt him down.
If not for Beatrice and Emilia intervening, Subaru would not have even been able to escape that room.
After discovering some clues through the power of his memory, Subaru ran through the forest, recalling every detail of what had happened, and clearly remembering the words Ram had shouted at him, that he reeked of the Witch Cult.
So, where exactly did the scent of the Witch Cult come from?
Subaru had two suspicions in his heart. One concerning Caelus, and the other concerning the Return by Death ability he possessed.
Should he run away? Should he just leave this place like this?
Caelus could sense Subaru running in the distance, questioning his own heart. Then, he watched the other person run to the edge of a cliff, while at the same time, Ram had tracked him to a spot not far away.
Subaru turned around to face the pursuing Ram, revealing a smile he thought was very cool, and said, "I will save you all."
With that, he leaped down.
Black mist once again filled the world.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)