While Beatrice was still too stunned to react, Rowan decisively activated Archive Magic and dumped the entire plot of Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World straight into her mind.
Speaking of which, Beatrice herself was quite a tragic character.
Not long after she was created by Echidna, the Witch of Greed, the two were separated.
Afterward, Beatrice made a verbal agreement with Echidna—
she would protect the Forbidden Library until "that person" arrived.
That person was supposedly someone destined to come for her.
Beatrice readily accepted.
From then on, she remained alone inside the Forbidden Library, sitting atop her step stool and waiting for the person Echidna had spoken of.
During the first several decades, Beatrice did not find following the Gospel particularly painful.
As long as she remained inside the Forbidden Library, she felt almost as though she were still being embraced by her mother.
But as time passed—
that gradually changed.
During those four hundred years, every person who entered the library briefly gave Beatrice hope.
But none of them knew the mission of "that person," and the Gospel never reacted.
So Beatrice rejected every visitor who entered the Forbidden Library.
After four hundred years of lonely and painful waiting, her heart gradually died.
She stopped caring about the people and events around her.
She no longer wanted to form bonds with anyone.
Whenever loneliness overwhelmed her, the helpless Beatrice hardened her heart and locked herself away inside the Forbidden Library, convincing herself that she would never lose to anything.
For four hundred years—
Beatrice imprisoned herself.
Eventually, even she could no longer tell whether the lock on her cage had been fastened from the inside or the outside.
Either way—
four hundred years was simply far too long.
Four centuries of endless, hopeless waiting had completely worn away her expectations.
Beatrice gradually forgot how to smile.
Forgot how to cry.
She even began forgetting her mother's face and voice.
Countless nights were spent desperately piecing together fragments of those memories, using them as the final support for her heart.
And yet, as the story progressed—
Echidna, the Witch of Greed, eventually revealed the truth.
"That person" never existed.
The only reason she had told Beatrice to wait was because she wanted to see whom Beatrice herself would choose to become "that person."
In Echidna's eyes, Beatrice spending four hundred years choosing no one, agonizing over whether she should continue fulfilling the contract, and eventually even wishing for death as a form of release—
was also an extremely interesting result.
From this alone, one could see exactly what kind of person Echidna was.
She was a woman with an exceptionally twisted sense of amusement.
She possessed emotions—
but she could not understand the emotions of others.
Rowan would not necessarily call her human trash.
But she certainly was not a particularly good person either.
So he straightforwardly revealed the truth to Beatrice, who had still been completely unaware of everything.
While Beatrice sorted out the enormous amount of information newly added to her mind, Rowan casually picked up an introductory magic book from the Forbidden Library and began reading.
Magic in the world of Re:Zero was divided into six attributes—
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Yin, and Yang.
Fire Magic represented heat itself.
Therefore, whether one released flames or created ice blades, both could technically fall under Fire Magic.
Or rather—
any magic involving heat and temperature could be categorized as Fire Magic.
Water Magic was commonly associated with healing.
Yin and Yang Magic were comparatively rare.
Yin Magic in particular often involved obstructing an opponent's vision or inflicting abnormal conditions.
Mages in this world cast spells through something known as a "Gate."
Because a mage's mana was stored internally, the amount of power they could wield depended heavily on the size and number of their Gates.
Simply put—
Gates were somewhat similar to Magic Circuits in the Nasuverse.
The more, the better.
However, not everyone who used supernatural techniques had to rely entirely on Gates.
The heroine Emilia was a typical example.
She was a Spirit Arts User.
By borrowing mana from the atmosphere, she could cast spells through spirits.
She absorbed mana from the outside world through her Gate and then used that stored mana to activate magic.
In other words, her mana was essentially stored externally rather than being limited solely by the natural size and number of her Gates.
However, Spirit Arts Users had one major weakness.
Without forming contracts with spirits, they could not use Spirit Arts.
And establishing a contract with a spirit was anything but easy.
Therefore, Spirit Arts Users were even rarer than conventional mages in this world.
Because Rowan had entered this world through Travel Magic, he had not acquired this world's physiology.
Naturally, he did not possess anything called a Gate.
But that did not matter.
He possessed magical power.
That was enough for him to use the magic of this world anyway.
So Rowan read the magic books with great interest.
Many of the spells opened his eyes to entirely new possibilities.
By the time Rowan reached the seventh magic book, Beatrice, the administrator of the Forbidden Library, had finally finished organizing all the additional information in her mind.
She opened her eyes and looked at Rowan.
"Who exactly are you?"
"I already told you."
Rowan continued reading as he replied,
"I'm from another world."
"Betty doesn't understand."
Beatrice looked at Rowan with a complicated expression.
"If you're from another world, why do you know so much about our world?"
"That's a pretty interesting question."
Rowan chuckled.
"Why shouldn't someone from another world know things about your world?"
Beatrice: "Uh…"
For a moment, she genuinely had no idea how to refute that.
"Is the information you gave Betty really true?"
"One hundred percent genuine."
Rowan raised several fingers.
"I can swear to Heaven that everything I showed you is true."
Large tears immediately began rolling down Beatrice's cheeks.
She had never imagined that Echidna, the Witch of Greed, would deceive her.
The person she had waited four hundred years for—
had never existed.
"Why…"
"Why would it be like this?"
Seeing Beatrice crying so pitifully, Rowan scratched his hair awkwardly.
"Hey, don't cry."
"Sure, the truth came a little late, but aren't you finally free now?"
"You can leave this place."
"You can even choose whoever you want."
That only made Beatrice angrier.
She glared at Rowan through her tears and choked out,
"That's easy for you to say!"
"If Betty can just casually choose anyone, then what were these hundreds of years of waiting supposed to mean?!"
"Uh…"
Rowan thought for a moment.
"…Bad luck?"
Beatrice: "…"
At that moment, she genuinely wanted to unleash a powerful spell and turn this sharp-tongued bastard into minced meat.
"If you don't know how to talk, then shut your mouth!"
Rowan nodded.
Then he obediently closed his mouth and continued silently reading the magic book in his hands.
After a while, Beatrice suddenly said,
"Can't you say something?"
Rowan remained silent and continued reading.
"I'm talking to you!"
Beatrice glared at him.
At the same time, a sphere of water formed above Rowan's head and smashed downward.
But in the next instant—
the water sphere disappeared.
More accurately, Rowan had transferred it elsewhere using Spatial Magic.
Beatrice's eyes lit up.
She immediately began testing Rowan's abilities.
One spell after another came crashing toward him.
Water spheres.
Stone swords.
Flame spikes.
Wind blades…
All of them were spells with relatively limited destructive range but extremely concentrated power.
Clearly, Beatrice did not want to damage her own Forbidden Library.
Faced with her attacks, Rowan continued reading while casually neutralizing each spell.
For every attack, he produced the perfect response.
Each spell was cast with exquisite timing and precision.
Beatrice could not help looking at Rowan in a new light.
"I didn't expect you to be a master of magic too."
She had known Rowan was powerful.
But she had not expected him to be this skilled.
Rowan still did not answer.
Beatrice finally lost patience.
"I'm asking you a question!"
"Isn't ignoring Betty like this incredibly rude?"
"You were the one who told me to shut up."
Rowan looked completely innocent.
"Now you're complaining because I'm not answering you?"
"Isn't that a little hypocritical?"
Beatrice rolled her eyes so hard they nearly disappeared.
She was now one hundred percent certain that this bastard was doing it deliberately.
"Aren't you being way too petty?"
Seeing that Beatrice genuinely seemed angry, Rowan chuckled.
"Alright, alright."
"I'll stop teasing you."
"What did you want to say?"
Beatrice pointed at him.
"Shouldn't you be the one saying something to Betty?"
"Me?"
"I don't really have anything to say."
Rowan shook his head.
Beatrice glared furiously.
"You came into Betty's room and yet you have nothing to say?"
"Isn't that incredibly rude?"
Rowan sighed.
"Then what exactly do you want me to say?"
"That you're pitiful?"
"That the Witch of Greed deceived you?"
"That Echidna is a terrible person?"
"Shut up!"
"You're not allowed to insult Mother!"
Beatrice immediately became agitated.
Rowan looked completely speechless.
"See?"
"I didn't want to say anything, but you insisted that I talk."
"Then when I finally speak, you get angry."
"Why make things difficult for yourself?"
"Because you were saying bad things about Mother."
"She's your mother, not mine."
Rowan calmly replied,
"To you, she might be wonderful in every possible way."
"Everything she does might seem justified."
"But from my perspective, she seriously lacks a conscience."
"She even deceived her own child."
Beatrice's expression stiffened.
It was as though someone had punched her directly in the chest.
Even her voice unconsciously became quieter.
"Maybe… Mother had her reasons."
"She had reasons my ass."
"You already saw all the information I gave you."
"Does she look like someone who had some tragic hidden reason?"
Beatrice immediately withdrew into herself.
Because after seeing the story—
she genuinely could not find any convincing excuse for Echidna's actions.
Seeing this, Rowan did not continue rubbing salt into the wound.
Instead, he returned his attention to the magic book and resumed reading with great interest.
In his opinion—
the magic books were considerably more interesting than a depressed Beatrice.
Fortunately, Beatrice's ability to regulate her emotions was quite good.
She soon pulled herself out of her gloomy state.
"Then what do you think Betty should do now?"
"You're asking me?"
Rowan pointed at his own nose.
Beatrice gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"Do you see anyone else here?"
"If I were you…"
Rowan thought for a moment before answering,
"I'd do whatever the hell I wanted."
"No one would be allowed to stop me."
Someone who had spent four hundred years imprisoned could finally walk out of the Forbidden Library.
Naturally, the first thing they should do was experience everything they had never been able to experience before.
And anyone who dared stand in their way—
could simply be knocked aside.
~~~
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