The clown descended slowly from the air, the flame burning in his palm extinguishing as he landed.
Lillian regarded him with caution.
That sense of danger earlier had not been imaginary.
Perhaps… this man really would have intervened.
He discreetly glanced at Subaru and Rem.
If they hadn't arrived just now…
"To single-handedly wipe out all these magical beasts—what truly impressive strength."
Roswaal approached with keen interest, removing his tall hat and pressing it to his chest.
"A powerful swordsman suddenly appearing within my territory… as the Margrave of this land, I simply cannot ignore such a thing~."
"I'm just passing through."
"Is that so."
Seeing Lillian's calm expression, Roswaal did not press further.
At that moment, Subaru rushed over, staring at him in disbelief.
"It was you…? You killed all these magical beasts?"
"Mm."
"…That's amazing."
Subaru paused, then suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, right! We're looking for a blue-haired girl. Have you seen her? She seems to have entered this forest as well."
"No."
Lillian replied calmly. "I only ran into these magical beasts."
"I see… Then we really need to hurry and find her!"
Subaru said anxiously, but Roswaal stopped him.
"I already conducted an aerial sweep~ of the entire forest just now, and I didn't see any little girl."
"How could that be…"
"Subaru," Rem said softly, "The villagers mentioned she isn't from this village. She might have already gone home."
"That is possible…"
Subaru hesitated, then frowned.
"But… the dog with her is a magical beast that curses people. If we don't find her, won't that still be dangerous?"
Lillian didn't want to say much more.
The matter was resolved. With this, the time loops wouldn't keep repeating, and it had nothing to do with him anymore.
In fact, even if he hadn't come this time, Subaru would have solved the incident after one or two more returns by death.
Still, it wasn't a complete waste—at least he had learned of another member of an underground organization. And that scheming little girl had even called Elsa "sister."
"Thank you for eliminating such a major threat to this village."
At some point, Roswaal had circled around to stand directly in front of Lillian, blocking his path with a smiling expression.
"As the Margrave of this border territory, I must express my gratitude~. I sincerely hope you'll honor us with a visit to my residence."
"…"
Seeing Roswaal's clear you're-not-leaving-if-you-refuse attitude, Lillian thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Fine. But first, I need to say goodbye to the family who gave me lodging."
"No problem~"
---
After that, the group returned to the village.
Subaru no longer searched for Meili in the forest. If even Roswaal's detection abilities couldn't find her, continuing would only be a waste of time.
Perhaps, as Rem had said, she really had gone home. In that case, it would be better to ask the other children if they knew where she lived.
Lillian didn't involve himself further.
He was only curious about how the story would proceed now.
Because of his interference, Rem never revealed her "oni" power during this incident. As a result, that entire chain of events and emotional exchanges never happened.
How her relationship with Subaru would change now was anyone's guess.
Whatever… it has nothing to do with me.
Lillian didn't care about how the characters' relationships developed. What he was really thinking about was why Roswaal had invited him to the mansion.
Was it to test him? Or something else?
The reason Lillian agreed was simple—Subaru was there.
If Roswaal truly harbored killing intent toward him, and Lillian found himself unable to resist, he wouldn't hesitate to kill Subaru and force a time reset.
After the rewind, he simply wouldn't come here again. He'd stay in the capital and avoid this pointless mess entirely.
---
Back in the village, Lillian went to Petra's house and informed them that he would be leaving.
Subaru also asked Petra about Meili.
"Meili… I don't really know either."
Petra frowned as she thought. "She just appeared a few days ago and joined us. We don't know where her house is."
"I see."
Other villagers soon arrived as well.
The parents of the other children all said that their kids didn't know anything about Meili either.
In short, she had appeared out of nowhere.
Children don't think too deeply about such things, so she blended in easily. And unlike adults, kids don't interrogate each other about background and household registration—so naturally, no one knew where she came from or where she lived.
"That makes things troublesome…"
"No need to worry. I'll conduct another investigation tomorrow," Roswaal said lightly.
"If she's really in the forest, we'll find her—even if it's only her corpse."
"Hey! That joke's way too cruel, Roswaal!"
After everything was settled, the group returned to the mansion in the afternoon.
Ram was waiting at the entrance. When she saw Lillian, she looked at him with mild curiosity.
"He's a hero~," Roswaal said.
"You flatter me," Lillian replied.
"I see. If you're a hero, then that makes you a guest, correct?"
Ram bowed slightly.."Welcome. I'm Ram, one of the maids of this mansion."
"And my most beloved girl~," Roswaal added.
"Hey, Roswaal! That's blatantly taking advantage of Ram!" Subaru protested.
Lillian nodded politely to Ram. "I'm Lillian."
Roswaal seemed to think of something after observing his demeanor and asked Ram,
"By the way, is Lady Emilia taking her afternoon nap?"
"Yes."
"Then let's not disturb her," Roswaal said, leading Lillian into the hall.
They sat around the grand dining table.
"After a busy morning, one must replenish their energy~. Rem, could you prepare some food?"
"Understood."
Rem immediately went to prepare the meal. Ram remained quietly by Roswaal's side, occasionally glancing at Lillian with curiosity.
Relatively speaking, guests rarely visited this mansion.
Even though Emilia had already been confirmed as one of the royal selection candidates, almost no one came here to openly support her.
While the other candidates' residences were bustling with visitors, Emilia's side could only be described with one word—desolate.
That was hardly surprising.
Her appearance was simply too distinctive: silver hair and half-elf blood—a perfect replica of the Witch of Envy.
No one would support her.
In fact, not even the people within Roswaal's own territory supported Emilia. Their dissatisfaction even extended to Roswaal himself—why would their Margrave support someone who looked like the Witch of Envy?
This kind of discrimination was unsolvable—and, realistically speaking, normal.
In truth, it was precisely this discrimination that gave birth to Emilia's belief in equality for all, which became the foundation of her political ideals.
At least that was the better outcome.
If things had gone slightly differently, her ideology might have turned into "kill everyone who discriminates against me"—a tyrant's mindset.
Eradicating discrimination was nearly impossible. As long as humanity existed, discrimination would never disappear—unless humans could communicate like the Trisolarans, sharing all thoughts directly.
Otherwise, it would never end.
Take this world's past Demi-Human War as an example. At its core, it was a result of demi-humans uniting against unbearable discrimination by humans.
They lost—and were subsequently oppressed even more severely.
Even now, among the continent's major kingdoms, the one with the deepest discrimination against demi-humans was the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica.
Because of this, Lillian believed another demi-human war could very well break out in the future.
That aside, although Emilia lacked popular support, the strength under her command ranked second among the five candidates.
First place was unquestionably Felt.
With royal blood and Reinhard the Sword Saint at her side, she alone could overwhelm the other candidates' knights.
And Reinhard was merely the most visible symbol—behind Felt stood the entire Royalist faction.
Emilia ranked second, seemingly strong, but her greatest weakness was that her supporters were unreliable.
Roswaal himself intended to use her.
Ram and Rem leaned more toward Roswaal than Emilia.
Beatrice, the Great Library's spirit, was bound by contract only to guard the library—Emilia's life or death meant nothing to her.
Puck was devoted to Emilia, but heavily restricted.
After all calculations, the most reliable supporter turned out to be the one who looked the least reliable—Subaru Natsuki.
Though immature and reckless at times, his sincerity was undeniable.
---
Soon, Rem finished preparing a lavish lunch and served it.
During this time, Lillian and Roswaal exchanged meaningless pleasantries—Roswaal probing, Lillian deflecting with nonsense, revealing nothing of value.
Just then, soft footsteps sounded from the staircase.
A slender figure descended.
Freshly awakened, Emilia rubbed her eyes.
"Huh… Roswaal, you're ba—"
She froze mid-sentence when she saw Lillian, instantly snapping out of her drowsiness.
"You!?"
She hadn't forgotten him. After all, the thug-robbery incident had happened less than a week ago, and black hair was rare enough in this world to be memorable.
"It's you… what a coincidence."