Memories

....

Leaning back in his chair, Otto immediately lost his calm attitude as he began to let loose.

"Haaaah." He breathed out in relief. "That's good to hear. I don't have to worry about getting beat up by that Garfiel guy anymore."

"..."

Noticing both my own and the others silence, he looked around in confusion before panic settled upon his face.

"W-wait a minute! Is he going to beat me up!"

"..."

"Guys?" He asked in worry. "You ok?"

"Yeah....." Ram said slowly as she blinked at Otto. "It's just..."

"Just what?" Otto asked noticing her pause.

"You're change in attitude caught us off guard is all." She said before looking towards me. "But I have to say.... it's a breathe of fresh air.... to say the least."

"Sister...." Rem said in a quiet manner. "Don't make fun of Suburu....."

Ram hearing her looked at her twin with a complicated expression before looking at me with a frown.

"Just how did you corrupt my sister? What evil means did you use to make her like this!"

And as I stared at Ram in silence, Rem just sighed and looked at her sister in dissatisfaction. And Ram upon feeling her sisters gaze had her frown grow deeper as she looked at me.

But as her frown grew; a smug smile of my own began to grow with it. Rem upon noticing our antics just sighed before looking towards Emilia.

"Fine.... if you two want to be like that...." she looked over her shoulder with a frown. "I won't speak to either of you until you make up."

Immediately, both of our expression froze before we turned to Rem in shock. And when we finally processed her words, we simultaneously met eyes once again.

"Truce?" I asked flatly.

"Truce." Ram said before sticking her hand out for a handshake. I then put my hand with her own before sealing our agreement.

Otto just looked at this all in confusion. Emilia however began to chuckle a bit. Noticing Emilia's chuckle, I remembered what I needed to do.

"You passed didn't you?" I said with a confident smirk while scanning Emilia's facial features. Upon hearing me, she let out a look of surprise before nodding.

"Yup." She said with a smile before taking a look at everyone in the room. "And it's because of everyone here that I had the strength to do it."

"I disagree." Frowning, I leaned on the back of one the chairs present in the room. "You were the only one who was doing the trials after all. All we could really do was give you a bit of encouragement."

"You were the one who fought tooth and nail to pass. You were the one who made the decision to take it even though we said not too."

Looking down at that part, she apologized. "Sorry about that..."

"No need to apologize." Sighing, I got off of the chair I was leaning on and looked down at her with a lax expression. "No harm was done and you managed a positive outcome."

But then my face turned serious and stern. "But that doesn't mean you're allowed to do something like this again. If you had failed the trails, you're mental state would have without a doubt been in critical condition."

"And it would have taken you a few days to recover yourself up to a point where you could take it again. But at that point, would you still have the resolve to go on?"

"I understand." Emilia said with a small frown before looking around the room with an apologetic expression. "I'll be sure to listen to you guys more. So I'm sorry for any worries or troubles I may have caused you."

"Forgiven." Otto said with a tired expression as he blinked in boredom. He seems to not be into this conversation as he wasn't here when Emilia left for the trials.

"Hah." Ram sounded out before looking to the side with a frown. "Apology accepted."

Rem just nodded towards Emilia silently before looking around in confusion. "Where is Betty?"

"I've been right here the whole in fact." Beatrice's voice sounded out from the table leading everyone's eyes in said direction. "You all may just be blind I suppose."

"Um." I started out while looking around the area where her voice came from. "Is this an invisibility spell?"

"Ugh." Groaning, a small hand showed itself as it rose up into the air. The only problem was that it barely went above the table. "Is this better?"

...

Opening the door to Roswaal's current residence, I walked through the cabin and made my way to his bedroom. And with a flat expression I walked inside to see him silently staring out of the window.

"Get up and face me."

Roswaal hearing my words suddenly stood up and turned around showing the face of a broken man. And with his body being forced to face me, he just let out a bitter chuckle.

"I guess you won."

"...."

"So what~ do you want from me?" He said with sunken and dull eyes. "What use~ will I have~ to you?"

"The Book of Wisdom." I said calmly causing him to widen his eyes. "Where is the 'true' Book of Wisdom?"

Processing what I just said, his mouth began to quiver as he desperately tried to keep it closed. His eyes showed panic and anxiety as he lips slowly parted against his will.

But he apparently got a certain idea as he soon gave up resistance. And when he did, he told me the location.

"Sealed away in the mountains of Gusteko." He said calmly as he soon regained his bodies will and started to speak again. "But why~ do you want the book? If you know~ of it's existence, then you should know that 'humans' can't read~ it."

I looked towards Roswaal in amusement. "You do realize that you just called Echidna a monster.... right?"

"She's not a monster." Roswaal said with absolute conviction. "She just has an innate~ 'genius' that we as humans~ will never have or see~ again."

"Too bad she's dead." I said with a sigh before sitting down on a chair present inside the room while Roswaal stood. "She would have been a wonderful friend if she wasn't an enemy to me."

"She's not~ dead." He said with the same conviction as before. "My existence is proof of that."

"No she's certainly dead." I said with a bored expression. "I made sure to kill her new body after all."

"...."

"Then I crushed that necklace of hers to kill the other Witches of Sin too. I even made sure to quadruple check her vitals."

"...."

"So yeah Roswaal...."

"She's dead."

Staring at me in dead silence, Roswaal had a mixture of shock, confusion, and sadness on his face. But he soon mellowed out to a despair so deep, he almost seemed calm.

"I see...."

"How....unfortunate....."

Seeing him so down, I just let out a small smile before patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry Roswaal, you'll forget about it in a second."

"Wha-"

"Forget about Echidna dying." I said calmly as I watched his dim before suddenly regaining clarity. And with confusion, he looked around the room before looking back at me.

"Why do you need the book? You can't~ even read~ it anyway."

And with a smirk. I decided to answer his questions once again.

"Who says I can't?"

.....