After half a day, the entire Fang Li group finally returned to Roswaal's mansion.
Ram naturally greeted Fang Li's group upon their return.
As the only one left in the mansion, Ram brought three messages to Fang Li's group.
Firstly, as Rem had previously mentioned, Roswaal wasn't present.
Not that he hadn't returned.
After the Royal Selection was announced, Roswaal returned to the mansion once.
However, upon his return, Roswaal immediately gave Ram an order.
"I'll be going out for a while. It might take some time. During this period, all matters in the mansion are to be decided by Emilia Sama. You must fully obey Emilia Sama's orders."
After leaving this command, Roswaal left directly, not staying in the mansion for more than an hour.
Perhaps this clown-like court mage truly believed that facing Fang Li under the current circumstances was too dangerous, so he chose to keep his distance from Fang Li.
Emilia was somewhat surprised by this, but she didn't say anything and silently accepted the responsibility.
Fang Li, on the other hand, seemed indifferent, as if he didn't care about Roswaal's actions at all, which made Ram feel somewhat dissatisfied.
This was the first message.
The second message was as follows.
"Due to the invasion by the Witch Cult, the citizens in the nearby territories have been somewhat frightened. This includes the sudden appearance of Demon Beasts from the forest, engaging in battles with the followers of the Witch Cult. These facts have already caused some degree of panic. Emilia Sama, it is hoped that you can go and appease them in your capacity as a substitute lord."
This was a very difficult task.
Emilia was a silver-haired Half-Elf.
Just this fact alone could not only calm the citizens but also incite a higher level of panic. It was even possible for the citizens to perceive that the Witch Cult had attacked Mathers' territory because of Emilia's relationship.
At that time, the dissatisfaction and fear of the people would undoubtedly be vented towards Emilia.
So, for Emilia, this was undoubtedly a very difficult task.
However, this time, Emilia spoke with a firm expression as if it were a matter of course.
"Regardless, these are obstacles I must overcome. If I want to become king in the future, I will inevitably have to face more issues like these. So, even now, I have the responsibility to handle these issues."
With this determination, accompanied by Rem, Emilia once again left Roswaal's mansion to go to the nearby territories and engage in her battles.
With this resolve, Fang Li had no reason to follow along.
So, Fang Li chose to stay behind.
And the third message happened to be for Fang Li.
"That 'Demon Beast User' has already left, but left a letter for you."
With these words, Ram handed Fang Li the letter left by Meili.
It was called a letter, but it had neither an envelope nor any extra words, only a single message.
"I have completed the quest you assigned me. According to our agreement, I can leave now. Big Brother, you're not allowed to come after me."
Reading this message, Fang Li smirked and crumpled the letter in his hand.
Originally, Fang Li didn't have any personal grievances against Meili, just a transactional relationship that arose from a fortunate coincidence.
Leaving Meili in the mansion at first was to prevent the Witch Cult's attack and to locate the cult's position to complete the quest, not to protect the citizens of Mathers' territory.
Although the outcome was as it was, since the matter had been resolved, Fang Li naturally had no complaints.
Since Meili had left, it was fine to let her go.
After all, before long, Fang Li would be leaving too.
Leaving this world behind.
...
"You're still alive, much to my disappointment," Beatrice threw out these words as Fang Li walked into the forbidden book library, filled with shelves one by one. She was sitting on a ladder chair, not bothering to lift her head or look at Fang Li, as she continued to flip through a book in her hands.
Seeing Beatrice like this, Fang Li spoke calmly. "It seems you're well aware of everything that happened to me in the Royal Capital these past few days."
Otherwise, she wouldn't have opened with questioning whether Fang Li was still alive.
"Clearly, you're just a shut-in hikikomori," Fang Li remarked, causing Beatrice to close the book in her hand and finally raise her head. She looked extremely displeased as she said, "Betty can guess what happened even without leaving the mansion."
"Guess?" Fang Li couldn't help but smile.
Of course, Beatrice didn't rely on guesswork to know what happened. It's likely that Fang Li's experiences in the Royal Capital were recorded in that book in Beatrice's hands.
That Gospel Book.
Yes, Beatrice also had a Gospel Book.
When Fang Li first intruded into the forbidden book library and used the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to kill Beatrice's magic, Beatrice muttered to herself like this:
"So this is the so-called 'person who can kill everything'?"
—"Person who can kill everything."
This was how Fang Li was described in Roswaal's Gospel Book.
But Beatrice also knew about this.
This was enough to prove that Beatrice also had a Gospel Book.
As the Great Spirit who managed Roswaal's mansion's forbidden book library, it wasn't surprising at all.
If even Roswaal could possess a Gospel Book, then it wasn't strange for Beatrice, who managed the forbidden book library, to have one as well.
Of course, Gospel Books weren't common items.
As a degraded version of the Book of Wisdom, there were only these two books in existence.
One in Roswaal's hands.
One in Beatrice's hands.
However, Fang Li knew that in the bodies of the people of the Witch Cult, there were also scriptures called "Gospel."
But whether those were the same as Roswaal's and Beatrice's Gospel Books was debatable.
"Regardless, you did indeed fulfill our contract," Fang Li said to Beatrice. "I came to thank you."
"Betty doesn't need your thanks," Beatrice's expression remained displeased as she said, "Betty just acted on a whim."
"On a whim?" Fang Li replied nonchalantly. "Let's just leave it at that then."
Seeing Fang Li's indifferent attitude, Beatrice's expression became even more displeased.
"Is that all you have to say?"
Beatrice coldly snorted, starting to usher Fang Li out.
"Then leave quickly."
Hearing this, Fang Li didn't leave as directly as Beatrice suggested. Instead, he stared at the Spirit girl.
In his eyes, a hint of regret began to emerge.
...
You can read ahead up to 70 chapters on my patreon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395