Antagonist Protection Service

A few days passed as the "tutor" of the Protagonist.

Of course, I didn't have anything in particular that I felt comfortable teaching, so as we did the first time, I let her ask me whatever she was curious about, and I tried my best to answer.

Unlike the first time, however, I decided to change the dynamic a bit.

Because I still needed to figure out what her deal was and how to safely dispatch her, I turned these 'lessons' into games.

Simply put, she would ask me a question, and after I answered it, I would then ask her a question.

Thinking that this might give me the answers I needed, and because I figured a kid like her would have an easier time accepting it if she saw the whole thing as a game to have fun with rather than a boring lesson to sit through and endure, I tried that method out, to varying levels of success.

'Alright. Let's go over everything.'

Waking up on the fifth "morning", I withdrew my phone from Storage and used the notes app to write down all the information I had gathered so far.

To be honest, there wasn't as much as I would've liked, but it was certainly better than nothing.

During this time, no incidents had occurred such as what happened on the first day, and I also had yet to meet Aradine again ever since she gave me that elixir of spiritual attunement.

All of this coinciding at the same time meant that things were beginning to feel stale, and fast.

By that, I meant I was very quickly starting to feel rushed.

The time dilation between this world and Earth was not super ideal, but it also wasn't completely terrible, so I had a bit of time.

Still, I would have preferred to be done here and return before the end of Easter Break if I could help it.

With the way the time was measured here, since there was no concept of daytime that existed in this permanent Witching Hour, I could only count on my smartphone and my own internal clock, and since time flowed faster here than on Earth, it all only served to trouble me.

Everything considered, I only had three days at most.

Well, if I wanted to return before Easter Break at least, then I needed to be done here before then.

Unfortunately, the way things were going, I didn't see the Protagonist dying any time soon.

'If things get too dire, I might have to just take the risk and go for it...'

Naturally, I didn't want to have to rely on risky uncertainties if I could help it, but when literally every path laid before me was a path of uncertainty, I was starting to think that maybe I'd just have to bite the bullet.

The silver lining was that I knew more or less what defenses the Protagonist had.

'She has next to no physical capabilities, which is as expected, but she did say her body had a decent amount of inherent magical resistance... Though I guess, as a witch, that much also shouldn't come as a surprise.'

By phrasing such questions as concerns about her safety, I was able to easily gather information related to her defensive vulnerabilities without raising suspicion.

Perhaps most importantly, I confirmed that she carried no defensive magical items on her.

That meant, nothing like that Amulet of the Holy Sun the previous Beloved possessed. And, more specifically, no b.s. that will resurrect her after death.

However, although that was certainly good news, that didn't tell the whole story.

Because the Difficulty remained 3-star, meaning there was still something I wasn't seeing.

Something was still in the way of me killing her, and until that invisible obstacle was identified, I couldn't take any extreme risks.

I knew nothing productive would arise from delaying and delaying it, and so.

On this 'day', I asked her directly.

"―So, you don't have a heart, and thus can't die? Is that why you're not afraid of being kidnapped?"

She didn't respond in any way when I asked that, whether with words, a nod, or even a light shake of the head.

I also doubted that merely not having a heart prevented all forms of death, but if she said that was why, then I had nothing but her word to go off.

Incidentally, I was able to confirm that she indeed had no heart by way of her pulse―or rather, the lack of one.

"Is that normal? For witches to not have a heart?"

"...Mother says so. But not biologically."

"Ah. That just means she hates witches."

'So, they do have hearts, but they're heartless, is that it? And then, this girl is quite literal in that sense.'

Either way, if her having no heart meant she couldn't die for whatever reason, what could I even do to kill her?

For the briefest moment, the image of Aradine flashed in my mind.

'No, I can't ask her... Of course not. She would vaporise me in an instant.'

Still, if anyone were to know, it would obviously have to be her.

Her, or perhaps the Antagonist. Although, whoever that was, I didn't even know.

'I guess it's probably just the leader of that Black Rose group or something...

That meant it was dangerous even to just interact with them. An unpredictable lot, and more importantly, going to them would mean voluntarily placing myself on the side that was adversarial to Aradine.

At that point, I might as well just risk asking her myself.

She already thought I was trustworthy enough, so maybe she wouldn't eradicate me on the spot. If I could clearly explain myself, that this was for a good reason, then there could be a path to success...

"..."

Reaching a lull in the 'lesson' as I fell deep into thought, I found myself gazing absentmindedly out the classroom windows, staring into the dark, unapproachable void that lay beyond.

For a moment, it was peaceful.

But then, out of seemingly nowhere.

CRASHH...!!

Everything shattered, and the outside void invaded the White Witch's Tower.