After all, where there was one Witch Cult spy, there would be a second.
For all she knew, the mansion had already been targeted, requiring constant vigilance.
Besides, she could use healing magic.
Maim him, heal him, and then beat him again—torture him for about a day, and she would be able to extract whatever she asked for by then.
Rem had completely sorted out her train of thought now.
This didn’t conflict with Lord Roswaal’s orders in the slightest.
If he spilled nothing, she would just kill him.
If he did spill intelligence, it wouldn’t stop her from killing him either.
She would even torture him to death.
“Clang—” Rem raised her hand, the massive morningstar flail moving as smoothly as an extension of her own arm, packed with immense force.
“Boss?!
She looks like she’s about to strike?!” Subaru heard the clinking of the iron chain and hurriedly warned.
Yet, how could Diavolo have failed to notice?
The instant the giant flail slammed down, Diavolo reacted immediately, controlling the body to roll violently out of the way.
“Rumble—” The bed shattered upon impact, smashed into a deep crater as wooden splinters exploded in every direction, its force terrifying.
Had this blow landed cleanly, an ordinary person would have been killed on the spot.
“Heh.” Rem cast a cold glance over.
At the same time, Diavolo snapped his eyes open, locking eyes with her.
Subaru finally saw the situation clearly as well.
The cute maid who had gently guided their way last night was currently holding a massive morningstar flail, her expression vicious and violent.
The contrast was terrifyingly stark, the very picture of someone hunting down an archenemy.
Didn’t Emilia say the mansion was safe?!
The mansion itself was clearly far from safe.
“Just as I thought.” Rem confirmed her suspicion.
Had he been a mere ordinary person, he couldn’t possibly have dodged that.
“Heheh, Witch Cultist, what is your true goal in using Lady Emilia to infiltrate the mansion?
What is your plan?
Were you pretending to sleep just now to buy time?” Rem didn’t continue attacking right away, opting instead to begin her interrogation.
She didn’t want to kill him directly; she wanted to wring intelligence out of him.
For her kin, for Ram, and for the mansion, she had to uncover every movement of the Witch Cult.
Seeing this, Diavolo made his limbs stiffen, scrambling backward in a panic, his voice trembling with utter disbelief: “Hey…
H-Hey?!
What are you trying to do?!
If my reactions hadn’t been fast just now, I would’ve been crushed to death by you!
Is killing people at will allowed in this mansion?!” “Besides, I clearly did nothing!
I just arrived here, took a sleep, and now I just want to stay here peacefully, that’s all!!
Most importantly, I’m Emilia’s savior, an honored guest of this mansion—you said so yourselves!” “Why…
why are you suddenly trying to kill me?!” Diavolo instantly began his performance, acting out the terror and utter bewilderment of an ordinary youth being hunted down for no reason.
His acting reached the pinnacle of realism, leaving even Subaru inside his body in absolute awe.
Subaru even felt secretly that if it were him, his reaction right now would probably be just like this.
Though it would be limited to the reaction; his end would definitely be far worse.
“Heheh, stop pretending.” Rem spoke slowly, not a single trace of leniency in her eyes, her voice carrying a quiver.
Gradually, she began to snarl.
“Saturated with such a dense stench of the Witch all over your body, there’s a limit to playing dumb!” “Besides, your performance just now has already proven everything.
If you were innocent, why did you pretend to sleep when I made such a loud noise, and why did you dodge just now—when I would have healed you afterward anyway?!” Healed?
Diavolo caught the crucial piece of information instantly.
So she was a healer character.
He had to eliminate her first.
“From the very first moment I saw you yesterday, my mind was flooded with anxiety and rage!
You bastards who caused my sister to suffer through such things actually dared to strut brazenly into the home belonging to me and my sister!
You deserve to die!” Watching Rem’s madness, Diavolo pointed at the shattered bed, wailing in terror.
“What do you mean?!
If that had hit me, I would’ve died outright!
What would there be left to heal?!” “Besides, what Witch Cultist, what stench?!
I don’t know anything about that!
You’ve been rambling about things I can’t understand at all!
I’m an honored guest of the Roswaal Mansion, the Margrave wouldn’t allow you to do this!” Diavolo probed while acting, attempting to fish out more information.
“Or could it be…
this was his intention all along?
Did you lure me here just to kill me?!” *Silent, are we?* In the end.
Seeing that acting was no longer useful, Diavolo straightened his posture, pulling distance as King Crimson blocked in front of him, on guard at any moment.
“Heheh, completely different from that spineless act just now, aren’t you?” Rem saw through his composure, her intent to kill growing even denser.
In an instant, the giant spiked ball swung out, striking Diavolo squarely.
Because Diavolo had deliberately stood before the window, his entire body was blasted outward.
Glass shattered, spraying in all directions.
However, while it appeared to hit Diavolo, it was actually completely blocked by King Crimson.
The distance was too close, and the visual effect was too convincing—to anyone watching, it looked like a solid, direct hit to his body, making it impossible to spot any anomaly.
King Crimson possessed an untouchable property— To be precise, it was the inability to *be* touched.
Put simply, others couldn’t hit you, but you could hit others.
It was absurdly powerful.
To land a hit on King Crimson, one could only strike during the precise moment King Crimson materialized to interact with physical objects.
Yet you couldn’t even see it, so what could you possibly hope to attack?
Nonetheless, even with such a formidable trick up his sleeve, Diavolo didn’t act rashly.
The ability of time erasure could not be exposed lightly—mainly because Emilia had witnessed his methods, meaning the enemy might well have prepared a countermeasure.
Before he possessed absolute certainty of a kill, he would never let King Crimson leave the two-meter radius around his body.
He had to thoroughly confirm his ecological niche in this world first.
“Crack—” Countless glass shards scattered and burst.
Diavolo slammed heavily into the courtyard, deliberately pretending to be gravely injured by the blow as he hit the ground in embarrassment, continuing to show weakness to mislead his opponent.
“Dammit, Boss!
We clearly did nothing, why are we being treated like this?
Why is she trying to kill me?!” Subaru was entirely unable to comprehend, his mind filled with frustration and rage.
“I am not entirely clear either, but judging by that maid’s expression, it seems she holds a deep-seated grudge against you.” “Perhaps just as she said, there is some scent on you that provoked her.
Her words just now also contained a fair amount of useful information.
Knowing all this, what do you plan to do?” The moment these words came out, Subaru fell silent.
What information?
How come he didn’t realize?
And…
He didn’t know what to do either.
Although there was an old saying that went— If you wish to kill someone, you must be prepared to be killed yourself.
Yet Subaru didn’t want to do that.
“Boss, maybe there’s still a chance to smooth things over?
They must have misunderstood something.
How about we try communicating again?” Goodness replaced the cerebrum, and friendliness flooded the cerebellum.
In the end, Subaru still offered such an answer.
At this moment, however, Diavolo was scanning the second-floor window and the surrounding courtyard, confirming the locations of other enemies.
Rem didn’t act in the middle of the night, yet struck so suddenly early in the morning.
Obvious.
There would be other enemies; this attack was bound to be arranged under the mansion master’s orders.
Subaru clearly hadn’t thought of this, or he might not have said such words.
Reconciliation?
Reconcile my ass!
“Whoosh!” “Hmm?!” Bothering not to respond to Subaru, Diavolo spun around abruptly, narrowly dodging an incoming attack.
An invisible blade swept past his side, severing the weeds on the ground.
“Is this…
a wind blade?” —