Future Yuji Itadori Joins the Chat Group

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's the White Whale, isn't it?!"

After several seconds of stunned silence gradually passed, everyone finally realized what the remains before them belonged to.

An enormous white body and a whale-like head.

The only creature that matched those characteristics was the legendary Witchbeast known as the White Whale.

Moreover, they had come here precisely because they had received reports of a thick fog appearing in the area, suggesting that the White Whale had been sighted.

"How… was this done?"

Wilhelm walked up to the White Whale's remains and stared at its wounds in astonishment. It looked as though it had been caught in a storm composed entirely of slashes.

The surrounding ground had also been dyed almost completely red. There was no need to think about it—all of that blood had come from the White Whale.

Its bodily tissues had probably been sliced so thoroughly that they could no longer even be distinguished…

It was as though thousands upon thousands of slashes had been unleashed in a single instant.

Even dozens of warriors as powerful as Wilhelm had been in his prime couldn't possibly have accomplished something like this.

Who was it?

Wilhelm swallowed, growing even more curious about the identity of that mysterious expert.

"Who in the world did this, nya?!"

Beside Wilhelm stood a short-haired, cat-eared girl wearing a blue dress—no, a demi-human boy with the appearance of a young girl, Felix Argyle. He was Crusch's knight and the strongest healer in the Kingdom to bear the title of 'Blue.'

His cat ears twitched several times as his astonished and curious gaze fell upon the White Whale's remains.

"Ferris, wasn't this Reinhard's doing?"

Crusch dismounted from her Ground Dragon and questioned Felix.

As far as she knew, only Reinhard possessed combat strength of this level.

"It wasn't, nya! Reinhard didn't leave the Royal Capital yesterday, nya! Besides, if it had been him, he definitely would've reported it to the Knight Order, nya!"

Felix immediately replied.

"If it wasn't Reinhard… then who could it have been?"

Crusch frowned deeply and gently rubbed her chin with one hand, lost in thought.

In this world, aside from Reinhard, the only other powerful figures of note were the Admirer, Blue Lightning, and the Mad Prince.

However, there was no possibility that any of them would enter Lugnica at a time like this.

Furthermore…

Even they might not have been capable of creating the sight before her.

"Now that you mention it… there may truly be an expert in Lugnica whose existence has never been recorded before."

At that moment, Wilhelm seemed to recall something and spoke.

"Wilhelm-dono, who are you referring to?"

"Some time ago, the infamous Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter, was defeated by a certain expert. Although she apparently managed to escape afterward with someone else's assistance, there are only a handful of people throughout the entire Kingdom capable of defeating her in such an overwhelmingly one-sided manner. Even I'm not completely confident that I could subdue her. According to the rumors, not even Blue Lightning managed to do so."

Wilhelm shook his head, his expression growing increasingly grave.

"What is that person's name?"

"I believe his name was… Yuji Itadori."

"Why have I never heard of him before?"

"Perhaps he is a true expert who has concealed his strength. All I know is that he appears to be rather close to Margrave Roswaal and Emilia's camp. When Ferris-sama and I visited the Margrave's Mansion, I vaguely overheard them discussing the matter—it seems that the expert named Yuji Itadori exterminated most of the Witchbeasts in the Borderlands forest. Even now, the remaining Witchbeasts don't dare approach that place."

Wilhelm raised his head and looked in the direction the road extended.

"Come to think of it, this road also leads toward the Margrave's Territory. Subaru-dono and the others happened to take this road yesterday as well."

Even after hearing Wilhelm's words, Crusch's heart remained unable to calm down for a long time.

Could someone truly accomplish something of this magnitude?

"If it's true, I would like to meet Itadori-dono personally. Slaying the White Whale is a magnificent achievement worthy of being engraved into history. The people will never again have to fear this Witchbeast's threat. I wish to thank him on behalf of all the people of Lugnica."

Crusch gazed into the distance, her expression becoming increasingly serious.

At that moment, a soldier riding a Ground Dragon hurriedly arrived before Crusch.

"Crusch-sama!"

"What is it? Did something happen?"

"The Royal Capital received a report from the Margrave. A large number of Witch Cultists appeared within his territory."

"So they really were Witch Cultists… Those bastards…"

Crusch clenched her fist, and flames seemed ready to burst from her eyes.

"However… all of those Witch Cultists have already been subdued and escorted to the nearest city."

"What? Every one of them was subdued?"

"That's right… And according to the report… a Sin Archbishop was successfully killed!"

"A Sin Archbishop was killed?!"

Those words shocked Crusch even further.

The Sin Archbishops were among the most infamous beings in existence, and the danger they posed far surpassed that of the White Whale.

Their movements were mysterious, and no one had ever managed to track them down.

Moreover, every Sin Archbishop was said to possess unimaginable power.

Nearly everyone who had personally encountered a Sin Archbishop had disappeared forever.

Yet now, a Sin Archbishop had actually been killed?

Was that really true?

First the White Whale, and now a Sin Archbishop.

"Is there any other information?!"

"According to the reports, when the Witch Cultists were interrogated and asked who had defeated them, not a single one of them could remember. However, their bodies bore extremely clear and densely packed slash marks. The precision and force were perfectly controlled to make them lose consciousness and render them incapable of moving…"

"Slashes!"

Crusch's eyes widened as she abruptly turned around to look at the White Whale behind her.

Only then did she discover something even more terrifying, and her pupils suddenly contracted.

Farther beyond the White Whale, the severed trail through the forest she had seen earlier and the split in the distant mountain range were connected in a perfectly straight line without the slightest deviation.

"I'm heading to the Margrave's Mansion immediately!"

Meanwhile, inside Roswaal's Mansion—

Yuji Itadori walked up to a door and gently knocked on it.

It should have led to nothing more than an ordinary study, but when Yuji Itadori pushed the door open, an entirely different scene appeared before him.

Rows of bookshelves were neatly arranged throughout the room, with books of various shapes and colors carefully stored upon them.

'Frieren would probably be ecstatic if she saw this.'

Yuji Itadori thought to himself before directing his gaze straight ahead.

The moment the door opened, he could see the Great Spirit sitting upright directly opposite the entrance.

"How infuriating! Why is it another rude person?! One after another, you all keep barging in here!"

Beatrice slightly puffed out her cheeks, her butterfly-like eyes reflecting Yuji Itadori's face.

The Forbidden Library under Beatrice's control was essentially an independent magical space. She could connect its entrance to any door within the Mansion.

However, the door it connected to each time was random. Deliberately finding the Forbidden Library's entrance was no easy task.

"Oh, sorry."

Yuji Itadori immediately prepared to close the door.

"Wait!"

Beatrice hadn't expected Yuji Itadori to simply leave, so she hurriedly called out to stop him.

"How did you find this place? Don't tell me you were merely lucky?"

"I could just sense it."

Yuji Itadori scratched his head as he spoke.

Although he didn't possess Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes, nearly seventy years of accumulated experience had given Yuji Itadori an exceptionally keen perception of Cursed Energy, allowing him to detect which door had something unusual about it.

"You make it sound so simple! Ever since someone like you appeared here, troublesome things have never stopped happening! Hmph!"

Beatrice lifted her round little chin.

"Speak! What business do you have with Betty?!"

"Oh, I thought you might be getting a little bored staying in the Forbidden Library all the time, Betty, so I came over to play."

"Betty doesn't have that much spare time! Do you think Betty spends every day idling around?!"

Beatrice puffed out her cheeks and complained.

Although she was complaining, Yuji Itadori couldn't detect even the slightest negative emotion in her tone.

She was just like Fushiguro Megumi. She appeared cold and difficult to approach on the surface, but in truth, her heart was more passionate than anyone else's.

"I brought you a few things, Betty. You could consider them specialties from my homeland."

As Yuji Itadori spoke, he took several items out of the Group Inventory.

Whenever he had nothing else to do, Yuji Itadori would store various things inside it.

Snacks, drinks, desserts…

And also…

"Here. I think you'll like this."

Yuji Itadori took out a machine that was by no means small.

More precisely, it was a gaming machine, roughly the same model as one found in an arcade.

Previously, to test the Group Inventory's capacity—and, of course, to pass any boring stretches of time that might arise in the future—Yuji Itadori had purchased the same kind of gaming machine used in arcades.

Considering that an Isekai might not have electricity, Yuji Itadori had also prepared things like a portable generator.

"What… is that? And where in the world did you take it out from?!"

Beatrice stared at Yuji Itadori in astonishment.

Where had this man pulled out something even larger than a person?

"It's Yin Magic."

Yuji Itadori gave the explanation with practiced ease.

"That isn't Yin Magic! There's no Yin Magic Betty doesn't know about!"

Beatrice exclaimed in agitation.

She could be considered the person with the greatest mastery of Yin Magic in this world.

Although Yin Magic indeed possessed spells capable of spatial transference, there was nothing that could be used like a storage cabinet, allowing someone to take things out and put them away whenever they pleased.

Besides, Yuji Itadori hadn't used any Mana at all!

This wasn't Magic in the slightest!

Yuji Itadori thought for a moment, wondering what Megumin would say—

"This is power from the abyss."

"Do you take Betty for an idiot?!"

"This is called Pachinko. Look, you only have to press here to launch the Pachinko balls, and then…"

While explaining it to Beatrice, Yuji Itadori began playing it himself.

"Wait, wait! Forget how you even brought something like this out! What's supposed to be fun about playing Pachinko?!"

"Ah, is this not fun?"

Yuji Itadori looked at Beatrice with a somewhat puzzled gaze, leaving her momentarily stunned.

"Are you serious? Do you think Betty is a child?! Hmph!!!"

Beatrice's cheeks puffed out even further, making her look like a balloon. She was extremely adorable.

"The children where I come from don't seem to play with things like this anymore… I just thought that staying alone inside this Forbidden Library might be a little too boring, so I figured you could use these things to pass the time."

Yuji Itadori focused his gaze on Beatrice's face.

Although he already knew that she was a Great Spirit more than four hundred years old, in Yuji Itadori's eyes, both her appearance and personality were still just like those of a child.

"Betty isn't bored! There are so many books to read! How could Betty possibly be bored?! Hmph!! Hurry up and go bother someone else!"

"Emilia is showing Geuse around the area, Meili and Rui are already playing together, and everyone else is busy with their own affairs."

Yuji Itadori's voice was calm and gentle.

"That's why I came to see you, Betty."

"Betty doesn't want to play with something so boring!"

"But Betty, you actually want to go outside and have a look too, don't you?"

The previous night, Yuji Itadori had learned about Beatrice from Puck. He knew that she remained in the Forbidden Library not only because of her duty to protect it, but also because Beatrice herself couldn't gather Mana, preventing her from traveling too far or remaining outside the Forbidden Library for too long.

"Hmph! Betty can go outside whenever she wants! Betty simply doesn't want to do anything boring!"

"But Betty, you've actually been lonely, haven't you? For four hundred years."

At that moment, Yuji Itadori's eyes met Beatrice's gaze.

The expression on Beatrice's face gradually froze. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, as though words had reached her lips, yet she couldn't bring herself to say them.

Finally, after several seconds of silence, Beatrice's voice rang out.

"Don't act like you know everything! You don't understand Betty at all!"

Her voice trembled as though she were suppressing an emotion that was about to burst forth.

"I'm sorry. I can't completely understand you, Betty. I haven't experienced what you've experienced, so I have no right to speak arrogantly about it."

Yuji Itadori shook his head, but his tone became even more earnest.

"However, I can more or less sense how you feel, Betty, because I once felt the same way. Merely enduring several decades was already difficult enough, let alone the four hundred years you've endured."

A trace of confusion flashed through Beatrice's eyes.

She could clearly see her own reflection within his gaze.

Yuji Itadori's tone didn't fluctuate in the slightest, yet it was incomparably sincere.

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T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.

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Shilling time!

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