The sun was setting, and twilight gradually stained the sky.
"Ahhhhhh... I'm such an idiot!"
Natsuki Subaru sighed helplessly, holding a bulging paper bag filled with fresh sweet potatoes.
"Sigh, I actually forgot to ask Rem for the purchasing funds, I can only brazenly ask the shop owner to put it on a tab..."
However, speaking of which, he was having a pretty miserable time as a transmigrator, not having a single penny on him.
After all, he had only been working at Roswaal Manor for a few days and hadn't reached payday yet.
"Well, it's not a big problem though."
Natsuki Subaru quickly consoled himself.
Anyway, the villagers here all knew him and Rem.
When he and Rem returned to the mansion from the village entrance, they could just pay the shop owner on the way.
"Huh? Where's Rem?"
Returning to the agreed spot, Natsuki Subaru looked around but found that the piled-up ingredients were still there, while Rem was nowhere to be seen.
Putting down the sweet potatoes, Natsuki Subaru waited in place for a while.
"Why is it taking so long, Rem still hasn't appeared?" Natsuki Subaru touched his chin, his brow furrowing slightly,
"Didn't we agree to wait here? Could it be she thought I was too slow and went back by herself? No, no, Rem wouldn't be so heartless, and the ingredients are still here."
For some reason, a strange sense of unease spread in his heart.
Although he couldn't explain why, Natsuki Subaru's intuition already told him something was very wrong.
Just then.
"Roar—woo—"
From the distant forest, a bloodcurdling roar suddenly echoed.
That sound was definitely not something an ordinary beast could make.
"Could it be... Rem ran into the forest?!"
Natsuki Subaru abruptly turned his head towards the sound's source, his heart skipping a beat.
Once this thought formed in his mind, it couldn't be dismissed.
But... why would Rem go into the forest? She clearly knows there are Mabeasts there, it's very dangerous...
Wait... Could Meili be behind this?
"Right... I remember in the original story, Meili once controlled Mabeasts to attack Rem."
These thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning, and Natsuki Subaru's expression instantly became grave.
"Rem's strength is considerable, but if the Mabeast User Meili controlled the entire Mabeast pack within the forest covered by the barrier, then it would be terrible..."
Without thinking further, Natsuki Subaru immediately bolted towards the forest.
"Rem! You have to be okay!"
...
...
After entering the forest and walking some distance, then rapidly climbing over a small moss-covered hill, the sight before him made Natsuki Subaru's breath catch in his throat—
"It's Rem! And Petra and the others!"
In the afterglow of the sunset, Rem and six children were lying scattered on the grass.
"Rem, Petra... Are you alright? Hey, wake up..."
Natsuki Subaru hurriedly rushed forward, squatted down, and carefully checked everyone's condition.
"Seven people... all still alive!"
However, the situation was clearly critical.
Rem and the children all had obvious bite marks on their arms, and an ominous purplish-black aura surrounded the wounds.
Their faces were as pale as paper, their breathing rapid and shallow, their foreheads covered in cold sweat, and their brows tightly furrowed as if experiencing a terrible nightmare.
"Damn it, it's a curse!"
Although he was mentally prepared, seeing the bite marks on Rem and the children still made Natsuki Subaru burn with anger.
He knew very well what this meant.
Meili could inflict curses through Mabeast bites, and the victims would gradually weaken and die as if eroded by a slow-acting poison.
"We must rescue Rem and the others as soon as possible, we need healing magic and curse removal methods... We have to take them back to the mansion to find Emilia or Beatrice immediately."
Just as Natsuki Subaru was about to act, a childish yet strangely sweet voice suddenly came from the woods:
"Big Brother, how did you find this place?"
"What?!"
Natsuki Subaru's whole body tensed, and he abruptly looked up.
In the shadows of the forest stood a small figure.
Deep blue pigtails hung down to her shoulders, a black gothic outfit enveloped her small frame, and her emerald green eyes were watching Natsuki Subaru.
It was Meili!
"Big Brother looks so anxious~ Are you worried about everyone?"
Meili tilted her head, revealing an innocent smile, yet her eyes held a chilling coldness beneath the smile, sending shivers down one's spine.
Around her were several huge Mabeasts.
These Mabeasts had short, black fur and resembled Dobermans from his original world, but their physique was more than twice the size of any Doberman Natsuki Subaru knew.
Their claws were as sharp as hooks, and even when their mouths were closed, they couldn't completely hide their dripping teeth.
The Mabeasts let out low growls, glaring at Natsuki Subaru with bloodthirsty eyes.
"But it's okay..." Meili smiled sweetly, her fingertip lightly touching her lips, "After the curse fully takes effect, Maid-neechan and everyone will be able to sleep soundly forever, just like Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale..."
"You deliberately pretended to be an innocent child to lower everyone's guard, that's how you succeeded, right."
Natsuki Subaru stared intently at Meili, a wave of anger surging within him.
He clearly knew the plot, yet he had been careless because he relied too much on this foreknowledge.
If he had warned Rem earlier and exposed Meili's true identity sooner, things wouldn't have developed to this point.
Damn it!
"Eh? Big Brother doesn't seem surprised at all~" Meili tilted her little head, a cunning smile unfitting for her age appearing on her childish face, looking at Natsuki Subaru with some curiosity,
"Could it be, Big Brother knew from the beginning that Meili wasn't an ordinary child?"
"Just an intuition that you weren't quite right." Natsuki Subaru calmly looked at Meili before him and said casually, "To be able to attack Rem and these innocent children without hesitation, you're a professional killer, right?"
"You're so smart, Big Brother." Meili clapped her hands happily and continued to nod, "Maid-neechan and everyone, they just completed the task assigned to me. But Big Brother, you're much more vigilant than them, so interesting..."
"So, who hired you to attack us? Petra and the others are just children, Rem is just a maid, so we shouldn't have offended anyone, right?"
Natsuki Subaru ignored her words and asked directly.
Although he already knew the mastermind was Roswaal, he still pretended not to know, trying to extract more information from Meili.
"Big Brother, are you trying to get information out of me... That won't work, you know～" Meili shook her head playfully, her skirt swaying gently with her movement, "The employer's information is a trade secret, you know."
___
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