Natsuki Subaru was rendered speechless, defeated by Beatrice's powerful logic.
That... That reasoning was so powerful, it was simply irrefutable!
You see, because Beatrice was a special artificial spirit, she couldn't absorb mana from the atmosphere on her own like natural spirits. She had to stay with Natsuki Subaru every day, absorbing small amounts of mana from her contractor through physical contact to maintain her existence and stable form.
The problem was, Natsuki Subaru's situation was highly unusual.
Although he was immensely powerful, most of that power came from the System's mechanics, which was a completely different framework from the native mana of this world.
No matter how strong the System's energy was, it couldn't be converted into the mana Beatrice required.
Furthermore, Natsuki Subaru was originally an ordinary person from the modern world. Even though he had gained an aptitude for Yin Magic, his native mana reserves were far lower than that of an average person in this world.
Therefore, Beatrice had to frequently stay with him to replenish her mana just to maintain her spirit form.
Fortunately, Beatrice still possessed a vast reserve of mana accumulated over four hundred years. Combined with the portion she drew from Natsuki Subaru daily, she had no problem maintaining her everyday state as long as she didn't engage in intense combat.
It was a known fact that if a Great Spirit's mana was completely depleted, they would fall into a deep slumber or even vanish.
"That said, Beatrice's power is quite terrifying, which completely justifies her confident attitude."
Natsuki Subaru thought to himself as he looked down at the seemingly harmless Great Spirit Beatrice in his arms.
Being an artificial Great Spirit didn't mean Beatrice was inferior to naturally occurring spirits.
On the contrary, Beatrice's power far surpassed that of most spirits.
Her mastery of Yin-attribute magic had reached the pinnacle, a level that could be considered an art form. Spatial transfer, time freezing, spatial rupture, eternal shadows, gravity nullification, cognitive swapping... Beatrice could perform all sorts of legendary high-level Yin magic almost effortlessly.
Because those who excelled in Yin-attribute magic were exceedingly rare throughout the history of this other world, many of its ultimate spells had long been lost.
But Beatrice knew them all. You could say she was a living encyclopedia and the ultimate embodiment of Yin-attribute magic.
Moreover, thanks to her four hundred years of steady accumulation in the Forbidden Library, Beatrice had a truly massive amount of mana stored within her.
During the resolution of the Great Rabbit crisis, Natsuki Subaru had taken the lead in the battle and ultimately eliminated the Magic Beast. This prevented Beatrice from using the immensely draining, powerful magic that would have banished the Great Rabbit to another dimension, as she had in the original timeline.
As a result, Beatrice still retained more than half of her profound mana reserves.
This meant that if they ever faced a true crisis, this seemingly petite spirit could, at any moment, unleash terrifying combat power sufficient to turn the tide of the entire battle, making her a hidden ace.
"Thinking about it this way, having a contract spirit of such unfathomable power by my side at all times... even if she's a bit clingy, the sense of security she provides is off the charts."
Natsuki Subaru mused, and suddenly Beatrice's clinginess didn't seem so...
"Subaru, it's been a while since we've done... that, hasn't it?"
Beatrice suddenly looked up, her sapphire-like eyes staring straight at Natsuki Subaru as she dropped the out-of-the-blue question.
"Huh—!" Natsuki Subaru nearly choked on his own saliva. "Cough, cough, cough! Beatrice, what are you talking about?"
Beatrice was taken aback by Natsuki Subaru's intense reaction, her beautiful eyes filled with pure confusion. She tilted her little head and asked in return:
"Hm? Did Betty say something wrong? Betty needs to replenish mana with Subaru. What's the problem with that?"
"You... so you just meant replenishing mana!"
It finally dawned on Natsuki Subaru, and the heart that had leaped into his throat fell back into his stomach. It turned out she hadn't meant anything else at all; he was the one overthinking it.
"Subaru, why are you so jumpy?" Beatrice looked up at his expression, looking somewhat puzzled.
"Look... you're a girl, you know. Could you please not use phrases that could lead to serious misunderstandings?!" Natsuki Subaru pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling utterly exhausted.
"Besides, you could have just said you needed to replenish more mana! I already promised you I'd be available anytime... uh, for replenishing mana, I mean."
"Betty was just talking about replenishing mana with Subaru tonight. What's wrong with that?"
Beatrice looked at Natsuki Subaru with an innocent face, completely unable to understand why he was reacting so strongly.
"Yes, you're right about everything..."
Seeing Beatrice looking so utterly oblivious as to why he was overreacting, Natsuki Subaru completely lost the will to argue and could only shake his head helplessly.
Then, he habitually reached out and vigorously ruffled her perfectly styled golden hair, as if to get back at her for always saying such shocking things.
Beatrice's hair felt incredibly nice, like stroking the finest silk.
And the sight of Beatrice puffing her cheeks while trying to fix her hair, along with that soft face that looked like you could squeeze water from it, was always amusing and healing for Natsuki Subaru.
Wait a minute—
Natsuki Subaru's hand froze mid-ruffle as he replayed what Beatrice had just said in his mind:
"And to maximize efficiency, it's best to be in the same bed, maintaining close contact. The book says that the greater the area of physical contact, the higher the mana transfer efficiency."
Natsuki Subaru felt as if he had been struck by lightning, almost petrified on the spot.
Hey, hey, the same bed?
The greater the area of physical contact?
...What kind of outrageous talk is this?!
"Beatrice, as a girl, you can think about things like that, but you absolutely can't say them out loud, let alone put them into practice!" Natsuki Subaru felt his command of language failing as he tried to give Beatrice a lesson in basic social common sense.
"This is a matter of basic etiquette and propriety! In human society, the distinction between men and women is a very important rule. It's not something you can just break whenever you want, understand?"
Hearing this, Beatrice furrowed her delicate brows slightly.
"Um... Subaru, are you mistaken about something?"
She raised a slender finger and pointed at herself.
"Betty is a spirit, a high-ranking spirit, not a human girl. What do humanity's complicated rules and distinctions between men and women have to do with Betty?"
As the Great Spirit said this, her eyes were crystal clear without a hint of impurity, and her tone was perfectly self-assured. It was obvious she believed this from the bottom of her heart.
In her cognition, all actions should revolve around the contract and mana replenishment. Human social etiquette was simply not within the scope of rules she needed to follow, so naturally, she saw nothing improper about her suggestion.
"That's... well, that's not what I meant..."
Natsuki Subaru looked down at Beatrice's innocent face, which showed no sign of thinking her proposal was problematic. He was overcome with a profound sense of powerlessness. All his explanations got stuck in his throat, finally turning into a long sigh.
"Sigh... forget it. I can't get through to you. Just... don't come to my room tonight."
"Subaru has always belonged to Betty."
Seeing Natsuki Subaru's helpless expression, Beatrice took a step forward and gripped his hand even more stubbornly. Her voice carried an undeniable possessiveness and a faint, almost imperceptible anxiety of being rejected.
"Betty is Subaru's exclusive spirit, and Subaru is Betty's one and only contractor. That will never change, and Betty believes it to be true. From the day we formed our contract, Subaru became the person Betty would always follow."
For a spirit like Beatrice, who could live for an immensely long time, a human lifespan was far too short.
For four hundred years, she had watched countless sunrises and sunsets from the Forbidden Library. The humans she had met, from birth to death, lived for only a few short decades, like spring flowers that bloomed for a season before wilting, or an evening sunset that sank below the horizon in an instant.
It was because she knew how fleeting this time was that she wanted to be by Natsuki Subaru's side every moment, to cherish every day, every minute, every second they spent together. She didn't want to waste even the time they spent resting at night.
She was afraid that if she looked away for just a moment, she would miss an instant of his life.
Who could truly understand?
A spirit who had waited for four hundred years in boundless solitude, watching the books in the Forbidden Library turn yellow page by page, watching the seasons outside her window cycle time and time again. Just as she was about to fall into despair, she finally met the one person who could break her loneliness. That feeling of wanting to hold on tight and never let go.
To Beatrice, Natsuki Subaru wasn't just her contractor; he was the only light that had shone into her four hundred years of darkness, the person she was willing to let down all her defenses to rely on.
Unfortunately, Natsuki Subaru was completely oblivious to these heavy and sincere emotions buried in Beatrice's heart at that moment.
In recent days, the two had already developed a routine of being inseparable.
When Natsuki Subaru exercised, Beatrice would sit on a nearby rock and read. When he went to the market, she would follow by his side, occasionally pointing at snacks at the stalls for him to buy.
Even when Natsuki Subaru was handling affairs, Beatrice would sit quietly in a chair beside him, either napping or organizing her magic notes.
The distance between them had long since become more intimate than that of mere partners.
But Natsuki Subaru always maintained a line in his heart, trying to set what he considered a safe boundary for this intimacy, failing to realize that for Beatrice, she never wanted to cross a line; she simply wanted to be by his side a little longer.
Natsuki Subaru looked at Beatrice's stubborn yet innocent little face and felt his nerves were about to go numb.
Somebody save me!
This was more of a headache than dealing with the Great Rabbit.
The crucial part was... she was completely unaware of the problem, and that was the most terrifying thing.
It's worth mentioning that although Beatrice was no longer confined to the Forbidden Library all day, her range of activity within the mansion still revolved heavily around Natsuki Subaru.
She had her own exclusive bedroom as a Great Spirit in the room next to Natsuki Subaru's, which was the best result he had managed to achieve after long and arduous negotiations.
Initially, Beatrice had demanded to live in the same room as Natsuki Subaru, again for the sake of maximizing mana replenishment efficiency, but the gentlemanly Natsuki Subaru had sternly refused.
Beatrice's mindset was, in some respects, as simple as a blank sheet of paper.
Although she was over 400 years old, her long-term isolation in the Forbidden Library meant she had pitifully little experience interacting with others.
In many ways, Beatrice's mentality and cognition were like that of a human girl in her teens who knew nothing of the world. To some extent, she was even more naive and innocent than Emilia, who had grown up in the forest.
In fact, a large part of why Natsuki Subaru had chosen to form a contract with Beatrice was out of sympathy. He wanted to completely liberate her from the suffocating loneliness that had imprisoned her for four hundred years, to let her run, laugh, and play freely under the sun like a normal human girl, experiencing the vastness and beauty of the world.
After all, Beatrice had faithfully adhered to her promise with Echidna for four hundred years, waiting in despair for 'that person' to appear.
But that person never came, which allowed loneliness and despair to gradually erode Beatrice's heart.
Fortunately, in the end, she was moved by Natsuki Subaru's persistence, understanding, and warmth, becoming willing to trust him, follow him out of the Forbidden Library, and become his contract spirit.
For the current Natsuki Subaru, having Beatrice by his side was like having a precious younger sister or daughter who needed constant, careful attention and could occasionally be a headache.
That's right, it was that kind of fatherly feeling.
Towards Beatrice, a Great Spirit who was the very definition of a 'legal loli' with her striking gap moe, Natsuki Subaru had absolutely no strange ideas. He just wanted to protect her and make her happy.
With this in mind, Natsuki Subaru tried his best to explain in the simplest terms possible:
"Beatrice, in human society, boys and girls... um, need to maintain a certain distance and etiquette. Especially at night, you can't just sleep in the same room, let alone the same bed!"
"Why? Betty and Subaru are contractors. Mana circulation requires close contact. Isn't that perfectly natural?" Beatrice tilted her head, her face a mask of confusion.
"Besides, Betty isn't human, so why should I have to follow human rules?"
______
✅ Until 40 advanced chapters of ALL stories!
✅ Exclusive content and updates!
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 55 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!
Claim your 40% OFF spot and unlock everything now:
👻 P - Walnutchan