Reenacting the Unsolved Case: And Thus, Death Smirks

"Ugh... if you insist that strongly, I'll compromise. I don't want Kaito to hate me for refusing everything. But let me confirm once more—you haven't actually grown to dislike your name, have you?"

"Of course not!! This name is my treasure. When I return, I wanted to hear you call it once more."

Satisfied with Kaito's response, Mary agreed not only to refrain from using his name but also decided against telling the other magicians about her willingness to give up her inheritance rights.

"I apologize for interrupting again, but like Mary, you should also avoid saying unnecessary things. For instance, imagine if you mentioned that everyone would be killed. No one would believe such a prophecy from a non-magician. However, the culprit would become wary. They might target you first. The moment you die, the simulated world ends. If you die so easily, I won't get to enjoy myself at all."

Game over if Kaito dies. The simulated world would vanish. While finding the culprit was crucial, he also had to survive. Even if that meant sacrificing someone else's death—even Mary's.

"Even if you protect her, you only delay the inevitable. The fact of their deaths cannot be changed. You should keep that in mind."

To this, Kaito could only think in response,"...I'll do my best."

Even though he understood this intellectually, he knew that if his master were attacked, his body would move to shield her regardless of whether there was a life contract or not.

"The carriage has stopped. We'll have to walk from here."

As the carriage stopped, Kaito gathered Mary's luggage and stepped outside to find a vast forest before them.

The mansion–the scene of the incident–lay within this forest. Kaito had visited once while searching for his master's whereabouts. Though he had found it, he couldn't enter.

A magical barrier. Having gone alone then, Kaito had no way to dispel it.

"The mansion that will be our stage should be deep in this forest, but..."

Kaito helped Mary descend from the carriage. She then used magic to shrink the carriage–it had originally been a toy.

"With this entire area being a magician's property, there should naturally be a barrier. Especially for this occasion, the barrier should have been strengthened."

Magicians are cautious by nature, surrounding their property with barriers. Only those with permission may enter, or those with equivalent power to harmonize with and destroy the barrier.

Even harmonizing or destroying a barrier would alert the magician to the intrusion, but here, there was no barrier at all.

"...Without a barrier, other magicians could come too, couldn't they?"

"The possibility isn't zero, but it's low. Only designated candidates can receive the inheritance. If someone were to intrude carelessly, the three magicians and I would cooperate to defeat them."

"This information wasn't in your memories either. Worth remembering. The possibility of a third party unrelated to inheritance rights appearing. Or perhaps there's another reason..."

"Also... perhaps the magician's death is so near that they lack the magical power to maintain a barrier over this vast forest."

Though Mary shouldn't have been able to hear the shinigami's words, she offered one possible answer to the alternative reason.