The Demon of Pleasure: Starting with Angel, Shiina Mahiru! Chapter 477 477: Witch Tenderness Varies from person to pers

Roswaal was actually pretty fragile.

After being scorned by his teacher, Echidna, he felt like he no longer had any reason to live.

So he decided to drag everyone down with him.

He deliberately unleashed the massive mana inside his body, awakening the Great Rabbit—the demon beast slumbering within the Sanctuary.

But the crisis he created in his self-destructive fit was resolved with nothing more than a look from Hayashi Maki to Beatrice.

The little spirit instantly understood. She lifted her hand and, in a single motion, the Great Rabbit swarm that had been drawn in by mana clustered together and was banished into another dinsion.

With Hayashi Maki supplying mana, Beatrice didn't even need to tap into the centuries' worth of reserves she'd been storing. She cast an enormous spatial magic like it was no big deal.

Then Roswaal got beaten senseless, tied up, and handed over to Garfiel to watch.

Hayashi Maki had promised Ram he'd spare the guy, so he wasn't going to go back on his word.

Just like the makeup on Roswaal's face—

He "got angry," and that was it. The disaster he created didn't even last five seconds before it collapsed.

Roswaal jumped like a clown—and there was no "after."

The sad part was: even after getting beaten that badly, aside from Garfiel guarding him, no one spared him a glance.

The teacher he obsessed over, Echidna, didn't even look at him once.

"So cold, Echidna."

"He's still your student. You won't even go see him? I think if you said just one kind word, he'd beco the most useful tool you could have."

Hayashi Maki couldn't help teasing the calm, unbothered Echidna.

Echidna smiled and replied, "I don't need that kind of tool. Besides, I have plenty of students—I'm not lacking for one more. Most importantly, I'm a Witch, not the 'Witch of Greed, Echidna' from the past."

"Alright. If you're happy, that's fine." Hayashi Maki shrugged, not bothering to continue the Roswaal topic.

"Back to the point, Echidna-san—now that you've got a body and can leave the Sanctuary whenever you want, is there still any need for Emilia to do the other two trials?"

Hayashi Maki was genuinely puzzled.

"Of course she still has to do them. Since I've already made a contract with you, I won't hide it anymore."

Echidna took a refined sip of tea, not minding that Emilia was sitting beside her—though Emilia's friendly expression still made Echidna instinctively click her tongue and look away in annoyance.

"The Sanctuary is a witch's grave. You can also think of it as a shelter. While protecting the witch's legacy, it also seals the witch's soul."

"So, passing all three trials and releasing the Sanctuary is equivalent to releasing the witch's soul."

Emilia's face lit with realization.

"So Echidna set up the Sanctuary trials on purpose—so soone could challenge them and escape from here?"

"Looks like Echidna wanted to leave too—so why not just lower the difficulty from the start?"

Echidna rolled her eyes.

"Lower the difficulty, my foot. The spell formula was set by the living . There's no such thing as 'lowering' it. And besides—if it's a witch's trial, it was never ant to be easy."

"Hehe. Even though you scolded , you didn't deny that you wanted to leave." Emilia giggled.

Echidna turned her head away, refusing to respond.

Then she looked back at Hayashi Maki. "You really taught her badly. She's gotten so shaless. How irritating."

"You should say I taught her well. Isn't that exactly why she was able to pass the trial?" Hayashi Maki said. "I also heard you cried. Want to tell why?"

Hayashi Maki wore an inquisitive look.

Echidna understood he was trying to get information about her relationship with Emilia.

But she shook her head.

"I can't say it because of the contract. If I talk, it'll draw that jealous freak over here—and then you'll be the one suffering."

"The jealous freak?" Hayashi Maki stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Did she an the Witch of Envy?

Jealous Witch and Satella were two different people.

According to what he'd heard, the other witches considered Satella a gentle woman.

But the Witch of Envy was the one all witches hated and feared.

"In any case," Hayashi Maki said, dropping it, "Lia, get ready. Let's clear the remaining two trials in one go. I believe you can speedrun it now."

"Mm! I'll do my best!" Emilia nodded hard.

"But will Echidna still co with ?"

"No." The white-haired witch rejected it imdiately. She stood up with a sour look, as if she couldn't bear to watch Emilia.

"I'm already 'alive' again. Why would I go back to that place? And I don't want to see you acting shaless either. Go do the trials yourself. Once you're done, just shut down the core."

With that, Echidna walked out, planning to get a proper look at the outside world.

Of course, she also had other matters to arrange—

Like the issue of the Ryuzu clones.

Watching Echidna leave, Emilia puffed out her cheeks.

"She really seems to hate . But I think she's actually a very gentle person."

"Gentle?" Hayashi Maki's expression turned weird.

That Aldebaran was also Echidna's student, and to make him endure the pain of dying—so he wouldn't ntally break from repeated deaths—Echidna had killed him tens of thousands of tis by every thod imaginable.

That kind of witch was "gentle" no matter how you looked at it?

"What's wrong? You don't think she's gentle?" Emilia asked, lifting her gaze.

"Of course… Echidna is gentle. I think the sa way you do, Lia," Hayashi Maki answered casually.

A witch's "gentleness" only existed toward people she cared about.

Toward the useless—those with no value—she discarded them without hesitation.

Like Beatrice and Roswaal.

Now that Hayashi Maki was Echidna's contractor, and she couldn't run away, he'd probably get to "experience" her gentleness too.

People were selfish.

Who didn't want to be valued?

To be treated gently was sothing everyone longed for—except, maybe, hardcore masochists.

…

Elsewhere, Echidna summoned three Ryuzu clones.

Ryuzu Bilma knelt respectfully before Echidna, silent.

Echidna looked at the barely-breathing Ryuzu Shima.

"How interesting. A clone actually violated its paraters and chose to save soone on its own… Life really is fascinating."

Watching her creation develop a "positive mutation," a faint gleam flashed in Echidna's deep eyes.