The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

Ed briefly told me what was going to happen on the way to the mansion.

Ruth and the others will naturally meet with everyone, and it seems a rough flow that happens in one loop, where they stay calm until the date changes in the mansion, and at the end, demons they've never seen show up and end up absorbed into the dark. Speaking of the main event, he says it's just that one daughter, Tiana, has her birthday on this day.

"A lot of details happen, but let's not go into detail until we get to the guest room. Ruth, anyway, we're going inside with a set of lost sisters and brothers, sisters and brothers. Otherwise, I won't let you in."

"Oh, am I my sister? Well, okay. Let me know if I'm about to say something wrong."

"Leave it to me!

Ruth was impressed when a very powerful word returned from Ed. Now Ruth is surprised by that change because of the strong memory of Ed, who was crying for losing his friend, but I'm sure he got stronger as he repeated the loop phenomenon in this.

Ruth doesn't know what's going to happen and how to make things go smoothly. I'm so glad Ed is reliable.

I heard Ed's disturbing words, 'It was supposed to be half broken, but it's back to normal,' but the exterior of the mansion was a normal rich house.

Ed prompted me to push something like an intercom. The door to the mansion opened and people came out.

What I'm about to meet is a man named Benno, the butler, but when I saw the face of the man who came near the gate, Ed changed his expression dramatically.

"What do you mean………?

"What's up, Ed?

"He's not Mr. Benno………"

"Huh? Unlike usual, you mean someone else is coming for you?

"No, I've never seen anyone like him."

"Eh, duh, what do you mean -"

"- Evening, did you have a late evening like this?

It was some luxurious blue-haired man who looked familiar who spoke from the inside of the gate to Ruth and the others. The age was in the late twenties and early thirties and his height was almost the same as that of Ruth, but his relaxed movements seemed more like a rich young man in swallowtail clothes than a servant. He seems to be in Wangdu.

"Oh, you know what? Actually, I'm lost..."

As in an advance meeting, Ruth declared Ed and herself as sisters and brothers and asked them to stay overnight. When the man in the swallow tail suit confirmed possession of the weapon, he returned to the mansion once to confirm it with his master.

"Ed, what do you mean he's never seen it before?

"I don't know. But it was Mr. Benno, the butler, who always picked us up, and he looked about forty. The atmosphere was more fearful, the person was taller, and the body looked good. People today are skinny in their twenties or so, and they have completely different faces."

"You mean more people come out inside the mansion?

"I don't know. I've never done this before..."

Ruth doesn't know what that means either, but Ed seems very confused, too. He said it was the first time a stranger had appeared more than ten times.

As we talked, the man in the swallow tail suit came back. My husband got it, so he said he would show me to the mansion.

Ruth hung up as she walked behind the man.

"Um, excuse me, could you tell me your name, if you don't mind?

"Oh, excuse me. I am a butler at the Dickhout family. I am Rhiner."

Deacon - Ruth and Ed face each other in Liner's words. After all, he looks like someone else, not Benno.

So where has Benno gone?

"That's a bit of a weird question...... is there a Mr. Benno in this mansion? He's a tall looking man in his forties or so..."

"Benno? We don't have those people at home, but are you looking for someone?

"Huh!? Oh, no, I heard you were working at the mansion before, and I thought it might be this way... haha"

Ruth manages to delude herself with a bitter laugh. When I looked down at Ed, he looked at me like I didn't know what it meant.

(This man is a butler named Mr. Reiner. So, where did Ed's known Mr. Benno go?

Benno said he was a butler. But it's a man named Reiner who's named Deacon in front of me right now. According to him, there are no men like Benno in the mansion either. It doesn't even seem like you're lying.

When that happens, a man named Benno, whom Ed knows, will have disappeared.

(Could this possibly mean something...?

We still don't know why Benno is gone, but maybe we should just not consider him replaced because Ed says' it's his first time '.

When you arrive at the mansion, you will be passed straight inside. Inside it seemed the same as before, and Ed was sighing cheap too. Ruth doesn't know, 'How did you get back into this state?' What a squeal, so maybe there was a fierce battle.

He then met the master of the mansion, Dickhout, the maid woman Dorte and her only daughter, Tiana, consistent with prior information from Ed.

Tiana was wary when she saw Ruth and the others, but Ed replied with a cute smile with Nico, 'Nice to meet you,' according to the side. Tiana ran right out, but Ed came back to Ruth without chasing her.

I admire Ed's attitude, which I can afford a long time ago, when he was able to make such a gesture. With that in his mouth, Ed replied, "I just imitated Ruth," looking a little smelly.

Ask Liner and Dorte to resume the guide as they are. I was concerned about the portrait of a woman hung on the wall, but Ed shook her head, so I assumed she had nothing to do with the loop phenomenon. You shouldn't say anything extra on this occasion.

When I enter the guest room, I go out to the liner. Dorte also told Tiana where she was while she left her tea.

When we were alone, Ed sat on the couch with a difficult face.

"Earlier Mr. Reiner seems more definitely a butler in this mansion right now. Everyone felt as though Benno had disappeared."

"Do you have a verse that reminds me of why Mr. Benno disappeared? Weird behavior last time?

"No, especially... he was just doing his whole job as a butler. Until then, when Dickhout and Tiana asked me to change the contents of the birthday party, did they leave the facilitator to stick around?"

"Are you a party facilitator…………"

Benno was in the position of deacon, Ed said. Ruth doesn't know much about what a butler is like, but roughly speaking, it would be my husband's auxiliary. If we consider this situation, in which our members are limited, it might have a broader meaning than the correct definition. Then it's no surprise that you're entrusted with the role of party facilitator.

"I'm also concerned about Benno, who disappeared...... as far as I'm concerned, I'm surprised nobody remembers the last time. The previous operation was a failure, wasn't it? … why the hell was Ruth the only one then……"

Ruth seems to have kept a memory of what happened before that, and Ed seems concerned about it.

Ruth, by contrast, remembered the catch with only a few words he had just heard.

In my own words, I heard that the current situation was a "loop phenomenon," but the more I talked to Ed, the weirder I didn't feel. I feel something is fundamentally missing.

"Ed, Ed remembers everything that's happened, right?

"Yes. I think memory is better, so I won't forget it's not so much. It's just that if you repeat the same time more than ten times, it's getting confusing in your head and obscuring in part what happened at what time."

That would be irrelevant. I don't feel like Ruth could remember clearly if he had done the same thing ten times. In the first place, if you don't even know what's important, you'll be worried about everything and trying to remember something extra.

Last time Ruth said he remembered before that, but unfortunately now he's forgotten everything. However, thanks to that, my mind is in a neat state.

"I want to summarize the situation. Can you tell me briefly what you've been up to?

"I understand."

I asked Ed to tell me what he has done and failed to do so far. So what I found out was that I couldn't get out of this place by normal means and that the special method I tried last time didn't work.

"I see, I've tried everything... thanks for letting me know"

"No, I really think we should talk about it in more detail, because it gets longer..."

"Never mind, Ed. Maybe this is just the right amount. If I get too much information, I'm going to get a headache... and more importantly, I didn't get a" reason ”for this, but do you even know a little bit about it?

"Is that why?... Speaking of which, you never thought deeply about it. I was just trying to figure out how to get out of this..."

"Is that so..................... this?

Ruth noticed that there was a carefully placed book on the table next to the couch. When I casually turn the cover, the first page says a title that is likely to start even in the loving play "Happy Afternoon".

(Why is this book here?

If you sit on the couch, this is the only book that will always be in the spot where you can see it, and there is nothing else unusual in this room. With all this limitation, you'll want to get it on your hands.

"That's what Ruth gets every time. Well, I opened it at first, too. Because it stands out. But it's not a big deal, it's like writing a mediocre everyday landscape."

"Ed knows what's inside."

"I didn't read it myself at a bad time, but Ruth made me read it last time. If Ruth hadn't been a reader, he'd be asleep all the time. Too mediocre."

"Let me read it... why would you do that?

"I asked Ruth to read it because Tiana is reading it with Mr. Dickhout and everyone else, but the letters are hard to read just for herself. So we were listening together."

Ruth had goosebumps on the words.

"............... eh, wait a minute, Ed. Does everyone at the mansion have this book?

To Ruth's question Ed became the expression he noticed saying something weird.

"If you believe Tiana's words, you do.... I didn't realize that because I was aware of other things then, but on second thought, there are too many of those books in this mansion..."

Ed frowns slightly, as does Ruth.

"Could all the books in this world be the same or something?

"No, that's not true. There were other books lined up in the library, and Tiana was reading completely different books. There are other difficult books on the shelf in Mr. Dickhout's office........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Ed said he saw a book with the same cover in a prominent spot in the office.

If his memory is certain, it must also be true that Tiana said, 'Everyone has it'.

(This, book... something...)

Ruth felt intensely uncomfortable with a thin book with nothing strange about it. Place on your knees and check the contents.

"... uh... this..., no way...?

Next on the title page were the characters in this story. Normal Ruth would skip reading this page. Because unless it's a continuation, I don't feel the need to see it.

But now, I can't take my eyes off the letters I never thought I would.

"What's wrong, Ruth?

"Hey, wait a minute."

Ruth hurried away from the characters page and continued.

(Oh, that... this, no way... could...?

With mixed feelings of anxiety and anticipation, Ruth hurries to follow the letters with her eyes. When I glanced through a token sentence close to a picture book with an illustration in it, I eventually realized that my thoughts were not wrong.

The answer I never imagined appeared in front of me, and I was a little flabbergasted. There's no way I know this.

"Ruth?"

"... Ed, Mr. Benno, who disappeared, seemed satisfied that Mr. Dickhout and Tiana asked him to do the job, right?

"Yes. I was. Is that it?

"Wait, a few more questions. Ed, what could it possibly be... Maid Dorte has bad legs or something?

"Uh... Ah, yes. It sure is. I used to fall over trying to chase Tiana the tenth time.... but why did you do that? The last time I found out, Ruth wouldn't remember."

"" I'm here. "Didn't the cook, Chester, say, 'We haven't met'? Like I can't get married………………"

"I mean troubles... Last time I talked about my real daughter-in-law in the village, she said, 'I want my wife'..."

"Wasn't the gardener, Grandpa Iban, worried about Tiana's gift for 'the lady'?

"The gift... I don't know. He just calls Tiana" The Lady. "

"Finally, Mr. Dickhout wasn't trying to sneak in and surprise Tiana, instead of having her birthday party, which is supposed to take place today?

"Yes, I was…………"

Ed had an uneasy look at Ruth asking one question after another. Confusion also appears on that face.

It was natural to be confused. What Ruth has just said is that even if Ed knew, Ruth “shouldn't know" about losing his previous memory.

"Ruth, why? Didn't you remember anything? Your memories are back?

Ruth shook her head wide with a tense expression as she followed the letter of the book with her eyes.

"No. I don't remember, I don't remember anything that was here. But I know... because it's written here."

"Eh?... it says? What do you mean?

"Wait a minute."

Ruth stood up and moved around the room. Look around to find things like on the chest, on the bed, and under the chair.

"After all, there was…………"

Ruth hurries back to Ed as he discovers his object in the bedside chest.

"Ed, we had a weird conversation earlier about this mansion having a lot of 'happy afternoons', right?

Ruth shows Ed the 'happy afternoon' he had from the beginning.

"Yes, if you believe Tiana, you are going to all the people in the Mansion."

"... if you're just going over to all the people at the mansion, you can't even think that everyone bought it at the boom, like Mr. Dickhout's hobby yet. There is also a possibility that we bought one in this room for the customer's spare time."

Regardless of the good or bad content, I can't say enough that such behavior is absolutely impossible. Pretty low probability, but don't be sure it won't come at all.

"But, Ed……………"

Ruth showed Ed what he had brought from the bedside chest.

"This room has a second book, A Happy Afternoon. - What do you think this means?

What Ruth has in both hands were two 'happy afternoons' with the exact same cover.