Takumi returned to the Eternal Frozen Lands with Emilia. From here, things became much simpler. He directly used his authority to resurrect everyone who had been frozen here. As the ice dispersed, the people inside gradually came back to life.
Seeing so many familiar faces, Emilia burst into tears.
After reviving everyone, Takumi didn't bother searching the area piece by piece. He simply packaged the entire frozen forest up. There were still plenty of valuable things inside. Rather than waste time looking for them, he figured he'd just take the whole place with him.
He dug up the ground down to its roots.
Any problems could be slowly resolved once he got back.
Emilia and the others were also swept into the Imaginary Space by Takumi, including himself.
The sky suddenly changed color, causing confusion among the remaining people.
Takumi calmly explained, "Stay here for now."
"Beatrice, let's go. I'm taking you to meet the witches."
Saying that, Takumi grabbed Beatrice and Kaguya, and they vanished from the spot. He left this place in Emilia's care. She likely had many things to say to her family.
When they returned to the outside world, the sight that greeted them was an immeasurably deep crater.
Seeing that the Eternal Frozen Lands had completely vanished, Beatrice was dumbfounded.
"You took the entire Eternal Frozen Lands?" she asked in disbelief.
"Of course," Takumi replied. "A place that even the witches attacked—I'm quite curious. We'll study it thoroughly after we get back. But for now, let's go meet those witches."
With that, he opened another spatial portal and stepped through.
Beatrice and Kaguya followed closely behind him.
Soon, the three arrived in a gray, misty space. The moment they appeared, a breathtaking woman with long white hair and a refined black dress appeared before them.
"So you've finally arrived," she said. This was Echidna.
Beatrice instantly became emotional at the sight of her.
"Mother!!" Beatrice cried and dove into Echidna's arms.
A faint smile formed on Echidna's face. "Beatrice. It's been so long."
Four hundred years, to be exact.
Beatrice couldn't stop her tears. "Mother, it's been so long!"
The scene that followed was a heartfelt reunion between mother and daughter.
Meanwhile, Takumi didn't idle around. He summoned the other witches one by one. The reason, of course, was simple—he wanted to analyze their Authorities.
At first, the witches wanted to attack him.
But Takumi swiftly subdued them.
They couldn't even move.
Takumi even met Satella.
And he could only say—she looked exactly like Emilia.
Takumi had no interest in deep conversation with these witches. Once he analyzed their Authorities, he sent them all back to where they had come from.
The witches were furious about being toyed with like puppets. But strength speaks louder than words—they couldn't resist him at all.
After finishing the analysis, Takumi turned to Echidna.
Before he could say anything, Echidna took out a book and handed it to him.
"I know why you came," she said. "This is the Tome of Wisdom. From now on, take care of Beatrice for me."
She knew a lot—perhaps even the future. That's why she cooperated so willingly.
She didn't want to end up like the other witches.
Besides, she was deeply curious about Takumi—someone from another world.
She wanted to know everything about him.
Takumi was quite pleased with her attitude and accepted the book.
"As a trade, I'll give you some magic knowledge from my world."
Without hesitation, he handed her a terminal device. It contained recorded knowledge from his own world.
For someone like Echidna, knowledge was everything.
This trip had turned out extremely productive.
Takumi only needed to copy the Tome of Wisdom and absorb its contents. As for the original book? He didn't need to take it.
He could make another one himself later.
Seeing Takumi's words in action, Echidna's eyes sparkled. She accepted the terminal without hesitation.
Beatrice immediately began teaching her how to operate it.
Once she understood how it worked, Echidna became completely absorbed in the knowledge inside, ignoring Beatrice entirely.
Beatrice felt conflicted, but she didn't say anything.
They had already spoken.
Echidna had given her a final order: from now on, follow Takumi.
Do what you love.
Live for yourself.
...
Once Takumi finished copying the Tome of Wisdom, he considered his business in this world complete.
"All done?" Echidna asked, looking up at him.
"It's done," Takumi replied. "Now that everything's settled, we should be going."
He handed the original Tome of Wisdom back to her.
Echidna nodded. "Will you ever return here again?"
Takumi raised an eyebrow. "Probably not. Why? Are you interested in my world? Want to come along?"
Would he come back? Highly unlikely.
He didn't even have coordinates to return with.
Echidna's eyes lit up. "Can I really go?"
Now she was interested.
"Of course."
Echidna, ever curious and eager to explore, naturally accepted the invitation.
Takumi could take her away from this sealed place.
Going to Takumi's world sounded pretty appealing.
Seeing how easily Takumi agreed, Echidna made up her mind.
Beatrice watched with anticipation.
Echidna turned to Takumi and said, "Alright. I'll go with you."
Beatrice leapt with joy. "That's wonderful!!"