Beatrice and I visit somewhere outside the game board.

... I racked my brain, thinking of every person on the island and every being Beatrice could conjure. I couldn't picture any of the relatives, younger or older, cutting into an erotic dance out of nowhere. If Beatrice's furniture could do it, wouldn't she know? I'd talked a big game, but now that the time had come to choose, I was drawing a blank...

... Hm. If there's no one here that can help us... maybe we need help from another place. If only we knew someone with the ability to travel between game boards. That kind of traveler might have happened to pick up some experience.

As my thoughts wandered, I left the game board behind. I found myself standing over Beatrice's shoulder in the smoking room of another world once more as she leaned over the chessboard, still trying to solve the impossible puzzle I'd created for us with a dull frown. "Player... Did you really leave us a winning move in this game?"

I'm sure I did, somewhere... But where was it hiding? I felt an ill omen... Then again, that might have just been the black cat crossing my path. It strolled lazily to the empty chair across from Beatrice, hopped up, and curled up on it, watching me with curious eyes. While EVA was apparently her opponent in this game, she didn't have a need to show up until the end, when my chosen witch was out of moves. So, Beatrice didn't technically have an opponent. This was more like a chess puzzle than a chess game.

At some point of time, as I'd been looking at the board, a visitor had arrived. A new witch was sitting across from Beatrice, and I heard her gulp along with me when she saw who it was: Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles. That witch was too short to lean over the board as Beatrice was doing now, but she didn't look interested enough to do so, regardless. Like a lazing cat, she was acting like she wasn't interested in anything at all, even though she was the one who'd wandered over here... She sat with her hands on the arms of her chair, her lightless purple eyes watching Beatrice ponder. Her long, purple hair and black goth lolita dress were so still, it felt like a doll had been placed there.

"Beato... Don't let me distract you. You're still figuring this one out, right? You haven't given up?"

"Grr... Y-yes, Lady Bernkastel. Rest assured, the game will resume any second now. Still, this puzzle is... amusing... in its own way. Whenever one without skill constructs a game like this, do you not find yourself wondering if there is truly a solution?" She grinned up at me with a bullying smile. "I wonder if this pathetic sorcerer was really being careful! It's too early for you to be crafting games, isn't it, Plaaayer? Try observing the fantastic world of witches for another thousand years-"

"I'm not waiting a thousand years for that to happen," Bernkastel interrupted. She was speaking evenly, but there was an obvious hint of impatience. "Beato, haven't you figured it out yet? It's right in front of you."

I saw the Golden Witch frown. Obviously, her reputation as a skillful master of puzzles was on the line here, and it was plain to see she'd have already made the move if she knew what it was. She gave Bernkastel an awkward smile and one of those lines you speak slowly so you can turn it into a joke based on how you think the other party will react. "I don't suppose the great and generous Lady Bernkastel would be willing to give me a hint...?"

The doll-like young woman rested her cheek on her fist, her expression still unchanging. "How boring. You figured it out. Yes, the correct move is to ask me for help. I already figured it out a long time ago, after all... Well, I'm the type who favors an underdog. It just so happens that underdog is a witch... well, sort of... Anyway, I'll lend you my aid for now."

... Bernkastel will lend us her aid? I felt uneasy taking favors from this witch, but... when she meant she'd help, did she actually mean she'd help us herself?

Like... help us the way I'm thinking? Is that a possibility? Can that miracle be granted?!

"That dog of yours is making a nasty face." Bernkastel's expression finally changed to a small frown.

Beatrice kicked up from her chair, grabbed my head, and bent me suddenly into a sharp ninety-degree bow. "Forgive Player's impudence! But, yes, Great Lady Bernkastel, if you can offer me just a bit of help to get me out of this small, unfortunate pitfall and reclaim my board to resume the planned, infinitely amusing festivities, you would have my thanks. I shall have Ronove bake something incredible in payment...!"

"I already said I'd help," Bernkastel told Beatrice. "You shouldn't think of me as an ally, but I'm not eager to die of boredom here, either."

"So... When you say you'll help do you mean...?"

You plan to help us yourself?! You know something about erotic dance?! I finished Beatrice's trailing sentence for her, temporarily lifting my head from where she'd bent it down.

Bernkastel regarded me with those cold eyes again, making me regret speaking up. Finally, she spoke...