The Witch Trial Begins with the OO Buckethead Zombie

However, Hoshino Utsunomiya's room remained unchanged, with bunk beds.

Well...

Of course, the girls would rather sleep in the worse rooms so that he could sleep in the better ones.

She would rather sleep in a nice bed with him.

However, he was unwilling.

Unwilling and too lazy to change, a delicate situation eventually arises.

To claim a human body pillow for the night, you need to spend the night in a hard bunk bed.

It wasn't an explicit rule, but rather an unspoken understanding among the girls.

Otherwise, if everyone rushes to participate in night raids...

It's all in chaos now.

Chapter 199 What should we use to deal with the witch?

In short, most of the belongings in the three guesthouses have been moved out.

Because it was outside the mansion, and everything inside had been moved out, and people didn't usually go inside, no one noticed.

Ultimately, unless one possesses illusion magic like hers, or the ability to see through things, or tries to move a house and discovers that one room is impossible to move because it connects to the basement...

It is indeed difficult to find that there is a gap in the floor of the 'Water Crystal Room' that can be opened.

Below the gap is the elevator that connects to the basement.

An open door, a downward stairwell, and an elevator that is clearly visible.

Gears of varying sizes came into view as the elevator doors opened.

Choose down from the only up and down buttons.

Nanoka Kurobe then arrived at the hidden basement.

Before stepping into the elevator, I sent a message to Ryota Hasumi as a precaution.

She shouldn't have so easily disregarded her own safety and gone down to explore alone.

After all, at this point, her life is no longer entirely her own.

It's Hoshino's.

If she were to die easily, it would essentially force Hoshino to use suicide to coerce the witch into rewinding time and saving her.

Nanoka Kurobe didn't want to see this happen.

But she went in anyway.

Call it arrogance or unwillingness to trouble others, she just couldn't control herself and pressed the down button.

Only her remaining rationality led her to send a message to Hasumi Ryoa.

Fortunately, the results are good.

No accidents occurred.

The underground area connected to the elevator appears to be a control room. Although it is not directly connected to the elevator, a door can be opened by walking a short distance.

An excessive amount of cold air rushed in the moment the door opened, chilling to the bone.

Inside was an incomprehensible control panel and a pile of data on the desktop.

What she is showing everyone now is a document with the same text as the books in the library and their headshots printed on it.

Aside from these, there was nothing else special, and no trace of the witch could be seen.

The extreme low temperature makes it difficult to stay, and it's clear that this is not a place where normal humans can stay for long.

If this is the only room here, then Nanoka Kurobe will have to retreat.

But that's not all.

There was a door that couldn't be opened, and a ventilation duct that clearly connected to the interior.

It seemed that the cold aura was emanating from inside.

Do we need to climb in from the inside?

Kurobe Nanoka hesitated for a long time.

I glanced several times at the narrow but enclosed ventilation duct.

...I gave up.

With a long sigh and exhaling white mist, Kurobe Nanoha ultimately couldn't bring herself to just climb inside recklessly.

If she were still that younger sister who only wanted to find out the truth, she probably would have climbed in by now.

But she wasn't.

To avoid causing worry, let's take the current results back first.

More to come later.

It didn't look like a witch's dwelling; it looked more like a freezer.

If the witch isn't in this control room, then she's even less likely to be further inside.

Before she was frozen unconscious, Kurobe Nanoka returned to the ground.

Hopefully, I won't see an elevator that won't start next time I come.

......

"..."

As she spoke, everyone around her looked thoughtful.

Well...

This intelligence is definitely useful.

As for whether it's useful or not, it's actually not very useful.

The fundamental problem cannot be solved.

One question is: where did all the missing people go?

Another issue is how to resolve the witch's time travel.

The control room, the freezer, and so on—exploring these things on this basis can only unravel the 'original' mysteries.

Of course, it's not completely useless.

Looking at the current list, at least Utsunomiya Hoshino is certain of one thing.

Everyone is here.

There are no missing girls, nor are there any girls who have never appeared.

So, does that mean we have to wait until we wake up from a nap to rewind?

He didn't understand.

The girls continued their discussions about the underground facility, and although they couldn't reach any conclusions, they unanimously decided to explore it together the next day.

If there is a tomorrow.

Yes, yes.

The witch is incredibly patient.

Tomorrow is coming.

The basement was explored.

The control panel has been confirmed.

They drilled into the ventilation duct.

Although she was only halfway through the tunnel, Tachibana Sherry suddenly flung the door open, looking completely bewildered.

But in short, I drilled into it.

It was as if I had rolled around in the mud, covering myself with a layer of grime.

It's dirty.

It needs watering!

It's a pity that this water shouldn't be used.

Watering plants outdoors is one thing, but watering them inside a cold storage room...

Aren't you afraid of freezing into an icicle?

The rate of temperature loss increased significantly.

Because of the air conditioning, the exploration time will be greatly limited.

Fortunately, they had a hand warmer – Arisa Wisteria.

Yes, Arisa Wisteria's magic is 'ignition'.

A lit flame that won't harm itself, a flame that has heat and burns.

The house that was burned down by bad kids in the girl's past was set on fire using this kind of magic.

Of course, there was nothing for her to burn in the freezer, so she just lit a fire to provide some warmth for everyone.

This extended the time everyone spent exploring the freezer to some extent.

The freezer was huge, much bigger than I had imagined; no one could have guessed there would be such a large space underground.

If electricity were used to maintain the freezing here, the amount of electricity required would be astronomical.

But the air conditioning here uses ice.

They were transported from somewhere and stored underground, constantly emitting cold air—massive blocks of ice.

Such an old-fashioned way of keeping things cold.

However, how did they manage to get so many large blocks of ice on such a deserted island...?