Do Not Touch the Box (2)
Her complexion recovered in an instant.
"Aren't you going to examine the body?"
"I should."
She had already returned to her usual expressionless face. Her eyes practically screamed at me not to bring it up again, so I let it slide.
For a noble lady who supposedly lacked human warmth, she certainly displayed a colorful range of emotions.
"Well, she's not a student, at least."
The victim was a woman in her late twenties.
No matter how you looked at it, the cause of death was her severed lower half.
The real problem was the nature of the wounds. The marks suggested she hadn't been mutilated post-mortem; she had been eaten alive.
"She's the dormitory warden."
"Excuse me?"
"Since she's a familiar face, should I grieve?"
That's not the issue here, lady.
I had no idea why she chose this moment to display such uselessly rapid adaptability.
"...Let's put that aside. Have you ever seen the warden wandering around late at night?"
"No. If she had, those annoying, chattering girls would have mentioned it at least once. But they never did."
"Hmm."
She was smiling.
I didn't mean the Hellsing lady.
The final expression frozen on the corpse's face was a smile.
"Is it magic? Or is it a special ability of the creature that did this?"
"We'll find out soon enough. For now, let's head into the storage room."
If whatever did this was going to attack, it should have done so while my attention was on the lady and hers was on the corpse.
The odds were in our favor, but I took the lead just in case.
Click.
The sudden click and the flare of overhead lights made me whirl around. The lady was setting down her flashlight after flicking a wall switch.
"What is it?"
"Mind telling me how you knew where the light switch was?"
"Back at the estate, I converted a storage room like this into my private laboratory. At first, I borrowed the key whenever I wanted to clear my head. Later, I just duplicated the key with magic."
No wonder she found the switch, even though it was tucked away in a useless blind spot.
But how on earth did one duplicate a key with magic?
Watching a glowing key materialize above the hand she had used to set down the flashlight left me speechless.
First the Empress, and now her. The mages I kept meeting lately were far too versatile for their own good.
"For now, don't use that in front of other priests. Especially the exorcists."
I doubted the Hellsing family would ever allow their daughter to be disciplined, but seeing the bastards who dumped this work on me get slapped in the face by a high noble... actually, I might want to see that.
I really wanted to see the guys who pawned their duties off on me get smacked, but I decided to hold back for now.
"Very well. But do I have to keep carrying this?"
"It might be a hassle, but she's not a bad kid. I appreciate it."
Leona, who had passed out and was sleeping like a log, seemed to have grown accustomed to floating. She was curled up as if in a cozy bed, mumbling softly in her sleep.
I wanted nothing more than to flick her forehead and wake her up, but managing just the noble lady was already exhausting enough.
"There are more things here than I expected."
"There's a reason the warden frequented this place."
"It looks like sorting through all this will take all day."
I had heard that while the academy didn't predate the Empire, it was still over a century old.
Even so, the sheer volume of lost items was absurd.
"Do you know how many students actually graduate after entering the academy?"
"I ended up here by chance, so I don't know the details."
"Roughly seventy percent."
"Are the exams here that difficult?"
Considering it was a two-year program with a relatively relaxed academic atmosphere, the graduation rate was surprisingly low.
"No. You know how it is. Only those who want to study actually do. The exams are just for them. Anyone can graduate as long as they attend classes."
"Then...?"
"The other thirty percent of the students either die or disappear."
"Is that even possible?"
Ah... Actually, it probably is.
It might sound like religious dogma, but the safety of the surrounding area depended entirely on how well the local church functioned.
In that sense, this place scored below zero. It was in the negatives.
The city's very name spoke of corruption and blasphemy, and the church had been a hotbed of depravity until I arrived.
"Never mind. I suppose it is possible."
"Now that that creature is gone, I thought things might be different this time."
"So, you're saying the majority of these items belonged to the missing or the dead?"
"Yes."
Hearing that these weren't just misplaced belongings but the relics of the deceased changed how I looked at the room.
"But if the room is filled with those kinds of items, shouldn't the dormitory be crawling with evil spirits?"
"It seems the principal had enough sense to have the warden manage them. Though, it looks like she was secretly selling some of them off on the side."
So she treated the stolen goods as hazard pay for a troublesome job.
Judging by the state of things, she had probably come down here to steal another item when she met her end.
"Wait a minute. If the warden is dead, that means there's no one to manage this place for the time being, right?"
"Yes."
I could practically hear my workload piling up.
Running the church with just the two of us was already exhausting, and now I had to patrol the academy and offer prayers.
Why did my chores keep multiplying?
"I can help you, if you'd like."
"Pardon?"
"I already know everything they teach in the magic classes here, so I've just been reading books in the library anyway. They don't give students private research labs, after all."
"R-Really? Ah! My apologies."
I rarely lost my composure like this, but I was so grateful that I grabbed her hand without thinking.
I quickly pulled back. The Hellsing lady, seemingly displeased, hid her hand behind her back.
"In return... would it be alright if I consult you on various matters in the future?"
"As much as you want."
"Owooo..."
I had no idea why Leona was suddenly whimpering and twitching like a puppy having a nightmare in her sleep.
"But do you think we can find anything here?"
"No. If they were just ordinary lost items, maybe. But if they belonged to the dead or missing, we won't find it."
I had been thinking too simplistically.
"And I forgot that the two of us are rather unusual cases."
This was the result of spending too much time on the fringes.
Having spent the last year or two beating up nothing but demon worshipers and demons, my instincts for dealing with monsters had grown a bit dull.
"Unusual?"
"Do you have a specific item or desire you want?"
"...No. Though my curiosity has been piqued."
"Same here."
If I had to name one, it would be cackling while beating up a newly summoned, weakened archdemon.
I also craved a drink, but since the former chief priest had left behind an incredible wine cellar, that wasn't particularly urgent either.
"Lust, obsession... neither of us really has much of that."
"If it reacts to things like that, isn't it basically a demon?"
"Sometimes. But there are monsters out there that are far more unpleasant than demons."
Occasionally, there were creatures that seemed to exist solely to cull the human population.
"Let's wrap things up for today. I need to call someone to clean up the body, so I'll take my leave."
I had no desire to get caught up in the ensuing commotion.
I pinched and stretched Leona's cheeks until she finally woke up, gave her instructions on what to do, and then headed back.
After a busy morning, around lunchtime, I left Luna in charge of the church and headed back to the dormitory.
The things that appeared at night were dangerous, but Luna could easily snap the spine of any creature foolish enough to wander around during the day.
I had told her to act without worrying about the consequences, so surely she would handle things.
This time, however, I didn't take the main path. I slipped through the deserted, overgrown areas instead.
"Father."
"...!?"
She startled me.
Just as I was about to hide in the bushes near the girls' dormitory, a voice called out to me. I looked up.
"My... Lady?"
"Please call me Bella."
"Pardon?"
"It's a nickname, not my real name, so don't worry."
Nickname or not, why was someone who was supposed to be in class...
"Ah. Right, you said you don't attend classes."
"To be precise, I only take liberal arts classes. I spent some time with Miss Lichte, just as you advised yesterday."
"Ah... How did it go?"
"She was terrified."
The image of a frightened large dog and a smug cat immediately came to mind.
"Still, it was refreshing. Driving a problem to catastrophic ruin from an interesting perspective."
I shouldn't ask for details.
If she had done something to warrant that kind of description, it was bound to be a massive, embarrassing disaster.
"So..."
"You're here to solve the case, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Since I couldn't resolve this openly as a priest, I had planned to handle it quietly, but here we were.
"If you're worried about your cover, just say I helped you after you finish. People will understand."
"You figured it out?"
Her slender finger pointed toward my necklace.
This woman. She was a much more formidable mage than I had thought.
"I didn't realize it at first. It's a complex spell I've never encountered before, and there's some foreign power mixed in, making it difficult to see through."
I wasn't sure who was more impressive between the Empress and Bella, but at least I could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Aren't you going to ask why?"
"Because I'm not curious about that."
"Simple enough."
"So, how do you plan to find the monster?"
"I recruited a bait."
This was the reason I had been busy since morning.
I had gone to Winston and asked if there were any perverts among the male students. He had simply asked how many I needed.
"I made sure one of the most irredeemable pieces of trash got word of when the girls' dormitory would be empty."
"Efficient."
Ah, she gets it.
"There he goes."
A single fly, completely unaware it was walking straight into a spider's web, slipped through the doors of the girls' dormitory.
Normally, the warden would have been guarding the entrance. But since the woman who sold off lost items had departed this world yesterday, his path was entirely clear.
"Let's follow him."
"Alright."
As I quieted my footsteps and moved forward, I realized I couldn't hear any sound behind me. I looked back to find her floating in the air, drifting right after me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
I should stop caring.
If I questioned every single spell she used, we'd be here forever.
"Are all men like that?"
Since I had decided to let him enjoy what might be the last day of his life, the guy was truly living it up.
He sneaked into an unlocked girl's room, came out clutching her underwear, and proceeded to sniff, bite, and taste it. It was an absolute spectacle.
"Lady Bella."
"Just Bella. I'm not that nun."
"...Bella. Were your father or brothers like that?"
"They did taxidermy monster heads and laugh like maniacs."
Ah, the damn Hellsing family.
What kind of place was that household?
They were incredibly competent when we worked together, but they always managed to catch me off guard like this.
"Don't worry. There are far more men who aren't like that than those who are."
"I assume you aren't like that either, Father?"
"Yes."
After firmly establishing my reputation, I followed the male student, who had tossed the underwear he was... enjoying... and was heading elsewhere.
He dashed off like a pig in heat. I had to put some strength into my legs to keep up, which made some noise, but he was too distracted to look back.
Got you.
"Damn it!"
I had kept my detection active while running, just in case.
Suddenly, I felt a foreign presence catch in my sensory net.
The image of something non-human burned into my mind. It was taking shape by the millisecond, preparing to devour the pervert.
"I'll assist."
"Whoa?!"
Bella's voice rang out, and my body was suddenly launched forward at the same speed I had been running.
I quickly glanced back. Bella's index finger was extended, pointing toward the pervert.
"A bit to the left!"
At my request, my trajectory shifted slightly to the left.
My target was the wall at the bend in the hallway.
Crunch!
I arrived just as the pervert's upper body vanished.
"Hup!"
Crash!
I spun, kicked off the wall, and launched myself at the monster.
A massive mouth.
It was a nauseating sight, shaped like an upside-down jellyfish lined with countless rows of teeth.
The creature folded in on itself, rapidly shrinking into a small box.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
Just before hitting the ground, I snatched the box as it tried to fly away and rolled across the floor.
"Whew."
Just as I channeled my divine power to burn the box to ashes—
I felt the box struggling, trying to escape in a specific direction.
It wasn't the struggle of a living creature with its own will. It was the mechanical movement of something being controlled.