Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Way to Save You
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Pindenai and I descended underground without exchanging words.
Even though we had illuminated the area with magic light, the darkness was too thick and the space too vast for us to see anything beyond right in front of us.
"Hmm, this is an incredibly spacious place."
Pindenai grumbled as she looked around.
"Can you see anything?"
"Yeah, I can see. The smell of preservatives is strong."
"......"
Pindenai grimaced as she surveyed the surroundings. Her blood-red eyes had adapted to the darkness in an instant, seemingly watching something I couldn't perceive.
This made me feel unnecessarily incompetent for being unable to see anything.
I substituted souls for light and had them wander the room. Their screams echoed like the sound of wind, but I didn't care.
The souls became will-o'-the-wisps, as they were commonly called, illuminating the underground.
"......"
Only then did the scene Pindenai had taken in become visible to me as well.
This place was a kind of warehouse.
A warehouse filled with countless bone fragments huddled tightly together, waiting for someone to discover them.
"Kya, what was that? The glorious Border's Barrier, Verdi? Nah, it seems more like some yokai that devours people from out of town."
Pindenai cackled as she prodded the bones on the floor with her foot. It was a shocking sight, but on some level, I found myself accepting it.
'No wonder the mansion was overflowing with evil spirits.'
Now I understood why so many vengeful evil spirits had roamed the mansion.
[Kkieeeek!]
At that moment, one of the illuminating flames screamed and went out. From there, one by one, the flames began to be sucked into somewhere.
A chilling blue light burst from the far end, soon brightly illuminating the entire underground.
From amid the mountain of bone fragments emerged a massive centipede with a human face.
The centipede, composed of white bones and blue flames, was devouring the souls that had been absorbed into me.
[I hate it! I hate it!]
[Save me!]
[I don't want to die!]
The souls screamed as if recalling the memories of their actual deaths.
I now understood why Scrall had hated coming here.
"A centipede made of human bones?"
The monster was visible to Pindenai as well, and she stepped forward with a hollow laugh.
"Master, I don't think we can just take this thing down. We'd need an axe or something."
Pindenai wiggled her hands, emphasizing how empty they felt. The creature's presence was so intimidating that even she saw it as a threat.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
It approached with footsteps like crushing insects. Its mouth gaped wide, as if ready to devour us right then.
"Aw, damn it!"
Pindenai quickly twisted her body, tucked me under her arm like luggage, and spun toward the entrance.
I protested with my eyes about why she was carrying and running like this, but the running Pindenai just snorted.
"Good thing you have a capable maid, huh, Master? You'd be dead already without me."
"Hoo, don't make me look so pathetic next time."
"You've got a lot of demands! But if this thing follows us up, won't it destroy the mansion?"
"It's fine. The fact that it hasn't come out of the basement until now means it can't go outside any further."
"Hmph, it'd be fun if it did follow."
Hanging limply beside the grinning Pindenai, I turned my gaze to the centipede monster.
Its face resembled a massive human skull, its elongated body like a centipede's, with countless human bones embedded on both sides serving as legs.
'...A centipede made of human bones.'
I followed its length with my eyes.
Since magic containing souls was being consumed by it, I simply used mana to create light and traced it to the far, long end.
"......!"
What was at the centipede's terminus was no mere tail.
It was a girl, half her skin peeled away, expressionless, with a hole in her chest.
This monster was connected to the girl's heart.
Thud thud thud thud!
Pindenai passed the entrance we had come through and began climbing the stairs. The skull centipede twisted its body, smashed into the entrance, and started crawling up the stairs.
"This thing is disgustingly gross!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Pindenai crouched down and gripped me tightly with both hands. Then she flashed a grin.
"Hold on tight, Master."
As I hooked my arm around her neck, the overwhelming mana that Pindenai had been concealing exploded outward, allowing her to leap up more than half the passage in a single bound.
Moreover, starting from the point she used as a foothold, the impact caused the stairs to collapse, preventing the skull centipede from pursuing recklessly any further.
"That's me. Who does a lowly creature like you think you are?"
We finally reached the first underground floor again. Pindenai wore a refreshed expression, as if pleased to have moved her body after a long time, but I was a bit more serious.
'What was that girl?'
The girl connected to the heart of the massive skull centipede. It was too enormous to simply be a parasite.
My thoughts spiraled deeper and deeper, on the verge of plunging me into a sensation like being alone in the deep sea.
Snap!
Pindenai blocked my path. The family head Darius, who had rushed over, had tried to slap my cheek, but Pindenai had caught his wrist.
"Let go! You foreigner, if you've received grace, obey quietly instead of interfering with the master!"
"My master isn't you."
She was right.
Pindenai belonged to me, not the Verdi Family.
I subtly met Darius's eyes and asked.
"Did you know what was down there, brother?"
"What? What does it matter to you! Just keep drinking and fooling around with women like always—that's your job! Have you forgotten we agreed you wouldn't interfere in family matters!"
Had we made such a promise?
Sorry, but that wasn't me.
"I'll ask once more. Did you know what was down there, brother?"
"What does a punk like you need to know about...!"
"Break it."
Crack!
"Arghhhh!"
The wrist Pindenai held snapped cleanly. The servants behind him flinched in surprise and tried to rush to Darius, but.
As I took a step forward, they recoiled backward as if pushed.
I looked down at Darius writhing on the floor in agony and warned him.
"Don't test my patience any further, brother. Last question: did you know?"
* * *
In the dean's office at Lovern Academy.
Health Professor Karen and Professor Erika Bright were engaged in a tense standoff with the dean between them.
"We need to bring Professor Deius back."
At Health Professor Karen's opening salvo, Erika scowled and refused.
"Are you joking? How long has it been since Professor Deius was dismissed, and you're already saying that?"
Erika naturally turned her gaze to the dean and continued.
"Dismissal is the highest level of severe disciplinary action. It's not just termination—it's legally mandated by the kingdom that they cannot be reappointed for a certain period along with retirement. If we bring Deius back now, it would mock the royal law and shake the authority of Lovern Academy."
She added that it could make the already shaky royal funding even more uncertain, darkening the dean's expression.
Karen scoffed incredulously.
"So what? Is that authority more important right now? No, Professor Erika! Didn't you see it with me—the work of those bizarre evil spirits! Professor Deius grasped it before anyone else!"
"Deius just got lucky knowing about it. We've found clues now too, so we can handle it sufficiently."
"No! Ha......"
Karen, who was endlessly cold and rational in combat, found her mercenary-honed debate skills utterly useless in this discussion.
Now more frustrated than absurd, Karen stared straight at Erika and asked.
"Why exactly? Just yesterday, you were unraveling the incidents with me. Why the sudden change?"
"I haven't changed. I worked hard to solve the case, and I will continue to do so with all my effort."
"Enough."
The argument seemed like it would drag on forever. Finally, the dean opened his previously tightly shut mouth.
He had a kindly face, but today it was gravely serious as he pondered.
"Reinstatement for Deius is impossible. However, let's at least seek his advice. It seems he knows something about the current situation."
"Yes, understood."
Erika Bright bowed deeply in satisfaction with the outcome, while Karen bit her lip and stormed out of the dean's office.
The dean sighed watching her go, then said to Erika.
"Professor Erika probably doesn't want to be associated with Deius at all."
"......"
She affirmed with silence.
"I'll contact the Verdi Family separately. Professor, please console the students well and work on resolving the incident."
"Understood."
Erika Bright nodded and stepped out into the corridor.
The sky was strangely overcast.
Even without a drop of rain, the thickly gathered dark clouds seemed to mirror the academy's troubled state.
In truth, there were plenty of ways to reinstate Deius Verdi.
He had been a specially invited professor thanks to Erika Bright in the first place.
In other words, a non-regular position.
Of course, upon entering this year, promotion to full professor had been a matter of time.
His qualifications as a professor had been confirmed over three months, and he had sufficiently proven his abilities.
In fact, the recommendation letter for full professorship had already been sent to the palace.
But before that, the disciplinary notice for dismissal had arrived first.
By kingdom law, dismissal could not be imposed on a specially invited professor like Deius Verdi. At most, termination.
He had received disciplinary action from a position essentially immune to it.
It was absurd, but they had pulled it off.
If asked how, the only answer was that the Zeronia Family of Gideon had pulled strings—nothing else.
'I'll make sure you never return to this academy, no matter what.'
Erika Bright clenched her fist, walking the corridor, vowing to herself.
She would definitely prevent his return.
No matter what unreasonable means she had to use.
Even if it meant spouting nonsense logic.
Even if it meant playing the lover to that damned narcissist.
Because that was.
'The way to save you.'