142. A Room You Can Escape If You Do It
142. A Room You Can Escape If You Do It
In the Headmaster's office, the Headmaster was silently attending to his duties.
"Headmaster-nim, students dissatisfied with Bishop's Code of Conduct are staging a protest."
"Sigh..."
At that moment, the academy's fourth-most-senior professor entered and reported the situation to the Headmaster.
It was about the Code of Conduct Bishop had proclaimed upon entering the academy.
The Headmaster, as if feeling a headache coming on, pinched the bridge of his nose before opening his eyes again.
"Do you remember the incident that occurred at the academy twelve years ago?"
"How could I possibly forget."
"The damage wasn't extensive, but it was shocking in many ways."
"The black magic major professor, Krauser... I thought he was one of the few with his head on straight, but well."
The black magic major professor, Krauser, was the most level-headed among the black mages who specialized in black magic.
He knew how powerful and fearsome the discipline he handled was, and he was always wary as he gazed into the pitch-black darkness.
He taught black magic, but simultaneously taught defense techniques against it.
He wasn't popular with students because of his corpse-like pale complexion, but he was always sincere.
Then, out of the blue, he began to fear demons.
The incident where a demon-touched human appeared inside the academy was the starting point.
The demon-touched was swiftly dealt with by a Holy Knight, but the exorcism ritual held in the middle of the academy triggered his neurotic anxiety, and from that day on, he began researching demons.
And... as he was conducting a lecture on demons, he...
"To think he would end up summoning a demon while preparing a lecture on demon defense techniques...."
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When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted me.
The floating sensation in my body that I'd felt just moments before was something I hadn't experienced in a very long time.
Ever since I became a Master, I could step on air itself, so being helplessly suspended in mid-air was impossible.
"Where is this..."
I replayed the events that had just happened.
The decrepit mansion of the black mage, the Great Demon's symbol, the place where the demon had appeared, the wooden floor that had been a trap,
Amy, who had been exploring the mansion with me.
Right, Amy was caught in the trap along with me.
"Amy!!"
As soon as I thought of her, I shot up and looked around.
Amy was lying beside me.
She hadn't regained consciousness yet.
"Please...."
Wondering if something was wrong, I placed my ear against her chest with my heart pounding.
-Thump-thump
Her heart was beating normally.
Seeing her chest rise and fall, she was breathing well too.
"Phew... that's a relief."
I'd have to examine her more, but confirming the biggest problem wasn't there put me at ease.
"Ugh..."
She made a small sound, as if trying to wake up.
When I turned to look, Amy had groggily opened her eyes and was staring at me.
"You awake?"
Amy's eyes, which had been staring blankly at me because she didn't know what was happening, shifted.
They flickered between my face and her body, and her face gradually reddened until it became as red as her own hair.
"Uwaaah?? What are you doing??"
Amy, her face a beetroot, flinched in surprise, pushed my head away from her chest, and fled backward.
Seeing how well she moved, she seemed unharmed.
"That's a relief, you're unharmed."
"I don't really feel unharmed."
I had shoved my face right in front of her the moment she came to, so she had every right to be surprised.
Amy, who had fled to the corner of the bed, covered her chest with both arms and was breathing heavily.
"Where... is this?"
"We'll have to figure that out now."
Amy looked around too, intrigued by the space she'd entered.
"We... were definitely in the mansion, right?"
"We were."
Amy racked her brain for a long time, then grew incredibly restless.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Ah.. no!!"
I wasn't exactly sure, but since we'd stepped on a trap and moved to a strange place, I thought it was natural to be restless.
"First... let's investigate this place a bit."
"Yes... let's get out of here as quickly as possible."
We didn't know what kind of place this was or how dangerous it might be.
We had to get out as soon as possible.
With the same objective, we began to examine the room.
The room's structure was simple.
It was a compact layout consisting of the largest living room, a bathroom attached to it, a restroom, and a small side room.
But there were no windows or ventilation ducts.
I even wondered how it ventilated.
I worried that if we stayed like this, we might suffocate, but the air was oddly fresh.
In the center of the living room, which was painted purple, was a bed wide enough for a grown man to jump around on.
"There is a door, though."
A door of typical size, big enough for one person to enter, stood squarely in front of us.
A metal plate was attached to the top part of the door.
"Could it actually open?"
The door, simply made with a raw wood texture, wouldn't budge no matter how hard I tried to grab the handle and open it.
Every time I tried to open it, the magic formula inscribed on the door merely flickered.
"It won't open..."
"It's not that simple."
Even when I gripped the door handle with greater force, it still didn't move in the slightest.
I should have realized it was a problem at this point.
Being trapped in a secret room and looking for clues necessary to escape felt like some kind of escape room game.
The difference being that this wasn't a game, I supposed?
While Amy continued exploring the living room, I decided to check the other rooms.
I first entered the restroom.
Since it was classified separately, it was a dry restroom, but strangely enough, it was a flush toilet.
It seemed the water supply was connected.
Next was the bathroom right next to it.
This was a wet room with tile flooring.
A faucet and showerhead were installed on the wall, and a fairly large shelf was attached.
When I opened the shelf, I spotted robes, towels, scented oils, and the like.
In the center, a massive bathtub that could easily fit four people caught my eye, and various additives were scattered around the tub.
"Wow... there's really all sorts of stuff in here... This is 'Blue Slime Powder', 'Bubble Bath Bomb', 'Rose Scent'...."
I searched through them one by one, wondering if there were any clues, but found nothing.
The last place I went into was a small storage room attached to the side.
At first glance, it was a truly horrifying room.
It looked like a collection of all kinds of torture devices: a prison cell, restraints, ropes, and the like.
But no matter how I looked at them, they weren't actually torture devices.
Torture requires tools designed to inflict enough agony to drive the victim to madness without killing them, and to break them down in a controlled manner, but all the tools here were properly finished.
The ropes had their fibers all tidied up, making them soft, and the restraints were padded with a soft material where they touched the skin.
'This... it's that. You know, that.'
I tried to ignore it, but I felt like I understood what this room was made for.
As I pushed aside and rummaged through all sorts of obscene objects, I discovered something on the storage room wall, behind the shelf.
It was the same metal plate I'd found on the door.
However, it was slightly different from the one on the door.
This plate was engraved with a goat's symbol.
"If it's the goat's symbol, it's Asmodeus's domain."
Just seeing the symbol of Asmodeus, the Great Demon of Lust—depicted as a chaotic tangle of various animals—engraved there made the unsettling premonition feel like it had become reality.
If this was the domain of that demon of lust, a room filled with nothing but lewd things was entirely to be expected.
Below the symbol, it read:
[The Room Where You Have to Fuck to Escape]
"Ah, bullshit."
I tried not to, but the curse slipped out before I could stop it.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Amy was staring blankly at the phrase written below the goat symbol, completely at a loss.
It seemed like her soul had left her body, so I thought I needed to snap her out of it.
"Amy, you okay...?"
-Tap
"Heeit??"
The tip of my finger barely touched her shoulder, but she flinched in alarm and stepped back.
"Ah.. no way, no!!"
"Amy, get a grip."
Her face bright red, she flailed her arms wildly and backed away from me.
What strange thing was she imagining?
Did she think I was suddenly going to say there was no other way, rip all her clothes off, and force myself on her?
Of course, if that truly were the only way, I was prepared to do it without the slightest hesitation.
Though, of course, I would need Amy's consent for that.
"Amy, behind you..."
Amy, still backing away, was so flustered she didn't notice the pile of ropes on the floor, tripped, and fell backward.
-Clatter-bang!!
"Owww...."
Amy, who tripped over the ropes, then collapsed onto the restraints displayed behind them.
The restraints, designed to be used immediately—open and with a simple locking mechanism—clamped shut the moment Amy fell onto them, binding her waist and both hands.
"I... I can't move... could this be a trap too..?"
"There's no way that's the case."
I approached the sobbing Amy, released her restraints, and gently hugged her, stroking her back.
"It's okay... there won't be any major problems."
"Uuugh... Atlas... can we... really go back...?"
We could go back.
That is... if we did what was written there.
As my hand moved to stroke her back, Amy's breathing gradually returned to normal.
.
.
.
.
.
Amy, who had barely managed to calm down, was full of determination.
"There must be another way besides that one. Right??"
"We'll have to search for it."
The first thing I did was attempt 'Shukuchi'.
With Shukuchi, which folded space itself to move, I should be able to escape regardless of distance.
I recalled the coordinates of the academy and took a step forward.
"... It doesn't work..?"
The Law activated, but the space didn't fold.
"It's working fine, so why is it failing?"
Just to be sure, I tried stepping up onto the air using the basic version, not the applied technique, and it worked perfectly.
Even using Shukuchi inside the room presented no issues.
It felt as if this room had been severed from the outside by some special method.
"If that's the case..!!"
Amy drew her pistol.
"Hey!! If you fire in this cramped space, it'll ricochet!!"
"It won't ricochet if it penetrates!!"
-Bang! Bang!
"Not even a scratch?"
Even though they were demon-slaying bullets made of silver, it was still a pistol.
At least a wooden door should have shattered, but it didn't even get a scratch.
I should have realized it from the start, when the door handle wouldn't budge as I tried to force it open.
"I really didn't want to have to pull this out."
I grabbed Squete from my back.
"Let's see if this holds up too!!"
The flash of light erupting from Squete traced a pure white line through the empty air.
It was a Master's strike, capable of splitting even the sky.
A wall like this should be smoothly sliced....
-Clang!!!
It didn't slice through.
It was a truly rare sight, the first I'd ever witnessed.
My Aura Blade, honed to the Extreme, was blocked by something and couldn't advance.
"... It's still fine even after that?"
The most powerful means I had didn't work.
All my thoughts of 'things will work out somehow with Shukuchi or an Aura Blade' were completely shattered.
Suddenly, the severity of the situation sharply escalated.
Well, shit. What do I do now?