Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: The Deceptive Saint (1)
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If someone had stayed behind in the dorm, she wouldn't have harbored these suspicions.
But for them to vanish like smoke...
Could this really happen in a situation where there was nothing to hide?
"It looks like they disposed of everything they were using."
Judith examined the lone remaining bed frames and tables as she spoke.
What else could this be but proof that the Aegis Academy was connected to the plague?
"They probably burned it all."
Suddenly, memories of her time at the sanatorium came flooding back.
Back when she stayed at the sanatorium called Saint Martin's Garden, there had been an incident where residents downstream got septicemia from polluted river water and died.
The epidemiological investigation had successfully identified the cause of the septicemia, but until then, the villagers had assumed those who died from illness had succumbed to a contagion and burned all their belongings.
"If the people here know something about the plague..."
Judith nodded at the belated addition.
"Let's get out of here, Arma. We need to disinfect ourselves too."
"...Right."
Aspiring mages and swordmasters had superior stamina compared to ordinary people and some resistance to infection.
The mana flowing through their bodies not only strengthened their constitutions but also purified them to a certain extent.
The problem was ordinary people like her and cadets with ambiguous levels of mana.
"Adam Peacock..."
He was surely one of those cases.
"By the way, it would be great if we could swing by the infirmary under the pretext of disinfection."
"You're thinking of checking on the cadet who collapsed, right? Got it."
Judith nodded as if she'd read her mind without her even saying it and took the lead.
They left the empty Grace House and arrived at the infirmary.
A medical staff member caught their eye and gave a slight nod in greeting.
"Excuse me, do you know how Adam Peacock, the cadet who was admitted recently, is doing? I've been worried."
In normal circumstances, they wouldn't share such information with a complete outsider like her, but she was the one who had personally brought Adam Peacock in.
"One moment, please."
The medical staffer flipped through the charts at the reception desk to check.
"Ah, Cadet Adam Peacock has been discharged."
The staffer informed her of the discharge without suspicion and then sprayed disinfectant on her and Judith.
While disinfecting her hair, body, and finally her hands, a familiar voice came from the second floor of the infirmary.
"Executor..."
"Ah, Ms. Collette."
It was Nurse Collette, whom she'd met after the Full Moon Festival and who she suspected was one of the Executor's followers.
Ms. Collette hesitated for a moment, her expression suggesting she had something to say.
Neither she nor Judith missed it.
The moment the medical staffer finished and put away the disinfectant, they exchanged glances and approached Ms. Collette.
'Ms. Collette is one of the "followers," but she seemed different from the cadets at Aegis Academy.'
The annoyed expression she'd worn while looking at the group singing hymns outside the wards.
That look of disdain toward outsiders, which wouldn't have appeared if they were part of the same group, came to mind.
Ms. Collette's brows furrowed slightly for a moment before she bowed her head deeply and spoke.
"...Um, Executor..."
"Yes, what is it?"
"Well..."
The petite, bird-like Ms. Collette, who had always shown her a near-fanatical devotion, was hesitating right in front of her.
That alone was enough to detect something unusual.
"Shall we move somewhere else? This is a space for patients, and it doesn't seem right for an outsider like me to linger so long."
"Understood."
Catching her intent, Ms. Collette quickened her pace toward what appeared to be a back door used by staff.
White marble floors, white-painted wooden frames and curtains...
In that entirely white space, Ms. Collette's black hair stood out vividly.
-Thud, thud.
Lost in thought, Ms. Collette said nothing for a long while after that.
They walked the length of the long corridor without exchanging a word.
"Executor."
At last, after the prolonged silence, Ms. Collette spoke.
"I know this might sound bewildering, but... could you spare some time this evening?"
"...You mean intruding on a cadet's personal time?"
Judith, who had been silently observing, interjected.
When Ms. Collette had tended to her during her injury when she could barely walk, she'd seemed much sharper and more intimidating than she actually was, but seeing this side of her made her heart waver.
"Understood."
"Arma."
Judith held back her words, but she had a pretty good idea what she wanted to say.
But she had her reasons for no other choice.
'Ms. Collette might know something about the missing medical staff.'
In this situation, was it really mere coincidence that Ms. Collette was requesting a private meeting?
Somehow, she felt all these events were connected.
"Thank you so much. Then, let's meet back here when the bell tower chimes five times. It'll be shift change, so it should be empty."
"Sure."
Ms. Collette bowed politely in thanks and retraced her steps down the corridor.
"Sorry, Judith. I have a feeling Ms. Collette holds some key information."
"No need to apologize. So, this evening, huh?"
"Will you come with me?"
"Did you take what I said earlier as a joke? You and I are a team."
"Thanks. Then I'll rest up a bit, and we'll meet later for dinner time."
Judith wore an expression that said she had plenty to say but wouldn't.
They left the infirmary and took a short rest in their respective rooms.
.
.
.
Time flew by.
She'd considered waiting for Theodore to return and going together, but Shirley and Theodore didn't come back.
Leaving a note in case they returned late, she stepped out of her room to find Judith waiting at her door.
"I was just coming to get you."
"I'll try harder next time."
Exchanging light banter, they headed to the infirmary as promised with Ms. Collette.
As Ms. Collette had said, the lobby was deserted.
It seemed like an unavoidable gap due to the reduced medical staff.
"Executor, you really came..."
Ms. Collette looked uneasy.
Her eyes, honed by deception, picked up on the anxiety Ms. Collette was trying to hide in her gait and gestures.
"I'm not late, am I?"
"Of course not. Thank you for coming. ...Well then, this way."
Unlike the grand front entrance, Ms. Collette pushed open a modest single wooden door and entered.
Perhaps because dusk was falling, the infirmary grounds felt strangely unfamiliar even though it wasn't her first time.
"We'll be using the staff passageway from here on, so please bear with me."
With those words, instead of heading toward the corridor lined with wards, Ms. Collette entered the opposite one and stopped in front of a white-painted wooden door camouflaged so subtly it was hard to spot at first glance.
-Creak.
The wooden door was cunningly mounted like part of the wall pattern; when Ms. Collette pushed it open, it created an optical illusion as if the wall itself was moving.
Unlike what she'd expected—a passage leading outside—the space beyond led underground.
'It must connect to that space I saw before.'
The floor Shirley had collapsed while killing the chimera wolf had turned out to be the ceiling of a servants' passageway.
Who knew it extended all the way to the infirmary?
It felt like peering into an anthill. Ant colonies have just a tiny visible entrance, but beneath lies an enormous network of tunnels.
The problem was that this anthill was traversed by humans, not ants.
"Ms. Collette, where are we—"
"Shh—"
Ms. Collette confirmed they were inside and closed the staff entrance.
Before the sun fully set, the faint light from above was cut off, plunging the passageway into darkness in an instant.
"Please don't light any torches. And Executor... I know this is an outrageous request, but—"
Even in the pitch-black darkness where she couldn't see an inch ahead, Ms. Collette walked without slowing, as if intimately familiar with the underground path.
Given that all the wall-mounted torches were extinguished, it didn't seem like this was meant to be navigated in such gloom normally.
"An outrageous request? This is getting more and more—"
"Speak."
Judith, who had remained silent throughout, asked incredulously.
She well understood Judith's concern, but this felt like a chance to uncover something.
After a brief pause, as if steeling herself, Ms. Collette spoke.
"There's a child I'd like you to meet."
The word "child" jolted her mind awake.
A "child" that the medical staffer Ms. Collette wanted her to meet.
And the plague revolving around children.
It was the perfect setup for grim imaginings.
'I should have brought Dylan.'
She'd come here worrying that Dylan might take reckless steps to uncover the truth, yet now it felt like she was striding toward the heart of it without the actual person involved.
-Thud, thud.
The footsteps of the three echoed through the dark passageway.
Aside from Ms. Collette, it seemed hardly anyone used it; not a soul crossed their path in what was supposed to be a staff thoroughfare.
"In truth, all the medical staff who used this place have fled... But just in case, we're keeping the lights off."
As if reading her thoughts, Ms. Collette answered.
Hearing this made the recent halving of the medical staff feel all too real.
She'd personally seen a nurse who'd been darting around frenetically during Adam Peacock's admission, covering for the missing ones.
"Why did the medical staff flee?"
"......"
On that, Ms. Collette fell silent, unable to say.
"Are they locals?"
"They're outsiders."
It felt like twenty questions, but there was surely a reason Ms. Collette couldn't answer freely.
She weighed whether pressing Ms. Collette for the truth or gathering evidence another way would be more efficient.
'There's a reason she's clamming up. It might do more harm than good.'
Now, Ms. Collette's steps were quickening as if being chased by something.
In this lightless underground passage, with no idea of the destination, she and Judith kept walking.
Why was a child left abandoned in such darkness?
If what she suspected had truly happened again, why must such a thing occur?