Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Silver Star Pavilion (1)
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We slipped into the darkness and headed toward the Silver Star Pavilion.
I had never double-majored in revenge studies, so I rarely had any reason to go to the Silver Star Pavilion.
Excluding the few times I'd stopped by on errands for professors or for school events, this was my first time— that would be accurate.
"Arma Cruise. Here."
At that moment, Theodore tapped my tense back.
I'd trained myself to control my tension even in normal times, so I didn't do anything foolish like jumping in surprise, but honestly, it was dangerous.
"What's this?"
What Theodore handed me was a ring with a small gem embedded in it, which he'd removed from his thumb.
"It's a protective charm."
"Then you shouldn't give it to me."
"In cooperative operations, raising the team's average is the standard, right?"
"Yeah, you're right..."
Well, Theodore must have his own backup plan, which is why he was handing over the magic tool to me.
I felt a tiny bit sad.
As soon as I put on the magic tool Theodore had given me, Shirley jumped in and attached a brooch-type magic tool from her shoulder belt to the holster clasp on me.
"Yeah, load me up. Until you all feel better... Judith, got anything for me?"
"Want this?"
Judith flicked something shiny with her finger as if she'd been waiting.
I snatched it out of the air and checked—it was a locket, the kind you put photos or a lover's lock of hair in.
"How's that? Average up?"
"Yeah, sufficiently."
"With all these protective charms, I could die three times and still come back."
"If you go as far as resurrection, you won't end as just an Aegis executor, you know? At that point, you'd be Saint Arma."
"I absolutely won't die."
If that happened, Saint Arma Cruise would top the list of outstanding figures produced by Aegis Academy.
We exchanged silly jokes to shake off the tension as we made our way along the path.
The dense forest unique to Hazard Island, able to withstand the salty sea breeze and harsh weather, reliably concealed our group of five.
"So, Arma. First destination? You're not planning to just barge into the main building's first floor and start searching, right?"
When I looked up at Judith's question, the Silver Star Pavilion came into view in the distance.
Dillon, who'd been showing signs of extreme impatience for a while now, looked like he was barely holding back from charging straight in.
"For now, how about we check Sir James's office?"
"It's definitely got security measures. Squad Leader Dillon, you can pick the lock and get in, right?"
Shirley said that while miming climbing over a windowsill.
The person worrying about security was going to break in through the window?
When Shirley couldn't see an answer, she'd just charge ahead like this—she was always fighting her own contradictions.
"The Silver Star Pavilion is closer to the Thorn Crown House compared to the other classes."
"What does that mean?"
"The professors are stuck in mannerism."
Dillon jingled the universal key hanging from his finger.
A moment later.
Just as Dillon had said, Sir James, trapped in mannerism, hadn't set up any particular defenses in his office.
Sir James's office, which opened pathetically with the universal key, was starting to accumulate a thin layer of dust since its owner hadn't visited in days.
"Hm?"
But something felt off.
It was because there were traces of someone pulling out books after the dust had started to accumulate.
It seemed there had been visitors before us.
"There are traces of books being pulled out and put back. They don't seem to have tried to erase them particularly."
Theodore examined the bookshelves carefully, then crooked his finger, floating the books on one shelf about 1 cm into the air.
-Flip, flip.
And then he displayed his signature trick—flipping through the pages as if skimming carelessly, but actually reading every single one thoroughly.
"They're all major-specific books. No strange marks either. If the goal is to not leave traces, how about I search here while you check elsewhere?"
"Ah, yeah. Thanks."
This room was so dusty that it would be too easy to leave our own traces.
No matter how many servants there were, they wouldn't come to clean a locked professor's office after he'd been caught trying to escape.
We'd unintentionally created a natural security measure.
We carefully exited the office, then wiped down the doorknob and desk with hands clad in dust cloths.
"The rest is up to Theodore."
Judith rubbed her palms to shake off the dust from her gloves, then closed the door last.
The faint sound of pages turning echoed sporadically from inside the room.
"Next?"
"Grace House."
"We've already been there."
"There was something I didn't think of at the time."
Judith and I had already visited Grace House, but Shirley and Dillon hadn't.
We headed to Grace House while briefly recounting what had happened that day.
-Crackle.
Tree branches that had been soaked all winter were starting to dry out bit by bit.
The scent of rotting leaves and salty earth wafted strongly from the damp ground.
"By the way, Dillon, just one question."
"What're you curious about?"
"If we hadn't investigated with you, what would you have done?"
"I'd have gone straight to Sir Reynolds."
"And then? Based on our experiences so far, that alone wouldn't solve anything."
Dillon smiled silently, dimples forming.
I couldn't know the details, but Dillon didn't trust the academy or the faculty much.
In that regard, he shared a similar perspective with Makina, but the fact that they weren't particularly close confused me.
"I was planning to blackmail them with the corruption I've collected on the professors."
"You have... an unusual hobby."
"It's not a hobby."
Dillon grumbled but joked that if there was a professor he wanted to pick a fight with, just say the word.
-Creeeak.
Grace House, revisited after a few days, looked much the same as when Judith and I had last left it.
The room seemed to have had all its lived-in items burned wholesale; all that remained on the floor were the bed frame, empty wardrobe, and other furniture.
"Judith, remember when we followed Ms. Colette?"
I tapped the patterned wallpaper, spaced about a meter apart, and moved sideways bit by bit.
Finally realizing my intent, Judith started feeling along the opposite wall.
"What are you doing?"
"There's a passage connecting to the basement."
"A passage? What nonsense is that?"
"Here."
Making Dillon's snark irrelevant, I quickly found the 'suspicious spot.'
The wall there didn't sound solidly packed when hollow-tapped; it gave a hollow, popping echo.
"...Huh?"
"Whoa, there really is."
Dillon watched what I was doing with a twisted expression.
I pressed the protruding part of the wall and opened the 'wall' just like Ms. Colette had.
Shirley watched our actions with boredom until she finally spotted the door and flung it open, her mouth dropping wide.
-Clunk.
"It... opened?"
"You've gone and found a secret passage? And the case is getting more labyrinthine..."
Shirley launched into an exaggerated narration like a theater actor.
Dillon peered slowly toward the passage with a truly bizarre expression.
"I learned by chance that there's an underground passage the servants use. I thought it was strange they never showed themselves except when repairing things or attending to duties."
"Huh? Oh, no. I knew there was a servants' passage... but that it's connected like this?"
"I only found this place because I happened to see a medical staff member who knew the underground passages inside out open the door. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found it."
Dillon's bewildered reaction was perfectly understandable.
Even if the servants moved with us on the surface, it cost us nothing.
But shoving them into an unseen underground felt like some weird sense of chosen superiority.
"If it's hidden enough to conceal a sick child, not everyone knows about this passage. There are adults like Ms. Colette who look after kids, and those who don't."
"Right. Plus, if everyone knew, I'd know too."
We stared at the entrance to the pitch-black underground passage, the moonlight at our backs.
The staircase descending step by step from the surface felt hollow, as if swallowing the light into an empty darkness.
"But is there really something down there?"
"I think the odds are high."
Just as I was about to step into the underground passage first, Dillon pushed ahead with his body.
I yielded the lead to him as he wanted and followed behind.
"Think about it. The medical staff didn't go through proper procedures. They left in a huge rush. Did they have time to rummage through this dark underground for their stuff?"
Even Ms. Colette, who seemed familiar with it, moved slower than usual through the basement.
That made sense—no one could light even a small flame in pitch darkness where you couldn't see an inch ahead, all to avoid prying eyes.
"If Sir James's room shows traces of searching the academy for something, the odds of clues remaining there are very low. But the servants' underground passage? Higher chance something's left behind."
"You think the academy doesn't know about the servants' passages?"
"If even Dillon doesn't know, that says it all."
"..."
The underground passage felt more complex than an anthill in practice.
Judith drawing a perfect map after just one trip through that maze was the weird part.
I carefully followed Dillon, who took one cautious step at a time, inching forward.
"Without a map, we might just wander forever."
"We'll gradually expand the search area. We came empty-handed today, but starting tomorrow, we can at least make a map."
"Good idea."
Even if Judith remembered the way to some extent today, we couldn't rely on her memory forever.
If we were going to brute-force it, I needed to contribute at least that much.
But perhaps because our resolve was different this time.
Our reckless exploration actually yielded progress.
"I smell chemicals."
Shirley, bringing up the rear, had caught the suspicious clue.