Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Ghostly Commotion (1)
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“Ow… What in the world is this? Some kind of seal?”
If the door had just been open, I might’ve tried slipping through the gap, but the latch locked from the inside meant the front door wouldn’t budge an inch.
I reached out toward the cord strung across the entrance like a barricade.
‘Where’s it anchored? Looks like I’ll need to untie it to get in.’
As I followed the cord to its end, someone inside the building—precisely, on the other side of the boarded-up hallway window—let out a shrill screech.
“Touch it and you’ll invite the impurity!!”
The front door was blocked, don’t touch the cord barring it, and here I was, drenched in the pouring rain, clutching a soggy bag of bread to my chest.
I stood there crookedly, one leg cocked out, and shot back at the girl barricaded inside.
“Impurity? Whether it’s impurity or whatever, I still need to get into my own dorm. If you block the door like this—”
“Don’t touch it!!”
The voice booming back didn’t sound drugged or anything…
With all the recent rituals flowing toward cults, drugs, slander, and curses, maybe I’m the one losing it.
Anyway, grinding my teeth inwardly at the idiot screaming not to come in after blocking the entrance, I turned to Theodor.
“Theodor. Does this look effective to you? I mean, to you, an elite of Thorn Crown House!”
“Doesn’t seem like it. The orientation and materials are all wrong.”
With that, Theodor undid the cord wrapped around the door’s hinges, handle, the edge of the wooden statue, nails, and all.
“Nooo!”
“If they were aiming for the Star Cross as a symbol of Aegis, the standard is to list the hours and locations of the martyrdom of Aegis’s Thirteen Saints in chronological order.”
Then, without being asked, he fixed the black cord to the upper right, drew a Star Cross shape, and secured it again.
Theodor muttered to himself midway through—things like ‘Why’d they set the orientation like that?’ or ‘The designer’s intent is unclear’—but it was all Greek to me.
*Tap, tap.*
It was a jaunty motion like knocking on the door, but the black cord fixed itself in midair without a single nail.
“Technically, drawing magic circles is prohibited, but…”
Finally, using the black cord, Theodor perfectly rendered a Star Cross in front of the Aegis Academy dormitory entrance. Then he pulled actual chalk—real chalk—from his pocket and meticulously drew some intricate pattern over it.
Not that he seemed eager, but the result was impressive.
“Wow, what…?”
“Isn’t that Theodor White from Thorn Crown Class?”
“What’s he doing here?”
“Whatever, just open the damn door!”
By now, cadets who’d finished their late dinners had gathered in little groups to watch Theodor.
Watch? More like, with the door not opening, they had no other options.
After scribbling what looked like a period or a tiny circle to cap it off, Theodor tucked the chalk back into his cloak.
The finished product was a complex sigil: a sharp-pointed cross outlined in black cord at the center, encircled by a pentagonal halo.
I let out a quiet murmur of admiration at Theodor, who’d whipped up a full magic circle in seconds and now looked utterly bored.
“You made a magic circle out of that sloppy black cord? So, what does it mean?”
“It’s the reverse of an exorcism spell.”
“…Reverse meaning…?”
“It won’t function as a proper ritual, but ‘exorcism’ means banishment, so the reverse would be… if I had to assign meaning, a passive summoning circle.”
“Waaah!”
*Bang!*
No sooner had Theodor finished than the door latch lifted, and the door flew open.
With a screech, the black cord and all the feathers and junk woven into it shot off into the air.
“A summoning circle!? What are you talking about!?”
Bursting out the door was a freckled girl with round glasses and crimson curls tied loosely down to her waist.
She’d been muttering to herself while restoring the magic circle, griping about the orientation.
So Theodor hadn’t grasped the ‘true’ intent of the circle’s designer.
“Oh, it’s scaredy-cat Dana Wood.”
“Scaredy-cat…?! Me!?”
“Ugh, whatever. Move! I’m freezing my ass off!”
A few might’ve circled back to their rooms, but the cadets who’d lost the waiting game shoved past Dana Wood, grumbling.
“Gah!”
Dana Wood staggered with an unseemly yelp.
I stepped in to shield her from getting trampled and steadied the lanky girl as she wobbled.
“What the hell were you thinking, pulling this in this weather?”
“This weather…”
With the door finally open, the five or six lingering cadets rushed inside. Soon, only me, Theodor, and Dana remained at the entrance.
“Ha, but… I kept hearing sobbing.”
“Sobbing? You sure you didn’t imagine it?”
Dana didn’t answer, just flushed beet red and fumed before darting off to what seemed like her room—the second door on the right.
Had I been too harsh? Regret hit me late, but the water was spilled.
“Cold. Let’s get inside, Theodor.”
“…Yeah.”
Theodor glanced at the door Dana had vanished through, then quietly stepped forward.
I thought I’d gotten used to it by now, but his footsteps were still ghostlike—utterly silent.
*Woof woof… pant pant! Woof!*
Cookie sensed us before we even opened the door and threw a fit from inside.
The weather was rotten, but she seemed in pretty good spirits—must be getting used to it.
I cracked the door just enough to keep the excited Cookie from bolting out, nudged her back inside, and slipped in.
“Theodor, come on.”
“Yeah.”
Theodor did the same, half-opening the door and squeezing through quick to block any Cookie escape.
Arthur was right where we’d left him, dozing lazily by the fireplace.
I set the bag of bread on his lap, shook out my wet hair, and stripped off my soaked clothes.
“Got drenched for nothing out there. You go first, Theodor.”
“What happened?”
Even in a storm, we shouldn’t have been soaked to the bone like this.
“Nothing major. Just a little mishap.”
Arthur eyed Theodor expectantly, so Theodor pondered a beat, tossed out a single line, and headed to the shower.
“Someone did something stupid.”
I shoved away the fluffy Cookie trying to wipe herself on my sopping self, warmed my hands and feet by the fire, and filled in the gaps Theodor had skipped.
“No big deal. Someone tried drawing an exorcism circle or whatever and blocked the front door.”
“Exorcism…? Is there any mage in this dorm besides us who could pull that off?”
“Not that I know of. And it was backwards, apparently. Like setting a mousetrap but just leaving out cheese.”
“Definitely stupid.”
I had to nod at Arthur’s words.
Dana Wood’s stunt had been pathetic from the start.
For one, cowering at so-called evil spirits or ghosts was ridiculous in the first place.
Thorn Crown Class was less than a ten-minute walk away, and what they summoned and studied every day were exactly those ‘spiritual entities.’
“I think I was scared of ghosts until I was five.”
“You got over them young.”
“Something scarier came along.”
Arthur smirked at my half-joking tone, then leaned back in his chair, voice languid.
“Spiritual entities in human form can’t affect the physical world. Most things called ghosts are just natural phenomena.”
I’d learned that back in first year too.
Aegis Academy’s stance on souls was fundamentally ambiguous.
They dealt with souls comprehensively but glossed over the world of the dead they went to, used them as energy sources without treating them as persons.
Like staring into a mirror of death while pretending not to see.
Arthur recited the textbook answer like a model student, then added,
“But very rarely, evil spirits born from magic or corrupted energy combined can wield physical force. That’s when they become exorcism targets. Tree Cross House is pretty much tailor-made for it.”
“…Huh? You make it sound like evil spirits are bound to pop up here.”
“All the conditions are in place.”
*Clang… clunk! Clang…*
*Shhhh…*
The three o’clock bell tolled, muffled by the rattling boards.
In ten years at Tree Cross House, I’d never sensed a hint of that.
If anything, Black Lily House fit the spooky vibe better.
‘Well… even if I were a ghost, I wouldn’t haunt a place crawling with trainee priests.’
Then again, after the chimera wolves, the evil spirits had picked their foes well.
Tree Cross Class cadets were a bunch of PE majors who hadn’t even passed basic spirit mediumship, let alone core classes.
“Don’t say that outside. If the kids here heard—”
“Kyaaah!”
“Heard—”
“Waaah! It’s a ghost!”
“…….”
It was pitch black out, but it was still hours from the witching hour when ghosts supposedly roamed.
I calmed Cookie, who was barking wildly at nothing in excitement from the screams, then pressed my ear to the door.
“It’s definitely them! They died and came back for revenge.”
“N-No way…”
“Then what’s this blood?! The crying!?”
“……Tch.”
I clicked my tongue without thinking.
This was more serious than I’d thought.
Arthur, who’d been watching me, finally stood, grabbing his sheathed sword from the corner console in the parlor.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
“Something’s wrong, right? Gotta fix it.”
“…You, personally!?”
Was he planning to swing a sword at evil spirits?
I’d intended to check it out if trouble brewed, but did I really want to drag along someone already geared up like ‘ready to swing’?
Theodor, fresh from the shower, blinked at Arthur standing there dumbly with his sword and me ear-to-door. Then he fished the chalk back out from the cloak he’d just worn.
“Whoa—”
One guy grabs a sword on impulse, another whips out chalk. Staring at the bizarre scene, I figured we might as well go all in and snatched Cookie’s leash.
“Woof woof!”
A sword guy, a chalk guy, and a leash guy.
The world’s least ghost-believing crew formed an impromptu evil spirit strike team.