Episode 66 – Search
by Afuhfuihgs
*
After parting ways with the group, the soldiers in shining armor were bustling about in Robin’s mansion, which I had found again.
The informant was none other than Mela, the Holy Woman from the Hero’s party, who was respected and admired by many, and the suspect was surprisingly Jennifer, the Archmage from the same party. As the scandal was of such a scale, it was only natural that there were so many soldiers.
And as many as the soldiers were, a thorough search was being conducted, turning the entire mansion upside down.
Jennifer’s room, the scene of the incident, was especially so.
I entered Jennifer’s room through the window, avoiding the eyes of the soldiers who were rummaging through every nook and cranny like crazy, and moved quickly during the very brief moments when I wasn’t in sight, hanging from the ceiling and waiting for them to leave.
After rummaging through the room for a long time, the soldiers wrapped up the confiscated items in bundles, slung them over their shoulders, and leisurely left the room.
The soldiers didn’t seem to have figured out that the bookshelf was a secret passage yet, but if they listened to Edward’s explanation, the person involved in the incident, they would be able to find it soon.
I had to hurry to get Banata out, who might have become a threat to humanity.
The items that were the key to the secret passage were no longer in Jennifer’s room.
From the glass box I gave to Edward to the red leather-covered hardcover book that was the original key, they took away anything that looked even slightly suspicious.
But fortunately, there was still a way.
I had a first-rate magician who had created the glass box I gave to Edward.
[Ed, evoke magic power and adjust it as I explain. I’ve already grasped the structure of the magic circuit sufficiently.]
,Okay.’
According to the instructions of the voice I heard in my head, I created demonic energy, turned it back into magic power, and then molded that magic power into a special form.
The feeling of knowledge that I didn’t know at all and couldn’t understand being forcibly entered into my head was very strange and bizarre.
[It’s complete. Now you can open it with that.]
I inserted the magic power in a special state gathered at my fingertips into the gap in the bookshelf.
With a Whoong sound and wind blowing between the bookshelves, I took a step back and watched the bookshelf slowly open.
Behind the slowly receding bookshelf, a passage full of darkness, feeling like a gaping black mouth, revealed itself again.
[Ed, as I said last time, it’s full of demonic energy inside.]
[Yes, it would be safer to enter in an undead body.]
,Okay.’
Jennifer had been living here and doing that disgusting research, and Edward seemed to be fine after going in and out of here, so it seemed that the demonic energy in this lab was not concentrated enough to turn a human body into an undead in a short period of time.
However, since there was no harm in being careful, I agreed with the opinions of the guests in my head.
I squeezed out the white light of divine power flowing through my body and poured it onto my hand.
It was quite difficult to handle the fierce and rough divine power of the Holy Sword, unlike Mela’s soft divine power, until a few days ago, but after practicing a few times in the meantime, I’ve gotten used to it to some extent.
I imagined knocking over a glass of water and drew out the feeling that divine power was pouring out onto my palm.
Tuk
A sword with white flames flickering was held in my hand with a sound that felt like a heavy weight.
[Now you’re completely used to it!]
,The fact that I’m holding this isn’t getting any easier to get used to, though.’
[It’s just cool. Ed]
,Yeah, thanks.’
I lightly bounced in place to check my body condition and then stabbed myself in the eye.
[Kyaaak! Ed!]
[Tsk, this guy again.]
Well, I confirmed that I had safely become an undead.
,Okay. Let’s go.”
[It’s not good! I said it’s not good!]
Ignoring the chirping voices, I raised the Holy Sword as a torch and strode towards the passage full of darkness.
*
While passing through the space still filled with gruesome corpses, I found the still twitching headmaster of Aureo Academy, Magier. No, the undead she used to be.
Perhaps she is the person least related to me among those caught up in my journey of revenge.
Knowing that she wouldn’t understand, I offered a sincere apology and sent her off peacefully with the Holy Sword.
Magier’s body touched the Holy Sword and burned away without leaving even ashes.
Just like the monsters that were hit by the sword Robin wielded in the past.
Holy Sword.
A sword of holy flames that burns all that is unjust.
I, who had become an undead, was now holding such a Holy Sword and wielding it in an awkward pose that wasn’t even proper swordsmanship.
,Ha,”
I let out a hollow laugh, feeling that my situation was absurd.
I felt like I had become the protagonist of a bad joke.
I shook my head violently.
Now was not the time to fall into self-pity and ridicule.
It was only a matter of time before the soldiers found this place, so I hurried down the stairs towards the room where Banata had been imprisoned last time.
Going down the stairs, I saw the wooden door I had seen last time.
Even though the door itself was rotten and worm-eaten, the bolts that were firmly locked in double and triple layers had a very resolute impression.
For some reason, the surrounding air seemed to become heavier as I approached.
I could feel a dangerous aura behind that wooden door, as if I shouldn’t touch it.
[Don’t be nervous. Ed, that’s just the influence of the demonic energy emanating from my horn.]
,The horn that Jennifer cut off.’
[Yes, it seems that it was the main ingredient in this ridiculous research that took place here.]
[Um… um]
[What is it]
[That, I’ve been really curious about it for a while now…]
,?’
[What is it.]
[Um… does it hurt when your horns are cut off?]
[…]
,…’
[Ah, I was wondering if it was like a fingernail.]
[…I don’t know, it was cut off after I died.]
[Ah, I’m sorry.]
,…Tsk,’
Thanks to the idiots, I was relieved of my tension, so I looked at the bolts on the door and the locks on the bolts, and then just kicked it with my foot.
Perhaps because it had been corroded by demonic energy, the door could not withstand the impact and fell off the wall with a crack.
Stepping on the fallen door, I entered the room.
,Ha, long time no see. Banata-yang”
Mena was finally able to find her, whom she had been looking for so desperately.
That bizarrely complex and confusing unidentified machinery that I had seen through the crack in the door last time, and the huge glass tube connected to it.
Banata was still asleep, trapped inside that glass tube.
I had never seen such a complex machine, so I didn’t know how to get her out, so I tried to break the glass tube with the Holy Sword.
After all, the Holy Sword can’t cut people.
But at that moment, a scream that seemed to shatter my eardrums echoed through my head.
[Ed! Stop!]
,Ugh! What? What’s wrong?’
[Are you going to kill that bitch?]
,What are you talking about? The Holy Sword can’t kill…’
[…]
A sinister thought flashed through my head, which had suddenly become quiet.
To be killed by the Holy Sword.
I knew immediately what that meant.
There were only two cases where you could be cut by the Holy Sword.
Like Magier just now, you’re a monster,
Or, like in my case, you’re cut along with a monster.
In other words, it meant that Banata was now a monster,
Or that a monster and a human existed at the same time.
,Ah, no way.’
[…Yes.]
,You clearly said that Banata would be okay.’
[And I also said that Jennifer’s experiment was half successful.]
,…’
[Um, could you please explain what you’re talking about so I can understand?]
,Yeah, explain it so we can understand.’
A rare serious atmosphere lingered in the conversation among the guys who lived in my head as they pleased.
How long has it been since our conversation felt so edgy?
[…Possession is the transplantation of another person’s soul.]
,…Another person’s soul?’
[Of course, it’s not a normal method. At least it’s definitely not in the realm of magic power or divine power, and even with demonic energy, it’s usually only possible with corpses revived with necromancy. Besides, even I can’t find and attach the soul I want.]
,…’
[Maybe that magician combined the demonic energy from my horn with her own magic power and applied it independently. But even I don’t know how that’s possible.]
My mouth dropped open without me realizing it.
The Demon King is essentially an existence that freely manipulates demonic energy, which is like poison to humans, and at the same time, this Demon King was also a specialist in magic.
Jennifer had created a result that even he described as an incomprehensible realm.
I couldn’t help but be shocked that her mad, crazy research had surpassed the level of the Demon King.
I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hide my surprise.
[Wow… the Archmage is an Archmage after all.]
[Yes, all of these magic formulas and magic circles were designed from scratch using independent methods. It’s like creating a new language and writing system and then writing a paper in that language.]
As he said, Jennifer’s research results may be something great, but I didn’t want to hear such things.
I asked impatiently, as if urging him on.
,…So what’s the conclusion? I don’t care about Jennifer’s skills or whatever, so just tell me the conclusion first. What’s going to happen to Banata?’
[…It’s pure demonic energy from the Demon King’s horn. There’s no way a human body can withstand it.]
[Are you saying that Banata-yang is going to die?!]
[No,]
[…?]
,…No way.’
[That bitch has been possessed, and she has become a demon to withstand that possession.]
,Fuck.”
It’s not my life if things go smoothly.
I lamented, spitting out profanity.
.
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