Ch.1313. Deus’s Note

“I’m so busy I don’t have a moment to rest.”

Professor Karen, who had been investigating the laboratory, was urgently called back to the infirmary.

The reason being that students who had once again become involved in strange incidents within the academy had appeared.

A group of about five students. And Erika and Gideon comforting those five.

‘I thought they went on a date.’

Karen entered the infirmary and immediately headed toward the students with pale blue faces.

Most of them were trembling and unable to speak properly, but one of them was at least in conversation with Erika.

“S-so suddenly she offered me candy.”

“Candy?”

“What candy.”

When Karen and Gideon simultaneously expressed their confusion, Erika narrowed her brow. She put her index finger to her lips, cautioning them to be quiet so as not to interrupt the student’s story.

“H-her mouth. She opened her mouth wide and handed us the e-eyeball that was on her tongue.”

“……”

A bizarre and nonsensical testimony. But all the students were equally terrified as they recalled the incident.

“T-that was the old woman’s eye! That person had no eyes! Hic!”

In the end, Erika Bright tightly embraced the student who couldn’t hold back tears.

Karen was there for the students, but since she didn’t have the confidence to empathize and hug them like that, she just shrugged her shoulders and, as the school nurse, only checked if there were any injuries.

‘Again, not a single injury.’

Karen made a strange sighing sound as she shoved her hands deep into her white coat pockets.

It would be good if she could understand the intention, but there was no harm done other than genuinely frightening them or making them faint from fear.

If pressed, perhaps simple bruises from falling or bumping into something out of shock.

After calming all the students, the three professors made eye contact and naturally stepped outside the infirmary.

Leaning against the corridor wall with his hands in his pockets, Gideon offered his opinion, saying there was nothing to see.

“It’s a mass hallucination. There must be a Mage hiding somewhere.”

“……”

“That’s premature.”

Erika closed her eyes in silence, and Karen openly disagreed. It was too early to make a definitive judgment.

But Gideon asked the two of them, saying he didn’t understand.

“So you really think something like that is possible? An old woman with both eyes gouged out comes and gives her own eyeballs that she was holding in her mouth, calling them candy?”

When put into words, it sounded even more absurd, and Gideon snorted.

“It’s nonsense. Someone cast a hallucination spell on the students when they were tired. There’s no other explanation.”

“No traces of magic were found on any of the five people.”

Erika, the only Mage present, denied this with her arms crossed.

“Hallucination magic also has different levels. The more senses you deceive, the more traces are left.”

For example, if it’s a hallucination spell that only deceives sight, surprisingly few traces remain.

Though it would be difficult to fool someone.

“But the five students described the situation in detail. The appearance of an elderly person without eyes, the stale and musty smell, the voice telling them to eat the candy, the wrinkled hand that touched them……”

“And they even felt the sticky taste of the eyeball given as candy when it entered their mouths.”

Karen continued the unpleasant conclusion. Erika, making brief eye contact with Karen, nodded.

“That’s right. If it were a hallucination spell deceiving all five senses, traces would inevitably remain.”

But no traces remained. Feeling frustrated, Gideon slightly raised his voice and asked again.

“So you’re saying the kids really saw such a being? It seems more reasonable to assume that an extremely skilled Mage has infiltrated the academy.”

“……”

That was a fair point.

That’s why neither of them could give a separate answer.

In the midst of the situation where no proper opinions were emerging due to frustration, a woman with pink hair walked down the end of the corridor.

She tried to hide her body’s curves with a sweater, but her small stature and disproportionately large chest would inevitably draw the gaze of any man.

The same was true for Gideon, but.

‘Hmm?’

Karen felt puzzled once again seeing Erika not paying any attention at all. Were the two of them really dating?

“Professor Per. Are you feeling better now?”

“Y-yes! I’m f-fine!”

The woman who arrived was Professor Per, who had been appointed just a few days ago.

She was also the first victim of this incident.

As Erika approached her gently first, Per bowed her head. Not just to Erika, but once each to Karen and Gideon as well, troubling herself.

“H-hello. I’m Per Petra. I’ve recently taken up a professorship. Please take care of me.”

Rather than not reading the atmosphere, she read it too well and said unnecessary things.

Gideon and Karen simply raised their hands and briefly acknowledged her greeting.

Thinking she might have made some mistake, Per pulled out a letter from her bosom.

An old-fashioned blue letter.

It bore a seal that Erika knew all too well.

“Verdi?”

The seal of the Verdi family.

That meant it was a letter left by Deus Verdi.

“W-when I woke up, this was placed on my bed. I was so scared that I brought it right away.”

“You’re saying a letter that wasn’t there yesterday appeared?”

“Y-yes!”

Erika’s expression became deeply furrowed. She glanced at Gideon and Karen standing behind her.

“Let me see.”

Karen approached indifferently and snatched the letter. The former mercenary and swordsman’s movements were too quick for Erika, a Mage, to react.

“Oh, mountains and a tiger representing Norsweden. Is this really the Verdi family crest?”

“Verdi?”

Gideon also approached immediately, his interest piqued. A suddenly appearing letter.

Left by the predecessor, Deus Verdi.

“May I read it?”

“Ah, yes!”

After receiving consent from Professor Per who had received the letter, Karen immediately opened it and unfolded it.

Gideon and Erika stuck close on either side of her to check the contents together.

The letter was written in an old-fashioned style using a quill pen and cursive.

[Precautions when using the laboratory.]

1. Remove the full-length mirror.

2. Do not make loud noises.

3. Do not run around.

4. Do not talk to yourself when no one is around.

5. If someone speaks to you after you’ve talked to yourself, ignore them.

6. Try to leave the laboratory before evening if possible.

7. If someone knocks on the window, ignore it.

9. If a woman with an entirely black body suddenly opens the door and enters, hide under the desk, close your eyes, cover your ears, and hold your breath.

10. If there are any missing numbers in this letter, burn the letter immediately.

“…Huh?”

Even Professor Karen, who had been through thick and thin as a mercenary, couldn’t help but be bewildered.

She wondered if this was some kind of malicious letter, but.

“Missing numbers? Number 8 is missing!”

Professor Gideon, who had finished reading a bit later, muttered. Then, after a beat, he smiled brightly.

“Hahaha! Professor Deus has more wit than I thought? Playing pranks like this?”

A distorted smile forced onto his face.

Erika Bright bit her lip hard as she snatched the letter and burned it immediately.

“Have you ever seen that man joke around?”

Even she, his fiancée, only got to see him smile once on the last day before he left the academy.

The letter burning in mid-air and disappearing.

Karen clicked her tongue, thinking it might have been burned too hastily, but.

The ashes of the letter didn’t scatter or settle on the floor, but floated in the air as if waiting for something.

“…This is.”

Karen, who immediately noticed, looked at Erika abruptly, but she was already infusing mana into the ashes.

The ashes began to move and form letters.

[If there were any peculiarities in the letter, it means that not just the laboratory, but the entire academy has already fallen into their hands.]

“Their?”

Gideon voiced his confusion, but the others focused on the contents of the letter.

[It’s difficult to predict what situation might unfold, but I’ve left a method to quell the disturbance in the third drawer of the desk I used.]

“…!”

[Just mercy.]

There were no more messages in the ashes that fell with a thud.

That’s why Karen ran out before anyone else. She had already checked the entire laboratory.

Then what remained was the room Deus had used.

“Mercy…?”

Behind them, Professor Per was mulling over the last words with a dumbfounded expression, but Gideon and Erika were already following Karen.

“Do you know the room number Professor Deus used?!”

In response to Karen’s shout, Gideon answered, saying it was absurd.

“You were running without even knowing that? Faculty dormitory 404! The last room!”

The three people rushed in together. Karen broke down the locked door as she entered.

In the desolate room where only basic furniture remained.

When she opened the desk drawer, there was indeed a small notebook placed alone.

“So Professor Deus did know something!”

“What has this professor done.”

Karen and Gideon were delighted that the troublesome matter would be resolved.

Only Erika remained silent, her lips tightly pressed together.

Flip.

As they opened the notebook, words written in Deus’s handwriting were densely packed.

[1. Regarding the girl who appeared in the laboratory.]

“Is this the girl Professor Per saw!”

Professor Per, who had caught up last, panting heavily. With each breath, her voluptuous chest heaved noticeably.

Just as they were about to continue reading.

[Found you.]

Simultaneously with a girl’s voice echoing throughout the room.

Whoosh!

The notebook left by Professor Deus began to burn.

“What the!”

They hurriedly threw it to the floor and stomped on it repeatedly to extinguish the fire, but the flames didn’t weaken; instead, they grew fiercer.

“Move aside!”

Water droplets emerged from Erika’s palm and managed to subdue the flames, but.

The notebook had already disappeared without a trace.