Ch.1414. Secret

The four people who entered the room could only stare blankly at the burning notebook as its pages scattered into the air.

What on earth is happening here?

[Hehehe.]

A girl’s voice echoed even though no one had spoken. The first to react was Professor Per, who had seemed the most oblivious.

“Kyaaaah! Again! It’s out again! It’s back!”

She immediately covered her ears, curled up, and started screaming. Erika hurriedly embraced her, but it didn’t help much.

“Let’s get outside for now.”

Erika momentarily worried that the door might be locked, but fortunately, the doorknob turned properly, and they were able to step outside.

“What is going on?”

“The girl in the laboratory. It seems that child is playing some kind of trick.”

Gideon and Karen appeared quite calm. Especially Karen, who quickly returned to her usual demeanor despite having just lost the key to solving this incident.

Tap, tap.

As the four stepped out into the corridor, a hard sound echoed. They recognized it as footsteps from its regular rhythm.

[Children.]

A hunched old woman suddenly stood before the stairs leading down. The moment he saw her, Karen had an intuition.

“Professor Erika. Try using an illusion dispelling spell.”

“Let flesh and soul be made whole, twist and expel the corrupted filth, Purification.”

The clean incantation unraveled like a ball of thread, naturally forming a spell that enveloped the four people.

However, despite this magic, the old woman still didn’t disappear and raised her head toward them.

Where her eyes should have been, there was only darkness like a vast ocean.

[Would you like some candy?]

The same repertoire the students had mentioned. Soon, they would be paralyzed and forced to eat eyeballs, or so they had heard.

“I have no intention of being manipulated by such trivial matters.”

Feeling humiliated at being caught up in such an insignificant situation, Gideon finally couldn’t hold back and stepped forward.

He placed his open palm at his side. Taking a stance as if drawing a sword with his other hand.

Whoosh!

Instantly, a sword of flames appeared, illuminating the fourth floor like a beacon. The heat pressed against his entire body, warming him intensely.

Gideon, wielding the flaming sword, charged forward. Unlike the students, he intended to resolve this immediately without a trace of fear, but…

Halt.

His body stopped.

Then the old woman approached Gideon, who had his sword pointed at her neck, chuckling.

[Oh, so you want to eat it?]

Bleh.

Her long tongue easily touched the cold floor. And on it lay the old woman’s eyeball.

Gideon had been about to strike down the monstrous tongue, but not only could he not move his body…

“…!”

He couldn’t even speak properly. He couldn’t swallow his saliva, and his vocal cords had stopped vibrating. It was literally a frozen world where only consciousness remained.

In that state, it was the school nurse who spoke.

“I’ll eat it.”

[Hmm?]

The old woman’s gaze turned to Karen. More precisely, she rolled the eyeball on her tongue to look in this direction, but anyway.

“I want to eat your candy, grandmother.”

The moment those words ended, the old woman had already passed Gideon and stood before Karen.

Smiling brightly as if satisfied, the old woman slowly took Karen’s hand and placed her eyeball on it.

Karen didn’t hesitate to put it in her mouth and swallow it.

Gulp.

“…It’s delicious.”

Erika beside her frowned with a disgusted expression, while Per had already puffed up her cheeks, seemingly trying to hold back rising vomit.

At Karen’s response, the old woman stood blankly for a moment before smiling with satisfaction and giving her a tight hug.

[Good, as long as it’s tasty.]

With that, the old woman disappeared.

“Uweeeeek!”

Per went to a corner of the corridor and began to vomit properly, while Erika asked Karen with cold sweat.

“Are you alright?”

“There’s no problem. I’ve eaten it before.”

“…Pardon?”

Erika wondered if she had understood correctly, but Karen simply thrust her hands deep into her pockets and pressed her lips shut.

She seemed to be lost in deep thought, but soon opened her mouth with a “phew.”

“Ah, the fishy smell. I need to rinse my mouth first.”

Karen entered a nearby bathroom. Erika was surprised—she had heard Karen was a monster who had crossed countless battle lines during her mercenary life, but she was a woman with even greater courage than expected.

“…Damn it.”

Gideon, who had been unable to offer any resistance to the old woman, clenched his fist in frustration and immediately went down to the first floor.

Ignoring Gideon, Erika used magic to clean up Per’s vomit and thought to herself.

That life at the Academy was going to be extremely difficult from now on.

*

“……”

The path down to the Verdi family’s underground was more thoroughly hidden than I had imagined.

Should I call it the underground of the underground?

The first basement level is a place prepared for the servants, consisting of quarters, kitchens, and cleaning rooms.

A place for preparations to serve us and the guests above.

Beyond that, a door leading even further down, standing alone in a storage room.

Looking at the door that was sealed off with multiple layers of wooden planks as if it had been sealed, I folded my arms.

“What is this place?”

I slightly turned my head, and my eyes went to Findenai standing beside me. Since she obviously wouldn’t know, I shifted my gaze one more step to the side.

The butler who had accompanied me down to the basement explained with bewildered eyes.

“Well, we haven’t been specifically informed either, but we only know it’s a place where the old history of the Verdi family rests.”

“Old history?”

“Yes, that’s why it’s been a forbidden place for many years.”

The butler glanced at me as if to say that I, as the second son of the Verdi family, shouldn’t be unaware of this.

After telling him that would be all and to leave, I gently placed my hand on the door.

Thud! Thud thud!

Immediately, black ripples poured out from the gaps between the door and the planks.

“Hmm? This mansion is more interesting than I thought?”

Findenai looked around with interest, making a nasal sound. Though she might not see spiritual beings, her animal-like senses seemed to detect the ominousness.

Standing in front of the door with my chin resting on my hand, I stared impassively at the black ripples seeping out.

They were writhing as if they had consciousness, and if they touched my hand, they seemed angry enough to drag me in immediately.

“Hmm.”

After exhaling a short breath.

I slightly extended my hand. Then Skral, who had been hiding, immediately brought my staff and placed it in my hand.

It was the one I had used when climbing the Norsweden mountains last time.

“Summoning a staff… I can’t quite gauge our master’s abilities.”

Ignoring Findenai muttering beside me, I tapped the ground with my staff and said.

“Findenai.”

“Yes?”

“Break it down.”

Normally, when given such an order, an ordinary person would ask again. For example, even Skral, despite being a ghost, was startled and looked at me.

But Findenai is different.

“Okay!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, she put all her strength into her foot and smashed the door to pieces.

Crack!

Being an old door, it shattered helplessly and rolled across the floor in wooden fragments.

Dust spread everywhere, along with bugs pouring out.

Servants rushed into the storage room, startled by the sudden commotion, but it didn’t matter.

I didn’t even give them a glance as I covered my mouth with my sleeve and frowned.

‘The energy is fierce.’

More than the dust and bugs, the energy of evil spirits constricting my entire body made breathing uncomfortable.

‘It’s not a spiritual being, but it has comparable energy. Yet it’s ambiguous to consider it a bound spirit.’

Usually, bound spirits tend to exert explosive influence in their own territories. But this case seemed a bit different.

If grandmother were here, she would have quickly given me the answer.

Feeling a bit regretful, I took a step forward.

“Hmm? You’re going inside?”

“No answers will come if we don’t go.”

“Well, that’s true. You’re more bold-spirited than I thought, master.”

Findenai, saying she liked that about me, started following behind. I lit a small fire at my fingertip and descended the stairs.

The further in we went, the stronger the repelling energy became. Nevertheless, I continued forward. In such intuitive power struggles, the dead find it difficult to overcome the living.

Because we have mass.

Step, step.

The underground stairs seemed endless. Midway, I heard some noise from above, probably Darius or Deia coming to curse at me.

“But you don’t seem to know much about your own family’s history?”

“Because I’m not the head of the family.”

In truth, it’s not because I’m not the head, but because I’m not actually Deus. I’ve only been here for six months, so what would I know?

I know nothing about the family. Moreover, the Verdi family strangely had many secrets.

“Hmm, you’re quite different from the rumors I’ve heard.”

“Rumors?”

Since we had nothing else to do while descending the long staircase, I asked what she meant by rumors, and Findenai shrugged and answered.

“Well, I heard from the working maids that you’re an extreme womanizer.”

“……”

“Making maids wear such lewd outfits. But you don’t seem to be touching them?”

It’s funny for me to say I’ve changed, and there’s no point in saying it anyway.

After all, Findenai was the type to intuitively believe what she saw, heard, and felt rather than rumors.

Rather, what I could offer was advice.

“It’s not a good idea to relay servants’ gossip to their master.”

“It’s not like I’m going to stay here forever.”

“Still, it would be better to be cautious. The maids are Norsweden’s information network. Nothing bad will come from befriending them.”

“……”

I don’t add that especially for you, who worked as a scrap dealer, information gathering is even more crucial.

Even Findenai would have realized that much.

“Oh, speaking of which, I just remembered something. I went on an errand outside today?”

“…?”

“A very glamorously dressed woman asked if you had returned? Said she was your lover.”

“…Sigh.”

“You don’t look the type, but you must frequent brothels. She said she’d be waiting for you in the evening. Said she’d give you plenty of service. Even said she’d lick your ass?”

I’m not even angry.

I just exhale impassively, trying to suppress the throbbing headache.

What has this damned body gotten itself into? Just as I’m dealing with one thing, another pops up.

‘Now that she’s heard such rumors, it might be why she drove me away.’

I also thought that the reason my fiancée, Erika Bright, drove me away from the Academy might be because she heard such bad rumors.

I heard the Bright family hasn’t requested to break off the engagement yet—are they taking time to save my face?

‘There’s no need to hesitate.’

Thinking it’s unnecessary consideration, I reached the end of the stairs, and…

Findenai, who found my silence strange, asked in surprise.

“What? Are you really going this evening?”

“Hah, I’m not going.”