Ch.189189. Untangling the Knot (10)

“Ugh, what do I do now.”

Junon suddenly collapsed.

The girl was flustered but managed to catch her exhausted senior in her arms before he hit the floor.

Thanks to her consistent training at the fitness center, she was able to prevent him from getting hurt in the fall.

But still, she had a woman’s body. She couldn’t keep holding the weight of a grown man indefinitely.

“…I, I should lay him down first, right?”

Despite her experience on battlefields, she was clueless about treating or caring for people.

This was the best she could do for now.

A lap pillow.

An act of lending her knee so the exhausted sleeping body could rest comfortably, if only for a moment.

It was a little embarrassing. A little ticklish. And a little pleasant.

Still, the feeling of embarrassment inevitably took precedence.

‘I hope no one’s watching…?!’

She looked around frantically, but the only person who might be there was Adel, who was unconscious.

Thanks to that, Renias let out what seemed like a sigh of relief(?) and kept glancing nervously at Junon, worried he might suddenly wake up.

But her nervousness didn’t last long.

Gradually, she grew bolder.

‘Black hair… it looks the same even up close.’

Starting with his uncommon hair color, she timidly poked here and there with her finger.

Curiously examining various parts of Junon, she very gently stroked his hair.

The damp hair. His hair, soaked with sweat, was gradually cooling under the warmth of her hand.

So this is what his face looks like with eyes closed.

It felt unfamiliar, perhaps because she hadn’t seen him sleeping much before.

She didn’t realize that she was getting closer and closer, little by little.

“Ah…?”

When she came to her senses, Junon’s cheek was pressed against her chest.

Moreover, she could feel his breath. His breathing was touching her skin from such a close distance.

And being close meant something else might touch too.

Though the position was completely different from the after-party, the thoughts running through her head were no different.

And as if to break that moment, part of the ceiling began to collapse.

“Uuugh…! Why am I doing this…?”

She jerked away as if struck by static electricity, but this embarrassment was entirely her own fault for leaning down so close.

She rubbed her face with her sleeve several times, but the rabbit girl’s reaction had already been noticed by someone long ago.

“My, my~.”

***

Boom.

A collapsing building.

By pushing in the opposite direction of the shelter, they managed to prevent the shelter side from collapsing.

Rescue operations proceeded urgently.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Whoosh.

-I’ll go in first.

-What? You’re going through this small entrance?

-Goden, it only looks small because you’re so big…

-Ahem. Anyway, go in and report back. There’s a limit to how much more we can break through.

-Okay. Take your time coming in.

The light entering the shelter is momentarily blocked.

The space seemed quite narrow for a person to enter, but watching her rotate her body and flexibly pass through the hall, it apparently wasn’t so tight after all.

“There! I’ve arrived. It looks like we can break through directly below, but since there’s some height to get them out, it would be better to create a slope. Someone who knows alchemy or transmutation should make stairs—that would be best.”

-Understood. Then I’ll widen the entrance first and come down.

“Be careful coming down since there’s nothing like cushions!”

Senia cupped her hands and informed Goden about the situation inside the shelter, then turned her head.

This was something she hadn’t bothered to mention, but perhaps she should have.

“Oh my, my. Renias, what did you do to Junon to make him fall asleep? Ah. Or were you planning to do something now?”

“Whaaaat?!”

Startled rabbit ears shooting up.

Renias vehemently denied it, insisting it wasn’t like that, but mischievously, Senia smiled wickedly and began teasing her.

“A lap pillow? Isn’t that something only couples would do~?”

“He, he fell asleep! I don’t want his mouth to get crooked…”

“Aha. So that means you caught him in your arms when he collapsed?”

“That was because he could get hurt…!”

“Reeeally~? You’re taking such good care of him~?”

“Ugh…!”

Senia poked here and there with an impish expression. In contrast, Renias’s eyes spun in circles, not knowing what to do.

“If you stay frozen like that, your lap won’t be very comfortable, you know?”

“Huh…?”

“It’s a rare date time for you. It’ll take a while until the rescue is complete, and I don’t intend to interfere, so enjoy yourselves.”

“I-I’m absolutely not doing anything like that…!”

“Pfft. How cute.”

Her face flushed bright red with embarrassment—she truly looked like a rabbit.

If there was a reason Senia couldn’t help but look at Renias with satisfaction, it was because the sight of Junon sleeping soundly on Renias’s lap made such a lovely picture.

‘Besides, they match so well.’

They both fidget awkwardly when they don’t know what to do—they really are a perfect match.

Their colors complement each other well. The height difference goes without saying. They have similar aspects too.

Moreover, she’s suitable as someone who can listen to Junon’s secrets.

Even if the entire Tembris party tried to change Junon’s mind, they wouldn’t be as effective as Renias alone.

“Why, why are you just staring at me?”

“When I see a handsome man and a beautiful woman, wouldn’t it be natural for my eyes to be drawn to them?”

“Whaaaat?! We’re not like that! We’re just senior and junior… that’s all!”

“Who said what? Hey, no need to be flustered. I said I won’t interfere, didn’t I? Hehehe.”

“Uuugh. Seriously… stop it…”

She teased them, pretending to be innocent while pushing the fresh-faced pair as a couple.

Of course, even while doing so, she carefully examined the condition of Adel, who had been a hostage.

“The rope marks are quite deep from being tied up for so long, but it seems Adel isn’t injured anywhere else?”

“Actually, I couldn’t see clearly, but I think something happened when the smoke bomb was thrown. Ah, there it is… that ampoule!”

“Hmm, is that so? I’ll check the rest. It seems like they’ve prepared for our exit outside while we’ve been chatting.”

-One, two, three!

Crash!

-Once more! One, two, three!

Boom!

The shelter ceiling crumbles, widening the entrance considerably.

Below it, several rescue team members gather the fragments and use magic to create a staircase.

“Whew. Coming in, I see it’s serious. Traces of someone who self-destructed, signs of forcibly blocking the entrance… sigh.”

Goden shook his head as he surveyed the surroundings.

It didn’t take long to take action.

“Well then. Looks like it’s time to end the lap pillow? What a shame.”

“Wh-what?! I told you it’s not like that…?!”

“You’ll have the chance to visit him in the hospital. Try making your move then.”

“Don’t tease her too much, Senia. If you keep this up and Ronelion finds out, you’ll be the one suffering.”

“Alright, alright.”

Goden intervened with a word, seeing Renias writhing in embarrassment. Only then did Senia stop her teasing.

“Well… since Adel was a hostage, I’ll carry him. Could the rest of you please take care of Junon and Renias?”

—Yes!

They were about to escape, finally leaving this wretched building behind.

They thought everything was over.

“…!”

“Goden?”

Swish.

“What’s going on? Why are you putting him down suddenly?”

“Something’s wrong.”

“Wrong?”

When Goden placed his finger on the neck and said that, Senia also put her ear to the area where Adel’s left chest would be.

But indeed. The reaction was the same.

In an instant, both their faces hardened.

“What’s wrong, you two?”

Renias came looking for them when Goden and Senia, who she expected to follow, were delayed.

The truth she would face was not very bright.

“Call Erika, right now!!”

“I’ll go get her!”

***

An emergency meeting was convened.

The fact that Dube Hall, which was nearly completed, had collapsed.

A comprehensive revision of the educational curriculum thus far.

Various issues came up at once, including notices to be sent to students and announcements to be posted on bulletin boards.

But those weren’t important. Even if the elders and nobles raised their voices, these were one-dimensional problems.

-Professor Muniher, this is Ophelia. The investigation of Dube Hall is complete. May I report?

“Come in.”

What took priority was what had happened there.

“In the shelter, there were three people including a hostage. And there were traces of what appears to be the perpetrator’s suicide.”

“Suicide, you say? In what manner?”

“The tissues and organs constituting the human body were burst or crushed. It was difficult even to recognize the form.”

Muniher let out a low sigh of dismay as he viewed the scene contained in the lens.

After signaling her to continue, Ophelia resumed her report.

“Dozens of explosion triggers were installed throughout the building. It was confirmed that someone had tampered with various places in the same marking form that a person named Cayden had used before, but this time it was designed to kill everyone inside if the building collapsed.”

“And? Were there any other distinctive features?”

“I’m not sure if this should be called a feature, but… this.”

In response to the question about other characteristics, Ophelia handed over another lens.

Broken iron bars, dead magical beasts inside the laboratory.

There were numerous elements in the corpses of those magical beasts that felt strange.

“…How far apart were they?”

“About two steps by my stride. There was no photography taken outside the scene perimeter.”

“And yet they’re this small?”

Too small. As if they had shrunk.

“It wasn’t just their size. How should I explain… it was as if all their mana had been sucked out completely.”

“Sucked out? All their mana?”

“…I apologize. It’s abstract, but that’s the only way I can explain it.”

“Hmm.”

This stinks to high heaven, doesn’t it? Muniher tried to unravel the mystery by examining the lens again and again.

“Are there no more pieces of evidence?”

“By evidence, you mean…?”

“I mean all evidence related to this incident.”

Although Ophelia had personally investigated the collapsed building interior, she hadn’t found much that could be considered significant evidence.

As with the Cayden incident, according to witness information, this incident was merely a terrorist act by a madman whose eyes had been twisted by inferiority. How could evidence remain in such a place?

All that remained were testimonies.

Before Dube Hall became a cave.

If we’re talking about someone who was with the perpetrator at that point, there’s only one person.

But that person couldn’t be summoned now.

‘Wait. There was this next to that person…’

Could it be related? She hadn’t been able to determine that.

A mysterious ampoule found at the scene, with unknown contents.

Ophelia submitted it to Muniher.

“An injection ampoule, I see.”

“I’m not sure if it’s related, but according to witness testimony, the perpetrator was holding it.”

“Hmm… This must be the only suspicious evidence worth submitting. Well, what could one find in a collapsed building anyway.”

Even bringing back what was captured in this lens must have been quite an effort.

“This is my subjective opinion, but I heard the perpetrator had an obsession with power that was almost pathological.”

“I know. Renias said something similar. That he showed her a twisted sense of rivalry.”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh?”

“I looked at some records extracted from Levrant Academy and Mirpark Law School, and they say the person changed at some point.”

People say he changed around the time of his expulsion.

So much so that numerous people mentioned his remarkable growth.

“…Remarkable growth, you say?”

“Yes. Several peers from Levrant Academy said so.”

“Then, at Mirpark Law School?”

“They questioned why such a person was expelled from the academy.”

Something begins to take shape in Professor Muniher’s mind.

Shrunken magical beasts. The ampoule. Remarkable growth.

‘Could it be.’

He makes a chilling conjecture.

“What’s this among the magical beasts here?”

“Ah, yes. Come to think of it, there were two academy students there. It’s strange, but whether their hearts burst or were torn by magical beasts… the cause of death is difficult to determine.”

Burst? Torn?

A human heart?

Bang!

“Professor?”

“…How many people have received this report?”

“Just the Grand Duke and yourself, Professor. Do you suspect something?”

The cause can by no means be attributed to crushing or magical beasts.

But this must not spread—socially, nationally, and more broadly, for all of humanity.

“Do not, under any circumstances, reveal this fact to anyone. Understood?”

“…! Understood.”

This is nothing but an act beyond human decency. Not to enhance power, but to usurp it.

‘I must find them. Those who haven’t been rooted out yet!’

Muniher glares fiercely at the ampoule.

He clearly remembers the dirty past that the Empire once had.

***

How many days has it been now?

Though she’s been visiting the hospital room every day, the lack of news has only increased Renias’s anxiety.

‘Senior…’

According to the diagnosis, he collapsed from exhaustion due to excessive use of mana.

But isn’t his sleep lasting too long? He’s been sleeping for three days straight.

“…”

Yet on the other hand, she’s also worried about Junon, who will receive that news when he wakes up.

During the three days he’s been asleep, not many people have visited Junon’s hospital room.

At most, just Renias herself, medical staff, and journalists who came for articles.

A white hand gently wraps around Junon’s still motionless hand.

“Senior. Please don’t be hurt.”

Because I know you did your best.