episode_0008
by fnovelpiaOne of the things that often happens in academy novels is that the protagonist does not return to the dormitory until late at night, and then something happens.
And, I don’t even know half of the content of this novel.
All I could do was prevent such incidents before they happened.
Before going on duty, I already checked that Chloe had entered the dormitory. Since nothing would happen while the protagonist was away, I could sit back and relax a little.
“Chief Priest.”
Deacon Sophia called me. Not wanting to do anything, I quietly closed my eyes.
“Chief Priest?”
“… … .”
“Don’t pretend to sleep.”
You’re quick-witted. I slowly opened my eyes. Deacon Sophia looked at me with a bewildered expression.
“Why are you calling?”
“The name of the head priest is according to the naming method of the Holy Land, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then, are you, by any chance, from the Holy Land?”
Deacon Sophia’s eyes sparkled. She seemed to be filled with anticipation that it would be someone from her hometown.
“No. My father is from the Holy Land.”
“Then, what is your baptismal name? What is your baptismal name, your pastor?”
“My baptismal name is Benedict.”
“Ah.”
Deacon Sophia nodded and smiled. We chatted like that for a while, how long did it take?
“Ugh… I have to go to the bathroom!”
“How long will it take?”
“Uh… It’s 11 o’clock now, so I’ll be there 10 minutes early!”
Deacon Sophia left the room, saying she was going to the bathroom. After that, I continued reading the theological book, and at one point, my eyes started to feel tired, so I took off my glasses and stretched.
Because I’ve been sitting for a long time, my body feels very stiff.
“Hoo… .”
“Hmm… . Ugh, ugh… .”
Professor Esther, who had been diligently reading her thesis, was suddenly asleep on her desk. I looked at the wall clock.
The current time is 11:30 p.m. It has been a long time since the spider webs descended, and the outside of the window is now covered in pitch-black darkness. Only the occasional streetlights are faintly illuminating the room.
I stood up from my chair and did some simple stretching to loosen up my body.
According to the Academy’s on-duty work rules, on-duty officers were required to patrol 30 minutes after the students’ curfew.
If it were a weekday, the curfew would have been at 10 o’clock, but on Fridays before the weekend, the curfew is usually at 11 o’clock.
In other words, it’s time to start patrolling.
After loosening up her stiff body, I approached Professor Esther, who was still sleeping and licking her lips. Professor Esther was still wandering in dreamland.
“Professor Esther.”
“Ugh… . Who… .”
“Professor Esther. It’s time for patrol.”
“Ugh… .”
Professor Esther woke up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She stretched out her arms and twisted her waist from side to side. Then she yawned and pushed her chair away, standing up.
“Haaam… I’m sleepy as always. I had to work on duty at the academy I worked at before… But I think there have been too many tiring things lately.”
“I think it’s because the Academic Affairs Department is warm.”
“Yes, the heating works well. But, what about Deacon Sophia?”
Professor Esther looked around for Deacon Sophia. When she looked, she saw that it was Deacon Sophia who had clearly said she had only been to the bathroom… .
“… … .”
“Professor Lucio?”
I quickly looked at the wall clock. The current time was 11:33. It was exactly 11 o’clock when Deacon Sophia went to the bathroom.
“… Are you constipated?”
“Yes?”
“Nothing.”
Well, while I’m on patrol, I might as well stop by the bathroom and take her with me. Since Professor Esther was with me, even if Deacon Sophia was in the women’s bathroom, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Then, let’s go patrol.”
“Ugh… I’m a little nervous.”
Professor Esther and I left the Academic Affairs Office. A dark hallway greeted us.
* * * * *
“So, Sophia Bouzenie~.”
“… … .”
We are currently in the women’s restroom on the first floor of the main building of the Academy where the Academic Affairs Department is located. While I am standing outside the restroom waiting for Professor Esther, Professor Esther is inside the restroom looking for Deacon Sophia.
“Professor Lucio. I don’t think Deacon Sophia is here?”
“Hmm… .”
Strangely, Deacon Sophia, who had left the faculty office saying she was going to the bathroom, was not in the bathroom. I thought about it for a moment.
Unless Deacon Sophia was an idiot, she would never have gone out of her way to use the bathroom on another floor when the one that was within earshot would have been there.
If so, could it be that she had taken a different route on her way back from her errand? Given the playfulness and curiosity of Deaconess Sophia, it was quite possible that she had done so.
Eventually, Professor Esther gave up searching the women’s restroom and came out with a puzzled expression.
“There’s no one in the bathroom. There’s no stall in use.”
“Haa… If it’s not in the bathroom, then where on earth did it go… .”
“Hmm… . Maybe we missed each other? Maybe Deacon Sophia is in the Academic Affairs Department right now.”
“Sure. That makes sense.”
As I was thinking about it, rubbing my chin, Professor Esther suggested a good hypothesis. I somewhat agreed with her opinion and headed back to the academic affairs office.
However, even if you open the door of the academic affairs department wide,
“… None.”
“None.”
Only the warmth from the heater was escaping, and Deacon Sophia was nowhere to be seen.
At this point, I started to have a bad feeling. I shook my head vigorously to stop the anxious thoughts from creeping out.
“What should we do? Should one of them stay in the office? Maybe while we’re patrolling, Deacon Sophia might come back to the office.”
I was chewing on her words, then I quickly said,
“First, we should patrol together, and then come back to the Education Office. It will be faster to find them if there is at least one more person.”
“That would be nice.”
After leaving the academic affairs office, we continued walking down the darkened hallways of the main building for a while.
The dark, dark corridors of the Academy in the middle of the night, combined with the chilly early spring night air, created a chilling atmosphere. A corridor that was so quiet that it was almost eerie.
However, Deacon Sophia was not there either.
“Where on earth did you go…?”
“I don’t know. Damn it… .”
“Let’s look for it separately?”
“… No. I don’t think it would be a good idea to just disperse.”
The chilly air felt after leaving the Academic Affairs Office. If it was simply due to the daily temperature difference, it would be fortunate, but it felt a bit odd to dismiss it like that.
Professor Esther also seemed to understand what I meant, and nodded silently. Then, out of nowhere, she came up close to my side. Professor Esther grabbed my left arm tightly, almost as if she was going to hug me.
“Are you cold?”
“Ah, no. Rather than that… . It’s a little scary. It’s strange… . Even at the previous academy, I was never scared while patrolling… . Is it because it’s bigger here? ”
“Maybe so.”
We walked. We walked for a long time, our footsteps echoing through the cold hallway.
“Where on earth did you go… .”
Deacon Sophia was nowhere to be seen.
Even though I felt like I had been looking for a long time, Deacon Sophia had not appeared by the time I reached the end of the main hallway. It was as if she had suddenly disappeared.
Now that we had nowhere else to look, we had no choice but to start heading back to the Academic Affairs Office.
So, as we started getting closer to the bathroom we had initially looked at.
“Professor Lucio.”
Professor Esther bent down and picked something up.
I looked at Professor Esther’s hand. When she opened it, there was… .
“Hair?”
She had blonde hair. It was shoulder-length.
And, I’ve seen this.
“Deacon Sophia… .”
Deacon Sophia definitely came to the bathroom. However, her whereabouts after that are unknown.
Without a word, we looked at a certain place. A path between the restroom and the administration office, covered in pitch-black darkness, with emergency lights hanging from the ceiling flashing red, came into view.
It was a passageway that led from the main building of the academy to the annex.
The line that divides the main building and the annex. We stood in front of it, looked at each other, and nodded silently.
There was no need to say anything. We headed straight to the annex.
* * * * *
The Annex of the Chaldea Imperial Academy. This building used to be the main building, but as the main building was rebuilt, the remaining classrooms and rooms were used as club activity spaces, and it is now home to several professors’ offices from departments that have existed for a long time.
And because it was an old building, the hallways of the Academy Annex had a colder atmosphere than the main building I had patrolled just a little while ago.
“It’s much colder here. It’s a good thing I came dressed in thick clothes… .”
Professor Esther was still walking with her left arm tightly wrapped around me. Thanks to her, I wasn’t shivering from the cold either… .
“What are you going to do if you have to work on duty again later?”
“That’s right… . Oh, really. It’s just so scary… .”
But on the other hand, I understood her feelings. The hallway of the annex was really cold and quiet.
As I was walking so slowly, something caught my eye.
It was a staircase leading to the second floor of the annex. And in the empty space below the staircase, something pure white began to faintly appear. Something that looked like hair.
I whispered to Professor Esther.
“… Professor Esther. Do you see that?”
“Huh?!”
“… ?”
As I whispered quietly, Professor Esther suddenly looked startled and hugged my arm tightly.
No, apart from the feeling of something soft being crushed against my arm in real time, my arm just feels like it’s going to break. Seriously.
Professor Esther also realized the fact belatedly and released my arm with an apologetic look on her face.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. I was so surprised… .”
“Okay. More than that, look over there.”
Her gaze followed my finger and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Then she came close to me, shaking her body like an aspen tree.
“What is that? Is it a ghost?”
“Let’s take a look.”
“Ah, can I not go…?”
“We need to find the subtitle of Sophia.”
Professor Esther’s lips trembled, then she took out her cane from her bosom and muttered resolutely.
“… Be careful. If anything comes out, immediately use magic to… !”
“Oh, no. You don’t have to do that. What would you do if you were a student… .”
I walked down the stairs cautiously. As I got closer, the gray hair came into view more clearly. At the same time, a sound tickled my ears.
“Black… . Hip… .”
This is… a crying sound?
It sounds like someone is holding back tears with all their might. First of all, it doesn’t seem to be a ghost-like thing like Professor Esther’s delusion.
As I approached slowly, the white-haired creature flinched as if it sensed my presence and turned its head in my direction. I recognized its identity by looking at its face.
“… Laura von Adelheid?”
It was the noble young lady of Adelheid, Laura von Adelheid. Through her hair, which was stuck to her forehead due to the cold sweat, her eyes, which were constantly shaking, were directed at me.
“Ah… ?”
When I cautiously called her name, Laura opened her rabbit eyes and stared blankly at me. She had an expression on her face as if she had met someone she had never expected to see.
And next to her, another familiar face popped up.
“Your Majesty, Your Excellency… ?”
“No, was Deacon Sophia there too?”
As I looked at the two with a dumbfounded expression, Deaconess Laura and Sophia, who had been staring at me with blank faces for a moment, simultaneously jumped into my arms.
“After that…! I am the head priest!”
“Hipp… . Heup… .”
“What is this… .”
I was suddenly hugged by the two of them, and I felt my priest’s robes soaking with tears in real time, so I slowly stroked their heads.
“… Calm down. I don’t know what happened, but I’m okay now.”
“Thank goodness… . It wasn’t a ghost… .”
While I was trying hard to comfort Deacon Sophia and Laura, Professor Esther came up to me from an unexpected place, looking relieved.
“First of all, it would be better to go to the Academic Affairs Office.”
As I was leading the two of them, who were still clinging to me like glue, to the academic affairs office, Laura, who had been burying her face in my arms, raised her head in surprise.
“ Professor, Professor Antonelli.”
“Yes?”
“There’s something strange here, here.”
“… Are you talking about something weird?”
Laura nodded vigorously. Then she pointed down the hallway with a thin, trembling finger.
I followed her fingers, but there was nothing there. There was only a dark, eerie darkness that hung thickly over the entire hallway.
Gulp—
At that ominous sight, I swallowed without thinking.
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