episode_0528

“This, this is… … what is it?”

Mirif muttered to herself in confusion at the secret space leading downstairs that suddenly appeared. She had never imagined that there would be such a secret space in the lab.

‘Is it a warehouse? But if it’s a warehouse, is there a reason to make it so secretive?’

Something was a little suspicious.

But, somehow, I feel like I am overcome by an instinct that tells me I shouldn’t go down.

It was impossible to guess from this alone whether it really led to somewhere suspicious, or if it was just a secret space used as a storage room.

‘Does Professor Bellus know…?’

I heard that you have been using this lab for over 10 years.

Of course, even so, there was a possibility that he didn’t know all of these secret spaces. Even when he was giving lectures to himself, he didn’t usually check the books on this shelf.

but….

‘The stairs are clean. It doesn’t look like it’s been neglected for at least 10 years… .’

The fact that the stairs had been used until recently amplified Isabel’s suspicions.

Why on earth is there a passage leading to a secret space in a place like this, and why are there still traces of someone using it until recently?

If Professor Bellus used it, what was the purpose of using it? And why did he always block it when he tried to clean the lab?

… Once the question began to arise in his mind, it was enough to cause doubts to creep into Mirif’s head.

‘Maybe you just didn’t say anything… .’

I understand it that way in my head, though.

Why does his footsteps want to check the bottom of those stairs?

Of course, Mirif knew better than anyone that it would be rude to Professor Bellus to have such doubts.

If you bring up the idea of calling someone else to investigate this space, Professor Bellus might get into trouble, and he might even find out that you entered the lab without telling him.

“… … .”

But leaving it like this and going back again leaves an uneasy feeling in my heart.

Still, I think it’s something we should check at least once.

‘There’s still some time before the professor arrives.’

Before the professor returns to the lab, let’s just check briefly and come back up.

Let’s go back and confirm that it was actually a warehouse, just by looking at the boxes and junk piled up inside.

That’s enough. And let’s offer a prayer of apology later for having doubted the professor so rashly.

With that thought in mind, I carefully took one step at a time down the stairs.

-Drrr.

“… … !”

Soon after, she was slightly surprised to find the passage she had passed through closed again.

‘…Can I go out again?’

Mirif, guessing that there might be some kind of device that could open the door from the inside, created a ‘sphere of light’ with her divine power and then carefully walked downwards.

Contrary to her expectations that a wide space would appear right away after going down only one or two floors, the stairs extended quite deep, and she moved down one step at a time without letting go of her tension.

… and then, just when I thought Mirif had almost come down the stairs.

-Thump, thump.

“… … .”

-… Slosh.

“What the heck?!”

She was so startled by the sudden, heavy sensation on her feet that she ended up slipping down the stairs.

-Bam bang bang bang!

“Ah, ouch… .”

… Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that I fell just as I was nearing the end of the stairs.

If I had fallen from the very top, I would have definitely suffered serious injuries, but fortunately that didn’t happen.

As soon as he came to his senses, he got up from his seat and quickly checked what was at his feet.

‘Just now, I felt something soft stepping on my foot… .’

Moderate elasticity and a strangely familiar feel.

Mirif was briefly gripped by fear because he intuitively felt that he had clearly stepped on a ‘person’, but he couldn’t just pass by without confirming that he had stepped on something.

She created a sphere of light once again to check what was where she had fallen, but Mirif couldn’t immediately confirm what she had seen.

‘I don’t think it’s a person.’

Slime.

Strictly speaking, it was closer to a slime than a human. The oval-shaped body with a slightly protruding upper part was so large that anyone who saw it could tell it was a slime.

If I had to find something similar to a person, it would be that the color somehow looks like a light apricot color.

I had never heard of a slime that was a light apricot color in nature… but there was so much in the world that I still didn’t know.

Perhaps deserts and wildernesses might be home to slimes of this color for camouflage purposes. … Although I couldn’t quite figure out why such a thing would be in the basement of the lab.

‘Did the professor bring it here for research purposes?’

But even though it’s a slime, it’s still a monster. Can it be left outside like this?

Even though it’s already dead, leaving the monster’s corpse in a place like this isn’t a very good way to dispose of it.

With that thought in mind, Mirif cautiously entered the path leading inside next to the stairs.

Carefully considering the possibility that there might still be a living monster inside.

“… … goblin?”

Not long after entering, we encountered the corpse of another monster.

There was a slime corpse, so it wasn’t a big deal that there was a goblin corpse there, but what she was suspicious of this time was the monster’s ‘color’.

‘It’s apricot colored again this time… .’

…I’ve never heard of any goblins that didn’t have green skin.

There have been rare instances of white goblins appearing as mutations, but why are these goblins apricot colored?

Although he felt an inexplicable, icky feeling pass through his body, Mirif decided to move forward a little more.

-Thump, thump.

“… … .”

Imp corpse.

-Thump, thump.

“… … .”

Hobgoblin corpse.

-Thump, thump.

“… … .”

And, the orc corpse.

Is it just my imagination that it feels like bigger monsters appear the further you go inside?

If there are so many monster corpses, why are there not a single living monster?

… And why do all these monsters have skin colors that are an apricot color I’ve never seen before?

She felt like some kind of ominous thought kept crossing her mind, but she tried hard to shake it off.

Just one step. Mirif, who wanted to check a little more information, took a step inside and was able to discover another monster.

-Kuung.

“… … !”

An apricot-colored ogre, with a large body, steps towards you.

Surprised by the sight of a ‘living’ monster for the first time, Isabel immediately prepared for battle by filling the broom in her hand with divine power.

Even if she were her, she wouldn’t be able to win against a fully-fledged ogre, but for some reason, all the monsters here looked exhausted and dead.

If that ogre is like other monsters, it might be possible to kill it simply by swinging a weapon imbued with divine power.

‘Goddess, grant my weapon divine powers to destroy evil beings… .’

With that thought in mind, Mirif prepared for battle by strengthening the broom in her hand with divine power, but in reality, she and the ogre never engaged in battle.

“Sa, Leum… .”

“… … ?”

‘I think I just said something….’

“Chopping board, hit… . Par, lee… .”

“… … Yes?”

“Uh, uh… … .”

-Kuuung!

“… … ?!”

The sight of an ogre approaching you, muttering something, and then collapsing.

Since the standoff ended abruptly before it even began, Mirif, who had some free time, quietly thought back to what the fallen monster had muttered a moment ago.

‘Sarm, Doma, Chew, Paris, hurry… .’

People. Run. Get out. Quickly. Hurry.

“… … .”

What on earth does it mean to run away quickly?

In the first place, why did the monster warn him to run away quickly?

… No, maybe the monsters he had seen so far were really monsters.

‘no way….’

The corpses of monsters with ‘human skin color’ that cannot be seen in nature.

If all the monsters I’ve passed by so far were originally humans.

And if the words that the ‘apricot-colored ogre’ that he met at the end told him were the last words he left behind to help him.

-Tadadak!

There was no time to think deeply.

He realized that this space was more dangerous than he had thought, so he had to get out of here as soon as possible.

And I had to make this space known to the outside world as soon as possible.

… I still haven’t figured out whether Professor Bellus was involved or not, but I couldn’t ignore this suspicious space.

-Tap, tap!

Mirif runs past the corpses of other monsters he has passed by… or maybe even monsters at all.

After returning to the corner where the apricot-colored slime had been, she was about to go up the stairs and return to the door she had come through.

-Pfft!!

“Off… … .”

It was Mirif who fell down after being hit in the head by someone who appeared on the stairs.