Chapter 14: The Secret

The four people who entered the room could only stare blankly at the scattered notes that were burning up.

What on earth was going on here?

[Hehehe]

Even though no one among them opened their mouths, suddenly, a girl's laughter echoed throughout the room. Professor Perr, who usually seemed the dullest, was the first to react.

"Aaah! It's happening again! She's back again!"

She covered her ears and started screaming while crouching down. Erica tried to hug her in a hurry, but it was no use.

"Let's get out of here for now."

'What if the door is locked?' 

Erica had a momentary worry, but luckily the latch turned properly and they were able to leave the room.

"What's going on?"

"That girl in the lab… She seems to be up to something."

Gideon and Karen looked pretty calm.

Especially in the case of Keren, even though she just lost the key to solving this case, she was quick to return to her normal self.

Creak, creak.

As the four of them stepped into the hallway, a stiff sound could be heard. The sound was strange, but soon after, it was clear that it was the sound of footsteps because it followed a certain pattern.

[Hey, you guys.]

An old woman with a hunched back stood in front of the stairs that lead to the floor below.

The moment Karen saw the old woman, she spoke to Erica hurriedly, due to her hunch.

"Professor Erica, try using the dispelling magic."

"Purify by restoring flesh and soul, and dispel the corrupt filth... Purification."

-Whoosh

With a crisp sound of magic, it naturally enveloped the four of them like a tangled thread.

However, even though Erica felt the spell had worked, the old woman still didn't disappear and was still staring in their direction, tilting her head. There was nothing but darkness like a vast ocean where her eyes should have been.

"Do you want some candy?"

It was the same repertoire that the students had mentioned. Karen heard that soon enough they would stiffen and forcibly be made to eat eyeballs.

"I don't have time to deal with this."

Gideon, feeling humiliated at the fact that he had been caught up in such a trivial situation, finally couldn’t stand it and stepped forward.

He put his open palm on his waist and assumed a stance as if drawing a sword with his other hand.

-Swoosh!

In an instant, a flaming sword appeared, illuminating the fourth floor like a bonfire. The heat pressing down on his whole body - that burned fiercely - warmed him instead.

Gideon, who had drawn a sword made of flames, rushed forward.

Unlike the students, he intended to solve the problem right away without any fear.

But suddenly, he froze.

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

[Do you want to eat it?]

Her tongue, which seemed normal initially, touched the cold floor too easily. And on top of it were the old woman's eyeballs.

Gideon, who wanted to cut the monster-like tongue at that moment, couldn't even move his body. 

"......!"

He couldn't even speak properly. He couldn't even swallow his saliva, and even the trembling of his Adam's apple stopped. He was in a world that was completely still, with only his consciousness remaining.

The one who spoke in that world was the school nurse.

"I'll eat it."

[Huh?]

The old woman's gaze turned towards Karen. More precisely, the pupils of her eyeballs, which were still on her unnatural tongue, rolled up on their own to look in her direction.

"I want to eat Grandma's candy."

The moment she finished speaking, the old woman had already passed Gideon and was standing in front of Keren.

The old woman then held Karen's hand and put one of her eyeballs on it, smiling happily with her open mouth, as if satisfied.

Without hesitation, Karen put it in her mouth and swallowed it.

Gulp.

"...It's delicious."

Erica, who was next to her, made a disgusted expression, and Perr already had her cheeks puffed up. Her mouth appeared to be full of something… it looked like she was holding back the urge to vomit.

After Karen's response, the old woman stood there stupidly for a moment, then smiled satisfactorily and hugged Karen tightly.

[Hehehe, as long as it tastes good.]

And the old woman then disappeared just like that.

"Uweeek!"

Perr went to the corner of the hallway and started pouring out her vomit properly, and Erica asked Keren in a cold sweat.

“Are you okay?”

“I'm fine. I've tried it before.”

"....Yes?"

Erica wondered if she had understood correctly, but Karen put her hand in her pocket and closed her mouth.

She seemed lost in thought, but soon she opened her mouth with a sigh.

"Ah, this disgusting fish smell. I have to rinse my mouth first."

Karen went to the nearby bathroom nonchalantly, which surprised Erica. She realized that Karen was more courageous than she had previously thought. Even though Erica's previous estimation of Karen's courage was based on the knowledge that Karen had crossed countless lines during her mercenary days and was considered a monster, Erica had to reevaluate Karen again.

"Damn it."

Gideon, ashamed at the fact that he couldn't resist the old woman, clenched his fist and went straight down to the first floor in anger without even looking at Erica.

Erica also didn't even glance at Gideon and instead used magic to clean up the vomit that Perr was still continuously spilling. 

With a sigh, she thought:

'From now on, life at the academy will be very hard.'

***

“…….”

The path leading to the basement of the Verdi family was more tightly hidden than I had expected.

If I had to describe it, would it be like a basement within a basement?

The first basement floor was a place for the servants, which consisted of lodging, a kitchen, and a cleaning room. It was also a place where the employees prepared various things for the Verdi family and the guests upstairs.

Passing through there, there was a door that led even further down, which was hidden in the storage room, covered with several layers of wooden planks as if it was sealed off. 

Looking at the door, I crossed my arms.

"What is this place?"

Turning my head slightly, my gaze fell on Fenden Ai, who was standing next to me. Of course, she wouldn't know, so I shifted my gaze one more space to the side.

The butler who accompanied us to the basement explained to me with a bewildered look on his face.

“It is not specifically known to me, but I only know that it is a place where the old history of the Verdi family lies.”

"Old history?"

“Yes, that is why it has been forbidden to access for a long time.”

The butler glanced at me with eyes asking shouldn't you, the second son of the Verdi family, already know about it?

"Now that young master knows what he wanted, let's go back."

He tapped me on my shoulder and gestured for me to come with him to the upper floors.

Thud! Thump thump!

But then, an ominous black liquid poured out from the gap between the door and the board.

"Hmm? This mansion is more interesting than I thought," Finden Ai muttered with an intrigued tone while looking around with curiosity. She couldn't see the ominous spirit trying to come out, but she must be able to feel a sense of unease, probably due to her animal-like senses.

Closing my face to the door, I calmly stared at the black ripples sticking out.

It was full of anger as if it would drag me in at any moment if I touched the ominous thing that was swaying as if it had an ego.

"Hmm." After taking a short breath, I reached out my hand forward and Skram, who had been hiding, brought me my wand right away. It was the same wand I used when climbing the North Whedon Mountains.

"Wand summoning… master's ability is hard to measure," Ignoring Finden's muttering, I said while tapping the ground with my wand.

"Finden Ai."

"Yes?"

"Destroy it."

Usually, when someone received such an order, it was normal to ask again. For example, in the case of Skram, even though he was a ghost, he looked at me in surprise.

But Finden Ai was different.

"Okay!"

Without any hesitation, she gave all her strength to her foot and smashed the door as soon as the order came out of my mouth.

Bang!

The old door shattered into splinters and fell to the ground.

Dust and bugs poured out with a loud noise.

The servants, who were startled by the sudden commotion, came into the storage room, but it didn't matter.

Without paying attention to them, I covered my mouth with my sleeve and frowned.

‘The energy is strong.’

Even more uncomfortable than dust and bugs was the energy of the evil spirits that suffocated my whole body. 

‘It’s not a spiritual creature, but it has an energy comparable to that. But it's also not clear whether it's an earthly spirit.’

But the Earthly Spirits usually exerted explosive influence in their territories. So, this case seemed a little different.

If Grandma had been present at a time like this, she would have given me the correct answer right away.

Even though I was a little regretful, I took a step forward.

"Hmm? You plan on going inside?"

"If I don't, I won't get any answers."

"Well, I guess that's true. Master seems more intelligent than I expected."

Finden Ai followed me, pleased for some reason. 

I lit a small fire at my fingertips and descended the stairs.

The more I went inside, the stronger the pushing force became, but I kept going. In this intuitive power struggle, it was difficult for the dead to beat the living. Because we had mass.

Thump, thump.

The underground stairs continued endlessly. In the middle, I heard something from above, but it must have been Darius or Deia who came and cursed at me.

"But isn't it odd for the master to not know much about his own family?"

"Because I'm not the family head."

Actually, not being the family head was not the cause, instead, I was not even a Verdi… I was not Deus. 

After giving much of my time in the study of magic and my research, how much could I possibly find about the Verdi family's history in six months?

So, I didn't know much about the Verdi family, which seemed to hide many strange things.

"Hmm, you're quite different from what I heard in rumours."

"Rumours?"

I had nothing to do while descending the long staircase anyway. So, curious, I asked Finden Ai, who shrugged her shoulders and answered.

“No, what I’ve heard from the maids who work here is that you’re a very horny man.”

"...."

"You even make them wear such vulgar clothes… But you never tried to touch me."

It was ridiculous for me to say that I had never done anything to her because I had changed, and even if I said it, nothing would change. After all, Fenden Ai was the type of person who believed in what she saw and felt herself, rather than rumors.

Instead, what I could do was give her advice.

"It's not a good idea to pass on the maids' gossip to the master."

"I'm not going to stay here forever."

"Still, it's better to be careful. The maids are the information network of North Whedon. There won't be any harm in getting friendly with them."

"...."

Especially for someone like her, information gathering was even more important. 

Though I didn't need to add that information. Even Fenden Ai would have realized that.

"Oh, speaking of that, I just remembered something. Do you remember I went out on errands today?"

"....?"

“A very fancy woman asked if you were back. She said she's your lover.”

"……Sigh."

“It doesn't look like that but she told me stories of you visiting her place. She said she'll be waiting for you tonight and will offer a lot of services. She also wants to lick your ass…?”

I was not angry, nor did I react. I just let out a calm breath and tried to suppress the throbbing headache.

What had this damn body done to be involved in all these troubles? 

Even if I managed to handle one thing, something else always popped up.

'I don't even know how many such rumors are circulating about me.'

I wondered if the rumors about me were the reason why my fiance, Erica Bright, who used to be so sweet and kind to me when I was a professor, suddenly requested that the academy dismiss me.

But if that was the case, why didn't the Bright family request to formally annul the engagement then? 

Or were they holding back for now just to save my face?

‘Well, they don't need to hesitate though. It really is a useless consideration.’

While I was thinking so, we finally reached the end of the stairs.

But perhaps misunderstanding my silence as affirmation, Finden Ai couldn't help but ask in surprise.

“What, are you really going to go tonight?”

“Hey, I’m not going.”

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