Chapter 68: Chapter 68

Priscilla Neriel.

One of the residents of the 9th floor of the Dantère Hall, she—who had introduced herself as the ‘abandoned child of House Neriel’—was currently a fourth year Theology student, and…

“I’m a little upset right now. I had a big fight.”

…was out of her mind after fighting with her lover.

It was probably the person she was meeting when she got caught sneaking out during roll call.

We met Priscilla, who had a sad expression on her face like the heroine of a tragic tale, in the garden of the Dantère Hall.

“I thought Theology students couldn’t date or get marri—”

“Shh. There must be some circumstances we don’t know about.”

Ernest and Leila were whispering.

Priscilla was mumbling something with a very sad expression on her face.

By the way, I wasn’t sure if this conversation would go well.

“Why did you fight?”

“I thought I could overcome anything with my love, even with a mage.”

“Ah.”

Priscilla’s love interest appeared to be a Magic student.

“Why is magic like that? Why does it reject divine power? Why does it even interfere with love…?”

“What’s the problem?”

“Once we kiss, it feels like an electric shock… I can endure when our lips touch, but after that…”

“…I think you can stop explaining.”

The conclusion was that there was a big fight because there was a problem with skinship.

“Anyway, so… Haa… A favor all of a sudden?”

“Yeah. It’s something I can only ask a Theology student.”

“I’ll tell you in advance that a blessing will be difficult. Even though my divine power is quite excellent, if I do it to just anyone, the power will wear off.”

Blessing.

It was something that only those with divine power could perform. When an object or person was blessed, it temporarily acquired divine power. In the case of objects, they often acquired divine power permanently, and these were called ‘holy objects’.

Of course, this was only possible if your divine power was of a really high level.

“First, I want to learn how to deal with the undead.”

“Undead? Are you three going on some kind of ascetic journey?”

I shrugged. “Something like that. Though, we’re not devotees.”

“Aren’t you all freshmen? Why are freshmen so fearless these days? Do you think that all Undead move slowly like in books and break if you hit them?” Priscilla was almost freaking out. “If you really intend to deal with the Undead, you won’t be able to do it on your own.”

“We’ll know once we try, won’t we?” I got to the point. “We’re going to St. Aimar’s Hall.”

“…Are you out of your minds? Even the Theology Department doesn’t go there. Well, the seniors used to go there as a bravery test, but one of them ended up becoming an undead, so now even going near it is considered a punishment!”

Leila and Ernest were shocked to hear that if they were caught they would become undead.

“I-if you get caught, you turn into the Undead?”

“Oh my god.”

Priscilla tilted her head in confusion. “If you’re killed by the Undead, you also become one. The necromancy carried by the Undead permeates your corpse. Isn’t that obvious?”

I should have gone to the library first.

“So it’s better not to go. But why do you want to go there?”

“I have something to find.”

“…Haah… It doesn’t matter if you go or not, but do you really have to go?”

“You said it doesn’t matter?”

“Yes, but…” Priscilla eventually nodded. “There are two ways to deal with the undead. Deal with them individually or destroy their cores.”

“What’s the first way?”

“You must have divine power. That’s the only way to destroy them individually. Otherwise, they will continue to regenerate because of the core I mentioned. That’s why removing the core is the easiest and most effective way.”

“The reason you mentioned it as the second option is because it’s difficult, right?”

“That’s right, as expected of a ninth floor resident. Yes, the Undead instinctively protect their cores. It sustains them.”

Now to get to the main point.

“If you destroy that core, the Undead will disappear immediately on the spot. But do you think you can do something that even the Theology Department can’t do? And if you approach it in the first place, it’s an unconditional demerit, a demerit. Just for trying to break an Undead’s skull, your own heads will break.”

How eloquent. Was she really from the Theology Department?

Well, it wouldn’t matter if we didn’t get caught. Treasure hunting was more important. Who knew it would be there, but what could you do?

“Then can you help?”

“What the heck… No. Isn’t that an absurd request?” Priscilla sighed deeply. “Do you really think that makes sense? I’m a Theology student…”

“If you help me, I’ll help you sneak out. You’ll never get caught.”

“…”

By the way, Priscilla was caught by the disciplinary committee after going out during roll call before and got into a lot of trouble. I knew that since then, she hadn’t even tried once. She’d probably take the bait.

“R-really…?”

“Yes. You know me, right? I didn’t get caught before.”

I didn’t get caught thanks to the ‘Illusion Generator Mk.1′.

My eldest sister had completed the development of an improved version, the ‘Illusion Generator Mk.1-1’, so I could let her use the old one for a while.

“…”

Priscilla looked very troubled.

Then she asked, “What do you want me to do? Should I go break Undead heads with you? I’ve broken undead skulls many times. If there was a test like that, I would’ve gotten an A.”

Her eyes began to burn with determination.

She took the bait.

“It’s simple. Just bless us. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“How and what are you going to do?”

“We’re planning on going to the underground tomb.”

Priscilla looked at us with even more intense eyes than before.

In the midst of this, Leila stopped me. “Dane, at this point, don’t you think we need to reconsider our plans?”

Ernest and I reacted to those words simultaneously.

“Why?”

Leila looked back and forth between me and Ernest in confusion. “Why? Isn’t that obvious?”

“I don’t think it’ll be anything special.”

“Don’t you want to explore?”

Leila shook her head in resignation, looking at the two with sparkling eyes. “Yeah… It was my fault for asking…”

I also threw a bait to Leila. “This might be a good opportunity.”

“A good opportunity?”

“Yeah. A chance to gain some practical experience. Leila, you don’t have any practical experience yet, right?”

“…”

Leila gulped.

In fact, where would a fourteen-year-old get any real-world experience? Although she had won the Dantère Cup, strictly speaking, it was a ‘sparring match’. Therefore, the experience of fighting the Undead, at the risk of death, was a great opportunity for Leila to improve her skills.

“Just so you know, there is a vast difference between experiencing actual combat and not. His Grace has been on the battlefield himself, so he must have already told you a lot about that.”

Leila eventually nodded.

“Yeah.”

Unlike before, she had a look of great anticipation on her face.

“I’m so excited!”

It seemed like the one crazy about exploration didn’t even tremble to begin with.

“What exactly did you do back then? No, who would have thought that those crazy bastards from the disciplinary committee would step up surveillance! Dane, remember what you promised! You promised!”

Priscilla seemed completely taken with the idea of being able to sneak out.

And Dane…

‘The Hall of Saint Aimar.’

I was looking forward to seeing what would come out of the treasure map obtained from the dagger-throwing challenge.

What kind of treasure would it be?

Perhaps another piece of condensed Ancient Magic?

Or something I couldn’t imagine?

Anything was fine.

‘I’m glad I came to the academy.’

With this, the club’s first activity was decided.

All four of them had their own goals for defeating the Undead.

This was the plan:

First, carefully approach the St. Aimar’s Hall.

It would be a big deal if we got caught, but ‘fortunately’, the method of detecting intruders was the same as in the dormitory.

“This little one will take care of it.”

I had received Karnas’ help when I sneaked back to the dorm, so I introduced him while I was at it.

“…Is he a summons?”

“Yeah.”

“Aha.”

Priscilla didn’t seem to know much about summons, so she only recognized that Karnas was my summons.

“Kikreuk!”

“Oh my, you’re cute.”

Well, others would find out later anyway, so there was no need to make a fuss about it now.

“Priscilla, you need to bless us later.”

“Alright. What next?”

“We break through—all the way inside.”

After being granted divine power through a blessing, we would quickly kill the Undead and move forward to destroy their core.

“…Why is the plan so simple and dull?”

“Not necessarily.”

I looked at Ernest, and he immediately began to explain.

“There are three entrances to the Hall of St Aimar. Considering the location of the core, the shortest route is here, through the southern entrance, but there’s a high chance that we’ll have to fight more undead. The other two entrances aren’t much different, but at least here, the eastern entrance, would be a little easier.”

Ernest had already completed the structural analysis of St Aimar’s Hall. As expected of an Exploration student.

“Oho.” Priscilla also showed interest at this point, and I then looked at Leila.

“Leila will escort you two. She’s a dual-class and can handle a fair amount of mana, so as long as she’s blessed properly, there won’t be any problems.”

Leila sighed. “My first real battle is against the undead.”

“Why? When will you ever get this kind of experience?”

“I imagined myself riding a horse through a battlefield!”

So, was she hoping for a war to break out? Of course, that couldn’t be true, so it was just a dream. A dream.

However, there was always a reason dreams remained just dreams.

“But I think you’ll be grateful later?”

“As if. Ugh. How do I sharpen my sword after cutting down the undead?”

And finally, me.

“I’ll take the front line.”

“Wait, Dane. Aren’t you a mage?”

“Yes.”

“But how can you receive a blessing?”

Magic and divine power were in conflict. If I used normal mana, that was, a ‘core’ like warriors, it didn’t really matter. However, if I used ‘circles’ like mages, it was a different story.

“It’s dangerous once divine power flows into your circle. Your blood vessels will probably split and you’ll bleed profusely, turning you into a slab of meat.”

How brutal. How could someone who knew that have a mage lover?

“It’s fine.”

“How can it be fine? What’s fine—”

“I don’t need to be blessed.”

“Huh?”

I explained to Priscilla, who looked puzzled, “I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“You want to fight the undead without divine powers?”

“I looked it up and it seems that if you break the head, it’s difficult for the Undead to come back to life.”

“That may be true, but… wouldn’t it be better to do it normally?”

Leila replied instead, “Senior, Dane isn’t normal.”

“Ah. The Autonomous Department.”

Priscilla, however, could not hide her disbelief. “But even so, it’s a bit…”

“If I can’t, I can just run.”

If it didn’t work out for me, I planned to get out as soon as I could. It wasn’t shameful to run away or retreat. It was more shameful to die and not finish what you were supposed to do.

“After destroying the core, we can go down to the underground tomb.”

“Easy to say. No, I really… Haah… Alright. Safety is unconditionally guaranteed, right? If not, whether I get caught or not, I’ll leave you at the entrance and run!”

“Understood.”

Honestly, even I thought it was a somewhat ridiculous plan. Even if Ernest was crazy about exploration, it was an impossible plan from Leila and Priscilla’s perspective.

But I was there.

Anyway, the plan was made, and we decided to meet at night. Since there was no dormitory roll call that night, meeting up wasn’t a problem. The only question was how to get there, and Ernest solved that issue.

“Here, into the alley.”

Ernest took the lead and guided us through places with few people. From the alley to the back of a building, to the roof, over the roof to the top of the wall, and even hiding us from the Academy’s student council.

I could do it too, but I didn’t think I could do it as perfectly as Ernest. It was impossible unless you had memorized the entire structure of the Academy.

“How do you know all this?”

Leila and Priscilla must have had their mouths wide open the whole time they followed along.

“Well, I’m from the Exploration Department.”

Ernest also showed another side of himself, as befitting of someone in the Exploration Department.

“But why have you been spreading that on the street?”

“Well, for anti-tracking and distraction purposes? If we succeed in our exploration, we’ll definitely destroy the core, and then everyone will know that St Aimar’s Hall has changed. We don’t want anyone to find out what we did.”

“Ah.”

“And as you explore, you’ll encounter many competitors. It’s originally meant to be a distraction!”

What a wonderful person. I had learned about tracking prevention and distraction from my mother’s assassination lessons, but it seemed that Ernest was more specialized in this area.

Anyway, thanks to him, we were able to arrive safely. Now, it was Karnas and my turn to shine.

“It’s here.”

Sensing the mana flow, I found the weakest and most unstable spot in the barrier and immediately asked for Karnas’ help.

“Like before, got it?”

“Kikreuk!”

Fwoosh!

The moment Karnas’ flames touched the barrier, the magical barrier blocking our path melted away in an instant, creating a gap large enough for people to pass through.

“…What did I just see?”

“Dane, you’re really cool.”

“Summoners are awesome…”

While Leila, Ernest, and Priscilla took turns exclaiming一

一we finally made it through the barrier safely, and…n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“This place is so spooky.”

We came across St Aimar’s Hall, which at first glance looked like it would be filled with ghosts. Our position offered an exquisite view. Looking up, we could see the moon peeking out from behind the clock tower.

“Guuuuuuuuu…”

The eerie sound echoed at that moment.

It came from inside the hall.

As expected, it was the Undead.

“…Damn it. I don’t know. We’ve already come all this way,” I heard Leila swear.

“Shit… I must be out of my mind… The professor told me not to go…” Priscilla muttered, unbefitting of a Theology student.

I was worried about the others, but more so about Priscilla. However, it was the power of love that moved Priscilla.

“I will definitely find out the secret.”

Then there was the boy who was crazy about exploration.

“Let’s go.”

Lastly, the one who planned the crazy stunt in the first place: me.

The four of us finally began to walk.

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