Chapter 705
Creak, the door cracked open slightly.
Clang–!
And then it stopped, not opening fully, leaving only a narrow gap. Turned out, a thin chain was holding the door shut.
What seeped through that narrow opening was unmistakably,
‘Darkness.’
Beyond the partially open door, Simon felt a thick, oppressive darkness. He immediately tensed up.
Just as the standoff lingered for a moment,
‘!’
Simon almost screamed.
An eyeball bulged through the door. The bloodshot veins of a crimson-red eye strained as it scanned the surroundings.
Startled, Simon instinctively stepped back, only for that eye to retreat back inside the door.
Ssshhk–
This time, a whole face pushed through the door, phasing right through it.
[Why is the student council here?]
Simon calmed his pounding heart and looked at her.
‘Spirit manifestation, she’s a Spiritology major.’
It was the face of Auror, whose profile he’d seen in the student council roster. Of course, she looked far more haggard than her picture, dark shadows under her eyes.
Simon tried to speak as gently as possible so as not to startle her.
“I came because of the letter. You were the one who put this in the help mailbox, right?”
[...]
She stared blankly at the letter, then pulled her head back through the door.
Moments later, thud, a footstep sounded, and she peeked her face out again through the narrow gap.
“......Yes, I was the one who wrote it.”
“Good. I came to help you.”
“But who are you? Are you really from the student council?”
She was still extremely wary.
Thinking that was only natural, Simon pointed at his own face and smiled.
“I gave the student speech during the Dark Emperor incident. You’ve seen me before, haven’t you?”
“......”
She slowly looked over his face, then nodded as though remembering.
“Blue hair, Student Council President Simon Follentia.”
“That’s me. Will you open up now?”
She nodded.
Swoosh–!
Simon nearly yelped again. Suddenly, Auror’s arm shot out of the wall, grabbed the latch holding the door, and unhooked it.
Focused on her, Simon only realized belatedly,
‘It was locked from the outside, not the inside?’
It was so obvious he hadn’t even thought about it.
What kind of nonsense was this, not even a prison.
Click.
She opened the door and stepped aside. Simon, face taut with tension, stepped into the room.
“Excuse me.”
The poor state of the interior was immediately visible. Yellowed wallpaper, cobwebs drooping from the ceiling, cracks etched across the walls.
On the far wall, a patch of new wallpaper had been pasted clumsily over the old. Everything else was yellow and stained, so the fresh white stood out awkwardly.
“There’s nothing to offer you.”
With no table, she plopped down directly on the floor, setting down two cups of water.
“If you don’t mind...... drink.”
Simon also sat across from her.
“Thanks. And since we’re both second-years, you can drop the formal speech.”
“......Right, okay.”
Simon sipped the water and let his gaze wander around.
Auror Serum.
A person of interest. He had far too many questions to ask her, he didn’t even know where to start.
For now, it would be better to ease the mood a little rather than ask directly about Goddess Dave.
“Looks like an old house.”
Setting down his cup, Simon continued,
“Why live here instead of in the clean dormitories?”
“......”
She hesitated, then answered.
“......Truth is, I’m from the Banshee clan.”
Banshee clan.
Since Keyzen gathered talented necromancers from across the continent, all sorts of diverse races were represented. But the Banshee clan was special, even among them. At Keyzen, there were only two in the entire school.
They weren’t true undead banshees, but humans with the likeness and powers of banshees.
Their clan’s fearsome power always carried the potential to become first-class necromancers.
“My sleeping habits are...... troublesome. My roommates couldn’t stand it anymore. Even the dorm administration said it’d be too difficult for me to live in the dorms.”
“Mhm.”
“So from the beginning of first year, I came down to Rochest and rented a room.”
She explained that, because of her racial traits, she inevitably disturbed others when living together. That’s why she found an abandoned old house in Rochest’s outskirts, persuaded the landlord, and began paying rent to live there.
“But on the student registry, your race is listed as just ‘human’.”
“......That was a secret I wanted to keep. But I got exposed and kicked out immediately. A childish wish of a freshman.”
Simon nodded, thinking it made sense.
Now it was time to get to the point.
“You wrote this in the letter.”
<Please save me. Goddess Dave is trying to kill me.>
“......”
After hesitating, she finally spoke.
“The truth is–”
* * *
Meanwhile.
In the student council room.
Flap flap–
Late evening, Dick sat at his desk flipping through papers, exhaustion on his face but a grin tugging at his lips.
“This is quite something.”
Then, creak, the door opened and someone entered.
“Oh, commoner?”
It was Maelyn. She rubbed her eyes, looking equally tired.
“Still not off work yet?”
“Can’t you see? I’m working.”
Dick chuckled, shrugging.
“Simon and I are handling a serious case right now. Hehehe, it’s been a while since I’ve had a case that really fired me up.”
Maelyn snorted, clearly uninterested.
“If you’re this worked up, it’s bound to be another waste of time.”
“The request said this, word for word.”
Dick stretched out his arm, pulling the mobile chalkboard closer and showing her the contents of the letter. Maelyn’s bored gaze fell on it. She let out a short scream, slapping a hand over her mouth.
<Please save me. Goddess Dave is trying to kill me.>
“Y-you idiot!! You scared me!!”
She shrieked and hurled a nearby cushion at him.
“Damn it! Now I won’t be able to sleep tonight!”
This was the typical reaction in the Dark Alliance.
Especially since Keyzen students had already endured the Saint incident, and then the fanatics during the Ever Kire incident—the fear was even stronger. Maelyn’s face turned pale as she slumped to the floor, legs giving out.
“I’m not joking, that’s really what was written.”
Dick pulled out the documents he’d compiled so far.
“Simon’s at the scene right now. Once he’s back, we’ll compile everything and report to the professors.”
Maelyn, now looking serious, stood and snatched the documents from him.
“Wasn’t this written by some third-years as a prank? If that’s the case, I won’t let it slide!”
“Come on, who’d joke about something like this? With Simon on it, the truth’ll come out soon enough.”
Maelyn flipped quickly through the pages, her expression hardening.
“The requester got kicked out of the dorms? Reason: sleep disorder. She screamed in her sleep so badly her roommate’s ears bled? What the hell is this record.”
“She’s from the Banshee clan.”
Dick shrugged.
“She hid it when she entered the dorms, and it all blew up.”
“Hmmm.”
Her expression turned cold as she flipped quickly through the documents.
“......Here, last year’s Saint of Purification attack victim, and this year’s Ever Kire incident survivor.”
“Exactly, that’s it. Doesn’t the picture fit perfectly?”
Dick raised both arms.
“Trauma, obviously! Haunted by nightmares every night, eventually her mind snaps and she deludes herself that Goddess Dave is trying to kill her! This isn’t for us to handle. We need to report it to the professors and have her sent to psychological counseling.”
Maelyn let out a sigh, lowering the documents.
“Yeah. Still, if we can just get Auror to counseling, that’ll wrap things up. While we’re at it, investigate my case too, commoner.”
“What?”
“Information digging is the only thing you’re good for! At least be useful now!”
She smacked Dick on the back, then handed him a letter written by her own client.
Dick’s face hardened as he skimmed it.
“Oh ho, this one’s got issues too.”
He clicked his tongue, rubbing his chin.
“Major incidents like this, right before finals? I’m so thrilled, I don’t even know what to do. With things like this going on, how could I possibly study?”
“You talk like you’d ever studied when there weren’t incidents. Coming from the guy ranked 400th.”
“Happiness isn’t based on grades, you know.”
Shaking her head in disbelief, Maelyn started walking toward the door of the student council room.
“Well, I’m going back to the dorms first.”
“Yep, bye.”
Creak.
Just as she was about to step outside, Maelyn froze.
“......”
Perhaps because it was late at night, all the building’s lights had gone out.
The atmosphere was unsettling, to say the least.
“Didn’t you say you were leaving? Why are you standing there? Need to take a dump?”
Dick yawned as he spoke. Maelyn, still holding onto the door, turned her gaze back.
“......Hey.”
“What.”
“I, uh....”
Her face turned so red it looked like it might drip blood. Shutting her eyes tight, she blurted it out.
“C-could you, just walk me to the outside of the building.”
“!”
Dick felt an explosion of cosmic delight and burst into roaring laughter.
“You’re scared? You’re scared? Because of what you saw earlier? Hahaha! The almighty vice president of Keyzen, who looks like she wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed? This info deserves to be spread to the entire student body......!”
“S-shut up! You bastard!!”
She grabbed two cushions and charged at him.
* * *
Simon listened as Auror told him everything.
Back in her first year, she had witnessed the Saint of Purification directly, been caught in her power, and fainted.
Then there was the time she competed in the ‘Valkese Arena’ where Ever Kire had plotted her schemes.
She had even seen Ever Kire herself crucified, mutilating her own body.
“I still remember that fanatic vividly.”
She clutched her head.
“A red cross, the whites of her eyes bulging, that stiff tongue thrust straight into the sky, her whole body bleeding from the thorns, as she cried the name of the goddess....”
“Enough, enough. I get it, no need to go on.”
Seeing her condition deteriorate as she spoke, Simon quickly cut her off.
“But what does all that have to do with Goddess Dave trying to kill you?”
“That’s......”
About a week after the Dark Emperor incident ended, she began suffering sleep paralysis.
The Banshee clan were already known for troubled sleep habits, but her case grew worse.
“......From the ceiling, Goddess Dave glared at me, weeping tears of blood.”
Simon flinched, recalling the goddess Ever Kire had conjured.
Back then, having Lete beside him had been his only solace, but it was not an experience he ever wanted again.
“And that wasn’t all. She made me claw at the walls, bite them, and more than once, I woke up choking myself in my sleep.”
She pulled down the collar of her clothes to bare her neck. Simon’s eyes widened. There were clear red bruises, finger-shaped marks ringing her throat.
“It’s terrifying.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Maybe the real Goddess Dave exists and wants to kill me. What should I do? What am I supposed to do?”
“......”
Simon closed his eyes for a moment, silent, then finally spoke.
“That’s it?”
“Huh?”
“That’s all you have to say?”
Simon pressed, but she avoided his gaze, nodding. He shook the letter in front of her eyes.
“Why send this to the student council? If you’d told your supervising professor or asked the adults, you would’ve gotten much more practical help.”
“T-that’s because......”
She bit her lip anxiously.
“I was afraid that if I admitted to all this, the professors would see me in a bad light. It could affect my evaluations....”
“What nonsense are you talking about, Auror.”
Simon said, his expression firm.
“A student who suffered both the Saint incident and the Ever Kire incident, plagued by trauma, no professor at Keyzen would judge you unfairly for seeking help.”
“Y-yeah, but still, just in case....... Please, don’t tell the adults. Promise me.”
Simon rose slowly to his feet.
“Alright.”
“...Thank you.”
“I’ll begin the investigation now. Is that alright?”
“Eh?”
Simon strode across the room. Auror’s nervous eyes followed him. He silently scanned the barren room, then placed his hand on the wall.
And then—
Crkkk!
He began tearing away the new white wallpaper pasted over the old yellowed one.
“W-wait! Stop!”
Panicked, Auror leapt from her seat, but Simon had already stripped the wallpaper.
‘Just as I thought.’
He turned back to her.
“What is this?”
“......!”
At first he had expected to find some self-harm hidden beneath, but he was wrong.
Where faint red traces showed through, Simon had torn the white paper away, revealing what lay beneath.
A cross.
The symbol of Goddess Dave.
And beneath it, drawn in blood, were all manner of magical circles.
<Bone Armor>
With a flick of his arm, bones hidden within his body shot forth.
“W-wait, wait!”
The bone shards pried open a shabby lock and yanked a cupboard open.
Bronze dishes and utensils tumbled out with a clatter.
“This.”
Simon held up a bronze tray in his hand.
“Bronze trays are ritual tools. Why do you have one here? And these candles—they’re old-fashioned wax, items hardly used in the Dark Alliance. Where did you get them?”
“T-that’s—!”
“Auror.”
Simon dropped his arm and fixed her with a steady gaze.
“Performing sacrificial rites to Goddess Dave, in the middle of Roke Island no less, is a serious crime.”
Her face twisted in panic as she stumbled back. Simon spoke slowly.
“As Student Council President, I need to hear everything that happened.”
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