Chapter 133 – Red Net (1)

“It has increased.”

Mizar Magic Tower’s original technology, binoculars with crystals with 〈 light transparency 〉 cost 500 gold each.
The price of crystals that need to be changed periodically is separate.

“It has definitely increased.”

Darling, who had been peeking into Lewis’s stall, lay down on the grass and muttered.
She noticed that the number of women hanging around Lewis had increased significantly recently.
She had known this for a long time, so it was nothing new, but in the end, even her saintess ended up wandering around.

There are three main reasons.
This is because Louise, who was originally exceptionally strong, did not hide her strength much.
Likewise, his outstanding appearance could not be hidden by a layer of rag.
And–

— Adela, would you like some bread?
— Do you want to eat~.

“Smiling has increased.”

This was because his worn-out humanity was slowly coming back to its proper place.

Changes have come little by little.
It accelerated even more after all the students found out that Liv and Adela were working in the canteen.
Lewis began to gradually dispose of the bizarre exhibits on his second floor.
He sometimes served tea to the princess who came to visit him because she had a headache, and even listened to her stories.

“Isn’t that a good thing? “Thanks to the head of the family who was worried about Louis, there were no flies.”
“Bill, if you are standing there, there is no reason why you are disguising yourself like this. “Get down.”

Darling nodded while scolding the butler.
Because his own judgment was right.

The reason why Lewis was able to become so bright is because of the women who protect him.
Of course, it was her own decision to take them, but if she had done so carelessly, there might have been a flower snake mixed in with it.
It was rewarding to collect letters every day.

“But the matriarch still hasn’t approached me.”
“That’s because I’m not ready yet.”
“Are you ready?”
“That’s right.”

Whick!

As she put away her binoculars and whistled, the iron dogs that were wandering nearby came running and stuck out her tongue.
After feeding them a few pieces of pure iron and beckoning them, she waggled her tail and left for the snack bar.
Darling brushed off the weeds and dirt from his clothes and put on a red beret.
The time for her appointment to ask the chairman for advice on her graduation thesis was running out.

“He still has something to hide. Especially when I see her in person.”
“…”
“You know what, Bill?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been watching Lewis for a long time, but every time he goes through a change like that, I get caught up in some strange sense of déjà vu.”

Darling still can’t forget the day she first met Luis.
It was a day of crazy heavy rain.
I heard from the administrator that a customer who had decided to purchase the land would come, but I did not expect that he would come through the rain, where no one from within or outside the state could even drive.

“The night I first met him, I was shaking and couldn’t sleep.”
“I remember. Because his condition was bad, the former head of the family urgently called a priest from the temple.”
“The reason was because I was too scared.”

Acting like a beggar.
Lewis, who threw the bundle of money with mud all over his body, had bloodshot and red eyes like a devil’s beast.
A rigid dining space.
The comment that he said that he thought he had buried a body was actually a joke made by his father when he saw him.
Although no one there laughed.

“I never imagined that those eyes, which were so scary, could change. But eventually he changed. “Just a little bit.”
“Does that mean it was an arrangement made by someone?”
“I’m not sure, but maybe.”

— What are you guys doing? Where have you been again?
— Kkukkkk! Crumbling… !
— You’re not eating whole rice these days? Hey, I told you not to fight with ice ducks!?

“Bill, I’m talking about you. I don’t want to see Lewis go back to those days. “For that, we need to investigate the surroundings more thoroughly.”

Darling muttered softly as he touched the burned skin beneath his gloves.

“Hire the best informant and find out everything about the saint.”

***

There are a total of two major events a year at Parenzia Academy.
One is a magic competition where freshmen and seniors face off.
And the other one is the festival and eve that starts around the middle of the second semester.

There weren’t many guests from outside during the Magic Battle, but the festival was completely different.
As it is almost the only time of the year when the main gate is opened and outsiders are allowed to enter, all types of magic towers, knights, and even the royal family come to recruit talented people.
Is that all? Due to the visits of noble relatives from the students’ hometowns, hotels in Parenzia and nearby areas are all full.
Just like a tourist attraction during peak season, breathtaking crowds of people flock to the academy.

“Teacher. “Where should I put this?”
“There’s a place for scrap metal next to the back door, so leave it there. That’s right, Adela.”
“Yes?”
“Have you ever heard that Rochear is visiting during the festival?”

While I was cleaning the second floor and throwing away unnecessary items, I asked Adela about Esther.
She shook her head as if she hadn’t heard anything, but she didn’t even seem disappointed.

“Not even one. Normally, I don’t communicate well with my sister. “The letter she sent during vacation was almost the first time she had written it.”
“Well, you must be busy at the front line. But last time, you said that your family would support you if you realized the original magic.”

Apparently, Esther said that her power increases just by having two ice and snow balls in Rosh’ar.
She said she had her talent and she did it too.
There would be no reason to neglect Adela like before.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Such news was always delivered through family members…”
“A family member? Oh, by the way, didn’t she come with an attendant when she entered the academy?”
“No? She didn’t do anything too grand, she just lived with her grandfather who took care of her since she was little… Uh?”

Tangrang!!!

At that moment, the iron plate in Adela’s hand fell to the floor.
She turned her screeching head in the south direction and then HIYYAK! She said and she let out a threatening scream.

“I almost forgot!!!!”
“What!?”
“Boo, before I was kidnapped, I told you to flee to the south out of fear that you would be in danger because of me!!!!”
“Before you were kidnapped…”

Crazy, this is almost half a year old.

“You’re in big trouble!!” “There was no news so I completely forgot about it!!”
“Calm down. “Where exactly did you tell me to go?”
“Well, there’s nothing like that, just bring a bouquet…” … !”

I don’t know what kind of bouquet she told me to bring, but seeing as she didn’t come back for half a year, it’s possible that she was an unexpected guest.
Adela’s face became increasingly contemplative.

“Oh, maybe all of her letters from her family are supposed to go to her grandfather…” …”

Then she must have chewed up all of Esther’s communications so far.
The north wind may blow once more soon.

“Hey, I’ll open the letter quickly!! And we need to find her grandfather too!!!”

After Adella disappeared as she hurried down the stairs, Liv came up a little later.
When I heard her story a little while ago, she burst out laughing as if she was dumbfounded.

“Sometimes I don’t know if he’s a genius or an idiot.”
“You must be stupid.”
“I also heard a rumor that you use a unique magic spell that freezes time. If that’s true, then he’s too stupid…”

Liv feels strangely competitive with Adela’s rapid growth after her vacation.
But I didn’t bother to tell the truth for Adela’s honor.

“Rather, sit here. “She got a new sofa.”
“She’s a lot bigger than before, isn’t she? This… “Even two people can lie down.”
“That’s not what I bought it for, but it will work.”
“…”

Liv’s cheeks, who were sitting on the sofa, turned red.
Come to think of it, her first experience was also on the sofa at the Magic Tower.
There were more things missing than before, creating an awkward atmosphere in the dreary room.

“Um, boss…”
“Yes?”
“Touch… Do you want to play?”

Liv took the bottom button of her shirt between her fingers and tapped it.
It was a signal that could not be interpreted.
She was so smart and now it had become a completely erogenous zone and she wouldn’t let me touch it unless it was just the two of us.

I, too, naturally became addicted to touching her soft lower abdomen, and when I was about to reach out without realizing it, I hurriedly withdrew her hand.
It was because I remembered an important promise.

“I’m sorry, I forgot to clean up the house. “I have someone to meet.”
“Now? “Who are you?”
“Hmm… “Just a friend.”

There is no need to tell Liv that we are going to hear Caroline talk about her magic.

“Please leave work first today. “I will close the door.”

I got up from her seat, leaving her upset.

***

As the Academy’s festival period approaches, the number of visitors to the temple has increased.
While it was busy with believers coming from all over the country, Caroline barely found time to enter the confessional.
Just as she was taking a breather from the noisy commotion outside, she felt a presence on the other side of her.
Before she was asked if she had found the holy sword, she first asked Michelan.

“How was what happened in the sewer last time reported to the church?”
“Reporting? “Isn’t this an incident that ended with a graduate student running away?”
“I heard that a demonic statue was found. “Are you really pretending not to know?”
“It’s a big deal. “I didn’t know that my senior was so relaxed that she cared about things other than her duties.”

I was asking because it was Lewis’s request, no more, no less.
Even in the narrow confessional, Caroline was busy as she thought about meeting him a little later.
I tidy up her messy hair, or check her chest to see if she smells of sweat because she was so busy moving around today.

“There has been no separate investigation by the church.”
“Evidence of the warlocks’ actions was discovered, but there was no response!?”

But Caroline was taken aback when she realized she had nothing to say to him.
When an incident involving black magic broke out, the Holy Kingdom always used a Heretic Inquisitor like himself to dig into the background, so this was an extremely unusual event.

“This case has already been transferred to Penheim’s inspection team. What about the Holy Sword? We don’t have much time. If you keep acting like this, the church will also…”
“Ah, really, you guys at least gave me the right information!! There was definitely an audio record from last time… !”

— Hey, saint?

Caroline, startled by a voice calling her from outside, gently opened the door to her confessional.

“Are you okay? Suddenly he entered the confessional alone…”
“Ah yes! Haha… “One of the believers said he wanted to go to confession.”
“Is that so?”

The priest opened the next compartment and tilted his head.

“That’s strange… “Isn’t there anyone?”
“Joe, I guess you left a while ago!”

It’s already popped.
A shrewd child.

In the end, Caroline felt uneasy all the way to her appointment.
It was natural since she couldn’t find out the correct information about the demon statue.
In front of a small restaurant in downtown Parencia, she thought as she lit a cigarette.
She clearly thought there might be something about her that she was missing.

“Let’s see…”

The specialty of the Blood Gate Brigade is physical strengthening and mental manipulation using sacred magic.
Among them, Caroline’s specialty was ‘locking’ information that had been seen once, such as the location of Sacré, to prevent others from prying into it.
She also had a way of using it like this.

〈Baekmado: White Hypnosis·Memory Regeneration ⌜Hypnosis⌟〉

Tick, tock, the clock in my head goes back little by little.
The movement of the second hand had suddenly turned into water droplets dripping from the ceiling of the sewer.
Albert, covered in blood before her eyes, mutters along with the feeble divine power she felt at that time.
This was after Lewis and Darling left to join the professors.

— This was it! Because I had no talent for magic. If I wanted to somehow gain great power, I had to learn at least black magic… !
— Hey, just shut up and answer all the questions.

Again, there is no content.
After muttering like that, I was immediately dragged away by the professors who came.

Humid air.
A cracked demon statue placed on a rusty iron desk.
Books scattered around haphazardly.
A flickering electric light.

– Okay! As he said, to catch a spider you have to throw yourself into a net… !
— Ha, this really won’t work… Uh?

‘Uh?’

Suddenly, I felt like the last words Albert said were familiar.
Caroline, who was quietly staring at the Bible open on the bookshelf, turned the timeline back a little further.
There was definitely someone in her memory who had said those same lines.

– Yes. In this uproar, the Academy’s construction plans were leaked, and the designer was Terra Ernisten.

The location has changed once again, the very last section of the confessional where I was sitting just a moment ago.
There, Michelan’s voice is heard saying that the church did not investigate this incident.

— There must be a reason why she designed this place. It is also suspicious that the sewer system is more complicated than necessary.
– So?
— Keep exploring.

Tuk.
Caroline couldn’t even move when she saw the cigarette in her hand fall into the sewage and into the sewer right next to it.

— Sometimes, to catch a spider, you have to put yourself in a net.

It was because of the last words Michelan said as he sent him into the sewer.