Chapter 40: Detective games (3)

“Aria.”

“Yes?”

“What’s the plan?”

We stood before Professor Melena’s residence.

Melena, the violet-haired assistant professor I mentioned earlier.

Her full name was Melena Ashley.

“It’s a weekend morning, so she’s probably resting at home, right?”

Leon questioned me. His concern was valid.

Gathering evidence would be impossible if she were present.

“That’s nothing to worry about.”

“What?”

“Do you know what an assistant professor does, Leon?”

“Uh… They assist the professor during classes…”

“That’s not wrong.”

Melena was an assistant professor in the Practical Combat Department.

In other words…

“An assistant professor’s job is to handle the professors’ backlogged work.”

“What?”

Like a graduate student in my previous life.

Although Melena’s workload likely wasn’t excessive, given her role in Practical Combat, tasks like the reconnaissance I’d witnessed in the forest fell under her purview.

“So, she’s probably working right now.”

“Is, is that so?”

“Let’s go in.”

“W, wait…!”

Lucia grabbed my hand as I reached for the doorknob.

“We don’t have a key. How do you plan on getting in?”

“Now that you mention it… Aria, do you have a key?”

“Of course not.”

Why would I have a key to a professor’s residence? The professor herself would have it. Did they think I’d stolen it?

“So, what do we do?”

‘Sigh… This is why I tried to open it discreetly…’

I didn’t have Melena’s key.

However, using my shadow manipulation ability, opening a physically locked door was trivial.

I couldn’t reveal that to them, so I’d intended to open it as if it were unlocked…

Now, I had to play it brazenly.

“I have my ways.”

“What? Your ways?”

“Could you let go of my wrist, please?”

Lucia released my hand. I placed my palm over the keyhole, enveloping the doorknob.

I tried turning it, but it was locked, naturally.

“So, what’s your met…?”

“Could you be quiet for a moment? This requires concentration.”

Did they think I was going to rip the doorknob off?

Of course not. What did they take me for?

“…”

A shadow emerged between my palm and the doorknob, seeping into the keyhole, gradually taking the shape of a key inside.

My hand concealed it from the Hero’s party behind me.

A moment later…

Click

The doorknob turned with a faint click.

I turned around and gestured towards the open doorway.

“Shall we?”

“…”

The Hero’s party, except Alicia, followed me inside.

“How did you do that?”

“A trade secret. I can’t reveal it.”

Alicia, who’d remained behind, questioned me, but I wouldn’t tell her.

Clap

“Let’s split up and search.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t think there’s anything dangerous inside.”

If there were, they would’ve emerged to stop us by now.

The house seemed unoccupied.

“How should we divide?”

That was a good question.

‘This is tricky.’

Lucia and Elena were Leon’s heroines.

Alicia was Lucia’s bodyguard, unlikely to separate from her.

I couldn’t wander alone; they wouldn’t allow it.

“I’ll go with Aria.”

“What?”

As I pondered, Lucia spoke up, unexpectedly.

We divided into two teams: Leon and Elena, and Lucia, Alicia, and me.

After the other two disappeared around the corner, I asked Lucia,

“Why did you offer to come with me?”

“Is that… not allowed…?”

“No, I’m just curious.”

She seemed flustered by my question.

I’d asked purely out of curiosity.

“T-There’s no other meaning! I’m just more comfortable with you…”

“I see.”

“Huh?”

I turned and walked away.

I heard Lucia’s flustered footsteps behind me but didn’t stop.

“Is that all?”

“Is there anything else to ask?”

“Well… no… but…”

“Then let’s hurry. We don’t have much time.”

This side seemed empty. Perhaps the other side?

“…I can’t just say I wanted to be with you…”

I didn’t hear Lucia’s muttered words as I walked down the hallway.

“Aria! Come here for a second!”

“Hm? Did you find something?”

“Maybe?”

Leon’s voice called out as we searched the house.

The three of us headed towards the source of the sound.

“Can you open this?”

“This is…”

Leon and Elena stood before a closed door.

“All the other doors are open, but this one’s locked.”

“I see.”

As Leon said, the doorknob wouldn’t turn.

I inserted a shadow into the keyhole, unlocking the door as before.

“Is this… a basement?”

A wooden staircase leading downwards was revealed.

We were on the first floor, so it was likely the basement.

“Let’s…”

“Aria?”

The wooden planks creaked slightly underfoot but held firm.

Despite the unkempt state of the old staircase, it appeared someone had used it recently; there was no dust.

“Really?”

I extended my magic, sensing a faint presence deep within the basement.

It was weak, like that of a dying person.

“Let’s go.”

“W-Wait! Shouldn’t someone stay behind and keep watch?”

Elena stopped me as I started down the stairs.

It wasn’t a bad idea, but…

“What if there’s danger down there?”

“Ah.”

“Or if the enemy returns? Could you handle them alone?”

“Th-That’s true…”

Unable to refute my points, Elena followed.

I reached the bottom of the stairs, revealing a wide corridor.

“What is this place?”

“Probably part of the original structure. It doesn’t look maintained, though.”

Mold covered the ceiling and floor, and the walls were cracked everywhere.

The basement was in a sorry state.

“It would be difficult to escape if it collapsed.”

“D-Don’t say such unsettling things!”

Around three meters of earth lay above us.

If the walls gave way, tons of earth and stone would bury us.

“I think we’re here.”

We reached the end of the corridor, where a single door stood.

“What’s this?”

“We’ll find out when we go in.”

I turned the doorknob. The door, slightly aged, opened without resistance.

Momentarily surprised it wasn’t locked, we were stunned by the sight within.

“That person is…?”

A single bed sat in the center of the small room.

Lying on it, looking pale but unmistakably recognizable, was Assistant Professor Melena.

“Is she asleep?”

“It seems similar to Stella’s case.”

Melena didn’t react to our presence.

She appeared peacefully asleep.

“If Professor Melena is here…”

“It seems our assumption was correct.”

This meant only one thing.

“The current Assistant Professor Melena isn’t the real one.”

“Oh? You figured it out?”

A voice responded from behind us.

Clang

I drew my sword as the voice spoke, but a heavy impact sent me stumbling backward.

“Aria!”

“You blocked that?”

“That was… dangerous…”

Lucia’s panicked voice and another’s impressed tone.

If my suspicions were correct…

“You’re the one who attacked Stella.”

“You’ve already figured that out?”

So, she was F.

A tingling sensation lingered in my sword hand.

If I hadn’t reacted, at least one of us would have been incapacitated.

“Could you stop staring blankly? I can’t fight while protecting you.”

“Are you suggesting you can fight me if the others weren’t here?”

Even for a strong Academy student, fighting her was reckless.

Winning was impossible.

“I didn’t detect any traps…”

“It’s not a trap, but a simple device. It signals me when someone opens the door.”

“So that’s why it was so fast… Was the entrance itself a trap?”

“Correct. It was quite a run from the Academy, wasn’t it?”

Anyway…

“I can’t let you leave, for secrecy’s sake.”

“…Tch!”

She blocked the only exit.

The room’s layout prevented her, an assassin, from getting behind us, but we were trapped nonetheless.

“So, end of discussion…”

She took a stance.

In a flash, she vanished and reappeared before me.

“Die!”

Boom

Our swords clashed, a resounding boom echoing through the room, shaking the unstable basement.

Until this moment, we’d all forgotten…

Crack

…that this basement was far more dilapidated than we’d thought.

“What’s…?”

“… this rundown place…!”

Cracks spread wider than before, reaching the ceiling and engulfing the room.

Dirt began to fall from above.

“Oh no…! Luci…!”

Rumble

Before Leon could finish his desperate cry, a cascade of earth erupted into the basement, accompanied by the sound of collapsing debris.