Chapter 115: Seven Wonders of the Academy (part five)
The night was cold, as if winter had come a little earlier.
After taking a nap, Tirnanog and I left the dorm and went to the Phantom Beast Museum in the same way as last night.
The Seven Wonders we’re going to investigate tonight is the 「Stairs to the Underworld」.
If one blindly steps on the 13th step of the stairs in the middle of the night, it is said that they will be connected to the underworld.
“There is a rumor that it happens on 23:11, another one that says it happens right at 12 am, one says on 01:23, and also one that says on 03:33……this time, it seems this will have a severe impact on our sleeping schedule……”
『If so, shall I be the one to check it all the way? You can take a nap as I do that.』
“Eh, that’s kind of cheating. For now, we should investigate the actual thing.”
On the way to the Phantom Beast Museum, I saw Goldberry flying towards us.
She circled around overhead and flew away at a slower speed than when she came.
“I guess she wants us to follow her.”
『It seems that way.』
As we followed Goldberry, we reached a hedge of evergreen tree some distance away from the Phantom Beast Museum.
Klaus and Auguste were waiting there while hiding in the bushes.
Auguste, who is not good with cold, put a small salamander inside a jar and was warming himself up.
Klaus also seems to be wearing a slightly thicker robe.
They noticed me and beckoned me over.
“Why are you both in a place like this?”
“It seems the security around the Phantom Beast Museum is very tight tonight. Look, can you see that?”
While hiding behind the tree, I looked up towards the direction where Auguste pointed at.
I felt some shadow crossing under the starry sky.
Concentrating my eyes, I saw a black dragon, which I feel like I have seen somewhere, slowly hovering in the wind.
“That’s the Theurge dragon, isn’t it……?”
“If I get closer, I will be discovered.”
I remembered that it was a secret, so I asked him without mentioning Professor’s name.
Auguste nodded and sighed a little.
“Not only that. Look at those people.”
Looking at what Klaus pointed to, there was a group of people holding lights in front of the museum.
Just as I was thinking that I couldn’t see their faces, Klaus started chanting.
The spells for Raptor Sight and Glam Sight made it possible for me to clearly see the people there and the magic they have.
They are the teachers of the magic academy and the staffs of the Phantom Beast Museum.
There are also figures of Lièvre the curator, and the guards of the city of Lindis.
At the center are Princ.i.p.al Twr, Vice Princ.i.p.al Môr, Brad Clochydd and Director Cuniculus.
None of them are likely going to be easy opponents and severe punishment is inevitable if we’re discovered.
“Magic for barrier and sensing have also been applied in layers, huh.”
“The particularly troublesome thing is the heat sensory magic of Princ.i.p.al Twr. Even if we somehow falsify our body temperature, there is a possibility that they will be able to sense us from the movement of the air.”
Klaus explained with a bitter expression.
There’s a feeling that we definitely can’t enter the museum tonight.
“What happened anyway?”
“I wonder if an important phantom beast specimen has been lost or stolen. What a bad timing.”
“What should we do? Should we just give up investigating for tonight?”
Auguste asked, so I contemplated it for a short while.
I want to avoid being discovered.
But time is a valuable resource.
Just like during the time at Knot Reed, it would be too late if things already happen.
Since that is the case, let’s change the schedule.
“How about going to the Magic Library?”
“Aah, the Hanging Girl, huh?”
“If they concentrate the security around the Phantom Beast Museum, the security around the Magic Library may be lax. It’s worth a visit.”
We ran under the starry sky and headed towards the Magic Library.
The Magic Library, as opposed to the Phantom Beast Museum, was in a deserted state.
Instead, at every entrance, there is a mechanism that will trigger Alarm when one uses Unlock.
Klaus applied Pa.s.swall magic on each of us and so we entered the hall through the wall.
Since the window of the Magic Library was made of milky white alabaster, the light from the outside couldn’t pa.s.s through and the hall was dark.
Klaus, who had lit a light on his staff ahead of time, became the vanguard voluntarily.
Upon arriving at the sixth floor which has the Chained Library, Klaus held his staff towards the wall near the entrance.
The beeswax lamp was lit by the mechanism that has been set up in the room and the bookcase was illuminated with warm light.
“There is an a.n.a.lysis magic that is about to be put up. At least, that was what the librarian we met the other day was saying.”
“If they haven’t put it up yet, it means the cause of the ghost hasn’t been identified.”
“Klaus, what if we use that to find it?”
“It’s a large-scale installation type. It cannot be incorporated into the demonic eye, plus it leaves traces.”
“That means we have no choice but to wait for a while. The story was arranged as a poor girl who hung herself due to some special circ.u.mstances—”
Schlik. Clank, clank.
I heard metal sc.r.a.pes and faint creaking noises.
I saw something hanging from a thin string between the high ceiling and the bookcase.
There was no such thing until a while ago.
Something suspended was swaying like a pendulum with a small clanging noise.
As I approached, I gradually understood what it was.
“……!”
Pale skin that seems unhealthy and long black hair.
From the uniform design, which is a little different from ours, delicate limbs extended.
A thin chain hanging from the ceiling was wrapped around her neck and made a small creaking noise as she swayed.
And her body was so transparent that I could see the bookshelf on the other side of her.
The eyelids on her cast-down eyes and her long eyelashes were lifted, clear blue eyes peeked through.
When she noticed us, she looked around with an expression as if looking down on other people.
It was a girl who seemed somewhat languid, haughty, and strong-willed.
I wanted it to come out, but to think that it would come out so suddenly like this.
I don’t know whether this is a good or bad thing.
『You’re so noisy that I couldn’t even be dormant peacefully. What did you say? Who the heck did you call a ‘poor girl’?』
The ghost girl grumbled in annoyance while stretching as if she has just woken up.
Her voice was lively, as though she was truly alive.
The girl, who was swaying like a pendulum until recently, floated against gravity and drew near, looking as if she was floating mid-air.
『What a rude way of speaking, when you don’t even know me. It seems you’re another fool, as usual.』
“Then, just who exactly are you?”
When I bit the bullet and asked her, the ghost girl exposed her feelings of contempt.
『Oh my, you don’t even know that? Who am I, you say? I don’t want to be involved with foolish living people who can only ask such tedious questions. Please come back later.』
When the ghost girl raised her right hand, a thick book that had been stored inside the bookshelf was lifted.
As she made a gesture as if throwing something, the book flew towards us.
Fortunately, the book stopped precisely at the tip of my nose, who had put myself on guard.
Apparently, because of the length of the chain, it just barely didn’t hit me.
Dangerous.
No, before that, please treat the valuable books more carefully.
Because they are not just priceless books; they are books that only have several volumes in this continent.
『I’ll explain it to you fools just in case, but the thing just now was only a threat. I threw it knowing it wouldn’t hit. If you get it, you shall thank me for my benevolence.』
Somehow, this ghost is being oddly provocative.
But, with this kind of childish provocation, we’ll lose if we rise to the bait.
If I look closely, the chain around the neck of the ghost and the bookshelf chain are similar in construction.
As the person herself said, she doesn’t seem to be a girl who hung herself.
This should not be a ghost, but some magical mischief, although I wonder how she came to be.
Klaus cast a spell on everyone while I was thinking about such things.
Her magic composition was added to the visual information.
“Hm. I know the ident.i.ty. This is an artificial spirit. It’s similar to the type used to help fast thinking and parallel thinking.”
“Why does the spirit have a figure of a young lady, Klaus-sama?”
“The appearance is up to the creator. I can’t understand the preference that made this fellow look like this……and the personality also seems bad.”
『That mage over there, you seem to be a little bit promising. But, for you to not understand my good points, isn’t it just your preference in women that is bad?』
“What did you say!?”
The ghost girl laughed.
Klaus raised his staff in an attempt to attack her, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
『Oh my, I thought that you’re a boy who is easy to anger. You should cherish that self-control. Because just relying on your anger to act wouldn’t be enough during crucial times.』
“I know that, even if you don’t say it!”
“Now, now, calm down, Klaus. If you’re taken in by her cheap provocation, you lose.”
Klaus told her as if spitting and hit the floor with his staff in a stabbing manner.
Auguste patted Klaus’ shoulder to calm him down.
『You look like the woman I hate the second most in the world.』
“……Haa?”
『Speaking of which, why are you wearing men’s uniform? Why don’t you wear some skirt and come again later?』
Auguste’s expression stiffened while still smiling.
It cannot be denied that he has a feminine face, but although he’s slender, he’s doing weight training diligently and trains himself.
Even though he does his best, he couldn’t become muscular, so it seems that he has an inferiority complex secretly.
“Keep this in mind. What is important is not how others see you, but what you do. There are more important things than looks.”
『What could be more important than looks? You can say that only because of your looks.』
Goldberry jumped out of Auguste’s hood and breathed in with force.
This is not an air bullet; she’s going to breathe out flames instead.
“Auguste-sama, you shouldn’t use fire in here.”
“Oops……that’s true. Erica, sorry.”
“But this ghost woman whose creator is unknown, she really has a bad personality.”
It seems that the frustration of Auguste and Klaus, who have barely avoided confrontation, can’t be calmed down.
The ghost girl, who is the cause of their frustration, is floating mid-air in a posture as if sitting with her legs crossed.
Her appearance is very condescending, just like a spectator observing as a disinterested party.
『Aah, but if we’re talking about face, yours is the worst one.』
“Me?”
『You must be full of curiosity and inquisitiveness, right? Aah, wait. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t complimenting you. Rather, it is the opposite, for you, if you are on the edge of a cliff where a single misstep would put you head first into the abyss, you would skip over there blindfolded while humming unconcernedly. I’m saying that you lack crisis management skills.』
The ghost girl pointed at me, turned upside down and came closer to my face.
『I know a woman who looks a lot like you. An arrogant, malicious, treacherous, vindictive and horrible woman. I am sure she didn’t have a decent death. She must have had a lonely, miserable, hopeless death instead. Speaking of which, you are also going to face a miserable death, because—』
After a pause, the ghost girl laughed as if ridiculing me.
『—you, your shadow of death is coming out, you know?』
I pulled out the wand of Dispel and waved it towards the ghost girl.
The fast-acting Dispel spell caused the artificial spirit to disperse and the surrounding became silent.
Klaus jumped and caught the valuable book that had dropped because its manipulator disappeared.
“Erica! Why did you attack that fellow all of a sudden!”
“Sorry, Klaus-sama. It seems that I was the quickest person to anger, huh……”
“But, thanks to you, Erica, I feel a little satisfied.”
I have trained myself so that I can quickly draw my wands whenever there is a foe.
Even so, I didn’t think that I would be perturbed over something I am always mindful about.
After a while, the ghost girl appeared in the same place again and the chain around her neck extended to the ceiling.
It seems that it couldn’t be completely destroyed by the Dispel just now.
『What did you do that for—! Fine. I’m not going to give you any advice. It’s not my problem if you get caught and killed in the death web that is stretched out over and over again.』
“We haven’t been getting any advice in particular.” (Auguste)
『Shut up. Stu~pid, stu~pid. Stupid and boring living people who don’t even know this much, I absolutely won’t come out and meet you even if you call me again.』
“Even so, if we call you, it seems you will come out again, huh……” (Klaus)
『Isn’t that a good thing? Next time, you should prepare a question that I will be satisfied with.』
Having said so, the ghost girl disappeared without a trace.
“Kuh, what an unreasonable artificial spirit……”
“How awful~ ……I wonder if it was made to disparage people……”
“I feel exhausted even though it was just a few minutes……”
The three of us let out a sigh at the same time.
“Normal artificial spirits are supposed to exist only in the magic layer, so they can be erased by Dispel. However, the fact that it can regenerate means that the spell is described in the physical layer.”
“Like that mist golem, so there must be her real body somewhere.”
“Klaus-sama, that book from before, is that the main body?”
Klaus glanced at the book he caught earlier and shook his head.
“No, it doesn’t seem to be that simple. It’s not just a single book, it’s more than one. At least, it seems that all books in this floor have a copy of the spell transcribed.”
“All of them……?”
“Wait, Klaus. ‘At least’, you say, that means……”
“Aah, it’s virtually impossible to dispel if it’s transcribed to the other floors, not just this one.”
In particular, the books in the bas.e.m.e.nt floor are the precious ancient magic books.
We can’t take the risk of dispelling it along with the magic originally applied to those books.
In the first place, there are books that require permission for viewing, so we will have to give up on dispelling it.
“Even if it is only transcribed on this floor, there is a possibility that the spell would transfer to another book nearby when we dispel it.”
“I suppose that’s the reason it was left as is for so many years, huh.”
That artificial spirit is as tenacious as a malignant computer virus.
Both Klaus and Auguste have a bitter appearance.
“Shall we go home for tonight?”
The two of them agreed with my suggestion without hesitation.
The mental attack is harsh, but that artificial spirit is not some kind of dangerous magical beast or phantom beast.
And the possibility that it’s related to the morgue of the headless prince is also low.
One of the Seven Wonders of the academy, Hanging Ghost of the Magic Library, it remains unresolved, but for now, let’s put it on hold.