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Chapter 96: Locralen (3)
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”
“…”
However, she didn’t stop or even move a single step even after so much time had passed.
With the lectures disrupted and stopped, the onlooking wizards began to feel a certain fear rise within them.
“… What’s wrong with her?”
Rose Rio rubbed her arms, seemingly getting chills.
“She lost her soul.”
I checked her face under her robe’s hood.
Frightened expression, petrified eyes, deafening screams, pupil movements, facial wrinkles.
Every part of her cycled through the same routine and interval endlessly.
She had a nameplate from 963, a year before the abolition of Locralen.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”
“Rose Rio. Can you stop this noise?”
“Gosh. Of course, I can.”
Veiling the place with [Silence], she effectively muted the woman. Her horrific expression and frostbitten posture remained, however.
“Did anyone bring a mana stone? I need one to keep the spell going.”
Kreto handed her a crystal ball from his inner pocket.
“Is this enough?”
“Oh, yes.”
Utilizing it as a medium for her magic, she added a few more spells as a precaution.
“I’m done here. So, why did you say we shouldn’t touch her, Deculein?”
“You’ll likely suffer the same fate if you do.”
“…”
Everyone’s shock was clearly revealed on their faces.
Locralen coughed and shouted to the wizards in the hall.
“Sorry, everyone! Today’s conference will be temporarily canceled due to an unfortunate incident. Please go back to the hotel—”
“No.”
I cut him off. I took out the wood steel and sent it down to the first-floor exit. At the same time, I ordered it to prevent anyone from going outside.
“What do you mean?” Locralen’s forehead wrinkled.
Walking calmly, I stood in front of them.
“No one is allowed to leave this building.”
“Professor Deculein. Even though it’s you, I’m the president of the Locralen Society, so—”
“There is a host among us.”
“A host?”
I looked at the attendees gathered before me.
“I demand everyone to take off their robes and reveal their faces.”
The reaction was pretty intense.
Relin and the people below me took off their robe hoods hastily, but the heads of other prestigious families and high-ranking wizards expressed their anger for being suspected.
“Professor, you’re not making any sense—”
“Don’t you know who I am, Deculein? I’m Gaelon! Gaelon!”
“Even if there is a host among us, it’s not me!”
“I couldn’t care less about what happened.”
Each and every word they uttered consumed a lot of mana, so I decided to finish what I needed to say first.
“If you don’t want to be executed for being suspected as a host, then follow my command.”
─Ahh!
Not long after, a similar scream rang out on the first floor, but there was no need for us to go all the way down.
“… Oh, my.” Rose Rio gasped, clearly taken aback.
The victim, this time, climbed the stairs between the first and second floors indefinitely.
He would take one step up, scream, one step down, then scream again.
“This looks… serious.”
“Ahh—! Ahh—!”
His nameplate stated 963, the same as the previous victim.
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“Ugh, that’s creepy. Deculein. How did they turn out like that?” Rose Rio asked anxiously.
“I don’t know.”
Albeit a little delayed, I noticed wizards starting to descend the stairs. Locralen, Allen, Epherene, Kreto, Delpen, Relin, Vizetan, Gaelon…
“First thing’s first. Shut the entrance and let no one out, Rose Rio.”
“No, Professor! If we all end up like that—”
“Hey.”
She lightly restrained Locralen’s resistance and, upon reaching the first floor, blocked all the doors leading to the exit using [Ductility] magic.
*****
… Locralen, 12 hours in.
Arriving at the cafeteria in the corner of the first floor, Epherene sighed in relief. Fortunately, she found enough ingredients to ensure starving wouldn’t be a problem for them.
“Are you hungry, Professor?”
“No~ I can endure it~” Allen, deciding to accompany her, denied it.
Allen’s stomach kept growling.
“You’re lying. Let me make you something.”
“Can you cook?”
“Of course.”
Epherene prepared a dish using magic. She made ingredients soar into the air, let them be cut on their own, roasted them using magical flames, and…
“Give me a plate, please!”
“Woah…” Admiring her work, Allen did as she requested.
After completing the delicacy in 30 minutes, they went to the round table conference room on the 3rd floor, where select wizards, including Deculein and Rose Rio, held a meeting.
“Here. I brought something to eat.”
“Hey! Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something here?!”
Relin glared at her eyes and waved her off, but Rose Rio swiped his hand away.
“I’m starving. Thank you.”
“Ah. Is that so…”
“Thank you. Leave it and go.”
“Alright.”
As Allen served each of them a plate, Epherene sneakily stood near the round table to eavesdrop on their discussion.
“… Hmm. That can only happen to people from the future, right?” Rose Rio asked while eating.
“It’ll be at its most powerful in ten years. It’s most likely targetting the people that exist near that time first.” Deculein replied while reading a book. She glanced at its cover.
“Is there something in that book… Wait. Isn’t that from 963? How can you read it so easily?”
“I’ve never found it difficult to do so in the first place.”
Although his total mana capacity was clearly at the bottom among the people in Locralen, Deculein’s unique mental power reduced his mana consumption to near, if not absolute, 0%.
“That aside, Professor, who was in the underground archives?” Relin asked, causing Epherene to flinch.
Not even bothering to answer him, he turned his attention to Rose Rio.
“Which floor is the basement in?”
“Well, I’m not sure, but I heard it’s pretty deep.”
“Why did they make an archive room in there, then?” Deculein muttered, still scouring through the pages of the book in his hand. Upon taking a closer look, she finally discovered its title.
[963 Locralen Building Inspection].
Rose Rio shrugged.
“How would I know that?”
“… Rose Rio.”
Raising his gaze, he looked at her as she replied indifferently.
“What?”
“How old are you?”
“…Why do you ask that now?”
“I have no choice but to ask since you keep talking without honorifics.”
“But I’m higher in rank.”
She crossed her arms and smirked, but when Deculein closed the book, she flinched.
Giving her a cold, deathly stare, he whispered.
“… Rose Rio.”
“What?”
“… Rose Rio.”
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“… What?”
“I will ask you one last time.”
“…”
As his gaze pierced through her, the pressure he emitted seemed to suffocate the entire room.
“… Gosh, alright. I’ll use half-honorifics, then. Does that sound fair to you?”
He nodded in agreement. Half-honorifics were acceptable since, despite being older than her, Rose Rio had a higher rank.
Bang—!
The door to the conference room swung open.
“Professor Deculein! Wizard Rose Rio! Why are the two of you only chatting and eating here?!”
Delpen, a Named wizard, raged, consuming his mana in the process. 960 was engraved in his nameplate.
“There have been 40 more victims already! Don’t you know how many of us are here, including those from the past and the future?!”
“…”
“What madness possessed you for you to order everyone to stay here while the monster’s host is in this building?! You’ve done nothing but turn us into sitting ducks! We’re leaving! You have no power over us anyway!” Delpen turned around to walk away, taking quite a few people with him.
“… Delpen from 960.”
He stopped at Deculein’s words.
“I am Deculein from 958.”
The immense weight and pressure his voice carried crashed down on everyone’s shoulders, including the instigator himself.
“I am the Head of the Yukline family, the Head Professor of the Imperial University, the Emperor’s guard and magic educator…”
The more titles he uttered, the heavier his name became.
“Delpen from 960.”
“…”
Swallowing hard, he looked back at Deculein.
“Tell me your opinion.”
He still had his legs crossed. He didn’t even stand up or display the slightest hint of wrath. Instead, he just asked a question, almost in the same way he would send his regards.
“Do you not want me to let you exist in your year?”
That warning was for everyone, not just him.
“If so, then perhaps I should send you to Rohalak.”
Those standing by his side trembled upon hearing his words that threatened their future existence.
“I-I’m sorry. I panicked for a moment there, which m-must’ve caused me to lose myself. Please do forgive me, Professor Deculein!”
He raised the white flag by bowing.
* * *
… The society’s president, Locralen, descended to the [Underground Archives].
“God damn it. How the hell could this even happen? This shouldn’t be possible. There’s no way I’d be completely unaware of such an event…”
Muttering incomprehensibly, he ran along its perimeter, which offered a safe path for him to use, until he reached one of its corners.
“Pant… pant…”
After scanning his surroundings, he pressed his hand against the wall, causing a secret door to slowly open upon recognizing his fingerprints.
“Whew. Whew.”
He calmed his rough breathing only after entering his hidden 30m² study room.
“Phew…”
Wiping his sweat, he walked over and sat down on a chair. He then looked at his journal, a record of his stay in this magical space.
[March 8th: Locralen is where I will be forever. So…]
He used this hidden area to store his diary, but since Locralen itself was a place where the timelines had been entangled, his future self sometimes wrote entries in it, preventing him from being unaware of major events such as the one currently happening.
[I would have used the word ‘stunned.’ Deculein also…]
With cold sweat dripping from his forehead, He frantically rummaged through it. He didn’t even have time to stop to tend to his papercuts now.
Thanks to his desperate effort, however, he discovered a new entry he had never seen before.
[September 5th: The attack Deculein mentioned is the fucking witch’s work. That…]
He read the messy and disorganized handwriting his future self delivered to the present, the contents of which astonished him upon fully deciphering it.
“Unbelievable. How…”
[Hurry up and tell Deculein!]
He closed his diary and went straight aboveground. Ignoring his profuse perspiration, he climbed the stairs and reached the lobby as fast as he could.
“Professor Deculein! Professor Deculein!”
Only the information desk employee stayed on the first floor, blocked by Rose Rio’s magic.
However, the mad man was sleeping even amid this tumultuous time!
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Locralen ran to him.
“Hey! Now’s not the time to sleep!”
“Ah! No, yes!”
Waking up in shock, he looked at Locralen.
“Where’s Professor Deculein?!”
“Oh, he’s probably in the round table conference room on the third floor right now. At least he was three hours ago.”
“Third floor?!” Locralen asked, bewildered by how many more flights of stairs he had to climb.
“Ah! No.” The staff answered.
“No?”
“Yes!”
“Then where—”
“Oh, he’s probably in the round table conference room on the third floor right now. At least he was three hours ago.”
“… What?”
At that moment, a shiver rose on Locralen’s back.
The staff continued to speak.
“Ah! No, yes! Oh, he’s probably in the round table conference room on the third floor right now. At least he was three hours ago.”
“…”
Gulp—
Swallowing hard, Locralen slowly took a step backward.
At the same time, he came to a realization.
His employee entered that soulless state right in front of his eyes.
If so, then the host was…
“… At least he was until three hours.”
Near.
Locralen looked around but soon staggered due to his profusely trembling legs.
“Ah! No, yes! Oh, he’s probably in the round table conference room on the third floor right now…”
The desk staff repeated the same lines ceaselessly.
“Damn!”
“The third floor right now. At least he was three hours ago.”
Locralen hurriedly turned around and ran, swiftly opening the door to the hallway and climbing up the stairs.
─Ah! No, yes! Oh, he’s probably in the round table conference room on the third floor right now. At least he was three hours ago…
He made his way to the third floor.
“Ugh, Professor Deculein—!”
However, when he opened the door to the conference room, a scene flashed through Locralen’s mind.
[Hurry up and tell Deculein!]
His future self’s last entry came to mind.
He read it without any doubt then, but…
He now realized that handwriting wasn’t his.
“Ah…”
He looked at the person blocking his path.
It was probably closer to flashes before his eyes.
“Hello, Locralen.”
To her, who had fully predicted his behavior, he responded as he gasped for breath.
“You… How did you know?”
From that point on, all that was left for him was repetition.
“Ugh, Professor Deculein—!”
He went back to the past and opened the door on the third floor. Facing her again, he mumbled once more with an astonished expression.
“You… How did you know?”
Upon finishing those words, his time rewound.
He went back to the past and opened the door on the third floor.
“Ugh, Professor Deculein—!”
The person Locralen saw had long since left, but his expression, memories, and time remained unchanging.
“You… How did you know?”
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Locralen was stunned.