Chapter 124: Preparing for an Exciting Exploration (1)
“That’s Dane Sogres.”
“Is that the son of the person who came to the special lecture last time?”
“That was so cool… That family is a real scam, a scam.”
The positive chatter that seemed to have died down picked up again.
It was thanks to Father. It seemed like the special lecture had a big impact.
In particular, the students from the Spearmanship Department would grab me and not let me go whenever we met, comparable to those Physical Beauty students.
“Are you Dane Sogres? Let’s be friends!”
“Could you please take a look at my spear technique later?”
“Your father is so cool…”
The thought suddenly occurred to me that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be able to make an enemy of the Spearmanship Department. Professor Ingrid, who tried to make things better than before, was also included.
Anyway, I had the feeling that I’d become more popular thanks to my father’s special lecture, which received a better response than any other special lecture. That was why I was a little more cautious in my actions, but I wasn’t so cautious that my shoulders were about to pierce the sky.
Because my father was my father and I was me.
“I only hear about you recently, Dane.” Leila seemed to be envious of me in a way. When I met up with Leila in the club room, she had a very regretful expression on her face. “I wish my father had come too.”
It had been quite some time since Duke Thermion began to curtail his attendance at official functions due to the duchess’ illness. However, this didn’t mean that the influence of Duke Thermion had weakened.
But separately from this, Leila seemed to understand. That didn’t mean that she didn’t regret it.
“I’m sure Delward will find a way,” I said.
“I get calls often anyway… I wish vacation would come soon so I can go to the Khabarosk Mountains.”
So did I.
Once you made a plan, you had to see it through. Considering the situation, it seemed like a perfect schedule to head to the Khabarovsk Mountains and then continue on to the ascetic training.
“By the way, where did the other two go?”
“Ah. Priscilla has a class and Ernest… Is he going around exploring again?”
“I think so.”
Yesterday, he came back to the club room slowly and said something in an excited voice, telling me to wait a little bit. I couldn’t understand what he was saying because he was talking so fast.
“Should I contact him?” I asked.
I tried to communicate with the crystal ball.
Ttu一 ttu ttu一
Then I heard sounds that I shouldn’t have heard.
“…Is that a busy signal?”
That was一
Communication was completely impossible right now. It was a sound that could be heard if you were in a place where the mana from the magical relay installed within the Academy couldn’t reach…
Or.
He was currently unable to communicate with the crystal ball.
“Is the crystal ball broken?”
“That could be possible.”
I was thinking of waiting a bit, but then I remembered Ernest, who had often brought up the topic of exploration, and I shook my head.
“Let’s find him.”
“Where?”
“I guess I’ll have to talk to the Physical Beauty students first. Let’s bring our weapons—just in case.”
“Yes.”
I left the club room with Leila and headed straight to the sewers. There, I found a bunch of students sweating and working out.
“Mr. Dane! Ms. Leila! You’re here!”
As soon as Leila and I arrived, they quickly got up and greeted us politely. In particular, Dorian, who asked to be my disciple, spoke the loudest.
Of course, this was not a situation where one could praise one’s voice.
“Is everything alright? Has Ernest stopped by, by any chance?”
“Oh, he left two hours ago!”
Two hours ago.
“He didn’t say where he was going?”
“Oh, he didn’t go to the club room? Since you came looking for him here. Um, earlier… I think he was talking about restricted areas?”
“Restricted areas?”
“Yes. I heard he is currently investigating that area. He said that he might have found something interesting. Is there anything going on?”
The restricted area.
Something interesting.
‘Got it.’
“Did he say anything else?”
“No.”
I left the sewers with Leila, leaving a curious Dorian behind. I thought I heard someone shout “Take care!” from behind me. It wasn’t like I was the head of a secret organization or anything.
“They’re really strict. They were so annoying at the beginning of the semester.”
“You really can’t tell anything with people.”
Who would have thought that just setting up a training room in a sewer would make them this sincere?
Anyway, that wasn’t important.
“He said it was around the restricted area.”
“Let’s go quickly—before something happens to Ernest,” Leila urged.
Restricted area or whatever, I felt I had to save Ernest first.
We headed to the restricted area first. First of all, we needed to find out what happened.
“It’s security.”
Could it be because of what happened in St. Aimar’s Hall? Security seemed to have doubled compared to before. There was even a thicker magic barrier.
“He made it through here? That’s amazing.”
Leila nodded blankly at my muttering.
“He’s really great…?”
The number of security measures was significant. There was almost no gap between shifts, and it seemed that magic detection was continuously taking place.
I didn’t think it would be easy for me to get through.
Of course, it would be possible to use the ‘shadow hiding’ technique I learned from my mother, but that would be like just passing by while hiding.
Ernest must have timed his passage through an almost invisible gap and entered the restricted area.
“Wait a moment.”
I concentrated.
Soon, the mana flow began to become visible to my eyes. A dense web of mana appeared, seemingly responsible for the magic detection.
I looked a little further inward from there. Then, I sensed a group of magical forces moving busily.
“Are they chasing Ernest?”
At that moment, when I decided that I had to move—
“Ah.”
I was able to relax for a moment.
Someone was coming this way, but it was a familiar mana.
“Dane, Leila! It’s you. As expected!”
A familiar voice was heard.
It was Ernest.
“What happened?” Leila asked with wide eyes, and I checked Ernest over first.
He was fine. Although his body was covered in dust, he didn’t seem to be hurt or anything.
“I heard you went into the restricted area, so we came looking for you. I couldn’t contact you.”
Only then did Ernest take out his crystal ball and show us an apologetic expression.
“Ah… I turned it off when I went in just in case. I thought I might get caught. I’m sorry.”
Wait, he turned it off before going in?
“So you’ve already gone in and come out?”
Ernest smiled brightly at Leila’s question.
“Yeah. And I finally found it!”
“Found what?”
“An awesome place to explore!”
* * *
After visiting St. Aimar’s Hall, Ernest became infatuated with a certain person.
Saul Hangston, the man who built St. Aimar’s Hall, and whose deeds were legendary.
He was a figure who was revered by all mages and was said to be the only one to have reached 9-chain after the destruction of the Magic Kingdom Archana. He was a man who not only re-established the theory of magic after the disappearance of Archana but also had a great influence on the establishment of the Academy.
Ernest took note of this very point.
‘Establishment of the Academy.’
To be exact一
“About the Academy buildings designed by Saul Hangston.”
Many buildings, including Hangston Hall, were designed by Saul Hangston himself. Most of them remained intact, without cracks or warping even after hundreds of years.
Those buildings were also in the restricted areas.
It might have been natural for Ernest, who was investigating the buildings out of personal curiosity, to discover a ‘secret’.
“So, there are a few buildings designed by Saul Hangston in the restricted area, and one of them is strange?”
“That’s right!” Ernest was very excited, and I felt the need to calm him down.
Priscilla, who joined us as soon as she finished class, and Leila looked as if they agreed.
“Alright, calm down for now,” I said.
“I can’t calm down! It’s so obviously suspicious!”
Suspicious, huh?
I paused for a moment and then asked, “Tell me more.”
Ernest began to explain slowly, his excitement calming down a bit.
Anyway, Ernest was very interested in the buildings designed by Saul Hangston. He said he looked closely at a few of them in the hopes that there might be something more. It was his hope that if he did well, he might be able to uncover one of the secrets of Saul Hangston, who died without leaving behind a single disciple.
In the midst of all this, he discovered something strange about one of the buildings designed by Saul Hangston.
“I went closer and listened, and I kept hearing strange sounds coming from the building.”
That was absurd.
He got closer and listened?
“So you really went into the restricted area? Avoiding the guard?”
“Yeah. It seemed doable?”
Priscilla’s mouth fell open at Ernest’s calm answer, and Leila shook her head.
It was understandable, as security in the restricted area had been doubled since the incident at St. Aimar’s Hall.
Of course, that wasn’t important.
“What did you hear?”
“The sound of something being worked on. And occasionally, I thought I could hear people talking,” Ernest exclaimed.
At those words, Leila’s face turned pale and she asked, “A-a-are you sure it’s not a ghost?”
And she said she wasn’t afraid of ghosts.
“If you hear a human voice in a place where people can’t enter… it’s a ghost!”
Priscilla, true to her major, denied the existence of ghosts and offered a different interpretation, “Even though it is a restricted area, aren’t the people guarding it using it for other purposes?”
Ernest shook his head and said, “If that was the case, it wouldn’t have been in such a low whisper, would it? There’s definitely something inside.”
“You didn’t hear what was said?”
“Uh, um. Yeah. I didn’t hear. It was like something was a whisper.”
But this alone was not enough. Even if there were people inside…
“What kind of building is it?”
“The laboratory used by Saul Hangston during his lifetime.”
Saul Hangston’s lab.
What an interesting case.
After all, the legendary mage would have done all kinds of research and experiments within it.
“Of course, after his death, all of the items inside were used for other research or moved to the Hangston Memorial.”
I was disappointed for a moment.
“But by the way, why are mana waves detected in places where there shouldn’t be anything?”
At Ernest’s words, the surroundings became quiet for a moment.
A mana wave.
Ernest smiled and took an object out of his subspace, saying, “Even if it comes at a set interval, look. You would never detect it unless you were at Dane’s level, but I hid a mana wave detector and this was recorded when I came back for it!”
What he showed us was a device that actually recorded mana waves periodically.
It was very subtle.
The waves were so tiny that even professional equipment could only barely capture them. That said, they definitely weren’t natural waves.
Because the nature of the waves was artificial.
“Is this a wave coming from the magic barrier by any chance?”
“Absolutely not. The waves coming from the magic barrier are completely different in nature.”
This was the first time I’d seen something like this, but it was definitely artificial.
If this was real…
It smelled fishy.
Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing as they looked at the wave.
“…It can’t be helped, right?” This time, Leila was the first to give up. No, rather, it seemed like she was looking forward to it. “Saul Hangston… I’m not really familiar with magic, but I’m curious?”
“I don’t have anything to do with magic at all, but I’m curious. What on earth is it?” Priscilla agreed.
Ernest, well. There was no need to say anything.
“Dane, what about you?”
Now everyone was looking at me.
What about me?
“Alright.”
Needless to say, I agreed to the expedition.
“I’m really curious about what’s inside.”
Saul Hangston’s lab.
It was tempting, but an even stranger connection came to mind…
His pursuit of the Magic Kingdom of Archana.
Maybe we could get some clues that would lead to further increases in my circles.
“Before that.”
However, there was one thing that must be made clear. It could be dangerous, or there could be something we didn’t know about.
Therefore, more information was needed.
I picked up Ernest’s wave analysis equipment, remembering Arabella, who had told me to tell her in advance if I was going to cause another incident.
“Let’s start by analyzing this wave.”
ns
