Part 4
After school on the third day after starting their surveillance──
Horun climbed a tree in the schoolyard and gazed at the Staff Office. She watched the entrance to Bihyakk’s room from the hallway window.
Incidentally, the windows that the room had closed thick curtains both day and night. Since books would discolor when there was sunlight, and there were ingredients for magic that disliked light, this wasn’t anything strange.
──I promised to Lumachina-san that I wouldn’t use my Thief skills but -ssu kedo.
Right now, it was after school, and she had accepted a request from the Headmaster as an Adventurer. She wanted Lumachina to forgive her for it.
Horun concealed her presence through the use of 《Hiding》.
If a level 80 Thief were to hide seriously, the possibility that they would be discovered by a Magician was extremely low.
It would be different if they were to call out a Summoned Beast that had a detection ability though.
『Horun-chan!』
Babylon hit her cheek.
Having carelessly nodded off, Horun went *Ha!* and opened her eyes.
Some female student could be seen entering Bihyakk’s room which was at the end of the hallway.
The time was six pm.
With it being the winter season, it was already dark right now.
Even if it was a teacher’s laboratory, she felt that just the fact that they were alone together after school was enough of a problem though......
Even though they were told from the academy side──do not act alone.
However, even if she were to barge in now, she wouldn’t be able to prove that this was related to the case of the missing students.
At most, they would be warned about their lack of thoughtfulness and that would be it. There would be no meaning to it unless she found the students that had gone missing.
「............」
Horun waited.
If she were to go in front of the door, it would be possible for her to eavesdrop on the conversation in the room, but if he was being vigilant, she might lose this lead.
There was a need to cautiously, cautiously pile information up.
『They totally came out!』
「True -ssu ne.」
The candlestick that Bihyakk held in his hand illuminated the inside of the night school building.
He wore a robe that had a hood. It was a dark red robe. A color that Magicians often used, it was the color of magical power, the color of rusted iron, and the color of dried blood.
He had red hair with grey hair mixed in, and deep wrinkles were etched into his face.
He was a man with piercing eyes.
Something that looked like a pronounced tattoo stretched out from his right cheek to his forehead. It was a sign that he was a Demon.
Demons were said to be a mixed race of Humans and Demonic Beings.
It was only said, and there was no proof of it. That was simply arbitrarily decided upon, and they were a race that received a lot of discrimination.
The person that Horun revered the most, Diablo──He was also a Demon.
That is why she had no prejudices towards Demons.
That is what she believed but......
Bihyakk’s profile, she saw him not as a person of the Races, but like he was a Demonic Being.
Horun rubbed her eyes.
Behind the teacher, the female student was chasing after him. It was the young lady that entered the laboratory just a little while ago.
Seeing her movements, Horun unintentionally muttered.
「......She’s being manipulated.」
『Hoeh?』
Babylon tilted her head.
Since they were in the schoolyard, there was absolutely no way her voice would reach anyone else, but even so, Horun lowered her voice.
「......The way she walks is different from when she entered the laboratory -ssu. There is no waste in the pace of her steps.」
『Isn’t that a good thing?』
「......For normal people, their consciousness would be a hindrance to their body -su. And since their gaze would wander and not settle down, their center of gravity would subtly deviate -ssu. The only ones that wouldn’t have that are people like soldiers that have been trained to walk that way or Warrior-type Adventurers.」
『A subtle deviation～? There’s no way you could see something like that this far away, right? Or something like that?』
「Far? Putting aside if it was in rainy weather or in a fog, with this amount of distance──there isn’t any difference from them being right in front of me -ssu yo.」
『Uwa......Gross.』
「What!?」
The Classes of Thief and Seeker were the eyes and ears of the party. It was only natural for them to have superhuman senses.
In any case, there was no longer any need to stay up in the tree.
She smoothly got down.
When she got to the ground, Angeline came out from the shadow of a thicket that was a bit separated from her.
「Horun, how was it?」
「......He’s on the move -ssu. Since I think he’ll be coming out of the school building shortly, I’ll follow after him -ssu.」
「I’ll......go too.」
「Eh.」
「I won’t be of any trouble to you. I, want to save my friend. Besides, as for whether or not Bihyakk-sensei really is the culprit......I won’t be able to assent to it unless I see it with my own eyes.」
Angeline said that she revered that teacher. It probably meant that she still didn’t want to think of him as the culprit.
『Isn’t she already getting in your way? A total bother, ya knowー?』
Babylon was harsh.
Horun scratched her head.
Her actions were probably being done out of feelings of responsibility as the student council president, and her feelings of guilt towards her childhood friend who had ended up being her replacement in all of this.
That sort of feeling of wanting to do something despite her lack of ability──Horun painfully understood it.
It was because she herself was like that before.
「......It’s fine -ssu yo. Please follow after behind me. However, make sure that you don’t make any loud noises or let out your voice.」
「I promise.」
She nodded with a serious expression.
『Hold on, hold on, Horun-chan!? Isn’t this like totally dangerous!?』
「......I do have 《Hiding All》, after all -ssu kara ne. A level 80 Thief is able to conceal the entire party for a short time -ssu.」
『Ah～, you do, don’t youー. That thing that you can use when you’re a level 80 Thief. Like totally unfair -ppo.』
「......Is it unfair -ssu ka ne?」
Even at level 80, if it were a Magician, just by throwing a crystal, they would be able to call out a Summoned Beast that could fight against a dragon.
A Martial Art that could defeat that Summoned Beast could be used if they were a level 80 Warrior.
In other words, being level 80 meant that they would be someone that possessed the ability to be able to influence group battles.
She didn’t think that applying Hiding on the whole party was an ability that stood out all that much.
Rather, she felt it was unsatisfactory.
In Horun’s case, this high level was not something that she worked hard to obtain, but was something she obtained by the 《Master and Servant Contract》 with Diablo.
Through the black-dyed leather choker on her neck, she would become half the level of the one acting as the master.
As compensation, Horun would end up dying if Diablo dies though.
──I haven’t accumulated the experience.
Since she had leveled up in one go by using an item, she might not be able to make the best use of the abilities she possessed.
If only there were a senpai Thief to guide her......thinking that, Horun shook her head side-to-side.
──I’m going to become a Magician like Diablo-san -ssu!
That was her life’s goal.
Right now, she would exhaust all of power as an Adventurer.
Bihyakk and the female student came out from the Staff Building. The surroundings were already dark, but that didn’t matter to Horun’s eyes.
She chased after them.
Part 5
──The old school building.
The place that Bihyakk headed to bringing along the female student was an old school building found at the back of the academy grounds.
It was an old stone walled building, and had two stories. It would be three stories if the attic was included.
The blue painted shingles were damaged here and there and had roof leaks. There was a window where one could go from the attic to the top of the roof.
Bihyakk opened the lock to the front door, and went in together with the female student.
Horun stopped walking.
She examined the situation from the shadow of a tree.
She could tell through the window that the light of the candlestick was going down the old school building’s corridor.
Since it was a wooden latticed window, she could only see light and shadow leaking through it. She couldn’t grasp the details but......
She could tell that it was Bihyakk from the pace. The female student was together with him as usual.
They entered a classroom at the center of the first floor.
「What should we do?」
Horun was troubled.
Babylon pushed a fist out.
『Got no choice but to go in!!』
「Mumumu......」
The old school building was said to have been examined by the State Knights. The story was that they didn’t find anything.
However, there was no way that Bihyakk would lead a female student to the first floor of the old school building for no reason.
Going *Guh*, Angeline leaned forward.
Her eyes were filled with determination.
Let’s go!
Her eyes seemed to be saying that.
Horun nodded.
Cautiously, so that they wouldn’t make a sound, they approached the old school building. She placed a hand on the front door.
It was an old, wooden door.
If done carelessly, the hinges would creak.
Quieter than the sound of wind, Horun opened the door.
When compared to the outer walls, the wear and tear of the interior wasn’t all that much.
They advanced down the wooden floored corridor.
The first floor center classroom──
A faint light leaked out from a crevice of the door.
Horun held her breath.
Closing her eyes, she focused her consciousness on her ears.
《Dictation》
Surprisingly, there were no sounds. However, there was one person’s worth of the sound of breathing from inside the room.
──One person’s worth!?
Other than that, there was only the breathing of Babylon who was riding on her shoulder and Angeline who was behind her.
She couldn’t sense the existence of the female student?
However, she had clearly seen her go into the old school building.
Horun extended her hand to the door.
She pulled it open.
「ッ!!」
Part 6
In the dim classroom that only had the light of a candlestick, it was filled with piled up books.
Sitting in a seat for student use, an old teacher was reading a book.
His gaze turned to Horun’s group.
「How surprising. What might you all be doing?」
「Bihyakk-sensei......」
「Umu. Do you have business with me? Who might you be?」
「Ah......I’m Horun -ssu. From First Year, Class F.」
「I see.」
『And I’m the Goddess of another world, Babylon-sama -poyo♪』
Even though she couldn’t be seen or heard, she went out of her way to introduce herself.
Entering the room after Horun, Angeline lowered her head very deeply.
Bihyakk made a face that said he found it surprising.
「Even you are here......」
「E, excuse me.」
「I do not know how important your business with me is, but I cannot praise you for chasing after me to a place like this. Students are banned from entering the old school building.」
Horun unconsciously took a step forward.
「But! Earlier, didn’t one come in together with you -su ka!?」
Bihyakk tilted his head.
「I came here alone though?」
「ッ!?」
Once again, she sent her gaze around the room.
In the classroom, there was a dimness from only having a single candlestick, but if there was a person lurking about, she wouldn’t overlook them.
There were only books piled up on the floor.
Other than that, there were several things that seemed like they were related to Magicians.
「I am using this place as a storage room. Of course, I have received permission from the Headmaster. Are you sure that you two didn’t mistake what you saw for that?」
He pointed at something that was placed alongside the wall.
It was a life-sized doll.
However, there was no way they would mistake it for a female student.
It was an anatomical model that had no skin where it was easy to tell the bones, muscles, and internal organs of the Races and be able to take them into one’s hands.
She tried examining it, but it was simply a wooden model.
There was not even the smell of a single drop of blood.
Bihyakk shrugged his shoulders.
「Good grief......Even though you’re in middle school, are you pretending to be State Knights? And even you, the president of the student council, are doing this?」
「E, e, excuse us!」
Angeline shamefully blushed.
Horun shed an uncomfortable sweat.
They had tailed him.
Holding confidence, she stepped in.
However, even though the suspicious person was here, the figure of the all important female student wasn’t.
「M, may we......examine the room?」
「You may do as you like. However, if nothing comes up, I will be making a report to your homeroom teachers, got it?」
Horun nodded.
Nearly one hour.
Even though a level 80 Thief had examined things this carefully, there weren’t any sort of mechanisms.
Not a revolving wall, not a openable floor, not a moveable ceiling, nothing.
There weren’t even any magical mechanisms.
A majority of the piled up magic books were covered with dust.
As for the books that didn’t, Angeline took a look at them but, although they had advanced content, all of them were books that circulated in the market.
There weren’t any that seemed like they would be related to the incidents.
Horun found a hair of a female student, but this was originally a classroom. It wasn’t strange for something like that to have fallen in here.
Dejected, she hung her head.
Bihyakk, still sitting in the chair, waved his hand as if he were shooing away a dog or something.
「Go back......I don’t have any time to waste on you.」
「S, sorry for the bother -ssu.」
Gritting her teeth, Horun left the classroom.
Babylon, who was sitting on her shoulder, was about to say something, but words didn’t come out.
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