To Be a Power in the Shadows! (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 5.9

Part 9

The six of them follow the magic all the way out of the school building. The spirits’ attacks have died down, and what few skirmishes they end up in are short and sporadic.

Alexia sidles up to Christina. “Just who exactly is he?” she asks under her breath.

Christina turns her gaze to Suzuki, who’s at the very tail end of their procession. “He’s from a distant branch of the Hope family. He’s not supposed to have any talents worth mentioning, but…”

“Well, he’s a force to be reckoned with. It takes a lot of nerve to go head-on with a major aristocrat like that, and that sort of courage doesn’t come easy.”

“I’d never seen those moves he pulled in the fight before, either. He must have been hiding his true strength.”

“But why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. But after this, I’m going to have him transferred to the main house.”

“That’s probably a good idea…”

Leaving him to his own devices would be a waste. Moreover, it would be dangerous.

“I’d be careful around him, if I were you. He knows too much. It’s almost like he’s a whole different person,” says Isaac, who’s just come up alongside them.

“What do you mean?” Alexia asks.

“The thing with the collars. He said he did some testing, but we barely spent any time in that classroom. There’s no way he could have run all the tests he says he did. He’s the one who noticed the mana flowing out of them, too. Maybe, just maybe, he knew everything from the very start. If you look at it that way, it all starts to make sense.” Isaac narrows his eyes. “The reason he’s been so calm this whole time, and the reason his whole personality changed when the white fog showed up…is because he’s a mole.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“Nothing definitive yet. But I’ll get some, just you wait. Make sure you stay vigilant, Princess Alexia.” With that, he strides off.

Sure enough, there’s a logic to Isaac’s theory. If Suzuki is working with the Cult, then the sudden transformation he’s undergone since the fog appeared makes perfect sense.

Assuming that’s true, they’re playing right into his hands.

“…What a shallow man,” Christina mumbles. She’s looking at Isaac as he walks on ahead of them.

“Shallow?” Alexia repeats.

Christina shakes her head. “It’s nothing.”

“Looks like the magic is going into here,” Claire says as she comes to a stop in front of a small aged church on a far corner of the academy.

“I never knew there was a church over here,” Alexia remarks.

The answer comes from Nina. “There isn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. There isn’t a church here. Or at least, there wasn’t, not until the white fog showed up,” Nina replies as she opens the door and heads on in.

The inside of the church is so quiet and still, it’s like humankind has forgotten it. The chairs are piled high with dust.

Alexia puts up her guard as the group heads for something that looks like a pedestal in the back.

“Under here,” Claire says.

There’s a faint breeze coming from underneath it.

“Hnph!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, she fires off a swift kick at the pedestal. However, all she accomplishes is causing a dull sound to echo out.

“Owww! What the heck?!”

“It’s got a magical barrier…,” Nina explains as she pokes it. “Looks like it’s an artifact. You need a key to move it.”

“A key? What key? Where is it?”

“Beats me. I hope it’s somewhere close, but who knows?”

“Let’s try looking for it.”

The group spends the next little while searching the area. However, there isn’t a single clue to be found.

“No dice,” Alexia says. “I’m coming up empty here.”

“Me too,” Isaac replies, audibly annoyed. “Are you sure we’re on the right track?”

“We don’t have time. We need to hurry…”

Alexia’s remaining mana is down to 500. Even considering the fighting they’ve been doing on their way there, it’s still draining faster than she expected. The students back at the auditorium can’t have much left, either.

“Looks like it’d be hard to decipher the artifact,” Nina says. “I’m no good at this kinda stuff.”

Christina and Suzuki don’t find anything, either. “There’s nothing over here.”

A heavy silence descends on the group. All they can do is stare powerlessly at the pedestal. They’re at a deadlock.

Then there’s a small thud. When they look, they discover that Claire’s just struck the pedestal with her hand.

“It’s no use, Claire,” Alexia says, trying to stop her.

However, Claire strikes it again. This time, the noise is even duller than before.

“Please…lend me power. I have something I need to do. I can’t let things end, not here…”

Then she unravels the bandages on her right hand. Isaac and Christina gasp when they see the ominous circle etched on her skin. “What is that…?”

Claire stares at her hand as she talks. “Please, Aurora, I need your strength. I know you’ve been keeping quiet this whole time, but I’m sure there’s something you can do to help here.”

“What’s she doing?” Isaac asks.

“Looks like she’s talking to someone,” Christina replies.

Alexia shushes them. “Shhh, be quiet.”

“Please… Please, Aurora. Answer me… Answer my voice!!”

Then Claire’s magic circle begins glowing. Under its red light, ancient script etches its way across the pedestal.

“Wh-what is this?!” Isaac cries in shock. “What is this power?!”

“Open, open, opeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!”

The red magic engulfs the pedestal, then bursts outward.

When it fades, the pedestal is gone without a trace. Beneath where it once stood, there’s a staircase leading underground.

“Wow…,” Christina murmurs. The magic Claire just wielded was so powerful, it was like nothing she’d ever seen.

“You answered me, Aurora. Rgh… My hand is throbbing… So this is the toll the power demands…” Claire clutches her hand in pain. Her breathing is labored.

Alexia gives her a shoulder to lean on. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Come on, we need to go. We don’t have time.” Claire pushes herself to catch her breath and to put up a tough front. “Let’s do this—let’s save everyone.”

With her at their lead, the group descends the staircase.

It’s a long, long set of stairs.

Thanks to the darkness and the fog, they can barely see anything ahead of or behind them. They say nothing as they go down. The only sound is that of their footsteps.

By the time they finally reach the bottom of the staircase, Alexia’s mana reserves have dropped from 500 to 450.

“That’s a big door.”

Sure enough, there’s a massive door down in the underground dimness. It’s heavy, so they push it open as a group and head on through.

Beyond it, there’s a wide room lined with broken cells. The cells are empty.

“Is this…a dungeon?”

The group advances with caution. Then, after proceeding for a bit, they hear something heavy moving behind them.

“What was that…?” Claire wonders aloud.

There in the darkness, they can’t see what it is that just happened. Alexia turns around, feeling as though she’s forgotten something terribly important.

“Under a church… A long staircase leading to a hidden room… A door, closing behind him…”

She thinks back to the librarian’s story. It bears a worrying resemblance to the situation they’re in at that very moment.

“Gah! Go back—it’s a trap!!”

Alexia dashes back the way they came. However, the door slams shut with a heavy, resounding thud, and as it does, gas begins bursting out of tiny holes in the ceiling. A cloyingly sweet smell begins permeating the area.

“Hold your breath!”

However, it’s too late. One of the six collapses unconscious, then another. Eventually, only Alexia is left.

“We can’t go out… Not like this…”

As everything goes hazy, she sees a young man wearing a gas mask.

“Good heavens,” he says. “I never imagined you would worm yourself all the way down here, Princess Alexia.”

“It can’t be. You were—”

“That’s right. I was the mole.”

Beneath his gas mask, Isaac lets out a low chuckle. Alexia tries to reach for her sword, but she loses consciousness before she can grab it.