246 Diary [2]

I didn't know exactly where I needed to go, but I somewhat had an idea. Besides the study room, according to the blueprint, there wasn't anything else that was important.

But there had always been something that had been bugging me from the very start.

'The study room. It's too unprotected.'

....It was as if the Archbishop knew that there was nothing important there and only left miscellaneous stuff.

But there had to be more to what he had.

There was no way he didn't have anything else with him. For example, the blood. How did he get his hands on something so valuable?

The same was true for the ring.

Gradually, my steps came to a stop as I looked around me to make sure that there was no one around.

<nulli>'It's only a hypothesis, but...'

I lowered my head to stare at the ring on my finger.

Closing my eyes, I brought my consciousness in.

I felt my consciousness blur. My thoughts started to fade as I felt my mind detached from my body.

It was a weird sensation.

I couldn't quite describe it, but it didn't feel all too different from what I felt whenever I was witnessing a vision.

The sensation lasted until I felt my consciousness return and when I opened my eyes, I found myself standing in a familiar white world.

"Hm?"

But it was different compared to the past. Right ahead of me, I saw something that I had never seen before and my expression changed slightly.

"What's this?"

The structure stood tall, its towering white facade adorned with massive pillars that stood by the sides they added a sense of majesty to the place.

Staring at it, I felt a certain connection with it.

....It was hard to explain, but it seemed to be connected to me. I could more or less tell that it was due to the fact that the ring now belonged to me.

"What is this place?"

The interior was empty. The entire hall was painted white, and my footsteps echoed as I looked around.

I looked everywhere but found the place to be completely empty. I was confused at first, but it didn't take long for me to eventually spot a certain door in the distance.

Within the grandness of the place, it looked small, and I soon headed for it.

I had an inkling that I would soon find the clues that I so desperately wanted.

"Is it locked?"

Looking at the door, I placed my hand over the handle and gripped it. For some reason, my heart started to beat faster as stood in front of the door, and taking a deep breath, I twisted the knob of the door.

Click!

A gentle click resounded throughout as the door unlocked.

"Ho."

I felt my breath leave my body the moment I opened the door as I let go of the knob and looked around me.

The room wasn't anything big and was rather empty.

But that wasn't what grabbed my attention. Staring ahead, I looked towards a small podium where a book rested.

A book, or a diary?

I wasn't too sure, but I found myself moving forward and heading towards it.

"....It's weird."

I pressed my hand over the cover, feeling the rough cover of the book. There was no title on the book and judging from how rough some of the corners were, it appeared to be more of a diary.

Flip!

Without hesitation, I flipped the first page of the diary open.

Immediately, my gaze fell on the first page.

It was completely empty.

....Empty besides a few words.

<nulli>'To those that ingest the blood of Mortum. He will soon find you.'

***

Back at what remained of the Church.

"Is everyone okay?"

"....There's a few bad cases over here, but it seems like everyone is okay."

"That's good."

Aoife sighed in relief as she looked around. Her mana was slowly starting to return, and her head was feeling a lot better.

With that being said, her body was still in pieces, and she was merely running on adrenaline.

....Aoife put on a smile as she tried to look as calm as possible, but she was anything but calm. It had to be said that she had died several times over the past few days.

She was barely holding onto her sanity by just a thread.

Looking around, she could see some of the cadets looking around with hollow eyes.

They weren't lucky like her.

There was a chance that they had all developed some form of PTSD from all of this. Just the way they looked and how their bodies shook at the slightest stimulus told Aoife all that she needed to know.

"Haa."

She sighed as she leaned back on one of the rows.

"Oy."

Her thoughts were broken by a rough and familiar voice. Aoife felt her head throb.

"I'm not in the mood for this."

"Don't care. Scoot your ass over."

"Uh...!"

Aoife didn't have the time to do so before she was pushed to the side.

"Damn it!"

She went on to glare at Kiera who cleaned her ear with her pinky.

"....If only I had a licorice stick "

"Haa."

Aoife ended up sighing again as she looked at Kiera. She didn't have it in her to argue with her.

She was simply too tired.

"So..."

Kiera spoke while flicking her pinky.

"...What did you think?"

"About? "

"You know, the plot twist."

"Uh?"

Aoife raised her head and looked at Kiera.

"Which on?"

"Hmm, right, there was more than one."

Kiera scratched the side of her face.

"Well, you know... About him being here the entire time. Do you have any idea why he did that?"

"That..."

Aoife shook her head.

She didn't know at all. She was just as surprised as everyone present by the sudden turn of events.

"I didn't know."

"Hmm."

Kiera thoughtfully nodded.

"Thought so. If you had known, then you would've probably acted weird and shit. Probably stalked them."

"....."

Aoife found herself at a loss for words.

Yet again, she had been called that.

"....I'm not a stalker."

But she wasn't that. She never stalked in her life... uh, well, she did collect information and stuff, but that wasn't stalking.

No way.

"I'm not a stalker."

Aoife repeated, this time, her tone was a lot more confident.

"....The fact that you don't know it is crazy."

Kiera mumbled from the side. The way Kiera looked at her made Aoife feel uncomfortable. It was as if she was saying, 'Yeah, fuck. This bitch has completely lost it.'

No, she was probably thinking that.

Aoife clenched her teeth.

"What about you? You're not better?"

"Uh? What in the world are you talking about? Where do you see me stalk people?"

"You're an addict."

"Well, I'm trying to stop."

Kiera laughed.

"What? Is that your best insult? Pftt, that's hila"

"Bitch."

"....."

Kiera stopped all of a sudden as her eyes widened. Looking at Aoife whose eyes were open wide, Kiera's mouth opened in shock.

"Did you just..."

"No."

Aoife looked away, but Kiera didn't let that slide and tilted her head to get a better look at Aoife's face.

"....You just swore. The princess just swore."

Kiera went on to hold her head as she looked at her in total shock. From the expression she made, it looked like she had found the most unbelievable thing in her life.

"No, I didn't. You're not only an addict, but also delusional."

"Bah...! Who gives a fuck! I just got you to swear! Kakaka."

Kiera smacked her thigh as she laughed.

Her voice was so loud that she attracted the attention of everyone present.

"Stop! "

Aoife felt her face redden further as she stood up and hastily covered her mouth.

"Hmmm! Hmm!"

Her goal was to stop Kiera from speaking, but it didn't take long for her to regret her decision.

"Ah...! Did you just lick me!"

"Kakaka...!"

Kiera continued to laugh, her laugh growing wilder as Aoife's face turned completely red. By now, most people were looking, and Aoife found herself boiling in embarrassment.

Glaring at Kiera, she looked at her hand which was filled with spit, and wiped it over Kiera's face.

"Uakh...!"

Taken aback, Kiera weird sounds came out of Kiera's mouth as her eyes shot open in shock.

"That's disgusting!"

"It's your own spit."

"Ah, I don't like this!"

Kiera hurriedly wiped her face while Aoife watched in amusement. She then went on to use Kiera's shirt to wipe her hand.

"Oy!"

The two went on to bicker like that for the next few minutes.

Leon stared at the scene expressionlessly as he struggled to come to terms with what he was seeing.

A voice echoed from behind him.

"Didn't the two hate each other? Why does it seem like they're best friends all of a sudden?"

Turning his head, Leon looked at Evelyn who was similarly staring at the scene with a confused expression.

It was pretty much known to everyone that the two hated each other, and yet, the reality seemed different.

.....The things they did to each other certainly didn't seem friendly, but it looked like the both of them had fun doing it.

"I don't get it."

"Same."

Leon replied with a nod as he stood still to watch the scene from where he stood. He had been helping the other cadets heal up while Julien left, and he tried to look for an exit but found himself unable to find it.

'I can only wait for Julien to come back.'

He seemed to be aware of it.

"Did you know?"

Coming out of his thoughts, Leon looked at Evelyn who was staring back at him.

"Know what?"

"That Julien was here the entire time."

"Ah."

Leon titled his head.

"....What makes you think I knew?"

"Well, from the time that you exposed him in front of everyone in order to buy time for us to escape. Thinking about it, the two of you probably planned that."

"...."

Leon felt his entire face stiffen.

His heart pounded out of his chest as his neck unconsciously turned away from her. With a straight face, he soon found himself nodding.

"Yes, of course."

"Ah, I knew it."

Evelyn nodded from the side.

"It makes sense. Why would you backstab him like that, right? You aren't that type of person, right?"

Feeling her gaze, Leon felt his entire heart drop, but he didn't let it show as he opened his mouth to respond.

"He didn't know, and yes, he backstabbed me."

"....!"

Unfortunately, Leon was never able to get the words out as a certain voice echoed from behind, making Leon jump with fright.

"Uh?"

Evelyn turned back to look back.

Her expression changed slightly as Julien emerged from the darkness, his expression heavy as his gaze locked onto Leon's.

"Snake."

He said,

"....He's a snake."