Chapter 31

EP.31 Old Acquaintance (3)

In the dark and gloomy underground waterway.

Belnoa knelt on the damp floor, her knees soaked with moisture. Of course, no one had told her to do so. She just felt that she should kneel.

"Why did you start by casting magic and causing a commotion?"

"Well, that's... "

Belnoa broke out in a cold sweat.

To be honest, she was a bit afraid of that professor. She remembered when they entered the domain of the mana spring.

Everything was shaking and distorting.

Amidst this, the professor remained perfectly fine, standing on his own.

'Just like a different being.'

This fear stemmed from the sense of alienation.

'...Not going to throw me into the mana spring again, right?'

Surely not.

Belnoa slightly raised her head to glance at Lania. She was dressed as usual, with her ash-gray hair cascading down her back and a neat robe.

'Really doesn't suit her.'

While she didn't feel much in Aphria, facing her in this underground waterway made it feel very awkward. She looked like a noble lady.

A woman who seemed to have no connection with such a gloomy and dark underground waterway.

"Hmm."

As Belnoa was thinking this, Lania spoke. She pointed at Belnoa with her finger.

"Why are you kneeling?"

"..."

"I didn't tell you to kneel. Your clothes will get dirty. Stand up."

"Ah, yes... "

Belnoa slowly got up.

Then, she cautiously asked a question while observing Lania.

"P-professor, why are you... in such an underground waterway...?"

"An old friend asked me to clean up the underground waterway."

'Old friend? Request?'

Belnoa tilted her head.

Apart from that eccentric old man, was there someone else interested in this underground waterway?

"By any chance, is the friend's name...?"

"You should know."

"Pardon?"

"I heard he's your adoptive father."

There was only one person Belnoa could call her adoptive father. An old man who disliked being called that.

"By any chance, are you talking about the old man from the potion shop, Cardy?"

"Cardy is right, but old man? Him?"

"Pardon?"

"Hmm... Well, I did receive the request from Cardy."

That old man had friends?

Belnoa looked at Lania.

'No matter how I look at it, he doesn't seem old enough to be on a first-name basis... '

Besides, wasn't she the adoptive daughter of Professor Roselle? If she could call that old man by his name, she must be at least the same age as Professor Roselle.

Belnoa cautiously asked.

"P-professor, how old are you...?"

"Twenty-one... Twenty-one."

Something doesn't seem right.

Belnoa opened her eyes wide. Her intuition, honed in the slums, judged that 'twenty-one' was a lie.

"What."

"..."

"What, brat. Speak. Do you have something to say?"

"Nothing, really."

She couldn't bring herself to ask, "What is your age group?" Belnoa held her tongue.

'I don't want to experience the mana spring again.'

She was a cautious mage who valued her life.

"So, how much have you cleaned up?"

"I've cleaned up the path I took to get here."

Belnoa pointed behind her.

"I did some cleaning while coming here too."

She pointed to the path she had taken. There was no need to check it.

Green blood.

Just by looking at the blood trailing from her feet, one could guess how many undead she had killed.

"So, what's left is this side, I guess."

Lania extended her hand.

She pointed to a fork in the road leading from the intersection.

"Let's go together, then."

"..."

Belnoa followed Lania, who was leading the way.

The metallic sound of her footsteps was ominous every time she moved.

"Um, those shoes...?"

"Oh, these?"

She slightly lifted her heel.

"There are a lot of crawling undead. Do you really need to grab them with your hands? You can just step on them."

She lightly tapped the ground with her toes.

But the sound that echoed was far from light.

Clang, Clang!

'...Steel plates?'

Steel plates were attached to her shoes.

They looked like well-trained boots.

"This is really efficient. Just a slight pressure and the neck bones snap. They're just the right weight, so I cherish them."

Lania smiled contentedly.

Belnoa felt an inexplicable chill from her smile.

* * *

Squish.

A squelching sound was heard with every step. Perhaps it was due to the water flowing beside them and the dampness, but that wasn't the only reason.

"..."

Belnoa looked at Lania's feet.

Her boots were stained green. It was the blood of the undead. She turned around and saw a continuous green trail.

Gulping.

Belnoa swallowed hard.

After walking for thirty minutes with Lania leading the way, Belnoa hadn't cast a single spell. She just followed Lania.

No monsters appeared?

No, that's not it.

'They did appear, and in huge numbers.'

From here on, zombies seemed to crawl out in a frenzy. The numbers were so overwhelming that even breaking a few fingers wouldn't be enough.

-I'll take care of the sides, so Professor...

-Move.

-Pardon?

-I'll be hindered if you don't move.

However, there was nothing for Belnoa to do.

Belnoa glanced behind her.

"..."

Piles of headless undead corpses lay there.

"Here they come again. Is there no end to this?"

And.

-Crack!

They kept appearing.

Lania casually extended her hand.

She grabbed the zombie's head and applied force.

Crack.

The undead's head burst. The fragments didn't fly out loudly. When she lightly swung her hand, chunks of flesh mixed with bone fell into the waterway.

It was a precise movement.

She didn't seem to be exerting much effort.

'Skilled in actual combat.'

Having grown through actual combat in the slums, Belnoa could recognize this.

'Breaking joints, grabbing necks, bursting heads.'

She naturally incapacitated them.

It was a movement that couldn't have come from just anyone.

"..."

Belnoa glanced at Lania.

"Hmm..."

Slightly.

Belnoa found her back familiar.

2.

"..."

I stopped walking and glanced behind me.

"Hmm..."

Belnoa seemed to have understood something, nodding her head. I had made up a story, but did it work?

'I can't say I came from the battlefield.'

Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, it seemed she had accepted it, so it was fine.

I looked ahead again and continued walking. Undead kept pouring out, and I kept clearing them, over and over.

How long had we been walking?

Suddenly, Belnoa spoke.

"Why don't you just use a wide-area spell to clear them out?"

"What?"

"The one you showed in the lecture hall. Just one would be enough to avoid dealing with them one by one..."

What is this kid saying?

I chuckled and replied.

"Here?"

"Pardon?"

"If you use it wrong, everything will fly away. Do you want to collapse the waterway while trying to catch a mouse?"

I don't know how sturdy the underground waterway is, but when I used Smash earlier, the bricks trembled.

'Smash was already a close call. If I use a wide-area spell on purpose... '

I'd be buried.

Getting out wouldn't be difficult, but the aftermath would be a problem. I'd have to clear and check the debris.

"We need to see what's at the end. If we blow it up, it'll be a hassle to check."

"The end...?"

"Do you think this is normal?"

I pointed to the inside of the waterway, shrouded in darkness.

"Monsters do appear in underground waterways. Maybe a mage left an experimental circuit here. I thought so at first... but..."

As I observed, my thoughts changed.

"It's excessive."

This was, indeed, excessive.

"There are too many."

"..."

"And the further we go, the more there are... Doesn't this tell you something?"

I nudged the undead whose head I had just crushed with my toe.

"It's not that old."

"..."

"The fact that they increase as we go deeper means there's something inside, right?"

I narrowed my eyes.

It was dark, but it wasn't just darkness.

'There is something.'

Something that couldn't be seen with the naked eye.

"See."

I smiled.

"With all this preparation, there must be something."

Blocking the darkness.

-Creak, creak.

It wasn't a simple undead.

Something that looked like a mass of dozens of zombies was blocking the end of the passage.

"..."

The stench made Belnoa pinch her nose.

'The smell is indeed quite strong.'

I was about to swing my fist but paused. I had planned to use Smash, but...

'The fragments will fly everywhere.'

My stomach had become somewhat stronger from seeing all sorts of terrifying and revolting things on the battlefield. Still, the sight of chunks of flesh from zombies flying around was a bit...

Just imagining it made my stomach churn.

"Sigh."

I unclenched my fist and stretched out my hand, pressing my index finger, middle finger, and thumb together. The spells stored in each finger were activated by the friction.

"I'll just burn it."

Ash.

Ignite.

Gray flames shot up.