Chapter 89

EP.89 Lucie... (1)

Knock knock.

[Intruder! Intruder! My master's law-abiding spirit is missing!]

“…….”

Snap!

[Bello, shock! Oppose violence! Oppose violence!]

On a weekend morning, the sunlight was clearly shining through the street trees.

It was a time when no students were around the Bricks Hall, a dormitory for lower-middle-class students.

A girl in a dress was standing in front of a window of one of the rooms in the Bricks Hall, riding on Bello, her beluga whale familiar, which had grown larger than usual.

Bello was swimming in the air, enveloped in a faint water mana. It was a familiar that could carry a person and fly in the sky when enlarged.

The girl with rose-gold hair, Lucie Eltania, hit the noisy Bello and then peered inside through the window.

No one's here.

There was no sound from inside the slightly opened window, which was left open for ventilation. The room's owner couldn't be in the shower or bathroom either.

‘I confirmed Isaac went out to train just now.’

In fact, she had already figured out that no one was in the room. She was just checking as a precaution.

Creak.

Without hesitation, Lucie pushed open the window and entered the room. She left the window slightly open as it was.

“Ugh, it's wet….”

Her lower half was soaked due to Bello's water mana. If she had ridden the Neurozoa, this wouldn't have happened.

On the day of the Student Council meeting, Lucie, who had been dragged to the Student Council, was asked to refrain from using the Neurozoa-Gallia summoning.

Even if the Neurozoa is now recognized as safe, many students still feel fear due to the incident at the end of last semester.

So, she tried riding Bello, but her dress and underwear were all wet, making her feel very uncomfortable. Indeed, Bello was not suitable for riding.

[My master's intrusion successful! Criminal act completed…!]

Lucie dismissed Bello. As Bello's voice faded, a deep silence like a dead mouse filled the room.

In her hand was a small paper bag containing cookies. On the elegantly wrapped paper bag was a small note that read, "Sorry about last time - Lucie."

On the note, she had also drawn a character that was popular these days, after much effort to figure out what it was. She wanted to express a smiling face.

‘I don’t know if this will make Isaac feel better…’

She had read in a book that secretly leaving an apology gift in someone's space could help mend their feelings.

Lucie decided to follow this advice. The problem was that her method lacked a sense of law-abidingness and common sense.

On the day of the Student Council meeting, she had used a tough approach to keep Isaac, but ultimately achieved nothing. As a result, she ended up in this awkward situation, bearing the risk of only straining her relationship with Isaac.

She didn't feel guilty about her actions. She had judged that tying Isaac down was necessary.

However, Isaac was her only friend, a person she cherished deeply. Therefore, being hated by him was something she dreaded.

‘It’s said that putting it in a conspicuous place is effective…’

The best place would be the desk.

Lucie's plan was surprisingly systematic.

1. Leave cookies in Isaac's room.

2. After finishing his training, Isaac returns home with a tired body and is moved by the cookies and note.

3. After enjoying the cookies, he misses Lucie, forgives her, and decides to become even closer.

Now, all she had to do was leave the cookies and run away. She would give Isaac time to be moved and reflect, leading him to decide to forgive and become closer to Lucie. It was a meticulous plan.

“……?”

While placing the paper bag of cookies on the desk, Lucie suddenly noticed the books and various parchments on the bookshelf. More precisely, behind the books. It seemed as if they were deliberately hidden.

The books were fine, but the number of parchments rolled up like scrolls was unusually high. What could he have stored there?

These were the plans and information about the future that Isaac had been meticulously putting together since he was reincarnated into this world.

The plans and information to overthrow the evil god Nephid were all included in those parchments.

The reason he kept them without discarding them was that there was no guarantee his memory would remain intact.

The journey to reach the evil god is a long-distance race. It would be natural to gradually lose memory over years without being able to play the game.

Therefore, he had hidden them behind the books as a precaution, but he couldn't escape Lucie's keen eyes.

“Isaac's secret….”

Such things are usually kept secret.

Lucie had noticed that Isaac sometimes glanced at his chest. If he was a friend with normal sexual desires, perhaps the identity of those parchments was….

‘Dirty pictures, huh.’

Lucie chuckled. Truly, a cute pervert friend.

She was secretly curious about Isaac's sexual preferences. Lucie took out one of the parchments hidden behind the books and examined it.

Unrolling the parchment and unfolding its contents, Lucie inadvertently saw Isaac's secret.

“…What is this?”

It wasn't dirty pictures. In fact, she didn't even know what it was.

Letters? A strange, neat-looking language she had never seen before. It was written systematically and densely.

Despite having read many linguistics books, Lucie couldn't read this language at all.

‘Is it an ancient language? …Then why would Isaac know an ancient language?’

Hangul.

Lucie, a person from this world, had no way of knowing this language.

At that moment.

Thud.

Footsteps were heard outside the door.

Lucie was startled and reflexively rolled up the parchment, tied it, and quickly restored it to its original position. On the surface, she appeared calm, but her hand movements were incredibly fast.

The footsteps were coming from the corridor, very close.

And these footsteps.

‘Isaac…!’

The owner of this room, Isaac.

The reason Lucie could instantly recognize this was simple.

It was the ‘stride’.

Lucie had already memorized the intervals and pitch of Isaac's footsteps.

She had also memorized his scent, the shape of his irises, skin color, palm lines, and hair thickness. Distinguishing Isaac by his footsteps was as easy as eating cold porridge.

It was already too late to summon Bello and escape through the window.

If she was caught here, Lucie's plan would be ruined.

Besides, her relationship with Isaac had become awkward recently. She preferred to mend his feelings with a secret gift of cookies rather than confront him directly.

Where could she hide? There was no space under the bed. Why was it designed this way? She blamed the furniture maker.

Isaac was almost at the door. She had no time to think.

There were only three places to hide quickly: the wardrobe, the shower, and the bathroom.

Lucie, sweating cold sweat, picked up the paper bag of cookies and hurriedly entered the bathroom.

* * *

I need to go to the bathroom.

I decided it would be better to take care of my morning business before going out to train.

There's a public restroom, but I decided to use my room's bathroom for convenience.

Click.

I opened the door and entered the room.

“……?”

Something felt off. It looked the same as when I left, but there was a strange sense of unease.

It felt like someone had been here. My brain was sending signals.

“Huh?”

I quickly identified the source of the unease.

In front of the window, there was a slight dampness on the floor.

There was no reason for it to be damp there. It was recent, meaning someone had entered my room.

I hadn't been gone long, so the intruder must still be hiding somewhere in the room, waiting for me to leave.

If it was someone I knew, they wouldn't do this. There was no reason for my acquaintances to sneak into my room.

Then.

“……!!”

A chill ran down my spine.

The Student Council President, Alice Carroll, came to mind.

I had recently met her, and the rumor that I was under Dorothy's protection had spread among the students.

So, the possibility that Alice had come to investigate me arose in my mind.

‘If it's Alice, did she send a subordinate?’

I didn't know why it was damp, but no other possibility came to mind.

A small, transparent piece of paper I had stuck in the corner of the window for ventilation was missing.

This meant someone had entered my room and deliberately restored the window to its previous state.

Alice herself wouldn't have come. She was busy.

So, if Alice had secretly sent a subordinate.

They must have entered to gather evidence that I was a troublemaker while I was out.

‘Then… they must have hidden as soon as I came in.’

The pieces fit together perfectly.

Right now, in this room… there is one of Alice's subordinates.

I held my breath and maintained my tension.

I took out the Sheath of Calamity from my pocket, condensed mana in my fingers, and formed the magic circle for [Ice Burst] in front of my clenched right hand.

I held the Sheath of Calamity in my left hand, ready to activate it at any moment.

I decided it was more rational to fight than to run. There were three reasons.

First, Alice couldn't easily kill me.

Second, I had a justifiable reason to defend myself against an intruder.

Third,