Chapter 30

-Thud, thud.

Henrik and Ted walked through the third floor of the faculty building.

The third floor was used by female professors and the second by male professors, so he never had reason to come up to the third floor before. But today he'd come here with Ted to check on Bena Aspera, the new professor in the Magic Department.

"She's in bad shape?"

"Yeah, really bad. Last time I saw her, she was on death's door."

Henrik looked around.

But somehow the professors' faces looked bright.

Some were even chatting and laughing.

-Knock, knock.

"Bena, are you in there?"

Ted knocked on the firmly closed door, and a voice came from inside.

"Dean?! Ah, yes! Come in!"

Ted opened the door and walked in, then froze in surprise.

Bena, who had been at death's door, was perfectly fine and conducting magic research.

"Bena...? Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes! I took the medicine the medical professor gave me yesterday and I'm completely better!"

Bena answered with a bright smile.

Sensing an inexplicable familiarity, Henrik examined her carefully.

Dark blue-tinted black bob-cut hair.

Her elegant appearance and features that somewhat resembled Margrave Gus confirmed she was definitely his daughter.

She put on a cardigan and approached Ted and Henrik.

"......."

"Um... this person is..."

As Bena tilted her head looking at Henrik, Ted stepped forward to speak.

"Henrik Dusk, professor of demonology. I called him because he's also well-versed in medicine and pharmacology, but... if you're better now..."

"I see. Thank you for your concern. I'm really fine now, Dean."

Henrik felt oddly uncomfortable with her smile as she covered her mouth with one hand and smiled elegantly.

Her expression seemed manufactured somehow, and there was that inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Henrik casually shifted his gaze to the room visible behind her.

A room piled high with books, with magic study notes messily stacked on the desk.

"Ah, right! Professor Bena, if you're feeling better, does that mean you can return to teaching?"

"Yes, of course. I can return as early as tomorrow."

"That's fortunate. Professor Henrik wants to learn about magic, and I thought your lectures would be most suitable."

"A professor attending lectures?"

Bena glanced at Henrik.

He seemed uninterested, his eyes rolling around as if searching for something.

"...Is Professor Henrik okay with this? He'll have to attend with the students."

"No problem."

Henrik answered without even looking at Bena.

"Ah... yes..."

His attitude was a bit off-putting, but Bena forced a smile and answered.

"We've been quite rude. Take care of yourself and we'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, Dean. Take care, Professor Henrik."

The moment Bena turned around to close the door-

Something flashed from her chest.

-Click!

Henrik grabbed the closing door and caught Bena's shoulder.

"Wh-what are you-"

-Grab!

He pulled her cardigan and stretched the front of the thin garment she wore underneath.

A small necklace was visible hanging on her chest.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Bena pushed Henrik's hand away with an angry voice and covered her chest with both arms. But Henrik looked at her calmly and said,

"That necklace. Where did you get it?"

"The necklace...?"

This was absurd.

Suddenly grabbing at her chest and his excuse was the necklace?

Bena ground her teeth in anger but calmly suppressed her rage.

"I have no reason to tell someone as rude as you!"

-Slam! Click!

She roughly closed the door and locked it.

As the surrounding attention grew, Ted dragged Henrik out of the faculty building.

"Hey!"

Ted wanted to curse at Henrik's sudden action, but seeing his calm expression, the words wouldn't come out.

"Whew... Fine, let me hear what reason you had for doing that this time. You're not someone who acts like that without reason, so there must be one."

Ted let out a deep sigh and looked at Henrik.

But Henrik didn't say a word, just seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

"Henrik?"

"......."

The necklace.

Henrik felt strangely familiar with her necklace. It wasn't one he'd seen in life, yet there was this subtle sense of déjà vu and familiarity.

Suddenly, he recalled the characters engraved on the necklace's surface.

He rolled up his sleeve and ran his hand along his arm.

He thought of the golden characters that appeared when his new power manifested-the ones on the necklace seemed to be from a similar system of writing.

He had a strong premonition they were connected.

'There was also that strange mark.'

When he'd pulled her clothes, on the right side of her chest there had been a bizarrely twisted swirling mark in dark red.

That too was extremely suspicious.

He had his suspicions, but without concrete information-

It seemed investigation was necessary.

"Ted."

When Henrik spoke, Ted glared at him and answered.

"So, you finally feel like explaining?"

"I'll be canceling classes for a week."

"...What?"

Having said what he needed to, Henrik hurried toward the Academy Main Building.

Left alone, Ted stared blankly at Henrik's retreating figure with an incredulous expression.

"That crazy bastard. He could at least tell me why."

* * *

For three days, a full three days.

Henrik holed himself up in the Academy Library, reading books.

It was because of the vague thought that something he'd missed might be in the books.

Since books buried in the old castle had also been excavated, the Academy Library contained many ancient texts. Perhaps among those many books there might be a clue about the characters.

The deepest part of the library, a room that stored and managed only ancient books.

Henrik set down a nearly extinguished candle holder and piled books into a mountain.

Behind him, countless books already lay scattered.

"......."

Henrik quietly opened a book.

Decoding Ancient Languages, no results.

Fairy tale book from 100 years ago, no results.

Considerations on Ancient Magic, no results.

"Haah...."

Henrik sighed and recalled the emblems carved into his arm.

Characters that looked like runic script but that he'd never seen before in his life.

Unknown characters that the Sovereign of Sloth had reacted to and that resonated with the barrier located in the Academy Underground.

And similar characters had been carved on Bena's necklace too.

Things that hadn't been visible in the past, but after awakening his power, the characters had started appearing here and there as if by fate.

They must be connected to something, but he hadn't grasped it yet.

The investigation had started because Bena's behavior and expressions gave him a subtle sense of déjà vu.

Henrik stood up again and searched through the bookshelves.

Deeper inside, even deeper.

When he went deep and dark enough that light didn't reach, untranslated books packed with dust filled the space completely.

As acrid dust flew up, Henrik lightly covered his mouth with a handkerchief and scanned the titles.

"......!"

Henrik, who had been scanning the books, hesitated.

Familiar characters, among the books he was seeing for the first time, there existed one book that had been translated so it could be read.

The letters had weathered so he couldn't read the author and title properly, but he could read fragmentary keywords.

[Demons. Report. Dominic]

Realizing it was a book related to demons, Henrik immediately pulled out the book.

When he blew on it, cloudy dust flew into the air.

Looking at the translation date, it seemed someone had translated it recently.

'Dominic...? Is that the author's name?'

Henrik opened the book and began reading carefully.

[3 years after demons appeared, the world became chaotic.]

Judging by the content, it seemed to be written in the distant past, not long after demons appeared in the world.

[Monsters with numerous legs, man-eating monsters that devoured people with huge mouths. People trembled in fear. But whenever I (Dominic) saw them, I felt interest.]

It seemed there had always been people who showed interest in demons, then as now. Henrik continued reading the book.

One page, two pages.

As he gradually read through the book, Henrik's expression became serious.

It seemed to be a book from long before demonology was founded.

Though he was a person from the distant past, Henrik became interested in him.

[I attempted to communicate with demons. Failed. However, I discovered that they too have their own hierarchy. There seems to be a large difference between demons without intelligence and demons with intelligence.]

It seemed to be a period when magic beasts and demons weren't even distinguished.

Henrik stretched briefly and looked around.

Outside there were many people, but the ancient archives where Henrik was located only had dust flying about.

[I succeeded in communicating. He called himself a Demon King and willingly conversed with me. The power he displayed was overwhelming. I asked him what he thought of humans. But he only smiled.]

"......."

Contact with a Demon King.

Henrik flipped! rapidly turned to the next page.

The result was obvious, but he had a premonition he would find a clue in the records he left behind.

[I had many conversations with him. And I learned various facts. Demons were not beings that couldn't be communicated with. It was just that we couldn't understand them because they had their own separate language system.]

"......!"

Henrik smiled faintly.

Like an oasis in a desert, what he had been searching for so desperately was here.

Dominic, the records he left were truly remarkable.

[Though not perfect, I learned part of the language demons use.]

On one page of the book, a character chart of unknown letters was written.

When he compared the characters carved on his arm with the characters in the character chart, several matching characters existed.

"As expected, it was related to demons."

The characters carved on Henrik's body had many parts he couldn't understand here and there, as if mixed with other languages, but he could decode the characters carved on Bena's necklace.

Based on his memory, Henrik compared the necklace's characters and came up with one short word.

[Parasite] [Heart].

Whatever the meaning, it was certain that it was not a good object.

Dominic. Henrik etched the author's name into his memory.

He read to the end of the book and closed it.

The conclusion of Dominic's story wasn't written, but judging from the circumstances, it seemed he had met a bad end at the hands of the Demon King.

At the end of the book was fear about the Demon King.

And at the very last, just one line was written.

[Demons and humans are in a relationship that can never coexist.]

It was a passage that resonated with him.

The characters carved into the body and the characters of the barrier.

Though questions abounded, it was certain that Bena was connected to the demons.

Only then did Henrik realize what that sense of déjà vu he'd felt had been.

The Sovereign of Sloth, Velperia's vessel.

It was because she somehow resembled the way that woman had acted while pretending to be human.

She wouldn't be an ordinary demon.

Not only did she perfectly imitate a human, but the creature was playing the role of Professor Bena-she seemed to be a considerably high-rank demon.

'Then is Bena dead?'

That was something he needed to find out for certain.

If it was the early stage of possession, there was still hope.

'In the worst case, Bena might be connected to a Demon King....'

The demons would also know that the Sovereign of Sloth had fallen.

Since her main body sealed underground was still alive, it was obvious that other demons active as vessels would be moving vigorously.

What kind of demon was attached to Bena? That was the key question.

If he knew its identity, he could devise countermeasures.

After all, Henrik possessed the most outstanding abilities among hunters dealing with demons.

Swish. Henrik rose from his seat, organized the books he'd taken out to read, and left the Ancient Archives. Looking out the library window, the sky was deepening into night with a red sunset.

As Henrik left the library, whoosh! He donned his black coat.

'I should tail her.'

Then, muffling his footsteps, he slowly headed toward the Faculty Building.

Bena Aspera.

There was a strong possibility she was a collaborator with the demons.

He was reluctant to kill the daughter of an old comrade-in-arms,

but if she had been eroded by demons, he would have to kill her.

"......."

A sigh escaped endlessly.

If he killed Bena with his own hands, it was obvious that building a friendly relationship with Margrave Gus in this life would become difficult.

'For now, I'll have to watch until definitive evidence emerges.'

From that night on, Henrik began monitoring her, swiftly climbing trees and staring into Bena's room through the window.