Chapter 11 – In response to Charles’ question, Drake smiled with delight and took out a cello case. From it, he retrieved a double-barreled shotgun.
“This is a Winchester product. I’ve got my hands on a brand new model that was just developed.”
Winchester was the name of a firearms company in this world. This was the latest weapon. Charles widened his eyes.
“How did you get it?”
“Won it at the gambling den.”
Gambling den? Given it was Drake, it wasn’t strange. Charles nodded as he saw Drake’s sly smile.
He also had a revolver. Found it in a secret study as well. After setting the appointment, they parted ways.
‘An unexpected pattern.’
Charles sensed that the events happening within the university were growing uncontrollably. It was no trivial matter, seeing as something like this happened with just a visit to the school.
Today’s lecture was in the morning. Standing up, he grabbed his textbook and headed to the university. The Ancient Hermes Language class wasn’t particularly popular.
However, Charles was. Entering the Exploration Hall, he took to the lectern. Looking around, he spotted the familiar Rika Webbs, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him.
“Today, we’ll begin by discussing why we need to learn Ancient Hermes.”
‘The Ancient Hermes era was a glorious era. Above all, there were numerous ruins, and there were structures whose technology seemed comparable to modern times. How could such advancements have been possible, and how did such a civilization perish?’
With that preface, he started. Comparatively speaking, the Ancient Hermes era in this world held a position similar to Ancient Rome on Earth.
The period after the end of the Ancient Hermes era was called the Post-Era. It began with the dawn, went through a dark age, and reached modern times, which was general knowledge.
However, the historical facts of the physical world and those of the secret world were different. Charles’ textbook was an analysis of the Hermes era approached from a strictly realistic perspective.
In the secret world, the Ancient Hermes era was known as the Era of Fission. The mysticism sects secretly handed down from the primal ancient Lem era fragmented into thousands during the Hermes era, and the otherworldly and the real world mixed.
Of the mysticism sects that diverged in the Ancient Hermes era, only some specific ones survived through the Hermes era, with the rest all perishing.
Artifacts created during the Hermes era were more numerous and several times stronger or more unique than those made now.
This was the extent of the setting.
Charles didn’t intend to pull out his knowledge of mysticism, so he only spoke about the history known in the physical world. For the basics of the Ancient Hermes Language, he assigned them to memorize consonants and vowels as homework.
Most of the students were dazed. Despite his efforts to explain interestingly, this dull lecture probably couldn’t be followed by anyone but a few exceptionally fervent students. After class, Charles laughed alone.
‘Who would’ve thought I’d be lecturing.’
Back when he was Kim Yeonsu, he was too poor to attend university. Yet now, he had reached the point where he was lecturing using his in-game knowledge, a strange feeling indeed.
“Ah, Professor.”
“Hmm? Miss Rika Webbs?”
“Just call me Rika.”
Despite the lecture being over, Rika approached and struck up a conversation. The female students nearby glanced at Rika and laughed as they left together.
Using the excuse of not understanding something from the lecture, she approached him. Bold move. Charles had become quite friendly with Rika Webbs. Rika Webbs was not in the Exploration Department but rather in the Humanities Department.
She aspired to be a writer. While listening to her talk, they ate lunch together. Thinking of the next appointment, Charles bid farewell to Rika.
“Hmm.”
Charles rummaged through his bag and took out bullets and a gun. He had prepared the revolver this morning before heading to the university. It was a .38 caliber revolver that could fire six rounds.
Besides this, he had prepared several other things. After putting everything away, Charles headed to the administration office. Drake was already waiting for him outside the administrative building and handed him some files.
“Here, the list of missing students.”
“Thanks.”
Efficient work. Charles took out the documents and looked at the students’ names, then tilted his head at one of them named Peter.
“Peter?”
“Oh, Linebacker. He’s known to be a key player in the Mystweaver rugby team.”
Charles recalled Peter. He was a tall and muscular figure, standing at 190cm. He also knew that Peter and his gang used to behave like thugs. Peter was the first one to go missing.
“Let’s start with him.”
“Alright. Should we visit his family?”
“No, let’s investigate the students who held a grudge against Peter first.”
“If that’s the case…”
Drake took out another file. This was police investigation data.
“Isn’t this police work?”
“I have a friend on the force.”
Drake winked. Indeed, he had excellent connections. These documents quickly revealed three people Peter had tormented.
“Dalloway, Hargis, and Flavor. We’ll start with these three. I’ll investigate Dalloway.”
“Alright. Once the investigations are over, let’s meet in front of the Humanities Building.”
“Got it.”
Charles memorized Dalloway’s black and white photograph and set off. The current unfolding pattern was new.
Usually, it was the dimensional rift experiments by Professor Carlton that were problematic, but this time it was clear that some bizarre chain reaction had taken place.
Charles first headed to the dormitory building. Dalloway was said to stay there. However, Dalloway wasn’t present, so Charles inquired about him from other students in the dormitory. The evaluation of him was:
[No friends.]
[Roams around alone even in the dormitories.]
[Seems to be constantly in a daze. Gloomy person.]
[Good grades.]
“A risky reputation.”
Such individuals were highly susceptible to falling for cults. Then, he met another student who knew Dalloway.
“Oh, Dalloway? He had bad blood with Peter. He seemed happy when Peter went missing.”
“…Really? When was the last time you saw Dalloway?”
“Hmm. Haven’t seen him since yesterday. He sometimes disappears. Looks like he goes to the forest behind the dormitory alone. Often muttering to himself while carrying some strange book, recently, his delusions have seemed worse.”
“Strange book?”
“The book with a purple cover. It gave me a bad feeling.”
Charles thanked the student and headed to the Humanities Building. It seemed there was more to investigate about Dalloway. If an ordinary person felt uneasy, it was likely a spellbook.
After reuniting with Drake in the Humanities Building, Charles shared the information he had gathered. The student Drake had investigated had a solid alibi, so he was excluded.
Charles spoke about the suspicious parts. As soon as he finished, Drake spoke up.
“I know you’re acquiring just as much knowledge in mysticism as Dean Amity.”
Drake had also interacted with the former Charles to some extent. They had much in common, so Drake knew Charles was a mysticism expert.
“So, your mentioning Dalloway and the purple book implies a connection?”
“Probably. The last place he went was the forest next to the dormitory.”
At this, Drake looked toward the dormitory. As the sun set, the sky turned orange, giving a feeling as if reality and perception were separating.
Next to Mystweaver University’s dormitory was a small forest. Not a particularly large area. But as Drake followed Charles, he felt a sense of dread descend with the twilight.
He was ready to untie the strings of the cello case at any moment.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of feet on soil seemed like bait drawing out the fear within Drake. The unique forest scent pulled at buried, nearly untraceable memories of the past from beneath the soil of recollection.
He remembered why he had come here. That monster, he could have easily ignored it. If he closed his eyes for a moment, even nightmares would eventually vanish.
But Drake couldn’t do that.
He had had a similar experience a long time ago, before meeting Amity. Back then, Drake was a confident genius. Humanity was the pinnacle of life, and science was the driving force for human progress.
That’s what he believed. But the more he delved into archaeological texts, the more he realized modern science was a collection of delusions.
In archaeology, he saw glimpses of ancient ultramodern beings. Primordial entities from places called the otherworld interfacing with reality were worshipped as gods, and the events unfolding from that worship were human history. Realizing this, Drake lost his confidence.
He also came to understand that sometimes, there were things one shouldn’t read. Merely reading one particular ancient archaeological text had caused something to emerge.
Something invisible, not bound by physical form, had killed the colleague with him. Seeing his friend being slaughtered in mid-air, drenched in blood, Drake would have gone insane if Professor Amity hadn’t saved him.
Shaking off the memory, Drake saw Charles signal to stop. Having served in the military, Drake halted immediately.
Then he took out the shotgun from the cello case. Right now, the only thing to trust was the side-by-side break-action shotgun.
Charles pointed ahead with his finger, and Drake turned his head slightly to see something strange in the bushes.
Rustle, rustle.
Something was rustling. Something was rustling, but its identity was unknown. Drake tried to imagine it. There would just be a common wild animal there.
A rabbit? A raccoon? Ah, from the way the bushes moved, maybe a wild hog.
But the effort to make the thought concrete was just wishful thinking. What emerged was a very long, dark, and very human-unlike hand, covered in blood.
Drake’s eyes widened. He aimed his gun at it. Charles lowered the barrel with his hand and shook his head. It wasn’t the time to confront it yet.
The hand briefly jutted out before disappearing back into the bushes. A dragging sound was heard, and the forest regained its calm.
Feeling relatively safe, he muttered a curse he hadn’t used since wrestling with that curse-loving aristocrat last time.
“Damn it, what was that?”
“I think it’s an Arachne.”
Charles quietly identified the monster.
“Arachne? The mythical creature?”
“Surprisingly, most of those mythological entities exist in the otherworld. Someone must have summoned it. Let’s pursue.”
Drake shut his mouth and put a glove on one hand. Then he loosened the fastener on the sheath of his waist knife, ready to strike if the shotgun missed.
Stealthily, Charles and Drake followed the Arachne to a small artificially made lake in the woods.
This artificial lake, meticulously created by the university, shone beautifully on clear days. But now, despite the sunny weather, it was obscured by thick fog.
The fog made it feel as though the sun had disappeared entirely, leaving only darkness. Charles infused his eyes with spiritual energy to activate infra-vision.
The darkness within the fog became clear. Like the latest military night vision used by modern soldiers that made night appear as bright as day and allowed color distinction, Charles could even discern colors.
Thinking that Drake might be afraid, Charles turned his head, but Drake had a composed expression. While ordinary people might break down here, Drake held strong. Indeed, he was a valuable asset.
