CH 39

TW: Mentions of suicide.

【Gladyce!】

Leto shouted a magic spell to cut something with a knife. The guy tried to stop the spell quickly, but the spell wasn’t directed at him. The paint from the ceiling poured down on him and his body was instantly covered in paint.

We did it! Leto and I came out and followed the traces of the paint. All we had to do was follow the trail, but the lights in the library blinked a few times before they completely went off.

“Huh?”

I couldn’t see anything. Was that his doing? But it was impossible for a single student to break through all the security here and turn the lights off. If that was possible, then it would be a disaster. When the lights went out, Leto and I reached out to find each other. When I looked ahead, wondering if I lost him again, I noticed the paint on the floor. 

“Leah, I can see the colour of the paint.”

I grabbed some random art supplies from the school, but it turned out to be a colour that could be seen in the dark. What luck! The colour was subtle, but it was enough to be seen. Leto and I reached out to avoid falling and followed to where the paint led.

Looking at the distance of the paint getting closer and farther, it seemed that he wasn’t used to the darkness either. There were many traces that indicate he ran and walked slowly. If he was not used to the dark, that meant that the culprit following us didn’t turn off the lights in the library. Then, who on earth did it?

After getting used to the darkness to some extent, Leto approached me. The place where the paint headed was none other than the basement of the library. It was a place no one has ever entered. Using the stairs students would usually use during the day, we went down to the library’s basement which had a warning sign saying ‘Do not enter’.

“…Shall we enter?”

Leto asked cautiously before jumping over the warning sign. I also passed through the warning sign and entered the dark room.

The place was completely dark without a single window, making it difficult to get used to the darkness.

“Hold me. Don’t fall.”

“Why don’t you make a light with magic?”

“And get caught by him?”

I had no choice but to hold Leto’s hand as we walked down the stairs. As we went down, I felt the chill of the cold air. Even as I tried to walk as carefully as I could, the sound of my footsteps echoed through the hallway. It would be noticeable if someone spoke even a little. Yet, I couldn’t hear anything.

The paint was heading towards the basement. We walked down the hallway and found the paint stopped in front of a room. The door wasn’t closed properly so there was a gap. Leto and I slipped through the gap and went inside. Then, I felt a damp floor. Something similar to water was dripping from the ceiling and it fell on my face. 

But there was something more important than the water, it was the paint. The paint that fell to the floor spread densely in the water and lost its direction. Leto was silent but he tightened his grip angrily. He must be here somewhere. As I was about to look around, I heard a noise next to me.

I dragged Leto and quietly approached the place where there was a sign of movement. After completely erasing the sounds of our footsteps, I went further and heard someone talking. It was a man’s voice. It was a murmur that sounded like he was chanting a spell.

The lights in the library turned on as the sound of the murmur grew closer. The lights in front of Leto and I suddenly lit up, revealing the figure of the basement. It was full of metal barrels and electric machines. There was a sewer that supplied water and a rusty iron pump was connected to it. I immediately understood why the room was filled with water on the ground.

“Professor Hartz?”

What caught my eye even more than that was the man crouching in front of us. I thought it was someone familiar and it turned out to be Professor Hartz, whom I met during the day. The professor drew a lot of magic circles on the ceiling and floor, and looked at them while chanting a spell. 

“…Why are you guys here?’

Professor Hartz was the culprit behind the library’s blackout.

“Why are you here, professor?”

“…The sign said not to enter.”

Professor Hartz was perplexed at first, but soon looked at us with a stiff expression.

“How nice of you to hold hands while entering.”

Leto and I were confused by his words before we noticed that our hands were holding each other tightly. We quickly let go of our hands. Was it Professor Hartz who had been following us all this time? Come to think of it, I could finally understand Professor Hartz’s strange behaviour in the control room earlier.

“Why is the professor here?”

“What?”

“Why have you been following us?”

“What are you talking about?”

“And why did you turn off all the lights in the library? This won’t do. Come on, let’s go to the control room…”

“Wait!”

When I tried to rush to the control room, the professor hurriedly grabbed me.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding, Miss Pierre.”

The professor said with a troubled expression. Right, I should listen to the reason he had been following us disturbingly. When I folded my arms and stared at the professor, he frowned and sighed deeply. He seemed to be thinking of an excuse.

“No excuses, professor.”

Leto didn’t give him a chance.

“It’s evident. If you try to make up any excuses, I’ll report everything to the security.”

“…….”

“Hurry up and explain.”

When Leto prompted, professor slumped his body. That meant he gave up on making an excuse.

“It’s true that I was the one who turned the lights off in the library. I forcefully casted a spell, but it collided with the magic circle around the library and extinguished it. So I turned it back on.”

“Alright, we’ll trust you. Next.”

Leto sounded strangely amused.

He appeared quite satisfied to see himself standing in front of Professor Hartz with an equal standing. Professor Hartz grunted at Leto’s appearance, but could not say anything. It was the first time Professor Hartz appeared so weak and aggrieved.

“Talk quickly.”

Professor Hartz eventually nodded when Leto urged him.

“I was doing black magic.”

“Black magic?”

Black magic? My strange imagination began to wonder if Professor Hartz was from a dark organisation working against the academy. When my imagination grew bigger and bigger as I watched the professor make lukewarm excuses, Leto glanced at the magic circle.

“That’s a magic circle that…summons the dead.”

When Leto said that, I looked at the gloomy magic circle painted on the walls. Just by looking at it, the design of the high-level magic circle had a complex composition. I wasn’t sure if that magic circle was really a spell that summons the dead, but if it was, then Professor Hartz was doing something illegal.

Since ancient times, summoning the dead or using life-related magics were prohibited. Professor Hartz bit his lips and avoided our gaze.

“…But I’m not the one who was following you.”

The professor spoke in a low voice.

“I know that. There’s no paint around the professor.”

Leto said. Only then did I realise that there was no paint on the floor. When I looked back, the paint had stopped in front of me before spreading in another direction. Does that mean he went somewhere else?

“If he came in here, you wouldn’t be able to catch him. There’s a drain hole that goes out back there.”

Reading my expression, the professor spoke. I lost him again. But Leto was now more curious about why Professor Hartz was using forbidden magic. His gaze that was looking at Professor Hartz was oddly firm.

Professor Hartz could not easily raise his head at that gaze.

“Using forbidden magic…this is not a matter that could be brushed off.”

“Can’t you pretend you didn’t see me just once?”

“Why should I?”

Leto responded casually to Professor Hartz’s brazen request.

“The magic hasn’t been casted yet. It’s going to activate in just a day or two. If you close your eyes until then, this will never happen again.”

“In two days…It’s May 29th.”

I saw Professor Hartz agree to my murmur. It was a perfect date to call it a coincidence. Why is it that day of the long year when the word ‘curse’ starts to circulate?

“What does that date have to do with you?”

“It must have something to do with the man who committed suicide.”

Leto answered my question instead. Slowly, the puzzle came together.

“Yes, that’s right.”

The professor, who was quietly listening to our guesses, reluctantly nodded. His face darkened. Even when the professor didn’t open his mouth, I could briefly grasp why he was doing this.

“That man was my older brother.”

It was a family. Instead of being shocked, Leto and I continued staring at Professor Hartz.

“He was five years older than me.”

“But you still shouldn’t use forbidden magic.”

“My brother was pitiful.”

Professor Hartz said with a bitter smile.

“I’m not sure what the rumour says, but my brother did commit suicide in this library. From the pressure of a strict family and extreme academic stress.”

“…….”

“But there was another real reason why my brother committed suicide.”

“Do we need to know?”

When Leto asked, Professor Hartz ignored him and continued.

“There was a woman he loved, and they had a child. She was just an ordinary baker. At that time, my family was completely messed up.”

He went on, recalling the memory.

“To an extent, my mother deliberately sent the woman to a faraway place and lied to my brother that she died in a train accident. And when my brother heard this news, he studied hard in the library as if he was coming to his senses. I never imagined that he would jump off the roof of this library three days later.”

It was a terrible and tragic story.

“That’s why you cast a spell every year to summon your brother’s soul.”

“To fulfil my brother’s wish. But only useless souls came out.”

Ah, so that’s why May 29th was full of strange events every time.

“At first, I thought the man following you was my brother’s soul. Because my brother wore our family’s coat every day. A white coat with a cookie logo.”

“I don’t think that person is the soul professor was looking for.”

The professor nodded when Leto said that.

“I know, since I just checked the magic circle.”

“…….”

“Miss Pierre, Miss Arsene. I’m not afraid to be punished. In fact, I didn’t mean to say this to gain sympathy and to keep your mouths shut.”

It seems true.

“Then what are you afraid of?”

“I’m afraid that this will be known to Jimbo.”

I tilted my head when Senior Jimbo’s name popped out of the professor’s mouth. Don’t tell me…

“The child in the woman’s womb that I mentioned earlier is Jimbo…”