Sofia told Lola to settle down in her room, leaving her with Pareth, while she quickly ran up the stairs back to Astelia’s room while continuing to channel an unlife rune she had started working on when she had gone to wake up Lola. The entire group was quite animated, talking about the competition and the information they had just learned.

Alith was the one who had opened the door, “Sof, you’re back, what were you-”

“I’ll explain later; Astelia, can you lend me the earrings right now?” Sofia called out from the entrance.

“Huh? Sure,” Astelia answered without even asking why, she floated up to Sofia while taking out the earrings of Lies, she handed them out to Sofia, “Just be careful, when you’re wearing them. I got hit by their curse once, and it was not a good time…”

“Of course. Thank you, Asty! I’ll bring them back as soon as I’m done.”

Sofia left, running back down the stairs again.

“And just like that, she’s gone,” Cardinal commented.

“Well, yeah. That’s Sofia,” Saria added with a shrug, “She looked a bit worried.”

“She is your sister, are you not going to go help her with whatever urgent thing she is doing?” Cardinal asked in a curious tone.

“She’s got Pareth with her. If she needed more help she would have asked us. Notice how she asked for Astelia’s earrings instead of asking for her to come directly with her. She probably doesn’t want to endanger us with whatever crazy stunt she is trying to pull. But we’re still in the academy anyway, so how bad could things really go?”

Cardinal sipped on his tea without further comments.

---

 

Sofia ran down the stairs, swapping her earrings with the ones she had just borrowed. She counted on their ability to see through lies and trickery to make sure that nobody was manipulating Lola from the shadows. The unlife rune was just there because she had a bad feeling about this whole thing.

That the warning came from a creature of the Deep in the first place wasn’t exactly reassuring.

Sofia entered her room and closed the shield back behind her. Lola was sitting opposite Pareth around Sofia’s bone table.

“Sorry to make you wait after waking you up like that, Lola. Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes? This whole situation is a bit stressful…”

“It doesn’t have to be, as I said, you’re not in any trouble; but I have a few questions to ask and I need you to answer truthfully. But, first, want something to drink?”

“I could use some fresh water…”

“There you go,” Sofia said as she handed Lola a glass of water straight out of her storage ring while also taking one for herself.

Lola took a few sips in an awkward silence before she needed to say something, “Is- Is it about my rank in the competition?”

“Not at all, no. I’m quite proud of your performance, honestly. You really improved by leaps and bounds in these few months. It’s clear that you’re working very hard and taking my and other teachers’ advice to heart. This isn’t the issue.”

Lola looked slightly appeased by the praises, but she still couldn’t understand why she was to be questioned, “Then what?” she asked.

“Well, first thing first, remember that bell?” Sofia asked, dangling Ormoncleth’s bauble from the tip of her staff.

“The scribe bell?”

“Yes, this one. I lied, though, this isn’t a scribe bell. It’s a gift from… Anyway, can you still hear it?”

“Yes?”

Sofia knew from Astelia that the earrings of Lies would let her instinctively know when someone proclaimed falsehoods, but right now she felt nothing, which lifted a weight from her chest.

“Nice, that’s a good start. Now, about the real reason for this little ‘interview’, do you remember telling me about your family’s ancestor and craftsmanship?”

“Did I… Oh! I did mention that in the bleeding plant dungeon. Is this about the statues? I’m sure my family would still buy them, I could get father to offer you a good price,” Lola offered.

“Thank you for the offer, but this isn’t it, in truth, I urgently need to learn more about this old ancestor of yours, for reasons I’m afraid I cannot explain to you right now…”

“You want to know about great ancestor Hugo? Well I’ve never met him, so I only know from my parents… I think father said he left the household something like six hundred years ago. Father said he’s supposed to be as strong as the Emperor, I’m not sure I believe him, but at the very least he should be strong enough to still be alive.”

As strong as the Emperor, uh. Disappeared a few hundred years before Delivia became the new empress… After killing the old Empress, perhaps? It really looks like I’ve found out about that ‘big fish’ everyone is trying to catch. So it was Lola’s ancestor all along.

How convenient it must be for him that Lola is talented enough to be able to compete for first place, then, if the sword is his objective.

Unless he ‘helped’ her a bit…

Let’s dig a bit more… “So he’s been gone for centuries without news?”

“That is right… But, teacher Sofia… Why… Why do you need to know about my ancestor?”

Let’s make up some crap excuse…

“Well, you said your ancestor was a very high-level smith and sculptor, right? I’m looking for such a craftsman for a personnel project. I’m trying to craft a divine relic.”

And it's not even really a lie. Oh how good would it feel to stab Scripture with a knife made with his own essence? And with how strong those earrings of Lies are, and how much trouble Ihuarah is going through to get back one of Sorrow’s items, I definitely could use a Godly item myself! Though I guess I already have the items from the Lords, which is better.

But I’m greedy.

“A divine item…” The words gave Lola pause for a moment. “This… Ancestor Hugo would definitely be up to the task! But, uh… Yeah, nobody in the family has any idea about his whereabouts… Sometimes I even wonder if he’s not a lie made up by my father to give our family some kind of undue prestige… If not for the statue…”

“The statue?”

Lola nodded, “Yes, I’ve never seen Ancestor Hugo in person but…” Lola looked around before she spoke in a hushed tone, “It’s supposed to be a family secret, but there is an old dusty lifesize statue of him hidden i-”

Suddenly, Lola’s words froze.

“Lola?!”

Sofia only had the time to see the mithril sword that Lola’s spirit guardian usually used come out of Lola’s storage item by itself before she was assaulted by some kind of mental shockwave. Like nail rapping against her brain. It reminded her of the Sirens’ calls.

Pareth teleported to her but the mild pain suddenly stopped.

And with a duo of yet-never-seen system notifications came an otherworldly scream. The sword was screaming.

[You were subjected to a Soul-altering attack; but it was dismissed]

[The ‘Mark of Aphenoreth’ punishes the attacker]

The screaming sword stabbed Sofia’s face faster than she could even read the notifications. She barely had time to see the headmaster and Saint Tartaros appear in her room, both grabbing the sword, that her vision changed to something else entirely.

Sofia found herself in a dark room, the gaping wound in her face the only source of light, illuminating a giant-sized corridor topped with sculpted arches and paintings adorning the room, and sculptures of inordinately tall muscular men acting as the stone pillars on both sides, holding the ceiling and preventing the massive place from collapsing.

What?

Pareth appeared to her side.

I think the sword tried to escape while it was in my face but because the other two had the sword in hand, I was the only one who got teleported.

Sofia quickly checked her least used hidden feature of the system, the ‘last bed compass’. Points to the academy being to the northeast… No distance measure, though, so this doesn’t help much.

Is this ‘Ancestor Hugo’s secret cave or something?

Sofia cautiously extended her mana senses, which revealed that this corridor she was in was encased within a mana shield, and under closer investigation, every part of every wall, every statue and every tile on the floor, were all covered in delicate inscriptions coursing with mana.

Literally, everything here is enchanted in one way or another…

She was in the middle of the corridor, on a larger round enchanted tile, which was probably the target for the teleportation.

Now…

Do I try to rob what is very likely the secret safe place of a level 500, or do I get the fuck out of here as fast as possible?

Thus far, for the few seconds she had been here, Sofia had been careful not to move, for fear of triggering some kind of alarm or defense mechanism. Pareth was similarly only looking around, not taking a single step.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…

But this also sounds like a death trap. Worst case, if the headmaster and friends manage to kill the guy, I’ll be the only one to know of the location of this place, will I not? So I can always come back with Grandma and safely clean the place.

If they don’t kill him, then won’t he come after me to get his shit back?

So in both cases, it’s better to just fuck off.

Alright, Pareth, we’re out. Graveyard boys, your turn to shine!

The graveyard skeletons failed to even appear, their summoning canceled by the rituals embedded everywhere.

Ahah…

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