“—So, how does it work?”
Along the way, Chloe questioned Lièvre about the wonder that occurs in the museum.
“Hmm, how should I put this.”
While tilting her neck, Lièvre offered information as much as she knew.
The underground transition seems to be a phenomenon that occurs only in the basement of the Phantom Beast Museum.
The transferred part will return to its original position before long, but at the same time, the coordinates may be slightly offset.
Therefore, it is said that new stairs were added many times to the room which became disconnected from the original stairs.
The unusually long staircases in the basements of the museum are said to have been created by hundreds of years of accumulated coordinate-shift due to the transition.
(I see……now I understand why there are variations to the stone used to build them.)
The Phantom Beast Museum was created to contain the transition phenomenon so that it would not spread to other important facilities.
Maybe the direct cause of the transition is due to the fact that someone is supplying magical power to the ruins.
Such disturbing rumor is also whispered among the staff.
Lièvre said that she heard this information when she added the stairs several years ago.
“The rooms under the staircases seem to have an ancient specialized Barrier so that the rooms themselves don’t move. I don’t know why the empty room from before is also protected though.”
“I understand. That means the only moving parts are the staircases, huh.”
“Yes, that’s why, in order to prevent the worst case scenario where both of you are left behind underground, please heed my warning.”
Chloe is taking this very seriously.
From her point of view, the information that came from Lièvre would be valuable.
I would like to dissuade her from approaching the morgue, but seeing her being this serious, it seems that would be difficult.
As for me, all the stories I have obtained tonight are important.
In particular, the murder attempt case is very concerning.
By any chance, is that something Chloe’s older brother Claude had caused?
Although there is a possibility that my older brother who was enrolled at the same time as him knows something, I feel like he wouldn’t tell me.
I suspect that Actorius-sensei also knows about the details.
Then, as we passed around the corner leading to the sixth landing of the stairs, Lièvre who was leading us stopped.
“Oh? Was the door here in this state? Somehow the aura is……”
There was an old wooden door on the spot where Lièvre pointed at.
The surface of the door was scorched as if it had been burnt, the surrounding stones were also stained with soot and some charred splinters were strewn across the floor.
This is not the door we entered from.
If the door was like this from the beginning, I would have remembered it.
“Please wait. The situation is strange, so I’m going to check it first—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Chloe suddenly rushed out and stood before the door, overtaking us.
Chloe unsheathed her sword, stabbed the sword through the door, and pulled it out again.
The next moment, what came falling in along with the door was a huge two-headed dog—an orthros.
The smell of blood and beast filled the narrow staircase.
“W-w-why is there a living orthros in a place like this—!?”
Lièvre, who let out a shriek-like outcry, remained still on the stairs powerlessly.
“……There is another one.”
After saying so quietly, Chloe stepped over the dead body of the orthros and rushed into the room.
Two pairs of eyes could be seen shining in the dark over Chloe’s back.
The other black two-headed beast was at a distance, being on guard against Chloe and letting out a low growl.
I took out a Crystal Cluster from the glove of storing and used wand alteration to rearrange the spells inside the wand.
When a sharp crystal spear penetrated both throats of the orthros simultaneously, the huge beast fell on the stone floor.
Following Chloe, I stepped over the carcass of the orthros and entered the room.
Illuminated by the pale light of the star crystal lamp, we could see that it was a stone room which was completely different from the museum.
It was like a very old ruin.
“Are there any injuries? Are you okay, Chloe-san?”
“Yeah, thank you, Erica-san……but, this situation, what does this mean?”
I looked around our current location using Glam Sight.
The room itself looks like a normal room, but there are traces of some spatial magic on the staircase.
“Using some kind of spatial magic, the staircase and the entrance of this room have been connected. This is probably the previously mentioned underground transition.”
“Could it be……is this the underground ruins after all?”
“Yes, there is a high possibility that this is the ruins of the Fourth Corpse City Annwn.”
This is the Fourth Corpse City Annwn, that is, the ruins of the cursed capital city beneath the academy.
It appears that we have been caught in one of the Seven Wonders, the 「Staircase to the Underworld」.
“Even so, why is there an orthros in a place like this~~~?!”
Lièvre was panicking without being able to accept the situation.
What she said is also true.
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