The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 239

Inside the training equipment storage warehouse.

As expected of a place under the strictest security at the school, the interior was filled with a considerable number of high-value items.

There were many items worth billions, and some special equipment exceeding ten billion.

It was clear why outsiders were prohibited from entering.

‘They really went out of their way for me.’

Issuing an access pass to an outsider like me was a greater act of consideration than I had imagined.

Moreover, it wasn’t just about accompanying someone; they issued a top-tier access pass that allowed me to enter alone.

Does this mean that my actions over the past five days have been that trustworthy?

Or is it that Ms. Sein’s influence is that strong?

Probably both.

‘They issued the pass because they trusted me, and Ms. Sein’s influence allowed me to enter alone. Something like that, I guess.’

It’s a bit of a shame that I can only enter for today and tomorrow.

But, they said that if I continue to produce results, I’ll be able to enter again.

So, I don’t need to worry.

If I need additional investigation, I can just get another access pass then.

‘It was the right decision to come in as a temporary instructor.’

To be able to freely come and go in the core of the school like this.

My choice was indeed correct.

I’ve also learned quite a bit while working as an instructor.

With that thought, I moved towards the deepest part of the warehouse.

“Wow…”

This is the real deal.

The equipment in front was expensive, but it was still purchasable.

The items here are so precious that they can’t be bought with money.

‘No wonder they have a 24-hour guard to watch over these things.’

Training swords that help you learn the essence of swordsmanship, along with mana core guidance devices.

All of these are treasures for swordsmen.

‘Wow. They even have this?’

I examined the rare equipment in the deepest part one by one, continuing my search.

It wasn’t just about finding Ignis’s energy.

The stated reason for me being here is to increase the efficiency of training. To avoid suspicion, I need to carefully observe the training equipment inside.

‘I have plenty of time. I can take it slow.’

As long as I have the access pass, there are no time constraints for today and tomorrow.

I can stay here as long as I want before class starts.

There’s no need to rush.

‘This would be helpful for students who are speed-focused swordsmen.’

‘This seems like it would be helpful for the spear users.’

‘For archers… there’s nothing particularly helpful yet.’

I leisurely observed my surroundings.

About 20 minutes passed.

When I had checked about half of the equipment.

“This brooch…”

About a week ago.

I found a brooch identical to the one the first-year students had dropped.

It was a special artifact with the property of absorbing mana, and about 10 of them were placed together in one spot.

I picked up the brooches one by one.

‘Will Ignis’s mana be detected in the other brooches as well?’

Out of the 11 brooches, how many will have Ignis’s energy detected?

If it’s more than two, there’s a high probability that something is inside.

If it’s more than three, the probability is even higher.

‘If it’s more than four, it’s basically confirmed.’

It would be great if it were more than five.

With that thought, I checked the brooches one by one.

I activated my Divine Eye [a skill that allows the user to see mana and other energies] to the maximum, dissecting the inside of the brooches as if I were taking them apart.

I repeated this a total of 11 times.

Since it was a thorough search of the inside of the brooches, each one took more than 20 seconds.

About 4 minutes passed.

‘……8.’

I confirmed Ignis’s energy in 8 of the brooches.

The energy was slightly different in size from the Ignis energy I felt in the previous commercial district, but it was the same in nature.

‘If this is the case, the hypothesis that Ignis’s medium is separated loses its strength.’

If it were split, it wouldn’t have the same energy to this extent.

The fact that the energy feels this similar means it must have originated from a single medium.

‘Of course, if the mediums in the commercial district and here were divided into the exact same size, this could be possible.’

The probability of that is extremely low.

Maybe about 5%?

Of course, 5% is not a negligible number…

‘It will be clear when I sense the mana from the flask Adela brings today.’

That 5% will be resolved soon anyway.

Once I check the flask Adela brings, everything will be clear.

I can make a conclusion tonight.

‘Then the key is how Ignis’s energy flowed into these brooches.’

So far, I haven’t detected Ignis’s energy in the places I’ve checked.

It’s likely that it came from the inside, which I haven’t checked yet.

I put the brooches back in their original place and started searching again.

This time, I excluded checking the training equipment and focused all my energy on the environment and mana detection inside the warehouse.

As I slowly moved forward.

‘I found it.’

My Divine Eye captured the fire mana that Ignis was emitting.

It was a much smaller energy than what I detected in the brooches.

But the important thing is that I detected it in the atmosphere.

‘It’s around here.’

Starting from the place where the energy was detected, I looked around again in a circle.

‘The energy is slightly stronger in this direction. Then it’s this way.’

The energy felt slightly stronger in the northeast direction.

I slowly approached that direction.

‘It’s definitely here.’

The energy grew stronger as I got closer.

As I followed the energy, I arrived at the wall of the warehouse.

I slowly placed my hand on the wall and felt the mana.

‘It’s coming from the other side of this.’

The fire energy was coming directly from a very slightly indented gap in the wall.

‘If it’s 12 degrees northeast from the storage warehouse, that’s the research building.’

I’ve been to the research building a few times. I didn’t feel anything special there.

There’s something there?

That can’t be.

‘……Let’s go check it out.’

If I look for it knowing what to look for, I might see something new.

I left the storage warehouse.

* * *

As expected, I couldn’t find anything in the research building.

There wasn’t even a trace of Ignis’s energy.

I touched the wall connected to the warehouse and checked, but I couldn’t find anything unusual.

It was perfectly clean.

I checked a couple more times during breaks between classes, but the result was the same.

I couldn’t feel anything.

“……I don’t understand.”

It’s felt on the other side, but not on this side.

I wondered if there was something between the walls, so I infused mana and searched, but it didn’t seem like there was a separate space.

‘I didn’t find anything on the lower floor either.’

So I thought it might be below, but no. The lower floor was also clean.

The upper floor is just the ground, so there’s no need to check.

‘This is really baffling……’

It’s like I’m dreaming.

Where did the Ignis energy coming from the storage warehouse originate?

‘Where, how, and why?’

As I was pondering with my hand on the wall of the research building.

“Oh, it’s Instructor Ruan!”

“Instructor Ruan?”

I heard voices from behind.

Both were familiar voices.

One was a very lively voice.

The other was a very cold voice.

The former was a voice I had heard about 3-4 times during class.

The latter was a voice I had heard dozens of times privately.

“Student Kaine and Student Stella. I didn’t know you two were close.”

The former voice belonged to Kaine Ropile, a first-year student.

The latter voice belonged to Stella Vinoche, a third-year student.

“No, no! There’s no way someone like me could be close to Ms. Stella. Thankfully, she gave me some advice during training…”

The first-year female student waved her hands vigorously.

It didn’t seem like she disliked Stella. She just seemed to feel burdened by the relationship of being close to a big figure like Stella.

“……”

Stella glanced at the female student. There seemed to be a slight hint of sadness in her gaze.

“You did a good thing.”

“It’s nothing. As a senior, it’s natural to take care of the juniors.”

A very cold voice.

It was a change that I still couldn’t get used to, no matter how many times I heard it.

It was like summer and winter coexisting.

Or like the Maldives and Siberia in the same place.

How can she change so quickly?

“Ms. Stella…”

The female student’s eyes lit up, as if she was deeply moved by Stella’s words.

It wasn’t a particularly special reaction.

Stella is almost deified at this school. Everyone reacts like that whenever Stella says something.

If I were in Stella’s position, I think I would feel incredibly burdened.

“Thank you so much. I will definitely repay this favor someday!”

“You don’t have to worry about it. I really didn’t do anything.”

Stella turned her body completely towards the female student.

“More importantly, I’m sorry to ask, but could you please leave us for a moment? I have something I want to talk about with Instructor Ruan alone.”

“Ah, yes! I understand.”

The female student smiled brightly and quickly left the room.

Then, she quickly closed the door.

“……”

“……”

After that, about 10 seconds of silence passed.

With a smile.

Stella smiled brightly like spring.

“What are you doing in the research building?”

“I just happened to be here.”

“Your expression was too serious for it to be a coincidence, though?”

She walked lightly with her hands behind her back and stood right in front of me.

“Judging by the way you were touching the wall…”

Then, she looked up at me slightly and smiled again.

“Is there something beyond this wall?”

I was surprised for a moment.

I was just touching the wall and thinking, but suddenly she asked if there was something beyond the wall.

This is not something that can be brushed off as being perceptive.

“That’s quite a leap in logic. Usually, people wouldn’t say there’s something beyond the wall just because someone is doing that.”

“Ah.”

Stella smiled with a slightly embarrassed expression, sticking out her tongue.

She had a look that she knew something.

“I made a mistake. I was trying to test the waters, but I ended up hitting the strike zone directly.”

“……Strike zone?”

“Ah, don’t you watch baseball? Is it too old-fashioned of a sport? A strike is…”

“I know that much. I meant what does that mean.”

“Um. So, I was trying to test the waters. But I tested it too obviously. That’s what it means.”

“Test the waters? About what?”

Stella narrowed her eyes and looked at me with a sly gaze.

“Are you pretending not to know? Or do you really not know?”

“……”

I really don’t know what she’s talking about.

I don’t know how to respond either. Silence is the best in these situations.

“You know, right?”

Stella leaned her head closer.

“There’s no way someone who doesn’t know would come to the research building, which they don’t usually visit, and touch this wall while pondering.”

“……I don’t know.”

Stella’s lips pouted at my ambiguous answer.

She looked disappointed.

“Don’t you trust me? Do you think I would suspect Instructor Ruan of being a spy from another school or overseas?”

Then she said something else that I couldn’t understand.

“I’m disappointed. If you thought I would suspect you of being a spy just because I sensed a secret passage beyond the wall…”

“……What?”

Stella stopped talking and looked at my expression.

“Did you say there’s a secret passage beyond this wall?”

“……You really didn’t know?”

Then she looked surprised.

“No, then why were you doing that here?”

“It was a coincidence.”

“A coincidence…”

Stella trailed off, looking like she couldn’t believe it.

“Was it really a coincidence?”

“To be honest, it wasn’t exactly a coincidence. I was exploring the storage warehouse and found a gap in the wall in this direction. I felt a strange sensation there, so I came to investigate.”

“……There’s a scratch on the wall of the storage warehouse?”

“Yes. It seems like it needs repairs.”

“To not have even noticed that beforehand…”

Stella frowned with a slightly angry expression.

She seemed angry that the manager hadn’t properly managed the internal facilities.

I could almost see the manager getting scolded later.

“So, did you find that strange sensation?”

“No. I couldn’t find it. I didn’t feel anything on this side. That’s why I was pondering.”

“Ah~”

Stella nodded, looking like she finally understood.

“But, after hearing your story. It makes sense. There’s a secret passage between the walls of the storage warehouse and the research building. The strange sensation I felt must have come from that passage.”

“……Could you tell me what that strange sensation was like?”

“I can’t really explain it, but it was a very unsettling feeling.”

“An unsettling feeling…”

Stella’s expression became serious.

“I think it’s an unnecessary worry, but just in case. If possible, I’d like to see that secret passage with my own eyes.”

She threw a direct ball [a direct approach].

I judged that it would be more effective to be direct here than to beat around the bush.

Judging by the way she openly mentioned its existence, it didn’t seem like a top secret, and she might open it without much fuss.

“It’s not a problem to open it for you. It’s not a passage that holds a huge secret either.”

Bingo.

My prediction was correct.

“Where does the passage connect to?”

“It just leads to a small underground bunker. It was made for emergency evacuation during the war 100 years ago. It’s kept secret because it could be misused if it were known.”

Stella explained as she slowly moved.

She moved to a shelf near the wall, moved about three books on the shelf, and then pushed the shelf to the right.

“It’s my first time opening it myself. I only heard about it from my mother… I wonder if it will work…”

She placed her hand on the revealed wall and pressed it firmly.

Then, she returned the shelf to its original position and moved four other books to their respective positions.

“And like this…”

After that, she pushed the shelf to the right again.

Then.

Drrr-!

The wall opened upwards with a small sound.

“I was worried since it was my first time, but it worked out somehow.”

The passage was now clearly visible.

I stared blankly at the passage.

‘The energy I felt in the secret passage of the commercial district is exactly the same.’

No, it’s not exactly the same.

If the Ignis energy I sensed in the previous commercial district was like a candle, the energy I feel here is like a bonfire.

The nature is the same, but the size of the energy felt is overwhelmingly different.

That means.

‘The medium is a little closer.’

Ignis’s medium is near here, at the French National Knight School.