I Noticed That It Was an Academy After 10 Years

109.Final Exam…Is the End of Service (11)

“This stench…”

“It smells like a rotting corpse.”

“Wow…”

What on earth is going on inside that makes you smell like a rotting corpse? We had no choice but to cover our noses as the smell of rotting corpses wafted up to the entrance of the temple. At this rate, is there a mountain of corpses piled up somewhere in the temple?

“Ugh… It’s painful to breathe… “

“Shuri, you still have to endure it.”

Perhaps because he was a dog owner, Shuri had a pale face and was even nauseating. This is why I can’t even fight properly. I took out a piece of cloth from my backpack, cut it into appropriate sizes, and handed it to my companions one by one.

“At least cover this. At least it’s better than not doing anything.”

“Wow… Thank you…”

We quickly covered the lower chamber with a cloth. It may not block all odors like a real mask, but it is better than nothing. After overcoming one hurdle, we were able to enter the temple.

The temple had a very large lobby, a strange stone statue at the end of the lobby, and finally, a red object gathered in front of it and bowed its head. Is that stone statue the god served in this temple? We hid behind a pillar to avoid being discovered by them and checked the overall structure.

Lobby. Two hallways on either side. Is the hallway where I should investigate first?

“We will search starting from the right hallway.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to split the number of people?”

“No. It’s too risky.”

I flatly rejected Lewis’s offer. At first glance, nothing would be as effective as that, but dividing the number of people now that there were two non-combatants was only providing an excuse for individual fighting.

Even if it’s a little slow, it’s sure and safe.

This was the first goal of this temple exploration.

We started creeping like petty thieves toward the right hallway. I don’t know how far I had traveled, but I stuck to the inner wall and looked around carefully. When I had covered a considerable distance, I faintly felt someone’s presence.

“You must be popular.”

“Could it be a strange creature?”

“Maybe.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to use search magic?”

“No. If you get caught using magic, the situation will be troublesome.”

“Didn’t you have exploration skills?”

“…My skills are too noticeable to use.”

Ah, that was the setting… I was just using it to give a rough idea, so it wasn’t until Sif asked that I remembered that I had said that. Sif looked a little puzzled, but he ignored my excuse without saying anything. It was impossible to nitpick in a situation like this.

“Then what should I do?”

“…For now, everyone hides behind the pillar.”

As soon as I finished speaking, everyone hid behind a pillar and waited for an unknown person to approach. Again and again. As the crowd gets closer, clear footsteps can be heard. The first regular footsteps I heard after entering the dimensional rift.

I quietly adjusted my grip on the shovel and strengthened my muscles.

One.

Two.

Three.

A heavy shock hits my hand. Blood stuck to my face, but the air in this temple was already too rotten for me to feel the bloody smell. I squatted in front of the corpse with its head neatly cut off and rolled my eyes.

“People… They are.”

It is not a strange creature. It’s a person. I stared intently at the neck covered with the red bandana. The outfit looked familiar.

Harpas?

Could this damn island be the base of the Harpas Church?

No, if these guys were Harpas, they would have something like a badge of the church-

“We will search for the body, so be alert to your surroundings. If you feel any signs of popularity, report it immediately.”

Everyone nodded at my command. I touched the corpse’s torso and searched for any items that could provide clues. But all that came out was a small dagger and a small notebook. I hid the body behind a pillar and opened the notebook.

[!@()!#&!$_!)(!]

“…A language group I’ve never seen before.”

Strangely enough, my interpreter feature doesn’t work. This wasn’t translated by a machine, so I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t being translated. Why can’t it be translated? I folded the note, opened it again, and turned it upside down, but the unknown language was not translated.

I don’t know what it is.

“Does anyone know these letters?”

“Hmm… I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either.”

“Me too.”

“Isn’t it like a password?”

Password? At Sif’s opinion, I looked at the text carefully. Maybe, as Sif said, my traits don’t work because it’s a password. I checked one possibility and put the note into my backpack.

I was thinking of taking it and leaving it to a code breaker.

“I will continue.”

There are many places to research. I chose the right path between the main road in the middle of the temple and the small roads on either side. In my opinion, it would be most efficient to spread out and investigate the temple, but that was impossible with two non-combatants involved. I peeked my face into the hallway on the right and checked to see if anyone was there.

“…It’s annoying to my ears.”

The hallway was a strange structure that protruded from the middle of the temple building, so as I approached the hallway, I could hear prayers whose meaning I could not understand.

“!*@&(#$)!($*(!!”

The reverent voice that penetrated my ears reminded me of a mass I had attended during my military days, but I couldn’t help but feel strange when I realized that the voice was being spoken in an alien language. It’s like a sound that reminds me of a horror game I enjoyed a long time ago.

“It’s quiet.”

“It’s hard to understand because of the sound.”

My head is troubled by the harsh sound of the sermon. Because of that sound, it is difficult to understand the surrounding sounds. I stood next to the first door in the hallway and looked at the group. Except for Sif, the group who were close together were looking at my mouth.

“Louis. You look out. Shuri, La Perine. “Can you use silence magic?”

A magic that decomposes the sound in a specified area into magical power, ultimately eliminating the sound. In the game, it was a skill often used in assassination play along with stealth magic. It is a magic that is classified as level 3 in the game’s magic system, which is classified into levels 0 to 4, so there is a possibility that it was learned.

Fortunately, I received a positive answer from La Pene.

“I can do it.”

“Cast a silence spell on the door.”

I quietly adjusted my shovel and watched Laffenryn cast her silencing charm on the doorknob. Now, even if you open the door, there will be no sound. I turned the doorknob, opened the door just enough to get my toes in, and put my eyes through it.

“…Torture room?”

A corpse tied to a chair like you see in movies. You can’t tell because its face is covered by a bag, but it is quite large. I opened the door halfway and went inside. The overall impression of the room was…Not good for the children’s education. A corpse covered in blood sitting in a room.

I slowly approached the body while holding the shovel. I didn’t want to do it, but I was going to search my body. Because this body was the only one in this room to begin with.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

The distance is narrow. Now, when I reached the distance that I could reach with a shovel, my intuition started ringing an alarm like crazy.

“What the fuck.”

A strange creature came out through the corpse’s stomach. A disgusting mass of tentacles flew toward my head as if trying to steal it, and I reflexively stuck a shovel into its body. The tentacles fell limp, emitting a sickening sigh.

Fuck. There is no need for this surprise show.

I hit the corpse with its ruptured stomach a few times with a shovel, then circled around to search the body. But I couldn’t find anything special. Should I eventually take off the envelope?

I carefully removed the bag and checked the corpse’s face. Middle-aged man. A face distorted in fear. Was the cause of death shock? Go back and check your neck. There are no signs of strangulation. There are only eyes on the nape of the neck that seem to have been drawn with something like black ink.

If this is a religious symbol, then this denomination is not the Harpas denomination.

After obtaining important information, I grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door to leave the room.

It was then.

“John, people are coming this way… !”

What?

I listened to Laperine. Only then did I start to hear multiple footsteps. Since it wasn’t violent, it was presumed that they were walking, but that wasn’t good news.

I quickly opened the door and called in my companions. It was a bad room for my mental health, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. When I opened the door wide, the group quickly entered the room and covered their mouths. This is because the condition of the body was so terrible.

I closed the door and put my ear close to the door.

Again, again, again, again, again…

The sound gets closer and farther away. Has the body hidden behind the pillar not been found yet? The sound of footsteps was regular, as if we were going about our daily lives.

“I don’t think I got caught.”

“Thank god. I was worried that I might get caught…”

“Aren’t they dumber than you think?”

Since they were part of this pseudo-religion, Sif’s words made a lot of sense. There’s a lot of suspicion, but they’re not looking for us, so the investigation will be easier…

Ttogak.

Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Ttogak.

“…That’s crazy.”

Everyone’s faces turned pale.

I held the shovel with sweaty and slippery hands.