The warm touch patted Milian’s back in a steady rhythm. She felt the warmth in her body returning by quite a bit, and even the darkness before her—filled with countless dim light sources—seemed brighter. At the very least, she could see the road now.

Milian secretly glanced at the blue-haired young man’s eyes in front of her. Under the reflection of that dim ghostly blue glow, those moon-blue eyes seemed to flow with a pool of soft water that could hold all things, and within them, her own flushed face was reflected.

When had he figured it out??

Milian did not understand. Sometimes even she herself did not understand herself, nor did she understand why she acted the way she did.

And in truth, just as Vinny had said, every time she argued with her own people, she would regret it before the quarrel had even ended. But she always had to force herself to finish saying all the unpleasant things anyway, which was why she had never had any truly close friends.

“Don’t turn yourself into a hedgehog. Why not try accepting your real heart, and then be frank with other people?” Vinny continued.

“Mm, I, I...” Milian trailed off.

If it had been before, Milian definitely would have lashed out like a cornered dog and reflexively snapped back with something like, “How am I not frank?” But perhaps because she had found the only thing she could rely on while she was this terrified, and because she had been treated with gentleness, even her heart had melted along with it. She could not say a single word in rebuttal.

At this moment, the feeling Vinny gave her was far too much like her sister.

And yet, somehow, it also felt a little different.

Remembering the series of incidents she had stirred up with him earlier because of the Love at First Sight potion, Milian’s face, buried against her knees, turned even redder.

“Of course, I’m not saying all this to lecture you. All right now, Milian. Stop hanging your head like that. If you stay rooted in place, you’ll never find the way.”

“...You said before that °• N o v e l i g h t •° I was just an immature child, didn’t you?” Milian still did not lift her buried head. Her words were full of awkwardness and embarrassment.

Hearing that, Vinny was a little surprised, because it was just too difficult to get this blond bratty little menace to admit something like that with her own mouth. This one was practically made of reflexive denial. Especially when someone poked right at what she was really thinking, her urge to argue back became all the more intense.

“All right then, since little Milian has personally admitted it herself, I guess taking care of a child can’t be helped.” Vinny stood up and rubbed Milian’s head. Mm, fluffy. Like a little golden puppy. It felt so good under his hand it was basically like petting an animal.

“Come on, Milian.” Vinny took the initiative and held out his hand to her. “I know you’re very scared right now, but please trust me too. I’ll get you back to the surface safely.”

Milian said nothing. Only her pointed elf ears twitched, then she raised her eyes by a narrow slit and secretly looked at Vinny.

Vinny could not see her expression at the moment, but from those elf ears stained with a blush, he could tell her emotions were anything but calm.

“Really?” Milian asked in an uncertain tone.

“Of course it’s true.” Vinny smiled. “Who told you to be a child who needs looking after?”

“Mm...” Milian pressed her lips together, then slowly extended her hand and took hold of Vinny’s.

“Up you go, little Milian.” Vinny gently patted Milian’s back and carefully helped her to her feet.

Vinny led the way, holding Milian’s hand as he walked ahead.

Milian, walking behind him, looked at his back and felt that the surroundings did not seem quite so dark anymore. At the very least, with these Ghostlight Mushrooms around, the path was visible. It was only that building, half-submerged in darkness, that looked frightening.

It was as if the two of them were deep beneath the sea, and ahead of them was some giant beast of the ocean floor hidden in the shadowy depths, its enormous outline barely visible.

Milian tried her best not to look forward, shifting her attention instead to Vinny and the Ghostlight Mushrooms around them.

With her head lowered, she watched the hand with which Vinny was holding hers, and quietly began observing his hand too.

This guy’s hand did not look like a man’s hand at all. Pale, slender, the nails neat and clean, like plump pomegranate seeds.

It looked more like a girl’s hand.

For some reason, as Milian focused on Vinny’s hand, her attention was pulled away, and her fear and terror lessened a little more.

She did not even remember how long they had walked before Vinny suddenly stopped. She failed to react in time and almost bumped into his back.

“Eh? Wh-what is it??” Milian instantly felt guilty and hurriedly looked away, afraid Vinny might notice that she had been distracted just now, with all her attention on him.

However, Milian received no answer.

Seeing that Vinny had not answered, Milian raised her head in confusion and looked toward the massive structure right in front of them. The puzzlement in her gaze gradually turned hesitant, and in the end, her face filled with sudden realization.

“Th-this building, why... why does it look so much like...??”

“Carillian Academy,” Vinny answered for her.

He had been just as shocked when he first saw these buildings. When they had been hidden in the darkness, showing only some indistinct edges and corners, they had looked frightening. But once he got closer and could make out the full picture, an intense sense of déjà vu struck him.

Wasn’t this exactly the kind of architectural style seen everywhere in Carillian Academy?? At most, the scale here was much larger and much more intimidating.

If all you looked at was this building and not the surrounding environment, anyone who did not know better would think the two of them had somehow returned to Carillian Academy.

But thinking about it, it also made sense. Carillian Academy itself had been built by the Ancient Empire. It could be said that Carillian Academy was the standard Ancient Empire-style academy.

After the fall of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire, many of the academies that had once belonged to it had also vanished, and Carillian Academy had become the only orthodox academy left in the Ancient Empire style. Even its later buildings had all been constructed according to the architectural style of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire.

“As expected, this really is an underground research institute of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire.” Just as Vinny was about to continue forward, he suddenly stopped.

He had caught sight of a pale violet barrier shrouding the front of the colossal structure.

“This looks like... some kind of magic barrier?” Milian hesitated. “You probably have to meet some special condition to open it. It’s best not to touch it.”

“A special condition?” Vinny thought for a moment. “Maybe... I can try something.”

“Try something??” Milian did not understand what he meant.

Vinny released Milian’s hand and walked forward a few steps, stopping less than five paces away from the barrier, then looked up at it.

“What are you doing??” Milian had no idea what Vinny was trying to do. “Don’t get any closer. Those kinds of magic barriers are usually offensive!”

Vinny was not sure whether this would work either. Seeing that there was no reaction, he could only take another step forward.

Still nothing happened.

Just as he was beginning to think there might be no hope, he suddenly noticed the Carillian Academy school emblem pinned to his uniform flowing with magic light.

And not just his. Milian, startled, discovered that the Carillian Academy school emblem tucked in her skirt pocket had also released a stream of magic light, which reflected onto the magic barrier.

Under the projection of those two faint rays of light, the magic barrier disintegrated bit by bit. The hazy veil over the giant building vanished completely as well, like a black tide drawing back and exposing the shoreline beneath it.

“The barrier... disappeared??” Milian took the emblem out of her skirt pocket and turned it over repeatedly. It had already returned to normal and was no longer giving off light, with no further sign of anything unusual.

Vinny, however, had already formed some guesses in his mind.

“What’s going on here?”

“The researchers in this underground palace may all have come from Carillian Academy,” Vinny voiced his guess. “So the Carillian Academy school emblem is the key to getting in here.”

“They put in layer after layer of safeguards and seals. Just what in the world were they researching here?” Milian could not help voicing her own question.

“I think we’ll find out very soon.” Vinny looked toward the now-dim energy crystal set above the building.

He remembered the old underclassman he had seen earlier at the foot of the mountain. That old underclassman had probably once been one of the researchers here.

Back then, that person had most likely come here to carry out research under imperial orders and the academy headmaster’s command, without knowing anything about the truth. Later, something must have gone terribly wrong with the research project, causing that person to become what he was now.

CLACK, CLACK.

Vinny walked ahead and pushed open the main doors. The decayed hinges turned and let out a grating, teeth-aching sound, like some monster hidden in the dark grinding its fangs.

Milian shrank behind Vinny in fear.

After pushing the door open, Vinny watched the surroundings warily and inspected everything around him, only to find that there were Ghostlight Mushrooms inside the institute as well. That saved them no small amount of trouble. At least there was some visibility, instead of none at all.

“Do you think... there could still be some kind of monster hiding in here?” Milian whispered, lowering her voice.

“What monster would there be? Little Milian, this place has been abandoned for hundreds of years. All the people are dead, let alone monsters.” Vinny found it a little funny. “Your imagination is really something.”

“Then, logically, there used to be a lot of people here, right? And they all died here? Wouldn’t that mean this place is... full of grudges?” Milian swallowed hard.

“That’s hard to say.” Vinny shook his head. In any case, he was maintaining full alert right now. Even though he also felt it was impossible for any living thing to still be here, he was not going to relax his guard in the slightest. Basic respect for his own life, that was the principle.

This institute was very quiet. After he pushed the door open, not a single sound came from inside.

“Th-then what is that?!” Milian pointed toward the entrance, at a huge dark shape not far from them.

Vinny narrowed his eyes and looked over, discovering that it was a black statue carved in the shape of two irregular, asymmetrical masses of muddy mist.

Because the light was so dim, he had not seen it clearly at first. But when he got closer, he found that the two masses of mist had a pair of terrifying eyes that seemed linked to some abyss, along with a vicious zipper-like mouth filled with sharp teeth.

What the hell was this thing??

Vinny hesitated. Something that looked this much like an evil god no matter how you looked at it—how could it be enshrined in a research institute of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire??

That was far too baffling. The gods officially acknowledged by the imperial house of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire might have been a somewhat mixed bunch, but they were all benevolent gods headed by the Dawn Goddess. How had something like this—something that, at a glance, was either a Demon Pillar or at the very least clearly nothing good—been brought here and put on display??

As for why Vinny knew it was a divine statue, that was because there was an altar set beneath it, though the altar itself was completely empty.

“Don’t be scared. It’s just a statue,” Vinny explained when he saw Milian was still frightened.

This blond bratty little menace was way too timid.

“Vi-Vinny, why do I feel like that statue is moving? It’s staring right at the two of us,” Milian said fearfully.

“Don’t scare yourself. Nothing like that is happening.” Vinny turned back and glanced at the statue. It was exactly the same as before, without the slightest change. “It’s just a statue. What, were you expecting it to move? If things were really that easy, all those high-level puppetmasters and enchanters would’ve gone unemployed long ago.”

Vinny snarked.

“All right, stop scaring yourself. Let’s keep going.” Vinny pulled Milian along and continued deeper into the institute.

The structure and interior furnishings of this research institute were very similar to the research facilities in Carillian Academy. It could only be said that they really did come from the same lineage. No problem there.

What Vinny had not expected was that the furnishings inside this institute were very orderly, which was somewhat different from what he had imagined. He had assumed that after something this big had happened, the interior would definitely be in complete disarray. Instead, it had been preserved quite well.

The two of them stepped over the threshold and formally entered the research institute.

It was also at that moment that Vinny felt a familiar flicker passing through his surroundings. This feeling of entering a world tuned to a different channel—he remembered experiencing it before.

“Gu, gu, gu......”

“?” As Vinny walked, he discovered that Milian had stopped moving again. She was still standing in place, continuously making strange sounds, as if she had been scared stupid.

“It’s fine. There’s nothing here, you—” Vinny thought Milian had gotten scared again and was about to comfort her. But the moment he followed her line of sight and looked over, he too froze, horror surging in his heart.

Two translucent blue figures had appeared not far from the two of them.

“Gh-gh-gh-gh-ghooooost...!” Milian was so frightened that she no longer cared about her posture. She threw herself against Vinny and clung to him, trembling so hard that tears and snot were scared out of her. Her voice was suppressing terror and breakdown with all its might.

Vinny said nothing. He merely let Milian hide behind him and silently watched the two translucent figures.

After a brief moment of shock, his expression returned to normal, and he calmly observed the scene before him.

What a joke. The things he had gone through before were way more absurd than this. They were only two figures. Even if they really were ghosts, he was not afraid.

Honestly, he even wanted to go closer and take a look—if not for the fact that Milian was already so scared she could barely speak coherently.

Very quickly, he noticed that the two figures had no intention of approaching them.

More than showing any hostility toward them, the two translucent figures seemed to be engaged in conversation.

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