‘[Virtue +100].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5889].’

Virtue had gone up, and by a decent chunk at that—but Vinny didn’t have time to care about that right now. He also didn’t have the bandwidth to think about why Milian was suddenly spiking his Virtue so hard. He had to scatter every bit of perception and attention outward, checking whether anything nearby felt off.

Frostfang in his hand gave off an icy-blue sheen, like a torch. The lighting effect was about the same as a [Lighting Art], and it barely needed any mana.

Even so, the illumination was still limited—he could only see within five meters.

Vinny realized he was still wrapped in pitch-black darkness. He could only see the stairs under his feet. Everything on both sides was black and bottomless, impossible to tell how much deeper it went.

He couldn’t sense much else, but he could absolutely sense how nervous this golden-haired idiot was. The grip on his hand kept tightening. The body behind him kept pressing closer and closer, to the point Vinny could feel the force pushing into his back.

Mm. Pretty soft. Like a plush cushion.

He could also feel Milian’s body trembling nonstop. He could faintly hear tiny murmuring sounds, like a scared golden-haired hamster.

“I noticed something,” Vinny said, feeling like teasing this golden-haired idiot a little.

“Mm—mm, w-what...?” Milian’s voice stuttered. It was so quiet it was practically swallowed by the surrounding silence, like a small animal’s sound—like speaking any louder would lure something terrifying over.

“I was thinking... if you stayed quiet and didn’t talk, you’d be way cuter than you usually are. If you kept acting like this all the time, you’d be a lot more likable,” Vinny said, joking.

“Y-you...” Milian looked like she was too scared to talk. She couldn’t even manage her usual automatic retort.

So the little demon brat finally got completely shut down one day.

“Th-then what? None of your business.”

Oh—so Vinny had underestimated her. The golden-haired little demon brat had gotten more obedient, but not completely. The tone had lost that arrogant edge, but there was still stubborn defiance.

“True. I can’t manage you. I’m not your dad, so I don’t have that obligation,” Vinny said. “But, Milian, I think you should tone down that hedgehog attitude of yours most of the time.”

“You’re not going to make friends like that. Or rather—you're completely misunderstanding how making friends even works.”

“Tch! Do you need to teach me that?? Who says I can’t make friends?!” Milian snapped, refusing to back down.

After Vinny said that, she practically sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Talking to him distracted her, and for a moment, she was unexpectedly not that scared anymore.

‘[Virtue +30].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5819].’

“Really?” Vinny said. “Then why have I never seen you walking with other classmates at school? You’re always alone. In class, not a single classmate comes up to you to hang out. You always sit by yourself.”

“I...” That hit Milian hard enough to choke her into silence, like she had nothing to say.

“So you really don’t have a single friend at school, do you?” Vinny pressed on. “It’s been a whole year—don’t tell me you don’t even have someone you can talk to.”

“Mm!” Milian clenched Vinny’s hand even tighter, her head lowering further. No one could see in the dark, but she still snapped back on instinct. “Wh-who says I don’t?!”

‘[Virtue +50].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5899].’

“Oh, so you do?” Vinny asked with a laugh. “Do I know this person? Can you introduce her? Tell me her name.”

“Mm... of course I do.”

“So who is it?” Vinny said. “Don’t hold it in forever and then tell me it’s Dale.”

“Of course it’s not. I have other friends.”

“Oh?” Vinny asked. “So who?”

“Milian said my nose would get longer sooner or later, right? That curse shouldn’t only work on humans. It should work on elves too, shouldn’t it?”

“Tch—don’t look down on me. I obviously have my own friends. Like—like—Little Yellow! Yeah, Little Yellow. A-and Little Gray! And Little Blue.”

“Little Yellow, Little Gray, Little Blue?” Vinny blinked. “Milian, what are you talking about? Those aren’t names. Are those nicknames?”

“Mm. Pretty much.” Milian turned her face away.

“So are they human, or elf?”

“...” Milian suddenly stopped talking.

“Milian?” Vinny said. “Tyrelis Continent calling Milian—did you drift off the land?”

“...Birds.” After a long silence, Milian said sullenly, voice low.

“...Huh?” Vinny froze. “What did you say?”

“They... are birds. And... cats.”

“...”

Vinny went silent.

So after all that, this golden-haired idiot had spent the entire year talking the most to the birds on the branches in her yard... and the stray cats in the park??

Vinny remembered how Milian had gone to Shicodale more than once, always ridiculously enthusiastic—only to get a bucket of cold water poured over her every time, forcing her to go home and keep talking to birds and cats. All of a sudden, Vinny felt a little sorry for her. She’d been in the Academy this long and never blended in—she couldn’t even find a person to talk to.

“So none of them are even people,” Vinny said, deadpan. “Milian, do you have even one friend with a humanoid shape? Human, or demi-human.”

“I obviously have friends! B-but... in Eternity Forest.”

“Oh, really?” Vinny asked casually.

“What’s there to doubt about that??” Milian couldn’t help blurting.

“Nothing.” Vinny said. “It’s just... it feels like you don’t have friends anywhere. Which is why you put way too much weight on the only relationship that can even be called friendship.”

Milian fell silent again.

‘[Virtue +50].’

‘[Current Virtue: 5949].’

“BOOM BOOM!!” At that moment, the floor hatch above slammed shut, crashing down with a huge bang.

“Eek!” Milian jerked like a startled bird and latched onto Vinny from behind.

“We got tricked! Someone locked us in here!”

“Calm down. No one can lock us in here.” Vinny turned back to look at the sealed passage entrance, frowning.

Was that closed by someone?

Was that Priest hiding somewhere up there, waiting until they came down before shutting the gate so they couldn’t get out??

Or was the floor designed to close automatically?

Either way, there was no turning back now.

Vinny took another step forward and realized he’d reached the last stair.

The instant his heel touched the floor, a low “WHUMP” rolled out. All around them, crystals of different colors lit up one after another, flooding the underground chamber with light. Vinny could finally see the whole space.

The underground chamber was deep and circular, built from neatly cut beige bricks. On the central floor was a strange ring-shaped pattern, like a star map.

When he looked up, there was a similar star relief on the ceiling, corresponding to the relief on the floor.

Vinny studied them closely. Even though they looked like a depiction of a star river, the shapes were more like some kind of flying bird. The upper and lower patterns had differences—like the head facing a different direction. And on the floor, there were three additional hawk sculptures.

What did that mean?

Vinny looked to both sides and found that not only were there crystal lamps, there were also all kinds of oil paintings hanging along the walls.

“Are these paintings the ones that disappeared from the hall?” Milian’s condition improved a lot once the light came back.

“Milian, can I discuss something with you?”

“Huh? What?”

“Milian,” Vinny said, glancing at her, “now that you can see, can you let go of me?”

“How long are you planning on hugging me?”

“Ah—y-you think I wanted to?!” Milian let go in a hurry, then crossed her arms. “Obviously—obviously you were the one who insisted I had to hug you!”

Alright. Even Milian couldn’t keep selling that line, but she still forced herself to say it—like if she didn’t, her pride wouldn’t survive.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. I insisted,” Vinny said, too lazy to argue. “Whatever you say, Your Highness Who Never Grows Up.”

“Mm!”

“These paintings...” Vinny moved closer to the wall and examined the works carefully, looking thoughtful.

“What is it? Did you see something?” Milian asked.

“These... the style looks kind of like it’s from the Tyrelis Ancient Empire era,” Vinny said, thinking.

“You even know about art?”

“What? Not allowed?” Vinny shot Milian a look.

Vinny personally liked looking at art, and he’d appraised plenty of pieces. He’d taken a close look at a lot of the art he could see at the Academy—including the ones in the unicorn carriage, and the ones in the Carillian Academy museum.

As an academy founded personally by the emperor of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire—and one of the rare places on the continent that hadn’t been ravaged by war—Carillian Academy preserved many oil paintings and artworks from the Ancient Empire.

Vinny didn’t understand the deeper technicalities, but after seeing enough, he could recognize similarities in style.

“Heh. What you said might actually be right,” Vinny said. “These oil paintings might really be the ones that used to hang in the castle hall above.”

“Hmph. I told you. And you still called me stupid.”

“But you have to remember—this castle was occupied by the demon race before,” Vinny said. “Anything inside that could be taken was probably taken.”

“These paintings look valuable. They’re from famous artists of that time. There’s no way they wouldn’t have been stolen.”

“Then what are you saying?” Milian didn’t get it.

“As expected...” Vinny inspected them in detail, muttering. “There are scorch marks. And the condition looks like they changed hands many times.”

“Huh? Really?” Milian watched Vinny like that and stepped closer. “Looking like that is so annoying. Why not just take it down—”

“Take your head down.” Vinny slapped away Milian’s reaching hand, exasperated. “You golden-haired idiot—before we understand what’s going on, you dare move anything in here?? Take it down, my ass.”

“Mm...” Milian pressed her lips together like a kid who’d done something wrong and gotten scolded, and silently pulled her hand back.

But—

Milian watched Vinny as he seriously examined the paintings.

At times like this, he felt like a different person. A lot more reliable than that usual frivolous, shameless version of him.

“But if these paintings were stolen when the demon race invaded... how did they end up back here?” Milian asked.

Vinny didn’t answer. He closed his eyes.

He had no clue what this scene meant—and on top of that, they were probably trapped down here.

Don’t rush.

Think about the next step.

If... if Aesphyra were here, what would Aesphyra do??

In Vinny’s mind, he remembered the practical assessment mission he’d done together with Aesphyra at the end of last semester—what she did, and how she thought.

“...When the demon race invaded Gaflei Castle, the Tyrelis Ancient Empire was already gone,” Vinny said, sorting through the logic. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t explain how the demon race got here in the first place.”

“The demon race invaded and looted the place clean. But they might not have discovered this hidden room.”

“Back then, these paintings should’ve been looted too. So why... did they return here later?”

“Don’t tell me—?” A possibility flashed through Vinny’s mind. He circled the chamber, scanning the paintings. Every few paintings, he stopped for a while, like he was checking something.

After a long time, he walked toward the star-pattern on the floor in the center.

“What are you doing?” Milian had been following behind him the whole time, completely lost. She had no idea what he was doing.

Did he figure something out? Then why did she still know nothing?

Vinny didn’t answer. He crouched and examined the star relief.

“Milian, do you know what this is?”

“Huh? What?” Of course Milian didn’t understand. “This... looks like some kind of diagram drawn from a special constellation?”

“No,” Vinny said. “It looks like it’s drawing the sun, moon, and stars—but it has nothing to do with constellations at all.”

“Milian, looking at the shape of this hidden chamber... doesn’t it remind you of something?”

“...A target?” Milian guessed.

“Count how many paintings are here.”

“Huh? Let me count. One, two, three, four—”

“If you count one by one, you’ll be counting forever,” Vinny said. “Can’t you count in fives? I’ll tell you. I just made a full lap. There are sixty paintings in here.”

“So—what’s round, and also has sixty small tick marks?” Vinny asked.

“Uh... ah!” Milian thought for a long time, then suddenly realized it. “A clock??”

“Exactly. A clock.”

“But isn’t that kind of forced?” Milian couldn’t help saying. “Just because there are sixty paintings, you’re saying it’s hinting at a clock?”

“Of course not.” Vinny said calmly. “When I walked around just now, do you know what I found? Every five paintings, a griffin shows up—whether it’s the main subject or just part of the background, there is always a griffin.”

“In other words, griffins only appear on the fifth painting. The other paintings won’t have one—no matter how you look.”

“There are twelve paintings with griffins. That means twelve major tick marks.” Vinny curled his lips into a smile. “Is that still not obvious enough?”

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