The two illusory figures did not show any hostility toward them. Even though they were this close, the figures seemed completely unaware of their existence and simply carried on with their own conversation.

Vinny found it strange. Earlier, when he had stepped across the threshold, he had already felt a slight fluctuation in the surrounding spatial frequency. The sensation had been exactly the same as when he had encountered that old Carillian Academy underclassman at the foot of the mountain.

Because of that, Vinny guessed that the old underclassman—who had already been officially classified as missing or dead hundreds of years ago—had very likely fallen into some kind of spatial vortex formed by a spatial rift and had been unable to escape.

Just like these two ghostlike phantoms in front of them.

Trapped in a chaotic current of past space.

Because they had once truly existed, yet had been left behind here forever by a disordered time and space, like a piece of memory amber, permanently frozen at a single moment.

After a brief hesitation, and once he had a rough direction for his guess, Vinny figured he more or less understood what was going on and wanted to move closer to hear what the two were saying.

Milian, seeing that, was frightened badly.

“Milian, those aren’t ghosts. Don’t worry,” Vinny explained.

“They really aren’t ghosts...?” Milian shivered from fright, clearly not believing him.

“I need to go over there and hear what they’re saying,” Vinny said.

“Ah... ah??” Milian stared at Vinny in shock as he calmly said something like that with a completely composed face.

At first, she had thought Vinny was the type who only looked fierce on the outside while trembling inside. Later, she had changed her mind and felt that he at least had some guts. But now, she felt that Vinny’s courage was absurdly huge. Not just a little huge—ridiculously huge.

How could he see a paranormal scene like this and still calmly say, I’m not sure what they’re saying, so I need to go listen??

“Do... do you really have to go?” Milian asked in a trembling voice.

“You have to try every possibility.” Vinny looked at the two ghostly blue afterimages. “These two afterimages should have been caused by a spatial rift, and what they’re showing is very likely a scene from the past. If so, there’s always a chance we can learn something from what they say.”

“Mm... a-all right.” Milian pressed her lips together and shook like a leaf, but in the end, she could only accept it.

Vinny moved closer. Soon, he was able to faintly hear the two talking. Just as he had expected, these two people existed in a different time and space from theirs. The pair could not see them at all, and they likewise could not interfere with the pair’s actions.

Vinny held his breath, focused, and listened carefully to the conversation from the side.

“...Welcome to this place, Oliver, graduate of Carillian Academy,” the older man in a research robe said to the young man in an old-style Carillian Academy student uniform.

“In my capacity as a Carillian Academy graduate, and by order of the headmaster and His Majesty the Emperor, I have come here in the hope of contributing what little strength I can to the Empire’s research efforts,” the young man said solemnly.

“Mm, very good. Youths as gifted as you really do carry yourselves extraordinarily well. The younger generation truly surpasses the older one. The young people of today already look much more capable than our generation ever was. That is a good thing, whether for humanity or for the Empire,” the older man praised him.

Vinny listened intently, but perhaps because the spatial frequency was unstable, the conversation sounded somewhat blurry to him. Still, he could understand it with some effort.

“You flatter me. You, and the seniors of your generation, are the true pillars of the Empire. We are nothing more than a group of fledglings who have only just left the nest,” the young man replied modestly.

It was easy to tell that the relationship between these two was not merely superior and subordinate. They were probably also senior and junior from the same academy. Both of them came from Carillian Academy.

“Haha, modesty is a good thing in young people, but don’t be too modest. Do you know where your room is?” the older man asked.

“Yes.” The young man nodded. “The guard already told me. Room 306 on the third floor of this building.”

“Very good. Ah... still, this really does put you juniors through a lot. In the prime of your youth, at the height of your finest years, and yet you have to stay down here in this sunless underground research institute together with old scholars like us.” The older man sighed.

“That’s not how I see it at all. I have never forgotten that I came from a poor family. With my family circumstances, I could never have afforded an education. If not for the Empire’s support, the me of today might still be living a life where tomorrow was never certain, wandering who knows where. Now that the Empire needs me, of course I cannot refuse,” the young man answered firmly.

“Mm, very good. It’s best if you have that kind of heart.”

“Senior, I’ve been curious ever since I came here. Is it convenient to reveal a little information now? For example, when exactly was this research institute built, and what are we researching here?” the young man asked curiously.

“Heh, no need to rush. You’ll know very soon. After all, you’re fresh blood entering this place. Sooner or later, you’ll come to understand the core of what we’re researching here.” The older man patted his junior on the shoulder.

“This is an unprecedented great undertaking, you know?” As he spoke, excitement appeared on the older man’s face. “What we’re doing now is something absolutely without precedent in the history of humanity—no, in the history of the entire Tyrelis Continent. If we succeed, the Empire will endure forever.”

“You mean... we’re researching a secret weapon? A secret weapon to deal with the demon race?” the young man asked in astonishment.

“Haha, young man, broaden your horizons a little. What is the demon race, really? If His Majesty the Emperor wishes it, if the Empire wills it, wiping out the demon race would be a matter of moments. We would only need to pay a small price.”

“If this research is completed, then wiping out the demon race would not cost us even that much. It would be no more than a flick of the fingers.”

“Really??”

“That’s right. This secret weapon of ours is meant to deal with the Demon Pillars. If we succeed, then the entire Tyrelis Continent will never again be threatened by the Demon Pillars.” The older man stood with his hands behind his back.

“I see! Senior, don’t worry. I will definitely do everything in my power!” The scene froze there.

Vinny, who had been waiting for the two to continue interacting, found that the two afterimages were gradually fading away.

Hm? That was it?

Vinny thought for a moment.

It looked like the old underclassman’s words at the foot of the mountain were probably trustworthy after all. Everything matched up.

This scene from the spatial turbulence appeared to show a graduate of Carillian Academy arriving at this underground research institute by order of the imperial emperor to engage in research.

Vinny looked around. The institute had gone silent again. There was not a single sound.

If there was any sound at all, then it was probably the sound of Milian trembling against him.

“Let’s go, Milian.”

“Ah? We... we still have to keep going?” Milian asked pitifully. She was the kind of person most afraid of this sort of supernatural thing.

“What else would we do?” Vinny said. “We need to figure out what exactly happened here. Maybe there are more memory ambers left behind by spatial rifts in other places. We might learn something from them—like, say, the institute’s secret emergency exit.”

“All right, I understand.” Milian could only swallow hard.

Vinny walked ahead and entered the dim main hall of the research institute. Looking at the institute with its many branching passages, he headed down the corridor on the right. Suddenly, he felt himself step on something, like broken bricks or tiles.

Hm?

What is this...?

Vinny looked down and discovered a pile of fragments, as if some complete object had been smashed into pieces.

“Th-this is...?” Milian’s face went pale.

“What is it? Is there something strange about these fragments?” Vinny frowned. An elf’s five senses were much sharper than a human’s, and in this dim light, Vinny could not clearly make out what these fragments on the floor were, nor why they had caused such a strong reaction from Milian.

“These fragments... they’re from... that.” Milian pointed behind them, toward the statue back near the entrance.

“You mean these fragments on the ground came from that statue?” Vinny crouched down to inspect the fragments and found that there really were many similarities, especially the shattered pieces of the eyes. It was obvious that they came from the same statue.

“They really do.” Vinny stood up and looked toward the altar at the front end of the right-side corridor. It seemed that the altar had originally been used to enshrine that statue.

Aside from that, he looked around and noticed something else was wrong. Why was it that so many of the surrounding furnishings were arranged so neatly, yet only this statue placed in the right-side corridor had been smashed to pieces?

Was it a coincidence?

Vinny pulled Milian with him and walked into the right-side corridor. They passed one dim room after another. There were simply too many rooms along the corridor, and every room held different furnishings. Vinny could not even tell what their functions had been.

The scene that had just emerged from the spatial rift felt almost like an illusion now.

It never appeared again.

Vinny thought for a moment, then recalled the dorm room number the student had reported just now.

Maybe that place would yield some kind of discovery??

Vinny returned to the main hall and, holding onto the old stair railing, went up to the third floor. At the front of the left-side corridor, he found the dorm room of that newly arrived student.

Now, all that remained there were several neatly made bedframes covered in dust. If not for the furniture being arranged so tidily, it would have looked just like a storage room.

Vinny brought Milian into the room and took a turn around it. Just as he was beginning to think his line of reasoning might be wrong, a cold and heavy voice sounded once more.

“?!” Milian jumped in fright and hid behind Vinny without daring to make a sound.

It’s here again??

Vinny frowned and looked toward the two familiar translucent figures reappearing in the room.

“Junior Oliver, what have you been thinking about lately? Your department has already spoken to me. For the past few days, you’ve been absent-minded, and you’ve made several mistakes during experiments. Fortunately, nothing serious came of it.” The older man sat on the bed and began speaking with the young man named Oliver.

“What’s been going on with you lately? Did you run into some difficulty? Do you need your senior here to give you a little counseling? Or is it that this underground place is too stifling, and I should give you a few days off so you can remember what it feels like to be a person who lives above ground?” the man joked.

“I...” Oliver closed the diary that had been resting on his lap and hesitated. “Senior, these past few days I’ve kept thinking about one thing. Have we humans really understood this world?”

“The continent we live on may be called the Tyrelis Continent, but no one knows how it was truly born, how it was created, or by whom it was created.” Oliver’s voice was hesitant.

“Junior, if you’re getting lost in questions like that—questions of philosophy or the like—then perhaps I’ll have to report this to His Majesty the Emperor and ask the academy to find you a philosophy teacher to answer them for you.” The older man laughed.

“No, this is not a philosophical question. I think it is a fundamental issue we must consider right now, Senior.” Oliver’s tone turned grave.

“Junior, I do not understand why you’re getting hung up on such strange questions. Does this have anything to do with the research we are conducting right now?” His senior plainly did not understand.

“It does. Of course it does! And directly too. Senior, I don’t think we humans truly understand this world. In a state where both our eyes are blind, it becomes very easy to make mistakes—especially with the research we are conducting now, if we make rash decisions.”

“And what happens if we make rash decisions?”

“Senior, I believe there are some things that must not be done. At the very least, not before we understand the nature of the world. I’ve been thinking about it for days now. Everything has a price. If we do this, will we truly pay no price at all?” Oliver said.

“Junior Oliver, are you trying to back out now? Have you forgotten the lofty ambitions you talked about with me on your first day here?”

“Of course I’m not trying to back out! But if this truly benefits humanity, if it truly benefits the Tyrelis Continent—”

“Isn’t that obvious? What we are doing is naturally for the good of the entire continent. Otherwise, those Demon Pillars coveting this continent will sooner or later trigger something even more impossible to control. By then, it will be too late for us to come up with a solution.” His senior’s tone also became serious.

“But do we really have to take such a risk? I have a premonition that that thing is not something humanity can control. I still haven’t even figured out where it came from. And where are the gods we worship? Why have they never given us any revelation or response??” Oliver said, lost and uncertain.

“And if we fail, then what happens?”

“Nothing will happen. You should know that what I’m trying to cut off is a horn from a Demon Pillar. Even if I fail, it will only be like striking a knife against the Demon Pillar’s head. It won’t matter.” His senior sounded unconcerned.

“...I still feel that what we’re doing is deeply improper.”

“Enough. I can’t explain it clearly to you, Junior Oliver. But I ask you to pull yourself together as soon as possible. Our research is already nearing its final stage. Right now, we need to gather all of our strength.”

“All right, Junior Oliver. Rest for today. I’ll have a counselor come by to see you in a while.” With that, the older man pushed open the door and left Oliver’s room.

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