They used passwords to enter and cast noise canceling magic on the room. That club called Exodium was filled to the brim with suspicious things.
“Could it be that the student council president is also involved in this club?”
“That’s a possibility. The Royal Class’ student council president also said that there shouldn’t be any problem with this group, but she clearly didn’t know the truth.”
I nodded at Charlotte’s valid doubts. I didn’t know who Temple’s student council president was, but why were they covering for such a suspicious club?
Charlotte and I were in the hallway just downstairs from the club room where those guys were doing who-knows-what. We were thinking about how we could find out what they were doing there.
“I could just open their door and ask them what’s going on, but…”
Charlotte seemed to be contemplating some rather risky methods. Since eavesdropping had become impossible, we had to come up with some other method, but would they fess up just because we asked them?
Such a method would be rather extreme, after all.
“We could wait for them to finish their activities and then grab one of them and make them spit it out.”
I came up with another risky one. They wouldn’t stay in there forever; after all, they were bound to come out eventually. If we caught one of them and interrogated them, we would easily find out what that club Exodium was up to.
“Hmm… In the end, both of these methods involve violence, so we should prepare to receive disciplinary actions if this really is nothing.”
I nodded at Charlotte’s words. Disciplinary actions would be fine as long as they didn’t involve expulsion. I had already been branded as a troublemaker anyway.
Charlotte and I leaned against the window at the end of the second floor’s hallway, thinking about what we should do.
“…I guess they weren’t at capacity yet.”
“What?”
Charlotte pointed out the window.
There was a student covered in a black robe walking into the building. A late student, sure enough…
‘No, wait a minute.’
“…Come to think of it, didn’t they say that the members don’t know each other?”
“…Yes, what about it?”
The student council president said that they didn’t know each other personally because they wore robes at their gatherings.
“Why don’t I just go instead of that guy?”
“Ah…”
I already knew the password after eavesdropping.
“No. There’s too big a height difference. You’ll definitely get caught. Additionally, the president of the club surely memorized that person’s voice.”
“Can’t I just say that I recently recovered from a cold or something?”
“…Do you think the president who even went so far as to use passwords for his club would believe that?”
Charlotte’s attitude was rather negative towards my undercover infiltration plan. In the end, the best decision I could come up with in that situation was catching one of their guys after their club activities were over.
-Clack
And then both Charlotte and I saw a door to the second-floor hallway on the far side opening up.
I didn’t care if we were seen by people, as long as they weren’t the guys from the third floor.
However, as Charlotte saw that person coming into the hallway, she tilted her head.
“…Isn’t that Detto?”
He was still far away, but I could still recognize him.
It was Number B-8, Dettomolian.
* * *
B-9, Dettomolian, his talents were witchcraft and supernatural abilities.
Along with Scarlett, he was one of the people that most of Class B avoided. Of course, thanks to Charlotte’s protection, Scarlett was no longer bullied, but it didn’t seem that they had much contact with Dettomolian yet.
He was the type that people felt reluctant to get close to—a creepy and eerie aura surrounded him.
His hair was always messy, dark circles framed his eyes, and he was as skinny as a stick and seemed like a dried anchovy.
Scarlett was labelled an outcast just because, but Dettomolian… he actually makes you feel uncomfortable. It was that kind of deal.
In fact, he would often see ghosts and say some really creepy things.
Why was he there at that hour?
“Detto!”
Of course, Charlotte, who was sweet and kind to most—except for Bertus—immediately ran down the hallway as if she was pleased to see Dettomolian and called out to him.
What did she mean by ‘Detto’? Was that his nickname?
…She never called me such cute nicknames.
“…Charlotte.”
When Charlotte called out to him, Dettomolian moved his dried, skinny body to look at her.
“I was wondering why you left every weekend at night. Are you in a club?”
“…Yes.”
Charlotte tended to look at people with gentle eyes, smiling as if she didn’t feel an ounce of discomfort. I approached him because Charlotte was there, but that was kind of creepy in a different sense.
“What club are you in?”
-Point
Dettomolian pointed towards the door he came out of instead of answering.
[Occult Research Department]
It was kind of obvious that it would be that kind of club.
I once again realized that the members of Class B, who weren’t part of the main cast, were busy doing various things outside of the story that I had no idea about. Dettomolian definitely wasn’t among the guys that got close to Ludwig in his first year.
He was just the slightly creepy kid of the class.
After having such a ghost-like presence in the story, he would later gain some more weight in it.
“Ah. Ththat’s right…”
As Charlotte saw the sign of the Occult Research Department, she let out an awkward laugh.
Although I always kind of thought it when I saw him, facing him like that sure felt like seeing a living skeleton. Wasn’t he eating well? How was he even able to successfully go through Temple’s strength training?
No, it was also my fault.
It was clear that his constitution didn’t allow him to gain much weight because I set him up to be the skinniest anchovy there was.
I’m sorry, my friend.
He slowly dragged his skinny body towards the bathroom. He was someone who took care of his needs first, no matter if the Princess stood before him or not.
It was nigh impossible to guess what he was thinking, and he always did things at his own pace.
That was the type of guy Dettomolian was.
“Hey, wouldn’t Detto know about this?”
Why did Charlotte call him by that nickname?
Why was I getting annoyed for no reason? Was I jealous?
Of course, Charlotte didn’t seem to have any particular reason behind it.
Anyway, Charlotte’s question of whether Dettomolian knew about the suspicious club was quite valid, as they had their clubrooms in the same building.
“Let’s ask him.”
“Ok.”
Soon, he came back from the bathroom.
“Detto, do you have some time? Could we talk for a bit?”
“…”
The guy answered with silence before pointing towards the clubroom.
I thought he meant that we should talk inside the room.
“…Are there any other club members around? Won’t we get in the way?”
He shook his head at Charlotte’s words.
“…I’m alone.”
He was doing his club activities all on his own.
The club’s research topic was the occult.
“I-I-is that so?”
Charlotte and I felt a slight chill run down our spines.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator – KonnoAren
Proofreader – ilafy
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-Clack
Charlotte and I followed after Dettomolian, who opened the door to the Occult Research Department.
“Uhmm…”
All lights were turned off, and the dark curtains were drawn, even though it was already night.
The only light source in the room was a single candle placed in the middle of the room. Something like a circle was drawn around the candle.
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It definitely didn’t look like a magic circle… it somehow seemed too hideous to be one.
It seemed to be drawn with something red, but that surely wasn’t blood, right?
“Hey, it’s a little too dark. Can I turn the lights on?” Charlotte asked cautiously.
“…Then the ceremony would be over.”
He didn’t explain just what he was doing there. Charlotte’s lips began to tremble slightly.
He didn’t say what kind of ceremony he was holding or whether we could turn on the lights or not.
If you want to talk about it, then explain everything, you bastard!
I couldn’t even tell him that because I was afraid that I’d get cursed if I touched him.
…Ah.
Wasn’t I acting just like Erich, who had bullied poor little Scarlett because he thought she was cursed?
Let’s not be prejudiced… Let’s not be prejudiced… Let’s not be prejudiced… I’m an adult.
“So… So you’re saying I shouldn’t, right?”
“…It doesn’t matter. I can just do it again later. It took about a week, though…”
“as I thought, I shouldn’t…”
I wasn’t exactly sure, but it seemed that Charlotte gave up on the idea of turning on the lights, thinking that if she turned on the wrong lights, Dettomolian’s week-long hard work would get completely ruined.
Before sitting down in front of the candle, he dragged some chairs close to it.
“…Sit here.”
Maybe because the atmosphere in the room was just too eerie or maybe because of his words, a strange feeling of fear crept up, telling me that something bad would happen if I sat anywhere else but there.
“O-ookay…”
Charlotte.
I could read her exact thoughts at that moment.
She probably also thought that the occult research department, which only Dettomolian was part of, was a lot more suspicious than that Exodium, right?
Charlotte and I sat exactly where Dettomolian told us to sit.
“Are you… The only club member?”
“Although I’m recruiting members… No one is joining.”
Like hell anyone was gonna join, you punk!
That place… beyond just feeling eerie, it actually felt like something would pop out at any moment.
Just looking at those strange tools illuminated by that single candle gave me goosebumps.
It seemed like Dettomolian had created the club on his own. Keeping that in mind, Charlotte had another question to ask him that didn’t pertain to the creepy atmosphere in the place.
“Well… Can you actually create a club by yourself, though? Wasn’t it required to gather at least a certain number of people first…?”
Yeah. It should have been impossible to create a club all alone. There should be a requirement of a minimum number of members, right?
“…I can.”
Charlotte tilted her head at his bizarre words when he told us that he could do it while no one else could.
“…Temple… Can’t teach me witchcraft… so I self-study here… This is just like… my private study room…”
“Aah… Certainly…”
Charlotte nodded her head, seemingly having understood his reasons.
I wasn’t all that familiar with Dettomolian, but I had described him in the novel.
His talents lay in witchcraft and supernatural abilities, but Temple had no curricula related to witchcraft because it was like a super ancient type of magic that wasn’t really practiced anymore. Dettomolian didn’t actually have to go to Temple, but he still did to comfortably study and research his magic with the school’s support.
Hence, Temple let him create the club for his own convenience to study his witchcraft. They couldn’t teach him, so they just let him self-study as his major.
That was why he could create a club while being the only club member.
…Dettomolian didn’t get taught how to use his type of magic, but later on, he would still manage to use it very skillfully. I didn’t give any reason for that whatsoever, so this background setting that he self-studied in the one-person club was created.
However, it wasn’t one of Royal Class’ internal clubs, but a general one…
He wanted to have more members. It was pretty much impossible to secure any more members from the Royal Class, as there was only a very limited number of students.
It seemed pretty much impossible to gain any more members because of the research topic of this club and what he was actually doing. It seemed pretty serious as well.
If someone went along with that guy, a ghost might really pop up one day. He might even end up saying something like, “ And that’s how you do it. It might be a bit dangerous now.”
“B-but… Does that mean you’re trying to call a real… ghost?”
Wasn’t it much more dangerous that someone was trying to summon real ghosts on campus rather than those who might be believers of the Demon Gods’ Church?
Charlotte seemed to seriously contemplate whether she should shift her focus on that place instead Exodium or not.
“Ghosts are everywhere already… I’m not calling them… It feels more like they are already here…”
“!”
“!”
“That’s why… Calling would be the wrong word…”
Ah, I felt like I was about to go crazy…
“Of course…It’s not necessarily wrong either… Because this ritual… makes them flock to this place…”
There were already a lot of ghosts around us; however, Charlotte and I couldn’t see or feel them.
At that moment, Charlotte grabbed my hand gently.
“!”
I guess she grabbed it unconsciously, as she seemed more surprised than me and immediately let go.
It looked like she got scared.
However, I didn’t know how to fight ghosts either…
I’m actually… really weak against jump scares…
Even in a fantasy world, I felt like I would get a heart attack if I ever came across a real ghost.
Those were the things I hated most in the world…
[You have found out the truth about the Ghosts of Temple.]
[Quest Completed – The Phantom of Temple]
[You have been rewarded 300 achievement points.]
“U-uwark, fuck!”
“Wh-wh-wh-whaaat? What happened?!”
I was so surprised by that quest completion window that I jumped up suddenly.
____
Chapter end
