The curtain, a barrier formed through magic, was designed to be invisible so that people wouldn’t feel trapped within it.
Because of this, unless under special circumstances, very few people could discern whether the barrier was currently active or not.
If I had to list some, it would be sensitive magicians like Dwight, who are attuned to the flow of magical energy, or witches like me who are inherently sensitive to the existence of a barrier that blocks magic.
“Dwight, is it…?”
“…Yeah, it seems the barrier has disappeared.”
Perhaps because of this sudden disappearance of the barrier without any warning signs, it seemed like only Dwight and I were aware of the situation around us.
“W-What…? You mean the barrier has disappeared? Just like that?”
Even Sylvia, who was there with us, only realized the gravity of the situation after overhearing our conversation.
Of course, I could only ascertain that the barrier had vanished; I couldn’t fathom why such an event had occurred.
Unlike the last time, when I could at least guess that a problem with the barrier might have stemmed from the demonic beasts’ invasion, this time, the cause felt out of reach and utterly baffling.
“Dwight, do you have any idea why the barrier suddenly disappeared…?”
So, I turned to Dwight, who would know about the barrier more than anyone else, but—
“…I don’t know. I’m also puzzled as to why a perfectly operating barrier would suddenly vanish.”
He too did not grasp the reason and could only shake his head with a grim expression.
At that moment, Eve-sensei, who noticed something was off with the barrier, contacted Dwight.
“Dwight-kun, it seems there’s a problem with the barrier. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
“I don’t know what’s happening. But the management room must have noticed the anomaly as well, so let’s wait a little.”
“Hm… I guess we have no choice but to wait for them to resolve it.”
After a brief conversation, the call ended.
Upon finishing his call with Eve-sensei, Dwight’s expression seemed to regain composure almost instantly.
How is it that Eve-sensei and he can remain so calm despite the emergency of the barrier’s disappearance?
Maybe the management room mentioned during the call was the reason, so I inquired about it.
“Dwight, what exactly is this management room you mentioned?”
“Oh, that refers to the place that manages the magic circle of the barrier. In the management room, magicians from my family are on standby, ready to act in case anything happens to the barrier. Just like the last time, when we deactivated the barrier by providing auxiliary power after the demonic beasts invaded.”
After confirming that the restoration of the barrier we performed was indeed done by the management room, I nodded along as Dwight continued.
“Maybe the abnormality from last time triggered some minor issue with the magic circle, causing this phenomenon. The people in the management room are not fools who would let problems like this slip by, yet it is peculiar… Regardless, they must have realized that something is wrong, so if we just wait, they’ll take care of it.”
Dwight spoke in a calm tone, as if reassuring us not to panic.
It seemed he had a great deal of trust in this management room.
Since he mentioned that it is overseen by the magicians directly descended from Ninehart, it’s likely he trusts them based on that.
Feeling somewhat relieved thanks to his regained composure, Sylvia and I internally muttered that everything would be okay, waiting for the barrier to be restored.
Five minutes passed like this.
“…It seems it’s taking a little longer than expected.”
Dwight’s face wore a slight look of confusion.
Ten minutes passed.
“…This is strange. It shouldn’t take this long.”
The tension began to show in Dwight’s expression.
And after thirty minutes had passed,
“…”
Dwight bit his nails, his anxiety heightened more than ever.
It seemed he had made up his mind as he muttered something.
“…I think we need to go check.”
“To the management room?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t make sense that it has taken this long without any contact from outside. There must be some problem not only with the barrier but also in the management room itself. I have no choice but to check it out myself.”
With that, as if time was pressing, Dwight immediately began to rush somewhere.
“Dwight-kun, wait a second!”
Sylvia suddenly grabbed Dwight’s arm.
Dwight shot her an anxious glare, as if to ask what she was doing.
“You’re in a hurry, right? How long would it take if you run there?”
Pointing toward a celestial chariot that had already been conjured to carry the two of us, Sylvia urged.
“Let’s ride this; it should be much faster than running.”
Dwight nodded in agreement.
The celestial chariot took to the air.
Our destination was the heart of the city, where the magic circle overseeing the barrier was located.
*
In the city’s central area, known for being the safest from external threats, numerous key facilities are always bustling with people.
Maybe it’s because the barrier has disappeared, but amidst the crowd, there seemed to be no sense of crisis on anyone’s face.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that chaos has not erupted yet.
“I’ve arrived.”
As I was lost in thought about that, Dwight, who had been repeatedly advising me to calm down during our flight, informed us that we had reached our destination, appearing a bit more composed.
Using a spell to keep ourselves out of sight so as not to attract unwanted attention, Dwight landed without anyone noticing us.
However, as we followed Dwight toward our destination, we couldn’t help but cock our heads in confusion.
“…Is this really it?”
“Dwight, are you sure this is the right place?”
The building Dwight approached was a bank.
It didn’t quite match our expectations that the magical circle managing the barrier was located in a bank, making us perplexed for a moment, but Dwight explained as he entered the bank.
“The purpose is to lead you to think that way. It would be hard to imagine this being the location. Besides, even if there are guards, it wouldn’t raise any suspicions.”
That reason made sense indeed.
Did they intentionally choose the bank for security reasons?
Perhaps this bank itself was constructed to serve as a decoy to hide the location of the magic circle.
“…But is it okay to tell us all this?”
“Right? If I think back on how I was kept in the dark until now, it suggests that only a handful of people in this city are aware.”
Wait a minute, isn’t this a massive secret?
Wondering about that, I asked Dwight, who smirked slightly as he muttered.
“…If a witch like you, Scarlett, who’s the head of the Astra family, were targeting the city’s magic circle, this city would already be doomed. I believe you wouldn’t do that since we’re friends, though.”
“Ah… yeah.”
“In fact, revealing it wouldn’t cause major issues since there’s no way they wouldn’t have tightened security regarding the city’s most critical assets.”
As he said that, Dwight opened the door marked with [No Entry Except for Authorized Personnel].
As we entered, it looked like a break room for employees.
Inside, a woman lying back on a sofa, seemingly resting, was startled when she saw us and screamed.
“Eek! Wh-Who are you? Can’t you see the sign saying no entry for unauthorized personnel? What are you doing in here…!”
“Uh… s-sorry…”
Realizing she had been caught resting, her embarrassment showed as she nearly cried out, and I reflexively apologized.
But Dwight, who stood next to me, muttered toward her.
“Willow, they’re guests who’ll be coming in with me, so you can stop with that.”
“Understood, young master.”
Seeing Willow, the woman, instantly switch her demeanor at Dwight’s words left me flabbergasted.
So it was an act… I had completely thought it was genuine when she even showed tears…
Perhaps sharing my sentiments, Sylvia dumbly asked Dwight.
“Dwight-kun, where is this place…?”
“It’s nothing special. It’s a necessary stop to reach the management room.”
“You mean this break room?”
“It’s a decoy, like a bank. Willow, please.”
At his request, Willow nodded politely. She then swiftly moved aside the sofa where she had been reclining.
And then,
“W-Whoa…!”
“The wall…!”
A whole wall rotated, revealing a hidden room.
On one side of that room was a massive vault door.
As I was taken aback that a hidden room existed, Dwight pointed at the steel door while explaining.
“This is the only entrance to the management room. You need authorization to pass through, though.”
Dwight then turned to Willow, asking her.
“Have we received any communication from inside?”
“None. We confirmed the issue and tried contacting them, but we haven’t received any response. This has never happened before…”
“…When was the last contact?”
“The last was when they reported an issue with the barrier and said they’d reboot it with auxiliary power. The last entry record is much earlier than that contact.”
With every exchange, Dwight’s expression became more grave.
“Willow, I believe something is wrong with the management room.”
“I agree, young master. While it’s understandable that they wouldn’t record entry if they have a living space, the lack of any contact is inexplicable otherwise.”
Willow’s agreement led Dwight to nod gravely as he muttered.
“Normally, entry is impossible without approval from the management room, but… under this emergency, as a direct descendant of Ninehart, I want to go into the management room. Is that acceptable?”
“Honestly, I was going to ask you to do that. You’re the only direct descendant out there who can check on the management room since we’ve lost contact.”
She spoke, then tapped the floor with her hoof.
Immediately, the heavy vault door opened magically and smoothly.
So this is the management room?
As I pondered while looking inside, contrary to my expectations, it was only a small room in size.
“What are you doing? Hurry in.”
However, there was no time to ponder as Dwight entered first and urged me and Sylvia to follow.
The moment the vault door closed behind the three of us, it thudded shut as if it would never open again.
With it being so dark inside, I felt an impending sense of claustrophobia threatening to overwhelm me, and I shivered slightly, but soon realized this wasn’t a vault.
“…This moves?”
“Yeah, we’re heading to the management room.”
What appeared to be a vault was actually an elevator.
So I thought to myself, “Ah, the management room must be underground.” when something even more surprising happened next.
“…Wait, didn’t it just move right?”
The elevator that was heading down suddenly changed direction.
Instead of going right, it moved forward, then switched to upward.
Is this really acceptable to call it an elevator? Since it moved not just up and down but in all directions, too.
As I got lost in confusion, Dwight provided an explanation.
“They deliberately complicated the route so that the management room’s location couldn’t be pinpointed, so don’t worry about it. As long as I, a Ninehart, am here, there’s no reason to fear we’ll land anywhere besides the management room.”
Just as I was about to retort that I had no such concerns, I realized something in his explanation was somewhat ominous and asked him.
“Wait, so if you weren’t here, we might actually end up somewhere else instead of the management room?”
“Exactly. So, I recommend against unauthorized entries.”
Dwight said this with an ominous air, nodding his head.
I gulped and asked him.
“…What happens if someone breaks in without authorization?”
“…Do you know? This vault we’re riding in is just an airtight space with a magic to supply oxygen.”
Dwight shot me that meaningful stare and then continued in a cold voice.
“If anyone tries to illegally enter the management room, they’ll find themselves buried alive in a sealed chamber with no air supply.”
I let out a small scream in response to this.
“Eek! There’s a lunatic who locks people in airtight compartments and kills them under the pretense of maximum security!”
The moment I shouted that, both Dwight and I burst into laughter together.
It was our way of dealing with the ominous thought.
Dwight asked me,
“Isn’t it a brilliant security system?”
“Yeah, it’s genuinely terrifying.”
When I replied, Dwight forced a smile and asked,
“…With a setup this thorough, nothing bad should happen, right?”
“…Yeah. Nothing should go wrong.”
I answered, holding his trembling hand along with Sylvia’s.
Hoping fervently that everything would remain alright as he wished.
Moments later, the elevator came to a stop.
And the moment the door opened,
“Ugh…”
“Ah…”
We unfortunately realized something dreadful had happened.
An unpleasant odor emanated beyond the elevator door.
The unmistakable stench of blood and decaying bodies.
“No…”
Before there was even time to object, Dwight bolted out first.
Sylvia and I chased right after him.
“A-Ah…”
We saw Dwight suddenly halt ahead, frozen in shock at something.
Instinctively, Sylvia and I stopped, peering over his shoulder at what lay beyond.
“Shelly… Layla… Harbor…”
Bodies lay sprawled on the floor with holes punctured somewhere in them, bodies upon bodies.
As Dwight mumbled in disbelief while staring at one fallen body, he walked over and collapsed next to it.
With trembling hands, he clasped the head of the body and a voice full of despair escaped his lips.
“Ah, Burgi…”
His sobs echoed through the management room filled with nothing but bodies.
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