*
A table split in half.
A flurry of papers swirling in the air.
The fallen bookshelves around hinted at the seriousness of the situation.
I had set up multiple layers of defensive magic circles at the door, just in case.
But now they had turned to wood chips, and the wind was flowing in through the gaping hole.
“Long time no see, Laplace.”
Moments ago, there was a reason Laplace had to urgently halt the broadcast during the Rune Scramble.
In the Grand Hertz Academy’s principal’s office.
There stood a male of the Inrang Tribe with a long scar over his left eye,
“..You’ve arrived.”
He was threatening Laplace with a steel hand axe.
If he had been just a bit later, he could have exposed the whereabouts of Licht and Pina.
Laplace had been ready with a special rune message as an SOS signal.
To inform that Rock Grancia had arrived at the academy.
Suddenly, a reversal drama that grants 500 points—how absurd is that?
“Yeah, did you think I couldn’t find you?”
Rock’s golden wolf eyes glinted as he expressed his anger.
“What’s all this about, Laplace?”
He made a sound like metal scraping from his throat.
The murderous intent emanating from the sharp axe blade made him feel like his body was being torn apart.
“It’s just the usual sports event, right, Your Majesty?”
Gulp. Laplace rolled his eyes, searching for a way to survive.
He was secretly feeling around the bookshelf behind him, planning an escape to the Shrine of Akasha.
“..The usual? This is what you call the usual sports event?”
But, as if he could read that thought,
BANG—! a blade of air zipped past Laplace’s ear.
“I know that the autumn sports event is exactly a month away.”
Rock’s expression turned even colder.
“It’s the event our Pina is participating in—do you think I wouldn’t know that?”
He had cleared his schedule in advance, thinking his precious daughter wouldn’t participate.
“..Answer me, Laplace. Why was the schedule moved up?”
His anger grew stronger.
Laplace felt his whole body freeze at the menacing aura.
It was like facing a great beast.
“There was also a Head’s attack.. so we moved it up for a change of atmosphere.”
He barely opened his mouth to start explaining.
“Really? Then why aren’t you broadcasting our precious Pina’s performance?”
Not even the Sage’s foresight could prevent Rock Grancia from coming to the academy.
No matter how much Laplace searched the Library of Truth, he couldn’t find a way to stop him.
“Because the princess doesn’t want her identity revealed. I thought I’d make it easier for you.”
In the end, everything hinged on that man, Licht.
“He’s with Licht now. Was I wrong?”
“….”
Whether he could truly obtain Rock’s permission as the princess’s Black Knight.
“What’s the next event, Laplace?”
“It’s an escape room game with spirits.”
Or perhaps he’d really become the thief to shake up this era.
“..Shall we take a look together?”
Laplace smiled playfully, trying to sway the Emperor.
*
Pina and I were currently trapped in some room.
And we were handcuffed to each other, no less.
It sounded crazy, but it was true.
“..Licht. Do we really have to do this?”
“The rules say we must, so there’s no other choice.”
Shimmering rings connected at our wrists, preventing us from straying too far apart.
An escape room game.
This event called “Eclipse Escape”
required two team members to solve puzzles with spirits and escape the room.
For some reason, I ended up partnered with Pina.
“Ah, so that’s what it meant when they said we had to escape the academy…”
Yeah, who could’ve guessed they’d teleport us to a pre-prepared room?
I had won the scramble thanks to seizing the golden rune.
But now there was a strange tension between Pina and me in the next game.
“The team that escapes the most within the time limit wins.”
Probably something prepared by Dennis. Just looking at the handcuffs, you could tell they were made with his magic circle.
“This won’t break..”
The Mobius strip has no beginning or end. No matter how much Pina struggled, nothing changed.
They said if we tried to break it without the key, we’d be disqualified. Not surprising, then.
“Guess brute force won’t work, huh?”
Even trying to unlock the door, the firmly locked padlock showed no signs of giving.
In a room furnished with a sofa, table, and bookshelves, it felt almost like a detective’s office.
“..Let’s read that note on top for now.”
There was a single paper densely written with text.
It even had a sinister aura, stained with blood.
[Memo from September 30, 14:11.]
[This is Eric, running the Silverwolf Detective Agency.]
[I’m currently trapped in this room, assaulted by some goons along with my assistant, Kate.]
[The door is locked from the outside, and we’re handcuffed together like one body.]
[I wonder what the culprit wants. I feel like something terrible will happen if we can’t escape this room.]
[Even now, Kate is looking at me, licking her lips.]
[If anyone reading this memo could, please, I hope you can tell me how to escape.]
[Looking at the green moon in the night sky.]
“…Eric Silverwolf left this behind.”
So it was a storytelling escape room game. Pina was in the role of Kate?
“Then Eric..? Is that Licht..?”
There were no CCTV cameras around monitoring us, and Pina, probably feeling frustrated, was scanning the memo with curiosity.
“First, let’s find a way to summon the spirit, Miss Kate.”
I made a playful joke to Pina. Since this was a space prepared by Dennis, it shouldn’t draw any attention from others.
Right now, we had no “Cakam.”
Spirit Perception Magic had a time limit.
Even while fading away, it had shown a touch of cuteness towards Pina.
“Yeah, let’s find it quickly.”
Pina nodded repeatedly, affirmatively.
Laplace wouldn’t have just said we had to escape with the spirits for no reason.
There had to be some method to summon a spirit.
September 30, 14:11.
Could this be just a random combination of words?
Looking at the calendar on the wall, it was still August.
“..Ah. Licht.”
As I moved to flip the calendar, a clack sound echoed in the room.
“Sorry, I didn’t think of that.”
Pina had gotten immediately close to me. The length of the handcuffs meant we couldn’t help but stick together.
“Ah, it’s okay.. It happens…”
Pina perked up her white ears. Her antenna-like ears moved, captivating my view.
I shouldn’t be thinking about that. It could hinder our escape.
“I set the calendar to September. Should we mark a red circle on the 30th? Pina?”
Finally keeping my cool, I turned the calendar to September, and a drawing of a hand folding colored paper appeared.
A calendar showing the origami order.
“..Licht, this..”
“I think I know what it is.”
The memo wasn’t stained with blood for no reason. I turned the note I was holding over.
As expected, it was the usual trick.
A tradition carried over from the original [Night Heart].
When Nex and I went to a dungeon, I was able to solve the puzzle all at once, and during the rune scramble, I could easily figure out the conditions.
The production team were maniacs when it came to puzzles, after all.
The sequel was even worse.
In the PV, you had to gather Easter eggs and travel around the country, or solve a labyrinth in 3D.
“The magic circle of the Aureus family I saw in the spirit enhancement lecture looked exactly like this…”
Spirit Mages are rare. They must have had a separate scroll for sensing.
It’s tough for anyone to be honest about their emotions.
“Alright, it’s done.”
Folding the note according to the calendar created an overlapping magic circle.
Now I needed to stick this on my chest.
But there was only one scroll.
“….”
Should Pina and I hug over a single piece of paper? That feels a bit perverted.
“Licht? What’re you doing without calling Cakam..?”
Even though my previous combination move had my selfishness in it, I felt reluctant to do something so forceful.
How many cups of water did I drink earlier to soothe Pina when she had the hiccups?
Let’s skip this one. What if this happens again once we leave the room?
“Hayangi..?”
“Yes, I’ve wanted to see her too.”
I managed to say it with trembling lips, suppressing my desires, regaining my sanity as my worries settled.
“..What a playboy.”
What on earth did Pina think “playboy” meant?
She puffed up her cheeks and rolled her eyes whenever I mentioned Hayangi.
Jealous of her own spirit. Still, she seemed willing to do it and took the scroll from me.
[Lee Soo-hyun♡Pina Grancia 19% ‘NEW!!’]
In that moment, a status window immediately appeared before me.
I couldn’t help but fixate on it.
“Licht, you really are a pervert.”
As Pina laid her hand on her chest, I witnessed the disappearing scroll’s magic.
“I’m so sorry.”
“So you liked that sort of thing. Just like in the books…. you were a beast.”
I had no rebuttal. I was indeed at fault. I should just close my eyes and let it be.
The creators really were wicked. They should’ve popped that up when the affection level increased.
“Hayangi!! Stop..!”
As soon as I heard Pina’s urgent voice, a white wave obscured my view.
Pina’s wolf spirit jumped out and charged at me.
It gripped my shoulders and stood on its hind legs.
I couldn’t react to the sudden turn of events. My head was being gnawed at…
“Ugh..”
I thought I was being bitten. But nothing happened.
To be precise, my vision just got blocked.
I thought I was being punished for all the mischief I had caused to Pina, but I was still alive.
Hayangi had my head inside her mouth and was just sitting there.
She wasn’t acting like her usual self.
“No!! Hayangi!! Don’t eat Licht..!!”
Pina cried out to her spirit with a trembling voice.
With the handcuffs, we were so close that it felt awkward to attack.
“Pina, don’t worry.”
I hurriedly reassured her. If it were an actual attack, she wouldn’t be doing that.
“Maybe.. it’s just an expression of affection?”
I remember seeing in a documentary that beasts hide their instincts in front of precious ones.
Seems like the affection level actually did increase.
I never thought Pina’s spirit would do something like this to me.
