NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26
It’s been two weeks since I, the villainous noble, made a close friend in Rud. Recently, we’ve not only been attending classes together but also hanging out after school with Mea and Rud’s girlfriend, Sasha, who happens to be a commoner.
You might be wondering if it’s okay to get this close to someone. At first, I was cautious and spent the first week constantly reading his thoughts. Mind-reading magic seems to have been lost to history, so there’s not much anyone can do about it.
Since he never once attempted to harm me and seemed harmless, I decided to go along with it, and Mea did the same.
“Hey Jin, what are you up to?”
After school, we found ourselves in the school’s magical library, and as I was meticulously inspecting the shelves, Rud asked with a half-closed eye.
“Can’t you tell just by looking? I’m searching for a switch,” I replied.
“No one would figure that out just by looking! And what switch are you talking about?” Rud questioned.
“Of course, it’s for a hidden room,” I replied.
“A hidden room!?”
The reason we came here today was to search for a hidden door that leads to a secret room. In the game, I had a general idea of its location, but lacked detailed information, so I’m painstakingly checking every inch for hidden triggers.
“Why do you know about this as a new student…?” Rud asked.
“It’s the power of my family,” I replied with a smirk, although the real reason is my memories from my previous life. Of course, I’m not going to reveal that.
Still, I couldn’t find it anywhere… In the game, a marker would appear when you got close.
“Hey, what’s this…?” Rud said.
As Rud pressed something that appeared to be a dent in an entirely different spot from where we were searching…
*Creak, creak, creak…*
Suddenly, the bookshelves were sucked into the ground, and a sturdy, locked door appeared right before us.
“…”
Both of us were left speechless, taking in the sight. I was surprised at how Rud, who had found something I couldn’t locate no matter how hard I tried, had discovered it in just a few minutes. Rud, on the other hand, was in shock at the sudden appearance of the door.
“Hey, why is it there?”
“Well, I don’t know! Jin was the one who suggested it in the first place, right? Plus, it’s locked, so we can’t open it.”
“Let me show you… [Unlock].”
As I cast an unlocking spell on the door, there was a ‘click’ sound as the lock fell to the ground. Since there were no teachers around at this time, we didn’t need to worry about the noise. Furthermore, we had confirmed over the past two weeks that no students came to the library after school.
“You know, I’ve been thinking this for a while, but you’re surprisingly skilled at using magic.”
“I can handle this level of magic easily.”
“It’s not just ‘this level,’ especially when it comes to unlocking spells…”
As we exchanged banter, we entered the door.
Inside, there was a long corridor. There were no lights, and without the magical lamps, you couldn’t see more than five meters ahead. Well, considering this academy was built centuries ago, it’s no surprise that any conventional lighting would have long since disappeared.
“Wow… I had no idea there was a place like this in the academy.”
“Well, the key to this room has already been lost, so no one… not even the headmaster, probably knows about it.”
“Then why do you know about it?”
“…Alright, let’s keep going.”
“Don’t change the subject!”
Phew… I’ve really dug myself into a hole here. This guy is incredibly smart, so I’m a bit scared that he might eventually figure out my reincarnation.
As I nervously contemplated this, we finally reached the end of the corridor and entered a large room with high ceilings. In the room, there were several knight statues, each about five to ten meters tall, and thanks to some magical lamps that resembled those in the game, the room was quite well lit.
“Ah, we’ve finally reached a well-lit area—”
“Don’t approach so carelessly! You have no idea what this place is like!”
I hurriedly stopped Rud, who was about to enter the room. He seemed to be caught off guard by the sudden halt, and his voice came out strangled. Well, it’s better than dying, I suppose.
“Cough, cough… Don’t pull me back so suddenly, Jin…”
“Then don’t try to enter on your own! Do you want to die!?”
“Huh? But there’s not even a trace of humans, let alone monsters in here?”
Saying this, Rud peered into the room.
This guy… does he really not value his life?
“Can you say the same after seeing this?”
I held up a large stone and tossed it into the room to show Rud. Then…
“Intruders detected—eliminating immediately.”
With that mechanical voice, the knight statues were imbued with magic and came to life. They moved to attack, and used a massive sword to obliterate the stone I had thrown, an obvious overkill.
I turned to Rud with a gaze that said, “What do you think?”
“…I messed up. Thanks, Jin.” He said this with a pale face.