Chapter 145: 145

Chapter 145

When I suddenly jumped up like that, Charlotte looked at me, her face completely white, seeming as if her soul was about to leave her body.

“Wh-what’s wrong… Wha-what happened?”

“I-I suddenly saw something go past my eyes just now…”

“Eeek!”

Of course, it wasn’t a ghost that I had seen, but Charlotte’s complexion seemed to go even paler at my words. I didn’t know Charlotte was so afraid of ghosts.

No, even someone who was immune to horror was sure to jump up from their seats in such an eerie place—it was tremendously creepy there.

I was grateful for the achievement points, but that hadn’t just sent me that quest completion announcement like that to scare me, right? If something like that popped out all of a sudden, of course I’d get surprised!

Anyway, while trying to find out the truth about the Demon Gods’ Church, I ended up completing the quest related to ghosts in that strange place.

Ghosts were everywhere. However, we couldn’t perceive them.

The fact that the quest was completed after I heard Dettomolian’s words meant that he was telling the truth.

Ah.

Hehe.

Right.

Ghosts were already everywhere around us, huh?

I wished I didn’t know about that, but because I did, I felt like something would pop up behind me if I slept with my back to the windows.

-Shake, shake, shake

“Re-Reinhardt… Calm down.”

Charlotte placed her hand on my thigh when she noticed that my legs were shaking quite intensely.

Rather than reassuring her, I had gotten even more scared than her! I got more objective answers to it because of that system message! 

“Ghosts… don’t usually harm others…”

So you’re saying there are situations in which they harm people, you bastard!

Dettomolian.

I felt even more exhausted than I expected to be when we actually ended up talking. I felt I understood why people avoided him… I knew it wasn’t his fault, though.

Don’t just put the truth others wouldn’t want to hear into their brains!

“By the way… There was something you wanted to ask.”

“A-ah… Yes, that’s right.”

Our original purpose was to ask about that club called, Exodium.

However, it felt like we had tried to enter a rat’s den to catch some rats but actually found out that a cobra was living there. We had found a place that seemed to be even more dangerous and insidious than Exodium.

“A-above this place… There’s a club called Exodium… Do you know about it?”

Still, since we had to do something about our original purpose, Charlotte plucked up her courage and asked him the question. Dettomolian nodded his head at the word Exodium.

“It’s the place… Upstairs.”

It seemed like he knew because both he and Exodium held their activities at night. Charlotte perked up a bit, thinking that she might get a clue out of him.

“Oh really? Do you know what the members of the club are doing?”

That guy didn’t seem like someone that would be interested in his surroundings, though. I was sure that he didn’t know much about it.

“…I signed up for it.”

“…Huh?”

However, his answer was completely different from what I expected. 

 

* * *

 

It seemed that Dettomolian was initially trying to find some people that studied in the same field as himself rather than forming a club of his own. There were a lot of clubs, and there were even more people with varied interests, after all.

However, spirits and witchcraft were quite the niche interest, and as he was digging through the list of clubs, it seemed that the club called Exodium caught his eye.

On the surface, the purpose of that club was the ‘Study of special phenomena’, so Dettomolian wouldn’t have had any other choice but to get interested in it.

Witchcraft and spirits could also be seen as special phenomena, after all.

“Their conditions for membership were quite strict… and it was a bit vague, but I was able to sign up…”

I didn’t know how the hell he managed to sign up, but Dettomolian somehow seemed to be a member of the club.

“So? What kinds of activities did you do there?”

“…”

Dettomolian slightly tilted his head to the side as if pondering something.

“They don’t research special phenomena… They are just weird kids.”

How weird were those guys for him to call them weird?

Dettomolian began to explain things about the members.

“See… There are some kids who believe that the power of darkness sleeps within them… There were some who said that they were the reincarnation of dragons but lost their memories… Some said that they were the successors of the Great Devil who rebelled against the heavens and got banished… Those people always fight with some guy who says he’s the reincarnation of an angel…”

No.

What?

“…?”

Charlotte seemed a little confused as if she didn’t properly understand what he was talking about.

“Anyway… They are just weird…”

I was wondering why those guys were so short…

Wasn’t that just a club for middle school students with 8th-grade syndrome, then? Were they role-playing?

Did they cast noise cancellation magic on the room to prevent others from making fun of them for what they were doing?

Charlotte began to organize her thoughts with a puzzled expression on her face.

“So… That club called Exodium is… for people who think they have amazing powers to get together and talk about things concerning their circumstances, but in reality, they are just… How should I put this? Is there a word to express this…?”

“Role-playing.”

“Roleplaying? R-right… Role-playing… That’s what that club is for?”

“…Yes.”

Charlotte’s eyes shook violently as if she felt that what she was talking about was completely absurd.

“Why would they… want to do something like that?”

What’s the matter with them!?

Charlotte didn’t seem to understand why those guys were doing those kinds of things.

“…I don’t know.”

Even Dettomolian didn’t know why they did it—he didn’t have 8th-grade syndrome after all.

N-no, I mean…

Still…

Didn’t they ever think something like ‘…Maybe I’m actually someone special?’ when they were in middle school? 

Was it something so bad? Did they never have such thoughts?

Was it just me? Did they really not understand such a manner of thought? Seriously?

Was I actually closer to those Exodium guys than those two…?

“Those kids talk about having the power of darkness and being beings of pure darkness, so there are a lot of rumors that they are believers of the Demon Gods’ Church…”

Charlotte nodded her head blankly as if she finally understood why those absurd accusations of that Exodium club being filled with worshippers of the Demon Gods became so widespread. 

Some of what they were talking about leaked to the outside.

The Exodium members were all kids inflicted with 8th-grade syndrome, so they would sometimes say some strange things about being evil or being an existence of pure darkness, which is why rumors about them being believers of the Demon Gods’ Church cropped up.

That was the moment I also realized why Temple’s student council president and Royal Class’ student council president didn’t tell anyone the details about the club and had just said that it was nothing big.

They were trying to protect the integrity of Exodium’s members.

They didn’t announce it properly because they were afraid that the members get teased if such things were revealed!

Temple’s student council president… I didn’t know them, but they were actually a good person!

“I feel empty…”

Charlotte had hoped that it would be nothing big; however, since the situation had actually ended up being nothing to worry about, she sighed as if she was disappointed.

The Occult Research Department turned out to be much more dangerous than Exodium.

Anyway…

We confirmed that Exodium was just a trivial club without even having to go in there. I also completed the related quest of finding out the truth behind the rumors, receiving 300 achievement points.

What believers of the Demon Gods’ Church?

There were none in Temple at all.

“But why did you leave the club?”

“…When I first went to one of their meetings, they asked me what my hidden power was… So I showed them.”

Ah.

I could already imagine what went down.

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“All of them started to cry and go crazy…”

The dark circles around Dettomolian’s eyes cast an even deeper shadow.

The puzzled Charlotte asked another question.

“Wha-what did you show them?”

“…Possession.”

Crazy bastard.

Charlotte’s face went completely pale.

“…Ah. I-I’m just saying this just in case, okay? You don’t have to show me that skill like ever, okay?”

That crazy bastard went to a place filled with people faking madness and showed them what real madness looked like.

For those guys who were just role-playing and saying things like, “I’m a supreme being of darkness, lol,” It wouldn’t be weird that they all ended up peeing their pants after that guy showed them what he could do.

Everyone would have fallen into chaos when they were shown the real thing, so Dettomolian didn’t seem to have gone to Exodium again after that.

Anyway, the truth was revealed. The rumors about the Demon Gods’ Church were completely fake.

“W-well then, Detto… See you at the dorms.”

“Yes… Goodbye…”

However, Charlotte learned about the existence of the Occult Research Department, which seemed to require some countermeasures to be taken against.

* * *

After leaving the club building, Charlotte and I walked towards the tram stop.

“Sigh… I’m glad, but I also feel pretty empty… What is this feeling?”

Charlotte sighed deeply. If there really were believers of the Demon Gods’ Church inside of Temple, that would have been a huge deal, but just like Ceres said, they were nothing more than some role-players.

The older they get, the less they would be afflicted by such mannerisms. 

Charlotte was relieved, but she seemed to also feel disappointed and weirded out that it had amounted to nothing more than that.

“Why the hell are they doing such things?”

“W-well…”

Charlotte didn’t seem to understand why people would do something like that, never having heard of something like that her whole life.

She didn’t understand because she had never caught that disease before. I didn’t even have such a bad case of it. So what did cause people to get afflicted by the 8th-grade syndrome?

Although I thought about it, I had no clue.

And then my thoughts wandered to a completely different place.

“Hmm… Come to think of it, actually, I think… I heard about those Exodium guys before.”

“You heard of them before?”

When I had listened to what Dettomolian had to say, I remembered where I had heard about people like them.

“Yeah, when I took my supernatural power test… we did some experiments using my power.”

“Aah… Yeah. I know about that.”

I didn’t know what Charlotte’s supernatural power was, but she nodded her head as if she knew what I was talking about. She probably went through a similar test.

“However, the teacher in charge was a little worried about something.”

“Mrs. Rollandria?”

“Yeah.”

Charlotte and I were part of the class taught by Mrs. Rolandria, who was in charge of anything related to supernatural powers. Perhaps she also knew about Charlotte’s supernatural powers.

“Because my ability is self-suggestion… She said that if I was that type of person, things might get really dangerous.”

“Huh? What kind of person was she… Ah.”

After thinking a bit about it, Charlotte’s seemed as if she came to a realization.

“So if you believed that you were some kind of dark being, that’s what you’d become… So-something like that?”

The corners of her mouth twitched as she spoke as if she found it just too bizarre.

No, it didn’t have to be some dark existence, just something really great. That was how it was.

“To be exact, she worried that I would actually become a god if I believed myself to be one… But it was useless to worry about that because my ability didn’t turn out to be so omnipotent.”

“But why would she worry about something like that?”

Mrs. Rollendria had clearly told me about a group like that.

“Well, some kids seriously and wholly believe that they are some great beings… For example, they believe that they are dragons who lost their memories just for the sake of acting out a character… Some kids are just like that.”

She had asked me if I was that type of person because that might have led to a lot of trouble.

‘Well, you know? Sometimes there are some second-year middle school kids who believe they are gods… Seriously… And… if it isn’t gods, it’s some great evil beings…There was one who thought he was a dragon who lost his memories… It’s surprisingly common.’

Mrs. Rollendria had certainly said that.

Charlotte listened to me with her mouth slightly agape.

“Ah… Then what you said…”

“Yeah…”

Teacher… Just what kind of fight had you been fighting in the background?

 

We headed to the tram stop, praying for Mrs. Rollendria’s mental health. Because it was so late at night, only a few people returned after finishing their club activities.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The silence of three people was permeating the tram station. 

One belonged to me.

Another one belonged to Charlotte.

“…”

And the last one belonged to Redina, the small senior.

She was a second-year student with a magic talent.

We didn’t exchange any words.

We didn’t even act as if we knew each other.

However, when I saw that her face was red with her expression practically begging me not to talk to her…

I knew what went on here.

She was biting her lips, and I could even see some cold sweat on her forehead.

Hm, she had said that she was 15, right?

There were 15-year-olds who’d get afflicted with 8th-grade syndrome, right?

I didn’t ask her anything. However, there could only be one reason why she acted like that, right?

Is that what one meant by, “a guilty conscience needs no accuser”?

Right.

They were wearing robes when they went to the gathering, but when they were going back, it would be less suspicious if they just wore casual clothes, so was that why she wasn’t wearing it at the moment?

I could see from behind her that there was a piece of black cloth sticking out of her bag.

That made it 100% sure.

As I continued to stare at her, her neck slowly turned towards me, moving like a rusty tin doll.

“J-ju-ju-ju… Junior? Uhm! Hmm! Ahem! Hm! W-what are you doing here? So late at night? Is… There something wrong…?”

Redina was on her way back from her club activities, feeling ashamed, then she encountered her junior, who shouldn’t have been there. She must have been thinking something like, “What the hell is he doing here?!”

Put it into other words: it was like meeting a friend from school after coming back from shopping in Akihabara when she was pretending to be a normie in school!

It was a rather awkward situation.

“Oh, you were here, senior. Hello?”

Before I could respond, Charlotte responded to her first.

“A-ah. P-p-priiincess, thi-thiiis is our first me-meeting, isn’t it?! Ni-ni-nice to meet you…”

“…Why are you so nervous?”

“N-no… I-i-it’s nothing.”

What should I do?

To tease her or not to tease.

To tease her or not to tease.

“So, what’s your setting? A Dragon? A Devil?”

The answer was to tease!

Redina almost collapsed.

“Did you maybe start thinking that you were actually a dragon because you have the no-casting ability…?”

“!!!!”

It looked like I hit the nail on the head.

____

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