The Heart of the Evil God – Holy Grail Divine Realm
“Oh, it’s Ange. What’s up? Are you lost?”
“Ugh! It seems you heard my last words exactly as they were… Embarrassingly enough, that’s precisely the case, yes…”
The two of them accidentally bumped into each other in the hallway. Ange scratched her cheek with her finger, looking slightly down and uncomfortable.
“It seems this barrier is interfering with my Detection Skill. The structure is also unfamiliar, so it’s different from when I was here before.”
“Ah, that explains why I felt off too. But if we’ve ended up in the same place like this, it means we’ve picked the right path!”
“You’re so confident. The remaining paths are—”
The two of them ran towards each other, facing each other. The point where they met was a crossroads, and excluding the paths they had taken, there were two remaining. However, as if in prearranged agreement, Sera and Ange simultaneously turned towards the same path.
“I feel like it’s this way!”
“Mhm, Ange, I agree.”
Sera relied on her intuition, while Ange strengthened her weakened Detection Skill to its limit, finding the correct route. After that, they ran again, and again, and again.
“I can’t quite grasp the distance on this path. It wavers like a mirage, making it really hard to see!”
“Hmm, it’s probably the work of a Proxy. It wasn’t this illusory normally. Sera, can you run a bit faster?”
“A race? Is this a race!? Hmph, even if you’re confident in your speed, I won’t lose so easily! A long time ago, I put on a good show in a race against Rion and Melfina! Uhm, what were the stakes again? I think it was something related to Kelvin…”
“Haha, if we really went at it now, it would probably be a big deal. Well, of course, this Ange would snatch the victory!”
“Did you say that? Then, let’s get serious!”
The race was declared to begin. Sera stomped hard on the floor, and Ange crouched low, preparing for the starting dash. A brief quietude before the storm, and a unique, tense atmosphere before the match, dominated the scene. And then, in the direction of their gaze, there it was.
—A sign that read, “Do not run in the hallway. Be quiet in the hallway.”
“Wh-what!? How could this be!? We can’t have a race now!”
“Sera, are you serious?”
Ange scoffed at Sera, who stared wide-eyed at the sign. Sera had a surprisingly high sense of morality.
“A cowardly trap! Even in a place like this, if I’m told about my manners, I’ll hesitate! More importantly, my conscience will hurt!”
“Uh, yeah, it’s not really a trap you can call a trap… But the fact that this sign is here might mean we’re close to the Analyst, Riod’s room.”
“Huh? You can tell that?”
“Yeah. Riod is quite a nervous person, and at the Guild, he used to make signs like this near his room. He disliked the noise made by conflicts between Bel and Estoria, or the creator’s Golem, so I thought he might have something like this in this barrier too.”
“Then, does this ‘don’t run’ apply to Ange?”
“I run quietly, so it’s probably not about me. It’s likely about Bel. Yeah, it definitely is. She was running at full speed, creating wind!”
“Hmm? Well, it might be a trap turned to our advantage, so let’s ignore it for now.”
Crossing past the sign, the two continued to run, deeming it an emergency. Eventually, they reached a hallway lined with many doors on both sides. The hallway stretched on for an unfathomably long distance, with no end in sight. All the doors lined up were identical in design, with no discernible differences.
“Wow… This is obviously a trap, isn’t it?”
“If we pick the wrong room, we’ll go Boom!?”
“I don’t know if it’ll explode, but it’s best to assume some kind of trap is set. But is this a challenge to me, a former Assassin? Alright. Sera, I’ll go through while phased, so proceed carefully—”
“This one looks suspicious!”
—Click.
Sera reached for the third door from the front and opened it. There was no hesitation in her actions or the will in her eyes, and Ange didn’t even have time to stop her. Ange had carelessly forgotten that Sera acted on pure instinct.
“S-Sera!? Be careful, be careful!”
“Oh, it looks like someone’s room.”
“Huh?”
The room Sera chose was the correct one. This was a prime example of the Baal clan’s strong reliance on intuition.
As Ange peered into the room, it indeed had the layout of someone’s private room. A work desk was placed at the back, and bookshelves lined the walls. And Ange recognized this room.
“…This is the same room as the Guild Master’s room in Pars. The placement of everything, from the desk to the shelves, is identical.”
“Is this Riod’s room? Hmm, I do recall seeing it!”
“Probably… Could you wait a moment? I’ll go in and check for traps first.”
If Riod was that meticulous, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have the same furniture arrangement as the Guild Master’s room where he had spent so much time. Or perhaps the Guild Master’s room was modeled after this one.
(Does it even matter at this point?)
Shaking her head, Ange shifted her focus. Cautiously checking for traps, she stepped into the room and walked slowly. After completing a rough check by phasing through, she determined there were no traps in the room. Deciding it was safe to enter, she beckoned Sera inside.
“Well, we found the Apostle’s room, but it seems the person themselves isn’t here. What a shame!”
“Not all Apostles are always at their base. They might be out on a mission. Let’s think of this as an opportunity. Now that Riod isn’t here, we might be able to find important information from this room.”
“It’s like a treasure hunt. Important information, huh… If the Guild and this room have the same structure, shouldn’t the place where important things are stored be the same?”
“Sera, you’re really sharp…”
The place where Riod kept documents and other important items. If Ange’s memory was correct, that place was the second drawer from the top of the desk.
“Just like the Guild, it has a keyhole.”
All the drawers of Riod’s desk were locked. Of course, none of them were ordinary locks, and the drawers themselves were as sturdy as a large vault. They felt a similar aura to Nito’s sheath.
“It seems to be compatible with Riod’s Holy Key. It looks quite difficult to pick.”
“Then, should we break it?”
“No, it’s not a problem for me.”
Ange phased her right hand through the drawer from the front and materialized only her fingertips inside. As she touched what was hidden within the drawer, she phased through again.
“If I pull this out like this— There, theft complete.”
“I always think that ability of yours is sly!”
“I don’t think I can take that from you, Sera… Now, about the item in question.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a book. Was he meticulously writing a diary?”
The two placed the book on the desk and flipped through its pages. As Ange had suspected, it seemed to be Riod’s diary. Ange was accustomed to this kind of thing due to her work, but Sera was restless from the illicit feeling of peeking into someone else’s diary. However, that restlessness gradually turned into something else.
“This is—”
“This is—”
