Several days slipped away quietly amidst the church’s monotonous bells and prayers.
Sefina and Feliel, under the guise of new nuns, cautiously and discreetly blended into the daily life of the church.
Cleaning, tidying, praying, assisting… everything seemed so calm and routine, almost radiating an overly normal sense of peace.
Outside, rumors about the disappearances in the capital city continued to circulate in small circles, carrying unease and suspicion.
Yet, within the towering walls of this grand church, it felt as though they were completely cut off from those dark rumors of vanishing people.
Although theoretically, the disappearances were likely tied to the monsters within the church, there were no strange sounds here, no suspicious traces, the clergy behaved as usual, the faithful remained devout, and there wasn’t a single sign of a hidden monster.
Had they simply stopped their activities these past few days?
Or were they operating through some even more concealed method?
This unnatural calm only heightened Sefina’s wariness.
These days of infiltration weren’t entirely without results.
Sefina and Feliel took turns on night watch and finally mapped out the routine of the seemingly elderly yet unfathomable Pope.
Every morning around six, he would reappear in the Meditation Room.
During that time, a faint barrier fluctuation surrounded the Meditation Room, while the inside remained utterly silent, leading them to deduce he was resting.
That window of time might be their opportunity to act.
They would launch the first substantive investigation of the Archive. Tonight, at 3:00 AM, when the darkness was deepest, after weighing the risks and necessity repeatedly, the two made their decision.
The night was deep and silent, all sounds hushed.
The church’s sprawling complex was immersed in thick darkness, with only a few ever-burning lamps casting feeble light in the depths of the corridors. The air was icy, carrying the distinctive scent of stone and aged wood.
Sefina and Feliel appeared silently at the corridor corner near the Archive.
They had changed out of their conspicuous nun’s habits into dark, practical clothing.
The Archive’s heavy oak door lay at the end of the corridor ahead, with the magic lamp above the lintel providing the only steady source of light, illuminating the figures of two guards at the entrance.
The guards changed shifts every evening at six, which was staggered from the Pope’s presumed schedule, so the Archive was watched nearly twenty-four hours a day.
Forcing their way in would be too risky, but… they had a better plan.
[Teleportation] magic.
This spatial magic from the ancient Demonkind had become the key in their hands.
The Archive’s outer walls might be thick, and the door might be sealed tight, but for someone who could cross space directly to the interior, these defenses were meaningless.
The church’s defensive system clearly hadn’t accounted for someone wielding such rare magic, so no arrays specifically designed to block spatial jumps had been laid on the Archive’s outer walls.
Still, Sefina didn’t let her guard down even slightly. The Pope’s danger, she understood better than anyone.
One slip could mean repeating past mistakes, or even paying with their lives.
“I’ll stay here to keep watch on the direction of the Pope’s Meditation Room. You go in and investigate. If anything seems off, I’ll alert you to retreat immediately.”
“Remember, our goal is reconnaissance, not combat. The moment you notice anything wrong, you must get out at once, understand?”
Feliel nodded, her black eyes calm and unreadable.
“Understood.”
“Good. Move out.”
Feliel said nothing more. She focused her mind, channeling mana, and a faint glow flickered at the tip of her wand.
***
The next second, her form rippled like a disturbance on water, then vanished silently from where she stood.
Inside the Archive.
Feliel’s figure materialized silently at the predetermined spot, making not a single sound.
The Archive was deathly still, broken only by her own soft breathing, mixed with a strange odor lingering in the air.
The Archive’s interior was more spacious than it appeared from the outside.
Rows of tall oak bookshelves stood in the darkness, crammed with heavy tomes and scrolls.
Beyond the shelves, there were display cases and stone platforms bearing all sorts of objects.
Rusted metal artifacts, bizarre biological specimens, strangely shaped religious sculptures…
Feliel began to move with minimal motion. She didn’t touch anything, only sweeping her gaze quickly and systematically across the space, recording everything she saw.
Time slipped by, minute by minute.
Yet, the Archive remained disturbingly still.
Aside from these old and peculiar collectibles, Feliel found no clues related to the “monsters” Sefina had spoken of.
It was clean here… as if it truly were just a storage room for “oddities” and discarded texts collected by the church over the ages.
Had they misjudged?
A flicker of doubt rose in Feliel’s mind.
Or perhaps, the important things were hidden somewhere even more secret?
Just as Feliel was about to lose patience and was ready to make one final sweep before pulling out as agreed—an extremely faint sound suddenly slipped into her ear.
It was a sticky, slow sound.
Vaguely, there seemed to be an incredibly subtle “crack” as well.
Like… a chewing sound?
Feliel’s movements froze instantly, every muscle in her body tensing.
She held her breath, tilting her head to listen carefully. The sound was very faint, intermittent, seemingly coming from deeper within the Archive?
It was blocked by layers of obstacles.
No, that wasn’t right. The source of the sound felt like it was inside this very room, but its elusive origin made her move with extra caution.
She immediately abandoned her original patrol route and began following the faint, uncertain source of the sound.
Rounding one display case, passing between two shelves packed with heavy tomes, the sound seemed a bit clearer, but still hard to pinpoint.
The Archive’s internal layout was more complex than Feliel had expected, with more clutter too.
Her gaze swept over every inch of space that might hide a passage or secret compartment.
Feliel stopped in her tracks.
Finally, at the innermost part of the room, before a massive oak bookshelf, she spotted something unusual.
At first glance, the shelf looked normal, but upon closer inspection, Feliel noticed something odd about how it fit against the back wall.
The gap was unnaturally even, and the shelf itself seemed slightly “thinner” compared to similar shelves beside it.
Normally, the area near the bottom of a shelf should have dust just as thick as anywhere else, but here, the dust distribution had a barely perceptible irregularity—slightly thinner than the surrounding areas.
Could it be…
Feliel’s heart quickened its beat.
She slowly reached out, not touching the shelf directly, but extending her mana in the finest thread, like tendrils, to sense the energy flow and physical structure across the shelf’s surface.
Sure enough…
There was another space behind the bookshelf.
Meaning, here… there was a hidden door.