Catherine's appearance here was, naturally, no accident.
She had meticulously calculated the timing, believing this to be the perfect opportunity to initiate a seemingly natural contact with Victoria and Silvia.
Her plan was clear: first, approach them as a friendly upperclassman to establish a preliminary impression.
Once they were a bit more familiar, she would casually mention, "If you're planning to participate in this subjugation, would you mind doing me a small favor? I have an experimental magic conduit newly developed by my family's workshop that's specifically effective against undead. I need some data from a real combat environment..."
At that point, she would offer a generous testing fee that they couldn't possibly refuse.
In this way, she could logically connect with the two of them and establish a client relationship.
With that connection in place, subsequent interactions, communication, and eventually gaining their trust to slowly dig for information about Greg Sass would follow as naturally as water flowing through a channel.
However, plans often fail to keep pace with reality.
Catherine had barely finished her self-introduction, before she could even throw out any bait, when the gray-haired girl's eyes suddenly lit up. It was as if she had discovered a hidden treasure; Victoria took a step forward, leaning in close and looking up with her beautiful eyes fixed intently on Catherine.
"You're that Catherine from the second-year Class A?!"
"Y-yes..."
Catherine was slightly taken aback by Victoria's overly direct and enthusiastic reaction, causing a tiny ripple to appear in her perfect smile.
But she recovered quickly, her mind racing with analysis.
It seems she recognized my background because of the name 'Roman.' Looking at that expression, is she planning to ask me for a loan?
That wouldn't be bad at all, Catherine thought.
If she takes the initiative to ask for a loan, I can use that to establish an even closer creditor-debtor relationship. It might even make gathering information easier.
Thus, her impeccable smile returned to her face as she threw out a leading question, attempting to draw the girl out.
"Are you facing some kind of difficulty? Do you need my help?"
Her tone was gentle and encouraging, like an understanding and kind senior sister ready to listen to a junior's troubles and open her purse generously.
Victoria nodded vigorously, her gray eyes sparkling. Without beating around the bush, she stated her requirement directly.
"Senior Catherine, form a team with us! Let's join this undead subjugation together!"
"No problem. Since a junior needs help, as a senior, it's only right... and since you're my juniors, we can discuss a very favora—"
Mid-sentence, she suddenly realized that the girl wasn't talking about a loan at all.
"...Did you just say... team up?"
Catherine blinked her beautiful aquamarine eyes, her tone carrying a rare hint of hesitation and uncertainty, wondering if she had misheard.
Victoria nodded firmly, her expression serious. "Yes! Join our team and participate in this subjugation mission together!"
Catherine: "...?"
The perfect smile on Catherine's face froze instantly.
A rare flash of bewilderment crossed her aquamarine eyes.
Team up?
Subjugate undead?
Me?
...
In a vast underground space, the air was thick with the scent of stale dust and a faint, metallic sweetness.
This had clearly once been an ancient tomb, but now most of the stone coffins had been moved or broken. In the cleared central area, a massive and complex magic circle had been drawn with a dark red pigment that looked like dried blood.
The lines of the array were twisted, connecting to several black candles nearby that were still flickering weakly. The dancing flames cast swaying, indistinct shadows upon the mottled ancient murals on the walls.
A figure clad in a deep gray linen robe with a low-hanging hood was kneeling at the edge of the magic circle. Their hands were pressed against the runes on the ground as they chanted incantations in a strange, broken tongue.
As the chanting continued, thin wisps of black energy slowly rose from the center of the array, merging into the deeper darkness above the tomb.
Flutter, flutter—
The faint sound of flapping wings approached from the distance.
Several pitch-black bats with blood-red eyes flew rapidly through the narrow passage of the tomb's entrance. After circling the magic circle several times, they suddenly converged in the center!
A flash of black light erupted!
The swarm of bats vanished, replaced by a young girl who appeared silently in the center of the array.
She had silky black hair and skin as pale as if it had not seen the sun in ages. Her features were exquisite to the point of being eerie, and her violet eyes shimmered with a lazy yet dangerous luster in the gloom.
She wore a well-tailored black dress, the hem flowing like the night itself.
The moment the robed figure presiding over the ritual saw the girl, she trembled, and her chanting came to an abrupt halt.
She almost immediately released her hands from the runes, turned around, and knelt on one knee before the girl in the center of the array without hesitation. She lowered her head, the shadow of her hood completely concealing her face, her voice carrying respect and a trace of undetectable tension.
"Cult Leader!"
"Hehe..."
The black-haired girl, Melina, let out a soft, playful chuckle.
She stepped slowly out of the magic circle, coming to a stop before the kneeling woman and looking down at her.
Then, she raised a slender, almost delicate finger and gently hooked the other's chin, forcing her to look up.
"There's no need to be so stiff, Huang Quan. Relax a little..."
Her fingertip traced the line of the woman's chin almost imperceptibly, her violet eyes narrowing slightly.
"I know that your true loyalty lies with my father. So, rest assured, I won't do anything to you."
She leaned in slightly, her breath like lilies, her voice dropping lower but carrying a clearer warning.
"But I also hope that, for the sake of your past friendship with Rock Spike... you will continue to keep those little secrets for me, alright? Just as you have always done."
At the mention of the name Rock Spike, the woman called Huang Quan stiffened for a fraction of a second.
She turned her head slightly to avoid Melina's finger, her voice becoming dry and low.
"Please... do not mention him. He is... dead."
"Mhm... that's true."
Melina withdrew her hand smoothly and straightened up, a look of appropriate regret appearing on her face.
"I also feel very... sorry for his passing. He could have gone much further."
She stopped looking at the kneeling Huang Quan, turned around, and walked toward the tomb's exit with light steps, her black hem dragging a faint trail through the dust on the floor.
"It seems... there isn't much here that requires my help anymore."
Her voice returned to its previous laziness, as if the oppressive conversation from a moment ago had never happened.
"In that case, I should... prepare a suitable new identity to complete the task my father gave me."
As she reached the shadows of the exit, she paused and turned her head. Her violet eyes cast one last glance at Huang Quan, who remained kneeling on one knee, and the corners of her mouth curled into a meaningful arc.
"I hope the next time we meet... we'll have time for a proper chat, Huang Quan."
With those words, her figure quietly merged into the darkness of the exit and vanished.
Inside the tomb, only the flickering candles at the edge of the array and the long-kneeling Huang Quan remained.
...
Passing through the narrow stone steps leading downward and pushing open a heavy stone door disguised as a tombstone, Melina returned to the surface.
Before her was a massive, ancient graveyard.
Countless tombstones lay scattered and tilted, submerged in waist-high wild grass and a thick, inseparable gray-white mist.
The mist was not water vapor, but a magical fog mixed with a faint necrotic aura and the smell of decay; visibility was extremely low.
From deep within the fog came low, intermittent growls.
"Cult Leader."
The moment she appeared, a figure also clad in a hood, its form hidden in the mist, darted out from behind a fallen cross like a ghost and bowed respectfully to her.
Melina did not respond immediately.
Her gaze swept casually across the thick fog, landing on a skeleton not far away. With ghostly green soul-fire flickering in its eye sockets, it wandered aimlessly among the tombstones.
She crooked a slender finger toward the undead creature with interest.
However, the undead showed no reaction to her movement, continuing to drag its feet and stumble deeper into the mist.
"Heh..."
Melina let out a light laugh and shook her head, her tone carrying a hint of childlike disappointment and mockery.
"It seems undead things... are all so insensitive to the mood. Truly boring."
Only then did she turn to the waiting hooded person, the laziness in her violet eyes replaced by the stillness of a deep pool.
"The news I told you to spread, has it been handled?"
"Yes."
The hooded person answered respectfully.
"I have followed your instructions and spread the news of this place in advance. Just as you predicted, Glory Cael Magic Academy has officially accepted the request for investigation and clearing."
The hooded person paused, a hint of doubt entering their voice. "But... with only those academy students, do they really have the ability to... kill her?"
Melina waved her hand dismissively, cutting the other person off, a cunning and cold smile appearing on her face.
"Silly~"
"After a few students die, it will naturally be time for those truly important professors from the academy to make their entrance."
Her gaze seemed to pierce through the thick fog, looking toward the direction of Glory Cael Academy.
"Moreover, this way... it will be much easier for me to obtain a new identity to enter that academy and get close to that so-called Hero."
The hooded person's body jolted as if they finally understood her scheme. Their head bowed even lower, their voice filled with awe.
"I see! This subordinate was dull and now understands completely! Everything shall be according to your will, Cult Leader—Divine Maiden!"
Melina said nothing more.
She looked back one last time toward the hidden entrance leading to the underground tomb, an inscrutable light flashing deep within her violet eyes.
Then, her figure began to fade and dissipate in the dense necrotic mist like ink dropped into water, eventually losing all trace, as if she had never been there at all.
Only the never-ending growls of the undead and the inseparable mist remained in the graveyard, shrouding this land entangled in death and conspiracy.
Rate on N.U.
