Report
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter 10
Meanwhile, in the Masterclass's indoor pool, a different group of people were racking their brains.
"Damn thief, where could he have hidden?"
Shin A-sol, a member of the Defense Department, paced around the pool, her frustration evident. Since the theft, the pool had been off-limits, and now it sat empty and still.
"To steal something so valuable..." she muttered, her voice echoing in the empty space.
At the edge of the pool stood a nude statue of a young girl, her hand reaching out as if holding something. Until yesterday, her hand had held the Masterclass's most prized possession: the Artemis Pearl.
"An artifact of immeasurable value, they said? Why would they keep it in a place like this?"
Shin A-sol grumbled, remembering the Vice Principal's furious reaction. He had insisted that the pearl must be recovered at all costs.
"The pearl was created using the essence of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. It could purify any contaminant. It was a top-tier artifact that couldn't be bought with money!"
It was only that morning, after hearing the Vice Principal’s explanation, that Shin A-sol realized the true significance of the pearl she had seen countless times.
She began to wonder why such a powerful purifying item was placed in a swimming pool. Her question was answered when she spoke to the pool's attendant.
"The pool water? Oh, we don't change the water here. It's never been drained since the academy opened."
Shin A-sol was shocked. The Masterclass had been using the pearl to purify the pool water instead of regularly changing it.
‘No wonder I always felt a bit itchy after swimming.’
She realized that her discomfort had been caused by the unclean water.
‘This must have been one of Vice Principal Oh Ji-sung's cost-cutting ideas.’
Shin A-sol knew her academy was obsessed with money, but this was a new low.
‘Anyway,’ she thought, ‘the priority is to catch the thief.’
She suspected Professor D, whom she had seen in the hallway the previous day. But before she could officially accuse him, she needed to find the stolen pearl.
"The question is, how did they take it?"
She looked around the statue. Okamoto, a member of the Alchemy Department , was standing nearby, muttering over a flask.
"Sabaha... ginirana mohara... hum..."
He was chanting a spell and dripping a red liquid onto the ground.
"What are you doing?" Shin A-sol asked.
"Shhh, be quiet. You're disturbing my concentration,” Okamoto snapped, but then softened his tone. "It's a reagent I use to analyze crime scenes. If I drop it on the ground, it will reveal any footprints."
As he dripped the liquid, footprints began to appear around the statue. But there were too many.
"There are too many footprints," Okamoto sighed. "I can't tell which ones belong to the thief."
He looked at the statue and frowned. "If only the barrier was down, I could examine the area more closely."
The statue had a protective barrier that prevented anyone from getting too close. The thief had somehow deactivated the barrier before stealing the pearl.
Okamoto sighed, frustrated. "The barrier was activated by a special talisman kept in the maintenance room. The thief must have stolen that too."
A-sol nodded, lost in thought. "That's a lot of trouble to go through for just one pearl. There must be something special about it."
"Maybe it's not just an artifact. Perhaps it's a key to something else," Okamoto suggested, his eyes narrowing.
"A key?" A-sol repeated, intrigued.
"It's possible. Artifacts of that level often have hidden powers or unlock hidden secrets. We need to find out more about the Artemis pearl."
A-sol agreed. "We should start by investigating the history of the pearl and the Kamarysh clan, the creators of the artifact."
"Right," Okamoto said, a determined look in his eyes. "I'll start researching the Kamarysh clan. You should check the library records to see if there are any clues about the pearl's origins and its powers."
As they began their investigation, they realized that the theft of the Artemis pearl was not just a simple crime. It was a mystery that could unravel the secrets of the Masterclass and perhaps even the world itself.
"This is getting us nowhere..."
Shin A-sol groaned, pondering Okamoto's explanation. If only they could bypass the barrier and examine the footprints directly beneath the statue.
"It'll take a month to create a new talisman, right?"
"That's right. The professors said there's no other way to deactivate the barrier."
A month was plenty of time for the thief to escape with more of the Masterclass's treasures.
A-sol made a decision.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Okamoto sensed something was amiss when A-sol stood before the barrier with a determined look.
Ignoring him, A-sol equipped her round shield and swung it with all her might at the barrier.
Bang-!
The pool rippled as a shockwave reverberated through the water.
"Stop! That won't break it!" Okamoto shouted, but his words were drowned out by the deafening noise.
Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!
A-sol continued to strike the barrier relentlessly.
Crack-! Crack-!
To their astonishment, the statue began to tremble and then crack.
"No way... that's impossible?"
Okamoto couldn't believe his eyes. The barrier was supposed to deflect any physical force.
With each blow, the statue shook more violently, and the cracks grew deeper. The shockwaves from A-sol's shield were somehow passing through the barrier and directly impacting the statue.
Crash-!
The statue crumbled, and the barrier disappeared.
A-sol caught her breath. "Now we can find the thief's footprints."
Okamoto gave up trying to understand. There was no way his mind could comprehend the absurd notion of breaking a barrier with brute force.
Okamoto approached what was left of the statue, holding a red flask. He muttered an incantation...
He dripped the magical potion onto the ground, and a single footprint appeared clearly.
"...Found it."
At last, the thief's trail was revealed.
Expecting to see a unique shoe print, they were surprised to find a rather ordinary sole.
"This size... it can't be more than a size 230," Okamoto mused.
"So, the thief is a woman? And she wears shoes?" Shin A-sol asked.
"We can't be certain... but it seems more likely that it's a she than a he," Okamoto shrugged.
Shin A-sol immediately started following the tracks. The prints led from the statue toward the building's exit.
Outside the pool, they carefully examined the direction of the footprints.
"This path leads to... the Hwadam Library?"
The thief's trail ended near the library, which was not far from the pool.
Shin A-sol tilted her head. "Do you think they might steal something from the library too?"
"I doubt it. The Hwadam Library is so complex, even the librarians get lost."
But this was the same thief who had broken through the pool's impenetrable barrier and stolen the treasure. A cunning thief who had gotten away with nine heists from the Masterclass.
"...Let's go. Maybe following the trail will lead us to something."
With a sense of unease, Shin A-sol followed the thief's footprints.
* * *
‘This place is a real maze.’
Following Gianluca, I had to admit I made the right choice getting a guide. The library's interior was far more intricate than anything I'd seen in a game. Countless books lined endless shelves that reached the ceiling.
I walked through endless rows of bookshelves, arranged in Ls, right angles, and Us, but it felt like I was going in circles.
‘Am I even going the right way?’
After about twenty minutes, my doubts began to grow. Maybe she was just leading me around in circles?
"It might feel bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside," Arche said, as if reading my mind.
"They used space-expanding magic when they built this library. There's a huge magic circle underneath the building, so the entire library is basically a giant magic circle. It's pretty unique, isn't it?"
She seemed to take pride in explaining it, as if saying, 'Isn't that cool?'
‘How arrogant.’
I could list all the spells I've encountered up to chapter 137 and still not finish in a few nights. While spatial manipulation spells are complex, they're not impossible with enough time and resources.
But I didn't need to show off my knowledge. I just replied in a tired tone, "Was there really a need to make the library so complicated? It seems like people could get lost in here forever."
"Well, there have been a few incidents like that, but there's no other way. The number of books keeps growing, but the space doesn't. Without spatial magic, we'd be overwhelmed."
Arche sighed, mentioning that there were always empty shelves being filled somewhere in the library.
"Besides, I heard that Professor Hwadam was really worried about the library's knowledge leaking out. He said it could easily fall into the wrong hands and be misused by villains."
That made sense. I knew there had been several attempts by the High Society to infiltrate the Hwadam Library.
‘Though none of them were successful.’
It was a place where you could get lost while searching for a book and find a dead body without anyone batting an eye.
"Isn't it ironic?"
"What is?"
"If they truly cared about the world, they should be worried about people dying because they lack knowledge, not about villains getting their hands on it. Why hide it away in a place like this, accessible only to a select few?"
Arche suddenly turned bitter, criticizing the library's founders.
"What good is having power and knowledge if you just hoard it here? What's the point of keeping it hidden from the masses?"
"That's a strange thing to say. Aren't you one of those select few? You're one of the Masterclass, destined to become an elite soldier."
"Ha, I guess I am," Arche scoffed.
But it seemed like her scoff was directed more at herself than at my comment.
"I'm lucky, you know. Sardinia, where I grew up, has such a good climate that it became a tourist destination. Development and agriculture were abandoned. Then, villainous pirates attacked and tourists stopped coming, so my family had to worry about food every day."
Arche explained that she was lucky to have made it to the Masterclass from such a small island.
"But guess what? Those villainous pirates turned out to be nothing special. A third-rate military force could have easily defeated them. Yet, the Military Association left Sardinia to fend for itself for years."
The islanders had repeatedly asked for help, but the association always gave the same excuse: they didn't have enough soldiers.
Arche was furious at the injustice.
"Even ordinary citizens can be trained to fight villains. And with knowledge like the kind found in this library, they could fight even better."
"Don't you think the government and the Military Association have their reasons for not teaching the public? Reasons for keeping this knowledge to themselves?"
"Of course I do. It's to maintain their power. The more people suffer at the hands of villains, the more valuable soldiers become."
It was the truth.
In this world, soldiers were revered as heroes who risked their lives to fight villains. But not all soldiers were selfless or noble.
Just like politicians, judges, and CEOs held power in the real world, soldiers held power in this world.
Those with ambition naturally aspired to become soldiers.
Arche was clearly dissatisfied with this social structure.
‘She certainly has the makings of a rebel.’
Hearing this, I understood. It explained why Gianluca would become a rebel.
At the same time, a good idea came to mind.
‘Maybe this is an opportunity.’
In the story, Gianluca becomes a leading figure in the rebellion, devastating the Military Association.
And that terrorist attack would trigger the Military Association to seek a way to create stronger soldiers, leading to the 7 Heroes Project.
The very project that would create genetically enhanced soldiers, a morally questionable endeavor.
The person who would pull the trigger on this cursed project was walking right in front of me.
‘If I could eliminate Gianluca now…’
If I could prevent her from contacting the rebels, the rebellion's attack on the Military Association would fail, and the 7 Heroes Project might never happen.
It was a tempting prospect, given my mission to prevent the creation of the 7 Heroes.
"We're almost there. This is G-111, so... G-113 should be around here."
Arche, leading the way with her summoned creature, Karpi, pointed to a nearby section and checked the code. Her voice was a bit awkward as she said, "Um, and... please forget what I just said. I think I got carried away."
"...No, I don't think your thoughts are wrong. The world needs people like you."
"Really? You actually think so?"
Arche asked, seeming surprised. When I nodded, her face brightened, and she continued guiding me with a lighter step.
As I followed her, I couldn't stop thinking about ways to eliminate her.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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