Cedo created light in his hand and said that the stairs seemed to go quite deep. Lismeria realized that at such depths, in the darkness, light control was very useful.
Cedo mentioned that in books, monsters appeared in exactly these kinds of places, and she was surprised. In books? And regarding what he had been talking about — if he had fought crime so much, had he noticed anyone suspicious yet?
Cedo asked whether she was expecting too much from his first day.
"Well, yes. Teacher Ledman could be involved."
Lismeria asked what made him think that.
Cedo replied that when Ledman spoke he seemed calm, but when he was silent it seemed as if his heart was uneasy, as if he were being forced to do something he himself did not want to do. He was also very cautious, and he pretended not to notice anything.
Lismeria thought that teacher Gita was the most suspicious.
Cedo said he could not handle something like that. He was too easily overcome by emotion, and there was no double dealing in him, and deep down he was probably a good person.
At that moment Cedo stopped and smiled. "So that's how it is."
They looked around, and before them lay a huge hall. Lismeria was astonished. She had never imagined there was so much space under the academy.
"Yes, but—" Cedo began, and before he could finish, Lismeria asked expectantly, "What's over there?"
He had not expected to find it here, and he was dumbfounded. That door led to one of the Kagura laboratories scattered throughout the world. Standing in front of it, he thought that it was protected by the machines, and there was no doubt about that.
Lismeria asked about the huge door hidden under the academy. Could they get inside?
Cedo replied that usually an access key was needed, and Lismeria did not understand what they were supposed to do. He replied that it was a special kind of key for this door. But it suddenly occurred to him that Hakama and Kodama village had one such key. That meant someone here might have one as well.
In that case — he looked at his hand, then cast a spell and touched the door.
The system spoke. "Highest level access confirmed. Jin. The lock is opening."
When the door opened, Cedo declared that whoever wanted to plunge this country into chaos must possess an access key.
Inside the room was a huge monster in a cage. It was a creature of incredible size, and Lismeria was frightened and asked whether there really was something like that beneath the academy. She clutched her mouth and began to moan in fear and terror.
She also did not understand how he had opened the door. Wasn't a key needed for that?
He replied that the ancient people were special.
And Lismeria wondered whether he really meant to say that he had lived a hundred million years ago.
When Cedo looked around, he said that something seemed strange. Why were these animals sitting here so calmly? Not a single one of the distorted ones was even trying to make a scene. If he recalled, the distorted one in the bandits' cage had also been sitting quietly. And more importantly — how had they managed to drag such huge distorted ones down here without anyone noticing?
Lismeria immediately began to say that this meant her brother had been right to suspect the academy. If they simply waited, the culprit would definitely show up.
Cedo replied, "No. First we need to close the academy and destroy the distorted ones."
Lismeria started screaming. Did he want the culprit to find out and escape?
Cedo said he understood her feelings, but what would happen if the distorted ones got out? The ordinary students above them would be the first to die.
Lismeria was stunned with horror, and went on listening.
Cedo continued. Her brother also believed that the safety of innocent people was more important than catching the villain.
Lismeria replied that he was right, and Cedo added that he had a bad feeling about this, and at times like these it rarely let him down. He wanted to study this laboratory more closely. Could he trust her to find Argus and tell him to seal the academy?
At that point he turned around and said that in that case, he hoped there were some clues here about what was really going on.
Some time later, when the students gathered around teacher Gita, he became very angry at a rumour going round that the new teacher had thrashed him. How pathetic he was. This damned inferior being had ruined his entire reputation, Gita thought. He could use every one of the spiritual arts — that couldn't be right. He would expose the man himself, and then they would all see it.
With those words he hurried off to get to work, when the director suddenly came up to him, addressed him by name and said that he was frightening the students. Perhaps he would behave a little more calmly.
He was surprised by her appearance, and she said it was not for them to judge his hobby, but that this was unacceptable.
Gita was taken aback. Did she really call it a hobby?
She went on talking. And by the way, had he seen Lord Ledman?
Gita was surprised and said that now that she mentioned him, it seemed he had not seen him since the entrance ceremony.
She replied that this was a problem, because she needed to discuss the students' lessons with him a little.
The director clutched her head — and then she suddenly looked off into the distance and saw dark lightning, which frightened her. What was that?
Meanwhile Lismeria was fleeing the dungeon quickly, climbing upward. She tried to catch her breath after the horror she had experienced, and realized she needed to reach her brother as fast as she could.
At that moment someone asked her where she was rushing to. "Lady Lismeria."
It turned out to be Ledman, standing directly in front of her, glaring ominously.
"Teacher Ledman," she exclaimed.
Meanwhile Cedo was observing the monsters' behaviour when he suddenly found a strange device shot through with bright red lightning. He wondered why it pulsated like something alive. Could Kagura have created it?
He approached the equipment and opened a drawer containing a cube and a syringe. Could it really be the cube with a message, and the nanomachine injector, as last time? He hoped it was telling him something, something that would explain what was happening here.
Cedo took hold of the cube. A projection of Kagura appeared, waved at him and asked whether he could hear him.
"I'm here. Look over here. Well — of course you can see me. This lab is the closest one to where you'll wake up. Anyway. In this lab I was working on an amazing machine, and part of its function is sealed inside the nanomachines. I really am a genius. So — do you know what it does? It's a teleportation device."
When Cedo heard it he was appalled and asked again, "Teleportation?"
He looked closely at the monsters, and then, frightened, asked whether it could really be true.
After some time the monsters went on making strange sounds, and the hand of the clock crept towards twelve. The device continued to make loud noises, and Cedo turned it over in his mind. A teleportation device. A technology that connects one place to another. And a hundred million years ago we were never able to complete it.
If this is true, then the distorted ones that appeared in the capital, and the business Argus spoke of, were all made possible by teleportation. And the huge distorted ones in these cells are also here thanks to it. And here it is — the teleportation device.
He pointed at the object with his hand.