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“……”
“I’ve placed a soundproofing spell around the room, just to be sure. If you’ve handled the staff as thoroughly as I think you have, nothing we say here will leave these walls.”
“How thoughtful of you. However, I must admit I’m quite confused… This is such an outrageous accusation.”

The lady raised a hand to her cheek, tilting her head in an expression of feigned confusion. To me, that alone was almost confirmation of her guilt. It would’ve been easy to dismiss my claims as baseless or insulting, but instead, she remained unnervingly calm.

“I have no intention of making this public or accusing you formally. I only want to settle this matter in my own mind.”
“My, my… That is quite sinful. If your suspicions were true, it wouldn’t be out of place for me to face the most severe consequences, would it?”
“I’m afraid I’m not much of a saint.”
“What an amusing jest.”
“…Let’s get back to the point. Something didn’t sit right with me last night. Syntu didn’t seem like she was just fleeing.”

The idea that she was merely running after her hired assassins were defeated, fearing her crimes would be exposed, didn’t add up. Her reactions were too swift, too calculated. If she had truly been trying to escape, she would have headed out of the city.

Sure, passing beyond the wall might have helped her shake off any pursuers, but throwing away her life in the process made no sense at all.

“From here on, this is just a hypothesis, but I can’t shake the feeling that they had some kind of purpose. And there’s only one thing beyond that wall.”
“……The ghost ship.”
“Exactly. Syntu and Cozmiki aimed to unite with the ghost ship.”
“Impossible. Anyone from this town knows the terror of that thing.”
“True. Normally, people would avoid the wall out of sheer fear. But Syntu somehow knew about the secret entrance used by the Saints.”

“That’s quite a strange thing, indeed.”
“Yes, yet she opened the door without hesitation and sought help from whatever crawled out. As if she had some plan to tame it.”
“But she…”
“Sadly, Syntu died under the curse of the ghost ship. However, before that, she said something intriguing: ‘I’m a member of the Umravolf family.’”
“―――”

The lady’s eyebrow twitched, ever so slightly.

“One more interesting piece of information. One of the assassins targeting Stell mentioned something about the rights of the Umravolf family.”
“Utter nonsense, surely. A tactic to confuse you, perhaps.”
“That’s possible, but I propose a different theory. It’s about the connection between the Umravolf family and the ghost ship.”
“Instructor.”

“The Umravolf family knows something about the ghost ship, something even the Saint doesn’t. Syntu and Cozmiki didn’t grasp the full details, but you exploited that knowledge.”
“Instructor.”
“My guess is, you convinced them that anyone from the Umravolf family could control the ghost ship… a wild story they somehow came to believe.”
“―――”

This time, she didn’t deny it. Her silence was as good as a confession. The lady closed her eyes, as if resigning herself, and exhaled deeply, as if releasing some long-held burden.

“…You have quite the talent for detective work.”
“It’s just a guess, really. I’m not a professional, after all. And as I’ve said, I have no concrete evidence. You’ve likely destroyed any by now.”
“Yes, I believed I did… but how did you know it was me?”
“Cozmiki’s death bothered me. It was reported that her trail ended near the wall, but the entryway had been shut.”
“Ah, I see. I couldn’t very well leave it wide open, after all.”

If Cozmiki had opened the wall’s entrance, it would have been almost simultaneous with Syntu. The distance between them was closer than I initially thought, and given the timing, it wouldn’t have been surprising for her to encounter the ghost ship right away.

If Cozmiki had been alone, there wouldn’t have been time to shut the door. Unless, of course, there had been a collaborator.

“…Is Cozmiki truly dead?”
“Yes, without a doubt. She opened the door, and I closed it immediately afterward. The fact that the ship was so near was simply bad luck.”
“So, you’re saying you didn’t summon that monster?”
“Of course not. No human can control that thing. The Umravolf family simply knows a bit more than the rest.”
“I see. Then tell me—what exactly is it? What’s the secret the Umravolf family knows?”
“………”

A long silence settled between us again.

She undoubtedly knew something crucial, but she was weighing whether or not she should reveal it to me. It was information so vital, they had resorted to deadly internal conflict to protect it. It wasn’t something easily divulged to an outsider.

“Instructor, my desire to protect Stell… is genuine.”
“I know. No matter the conflicts, your quest was always about keeping Stell safe.”
“Yes, I would do anything to protect that child. I love her dearly.”

With that, she reached under the table and pressed a hidden switch. There was a soft click, and it became clear that this mechanism simply unlocked the table from the floor. It was a primitive contraption—just enough to allow her to push the heavy table aside, revealing what lay beneath.

Until she shifted the table with force, I hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the floor underneath.

“…A rather old-fashioned way of hiding things.”
“If I used magecraft to conceal it, it would leave a trace. Besides, moving the table without magical assistance would be impossible for most.”

As she pulled back the carpet, what was revealed below was a long stone staircase leading to what seemed like a hidden basement.

“Please follow me, Instructor. I will tell you everything I can.”

Her voice was calm, but there was an undeniable gravity in her words. This was the moment where truths would be laid bare.

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