## Chapter 283 – The Queen’s Fall (4)
“Ah…!!”
“Don’t look, Carla. Let’s just go.”
Lukas, pulling Carla’s hand, looked somber as she turned pale at the sight of something.
Now that they were facing signs that their suspicions were somewhat correct, they couldn’t simply be excited or joyful.
It was fortunate that they had correctly determined the direction of their investigation, but that didn’t prevent the grim reality that was unfolding.
The ever-increasing signs of resistance were being discovered everywhere they went.
“He’s dead…
There was no need for…
this…”
Yui’s murmur as she checked the pulse of a man lying on the floor in a pool of blood caused the other two to avert their gazes uncomfortably.
Of course, as they were exploiting this situation, they might not have the right to say anything, but that was how they felt.
As young people with many dreams, they could acknowledge that there were tragic events in the world.
It wasn’t as if they hadn’t learned about this kind of world.
“Ah… Mister…”
In the midst of this, Carla’s expression hardened as she discovered a corpse and ran towards it. Lukas couldn’t stop her and could only follow behind.
“Mister… Sob…
Wake up…!! Quickly…”
It was a thug from the Swallow Faction whom they had met during a volunteer activity with Yui.
He had told them fascinating and unique stories from the back alleys while diligently helping them with their work, and had told them to come visit again.
It wasn’t as if he had no ulterior motives, but he also had goodwill towards the girls who were helping his family.
At least in front of them, he had only shown his good side. Carla’s voice, shaking the corpse, was filled with sobs.
“Carla… He’s already dead…”
Lukas, not knowing what relationship she had with this man, placed his hand on Carla’s shoulder, waiting for her to calm down.
“Why… Why…”
They had learned that the back alleys weren’t entirely bad, seeing the human side of these people, but the back alleys were inherently like this.
It was proof that even with the kingdom in place, it couldn’t solve everything.
Or rather, it might just be that it didn’t bother to do so.
It had already been several hundred years since the first all-humanity recapture operation.
The catchphrase of preserving humanity and perfectly defending its territory had long become outdated after centuries.
The proof was the grim reality right before their eyes.
The royal family, with the king at its head, ruled the sunny side, and they and the nobles defended the kingdom from the monsters that entered, but…
In the back alleys and other dark places where that light didn’t reach, cartels were engaged in bloody conflicts.
“There’s no need to fight like this…”
These people also had desires.
Even with a king, everyone had the desire to stand above others.
Unable to directly oppose the royal family, who were in charge of defending the kingdom, they wanted to play king in the dirty, damp back alleys.
The kingdom’s law, which imposed harsh punishments even for minor crimes, was also for that purpose.
If they couldn’t establish the authority of the law in that way, they knew that the entire country would quickly become a mess, so it was one of the choices that the kingdom had to make.
Right now, far away at the border, someone was fighting monsters to the death, even at this very moment.
If these sacrifices were reduced and everyone joined forces, perhaps the safety of the land they lived in would become even more secure after another century.
Even in this chaotic situation, the reason they felt sorry for this tragedy was because they wanted to somehow fix it and offer hope.
“Carla, let’s go.
We… have something to find…”
“Sob… Sniff…”
Eventually, Yui, who had been looking at the state of the corpses, came over and was able to lift Carla up.
‘Those thugs…
What on earth are they planning…’
As she lifted Carla, Yui couldn’t help but worry as too many thoughts flooded her mind. She forced herself to shake off her complicated thoughts and focused on moving forward.
Like Carla, Yui herself knew the thug.
As far as she knew, he belonged to the Swallow Faction, where Vivian worked.
And what she could infer from the fact that the Swallow Faction was moving was that Vivian was moving, which led to Enic moving.
“Really… Maybe…”
The fact that he might have caused this tragedy, or might be behind it.
How long had it been since she had built up trust in him, and already this kind of thing was happening again.
‘You better explain yourself quickly, Kazunomiya…!!
This might not just be a problem between you and me anymore…!!’
Perhaps, as Hyeryung said, she was just believing what she wanted to believe.
“Let’s go… For now…”
In the end, their steps continued through the basement of Mademoiselle.
How much time had passed?
Searching through various rooms for information, Carla and her group were busily moving through the kitchen, storage room, and so on, looking for any traces of alchemy.
Fortunately, thanks to Carla, who had temporarily put aside her sadness and began to solidify her sense of purpose, the search was being accelerated even more.
“I don’t think it’s this way!!”
“It’s not here either…”
“Uh… I don’t think it’s here either…?”
However, Carla and her group, unable to find any special traces in the basement, ended up searching various rooms separately and then gathering again.
“Was the upper floor the right place after all…”
“Maybe that’s the case…
Shall we go back up then…?”
“Yeah… Then let’s be careful and go back up… Ah…!!”
As the group shared their opinions and decided to return to the upper floor as they had come,
“Wait a minute…!!”
Carla, her eyes widening as if she had discovered something, suddenly started running somewhere as if possessed, causing the others to call out to her in bewildered voices.
“Uh… Where are you going…?”
“Carla…? Carla…!!”
In the end, they started running after Carla, chasing her closely through the corridors and corners for dozens of meters.
What they found was a wall made of bricks, and Carla standing in front of it, panting and staring at the wall.
“What is it…? What’s wrong?”
As Lukas stepped forward and asked, Carla took a moment to catch her breath, then approached the wall and gently touched it.
“Here… Behind here… it’s empty, right…?”
At Carla’s question, as she tapped the brick wall with her small fist, Lukas, who had a bewildered expression, also tapped the wall with his fist a few times, then widened his eyes and shouted at Carla.
“That’s right…!! I don’t know what’s there, but…
This behind here is empty…!!
There might be a passage?
How did you find it, Carla?”
“That’s… Behind here…”
Carla lowered her head slightly and looked down at the Spider Army Mk-1 covering her body, her eyes looking at the gaps in the bricks.
“Let’s try to open a passage for now.
Breaking the wall seems difficult…
If there’s a device…
Would it be faster to smash that?”
Lukas took out various medicine bottles from the bag he was wearing around his waist, then put the substances into a cup that was rolling around nearby, creating some kind of compound.
And as Lukas looked around the wall, he started pouring the compound in the cup into some of the gaps between the bricks.
Before long, a sound that shouldn’t have been heard from the brick wall, the sound of metal tightening and crumbling, began to be heard.
“Alright…!!
I was right after all?
Stand back!!”
“Wow…!!”
As the brick wall in front of the retreating group collapsed forward with a loud noise, as if a plank was falling over.
The melted hinges and simple mechanical device corroding behind the wall began to be revealed.
It was originally a door that opened in a sliding structure, but since the structure supporting the door had collapsed, the brick wall could no longer function as a door.
Those who were looking at the secret passage that was perfectly disguised as a wall couldn’t hide their excitement, as befitting the boys and girls of that age.
“The finishing touches are so neat…
I couldn’t help but think it was just a wall?”
“I think it’s here…!!”
“Yui thinks so too, right?
Let’s go quickly…!! Hurry!!”
Considering the path they had run along, it was a place located deep in the basement.
Moreover, there was even a secret door made with such care.
It would be strange if there was nothing in a secret room made in a location optimized for hiding something.
Carla and her group carefully stepped towards the stairs that were visible behind the collapsed door.
“Ah… The smell of chemicals…!!”
“I’m sure of it?
Then it must be somewhere around here…”
At Carla’s words, wrinkling her nose slightly at the smell she felt as she came down the stairs, Lukas confidently stepped on the last step.
The place they arrived at was a small underground cavity.
There was a pipe connected to the ceiling, perhaps a ventilation device, absorbing the smoke rising from various places.
Flasks of various colors filled with various liquids emitting such smoke were boiling on the heating plate, and the experimental tools installed in various places were fully revealing the atmosphere of a ‘workshop’.
Moreover, the gazes of the group were flowing towards the parchments that seemed to be some kind of data scattered on the tables in various places.
However, seeing the various fields of data mixed together, Lukas, who smiled, ran there first and picked up the parchments.
Seeing that the contents of the parchment were related to alchemy, although different from Carla’s, he shook the parchment and called out to Carla and Yui.
“Alright…!! Carla!! Yui!!
Let’s find it quickly among these!!”
“Yeah!! Uh…?”
However, before they could even pick up the parchment, Carla turned her head again.
A silver arrow grazed right next to her face and was embedded in the opposite wall, her hair scattering and a red line drawn across her cheek.
“Ouch…!!”
“Carla!! Who is it…!! Reveal yourself!!”
At Lukas’s shout, immediately running over to protect Carla, the sound of footsteps began to be heard from the corner of the workshop.
The sound of two people’s footsteps overlapping exactly.
And as the fingers placed on the shadow flickered, the arrow began to melt and flow down to the floor from the point where the silver arrow was embedded behind Carla.
Soon, the melted silver liquid crawled along the floor, passing by Carla’s side, and stopped next to the shoes that were making the footsteps.
The existence that Carla had discovered crawling on the floor from above earlier and had chased after as if possessed.
The very existence that had helped her notice the existence of the space behind the wall by seeping into the brick wall.
And, the drone made of liquid metal, Carla’s work, that was now protecting Carla’s entire body like a thin film.
“That… That’s…!!”
It was only for a moment that Carla’s other companions were surprised following her, but everyone’s expressions turned pale at the intense tone of the returning voice.
“Little missy, I didn’t expect you to dodge that.”
“E-Ehh…?”
The appearance of those chubby figures, reminiscent of the egg brother Humpty Dumpty, was a bonus that made Carla and Yui shrink without realizing it.
“But you won’t be able to dodge this one!!”
“Our brothers’ big and white work…
Little missy, try to receive it if you can!!”
Following Lukas’s words, which put the finishing touches, the somewhat expected encounter was taking place.
“Crazy… You freakin’ weeb…?”
