Clank—!
“Nn…!?”
A loud, muffled shout echoed behind Mia, causing her to flinch briefly. But she quickly turned her focus back to the planchette, doing her best to move it.
’Why… why is it so hard to move!’
Despite her best attempts, it was as if something was preventing her from moving the plachette.
The candle before her flickered violently, casting frantic shadows across the walls as the room began to tremble.
’Come on! Come on! Come on!’
Her thoughts screamed in her head, desperation clawing at her mind.
Her breath grew shallow. Her pulse pounded in her ears. Every muscle in her body was tight with urgency.
She didn’t have much time.
The candle was growing thinner by the second. Its flame wavered, shrinking with each flicker.
Then—
M.
With a sharp breath, she forced the planchette to slide over the M, muscles straining against whatever was holding it down.
Rattle—! Rattle!
The room shook again, harder this time. Dust spilled from the ceiling, and the scent of mold became even more pronounced.
And something was getting closer.
Her heart raced as she focused her attention back on the plachette.
’Two more letters. Two more letters…’
Sweat trickled down the side of her face as she pushed the plachette.
The moment she did, the rattling grew even more intense.
Rattle—!
She clenched her teeth and kept pushing, but the more she pushed, the stronger the resisting force was. Something was coming closer to her.
She could feel it.
She could…
“….!?”
It was just as she was about to reach the ’I’ that she felt something cold press over her hand as her entire body froze.
Slowly turning her head, she saw Joanna standing next to her.
Her face was hollow, and her eyes were pitch black.
“….!?”
Mia nearly had a heart attack.
’H-how in the world did she get here!?’
No, it made sense. The Squad Leader was probably busy dealing with Min.
“L-let go…!”
Mia tried to push the plachette, but Joanna’s cold hand prevented her from moving at all.
The room trembled further as the candle next to her dimmed even further. She could feel the temperature starting to plummet, alongside the light in the room. She could also feel the presence of something sinister slowly starting to seep into the room.
’No, no, no!!’
Mia’s mind raced, and the node in her mind activated.
“Let go!”
She spoke once more, and instantly, Joanna was pushed back several steps. She was of the ’Sonorous Decree’ and her skill enabled her node to allow her to put power into her voice.
’Now!”
Mia took advantage of the opportunity to move the plachette over the ’I’.
The moment she did, it was as if everything paused.
The rattling. The surrounding noise.
Everything.
Mia felt the eyes of everyone in the room slowly turn towards her, and her heart skipped a beat. The wax slowly fell down from the candle, and the surrounding breaths seemed to pause in unison as the surroundings turned still.
The pause lasted for only a brief second before Mia immediately moved the plachette towards the last letter.
RATTLE!
Everything appeared to set in motion from that moment forward.
The room trembled with more ferocity, the table moving side to side as the table nearly toppled over. Mia’s expression changed as she kept the board in place while the candle spilled over. The flames flickered with their last dying ambers as she felt a pair of hands latch onto her from behind, crawling over her skin.
Thump! Thump!
The heavy sound of steps echoed from behind her shortly after that as her heart sank.
Those heavy steps…
They were certainly Min’s.
She kept pushing the plachette, but everything was working against her.
“N-no…!”
Mia grew desperate, and in that moment of desperation, a hand reached out from behind her and pushed the plachette forward…. towards the ’N’.
“Nn!”
When it finally landed there, everything stopped.
Min. Joanna, and the rattling.
Everything… stopped.
Then—
*Puff*
Several items appeared from out of thin air, landing on the hands of everyone present as the room started to distort.
The cobblestone faded, and in its place a familiar gray carpet appeared.
A white light flickered above, and all too familiar cubicles appeared. In just several seconds, everything faded, and the all-too-familiar setting appeared.
Thud!
Mia fell on the carpet as her hair stuck to her face.
Her face was pale, and thinking about the entire situation, she couldn’t help but look towards the Squad Leader, who looked around with a calm yet dead expression.
She opened her mouth, but soon closed it.
That…
Was that really an <F> ranked gate?
***
’…That was way closer than I wanted it to be.’
I could practically feel my entire back drenched in sweat. The entire sequence of events turned out to be a lot more unpredictable than I had originally anticipated.
While I did manage to hold Min back, I didn’t expect Joanna’s sudden appearance.
Her appearance made the entire thing more difficult.
Thankfully, Mia was able to persist. However, in the end, I still had no choice but to dash to her in order to give the plachette the last push that it needed.
Lowering my head, I stared at the fragments in my hand.
There were three in total.
Just from one look, I could tell that they were quite pure. However, now was not the time for me to look at them as I turned my attention towards the other members of the team.
Their faces were all pale, with some even struggling to stay steady.
I looked at everyone present before shaking my head.
There were a lot of things that I wanted to say, but I decided to keep them to myself. I could just tell that everyone in the room understood what went wrong.
I didn’t plan on making their lives harder.
“Go get some rest. I’ll report to the Team Leader our findings. In the meantime, you can hand all of your fragments to me. I’ll deliver them to her.”
I went to my desk and grabbed a bag.
However, the moment I walked towards the others with the bag open, I saw hesitation in their eyes.
It was almost as if they were scared of giving them to me…
’What’s going on?’
But this didn’t last long as Joanna was the first one to move towards me as she dropped her fragments in the bag. Mia and the others followed right after that. In the end, only one person remained.
Niel.
He looked at the fragments in my hand and then at me, his expression complex.
In the end, clenching his teeth, he followed what the others did and placed them in the bag.
“…I got three.”
“I know.”
“I’m glad you do.”
Niel said before turning to look at the others and then turning around. His actions confused me, but I decided to let it go.
I was honestly quite exhausted.
However, more than anything, I was excited.
The fragments were only supposed to be handed over in order to be checked. However, that didn’t mean the Guild was going to take them from us. We could either trade them or we could keep them.
I planned on keeping mine.
Alongside that, the Team Leader was going to give the clearance grade of the gate. Bonuses would be handed out if the clearing rate was at a high level.
I was still not fully aware of how it worked, but the word ’bonus’ was enough to get me excited.
The only issue was the fact that I was supposed to have the meeting with her over dinner, but how bad could it be?
’The Team Leader might be eccentric, but I’m sure she isn’t that bad.’