Chapter 75: The Graveyard VIII

[One hour has been added to your Lifespan.]

[One hour has been added to your Lifespan.]

[One hour has been added to your Lifespan.]

The messages continued pouring in until the final core dulled and its remaining light flowed into Rian’s hand.

[Estimated Lifespan: 4 days, 2 hours, 19 minutes.]

He didn’t know exactly how much lifespan [Miniature Cyclone] had cost him, but after everything evened out, Rian was left with a net profit of fifty hours give or take.

’I probably should’ve saved ten...’

A part of him regretted not setting aside enough to satisfy the examination requirement. But well, being alive was more important, so that was that.

Rian had originally planned to continue hunting until around thirty minutes before they were supposed to meet at the abandoned chapel. However, it looked like the immediate area around him really was completely undead-free...and way faster than he expected.

So, with nothing left to really do, Rian decided to head toward the chapel early.

He had considered tailing Marie, but with those eyes of hers, he’d probably get caught instantly. And also, it would be more prudent to check on the other two just in case something happened.

Rian concealed his presence and climbed onto one of the blackened trees overlooking the area before moving through the branches.

Using Sylpheed’s currents, his body felt as light as a feather, even if his physical stats were definitely below standard to do something like this.

Still, after a few minutes of traversal, Rian managed to spot the two of them.

The abandoned chapel stood within a circular clearing surrounded by broken gravestones. Most of its roof had collapsed, while thick roots crawled through the cracks covering its stone walls.

Eliza had spread a large piece of cloth across the ground. Dozens of gears, crystals, wires, and metal components had been neatly arranged across its surface. Julius knelt beside her, holding what appeared to be a three-in-one tool.

"The one with the curved end," Eliza said without looking up as she dug her hand into the dirt floor.

"They all have curved ends..." Julius frowned.

"The one at the very end!"

Julius flipped the tool around and passed it over without complaint. Rian continued watching the scene from above, watching Eliza place small metal rods into the ground before they sprang up by themselves in an armed state.

’Certainly looks like she knows what she’s doing.’

As soon as the rod she placed was finally secured, a small thread connected it to another rod that had already been installed off into the side. With Rian’s natural mana sensitivity, he could sense that the entire perimeter had been surrounded by these things.

However, each thread led back toward a palm-sized brass device resting beside her knee.

"What does that part do?" Julius asked.

"It measures tension across the wire," Eliza explained. "If anything larger than a Grave Crawler crosses through, the mechanism releases the stored mana and activates the trap."

"What happens after it activates?"

"That depends on which attachment I use. This one releases an explosion, while that one produces a loud sound to warn us."

Eliza picked up another small metal disk. "And this one sends a signal to a paired receiver. It’s useful when you need to monitor somewhere from far away."

’Perfect...’

That was exactly what he needed.

Once they returned to Base Camp D, he could steal one of those traps and place it across the entrance to the mirror’s mana reservoir. The paired receiver would tell him the moment anyone attempted to access it.

Though the moment the invisible thread made a full "lap" around the area, it started flickering uneasily.

Eliza frowned. "The necrotic mana around here keeps interfering with the mechanism."

"Would affinity-less mana work?" Julius asked.

"Can you provide some?"

Julius pressed two fingers against the crystal embedded into one of the rods and allowed his colorless mana to enter. Suddenly, the line became stabilized again.

"It worked!" Eliza said with glee. "Your mana is perfect!"

"My mana?"

"There’s no elemental property interfering with the mechanism," Eliza explained excitedly. "Do you know how difficult it is to find a completely neutral power source? I could use this to test almost any invention!"

For most of his life, Julius’s lack of affinity had been treated as a deficiency. Now, someone was treating it like it was a delicacy instead.

A small smile appeared across the prince’s face. "I could...help you test the remaining traps again, if you’d like."

"Really?"

"I’m interested in how they work."

Eliza immediately moved closer and began explaining every component inside the device. Julius listened without interrupting, occasionally asking questions in between.

Before long, both of them were making changes together.

At one point, they reached for the same piece of metal. Their fingers touched, causing both of them to flinch at the same time.

"S-Sorry!" Eliza pulled her hand away.

"No, it was my fault."

"No, I should’ve been paying attention."

"I was the one reaching across your workspace."

Neither of them seemed willing to look at the other afterward. The strange atmosphere caused Rian to almost gag as he stared down at them from his tree.

’You’ve got to be kidding me. It hasn’t even been an hour...’

Still, their interaction gave Rian something considerably more important to consider. Eliza didn’t appear guarded around Julius, which should be the case because she had been nervous about teaming up with him just yesterday.

Now, she was explaining her designs without hesitation, including how to activate, disable, and modify every trap.

Even so, Rian’s suspicions refused to disappear completely.

It was really hard to believe that someone like her, a total geek who loved creating magical inventions, could be someone who wanted to trap all sixteen of them here and spell out their impending doom.

There just wasn’t a motive that Rian could figure out.

Rian had met plenty of people capable of smiling while preparing to stab someone in the back—case in point: Felix Rosenheim.

Eliza could simply be an exceptionally talented liar.

But if this entire interaction was an act, then she deserved to attend a theater instead of Eidelgard Academy.

’Either she isn’t the traitor—’

’...Or one that’s very good at acting.’

But before he could continue watching them from above, Rian suddenly felt that his tree branch had dipped under an additional weight.

"What are you doing?"