Chapter 308 - 306 : What is my sister doing here

Chapter 308: Chapter 306 : What is my sister doing here

Arthur waited until the last group of guards had rushed past before slipping into a shallow recess between two pillars.

The alarm continued to ring through the temple. Boots struck the floor somewhere behind him, and orders overlapped in the distance, distorted by the long corridors.

For the moment, the confusion worked in his favor.

But it would not last.

Arthur drew the identification card from beneath his robe and examined it properly.

A young man stared back at him from the photograph. He appeared to be in his twenties, with neatly arranged brown hair, black eyes, and a face attractive enough to have made the photographer’s task easy.

Beneath the photograph was a name.

Albert Valentino.

Arthur tilted the card toward the light. A golden cross occupied one corner.

That symbol required no explanation.

The second emblem did.

A small angel had been stamped beside an ornate letter R.

Arthur studied it for a moment.

’Some division of the Church?’

He had no way to tell.

He turned the card over, found nothing immediately useful, and looked down the corridor.

So far, no one had examined him closely. He had entered alongside enough confusion that a white robe and an identification card had been sufficient.

Eventually, however, someone would look at his face.

And his luck would become considerably less useful.

’System.’

[ Yes, Host? ]

’Sacrifice some of my vitality. Give me something I can use as a disguise.’

A notification appeared immediately.

[DING!]

[The Sacrificial Function has been activated.]

[Sacrificing 500 Vitality Points to obtain a B-Rank Artifact.]

[500 Vitality Points have been consumed.]

[Remaining Vitality: 19,700]

[Congratulations! You have obtained Faceless Mask (B-Rank).]

[Description: A disguise artifact that allows the user to transform their appearance into anyone they desire simply by visualizing their face and body structure.]

Arthur stared at the number.

His eye twitched.

Hard.

’Five hundred?’

An object appeared in his hand.

He barely looked at it.

’You bastard. I asked for a disguise, not a new identity blessed by the heavens.’

[ Host, I only wanted to give you the best of the best. ]

’It is B-rank.’

[ The best option for your immediate requirements. ]

’How convenient that the explanation arrived after you spent my vitality.’

The System offered no refund.

Arthur looked down.

The mask was smooth and pale, with no expression and almost no distinguishing features. It was thin enough to seem fragile, though it did not bend when he pressed a thumb against its edge.

Footsteps approached from an adjoining passage.

Arthur stopped arguing.

He lifted the mask to his face.

Its surface softened on contact. A cool sensation spread across his skin, followed by a strange pressure beneath it.

He focused on the photograph.

Brown hair.

Black eyes.

The shape of Albert’s jaw.

The position of his brows.

His nose.

His mouth.

Arthur’s face shifted.

His hair lightened and shortened.

Then the sensation traveled downward.

His shoulders narrowed.

His sleeves slipped farther over his hands.

The floor seemed to rise.

Arthur went still.

He looked at the pillar beside him, then down at himself.

A faint reflection in a darkened wall panel confirmed the result.

Albert Valentino stared back.

Arthur’s expression tightened.

’Wait.’

He glanced at the identification card again, this time taking in the personal details printed beneath the name.

Then he looked toward the reflection.

He had gone from six feet one inch to five feet three.

Eight inches.

Gone.

’That is excessive.’

He adjusted the robe before its hem could catch beneath his shoes.

’So this is how the world looks from down here.’

A pause.

’No offense to short people.’

He looked up at a door handle that had become noticeably less convenient.

’But I would like my height back when this is over.’

The footsteps passed the mouth of the corridor.

Neither guard glanced in his direction.

Arthur slipped the identification card around his neck.

Then he continued deeper into the temple.

───────────────

He did not wander blindly.

From the moment he had entered the building, he had sensed a concentration of energy somewhere ahead.

Deep inside.

Toward the center.

It was difficult to identify through the layers of mana saturating the temple, but its presence remained constant.

A pressure beneath everything else.

Arthur followed it.

He passed beneath an archway whose ancient carvings had been concealed behind white panels.

Beyond it, the passage widened.

Then widened again.

He stopped.

For several seconds, he simply stared.

’What the hell?’

The temple’s interior opened into a space large enough to contain a small city.

Buildings rose beneath an immense vaulted expanse. Elevated walkways connected separate wings, while enclosed bridges crossed above broad internal roads.

Lifts moved between platforms overlooking the central complex.

White lights shone from high overhead.

Far below them, people moved in orderly streams between laboratories, offices, and secured entrances.

The ruined temple outside could never have contained this.

Not without help.

Arthur felt it as he crossed the threshold.

Spatial magic.

Dense.

Powerful.

Woven through the entire structure.

’They expanded the interior.’

His gaze traveled toward the distant buildings.

’On this scale?’

The place must have taken enormous resources to construct.

And even more to conceal.

Arthur stepped aside as two workers hurried past, arguing over figures displayed on a tablet.

Neither spared him more than a glance.

Both wore white coats.

So did most of the people around them.

Through a glass partition on his right, he saw rows of computers.

Researchers sat before glowing screens, their attention fixed on diagrams, charts, and streams of changing numbers.

Farther inside, another group gathered around a cylindrical pod.

Green liquid filled it nearly to the top.

A child floated within.

Arthur slowed.

Thin lines ran from the pod into a bank of machines.

The child’s eyes were closed.

A woman in a white coat made a note on her tablet.

Beside that pod stood another.

Then another.

Some held children.

Others contained adults.

Arthur’s gaze moved along the row.

For a moment, the dream returned with unpleasant clarity.

The bodies.

The broken crescent.

The woman whose face he could not see.

’Do not let them be eaten.’

His fingers tightened beneath his sleeves.

He looked toward the laboratory entrance.

He needed to know what they were doing.

He took a step toward it.

"Stop."

The voice came from behind him.

Arthur stopped immediately.

His expression settled before he turned.

Two women were approaching.

Both wore white laboratory coats over their uniforms.

The first had short red hair and dark eyes. She walked quickly, carrying a tablet against her chest.

The second had long black hair, gray eyes, and a more restrained expression.

Both appeared to be in their twenties.

Arthur’s gaze dipped briefly toward their identification cards.

Rose.

Salina.

He committed the names to memory.

The red-haired woman reached him first.

"Sir Albert."

Arthur said nothing.

"We have been looking everywhere for you."

Rose sounded relieved rather than suspicious.

"The clients are waiting. The next batch of pills is ready."

Salina stopped beside her.

"We only need to demonstrate the sample and settle on a suitable price."

Arthur looked between them.

’Sir.’

Their posture.

Their tone.

The way they waited for him to respond.

Albert was not merely another researcher.

He was senior to both of them.

Possibly their direct superior.

That was useful.

It was also dangerous.

The more they expected him to know, the easier it would be to expose himself.

Arthur kept his expression mildly impatient.

"Lead the way."

Both women paused.

"I will meet the clients."

Rose blinked.

Then her eyes widened slightly.

"Sir, your voice sounds rather manly today."

Arthur went still.

’The mask does not change my voice.’

Salina drove an elbow into Rose’s side.

"Ow."

"Be quiet," Salina whispered sharply.

Then she looked around.

"If someone hears you speaking to a superior like that, you will be punished."

Rose rubbed her side.

"I only said—"

"It is fine."

Arthur’s voice was calmer now.

Less forceful.

He had no idea what Albert normally sounded like, and experimenting in front of two people who knew him seemed unwise.

"Let us not keep the clients waiting."

Rose gave Salina a small, triumphant look.

"See? He does not mind."

Salina looked as though she had endured this conversation before.

Arthur turned slightly toward the passage.

That was enough.

Rose moved ahead.

Salina followed.

And Arthur walked behind them.

───────────────

The route took them farther through the complex.

Arthur kept his attention moving without allowing it to linger too obviously.

More laboratories.

More computers.

More sealed containers being transported on small wheeled platforms.

The energy he had been following remained somewhere deeper within the structure.

For now, he was being led away from it.

He disliked that.

But an introduction to whoever bought the Church’s experimental products might be worth the delay.

At the next intersection, he noticed a heavily guarded room.

Two security personnel stood on either side of its entrance.

A third watched a monitoring panel beside the door.

Layers of enchantments covered the frame, their patterns interlocking around a narrow viewing window.

Unlike the surrounding rooms, its designation had been omitted from the signs.

Arthur glanced at it once.

Then looked forward again.

’I will come back to that.’

Rose continued talking.

"The samples passed the latest inspection, although the stability report arrived later than expected."

Salina gave her a warning glance.

Rose lowered her voice.

Arthur offered a noncommittal nod.

He did not trust himself to say anything more.

They reached a bank of elevators.

Salina held her identification card against the reader.

The doors opened.

Arthur entered behind them.

Inside, she pressed the button marked five.

The doors closed.

For a moment, the noise of the complex disappeared.

Arthur watched the floor indicator change.

Rose adjusted the tablet in her arms.

Salina checked something on her own screen.

Neither spoke.

He was grateful.

The elevator slowed.

A soft tone sounded.

Then the doors opened onto a broad hallway.

Arthur stepped out.

Security personnel lined the walls.

Not the hurried guards he had passed near the service entrance.

These people stood at attention, their uniforms immaculate and their weapons close at hand.

Several watched him as he approached.

Their auras were controlled.

Disciplined.

Arthur kept his pace steady.

’Someone wealthy.’

His eyes moved over a reinforced doorway ahead.

’And important.’

Rose’s earlier confidence had faded.

Even she seemed aware that this meeting required caution.

Salina walked with her shoulders held a little straighter.

They led Arthur toward the central reception area.

Then stepped aside.

He finally saw the client.

A man sat on a wide sofa with one leg crossed over the other.

Dark hair framed a face so finely formed it almost appeared sculpted.

His skin was flawless.

His eyes were dark.

And two draconic horns rose from his head.

Arthur’s attention sharpened.

A crushing pressure surrounded him.

Not released carelessly.

Not intended as a threat.

It was simply there, contained beneath an appearance of effortless ease.

The man rested one hand along the sofa’s arm.

His gaze settled on Arthur.

’Dragon?’

Arthur kept walking.

’Or dragonkin.’

Either possibility was unpleasant.

But it was not the horned man who nearly made him break character.

It was the woman standing beside the sofa.

Raven-black hair.

Dark eyes.

A familiar face.

She wore fitted clothing that allowed her to move freely, her posture straight and her hands held at rest.

Beautiful.

Composed.

Standing close enough to the seated man to make her role unmistakable.

A guard.

Arthur’s thoughts stopped.

’Jessica?’

Jessica Evan Imperius.

His sister.

Here.

Inside the Holy Empire.

Inside a hidden research complex beneath a ruined temple.

Guarding someone who looked as though he could crush the room without leaving his seat.

Arthur kept his expression still through sheer effort.

’What are you doing here?’

He had not seen her since their last conversation.

Afterward, she had vanished.

No explanation.

No clear trail.

He had not expected that trail to end here.

Rose bowed her head.

Salina followed.

Arthur copied the movement a heartbeat later.

His mind worked rapidly.

Had Jessica come willingly?

Was she working for the horned man?

Did she know what happened in the laboratories below?

Too many questions.

None he could ask.

Not while wearing another man’s face.

He lifted his head.

Jessica was looking directly at him.

Their eyes met.

For one dangerous second, Arthur forgot the mask.

Forgot the brown hair.

Forgot the black eyes.

Forgot that, to her, he should have been Albert Valentino.

He searched her expression for recognition.

He found nothing he could trust.

Then the man on the sofa uncrossed his legs.

Arthur noticed the movement.

Too late.

The man rose.

One smooth motion.

No warning.

His hand swept across the space between them.

Slap!

Arthur’s face snapped to the side.

The sound cracked through the hallway.

Rose flinched.

Salina lowered her eyes.

Arthur stood motionless, heat spreading across his cheek.

A metallic taste touched his tongue.

For a moment, all he could hear was the faint hum of the lights overhead.

Then, slowly, he turned back toward the man.