Vol 2 Chapter 9 (1/2)

The start of the second volume Enjoy

Seron Maxwell

Born on the 3rd day of the third month of the year 3290 15 years old A third-year student at the 4th Capital Secondary School in the Capital District of the Roxcheanuk Confederation His hometown is far from school, so he lives in the dorms Not a part of any school clubs

Strauski Megmica

Born on the 14th day of the second month of the year 3289 16 years old A third-year student She is frodoms of Bezel-Iltoa ‘Strauski’ is her fa to Roxche, she is a year older than her classmates A member of the chorus club

Larry Hepburn

Born on the 12th day of the fifth month of the year 3290 15 years old A third-year student He is fro history, and trains daily to become a soldier himself Seron’s best friend

Natalia Steinbeck

Born on the 8th day of the sixth month of the year 3290 15 years old A third-year student Her parents are famous musicians Part of the orchestra club, and is skilled with musical instruments

Nicholas Browning

Born on the 4th day of the fourth month of the year 3290 15 years old A third-year student He has an androgynous appearance and is not part of any clubs He and Seron are acquainted

Jenny Jones

Born on the 17th day of the first month of the year 3290 15 years old A third-year student She is the daughter of one of Roxche’s richest people President of the newspaper club

Chapter 9: The Basement

“All right No one’s around, and no one’s watching It’s going well so far” Said Larry

“Is anyone here? Please answer if you can heardown “We need to tell you so very important Please, can you hear me?”

Seron repeated hi sure to state that the ere set to be blocked and that it would be best if the man were to come outside

He then waited, straining his ears

But there was no response

“Should we try the west side? That’s where he was in the picture” Larry asked

“No, let’s not It’ll be the sa up and turning to Larry He aze “It’s all up to you now”

“All right Leave it to me”

Larry pulled off his backpack and went up the stone steps to the doors

“You think he can do it?” Natalia wondered “If this doesn’t work out, we’re outta options”

“We must simply believe in Larry And if he should fail, ill think of so to watch a film is still a viable option?” Nicholas wondered

“Please… we are asking you, Larry We want to help thepleaded

“Good luck, blondie I’ll let this one slide without any incriraphs” Jenny nodded

“Tch…”

Larry got down on one knee before the doors

He took out Natalia’s hairpin from his pocket It had been snapped in two and the ends filed into points Seron stood beside him

“All right Time for the Confederationthe two pieces into the lock He held one in place in the direction the lock turned, and pushed the other piece down along the grooves as he moved it back and forth

Several seconds later

There was a click

“I got it”

The open lock was in Larry’s hand

“Not bad, Larry!”

“I suppose the film can wait for another time The theater ait for us”

“Incredible, Larry! It is very incredible!”

“Have you credit for”

The others commented, one after another

“Great work, Larry” Seron added

“I’ency”

Slowly, Seron and Larry unwrapped the heavy, rusted chains from the doors

They heaved open the squeaky double doors Afraid that soht jump out from behind, Seron and Larry quickly took defensive stances

But all that escaped the storehouse was a damp, cold breeze

Seron and Larry went back down the stairs and returned to the group

“That was great, Larry Give o into a life of crime”

“I’ll have to refuse, Lia” Larry said, shouldering his backpack again

“All right We’ll be back soon” Seron said

“What?”

“Pardon?”

“Hm?”

“Hey!”

Natalia, Meg, Nick, and Jenny responded at once

“Hold on a moment, Seron Do you plan to leave us behind?” Asked Nick Seron nodded

“The two of us are o e have no idea what’s really down there This was hoe planned the mission in the first place”

“That’s news to lare

“Yeah! We didn’t coreed, holding up the ca over her shoulder

“If it is possible at all, I would like to go together as well Is it not possible, Seron?” Meg pleaded

“Huh? Er… I… I didn’t think you’d all want to co” Seron explained aardly

Natalia sighed

“I thought it was pretty obvious we’d all go together, considering how the conversation was going For being suy”

“We don’t knoho erous—”

“Which is why you’re not gonna go in there without us The onna be lasses Seron did not seem convinced

“I was hoping you guys would keep an eye out in case someone approached the storehouse”

“And what if soet in trouble Or did you want us to run off? If whoever coo, ‘Oh, soht back up, we’re done Larry’s the only one who can open it So it o with you And if things go wrong, we can always ued

Next to her stood Meg, looking at Seron like a puppy begging to go on a walk Seron fell silent

“We do have enough gloves and flashlights for everyone” Larry commented

Seron thought for a moment Then he reached a conclusion

“…Stay right behind us and don’t wander off”

“Sweet”

“Then ill go too!”

“I suppose we are”

“Of course we’re going along!”

Larry whispered to Seron as the others celebrated

“Going on an adventure with the girl of your dreams in a dark basement, eh? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

Seron whispered back

“I don’t even knohatI’ to do anymore…”

“What? We’re going in there to rescue someone”

“…Yeah Let’s go with that”

Natalia cut in

“Hey, you two! Stop leaving us out of the conversation!”

Everyone had a pair of gloves and a flashlight

“We’re good to go Let’s get started, Seron”

“Yeah…”

The group started towards the building with Larry and Seron in the lead After a short climb up the steps, they entered the cool interior

The girls followed right behind Larry and Seron, and Nick brought up the rear They left the door wide open as though daring a teacher to see

The storehouse interior was sy was divided in four by two intersecting hallith high ceilings

Next to the halls were roos were lower in the rooms The rooms were not furnished

It was cool and humid inside The air stank faintly of rusted iron

The group stood in thethe interior with fascination It was quite bright inside thanks to the s on the roof and near the ceiling No one had to turn on their flashlight

There was a thin layer of dust in the halls, but it was otherwise clean—so the storehouse The stone floors were slightly sunken in the parts that werefor the three centuries’ worth of history that the building represented

“H that looks like a basement entrance” Larry said

They could not find any stairs or steps leading down None of the halls led to any other levels

“Then maybe there’s an entrance in one of the rooms” Said Seron

“Should we split up?” Asked Larry”

“No, we’ll stick together” Seron replied “We’ll check the rooan walking cautiously down the long hallway

The moment Larry made to follow, Natalia whispered to him,

“Countin’ on you”

“Yeah”

Natalia walked protectively next to Meg, as though escorting her Jenny took out her ca around as she snapped the occasional photo Nick followed behind her

Seron and Larry stopped at the nearest door Larry grabbed the handle and cautiously opened it, slowly peering inside

The room was about 4 square meters in size

Like in the hallway, the floor was made of stone here as well Heaped on the floor was a pile of old ti—and no one—else

The room across the hall was full of roof tiles The dark dust e Soes

They finished checking all the rooms on the east

“Nothing”

“Yeah”

They could not find anything reses in the rooms were construction materials from an unknown time

“It looks like they’re not going to be using those They probably left the materials here because they’re too lazy to move them out” Said Seron

“The teachers must’ve personally done repair work back in the old days—the reallyold days Now you can just call a co their own materials” Larry added

“Next?” Natalia urged theroup went back down the hall to examine the other rooms

The two in the lead braced the to pop out at them at any point as they continued to search

They began with the doors near the middle, but all they found were rooms full of rusted metal scaffolds, coils of metal wire, and old materials that would never see use

“Just two rooms left” Larry said They had yet to explore the two roo In terraph was just underneath the last two rooms

Larry slowly opened the door to the room on the northwestern corner and peered inside And,

“H Seron over

Larry was crouching low by the door Seron peered inside from just above his head and scanned the room

It was different from the others

There were no construction , which covered most of the floor Atop the carpet stood an old wooden desk

Seron instructed the others to wait and entered the rooside Larry

Silently, they exchanged glances They each picked up either end of the desk and slowly carried it out into the hallway

All that was left was the rug Seron and Larry stepped back inside and began to slowly—ever so slowly—roll it up

The others watched from the hallway

And—

“This is it”

“Yeah…”

Under the rug, between the stone flooring, they found a wooden trapdoor

The trapdoor was about 1 square meter in size and was at nearly the saed fully as Seron and Larry co

“Can I open this, Seron?”

“Please”

Larry took hold of the handle He pulled on it, and the trapdoor opened easily Froh the barred s

The gap widened as Larry heaved open the door, and eventually became a 1-meter-square hole