Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 26.2

Chapter 26.2

But in reality, he had simply been subjected to the strategy Christine used most often to steal information from her opponents, but he could not have known about it.

“It’s alright. The misunderstanding has been cleared up now.”

“Thank you for your understanding. By the way… you work in a really cool place. I heard you’re the executive who manages this place.”

“Well, I’m in charge of something important in its own right. Would you like to take a look around with me?”

“Are you letting me look around? Thank you.”

Christine smiled innocently as she got up to follow Ein. The structure of the guild’s library and archives was simple enough to grasp at a glance.

‘The important materials seem to be stored in a separate space in this room.’

Then that was the first thing to look for.

Christine piqued his interest as she started talking to him, and naturally led him to the study where the important records seemed to be kept.

“Oh my, there’s a door here?”

“This is the place where important records are kept separately.”

“Wow… You’re really in charge of something important, Mr. Ein. I don’t think something like this can be entrusted to just anyone.”

Ein’s shoulders shrugged when she gave him a small compliment.

As Christine complimented him a little more, Ein knew it wasn’t something he should have done, but he gestured towards the special management area inside. It was a place specially managed under the guild master’s orders, so he couldn’t enter without reporting it in advance.

“Would you like to go inside for a moment? The interior is well decorated, so it’s a sight to see.”

“Is that really okay? Thank you.”

Christine smiled softly as she entered the door Ein opened. Then, while he was explaining something, she scanned the lock of the door.

‘It’s a Lewis-style anti-theft device that uses magic stones.’

She was familiar with it.

“Dear heavens… That painting is so beautiful.”

Christine turned Ein’s attention towards the window. Then, she took a book from the bookshelf, stuck it out the door, and quickly put it back in its original place.

Bzzz.

With her quick hand movements, the anti-theft device began to work. Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound coming from all sides, and as the magic stone began to emit a red glow, Ein was greatly perplexed.

“Ah, it looks like the device is malfunctioning.”

Ein quickly opened the door and ran out on his own. Christine knew why.

Lewis-style anti-theft devices using magic stones sometimes caused malfunctions, so a magic stone that stopped the malfunctioning was usually installed on the outside.

The man must have gone out to work on it.

‘But what happened just now wasn’t a malfunction…’

Click.

The door locked as Christine intended. It was clear that no matter what he did for the next ten minutes, the door would not open.

She pulled the doorknob tightly and yelled as if she was frightened.

“Mr. Ein! What is going on? Please open the door!”

No matter who heard it, it sounded like the voice of a bewildered person who was suddenly trapped inside the room. She had a considerable talent for voice acting.

Ein calmed her down from the outside, saying it was okay and that the door would open after a few minutes, but Christine continued to sound frightened.

“Wh-why are you doing this to me? I’m scared… I’ll be able to go out, right?”

She cried out with a calm face and inspected the room. Just as she hoped, there were a lot of records that seemed important.

Christine took care not to leave any traces behind and identified the characteristics of the records.

‘There are a lot of records related to chimera research. Where did they get these?’

Due to the shortage of time allowed, she couldn’t go through all these books individually. She only had time to check the one piece of information she was most curious about.

If so, she had to put her hands on the most treasured book in this place.

She quickly began scanning the spines of the books to see if there was a hidden bookshelf, and as expected, as she pushed a picture hanging on the wall to the side, a hidden storage space was revealed.

Inside were several luxurious books with cover finishes that differed from the others. She was surprised by the contents as she glanced over them.

‘Generational Family Tree of Grand Duke Richard?’

Why was a book like this hidden here? Could it be…

Christine carefully took out the book.

When she turned over the cover, which had the emblem of the Grand Duke Richard’s family engraved on it, there were portraits of the past grand dukes along with their birth and death dates.

She began reading from the back of the book to make sure that her assumptions were correct. Soon, her eyes shook greatly.