Chapter 24
Chapter 24: What Kind of Serious Incident
The journey passed in silence.
The three of them—Sean, Cynthia, and Heracles—arrived at Mary’s residence and pushed open the slightly worn wooden door, revealing a small and simple room.
The furnishings inside were very basic, not much better than the room Sean used to live in at the orphanage.
The mottled marks on the walls showed the erosion of time, the furniture looked old and worn, and a faint musty smell permeated the air, though everything was kept quite clean.
Sean looked around, feeling somewhat moved.
The investigation process remained the same—Cynthia and Heracles stayed in the room to use magic for detection, while Sean went out to visit the nearby residents.
From conversations with the neighbors, Sean learned that Mary had come to the holy city of Messiah several years ago. Apparently, her hometown had been destroyed by beast disasters, and having nowhere else to go, she could only live here alone.
The neighbors also mentioned that Mary’s behavior had been strange recently—she would sneak out alone at night, acting mysteriously.
Sean kept this information in mind and returned to the room, where he found that Cynthia and Heracles had already completed their magical survey.
The two stood in the center of the room, their brows furrowed, clearly having found no valuable clues.
“This looks like an ordinary person’s single room. There are no abnormal magical fluctuations.”
Heracles shook her head, her tone carrying a hint of disappointment.
“It seems we’ll have to approach this from somewhere else.”
Cynthia also nodded, agreeing with Heracles’ assessment.
However, Sean didn’t give up. He walked around the room, his sharp gaze scanning every corner.
Suddenly, his steps stopped, as if he had noticed something amiss.
Sean then ran out of the house under the puzzled gazes of Cynthia and Heracles, returning shortly after and walking from one side to the other.
“Sean, did you find something?”
Cynthia couldn’t help but ask.
“Lady Cynthia, the dimensions of this room don’t match.”
Sean answered while measuring the entire room’s length with his steps, quickly constructing a floor plan of the house in his mind.
“There’s something wrong here.”
Sean murmured quietly, his gaze locking onto a wardrobe on one side of the room.
When he had circled Mary’s residence from outside earlier, he discovered that the external space didn’t match the interior of the room.
According to his calculations, there should be a hidden space behind the wardrobe.
“What’s wrong?”
Heracles asked curiously. She had used magic to examine the entire room earlier and hadn’t found any traces of demons.
“My ladies, please look here.”
Sean crouched down and carefully examined the floor. Sure enough, he found a shallow scratch on the floor beneath the wardrobe. Although someone had cleverly covered it with dust, the mark became clearly visible after gently wiping it with his hand.
He stood up and spoke to Cynthia and Heracles.
Hearing this, the two immediately came over.
Cynthia’s gaze held a hint of confusion, while Heracles looked at Sean with interest, seemingly surprised by his discovery.
“How did you find this?”
Heracles asked.
“I’ve been sensitive to distances since I was young. It was just good luck.”
Sean smiled, his tone modest.
In truth, humans are arrogant creatures, and magical users are even more arrogant than ordinary humans. These saints were the highest-ranking magical users, and what they took most pride in was their magical sensing ability. Having grown accustomed to this, they would always use magical detection first when encountering anything, gradually neglecting humanity’s most basic sensory organs—the five senses.
Sean had no magical power since childhood, and having lived a full life in another world without magic, he was just an ordinary human. That’s why he could notice these details that magical users most easily overlooked.
Although Cynthia knew Sean was being modest, she didn’t point it out and instead signaled for him to continue.
Sean walked to the wardrobe and pushed it aside with force.
As the wardrobe moved, a pitch-black opening appeared before the three of them, with stairs leading down to an unknown underground space.
“You really found it, Sean.”
Heracles praised softly. Her magical detection earlier hadn’t focused on the structure of the house, so this point had been completely overlooked.
“Thank you for the praise, Lady Heracles.”
Sean scratched his head embarrassedly. He was about to enter the opening when he realized it was pitch black inside. Since he couldn’t use magic and had no lighting tools, he found himself awkwardly stuck, not knowing what to do.
At this moment, Heracles waved her hand, and a bright orb of light appeared out of nowhere, floating in front of Sean and illuminating the path ahead.
“Let’s go. Let’s see what’s down there.”
Heracles said, her tone carrying a hint of excitement.
The three slowly descended the stairs, their footsteps echoing in the narrow space.
At the bottom of the stairs was a basement with strange symbols and patterns covering the walls.
Cynthia and Heracles exchanged glances, not expecting this run-down house to have such secrets beneath it.
At Sean’s prompting, he pushed open the door, and a wave of decaying air hit them.
In the center of the basement was an altar with a strange pattern drawn on it—a snake with its tail in its mouth, forming a circular shape.
When Sean saw this pattern, he frowned. This tail-biting snake had similar legends in the other world. Was this some kind of cult?
As he prepared to continue searching for other clues, he noticed that the two saints, Cynthia and Heracles, were standing frozen in place, looking at the pattern on the wall with disbelief.
“Lady Cynthia, Lady Heracles, does this pattern have some meaning?”
Sean realized the seriousness of the situation and asked curiously.
“Heracles, this is the symbol of the Ouroboros, isn’t it?”
Cynthia didn’t answer Sean’s question but looked at Heracles with a grave expression.
“Yes, that’s right. I’ll never forget this pattern.”
Heracles’ expression also became serious, and she exchanged a glance with Cynthia, unease flashing in their eyes.
“This has become serious.”
Cynthia’s eyes were filled with vigilance.
When she saw this pattern, she realized that this demon incident was far more complex than they had imagined.
The appearance of the Ouroboros symbol here meant that a larger conspiracy might be hidden behind it.
“Um, my ladies, what does this pattern represent?”
Sean, seeing the two saints somewhat losing their composure, couldn’t help but raise his hand to ask.
“This is the Ouroboros, a symbol of the forbidden, representing endless cycles and destruction.”
Cynthia hesitated for a moment but still explained the meaning of the pattern to Sean.
“The key point is that there once existed a cult organization that attempted to destroy the world.”
Heracles looked at Sean, pausing before continuing.
“Its name was Ouroboros, and its emblem was identical to this pattern.”
Sean blinked. It seemed he had gotten involved in some serious incident.