Chapter Sixty-Two: Mel’s Deductions

chapter sixty-two: mel’s deductions announcementhello everyone! if you're new to the series and have caught up with your binge, we'd love to see you in the series discord! we have demons, cookies, and cozy hugs ^.^



under pressure from seonmi, the archivist takumi sought permission from his superior, noel yamaguchi, head of the department of history and military studies. the department head's narrow, investigative eyes worried noburu, but seonmi’s act as the work-driven yunseo yoo-jung won through, and they got permission for her to explore the storage room for replacement rivets.

if anything, he seemed annoyed they’d bothered him with the request.

the department head reiterated they must remain under guard, and since they could only spare a singular pair of horns to guard them, noburu and seonmi had to move together. while noburu clenched his jaw in annoyance and seonmi clicked her tongue, it was actually the ideal outcome. this way, they could both explore the storage under the guise of seonmi searching for replacement metal.

the storage facility was a large basement filled with old boxes and crates. takumi explained that while many of the items had been stored here for decades, the room itself was regularly cleaned of dust, and its exterior was maintained to prevent moisture from creeping in.

“long before my time, all these were kept upstairs,” takumi explained, gesturing towards the boxed artefacts. “eventually, someone realised the temperature fluctuations through the seasons and changing humidity were contributing to their degradation. they were moved down here... a little over a century ago. i just finished cataloguing everything myself.”

“moons... you organised all this yourself?” seonmi intoned, her voice laced with professional appreciation and a touch of femininity as she moved to sweeten the archivist’s mind.

“took a long time!” takumi replied cheerfully. “you wouldn’t believe how many boxes were mislabelled or objects from multiple eras piled under the same label. here, each row is roughly two centuries...” he gestured to the left, where a small pile of boxes lay. “starting with pre-cascadian times. the samino museum took anything of interest, but a few scraps remain. we have miscellaneous stone tools in here that date back to five thousand b.v! most demons don’t care too much for their heritage that far back, only showing interest in something big like the needles of nai or great desert geoglyphs like the dectus lines. but i think there’s a story to be told in these little bits of knapped rocks.”

noburu raised his eyebrows in interest, walking over to the area of boxes. takumi unclasped one box, opening it to reveal what was neatly labelled as a stone axehead.

who cares? noburu thought before mentally slapping himself to get back into character.

“fascinating examples of stone age technology,” noburu murmured, leaning closer to examine the knapped items. “to think there was a time, long before the long discordancy, long before the wilderness, where we were cutting down natural trees, not even knowing how to smelt copper.”

“how were they dated?” seonmi asked. “stratigraphic principles?”

“that’s right,” takumi affirmed, checking the labels. “san-tir archaeological site. discovered seven-sixty-five a.v. if i remember my modern history... that’ll be one of the central sites discovered during the last major wilderness clearing in the direction of nachon.”

“what about the first row, here?” seonmi pointed towards the left-most row of boxes, which, while more populous than their stone age neighbours, were lacking compared to the other rows further down.

“dark ages,” takumi answered. he approached and patted the first box. “mostly fragments of iron and steel tools. some broken ceramics. again, the samino museum bought most of it a long time ago. i’ve organised it chronologically. the boxes in this little section are two-fifty to two-hundred b.v. then, you see the red marker on the box there?” takumi pointed out a small red flag a few meters down. “that marks the continent collision with the dark lands in one-eighty-two b.v. then, further down, we cover the century-long period of the long discordancy. we have a few fragmented skeletons of the enemy, but nothing worth displaying. past that...” he gestured to the very end of the row, which was dimly lit with a weak aetherlight. “we have armour and blades from her holy reconquista. we have fifty-six of her thousand blades. twenty are in storage down here, fifteen are stored elsewhere in the academy, and the remainder you can see displayed in the main throughway.”

the archivist walked to the next row, followed by noburu and seonmi. the guard standing outside the entrance didn’t move, but then again, why would he? the man was likely an aura user and could hear everything they were up to anyway.

“here we have the next two centuries. one a.v to two hundred a.v. we have some great examples of early imperial weaponry during the consolidation era. in the second century, we have a moderate amount of artefacts from the war of the spear. this is where we start to see traditional samino armour utilising ironwood bark. we have some fully preserved polearms on display from this period upstairs.”

“polearms? including the shaft?” seonmi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“that’s right,” takumi answered.

“how? the wood should have long decomposed. unless...?” seonmi trailed off, tilting her head at the archivist. “a bog?”

“correct!” takumi enthusiastically answered. “presevered in the oxygen-less environment of a peat bog. they found bodies as well! they are so well preserved that they look like they could wake up at any moment despite being seven hundred years old! we don’t have them here, unfortunately.”

“the bog soldiers,” noburu intoned. “i’ve never had the opportunity to see them myself. where are they? let me guess...”

“samino museum,” takumi finished with an exasperated sigh. “they have the privilege to forcefully purchase any artefacts in samino territory before they go to auction. they send someone every few years to poke their horns in what we have. many of the items we have on display are on loan from the museum.” the man frowned in annoyance before correcting himself. “right, where were we?”

takumi continued to the next row. “two hundred a.v to four hundred a.v. we have armour and weapons from the early religious wars, the three sister’s war, and finally the late religious wars that ended just before the turn of the fifth century.”

takumi continued to the second last row. this one was filled to the brim with crates and boxes. this aligned with the preparation work noburu had done; he understood the fifth and sixth centuries were when restoration efforts and archaeological evacuation began to become popular.

“five hundred a.v to six hundred a.v. i imagine this is where you’ll find your replacement rivets,” takimu explained while nodding his head. “about halfway down, we have all the war of the ten houses examples. shall we?” they followed takumi down the row, and suddenly, noburu felt like he were in a forest of boxes. “try to avoid rotating any boxes and open them in situ if possible. if you look at each box's label, i’ve noted the quality of what’s inside. anything with three x’s should be a candidate for replacements.”

“you judged they were beyond restoration?” seonmi asked with a sly smile. “you’ve been holding out on us, takumi.”

“ha.” the archivist rubbed the back of his neck. “just guessing mainly, but it doesn’t take a genius to see if something is beyond recovering. i’ve always thought artefacts are like people. once they degrade or corrode beyond a certain threshold, there’s no hope of recovery, is there?”

“there’s always hope,” noburu snapped. he tried to hide his annoyance, but takumi’s words angered him. the attitude of the nobles regarding the slums and their inhabitants was the same. it was so easy to look down on those underneath you, pretending they were alien, that their circumstances would never befall you.

“moons,” seonmi cooly intoned. “you missed your morning coffee or something?” she rolled her eyes, gesturing dramatically to a nearby box. “takumi, mind helping?”

“ah, right, of course...”

a glare from seonmi set noburu’s mind straight. right, right. he wasn’t noburu here.

they began opening boxes, examining the often delicate pieces within. seonmi kept takumi smitten and the atmosphere jovial. noburu joined in on the conversation, keeping the man talking. most people liked talking about themselves, and takumi was no exception. he also clearly found seonmi attractive, something the crafty woman had picked up on and was abusing subtly. she began moving in a way that emphasised her form and started giggling and smiling at his terrible jokes. given how intentionally snappy she’d been earlier, takumi must have thought his charm had won her over.

poor man.

key. question. seonmi indicated with her hands when takumi wasn’t looking.

injury. act. you. question. he flashed his reply quickly.

yes. ready. question.

yes.

the archivist kept his keys on a keyring attached to his belt. one of those keys was a large iron key used to enter the storage room. one way or another, they needed access to that key.

“this one up here, please, takumi,” seonmi indicated to the box on a shelf at her shoulder height. before takumi could respond, she began shifting it over the edge. the archivist quickly moved to assist her. noburu positioned himself behind the man.

“s-slowly!” takumi exclaimed.

“it’s fine...” seonmi grunted. “just need to- moons!” seonmi’s ankle rolled, and her form collapsed, releasing the box which crashed to the ground. she swore loudly, her face contorting in pain.

“yunseo!” noburu cried out, barging into takumi, unhooking his key ring while simultaneously tripping the man. “i got it!” noburu grabbed the crate. “go help her!”

takumi stumbled up, assisting seonmi who was clutching her ankle while letting out a colourful string of curses. the man helped her stand before bending down and examining the ankle.

“doesn’t look broken,” he said. “it might swell up something terrible. if you wait here, i’ll get some ice.”

“you have ice? here?” noburu asked, gently lowering the end of the crate onto the ground.

“imperialist!”

“what’s wrong with that?” mel asked.

“nothing!” amelia replied cheerfully. “just nice to see someone passionate about something. sometimes, your determination reminds me of serena!”

“serena...” mel echoed, feeling her pride blossom. instructor halen, captain halen, or even lord halen, was semi-famous around the academy. a war hero who had cracked the republican defences by liberating the key logistic hub of port highwind. a captain of the mysterious black ship, the vengeance. a speaker of narean, her distinctive pair of horns - the pinnacle of samino nobility - were said to become wreathed in hellfire when she spoke, earning her the moniker of the hellfire captain. they say there wasn’t a republican soldier who didn’t fear seeing her ship on the horizon.

to think amelia, who was technically a noble, just compared mel to her!

amelia was close to instructor halen, and mel recently found out amelia wasn’t sneaking off at night to be with a man but instead, she was being trained by the instructor in person! how lucky was she to have such a casual relationship with a war hero? to learn from one of the best! they had a relationship that bypassed the usual concerns of demon-human relationships. mel hadn’t missed the playful banter they sometimes intended towards each other during the joint training session.

they were... awfully close, weren’t they?

mel’s mind mentally kicked itself away from the line of thought she was about to go down. tsk! how improper of mel to even begin to entertain such an idea? after all, instructor halen had been so kind as to volunteer her time to train her, and amelia had equally been so kind as to forgive and heal mel after she stupidly enraged her at the kenhoro officer academy.

although...

mel reluctantly forced her mind back onto the track she didn’t want to be on. what exactly did she say to amelia to annoy her so much back then? what was it that she said that caused instructor halen - then a visiting guest - to become so angry and glare at her so much?

mel had insulted amelia, accusing her of being instructor halen’s paramour - a human to keep the demon’s bed warm. a sexual plaything.

...they were awfully close, weren’t they?

also, amelia said she stayed the night after training. she claimed it was to save the walk back and forth. on the face of it, it made sense, but then why would amelia be so flustered at that time when mel asked her where she was going?

no! surely not!

but... maybe?

no!

yet, it made sense, didn’t it?

oh no!

mel brought her hands to her cheeks, hiding the sudden blush that formed. surely not! it was indecent! it was a sin! wasn’t instructor halen a christian!? mel had seen the golden petrine cross on a necklace. and amelia... was amelia religious? she must be, but did she follow a demon faith, or a human one?

it all added up... but... oh moons! how she wished it didn’t!

“oh, we’re back!” amelia’s happily announced.

they were standing in front of the enormous front doors of the academy. they stood fully open, with no less than four guards standing around. they stepped aside, letting the pair of women through.

“let’s take a walk through the main throughway before we go back to the tower,” amelia continued. “i’d like to see some of the artefacts again!”

mel followed amelia obediently while her mind raced. she wished it didn’t add together, but the more she thought about it, the more it did! the times she’d witnessed amelia and instructor halen together, wasn’t there a certain softness underpinning their conversations? didn’t instructor halen’s lips curl upwards when amelia approached her during training? didn’t they stand and sit a little closer together than one might assume was proper?

mel stopped to see amelia, who had also stopped just ahead of her at the junction where you could turn left or right. her back towards mel. she was oddly still. had she deduced mel’s thoughts?

mel swallowed loudly.

“amelia...” she tentatively began.

“wait,” amelia commanded. all friendliness from her voice was gone. she wasn’t speaking as a friend or an acquaintance but as a noble. this was a command.

mel froze, her instincts tickling her. danger. surely, not from amelia?

amelia raised a hand slowly, pointing at a space between the wall and a display case.

“in that space... a man is hiding.”

what!?

mel pushed her aura to the pinnacle of red, ready to flare it into orange at a moment's notice. her hand reached down to grab her sword, only to find it wasn’t there. why hadn’t she brought it with her!? where was the man? was it another ochimusha? amelia had pointed to a space, but there was nothing there! was he hiding inside the wall? was he-

then, a loud snap echoed through the throughway.

“no!” yelled the man, who suddenly appeared out of thin air. he wasn’t facing amelia or mel, but he faced down the right-hand side of the junction with his hands up as if he were defending himself from an attack.

in his hands, he carried some kind of bundle.

the man scrambled, turning to run down the corridor, away from amelia and whoever he was facing.

only to crash into a shimmering set of external wards that expertly formed a box to trap the man. as he collided with amelia’s wards, the bundle in his hand dropped, unwrapping to reveal a set of daggers.

“a-an assassin!” amelia cried out, pointing at the panicked man.

“no! please! there’s-” the man gestured wildly down the other end of the corridor in the direction he was initially facing. “where did she go? be careful! she could appear at any-”

“hrmph!” amelia cracked her knuckles. “nice ploy, assassin! what are those daggers for? cutting my steak!? admit it, you’re here to finish the job, aren’t you!? they must have been desperate to send someone capable of entering the shimmer! don’t even think about speaking!”

“no! you got it wrong! there’s a maid-”

“silence!” amelia commanded. the human twisted her neck to give mel a prideful look. “see!?” she continued, her face beaming with smugness.

“w-what?” mel replied, hurrying to the wall and grabbing one of the display swords. she might get in trouble for using it, but it was better to have a weapon than not!

“i caught one!” amelia flashed a thumbs up.

“i caught an assassin!”