The Extra's Rise-Chapter 444: Investigation (2)

The authorization document felt heavy in my hands, the crimson wax seal bearing Daedric's emblem still warm to the touch. Getting it had taken Magnus's direct intervention and hours of diplomatic wrangling. Daedric's reluctance was evident in every carefully worded restriction on the document—we could enter the sealed room, but only for two hours, with our original team composition, and under the continued supervision of Advisor Koren.

"Small victories," Jin murmured beside me as we approached the unassuming door that had blocked our progress yesterday.

Advisor Koren was already waiting, his posture rigid with displeasure. When he saw us, his lips thinned to nearly nothing.

"You have your authorization, I see," he said, the words clipped and precise.

I handed him the document. "Signed by Lord Daedric himself."

Koren examined it with meticulous care, perhaps hoping to find some flaw or loophole that would allow him to turn us away. Finding none, he produced an ornate key from within his robes, its handle shaped like the Red Sun symbol.

"Two hours," he reminded us sharply. "Not a minute more."

The key turned in the lock with a heavy, metallic groan. Simultaneously, Koren pressed his palm against the center of the door, whispering words in an archaic dialect that made the wards shimmer briefly before fading.

As the door swung open, a rush of stale air greeted us—cold and dry, with the unmistakable scent of old paper and dust. The chamber beyond was larger than I'd expected, with high ceilings supported by slender columns. Shelves lined the walls, sagging under the weight of ancient tomes and yellowed scrolls. Tables cluttered with documents occupied the center space, while glass display cases contained what appeared to be historical artifacts.

"An archive?" Ava asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"The Historical Records Repository," Koren corrected stiffly. "And I must insist you touch nothing without consulting me first. Some of these documents are irreplaceable."

We spread out, each taking a different section. Hiro and Lyra focused on the display cases, while Jin headed for a section of particularly old scrolls in the far corner. Ava began examining the room itself, her fingers occasionally tracing patterns in the air as she sensed the magical currents within the space.

I approached the central tables, where large sheets of architectural plans lay partially unrolled. The papers were yellowed with age, their edges crumbling, but the designs themselves were surprisingly precise—detailed blueprints of the Southern Sea Sun Palace in various stages of development.

The oldest plans showed a much smaller structure, little more than a fortress built around what appeared to be a natural cavern. Successive layers documented the palace's growth over centuries, each expansion more elaborate than the last. What caught my attention, however, were the most recent additions—crisp white paper overlaid on the ancient blueprints, showing modifications to the palace foundations, particularly beneath the central courtyard.

"These are recent," I murmured, examining the dates. "Within the last five years."

My focus wavered momentarily as a flash of pink caught my peripheral vision. I turned sharply, half-expecting to see Alyssara, but there was nothing—just the momentary play of light through a stained-glass window high above. These strange distractions were becoming more frequent, threatening to derail my concentration at critical moments.

Jin appeared at my shoulder, a dusty scroll cradled carefully in his hands. "Arthur, you need to see this."

The scroll he held was written in an archaic script, faded but still legible. As I read, certain phrases jumped out: "covenant of protection," "shelter from persecution," "alliance against common enemies."

"What is this?" I asked, my voice low to avoid Koren's attention.

"Some kind of historical alliance record," Jin replied, equally quiet. "Dating back to the founding of the palace. It references an agreement between the first Lord Solaryn and an unnamed group seeking refuge from 'those who would destroy them for their practices.'"

"Any indication who these refugees were?" I asked, scanning the document.

Jin shook his head. "The language is deliberately vague. Could be a persecuted magical sect, political exiles... the text only mentions they practiced 'arts deemed forbidden by the orthodoxy of the age.'"

I studied the document further, trying to concentrate despite the persistent fog in my mind. There was something here—a connection I wasn't seeing clearly.

"The timing," I said slowly. "When was this document written?"

Jin checked the date markings. "Approximately eight hundred years ago, during the Age of Purification."

The Age of Purification—a dark period when the dominant magical institutions had violently suppressed practices they deemed "impure." Many magical traditions had been driven underground or eradicated entirely. Blood magic had been among those persecuted, though it wasn't inherently dark. Even necromancy, Jin's specialty, had nearly been wiped out.

Before I could pursue this line of thought, Ava called for our attention. She stood in the center of the room, her foot tapping lightly against the floor.

"There's something beneath us," she said, her voice hushed but excited. "A magical construct of some kind, heavily warded."

She knelt down, brushing aside dust to reveal an intricately patterned rug. With careful movements, she rolled it back, exposing smooth stone tiles—and at their center, a trapdoor, its edges nearly invisible against the surrounding floor.

"This is sophisticated work," Ava murmured, her fingers hovering just above the surface. Golden light emanated from her fingertips as she traced the outline of the wards. "Multiple layers of protection. The outermost is detection—it signals whenever someone approaches. Then concealment, diversion, and at the core... hmm, that's interesting."

"What is it?" I asked, kneeling beside her.

"It's a resonance lock," she said. "Keyed to a specific magical signature—likely the Solaryn bloodline. It's an uncommon technique, typically used for securing family vaults or heritage sites."

Throughout this exchange, I'd been aware of Advisor Koren watching us with increasing agitation. Now, he strode forward, placing himself between us and the trapdoor.

"You've exceeded your authorization," he said flatly. "Lord Daedric permitted you to examine the archive, not to break into sealed chambers beneath it."

"We're not breaking anything," I replied evenly. "We're investigating, as we're mandated to do."

"The area below this chamber is not part of your mandate," Koren insisted, his voice rising slightly. "It contains private family relics of no relevance to your investigation."

Jin stepped forward, the ancient scroll still in his hands. "If there's no relevance, why hide it behind such complex wards? Ordinary family relics wouldn't warrant this level of protection."

Koren's face tightened with anger. He reached into his robe and withdrew a small, crystalline object that pulsed with crimson light.

"Guard summons," Ava whispered, recognizing the device.

Before Koren could activate it, I caught his wrist. "Think carefully, Advisor. Summoning guards transforms this into a diplomatic incident. Is that what you want?"

For a moment, tension crackled between us. Then, the door swung open as Professor Li Zenith strode in, his silver-threaded robes billowing behind him. His timing was too perfect to be coincidental—he'd been monitoring our progress, anticipating trouble.

"Is there a problem?" Li asked, his voice calm but carrying an unmistakable undertone of authority.

Koren pulled his wrist from my grip, straightening his robes with exaggerated dignity. "Professor Li, your students are attempting to access restricted areas beyond their authorization."

Li glanced at the exposed trapdoor, then at the documents spread across the table. His eyes lingered on the architectural plans and the ancient scroll before returning to Koren.

"It seems to me," Li said carefully, "that they've made significant discoveries that warrant further investigation. The trapdoor appears to lead somewhere of interest."

"It leads to a private family vault," Koren insisted. "Lord Daedric would never permit outsiders to enter."

Li considered this for a moment. "Then let us ask him directly. I propose a compromise: we seal this room exactly as it is now, with our findings intact. Tomorrow, we'll return with Lord Daedric's explicit permission regarding the trapdoor specifically."

The suggestion was reasonable, designed to give Koren no grounds for refusal without appearing openly obstructive. Still, the advisor hesitated, clearly weighing his options.

"I will need to discuss this with Lord Daedric," he said finally.

"Of course," Li agreed. "In the meantime, we'll document what we've found here. The architectural plans, in particular, show some fascinating recent modifications."

Koren's eyes narrowed at the implicit threat: refuse our reasonable request, and we'll focus our attention on other suspicious elements we've already discovered.

"Very well," he said stiffly. "You may return tomorrow, provided Lord Daedric approves."

As we left the archive, the door being sealed once more behind us, I felt a strange mixture of excitement and frustration. We'd found something—historical records suggesting the palace had sheltered some persecuted group centuries ago, and evidence of recent structural changes. But the most significant discovery—whatever lay beneath that trapdoor—remained just out of reach.

Later, I reported our findings to Magnus in his temporary quarters. His expression remained neutral as I described the document and the recent architectural modifications, but I could see the calculation behind his eyes.

"A resonance lock," he mused when I finished. "Interesting choice for 'family relics.'"

"Jin thinks the archive confirms the palace once sheltered a persecuted magical sect," I said. "Given their isolation and secrecy, it fits with their historical pattern."

"But the question remains—why the recent modifications? Why the heightened security?" Magnus leaned back, fingers steepled together. "I'll speak with Daedric directly about the trapdoor. His reaction might tell us something useful."