Editing Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden:Volume 5 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 6===

Click──clack──

Footsteps echoed in the corridor. Sometimes they would pass through large meeting halls and sometimes they would use the emergency stairs.

……It’s more complicated than a real labyrinth.

……Rather than the security system or security workers, this is the best defense system.

I should memorize the route as much as possible. Realizing just how naive that notion was, Sheltis inwardly clicked his tongue.

“────”

Yuragi, who was continuing on ahead wordlessly, came to a stop just before reaching the intersection.

“You’ve been peeking backwards since a little while, so are you wary of being followed?”

“No. You’re the one catching my interest.”

The woman turned around with a rare bitter smile.

“Your footsteps are so quiet that it makes me uneasy……even though I came here with boots that have low sound output, I’ve only been able to hear my own footsteps for a while.”

“This is also part of an escort’s job. It would bother the protege if the escort’s footsteps were too loud, right?“

“Ah, that’s my line.”

“Because─, if Ilis doesn’t talk about something, it feels like she might die of boredom.“

“I’ll remember that. But please try to refrain from talking.”

She cleared away the wry smile on her face. Just when he thought she was going to start walking, she pulled out the card key in her breast pocket.

“There is a door just ahead of this intersection that serves as the connection to building four. It is a combination of {{furigana|Tenketsu Palace|Sophia}}’s Mechanical Bureau and Shinryoku Theory Bureau which analyzes the Priestesses’ shinryoku information……you could say this building itself is a research organization. The other buildings take precedence over it publicly but it likely trumps the other three buildings combined in terms of classified information.”

A steel mechanical door was illuminated by a green emergency light. It was massive and solemn. Without Yuragi’s explanation, it would give off the overwhelming pressure of the entrance to a jail.

──Counterfeit check……’Normal‘──

──IC level check……’Second class‘──

──Unlocking the gate. Please enter within twenty seconds.──

In response to the card key that Yuragi held out, the door’s central portion lit up. Just like the sea splitting apart, the tightly shut mechanical door began opening to the sides.

“This is section 1 and section 31 is further in.”

“Can I ask you one thing? I don’t think section 31 was on the map we received in the lobby.“

“It is as you surmised. I’ll explain as we walk.”

Just as her words indicated, she walked not too slowly and not too quickly.

“It’s a ‘stray section‘ that shouldn’t exist. There are many areas in this building called that by the staff that work here. On the map, it looks like there was simply a planning error resulting in a blank space or it’s just a garbage collection area……amongst them is a room that contains secrets of the highest confidentiality which regular staff can never come to know of.”

“And that’s section 31 in this building?”

“Yes. As for how many of them are in each building, probably only the elder of the senate knows everything. I don’t know anything except the count.”

They walked straight north and more north.

They mindlessly continued down the empty corridor devoid of sounds and people.

“It’s a little late but I must confess that it was unexpected.”

He thought about the implied meaning in her words a little and──

“That I came along and not Monica?”

“Yes. I thought it would be Monica-sama and bet a lunch on it……but it’s a pity. I lost to Ishtar-sama.”

“……Does that mean”

“Yes. Ishtar-sama bet that it would fall to you yesterday. She also added that Ymy-sama would select you herself. Pardon me, but are you an acquaintance of Ishtar-sama’s?”

“……I shouldn’t be.”

“Is that so……it’s nothing, I was just a little curious.”

A little childishness showed through in her smile.

However, that smile was also wiped away in an instant and she suddenly came to a stop ahead of him.

What stopped her was ── a giant door lit with emergency lights.

“It’s an emergency exit.”

“Would this kind of suspicious {{furigana|authentication device|reader}} be on a normal emergency exit?”

Poking out on the side of the door was a box-shaped device.

“Please imagine a revolving door. Without a password, it’s just an ordinary emergency exit but only when authenticated with a special staff member’s authority, it will connect to the elevator within.”

──Counterfeit check……’Normal‘──

──IC level check……’Second class‘──

──Unlocking the gate. Please enter within twenty seconds.──

From behind the door came the sound of a large motor. With a little rumbling underfoot, The sound of two things joining together roared out.

“Fuu. Now then, Sheltis-sama.”

Looking fixedly at her card key, she pushed it against his chest.

“Please take this.”

“……But this is Yuragi-san’s card key.”

“The elevator ahead of here is for a single person only. Furthermore, you must have a staff member’s authority to move it ── that is to say, you require the authority that my card key possesses.”

She bowed with a smile.

That lonesome gesture conveyed everything. She would only come this far.

“This is as far as I can guide you. Please make sure to return my card key, okay?”

“……Thank you.”

He held fast to the card key given to him.

Turning his back on Yuragi who still had her head bowed deeply, Sheltis walked on.