Almond didn't immediately know what a blue hole was, but it clearly had something to do with the secret (★).
Achieving one star was the basic clear condition for Ran’s story mode, so it had to be done without fail. Even if he met the two star condition, it was useless if he didn’t achieve the one star condition.
"Seri's original house. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes...? Of course, I do...”
“Lead me there right now.”
“But that place... It's very dangerous!”
Surely, those who were sacred executioners or whatever would be on high alert there. Ran was adamant that they shouldn't go.
"No, just go with me. I'll handle everything."
Almond was confident that he wouldn't die, but Ran didn't think so at all.
"What... You don’t know the sacred executioners well. Just because you took down one Dalia doesn’t mean the rest will be easy. If they ambush you, you’ll die without knowing!"
"No. I'm saying if you're with me, that won't happen..."
They bickered about this for a while. Ran remained stubborn.
— Lol, do you think everyone thinks like you, Almond? Lol
— Nuthead lol. He thinks he can fight well so just go lol
— If Almond goes, maybe it will really work
— Why is he fighting with an NPC lol
— Do you think persuasion will work? Lol
It seemed like there was no turning back. Almond even considered leaving Ran behind and going alone.
However, he didn't know where Seri's house was and had no idea what might happen to Ran in his absence. Moreover, the problem was that Lete sometimes regained control of the body. That would be the end of everything if Almond lost control while on the move.
"Sigh. Okay, then..."
How should he handle this situation? Almond pondered while rubbing his chin.
— What are you thinking?
— They’re really grilling the walnut today lol
— ??? I shouldn’t have turned on the stream (rubbing his chin)
Almond clapped and perhaps had a good idea.
"Is there a university nearby?"
If they knew the name of Seri’s father, they could go to another university library and read the papers he wrote.
"We're almost there," Ran spoke as they crossed over a gentle hill.
Of course, Almond already knew without being told.
The message indicating a change in location appeared.
“I'm not sure if they'll let us use the library.”
— No, Ran... There's a dungeon in the university too... Called the graduate lab.
— Oh, there are campus couples here too. Let’s grab those pure hands lol
— The university is beautiful...
Perhaps a lecture had just ended as groups of lively students poured down the hill.
Many men and women paired up and chatted amicably. Ran watched them momentarily. Then shifted his gaze back up the hill.
"It looks like that's the library."
The building about three stories high had four sturdy stone pillars.
"... It doesn’t seem like there are guards around."
No one was guarding the entrance. They simply entered the library lobby. The ceiling had an open structure that let in the bright light.
A librarian sat at the end of the lobby.
"Hello. This is Klaus Library. Your name and major are... Huh?"
The librarian adjusted her glasses and tilted her head in confusion.
"Why are you kids here?"
Ran and Almond were currently middle schoolers. It was clear at a glance they weren't students in this place.
"We... wanted to take a tour. We're here to visit!"
The librarian looked perplexed, alternating her gaze between Almond and Ran.
"Um... I assume you haven't made a reservation..."
Almond poked Ran's side, trying to make him laugh forcibly.
Seeing Ran's slight smile, the librarian gladly accepted.
"You two are cute. Alright."
She unlocked a previously closed door beside them.
— So it's all about the face, huh?
— You nut... relying on looks again, huh? Lol.
— Ran, you keep learning bad habits from Almond!
As the two tried to move on excitedly, the librarian grabbed them by the back of their necks.
"If you cause trouble, you'll be thrown out immediately. And of course, you can't take any books."
The library remained silent except for the sound of turning pages. Ran and Almond walked cautiously and found a spot displaying research papers.
"Here," Almond whispered and poked Ran.
"Look for the name of Seri’s father. Quickly."
Ran knew the name as he had been in contact with Seri since her father's funeral. She couldn't leave his tombstone and blankly stared at it every day.
He searched for the paper written by Seri’s father by looking for the initials.
"I think this is it."
Ran pulled out a couple of research papers. The papers weren't thick, more like a magazine than an academic journal. Of course, that didn't mean the content was easy to understand.
"Now, let's just find Blue Hole in here."
The two took a research paper each and started skimming through them. The pages were filled with unfamiliar words, but that didn't matter. They were only looking for one thing.
'Blue Hole... Blue Hole...'
They quickly found it. The plainly stated, 'Blue Hole Research.'
Almond diligently read through that section.
To extract only the essential details:
[... When consumed, hallucinations occur and the pleasure center of the brain is activated...]
[... During an experiment with white mice, the mice only drank milk containing Blue Hole. Initially, they were lively, but soon...]
[... With long-term continuous consumption, hallucinations become frequent in daily life. It also became easy to induce the desired hallucinations. We call this state the Trance State...]
In summary, it was a drug. Why had Seri's father been researching such a drug? And why... had he been killed?
Almond showed Ran what he found and briefly explained. Ran probably didn’t understand the complicated terms, but Almond tried anyway.
"It's like opium, right?"
It seemed like Ran understood as he related it to something familiar.
"But it seems much worse."
Almond showed a sentence from the last paragraph.
"In this trance state, one can never stop taking Blue Hole."
This was a clear example of the drug's addictive nature. It was rare for scholars to use the word never. Moreover, whether one could quit a drug usually varied on the individual, but this paper definitively stated that a user couldn't quit.
"But why... did they try to stop this research?"
"They tried to stop it?"
"Yes. From what I can see, the cult killed Seri's father to stop this research."
"Do you think it's a coincidence? That her father was murdered right before you were brought in?"
"Then why didn't they just kill Seri too..."
"I don't know. Maybe after killing her father, they didn't find out what they wanted. So they wondered if the daughter knew something and observed you to see if you knew anything."
— Walnut's head’s rapidly spinning :O
— Detective Nut is on the case.
Almond glanced at the chat and grinned with satisfaction. His deduction seemed plausible.
"But... what are you talking about?"
"What did they want to find out, and what did they want to see if I knew?"
Almond scratched his head and avoided Ran's gaze.
— Haha, of course, he doesn't know.
— That's just like him, lol.
— I don't know, why don't you tell me?
Did the cult kill Seri's father to stop his drug research? If so, why did they also kill Seri? Did Seri know about the drug research as well?
"Could it not have been one of the cult's activities to eradicate drugs?" Ran cautiously speculated.
Well, one could think that way. At the age of a middle school student being brainwashed by a sect his entire life, Ran could think that way.
Almond, who was nearly thirty and experienced all sorts of social interactions, didn’t think that way.
He couldn't bring himself to say, ‘Because your cult wouldn't do something so unproductive and altruistic...’
Almond rummaged through the papers, looking for more clues. He already read the research on Blue Hole, but found another paper titled, Trance State. He wouldn't have thought it was related if he hadn't read the Blue Hole research.
Almond quickly turned the page. Soon, his eyes widened.
He recognized the words from somewhere.
[... In religious terms, some describe it as the vessel being opened. In other words, a state easily susceptible to possession...]
The vessel being opened. No, a state that was more susceptible to possession.
"What is this... Where have I seen this before?"
Almond showed this sentence to Ran.
"Possession... Oh, you mean the state of receiving a deity. Simply put, entities called champions. You didn't know? Aren't you a deity and Lete is the contractor?"
Almond never thought of it that way. His eyes widened in realization. Lete was a contractor, or in other words, an open vessel.
The premise was that Almond had entered his body as a deity.
'That's why Ran awkwardly mentioned me being a deity a while ago.'
He wondered what all that deity talk was about. Ran genuinely believed that Almond was a deity.
Suddenly, Almond grabbed Ran's shoulder as if something dawned on him. The startled Ran tensed up.
Almond hastily asked without paying any attention, "When did Lete... start acting like a contractor?"
"After he was severely injured. He was on the brink of death. Normally, kids who have opened the heavenly gate like that─"
"No!" Almond suddenly shouted.
Other students in the library sent glances of annoyance their way. They were simply kids making too much noise.
"I'm, I'm sorry..." Almond muttered an apology, but his gleaming eyes showed no remorse.
"It's the potion. Potion," he whispered into Ran's ear.
"The potion is a drug."
A notification rang out as if confirming Almond's speculation.
[Secret (★) Condition Cleared!]
Finally, all the secrets were revealed.
[Beginner's Tip: Contractors can take a deity into their body and use some of the deity's power as their own. It is believed that all contractors are purely chosen, but why and how they come to be remains a mystery.]