Lurking Through The Shadows

Lurking Through the Shadows
When I woke up, it was still very early. I hadn’t realized I’d ended up sleeping the entire night holding Aria’s hand. Since she was still asleep and didn’t notice, I quietly decided to leave the room and head to the library.
On the way, I ran into the princess. She asked me, with an insecure look:—“What are you doing up so early?”
I explained that I had woken up too early, so I decided to go to the library. At the same time, I asked her:—“And you, Princess, what are you doing up so early?”
She told me it was the first time she had ever received guests, and that’s why she was nervous.
I realized that her father’s protective nature had made his daughter suspicious of her surroundings. Feeling unsure, I excused myself and continued on my way to the library, while the princess seemed to be heading to the kitchen.
Once in the library, I began searching through books on magic, since I wanted to learn more powerful spells. None caught my attention—until I saw one. Ancient Magic. As I studied it, I immediately learned several new types of magic. Except for one: Abyssal Magic. Reading about it, I discovered it granted the user full control over darkness.
It fascinated me, because I remembered the man I had fought used dark magic—and strangely, it resembled what I had already learned before. Without realizing it, I had slept without my shirt, exposing the mark on my chest. Maybe that was why Aria had told me what she did last night. But since it was time to begin our mission, I decided to ignore it and continue with my research.
After breakfast, still embarrassed about last night, Aria and I hadn’t spoken since morning. As we made our way into the forest, everyone was alert—except Piko, who had woken up with Rei’s leg over him. Rei kept apologizing for it.
Nara took advantage of the situation.—“Did you two sleep well?”—she asked with a teasing smile.—“W-what are you talking about?”—Aria exclaimed with a trembling, nervous voice.—“Oh, you know… the two of you ended up sleeping together,”—Nara murmured.—“How did you find out?”—I asked.—“Easy. When I woke up, I noticed Rei had slept next to Piko, and when I passed by Aria’s room, I sensed traces of your scent inside.”
Aria and I, both embarrassed, tried to play it off. Suddenly, Lysbeth called for us, saying she had found something.—“What is it? What did you find?”—Rei asked.—“An old cabin,”—she explained.
I decided to go in first to make sure it was safe. It looked abandoned, so I signaled the others to enter. Inside, we began investigating. On an old table, I spotted a book, papers, and a scroll. Looking closely, I realized they were the missing pieces from the castle: the remaining page of the Abyssal Magic book, the missing page from the Summoning book, and the book I hadn’t found at the castle.—“The teleportation book!”—I shouted in astonishment.—“What’s wrong?!”—everyone asked.—“This book… with this book I’ll finally understand how that man came to my world,”—I explained, anger flashing in my eyes.
As I studied it, I learned several types of teleportation magic, but also discovered it required an enormous amount of mana. With my current mana, I could only teleport about thirty kilometers.
Looking at the scroll, I found instructions on how to use teleportation magic between worlds, and even how to return. There were also details on summoning people from another world.
The strangest part? It was written in Japanese!—“How in the world does someone from this world know Japanese?!”—I shouted, overwhelmed with doubt.
—“Calm down, Kaoru. We need to evaluate this step by step,”—Aria said, trying to soothe me.
I managed to calm myself, but the thirst for revenge still burned inside me. Suddenly, Piko led us to a shed. Upon inspection, we discovered it concealed a massive dungeon. We entered to search for clues, and at its center, we found a high-rank Orc Chief brimming with mana, bound by chains of dark magic. Most likely, its presence in the dungeon was what had caused so many monsters to spawn without restraint.
Consumed by rage, I drew my sword and slew the Orc in a single strike. The swing was so fast and powerful that I ended up destroying the entire dungeon.
After collecting everything, we set out back to the castle.
On the way, I sensed a powerful presence—it reminded me of the dark man, though weaker. I chose to ignore it. When we reached the castle, we reported everything to the king, explaining that the monster problem had been resolved. And whoever had captured that Orc had to be incredibly powerful.
I concluded that it must have been the dark man, since all the evidence pointed toward him.
But I hadn’t realized yet… the presence I had sensed earlier had followed us back to the castle.
Find out what happens next, in the upcoming chapter of Revenge in Another World.