Aozaki Aoko Case File [471] (Patreon)

The entrance to the hidden basement was right on the teleportation device on the top floor.

Aoko chanted a short incantation, activating the ring on her right finger. A cool light shone from it, bathing the circular platform.

Originally, the platform only had a descend button, since the fifth floor was the highest. But under the ring’s light, an extra button appeared to the left of “descend,” labeled “Basement.”

Aoko nodded to the others, who all gathered on the platform. She pressed the button, and they vanished from the tower’s top floor.

At first, except for Simon (a half-human with dark vision), the team could see nothing but darkness.

When Aoko raised the ring, magical lamps in the basement lit up one by one, dispelling the magical darkness.

It was a small room, crammed with bookshelves and experimental devices.

From the teleportation platform, the room was shaped like a C, with staggered levels, filled with all kinds of equipment.

Besides alchemy devices like condensers, distillers, and extractors, there was a prototype arcane furnace that converted magic into electricity, now covered in cobwebs and clearly unused for ages.

The C-shaped room spiraled upward. Some walls had been cracked by invasive tree roots, but fortunately the lab equipment was mostly unharmed. It seemed the roots had grown in before the lab was built.

“Look, those are alchemy materials!” Simon said excitedly, inspecting some sealed jars. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s the ‘Tongue of madness’ that Omeluum needs!”

“And the formula?” Aoko asked, coming over for a look. “Any clues?”

“Well, if the materials are here, the formula should be too,” Simon said, flipping through dusty tomes and parchment. “This one’s an experiment log. Give me a moment...”

Doric and Holga weren’t interested, but Xenk headed straight for the bookshelves.

“Look at this!” Xenk pulled a red-covered book. “It’s titled Excavating the Netheril Enclave. That’s a city from the Netheril Empire—a floating city! Can’t believe there’s a history record here!”

Edgin didn’t care about any of it; he just wanted treasure. Sadly, there wasn’t any gold or gems in the basement.

Aoko continued forward, climbing the spiral steps to a raised platform with a third alchemy station.

From the traces, this was the tower master’s last-used lab table. There was even an unfinished experiment log.

Aoko’s eyes lit up—she found a parchment note, covered in fine Elvish script, from the same hand as the one upstairs.

Unlike the purely emotional poem, this was a letter. The sender was a woman named Lenore, addressed to an inventor named Yrre.

From the letter, Lenore and Yrre had once shared happy times in the tower, but Yrre eventually left for various reasons.

Lenore’s letter was full of longing, hoping Yrre would someday return to live with her again, but from the signs in the tower, this wish never came true.

On the back of the letter, in a different handwriting, a short line was written:

“I waited, until the Month of Storms. I will always wait for you, but you never returned.”

Logically, Aoko deduced this was Yrre’s note. He had returned, but Lenore was gone, so he left again, full of regret.

It was a sad story, but Aoko wasn’t the sentimental type, so her mood wasn’t much affected.

But her diviner’s intuition was triggered, drawing her attention to a box near the alchemy table.

It was a cobalt-blue rectangle, adorned with golden inlays and a brass arcane lock.

Aoko considered using Knock to open it but suddenly remembered: she touched the purple gem ring to the brass lock, and with a click, the lock disengaged.

She set the lock aside, pried open the lid—and instead of treasure, found only a dusty, ancient staff.

Despite its worn appearance, the staff radiated a stubborn magical glow, soothing to the soul. Aoko felt compelled to pick it up.

Normally, she would be suspicious of such a compulsion, but this time, all her senses told her it was right.

After a few seconds’ hesitation, she grasped the staff. Its light grew stronger.

Strangely, only Aoko could see this light; her companions noticed nothing.

As Aoko pondered this, her consciousness was suddenly pulled from her body, swept away by the staff’s radiance into the deepest part of the Weave.