Chapter 76: Ghost Footage.
[And just like that, time gradually passed...]
[Today's training period finally came to an end, and very soon it was time to go to sleep at night.]
[For various reasons over the past two nights, you have been unable to sleep well.]
[And tonight, you decide to take the initiative to strike back and thoroughly investigate the Haunted Incident in the hotel...]
June 25, night.
Only five days remained until Gil Fest.
"...All done."
Inside the hotel room, Eikou carefully placed the surveillance camera in the correct position.
He connected it to his phone, and only when the image from the camera appeared on the phone screen did it count as complete.
"Sir Eikou, what are you messing around with now?"
Gawain and Tristan leaned over curiously.
"A surveillance camera."
"We can tell it's a camera, but we don't understand why you're setting up a camera in the room."
Tristan asked blankly.
"Uh, how should I put it..."
While checking the surveillance feed on his phone, Eikou adjusted the angle of the camera.
"Tonight I reported the hotel's Haunted phenomena to Finn-sensei, but he didn't believe it at all. He even said I was timid and scaring myself. I got so mad that I ran to the nearby shop and bought three cameras in one go, set them up in the room and common areas, and prepared to collect evidence and shove it right in his face."
After hearing that, Gawain couldn't help laughing.
"Haha, since when did you become so rich? Just for such nonsense, you even specially bought cameras. Those things aren't cheap."
"They're not cheap at all, it cost me a whole pile of QP..."
Eikou showed a pained expression, but still spoke firmly.
"But it's definitely worth it, because there really is a ghost in our dormitory too. After I'm done using them this time, I can bring them back to the dorm later and set them up again, and catch that ghost woman hiding there as well. Let's see who still dares to knock on my door in the middle of the night after that."
"Hahaha."
Tristan and Gawain looked at each other and laughed.
"What are you laughing at, I'm telling the truth!"
Eikou emphasized irritably.
"We believe you, it's just that we think you're really unlucky."
"Married women aside, even dead woman refuse to leave you alone."
Gawain smiled wryly and shook his head.
That's why—why is it assumed by default that the ghost must be female?!
According to Melusine's description, that ghost clearly looked very much like King Hassan. No matter how you look at it, there's no way it could be female!
Gawain leaned closer with some curiosity and looked at the camera angles Eikou had recorded.
They were, in order, the hotel corridor, their room, and the kitchen.
"I can understand the first two, but why does the kitchen also need one?"
He asked, puzzled.
"Because that was Finn-sensei's request. This lousy hotel doesn't even have a single camera. Since we're installing them anyway, we might as well monitor the kitchen too, because over the past few days someone has been secretly eating the breakfast prepared for the next day..."
Before he could finish speaking, the two Knights of the Round Table spoke in unison:
"If Our King wants to eat, then just let her eat. We're begging you, don't catch her. At worst, we Knights of the Round Table will just pay the extra food cost out of our own pockets!"
Why did the two of them immediately assume Artoria was the culprit the moment they opened their mouths?! Aren't other Servants also capable of sneaking food?!
"In any case, the one who reported it was Medea Lily. Today she complained to the hotel that the bento she personally made was eaten by someone else, so I'm just helping find the culprit while I'm at it."
[To be honest, not only Finn-sensei, even Gawain and Tristan feel that you are making too big a deal out of this.]
[It doesn't matter. You know very well that this hotel definitely has a ghost appearing.]
[When you wake up tomorrow morning, just replay the footage from the cameras, and they will understand how serious this matter is.]
[Tonight, you don't even lock the door anymore. After all, if someone wants to break in, they can get in anyway. If a ghost really comes in, you will directly call Tristan and Gawain and let the other party know what proper manners are.]
[And just like that, the night gradually grows deeper...]
[Because of the Debuff, you quickly begin to feel sleepy...]
[You soon fall fast asleep...]
[Zzzzzzzz...]
[After a long time...]
[Around midnight, you once again wake up from the heat.]
[When you wake up, you feel slightly short of breath, because three thick layers of blankets are pressing down on your body. It is so hot that you are drenched in sweat, and the bed sheets and pillow beneath you are completely soaked through.]
[Tristan and Gawain—those two actually kicked their blankets over onto you!]
Two in the morning.
Looking at the three layers of blankets covering his body, Eikou wiped the hot sweat covering his forehead.
He glanced again at the two 'Good Brothers' sleeping soundly beside him, unable to stop himself from wanting to curse.
"You two bastards, can you let me have one peaceful night already..."
Eikou kicked the blankets back, then lay down again on the bed sheets that were already soaked with sweat.
"So hot, so hot… should I go take a shower or something..."
But as soon as he thought of that, he felt that something was off. There were still Haunted Incidents going on outside—what if he ran into a ghost while going out to bathe?
Wait a second...
In his drowsy state, Eikou suddenly remembered that he had just installed surveillance cameras tonight.
His sleepiness instantly faded by more than half. He sat up straight on the bed and curiously opened his phone.
In this state, drenched in sweat, it was hard to fall back asleep anyway—he might as well take the opportunity to check the footage from the cameras.
He was indeed very concerned about whether a ghost figure had been captured tonight or not.
[Ghost Footage, start!]
[You open your phone and begin replaying tonight's camera footage.]
[1, your own room]
[2, the hotel corridor]
[3, kitchen]
"Let me first help Medea Lily investigate the person who's been secretly eating the food..."
Eikou opened the footage from the kitchen camera first.
What appeared before his eyes was the image from eleven at night—that is, the kitchen after closing time, when everyone had gone to sleep.
"..."
Within the camera frame, a small and cute figure wearing a maiden-style apron sneaked into the kitchen late at night. She looked around cautiously, and only after confirming that there was no one around at this time did she let out a sigh of relief.
Could this be the person who was secretly eating the food?
Eikou widened his eyes and leaned closer to the screen to look carefully.
No, this silhouette—no matter how you looked at it—was exactly like... Medea Lily herself.
Sneaking alone into the kitchen in the middle of the night, and even wearing an apron full of girlish vibes—unsurprisingly, she must have come to cook?
"Very good, everything is prepared."
After confirming that there was no one around, the young Medea adjusted her apron, straightened the witch-shaped chef hat on her head, then opened the thick cookbook in her hands and began reading it with an extremely serious expression.
Oh oh, so she came alone to the kitchen late at night to cook because she didn't want to disturb others?
Umu, that's pretty cute.
Even though she was still just a young girl, she already carried the feeling of a good wife and loving mother once grown up.
"Then, let's begin the summon..."
Only to see Medea flipping through the book in her hands while waving her wand, as the magical energy she released quickly formed into a summoning circle.
Wait—why did she suddenly start drawing a summoning circle?!
Eikou was completely dumbfounded, staring at the bizarre scene in the camera.
Moreover, that pitch-black summoning circle that had just appeared—one look was enough to tell that it was extremely vile, full of blasphemy and evil. In the middle of the night, what kind of monstrous creature was she summoning in the kitchen?!
So the thing she was holding wasn't a good wife–style cookbook at all, but it's something like Prelati's Spellbook?!
Medea Lily—could it be that every night, she was actually the culprit behind those haunted incident cases?!