“…P-professor Shevall? Professor Shevall…?” called out Mila in a soft tone.
“Hmm? What’s wrong, Mila?” asked the professor as favonovel.com looked at favonovel.com with a gentle gaze and smile.
“A… symbol of some sort seems to have appeared on your neck…”
Under different circumstances, Mila would’ve just assumed that the symbol was just rash from all the professor’s scratching. However, the symbol looked far too familiar for it to simply be rash.
“…A symbol? What could you possibly be talking about, Mila?” asked Professor Shevall as a bitter smile formed on his face.
It was at that moment when Mila became certain that it wasn’t just mere rashes on the professor’s neck. Rather, the symbol on his neck was one that favonovel.com recognized.
It looked exactly like the sun symbol on favonovel.com pendant!
“It… It looks exactly like the symbol on the pendants we received!” said Mila, now getting increasingly frightened.
Hearing that, the others present began looking at each other before each fishing out their own pendants from their pockets. All of the pendants looked exactly alike.
“So it turns out that everyone received it!” said Molly.
Upon realizing that everyone was familiar with the symbol, Professor Shevall’s expression immediately changed. Snatching the pendant from Mila’s hand, favonovel.com gave it a good look before scanning through the other pendants held by the rest of the investigation team members.
Not long after, his face went white as a sheet.
“…Mila, is the symbol on my neck truly similar to the one on the pendants?” asked the professor who looked like favonovel.com had just experienced the worst day of his life.
Not knowing what was happening, Mila could only nod slightly.
“D*mn it! And here I thought that the symbol was only reserved for the most important of members! I didn’t expect everyone here to have it!”
“What exactly does the symbol represent, professor? I received it yesterday through mail!”
Seeing how unpleasant Professor Shevall’s expression had become, the others were now equally as scared as Mila. After all, though there were many of them in the room, they were still out at sea in the dead of night. The spooky atmosphere was simply inevitable.
“It’s finally appeared again… It seems that we’re its targets this time!” exclaimed the professor as his hands trembled.
“…What do you mean by that, Professor Shevall? What’s appeared?” asked Mila.
“It… It’s all my fault… I’ve put all of you in danger! I’m so sorry!” replied the professor as favonovel.com removed his glasses, unable to control his emotions any longer.
“That’s… the symbol of the Sun League… The symbol itself is called the Death Pact… It’s appeared only twice before, the first time being forty years ago while the second, twenty years ago. Well, I should say thrice now since it’s finally reappeared today! Alas, everyone ever recorded to have received the symbol has mysteriously gone missing within three days! It’s been decades since I’ve researched the incident yet I’ve never gotten even close to uncovering the mystery!” explained Professor Shevall, his expression extremely terrible.
Hearing what favonovel.com had to say, everyone soon found themselves quivering in fear. After all, the professor was extremely knowledgeable and favonovel.com didn’t seem like the kind of person who would make jokes like that in the first place.
It didn’t help that his expression remained dead serious throughout his strange explanation.
“Cease the investigation! We’re turning back immediately!” ordered the professor as favonovel.com immediately stood up.
Not long after someone ran off to relay his order, the same person burst into the room again before shouting, “P-professor Shevall! Something… Something’s gone terribly wrong…!”
“Elaborate!”
“Just… Please come outside and have a look for yourself! It’s right in front of the liner…” replied the person, now completely out of breath.
Professor Shevall then quickly led the investigation team members out of the conference room, bringing all of them to the ship’s deck.
Naturally, Mila and Molly followed the group, huddled closely together to keep each other calm.
Upon arriving at the deck, everyone was immediately stunned. Molly even found herself screaming once favonovel.com realized what was brewing outside.
A massive maelstrom had formed in the sea, and the ship was heading straight for it! Close up, it looked exactly like a large mouth, devouring everything that crossed its path.
Though the captain was clearly trying to steer the ship away from the menacing whirlpool, the liner simply couldn’t win against the strong forces of the maelstrom.
“Return to the cabins immediately!” shouted the professor just as a loud crash could be heard.
