The Cowardly Baby Saint Sees Ghosts - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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# Chapter 67.
Step. Step. Step.
One footfall, then another—the sound that had matched ours perfectly moments before began to slip subtly out of sync. It came half a beat behind us now, but unmistakably, deliberately following.
Then, abruptly, the sound stopped.
“……It stopped,” Seria whispered.
I slowed my pace, straining to listen. Silence enveloped us.
But it was too perfect—a silence that made my skin crawl.
Then, impossibly close, I heard breathing.
Right behind us.
Something warm and damp brushed the nape of my neck.
Too cold for a human’s breath, too rhythmic to be animal.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Breathing that repeated in steady intervals, like a bellows working.
“……Seria.”
I clenched my teeth and whispered urgently.
“Don’t turn around. No matter what—don’t turn around.”
“……Yes.”
Her voice came barely audible.
Then that breath spoke again, distinctly now, whispering directly into the darkness.
“……Seria.”
It wasn’t my name. It was Seria’s.
Her body went rigid. Her nails dug into the palm of my hand so hard it nearly drew blood.
Rule 3 screamed through my mind like a siren.
Do not answer when you hear your name called.
“Don’t answer it. Promise me—don’t answer.”
The voice came again. This time lower, far gentler.
“……Seria. It’s me.”
Seria’s footsteps stopped completely.
“……N-Noah?”
She answered without thinking. All the color drained from her face.
‘Noah?’
Surely not the Noah I knew.
“Seria, no!”
I pushed aside the rising questions and grabbed for her desperately, but it was already too late.
Her eyes lost focus, beginning to waver.
Her pupils trembled violently, her breathing grew ragged.
“Noah……. Why are you here……. Noah, why…….”
“Seria, snap out of it! That’s not really Noah!”
“……No, that voice—it’s real. That’s Noah’s voice. How could I ever forget that voice?”
Seria’s body began to tremble like aspen leaves in wind.
Tears poured from her eyes. She stood there staring into empty air with unfocused eyes, as though she were no longer present in this moment.
“……I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you behind…….”
The moment I heard the name “Noah,” a memory struck me—sharp and sudden.
That ghost in the Lumen Orphanage, pleading with me desperately: “Please find Noah.” That name.
“You know Noah?”
I barely got the words out before the voice grew louder, wailing with anguish.
“Why did you abandon me! Why did only you survive!”
“That’s not—it wasn’t like that! I had no choice! I—”
Seria suddenly tried to turn toward the source of the voice.
Rules meant nothing now. She’d lost all reason.
In that instant, the entire bookshelf began to shudder with a deafening groan.
Rumble—
The old shelves began to collapse like dominoes, one after another.
From deep within, in sequence, it felt like the tremor of a massive creature rising to its feet.
Dust and splinters of wood rained down from the ceiling like a storm.
“Seria!”
I grabbed her arm and pulled with all my strength, though her mind was half lost. Her legs had no strength left—she could barely stand.
“Stay with me! If we keep this up, we’ll really die!”
Debris from the collapsing shelves scattered in all directions.
A massive bookcase crashed down beside us with a terrible roar. Without thinking, I pulled Seria close and twisted my body to shield her.
Wood splinters peppered my back, sharp and stinging, but there was no time to care.
I half-carried, half-dragged Seria along, pushing forward with everything I had.
The lantern slipped from my hand and fell, but I didn’t stop to retrieve it.
Tripping and colliding in the darkness, I just kept running ahead.
“Seria, snap out of it! That’s not Noah!”
I shouted desperately. The words seemed to break through—her eyes began to focus, however faintly.
Her voice twisted in an instant.
“Seriaaaaaaa!”
An inhuman shriek—something between a wail and a scream—shook the entire archive.
At that sound, the remaining shelves began to crack like glass, splintering and fracturing. From the rubble, a long shadow surged upward with terrifying speed.
Something barely worthy of the name “arm”—thin and whip-like in form—stretched toward us.
“We have to run, Seria! Push with your legs, please!”
At the far end of the shelves, a faint glow appeared. The Administrative Office.
I gritted my teeth and pulled Seria forward with all my strength.
Debris tumbled beneath our feet while that massive shadow bore down behind us, shattering shelves in its wake.
Each time the whip-like shadow’s tip brushed past my heels, a glacial chill crawled up my legs.
Before the Administrative Office door, buttons lay on the floor in a faint, glowing path.
Rule 5 flashed through my mind.
Ignore them and pass.
But now there was no choice. The buttons carpeted the entire floor like a minefield.
[Warning]
Multiple instances of Rule 5 subjects detected ahead.
If avoidance is impossible, passage with minimal contact is recommended.
“On three, then!”
One, two, three!
We plunged straight through the heap of buttons. Something crunched beneath our feet, and old framed pictures hanging on the walls clattered down, shattering.
“Argh!”
Seria screamed, her voice raw.
I summoned the last of my strength, shoved her through the Administrative Office door, and threw myself after her.
Bang—!
The door slammed shut on its own, with tremendous force. The impact knocked over several file cabinets, which clattered loudly. Dust poured from the ceiling in a white haze.
Silence fell.
The heavy shadow was gone. The shriek was gone. Nothing but quiet remained.
I breathed hard, checking on Seria.
She sat slumped on the floor, her eyes vacant, tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks.
Hugging her knees with both arms, her curled frame looked just like a small child’s.
“Seria, are you all right? Can you hear me?”
Seria didn’t answer. Still curled in on herself, she only repeated, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Her fingernails dug so deeply into her own arms that she was drawing blood.
I carefully wrapped my arms around her. I stroked her back slowly, whispering over and again that everything was okay, that I was here.
Whatever the reason, it was clear how deeply the name Noah had wounded Seria.
After a long while, her trembling gradually subsided. Still tear-stained, she spoke very quietly.
“I’m sorry… for all of this.”
“None of this is your fault. Don’t apologize for anything.”
I spoke as gently as I could, though my own heart remained heavy.
Questions tangled endlessly—what had happened between Seria and Noah, and why did that name coincide with the ghost of Lumen Orphanage’s request?
Deep in the room, old documents came into view.
“Let’s start with the documents. There are things we need to take with us.”
“Ma’am, you’re bleeding!”
Seria’s already pale face went even whiter.
Now that she mentioned it, my back had been aching since before.
“I’m fine—”
I wasn’t fine.
The moment I acknowledged the wound, overwhelming pain cut off my words.
“Ah…!”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry! Oh, there’s so much—”
I seized Seria’s wrist to keep her from spiraling into panic again.
“!”
“The documents.”
I ground out the words through clenched teeth.
“Documents and blueprints. We have to find them.”
“Y-yes, yes…!”
I felt certain that if my own composure cracked here, I wouldn’t be able to slip free instinctively.
Honestly, I wanted to ask right then who this Noah person was, what connection they had to Seria—but I couldn’t.
Tears streaming down her face, Seria began tearing the room apart.
I poured my Holy Power into the wound, sweat pouring from me like rain.
It hurt so much.
‘What if it scars?’
Blood was starting to seep through.
My heart hammered in my chest.
Sitting still felt suffocating—
“I-I found it!”
Seria’s face flushed with excitement as she held aloft a large sheet of paper.
“It’s a Blueprint!”
“…!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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