Delusion of Vengeance

The spacious mansion of Crawley family, not too long ago so gracious and glorious, now the destruction brought by war or calamity. Even outside walls are charred from continuous flame that swallows the pride, love and very lives of many inhabitants. Most of the servants are sole survivors in this tragedy that was caused by a notorious criminal, the worst of the worst. Right now, they sit on the benches at the garden, silently weeping about the loss of their jobs as well as the landlord who was tragically killed by so-called Simon.

The guards are taking notes of what happened, along with the physical description of Simon, which is provided by a pale doctor. After a short interrogation, the guards from the town of Wülgenville step aside to give the victims some time to meditate. Their eyes are filled with both frustration and fear before the one who could commit such act.

"Not only did he kill the master of the manor, but also his teenage daughter! What kind of monster could he be?"

"Maybe it was caused by the darewolf that was recently spotted near Wülgenville? It really is hard to believe that they would be murdered for helping someone out."

"What if mister Michael Crawley did something to that, Simon? Maybe offended him in any way?" suggests one guard, but they unanimously shook their heads with one actually voicing their thought, "Even if so, it just does not make sense why he would kill lady Elen and burn down the mansion!"

So far, their brainstorm does not bring them anywhere, which is not surprising. Schöltum region is considered one of the safest among others, so much so that their government banned common currency in order to drop the crime rate even further. The most dangerous thing out there are monsters that come to these lands from the monster realm, thus suspecting a darewolf is one valid option, however, the number of witnesses makes it hard to believe.

One of the guards turns to another one, who sits further away from the group in the wagon, "What do you think, Heindrich? You were awfully quiet all this time. Do you have something on your mind?"

Heindrich looks at his comrades wearily, he slowly nods to the question and steps down from the wagon. All other guards also stand up and salute him, but immediately stop after Heindrich waves his hand. He looks at the ground for a second, then turns to the mansion to explain his theory.

"The description of the man named Simon… is awfully familiar, don't you think?"

The guards exchange looks with each other, some of them shrug, but then one suggests, "Well, his description matches that one kid who locked you up in the walls, but Wülgenville is quite far away from here, I do not think he could end up here on foot."

"The family took him in on their own volition, he was found by the road in an awful state," corrects Heindrich and then taps in thought his forehead, "The kid… Dusk could have slipped through our garrison, poisoned himself in the forest, or whatever happened to him, and then been taken away by the Crawley family."

"But to think that a kid would do something so brutal…"

The guards hesitate for a moment, scepticism rises among their ranks, however, Heindrich shakes his head and replies, "Even if I am wrong, it does not matter. Simon or Dusk showed himself to be a brutal criminal who needs to be brought to justice. Although we might have tight competition for his head in the future… When will Lady Crawley return home?"

"One of the maids said that in a few days."

Heindrich taps his forehead again and turns away to mount the wagon yet again, "Then we can't afford to waste time, we should find Dusk before her arrival, or else we will lose another life as well as let the lady stain her hands in blood even further."

The men salute Heindrich once again and prepare wagons to carry all the servants to the town. One of them writes a letter addressed to Lady Manuela Crawley, asking to change her point of destination and arrive in the town of Wülgenville.

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I ride my horse as far away as I possibly can. I pass several more lone buildings, realising that it is rather a community of nobles and not just one house stranded far away from civilization. Which makes me lucky that the night is rather tight and even in the moonlight it will be hard to witness a man riding a horse at great speed. Once there are no more branches along the way and the wilderness is rather dense, I slow down.

The blood rush finally stops, and I realise the situation I'm in. Not only did I kill a noble family, but I'm also stranded in the forest yet again. But at least now I have provisions, and a horse that does not seem to be bothered by the nature of the one who rides it. I gently pat the horse, to which the animal huffs and bobs its head a little.

I decide to stop by another field, but this time with more preparations set in stone. From the Crawleys' mansion, I took several more things besides food. An oil lamp, a flint, a bedsheet, a rope, and even some coal are a few things in my backpack. In the dark, I prepare a camping site, while also tying the horse to a nearby tree. I tramp the grass around two places to form circles; one of them is filled with coal and branches I picked up around, and the other is occupied by the bedsheet and a few twigs to form a flimsy shelter. After several minutes of struggle, I even manage to set the wood on fire, which reminds me of the Crawley mansion that I left behind.

Upon envisioning the dead bodies of both Michael and Elen, my hands tremble, although I am not really sure whether they do due to the excitement or horror of my actions. I do not think I am going mad, furthermore, I did not harm anyone else in the process, at least not involuntarily anyway. All I did was the assassination of pesky nobles who must have done plenty of terrible things to common folk. Why else would they relocate then? For sure to escape their sinful past! Thus, I am simply committed to the role of vengeance. Whatever they did, common folk just like me can sleep tight now, because they are no longer here.

…I sure would need to take more vengeance for someone else in the future. Ah, what a tragic role befalls upon me, however, there is no choice but to yield to the whims of many and strip those few from their riches. It sure is not right that despite the lack of currency, there are still those above and below. I certainly can't overlook that, moreover, there is no other way to get stronger. I need to do it for the sake of Solitaire as well, huh.