Chapter 10 - First Tale X

When I turn to face the maid that came with me I found that she was inside the library looking around the pile of burned books. What is she doing there? Is she that curious? Wait... she is staring intently at that pile. Did she find something? Well, I should take a look too while keeping an eye for any detail in the room. There is something bothering me when I look inside, but I can't quite put my fingers on what it is. May as well enter and try to find out than let it continue bothering me.

As I stepped inside, that feeling only got stronger. The first thing I did was to look around me. There are spaces between the books placed on the bookshelf. The open espaces look random and there are not many together... except in one place where I can see a larger number of books are missing.

That place is... if I am not wrong, around where that book was? Could I be mistaken? If that is the case then... will that book be on that pile? I should take a look at the burned books, there may be something in there, besides ashes of course.

Now I am standing beside Miss Curious Maid looking for any worthy clue located in the charred remains of the books. What a shame. They look quite expensive judging by the quality of the cover. I did not have time to read much last time I was here... and now they are no more. Putting aside my sadness due the lost of material to read, I found what I thought. Some of the letters in the title are messy or unreadable. But putting together the ones I could read and the cover, it has a really high chance of being what I was holding earlier in this place. Although the question remains... Who did this and why? .

More people are gathering here so I better take my leave before a larger number of curious eyes comes. I glance at Miss Lost-in-thoughts but she is not paying attention here. I think whether to call to her or not. But since the opportunity to lost her came up, I can use this chance to wander on my own... hopefully that little girl does not follow me.

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I took my leave and I saw no one following me. That is good, that girl and that maid, having too people follow you can be quite taxing.

Now that I left behind my 'pursuers', I need to figure out what to do. Not many options are left... I don't want to wander around and then find myself in front of any difficult to deal person, but I have not choice. Meeting other guests will have to be done sooner or later. I initially thought of looking for guards but I am guessing that they will be on edge due that fire in the library. So, I will do whatever comes next, and that is meeting my 'fellow' guests.

The problem is... I do not know where to look. I have no clear understanding where they might be. Oh well, this will take a while so I better start looking.

Should I take a look outside or maybe I should continue to explore this manor? I have not finished of checking this whole place so I might've missed where other people gathered to chat. Hmmm, I will take a look around the manor and then start looking inside again. Standing here will just waste my time after all.

Hmmm, That is... and who is the other person?, It looks like the next on my list will have to change. I should follow them. It seems it will be more interesting.

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That old man sure can walk fast, it looks like he does not need his cane that much. The person who is walking beside him seems to be struggling a little bit to keep up with the old man... maybe there is a problem with him. His left leg seems to be the reason. He slows somehow when he is going to step with it. I can not tell much from behind him. Only that he seems rather short... around 160 cm maybe? He also walks somewhat hunched so I can't be sure. He has short black hair and is wearing some sort of uniform... I have not seen all the workers here but it does not look like the same kind they use here... he might've come from outside this place for work. That uniform is a simple dark blue mameluke. That does not tell me much about him since he is not carrying any kind of tool with him.

I followed them until I saw the old man take a familiar path. Not again... not that damn maze again. I hesitated slightly but I still went after them from a distance. This is probably bad idea since I got lost last time and that crazy old man knows the way better than me. But I find him a really suspicious individual due his 'conexion' with my employer. The more I know from such a person the better. Besides, he is bringing that man to some secluded place, it could be a more normal situation if you looked from the perspective that he is guiding the worker to his new work place, but said man does not have any kind of tool. I doubt he brought him this far just to sight see.

They have not shared a word since I first spotted them. I can't help but wonder if it is because they are usually not that talkative or they just don't want others to hear what they are saying.

Oh, while I hesitating whether to get closer or not they started talking. I can hardly hear what they are saying. I leaned as close I could without losing my cover and focused the best I could what they were talked, sadly I can't seem to hear what is said fully.

"Here....

They........ Maybe...

No.... Now...."

Damn, that is practically useless information.

"Are... sure? This....

possible... fastest is tonight... Alone..... Will you..."

This time I could hear more, that worker person is speaking as low as the old man... but not enough to for me to hear completely.

"...time. It... soon....

failed before.... end... missing...

done..."

What are they talking about? They mentioned 'tonight' and 'failed before', Will they do something tonight? But what? Why did they fail before? I am lacking a lot of information, having such a half-assed info will do more damage than good, if at least knew what they are talking about I could try to look info from a different source. Maybe someone will know.

"Enough... will... finally...

now. Do.... never.... ...them"

"I will..... but.... That....

Surely.... then... how.... it"

It looks like they are finishing their chat so I better leave now, hopefully I won't get lost...again. It is shame that I could not hear anymore. But I at least got something from it. Whatever they are doing will be tonight. I need to keep my eyes wide open for any kind of lead, it won't be funny if I get mixed up in something bad by accident. I also need to do a revision of the title of that old man. Hopefully he won't take the 'crazy' literally. Urgh, this work will be easy she said, it won't take too long to finish it she said. It is probably some kind of prank she said. Damn, I feel like firing her right now. But I do not have a phone... argh. Ah, wrong turn. I better focus on the way out and stop grumbling. I will deal with her later.

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Thankfully I was not discovered, but I was still curious so I retraced my steps to where they were talking to take another look. Sadly even when I found nothing. Now, I wonder if this place has anything in particular to do what they are talking about or they were referring to somewhere else. I once more take a look at the statue. A knight with a sword and a shield. The same one from yesterday, that knight... I wonder if the reason why it's pointing to the manor has a deeper meaning. The conversation the old man had was also here so I can not help but to feel that there might be something here. I should take a better look around, carefully... slowly.

Why does it have to be surrounded by water?

I get close to it and start inspecting the border of the pound that surrounds it.

This does not seem natural, there is some sort of stone around the border. Since I lack the corresponding knowledge about it, I can not tell how it is... but I at least can tell it's still sturdy, so the quality is remarcable. I did try get closer to the water but I am not able to peer deeper into the water. It should be considerable deep. Then again, I am not sure how much. I also don't feel like taking a swim to find out.

I then change my focus to the statue when I get close. I start inspecting carefully the body itself and then the stand where it rest.

I can't really find anything at the front... What about the back? Hmmm, there is no foothold here to walk around. I think I can... urgh, climb the... argh, statue take a look behind it and I made it. This clothing makes hard to climb. Now, let's see, there is... nothing. Yes, yes, nothing. What a waste of ti... me? There is a small carving here, quite difficult to notice but it is here.

What is this? Some kind of... symbol? It could be some sort of sign that the one who made this statue left behind too... I can't be sure since that is all I found during my search. The carving looks old some it probably means that both the statue and this carving have been here for a long time. I wonder how long though. I at least have my notebook left, and thanks to some kind soul that 'donated' their pencil I can draw the symbol on the notebook. Trusting my memory is not always a good idea... after all I did forgot my pen in the car and had to 'find' other means to use the notebook, I did not think too hard about my lack of writing tools until I lost my phone. Argh, my phone. It was a new one, that bastard that stole it... I will find him and get back my stuff. This symbol is actually quite strange, it is not something usual to use an eye on a symbol unless they are trying to express something in particular. Now, an eye and... a ring? They are inside a circle an small arc (?) connected to the it at what I believe to be the top. Never seen something like this before. What could this mean? Right now I have little knowledge about this manor. But I am not sure if learning too much would be a good idea. I also have to do what I came here to do. This is complicated, part of me wants to continue digging about what I just found... but another part is telling that this will be incredibly troublesome. Anyways, I have to remain in this manor for some time, so I can try to find out more about this symbol in the mean time. Besides, if what that they said holds true, something will happen tonight.

Getting down from the statue was easier than climbing it. Now, I have leave. Thankfully this time I could do it very quickly after having walked this path several times.

Just as I step out, I spot several guards walking around. As soon as they saw they started walking this way.

It shouldn't be that they are coming for me because I was climbing that statue, right? Just before I started climbing I checked and no one was looking. I also keep my eyes open during my search. Wait, that is not the important point. What if this some kind of expensive piece and they start asking money? No way, they are really wealthy people, they would not do something like that... they wouldn't, right?.

Actually, they could just be looking behind me. Yes, they by coincidence were looking for a isolated spot and it occurred to them use the garden by chance when they saw me. Yes, that is probably it.

They stop infront of me and one of them says.

"Sir, Mr. White is looking for you"

Damn, I knew it. It never goes as one wish for it huh. If they ask for payment then I am done for.

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Now, I am on my way to meet that old man, Mr. White. I tried asking the guards that came looking for me but... they only know that I was being called. Not sure why that is, so here I am. Another thing that is worth mentioning is that Miss Maid also came along. While we were walking near the parking area she was there waiting for us... or me in this case. She was widely smiling when she saw us, well me. But, the funny thing is that her eyes were not laughing. Maids can be scary, she in particular looks menacing when she stood there smiling without saying a word. Although I am not sure why. Could it be that other maid scolded her because she left me alone? If she was scolded then perhaps she would hold a grudge... no, that look certainly expressed such a thing. How troublesome.

No words have been expressed since we got in the vehicle so the mood is quite awkward. There is no way I can just start asking other stuff to the guards like this so I can only look outside.

During the ride I noticed a bridge that is apparently being... repaired? I mean, I see they prepared all to fix it but I see no one working there. How odd, I wonder if it's a rest day. But still, what to say. What could've happened to it? Is it because the bridge was too old? No, if that were the case I doubt that with their economical power they would just let it be. After all, it is related to their safety. Hmmm, safety huh. I have found a few dangerous things already so I guess that my client have a solid reason to be afraid of coming here. No matter what, since that is proved somewhat... I have to find out why. Not even 24 hours have passed and I was a victim of theft during my sleep, I also happened to see a small fire inside the manor. Someone with a weak heart would've found it hard to bear.

With those thoughts in mind I distracted myself during the whole ride. I could not find any answers to my questions so I can only gather more information. Good thing is that the little girl did not follow us... I think. That is right, there is no way that she could follow a vehicle, right?. Being followed is never a good feeling... even if it is a little girl the one that does it. Hmmm, maybe I watched way to many horror movies.

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We arrived soon to the same building as last time. Now that I can take a better look, this building sure stands up. There is nothing else nearby. So it is difficult to not notice it. It is surrounded by a large number of trees, so they probably build it in this forest and not the other way. You can tell since a lot of them look old. There are a few roads that form the way to access this location, although they are mostly for vehicle traffic, I can also see a pathway for people to walk on foot. This place different from I felt yesterday night, have smooths roads. Maybe the outskirts are not properly maintained for they lack of human presence. I really find it odd, but there may be a reason for that. The road I took to come here clearly existed at some point, it was pointed by some locals. But when I tried to use it, I found out the state it was in. Abandoned, that clearly described its state. Without another choice I just followed along, even when I saw those signs. After all, I found it odd. Those signs were only found in the vicinity of the road, I tried walking a bit away from the road, and I did not find more of them. There was clearly a feeling of wrongness so I kept walking, but it took me longer that what I thought and the weather had gotten worse. Since I was already there I decide to satisfy my curiosity at least. Now, as I kept walking I found myself infront of a fence, that I learned later was from this property. The interesting thing though, was that it was damaged enough to let a person come through. This is a serious problem when you think about all the preparations that were made. At that time I decide to enter to warn the people from the property, and also to ask for the address to my destination. Luckily or not, this was actually the place I had to come.

As I think about it, it is funny how things have turned up. Yesterday I did not think I would find myself with all that happened. I just thought that it would be a rather simple job, since I suspected that my client could be paranoid. I had those kind of clients before so I could not avoid having that line of thoughts. Taking a moment to recall my earlier mentality, I can only feel that I was... no, I guess I still am, yes, I am naive, am I not?.