Chapter 170: Ghost Town Part 5

– Creak.

Even though there wasn't a breath of wind, the mansion door opened on its own.

I stopped in my tracks and stared into the open doorway. The inside of the mansion appeared to be swallowed in pitch-black darkness, but as I gazed longer, I began to make out the outlines inside.

The furniture and decorations were burned, but I could clearly see the luxury they must have had originally. A slightly crooked portrait hung on the wall; it depicted a couple who appeared to be husband and wife, though their faces were obscured by burn marks.

"..."

I stood at the entrance and briefly hesitated. Should I call Ayla's name or not?

In most horror movies, the moment someone steps into a house like this and says, "Is anyone there?" that's when all the ghosts or demons lurking in the place wake up.

I couldn't let myself fall into such a cliché.

I grabbed the door and opened it all the way, then tied the handle and the outside pillar tightly together with a vine. I wasn't about to let the door slam shut on its own when there wasn't even a breeze here.

Why is it always like that? In horror movies, the door always slams shut, and it never opens again. Every time I saw a scene like that, I cursed the protagonist. You idiot, you should've secured the door so it wouldn't close! You idiot, why are you closing the window there?! And so on…

Let's prevent that from happening.

I double-checked, even triple-checked, that the vine had secured the door firmly before stepping inside the mansion.

-Creak…

-Creak, creak, creak…

With every step I took, the wooden floor groaned loudly.

"..."

The mansion looked much bigger inside than it had from the outside. It felt almost as if space itself had been stretched by some kind of magic. The sense of the space was unnervingly strange.

That wasn't the only strange thing.

From the outside, it definitely looked like there had been a huge fire…

That's right.

From the outside, the mansion appeared as if it had suffered from a terrible blaze. The scorched pillars and collapsed bricks showed just how severe the fire had been. However, the inside of the mansion…

All that's left is soot.

Even the patterns on the wallpaper could be made out. How could the inside of the mansion be this intact when the exterior was so severely damaged, almost completely burned down?

"This really might be a haunted house."

I took a closer look at the crookedly hanging picture frame. The faces were blackened and unrecognizable, but below the shoulders, the damage was less severe.

A wizard couple, perhaps…

The man and woman in the painting both wore thick rings on their ring fingers in addition to their wedding rings. In the middle of the rings was a pentagram, the symbol of Kerayion, the god of magic and knowledge. As far as I knew, those rings were only given to wizards who had graduated from the Solen Academy; this was a sort of mark to prove their identity as wizards.

If the owners of this mansion were a wizard couple, the type of fire that occurred here might have been different from an ordinary one. The chances of it being caused by something ordinary, like cooking or stoking a fire, were much lower. Instead, the chances of it being a fire related to magic were much higher.

Anything related to magic is always a headache.

I should have brought Legion with me. I didn't want to wake him since he was sound asleep, but now I regretted leaving him behind.

– Creak…

I cautiously stepped inside. I wasn't here to investigate the mansion, so I planned to find Ayla quickly and get out as soon as possible.

– Whiiistle.

I let out a soft whistle. It was to call Ayla. However, aside from the faint echo of the whistle within the mansion, Ayla's familiar light footsteps didn't follow.

– Whiiistle.

I whistled once more.

– Thud, thud, thud!

This time I heard the sound of footsteps coming down from the second floor. I had been looking toward the kitchen, but when I heard the noise, I turned toward the stairs. As I rounded the corner—

– Whoosh!!!

Something large and pale, its form unrecognizable, leaped down from the top of the stairs and charged straight at me. In an instant, an icy chill, cold to the bone, wrapped around my body. I instinctively raised my arms to block it, but my body stiffened and I fell backward.

– Thud!

Before I could even groan from the sharp pain in the back of my head—

– Woof! Woof, woof!

Ayla's barking finally reached my ears. She must have spotted me lying on the ground because she rushed over and circled me in a panic before grabbing me by the neck, just like a mother carrying her pup. She then started dragging me out of the mansion.

"U-Ugh…"

As Ayla dragged me along, I struggled to find "it" through my blurry vision. But the last thing I saw before closing my eyes was the familiar portrait of that couple.

– Whimper, whimper…

I lost consciousness while listening to Ayla's desperate whimpering.

***

"Master! Are you awake?!"

When I opened my eyes, El's face hovered above me upside down. Ayla's round nose was also busy sniffing around frantically. I had no idea how much she had licked me, but my cheek was not just damp; it was soaked. Ugh, I felt dizzy. I raised my hand to signal that I was fine, then touched my forehead.

"The innkeeper said they heard scratching at the door, and when they checked, you were collapsed outside."

It seemed Ayla had dragged me all the way back to the inn. I didn't want the innkeeper to know I had gone out, but now it couldn't be helped.

"Where did you go? What happened?"

"That mansion, wasn't it?"

Lloyd suddenly asked. I nodded my head.

"You knew, Lloyd?"

"I saw you leave in the middle of the night. But I didn't follow. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Goodness, you should have followed!"

"Enough, El, enough. I'm not a child."

"But you collapsed like this!"

I chuckled softly and got up to prove that I was fine. With Ayla supporting me from behind, it was easier to stand. After taking the water El handed me and clearing my throat, I calmly began to explain.

"I saw Ayla leaving in the middle of the night. It seemed strange to me; you know Ayla isn't the type to act on her own like that, right?"

"…That's true."

"I thought something was off. It crossed my mind that maybe Ayla had sensed something before we did. So I quietly followed her."

– Whimper…

Ayla laid her ears back and burrowed into my arms with a worried look on her face. I stroked her head to reassure her before continuing.

"Ayla went straight to that mansion as if she was possessed."

"..."

"Lloyd, do you remember? When we left, the mansion's door was closed."

"I remember."

"But when I arrived, it was open, almost like it had been waiting for me."

"..."

"It can't be a coincidence."

I slowly explained everything. When I entered the mansion, what I saw inside, and finally, the strange thing that attacked me. Then I looked silently at the two of them.

"The inside of the mansion is intact. It's not an exaggeration to say that the only damage is a few scorch marks. You can even make out the patterns on the wallpaper."

"Wizards, huh…."

"It's highly likely this wasn't just an ordinary fire."

At that moment, El spoke up.

"What about the 'thing' that attacked you, Master?"

"Well, it's not certain yet, but… it could be a magical tool, a summoned creature, or perhaps even a golem."

I've never heard of a translucent golem, but considering this happened in a wizard's mansion, it's best to keep the possibilities open. I rubbed the still-aching back of my head and used [Wound Healing]. I could feel the swelling gradually go down.

"Then, right now…."

"El, I also want to dig into that mansion right away, but to be clear, it's private property."

Lloyd nodded his head silently.

"If we go barging in, who knows what could happen. It's better if no one finds out that I went inside."

"Then what about the man we saw the day before…?"

"We'll say we heard screams and went to the mansion, where we spotted him beyond the gate."

"Right."

We went downstairs for breakfast after roughly agreeing on a plan. The innkeeper who was busy preparing a meal due to the rare presence of guests could be heard bustling around. We sat at the slightly larger and more comfortable of the two tables.

"Oh, you're all up!"

The innkeeper was wearing a headscarf and holding a ladle and she greeted us warmly. El, as if suddenly remembering something, leaned in and whispered quietly in my ear.

"Master, I forgot to mention earlier, but Ayla… she scratched up the inn's door."

When I glanced over to where El gestured, I saw the tattered door. Oh, great.

"So, I told the innkeeper that once you woke up, you'd compensate for it…."

"…Right, of course. Well done, El."

Damn it. The door already looked like it was about to fall apart, but now… It won't cost much, but still, what a waste. Then again, Ayla did it to save me, so… I couldn't really complain. I gulped down some water to ease the frustration.

Breakfast wasn't anything fancy. Just grilled sausages and eggs, soup with beans and oatmeal, and rye bread. It seemed the innkeeper's cooking skills weren't particularly great. Disappointing, but nothing could be done. I made a sort of hotdog by placing the eggs and sausage on the halved rye bread, then casually struck up a conversation with the innkeeper as she tidied up the kitchen.

"By the way, what happened at that mansion?"

"Huh? Th-The mansion?"

"Yes, the mansion you can see from the village entrance. It looked like there was quite a big fire…."

"Ah, yes… there was. A big fire."

"What caused it?"

The innkeeper's eyes darted around nervously. She hesitated as if she was wondering how to respond, but she finally spoke before the silence became too awkward.

"The Dawson couple…."

Dawson. That must be the surname of the couple who lived in the mansion. I kept chewing on my sausage as I stared at the innkeeper.

"They were punished by heaven."

…What?