Save Log 4: The Mansion With Nineteen Maids (And one butler)

Part 1

Another usual morning at Grodmin's house. But this time, instead of getting ready to go to shop, I am getting ready to move out from this place. Finally, I found a place to stay. No need to rely on Sylfia and Grodmin anymore.

" Are you really gonna move out Nii-san?"

" Yeah, I got a place to stay now."

" You didn't have to do that lad. We were happy to help you out and let you stay here."

" Thanks, I really appreciate it. But, I can't just always stay with you and be a drag."

" You were never a drag to us nii-san. Right father?"

" Yea. You are like a son to me now.", said Grodmin.

" I'm glad you think of me as a son. I also think of you as a father."

All of a sudden Grodmin started to cry,” I can't believe my son is leaving me behind."

" Don't make it sound like that! You will make it harder for me to leave this place."

" If you really go away, then, then...I won't call you nii-san anymore. Hmph!"

" Why are you two making it worse?! You can't just force me to stay."

Both of them became quiet. I know how they feel. I don't want to leave this place either. Especially Sylfia. I won't be able to hear nii-san from her every day anymore.

" Hey, what if I work at the shop. WIll you forgive me for that?"

" I guess...I can. But you have to come visit our house sometimes too."

" Alright, I will take you to my new house then."

" It's a deal.", we shook our hands to seal the deal.

" Alright time to go then.", said Grodmin.

We got on the carriage that Grodmin owns. I told them to stop me by the shop, I will walk the rest of the way. But they didn't listen and dropped me at the guild.

" Don't forget to come to the shop regularly. Or you will get fired.", said Grodmin dramatically.

" That's a bit too harsh."

" Bye-bye nii-san."

Sylfia waved at me. I waved back at her. I'm totally going to miss them. After they got mixed into the crowd and out of sight, I decided to get inside the guild and meet with the others.

I entered through the door and searched for Furara. She was sitting way back on the corner with Lina. I approached them.

" Oh you are here Hanji."

" Yo."

Furara was sitting with her hood off. It is rare to see Furara with her hood off. Behind the hood was a white mask like those kitsune mask. Except this one has no ears and wasn't covering the mouth area. The color of her eyes are actually brown. She said that the hood was enchanted with dark hollow which makes everything inside it not visible. The eye-part will always be glowing blue. Her long black shiny hair was braided into two ponytail which looked good on her. Her staff was lying beside her chair. Lina was wearing her usual light blue ribbon on her ponytail and the identical red scarf. Even though she is going to live in the mansion now, she didn't bring anything with her.

" You didn't bring anything with you?"

" I want to see this mansion first. After all, I live with parents in this town. So I can get my stuff anytime when I like."

" ...I see."

" Well, looks like everyone is here. We will get going then.", said Furara.

" By the way Furara, you didn't tell us what the mansion is."

" It-it's a secret."

" Really?"

" Y-yes. I won't tell you anything until we reach there.", Furara nervously replied.

She was acting suspicious. I only saw her getting nervous when she gets lost in a crowd or casting magic or when she is lying.

" You seem fishy."

" No….I am not. So, let's go then. We don't want to waste our time."

" Haai."

Part 2

We went out of the guild. Furara led us the way to the mansion by walking.

" How far is this mansion?", I asked.

" It's on the farthest north corner of the town. We will make it there after in an hour."

" An hour?! Are you crazy? Why didn't you take a carriage then?"

" Wait on the north? Could it be….", murmured Lina.

" What?"

" No, it's just I think I know a mansion which is in the north."

Furara flinched after hearing that.

" Are you alright?"

" Ye-yes, I am fine! There is nothing wrong. Come on. Let's talk less and walk more."

Furara and I looked at each other. We are sure that she is hiding something.

We reached there after an hour or so. The mansion was surrounded with walls so I couldn't see it yet. There was a wooden sign labelled on the right side of the front iron gate.

' Manor De Purplehood'

" I-I knew it. It was the Purplehood manor.", Lina was trembling in fear.

" What's wrong?"

" Th-this manor is ha...."

" This manor is fine. There is nothing wrong with it. What you heard is just a rumor.", said Furara quickly before Lina could say what she wanted to say.

" Bu-but.....", her eyes were still filled with fear.

" Seriously, what's wrong with this mansion?"

" It's nothing. Your worries will go away when you see it."

She mummering some words standing in front of the gate. The gate opened before us without any sound of creaking or so. Furara stepped in and turned to us.

" Come in now."

I looked at the lot inside. It was very spacious. There was a beautiful garden where many flowers were growing. The manor was just behind those flower beauties. It wasn't any run down mansion like in horror movies. It was a nice and simple two story house. Nothing special about it except the flag danglin with a purple sword-mark in it. I don't get why Lina was scared like if there are ghosts inside this mansion.

" This mansion isn't like what I heard about. I heard this is haunted ever since Joro-sama left the place.", said Lina.

" Yes....there is nothing wrong with this place. Nothing at all....", there wasn't any confidence in those words.

" This place is nice.", I said looking at the red rose bed.

" But, how did you manage to get this manor Furara?"

" It......it's a long story. I will tell you about it later. Let's get inside the mansion first. We walked a long way."

" Yeah, you are right. I want to see my room."

" I used to walk to my school before. But never walked this much."

" School? Aren't schools for mages and those who want higher education?"

" Aa..well, I was born in a mage family. So, I had to go to school."

" Weird, why did you pick ranger then? You might do well being a mage."

" I just love bows."

" I bet school is boring."

You damn right it is.

As we were talking and approaching the mansion we noticed someone waiting at the gate.

" Who the heck is that?"

It was a woman wearing those classic black and white maid outfits. Her hair was long so she rolled it up and held it together with a crimson hairpin. There is an angry look on her face. It looked more angrier thanks to her fiery red eyes and the scarlet hair.

" Oh isn't that Furorem-san?", said Lina.

" Furorem?"

" You know her?"

" Yeah, she came to the town with the other maids with Joro-sama several times."

How many other maids are there?

" Welcome back Furara-sama. I see you came with our new masters of the mansion.", she gazed upon us with her fiery glare.

..She reminds me of Lisa, the reward receptionist.

" I'm Furorem. One of the five head maids of this manor. Nice to meet you.", she bowed.

" Nice to meet you again Furorem. I'm Lina."

" Hanjiro Fujuriya. Ni-nice to meet you too.", I said.

" You will be in our care from now. Please come in."

Part 3

She opened the door for us to enter the manor. It was a big sitting room after we entered the place. It had some sofa and a tea table beside the fireplace which is not lit at the moment. A bright red rug was under the sofa and the table. There was a staircase getting divided into two at the landing, straight ahead of us. Three windows on the left side and two doors on the right side of the wall.

The ceiling wasn't that high I thought it would be. A chandelier filled with lifeless candles can be seen hanging up there. There was no need for them as the sunlight coming through the windows illuminating the whole room.

" Would you like me to go with you Furara-sama?"

" No, I will be fine for now. Thank you for receiving us."

She bowed again and went toward one of the doors on the right side. She entered through the second door.

" You didn't tell me there were maids in this mansion."

" Well, yeah there are.", she said scratching her cheek.

" You know Hanji, there were about 19 maids when Joro-sama used to live here."

" Ni-nineteen?!"

That's a lot of maid. Who is this guy?

" Yeah. They still live here now.", said Furara.

" Really? You were under care of 19 maids? You never told us about that?"

" You are a heck of a traitor. I thought we were comrades.", me and Lina both became furious with Furara.

" Yo-you guys are getting it wrong. I wasn't under their care. I did everything by myself. Or I wouldn't have to eat with you guys at the tavern."

" Heh, some bad lies. We both know that you like to eat so much.", I said.

" Yes I do like to eat..that has nothing to do with this. I never ate what they made."

" Whatever Furara. Let's just take us to our rooms. Better give us the best room to make up for what you have done.", said Lina.

" Yes, of course. Follow me then.", Furara quickly led us to the second floor.

The second floor had a long T shaped hallway. One going straight and the other two going left and right. Furara took the left hallway and stood beside a door.

" This is Hanjiro's room. Take a look inside.", said Furara.

I opened the door slowly and took a quick look at the place. The room isn't that bad.

A king-sized bed was placed beside the right wall with a low table beside it. A sweet red colored carpet was set in the center of the room. A wardrobe and a small chest was in the room for storage. A clock was ticking on the left wall. No sign of dead animal heads anywhere. Thank god, I hated those things. There was a small balcony attached too. The room is quite nice.

" This room is pretty good.", I turned around and found out that Furara and Lina had vanished.

"Where the heck did you two go?!"

" We are in here!", Furara's voice came from the next room. I went there and found Lina standing beside the railing of the balcony looking at the flower garden. Furara standing in the middle of the room still with her hood off.

" This place is amazing! I wonder why the heck everyone says this place isn't safe anymore."

" See I told you this place isn't bad.", replied Furara with a fake smile on her face.

" Say, how did you manage to get this mansion?", I asked her.

" Yeah, I want to know too. This is the mansion of the famous knight family."

" Famous…..what you said?"

" De Knight Purplehood Family, this kingdom's strongest knights.", replied Furara.

" ……...Holy heck! How the heck do you get to live in this mansion?!"

" The story is nothing so special. When I came to this town and became an adventurer, I wanted to stay at the inn because the sun was setting. But, all of the inn was full. Then I asked if I can stay here and they let me."

The room became awkwardly quiet. Lina came into the room from the balcony.

" You...asked them if you can stay and they let you so?", said Lina with a toneless voice.

" …….yes?"

" You really want us to believe that? What kind of person let you stay in a mansion if you ask them?!"

" That's not it. Well…you see, my dad and the head of the knight purplehood know each other. My father asked him if I can stay here for a while and he said I can as long as I want. That's all….."

" You are from a noble family too Furara. And we are just a commoner.", said Lina tonelessly.

" No, no. My family isn't any noble. Well my father does work for the Royal Knights but we live in a village beside the capital. Seriously, we are not as rich as you two are thinking now."

" Yeah sure. You are just a daughter of a Royal Knight.", I joined the commoner gang with Lina.

" Please believe me. I'm just a normal girl from a normal family. We are nothing like Sir Purplehood."

" Fine fine we believe you Furara. We are grateful to you because you let us live here.", Lina tried to calm Furara.

I guess that is true. I would have been happy with her if didn't lie about buying the mansion and force us to make money for that stupid useless grimoire which ended up as a fake. Yes, the grimoire she wanted to buy was a fake one. We lost 400,000 azuls for nothing.

" Furara-sama.", another maid appeared before the door. It wasn't Furorem as she looked more calmer and nicer. She had blue eyes and black hair which was pinned down just like how Furorem's hair was. She was wearing a plain golden ring with some writings on it. The hairpin was blue in color.

" Aneca-san. What is it?"

" We will hold a feast for the new guests tonight. I hope you won't go to the tavern for dinner.", she said after bowing to us.

" There was no need for tha…."

" What the heck are you saying Furara? We just came to your mansion and you are not serving us with a good meal?"

" Yes, yes Furara. I thought you were a nice girl. How can you let your guest eat food from the tavern while you get to live here?", Lina added along with me.

" You are not my guest. You are my comrades. Also, I'm a guest myself.….well, it can't be helped then. Aneca-san, sorry for this but will you and the others mind if you arrange the cooking for tonight?", Furara couldn't hold back from her big appetite. Mission accomplished.

" Not at all Furara-sama. I'll inform them about that right away. Excuse me."

She bowed and left the room to tell the others to cook for the night. After that Lina went to his house to get her stuff while I put my things in my room. After we were finished, it was night time and we got ready for dinner that the maids of this mansion made for us.

The dining hall was huge. A big table set in the middle with 10 chairs neatly placed. The table was filled with many dishes. Smoke was rising from the roasted kuckler: a rose placed on top, a big bowl of salad with honey on top, rice in small bowls beside everyone's plate, raging bull meat with a burnt texture, many fish dishes, fruits neatly cut and placed decoratively and the sweet mashiki juice and wine of another brand.

" So....delicious..", Furara became tempted by the food herself. We couldn't hold ourself either. The food indeed looked delicious. All the maids were present at the scene. They all bowed as we entered the room.

" N-no need to bow on us. We are just a guest.", said Furara.

" We have been ordered to show you all utmost respect and care. This is a part of that.", said Aneca.

My god....there really are nineteen maids. I counted them one by one and it was no doubt..nineteen.

" Allow us to introduce ourself. My name is Milona, the head of the maids.", said the oldest maid in the mansion. She looks like 32 or something. She was wearing what the rest of the maids are wearing. Her eyes were calm and brown and hair light brown which is pinned up with a brown hairpin just like those two. She gave us a smile as she bowed down and introduced herself. After that came Aneca's turn.

" I'm Aneca the second head of the maids. Nice to meet you.", just like Milona she bowed and introduced herself. Next came the angry one.....

" I've already introduced myself. But, I'll do that again. My name is Furorem, the third head of the maid.", she gave us a bow which wasn't as low as Milona and Aneca gave. Now for the next maid....

" I'm Rebede, the forth head of the maids. Nice to meet you Hanjiro-sama.", she was a bit different than the others. Even though she looked calm I can feel this aura of luster emitting from her. Her eyes were sky blue and in those eyes looking at me with a lust. Her hair was blonde which was pinned down with a red hairpin. She was wearing a maid outfit with a red heart shape on the chest area. The hairpin she had also had a heart shape at the tip.

" I'm Bustina the fifth head of the maids. Nice to meet you.", she bowed as her big bust bounced. She had the biggest bust among the maids. Her eyes were pink as well as her hair. Only her hair is shorter which didn't need to roll up and pin down with a hairpin. She was wearing a pink bracelet on her left arm.

The other maids introduced us one by one. All of them had different personalities and ages. The youngest of them was Shina. She is only 11 years old. I have no idea why the heck she is a maid despite her age. Another maid was emotionless. She didn't show either a happy and cheerful introduction like Cherry or like most of them looked like they are unpleasant and didn't like that we are here. She was emotionless. I can't tell if she is happy or not. Her name is Emona I think.

Lina and I ate the food with pur heartest contest. We never had this much food for a long time. Furara, also couldn't after seeing us. The food was delicious. We ate untill uro belly was full. Maybe the maids aren't that bad.

After the heck of a long introduction and the fast eating, we said good night and went to sleep. The maids wanted to make the beds for us but we refused the offer. That night, everything I knew about the mansion changed.....

Part 3

'Step' 'Step' "Step'

I woke up after hearing the sound of the footstep. Weird, I remember that I locked the door. I jumped off from my sleep. There is someone in this room.

" Who's there?", I shouted to the darkness. There was no response. Suddenly there was a movement.

Who the heck is that?!

My blanket was pulled from the darkness.

" Wahah!"

The intruder slowly came into my vision. It was Emona. I could tell it by the emotionless face of hers.

" Oh, Emona. Wh-what do you want?"

" Nothing. I just wanted to pull the blanket out from you.", she said with her straight face. Why would anyone want to do that? Or.. is she.....

" A-are you mad that I'm living here?"

She kept quiet for a short moment. Then she finally replied, " Maybe so."

Yep, she is definitely angry about that. I need to get out of this place soon.

" I-if you are angry., I-I will move out if you like. I do-don't want to live here either."

".......Do as you wish.", saying that she turned around to the door. The door opened before her and she went out. The door closed behind her just like it opened without touching the door......

S-she..she...she is a GHOST! What the heck have I done? Lina might be right. This place really is haunted. I-I need to tell the others.

I quickly opened the door and found Lina also coming out of her room. She looked terrified just like me.

" Ha-Hanji, I think this place is haunted.", she said with a shaky tone.

" Me too. Let's find Furara and get the heck out of here."

We went toward Furara's room and opened it.

" Furara!.......Where the heck is she?"

Furara wasn't in her room. Does that mean.....Furara is also a ghost like them.

" Wh-what are we gonna do Hanji?"

" I don't know. Let's just get the heck out here before we end up like Furara."

She nodded in reply. We started to run downstairs and head toward the entrance.....It is locked.

" I-it's lo-locked.", I said.

" No problem. I'm a master at this. Step aside.", she pushed me away and pulled out a lock picker. She tried to unlock it.

"......weird. It's already unlocked.", she tried to open the door but it didn't even budge.

" I should have known you would totally useless."

" No, I'm really good at pick locking. What the hell is going on?"

" Why are you going to Hanjiro-sama and Lina-sama?", said an intense voice from behind. Only one maid talks like that. We slowly turned around to see Furorem with 9 other maids with her glaring at us with her fiery red eyes.

" We we we are gonna die."

" No, do-don't think negative. Think po-positive. They mi-might let us go if we ask."

" Like hell that will work."

" Aren't you gonna stay here and be under our care? Or you don't like our service?", said Furorem.

" No, no. The way you se-serve is very good. We just di-didn't like how you can open doors or win-windows without touch-touching it.", tuterred Lina.

" Why the heck are you mentioning that? Do you want them to kill us?"

" Don't worry Hanjiro and Lina-sama. We won't kill.", said Shina.

" Or we will let you get out of the mansion.", added Emona.

" We were told by Furara not to let you run away from this place.", finished Haru.

That Furara, I should have known something wasn't right about her from the beginning.

" Are you all…..ghost?"

" No we are not. You can say, we are undead.", replied Ferorem still glaring at us

" Undead? You mean those monsters that still haunt after death?", I asked.

" Yes, we are like them.", said Emona.

" What happened by the way? After Joro-sama left the town and never returned, people started to say that this place is haunted."

Oh yeah….come to think of it, I don't know anything about that guy.

" You might don't know, but Joro-sama went out of town because…."

" He found out there was a demon general around the area.", Lola finished what Furorem wanted to say.

" De-demon general…."

" Yes, after that he learned about that, he quickly decided to go and take it down before anyone can get injured."

" I see, so that's why he left. Why does that he...was defeated?"

I don't see any chance of his survival whether he is from the famous knight family or not. A demon general is a demon general.

" That we don't know yet…", said Emona.

" However, we only know this that he is still out there…."

" As an undead."

" He turned into one himself?", I asked

" That is the very reason why we are undead ourself.", said Furorem.

" But….how is that possible? Why the heck would you turn into an undead if he turned into one?"

".....You might don't know about the Oath of Servant."

" The Oath of what?", asked Lina

" It is a spell casted between a master and his servant. This bonding magic will prevent anyone from taking away the servant from the master."

" If the master dies then, the magic will also cast a death wish upon the servant as well. Was I correct Furorem nee-san?", said Shina.

" Yes, you are correct."

…..what the heck? What kind of magic is that? Why would anyone want to do that? Even that little girl is part of this.

" Only loyal servants are allowed to have this magic with their master. And we…"

" Are the loyal servants of Joro-sama.", all the maids in the room said together.

Holy heck...talk about loyalty, these maids really are loyal to their master.

" Does that mean….you all turn into undead because Joro-sama turned into undead somewhere?", said Lina.

" Yes, that is the only explanation. We didn't turn into undead one by one. A week later after Joro-sama went away, we found out that we are undead now. Only Dermin didn't. As he isn't a part of our Oath of Servant."

" Dermin?"

" The butler of Joro. He is also missing I think.", replied Lina.

" Yes, he is also missing. He was with us 5 months ago and just like Joro-sama, he went out and didn't return.", said Haru.

" He went out to find Joro-sama. But, didn't returned ever since he left." Emona said with the expressionless face still attached on her face.

" So, why did you lock us in this mansion by the way? How did you open the door without touching it.", I asked.

" Like we said, it's Furara-sama's order. She told us not to let you run away from this place. And we have the ability to control the whole mansion. We are a part of the mansion.", as Furorem finished her sentence, all the windows in the mansion opened. Both Lina and I got shocked because of that.

“ I see….”

“ There is another thing Furara-sama told us to tell you.”, said Emona.

" And….what would that be?"

" Please find Joro-sama for us.", said Shina.

"? "

" When we heard that someone is coming, we thought it was Joro-sama and Dermin. We became sad and angry when we learned that it was you two who are coming."

" We wanted to serve our master again. Furara-sama already agreed to help us. She told me if you will help us too. So, please will you find Joro-sama for us?", said Haru in such a sweet tone that I don't know how to reject that. I'm not a real man if I turn them down. But I'm not sure about Lina.

" Alright, We will find Jro-sama won't you Hanji", Lina said before I could ask her about it.

" Yes of course we will."

" Really? Thank you Hanjiro-sama and Lina-sama. We are really happy to hear that.", said Shina. All of them were smiling and bowing to us. Except Furorem and Emona. Emona is still emotionless and Furorem has her narrow fiery eyes. But I can tell they are glad to hear that too.

" We will think about this tomorrow. Now let us sleep. Say, where is Furara?", I said.

" Furara-sama is in the library learning new magic."

" Oh I see. That's how she is learning new magic. Alright can you tell her to go to sleep. We need to plan out how to get Joro back."

" Alright, we will do that. Have a good sleep Hanjiro-sama and Lina-sama.", saying that all the maids bowed to us. Both Lina and I feel uneasy whenever they bow to us. All of them except Furorem went into the kitchen and Furorem went to the library on the second floor. Lina and I went to our own room. I couldn't sleep the whole night thinking about how the heck are we gonna get Joro and Dermin from the hands of that Demon general.