“Alright. I’ll ask again. Answer properly this time.”
Only after questioning him several more times did I finally manage to get a coherent answer out of Havel.
“So what you’re saying is, the corridor we entered yesterday was like a maze. You couldn’t find a way out and walked around all day, then Lilith touched something and got sucked into it, and the entire castle became scrambled. That’s it?”
“Right, right!”
“And by ‘scrambled,’ you mean the inside of the castle changed? Structures appearing where they shouldn’t be. That kind of thing?”
“Right, right!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. You’re hopeless. At least you can answer properly.”
First, I needed to confirm whether Havel was telling the truth.
‘This guy. I hope he didn’t just have a dream.’
Up until the moment we followed the rapier down into the basement, nothing had felt strange. After leaving the secret chamber, I went to check the nearby armory first. Then I turned to the rapier that had been waiting for me.
“Rapier, could you knock on the armory door?”
Tap— tap!
“…”
There was no response.
“Rapier. Where did Adolf go?”
The rapier shook its body as if to say it didn’t know. For now, I led Havel and the rapier up the stairs toward the first floor.
“Hey, Havel. If you’re lying, I’m confiscating all your food.”
“I’m not lying!”
“…”
He answered with remarkable confidence. When we reached the first floor, I saw ghost servants clutching piles of work as they hurried off, and members of the ghost knight order moving busily about. Their voices overlapped—too noisy to catch the words—but it felt livelier than usual.
‘It doesn’t look like there’s a major problem.’
I flew quickly toward the most familiar places on the first floor—the banquet hall, the ballroom and main hall, and the mirror room. Far behind, I could see Havel struggling to keep up. Waiting for him would only waste time.
“We’re going ahead!”
“Ugh….”
The rapier and I passed through the entrance of the banquet hall.
“Wait. Huh?”
But what lay before us was not the banquet hall. The long rows of tables were gone. Instead, a dark, oppressive room met my eyes. Every piece of furniture felt heavy and severe. A dark desk and chair for paperwork, a small study—it looked like an office.
“This was definitely where the banquet hall used to be.”
Thunk! The rapier leapt upward.
“What is it?”
It guided me toward a corner of the room. Though the space resembled an office, there was an iron cage in that corner—as if meant to confine someone. And inside the cage stood a door eerily similar to the entrance of the corridor we had seen yesterday.
“Huff, huff.”
Suddenly, I heard a strange sound. Turning around, I saw that Havel had opened the door and entered the room.
“It’s scrambled.”
“Havel. Is this the only place, or has this happened elsewhere too?”
“Most of it… yeah.”
“That’s impossible.”
Now that I understood the seriousness of the situation, I decided to inspect the corridor first. But Havel called out to me.
“Evil spirit! Here, here—skeleton!”
“What?”
In a corner I had overlooked, a skeleton lay sprawled on the floor. When I approached, a status window appeared. It usually appeared on objects tied to the game’s story, excluding survivors.
Unknown Skeleton: Unable to become a ghost due to 〈Soul Erasure〉.
‘Soul Erasure….’
I remembered seeing a status window in the Dark Forest basement that mentioned 〈Soul Erasure〉 would occur. Had this person also been sucked into that soul-collecting mirror?
*But that mirror applied only to ghosts, not humans.*
Examining the skeleton more closely, I saw fractures and delicate bone joints.
‘But that mirror only applied to ghosts; it didn’t include humans.’
A chill ran through my body.
“Ka… ru… s?”
Havel, standing behind me, recited the letters and gestured as if calling me again.
“What now?”
I flew over to where he stood. On the office desk lay a letter and a quill.
My dear Berto,
If you have become a soul, you will be reading this letter.
Berto. I trust our god will treat your soul with care.
You will soon become one with Him. What a blessed occasion that is.
Berto, my old friend.
Even if it is lonely for a time, do not worry. I shall follow you soon enough.
From your old friend, Karus Ravenwood.
Karus Ravenwood….
Havel, wanting to read the letter himself, passed through me and sat down in the chair.
Thud.
“I’m curious, evil spirit.”
“Can’t you read?”
“Long text is hard. I have dyslexia.”
“Oh… I see.”
How was I supposed to explain this?
“It’s just a story about fanatics who went mad for a cult and offered up their own souls.”
“Evil spirit, I don’t know what cult is.”
“Think of it as a group of people who’ve lost their minds.”
“Then… am I one?”
“You’re in your right mind. You’re just obsessed with food.”
Boom!
Suddenly, a deafening crash echoed.
“What was that?”
It came from the corridor. And then someone burst out from it.
“Cough, cough….”
The figure that tumbled out was Evan.
“Evan?”
He clutched a dagger tightly in his hand as he collapsed.
“Ugh….”
He groaned in pain. Up close, his body was battered and bruised. Scratches, contusions. Blood seeped faintly from his side.
“Evan!”
In this evil spirit’s body, I couldn’t perform first aid.
“This is insane. Havel, bring something to stop the bleeding!”
“Stop bleeding?”
“Tear some cloth—clean cloth!”
“Uu… okay.”
While Havel searched for something that could serve as a makeshift bandage, I stayed by Evan.
“Evan, Evan!”
“Ugh….”
“You mustn’t lose consciousness!”
Perhaps he heard me. Evan barely lifted his head.
“Evien….”
Though clearly injured, he broke into a bright smile upon seeing me.
“What are you doing? Don’t waste your strength!”
“It’s just a scratch. After so long, I finally have you to myself—humor me a little.”
Even now, he was flirting?
Thud—thud!
Surprisingly, Havel returned quite quickly, having found something useful.
“Evil spirit. Here….”
“What’s gotten into you, moving so fast? Wrap that around his side. We need to stop the bleeding.”
“Uh, but….”
Instead of doing as I said, Havel hesitated behind me.
“What are you waiting for?”
“But evil spirit. Evan pushed her. Lilith. I saw it….”
Havel’s voice had shrunk.
“Havel. What are you talking about? That’s what I should be saying. It was you who pushed her!”
“Evan pushed. Smiling.”
“That’s absurd!”
With that shocking accusation, the two began arguing. According to Havel, it sounded as though Evan had betrayed Lilith—betrayed all the survivors. But Evan insisted it was Havel instead.
‘He pushed Lilith?’
Suddenly, the doubts I had once felt about Evan resurfaced.
“Havel. Explain properly.”
“Evien! There’s no need to listen to such nonsense—ugh!”
Evan raised his voice, then collapsed again as pain overtook him. Havel eagerly began to explain.
“Lilith touched something. Then Evan pushed! Lilith disappeared. Others scattered.”
“What exactly did she touch?”
“Something shining. Sparkling. Heirloom.”
“Ugh… please…. Don’t believe him, Evien.”
They were accusing each other. Yet for some reason, Havel’s account felt more credible.
“Am I understanding this correctly? One of you deliberately pushed Lilith. Which means—you intended to kill her.”
“Evil spirit, smart.”
“Ha….”
Perhaps because I had started to doubt him, Evan’s groans and every action of clutching his side suddenly looked forced.
‘Evan. Could you really have been involved with the Evil God?’
Looking again, the bleeding seemed to have stopped. His body was battered, though—it didn’t look entirely fake.
“Havel. Still, stop the bleeding properly. If his condition worsens, we won’t be able to question him.”
“Okay.”
Havel approached Evan with the long strip of cloth.
“I don’t need your help.”
Evan rejected it. Then, limping, he began to head somewhere.
“Evan? Where are you going?”
“…Who knows.”
I called after him urgently, but he brushed me off and left the room.
Hi! Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Please continue to support this novel by giving it a good rating on Novel Updates. Thank you! ^^ ❤︎
Comments (0)