The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 13

“Ugh…?”

I forced my heavy arms up and felt around my face, my fingers brushing against a wet cloth.

“Huh?”

I lifted the washcloth. It hadn’t been wrung out properly, so water was dripping from it in slow, heavy drops—drip, drip. Outside the window, the world was blanketed in a dull gray thanks to a snowstorm that had intensified overnight.

“Young master?”

The only beings in this villa were two humans and one monster, so the person who put the wet cloth on my head had to be Ian. But Ian wasn’t in the room. For some reason, Buster was missing too.

“Ugh, huff.”

Where could they have gone so early? I wanted to go look for them, but my body wouldn’t listen. I’ve suffered through countless fevers in my life, but this one was on a completely different level.

Click—

“Are you awake?”

Just as I was debating how to even sit up, Ian pushed the door open and walked in. He was holding a plate in his hand, but as soon as he saw I was awake, he quickly hid it behind his back.

“Myaaaa…”

I don’t know what those two had been up to, but a few of Buster’s whiskers were singed and curled. Buster kept rubbing his whiskers with his front paw, looking awkward about only being singed on one side. I caught a glimpse of something resembling charcoal sitting on the plate.

‘Wait… was there any charcoal in this villa?’

As I managed to prop my upper body up to get a better look, Ian started shuffling away.

“What are you hiding?”

“Myang, myang! Myang-myang, hiss.”

Buster answered instead of the hesitant Ian. Flailing his paws and wings, Buster seemed to have quite a lot to say. As he touched his whiskers with his front paw, he looked downright victimized.

If I were to roughly translate: it looked like they’d ended up like that while trying to grill mushrooms. Since the only thing to eat in the villa was mushrooms, those charcoal chunks were probably the result.

“Did you grill some mushrooms for me? That’s impressive. Come on, let me see.”

“Well, it’s…”

When I made a move to get out of bed, Ian had no choice but to hold out the plate. On it were the mushrooms I’d picked before I fell ill, but most of them were charred to a crisp.

“Haha. You… certainly have a unique way of grilling mushrooms.”

I expected it, but I couldn’t believe these charcoal-looking things were actually mushrooms. I picked one up with a fork and turned it over. They were already strange-looking mushrooms, but the black char made them look even worse.

Still, maybe because only one side was burnt, the bottoms seemed mostly intact. I figured I could just peel off the outer char and eat the rest. Ian looked quite serious, seemingly embarrassed that he’d made a mess of our meager food supply.

“Don’t eat them if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, no, not at all. It’s special; I like it. It gets boring grilling them the same way every day, doesn’t it?”

When I gave him a reassuring smile, the tension in Ian’s face softened slightly. Buster hovered around the mushrooms too, flapping his wings. Every time he cut through the air, his singed, curly whisker fluttered in the breeze.

“Myang!”

“Eat up.”

“We should eat together.”

I’d picked about two handfuls, but since the moisture had evaporated, there wasn’t much left. It barely covered the bottom of the plate.

“I’m fine. I’m full…”

Ian stepped back after placing the plate on my stomach. There was no way that was true. While I was lying down, Ian wouldn’t have had anything to eat either. We were both in the same hungry boat.

“How can you be full when there’s no food in the villa?”

With a groan, I pushed myself up, stabbed the most decent-looking mushroom with my fork, and slid it right into Ian’s mouth.

“Mmph…!”

Ian seemed surprised to be fed so suddenly, but he soon began to chew slowly. Once I saw him swallow, I popped a mushroom into my own mouth.

“It has a nice smoky flavor. It’s good, right?”

“I guess…”

Ian answered with a lukewarm expression. It clearly wasn’t to his taste. He had eaten the plain grilled mushrooms—the ones without even a pinch of salt—just fine, but he seemed to dislike his own cooking.

“You have one too, little guy. You worked hard grilling these.”

“Myang!”

I shared one with Buster, and after a few more with Ian, the plate was empty in no time.

“Thank you, young master. If I hadn’t eaten this, I would’ve collapsed from hunger before the fever got me.”

“…It’s fine.”

Ian turned his head away awkwardly at the thanks. He hadn’t exactly grilled the mushrooms because he was worried about Jade. He just figured it would be a hassle if the only person handling the chores around the villa disappeared.

Truthfully, he’d struggled quite a bit while grilling. He wasn’t tall enough to reach the stove comfortably and had to stand on a chair, and the heat was impossible to control. He’d worked so hard only for them to burn, which had left him exhausted.

And the monster had been so noisy despite not being any help; he’d barely suppressed the urge to throw it out. When Buster singed his own whiskers while hovering around and then stomped his feet with resentful eyes, Ian had actually almost tossed him.

“But, young master… I’m going to sleep a bit more. I’m still… yawn, so sleepy.”

After snacking on those few mushrooms, I let out a long yawn and fell back into a dead sleep almost instantly. An irresistible wave of exhaustion washed over me.

“Mmm…”

Something wasn’t right. Even in my sleep, I instinctively felt that my physical condition was very strange. As time passed, I became convinced it wasn’t just a simple flu.

It felt different from a normal illness. My body felt heavy as if someone were pulling me down from below, and every joint ached like a teenager going through a massive growth spurt.

And so, I spent the rest of the early morning groaning in pain, drifting in and out of consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, quite a bit of time had passed, and it was nearly morning. This time, a rustling sound woke me up. The noise was coming from a corner of the room.

“Uh…”

I turned my head toward the sound. Since this was the master bedroom located in the center of the villa, it had its own fireplace. And there, in front of one of the villa’s few fireplaces, Buster and Ian were sitting glued together, busy with something.

“Myang! Myang!”

Buster was grumbling but working hard, and Ian was also in a state of deep focus. Weak sunlight, filtered through heavy winter clouds, seeped through the cracks in the window and settled over them.

“Do it right.”

Looking closer, Ian’s hands were moving busily. He was holding the branches I had gathered earlier. And Buster was flapping his wings with all his might, trying to dry the wood.

Whoosh—

The embers in the fireplace flared up and died down repeatedly. Ian was stirring the kindling with a poker. He had found some paper from somewhere, which was burning to help catch the flame.

“Myack!”

When the growing ember weakened again, Buster let out a disappointed cry. He flapped his tiny wings with everything he had, trying to keep the fire alive.

Ian was also alternating between fanning the mouth of the fireplace and the small twigs. The fireplace gave a loud crackle, and small bits of ash flew out. The ash landed right on Ian and Buster.

“Pffft.”

Seeing Ian’s soot-smudged profile and the back of Buster’s head, I couldn’t hold back a laugh. At the sound, both Ian and Buster turned their heads simultaneously.

“Jade?”

“Myaaaa—!”

Seeing that I was awake, Buster flew over and flopped right into my arms. The soot on Buster transferred onto me.

“Myang?”

Buster looked up at me from my arms, seemingly asking if I was okay. Ian, standing awkwardly by the fireplace, didn’t say much, but he also looked curious about my health.

“I’m feeling a bit better now.”

“Oh…”

“Haha, it’s thanks to you, young master.”

I laughed, reassuring both Buster and Ian. I wasn’t fully recovered yet, but I truly felt much better than I had before falling asleep.

More than anything, I felt more embarrassed than sick. Had anyone ever worried about my health and looked after me like this? This was probably the first time.

Maybe because I was so used to being alone when I was sick, the scene in this room felt foreign and bashful. I made a point to get up energetically and went through the motions of stretching my body out.

“Myamang?”

Buster followed my lead, rotating his short limbs this way and that. Ian, with soot on his cheek, just stared at the two of us blankly.

“The fire isn’t catching well, is it? I tried it too, but it’s not easy since the wood is damp.”

“Ah…”

“Since we’re at it, should we just break some old furniture and use it for firewood?!”

Having finished my stretching, I brought over a few old chairs I’d scouted before getting sick and started breaking them apart.

“Heave-ho!”

“Myang! Myang!”

Every time I stomped on a chair leg to snap it, Buster clapped his front paws in cheer. Once I broke a leg, Ian would take it to the fireplace to feed the flame.

With the three of us working together, the fire in the fireplace was soon roaring. I took a few embers down to the first-floor fireplace and came back. Since we didn’t have much wood, it wouldn’t burn for long, but it would be enough to warm the house for a bit.

“It’s morning.”

I watched the blazing fire, Buster, and Ian, lost in thought. Ian and Buster looked quite disheveled, having clearly wrestled with the fireplace for a long time while I slept.

“Haha, ahahaha.”

“Myack?”

“Jade?”

I started laughing, forgetting all about my aches. Ian blinked in confusion, his cheek and nose smudged with soot.

The next day, I brushed myself off and got up feeling much lighter. Honestly, I wanted to rest more, but I pretty much forced myself up because I was starving.

Most importantly, I realized that the “flu” I had suffered through wasn’t a simple illness like I’d thought.

[ The Developer’s Consideration

You have acquired the skill: Ghost’s Obedience. ]

“What the heck is this now?”