The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 36

Jade and Ian collapsed onto the cold stone floor. Jade hit the ground first, shielding Ian with his body. A dull, heavy pain radiated through his back and shoulders, but it was manageable.

“Phew, ha. Oh man.”

“Huff, huff…”

Both struggled to catch their breath. They had run so hard without stopping that the taste of blood filled their throats. It was likely the same for Ian. His chest heaved violently, swelling up and down as his lungs worked overtime. Even after trying to steady his breathing for a long while, he remained winded.

“Growl, snarl…!”

But there was no time for a leisurely recovery. One of the Shadow Wolves had lunged right up to the cave entrance.

Gleaming white pupils flashed from just outside. One by one, the wolves gathered and began pacing outside the mouth of the cave. Instead of finding a sanctuary, it felt as though they had tumbled straight into a trap.

“Let’s move further back.”

Jade pushed Ian behind him and moved deeper into the cave. They needed to stay away from the light. The area near the entrance was too dangerous.

“I can’t see anything.”

“That’s safer. It’s okay. Your eyes will adjust in a bit.”

The two of them huddled together in the depths. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any other monsters or beasts inside. In his desperation to escape, he had worried they might be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, but it seemed they were lucky.

“Will they come in?”

Ian asked anxiously, eyes fixed on the entrance. The blurry shapes gathered at the mouth of the cave paced back and forth, emitting low growls. They repeatedly lifted and dropped their forepaws as if testing the air to invade the cave, a sight that was deeply threatening.

However, as if hitting an invisible wall, they couldn’t step into the pitch-black interior. Only then did Jade let out a sigh of relief and flash a grin.

“They won’t be able to come in.”

“…How do you know?”

Ian asked, sounding puzzled by Jade’s certainty. Jade wasn’t oblivious to the hint of suspicion in that question.

“Ah, well.”

Now what? He couldn’t exactly tell the kid he knew about Shadow Wolves because he’d played the game. Jade’s mind raced before he landed on a plausible excuse.

“Remember when we were surrounded? The wolves stayed out of the shadows. And where they overlapped with the dark, their bodies seemed to get absorbed and disappear.”

“Ah…”

“I figured they must be afraid of the dark.”

“Then… will they disappear once night falls?”

“Yeah. If we can just hold out until night, we’ll be fine. We’ll stall for a bit and then head back to the villa.”

While the wolves camping outside prevented them from leaving, Jade was also worried about the monsters discovering the location of the villa.

As far as Jade knew, the monsters’ habitat was strictly within the forest. Although the villa was close to the woods, there was an open plain in between, so he hadn’t considered it particularly dangerous until now.

But could the monsters really not reach the villa?

The number of monsters famished from the winter would only increase as time went on. Hunger had a way of stripping away reason, so there was no guarantee they would be safe forever.

What if Ian’s uncle had abandoned him at this villa specifically with that in mind?

While scraping by in this harsh environment, Jade had believed things would improve once spring arrived. He’d planned to head down to the village, buy new household supplies, get a replacement for the broken broom, and brighten up the villa.

He had envisioned making a variety of meals and treating the stay like a vacation, but now he wasn’t so sure he could rely on the promise of the season. A subtle anxiety began to pool beneath his feet. It had been like this ever since he met the man who brought the supplies. It felt as though every element of this world was conspiring to prevent Jade from staying at the villa.

“Ian. By any chance…”

“Yes.”

“Did monsters ever come near the villa before?”

In the North, winter lasted more than half the year. However, Ian had been alone at the villa for about nine months, and with the three months since Jade arrived, he had been here for nearly a year. Ian would know what last spring was like.

“They probably can’t enter the villa. I heard there’s a barrier.”

Ian said calmly after a moment of thought.

“A barrier?”

“I heard the first family head placed a barrier around the villa, but I don’t know the details.”

“How far does it reach? Is the yard or the surrounding area okay?”

“No, just the building. Once you step past the door, it’s not safe. They didn’t come down last year, but… I don’t know about this year.”

It meant they weren’t entirely safe. Even if they couldn’t get inside, a monster that came near the villa could still use methods like attacking through the windows.

“At least the inside is safe. That’s a relief.”

That alone took a weight off his chest. If the villa was secure, he had one less thing to worry about.

“Though there’s nothing we can do about the things already inside the villa.”

“…Huh?”

Jade, who had been breathing a sigh of relief, froze. Other things? Jade’s eyes darted around.

“You mean… Buster? And the mop ghost?”

“No. Not things like that.”

“If not that, then wh-what is it? What’s in there?”

He was so startled he started to stutter. Jade pressed Ian, who still hadn’t fully caught his breath.

“Like the eyeless servants. Monsters that have lived in that villa for a long time. Or ghosts, I suppose.”

He meant actual spirits. Jade found it amazing how Ian could talk about such things so nonchalantly.

No wonder he didn’t seem scared of ghost stories. It meant he had been living with those things before Jade arrived. Suddenly, the air felt chilly, and a shiver ran down the back of his neck.

Truthfully, Jade wasn’t the type to be afraid of intangible things like ghosts. But since coming here, he had faced too many threats. These unexpected entities were like stones thrown into his peaceful daily life. Even now, his life was on the line.

“Ahem, ahem. Should we start a fire?”

Jade straightened his back, trying to act casual. He couldn’t show that he was scared of ghosts when a twelve-year-old boy like Ian wasn’t. Conveniently, his eyes were adjusting to the dark, and his surroundings were becoming clearer.

“Since it’s pitch black ahead, the wolves won’t be able to come this far in.”

If they lit a fire here, the middle of the cave would remain dark, creating a boundary. Then they couldn’t enter.

“But how will you light it? We only have firewood.”

“I brought matches. Only a few, though.”

Jade pulled a matchbox from his trouser pocket. This was also something he’d found in the storage room; he’d tucked it in his pocket and forgotten to take it out. Jade opened the matchbox proudly.

“……”

“Turns out it wasn’t ‘a few,’ it was ‘one.'”

Exactly one matchstick remained in the box. When he’d picked it up in the storage room, he had only shaken the box to hear the sound and put it in his pocket without checking the count. It was a disaster.

Jade smacked his lips as he stared at the solitary matchstick.

“You said we just have to hold out for tonight.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Here.”

Ian rummaged through the sack and brought a few pieces of the wood they’d broken earlier, placing them in front of Jade. It was impressive that Jade had managed to grab the sack even in that frantic moment. His obsession with household goods was something else.

“Good thing I gathered dry wood.”

Jade gathered some of the wood and struck the match. Since he only had one, he was extremely careful.

“Oh.”

As he carefully held the match flame to the dry wood, the fire slowly began to catch. Jade fanned it gently with his hand, increasing the speed as the embers grew.

Thanks to his quick hands, one log caught fire completely. He stacked a few more pieces on top. It was slow, but the fire would spread soon.

“Ian, come closer. You’re cold, aren’t you?”

“I’m okay.”

The cave air was damp and freezing. Outside, there wasn’t even a sign of the sunset yet. Still, if they could just endure a few more hours, the sun would go down.

‘I guess I won’t be able to go out for food anymore.’

He’d been so happy about spring coming, but he never expected an ambush like this. He had only been wandering all over the forest because he didn’t know; now that he’d actually faced a monster, he didn’t have the nerve to come back here for food.

‘And my mushroom identification skill only just hit level 2.’

To make matters worse, his [Go for it, Root Vegetables!] skill hadn’t even leveled up yet. It was heartbreaking.

“Ouch!”

While lost in thought, a sharp pain flared on the back of his hand. Ian had moved closer and was poking the area where the wolf’s claws had grazed him with his index finger.

“Ah…”

He hadn’t noticed because of the adrenaline, but now that he could breathe, the pain was hitting him. The wound was deep and quite painful. Since the area hadn’t dried yet, blood was still seeping out.

“Here.”

Ian unwound the muffler from his own neck and handed it to Jade. It was the same muffler Jade had wrapped around him earlier. He seemed to be telling Jade to use the cloth to tie up his hand.

“Ah, thank you.”

Jade took the cloth and ripped the stitched part. There were plenty of old bedsheets left, so he could always make another. However, trying to wrap the wound with the torn cloth wasn’t easy. It was far too clumsy trying to tie it with one hand.

“……”

Without a word, Ian took the cloth and slowly began to wrap it around the back of Jade’s hand, tying it firmly. His soft, small hands moved with surprising precision.

With the wound on his hand attended to, Jade began to notice other things. His clothes were a total mess from the fall. When he rolled up his pant leg, the fabric pulled away from the scrape on his knee, sending a jolt of pain through him. Ian’s gaze fell on the knee.

“It’s fine. Once it scabs over, it’ll heal in no time.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Jade wiped away the blood with the remaining scrap of cloth and looked at Ian. Ian was sitting down, hugging both knees and wiggling his toes. Jade suggested he warm his feet by the fire. Since he’d been running through the snow in boots, his feet were bound to be freezing.

“Ian, take off your boots and warm your feet up.”

“I-I’m okay.”

But Ian rejected Jade’s suggestion with an excessive amount of fluster. Jade couldn’t back down, though. Given Ian’s personality, he was the type to never let on even if his feet were freezing. If he left him like that, he’d catch a cold for sure.

“What do you mean ‘okay’? Come here, hurry.”

Jade grabbed Ian by the ankle and pulled him over to pull off the boots. When he did, he revealed frozen, bare feet.

“Wait, you didn’t even put on socks?!”