The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 66

How could he possibly know if the broom in Dan’s house would become his exclusive item? He had held dozens of brooms back in the Northern village to no avail.

Jade scrutinized the brooms displayed in the shop with wide, eager eyes. There was a wide variety, from long yard brooms to small ones used for cleaning hearths.

“Is it this one?”

He grabbed a long-handled broom and lifted it, but there was no reaction. The small ones were the same. He even tried sweeping the floor just in case, but the status window remained stubbornly silent. At this point, he was getting frantic.

To be fair, the cleaning skill wasn’t some world-shattering power. While he was attached to his exclusive broom, it wasn’t strictly necessary to find a replacement. However, the fact that his previous one had snapped right before he could level up left a lingering sense of regret.

Furthermore, during the entire month of traveling from the North to the South, the system window hadn’t appeared once. It used to annoy him when it popped up constantly, but now that it was quiet, he felt strangely anxious. Maybe if he got a broom, the system window would show its face again.

“Hey now, young man. Are you buying or not?”

As he repeated the cycle of picking them up and putting them back down, the shopkeeper—a middle-aged woman who had initially looked quite pleasant—began to scowl. Jade licked his lips nervously.

Was that broken broom really the only exclusive item? The thought made his eyes well up with tears.

“Excuse me, but do you have any other brooms?”

“If it’s not there, it’s not anywhere!”

The shopkeeper’s voice was sharp. Even Dan grabbed Jade by the arm, urging him to leave if he wasn’t going to buy anything.

“Let’s just go, mate!”

“Wa—wait! This one! Is this one for sale?!”

Just before being dragged out, Jade, scanning the shop interior with a desperate heart, spotted a broom hidden in a corner.

It had a sky-blue handle and thick bristles at the head. It looked very similar to the one he had used at the villa. No, minus the wear and tear, it looked almost identical.

“Everything in the shop is for sale,” the owner replied listlessly. She clearly saw Jade as a nuisance customer. Jade shook off Dan’s hand and slowly pulled the broom out from the corner.

Was it just his imagination, or did this broom seem to be glowing? At the very moment he unconsciously swallowed hard…

[ >> Exclusive Item <<

You have acquired Beginner’s Cleaning Tool (1)! ]

“Whoa!”

The system window he had been waiting for finally appeared. Jade let out a cheer without even thinking.

“This is it!”

Not only that, his cheer escalated into a near-scream of joy. He even hugged the broom, causing the expressions of those around him to turn utterly bizarre. But Jade wasn’t in any state of mind to notice.

“Is he out of his mind?”

“Meow…”

“Poor young man. Just take it. It’s on the house.”

Dan and even Buster clicked their tongues in pity. The shopkeeper practically pushed Jade out without even taking his money. Even the passersby in the shop looked at Jade with judging eyes.

Still, Jade was pure bliss. It was his first exclusive item in months and his first system window in a month.

After a brief tour of the village, they climbed back into the carriage and headed for Dan’s house.

Dan’s place wasn’t far from the village square. The carriage stopped halfway up a hill that offered a clear view of the South.

“We’re here.”

Dan hopped down from the driver’s seat and pointed to a cozy two-story house. The wooden door with slightly peeling paint and the flower pots placed on either side of the entrance gave off a warm, welcoming vibe.

“It’s a lovely house.”

As they moved to enter after securing the carriage, the door opened from the inside. A woman with thick brown hair—looking very much like Dan—came out to greet them.

“You’re back, brother?”

“Hey, you’re out? Everyone, meet my sister, Callie. And this is Jade, the guy I mentioned.”

“Hello. I received the letter from my brother saying he was coming with a friend.”

Callie extended her hand first. Jade, who was still clutching his broom, quickly hid it behind his back and shook her hand. He had been worried that things might be awkward because Dan kept talking about “introductions” and all that, but Callie seemed quite nonchalant about it.

“Hello. My name is Jade. I’ll be in your debt for a while. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“If you feel like you’re in our debt, you can just help out with the housework.”

“I’m quite good at housework.”

Her bright and cheerful personality was evident in the way she smiled and joked with someone she had just met. She definitely looked like Dan, but unlike his rugged appearance, she looked like a mischievous young girl.

“Where’s Dad?”

“At the apothecary. Come inside, Jade.”

“Thank you.”

Jade gave a polite bow and stepped inside. The interior of the house was just as cozy and warm as the outside. He liked it because it felt lived-in.

“Jade’s room is on the second floor. Would you like some tea before you look around?”

“Yes, that would be great.”

Jade sat down at the dining table and set Buster down beside him.

Callie placed a kettle over the hearth. A moment later, the water began to boil. As she added herbs to the teapot and slowly poured the water, a gentle herbal scent wafted through the air.

As she handed out the teacups, Callie spoke up as if she had just remembered something.

“Oh, right, brother. You know the House of Linwood? You know, the Linwood Trading Company.”

Jade’s shoulders flinched as he took the cup. Buster, sitting next to him, froze as well. Although Jade had never explained the details, Buster was smart enough to know that Jade was being hunted.

“Yeah, I know them. Is there anyone in our Empire who doesn’t know the Linwood family?”

Dan replied as he sipped his tea. Jade swallowed hard instead of drinking. Because of the tension, even his Adam’s apple seemed to move awkwardly as he swallowed. Every time the word ‘Linwood’ came up, he felt like shrinking into his own skin. Jade tried his best to sip his tea nonchalantly.

“Apparently, the Linwood family is discreetly searching for someone.”

“…”

But at the next words, he almost spat out the tea he had just managed to sip. He managed to swallow it somehow, but he couldn’t even taste the herbs anymore.

He had assumed Malderic would obviously try to find him and Ian. But hearing it with his own ears made his heart race and cold sweat break out. Jade blinked rapidly. He simultaneously wanted to vanish from this conversation and wanted to hear whatever Callie was going to say next.

“A person?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he did something wrong? They said they’re even hiring mercenaries to find him.”

It might not be him. There were plenty of people in the world who committed crimes and ran away. Jade desperately hoped that the protagonist of this story wasn’t him.

“You haven’t heard, brother? They say it’s a story circulating quietly in the North.”

“No? Where did you hear that?”

“From Nina. She just got back from the North last week.”

Based on the story, it seemed they had started the pursuit right after Dan and Jade had left a month ago. The timing matched perfectly with the day Jade had fled.

“It’s a shame. They said there’s even a reward. You should have caught a guy like that instead of just bringing back herbs.”

“How would that kind of information reach me? Nina only hears it because she travels around for mercenary work.”

“Hmph.”

“So, how much is the reward?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but it wasn’t a small amount.”

“…”

A reward was involved. His future looked bleak. Jade carefully set down his teacup. His hands were shaking so much he felt like he might break the porcelain.

“Why would such a grand family go to such lengths?”

“He was an attendant, but apparently, he stole some valuables.”

The word ‘attendant’ stuck in his ears. Jade’s status was indeed an attendant. But Jade had never stolen any valuables. So, it could be someone else.

However, when had his ominous premonitions ever been wrong?

“How expensive were the things he stole to warrant hiring mercenaries? How gutsy. How do you steal from the House of Linwood and run away?”

“He must have a lot of nerve. What was his name again? Jay…? Jaden…?”

“…”

The air in the room suddenly stood still. It wasn’t an illusion; everyone in the kitchen froze. An awkward silence hung between them. No one could speak first. Even the tea in the cups was perfectly still.

Callie and Dan’s gazes were fixed on Jade. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

“Black hair… and a likable face…”

Callie slowly recited the information she had heard while scanning Jade. Every single detail she mentioned matched Jade perfectly. Dan and Callie’s eyes locked onto Jade’s black hair.

It was now certain. The thief the House of Linwood was looking for was Jade.

They probably couldn’t go around blabbing that a grand Ducal family had commissioned a contract killing, so they had slapped the ‘thief’ label on him instead.

“Haha, it’s not this kid. You know how good I am at reading people. We traveled together for a month!”

Dan, who had been frozen with his cup, began to slap Jade on the back. But even Dan’s face was stiff with discomfort.

“Where did you start traveling together?”

“Well, from the Nor—”

Dan stopped mid-sentence as he answered Callie’s sharp question. After smacking his lips a few times, Dan forced a cheerful voice. But he couldn’t hide the slight tremble in his mouth.

“Oh, come on, I’m telling you it’s not him. Right… it’s not, right…?”

He looked anxious too. His pupils were quivering as he looked at Jade, and his eyebrows were arched high.

Jade squeezed his eyes shut. Black hair was common in this world. But his name was too similar to deny. He should have used an alias. He cursed himself for not thinking that far ahead.

“Out! Get him out of here right now, you madman!”

“Ah, wait, hold on! Hey, Jade, say something!”

“Never mind ‘saying something,’ get out! You traveled for a month with a person the House of Linwood is looking for with fire in their eyes? Do you want us to get dragged into this too?”

Callie aggressively pushed Dan and Jade by their backs. The teacups tipped over, and tea began to drip onto the floor. In the end, after a mere thirty minutes, Jade was kicked out of Dan’s house and dumped unceremoniously into the garden.

And so, Jade’s life as a full-blown fugitive began in earnest.