Chapter 22
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Ghost Bride
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The door was shut tight.
I grabbed the ring with my beak and shook it wildly, but it didn't budge an inch.
And then there were those horrific messages updating in real time.
The Ghost Bride is approaching you.
The Ghost Bride is coming for me?
I'd let my guard down because there weren't any other monsters around.
I didn't want to believe it, but this had to be the place that Ethan guy mentioned.
The cursed mansion inhabited by a powerful earthbound spirit.
So why hadn't I seen any other monsters around here?
Because the earthbound spirit had left its post.
Its Lace minions had followed after it, leaving the mansion empty except for the weak, innocent Baby Laces.
And now it had just noticed that a few of those Baby Laces had achieved nirvana. It realized something was wrong with the mansion and was on its way back.
And it would find me—the culprit.
What happens after that?
"Thanks for helping my kids find peace. Think you could do the same for me?"
Yeah, right. Like it'd say that.
No, it'd probably turn me into a Ghost Crow in their place and drag me around.
Forcing pitiful "Caw! Caw!" cries out of me.
"Caw!"
Absolutely not!
I couldn't run into it here.
Even Ethan had been wary of it, so it had to be seriously strong.
I had to get out of here somehow.
But there was no way out.
Clunk!
The front door was shut, and even the windows wouldn't open.
"Sh, shooo..."
Shungshung let out a voice tight with tension.
The Ghost Bride is approaching you.
Time was running out.
Getting out was impossible.
So what could I do?
"Caw!"
Hide in here.
But where, exactly?
"Oong, ooong!"
"Oooong! Oo-oong!"
The little ghosts came swarming over and pointed with their stubby arms in one direction.
"Shooo!"
Shungshung nodded quickly.
Did that mean there was a hiding spot in that room?
Alright, I'll trust you kids.
Slam!
I kicked the door open and rushed inside.
It was a shabby room, just like the others.
But the furniture in here felt out of place.
These were luxurious pieces that didn't belong in a dump like this.
No one had maintained them, yet not a single scratch marred their surfaces.
A decent-sized bed with linens, stacks of parchment on the desk, and a wooden drawer.
The hiding spot was obvious.
That drawer was gleaming with golden light.
It was the same as the Sage's glow—and the light I'd seen when I first met Shungshung.
That golden light had proven beneficial to me before, so I just had to trust it.
The Ghost Bride has arrived at the mansion entrance.
Clunk!
I shut the room door and crawled into the drawer.
It was plenty spacious inside.
Enough room for me and Shungshung with space to spare.
The Ghost Bride has entered the mansion.
Hiss...
The air turned ice-cold in an instant.
This chill was on another level from when it had sensed my presence before.
My body shivered uncontrollably, but I couldn't make a sound.
Not in this situation.
Shungshung, who had been muffling its mouth, noticed my trembling and gently draped a cloth over me.
Normally I'd refuse, but now wasn't the time to be picky about hot or cold.
The Ghost Bride is searching for you.
I could tell even without the message.
I heard the creaking noises and the little ghosts' drawn-out wails.
They seemed to be trying to draw the Ghost Bride's attention, but it wasn't working.
The Ghost Bride has arrived at the door.
...Already?
No, I hadn't been caught yet.
This was the golden-glowing spot my eyes confirmed as safe.
It wouldn't find me here easily.
Creeeak.
The door swung open with a racket.
"Ch-child... wh-where...?"
I heard the Ghost Bride's voice.
Shungshung and I both clamped our mouths shut at the same time.
Otherwise, a sound might slip out.
Just sharing the same space let me feel its grudge.
"S-something... here...?"
Scraaaape.
The desk drawer slid open.
"Ch-child..."
What was driving me mad was that I could only sense its presence from the occasional rustle of cloth—otherwise, nothing.
My heart pounded every time it searched somewhere else.
But it hadn't caught me yet.
If I stayed perfectly still, it'd leave for sure.
The Ghost Bride stands before you.
What?
When?
And how?
The spot was still glowing gold. Was I misunderstanding the rules?
Or maybe this was just the longest I could hide?
"S-s-som...ething..."
The moment the Ghost Bride grasped the drawer's handle, Shungshung shifted in front of me.
No words were needed; it didn't matter if we could communicate. What it planned to do was obvious.
Before it could open this spot, Shungshung would jump out on its own.
Distract it, then let me escape.
It figured it wouldn't suffer too badly since we were the same kind—and honestly, that was somewhat true.
If I got caught, I'd lose my life. Shungshung would just vanish at worst.
If it sacrificed itself, I could live.
Scraaaape.
The drawer began to slide open slowly.
Shungshung tensed, ready to leap out.
And I... covered the area around its eyes with my wing.
Crows love shiny things.
Shungshung had been gleaming gold from the moment we met.
What crow in the world could abandon its treasure?
Just like when its eyes went wide at the sight of something shiny, it charged ahead recklessly.
Light gathered on its pumpkin-orange feathers.
[Jack-o'-Lantern's Pumpkin-Colored Feather]
A feather imbued with some of the Jack-o'-Lantern's traits.
Acquire 「Glow」 while equipped.
The instant the drawer opened fully and our hollow eyes met...
Flash!
An intense burst of RGB light—red, green, blue—filled the opponent's vision.
...Never imagined it'd be those colors, but the result was the same.
It created an opening against a superior foe, even if just for a moment.
Flutter!
I had to use this chance to escape.
"Shooo..."
I grabbed Shungshung—startled as it was—by the nape with my beak and flew off fast.
"Ch-child! Chiiiild!!!"
Hide-and-seek was over.
Now it was time for tag inside the mansion.
The adventurer party had come within a hair's breadth of death.
They could've handled the Laces, but the Ghost Bride was beyond them.
Priestess Mary's holy power had been drained to the dregs from the relentless assault.
"Huff... haa..."
Warrior Hans was on the verge of collapse from blocking the onslaught, and archer Agwen had exhausted his entire stock of silver arrows— the only ones effective against spirits.
Just a little more.
A tiny bit longer under attack, and their defenses would've crumbled.
"What... just happened?"
No one could answer Erica's question.
In the final moment, the Ghost Bride had abruptly withdrawn from the battlefield, letting them barely scrape by with their lives.
Without the evil spirit, the Laces fell apart into a disorganized mob, and a few swings of Ethan's gleaming silver longsword sent them all fleeing.
Pure luck.
Had the Ghost Bride not left, at least half of them would've died for sure.
"...Something's off."
They'd caught their breath thanks to the unexpected variable, but the question lingered.
Ethan polished his sword while staring in the direction the Ghost Bride had vanished.
It was the way to the mansion he'd scouted earlier that day.
Which meant he now knew it had headed straight for the ruined mansion.
"Rest up. I'm going to investigate briefly."
Ethan decided to track the Ghost Bride.
"E-Ethan!"
Erica called after him, but he didn't turn back.
"A-Agwen! Look after Mary and Hans! I'll go after Ethan!"
Erica chased after the suddenly departing Ethan.
She knew he was no ordinary guy.
Incredibly mature for his age, and more knowledgeable than even the elf Agwen.
But that was that, and this was this.
How could she stand by when she could see one of her comrades heading toward that evil spirit?
She had the most stamina left among them, so she had to follow.
"Ethan, what are you doing?! At least explain!"
Ethan gave the somehow-caught-up Erica a curt glance.
Two were better than one, so he gave her a brief rundown of what he'd figured out.
The Ghost Bride had retreated hastily without finishing them off.
That meant someone else had introduced a variable.
Like touching her weakness, for instance.
"Weakness? That ghost has a weakness?"
"Earthbound spirits stay bound to one place because they're tethered to a vessel soaked in grudge. Looks like whoever created the variable made contact with that vessel."
"Oh? Who?"
"No idea yet. The key point is, even so, the Ghost Bride didn't vanish."
Erica finally grasped the gravity of the situation.
Someone had touched the Ghost Bride's reverse scale, letting them survive.
But that someone had failed to exorcise her, leaving only the fact that they'd poked her sore spot.
What the Ghost Bride would do upon returning to the mansion was obvious.
"Just a hypothesis, but there's a good chance she's confronting that person right now. And I judge this the perfect moment to take her down."
Erica agreed with him.
Ethan had purely rational reasons for heading to the mansion, but Erica's were moral.
She couldn't ignore the one who'd saved her life.
That was when they arrived near the mansion.
Fwiiiish!
Red, green, blue.
Three colors flooded the entire mansion.
"Not a hypothesis, then. Someone's definitely inside."
Ethan stared at the mansion.
He could feel the intense grudge emanating from it.
The whole massive structure was like a spell, formed to block unauthorized intruders.
Even he couldn't just bulldoze through it carelessly.
But mage Erica was different.
Given time, she could punch a small hole in that spell.
In that sense, bringing her along had been a smart call.
"...But first, we deal with these guys."
Erica, who had been shivering slightly from the mansion’s yin energy, snapped her head up.
Statues with mouths agape but silent.
The two gargoyles adorning the gate flapped their wings and flew straight at them.
"No time to waste. Quick and clean—before the ally inside runs out of breath."
Ethan raised his sword, and Erica gripped her staff.