Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Ghost City (3)
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-Kyung, kyung kyung!
-Uh, uwaaaaaah!!!!!!!!
The first to move was Aila. Before I could even give the order, she raced toward the source of the sound.
“El, keep an eye on the carriage here.”
I leaped down from the carriage and mounted Lloyd’s horse. Lloyd’s steed was an excellent warhorse that could rival Storm, so it galloped at a decent speed even with two grown men aboard.
We wove through the rather labyrinthine streets toward the origin of the noise. Aila, who had arrived first, was circling in front of the gate, unable to scale the tall, pointed wall.
“Aila, that’s a height you could easily clear.”
The wall towered well over three meters, but that was nothing for Aila. I dismounted and approached the gate, then realized why she hadn’t climbed over.
An eerie, unidentified magic—or could it even be called magic?—pulsated through the wall and gate. An unknown, strange force and wave flowed there. I instantly recognized it as an ominous, malevolent power and pulled my hand away from the gate.
Friends of the moon and night, shadow wolves possessed a kind of ‘spirit’ similar to foxes or cats. Aila must have sensed this corrupted energy because of it.
-Grrrrrr….
As I leaned in to examine the gate more closely, Aila wrinkled her muzzle toward the mansion’s interior and began growling fiercely. Reflexively, I drew the dagger from my waist and peered beyond the gate. But inside the burned-out mansion, only a thin wisp of smoke rose; nothing else was visible.
Wait.
Then what was that scream we heard?
And the dog barking—what was that about?
It was a scream like someone on the verge of death, as if their limbs were being torn apart. The kind of horrific sound you might get if you squeezed a soul like a lemon.
“There’s nothing around, Theodor.”
Lloyd, having quickly circled the mansion, spoke quietly. Yet contrary to his words that nothing was there, he drew his sword just like me upon seeing Aila on alert.
There was only the smell of burning, no sign of life at all.
‘……Should we go in?’
When I placed my hand on the firmly shut front gate, the Starfish Leather Gloves devoured the surrounding corrupted energy, making the space look as if it were warping. Grasping the rusted handle and pulling, the gate opened with disappointingly little resistance.
-Greeeak….
Unlike how tightly shut it had seemed, it wasn’t locked after all. Well, with the house already burned, there’d be no need to lock the gate.
“I’ll go in first.”
At Lloyd’s words, I nodded. If there was an ambush, he’d be better positioned to counter it. Unlike me, Lloyd didn’t hide his footsteps as he strode in boldly, and Aila and I followed behind him.
An even more sinister atmosphere than the village hung inside the gate. Darkness so thick it felt tangible. Acrid smoke rising from spots on the ground, as if the fire still burned, only heightened the foreboding.
-Kniff….
Aila sniffed around, wrinkling her nose. Searching for the man who screamed or the dog that barked fiercely, perhaps. I silently watched her movements. She began sniffing at empty air and walking.
“Let’s follow Aila.”
Having checked the entrance sufficiently, we started trailing her. Aila paused as if puzzled by something incomprehensible, circled the same spot, perked her ears, or wagged her tail. Then….
-Kyung!
She barked at the empty air.
‘What?’
The spot Aila stared at was literally ‘empty air.’ Nothing but void. No presence whatsoever, yet she barked at it. Was something hiding? Too dark to see? No, that couldn’t be. With [Owl’s Eye], I could roughly discern anything in the darkness.
-Kyung! Kyung!
-Swish swish.
That wasn’t the only oddity.
Aila, barking at the empty air, was wagging her tail. I realized her barking wasn’t out of wariness for danger. What could it be? As I opened my mouth to call “Aila”….
“……!”
A sweet scent wafted by—butternut-berry-cold soup.
I hurriedly scanned the surroundings. I think I glimpsed something pale darting behind a tree. Why ‘think’? Because it appeared as a translucent figure.
“D-Did you see it?”
“See what?”
Lloyd hadn’t noticed. If Lloyd, with senses several—no, dozens of—times sharper than a normal person’s, hadn’t detected it….
‘Am I seeing things?’
I’d been quite fatigued from the events in Dehid, and without proper rest, it made sense I’d hallucinate…. No, that didn’t hold up either. I had the Sand Olapunt Magic Stone Necklace. Ever since wearing it, I hadn’t felt the usual fatigue at all.
So I wasn’t exhausted enough to hallucinate. What I saw wasn’t an illusion….
“Kuaaaaaah!!!!!!”
Then the scream rang out again.
Lloyd moved first this time, dashing around the mansion toward the sound. Aila still gazed at the empty air, tail wagging.
“Aila!”
Only after I called her again did she snap out of it and turn to me. Her eyes were clear and sharp. The chance she’d been hit by magic or mind control was near zero. So what had Aila been seeing?
Unfortunately, there was no time to ponder. I hurried with Aila toward where Lloyd had run. Rounding the mansion to what looked like a backyard, we saw Lloyd standing stock-still.
“Lloyd, the person……!”
Mid-sentence, I gasped. A man—likely the screamer—hidden behind Lloyd came into view. His form was grotesquely twisted. Every joint in his arms and legs was unnaturally contorted; it was horrific.
In that state, he dragged himself across the ground as if trying to escape the mansion. Or rather, trying to. His mangled limbs made it impossible. He flailed with his rigid body, staggering.
“Theodor.”
Lloyd pointed at the man’s leg with his fingertip. From foot to knee, the leg was charred black, like it had been scorched. Melted skin clung to burned fabric—painful just to look at. But that wasn’t the issue….
-Fsssh….
Tiny wisps of smoke rose from every joint. As if the fire hadn’t come from outside, but started from within his body.
“Kuh, kuhuh…!”
His hands, arms, nape—skin turning black bit by bit. Flames from inside his body were burning him. Yet he thrashed desperately to escape the mansion, oblivious.
“…….”
Lloyd looked at me.
This man was enduring the agony of burning alive. He couldn’t escape the fire or extinguish it. It started from within his own body.
His death was inevitable. In this situation, Lloyd was asking what choice I’d make. His sword gleamed coldly in the moonless darkness.
I slowly shook my head.
“……Please cover your ears.”
I plugged Aila’s ears with an acorn from my pouch and drew the silver flute from my bosom. A gift from Darion.
-♪♩♬~♪♩♬~.
As the flute’s clear, fresh, soothing, gentle tones like a breeze filled the air, the man thrashing in his twisted body closed his eyes.
He wasn’t dead. Just asleep. Similar to death in that he’d never wake, but…. Anyway, asleep, so no more pain.
-Fwoosh!!!!
Flames erupted from gashes in his now fully blackened body. The fire, fueled by his life, flickered eerily before dying out. What remained of the man looked like a lump of charcoal.
-Whoooosh…!
A gust swept through, scattering the charcoal-like body into dust. All that was left where the man had been was a crude ring that looked like a wedding band.
“…….”
I picked up the ring. Asking the villagers would reveal its owner. And I could inform them of his fate.
‘Maybe learn what’s happening in this village too.’
I removed the acorn from Aila’s ears and tucked the flute away. While Lloyd and I turned to leave, Aila kept staring into the mansion. Only after I called her once more did she follow, though she kept looking back.
That wasn’t the only strange thing.
As we left the mansion, I expected a crowd. We weren’t the only ones who heard that horrific scream. But mocking my expectation, the street was deserted and silent.
Not a soul gathered at the mansion gate. No one on the road, no heads at windows. As if no such scream had ever occurred.
If Lloyd hadn’t entered with me, I’d have thought I hallucinated it again.
‘A strange village.’
We returned to the carriage. We asked El, who’d been waiting, but she hadn’t seen anyone either.
“There were houses with lights on, but no one came out.”
“Like they knew something like this would happen.”
“Eek, it’s creepy.”
“No choice. Even if it’s creepy, we have to stay in this village for a while. Lloyd, which way’s the inn?”
“……That way.”
We headed to the inn.