Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Haunted Mansion (4)
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Rumble—
The mansion shook with a deep vibration.
"What’s with this shaking…?"
"Everyone, stay alert. It might be a dungeon trap activating."
The knights who had been resting in the corridor hurriedly got to their feet.
As everyone looked around in confusion,
"Hold on a moment."
The quick-witted Comfort immediately cast a detection spell and quickly pinpointed the cause.
"Stairs leading up to the second floor have appeared."
"Y-You're right…"
"Looks like Hector and Olivia figured it out."
This was good news.
They couldn't stay on the first floor forever, after all.
Everyone gathered in front of the stairs leading to the next floor.
Hector and Olivia were waiting there for the group.
"Come on in."
"We've been waiting."
However, their expressions didn't look good.
A brand was etched into Hector's forehead.
Earlier, when they'd shared information in the corridor,
they'd seen the number 1 on Leo's forehead.
It was a full 4 higher than before.
"That number…"
"What else? It's an anomaly."
Hector approached Leo.
"Mind if I take a look?"
"Go ahead."
He brushed aside the hair to examine the forehead.
"Leo's brand is gone."
Leo's forehead was spotless.
It had definitely been there just before.
Hector stroked his chin.
"Hmm."
He couldn't help but be concerned.
There had to be a reason for the brand appearing out of nowhere.
The accumulating numbers felt like a ticking time bomb.
And in a place like Dreamland dungeon, where anything could happen, it was unsettling.
"Let's start by compiling what we know. This brand on our foreheads transfers from one person to another. And the count goes up."
"Does it move to someone else automatically after time passes?"
"Why does the count increase?"
There were too few clues.
The basic 'why' and 'how' were missing.
Then, Croc—who had stayed silent until now—cautiously spoke up.
"I didn't check Leo's forehead constantly, but… before it transferred to you, Hector, the number on Leo's forehead was already 5."
"You sure?"
"I hesitated to mention it since the timing felt off… but yes, I'm certain."
"Now that you mention it… I think I saw the number change slightly too."
"It doesn't increase every time it transfers. There must be a separate condition for the count going up."
The reason for the transfer wasn't critical right now.
Having the brand didn't kill you outright.
Hector and Leo had proven that themselves.
So, what the group really needed to focus on,
was 'why the count increases,' as Croc argued.
"The count going up seems like a bad sign. This place isn't kind to us at all."
Croc pondered.
The time when the count first increased.
It was right when they began exploring the mansion.
That's when Leo got the brand, and it counted as 1.
And now it was 5.
Was it just because time had passed?
No way.
It had only been 20 minutes since they finished sharing info and started investigating.
Something they did must have triggered it.
All phenomena have underlying interactions, after all.
"I have a question for Olivia and Hector."
"Yeah?"
"Could you detail everything you did during your investigation?"
"Why the sudden request?"
Olivia tilted her head.
Croc replied,
"I think the answer's in there."
The group was conversing right now.
The count wasn't rising.
They'd been resting in the corridor.
The only ones who'd moved in those 20 minutes were Olivia and Hector.
So, the trigger for this count up was over 90% likely to be something they did.
Hector chuckled.
Patting his shoulder as if to say not bad at all.
"Haha, never thought I'd be writing a report for the newbie."
"S-Sorry."
"Nah, I'll gladly do it. Kid, you're sharper than I expected."
"…Thank you."
.
.
.
.
.
"Done."
"Finished this side too."
Time passed, and the documents were complete.
Croc read them slowly.
According to the contents, Hector and Olivia had systematically checked the locked rooms.
One was the north room they found, the other the south room Dragred discovered.
The north room was the master bedroom.
It had furniture like beds, similar to a guest room,
but it was much larger and grander, hence the name.
Nothing significant found.
The south room was the parlor.
There was a visible lever, which they pulled,
and the stairs to the next zone opened.
"Hmm… There's something I want to verify."
"Verify?"
"Yes. The count might go up, but I think it's necessary for future exploration. Will everyone follow me?"
"Sure. Let's go."
With Dragred's approval, Croc took the lead.
The knights exchanged glances before following.
They headed to the parlor first.
Croc stepped inside.
He checked Hector's forehead—no count increase.
"Then."
Next was the master bedroom.
The moment Croc stepped forward,
The number on Hector's forehead changed.
"Just as I thought…"
"Whoa…"
Croc quickly exited the master bedroom.
He'd uncovered the secret behind the count ups.
"Croc's deduction was spot on."
"Even if both of them went in earlier, jumping by 4 seems off, doesn't it?"
"No assumption it only goes up by one. Or maybe because they stayed too long."
Hector and Olivia had been in the master bedroom for about 8 minutes.
Time might be a factor to watch.
"…By the way, does this mean 79 more floors ahead?"
They'd barely advanced from the first to the second floor.
And the count had risen by a whopping 6 in the process.
They didn't know what the count meant.
But it was definitely bad.
According to the record keeper,
unpleasant things were happening in the second zone.
Could they really uncover all the secrets
and proceed to the next zone?
"Try using detection magic."
"Why detection magic all of a sudden?"
"Just do it. You'll probably notice something strange too."
Hector suddenly spoke up.
The moment detection magic was cast, the group understood what he meant.
"The second floor, third, fourth… and even higher floors all have seven rooms?"
"Yeah. Look closely—the corridor layout's the only difference. Size and positions are identical to the first floor."
He was right.
Only the corridor structure changed; everything else was the same.
"I doubt the upper floors will differ much from the first."
"Could be. No, probably will be."
"Yeah. Stop frowning. You're ugly enough already—how much uglier do you wanna get?"
"Is that something you should say? Unbelievable."
"A-Am I ugly…?"
The heavy mood lightened up again.
As everyone smiled and prepared to climb the stairs,
The number on Hector's forehead suddenly jumped.
Everyone froze.
Hector tilted his head at his comrades' odd reactions.
Why the sudden fuss?
"Wha…"
In that instant, Hector's body lurched forward.
As if someone were yanking him.
He clutched his neck and tumbled down with a thud.
He looked just like a slave on a leash.
"Guhk, guhk!"
He gasped in agony, dragging across the floor.
Croc, unable to watch, hurriedly touched Hector's body,
but it wasn't something brute force could handle.
Instead, the number on Hector's forehead only increased.
The group stared at him in stunned despair.
He was being dragged to a prison.
Even so, he didn't forget what he had to do.
Knowing a grim fate awaited,
he pointed at the stairs, urging the group to proceed.
Croc shouted,
"Let's go!"
"Huh?"
"Upstairs! Staying on the first floor is too dangerous!"
Croc took the lead.
In the end, the group chose to advance.
Everyone fell silent.
It was a heartbreaking situation, but there was nothing they could do.
.
.
.
.
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Dreamland, Third Zone.
Haunted Mansion, Second Floor, 20:05.
The group arrived on the second floor.
And Croc looked at the 「6」 branded on Olivia's forehead.
Only then did he feel certain.
"This is a death count."
"Death count…?"
"Olivia's forehead shows 「6」 now. And Hector's was 「13」 until just before."
Croc asserted.
Intruders accumulate counts through actions,
and when it exceeds a certain number, they die.
That was the rule of the Haunted Mansion.
The trigger threshold was 7.
Hector had paid with his life for those 7.
"So this is Dreamland."
"A realm brute force can't conquer."
"We need to explore without stacking counts…"
Everyone agreed with Croc.
Their thoughts weren't much different.
"Then why did it jump from 6 to 12 suddenly…?"
"Honestly, I don't know. But the most likely culprit is time."
Croc asked Dragred for his watch.
He handed it over without hesitation.
Croc held it out for everyone to see.
It was now 8:00 PM.
"The academy guide mentioned this: 'Get out of the classroom after hours, and you die.' So I suspect something like—at 8 PM, if you're in the first-floor corridor, you get +1 count."
The group groaned in understanding.
Croc was right.
The number had jumped that much all at once.
Beyond just entering forbidden rooms,
there were other things that raised the death count.
"If that's the case, we had seven people including Hector earlier—why only +6, not +7…?"
Croc scratched his head.
Who knows.
Maybe watch owners are exempt.
No, that's a stretch.
"…Honestly, I don't know."
There was no solid proof.
What Croc said was just hypothesis, needing verification.
But.
Verification required lives.
Better safe than sorry—that was his stance.
Now only six remained.
Dragred, Comfort, Olivia, Bitters, Leo, Croc.
At least the second-floor corridor was safe for now.
As the group started to relax,
screams began echoing from below.
It was Hector's voice.
Muffled, like his mouth was gagged.
Prisons held torture devices too horrific to speak of.
Everyone knew that.
The scene naturally came to mind.
Exactly what was happening to Hector now.
In vivid detail.
"Urk, haa, haa…"
Olivia clamped her hands over her mouth, barely holding back vomit.
"We should rest a bit."
"Y-Yes…"
It wasn't just Olivia.
The death count could transfer.
Anyone here could meet Hector's end.
Silence lingered for a while.
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