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Chapter 129
Chapter 129. An Uninvited Guest in the Dead of Night (2)
The Panic Room in the Annex had been designed to allow all lodging guests to hold out comfortably for a week or more. The unhelpful distinguished guests and Serena were gathered into a separate room for the time being.
Jurgen called Penelope and Vivian into the Panic Room's sitting area.
"What is it?"
"We have to discuss what to do going forward, shouldn't we?"
Vivian appeared to have recovered some degree of composure.
"Haha, I understand you're anxious, Jurgen, but it's alright now. This Panic Room is safe. The walls throughout the suite are solid rock, and the door is a double iron gate made of Alchemic Steel. On top of that, it has a Grand Magical Barrier installed, so it cannot be breached by any ordinary magic."
At Jurgen's expression of concern, Vivian smiled.
"That's right—with a disturbance of this scale, support will arrive from outside before long."
Penelope also seemed inclined to agree.
And indeed, by any common sense, the End Order's mischief was a blunder. Of all places—to have pulled this at the Ashford Mansion itself, at the Ashford family's charity event of all things.
Support would come before long. ……Or so one would think.
But the reality was otherwise.
"After you were kidnapped, I did some research into Dark Magic. This is Erosion."
"Erosion?"
"It is a ritual that converts a specific space into another world in order to offer sacrifice to an Evil God's Minions."
"Converting it into another world…… what exactly does that mean?"
"It means all contact with the outside has been completely severed. Even if someone from the outside were to set foot in this space, they would not see us. Not until the ritual concludes. Buying time is not the solution—that is what I mean."
"……Is that truly so?"
Vivian showed a stricken reaction.
Converting into another world? Even in a world where magic and Knights existed, it sounded rather fantastical.
That was precisely what Dark Magic was.
Obtaining power that defied common sense in exchange for forsaking human ethics. It was accordingly difficult to wield, and for that reason it was treated as a menace by the entire continent.
"Do you know how to resolve it?"
"There will likely be an Altar somewhere inside the mansion. That is what must be brought down."
Dark Magic was not, of course, all-powerful. Potent as it was, it consumed enormous costs and demanded all manner of stringent conditions.
In the case of Erosion, there existed a passageway that maintained contact with the other world—the Hell Gate. For now it was Hungry Ghosts, but as time wore on, increasingly formidable Minions would come crossing over as well.
"Then there is no other choice. We have no option but to slaughter those monsters."
"That is a last resort."
"No need to worry on my behalf. I'm quite strong, despite appearances. And looking at them—they don't seem all that powerful."
"Right. The two of us should be enough."
They had only fled because of the sheer numbers, caught off guard. The opponents had shown no indication of a seasoned warrior's composure.
The very creatures that had floundered and failed to cross even the flame staircase that Penelope had improvised.
For the two of them—a 5th Rank Alchemist and a 6th Rank Knight respectively—it had seemed manageable.
"They are not ordinary monsters, but Minions of an Evil God. Among them, Hungry Ghosts specifically."
The two of them were not wrong on the surface. In terms of fighting strength and speed, actual Hungry Ghosts were feeble enough that a 2nd Rank Knight could slaughter them in droves.
"However. Any person bitten by them even once will become one of their own."
"That can't be……."
No remedy, no priestly ritual had any effect. They were, in every sense, the fantasy equivalent of zombies.
"And whoever set all of this in motion is likely still wandering around inside as well."
Only then did Vivian's expression grow grave.
Current situation, summarised.
No hope of assistance from outside. Beyond the walls, swarms of infinitely respawning zombies. The Dark Mage roaming freely through the Annex—therefore the safety of the Panic Room could not be guaranteed.
It was a considerably more dire situation than initially assumed.
"I'd heard they had recently resumed their activities, but for it to be the End Order……. What could their objective be?"
Vivian was in line to succeed the Ashford Marquis Family, and the distinguished guests here were individuals who wielded considerable power in their own right. It was not so strange that they might be targets of an attack……but.
Penelope and Jurgen had a somewhat more particular suspicion.
'Could it be Elder Sister?'
Bell's death, and the ensuing pressure from Clarisse, had been mediated with the help of Great-Uncle Hector. For a time, it had seemed as though Clarisse too had stepped back from interfering with Y&P, focusing instead on succession negotiations.
But what if. What if Clarisse had not given up? What if she had come to hate her younger sister Penelope enough to want her dead?
"……."
At that moment, Jurgen caught her gaze and shook his head. As though he already knew what was on Penelope's mind.
It was not mere comfort—it was a clear-eyed read of reality.
The End Order's way of thinking and pattern of action was ruinous. Most of them were the sort whose reasoning could not be understood by ordinary standards.
Whether they would accept a commission from Clarisse was doubtful, and whether Clarisse would have wielded a blade she had no idea how to control was equally doubtful.
And besides—Bell was a Dark Mage, but there was a strong likelihood she had not been End Order.
"Pointless speculation. Their opponents are the End Order, are they not?"
Getting out of here first was the most pressing matter.
What came after could be thought about later.
***
And so three people set out to break the Hell Gate and dismantle the Erosion.
Jurgen, Penelope, Vivian.
The worst-case scenario of Hungry Ghosts laying siege to the Panic Room entrance was avoided, but the Annex was already deteriorating rapidly. The second floor's interior, which had been comparatively intact, was more decayed, more dilapidated, and gave off an even more oppressive smell of dust.
Krrrrrr.Screek! Screek!
Intermittent groans of Hungry Ghosts drifting from all around. True to their name, those creatures were tormented by a hunger so dire one might curse even the gods.
In places where the End Order had released Hungry Ghosts, when someone arrived belatedly, not a single living thing remained.
"You may breathe. Their hearing is not particularly sharp."
What Hungry Ghosts relied upon was their sense of smell. Body scent in particular—they were reportedly as sensitive as dogs, capable of detecting a human's emotional state through smell alone.
'Penelope, this is your moment to shine.'
'Me?'
Penelope had prepared the countermeasure for this.
The essence of scent was, at its core, minute particles. If one could stir the faintest breeze around one's body to prevent body scent from emanating, it would mean there was no chance of being tracked by smell. It appeared a simple solution, but hundreds had died to arrive at this knowledge.
Right now, a breeze roughly the strength of a hand fan was blowing softly around each of the three people's bodies, trapping their scent.
In an atmosphere as eerie as something artificially constructed for a horror game, Vivian cast a peculiar look at Jurgen, who remained as composed as ever.
"You really are something, Jurgen. So calm, even in a situation like this."
"I trust in Penelope's skill."
"……What a fine relationship. I envy you. That is sincere."
In any case. Having slipped out of the study where the Panic Room was concealed, the three used a shard of mirror to scout the corridor.
Safety first, for the time being. But the moment they rounded even the nearest corner, Hungry Ghosts might spring out without warning.
Even setting aside the extravagance of the Ashford family's Annex, which was as spacious as a small public school, playing tag with several hundred pursuers would have them cornered in no time.
"Let's proceed as planned."
It was fortunate the Panic Room had been so thoroughly stocked. Jurgen drew out a pemmican wrapped in paper alongside silver cutlery.
An extreme survival ration—dried beef ground up and pressed with grain, then set with beef tallow.
"Don't scream, no matter what surprises you."
"Shall I throw it?"
"If you would. That staircase leading to the third floor should do."
Vivian hurled it with all her strength toward the landing of the staircase leading to the third floor. The fork served as a counterweight, and since Vivian was a 6th Rank Knight, the pemmican drew a straight line through the darkness and lodged firmly into the landing wall with a thud.
At that instant.
Screek?Screek!
As though someone had set off a firecracker in a cave full of bats, strange groans erupted from all around.
Screek! Screek!Crash-bang-bang!
And then. The Hungry Ghosts in the vicinity all began charging toward the pemmican at once. Down the corridor before the study where the three had been hiding, at least ten of the creatures came sprinting.
"……."
Jurgen observed their movements through the mirror shard he had set up in advance.
Whether because the Erosion had progressed further, they were incomparably more agile than before. Not the tottering, unstable movements of something about to collapse—but running on all fours, crawling casually across the ceiling.
Like beasts. No.
Gyaaak! Gyaaaaak! Kyaaaaak!
What the creatures were doing was, in truth, beastly through and through. The ones crowded onto the staircase launched into a frenzied brawl, each trying to seize the single piece of pemmican.
Ghuuughk!……SKREEEEEEEK!!!!
Those that failed to get the pemmican, apparently overtaken by fury, began attacking those around them, and the fight turned violent. As though meaning to rip out and devour whatever lay inside each other, they wrenched at limbs, trying to tear them off.
"……Those things would really love the Ribs."
Penelope, in admiration at the result—better than expected.
"They are considerably faster than before. Most likely the influence of this space. It would not hurt to be more careful."
Engaging them head-on had indeed been the right call to avoid. Anyone other than Jurgen might well have found themselves in grave danger.
Just then.
Thud. Thud.
An abrupt sound, and goosebumps spread across the skin.
The sound had come from inside the study, in a blind spot.
Thud-thud-thud.
An individual that had been inside from the start was slinking out.
Grrrrrr?
The creature looked around for a while, tilting its head this way and that, before its lipless mouth fell open. Teeth packed in rows like iron bars, several layers deep.
The moment Penelope held her breath and Jurgen reached a hand into his breast pocket.
Thud!
With a dull thud. An unidentified red liquid splattered across one wall of the study like a work of contemporary art.
The body of the Hungry Ghost, missing its head and shuddering violently, crumpled to the floor.
"You said it was only a bite that caused infection, correct?"
Vivian shook the fluids off her hand.
"That is correct."
Jurgen gave her a thumbs-up, and she grinned.
"Let's move. Their attention appears to be occupied over there for a while yet."
The three kept low and ran toward the staircase on the opposite side from where the Hungry Ghosts had gathered.
If Jurgen's deduction was correct, the Hell Gate's location was on the lower floor.
The Erosion had progressed more rapidly than on the second floor, and by experience the creatures favoured narrow, damp places.
Their route was set in the opposite direction from the dining room and kitchen, where food might still remain. They had to arrive as quickly as possible before the Dark Mage who had deployed the Erosion sensed that something was amiss.
"……."
Just before descending the staircase. Jurgen turned briefly to look back.
The lingering scent of blood still in his nose rewound Hanbin's clock for a moment.
The soldiers who had been devoured by Hungry Ghosts and become their kin. The tragedy of having had no choice but to cut them down.
This would be the fourth time. Being entangled with a Dark Mage.
Even if all of it was coincidence, the frequency was far too high.
It meant the Dark Mages who had been quiet for a time had resumed their activities in earnest.
"……."
The Culinary Revolution was certainly the undertaking Jurgen had wanted. The 'thing he truly wanted to do'—found after having accomplished enough in this kingdom, having grown too weary, having turned his eyes elsewhere.
Hanbin had already accomplished a great deal. He had led the kingdom to prosperity, and Britannia had entered its greatest Golden Age.
And yet throughout the world, tragedy existed as brazenly as ever.
None of that was Hanbin's responsibility. To think that one person could hold back all of it with their own strength, unless they were a god, was arrogance.
"……."
Perhaps the time he had left to devote himself to the Culinary Revolution was not quite as long as he had thought.
Jurgen descended the stairs in silence.