Chapter 63 - The Ghost Hunt - II

"Unfortunately, she caught the attention of other nobles, the type who wouldn't hesitate against using less than legal means to get what they wanted." The bartender's tone darkened, and he lowered his volume so that only those within a few meters could hear him. "Several noble families sent her family marriage requests, but they denied every single one of them."

"Noble families started pressuring her family and almost brought them to ruin until they eventually surrendered, and Evaline was married off to a noble house to save her family. Thus Evaline joined the Redmond family, marrying the late Sir Redmond himself." The bartender continued. Merlin could detect small traces of anger leaking out from the bartender's voice.

"And then came her death a few months after..." The bartender was almost whispering now, so very few people could hear it. "Her body was found early in the morning, face-down in the Redmond mansion's garden. She was wearing nothing but a red nightgown, and her body was covered in small puncture wounds from the bed of roses she herself maintained."

"Most people believe Sir Redmond threw her out of the window during a heated argument, but the house servants all claimed that he was in Megalopolis that week." The bartender's voice started becoming raspy as he retold the story, "Nothing came from the investigation, and her body was quickly removed and buried somewhere outside the town's walls."

Everything started lining up in Merlin's mind, the only thing he couldn't figure out was why. Why was she killed when everyone wanted her? Was it a jealous noble who believed that if he couldn't have her, nobody could? Was she cheating on Sir Redmond and was murdered because of it?

A few theories started bouncing around in Merlin's mind, the last one made the most sense to him, especially due to the fact that Sir Redmond was the only other man who was cursed. Another factor that stood out was that Sir Redmond was given higher priority as a target during the mansion incident. It was clear to Merlin that even as an undead she had residual resentment towards the man, enough hatred that even the man who set her on fire previously was considered an afterthought. 

"If that really is Evaline... Then she finally got her revenge." The bartender sat down on a chair behind the counter. "But that doesn't mean she will pass on peacefully."

As Merlin felt the conversation come to a close, a quest window suddenly appeared before him.

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[Rare Quest]

Evaline's Exorcism.

The town of Orchomenus has been attacked by an undead monster. The creature breached the eastern gate, leaving a trail of death and destruction as it barged into the market area and invaded the Redmond's mansion, killing the head of the house.

A group of town guard and mercenaries are forming at the eastern gate, preparing to set out on an expedition to hunt the monster down. 

You who knows the full story behind this incident, and who has previously fought this monster, have the knowledge and the means to put an end to it once and for all. Defeating the monster may remove the curse it has placed on you. 

Defeat the Rose Wight.

• Reward: 500 EXP, An Apology, +20 Orchomenus Mercenary Guild Reputation, ???

• Failure: ???

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Merlin read through the quest, his eyes locked on to the quest requirement.

「Defeat the Rose Wight.」

The monster that he had been attacked by finally had a name, he hadn't seen anything like it in the previous timeline. He expected it would be some form of undead, but he didn't expect it to be a mutation of a wight.

Wights were a type of undead which usually resembled zombies, but they weren't entirely physical beings. They had an weakness to sunlight and sources of holy magic, they also typically had an aversion to light and fire, with some variations having them also be weaknesses, amongst other things. Wights were generally very hostile creatures, having been originally reanimated through extreme hatred and malevolence, something that didn't add up if what the bartender said about Evaline's nature was true.

Merlin guessed that the wight would have instead been a mutation of a revenant, due to the monster's desire to get revenge against her husband. But the hostile behaviour seen today and the day of the bandit extermination made sense for a wight.

A thought ran through Merlin's mind, he was entertaining the possibility that the wight wasn't reanimated through her own will, but instead through a third party's use of black magic and necromantic spells. This explanation solved the strange behaviour of the creature, as well as allowed the bartender's view of Evaline to stay true.

Merlin accepted the quest, he had no reason not to. Plus one of the rewards promised an apology, and he was looking forward to it.

He grabbed the lantern he stole from the Redmond mansion and made his way out of the building. He travelled towards the eastern gate, where the crowd had become even larger as more town guard and mercenaries were pilling in. It seemed like a leader figure for the town guards was making a speech of some kind, and Merlin fortunately arrived at the end of it.

A few minutes after the man stopped speaking, the crowd started rushing out of the town and quickly spread out within the forest. The hundreds of torches and lanterns lit up the forest, and everyone had some form of weapon drawn. The town guard were all equipped with either a spear or a standard iron short-sword and wooden shield combo. While the mercenaries and players had a large variety of weapons; hatchets, swords of varying sizes and styles, chain weapons, farming tools, and a familiar looking scythe.

It was only at this point did he realise that Typhoeus and Snowbunny were also participating in the ghost hunt. He hadn't seen or heard from either of them since the fight between LordKyle and Arwell Lychester.

Merlin approached his friends, and he was just about to surprise them when a loud bang rung out from within the forest, followed by a series of incomprehensible shouting and screaming, it seemed contact had been made only a few minutes after the hunt had started. Everyone started running towards the noise, Merlin's friends included. From a distance all Merlin could see was hundreds of small fireballs closing in on a single point.

The wind began picking up once more, and a strong gust of wind ripped through the forest, extinguishing a large portion of the fireballs that Merlin could see. What remained were mostly just lanterns, but there were some people who protected their torches.

Merlin started running towards the position of the noise with his blade drawn. The forest was sparse this close to the town, but it grew denser as he traversed further in. Eventually he reached a large group and could now clearly hear the sounds of battle nearby.

Slipping through a section of dense foliage, Merlin saw a small group of mercenaries hacking away at a pair of thorn covered tentacles that were weaving between the trees and lunging at their blind spots. The mercenaries appeared to be in good condition, a few scratches but nothing serious.

Tracing the origin of the tentacle, Merlin found that the rose wight was a little further into the forest, and was currently holding several groups back with just a few tentacles utilising hit-and-run tactics.

Merlin made his way to the main body, which turned to face him as he approached. He pulled a single vial of holy water out of his inventory and poured a small amount on his gladius, allowing it to barely coat his blade.

"Unfortunately I cant have you destroying the expedition force while I purify your remains, so I'm going to have to deal with this body first." Merlin pointed his blade towards the rose wight. A few remaining droplets formed near the tip of the blade. "I'd appreciate it if you just stood still and let me exorcise you."

The wight shrieked at the taunts, and one of its two unoccupied tentacles lunged towards Merlin. When he dodged it with relative ease, the tentacle wrapped around a tree and lunged at him again, this time from behind.

Had Merlin not expected something like this from seeing the tentacles doing the exact same thing against the mercenaries, he would have probably received a fatal injury, but fortunately he reacted in time. Merlin stepped aside, allowing the tentacle to fly past him, before he cleaved his gladius into the tentacle. Where he previously encountered resistance, like trying to cut through a rock with a steak knife, his blade now slid in with ease, it seemed coating his blade in holy water was extremely effective when it came to fighting this monster.

Applying additional force was all it took for Merlin's blade to cleave right through the tentacle.. The rest of the tentacle dropped to the forest floor, and the tentacle itself gushed out a tar-like black liquid, it appeared to be the creature's blood or perhaps some kind of sap.