52 Homeowner

Heavy fog permeated the late afternoon with a chill that seeped into the very bones, carrying with it the promise of rain that chased the citizens of Ashwick into their homes. Little lamplighters with oilskin coats hurried to illuminate lampposts on every main street corner before night fell. Only a few carriages traveled the main streets, pulled by beasts as eager to return home as the passengers they ferried.

Mist swirled around the legs of a man standing alone before a dilapidated house, wispy tendrils weaving together to form clawed hands threatening to clutch his ankles and drag him down. Ominous pressure surrounded the man, causing breath to catch in his throat, gloved hands trembling.

He glanced over his shoulder at the house, a chill traveling down his spine. Three twisted black trees with no trace of greenery stood sentinel over a withered yard - dead brown grass, tall weeds and thorny bushes all that remained of a once flourishing garden. An old stone fountain was choked with moss and held only a basin of stagnant water.

The many empty black windows of the house seemed to be watching him, and the longer he looked at the place the more he felt those trees were moving, writhing, twitching their twisted limbs to beckon him into the yard.

Swearing under his breath, the man pulled up the collar of his pea coat and decisively looked away. Cold sweat gathered on his brow despite the chilly air, making him shiver again.

The tendrils climbed higher, silent. Slow. Weaving in and out of the fog, making use of the shadows. Reaching for the man's throat just beyond his line of sight.

Bit by bit, centimeter by centimeter...

Then the tendrils retreated, fading into the surrounding fog in a matter of seconds.

Brent Daniels sighed as though a weight had been lifted off his chest.

Moments later, the sound of footsteps echoed oddly down the empty streets. Unaware of the danger he'd narrowly escaped, Brent checked his pocket watch before glancing in the direction of the footsteps with an excited glimmer in his gentle brown eyes.

From the fog emerged a tall, thin man in a long navy blue coat trimmed with gold embroidery. Silver spectacles glinted on his nose, and long blond hair was pulled back in a plain braid.

Following on the man's heels was a young lady with chin-length crimson hair, a rather unhappy expression on her otherwise adorable face. She carried a lit brass lantern in one hand, and was dressed in a plain button-down dress with white lace on the hem and cuffs. In stark contrast, her feet were covered by heavy black leather boots that clicked oddly with each step she took.

The tall man stepped forward, holding out his hand for a handshake. "Mister Daniels, I presume? A pleasure to meet you at last! I am Professor Bishop. My apologies for being so late, but this city is really quite the maze!"

Brent Daniels chuckled as the tall man shook his hand with much enthusiasm. "It's no trouble, Professor. No trouble at all! You're doing me a big favor here, I wouldn't dare quibble about a few extra minutes of waiting."

"So this is the place?" Professor Bishop glanced at the house with interest sparkling in his dark eyes. "Such a beautiful house!"

"A long time ago, maybe." Brent sighed, fishing a solid iron key and an old, folded piece of yellowed parchment out of his coat pocket. He swapped them both for a large brown envelope offered by the professor. "I did warn you about the, ah, circumstances?"

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He glanced at Li Mei, obviously concerned about discussing specifics in front of the child. Professor Bishop chuckled and rubbed his hands with excitement. "Have no fear, my good man! I've already signed the waivers, the transaction receipts are included along with the rest of the documentation you requested. We're all sorted!"

"Then good luck, Professor. May the Empress watch over you." Brent bobbed his head and scurried off into the fog, his footsteps light and quick. He couldn't wait to be rid of the property and for the sum the professor offered, he could afford to deal with the guilt of handing such an accursed place to someone else!

Mere seconds passed before he was swallowed by the fog, leaving only the sound of fading footsteps echoing behind him.

Once they were alone on the street Li Mei glanced at the looming house wreathed in fog, built in an imposing style that resembled old Gothic or Victorian architecture from Earth. A sagging wraparound porch, tall arched windows with cracked glass, and ivy climbing stone walls to wrap vine tendrils around pointed spires on the roof.

Then she looked back at the well-disguised Faust. "I'm not going in there. That ugly place looks haunted as Hell."

Faust chuckled and pressed the iron key and folded parchment into her hand, then placed a cigarette between his lips. "Sleeping in public areas will get you arrested, and I won't pay your bail. Here's the deed and key. Congratulations, you're a homeowner now! The ghosts are a bonus."

"Ghosts," Li Mei whispered, her mouth suddenly feeling very dry. She glanced at the house again, and couldn't help but feel the structure was mocking her with it's empty eye-like windows and gaping maw of a door. Calling it haunted was supposed to be a joke! "Real ghosts?"

"Don't worry, ghosts are echoes that attach themselves to the physical world via some sentimental object or a prearranged array, and resonate with mana in the atmosphere to create abnormal phenomena and manipulate their surroundings. Assuming, of course, that the place is actually haunted and it's not all a ruse or cover-up for something else." Faust shrugged, lighting the cigarette then shoving his hands in the deep pockets of his coat. "Half the time it's a ruse. I haven't investigated this place in particular, that's your job. Since it's your house and all."

"You... What do I do if they're really ghosts? You can't punch a ghost!" Li Mei shivered and took a step back, resisting the urge to fling the key and house deed far away. Demons, monsters, zombies, those were all well and fine to deal with. Gross in some cases, sure. Frightening, possibly. But they could be fought and killed. Or destroyed, in the case of reanimated dead.

Ghosts, on the other hand...

She really hated them. Even more than she hated worms!

It wasn't just because they were creepy and horrifying and carried with their very existence whispered insinuations of continued torment after death. And it certainly wasn't because she'd seen too many ghost-based horror movies as a child since they had a spike in popularity at the time.

Many childhood nightmares of ghostly women in white dresses dragging her down through the floor of her house into an endless pit of darkness had nothing to do with anything either.

Certainly not, nope.

"They're easy enough to deal with. I told you everything you need to know." Faust flicked Li Mei's forehead before returning his hand to the warmth of his pocket. "Use your brain. Analyze information. I thought you were clever? This sort of thing is why you're wearing the Dunce Boots."

Li Mei scowled and glanced down at her feet. She developed a habit of walking silently from her time in the forest, but Faust claimed she needed to differentiate between when it was wise to be silent and when it was better to be unremarkable, and a child her age being able to slip past people's senses with ease was definitely remarkable.

He produced a pair of his own boots, metal coating the soles to help with both durability and offense power when kicking opponents. "Wear these until you are conscious of your own footsteps and movements," he ordered. "You can only remove them to bathe or sleep until then."

So she had no choice but to wear his heavy, bulky, smelly boots. She even had to wear them indoors, which felt very unnatural.

What kind of person chose to wear shoes indoors?

The kind of person who didn't have to clean the floors afterward, probably.

Faust pulled a packed lunch from his storage artifact and passed it over. "You'll be spending the first night alone and are forbidden from leaving the property until I return. I'll bring your little friends around tomorrow afternoon. Go in now."

Li Mei shrieked in protest, but the burning warmth of the slave band accepting the order kept her from refusing outright. Gritting her teeth, she turned around and unlocked the gate, marching into the yard with stiff movements.

Stepping into the yard was like walking into a separate world. The fog folded in around her like a thick wool blanket, silencing the surroundings and limiting her line of sight to less than half a meter unless she was looking directly at the house. She couldn't even see the faint glow of Faust's cigarette if she turned around, or smell a trace of its rancid smoke.

Li Mei immediately went on high alert, storing everything except the brass lantern and taking out one of the sharp bone daggers Otto made. Even if she couldn't actually punch or slash a ghost, having a weapon in her hand made the girl feel more at ease.

She approached the front door slowly. 'Told me everything I need to know, huh? Ugh, he's such a lousy teacher!' Li Mei snarled, stubbornly stomping her foot on the first porch stair.

The old wood let out a creak that resembled a wail, piercing the silent air and causing the girl to break out in goosebumps. Cursing Faust with every swear in her impressive repertoire, Li Mei took another slow step forward with a bit more caution.

A strand of cobweb brushed her cheeks. She looked up, only to realize with horror that the entire underside of the porch roof had become a spider colony.

Arachnids scuttled about in thick white webs, pitch black spiders with yellow markings on their fat abdomens. The smallest were the size of coffee grounds, while the larger ones were the size of a man's fist without including their legs in the measurement.

Li Mei bit her tongue to swallow a scream, wordlessly creating a wide and long barrier above her head that stretched between her and the front doors.

Just in case.

The front doors were massive, solid oak covered in carvings of trees, flowers, and birds. It would have been lovely if not for the layer of dust, mold, and assorted grime distorting the otherwise elegant engravings into twisted mockeries of their former selves. The flickering light of the brass lantern made the carvings dance and sway in the play of light and shadow.

Li Mei inserted the key into the right door's lock, a bit surprised when it turned without resistance. Then the door swung inward after just a light touch of her fingers, the faint creak of a well-oiled hinge preceding a warm rush of stale air blasting her in the face and bringing with it the stink of dust and mildew.

Ignoring the smell, she rushed inside and backed against the door close it quietly, not wanting to alerting the spider colony. Only then did she dispel the barrier and lift her lantern to get a good look around.

The front doors opened into a small entryway, with coat hooks and an umbrella stand against one wall and a plain shelf for shoes and house slippers against the other. An old rug so faded the pattern could no longer be discerned covered the hardwood floor, one tasseled corner showing evidence of a burn in its distant past.

-----

[Sense]

Hostile detected! Unable to detect origin point of hostility.

Threat level: Average

-----

Without hesitation Li Mei dropped the shutters on the lantern to block its light, activating her Concealment skill while wedging herself into the corner behind the umbrella stand.

Concealment allowed masking emotions, aura, and killing intent, in addition to her physical form and traces of her passing. Once activated it was almost impossible for most creatures to notice her presence, and that was even with the effectiveness reduction from having a DEX below 15! It saved her life more than a few times in the forest, and as such became her instant reaction to sensing danger.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust from having the lantern's light to suddenly losing it. Her vision cleared just in time to see a woman's pale white face emerging from the hallway wall across from the front doors. More and more of the face emerged until an entire head formed, its neck sticking out of the wall. Inky black hair spilled like water around the woman's face.

Her neck stretched with disgusting creaking and popping sounds until the head was in the middle of the entryway. Empty eye sockets stared helplessly toward the doors, hair dragging along the ground with a faint whisper.

The woman opened her mouth to reveal a gaping black void behind pale gray lips, and let out a disappointed croaking shriek while retreating back the way she came. The shriek became muffled, then faded into silence once the woman's face vanished entirely into the wall.

Li Mei's Sense alert went away, but the fear-induced nausea that arose at the sight of the face did not. She pressed a shaking hand to her stomach and took slow, quiet breaths to calm her nerves.

'I'm going to kill Faust so hard his ancestors will beg me for mercy and call me Grandma!'