CH 51

After confirming the details about the location of the haunted house at the inn, I headed there and found myself in front of a huge western-style house hidden in a thicket.

The trees were blocking out the sunlight, so it was dimly lit even though it was still noon, and the surroundings were chilly and foggy, as if we were in a country where the weather was always pleasant like spring.

「 Mansion in the forest……」

It reminds me of a very large western-style building I saw in a photo or something similar in my previous life, where you could hire a dozen or more servants.

It’s just that there is no trace left of the time when it should have looked magnificent. Most of the windows were broken, it was too dark to see anything inside, and the central door was eerily open.

I can understand why this is called a haunted house. A normal person would definitely not try to enter it.

I want to go home. Yes, I really want to go back and just abandon this, if not for Virgilio-san and the other adventurers who disappeared I definitely would have just gone home and pretended that this never existed.

I mean, why would adventurers enter a place like this, no matter how free they are? I can’t believe it!

I’ve been experiencing a nasty sensation, like a creeping burning feeling on my neck, since earlier. I noticed the cold sweat running down my neck through my heightened senses due to fear.

「 Haaah……」

I sigh heavily to distract myself from the fear. I definitely don’t want to go in there, but if I don’t, I won’t be able to find any trace of Virgilio-san.

（ Quickly enter, quickly find them, and quickly leave, yosh! ）

Despite my “enthusiasm”, I approached the mansion and opened the door wide, fearful, and I was in a position ready to escape at any time at full speed.

「 Is anyone hereー」

I peek in and say a few words, even as I’m too scared to speak… even though I’m here looking for someone.

What I can see from here is the front door. I guess, there’s a chandelier and its candles are lit. I can also see the stairs in the back, and it’s a two-story building in terms of height.

Isn’t it strange that the candles are lit? I wondered if Virgilio would be so meticulous in lighting the candles on the chandelier, considering how tall he was, but I couldn’t reach that height without a stepladder or something.

I guess you can do that to make your life easier. There are a number of other things that you can do, for the same reason.

When I turned around I heard sounds, then noticed that darkness had overtaken my surroundings, and only my feet, which were illuminated by the lights in the room, managed to assert their presence.

The blood rushes to my face and my complexion turns pale. I didn’t even think about what would happen if I head towards the darkness, so I entered the doorway instantaneously, squatting down and holding my head.

I had completely failed to consider the possibility of spatial isolation in a fantasy world.

I should have thought about it when Virgilio didn’t come back. I hate myself for so easily thinking that maybe some dangerous monsters had appeared.

I’m sure it’s impossible to imagine the size of the interior from the exterior, the space is so different and it must be abnormally large, I’m sure of it.

But in this situation, there’s a pretty high probability that Virgilio-san is still alive, even though it’s been six days. It’s just that I don’t know how to escape, and I’m sure they’re still wandering around this mansion. I don’t think an A rank adventurer would be killed so easily.

（ For the time being, I should try to join up with Virgilio……）

My adventurer’s thoughts were working, but my body remained crouched and motionless.

「 Yosh, let’s go 」

I put my energy into a loud voice, but in the end, I still didn’t move.

「……Yosh, this time, let’s go 」

I remained crouched down, unchanged.

「…………Y, yoshi 」

As I was doing this, I suddenly heard a loud exhaling sound from behind me and a mysterious presence that seemed insubstantial.

「 Gyaaー!　It came outー!!」

I shouted and ran on the spur of the moment, and without thinking, I sprinted at a very high speed towards the hallway directly in front of me, where it seemed easy to run anyway.

The floor beneath my feet was wooden, and every time my feet kicked the floor with all my might, it made a cracking sound as if it was breaking.

（ Why did I have to come here, Why must it be me!）

I run down the corridor half-crying, but the presence behind me does not disappear, and it sometimes throws mysterious words at me that I somehow seem to be able to hear clearly, even though my head is in confusion and the loud sounds that destroy the corridor should cover.

If I had been calmer, I probably would have been able to understand the words, but my fear-filled mind brilliantly rejected them, making it impossible.

I ran down the corridor anyway, and when I hit a right-angle turn, I jumped against the wall without slowing down, and kept running and turning corners, destroying the wall with a few steps in the manner of a wall kick.

I guess after running for such a long time, I started to feel calmer and calmer, but then a big man suddenly appeared from the end of the hallway, and I jumped up to hit him with the same momentum I had been running with, and holding my fist in the air.

「 Ouch!!?」

「 Uwah, go away, go away!」

In the end, I couldn’t reduce the force with which I pounced on him, so I hit the big guy – Virgilio-san, and he was blown away.

You’d think he was undead, being in a place like this.

「……In the first place, losing one’s composure in a monster’s lair is like begging to be killed.」

「 Hai. I’m sorry.」

「 But I’m sure you won’t have a problem with that, because you can become a weapon just by running around without any sense of sanity!」

「 Um, yes, I’m sorry.」

After sending Virgilio-san flying, I went into a small room nearby and gave the battered Virgilio-san first aid by applying bandages and using a recovery potion I took out of my tool bag, and as the wounds began to heal, Virgilio-san’s sermon began.

I was listening to Virgilio’s sermon while quietly sitting on the floor and apologizing for what I had done.

I’m not sure why Helvetia is also standing next to Virgilio with her hands on her hips as if she’s angry.

「 So, why are you here? Didn’t you at least hear that I was asked to investigate?」

「 Eh? Eh, Virgilio-san, I came to check on you because you didn’t come back when you ran out of steam.」

「 What the hell, it hasn’t been two days yet, according to what I’m feeling.」

As if noticing something, Virgilio-san pulled out a pocket watch from his own pocket and muttered: 「 I see 」

「 Look at this. It’s a rare thing to see.」

「 Nn?」

He offered me the pocket watch with a difficult look on his face. I took it and held it in front of me, and the hands of the watch were going back and forth in a strange way.

「Ew, that’s creepy!」

I reached over and pulled the watch away from my face, then quickly handed it back to Virgilio-san.

「 Time must be out of sync, and if you stay here long enough, you’ll probably end up disappearing for a long time, just like me, right?」

「 That’s not good.」

「 Yeah, I’d like to get back on track, too. Let’s go back.」

「 Oh, you can go back?」

「……Hey, you didn’t come here without a way to go back, did you?」

「……Ahahahaー」

I laughed and feigned a smile, and Virgilio-san sighed heavily.

「 Remember, to prevent secondary damage, always secure an exit route when you go out to search. It is true that this case is a little difficult because it requires the Pearl Gem of Transition and Destruction, but if you can’t secure a way out, it’s important not to try to force your way in.」

「 Hmm. Got it.」

「 But then we’d have to get out of here the proper way.」

「 How do we do it?」

「 Hmmm, we’re going to destroy this barrier. In order to do so, we must find the source of the barrier, the sorcerer, or the mechanism.」

「 Uweeeh 」

I wonder if this means that the magician was trying to lock something in here along with the people entering this place, hmm.

「 What’s more, you’re not good with the undead, are you?」

Virgilio-san gave me a sharp look and asked. The he affirmed:  「 You were running away as fast as you could just now 」 

「 Undead, fighting for the first time.」

「 Hm, it’s true that we don’t see nearly enough undead in this country. But that’s just right, you should get used to them while you can, because you’re going to encounter them if you continue to be an adventurer. The undead in this house are at most C-ranked so you won’t get a scratch from them. 」

「 Got it 」

Virgilio-san slowly opened the door and checked the hallway, then slowly walked out into the hallway and beckoned me to follow.

「 Let’s go. You take the lead so you can get used to it. I’ll follow up from the back.」

「 Nn, alright 」

After glancing once at Helvetia, who was still in sight, and tilting my head, I followed Virgilio-san out of the room.