Chapter 157

And so, the next morning arrived.

However, until the next morning came, the two of them couldn’t get a wink of sleep.

But it wasn’t like they stayed awake to do something to escape this mansion.

They couldn’t sleep, couldn’t take any action to escape the mansion, and simply couldn’t do anything.

It was only natural.

After the Mistress said she would return to her room, she stood still in front of the door, and Karina could sense this by spreading her awareness.

So, the two of them waited nervously for the Mistress to leave, but from midnight to dawn to morning.

The Mistress continued to stand in front of the door.

It wasn’t just Karina’s imagination; even Serena could hear the occasional faint breathing, and the eerie sight made it impossible for them to plan an escape. Instead, they clung to each other, shivering all night.

Clatter.

Clatter.

“My, you look tired.”

Thus, the morning meal time in the mansion arrived.

While eating, the Mistress kindly asked Karina and Serena.

“There’s no way we could be tired staying in such a mansion.”

“Right. Saying we look tired must be a mistake.”

“Hahaha…”

“Haha…”

The two of them waved their hands dismissively, as if it were nothing.

But despite their denial, an undeniable sense of fatigue seeped out from their expressions.

.

.

.

After finishing the meal, the two went up to the guest room.

This time, they confirmed that they couldn’t sense the Mistress’s presence and decided to calmly plan their escape from the mansion.

“It’s really not the time for us to be arguing among ourselves.”

“Right. It seems we underestimated the Mistress too much.”

Perhaps because of the previous night’s experience?

The two began to seriously ponder how to escape the mansion.

“In my personal opinion, there’s no need to resort to a physical confrontation with the Mistress.”

“I think the same. During our time in this mansion, the Mistress could have harmed us at any time if she wanted. There were several opportunities while we were asleep or hypnotized, but instead of harming us, she provided us with a place to sleep and meals.”

“Right. It’s as if her goal is simply for us to stay in this mansion.”

“So, there’s no need to provoke the Mistress by trying to solve things through combat.”

“Besides, we don’t have any weapons and can’t use magic properly. So, our top priority should be to retrieve our weapons and original clothes and escape this mansion.”

“Fortunately, the Mistress said she lives alone in this mansion, so we can sneak out during the night when vigilance is lax.”

“We failed yesterday because we caused a commotion, but today we need to be careful.”

Thus, the two began to plan their escape.

The execution time for the escape was set for late at night when the Mistress was asleep.

Until then, they decided to act satisfied with the mansion’s lifestyle during meal times to lower the Mistress’s guard.

After coordinating all the details of the plan, the two finally started talking about what had been bothering them.

“By the way, what is the true nature of this mansion?”

“Good question. Considering it can hypnotize us and is located in the middle of the forest, it’s not an ordinary mansion…”

“…A haunted mansion?”

“What? A haunted mansion? Hahaha, there’s no way such a thing exists.”

“Is that so?”

“Right. Ghosts have never been observed in magical studies. Believing in such non-magical entities is something you’d only find in novels.”

“R-right, I guess?”

In response to Karina’s question, Serena firmly denied her opinion.

In this world where various races like orcs, elves, and dragons coexist, there are still things that don’t exist—or rather, things whose existence hasn’t been proven—like ghosts, spirits, and gods.

In typical fantasy, the observation and proof of ghosts and spirits are considered common sense, but in this world, like in Kurt’s previous life, they haven’t been scientifically or magically proven.

So, even if a suspicious mansion is built in the middle of the forest, Serena, with her magical perspective, firmly believed it couldn’t be a haunted mansion or anything non-magical.

And at Serena’s firm words, Karina also showed a visibly relieved expression.

No matter how strong Karina was as a warrior, there was no guarantee she could defeat something as intangible as a ghost.

Or perhaps she was simply afraid of ghosts.

“Right. There’s no way such non-magical entities exist. Hahaha.”

“That’s a relief. Hahaha.”

Serena laughed as if she had heard something absurd, and Karina, feeling reassured, finally managed to laugh peacefully.

“….”

“….”

But soon, the laughter naturally faded, and the room was engulfed in silence. The two felt a chill run down their spines, as if someone had just walked over their graves.

It was summer.

.

.

.

Clatter.

“Today’s meal was truly delicious.”

“With such delicious food, I’d want to stay here every day!”

“Fufu. I’m glad you enjoyed it. If you wish, you’re welcome to stay in this mansion as long as you like.”

The Mistress smiled warmly and kindly at the two.

“Really? Then thank you!”

“If you say so, we’ll gratefully accept your hospitality.”

At the Mistress’s words, the two cheered with happy expressions, as if genuinely pleased.

Thus, in a warm and friendly atmosphere, the three finished their dinner and each returned to their rooms.

Creak.

Even until the moment they parted ways with the Mistress, the two maintained a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. But as soon as they confirmed the guest room door was closed, their expressions changed, revealing the faces of seasoned adventurers.

Karina spread her awareness to confirm the Mistress had left.

The two nodded at each other and quietly waited in the room for night to fall.

.

.

.

Before long, it was close to midnight.

In a modern world like Kurt’s previous life, it might be different, but in this world, where there are no electric devices like light bulbs and magic hasn’t become widespread enough to replace electricity, lighting up the night is a very resource-intensive task.

Thus, most people go to bed as soon as the sun sets.

Creak.

But Karina and Serena, far from going to bed, sharpened their senses more than ever and left the room.

The two immediately began searching the mansion, carefully walking through the corridors to find the adventurer gear they had voluntarily handed over to the Mistress while hypnotized.

However, their plan didn’t go so smoothly.

Clank.

Clank.

“Damn…! Be careful. It’s a knight.”

Perhaps because of their suspicious behavior the previous night.

A knight in armor was patrolling the corridors as if on guard.

“…A knight?”

“Right. They must be watching to make sure we don’t escape the mansion.”

“…Wait. That’s strange, isn’t it?”

“What’s strange? We should have expected this much…”

“No, not that. The Mistress said she’s the only one in this mansion.”

“…!”

Karina was startled by her remark and widened her eyes in surprise.

As she said, the Mistress had repeatedly emphasized that she was alone in the mansion and lonely.

And indeed, although it had only been a few days, they hadn’t seen even a shadow of anyone else in the mansion.

If there were other people, they would have shown up during meal times or taken care of chores like cooking and cleaning instead of the Mistress.

“…But if that’s the case, then what the hell is ‘that’?”

“I-I don’t know! Maybe there were hidden people we didn’t know about!”

The two tried to calm their trembling hearts and carefully moved through the corridor, avoiding the knight.

Clank.

Clank.

“There’s another one here…”

“And another one’s coming from the opposite side…!”

But the knight in armor wasn’t the only one.

It seemed like there were three or four knights patrolling each floor of the mansion.

Realizing this, Karina and Serena found an empty room and hid inside.

“Where the hell were they all hiding until now?”

“More importantly, escaping the mansion is our priority.”

“Hoo… Got it. Let’s spread our awareness to figure out the knights’ patrol routes and exploit the gaps.”

At the same time, Karina spread her awareness to locate the knights moving around the mansion.

With her skills, she couldn’t cover the entire mansion, but she could at least sense the knights nearby.

Thus, Karina closed her eyes and spread her mana around her.

It was somewhat similar to emitting ultrasonic waves to detect the position of surrounding objects, but different.

Ultrasonic waves emit sound waves and calculate the time it takes for them to return to detect obstacles or living beings, but spreading awareness doesn’t detect objects or obstacles; instead, it senses the mana emitted by living beings.

Thus, while it can’t detect non-living things, it can sense living beings beyond obstacles.

A practice similar to but different from ultrasonic waves.

Thus, Karina closed her eyes and focused her mind to sense the positions of the knights moving around.

The range of her awareness couldn’t cover the entire mansion, but it was enough to cover a section of the corridor.

With this range, she could at least detect two or three knights on this floor.

But soon, she forgot to focus and was left in shock.

“T-this is…! Impossible…!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“How can this be…?”

“What’s going on?”

“There’s… not a single living being in my awareness…”

“W-what…? What do you mean? There’s a knight right outside the door!”

Clank.

Clank.

As the two talked, a knight in armor passed by the door of the room they were hiding in.

“So… I can’t sense any mana from those knights as living beings.”

“It’s as if…”

“Right… Like ghosts.”

Thus, the two couldn’t even scream and turned pale, clinging to each other.

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