(EP-64.1) Mansion #4
064 – Haunted Mansion #4
Under the moonlight, the owner of the pair of red eyes suddenly looked at me.
“What!? When were you here!? Good to see you!”
The unexpected shout startled and caused me to accidentally swallow the candy that I was keeping in my mouth.
Gwuaak.
The fact that a candy this big got stuck in my throat was quite painful. Unfortunately, I could only grab my neck and struggle.
“Hey!”
The Young Lady of the Draco Family then approached and hugged me from behind.
“What’s stuck in your throat?”
She proceeded to squeeze my stomach tightly with both arms and lift me up. After repeating it a few times, an egg-like candy popped out of my mouth and rolled on the floor.
“Whew, thanks to you, I survived…”
“Oi! Why are you here? This is the Draco Family villa! Have you come to see me?”
Silver hair and ruby-red eyes. It was definitely Mirna Draco, but her personality was too bright and cheerful.
Meaning, this should be her sister, Narmi Draco.
I asked Narmi.
“What were you doing in the cemetery this late?”
“I’m checking if everyone is properly sleeping! On nights with a full moon like this, there are often people that wake up!”
“… Okay. Are you saying that bodies get up and move on their own?”
“Yes! So I have to dig and see if they’re sleeping. Moving corpses usually have bloody mouths as well as dirty hands and feet.”
“That’s a very good tip.”
“A good tip?”
Narmi tilted her head. There was the sense of déjà vu as if something like this had happened recently. Thus, I decided to answer appropriately.
“It’s like the sweetness of honey. Anyway, nice to meet you.”
“What a funny thing to say! More than that, Theo, I never thought you’d be in our mansion! Did you come to see me? Or my sister?”
“For now… let’s say both.”
I frowned and told Narmi about what happened.
“Something imitated my sister’s voice and knocked on the door?”
“Yes. That really surprised me. What was it?”
“It’s a supernatural being called ‘Hateful Spirit’. It usually doesn’t come into the mansion. But in the past month, the interference of demons has increased.”
“… Okay, so what would happen if I open the door or give an answer?”
“Um, it would make doing things difficult for you? But I don’t know about those Hateful Spirits that are strong enough to bypass the barrier of the mansion.”
In the end, even Narmi didn’t seem to know what would happen if the door was opened…
Narmi added, as she took a shovel and resumed digging.
“These days, there’s been an increase in the number of undead. And I’m busy every night because of the monsters that roam nearby.”
“Are you going around the cemetery every night like this?”
“I have to during these days!”
Narmi told me about how she wandered around the cemetery every day taking care of the demons and undead.
That was a bit surprising to hear.
“Isn’t it scary to walk around the cemetery alone?”
“I am a member of the Draco Family. Why would I be afraid of a cemetery? It’s my sister that would get scared. She’s sleeping because she is afraid.”
Narmi playfully laughed – fufufu.
“So Lady Mirna is afraid of the cemetery… It’s my first time hearing this.”
“Hehe, this is a secret. My sister is weak against ghosts and scary things!”
‘I see.’
This was an interesting piece of information. The daughter and current head of the Draco Family, who practiced necromancy, was actually afraid of ghosts and scary things.
On the contrary, Narmi, who looked pure and cheerful, was rather brave and courageous.
Ttak, ttak.
At that moment, I heard the sound of something being hit by the tip of Narmi’s shovel.
It was a kind of coffin. Using the shovel tip as a wedge, Narmi opened its lid.
Chuchuk.
━Oooowah.
Then, over the slight opening, there was the rustling sound of a zombie-like thing with a blood-soaked mouth.
As I frowned at the horrible image that looked like something straight out of a horror movie, Narmi said confidently as if she wasn’t scared at all.
“Look, I knew this would happen!”
Then she picked up the shovel and smashed the zombie’s head.
“Now, go back to sleep!”
Thud.
━Aak!
The zombie cried out and lost consciousness… Was that even possible for something already dead to begin with!?
* * *
Narmi was re-covering the burial ground with dirt.
I helped with that too.
“Haaa-. See, this is how the dead wake up. The Day of the Dead is not even near.”
I asked Narmi, who was wiping the sweat from her forehead with a sleeve.
“Since when has it been like this? Do you know why this happens?”
I remembered what the Academy staff said about monsters behaving abnormally near the city, and that we should be careful going out.
Perhaps, the abnormal phenomenon of this cemetery, and the Hateful Spirits were somehow connected with one another.
Just then, Narmi snorted.
“I don’t know!”
‘… I see.’
“But, I did see a suspicious person.”
“Suspicious person!?”
“Yesterday, I caught someone digging the cemetery of our family! I kicked them out with a serious injury. After all, I pierced their arm with a bone spear.”
Narmi relayed the story of how she defeated an illegal grave robber. Now that I thought about it, Narmi seemed to be a fairly good necromancer.
This begged the question.
“Who was digging the Draco Family graveyard?”
“Probably an illegal corpse thief! The corpses of the Draco Family are good for necromancy!”
The Draco Family was in the lineage of necromancy and black magic.
That was why their bodies were specialized and suited for necromancy and black magic. They retained it even after they died and became corpses.
“Any necromancer would want to turn a Draco Family member into an undead. It’s a luxurious body! The necromancer does not need to expend much mana and they’re (undead Dracos) good listeners!”
A luxurious body…
Although the analogy was a bit optimistic, it was understandable that the corpses of the Draco Family were wanted by necromancers.
“This is why I keep watch every night. In fact, I can’t even sleep inside anymore.”
Narmi Draco spoke like a farmer guarding her watermelon field against pests and thieves.
“Until the sun rises…”
Narmi’s words gradually faded.
Breathing in the spring dawn, I didn’t feel any chills. Rather, I felt sad and pitiful thinking of how Narmi stood here alone like a scarecrow every day as she watched over the graves.
How should I put this?
Her situation, it was like the story of a certain little prince who had to watch the sun rise every day…
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