Chapter 17: The Girl in the Basement

-Swish! Swish!

The artificial sound of the wind was irritating to the ears. It may not have been intentional, but I was annoyed at the fact that the wind blew exactly when I turned the page.

"Enough already."

"Huh? Isn't it warm-up time?"  Finden Ai, who was practicing with her ax in one corner of the room, giggled and replied. 

I frowned at her as if asking what nonsense she was talking about.

However, ignoring me, she raised her ax again, but after hesitating for a moment, she turned her head stiffly and grumbled while looking at me.

"So, when are we leaving? It's been three days already."

"We needed to prepare. We're not dealing with ordinary monsters."

"Huh? How can simply reading a book be preparation?"

"This isn't preparation."

All preparations were already completed this morning. Now I was just waiting for something...

“Huh?”

Finden Ai tilted her head, asking what the hell I was talking about-

Knock!

-but a knocking sound came before I could clear her doubts. 

Slowly closing the book, I instructed her.

“Go out and get ready. We’ll be leaving soon.”

"Oh! So you were waiting for your little sister…? Then, I'll see you later."

With the ax resting on her shoulder, Finden Ai stepped on the window sill and jumped out. And with a ‘thud,’ she also closed the window skillfully.

Creak.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, I turned my head towards it. Even though I hadn’t answered when she knocked, Deia still entered the room.

"Five minutes."

Click.

The stopwatch in Deia’s hand started ticking. But I just looked at her, as usual.

Deia, too, stared at me with her mouth tightly shut.

It's been a week since she started giving me five minutes of her day, and during that time, we didn't say anything to each other and just stared at each other with our mouths shut.

“…Ugh!”

However, today was a little different.

After three minutes, Deia opened her mouth, which had been closed for a week, as if she was bored, and scratched the back of her head.

“What are you thinking?”

“What do you mean?”

As I answered immediately, Deia frowned, biting her lips as if she was even more annoyed.

“For a week... Does it feel good to take 5 minutes like this? Have you even developed a taste for getting excited just by looking at someone standing still?”

"...."

I answered slowly, releasing my crossed legs.

"I waited."

“…What?”

She asked with a face that did not hide the feeling of disgust. 

Calmly but cautiously, I explained slowly, as if carefully tapping a stone bridge before crossing it.

"I thought I shouldn't initiate the conversation, so I just waited."

"Hah! Like this, forcing me to stand here?"

“Yes, because that was our promise.”

I knew that making this time in the first place was forced. Therefore, I left what to do after that entirely up to Deia.

If she didn't want to talk at all, I wouldn't say anything either.

“Puberty came late.”

Deia, who clicked her tongue, crossed her arms and walked towards my desk.

"Well, since you finally opened your mouth, let me ask- why did you do that to Family Head? Do you know how his reputation has been affected because of you?"

"You are not in a position to lecture me about that."

"... Well, yeah, but..."

Thinking about the time when she had cursed the Family Head for his incompetence against Finden Ai and her cohort, Deia's face reddened with embarrassment. But soon, remembering Darius’ painful cries, she spoke.

“No, even if there was something in the basement, did you really have to break his wrist?”

"Yeah, Darius had a responsibility to take."

"Responsibility?"

“As the current head of the family, he shouldn’t have remained silent despite knowing the truth… I was lenient for ordering Finden Ai to only break his wrist."

If he weren’t the family head and he still remained quiet, I would have instructed Finden Ai to beat him up until all his bones were broken.

Gulp.

Deia asked, swallowing her saliva as if she also understood that the situation was unusual from my words and atmosphere.

“What on earth is there in the basement?”

Click!

We heard the sound indicating that five minutes had passed. When I briefly glanced at the stopwatch, Deia became annoyed and aggressively stuffed the watch into her coat pocket.

"What's down there? Despite closing it off as you said, the servants have been going crazy because of the strange screams that echo from there every day."

Knowing that if Deia sensed any hesitation, she would immediately leave, I met her gaze calmly.

"Don’t worry, I plan to resolve it today. Consider it the responsibility I'm taking as a member of the Verdi family."

"Responsibility?"

“Yes, I intend to shoulder it in place of the family head.”

As I heard the sound of someone coming from outside, I stood up from my chair. But seeing me suddenly standing up, Deia took a step back hurriedly.

I passed by her and put on my coat hanging on the coat rack.

At that moment, the door opened.

In front of me stood Fenden Ai, wearing a yellow coat over her maid's outfit, with an ax slung over her shoulder.

"Yes! This is great! I've been wanting to chop something up for the past three days!"

Finden Ai jumped around energetically and urged me to hurry. 

Holding my cane, I tidied up my attire and looked at Deia.

"This is the responsibility of the Verdi family. You have the right to see it too, but if you don't want to, wait here. You won't hear any more screaming after today."

Saying so, I left the room. Fenden Ai, humming a tune, followed me.

And a moment later, Deia also yelled from behind as she opened the door.

"W-wait! I'm coming too!"

* * *

We once again stood in front of the warehouse that led underground. Finden Ai whistled at the sight of the collapsed entrance that was most likely not going to allow entry inside.

"Woah, this will be a real pain to clear out."

"That's why I said it was troublesome. Actually, on the first day, I tried to go down by myself, but I couldn't get in because the debris was blocking the way."

With her arms crossed, Deia glared at me as if I did something mean.

After asking the two to move aside, I tapped the end of my cane onto the debris.

“It wouldn’t take that long.”

The souls that were absorbed by me began to escape through my cane. Then, the creatures that seeped into the debris, transformed into simple blade-like wind cutters.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The debris was crushed into fine dust, and a path was cleared through.

And the interior was seen; The interior was empty, like a cave, as it was originally a passage.

"Kya, this is amazing."

As I shrugged my shoulders, Finden Ai - who was looking at me expectantly - was the first to enter the passage as the vanguard.

Deia, who was staring at me blankly, asked hesitantly after following behind.

"What, what did you just do? It was not just simply blowing wind, there were various magical movements...It was like..."

As I glanced at her, Deia blurted out awkwardly.

"It seemed like magic was alive."

"..."

It was a great answer, but I didn't plan on telling her the truth. It was forbidden to practice Necromancy in the kingdom, let alone casually using it.

If I used it carelessly, Deia would hate me even more. The additional title of a criminal ‘Necromancer’ didn’t feel appetizing either.

We headed straight down to the basement. It took quite a while to step on the collapsed rubble and go down to the basement, but we were able to reach the room where In-gol-Chung was once again.

"Finden Ai, try to stall that worm as long as possible. It would be best to kill it if possible, but it's unlikely."

"Hmm? I already assessed its skill level. I can take care of it."

Finden Ai shouted confidently, but I didn't tell her otherwise. After all, one had to experience it themselves to understand its capabilities.

"Deia, you..."

I thought the problem was Deia, but she pulled back the hem of her coat to reveal the long-barreled pistol she wore on the belt of her waistband.

“It’s a magic gun. I should be able to protect myself.”

"What? Did even people from the kingdom have guns?"

Finden Ai found it fascinating as she had a feeling that guns were exclusive to the Clark Republic, but Deia replied while checking her gun, "Our North Whedon is the closest to the Republic, so, of course, the technology comes here the fastest."

“Yes, but it won’t be of much use.”

“What?”

Deia glared at me in anger, but ignoring her, I had already grabbed the doorknob to open the door. After unlocking the door, I gave one more order to Finden Ai, "Protect Deia as much as possible."

"I got it, let's hurry and go in!"

As it was a long-awaited battle, Finden Ai, filled with excitement, pushed the door open and entered inside.

The human skeleton, which lay still in the darkness, felt our presence and immediately started crawling towards us with blue orbs burning brightly in its eye sockets.

‘Tadap, tadap, tadap’- Bone-chilling footsteps hit the ground as it closed the distance hurriedly.

Deia’s mouth was wide open in surprise; she felt the biggest shock as she didn’t know anything about In-gol-Chung.

"That, that, that! What is that?! Something like that was in the basement of the mansion?!"

Standing in front of Deia, I tapped my cane on the ground to conjure mana.

“Let’s go!”

With the ax slung over her shoulder, Finden Ai hit the ground and shot forward.

The speed itself was clearly much faster in the case of Finden Ai. Before the insect could even open its mouth properly, she had already leaped forward and swung her ax right in front of its skull.

Squishhhh!

The skull was cleanly split in half and slammed onto the ground. Thanks to this, the scattered bone fragments nearby were swept away and the dust that had been accumulating for a hundred years rose up thickly, stirring up the wind.

But Deia and I were fine because of wind protection magic, which we had cast expecting this outcome.

"Cough! Cough! How about that! Master! This is how I protect my comrades!"

Finden Ai, proud of herself, laughed as she held up her ax on top of the insect.

Without saying a word, I pointed at In-gol-Chung with my chin.

Tadap, tadap, tadap.

The shattered insect, which had lost its light, began to merge again. Not only that, it absorbed the scattered bone fragments around it and stood up again with an even larger body.

“…I hate this kind of thing the most.”

Finden Ai, who had already run towards our side, grumbled as if complaining. She must have realized that it was impossible to win against such an opponent using only physical strength.

I released the magic and stood next to Fenden Ai. My gaze was directed towards the girl, who had already become a completely shriveled corpse at the end of the worm’s tail.

"Block In-gol-Chung's movements while I reach her."

"...I understand, but are you planning to kill her?"

Finden Ai asked softly. Deia, who was behind me, also looked at me blankly as if she was also waiting for my answer.

Receiving their questioning gazes, I took a step forward.

“One - who is already dead - cannot be killed.”

It was the truth that I felt and experienced with my own skin- both in my past and present life.

‘Dead people can no longer die.’ 

My command was merely keeping them in place; it was impossible to incinerate or destroy them.

“Just like always, there is only one thing that can be done.”

At that moment, strangely, I felt I had eye contact with the girl who had In-gol-Chung stuck in her heart.

I met the girl’s eyes who was captured and experimented on- the pitiful child who was being dragged around by a giant parasite several times larger than her own body.

"All spirits whisper very secretly about their regrets and grudges. These whispers can become language, actions, or traces."

As if sensing something, In-gol-Chung rushed towards me, and Finden Ai quickly moved to stop it.

Even in this urgent situation, I walked in a straight line towards the girl, still looking into her misshapen eyes- as if talking to her.

“Scream.”

Over a hundred years have passed…Your tongue, which couldn't even touch a drop of water, must have dried up and twisted in agony.

“Beg, shed tears, howl at your miserable life.”

Dust must have accumulated so much that your throat must be blocked. Insects must have eaten away at your flesh, and spiders must have built their webs over you to bait insects. But…

“Wake up and pour your grudge onto me.”

Even though your soul must have already been destroyed to the point of no return, and you haven’t found peace even after death, still…

Suddenly, I felt as if the girl's doubtful gaze turned to me as if asking, "What will change even if I talk to you?"

I answered.

“Then I will save you.”

--- End of The Chapter --

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