HH Chapter 11

But why can I see them now…? Well, it’s better than nothing. I decided to think positively.

“……So you knew everything from the start.”

His childish tone vanished immediately. It seemed he was dropping the act of pretending to be a child. Not only his speech but his expression, too, became calm in an instant.

“Judging by your words, you seem to know quite a bit about me. Did Christine tell you all this, too?”

“…….”

“More importantly, how did you find me?”

I was wondering when he’d ask that earlier. I recalled the excuse I’d prepared in advance. …Well, was it even an excuse? The ‘player’ would have done it this way.

‘Because I know everything.’

Since the game restarts from the beginning if you die before reaching a save point, I’m very familiar with the early game strategy.

That’s why I simply used my prior knowledge to save time.

‘…I can’t say that, though.’

I began to spin a suitably fabricated story.

“I visited your family home in Jenette yesterday.”

I told Haylan about how I found the address of this mansion.

First, I got the address of Haylan’s house in the capital city from Christine. I used the excuse of checking the scene first, since Haylan, who should have been there, had disappeared.

The ‘player’ has to break into that house, search the inside all day, gather various clues, and then finally find the mansion where Haylan is currently hiding. However, I knew a faster shortcut.

“The security magic placed on that house was triggered. I got a hint about this place from there.”

“What are you talking about? Security magic?”

Haylan frowned upon hearing my words, his expression showing complete confusion.

“Well, it’s like this….”

I explained in more detail.

There are two dog-shaped statues in front of the gate of his family home. The right statue had security magic cast on it.

‘This body is the guardian of this land. An intruder has entered my domain.’

The way to summon the statue, which speaks in a strange, old-fashioned way, is to climb over the wall and intrude into the house. In the process, I had my neck pierced once by the spear wielded by the statue and then revived.

‘This was only possible because I knew the activation word beforehand.’

If it weren’t for the prior knowledge I gained while playing the game, I probably would have died and revived dozens of times in that spot.

You can find the activation word for the magic cast on the statue by searching the library in this mansion. It was a memo left by the previous count, who cast it.

‘Oh, Orthrus!’

The activation word is supposedly the true name of the being residing within the statue. As soon as I revived, I uttered the activation word, and the statue, which had been rampaging, calmed down. Well, it did growl a bit.

‘You… You were clearly dead, what trickery did you use? To dare comprehend this body’s name. What is your identity?’

A transmigrator.

It was curious as to how I knew its name, and I used Christine’s name there.

‘Did you just say Christine?’

Naturally, the statue also knew about Christine. The person who cast the security magic on the statue was their father, and she visited the mansion every time she was reincarnated.

A flicker of longing momentarily crossed the eyes of the being that couldn’t emerge unless someone summoned it. I didn’t miss that opportunity.

‘She is my client. She’s looking for Mr. Haylan.’

‘So, that much time has passed again.’

Only then did the statue, which had completely dropped its guard, stick out its long tongue and sit next to me. Its docile behavior made it easy to forget its previous aggressiveness.

‘This body is lonely. If you keep this body company, I will tell you the information you seek. And if you meet the tenant, ask him when he plans to return.’

The being, lonely after not being called for hundreds of years, rambled on, revealing information I hadn’t even asked for, and I had to keep the statue company until dawn to get the location where Haylan had taken refuge.

Haylan’s lips curled up into a slanted smile after hearing my explanation.

“Lies.”

[Haylan’s affection points have decreased. -1]

“You’re quite good at making up stories. Security magic? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“I, it’s true!”

“You expect me to believe that?”

Haylan narrowed his eyes and snapped. I was a little flustered. I never would have thought that he, the owner of the house, wouldn’t even know about the existence of the security magic…

“Your excuse is too crude. Anyone could make up something like….”

Then someone interrupted him.

“Excuse me, Young Master.”

“What!”

“I heard from my grandfather that the previous Count placed security magic on the house.”

“…….”

“It’s probably a type of ancient magic….”

“I think I’ve heard of it too.”

The servants who were pointing their guns at me murmured amongst themselves, assessing the truth of my words.

‘Wow, thank goodness.’

I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. My innocence was proven thanks to the others, but….

“…….”

[Haylan’s affection points have decreased. -1]
[Haylan’s affection points have decreased. -1]
[Haylan’s affection points have decreased. -1]

It seemed Haylan really hated admitting the truth. Because of that, my innocent affection points were plummeting.

His gaze towards me was tinged with a bit of resentment. He seemed annoyed that he couldn’t find any fault with my story, no matter how hard he thought.

“…Why is that ancient magic so talkative?!”

I also agree on that. That statue really did talk too much.

‘Oh, how cute.’

Haylan’s cheeks puffed out as he made a disgruntled expression. I thought I’d like to poke his chubby cheeks, characteristic of children, with my finger, but I held back, knowing I’d probably end up with a few bullet holes in my body.

“Then, may I leave now?”

I tried to smile as harmlessly as possible, but it didn’t work at all.

“Leave? Where do you think you’re going?”

Haylan scoffed. He picked up Christine’s necklace again and stood up first.

“I’ll have to check this myself.”

He gestured and called a few servants closer, then gave them some instructions.

Is it okay to whisper like this in front of someone? 

I grumbled inwardly, unable to voice my complaint.

“I don’t trust you. You must have some ulterior motive.”
“…….”

This is why I tried to secretly leave the necklace and run away.

‘He’s a suspicious character to begin with, so there’s no way he’d let me go easily.’

Although the lines were slightly different from what I remembered, the story was progressing according to the original plot.

‘I guess I can’t deviate from the main storyline.’

And it looks like I’m trapped here….

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

‘Whoa, look at the state of this room….’

I was led to a dusty room. Still, this was the only safe zone in the house; even during chases, I could survive as long as I made it into this room.

I looked around my fortress, which would protect my life in the future, and rolled up my sleeves.

‘Let’s clean.’

In the game, it’s assumed that the next day arrives as soon as you save it at the desk, but I have to actually sleep here from now on. So, it should at least be livable, right?

[Consuming 5 Quest Points.]

[Remaining Quest Points: 195pt]

[You have purchased temporary cleaning tools (1-day pass)!]

I first purchased cleaning tools using the ‘Quest Point Shop’ within the system.

The point shop, which resets its inventory once a week, sometimes sold items I needed, almost creepily so. I was making good use of the transmigrator perks.

‘It’s warm. Thankfully, I won’t freeze to death.’

I sat in front of the fireplace, warming my hands, then stood up and stretched after a while.

The room wasn’t all bad. It had the minimum amenities.

Before I started cleaning, I pulled out all the nails stuck in the window frame and opened the window slightly for ventilation. Just as I was about to begin, someone knocked on my door.

“Guest, please have your meal.”

The meal consisted of watery soup and hard bread. Wow, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the food, which looked exactly like it did in the game.

In <Haunted House>, there were hunger and cold debuffs. Every morning, a food item called ‘Soup with Bread’ would appear in my inventory.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

I was about to gratefully accept the meal but then something suddenly occurred to me, and I hesitated.

“What about Haylan?”

Unlike other main NPCs, the only way to increase Haylan’s affection was by sharing food items with him. Back when I was playing the game, I wondered if he was starving.

“He’s in his room.”

“Does he eat too?”

“……The Young Master doesn’t need to eat.”

“…….”

I was extremely taken aback, witnessing a scene of child neglect.

‘Even if he’s immortal, how can they starve a child?’

Even after the servant who brought me the food was out of sight, I couldn’t bring myself to eat the bread, lost in thought.