Report
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Max]
------------------
Chapter 15: The Mage's Mansion (2)
The luxurious and glistening food.
Hamel's gaze fell on the dishes the food was placed on.
Among the silver tableware, there was only one that was different.
"The turkey."
"Aha... I see."
David nodded, seemingly noticing something at Hamel's words.
But the others still looked puzzled, so Hamel added,
"The keyhole in the dining room matched the silver key. So the key to the kitchen must be brass-colored."
...Ah!
"Huh."
Exclamations of realization erupted from the others.
As Hamel had said, only the brass dish holding the turkey had a brass color, a copper hue.
Daniel, sitting closest to the turkey, picked up the knife in front of him and sliced open the turkey's belly.
Wiggle!
As the golden-brown roasted turkey's belly split open, something white wriggled inside.
No, not something.
Some"things".
“Ugh.”
"..."
Starting with Antonio's gagging sound, everyone frowned.
Squirm!
Hundreds, thousands of maggots were writhing inside the turkey.
"Tsk."
Daniel, taking off his gauntlet, clicked his tongue and rummaged through the turkey's insides, pushing aside the maggots.
After a while, he pulled something out.
A brass key.
"Found it."
"...Thank you for your effort."
Even Hamel showed a rare apologetic expression.
Whoosh!
The flames of the candles on the table and walls flared up wildly.
And at the same time,
Sizzle!
The food on the table transformed as if melting.
The suckling pig, which had crispy skin, turned into a pig carcass with its entrails spilling out and blood gushing forth.
The fish, drenched in sauce, rotted, swarming with flies and maggots, and the fragrant soup became a filthy mess with dark food scraps and what looked like human fingernails floating in it.
Before they could even examine it closely, an indescribably foul smell assaulted their noses.
"Ugh."
Everyone covered their mouths and reflexively got up from the table.
Then, the table shook violently on its own, and the food on it splattered onto the floor.
Just as everyone was frozen by the bizarre sight,
"Let's get out of here."
Hamel shouted as he headed towards the door.
There was no need to stay here now that they had the key.
As soon as Hamel spoke, the group rushed out of the dining room.
"Close it! Quickly!"
Everyone rushed out and hurriedly closed the door.
Only after the dining room door slammed shut with a thud did they breathe a sigh of relief.
"What... was that...?"
The head priest's pale, muttered words echoed everyone's feelings.
The dining room was silent once again, as if nothing had happened.
"This is just the beginning."
Hamel said, passing by the stunned group.
He was the only one who seemed unfazed as he walked towards the kitchen.
"You seem used to this kind of sight."
"It's my job as an exorcist priest."
Hamel replied calmly to David's question.
It was his duty to face all sorts of mysteries and strange things in the world.
He had experienced too much to be surprised by this anymore.
Perhaps thanks to Hamel's composure,
The others, one by one, got up awkwardly and followed him.
"Is there a need to rush like this?"
Only the head priest asked in a weary voice, but Hamel's resolve was firm.
"The owner of the workshop must have noticed our presence. The more time passes, the more they will try to hinder us."
There was nothing more foolish than giving a mage time to prepare.
The head priest simply nodded, seemingly understanding.
"I'll open it."
They returned to the hallway and arrived at the kitchen.
Hamel quietly but quickly inserted the key into the keyhole.
Click!
The lock disengaged, and the door creaked open.
And then,
"...What is that?"
Even David frowned at the sight before them.
***
—Chop, chop, chop, chop!
The sound of a knife hitting a cutting board echoed cheerfully.
A pot on the stove bubbled, and a pan on the intensely burning stove top sizzled as it stir-fried vegetables in oil.
The problem was...
"There's no one there?"
Everyone was stunned by the sight of the pan and knife moving as if floating in mid-air. Only the head priest and Hamel exchanged silent glances.
"Am I right?"
"Yes."
Hamel nodded quietly in response to the head priest's question.
"It's a demon."
He didn't know why there was such a thing in the workshop.
But there was no way Hamel could be mistaken.
The traces of demonic energy connected to the cooking utensils.
Following it, he could faintly see dozens of legs in the dark, extinguished fireplace.
Pretending not to notice, Hamel cautiously approached the moving cooking utensils and spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"As you can see, I'm in the middle of cooking."
A woman's voice answered from the empty air.
As expected.
'Is it the Centipede Bride?'
The demon's origin was to seduce lonely men.
In other words, it could communicate.
"Excuse me for interrupting your cooking, but do you know how to get upstairs?"
"I do."
"...!"
Hamel was about to ask how, but the voice was faster.
"But it seems you haven't had dinner yet. Have some bread."
The kitchen knife, which had been chopping carrots, floated in the air and pointed to the dining table.
There, a piece of bread was prepared.
"...Alright."
Hamel readily agreed.
He grabbed the bread and swallowed it whole, to the surprise of his companions.
"Why would you eat that?!"
Antonio asked in a panicked whisper, rushing over to him.
But the voice chuckled softly, seemingly satisfied.
"You eat well."
"I was hungry."
"That's good. Then, could you please fetch the tea set from the parlor for me? I'll tell you how to get upstairs after that."
"Alright."
Just as Hamel nodded and was about to move,
The voice added, as if remembering something.
"Oh, and you have to be quiet in the parlor. And the key to the parlor is inside the bread you just ate."
"..."
"Please bring the tea set within 30 minutes. Otherwise, I'll cancel the deal and go get it myself. Whether it's the key or the dishes."
The knife in the air pointed at Hamel's stomach.
Was it just his imagination that the voice sounded particularly amused?
"Understood."
Despite the threat, Hamel calmly nodded and turned around.
Perhaps deflated,
Or simply because it had said all it wanted to say,
The voice focused on chopping carrots on the cutting board again.
—Chop, chop, chop, chop!
Listening to the rhythmic sound, Hamel left the kitchen.
And at that moment,
"Oh no! What should we do? Should I make him throw up?"
Antonio cried out in a panic.
The others weren't much different. They grabbed their heads as if in defeat.
"Is it telling us to cut open his stomach to get the key?"
"Can't we just catch that demon and torture it?"
"A demon we can't even see?"
"..."
David and Daniel exchanged words with grave expressions.
Hamel slowly shook his head.
Whether the bread had poison or a knife inside didn't matter. The same went for the key.
"I took it out."
"?"
As the group looked at him with puzzled expressions,
The head priest seemed to realize something with an "Ah!" and shook his head.
"What do you mean?"
Hamel calmly replied to David's question,
"As you said, brother. To get the key, I had to cut open my stomach."
"...?"
—Clang!
Before the conversation could even finish,
A bloodstained iron key rolled onto the floor.
"..."
The group stared in astonishment at Hamel, who was bleeding from his mouth.
"Did you just...?"
Antonio, about to ask how he did it, closed his mouth.
Some truths were better left unknown.
At this point, Hamel, who had pulled a key out of his own stomach, was more terrifying than the mysterious woman who had made him swallow it.
Everyone seemed to share the same sentiment, staring at Hamel as if he were a monster as he nonchalantly picked up the key.
Hamel simply shrugged as if he were used to it.
***
At the end of the hallway on the right side of the first floor,
The parlor door opened with a click.
"It's dark."
That was Hamel's first impression.
A room devoid of any light.
He vaguely remembered.
It was strange for a parlor, but it was probably intended for quiet conversations.
Hamel lit the lamp he had brought with him.
Whoosh!
The darkness receded, illuminating the parlor.
As expected, there was a scene that was both expected and unexpected.
"..."
Skeletons.
The dead, who had died who knows when, were sitting around the table with a tea set, on the sofas.
Some skeletons were even holding teacups, as if they had been drinking tea when they died.
"Excuse me."
Hamel said as he took the cup from the skeleton's hand.
There was no trace of demonic energy.
Of course, seeing the strange phenomena that had been occurring, it seemed like this workshop was a mix of magic and mechanical devices...
David was beside Hamel.
He was someone employed by the Magic Tower, a place where only a handful of the most skilled mages could enter.
He would be able to fill in the gaps that Hamel missed.
David, meeting Hamel's eyes, shrugged as if to say there was no problem.
The others started to gather the tea set from the table.
'This is too easy.'
Was this really it?
Hamel remained suspicious until the moment they left the parlor, but nothing else happened.
All that remained was to bring the tea set back to the kitchen.
But what was this uneasy feeling?
"Huh?"
David's puzzled voice pierced through the air.
His gaze was directed at the teapot Antonio was holding.
'...The teapot?'
A thought struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Meanwhile, Antonio tilted his head, seemingly sensing something strange.
"Something inside this just..."
David couldn't finish his sentence.
Hiss!
With a sharp sound, the lid of the teapot flew open, and a black snake sprang out.
...Gasp!
The terrified Antonio choked back a scream.
Its mouth was wide open, revealing sharp fangs with yellow venom.
Just as death loomed over Antonio, a sharp cutting sound rang out.
Slice!
Hamel had swung his sword and cut off the snake's head.
He had swung his sword at the teapot even before the snake appeared, thanks to finally realizing why the people in the parlor had died.
'It was poison.'
The moment he saw the teapot, Hamel understood the source of his unease.
What had killed the people in the parlor?
They must have fallen into an eternal sleep after drinking tea laced with snake venom.
Clang!
One of the teacups in Hamel's hand slipped and shattered on the floor as he hurriedly swung his sword.
The sharp sound of the breaking teacup made everyone freeze.
Silence fell.
An ominous silence swept over them.
It was Antonio who broke the silence.
He pointed down the hallway with a dumbfounded expression and asked,
"Was... was that there before?"
Everyone's gaze followed Antonio's finger.
The hallway in front of the dining room they had just passed.
There was a strange figure there.
It looked like a doll, patched together with rags, because it didn't look like a living creature at all.
Its mismatched eyes had no eyelids and didn't blink, and its mouth was missing, revealing gums and teeth that protruded haphazardly.
Its head, torso, and lower body were indistinguishable, and its thick limbs stood out.
Hamel slowly shook his head and replied to Antonio,
"No."
David and the head priest also frowned and added,
"It's not magic or a mechanical device."
"It's not a demon or a living creature either, but..."
"Then what in the world is that...?"
Just as everyone was trying to deduce its identity with tense expressions,
[Ugh...]
It slowly opened the dining room door and entered.
He didn't know what it was.
But if they had to move, now was the time, while it was gone.
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Max]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
