Anyway, after climbing a bit, I soon saw the surface. It seemed to be near the entrance to the forest.
I couldn’t wait to get back to Happy House and get into bed to rest.
I dropped my bag, retrieved my ace, and swiftly surveyed my surroundings.
The dark forest was quiet. In contrast, the village behind me was still echoing with the monster’s roars.
Once I confirmed it was safe outside, I called out from above.
“Come up here!”
Right on cue, Knox ascended the ladder, followed by Ethan.
“Is your leg alright?”
I inquired of Knox, who appeared a bit weary, and he weakly nodded from his position on the floor.
“It’s tolerable.”
“Then we should start moving.”
Ethan extended his hand to Knox. Knox glared at him, then quietly accepted his hand and stood up.
As Ethan had mentioned, the woods behind the police station led to the mountains behind Happy House.
This meant that we had to climb the hill to reach the rear of Happy House.
The sun was setting when we were down there, but by the time we reached the top, it had already disappeared.
Once the sun begins to set, darkness descends rapidly. I retrieved the lantern from my bag and lit it.
‘We’re going to run out of matches soon.’
I had enough for two years in the mansion, but I realized I might run out.
I should practice making a fire without matches or a lighter as I would on a desert island. I have a stack of survival books, although I’m not sure I’ll be able to make a fire from them.
“So, are we going to Miss Cherry’s mansion now?”
Knox asked, and I nodded. We’re returning to the mansion now that the phone connection has failed.
I had seen this coming, but Ethan hadn’t. He grew quiet.
“Let’s go.”
I pulled Knox to his feet again, and we set off into the woods.
Thankfully, there were no monsters in the woods. It looked like we hadn’t gotten far from the village, which was still inhabited. Perhaps as time went on and they ran out of food, they would eventually disperse.
We walked through the forest in silence and darkness.
No one spoke first. After a brief moment of peace, my anxiety returned.
I thought back to what had happened at the police station earlier.
“It’s no use, I’ve already tried it dozens of times. There’s no answer. Not even the capital.”
“Even if the water was working, the trains wouldn’t run, and people wouldn’t come all the way down to Brunel in the mountains.”
What Mr. Hans said had stuck with Ethan’s ever since.
I wonder what the capital is like now.
It was then that Knox broke the silence.
“Maybe it’s just a problem with the phone company.”
“Yeah, that’s a possibility.”
Ethan agreed with Knox, but even he seemed unsure of what he was saying. He looked somewhat skeptical and lapsed into another long silence.
Once again, there was no sound except for the regular pounding of feet on dirt.
Ethan, in particular, was in a sombre mood the entire time. In fact, if I had a sister who was sick and couldn’t even stay in the snow like Aurora, I’m sure I’d go crazy with worry like he did.
I, on the other hand,
‘Harrison’s going to be okay.’
There was that kind of faith. Because Harrison is the kind of person who can handle anything.
“I think we’re still having a dream. A very bad dream.”
Knox sighed, looking a little shaken. He was walking with Ethan at his side.
“Maybe it’s better to believe it’s a dream.”
Ethan muttered back. I didn’t answer.
“I learned something while I was stranded in that damn village, avoiding them. It must be a contagious virus. If you get bitten by one, you become infected. And after a certain amount of time, your body turns into one of them.”
Knox blurted out. He had apparently observed quite a few monsters in the few days he had been isolated in the village.
In any case, what he had just said was something I and Ethan knew.
What was interesting was what he said next.
“The outbreak itself did not appear to have originated in the village of Brunel, for I saw the stable keeper here who first showed signs of it, and he had been out of sorts ever since he went to the capital.”
Knox must have seen the first infected person in Brunel Village because he pauses to catch his breath as he feels a pain in his leg.
“I’m guessing the first infected person was in the capital, or if not, somewhere near it.”
A hypothesis is that the first infected may have been in the capital.
Given that the alchemists and the Marquis of Kay were in the capital, it might make sense. But it was still a wild guess and not a sure thing.
We know that the alchemists were conducting unethical experiments, but we don’t know exactly what they were or what they were for.
After a long moment of silence, Ethan spoke up.
“If it started in the capital, by now the capital should be…”
“I’m guessing it’s probably worse than Brunel.”
At Knox’s reply, Ethan let out a short, pained groan. Knox offered me and Ethan an arm to help us up, then looked at Ethan.
“Your brother is in the capital, isn’t he? Our friend must be losing sleep over it now.”
“Don’t worry about my brother. Worry about your own family.”
“My family? I’m sure they’re all fine.”
Knox laughed nonchalantly.
“We’re a business family. We’re not as tight-knit as the Lancasters.”
“Lancaster’s no different.”
Ethan replied dryly. Knox stared at him, puzzled.
Despite their long acquaintance, Knox didn’t know all of Ethan’s family history.
Neither did Ethan. He didn’t seem to care about Knox’s family history either.
I remembered what Ethan had said before. He’d said he thought his dad was a great guy, but he wasn’t.
“My dad is a great guy. I grew up thinking he was, at least until five years ago.”
“He never had blood on his hands, but he was involved in all kinds of crimes and illegal things.”
“Is that why you became a cop?”
“That’s the cowardly way to get away with it.”
“But it was a conscientious choice; at least you didn’t turn away, unlike me.”
“I’m not all that conscientious, either, because I couldn’t bring myself to drag him down, and all I could do was walk away and atone elsewhere.”
Clearly, Knox didn’t know much about Ethan’s situation.
So I’m the only one who knows his story and his trauma.
It was a strange feeling. It felt like we shared a little bit of each other’s inner lives. Of course, Ethan would never think that far into it.
I glanced at them and said,
“Still, Sir Ethan and Mr. Knox, your parents were alive, and there is hope that they may still be alive, even if it’s just in a state of uncertainty.”
The two men stare at me. I read the fleeting sympathy in their eyes. I shrugged and replied.
“I’ve been alone for a long time, if that’s any consolation.”
Then Knox retorted in a small voice.
“I don’t really care about the well-being of the people I call my family. If anything, I think it’s a blessing to die as a human, to be turned into one of those monsters.”
“That’s true.”
Ethan gave Knox a rare nod of agreement.
He wondered why Knox was so uninterested in his family, given that he had been raised as the youngest son of a Ludpurshire family.
But I don’t care enough about him to touch that sensitive area, so I let it go.
By now, we were pretty high up, and I could see Happy House in the distance.
“We’re finally here.”
Ethan and Knox came up behind me.
“The monster is long gone. I think we were smart to use the catapult.”
Ethan said to me.
Knox, who was staring at the mansion in the distance, turned to me.
“That catapult, that’s the one you had a contractor come and install on the roof the other day, right? Why did you build that thing?”
Knox looked at me with a genuinely curious look on his face, asking another awkward question.
“Why don’t we talk about it once we’re inside the mansion?”
I let go of Knox’s supportive arm, and with the hand that wasn’t holding the lantern, I reached for the axe I had sheathed behind my back.
There aren’t many of them, but there are still a few of them roaming around the mansion.
Anyway, after climbing a bit, I soon saw the surface. It seemed to be near the entrance to the forest.
I couldn’t wait to get back to Happy House and get into bed to rest.
I dropped my bag, retrieved my ace, and swiftly surveyed my surroundings.
The dark forest was quiet. In contrast, the village behind me was still echoing with the monster’s roars.
Once I confirmed it was safe outside, I called out from above.
“Come up here!”
Right on cue, Knox ascended the ladder, followed by Ethan.
“Is your leg alright?”
I inquired of Knox, who appeared a bit weary, and he weakly nodded from his position on the floor.
“It’s tolerable.”
“Then we should start moving.”
Ethan extended his hand to Knox. Knox glared at him, then quietly accepted his hand and stood up.
As Ethan had mentioned, the woods behind the police station led to the mountains behind Happy House.
This meant that we had to climb the hill to reach the rear of Happy House.
The sun was setting when we were down there, but by the time we reached the top, it had already disappeared.
Once the sun begins to set, darkness descends rapidly. I retrieved the lantern from my bag and lit it.
‘We’re going to run out of matches soon.’
I had enough for two years in the mansion, but I realized I might run out.
I should practice making a fire without matches or a lighter as I would on a desert island. I have a stack of survival books, although I’m not sure I’ll be able to make a fire from them.
“So, are we going to Miss Cherry’s mansion now?”
Knox asked, and I nodded. We’re returning to the mansion now that the phone connection has failed.
I had seen this coming, but Ethan hadn’t. He grew quiet.
“Let’s go.”
I pulled Knox to his feet again, and we set off into the woods.
Thankfully, there were no monsters in the woods. It looked like we hadn’t gotten far from the village, which was still inhabited. Perhaps as time went on and they ran out of food, they would eventually disperse.
We walked through the forest in silence and darkness.
No one spoke first. After a brief moment of peace, my anxiety returned.
I thought back to what had happened at the police station earlier.
“It’s no use, I’ve already tried it dozens of times. There’s no answer. Not even the capital.”
“Even if the water was working, the trains wouldn’t run, and people wouldn’t come all the way down to Brunel in the mountains.”
What Mr. Hans said had stuck with Ethan’s ever since.
I wonder what the capital is like now.
It was then that Knox broke the silence.
“Maybe it’s just a problem with the phone company.”
“Yeah, that’s a possibility.”
Ethan agreed with Knox, but even he seemed unsure of what he was saying. He looked somewhat skeptical and lapsed into another long silence.
Once again, there was no sound except for the regular pounding of feet on dirt.
Ethan, in particular, was in a sombre mood the entire time. In fact, if I had a sister who was sick and couldn’t even stay in the snow like Aurora, I’m sure I’d go crazy with worry like he did.
I, on the other hand,
‘Harrison’s going to be okay.’
There was that kind of faith. Because Harrison is the kind of person who can handle anything.
“I think we’re still having a dream. A very bad dream.”
Knox sighed, looking a little shaken. He was walking with Ethan at his side.
“Maybe it’s better to believe it’s a dream.”
Ethan muttered back. I didn’t answer.
“I learned something while I was stranded in that damn village, avoiding them. It must be a contagious virus. If you get bitten by one, you become infected. And after a certain amount of time, your body turns into one of them.”
Knox blurted out. He had apparently observed quite a few monsters in the few days he had been isolated in the village.
In any case, what he had just said was something I and Ethan knew.
What was interesting was what he said next.
“The outbreak itself did not appear to have originated in the village of Brunel, for I saw the stable keeper here who first showed signs of it, and he had been out of sorts ever since he went to the capital.”
Knox must have seen the first infected person in Brunel Village because he pauses to catch his breath as he feels a pain in his leg.
“I’m guessing the first infected person was in the capital, or if not, somewhere near it.”
A hypothesis is that the first infected may have been in the capital.
Given that the alchemists and the Marquis of Kay were in the capital, it might make sense. But it was still a wild guess and not a sure thing.
We know that the alchemists were conducting unethical experiments, but we don’t know exactly what they were or what they were for.
After a long moment of silence, Ethan spoke up.
“If it started in the capital, by now the capital should be…”
“I’m guessing it’s probably worse than Brunel.”
At Knox’s reply, Ethan let out a short, pained groan. Knox offered me and Ethan an arm to help us up, then looked at Ethan.
“Your brother is in the capital, isn’t he? Our friend must be losing sleep over it now.”
“Don’t worry about my brother. Worry about your own family.”
“My family? I’m sure they’re all fine.”
Knox laughed nonchalantly.
“We’re a business family. We’re not as tight-knit as the Lancasters.”
“Lancaster’s no different.”
Ethan replied dryly. Knox stared at him, puzzled.
Despite their long acquaintance, Knox didn’t know all of Ethan’s family history.
Neither did Ethan. He didn’t seem to care about Knox’s family history either.
I remembered what Ethan had said before. He’d said he thought his dad was a great guy, but he wasn’t.
“My dad is a great guy. I grew up thinking he was, at least until five years ago.”
“He never had blood on his hands, but he was involved in all kinds of crimes and illegal things.”
“Is that why you became a cop?”
“That’s the cowardly way to get away with it.”
“But it was a conscientious choice; at least you didn’t turn away, unlike me.”
“I’m not all that conscientious, either, because I couldn’t bring myself to drag him down, and all I could do was walk away and atone elsewhere.”
Clearly, Knox didn’t know much about Ethan’s situation.
So I’m the only one who knows his story and his trauma.
It was a strange feeling. It felt like we shared a little bit of each other’s inner lives. Of course, Ethan would never think that far into it.
I glanced at them and said,
“Still, Sir Ethan and Mr. Knox, your parents were alive, and there is hope that they may still be alive, even if it’s just in a state of uncertainty.”
The two men stare at me. I read the fleeting sympathy in their eyes. I shrugged and replied.
“I’ve been alone for a long time, if that’s any consolation.”
Then Knox retorted in a small voice.
“I don’t really care about the well-being of the people I call my family. If anything, I think it’s a blessing to die as a human, to be turned into one of those monsters.”
“That’s true.”
Ethan gave Knox a rare nod of agreement.
He wondered why Knox was so uninterested in his family, given that he had been raised as the youngest son of a Ludpurshire family.
But I don’t care enough about him to touch that sensitive area, so I let it go.
By now, we were pretty high up, and I could see Happy House in the distance.
“We’re finally here.”
Ethan and Knox came up behind me.
“The monster is long gone. I think we were smart to use the catapult.”
Ethan said to me.
Knox, who was staring at the mansion in the distance, turned to me.
“That catapult, that’s the one you had a contractor come and install on the roof the other day, right? Why did you build that thing?”
Knox looked at me with a genuinely curious look on his face, asking another awkward question.
“Why don’t we talk about it once we’re inside the mansion?”
I let go of Knox’s supportive arm, and with the hand that wasn’t holding the lantern, I reached for the axe I had sheathed behind my back.
There aren’t many of them, but there are still a few of them roaming around the mansion.
