CHAPTER 14……………………..
Still unable to see the ghost’s form, Laseil let out a frustrated sigh and pulled out her monocle.
She at least needed to know how many she was dealing with before she could handle them properly.
“Four, five… is it over ten?”
As long as there weren’t more than twenty, it wouldn’t be a real issue.
Laseil took a short breath and swung her sword.
“Too shallow again.”
Her strike had dug in a little deeper than before, but it still failed to inflict a proper wound.
Reddish-brown drops of blood splattered onto the floor—
the color of blood that had already begun to dry. There wasn’t much of it.
“So you are here.”
Laseil beamed.
Since the ghost wasn’t retaliating right away, it clearly wasn’t an aggressive one.
Which meant she was free to take out her frustrations however she pleased.
“Stop… creating… useless… trouble!”
Laseil yelled, forcing down her irritation.
She’d lost track of how many weeks her workload had been piling up because of ghosts ever since arriving in this territory.
“I thought… I’d get to rest a little!”
Compared to the social circles where she received duel requests practically every day, this place was supposed to be easier.
But in reality, she’d ended up swinging her sword nearly every single day because of ghosts!
And unlike duels, she had to infuse her sword with aura every time.
“Just because I like swordsmanship… doesn’t mean I want to use it daily, you know?”
It felt like about five of them had been knocked out by now, but Laseil continued swinging.
She had far too much pent-up emotion to stop after so little.
“Why do I have to be this busy here too?!”
As her shout ended, more dried-blood-colored droplets fell to the floor.
A heavy thud followed—something collapsing.
“Is it finally over?”
Laseil nudged the sprawled ghosts with her foot to check their condition.
If she was lucky, at least one of them might be willing to talk.
And if they weren’t, she could always make them willing.
Worst case, she’d call Luzea and everything would be solved anyway.
“Can you hear me?”
She spoke toward a ghost lying on the ground.
“No? Acting like you can’t hear?”
Well, she could just beat them until they could hear.
The moment she drew her sword again, a frantic voice called out beside her.
“Wait! Wait—sorry! Please wait!”
“So you feel like talking now?”
“Yes! Yes.”
She still couldn’t see them, but that didn’t hinder the conversation.
“Then explain.”
Laseil grabbed what she presumed was the ghost’s collar before continuing.
To prevent any nonsense, she needed to keep control of its movements.
“Um, well! There’s another ghost besides us! That one is the real cause!”
The ghost immediately started tattling.
“We just…! Moved in because it was an abandoned house with lots of ghosts already…!”
The explanation was such a mess that it was hard to follow.
After repeating the same questions and getting the same answers several times, Laseil finally pieced the situation together.
The house had been abandoned for a very long time—unsurprising.
It remained intact only because its former owner was a mage, and remnants of magic still lingered.
Even the bedroom looked like someone had lived in it moments ago thanks to those traces.
Uncontrolled magical energy tends to preserve the space in its original state.
“The original owner was seriously insane!”
“What? Explain properly.”
“…They tried to summon a demon.”
“……?”
A shocking statement came out of nowhere.
Laseil closed her eyes briefly, reviewing what she knew.
Was there ever a time demon summoning wasn’t illegal?
People in the Empire fell into three categories:
ordinary people, mages, and spirit users.
House Resean produced many spirit users,
and House Sieren produced mages for generations.
If a direct heir wasn’t gifted, they adopted a talented child.
Once you bore the ducal surname, your original status didn’t matter.
And among these groups, the only ones capable of attempting demon summoning were mages—
since you needed magical energy to even perceive a demon.
“You said they were a mage, right? About a hundred years ago?”
“About two hundred.”
That was exactly when demon summoning was banned in the Empire—
after a summoning accident caused the collapse of an entire marquisate territory.
“So they had enough mana to try?”
“…Unfortunately, no.”
Demon summoning was dangerous whether it succeeded or failed.
If successful, a demon appeared.
If it failed, remnants of a demon that never fully manifested were left behind.
Normally those remnants disappeared with the demon—
but if the demon never appeared, the remnants had to be dealt with manually.
So buildings where summoning failed usually became places people avoided.
“…But if they summoned a demon, this building shouldn’t be this intact.”
Considering what had supposedly happened, the building looked far too untouched.
The ghost responded:
“Well… it all happened in the third basement level. The house goes really deep. And… the summoning failed.”
“There’s a third basement level?”
Perhaps the owner should’ve just lived underground entirely.
“Even if they wanted the summoning site far from the main house—this is extreme. Anything else you know?”
“Hm… oh! Do you understand what this means?”
The ghost rummaged through its memories for any clues.
‘This letter started in England and brings luck to those who receive it each year—’
“What?”
‘This letter must leave your side within four days—’
“What even is that? And where is England supposed to be?”
“They were letters that arrived at the house sometimes.”
Completely useless information.
“Anyway, all the ghosts aboveground are just those types…”
“Then why were things so noisy lately?”
“Everyone kept tripping as they tried to run away from the one in the basement… Are you going to exorcise it?”
“I can’t do that.”
Physical elimination was one thing, but exorcism or sending spirits to the afterlife wasn’t her specialty.
The ghost looked highly skeptical.
“You weren’t trying to harm anyone, right?”
“No! And, well, if a ghost kills someone, that person becomes a ghost too.”
“…?”
“It’d be so awkward running into them later!”
Laseil had never imagined such a situation and had no idea how to respond.
Satisfied that she’d learned enough, she stood.
Third basement level, huh? I hope Irenes is okay…
She began to worry about Irenes, who was on basement level two.
Laseil hurried back toward the underground through the same door as before.
“…?”
She encountered a mass of ghosts sprawled on the floor.
She couldn’t see them well, but something kept knocking against her feet as she walked, meaning there were a lot of them.
“Lady Zaen! Did you find anything?”
While Laseil was still stunned, Irenes approached from the side.
“Don’t mind the ones rolling around!”
“What?”
“They reacted to my sword, so I dealt with them first…”
“Oh.”
Laseil accepted that explanation without much thought.
If something non-human was hostile toward you and your sword worked on it, of course you’d want to cut it down first.
“By any chance, did you see any doors nearby?”
After clearing away the ghosts enough to walk, Laseil asked.
“There’s not… a third basement level, right?”
Irenes joked with a laugh.
Laseil couldn’t laugh.
“…There isn’t… right?”
“There is.”
“Why?”
“They tried to summon a demon.”
“…Why?”
Irenes asked again, sounding far more bewildered than before.
She couldn’t fathom anyone willingly doing something so insane.
Seriously—why?
Aside from being incredibly dangerous, there was another huge problem.
Even if you summoned a demon, there was no guarantee it would obey you.
It was far more likely that the summoner would end up forced to appease the demon.
So why would anyone go through the trouble of summoning a being you’d have to serve?
