“The scene of the crime”
– Man, this place is really dusty.
After barely escaping Ever’s claws, I was left staring at the terrible state of the palace while mopping.
Hallways, windows, corners. Everywhere I look there’s dust as if it was piled up snow.
I wonder how many years without cleaning it takes for a place to be this dusty.
– What gives. I have to finish as soon as possible.
Enough complaining. I should probably get to choosing my room already.
Ever told me I could choose any room. If I’m going to be living here I’d rather make sure I choose a good place.
I started looking at the rooms on the ground floor. From the outside, I could see 3 floors, each with about 30 or so windows.
So I’m going to carefully take a look at each room.
– First, here.
I opened the door at the corner of the hallway.
If it’s in the corner, there has to be a window with good lighting. Also, having only one neighboring room means I won’t have to worry too much about noise.
There’s no one else here, so I shouldn’t worry about those things, but I used to live in a poor apartment. Some habits never die.
– *Cough* As I thought, full of dust. This isn’t bad though.
The room was about a room of six tatamis (10m~) and the only furniture was the bed and a small lamp. The lack of appliances would make this much easier to clean.
Maybe I’m deciding too fast. I should open the windo-
” H E L P ”
There was some writing on the windows.
– ……
I quickly wiped the dust off the window with my finger, and then…
” H E L P
I W I L L B E K I L L E D ”
“B E C A R E F U L
A D E M O N
R E S I D E S
I N T H I S P A L A C E ”
” I T W I L L
F O L L O W M E
U N T I L T H E E N D
” I M S C A R E D
P L E A S E H E L P M E
H E L P M E
H E L P M E ”
“H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E
I W I L L D I E H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E H E L P M E
H E L P M E I W I L L D I E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E
I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E”
Those words appeared on the window.
And then-
*THUD*
– EEK!?
The door suddenly slammed shut, which made my heart rate skyrocket.
When I looked at the door-
” W E L C O M E ”
A message was written with blood. And there were countless bloody handprints filling the rest of the door.
– HYAAAAAAAAAA! EXCUSE MEEEEEEE!
After the warm welcome from the invisible people, I rushed out of the room. I cannot imagine what would’ve happened to my heart had I not been able to open the door.
Was the Sage’s Palace built on a graveyard or something!?
I was excited to show everyone in Searat how much I had grown after my training, but I’m starting to regret my decisions.