NOVEL NEXT Chapter 202: Cleaning Period
Following that single remark, a heavy silence descended over the dining hall. Han So and the Cadavermancer’s gazes pierced through the Dark Spiritualist, silently asking if she had any rebuttal to my accusation.
Instead, the Dark Spiritualist ignored their gazes and simply raised the corners of her mouth slightly as she looked in my direction.
“I did think that the rules of the Dream Demon Manor were quite foolish, but it turns out I ended up tripping like this. Huh?”
It wasn’t wrong.
The biggest problem was that we did not know what penalty awaited us for breaking these rules.
Guests were only permitted to go up to the third floor.
However, when we went up to the fourth floor, nothing prevented us from doing sp. That just showed how lax everything was.
“R-really. Are you really the uninvited intruder mentioned in Rule No. 27?”
Han So shouted exaggeratedly, but the Cadavermancer simply bobbed her chin once.
At the same time, the six corpses shot out and began to surround the Dark Spiritualist with eerie movements.“Huh! Do you think someone like you can kill me?”
Even though everyone in the dining hall had now turned into enemies, the Dark Spiritualist remained calm.
No, she raised her purple eyes coldly, like a just awakened savage beast.
“You, a lowly creature who crawls around, is trying to take down someone as superior as me?”
The small staff she in her hand began to swirl with purple mana, which soon transformed into screaming evil spirits.
“C-cadavermancers are just like Necromancers. Of course, without corpses I could just crawl…”
The Cadavermancer readily admitted that she had fled at the slightest sign of the Dark Spiritualist, but was boldly declaring that things were different now.
The two were on the verge of starting a battle.
However, I gave them a warning as I poured wine into the glass on the table.
“You are running out of time. Please fight in moderation.”
The two Dark Mages stared at me in disbelief, but I savored the moment, relishing their incredulous gazes as I sipped my wine.
Although I wasn’t particularly fond of alcohol, the wine here was top-shelf liquor, difficult for even the Royal Family to procure.
The Dream Demon Manor was filled with such things.
Everything glittered splendidly outside the Manor, with precious things scattered on the ground like stones.
One just had to live here for a few days for their concept of luxury to disappear.
“Y-you! Shouldn’t we fight together?”
“With whom?”
Han So trembled in an exaggerated manner as he held up his Heavenly Oath Martial Staff, sticking his head out idiotically and taking a deep breath.
To answer my question about with whom we should fight, he was caught in a dilemma, alternating between the Dark Spiritualist and the Cadavermancer.
As per Rule No. 27, the one we had to fight was the Dark Spiritualist.
However, the Cadavermancer had killed all the other guests and she would probably kill us as well.
Both choices were unpleasant to make.
Therefore, I just planned to watch their battle while tilting my glass.
Kwaaaang!
While Han So was hesitating, the Dark Spiritualist made the first move.
[Kyaaaaacccckkk!]
She pushed the evil spirits she controlled towards the corpses, releasing their resentment. For a moment, it seemed like the Cadavermancer was being pushed back. However…
“T-this is why the corpses in this place are so good.”
While the Cadavermancer certainly played a part in killing them, all the guests at the Dream Demon Manor were big shots. Hence, the quality of the corpses themselves were indeed quite excellent.
The corpses she now possessed were not inferior compared to the Dark Spiritualist’s evil spirits.
The situation was tense.
To further elaborate, the person who introduced a variable would win, and the Cadavermancer was the first to make an attempt.
The Cadavermancer held a white dagger and a crystal skull in her hands. The dagger was a gift I had given Luaneth, and the crystal skull seemed like a tool the Cadavermancer would enjoy using.
“These are the rewards I obtained from attacking guests!”
Did she choose those two because of Rule No. 14?
14. You are only permitted to carry up to two items as rewards.
However, that meant these items suited the Cadavermancer the best.
Seven-colored magic shot out from the white dagger, flying through the bodies of the corpses.
The Dark Spiritualist hastily cast protective magic, but the seven-colored light emitted by the dagger had quite a powerful destructive force.
Kwaaang!
Although the protective magic itself did not break, the Dark Spiritualist was pushed back, eventually hitting the wall as she fell on one knee.
At the same time, her evil spirits screamed and spread in all directions.
“Hi…hihick, in the end, Necromancers are similar to me as well.”
The Cadavermancer guffawed happily for some reason, gnawing on her nails.
“It’s over once the main body gets attacked. It doesn’t matter how strong the evil spirits are, once you lose control over them, you’re just an ordinary mage.”
Following that blow, the Dark Spiritualist lost control of her evil spirits. Subsequently, the evil spirits, which were rampaging around the dining hall just moments ago, flew towards the Dark Spiritualist to attack her. However…
“These damn bastards.”
Instead, the Dark Spiritualist reached out to the evil spirits flying towards her and began controlling them again.
I was impressed by her sophisticated and swift magic operation.
Even at 18 years old, she was still the Dark Spiritualist.
“Iiiik!“
Seeing that, the Cadavermancer stomped the ground with her foot and raised the crystal skull.
This was the first time I saw that item, so I wanted to take a closer look. However, there was no time for that.
“Do you want to live?”
I set the wine glass down and walked towards the Dark Spiritualist before asking her.
With my sudden intervention, the Cadavermancer began to look alert, and Han So foolishly followed behind.
“What?”
To the irritated Dark Spiritualist, I reiterated my question.
“I am asking you if you want to live.”
“Are you asking a Necromancer about death? Of course, we are always prepared to die!”
It was quite an imposing answer, but her eyes said something else.
Despite being a Necromancer, she was also only 18 years old.
“…Damn it.”
Upon meeting my gaze, the Dark Spiritualist tried to be honest with me, yet she still sought to preserve her pride. Thus, she simply whispered softly.
“Y-yes…”
That must have been why she was struggling like this.
Hearing her answer, I nodded with satisfaction.
“Then, tell me the other rules you know.”
“What?”
The Dark Spiritualist replied sharply. It seemed like she would keep avoiding the issue until the end if I didn’t explain it.
“I know that you have kept some rules hidden from us. Remember the conversation when we first met in this dining hall?”
Wondering if she had made any other mistake, the Dark Spiritualist tried to recall that conversation, but given the urgent situation, it didn’t seem to come to her easily.
“You told me; we can earn rewards by finding rules, and one of the rewards is to escape from this place.”
- That’s right. If you find the rules, you will be rewarded. And the biggest reward of all is escaping from this place.
“Ah?”
Han So nodded understandingly. So, that was the issue.
When we suggested forming a team, Han So said this.
Hmm, there seem to be some strange ones among the guests who are with us. What do you think? Shall we join forces just among us and escape together?
He didn’t say let’s find the rules, but let’s escape together. That meant the rules were not his priority.
Something was odd.
Finding rules meant escaping.
So, why did Han So differentiate between the two matters?
I arrived at the answer easily.
Han So and Luaneth didn’t know that finding the rules could help us escape.
Only the Dark Spiritualist knew.
That meant the Dark Spiritualist hadn’t told us all the rules she knew.
“…”
When I got to this point, the Dark Spiritualist shut her mouth tight. Han So was bewildered and looked cautious. Meanwhile, the Cadavermancer also seemed to have realized something was wrong and listened to our conversation with her hands down.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue in annoyance upon seeing the Cadavermancer behaving like that and then looked back at the Dark Spiritualist.
“I know that you did not give us all the rules that you knew. If they were just ordinary rules, I would have not cared this much.”
“Huh?”
Questioning the nonsense of it all, Han So exclaimed. Since it was starting to bother me, he should have just kept his mouth shut.
“The important thing is that the rule you hid is likely related to escaping from this place.”
I was referring back to what the Dark Spiritualist had said.
- That’s right. If you find the rules, you will be rewarded. And the biggest reward of all is escaping from this place.
Realizing her slip-up, the Dark Spiritualist lowered her head deeply. Perhaps she shared too much information with me because I was a fellow Necromancer.
Or probably because I was her type in the first place.
I didn’t know what her reason was.
“So, how did you know that one of the rewards is escape?”
What the rewards were had never been written in any place. Yet the Dark Spiritualist knew that rules and escape were an interdependent package.
In the end, it meant that among the rules she had hidden from us, there was a clue related to escaping from this place.
“…”
“Tell me.”
When I pressed the Dark Spiritualist, who kept her mouth shut, she responded with tears in her eyes.
“Oh, you performed really well, didn’t you? You did it very
well! You waited until I was in a dangerous situation before suddenly appearing before me, offering to save me, but then pressuring me for information.”“…”
“Now, I have clearly seen your true colors! You said that you’re my future apprentice, right? How could I take someone like you as my apprentice?!”
“…”
“You deliberately put my life at risk to negotiate about the rules?”
“It is actually the opposite.”
Before answering the Dark Spiritualist, I slowly turned towards the Cadavermancer.
“I only pushed you to this point because I did not want to kill you for the answer.”
22. Any deceased guest will leave behind the rules they knew.
If it were not a desperate situation, the Dark Spiritualist would have never told us all the rules she knew until the very end.
Since she would never open her mouth under normal circumstances, I was left with no choice but to kill her.
Hence, I chose a little aggressive method to persuade the Dark Spiritualist because I didn’t want to kill her.
“Oh.”
I could feel the Dark Spiritualist staring blankly at my back.
The Cadavermancer’s corpses began moving slowly. After all, she realized that she could find out the rules if she killed the Dark Spiritualist anyway.
“Number 30.”
I wondered if my sincerity would at least reach her, even a little.
The Dark Spiritualist uttered the rule.
“Only the last remaining person can escape the Dream Demon Manor.”
In a more intuitive manner, her response only clarified the fate that truly awaited us.
“Heh! Hihi! In the end, I was right to kill everyone!”
Speaking excitedly, the Cadavermancer moved the corpse more brutally.
A Dark Mage who couldn’t control souls.
Since that was me now, naturally, I wouldn’t be able to win against the Cadavermancer who had defeated the Dark Spiritualist.
Han So hesitated as he stared at us cautiously. Meanwhile, the Dark Spiritualist remained silent, her mouth shut even tighter.
I slowly picked up the wine glass from the table.
“Sigh.”
Then I sighed and threw it to the floor.
Clank!
Glass shards scattered everywhere, and the premium liquor inside spilled on the floor like blood.
“Are Necromancers always vulgar until they die?”
The Cadavermancer’s tone had completely changed from when we first met; she no longer spoke with honorifics.
I had seen many humans change after gaining power, but this was the first time I had ever witnessed such an extreme change.
“Are you begging for me to save you? Will you lick the wine spilled on the floor?”
Ignoring the Cadavermancer’s smug grin, I was focused solely on the spilled wine and glass shards.
“Is it not fascinating?”
“What?”
“The Dream Demon Manor proceeds with everything automatically, without the need for any instructions. It always returns to its original state, just like how we wash our bodies.”
“…”
Each word I uttered made the Cadavermancer feel eerie and she immediately gestured to control the corpses. However…
“Huh?”
Perplexed, she examined them as the corpses showed no response.
“W-What is this! What is this!”
Seeing the Cadavermancer screaming while wondering why her corpses were not moving, I couldn’t help but scoff at her foolishness.
“Have you still not figured out what is going on? Even though you used Rule No. 24 in reverse?”
24. When a guest dies, the room they occupied will be opened. However, until then, entry is forbidden even with permission from the room owner.
Instead of guests, the Cadavermancer used the corpses of the guests to kill everyone in the other rooms.
In other words, the already deceased guests were no longer treated as guests.
“How foolish of you.”
Boooong!
The clock near the entrance rang loudly to signal the end of the day.
It was hard to tell because there was no daytime, but I roughly estimated that it was about time.
“There are no servants here.”
28. There are no servants in the Dream Demon Manor.
“Also, meals will be replenished daily.”
21. Meals will be replenished daily. Please feel free to eat as much as you like.
As if the Manor heard my words, the food we had eaten was refilled in the blink of an eye.
It was a strange scene, like a mirage in the desert.
“And…”
The shattered glass on the floor began to disappear gradually, and even the wine that had splashed all over the floor disappeared without leaving a single stain.
“The rules said that cleaning is performed daily..”
“What? Cleaning?”
“Therefore, there is no need to bother cleaning things like corpses.”
I could only sneer at the Cadavermancer, who was staring at her fading corpses.
“It is something to be thankful for.”
17. Cleaning is performed daily.