“Did you felt anything?”

Both of them were standing near the stair after Volkara showed Zecruix all the room in the upper floor.

Zecruix made a contemplative face as he hold the stair’s railing.

Volkara seemingly amused by it, joked to him as she suddenly smiled.

“You know, you have a childish when you try to look serious.”

Hearing that, Zecruix pouted at her.

“Even that face!! You! Ahahaha…”

She burst into an up roaring laugh.

Zecruix pouted even harder. For some reasons, seeing her smiling face and hearing her laughter triggered something inside of him. It slightly reminded him of Kravstor.

Zecruix smiled bitterly to her while clenching his free hand into a fist.

After a few seconds, by the end of the laughter, she was hugging her waist with her arms crossed.

She sighed.

“I’m sorry… I was so stressed out the whole week and unexpectedly, the thought of giving a tour of the manor to a wandering demonhunter who suspected a demon here earlier in the morning had occurred to me when I looked at your indecisive look. That was humorous for a lot of reasons.”

She smiled refreshingly at Zecruix. It wasn’t like the amused smile previously but a smile of genuine honesty and delight. Zecruix felt much more vexed as of now because a feeling different from being annoyed wells up inside of him.

In order for her to not see a subtle blush on his face, he turns away while looking down.

Volkara tilted her head to the right side but instantly realized what he was doing. She earnestly nodded.

“So back to where the original point. Oh… we haven’t introduced each other. My name is Volkara Iscarion and you are?”

“… Zecruix Valvren… I think it may be a remnant of the unnatural magick, so I’m done here.”

He muttered such lie. If he told the truth, they might throw him out this instant and be severely berated. As of now, he wanted to keep this a secret from them. There were several ways to do it from the distance.

“I’ll lead you back outside.”

Zecruix, still keeping his head down, nodded back.

After being led outside and a brief pleasantry, Zecruix stood outside thinking again. Now that he was known, getting in is now harder without a really good reason. After much thinking, the only option was to do an Area Cleansing.

It would take two days at most but it would be enough. Although it won’t banish the Rakhe but more or less made the manor into a ground that it can’t stay in. Afterward, Zecruix would track it down and exorcise it.

Now, the main issue right now is to find someone that would pay for his service. Usually, the owner of the manor would do that but in this case, judging by the unwelcoming reactions from the guards of the manor, it would be impossible. Perhaps all of them are under the influence of the Rakhe.

If that is so, then perhaps after he exorcised it, he could ask for payment but it was certainly risky as people under the influence of Rakhe would sometimes have no memories of such occurrence and would sooner called him a fraud for demanding a payment on nothing.

For that, he needed to find the official of this village and convince them.

While still thinking, he turned around and started to walk back to the inn. Just as he did, there was a sound of footsteps on his left.

He turned towards that direction.

A man who looked at his twenties with a bald head and a moustache was smiling obsequiously at him.

“Ah, greeting there, I saw you from a far visiting this manor! You had business with them is it?”

“Sort of, how can I help you?”

Zecruix took a wary stance against this man. The man, unfazed continued to ask.

“You see…”

He looked slightly hesitated but after that he made an agitated expression as his face went pale.

“Milady that I served had some connection with the owner of that manor but we had an incident two weeks ago.”

“Incident?”

“Yes, you see, two weeks ago, something strange come upon the manor from what I heard!”

Zecruix made a stern expression.

“By strange, what do you mean?”

The man looked cautiously at the manor and then looked back at Zecruix.

“I’m not comfortable talking it in here.”

--

Both of them were sitting in a diner called Turil Foodhouse but only the man was eating a breakfast. The man looked much better after he ate the meal. The table where they sat was the furthest away from the entrance of the diner.

Only the man had eaten so Zecruix spend his time drinking quietly while watching the man.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Hervan Peter. As I said, I was the manservant for milady who was engaged with the owner of that manor but as you can see, we were chased out by the guards as soon as we arrived. Two maids working there had also been dismissed.”

Zecruix was slightly perturbed for, as far as he saw, the guards were normal in a sense but it could have a façade.

“Look, you said something ‘strange’ what was it?”

The man had a troubled expression as if he had difficulty to describe it but nonetheless, he looked straight at Zecruix and just when he was about to answer, someone came to their table.

Both of them looked at the person.

It was a woman who also looked in her twenties with a long straight, blond hair. There were freckles on her face and sharp eyes. She wore a blue shirt and a green leather pant.

“I see you met with my manservant, Hervan.”

“M-Milady, what are you-“

“Shush, Hervan, if you intend to tell of the trouble I am having then I would like to include myself in this conversation.”

The woman without hesitating, sat beside Zecruix and smiled brightly at him.

“And you are?”

“My name is Vaneri Gertrude; I am the fiancée of the owner of that manor, Sir Farvath James.”