One moment, we were standing before the door. On the next one, Aison pushed it open, and I took point, hurrying inside. The plan was simple, take whoever was inside unaware and silence them before they raised the alarm. Scouting ahead was impossible because of the forward opening door, so Aison had decided to act like this, following the same, "No alarm, you go left, I go right."

One moment, we stood in the corridor, I still holding the bloodied blade. On the next one, I was inside one of the bigger rooms, perfectly square, about a hundred square meters. Not that I paid attention to the room, the magic lamps hanging from the ceiling, or anything else but to the bizarre construction occupying most of the left side of the room.

"Move, you fool!" With be taking point and now freezing up, I actually blocked the doorway, making Aison hiss as he pushed me forward, dashing inside and launching himself at something, no someone, standing just a meter from the door.

***

"For Mizlene's iron boots, just what is that?" Aison approached my frozen figure and whispered, for the first time, with a hint of terror.

I don't know if it was the mention of Mizlene, the Goddess of [Justice, Obscurity, and Punishment], or the notable shock in Aison's voice, but I snapped out of my daze and forced my eyes to look away from THAT.

"...I don't know, but I feel magic from that thing." Distracting myself by scanning the rest of the room, I absentmindedly ended up staring at the body sprawled a couple of steps from Aison, the latter's dagger still poking out of the guard's (if it was one) nape.

"Right now..?" Aison started to ask but stopped halfway.

"Yes, that THING is active." I could not bring myself to look at it again, but my [Mana Sense] detected something active from that part of the room.

"...And the girls?" Probably not wanting to approach to check, Aison hesitated a bit before asking me, hoping I could answer without the need to do so.

It was hard, to an extreme, to force the emotions back, but I somehow managed to do so, "I would need to use a spell to confirm, but I am pretty sure they are fueling that."

"No, we would be detected if that monster is around." Aison shook his head, approaching the dead guard on the floor, pulling out, and then cleaning his dagger as he did so.

"...Then?"

"We... we split. If we encounter Renrith, we are dead, which means there will be no one to hold him accountable. So, return via the way we came, go to the Viscount's palace, and describe all of this to Lelani." Initially, it appeared that Aison was to say something else, but he ended up with this plan.

"It's a meek attempt to send me away, but I am not going anywhere. If you want to contact someone, I am sure you have the means." But Aison's attempt to send me out of there failed. I didn't feel heroic or intended to be the avenging vigilante, but I wouldn't leave without answers. Not when I knew where to get them.

So, we two moved out of the room, arriving in the same small corridor-like room with two doors and a double set of stairs. This one was empty but brightly illuminated by a [Light Orb] placed on a stand near the stairs.

_______

It's nearly painful to go back to my memories of that night, especially to recall the THING in that room. Yet, by now, as I [Record], I have no right to dismiss it.

The best way to describe it would be as a three-level bunk bed. Made of blackened metal, covered in runes, but it resembled one. Even if, on each level, spiked, bloodied chains covered a naked female body.

[Mana Sense] went nearly crazy when I looked directly at the fiendish construct, and even when I turned off from it, it continued indicating mana seeping from it. And as I examined the room, I found a mana current following a strange system of smaller, silverish chains hanging near the ceiling and disappearing into a small hole near the room's farthest edge.

So, pushing back my emotions, huh? So I thought at that moment. Yet, in all truth, I merely suppressed the urge to shout and rage and still acted under their influence. After all, why would I disregard Aison's words or even his attempt to stop me by blocking the path? Why would I risk and launch forward? I held no deathwish, did I? It wasn't even my concern! No matter how wrong it is to think like this.

_______

"Eithne should be two floors above, around where this room is." As I finished my low-voiced speech, Aison moved towards the stairs and, from his looks, held no plan to allow me to go first. Or to go at all.

"Splitting seems reasonable, anyway." Before Aison could react, I launched out of the corridor via the other side door.

*Click*

Aison moved after me, but I shut the door before he reached it and, without giving in to his attempts to yank it open, locked it, lowering the iron bar on my side.

*Thump* *Thump*

Aison tapped at the door, still cautious about making too much noise, "Lindar, don't." His muffled words reached me, but I had already turned around, following the chains.

"Take care." Was my response, even if he would not hear it.

***

The room I had entered was identical to the other big ones, but if the others were bare of any furniture or decoration, this was the opposite. With tapestry on the floor, redwood panels on the walls, several magic lamps, plus the usual furniture of a bedroom. I didn't pay much attention to the carvings of the bed or the gold-inlaid desk, concentrating on following the chains. Yet, even with a passing glance, it was clear that whoever lived here enjoyed luxury and good quality items. And clothes, judging from the two massive wardrobes that occupied nearly half of the room's right side.

The only detail I would pay attention to was a small desk, some kind of nightstand, near the bed, or, to be exact, the few items (two rings, one orb, one medallion) on it. My [Mana Sense] tingled as I passed near, and I couldn't help but stop to examine them. I even stored them inside my [Inventory] before continuing forward.

I didn't require much convincing to take them, so I took them without hesitation. The calming thought to not consider myself a thief, proof!

With no observers, using [Inventory] was perfectly safe. As attested by the no-mana and no-magic effects, [Inventory] was no spell. No investigator would catch on its traces. As for the items, the mana reading they gave, and their looks, convinced me that they weren't simple. So, why shouldn't I take them away? If required, they could be used as proof against the mage, as they would definitively have some connection to him, at least one, a coin-sized crystal medallion that literally read [Master Renrith].

Arriving at the door, I regretted my solo runaway, but after a moment, I still chose to open it.

***

A man in his mid-thirties, a bushy beard covering half his face, dressed in the so-common leather clothes, holding a spear in his arm, turned around towards the door as I opened it, and with visible surprise, even hesitating on what to do, asked, "Who..?"

He would have no more chance to ask, as skipping confirming his stats ([Strenght], [Piercing], [Danger Sense], [Detection], [Leadership], all above average, in the 11-13 range]), I jumped forward, my still-bloodied sword in hand.

His groans and confused eyes as the sword pierced through leather, skin, and flesh aren't memories I would want to hold, but they were there.

My sudden lunge allowed me to deal with what seemed to be an experienced opponent, at the small cost of some pain in my left shoulder, as I crashed against the man's body. Or at least, so it seemed.

But I was mistaken to consider I did what I had to, the alarm remaining unraised.

"WHAT?!" A half-shocked half-furious shout sounded from the far right of the small room, from the direction of the stairs.

Concentrating on the threat before me and how to deal with it, I failed to examine the room. If I had, I would have noticed the different layout of it or that its size and form were slightly different from the smaller rooms from before. So, as I jumped forwards, crashed against the man, winced at the pain in my left hand, and winced even more at his groans, I didn't notice anything.

Like, the stairs on the right, not on the left as in the other rooms. Or worse, the woman, the one to shout at that moment, standing near them. Hell, I didn't even catch on the size difference, as, where before it was about two meters wide and long, this room was about three by three. And this latter was the most odd miss for me, at least as I see it now. After all, I was looking straight from the door, and the man stood about two meters away. So how didn't I think about it being bigger?!

In my defense, I can say that I reacted almost instantly, releasing the sword's grip, turning around, and locking my eyes on the pale woman. Without waiting for her to shout or act further, I raised my now free right arm, activated [Inventory], and as the loaded crossbow materialized in my hand, I shot without even aiming.

Be it luck, Sepyre's influence, or whatever else, my unaimed bolt hit her in the middle of her chest, right between the breasts, half hidden by a simple cloth shirt. And she had yet to understand her death, or to fall back entirely, as I found myself near her.

I reacted quickly, no doubt about that. But still, the harm was done, and to correct that, I was not late - I had no chance to do so.

"...hear that?"

"What..?"

"...below?"

"Anea... didn't..?"

"I'll..."

{Shit!} The words came from upstairs, muffled and cut, but I made enough of them to understand that someone would come down. And considering I had no idea how more people could come on alarm, I decided to do the only sane thing. Or what appeared to me as one.

Three uses of [Inventory] later, the room was dark, the only source of light, a [Light Orb], and the two bodies vanishing in the vacuum of my storage space. Some blood on the floor and the stairs remained, but I would have a chance to flee. If I was to run away, that is.

***

Except for the pale light from above the stairs, there was another equally faint light source in the room, a thin strand seeping on floor level on the left corner. My [Mana Sense] and judging from what I saw, the silver chains pointed me towards it. And so, not taking the last chance to run away, the path from which I had come probably still empty, I hustled towards it.

Pushing it, as no pommel or bar was present on my side, I encountered myself in yet another room, far more extensive than any of the ones I had seen until now. At least twenty-five meters separated me from each side wall, the rear of the room barely discernable, but I spent no time checking it out. Before even looking around, I hastily closed the door and shut it close with the heavy iron bar hanging from one of the doorway's sides.

***

With no one shouting alarm or me seeing anyone, I took a chance to look around before proceeding further.

To my right were rows of columns supporting bookshelves loaded with books, scrolls, and what appeared to be stone tablets. To my left, similar shelves, but not filled up with books, no, crystals, glass bottles, containers of both iron and bone, some strange stones, and probably what I should consider alchemic material - parts of animals, beasts, and who knows what else.

Usually, at such point, I should ask myself {Where am I?}, but there was no need, was there? With the assumed culprit being Master Renrith, the sight before my eyes only assured me of a magic user being in charge.

With everything brightly illuminated by [Light Orbs] hanging from nearly every shelf, I can't say I wasn't interested in investigating further. But the direness of the situation, my held-back fury, made me advance, disregarding this chance to see, maybe even loot, something useful.

Moving slowly, cautious of making any more noise, I advanced. And about a minute later, having walked for about forty meters, I found that I wasn't alone in this enormous repository of knowledge and ingredients.

About ten meters from my current position, the room ended, and near the dozen or so tables, some filled with bottles, others with scrolls and books, some even with what looked like magic crystals and orbs, a single stone throne stood. And on the latter, a barely visible figure was sitting, its back turned to this hall.

My [Mana Sense] had gone haywire since I entered the room, but the silver chains were still there, and following them, one would reach the throne-like construction anyway, as the ends of the chains connected to the left armrest of the latter.

My [Status Screen] only worked if I looked at my target, or to be exact, was seeing more than half of it, so I had no idea who was sitting there, ignoring anything but whatever they were doing.

I had no way to be sure, but I knew who the person on the stone throne was, Master Earth Mage, Brown-Cloak of the Kingdom, Master Renrith!