A short while later

After the initial confusion, Chris and the rest were led into the manor.

Everyone was in the Dining room, sitting around a table.

“Mhm! This is the stuff! Aaah!”

Chris was shamelessly the served food without a care in the world. He didn’t seem to notice, or care, about the tense and awkward atmosphere.

In fact, even Isabella and Charles were too hesitant to eat or talk. The former, as a glutton, wouldn’t normally hesitate to fill her stomach, but there was only Christopher eating. The rest were eyeing each other or them with suspicion, mistrust, or intrigue.

“To think we would meet so soon. I’m surprised.”

Aerin, sitting across Chris, smiled and broke the silence.

“Mhm… yesh! After all wvben….. Throug…ah!!” Chris choked up and ended coughing. Even while talking, he didn’t stop grabbing pieces of food left and right.

“Slow down a little. I’m sure the food won’t run out anytime soon.” Aerin chuckled at the sight, but Feylord snorted and kept glaring at the newcomers.

“Is this your doing, Aerin?”

Leiu also spoke, his eyes still fixated on Chris.

“Why does it always have to be my fault? We just happened to meet each other not long ago.”

“...”

Leiu didn’t look like he believed that but he didn’t press too much into it. He could tell at a glance that Chris was special, much like Aerin. Someone who had met the Frog of Destiny.

“Ah! I’m full!”

After a couple of minutes, Chris leaned back against the chair and patted his stomach.

“M-mister Chris… are you really Arthur’s friend?”

Julie, after calming herself and waiting for the man to finish, finally asked the only question in her mind.

She could never forget what Arthur had for her and although their interactions were brief, she remembered them all.

Arthur was her savior and friend. He was someone she looked up to.

“One hundred percent! There’s no one who knows him better than I!”

Chris swept his eyes across all the people in the room. Of course, he also noticed the Undead Jester, which was looming behind Aerin like a horrifying ghost.

“Arthur told me I’ll find you, missy! As for the others… Come to think of it, why are there so many people here? The Phoenix? Nameless Knight? Half-Demon? Demon Agent? The fuck is happening?”

Thanks to the System’s Appraisal, Chris was able to see their identities with a glance. It wasn’t too surprising for Leiu for those aware, but there were those startled by this.

“Shit isn’t going to go down here, is it? Arthur didn’t send us from one crisis to the other, right?”

Chris looked at Isabella and Charles, but they were both sitting there in an extremely awkward manner. The apothecary didn’t raise his head whereas the girl was hesitantly eyeing the food in front of her.

“When is Arthur coming?”-Aerin

“Won’t be long, I think. That is, if things didn’t go bad in Blackcrest.”

Aerin nodded and maintained silence. As for Julie, she softly smiled and beckoned her elderly butler.

“I will prepare rooms for all of you. Friends of Arthur and friends of mine as well. Let me introduce myself again, I am Julie Lernon, ruler of Wilsden.”

“I-I’m Charles. A…apothecary.” The youth barely squeezed those words, his face turning red.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Isabella.”

“It looks like we interrupted something, yes? We’ll go to our rooms and rest. Thanks, Julie! You’re a nice person!”

Chris stood up, waved his hands, and followed after the butler along with Isabella and Charles.

“He certainly is an easy-going fellow. He did lighten the mood, at least.” Aerin heartily laughed as he watched them leave.

After a momentary silence, the minstrel glanced at Leiu and added, “To think your candidate is on his way here. What luck! A destined encounter.”

“Mind your words, Aerin. Also, we’re not done talking… but we will wait until he is here.”

Leiu stood up and left, followed by Feylord.

…

The Undead Jester, Lucy, Aerin, Julie, and Mort headed to the source of the anomaly, right under the manor.

The place was disturbing and creepy as ever: the flaming burning on the torches hanging on the walls kept flickering, and a cold breeze would pass through the corridor every now and then.

Lucy, who had nothing to do with this and came here coincidentally, kept following Mort around and try to seem as inconspicuous as possible. She didn’t talk or do anything suspicious.

Although, she did notice that Julie would sometimes sneak glances at her direction. She had already decided that, at an opportune moment, she was going to slip out undetected and find another place to hide at.

It wasn’t going to take long for the Holy Church to locate her again and send more of its people. Admittedly, with so many powerful figures so close, she had nothing to fear, however, who was to say if they would save her if someone were to attack.

“What exactly is this?”

Julie, standing a distance away from the room, looked to Aerin for answers. He and Leiu seemed to be the most knowledgeable about this so-called anomaly.

They were clearly in disagreement on how to handle it, and they didn’t bother to explain what it was, but they knew more than her.

“Something that shouldn’t exist. A fragment of nothingness. Non-existence.”

“What?”

Unfortunately, Aerin’s reply only added to her confusion.

“It is not something… more like nothing. If I had to describe it in one word, I’d say… unlife.”

“Okay, ehm… why is it here?”

“I don’t know, nor do I want to know. What’s important is to get rid of it.”

Aerin signaled the Undead Jester, which, in turn, dragged the absentminded Mort to the entrance of the room.

“W…hng… sleep…”

The talking zombie grumbled and shook his head, looking on the verge of dozing off.

“Wah! I hate swords!”

When he realised he was holding a sword, Mort threw it on the ground and shrieked.

This unexpected display surprised Aerin and the Undead Jester.

“Are you sure this is the right target?”

“He’s a Sword Saint, okay?! Or was one, at least!”

Aerin frowned and thought for a moment.

“Leiu must’ve known we’ll try something while he’s away. Plus, he wasn’t worried.”

Eventually, Aerin shook his head and sighed.

The Undead Jester tried to force Mort pick up the sword but nothing worked.

The zombie was vehemently against using a sword, so much so that he actually attacked the Undead Jester. In the end, he was hit so hard that he fell unconscious, though his snores echoed across the corridor not long after.

“This is going to be harder than I thought. You didn’t bring a normal Undead. If only Leiu could help!”

“We still have time, don’t we? It is not going to expand, right?”

“I don’t know, Miss Julie. I don’t know.” Disappointed and a bit infuriated, Aerin walked away.

…

“Stay outside.”

Melina, Feylord’s ‘maid’, didn’t object to Leiu’s order. She saw him close the door on her face and surround the room with what seemed like formless Darkness that isolated it from everything else.

Whether it was all the chaos that happened in the Imperial Capital or what followed after, Melina’s life had been turned upside down.

She didn’t succeed in exacting vengeance, but she hasn’t given up yet. For now, she chose to stay with Feylord and act as his maid, however, she didn’t like having Leiu around. Each time she was close to the Primordial Darkness, her body would shake uncontrollably as if telling her to run away as far as possible.

…

“W-what’s going to happen?”

Now alone with Leiu in the room, Feylord was starting to get nervous.

The Phoenix had told him to seek the Nameless Knight, and in a way, he had succeeded. However, beyond that, he knew not what to do.

He blindly sought after the objective that forced upon him, hoping that it would lead to his survival.

“I need to talk to the Phoenix. Bring it out.”

“...”

Leiu crossed his arms and impatiently waited, but Feylord dumbly stood there. He didn’t know what to do or say.

After a minute, Leiu frowned, “You don’t know how? Alright.”

Before Feylord could react, the youth approached him and, with lightning-fast movement, stabbed his entire hand into his chest.

Surprisingly, there was pain whatsoever, only a bone-chilling coldness that spread to every part of his body.

Feylord’s body burst into vermillion flames, which were quickly contained by the Darkness.

After an indeterminate amount of time, his eyes flashed with a brilliant orange color as the Phoenix took control.

I greet the Nameless Knight.