“If we were to deduce, it seems that something strange has happened to Viscount Delang since he received the jewel from the Occult Society.”
Orkan stroked his chin and spoke with a serious expression.
“Is that all there is to the diary?”
Simone shook her head.
“No, there’s more.”
Bianchi frowned.
“There’s more? You’re saying that he wrote a diary even in that state?”
“Rather than saying it was during that time, I think he was losing his mind while the incident was going on.”
“Hmm, then let’s take a look at the entire diary and then sort out the situation.”
Simone nodded at Orkan's words and read the following.
[Until recently, I thought I was hallucinating or hearing things because I had been overworked recently.
But today I realized that it wasn't just me, but everyone in the mansion was suffering from the same pain as me.
My family and my employees were all going a little crazy.
The Occult Society gave me a jewel that could directly summon strange phenomena.
I realized later that the cause of this phenomenon was the gem, but trying to solve it now was no use.]
Simone turned the pages of the diary without saying anything.
[My wife and child died today.]
The group that had been quietly listening to Simone's words froze and looked at her.
“They died?”
“Yes, it says they're dead.”
“But, but!”
Bianchi said as if he couldn't understand.
“Didn’t you say that even the Viscount and his servants have families?”
“Bianchi, let me hear it first.”
Abel calmed down Bianchi and motioned for Simone to continue speaking.
Simone read the last page of her diary.
[My wife and child eventually died from hallucinations every night of a red-eyed woman coming to them and strangling them.
Similarly, many employees have similar experiences and end up taking their own lives.
In a short time, many people living in the mansion die rapidly.
What should I do now?
If the cause of all this is that jewel I brought from the Occult Society.
How should I take responsibility for this sin?
Is this really a sin that can be repaid with my life?]
Simone finished her reading and looked at her companions.
“This is the end of the diary of Viscount Delang.”
“Is it all over?”
“Then, in the end, the diary didn’t properly describe the strange servants in the mansion or the identity of the Viscount Delang?”
While the group was talking, Simone turned over more pages of her diary.
Ssuk-ssuk-
Orkan stroked his chin and spoke with a serious expression.
“Is that all there is to the diary?”
Simone shook her head.
“No, there’s more.”
Bianchi frowned.
“There’s more? You’re saying that he wrote a diary even in that state?”
“Rather than saying it was during that time, I think he was losing his mind while the incident was going on.”
“Hmm, then let’s take a look at the entire diary and then sort out the situation.”
Simone nodded at Orkan's words and read the following.
[Until recently, I thought I was hallucinating or hearing things because I had been overworked recently.
But today I realized that it wasn't just me, but everyone in the mansion was suffering from the same pain as me.
My family and my employees were all going a little crazy.
The Occult Society gave me a jewel that could directly summon strange phenomena.
I realized later that the cause of this phenomenon was the gem, but trying to solve it now was no use.]
Simone turned the pages of the diary without saying anything.
[My wife and child died today.]
The group that had been quietly listening to Simone's words froze and looked at her.
“They died?”
“Yes, it says they're dead.”
“But, but!”
Bianchi said as if he couldn't understand.
“Didn’t you say that even the Viscount and his servants have families?”
“Bianchi, let me hear it first.”
Abel calmed down Bianchi and motioned for Simone to continue speaking.
Simone read the last page of her diary.
[My wife and child eventually died from hallucinations every night of a red-eyed woman coming to them and strangling them.
Similarly, many employees have similar experiences and end up taking their own lives.
In a short time, many people living in the mansion die rapidly.
What should I do now?
If the cause of all this is that jewel I brought from the Occult Society.
How should I take responsibility for this sin?
Is this really a sin that can be repaid with my life?]
Simone finished her reading and looked at her companions.
“This is the end of the diary of Viscount Delang.”
“Is it all over?”
“Then, in the end, the diary didn’t properly describe the strange servants in the mansion or the identity of the Viscount Delang?”
While the group was talking, Simone turned over more pages of her diary.
Ssuk-ssuk-
At the sound of a page being turned, the group stopped talking and looked at her.
“Isn't it over?”
"It's done."
She opened the last chapter, answering Bianchi's question.
“But the will still remains.”
"...History?"
“A will?”
Bianchi and Abel turned their heads toward the door at the same time.
Viscount Delang wrote a will?
What that means is...
Simone looked down at their expressions and read the will.
[I keep hearing someone's voice in my head.
Those are the words of one who transcends gender and age.
When I return from work, all the remaining employees are dead.
It's all my fault.
My heart is in pain and I can't bear it any longer.
So I'm committing suicide in this room today.]
“...”
Bang-
Simone completely covered the diary as if it was really the end.
The group just stared at the diary in silence.
If the contents of the will of Viscount Delang were truly carried out, then he who had been conversing with the group until now would already be...
“Are you saying he’s dead?”
“Maybe.”
“That can’t be... But he's been talking to us all this time. How can that be?”
“Bianchi, calm down. If you can tell the difference between the living and the dead by sight, how are you going to explain the servants of the mansion?”
Orkan spoke to calm down a confused Bianchi.
“It is clearly written in the will that the servants are dead.”
The diary states that most of the servants were dead, and the will states that even the last remaining servant was dead.
And yet, aren't there still servants working in this mansion to this day?
Is the strange behavior they display from time to time because they are dead?
“Is that possible? Is it possible for a dead person to look as normal as this?”
Bianchi asked Simone, looking at her. Of course, she knows that if she has strong thoughts like the ghosts of the orphanage, she can see them.
But is it possible to move objects like bowls and have proper conversations beyond what is seen as a constant presence now?
“Yes, it is possible. There is a good example.”
“A good example?”
Simone said with confidence.
“This is the residence of the Grand Duke of Illeston.”
"...Yes!"
Orkan realized something and raised the corners of his mouth.
Now, it seemed like the questions that had been puzzling her since she first noticed something strange had been resolved.
“This is the same kind of curse that was placed on the Illestons!”
"Curse?"
"What are you talking about?"
“Yes! Let me summarize the situation in chronological order.”
Simone clapped her hands together as if to clear her confusion.
“One night, the Marquis of Barrington came to Viscount Delang with an urgent matter. He said that there was a serious problem in the Empire and he wanted them to investigate the strange phenomenon together.”
Given that the Marquis of Berrington had made contact with an informant in the village of Hertin, it seems that the Marquis intended to investigate the phenomenon through the informant, while the Viscount of Delang intended to investigate it through the Occult Society.
“When Viscount Delang visited the Occult Society, he received a jewel from the members. He then brought it back to the mansion and stored it somewhere, intending to give it to the Marquis.”
“After that, strange phenomena occurred. Is that right?”
Simone nodded at Abel's words.
He must have been hallucinating and hearing things. Perhaps he was seeing the red-eyed woman that Simone had seen.
People who had gone mad from the constant hallucinations and auditory hallucinations took their own lives one by one, and eventually, Viscount Delang also committed suicide, unable to overcome his guilt.
In this way, no one from the House of Delang remained.
“But who brought it back to life? In the form of a ghost that moves with precision like a human being.”
“Hmm.”
A deep wrinkle appeared between Orkan's eyebrows.
He always frowned excessively when he was trying to organize his complicated thoughts.
“Is that possible... Is it possible to revive someone as a ghost-like a human-”
“Yes.”
Simone pointed to herself, interrupting Orkan's thoughts.
“A necromancer like me can do it.”
Necromancer.
Recently, Simone has become a pseudo-exorcist and has been spending her days seeing and exorcising ghosts, so the group seems to have forgotten about it, but necromancers are originally people who control corpses and summon spirits.
That is why, despite being beloved by a powerful God, they became synonymous with ominousness.
Because the very act of manipulating the dead causes people to feel disgusted.
So anyway, what was Simone's conclusion?
“The Delang family is currently under the control of a necromancer.”
That too, is under the control of a very powerful necromancer who can make the soul look like a person, and even imitate a person to the point of actually going to work.
“I used detection magic on the walls of this room and discovered that one entire space was hidden.”
“Space?”
“It looked like a living room in an ordinary house, but there was a large pattern drawn in blood on the floor.”
“Pattern? Ah.”
Orkan looked at the note in his hand.
It was the pattern that Bianchi had brought earlier, saying she wanted to know its meaning.
Simone pointed to the note.
“What is that pattern?”
It was a question that was asked after a rough guess. Orkan answered.
“This is... a summoning circle. It’s used to summon something.”
If it is inanimate, it can be easily summoned with just a few materials, but if it needs to be alive, something of equal value must be offered as a sacrifice.
Usually, when summoning a beast for a contract, you draw a pattern with the blood of a bird, and for a higher-level summon, you draw it with your own blood.
“That pattern was painted in the living room. Does that mean they were trying to summon something?”
Simone thought of the red-eyed woman she had met earlier while using her sensing magic.
She said, 'A few dozen humans are not enough to summon me.'
To sum it up.
“The Occult Society wanted to summon something. So they hid a room with a summoning circle drawn on it in the mansion of the Viscount Delang, an outsider who happened to be visiting them, and waited for the people in the mansion to go mad and die.”
"...Why?"
Simone answered Abel's question immediately.
“To sacrifice all of the people of the Delang family and summon a certain being.”
"Who...."
“Anasis.”
Louis, who had been quietly listening to the conversation since the diary was read, suddenly said the name of that being.
“Anasis, a traitor from the Luan Empire who was executed 300 years ago. You were trying to summon her, right?”
Louis was holding a letter from the Duke of Illeston in his hand.
“Isn't it over?”
"It's done."
She opened the last chapter, answering Bianchi's question.
“But the will still remains.”
"...History?"
“A will?”
Bianchi and Abel turned their heads toward the door at the same time.
Viscount Delang wrote a will?
What that means is...
Simone looked down at their expressions and read the will.
[I keep hearing someone's voice in my head.
Those are the words of one who transcends gender and age.
When I return from work, all the remaining employees are dead.
It's all my fault.
My heart is in pain and I can't bear it any longer.
So I'm committing suicide in this room today.]
“...”
Bang-
Simone completely covered the diary as if it was really the end.
The group just stared at the diary in silence.
If the contents of the will of Viscount Delang were truly carried out, then he who had been conversing with the group until now would already be...
“Are you saying he’s dead?”
“Maybe.”
“That can’t be... But he's been talking to us all this time. How can that be?”
“Bianchi, calm down. If you can tell the difference between the living and the dead by sight, how are you going to explain the servants of the mansion?”
Orkan spoke to calm down a confused Bianchi.
“It is clearly written in the will that the servants are dead.”
The diary states that most of the servants were dead, and the will states that even the last remaining servant was dead.
And yet, aren't there still servants working in this mansion to this day?
Is the strange behavior they display from time to time because they are dead?
“Is that possible? Is it possible for a dead person to look as normal as this?”
Bianchi asked Simone, looking at her. Of course, she knows that if she has strong thoughts like the ghosts of the orphanage, she can see them.
But is it possible to move objects like bowls and have proper conversations beyond what is seen as a constant presence now?
“Yes, it is possible. There is a good example.”
“A good example?”
Simone said with confidence.
“This is the residence of the Grand Duke of Illeston.”
"...Yes!"
Orkan realized something and raised the corners of his mouth.
Now, it seemed like the questions that had been puzzling her since she first noticed something strange had been resolved.
“This is the same kind of curse that was placed on the Illestons!”
"Curse?"
"What are you talking about?"
“Yes! Let me summarize the situation in chronological order.”
Simone clapped her hands together as if to clear her confusion.
“One night, the Marquis of Barrington came to Viscount Delang with an urgent matter. He said that there was a serious problem in the Empire and he wanted them to investigate the strange phenomenon together.”
Given that the Marquis of Berrington had made contact with an informant in the village of Hertin, it seems that the Marquis intended to investigate the phenomenon through the informant, while the Viscount of Delang intended to investigate it through the Occult Society.
“When Viscount Delang visited the Occult Society, he received a jewel from the members. He then brought it back to the mansion and stored it somewhere, intending to give it to the Marquis.”
“After that, strange phenomena occurred. Is that right?”
Simone nodded at Abel's words.
He must have been hallucinating and hearing things. Perhaps he was seeing the red-eyed woman that Simone had seen.
People who had gone mad from the constant hallucinations and auditory hallucinations took their own lives one by one, and eventually, Viscount Delang also committed suicide, unable to overcome his guilt.
In this way, no one from the House of Delang remained.
“But who brought it back to life? In the form of a ghost that moves with precision like a human being.”
“Hmm.”
A deep wrinkle appeared between Orkan's eyebrows.
He always frowned excessively when he was trying to organize his complicated thoughts.
“Is that possible... Is it possible to revive someone as a ghost-like a human-”
“Yes.”
Simone pointed to herself, interrupting Orkan's thoughts.
“A necromancer like me can do it.”
Necromancer.
Recently, Simone has become a pseudo-exorcist and has been spending her days seeing and exorcising ghosts, so the group seems to have forgotten about it, but necromancers are originally people who control corpses and summon spirits.
That is why, despite being beloved by a powerful God, they became synonymous with ominousness.
Because the very act of manipulating the dead causes people to feel disgusted.
So anyway, what was Simone's conclusion?
“The Delang family is currently under the control of a necromancer.”
That too, is under the control of a very powerful necromancer who can make the soul look like a person, and even imitate a person to the point of actually going to work.
“I used detection magic on the walls of this room and discovered that one entire space was hidden.”
“Space?”
“It looked like a living room in an ordinary house, but there was a large pattern drawn in blood on the floor.”
“Pattern? Ah.”
Orkan looked at the note in his hand.
It was the pattern that Bianchi had brought earlier, saying she wanted to know its meaning.
Simone pointed to the note.
“What is that pattern?”
It was a question that was asked after a rough guess. Orkan answered.
“This is... a summoning circle. It’s used to summon something.”
If it is inanimate, it can be easily summoned with just a few materials, but if it needs to be alive, something of equal value must be offered as a sacrifice.
Usually, when summoning a beast for a contract, you draw a pattern with the blood of a bird, and for a higher-level summon, you draw it with your own blood.
“That pattern was painted in the living room. Does that mean they were trying to summon something?”
Simone thought of the red-eyed woman she had met earlier while using her sensing magic.
She said, 'A few dozen humans are not enough to summon me.'
To sum it up.
“The Occult Society wanted to summon something. So they hid a room with a summoning circle drawn on it in the mansion of the Viscount Delang, an outsider who happened to be visiting them, and waited for the people in the mansion to go mad and die.”
"...Why?"
Simone answered Abel's question immediately.
“To sacrifice all of the people of the Delang family and summon a certain being.”
"Who...."
“Anasis.”
Louis, who had been quietly listening to the conversation since the diary was read, suddenly said the name of that being.
“Anasis, a traitor from the Luan Empire who was executed 300 years ago. You were trying to summon her, right?”
Louis was holding a letter from the Duke of Illeston in his hand.
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