– Clatter!
As I placed a bag filled with various belongings on the floor, I couldn’t hide my worry that the wooden floor might break.
“It’s cleaner inside than I expected.”
“Right? From the outside, it looked a bit… umm… cozy in its own way.”
“…I thought it just looked shabby.”
The voices of Daniel, Chloe, and Elin came from the room I was standing in. It seemed that the soundproofing wasn’t great here. I glanced around the room that I would be using for the next 4 nights and 5 days.
Overall, it was a room that gave off the feeling of a wooden house. A warm and neat room made of well-crafted lumber and planks.
I liked that the walls weren’t entirely made of logs. I was worried at first, thinking it might be a completely log-built house, but fortunately, the interior was neatly finished with planks and processed wood.
I dislike walls that are uneven and bulging with logs, as they remind me of trench walls.
Walls made by digging into the ground and roughly layering logs cut from nearby forests to prevent easy collapse. Walls of a trench with mud and logs hardened together.
“Phew…”
I should quickly organize my things and go downstairs to manage the students. Just as I thought this while opening my bag to organize my belongings, someone knocked on my door.
– Knock knock.
‘Who is it?’
Sub-priest Sofia was downstairs to prevent the students from acting out, and Vivian had gone nearby to chat with the territorial guards. Unable to contain my curiosity, I opened the door.
– Swing.
The first thing that caught my eye was something white and round.
As I lowered my gaze slightly, the identity of the white object was revealed.
“Professor Antorelli.”
“Student Laura.”
It was Laura. Her red eyes sparkled in the sunlight coming through the window. It was impressive that she was standing so close to the door, as if she had been pressed against it.
“What brings you here?”
Did she finish unpacking already? Laura, unlike a noble lady, had brought a modest amount of luggage, so it wouldn’t be strange if she finished unpacking quickly.
It took a little while for Laura to answer my question.
“Have you finished unpacking?”
“I was just about to start.”
Laura shut her mouth again. It seemed she wanted to say something, as her lips fluttered open and closed for some time.
“Um… may I help you with that?”
I took a quick glance at the bag I had dropped behind me. There wasn’t much to unpack—just some clothes, the Bible, a few theological books, and a few crosses with rosaries. There was really no need to unpack together…
“Yes. Please come in.”
With students who were as unpredictable as a little troublemaker, having one next to me would be more reassuring. Although Laura was unlikely to be one of those.
There wasn’t really a reason to refuse since I didn’t have any personal belongings. I let Laura into my room.
“Then, excuse me….”
After Laura stepped into my room, I immediately picked up the bag on the floor and placed it on a table in one corner of the room. The table was clean without a speck of dust.
‘Are they maintaining it?’
I had thought they didn’t maintain it at all just by looking at the exterior, but that didn’t seem to be the case. As I opened my bag, I pondered.
“Let’s do it together.”
“Ah, okay.”
Laura stuck right next to me and began helping me organize my things. It wasn’t much of an organization; I simply placed identical short-sleeve shirts, black dress pants, and underwear in the wardrobe and sorted the books and various theological items in the bag.
I organized the clothes. There was no way I could leave the organization of my underwear to a girl.
Nonetheless, thanks to Laura, the organization finished quicker than expected. After placing the finished bag by the head of the bed, I turned my head to express my gratitude to Laura.
“Laura, thank you…”
“…!”
With a sound like a quick movement, Laura swiftly hid something behind her back. I halted my words and gazed at her intently.
“…Laura.”
“Yes?”
“What are you hiding behind your back?”
“…I’m not hiding anything!”
Laura extended her hand. Looking at her empty hand, it did seem like she really had nothing hidden.
However, as my skeptical gaze didn’t fade, Laura began to speak frantically.
“W-well! Professor Antorelli! Sub-priest Sofia has been looking for you! You should go down quickly!”
“…Understood.”
In the end, I nodded, pushing aside my uneasy feelings. It was hard to imagine that Laura, who had grown up in the Adelhaid Ducal House, had stolen something from my meager bag.
“It would be better if you also came down with me, Laura.”
“Ah, yes. Of course…”
For some reason, Laura seemed hesitant, and together, we made our way down to the first floor.
There, I found…
“Ah! Professor Antorelli! You’re here?”
“Professor! Hurry up!”
Daniel, holding a strange talisman reminiscent of a zombie on his forehead and a metal rod adorned with numerous bells in his hand, along with Vivian, who was wearing strange goggles and holding something resembling an antenna, welcomed me.
“…Head Priest.”
And then, there was Sub-priest Sofia standing beside those two, looking like a corpse.
A bizarre and chaotic situation. I couldn’t hide my bewilderment and opened my mouth.
“…What is all this?”
Then, Sub-priest Sofia, dragging her limp body to the sofa, plopped down with a thud and tilted her head towards me as she spoke.
“I tried to stop them…”
“Professor! We’re going to find ghosts from now on! Are you ready?!”
“Let’s hurry. I’m curious too.”
Still wearing their bizarre gear, Daniel and Vivian chirped excitedly.
“Is that a ghost detection device…? That’s awesome…!”
“…What is that?”
Chloe, who wore a similarly excited expression, and Elin, the only normal person in the Occult Research Club, looked disgusted.
Fear gnawed at my heart. The truly frightening thing was the fact that today was just the first day of my 4-night stay here.
“…Ah.”
Realizing this, I felt dizziness swirl before my eyes.
*
First of all, everyone except Daniel and Vivian agreed that we could not go ‘ghost hunting’ right now.
“No one here is familiar with the geography of this mountain. If we go into the forest now and night falls, we’ll definitely get lost.”
Even though summer brings longer days, this place is deep in a dense forest. It can get dark quickly, regardless of whether it’s summer or winter.
Fortunately, it seemed that Daniel and Vivian understood my explanation properly, as they nodded and took off their equipment.
“Professor Antorelli is right.”
“Well, ghosts don’t appear in broad daylight, after all. It’d be easier to look for them at night.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“…”
Let me correct that. These two troublemakers completely misunderstood my words. I quietly raised my hand and gripped the rosary hanging around my neck tightly.
‘…Lord, grant me the strength to endure this hardship.’
As I finished that brief prayer, Laura, who had been standing next to me, stepped forward.
“Professor Antorelli is right. Since it’s late from climbing the mountain, I think it’s better to stay here for today.”
“Yeah. Don’t you feel sweaty, seniors? I just want to wash up and eat.”
With Elin joining in to support me, Daniel and Vivian looked at each other’s faces and nodded.
“…We were a bit hasty.”
“Yeah. Sorry, Professor.”
“If you realized it now, that’s enough.”
So, even the students who hadn’t finished unpacking rushed upstairs. Only Laura, Elin, Vivian, and I remained in the living room.
“Vivian, have you finished unpacking already?”
“Yeah. I unpacked as soon as I got here because I needed to take out my equipment.”
“Ah…”
She pointed to the goggles and antenna resting on the living room table. Seeing the hint of a smile on her lips, I could tell she was genuinely passionate about the occult.
“By the way, didn’t you just talk to the territorial guards earlier?”
“Oh, that.”
As soon as they arrived, there were two territorial guards waiting at the entrance of the lodge. They stood upright, swords at their waists and rifles slung over their backs, giving the impression of well-disciplined soldiers.
When I asked about the conversation I had with them, Vivian’s expression immediately turned indifferent. Although she appeared blunt, her mood was revealed in the subtle changes in her expression and atmosphere, which was a characteristic of Vivian.
“It was just an unremarkable story. They told us there aren’t any wild beasts nearby, but still advised us to be careful… and that my dad would worry if we went too deep into the woods.”
“Hmm…”
It was nothing particularly special. Vivian continued to share her conversation with the guards in a monotone voice.
For example, last weekend, her father, Count Barueger, had briefly visited this place to enjoy hunting. Although the interior of the lodge had just begun to be cleaned up recently, it was hard to remove the vines that had grown on the outside.
Most of what she spoke about was close to whining. Given her comfort in speaking unabashedly in front of the noble’s daughter, it seemed she was on friendly terms with the territorial guards.
“I see.”
“It wasn’t very important.”
Elin and Laura, who had been comfortably seated on the sofa, shared their thoughts, and I nodded at their words.
“Oh, there was one more thing.”
In the midst of this, Vivian sat up as if she suddenly remembered something, the previous indifference in her demeanor completely gone.
“Remember how my dad stayed here last week?”
“Yes.”
“A territorial guard who came with him said there’s a monster living in this forest.”
“A monster… you say?”
“Yeah. A small, furry monster. The guards didn’t know the details, but they said it’s really ferocious?”
I felt a bit taken aback. First ghosts, now a monster?
Honestly, it was getting to be a headache. How many absurd rumors would I get tangled up in?
“Anyway, the guards said it’s just rumors, but still… be careful.”
“Are those guards completely gone?”
“They should still be at the watchtower we saw on our way here. It’s not far, but it’s not exactly close either.”
Alright. Still, knowing that there are people who could help us in the event of an emergency was somewhat reassuring.
At that moment, a clattering noise was heard as someone came down the stairs.
“Elin! Let’s go take a bath!”
It was Chloe, who always seemed full of energy. Elin, who had been slumped on the opposite sofa, stretched while making a groaning sound.
“Ohhh…! I’m tired…”
“You just said you wanted to take a bath a little while ago!”
“I just said that out of laziness…”
“Come on, don’t be like that! Get over here!”
“No way…! My sofa…!”
Now that I thought about it, it seemed like it was about time to take a bath and have dinner. I rose from the sofa and glanced outside through the living room window.
Outside the lodge, a thin dusk was slowly settling in.
I stared longingly at the trees in the distance that had already been shrouded in darkness.
Really, really, it wouldn’t happen… but…
‘…A monster.’
I absentmindedly imagined the figure of a ‘monster’ that I knew all too well, small and furry.
