Chapter 183

Chapter 183

Get Out of Our Yard!

Swoosh.

Luna, who had been curled up in my arms and sleeping, suddenly woke up.

“There’s someone outside.”

Luna sometimes displayed an inexplicable sense, and this was one of those times. At the sound of the lock clicking like “cha-ching”, I looked out the window, thinking a raccoon might’ve come, but instead…

Gurgle, gurgle…

It wasn’t a solitary raccoon but quite a number of people invading our yard.

Were there about ten of them? Wearing masks, it was hard to tell, but their genders and age groups seemed to vary.

I never would’ve guessed people would trespass on a house’s fence like this.

Why are they here?

Are they some kind of random bandits?

Or ruffians targeting the successful adventurer that’s me?

Or maybe they’re criminals with a personal vendetta over the collapse of the underground market?

People in black robes hiding their identities were in our yard. All sorts of terrible thoughts popped into my mind, and it was horrifying.

No matter what, I didn’t get any good vibes from this.

So, gripping my club tightly, I cautiously poked my head out the window to figure out who these people were.

Firstly, these were without a doubt some of the most brazen intruders ever for coming into someone else’s house without permission.

The only silver lining was that they didn’t seem particularly armed at least.

Of course, with the wide robes they were wearing, there could be poisoned daggers or the like hidden inside, so I couldn’t relax.

“Hassan, who is it? Who’s come? There’s someone outside?”

Luna asked quietly, looking at me staring out the window. I could feel that she was trembling, terrified.

It’s only natural that she’d be scared, considering the intruders weren’t just some wild raccoon or beast. I couldn’t allow her to be this frightened.

So I roared toward the window as if I were a lion.

“There, you bastards! What are you doing breaking in? If you don’t leave now, I’ll beat all of you up!”

My threats might have sounded amateur, but I was confident in my loud voice, so it came out quite intimidating.

“There are a lot of traps here.”

“There always are. It happens every year.”

“Is it enough to just wait here?”

But my proud shout had no effect on these invaders of our yard. They were bustling about, giggling beneath their masks as if they hadn’t even heard me.

Their behavior was baffling. Did they really not hear me?

Could that be possible?

“Hey, you bastards!”

So I shouted again. This time, I could vividly feel Luna trembling behind me, scared from my harsh curses.

“Look here, there’s a potato here.”

“A potato. It’s delicious when steamed. I didn’t know there were potatoes at the landing.”

“Are there potatoes across the river too?”

“I don’t know. But I really want to go this year.”

Oddly, these intruders still didn’t even pretend to acknowledge what I was saying.

By this point, my anger at the uninvited guests was surpassed by fear and eerie goosebumps at their strange behavior.

I can’t be sure if it’s me overthinking things, but…

It felt like these beings weren’t human.

If these aren’t humans, then what are they?

I’m not sure. They have human forms, speak like humans, but they aren’t human.

A shiver ran down my spine as flashes of past memories flooded back.

I used to join my father on herb-gathering trips. He often took me along when he searched for the herbs or ingredients he needed.

The herbs and materials my father sought after were deep in the mountains, in places unreachable by maps, where only wild beasts should tread, making the expeditions very tiring.

There were often times when we’d miss the descent timing and had to camp overnight.

Father would tell all sorts of stories during those campouts to break the monotony.

Stories about the crazy shaman he had seen as a child, the haunted tree, and other tales that one would only find on YouTube during summer. He told these stories in a low tone.

“Mountains, the realms of spirits and humans are different. But occasionally, the waves of the worlds overlap. Even your old man saw a lot of ghost-like things as a kid.”

Ghosts? In a world with 24-hour convenience stores, ghosts?

Honestly, I didn’t believe what Father was saying.

I’ve already served my time. Ghosts? That was something I was scared of in elementary school.

I thought it was just a way to scare me when I was a child, and it seemed like that was actually the case.

Still, Father’s ghost stories told deep in the dark forests and mountains were oddly terrifying, which even lingered as I grew older.

“Enough of your ghost stories! I don’t want to hear it.”

“Boy, why do you resemble someone in your fearfulness? Anyway, listen to this. Since you’re my son, you might have weak spirit energy like me and see ghosts.”

Thus, some stories still deeply stuck with me. For example:

“Ghosts are generally invisible to us, and ghosts likewise cannot see us. However, there are times when the spirits can be seen by the living. And when that happens, those spirits try to talk to living people.”

“Talk? Ghosts talk?”

“Yes, but you should never answer whatever they ask. They’re trying to latch on. Your old man suffered as a kid because he couldn’t distinguish humans from ghosts. But now I can tell the difference.”

Seeing ghosts? He still talks about that seriously.

Looking back now, Father perhaps had some sort of mental condition. Yet, at night back then, his stories seemed quite plausible, leading me to ask unintentionally.

“How do you differentiate between ghosts and living people?”

“You’ll know when you see. You look at a dog and think, ‘Ah, it’s a dog.’ You look at a cat and think, ‘Ah, a cat.’ Likewise, when you look at a person, you would think automatically. But sometimes it doesn’t feel right. When you look at someone and it feels weird like, ‘Is this really a person?’”

At that moment, Father’s face, illuminated by the bonfire, was unusually dark.

It’s like when you feel awkward looking at a cat pretending to be a dog or a dog pretending to be a cat. Likewise, when you see a ghost disguised as a human, you get this strange feeling. Have you ever experienced it?”

What feeling? How do I feel something that doesn’t even exist?

Son, you must broaden your mind. Herbs and ghosts alike show up when your perception sharpens.

The talk ended there.

The reason that particular evening remains vivid in my memory is because the atmosphere and the content were quite memorable.

If you don’t get that eerie feeling when looking at someone who doesn’t seem human…

After that day, I carefully looked at people walking by but, they were all just people. Father was teasing me again, obviously.

But I was fooled again.

That’s what I thought back then.

“Anyway, when will the guide arrive?”

“I don’t know, let’s just wait until just before sunrise.”

“Feels like this year will end up wasted like before.”

As I looked down into the yard now, those memories resurfaced. Although their masks hid their faces, even now, these intruders don’t feel human.

There is a chilling feeling that makes my spine tingle.

It’s a feeling of everything not being as they seem.

Is this what Father talked about back then?

So, I whispered Luna’s name.

“Luna, come here. Take a look at those people.”

If Luna also felt the same way as I did, then they must truly be something else. Thinking that way, I called Luna over cautiously.

Trembling slightly, Luna peered through the window beside me.

“What do you think? How do those people seem?”

“What do you mean by how they look, Hassan…?”

“Don’t they seem strange to you? What do you think of them?”

Swoosh.

Luna frowned. Then, she said something entirely unexpected.

“Hassan, there’s no one in the yard. Who are you screaming at? Are you in pain somewhere?”

“But, really…?”

It seemed that Luna wasn’t looking at the yard like I was but at me, with fear. She acted as if she couldn’t perceive the loud and rowdy commotion in the yard.

“Why can’t you really see that?”

“What are you talking about? Hassan, have you imagined that?”

“But there, they’re down there! Those people.”

For a moment, I wondered if Luna was trying to fool me, but I couldn’t think of any benefit she’d get from doing so.

Does that really mean they are visible only to me?

Suddenly, an urge to urinate hit me, and my upper and lower teeth clashed in fear, prompting me to just shut my eyes.

Then, as if something struck Luna, she suddenly exhaled and said, “Ah.”

“Wait a moment.”

Luna then rummaged in the corner and came back holding something. It was a helm made from a bull’s skull, double as an Ideope aura blocker.

“What’s this for…?”

“Aura blockers help expand your perception of the world. Sometimes, they help you see things you normally cannot, through masks or glasses that obscure.”

Thus, with the bone aura blocker on her head, Luna peeked outside the window. She shivered as if she was extremely shocked.

“Hassan, there’s someone in our yard!! Whatever this is, get out of our yard immediately!!”

Luna ran out with the silence totem beside the bed, her agility at 10—a godlike level comparable to my own strength—so fast I couldn’t react.

This left me standing frozen for a second, and then I had to rush downstairs after her with my club.

“These guys! This is our territory!”

Luna screamed loudly and swung the silence totem wildly in the air.

The group that was previously admiring the garden seemed surprised by this sudden violence and scattered in all directions, panicking.

“What, what is this?”

“Don’t know! Haven’t heard of anyone like this at the landing!”

“Isn’t this Charon the ferryman? Look, he’s holding a paddle! The vibe fits him!”

“But it’s a club, not a paddle! Uuuaak!”

Ultimately, these guys ended up with their heads cracked by Luna’s silence totem and fell flat on the ground. Just moments ago, I was terrified, thinking they might be ghosts.

Now realizing these guys are just creatures who get knocked down by clubs, the fear turned into anger as if by a magic spell.

“Hey, you bastards. Can ghosts just wander into someone’s yard like this?”

“Guuaarrggh!”

Both Luna and I swung our clubs and totem with rage while the uninvited visitors ran around frantically trying to protect their masks.

“What, what is this?”

“Don’t know! Maybe the policy changed this year!”

“Policy? What policy? Rascals, if you’re going to intrude into someone’s yard, then pay to do so!”

I rambled on whatever words came out, partly to purge the mix of fear and anger in me.

As I watched the unwelcome guests getting clobbered by my club and groaning on the ground, I couldn’t help but question if they were truly ghosts.

When we took down about ten of them, only a small one remained.

“Huuuuu!”

The scream sounded eerily similar to Paranoi, and their stature was similar as well, which made me think of a nymph or a young girl.

At that moment, I hesitated whether I should smash this creature’s head.

“I-I-I have money! Money! There’s money here! I’ll give it!”

Suddenly, the young masked girl bowed deeply, rummaged from her robe, and shook while tremblingly extending a few pennies toward me. It was only 2 coppers.

At this, one of the other guys lying nearby said,

“Keimi, that’s the ferryman’s fee. Barely scrounged from the ground, and if we lose it, we won’t be able to cross the river this year-.”

“Hotasan! This guy’s still conscious!”

WHAM! POW!

“GGGGEEYHH!”

The guy who mentioned the ferryman’s fee was struck down by Luna’s totem and went limp.

Luna was merciless with anyone who invaded her territory or showed weakness through carelessness. She was nothing short of a cruel goddess of the yard.

In the face of Luna’s figure, the kneeling masked girl, likely named Keimi, trembled even more and sobbed.

“P-Pardon me. We didn’t know this was the shrine of the goddess. We thought this was a landing…!”

“What shrine? What landing?”

“The landing of the Acheron River. Isn’t this where one can cross the River of the Underworld? Look, there’s the skull sign there, and the eerie vibes of the Underworld can even be felt.”

Pointing toward a sign that the girl raised with trembling hands in the moonlight, which bore a beautifully drawn skull insignia. Had I drawn it so well that it caused some kind of misconception?

“Goddess, forgive us… We’ve done wrong…”

Finally, the girl Keimi was completely prostrated on the ground.

At this point, Luna giggled and remarked,

“Hotasan, this one thinks I’m the goddess! Do I look that noble? With the blocker on!”

Indeed, under the dual moonlight, Luna gripping the club looked almost divine, mysterious and eerie at the same time.

“Keimi, right? Am I supposed to be a goddess to you? Goddess of the moon? Or Goddess of youth?”

“…M-Mistress of the club and the bull’s horns…”

“Out of my yard!”

[Author’s Afterword]

We’ve achieved the second stage of diligent serialization!

Suddenly, the number of comments surged, making me very happy…

It’s been about three months since we started serializing… Time flies! But I hope everyone has a leisurely and enjoyable weekend…!!

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