“Anyway, Tomo, did you manage to find a library in this town?” asks Sugu.
“Nope. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t one.”
“I wonder where we should go for research, then,” I ponder.
“Yeah, it’s hard to know if we should be investigating the stuff the players are finding in the mines.”
“It looks like there’s actually a library and a study right under this roof.”
There’s already information on the BBS from others who have explored the lord’s former residence.
“I guess that’s no surprise in a nobleman’s house.”
“Anything relating to outer ones will be very valuable. We’re only likely to find it here, at the lord’s new manor, or perhaps the church,” I speculate.
“Sure, assuming the books have been preserved properly.”
I just pray that they’re still intact enough to read.
The servant from before is back. He’s returned with a young man and guards as well.
“I thank you for waiting.”
“You must be a relative of the earl. Is that right?”
“My name is Sten Fosselle, the eldest son of Earl Fosselle. It is an utmost honor to make your acquaintance.”
I’m sure they didn’t want to send a servant to greet me. Being the eldest son makes the man before me the next generation’s earl, assuming nothing goes awry before then. I doubt they would send him my way if he was known for causing trouble, of course.
“You don’t mind if I transport this clock, do you?” I ask.
“Absolutely not. I thank you for your assistance.”
“All right, then let’s get this over with quickly.”
I make my way toward the Time-Clock.
Lord Sten strikes me as a nice young man. Fictional nobles tend to marry strictly for status, looks, or skills, so it goes without saying that an earl’s son would be very respectable on all fronts.
I put the clock in my inventory while accompanied by Lord Sten.
“I’m going to take this to the new house now. What about you guys?” I ask my party.
“Uhhh, I guess we’ll come too,” Mr. Skelly responds.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” says Mr. Alf.
All right, then it’s time for us undead to be on our way. We’ll be splitting up from Rina, Mr. Cecil, and the rest of them.
We head from the southwest of town to the northeast. It’s easy to get around when the lord’s son is with us—everyone just moves out of our way. Frankly, I could have used subspace teleportation to get there myself, but it draws a bit more attention than I would like.
Once we arrive at the new manor, we’re greeted by a group of servants led by the countess herself. It’s easier to identify her based on her clothing.
“This is my mother, Margaret.”
That makes her Lady Margaret.
I greet her briefly and turn my attention to the house. It’s a grand sight, seeing everyone lined up in front of the entrance, but they’re also blocking my path inside. I ask them to move and place the Time-Clock down.
“I would recommend treating this piece as a decoration and nothing more. May I ask where His Lordship is?”
“He’s currently stuck in a meeting,” the countess tells me.
“Regarding the missing children?” I ask.
“It would concern either the missing children, the strange figure in the eastern forest, or the recent lumber theft.”
“It sounds like one problem after another,” I sympathize.
“Yes, it’s quite the trouble. However, we’re deeply grateful for the help we’ve received from outsiders such as yourself.”
While I have her here, I think I’ll sit down for tea with the countess and gather whatever information I can.
I’ve finished speaking to the countess. Now I know that the missing children and the moving pumpkins aren’t actually unusual and that this happens somewhat frequently here. Even when warned not to leave their homes, there’s always one or two townsfolk who get carried away and end up missing the next morning. Each time the town finds out what happened, they’re struck with despair again.
The problem is that, this time, more people have gone missing than usual. Everyone knows that people taken to a separate dimension won’t be able to return and that there’s little chance of finding them, even with search parties. Still, due to the unusual number of victims this time, the residents suspect foul play.
It was a resident in charge of searching the eastern forest for these missing people who traveled deep into the woods—reaching a place no one else had been to—where they spotted the “shadow of something.” It seems important that they didn’t describe it as a human silhouette.
The culprit behind the missing lumber is still being investigated, led mainly by fellow outsiders, so the countess didn’t have much information about them. We probably know more about the progress than she does, since the event UI displays new information as it comes in.
The lord also informed Lady Margaret before his meeting that they should still have enough lumber to keep the campfire going.
The lord’s priorities go as follows:
1. Searching for the missing townsfolk
2. Acquiring more lumber
3. Investigating the lumber theft and its culprit
“Princess, the servants wanna know if you want lunch,” Mr. Skelly informs me.
“It’s already that late? I think I’ll stick to tea for now. Ah, although, these two children would certainly appreciate something sweet, like cookies. I’ll make sure to Enchant them so they can eat them properly.”
“Do exactly as our guest requests.”
“Yes, my lady.”
It’s only natural that the home of an earl would serve tea to any guest. Depending on the time of day, it’s probably normal to treat guests to meals too.
However, there’s one little problem. We’re no normal guests—we’re an outer one, a suit of armor, a skeleton, and spirit bodies. I can only imagine how awkward that makes things for the servants. Our cultures and races are so different from theirs, which forces the servants to outright ask us for our needs. It’s preferable to guesswork that results in serving us something we can’t consume, after all.
We take advantage of the hospitality, summarizing all the information we’ve gained, when the earl himself finally appears. The earl and countess both look young, but considering the age of their son, they must be somewhere between forty and fifty. My parents look extremely young too, so as much as I’d like to declare that these two can’t fool me, I can’t forget that unaging people do exist in this game.
I begin to speak with Earl Kurt Fosselle now that I have the chance to extract the latest information from him. Or, more accurately, the servants arrive with updates for him, which I’m able to overhear.
I share the outsiders’ information with him as well, of course. We have the advantage of receiving it in real time. The team working on the abandoned mine discovered some sort of base camp inside, so once they gather more members, they intend to battle the suspicious group of people residing at said base.
Information has been shared with you.
“Looks like they cleared the abandoned mine,” says Mr. Skelly.
“I wonder what they found…” I ponder.
“They say they’ve still gotta actually ransack the place.”