The Attendant in the Horror Game C47

Chapter 47 

“No, but is that really all? If he was the head of the family, shouldn’t there be jewels or brooches or—well—lots of things worth money?”

Jade clicked his tongue in disappointment. There were a few objects in the villa that looked antique, but with his untrained eye he couldn’t tell whether anything was valuable. Unless it sparkled like an obvious gemstone, Jade couldn’t distinguish treasure from trash.

“Wouldn’t things like that be in the main estate?”

Fair enough. After the first head of the household died, the villa would have been cleared out. That was probably why the uncle had sent Ian here.

More importantly, in the early days the Linwood family hadn’t been influential. Though the Empire now spanned from north to south across vast lands, long ago they’d struggled to build a nation with nothing but this barren northern territory.

So it made sense that the villa didn’t hold anything of great value.

“Still, if we search carefully, we might find something related to the dog.”

“Maybe.”

Ian shrugged indifferently. Unlike him, Jade’s eyes glowed with renewed determination.

It was the first time the villa had shown any advantage at all: since it had been abandoned by everyone for so long, it might still hold very old items.

Jade decided to search for anything connected to the dog.

“Soondol, you’re helping too, right?”

“Meow!”

Soondol, who had been fluttering around the room scattering dust everywhere, answered valiantly.

“You don’t get a choice. You’re helping.”

“Kki—aaae…”

The mop ghost also responded as it habitually wiped the floor. Its answer wasn’t enthusiastic, but Jade didn’t care. It had no choice but to obey anyway.

“Ian, you’re helping too, right?”

“…I guess.”

Ian nodded vaguely, then began rummaging through the cabinet. With that, everyone took a section of the room and started searching for any object connected to the dog.

All the first head’s belongings had been left in this room. Since the area was small, they would surely find something soon.

Or so they thought.

Five hours later, after scouring every corner, none of the four had found anything. Outside the window, the sky had already begun to dip into orange dusk.

“Why don’t we just show the wraith the portrait? Maybe that’ll resolve its lingering regrets.”

“If it’s wandering around because it misses the dog, won’t that make it wander even more?”

Exhausted, Jade lifted the portrait. But as Ian said, that might only deepen the wraith’s attachment. They needed to show it that the dog no longer existed.

“Meow!”

“No, that’s just a ribbon.”

“Meow?”

“Kki—ae?”

“This is a shoe, and this is just a torn music sheet. Are you going to keep bringing random things?”

As time went on, both the mop ghost and Soondol began bringing back whatever they happened to find. They were clearly tired.

Especially Soondol, who kept rubbing his belly as if asking for food. But too wary of Jade’s reaction to speak up, he simply hovered near him, subtly trying to get attention.

“I think I found it.”

Just when Jade was ready to give up, Ian’s voice rang louder than anything else in the room.

There was a built-in storage nook on one side of the room, and Ian was standing before it. Jade rushed over, with Soondol and the mop ghost following right behind.

“Really?”

“I think this is it.”

On a small shelf sat a palm-sized urn.

Its pale pearl-like glaze gleamed faintly, and engraved in elegant cursive on the lid was the name Mary. Judging by its size and the name, it wasn’t a human urn. Beside it lay a worn leather cord with a pendant.

“…Ah.”

Tiny tooth marks remained on the silver pendant at the center of the necklace. As though the warmth of a loved life still lingered within it.

Jade’s chest tightened. But if they showed this to the wraith, perhaps it would finally accept the truth.

“Let’s take it.”

Carefully placing the necklace into a box, Jade hugged the urn to his chest and headed back to the underground passage.

Groooan—

Fortunately, the Blind Servant’s Wraith was still in the passage. It seemed to have been waiting for Soondol; the moment it saw him, it dragged its foot eagerly toward him with a screech.

Jade stepped between them and swallowed hard before speaking.

“Was the dog’s name Mary?”

“Groo…?”

He had worried that he might be wrong—but it appeared he wasn’t. The wraith shuffled closer, its posture hunched and limp. The stench of decay grew stronger the nearer it came.

“Mary is dead. You need to go. You’ve wandered here for far too long.”

At Jade’s words, the wraith stopped. He watched quietly as Jade held out the urn. The empty black holes where its eyes should have been turned down toward the urn.

“Groo…”

The wraith’s groan softened. Its jerking movements resumed, joints cracking erratically in all directions.

“Groo—oo—”

“Mary died a long time ago. So you don’t need to search anymore.”

The wraith shook its head slowly, as if refusing to believe him.

“You have to go. Mary will be waiting for you. For as long as you wandered here, Mary must have been waiting too.”

Jade lifted the box slightly, revealing the leather necklace.

The wraith’s skeletal hand reached toward it. The gray, rotting fingers cradled the urn and necklace tenderly. The torn lips and hollow sockets were fixed on the name carved into the lid. If it seemed strange to pity something that looked like a monster, Jade couldn’t help it.

“Grooo—oo…”

For a while, its rattling joints gave way. Its hunched frame sagged over the urn.

From its ruined throat leaked a sound like metal scraping—a chilling noise that was nonetheless unmistakably a cry.

“You can rest now. Maybe Mary hasn’t gone to heaven yet because she was waiting for you.”

The wraith lifted its head. The hollow sockets turned toward Jade. Then, like shattering glass, the clothes it wore began to crumble.

System <<
Reward for eliminating the Blind Servant’s Wraith: Healing Potion (3)

The system window he had ignored repeatedly now appeared again. And for the first time, Jade felt instinctively that now was the moment.

“….”

He glanced back at Ian and Soondol. Both had stepped far away, likely because of the smell.

Jade shifted to block their line of sight with his body. Then he looked down at the kneeling wraith.

Even if the wraith burst into flames, Ian would assume it was simply vanishing—he wouldn’t know Jade had used a skill.

Fire Ball.

As he repeated the skill name silently, warmth gathered in his palm. A small flame flared to life—soft and gentle for an attack spell.

Jade extended his hand toward the wraith. Three small flames drifted forth and settled onto its body.

“Groo—oo—”

The Blind Servant’s Wraith accepted the fire as if ready. Flames began to consume it slowly. They grew brighter, enveloping it entirely.

The wraith didn’t seem to be in pain. It simply stroked the urn again and again. Golden light seeped into its gray skin, and its tattered clothes glowed faintly.

“….”

Its body disintegrated little by little. The urn and necklace burned with it. For an instant, Jade saw the image of a young man smiling brightly as he held a fluffy black dog in his arms.

Thank you.

The voice echoed faintly within the flames—not the distorted groan of a rotten throat, but a clear, youthful tone. Then the fragments of golden dust drifted upward, passing through the ceiling as they vanished.

“That must have been the dog. It was black.”

Ian’s voice came from beside him. He must have seen it too—the vision wasn’t a hallucination.

“Huh? You saw it too? So I didn’t imagine it?”

“Yes.”

“Meow!”

Watching the sparkling motes rise into the air, Soondol burrowed into Jade’s chest. It felt strange—a mix of satisfaction and a bittersweet ache in the heart.

Before Jade could make sense of the emotion, another system window appeared.

Resentment…?

The word stirred a memory from the game’s lore. After turning it over in his mind for a while, Jade recalled one detail.

In the game, Ian earned the hatred of a particular wraith. That wraith, already deeply resentful toward the Linwood family, had its hatred intensified because of Ian.

The lore didn’t fully explain the incident, but due to that resentment, Ian suffered nightmares and insomnia throughout his childhood in the villa.

He endured this until adulthood. The severe insomnia likely shaped his sharp, cold personality.

Now Jade realized: the Blind Servant’s Wraith must have been that wraith.

He gazed quietly at Ian. True, Ian was calm and aloof for his age, but he was nowhere near as frigid as the game’s version. If things continued like this, he wouldn’t have to suffer as much.

“Ian.”

“Yes?”

“You really ought to thank me.”

Jade grinned. Even if it was by coincidence, he had removed something that would have made the future Ian suffer. Even if he alone knew the significance, he felt proud.

Ian blinked his round blue eyes, confused. Jade found the expression so adorable that his lips curled up.

“Uh…”

“Dinner is going to be very delicious tonight.”

Jade flashed him a bright smile as he walked ahead. It seemed they would finally enjoy a peaceful dinner.