Chapter 376

Words : 2482 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

Rudger looked at the frame and asked. “Is it true that the person in here will die?” “I told you so. Do I look like someone who would lie about such things?” “It might not be true, right?” “You’re too skeptical. I haven’t heard of such cases. I told you already. Why do you think such rumors spread? It’s because all the people drawn in those transparent frames actually died.” Limrei narrowed his eyes and stared at Rudger. “Or, well. Perhaps you see someone you know in there?” “That’s not the case.” Rudger lied naturally but Roina didn’t seem reassured at all. “Eek! C-Could it be that I’m in there?! It’s me, right?! It’s me, isn’t it?!” “Didn’t I say it wasn’t?” “You might be lying just to reassure me! You don’t need to do that!” ...This feels like they’re getting more worked up after being fed something. Since it seemed they wouldn’t listen even if he said it wasn’t true, Rudger just nodded. “Looking again, it does seem to resemble Roina.” “Waaah! I’m doomed!” “...It’s a joke, so please get up. What kind of unseemly behavior is this for a grown magician?” Since Limrei and Sempas showed no intention of stopping her, Rudger forcibly lifted up the collapsed Roina. ‘After all, there’s not a single normal person among magicians who’ve reached 6th rank or higher.’ Rudger was freshly reminded of this common saying in the magical world. He had vaguely felt it before, but as he gained more 6th-rank acquaintances, it now reached the level of blind faith. “Let’s move without wasting time.” The group continued walking. Small but peculiar things happened every time they walked through the corridors. Human laughter would be heard from unknown places, or handprints would appear on windows with nothing outside. Sometimes the positions of doors and windows would suddenly switch. It was as if the corridor had been rotated about 90 degrees. Looking at the sight of windows embedded in the floor, Rudger expressed slight admiration at the mansion’s peculiarity. “Still, it’s more subdued than I expected.” “What do you mean subdued?” “I thought the mansion would be a more extreme magical realm, but at least there’s nothing threatening our lives so far.” Rudger’s words were true. The various phenomena occurring in the mansion were quite fascinating and surprising, but they weren’t enough to make one feel a sense of crisis. Limrei frowned and spoke as if reprimanding. “I told you, didn’t I? You just need to follow the essential rules here.” “What exactly are these rules you speak of?” “What else would they be? They’re the duties you must observe as a guest here.” “You mean things like ‘don’t stay still for more than 5 minutes’?” “We are guests of the mansion, one way or another. Uninvited guests at that. Whether this mansion itself has a special will or not, I don’t know, but at least its mysteries don’t tolerate troublemakers.” “For something like that, there was still a murder case though.” “The mansion doesn’t care about guests killing each other.” That’s quite a chilling statement when you think about it. “So what other rules are there? If we can’t stay in other places for more than 5 minutes either, it seems like it would be quite difficult.” “You don’t need to worry about that. That rule only applies to corridors. Each room has its own new rules. For instance, once you enter, you must stay for the given time before leaving. Or if you enter the wrong one, you disappear right then and there.” “It’s amazing how you found out about such rules.” “How else would we know? Do you think magicians can figure out all these mysterious phenomena at first glance? People learn as they get filtered out.” “......” How many people must have been swept up in these mysterious phenomena to discover each rule that exists in the mansion? “But since most things are known now, you don’t need to worry too much as long as you don’t act carelessly. The other rules won’t be much of a problem.” After saying that, Limrei suddenly opened his mouth as if remembering something. The ring on his staff that resembled a stone tablet rattled. “Ah. There was one thing.” “What is it?” “Something to be careful about. You’ll have to leave this mansion before sunset. You should know what happens if you don’t leave this mansion before midnight.” “Do you die?” “You know well. So don’t think about staying overnight here. If you don’t want to die.” Arpa, who had been quietly listening from behind, asked. “Why? What comes out?” At Arpa’s question, Limrei’s stern expression instantly melted into something softer. “Oh my. Our Arpa has many questions. Shall this old man teach you?” “Yes!” “The reason you can’t stay long in this mansion is, when midnight passes, a scary monster comes out.” “A scary monster?” “That’s right. A very terrifying monster that would swallow someone like our Arpa in one bite.” Though his attitude was like telling a fairy tale to a grandchild, the meaning his words carried was not light at all. “Have there been witnesses to this monster?” “Yes. And he’s also the only survivor. Among dozens of people who bravely stayed in the mansion, he was the only one who survived.” “What is he doing now?” “He’s dead.” “......” “He committed suicide due to extreme nervous stress, fear, and mental illness. He was immediately hospitalized after the Night of Mystery ended, but was found hanging three days later.” Rather, that action was enough to instill caution through the story left by the survivor. At midnight, monsters begin roaming the mansion. These monsters cannot be defeated by any magic. “A mansion full of mysteries. Rules exist, and monsters appear at night. This is truly nothing short of a nightmare existing in the mortal world.” “For now, we’re viewing it as a cryptid born from mysterious phenomena, but whether that thing is really dangerous or not has been clearly proven.” “I suppose many died challenging it fearlessly.” “That’s right.” Of course, there were people who didn’t take the survivor’s words to heart. If everyone in the world took warnings seriously, accidents wouldn’t happen in the first place. Some magicians said they could just hunt whatever monster there was, and tried to stay longer in the mansion. The longer they stayed, the more time they would have to study the mansion compared to other magicians, and they would gain that much more. However, they probably didn’t expect to disappear the next day without even leaving a corpse behind. After that, brave people willing to stay in the mansion stopped appearing. Rudger shook his head. ‘I was planning to simply find what I wanted in the library, but there are more restrictions than I thought.’ Plus, many incidents were happening, from victims being attacked by beasts in the forest at the start, to murder cases occurring inside the mansion. Moreover, Limrei, one of their party members, might die. ‘I don’t know for what reason he’ll die, but if that’s true, there’s no guarantee that we who move together won’t be caught up in it.’ Although various incidents occur every year during the Night of Mystery, murder in the mansion is too out of the ordinary. Even a military magician from the Kingdom of Delica died. ‘It’s certain that the Black Dawn Society planned this.’ Leslie is planning to wipe out most of the magicians participating in this Night of Mystery. It’s entirely possible that killing people inside the mansion is preliminary work for that. Or perhaps they silenced someone who learned a secret they shouldn’t have known. ‘The problem is how exactly they’re going about this.’ The Kasar Basin is such a strange space that proper speculation is impossible. The most certain way would be to meet Leslie’s subordinate Orders and hear directly from them but even that method wasn’t readily available inside this mansion. Despite seeming to have wandered around for so long, they hadn’t encountered other people. There must be something going on but Rudger decided to prioritize his tasks. ‘First find the library and check the materials, then return to the forward base in the evening and wait for them to make contact. Looking for Leslie’s Dawn Society members right now carries too much risk.’ That meant they needed to find the library that exists in this mansion during the remaining time until sunset. “Does anyone know the location of the library?” No one could answer Rudger’s question. Although they had walked for quite a while and checked various places, nothing that could be the library was in sight. They must have opened at least 10 rooms, but all were dead ends. “At this rate, it’s unclear if we can find it today.” “Why do you think other magicians make such a fuss coming here early in the morning? Even if you enter this mansion, you can’t find the library right away.” “Then how did people who visited the library before manage it?” “They found it by chance after continuously wandering around. In this maze-like mansion, everything depends on luck.” “Luck, you say.” Looking at others’ reactions, everyone seemed to think similarly. It made sense. This is a place where even perfectly normal people disappear like mirages. Objects change positions, and when you look back at the path you just walked, a completely different path unfolds. Even though we’re walking on two legs, it feels like walking through a dream. It’s as if our minds are elevated and we’re seeing hallucinations. However, Rudger had no intention of relying on luck and chance for everything in this situation. “Arpa. Have you gathered enough data?” “Yes.” “Have you confirmed the paths?” “Yes. I’ve confirmed them all.” “Good. Then please guide us.” When Rudger, who had been leading until now, suddenly yielded the lead to Arpa, the group looked at him with expressions asking what this was about. “Just watch.” With those words, Rudger followed behind Arpa who took the lead. Arpa walked without hesitation. His steps were even somewhat proud, as if he could clearly see all the complex and dizzy paths of this mansion laid out on his palm. “Huh? Is this the right way? It seems like somewhere we haven’t been before.” Roina asked worriedly, and Sempas also had a not-so-good expression, probably thinking similarly. Limrei also twitched his lips, seemingly wanting to shout something right away, but it was evident he was holding back because it was Arpa. Instead, it was Rudger who answered. “You’ll see if you wait.” Has it been 5 minutes since he said those words? Arpa stopped abruptly in front of a large wooden door. “It’s here.” Such a confident statement. While the others were puzzled, Rudger nodded and grabbed the doorknob without hesitation. “Wait!” It’s not good to open room doors carelessly. In some cases, traps might activate the moment you open them. Therefore, before opening a door, you always had to go through several stages of investigation. However, Roina, who tried to stop him urgently, closed her lips tightly at the sight that appeared as the door opened. The others were surprised as well. What unfolded before their eyes as the door opened was a room with bookshelves packed with all kinds of books. It was the secret library that many magicians in this mansion had been so eager to find. “Really, the library?” Limrei stared at Arpa with disbelieving eyes. “How exactly...?” “I analyzed the patterns.” “Analyzed?” “Yes!” Arpa answered with a bright face to what seemed like an impossible answer. Limrei couldn’t understand even after hearing it. ‘There are patterns to how the mansion’s rooms change? I’ve heard such stories before. Even if you open the same door, what exists inside is a completely different place. They say this mansion changes room positions organically as if it’s alive.’ Of course, there were people who tried to analyze it somehow, but they failed every time. Not only was it difficult to learn the patterns, but there were too many variables to consider in the first place. ‘But this child calculated that?’ The sight of him walking confidently in the lead still lingers in his eyes, too vivid to be mere coincidence. Such bold behavior couldn’t be shown unless one truly knew the library’s location. ‘And this guy knew about Arpa’s ability.’ Limrei stared at Rudger. It was Rudger who brought Arpa in the first place, and it was he who entrusted this task to him. He had thought he was just brought along to help out on the side, but was that not the case? Perhaps sensing Limrei’s gaze, Rudger spoke. “Arpa. Since everyone seems curious, explain what you saw.” “Yes. First, as I just said, I figured out the library’s location through pattern analysis. This mansion keeps changing places, right? I saw potential there.” “Potential, you say? What kind of potential?” When Roina asked with a trembling voice, Arpa answered in a pure voice. “The rooms can’t all change randomly, can they? And it’s not like opening a door connects to other strange places either. Eventually, each door must connect to rooms that exist in the mansion.” “This mansion has over 300 simple rooms alone. Unless you open all the doors simultaneously, you can’t distinguish them, can you?” Moreover, there are no nameplates on the doors, nor are the door designs different. All doors with the same shape, same specifications but you never know what will appear when you open them. “Hmm. In that case, I paid attention to the surrounding phenomena.” “Surrounding phenomena?” “That is, when there were special rooms nearby, peculiar things would happen. Like hearing certain sounds, or the corridor shape being strange. Since all of this happens due to magical power, I thought there must be something.” Peculiar phenomena occur near special rooms. If all sorts of strange phenomena occurred in every room, the mansion would have been even more chaotic. Limrei, who had been thinking deeply, nodded as if understanding. “I see, you boldly excluded cases that weren’t possible. But even considering that, there are still many possibilities...” “Yes. Even just probability-based cases would exceed hundreds of thousands.” “Then how did you figure it out?” To Limrei’s questioning words, Arpa scratched his cheek as if troubled. “Um...well, because I calculated everything?”

Chapter 376

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