The Uninvited Guest Of The Haunted Mansion (40)

“L-Let go off me!”

Serenity’s face went deathly pale.

She stopped holding her breath and screamed at the top of her lungs by the pond.

She struggled with all her might, but it wasn’t enough.

The tentacles that had tightly bound her showed no sign of letting go.

Instead, they began to squeeze her ankle even harder.

“Ugh. Sniff, let go of me…!”

Her terrified voice echoed around the pond.

Unfortunately, the mist that filled the area swallowed her desperate cries, preventing them from carrying far.

Before long, a sticky ichor began to coat her ankle.

From where the ichor had soaked in, sensation began to fade beyond mere pain.

Fear made it hard for her to breathe.

‘Why are you doing this with prey right in front of you!’

In the midst of her struggling, Serenity suddenly noticed her bandaged ankle.

It was the wound she’d gotten when she fell into that strange scene in the painting yesterday.

Now that she looked, blood was seeping out a little.

‘Oh my god, it was because of this leg!’

The monster preferred to eat fresh flesh.

From the creature’s perspective, the fresher option wasn’t the meat in the basket but the living Serenity.

The grip on her ankle tightened further.

The muscles in the leg, cut off from blood, felt like they might snap.

Because she thrashed, she barely managed to flop forward and brace her hands against the ground, but that was all.

There was nothing around to grab onto.

‘I’m being dragged…!’

No.

It was at the moment Serenity dug her nails into the dirt and tried to hold on in desperation.

Screeeech!

Suddenly the monster writhed and began to emit a shriek.

Squeek, screeeech, skree!

Not content, the creature began to claw at its neck area with its own arm.

All its tentacles flailed and twitched about.

But something was strange.

The legs that gripped Serenity tightly, however, did not move.

‘What is that…?’

Now that she thought about it, although the monster had grabbed her leg, Serenity’s body, if it had really wanted to, could already have been plunged into the pond, yet it remained with her feet on land.

It was odd to think the creature was protecting its prey from spoiling.

At that moment, something entered Serenity’s field of vision.

She couldn’t make out details, but there was a branch-like thing jutting out through the flesh near the monster’s gills.

Through the gap, she could see dark ichor sloshing and dripping down.

‘Could that be where it’s hurting?’

Before she could think further, the next words escaped her.

“I-I’ll help you!”

Serenity stretched out her hand with all her strength.

But it wasn’t enough to reach the creature’s nape.

After flailing through the air for a while, Serenity managed to grab hold of the monster’s hair.

Squeak!

Then the monster’s gaze fixed on Serenity.

Or could that even be called a gaze?

Meeting those bleached, pale eyes, Serenity flinched and shivered.

Screee…

An unexpected situation unfolded.

As if it understood her intent, the struggling creature slowly lowered its upper body and brought itself closer to her hand.

Up close, the wound was even larger.

A branch piercing straight through the center of the gill crushed the surrounding flesh.
It seemed lodged far deeper than she’d thought.

Every time the creature drew breath, the inside of the gill throbbed painfully.

‘G-Gross…’

Thank goodness she’d seen so many awful things already; an ordinary person would have a hard time looking at that gruesome sight with bare eyes.

“W-Wait.”

Serenity put her hand between the gills and pulled on it with all her strength.

Screeeech!

“Argh!”

The creature thrashed in pain and slammed a tentacle down onto the ground.

The impact sent vibrations through the area and rough waves across the pond.

The gust nearly knocked Serenity over, but she barely managed to keep her balance.

The hand holding the branch trembled violently.

“J-Just hold on a little longer.”

If she were hit squarely by that tentacle by accident, she’d clearly be crushed to death.

‘I don’t want to die like that!’

Serenity clenched her teeth and put her strength into it once more.

At last, the wood snapped with a crunch.

She carefully pulled it out of the gill, and black blood spurted, soaking Serenity’s hair and dress.

…Ugh.

Serenity, who had squeezed her eyes shut reflexively, cautiously opened them.

With the black blood that had filled her vision gone, she saw the gill heaving and making wet sounds.

‘Did it… work?’

Only then did Serenity realize the tentacle gripping her ankle had loosened.

She backed away slowly, distancing herself from the creature.

Perhaps from pulling out the branch, the monster’s bloodshot eyes seemed calmer than before.

“T-That’s a relief.”

She was alive.

‘But how should I treat that wound…?’

The wound seemed deeper than she’d thought; where the branch had been pulled out, blood still dripped steadily.

Even at a glance it looked terribly painful.

‘It’s the Count’s favored monster; should I call a doctor? But I really don’t want to run into the doctor.’

As Serenity pondered seriously, the creature stuck out a long black tongue and licked the gill wound.

Like a lie, it began to heal at an astonishing speed.

Squeak.

Oh….

So it had self-healing abilities.

Perhaps that was for the best.

She was staring blankly at the strange sight when it happened.

Suddenly the creature opened its huge mouth and bit down on Serenity’s leg.

“Ugh!”

What is it doing!

Startled, Serenity reflexively tried to pull her bitten leg away.

But there was no need to.

Contrary to expectations, it didn’t hurt.

Instead, she felt something unpleasantly wet and squishy glide over her leg.

‘Tongue…?’

After a moment, the creature released Serenity’s leg.

Serenity widened her eyes as she checked her damp leg.

Unbelievably, the wound where the bandage had come undone was so clean there was no sign of injury.

Instead, the leg was covered in sticky ichor.

‘So it’s not self-healing; the ichor itself must have a healing effect.’

The creature blinked its pale eyes, lowered its body, and slowly slunk away from Serenity.

“Th-Thank you?”

Squeak.

The creature nodded and then plopped back down, disappearing under the water.

Serenity sat alone at the pond’s edge after the tempest had passed in an instant, blinking in stunned disbelief.

‘Is this… the end?’

But it hadn’t touched the bait.

Serenity stared at the basket, the meat inside untouched, and fell into thought.

She was seriously conflicted over whether to dump the bait and leave, or just run away as she was.

Before she could even brush herself off and stand, the creature reappeared.

Squeak*.*

“Y-You scared me!”

It spat something small and clinking out of its mouth.

Serenity’s gaze dropped.

It was a box, heavily rusted and covered in moss.

“…What is this.”

Squeak*.*

Instead of answering, the creature used a tentacle to push the box toward Serenity.

“Is this… some sort of repayment?”

Its pale gaze stared directly at Serenity.

But only for a moment.

It slowly moved away from Serenity, scooped up some of the meat from the basket in one mouthful, and then vanished completely beneath the surface.

Only calm ripples remained on the pond.

Serenity glared intently at the box sitting alone on the desk.

‘It looks like some kind of relic…’

The box, about the width of two handspans, was made of metal, but it was so rusted the original pattern was barely discernible.

She grabbed the box with one hand and shook it, and something inside rustled and brushed against the sides.

‘Paper…?’

It was certain there was something inside.

What should she do about this?

Even if she wanted to open it, it was locked too tightly.

But smashing it outright might set up a death flag, so she was worried.

Serenity narrowed her eyes and examined the keyhole at the center of the box from various angles.

“If only I had a key, I could open it…’

Where on earth would she find a key?

As Serenity set the box back down and pondered for a long time, something passed over her face with a soft pat.

No, did she even need to find a key?

A key could just be made.

There happened to be someone suitable in this manor.

‘Let’s go find the blacksmith.’