Chapter 26

Chapter 26

I’m coming with you so that I can carry you guys, but in exchange, at least take me to the boss’s room.

“Okay. You can tag along.”

“Thanks. I’ll try not to get in your way.” I gave him another cupcake as a token of appreciation.

“I’m not sure we should be eating so well while we’re helplessly trapped in a dungeon. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything as good as this, even on festival days.”

“You gotta eat well to fight well,” I said.

“I don’t even get penalized for the sin of gluttony when I eat your food.”

“Really? Then here, have some more. One more order of chocolate tiramisu and peach milk tea, coming right up!” I reassured Tesilid that I was well-stocked with digestive potions and stuffed his face with delicious goodies.

As he chowed down, I opened up a map of the manor on the system. The manor was comprised of four perfectly symmetrical pavilions, each aligned with the four cardinal directions. Each pavilion had its own parlor, banquet hall, kitchen, and guest room, among other areas. Lines and lines of halls twisted about to form an intricate maze connecting each room.

Let’s see now. Where could the boss’s room be? I made sure to take full advantage of my transmigrator perks as I pulled out the original story from the Ultimate Library. I had already bookmarked the most important sections, so it was fairly easy to locate the information I needed.

⟬Bookmark 473 - Reminiscing Over Greenhorn Days #ManorOfToys #Childhood #BattleRoyale⟭

Hmm, the young protagonist would’ve been slowly wearing himself out fighting, especially since he was still infected with the decaying poison... Ah, so young, so naive. I continued to scour the book for any other helpful pieces of information while Tesilid scarfed down the last of his tiramisu.

“I don’t sense the clown dolls anymore,” he said as soon as he finished his food. “I think we can step outside now.”

As soon as we quietly crawled out of the closet, a loud voice rang throughout the room.

“Ah, ah! Mic check! One two, one two! Can everyone hear me? This announcement concludes our game of hide and seek!”

Butler Rodrigo’s voice was reverberating from somewhere within the room. Upon closer inspection, we spotted a bronze relief of a man hanging above the fireplace, flapping its mouth in time with Rodrigo’s words.

“Let’s see now,” his voice continued. “Shall we take a look at the results? It seems the eastern pavilion held out quite nicely. Perhaps because of all the stigma bearers? The western pavilion is looking quite tragic in comparison though. I guess that was to be expected with that rather feeble silver-haired kiddo defending it. Anyhow, congratulations to our surviving children! Let’s give a round of applause!”

The bronze relief laughed fiendishly.

“We should bash that thing in as soon as he’s done talking.”

“Good idea.”

We brandished our fire pokers and got into position to smash the face as it spoke again.

“In honor of all of our surviving children, I’ve prepared a special feast! Please make your way to the banquet hall within one hour to enjoy delectable, sugary treats that will surely give you cavities. Hopefully, we don’t have any ill-mannered children that are late for supper! Of course, I’m sure everyone has good manners, but just in case... If you’ll please direct your attention to the nearest fireplace!”

Tesilid and I were already staring at it. It was a spotless fireplace with no sign of use.

“Our Count Orshe’s manor is very proud of its state-of-the-art, centrally managed chimney, equipped with the newest ventilation system! Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with anything. The moment the banquet begins, a torrent of hellfire will engulf the entire manor through these fireplaces. That is, everywhere except the banquet hall.”

Hellfire is the embodiment of a living flame. It’s an amorphous, demonic monster that burns everything in its path.

“So if you don’t want to be burnt to a crisp, it’s very important that you’re on time. Well, that’s about it for now, folks! I’ll see everyone at the banquet hall in a bit!”

Crash!

Tesilid smashed the bronze relief the moment it shut its mouth. I glanced down at my now useless fire poker before dropping it. Tesilid dusted his hands and frowned.

“What is he up to now?”

According to the original story, the third game was going to be “The Playhouse of Hallucinations.” All of the children would be overcome with madness once they tasted the desserts laced with hallucinogens from the demon realm.

“They’ll probably tamper with the food,” I told Tesilid. “Most of the kids are probably starving by now. They won’t be able to resist the temptation of freshly baked bread. We need to stop them.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Yeah. Let’s strike first.”

Tesilid gestured for me to elaborate.

I grinned at the prospect of getting back at the demon butler. “Let’s go wreak some havoc in the kitchen.”

✠

Urghhhh... Thud.

A huge teddy bear wearing a frilly apron and a chef’s hat fell to the ground. The demonic bear was the chef of this kitchen.

“Good work, Tesilid.”

We stepped over the scattered bodies of the dolls we had defeated and made our way across the kitchen. The workbench was full of wicked-looking cookies and cakes topped with garish icing.

I reminded Tesilid again, “Make sure you don’t eat anything.”

“Don’t worry. I’m so stuffed from all the food you gave me. Besides, the color of that icing looks pretty toxic. Is it really laced with poison?”

“Not exactly poison. They contain hallucinogens. Eating them will drive you mad and make you attack other people.”

“How do you know all this?”

“It’s a secret.”

Tesilid had a grim expression as he turned to the other side of the kitchen. He caught sight of the cutlery tray. The knives and forks were sharpened to have razor-like edges. It didn’t require a lot of thought to imagine what purpose they would serve.

“Ailette, the other pavilions are going to be hell if we don’t do something. We have to go stop them.”

I agreed with what he was saying. The only problem was actually getting it done. “There’s not much time left,” I pointed out. “It’s going to be impossible to get to the other pavilions’ kitchens and take everyone out like we did here.”

I could sense Tesilid’s resistance in his silence.

“There’s no time for this,” I insisted. “We have to head to the banquet hall ourselves. You heard what the butler said. He’s going to unleash hellfire everywhere else.”

“If we’re going to a banquet hall, can’t we just go to another pavilion’s hall instead?” Tesilid reasoned. “We can minimize the casualties if we can subdue the children until the hallucinogens wear off.”

I could feel the sincerity behind his words and how badly he wanted to save at least one more of the remaining three pavilions. I guess that’s why he’s the main character. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s a pushover, though.

“I don’t know about that. Getting to another pavilion is a gamble at best. If there’s another gatekeeper like the one we met here, we might be in danger of not making it in time.”

“Ailette, I won’t force this on you. I’ll go by myself.”

I let out an exasperated sigh in my mind. What am I going to do with this overly self-abnegating martyr of a protagonist? “By yourself? Do you even know how to get to the other pavilions?”

Tesilid looked at me blankly.

“You don’t have a clue. You only made it to this kitchen because I led you here.”

“Maybe... you could... draw me a map...?”

“I don’t have any paper. And I’m bad at drawing. And I don’t want to.” I could tell he still hadn’t lost his resolve, and so I added, “You shouldn’t be so reckless.”

Tesilid wilted, finally ceding to my point. “Then... I guess we have no choice but to leave them... and be satisfied with taking care of the western pavilion.”

“No, what are you talking about?”

“What? I thought there was no other way.”

“I never said that.”

A wave of relief washed over Tesilid’s face as I began to rummage around in my satchel.

“There’s no need for us to actually be there in person to save the children. All we need to do is take care of the hallucinogen issue, right?” I pulled out bundle after bundle of herbs packed in baskets much larger than my bag.

Of course, these weren't here for my trip. I’d only stored them to extend their shelf life.

“Tell me the truth. Did you infiltrate the Vatican to smuggle in herbs? You must have an entire wagonful of herbs in there.”

“Ah, you got me. You already ate the bribe I had prepared, so just pretend you didn’t see anything.”

I had more than enough raw ingredients to execute my plan, and the butler had been kind enough to inform us of the manor’s state-of-the-art ventilation system. Everything was perfect.

“Let’s go play with fire, Tesilid.”

✠

A demonic monster lived in the depths of Count Orshe’s garbage incinerator. It was a shapeless beast that struggled every day to survive, toiling to keep its embers alive among the ashes. This creature resembled a campfire from afar and its name was “Hellfire Helveros.”

It’s been two hundred long years since Helveros left its cozy hometown Muspelheim. Helveros worked in various parts of the manor including the garbage incinerator, the kitchen ovens, and even the manor’s heating system.

In all honesty, Count Orshe’s manor was not an ideal workplace. Helveros was lured by the promise of high-quality firewood, but all that came its way were dead bodies.

And even that was hard to come by.

“If only... it wasn't... for this contract... I want to... go visit home...” As the creature curled up in hunger, someone banged on the tin incinerator.

“Helveros, it’s time. Fire up the manor. Everywhere except the banquet halls.” It was the butler of this manor, Rodrigo. He was an evil employer who exploited his employees like no other.

“I... don’t have any... strength... I’m so hungry.”

“Ugh, here. Eat up.”

An adult corpse not even worth making a doll out of was tossed into the furnace.

“I’m a vegetarian...”

“Shut it, you corrupt demon! I’m going to toss you into Niflheim if you don’t do as I say!”

Niflheim, a realm of wintry permafrost, was on the opposite end of Muspelheim. Helveros hated the cold. The creature swallowed the corpse with a shiver and its flames grew slightly larger. As he stalked away, Rodrigo stopped and gave another order.

“Oh, and heat up some bath water while you’re at it. I feel grimy because of all the dust from the human brats.”

What a pitiful life this was! Having to prepare bathwater not even for the earl himself, but for the butler! Helveros grumbled as it shot out an ember into one of the holes in the wall, which led to a plumbing pipe that connected to the bathroom.

Now it was time to work. After regaining a little bit of strength from burning the corpse, Helveros slowly wriggled toward the largest vent in the wall.

The first area it reached was the sole dance hall which was located in the very center of the building. The pipes and vents all spread from here to the different parts of the manor.

Whoosh!

As Helveros rushed out into the fireplace, it was surprised at the soft cushion it landed on.

“H-huh? I-is this a special meal?”

The usually empty fireplace was filled with bundles of dry plants. Of course, there was no way that penny-pinching Rodrigo would have prepared such a lavish meal, but Helveros gave into its hunger and began to chow down.

“T-this is great! It’s so delicious!”

It had been so long… Too long since it had a proper vegetarian meal. It wasn’t even some cheap grass. The pile only contained high-quality herbs that tasted amazingly healthy. Helveros went around to all of the fireplaces in the dance hall and devoured each pile of herbs that had been left there. The demon’s small, campfire-like body swelled up like the flames from a dragon’s breath. Helveros let out a long, satisfied belch as it finished the last piece of herb.

Burrrrrp!

The scent of herbs puffed out along with a plume of black smoke.

“Oh no! It’s already past that time!”

Helveros crawled back into the fireplace and raced down the vents like a runaway train, puffing out dark smoke everywhere.

The herbs had invigorated Helveros—it didn’t even need to visit every single fireplace in the mansion to spread its hellfire. Glowing flames spilled like lava from every fireplace connected to the main vent. Acrid smoke from the burning herbs followed the blaze.

Thanks to this, Orshe Manor was filled with the scent of burning antidotal herbs.