第１００５堀：噂がある屋敷 (Part2)
The mansion was so vast that it took quite a while to reach the backyard.
"Well, it originally belonged to a Marquis family, after all."
"……A Marquis is a fairly high rank, isn't it?"
"Yes. It was a title granted by the Margrave. It was a rank created personally by the Emperor of Yupia because the holder performed far better than the surrounding Earls."
"I see. So the person himself lost his life defending the border, then?"
"That is correct."
"If that’s the case, it’s clearly strange for a ghost of a Marquis to appear here."
"Indeed. When the Marquis died in battle, the entire country held a funeral, and we even received words from His Majesty. Furthermore, there is a proper successor. As mentioned earlier, this mansion was simply abandoned because it was considered bad luck; it’s not as if something specific happened here."
"The reasons for a ghost to appear have suddenly vanished. Oh, is that the backyard?"
As we were talking, we finally arrived at the backyard.
"……Hey. You said earlier that the patrolling soldiers saw a light in the middle of the night, right?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Can you even see a light in this sprawling backyard from the outside?"
"Now that you mention it……"
When I asked that, the soldiers also looked around. But the walls were far off in the distance and quite tall, and between us and those walls, trees that hadn't been tended to in years grew thick and wild. I almost wanted to interrogate them on how they could have possibly seen any light in such a situation.
"Well, perhaps there was something inside this backyard that emitted light?"
"Ah, yes. They said they initially thought it was a suspicious fire."
"I see. In that case, they would naturally go to check it out."
A fire is no laughing matter, after all.
"If that’s the case, it’s likely along the wall."
With that, we cut straight through the backyard and reached the perimeter wall.
"Ah, that’s it."
I hadn't expected much, but the cause of the mysterious light was found quite easily.
"These are torch marks."
Indeed, there were clear scorch marks left behind.
"So, the 'ghost' was just a case of mistaken identity."
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"It means that out of fear, a withered flower drooping down looked like a human shadow, and they mistook it for a ghost."
"I see. In other words?"
"The 'ghost' of the backyard was just someone coming and going with a torch. The soldiers saw the light moving, came to check it out with trepidation, and because they were convinced no one was supposed to be here, the combination of the torchlight and their own fear made them mistake it for a ghost."
"Is that so? That means there is indeed someone secretly entering and leaving this mansion."
"Yes. Firia and the others who entered the mansion first might have found something, so let’s regroup."
The blood-stained woman by the window probably has something to do with this as well. Now that I know it’s all human-made, the fear has completely evaporated. If anything, I’m more curious about what this place was actually being used for.
After taking some photos of the exterior to send to Yuki, I hurried inside the mansion, and……
"Oh? What are you all doing in a place like this?"
For some reason, everyone was gathered in the entrance hall, discussing something.
"Ah, it’s Labyris."
"Yo, Labyris-chan."
"You were surprisingly late."
"Well, I suppose they found something on their end, too."
"Oh, you found something too?"
It seems they had made a discovery just like us.
"So, what happened?" I asked the others.
"Ah, yes. It seems there are traces of people coming and going in this mansion, and we were discussing that capturing those individuals should be our top priority. Did you find something as well, Labyris-sama?"
"Yes. I heard the details of the ghost rumors from the guards and had a hunch. I checked the backyard and found torch marks."
"Torches? As I thought, someone is indeed coming and going…… Hmm, that makes it difficult to use this place as an information management room. Well, this place needs renovations anyway. But there really isn't a more suitable candidate than this……"
The others looked troubled, wearing difficult expressions. It’s tough when the place you thought was perfect turns out to be unusable. Just as I was wondering what to do……
"Then, we shall build the Information Management Bureau right here! We’ll capture the people coming and going and gather information. The fact that people avoid this place makes it easy to defend!"
Thanks to Firia’s insistence on using the location, we decided to establish the Information Management Bureau right here. It became a "Bureau" instead of a "Room" because the mansion was even larger than we had anticipated.
Now, how will we proceed?
What about the suspicious individuals entering the mansion?
Are there really no ghosts?
Next time! Work moves forward before the mystery is solved.
You can’t stop working just because of a few ghosts!