Seeing an old man drooling because of money was not how Karl wanted to start his day.

When Karl opened the door to Eldrin’s shop, he saw the old man hugging a money bag like a child hugging his Christmas present.

“Rich, I’m rich again. Hahahahaha.” Eldrin laughed like a maniac. Not that he wasn’t a maniac before. He was a maniac for crafting and producing items with the highest quality as fast as possible. But now, he was a manic for money.

Standing further away behind the counter, Fixa was staring at he boss with resign eyes. While Nanok was trying to pull the old man away from the money bag.

“What are you doing?” Karl asked. He feel like he just went out to buy pizza, only to find out his roommate set the house on fire.

“Young Master,” Nanok exclaimed. “Please, you have to help me. Master gone crazy.”

“Hehehe, my precious.” The Dwarf might have stolen a cursed ring from somewhere and was wearing it.

“Alright, time for the big gun, step aside Nanok.” Karl walked up and sucked his index finger.

Nanok stepped aside with one eyebrow raised and a confused look. But not Fixa, her face changed from that of a dead fish to a blooming smile the moment Karl put his index finger in his mouth.

“I didn’t want to do this Eldrin, but you force my hand.”

Karl pushed his saliva-covered finger into Eldrin’s ear and twirled it around. With a saliva finger in his ears, the old man jolted as if he was stuck by lighting. He jumped backward, drew out his imaginary hammer, and took a fighting stand toward Karl. His eyes was the embodiment of flame and fury.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” The old Dwarf cursed.

“That’s what you get for obsessing with money too much,” Karl shrugged. “Seems like the Mana Smoothing Bracelet was quite a hit.”

Eldrin lowered his imaginary hammer while grumbling, “Yeah, it's a big hit.” Then he pointed at Karl. “But what does that get to do with sticking ya finger in my ear? I can still feel the wetness ya damn bastard.” He pulled the hem of his shirt up and wrapped it around his finger to clean his ear.

“That’s good to hear. Money will be rolling in soon.” Karl nodded.

“Money, hehehe.” The old man started to go crazy again. “No, back the fuck off ya damn saliva monster,” He pointed at Karl and shouted as Karl covered his finger in saliva again.

“Um, Young Master.” Nanok approached Karl. “There a guest here to see you. She said she could help us with the hologram item.”

Karl rubbed his neck as he closed his eyes, “Where is she?”

“In the guest room, Young Master.”

Without another word, Karl hastened to the guest room. When he opened the door, as he expected, Aria was there. And she was using some kind of formation on the hologram item. Without looking up from her formation, Aria greeted Karl.

“Good morning, Karl.”

“Yeah, morning Aria.” He said as he stood next to her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m adding the function that your item was lacking. With this, we can change the hologram’s appearance but I still have to work on the voice.” She explained it like it was natural.

“Does Nanok and Eldrin have anything to say about this?”

“Master Dwarf told me to keep at it while his apprentice didn’t say anything. But he looks hesitant to have me here.”

“As the girl said, youngster. She offered to help us finish this item and I agreed.” Eldrin barged into the room with his loudspeaker voice.

“Thanks, Aria,” Karl said as he looked for water to pour her a cup. But of course, there was only beer in the room.

“Those two, they didn’t hear of what happened?” She asked, still focusing on the formation.

“Unlikely, I bet they were too concentrated on their craft.”

“I see." She paused. "Since our class is tomorrow, I’ll stay here and help them work on this item for today. It would be great if we can complete this item quickly.”

Looking at Aria focusing on her work, Karl couldn’t help but feel bitter.

“Ok, I’ll leave you to it. I have something else I need to do.”

“See you tomorrow, Karl.” Aria looked up and waved.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” He waved back.

When Karl came out of the room, Eldrin and Nanok bombarded him with questions about who the beautiful lady was, what was their relationship, and other nonsense. Not wanting to waste his breath, Karl just explained Aria was a close friend and she was here to help them finish the hologram item as fast as possible. That was all.

Being the busybody that he was, Eldrin tried to give Karl some life advice.

“You should cherish the time you have with your loved one, youngster. You won’t know whether or not you can still see them tomorrow. Every day you can spend time together is a gift. Don’t waste it.” He said as he looked at his hammer-shaped necklace.

There was some truth to what Eldrin said. No one knows whether today would be their last or not.

But that didn’t mean he could just erase who he was and be happy. That was impossible.

“Yeah, I’ll remember that old man,” Karl said before he got out of the store.

Looking at Karl, who was going further and further away, Eldrin sighed.

“Did something happen to him?” He turned and asked Fixa.

“Two days ago, someone tried to assassinate him and Miss Leonheart, the Young Lady in the guest room. Miss Leonheart wasn’t hurt but he was in critical condition. It was a miracle that he fully recovered in just a day. Even with the help of NorthStar’s best healer, it was still an impressive feat.” Fixa recalled the information he had access to.

“What? Someone tried to assassinate the Young Master?” Nanok yipped in a high-pitched voice.

Eldrin reached up and covered Nanok’s mouth. “Keep ya voice down ya stupid disciple.” He peeked at the guest room.  “If he didn’t want to talk about it, we know nothing about it. Got it?”

Nanok looked at his master with eyes filled with confusion, but he still nodded.

The Dwarf pulled his hand back and said, “Right now, we need to do what we know best. That’s the best way we can help him. Let him focus on what he needed to do. Besides, that youngster isn’t the type to just roll over and die.”

-----

After ten minutes of waiting in line, it was Karl's turn at the Adventurer Guild’s reception.

“Hi, how may I help you?” A young clerk with dirty blonde hair asked.

“I’m here for the purchasing of BrightStar Mansion. Can I talk to the clerk who is in charge of that?” Karl asked generally as he never learned the name of that land broker he worked with.

“Of course, please wait a moment,” The young clerk answered as she turned back and tapped on her communication clock. Once she was done, she said.

“Please wait for Elly at the waiting area over there.” She pointed at the roll of benches on her right.

I see, her name is Elly. Karl noted down.

“Ok, thank you,” Karl said then he sat down at one of the benches.

The waiting area took up one-fourth of the guild’s first floor and was set up to the right at the start of the stairs leading to the second floor. Karl looked to his right, at the five lines of adventurers waiting to cash for their reward or to accept another mission.

Adventurer. People who willingly risk their lives on a daily basis for fame and fortune. They accept all kinds of missions ranging from herb or mineral gathering to monster extermination. But the most iconic task for adventurers was to explore Dungeons, patches of wonder that even the smartest of mages didn’t know what they were.

Everyone knew once you enter a Dungeon, it was like a entering a different world with all kind of bizzard lifeform, landscape, and items.

Everything from a Dungeon had its own value, but items were still a mystery to this day.

“Hiya, Mr. Kanehiro. Ready to check out that haunted mansion?” A voice as energetic as Sera’s snapped Karl back from his thought.

It wasn’t the best choice of words to remind your client that what they were getting was a haunted mansion. But Karl guessed it didn’t matter all that much in this context since he already agreed to buy despite knowing the place was haunted.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He stood up.

“Great, let's go.” The Lion Beast Folk girl skipped ahead, leading him toward his new office.

And when they got there.

“I see why you say anyone can tell this place is haunted just by the look of it now,” Karl commented.

The mansion in front of them was the definition of haunted.

Black roof, greyed and weathered wooden walls, combined with tall and narrow windows with broken and cracked glass gave the impression that the mansion was once a living being. Ivy blackened and withered, clinging desperately to the walls like the last living blood vein struggling to survive.

The ground was overgrown with tangled and thorny high grass and bushes, surrounding a single withered tree with a swing that kept on swinging despite the absence of wind. The stone path led from the once majestic gate with detail-craved statues of dragons on both sides. But now, the path was cracked and uneven with stones sticking out from the ground like eager teeth.

Stepping onto the path, the rock crumbled down as if the place had been left alone, forgotten by time for thousands upon thousands of years.

At the end of the path stood a massive wood gate with intricate cravings. Faded Runes lost their light beneath the peeled paint. The air all around Karl and Elly was thick with a scent of rotten earth like burned corpses combined with the smell of decay. Something that should have been impossible in NorthStar.

“Alright, cool place.” Karl nodded as he placed his hand on the door. “Let’s go inside.”

“Um yes, about that Mr. Kanehiro. I’m just a clerk and my job is done. So…”

“Don’t you have to inspect the place with the client too? Miss Elly.”

In front of Karl’s grin, sweat started pouring down on the young girl’s smiling face like waterfall as she pulled the collar that fitted perfectly around her neck a bit. Just enough to breathe.

“Ah, yes. About that, actually, we have a policy that…”

“It will be fine. Besides, if I make a claim that the mansion is in an even worse state than you say it was. Then you can’t prove that my claim isn’t true since you never come inside, right?”

The girl lost all strength in her shoulders as they dangled like wet noodles.

“If you come to inspect this place with me, I’ll add another one twenty to your rate.”

“Let’s go Mr. Kanehiro. Time is wasted. Hurry up.”

Elly bounced right back up like she had never acted like a puppy that got abandoned on the street on a rainy day just earlier, and pushed the door open.

Great. I have a bait in case something happens in there now.

The door creaked as light poured inside for the first time since who knew how long. The first thing they saw when the door opened was the chandelier crashed down to the black and polished floor, creating a massive mess that needed to be taken care of later.

But what assaulted their senses the most was the thick and muddy smell of old wood mixed with some kind of lingering sweet scene.

Walls lined with dark wood paneling painted with stories of myths and legends. One of them depicted a long, ominous-looking spear, that was darker than the darkest night, piercing an equally dark dragon with bright, blue eyes.

“For a haunted mansion, this isn’t so bad,” Karl said.

“How is this not so bad? This place gives me the creep. Look” Elly stuck out her hand. The once smooth skin was covered in goosebumps.

Karl shrugged as he walked up the grand staircase first. Elly, with no other choice, followed him behind. Each step they took, steps creaked ominously, creating a simple symphony that brought this mansion back to when there was still someone living there.

Scouting the second and third floors, the place looked no different from the first floor. Old, dusty, and carried the air of eons past.

“It seems like there is nothing here. Are you sure this place is haunted, Miss Clerk?”

“Well, besides looking creepy. We haven’t encountered anything so I can’t say. But all the previous owners and the current one all stated that this place is haunted.” Elly raised her voice as if to explain a mistake she made.

As the two return to the first floor, Karl commended, trying to lower the price again.

“Well, I don’t know if this rundown of a place worth 100 thousand Tal, Miss Clerk.”

Fixing her glasses, making them flash like in an anime, Elly explained, “The walls still hold and are in good condition. All the rooms were strengthened with arrays. Every single piece of furniture, despite looking worn out, is still worth at least eight to nine hundred Tal. Combining it all, I say, if you sell all the furniture to the Magic Engineering Guild alone, you can make back at least half of what you spend.”

She puffed her chest and made a smug face like she just won the argument of her life.

“Alright, alright. You win.” Karl raised his hands in surrender.

Suddenly, howling echoed throughout the mansion. Screams of millions damned soul crashed into the two’s minds and hearts as they shook their will. But amiss the screams there was a faded cry.

“Someone crying,” Karl said as he dashed toward the source of the cry.

“Hey, don’t leave me.” Elly quickly ran after Karl.

Karl ran for what felt like hours as the screams got smaller and smaller before they disappeared when he stood in front of a steel, chained black door covered in active Runes that shined a bloody light. The image on the door depicted the same myth he saw when he first came in, the dragon pierced by the spear.

“Ha, this looked like a cursed treasure room. Let’s go in.” Karl said as he turned his head back.

But Elly was nowhere to be found. It was only him inside the endlessly long corridor.

“Oh, I lost my bait. That’s a shame.” He shrugged.

His [Void Heart] went out of control out of nowhere as it created a suction force that drew Karl closer and closer to the door.

“What the fuck.”

He could curse all he wanted. But his body still reacted to the [Void Heart] and reached out toward the door. The moment his hand touched the door, all blood-like Runes got sucked into his heart and disappeared. And the door opened.

Before Karl could finish his thought about where all the Mana and Runes this [Void Heart] consumed even went, he saw what lay behind the door.

A broken spear, made from some unknown black and blue material, stabbed through a tiny dragon the size of a two-month-old Golden Retriever.

 

Outro:

New puppy, let’s fucking goooooooooo \(^o^)/