"Let's visit that house first." He beckoned Ghost to follow him. Ghost was confused by Locke's talking to himself and further confused by his subsequent explanation.

The two walked over to a house and Locke knocked on it.

"Who is it?" An old man yelled in annoyance. 

"Visitors." Locke replied, causing the door to creak open. An old man in relatively good health was behind the door. He became circumspect the moment he saw the Noble aura and incredible clothing worn by Locke and the servant costume by Ghost.

"M-my Lord." The old man struggled to bow. 

"You don't need to bow, village elder. I'm just wondering if this village has a place that can offer us shelter for the night? The sun's already setting." Locke calmly explained his predicament.

"This... My lord, our's is a very small village with no inn. The closest place with an inn is Merilin City." The old man said.

"The old lady told me you would help us, though?" Locke asked with a raised eye.

"Old lady? Which old lady?" The elder asked in confusion.

"The ghost who haunts this village. Old woman with a hunched back, uses a jagged stick to balance herself and speaks like a frog. Her braided hair is white." Locke described her features slowly.

"You saw her!" The old man almost yelled before remembering his station. "Please come in. I have a spare room you can use to sleep."

That night, Locke was having dinner with the old man, who was visibly confused why the Noble's servant refused any food.

Locke promptly ignored the elder's confusion. Instead, he was more curious about the old woman and the large house.

"What's the story of the old woman?" He asked.

The elder sighed. "The old lady only appears in front of visitors. None of our villagers has seen her. However, we always see people who get scared of the old woman and run away as fast as possible after observing her.

Our village is a very ancient one. We do not have records, but my great grandmother told me that her great grandmother had been born in this village and it has remained the same since way back then." 

"What about the large house?" Locke asked. "The old lady asked me to stay away from the house."

The elder was stumped. "There is an old rule in this village. Never go out once the sun sets. Deep into the night, we hear deathly howls from inside that house." 

"Interesting. So is there something inside the house?" Locke asked.

"No one knows. The door to the house has been locked since time immemorial. It has no windows either. The voice alone is enough to put fear into our hearts." The elder said.

"Then pardon me, when I try to enter the house tonight." Locke said confidently.

"My lord, you mustn't!" The elder pleaded. "It's been foretold since a long time! Opening the door will lead to bad things!"

"Don't worry about me. You can stay safely inside here." Locke said confidently. The elder could only sigh in despair.

---

That night, the old man tightly wove himself into his blanket and slept. His body was shivering in fearful anticipation already. Locke and Ghost, on the other hand were absolutely calm. The two were playing chess under the light of a candle.

When the clock struck midnight, a windy breeze began to hustle through the gaps in the wooden house's planks. Slowly, the wind began to reach a crescendo, causing the breezy sound to turn into a shrill whistling one. The loosely fit door of the house began to rattle, and slowly, the hint of a howl could be heard.

Locke glanced at the old elder, who had crumpled himself and was shivering in fear under his bedsheet. 

"Old man, you can relax. We'll be out for a walk." Locke tried to reassure him, but his words seemed to have had the opposite effect on the man. Shrugging, Locke opened the door causing a gust of wind to rush in along with hundreds of shed leaves.

"Sorry for the mess, old man." Locke apologized, before the two of them left the house and closed the door behind them.

Outside, the two calmly stood in the midst of a tempest. However, the highlight was definitely the horrifying howls emerging from within the giant house. 

"The house is glowing!" Ghost exclaimed in surprise.

"Um hm. I wonder if some kind of peculiar glow at night is a feature of these Legacies?" Locke wondered aloud.

"Is there a Legacy inside?" Ghost asked.

"Only one way to find out." Locke replied with a smile as the two began walking towards the house. 

"LEAVEEEEEEEE."

"BEGONEEEE"

The howls soon began to formulate words of a threatening nature.  

Locke sneered at the voice. "Do you Legacies have only one way of acting? Howling like ghosts? That feels like a pitiful way of living."

"YOUUUU!" The howl screamed.

"The trio was more perceptive than you, even if they constantly tried to eat each other's head off." Locke muttered as he reached the door.

"DON'T YOU DARE FOOL!"

"Your threats aren't working, old hag. Weren't you so good natured in the afternoon? What happened to you?" Locke asked as his hand grabbed a hold of the door's handle.

He slowly twisted it, and to no surprise of his, the door opened without any issues.

Suddenly, the howls disappeared. Inside the house, an old woman was anxiously fiddling with a weird contraption. The woman was ethereal, but the contraption wasn't.

When Locke saw the contraption, he couldn't help but burst into laughter. The woman was agitatedly trying to shake the object in multiple directions while being unable to open it.

"I, the great vault cleaner can't open even this stupid thing?" The woman scorned as she continued struggling with the object.

When she saw Locke laughing at her, her ethereal face turned red from embarrassment with rage.

"What do you know!" The old woman angrily retorted. "What could you possibly know? Being unable to open this thing is a curse on my soul! A curse, I tell you!"

"So if I open it, you'll give me your Legacy?" Locke asked.

"Hmph, if you can open this wretched thing, what would the use of my legacy be?" The woman snorted, but her eyes seemed to be considering the deal.

"I wouldn't know until I get the Legacy." Locke replied with a smile.