CHAPTER 46: “GLITTER”

No matter how you looked at it, from the start the building was highly suspicious. The fact that the building was intact while its surroundings were completely destroyed made no sense. Whatever the cause of the village’s destruction was, there was something about Tirto’s house that singled it out.

At their request, the old man froze then awkwardly smiled. “I-I’m not following. W-what…?”

“We wish to explore your house. Surely, you have nothing to hide there?” 

“O-of course not!” Tirto blurted, his voice high and drove home the suspicious nature of everything. “You’ll find that there’s nothing inside this house but old furniture, are you sure that you wish to make this your compensation?”

Ai didn’t drop his smile and nodded. Both he and Morion, without waiting for Tirto’s to say anything else, made their way into the house. Once inside, they skipped over the living room. They’ve seen it more than once and believed that nothing too special was there. What they really wanted to explore was the kitchen area and the other rooms.

The kitchen looked just as unspectacular as the living room and completely barren. There were no tables or counters, all the things were placed on the floor or in a single bamboo shelf. There weren’t a lot of appliances either, Ai only saw a single metal teapot, some cutlery and a dish rag that had seen better days. 

From the kitchen, there were two doors. One led you to a small room with a single ripped mattress and a beat up, rusty lantern and the other door led you to a completely empty room with no light. It was completely dark. Ai had found that room to be the most suspicious but Morion wasn’t too convinced that that was the room they were looking for.

Tirto carefully watched and observed the two players do their thing from one corner of the room. His eyes followed them as they dug through every corner of the rooms, hoping to find what they were looking for. Occasionally he would reach out towards them, trying to stop them in their tracks but then never followed through.

In all honesty, Ai wasn’t exactly too sure of what they were looking for. He simply had a vague idea of looking for something out of place in this tiny house, whether it be an object or a feeling in the air. He was also watching Tirto from the corner of his eyes, ready to act if the NPC made any sudden movements, but so far he had been pretty quiet.

After a while, Ai stopped searching. He leaned back against one of the walls and thought to himself. He was sure that they had been combing through every corner of the rooms now yet there was nothing. 

Maybe they were wrong about this and there really was nothing in the house.

Just as Ai was about to call out to Morion and call off the search, he felt an odd warmth on his waist where his lantern hung. When he glanced down at it, he realized that the thing was actually giving off a subtle glow. It wasn’t bright at all, in fact the glow was kind of pathetic, but that was the first time that it had ever done that. His gaze then drifted towards the ground and at his feet. 

Were those...glitter? Or whatever it was, it was shiny little flecks all over his shoes and on the floor. 

“Hm…” At some point, Morion had approached and was also looking at the little glowing flecks on the ground.

His face told Ai that he had an inkling of what it was but didn’t say anything, which for some reason made Ai disappointed for a bit. Morion then pointed towards the floor then slowly at the door leading to the empty room from before. Ai also noticed what he was pointing at.

“It’s coming from that direction.”

Both of them were quick to follow the trail and opened the room. Before, it was pitch black with nothing there, but now, there was a giant magic circle made from the glittery object from before.

“You didn’t use the lantern from the start.” Morion jokingly complained, giving Ai a nudge.

Ai simply shrugged. “I didn’t know it could do that.”

That was true. He didn’t know at all. Never once did the lantern do anything useful. He thought its only usage was to give him extra skill bonuses, not actually show stuff like this, whatever the glitter actually was.

Another day, another Mediator secret was unlocked accidentally. He was beginning to see the unfairness given to the class. 

“What do we do with it?” Ai thought out loud, referring to the magic circle.

“I see.” Beside him, Morion hummed to himself then reached up to take off the necklace around his neck.

The blood red gem that he was always carrying while they were here gave off a slight glow and looked extremely red. As Morion took steps closer to the circle, the glow from the gem became brighter and brighter until it completely blinded the people in it.

When the blinding light subsided and Ai could open his eyes, the magic circle was no more. Instead, there was now a wooden hatch with runes engraved on it. The runes were very flowy and curvy and was probably a spell or something that Ai couldn’t read.

Morion traced the runes with his fingers and then looked at the gem in his hand. The gem was now dim and turned completely black. Whatever it did to the magic circle had drained its vigor and power.

Ai felt guilt come up. The gem was part of Morion’s [Ranked Quest] and he had used it for this. What if he was missing out on a really good reward like an item or maybe a legendary unique skill, even though he didn’t know if those existed in the game or not. Shit. He should apologize and then - 

A hand gave him a comforting pat on the head. Ai blinked confusedly then looked up. 

Morion had on his usual smile. His eyes were kind and didn’t show a shred of anger or annoyance. “Let’s go.”

Feeling a blush rise up to his cheeks, Ai cleared his throat and watched as Morion opened the hatch.

However, as it opened, Tirto rushed in towards the room with panic written all over his face. He was no longer using his walking stick, yet he walked perfectly fine, scrambling towards them with his hands reached out. Morion pushed Ai behind him and let Tirto clutch onto his armor.

They were prepared for the NPC to start attacking them, but he didn’t do anything. He simply sobbed then looked at them with pleading eyes. He was an old man, yet right then and there he looked like a lost child. 

“P-please, travelers, don’t go down there!” His voice was desperate and uncharacteristically high. “T-there’s nothing…”

At the players’ silence, the old man’s grip loosened as he fell onto the ground to his knees. It should’ve made for a depressing sight yet it was more like watching a doll get cut off from its strings. His face turned blank and his whole body slumped as if he had no bones at all. Ai flinched when he saw the body on the floor, a lump formed in his throat and he subconsciously stuck a bit closer to the body next to him until it blocked the view.

He knew that it wasn’t real, but it still made him incredibly uncomfortable. The lifeless look in his eyes and the way his body laid, unmoving. It made him nauseous. 

The next second, the body simply...disappeared. It faded away like wispy smoke blown away by the wind until there was nothing more. As if it was never there. Following the body’s disappearance, Ai felt a ringing in his head so loud that it made him close his eyes.

When he opened them once more...it was all gone.

Everything. It was gone. The walls, the door, the floor. It all disappeared as if it was never there. All that was left was remains of what used to be walls, floors, roofs and foundation, but they all looked singed and burnt, just like the rest of the houses in the village.

Another thing he noticed was that his head felt incredibly clear, like a muggy fog had been lifted. He didn’t even realize that he felt that way until it was gone.

“What…” 

What the hell just happened?

“An illusion.” Morion answered his unspoken question. “It was all an illusion. Tirto, the house, the ghosts and villagers we saw. They weren’t real.”

“So that was why we couldn’t attack the ghosts…” Ai realized. They could touch him but he couldn’t touch them. His mind came back to the ghost that...seduced him...but faded once Morion slashed his sword towards it.

“We should find the cause of it down there.”

Once Morion pointed at the hatch on the ground, Ai realized that it didn’t disappear like the rest of the house. It was still there, open, with a moldy wooden ladder for people to enter without jumping in, waiting for them to enter.