Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 51

“I didn’t know you could tell a joke.”

Seeing Leo’s complexion turn pale, I quickly added.

“…….”

Wasn’t that……. a joke?

“A stray animal must have gotten into the mansion because there are trees out back.”

“…….”

Before Leo got scared, I hurriedly continued.

“Yes, since it wasn’t a human presence, you can relax.”

It was a perfect save, but Sir Penadell didn’t see it coming and continued on his way.

“If it wasn’t a human presence… Was it an animal, like Miss Belinda mentioned?”

“The presence was so hazy that I cannot tell you exactly what it was.”

Hey, you might as well say you saw a ghost!

Helpless Leo, completely frightened, absentmindedly toyed with the milk-filled glass.

I gave up and scoffed sarcastically, hoping to get Leo to sleep tonight.

“Ha, don’t tell me you’re still feeling it.”

If Sir Penadell says he doesn’t, I’ll reassure Leo that he can check it out.

Even so, just in case, tonight, I’ll set up a secret base with piled cushions to make Leo sleep soundly.

Planning various things, I was about to pat Leo, who had shrunk, when Pernadel suddenly pointed his finger.

“One.”

‘What? I didn’t feel anything! This is an assassin’s shame!’I sighed internally, he pointed at Terry, who was bemoaning the situation.

“Two.”

He points to Vivian, who stubbornly crosses her arms, insisting there are no ghosts.

“Three.”

To Leo, who unconsciously clutches the hem of my skirt.

“Four.”

And finally, silently, to the floor.

“Five.”

With a composed tone devoid of any emotion, Pernadel concluded.

“Now, in this mansion, including me, six presences are felt.”

It was late evening, and all the employees had left for the day. Currently, there were only five people gathered around the tea table in the mansion.

But six presences?

While everyone remained silent, an unexpected figure calmly spoke up.

“I’ll have to check.”

All eyes turned to the usually quiet Vivian.

Despite her thick glasses, the gleam in her eyes burned like a flame.

“I’ll prove that there’s nothing non-magical or ghost-like. As a mage, I can’t tolerate such things!”

I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

She eagerly started to speak like the classic character who dies first in horror movies. In the end, I couldn’t break Vivian’s determination.

Even trying to threaten her with meat dishes failed. I couldn’t stop her pursuit of the path of magic and meat.

Vivian, who is usually timid, undergoes a complete transformation when it comes to magic and meat. That’s the problem.

Deciding that it was unbearable to let her investigate the mansion alone, in the end, three of us, excluding Leo, decided to move together.

It was well into the late night when we officially started investigating the mansion after putting Leo to sleep.

“The presence is felt from this direction.”

While I didn’t doubt Pernadel’s abilities, I couldn’t fully believe what he referred to as a ‘presence.’

People make mistakes, after all.

Maybe it was some creature like a squirrel looking for food, given the thick vegetation around the backyard.

…Or so I thought.

‘Why is the destination so clear?’

The place Sir Pernadel led us to was known as the Velvet Room, where the possessions of past landlords and documents recording the history of Blanshe are stored.

It was a room that was usually kept locked since it wasn’t used often, and as we entered, a strong smell of dust greeted us. The red velvet-covered walls had dusty portraits of past landlords hanging haphazardly, and on the opposite wall, a bookshelf was filled with ancient volumes.

In the middle, there was a glass display case containing the heirlooms, and Pernadel’s gaze was fixed precisely on that glass case.

“It’s underneath here.”

Around this point, I started to feel a growing anxiety about the possibility of there being actual ghosts in the mansion.

Vivian, with her arms crossed, grumbled as she moved the glass display case, and the dust smell intensified as she lifted the thick tatami mat underneath.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how I should have shaken her by the collar ten minutes ago.

“Why didn’t you say anything about this place when you knew it existed?”

Pernadel’s gaze was directed at a hidden door leading underground beneath the glass display case, and I couldn’t help but ask him, feeling amazed.

“It didn’t occur to me to mention it when you didn’t ask.”

If Sir Penadel were a robot, I’d smack him over the head with a screwdriver right now.

“From now on, even if you’re not asked, if something seems suspicious, speak up.”

As I carefully inputted the command to Pernadel, Terry began to examine the iron door leading to the underground.

“It seems to have been made about a hundred years ago. There’s a lock that was in fashion a hundred years ago.”

Then she said that the lock was strong and the door was thick, so it would take quite a while to open it…….

Wait a minute. Why would you want to open that……?

Can’t anyone see that they put a padlock on it on purpose?

“It’s not just the lock. A sealing magic circle is inscribed here. It seems like it’s sealing something special… perhaps something close to a spirit.”

The more we approached, the more it felt like we were getting involved in something we shouldn’t.

It felt like approaching a horror movie where something cursed is awakened by deliberately committing a forbidden act, people die, the surroundings turn into a sea of blood, and eventually, after defeating the evil entity, everything seems to be over, but the curse continues.

And finally,

“I’ll unlock the magic circle.”

Even the one who committed the forbidden act came forward.

I firmly stopped Vivian.

“Don’t do it.”

“Huh? But now that I’ve already discovered it…”

“This room should be locked as it used to be.”

“We need to prove that it’s not a ghost…”

Seeing that Vivian couldn’t let go of her stubbornness, I took a firmer stance and, with one foot, kicked down on the iron door, making a loud sound.

“If I say don’t do it, then don’t.”

“Oh.”

However, Vivian’s reaction was a bit strange.

She couldn’t take her eyes off my foot.

Not only Vivian but also Terry and Pernadel kept their eyes fixed on my foot.

As if a giant, grotesque, and unidentified bug were sitting somewhere on my body, and the uneasy feeling that I was the only one unaware of it.

Quickly, Pernadel pulled me away from the iron door, making sure I was off it.

I stared blankly as the magic circle on the iron door began to glow madly.

“Why is it like that?”

“I-I didn’t do anything! I just imagined coming secretly tomorrow night to unlock it!”

Vivian’s excuse faded as the glow of the magic circle intensified, and finally.

Crack.

With a cracking sound, the magic circle shattered.

Thanks to the shade Sir Penadel had created with his hand, I could check the condition of the door without being blinded.

The seemingly sturdy iron door was wide open as if it were crumpled like a piece of paper.

Inside, a dark staircase covered in black darkness was visible.

The seal had been broken.

‘Does this make any sense?’

How could a magic circle break into pieces just by a kick?

“Master, what should we do now?”

To Terry’s question, I sighed in response.

Going in to investigate was scary, not knowing what might come out, and leaving it unattended after the seal was broken was unsettling.

I looked back at Vivian, who was holding up one hand in the air, waving it around, appealing for me to let her go, and then gave up.

“Vivian, Terry. If anything seems even slightly dangerous, come back immediately.”

“Yes!”

“Sure…”

With Terry taking the lead, the two slowly descended the underground stairs and soon disappeared into the darkness.

As soon as they were gone, I couldn’t hold back a suppressed cough.

It was due to the dust scattered by the wind that swept through the velvet room.

Pernadel promptly went straight to the window for ventilation.

He may seem insensitive, but I must say that he is strangely quick on his feet when it comes to my safety.

I coughed a few more times, waving my hand to blow the dust away.

A cool night breeze blew through the open window and something like a moth passed before my eyes.

I was so scared of bugs that I backed away, but at that moment my eyes met the moth.

“……?”

Literally, the moth not only had eyes but eyes and a nose.

Wait, if you look closely, it’s wearing clothes too?

I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything, but the moth smiled brightly at me and said.

<You finally found me!>

The moth waved its arms and legs wildly.

‘It’s not a moth, it’s a…….’

“Fairy……?”