Chapter 14
"An alchemist lives there."
"An alchemist?"
"Yes, Wiesel has a lot of herbs, so alchemists often come. That person has settled here permanently."
"Does he live alone?"
"I don't know much since he's someone who only comes out once every few months. Even when I visit occasionally, the house is often empty. I think it's been more than half a year since I last saw him."
When I asked the villagers, they said there had been no human traffic in that mansion I saw in my dream.
The only rumor was that a reclusive alchemist came and went once every few months.
I lingered in front of the mansion's gate. There wasn't even a doorbell, as if they didn't welcome people at all.
The exterior of the mansion was exactly the same as the one in my dream. It was really strange how this mansion appeared in my dream.
Putting the dream aside, I didn't have a plausible reason to enter this mansion. Nothing would be more suspicious than a stranger suddenly visiting an alchemist's house. That reclusive and exclusive alchemist would hardly welcome me.
I pondered for a moment what excuse I should use.
Oh well, I can probably get away with saying I was there for the ghoul problem.
Since there was no doorbell, I was planning to grab the gate and shake it.
I grabbed the gate handle. It was so poorly maintained that rust had formed, and I could feel the rust powder on my hand.
When I shook the gate, it slid open.
"Huh?"
The gate wasn't locked.
I pushed the door slightly and poked my head halfway in.
"Is anyone here?"
The yard floor was densely paved with stepping stones, but weeds had grown thickly between the gravel gaps.
All the mansion windows were cloudy with dust, and one was even cracked, looking like it might break at any moment.
It was closer to an abandoned house that had been neglected for a long time rather than a place where someone lived.
The overall atmosphere was even eerie, as if a ghost might jump out at any moment.
I approached the entrance.
Even the front door was left unlocked and slightly ajar.
Strange. Had the search party come by first? Unlikely. The search party I was with was in charge of this area, and we had just passed by this house.
Just in case, I drew my sword.
I slowly walked to the entrance, grabbed the door with my fingertips, and carefully pulled it. Then, I stepped right inside.
The interior of the mansion that came into my view was almost identical to what I had seen in my dream. Except it was a bit messier.
The structure was perfectly identical. However, picture frames and dried-up flower pots were scattered on the floor.
Had there been a burglary?
If it was an alchemist's house, thieves might have come to steal research records.
If not that, then… The hair on my body stood on end.
I put the sword back in my waist. I couldn't face a ghoul with an ordinary sword.
I focused all my senses on my eyes and ears and moved toward the study I had seen in my dream.
The creaking sound of the wooden floor felt as loud as thunder.
I passed through the corridor and stood in front of the study door. Then I took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob to push it open.
Even with the small movement of the door opening, dust billowed up.
Dust was thickly settled on the floor. Judging by the lack of footprints, it seemed no one had entered for at least a few years.
I fanned away the dust with my hand and approached between the rows of bookshelves.
What are these?
Most of the books were in languages I had never seen or heard of. Moreover, there wasn't just one such language. I didn't even know there were so many languages I didn't know.
I picked up a random book and flipped through it. Every page was filled with notes and memos. I grabbed another book at random and opened it, and it was similarly filled with notes. Could the alchemist who owned this house fluently speak all these languages?
I recalled the bundle of papers on the desk from the last scene of my dream.
As I emerged from between the bookshelves, the image I had seen in my dream appeared before my eyes.
A dusty window. And a long desk.
Faced with this unbelievable scene, I closed my eyes and pressed around them as if doing acupressure. Then I opened my eyes again. The same scene.
I wasn't seeing things. I don't know if I had an out-of-body experience while sleeping, but this place was certainly imprinted in my mind.
And the bundle of parchments on the table.
Although thickly covered in dust, its overall condition was good. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have been eaten by mice, which usually happens when left unattended for so long.
Judging by its thickness, it looked to be at least 300 pages.
I picked up the bundle of papers and blew off the dust accumulated on the cover.
[Research Records]
Zverev Brunselos.
It was a book containing the alchemist's research. Zverev was probably the owner of this house.
This was the last thing I saw in my dream.
Why did I see this research document in my dream? What connection does this have to me?
Turning the cover, fortunately, it was written in a language I could read.
Looking at the table of contents, I saw that 380 pages contained recipes for just four potions.
Grabbing a chunk of pages and flipping through, I found that from the middle part onwards, it was written in a language I couldn't understand.
Oh no.
I could only read the recipes for the first two potions. While I said able to read the language it was written in, that didn’t mean I understood what the writing was trying to say. It was full of complex terms difficult for me to understand, such as processing methods for ingredients, composition formulas for components, various alchemy symbols, and so on.
It wasn't just simple combination methods but detailed records of efficacy and side effect research, clinical trials, all work procedures, and trial and error.
I skimmed through the recipe creation process for the first potion at the beginning and inadvertently let out a groan.
It was the part about experimenting with the body's reaction to an incomplete potion.
The appearance of the subject undergoing human experimentation was described in detail with drawings. The shape of the body, hair, wrinkles, and even body hair were drawn, making it strangely unpleasant.
Moreover, the experimental subject in the drawing had arms and legs bound with chains.
If they needed to be restrained to this extent, the subject was likely not participating voluntarily.
"Damn it."
The next page described the physical changes after administering the potion in a dry tone.
[Dynamic visual acuity improved.]
[Reaction speed increased dramatically.]
[Visual and auditory senses became extremely sensitive.]
[Fluorescent material accumulated in the iris. Night vision ability developed.]
Just looking at the effects, I couldn't grasp what kind of potion this was.
I continued turning the pages.
All the subject's hair fell out, the skin burned and then stuck together as if recovering. New teeth grew, and muscle tissue gradually thickened.
The ribs gradually grew and deformed, breaking through the back.
Unlike the alchemist's calm description, the subject's body was changing strangely. However, there was no mention of other side effects.
This appearance is very similar to... a ghoul, isn't it?
I turned the pages of the research record forward.
I quickly scanned the text with my eyes.
I found it.
I read a line describing the experimental conditions at the beginning.
[...Due to difficulties in receiving a stable supply of experimental subjects, I substituted the initial clinical experimental subjects for the potion with “human corpses in the process of ghoulification”, which have similar reactions to human bodies.]
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
This mad alchemist was testing his potion on ghouls.
This alchemist was out of his mind to bring ghouls to the center of the village for use.
Although I desperately wanted to read more, I closed the record and put it inside my clothes. This wasn't the time to be leisurely.
I need to find the laboratory.
Ghouls disliked sunlight, so places with windows were excluded. No, if he had any sense, he would have set up the lab somewhere without a chance of peeking.
Then it must be in the basement.
I left the study, muffling my footsteps.
Then, I slowly walked down the corridor. There are no windows at the end of the corridor. I could see a shadowy area leading underground at the end of the corridor.
My heart beat strongly. So strongly that I worried it might echo in the corridor.
I stood in front of the stairs leading underground and took a deep breath.
It was dark below the stairs where light didn't reach.
I started going down the stairs, feeling my way along the wall.
The stairs continued deeply as if I had descended two floors.
At the end of the stairs, a corridor stretched out. And on the ceiling of that corridor, dim lights were lit with magic stones. The brightness was even fainter than a candle as if the magic stones' lifespan was almost over.
And there was a faint sound coming from there. I held my breath and listened carefully.
It sounds like something chewing.
There was definitely something beyond there.
At the end of the corridor, I could see a thick iron door that wasn’t fully closed.
I approached the iron door and slowly pushed it open.
The interior was also dimly lit by nearly dead magic stones.
There were long spaces with iron bars on both sides of the walls, like prison cells.
A large magic circle was drawn on the ceiling, but part of it was lost due to one side of the ceiling collapsing.
In the center was a hard bed in the shape of a cross.
And next to it, a ghoul was tearing apart and eating the corpse of another ghoul. It was so focused on its meal that it didn't notice my arrival.
On the wall directly in front of me, bricks had collapsed, and there was a huge tunnel dug out of the earth, large enough for a horse to pass through, extending endlessly.
"..."
I took out the Stitch Silveryn had given me from my pocket.
I placed it on my palm and tapped it a few times, and hidden wings spread wide.
Soon after, the Stitch began to flap its wings, making a buzzing sound like a hornet.
I threw the Stitch behind me, and it immediately flew along the corridor and up the stairs.
At the loud wing sound, the ghoul stopped eating and quickly turned around.
The ghoul stared at me intently for a while, then raised its head and howled in a voice that seemed like a mix between a human and a tiger.
Kuooooooo—
A moment of silence.
Dust fell from the ceiling with a thud.
Then vibrations transmitted through the floor.
Drrrrrrrrr
Countless footsteps shook the earth.
They were getting closer and closer to this place. Soon after, ghouls began pouring out of the tunnel in front of me.
Before long, ghouls filled half of this underground laboratory.
The ghouls approached me slowly, licking their lips.
Until just now, my heart was racing uncontrollably, but now, when I should be extremely tense, I was surprisingly calm.
I stretched my right hand out into the air and closed my eyes.
Even without seeing or calling for it, I could feel it. A sensation that struck my soul, whether it was a sixth sense or something else. That existence that had been breathing quietly somewhere in my body.
The resonance of that existence was stronger than usual. Like a fetus trying to leave its mother's womb, it keeps trying to push its way out of my soul.
I released that existence.
When I opened my eyes, the sword of light was grasped in my hand.