“Well done, both of you,” Scarlett told Fynn and Shin after what remained of their target scattered away with one last blast of her pyrokinesis. She walked up to the center of the spacious chamber they were in, kneeling down to pick up a rusty old key that was nestled inside a pile of slightly glowing iron chains.

[Chains of beleaguerment (Rare)]{The chains shaped by one cursed by the burden of their loyalty}

She looked up at Fynn, gesturing towards the chains. “Place those inside the bag.”

The chains weren’t an artifact per se, but they had been a crafting component in the game. Not anything she was likely to need, but if it could be sold, it was useful.

The white-haired young man walked over and picked the chains up, corralling them into the [Bag of Juham] hanging over his shoulder.

Scarlett stood up and scanned her eyes across the room. Their fight had left a small mess, but nothing too bad. The [Custodian] they had been hunting down had proven an easier target than expected. Not only had Fynn been able to locate the ghost with relative ease, but the fight itself had also turned out rather anticlimactic. Fynn had—of course—been part of the reason for that, as had Shin, but what had surprised Scarlett the most was how effective her own magic had shown to be against the ghost.

In fact, it had been unexpectedly powerful against most things they’d encountered in this mansion, really. It also helped that none of the enemies up till now seemed to have passed the level 50 breaking point that made her [Charms of Apperception] ineffective—although she imagined they were all close—which meant she could see their weak points.

Still, she supposed that [Superior Pyrokinesis] was the main reason why this time, things differed compared to some of her previous experiences. She thought she’d already gotten a decent handle on the skill’s power before coming here, but clearly, that wasn’t completely true. Although there might be something else behind it as well. It did seem as if both her hydrokinesis and pyrokinesis were particularly strong against the ghosts in this place—the dolls they’d encountered could take a bit more damage from her—so perhaps it was related to some weakness she was unaware of? While undead were weak against fire in the game, that did not go for ghost and their kin, so maybe it had something to do with the ‘true’ variants of pyrokinesis and hydrokinesis that she apparently had?

It was hard to know for sure, considering she hadn’t had much time to understand that part of her magic yet. It was something she was planning on delving deeper into when she returned to Freymeadow, though.

But whatever the reason was, she wasn’t going to complain. She also wasn’t going to let it get to her head. The real dangers in this dungeon lurked in the later section.

“What are we doing next?” Shin asked. The young Shielder walked up to her, giving the key in her hand an inspecting look.

“Next, we will track down the others again,” she replied. “After that, we will proceed onwards to the next section of the mansion. If things have gone as planned, Sir Leon and the other two should already have dealt with the target on their end or will soon do so.”

In the game, the two Custodians would just revive the other if you didn’t deal with both of them quickly enough. It didn’t matter if you’d already looted them or anything like that.

That’s why she wanted them to split up for this part. It was a lot easier than running around the mansion as one did in the game. Especially considering that this place was a lot bigger here than she could remember it being in the game. That had definitely been a wise decision on her part. And with Leon here, even when split up, neither of the groups was likely to be in any real danger as long as they stayed in the middle section of the mansion.

When they were finished with everything else, they would move down to the lower section. That was where you originally entered the dungeon in ‘Chronicle of Realms’, and while it didn’t house any particularly powerful enemies or items, loot was still loot. Normally, she would have started there to begin with, but it was a lot easier entering this place through the Withersworths' mansion in Autumnwell rather than traveling all the way by carriage.

What was the point of knowing the game’s shortcuts if you weren’t going to use them?

Scarlett ordered the other two along as she left the chamber where they’d cornered the Custodian and resumed traveling through the mansion’s winding hallways. The odd ghost or two that tried attacking them from the various paintings spread about the place were promptly dealt with by Fynn.

Scarlett opted to save her mana as much as she could. Their previous fights had taken about a quarter of her stores, which wasn’t too bad, really. She’d mostly used variations of her Aqua Mines, since they were one of her most mana-effective attacks at the moment — despite not necessarily being as powerful as just blasting her enemies with pure fire.

As they continued down the hallways, they would stop at some of the rooms now and then, whenever Fynn felt a presence of some kind inside them. Those rooms that weren’t locked would quickly be cleared out and any valuables would be gathered before they moved on. Groups of either ghosts or dolls were the most common encounters there, but it was nothing that Fynn and Shin couldn’t take care of, with only some basic support from Scarlett in the back.

She made some use of the concoctions prepared by Allyssa in the process—like the [Brew of Fireworks], which stunned undead and ghosts—but since they hadn’t run into anything too dangerous yet, she had been able to take things relatively easy. In fact, the smoothness with which they were progressing had provided her ample opportunity to just stand back at times and try to get a read of the situations, putting into practice some of the things she’d learned from Garside during their sessions.

Unfortunately, the loot they found in most of these rooms was disappointing. The majority didn’t even have any real items in them—enchanted ones, that is—so instead they ended up simply bringing along whatever other articles looked like they could be worth something.

Scarlett had already lost count of the amount of fine cutlery, jewellery, and the odd silver candelabrum that Fynn was lugging around in the [Bag of Juham] now. In a way, she felt like a graverobber with how they were essentially picking up everything that wasn’t nailed down. Not that she was letting that stop her from doing so. She’d already gotten permission from Lord Withersworth. Even though the man himself had never set foot in this place, he was still legally its owner.

As they continued through the hallways, she intermittently checked inside her [Pouch of Holding] to ensure the key she’d picked up from the Custodian hadn’t disappeared. The fact that it remained there told her that the others had probably been successful at their end of things, which was good.

It took a little over an hour before they finally reached the eastern wing of the mansion again, mainly due to them stopping to clear so many of the rooms and the fact that the hallways here were as warped and confusing as they were. From there, however, tracking down Leon and the others wasn’t too difficult because of Fynn. Within twenty minutes, they turned around a corner to find the three others exiting one of the rooms down the dim hallway, the door creaking shut behind them.

Surprised looks crossed over their faces as Scarlett approached them.

“It appears you are all in good condition,” she said, looking them over. Her eyes stopped on Leon, who was studying her cautiously. He’d been doing that a lot today. “Can I take it that things went well on your end?”

“We didn’t encounter anything that wasn’t manageable, if that is what you mean,” the man answered. His attention shifted to Allyssa. “As for how things went, I’m probably not the best to answer that.”

Scarlett turned to look at the girl, who seemed to shrink a little under her gaze.

“We, eh, we found that custodian you mentioned,” the young Shielder said. “But we didn’t as much ‘take care of him’ as we…eh, made a deal with him?”

…They made a deal with one of the Custodians? How would that work?

“It wasn’t exactly clear what you wanted,” Allyssa hurried to add. “So I sort of did what felt right at the time.”

Scarlett arched a brow at the girl. “That is because I did not expect there to be any other alternatives to handling the Custodian than to remove it. Ghosts and similar apparitions are not the type of beings that would allow for any sort of parley with the living.”

This held true for the majority of ghosts she had encountered in the game, barring some very rare exceptions, mostly related to one of the companions in ‘Chronicle of Realms’. In addition, she was pretty sure that there was no ‘second’ option when it came to the Custodians in the game. Either you killed them, or they killed you. The Custodian they’d run into in the west wing had been furious at just seeing them, so she didn’t understand how one would even begin attempting to speak with it.

She glanced at Rosa.

Had the woman done something bard-y to the ghost?

“I think he might have been calmer because I found this strange room,” Allyssa said. “I can’t really explain how, but the room seemed a lot less…haunted, than the rest of this place. There was this painting of a girl in there as well, and when the custodian-ghost-man showed up, he sort of mistook me for her. That’s why I could talk to him.”

Scarlett frowned. She didn’t recognize that from the game. What exactly had they done?

“I convinced him to stop going around reviving dolls and whatever else he was doing, and he also gave me this key.” Allyssa took out a key that looked the same as the one Scarlett had found. “That’s what you wanted, right? It didn’t feel right to just…kill him. Not after hearing what he said.”

The girl gave Scarlett an uncertain look, clearly worried about what her reaction would be.

Scarlett considered it for a moment.

The reason she had wanted to take care of the Custodians immediately after getting here was that it unlocked several hidden paths. It also just made the clearing of this place a lot easier in general. Not taking care of them wasn’t really an option. Especially in the later section where they would keep reviving the mobs patrolling the hallways, which meant you could quickly become overrun.

She wasn’t sure about letting whatever Allyssa had done slide if it could put her plans at risk, but…

Well, it did seem like it had worked this time, considering that the second Custodian hadn’t been revived yet. It should be fine. In the future, though, she would have to take things like this into further consideration. Perhaps giving more specific directions when needed would be a good idea.

“Very well then,” she said. “As it does not appear to have caused any issues this time, I see no reason to reprimand you for your actions. Henceforth, however, if you feel uncertain about something, do not hesitate to inquire with me for clarification. I will provide you with an answer if it is within my ability, and something that I am at liberty to share.”

The girl’s expression relaxed a little at her words.

“I will,” she said.

Suddenly, she seemed to remember something as she opened her cape and pulled out an object wrapped in black fabric. “We found a few things that might be artifacts, by the way, although I’m not sure exactly what they do.”

Allyssa unwrapped the object to reveal a long, curved blade with a silver sheen and streaks of red running through it.

[Life’s Limit (1/?) (Unique)]{A part of a whole, yet it will never be complete}

Scarlett examined the blade.

Right. She had almost forgotten that the first piece of that set was here.

It was useless at the moment, but it could prove useful in the future if she got the other parts. She gestured to Fynn, who took the blade and placed it inside the [Bag of Juham]. After that, Allyssa pulled out three more items, handing two to Fynn and displaying the last to Scarlett.

[Tome of Hopelessness (Rare)]{An ancient tome carrying secrets that should remain unspoken}

It was a leather-bound tome, gingerly held up by the girl with a piece of cloth. It gave off a dark atmosphere, one that even Scarlett could sense, despite her inexperience with magic and spiritual matters. She couldn’t know for certain, but she suspected that this tome boosted necromancy spells in some fashion.

In the game’s magic system, necromancy spells had technically been part of the umbramancy school of magic. But in this world, it seemed to be considered a school of its own just because of how taboo it was. The people performing umbramancy magic in this world—which included some of the Followers of Ittar—probably also didn’t want to be associated with necromancy in any way whatsoever.

Still, the tome would most likely fetch a high price with the right buyer, just considering how rare it was. But finding that kind of person would be hard without prior connections. Not to mention illegal.

She shot a glance Leon’s way. He was scowling as he looked at the tome.

Yeah, fat chance she was going to try something like that. Especially not when a knight literally saw her get the item.

“Sir Leon,” she said. “I presume you understand what this is as well? I will admit to some surprise that you would even allow her to show me this.”

He silently met her eyes. She stared at him for a short while, then clicked her tongue. She was pretty sure he was testing her.

“This is not something that my household has any experience in handling,” she said. “Could I leave it to you to ensure that it is dealt with appropriately?”

He studied her for a moment longer, then gave a slow nod. “I’ll do something about it when we’re finished here.”

“Much appreciated.” For now, Scarlett grabbed the tome with her bare hands—it wasn’t as if it was contagious—and placed it into her pouch to give him later. She then turned her attention to the other two items that Allyssa had taken out, currently being held by Fynn.

One was a statue that looked much like a miniature gargoyle.

[Statue of Longevity (Rare)]{A statue filled with the vigor of youth, slowly suffusing its surroundings}

This item wasn’t one that she remembered from the game, but that didn’t mean much in and of its own. There were hundreds of items in the game — maybe even thousands. She mostly only remembered those that she had at some point made use of in any of her playthroughs, or at least had sold for a decent amount.

Considering that this item was only of the rare-tier, she doubted its effects were especially major. It also had an area-of-effect trait, it appeared, and those were always weaker than others. That didn’t mean that the item itself couldn’t be useful, though. She might not have need for it in a fight, but perhaps it could be placed in her office? The description made it sound like it could help her out when she was working with paperwork and things like that.

For now, she waved for Fynn to put the statue away and looked towards the last artifact.

[Tablet of Sovegrephor (Epic)]{Within lies the unbridled power of change, harnessed and controlled}

A smile formed on her face. She’d been hoping they would find this here.

The item was small. A finger-sized metal plate, with its center being made of some sort of glass that had a mess of colors swirling within.

In ‘Chronicle of Realms’, [Tablets of Sovegrephor] weren’t artifacts in the normal sense, but rather items for upgrading your existing artifacts. They were rare and limited in quantity, so you had to use them carefully. They also had their limitations.

A tablet that was epic-tier, for example, would only work on items that were epic-tier or lower. If it was lower, the tablet would upgrade the item to the bottom epic-tier, which was in the 40-50 level range. This included scaling any effects those items had that might have been locked to lower levels. If the tablet was used to upgrade an epic-tier item, however, it would only increase the item’s stats, usually not much more than so that it equaled an item of maybe five or so levels higher.

In general, epic-tier items could be found in the 40-65 level range. Because of that, Scarlett had always thought it a waste to use epic-tier [Tablets of Sovegrephor] on those items. Higher stats were nice, but you could always find new items with stronger stats in the future. It was much better using a tablet on low-level items that had rare or unique traits that you wanted.

And it just so happened that Scarlett had an item exactly like that. One that she had been nearing the limits of for a while now. She would have to upgrade her [Charms of Apperception] soon, when they had some more breathing space.

“Well done,” she told Allyssa and the others. She took the tablet and placed it into her pouch. “It must have been arduous for you, procuring these artifacts.”

It was much better than the junk they’d found on their end. She had known there was a [Tablet of Sovegrephor] in this dungeon, but she hadn’t been sure whether they would find it. The rooms in this part were random, after all, and with the size of this place, she couldn’t be certain that they could explore all of it. Allyssa and the others managing to find it this quickly was impressive. If she remembered things correctly, there had also been a pretty strong mini-boss guarding that room.

“The experience itself wasn’t the best,” Allyssa said with a small shudder. “But we had Sir Leon with us, so it wasn’t that difficult. Those last two artifacts were also just lying in a chest in the room I told you about, so they were super easy to get.”

Scarlett turned to the girl. They didn’t fight a mini-boss?

…Was she misremembering things, then? Mixing up items, maybe?

“Where exactly was this room?”

“I…” Allyssa’s forehead creased as she looked around the hallway they were in. “I’m not sure? I don’t think I could find it again, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Scarlett looked at Leon.

He shook his head. “I’m not the one that found it.”

She glanced at Rosa, who just pointed back to Allyssa. “It was all her.”

Scarlett furrowed her brow. “Are you certain there was nothing more in that room? No ghost or other threat that revealed itself after you found these items?”

“No,” Allyssa said. “But it was like…”

Her expression grew more focused. "Well, it’s hard to explain, but there was this…connection that I felt to the room, I guess you could say? To the girl who used to live there. And like I mentioned, the Custodian also mistook me for her for some reason, talking to me about some lord.”

“If he mentioned a lord, it was most likely Abelard Withersworth- He was a very powerful mage that made his home here before. But I am afraid I do not know which girl it is that you are talking about.”

“Ehm, I think her name was Orelia? Like I said, there was this large, incredibly detailed and fancy painting of her, and the Custodian was calling me ‘young lady’ and everything.”

“Young lady?” Shin asked. He gave Allyssa a somewhat amused look.

She grimaced. “It was weird, okay? I bet you wouldn’t like being called ‘young lord’ by a strange ghost-man either.”

Scarlett pushed their conversation to the side of her mind, putting one hand to her chin as she thought over Allyssa’s words. She wasn’t quite sure what this meant, but clearly, the girl had triggered some kind of event that wasn’t in the game. Or at least not in a shape that Scarlett had encountered it. What the consequences of this would be, though… They would just have to wait and see.

It was curious, in a way.

While there had been plenty of things in this world that differed from what she knew previously, all of the dungeons they’d been in had fit the game almost to a tee. At least in all the regards that mattered.

So, was this the first example of something more major that diverged from the game’s setting, or simply a natural consequence of real-world factors interacting with the elements that had already been present in the game?

She would have to keep her eyes open, whatever the answer was. At the very least until she had a better grasp of the situation.

Turning away from the others, she looked down the hallway they had come from. For now, though, the next step would be to continue to the next section of the mansion.