Scarlett and the others stood before an old wooden door. It was located at the end of a narrow stairway hidden away in the mansion’s central wing. In the game, the natural way of progressing to the next section of this dungeon was through the main lobby, but that was the annoying way to go about things.

She pulled out the key she’d taken from the Custodian, placing it into the door’s keyhole. The mechanism inside clicked, and the door slid open.

Taking the servants’ entrance would save them several unnecessary fights.

Along with the others, she stepped through into a dim hallway that stretched forward a dozen or so meters. A thick wool carpet ran along the floor up to a point where the hallway split in two. What was probably most notable about this place—compared to the part of the mansion they’d just been in—was that there weren’t any paintings hanging off the walls. From a game-design perspective, that made sense. There were other threats to deal with here. The reason for it in this world, however, was unclear.

“Where are we going now, Scarlett?” Leon asked as they began moving down the hallway. The knight and Fynn took the lead, with Shin in the rear. “Your knowledge of this place’s layout is intimate enough, so I assume you have something in mind.”

She studied the man’s back. “I have learned enough in my research to have a general idea of the mansion’s structure, yes; however, there is still much that I do not know. As for what our current objective is, that would be the study.”

“The study?”

“Yes. The workplace of Lord Abelard, the master of this mansion. That would make for a suitable location to investigate, would it not?”

He glanced back at her. “…Sounds like a wise choice, yes. But what are we investigating? What’s your goal after that?”

She raised a brow at him. “I will have to ask you to be more specific. Are you inquiring over what my overarching purpose in visiting this mansion is? Because I thought I made that abundantly clear in our conversation with Lord and Lady Withersworth.”

For some reason, that earned her a surprised look from the man. “If anything, that made it even more unclear.” He shook his head. “But no, I’m talking about what we’re doing after we find the study.”

She eyed him for a moment. “I suppose you will have to wait and see for yourself.”

Leon frowned. “Or you can tell us right now. This isn’t the kind of situation where you keep secrets from your allies because of some distorted obsession with keeping secrets.”

Next to Scarlett, Allyssa took in a sudden breath, while Fynn turned his head and sent a puzzled look between Leon and Scarlett. Shin and Rosa pretended like they weren’t listening.

Scarlett kept her eyes on Leon for several seconds, studying the man.

She supposed that was a…reasonable perspective to have. Though it annoyed her to no end that he would go out and just say it like that.

As for why she didn’t just tell him what they’d be doing in the study…

Was that really necessary? For him, it might make things more convenient, yes. But for her, it genuinely felt simpler to let the others see things for themselves rather than having to explain every single detail each time they visited one of these places. She would admit that she might be a bit too reticent at times—like earlier with the Custodians—but it wasn’t necessary to share everything. There was just far too much.

Besides, it was easier to pretend like she had learned things through her ‘research’ if she didn’t go around describing locations in detail before they even got there. Although, that particular point might be moot, considering she doubted any of her companions ever bought into those claims to begin with.

But still.

She shook her head, turning her attention from Leon and ahead instead. “I suggest that you return your focus to the matters at hand. This is not the type of place where one can afford to be negligent in one’s vigilance.”

“And why is that?”

“Because, while this part of the mansion does not appear to house any further haunted paintings in it, from what I have gathered, there will still be other threats patrolling the hallways. Mainly more of those dolls that we have previously encountered, though I suspect that these are not ones you can afford to be as lax in handling.”

“…How many of them are there?”

“You expect me to know an exact figure?” She clicked her tongue. “While I understand that it may appear as such, I am, in fact, not omniscient. It would do you well to remember that, and not to allow your thoughts to stray towards useless misconceptions.”

“That’s not what I—” Leon turned his head and looked back at her, then let out a tired sigh and looked forward again. “Fine. I’ll keep my eyes open.”

With that, the party descended into silence once more.

Eventually, after they’d been walking for a few minutes, Fynn suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. The rest of them came to a halt as well.

“What is it?” Allyssa whispered, stepping closer to him. “Did you notice something?”

The young man’s eyes narrowed, and he shifted to stare down the hallway ahead of them. Moments later, a figure appeared from around the corner.

It looked almost like a person, standing at the same height as a short adult, with long, flowing hair running down to hide its shoulder. Its face was in the image of a delicate girl, with large, pale blue eyes that turned to look at them. Most probably would have mistaken it for a real girl. But at second glance, it was clear that something was off. Most of it was smaller things, like the rigid way it turned its head and the way the eyes didn’t actually seem to move or blink. Its smooth, marble-like skin was also a bit too perfect. It definitely belonged in the uncanny-valley region of strange.

The long blades in place for hands were also a pretty big giveaway.

Fynn took off without warning. A gust of wind surged down the hallway as he hurtled towards the doll with a growl. A brief protest left Leon, but by then, Fynn was already nearing his target.

The young man’s right hand shot out at the doll like a hammer. A loud thud rang out through the hallway as the doll blocked the attack with its arm, barely budging from where it stood.

That surprised Scarlett. Fynn had been able to beat down every other opponent they’d met in this mansion without issue. She knew the dolls in this section were supposed to be a lot stronger, but this was a pretty major leap in strength.

Fynn’s other hand slashed out, a pair of glowing claws forming above it. One of the doll’s blades went to intercept the attack. The claws dug a finger’s width into the blade, but the doll’s other blade moved in response, forcing Fynn to bounce back to avoid getting cut.

“Keep your eyes open.” Leon left Scarlett and the others with a warning, then took off towards Fynn and the doll as well.

Scarlett had wanted to observe the man’s abilities for a bit, but her attention was soon caught by a noisy clattering coming from behind them. Turning around, she and the others were met by the sight of a small wave of miniature dolls come rushing down the hallway in their direction. The tiny dolls’ stiff movements didn’t make the sharp blades and scissors in their hands look any less threatening.

“Allyssa.” Shin sent one quick look in his companion’s direction, then stepped forward to cover the rest of them.

In response, one of Allyssa’s hands went up to the bandolier across her chest and pulled out a thin flask. She threw it over Shin’s shoulder and down the hallway. The glass shattered in front of the incoming dolls, spreading a black viscous fluid over the carpet and floor. The fluid almost seemed to multiply at first, increasing to cover a lot more area than the size of the flask would have suggested.

“Don’t use any fire,” the girl said.

Scarlett lowered her hand.

The tide of dolls pushed forward, rushing into the black solution. Almost immediately, the wave turned into a mess as the dolls started clambering over each other when their limbs got stuck in the goo. The ones at the bottom got crushed by the legs and blades of those at the top, who in turn would fall down and get stuck further ahead. Only a handful succeeded in getting past it all, and those were quickly dealt with by Shin’s sword.

Scarlett watched with interest as the young man proceeded to deal with the dolls that were stuck, along with Allyssa.

This was a surprisingly effective way of dealing with the dolls, considering things. These assaults were pretty annoying to deal with in the game unless you had powerful area-of-effect abilities. She wasn’t completely sure her pyrokinesis could take out the dolls fast enough to stop them from reaching her and the others—her hydrokinesis definitely couldn’t—so this made things easier.

She looked back at Leon and Fynn.

In the end, however, these smaller dolls were a relatively minor threat. She could barely keep up with the movements of the two as they fought with the larger doll.

Credit where credit was due, though, Leon had already managed to cut off one of its arms, while Fynn was in the process of trying to get past the blade on its other arm.

She cringed inwardly as one of the doll’s—rather sharp—feet struck Fynn in the chest, sending the young man flying into a nearby wall.

The doll was about to follow up on the attack when Leon’s sword lit up a bright gold, the light moving to form a circle around him and the doll. Its attention immediately shifted to the knight as it aimed a cut towards his head. Leon managed to grab its elbow, bending it in a move that forced the doll onto the floor, where he used his knees to push it down further. Its legs, however, bent up into unnatural positions and slammed into his sides with enough force that the wind from the blast reached Scarlett.

Leon grimaced at the blow, but soon wrested its legs and remaining arm away and brought down his sword. The fight was cleanly finished off as the grappled doll’s head was separated from its body.

Fynn had gotten up, somewhat unsteadily, and walked over to Leon as the golden circle dissipated. The young man’s head moved around as he sniffed the air, clearly wary of more enemies. For a moment his eyes turned back to where Shin and Allyssa were dealing with what remained of the smaller dolls before eventually falling back to Leon as the knight stood up, dusting himself off.

With both threats largely handled, Scarlett walked up to the two, along with Rosa. “Are you okay?” she asked, eyeing Fynn.

He blinked, then looked down at his chest, where part of his clothing had been ripped open. There were traces of blood. “It was strong,” he muttered, touching the injury with his fingers.

“I surmised as much.” Scarlett turned to Rosa. “Miss Hale. Would you care to lend him your aid?”

The bard smiled. “Sure. But if you ask me, it’s Sir Leon over here that took the hardest beating.”

She nodded towards the man, who held up a hand.

“I’m fine.”

“Oh? So you looking as if you ate an unripe orange there earlier was just your normal expression, then? Good to know.” Rosa shot him a small grin as she readied her klert and played a short tune. Her magic quickly took effect, and the wound on Fynn’s chest started healing.

“I’ve had worse,” Leon replied, shaking his head. The magic seemed to relax him a bit, though. “What Fynn said wasn’t wrong, however. That doll was strong. A lot stronger than I thought a construct like that could be.”

“I believe that much is to be expected from something created to protect the domain of an archmage,” Scarlett said.

“What?” His expression turned heavier as he looked at her. “Abelard Withersworth was an archmage?”

She stared at him. That much wasn’t obvious?

“Of course he was. I would like to know what other caliber of mage could fashion a place such as this that still remains in place generations after their death.”

The knight’s forehead creased together. “…You’re not wrong. But to be honest, I’m not sure even an archmage could create something like this mansion by themselves. With the convergence of negative energies present in this place, I was expecting part of the cause to have been a disaster of some sort. Or perhaps some kind of unknown artifact.”

“Perhaps.” Scarlett turned around to look as Allyssa and Shin approached them. “That might also have been part of it, yes. But I can assure you that those dolls were the work of Abelard, and no one else.”

“…If you say so.”

“What did we miss?” Allyssa asked as she reached them.

“Nothing of note,” Scarlett answered. “We were about finished here, in truth. Come, let us not delay in these halls.”

She walked past the limp body of the now headless doll—there was nothing worth looting on it—and started moving down the hallway again. The others hurried to follow.

Soon, they were moving in formation again as they proceeded through the mansion. Within half an hour, they had encountered another two sets of those larger dolls along with waves of the smaller ones. Both times, Leon took on the larger dolls by himself, while Scarlett and Fynn helped Shin and Allyssa in dealing with the other ones, allowing Allyssa to save some of her materials.

Eventually, after having meandered around for quite some time with little in the way of direction—Scarlett’s game knowledge didn’t help much here—they reached a wide vestibule of sorts that had an arched ceiling and a broad set of doors at one end. The doors were made of a dark oak, with carved adornments running across them.

They all paused to examine the doors.

“Is this our destination, then?” Rosa asked.

Scarlett nodded. “It is.”

Shin stepped forward, reaching out to try to pull one of the doors open. It didn’t budge. In addition, there was no noticeable way of unlocking them.

“Unfortunately, that is unlikely to work,” Scarlett said.

“How are you planning for us to get inside?” Leon looked at her. “We’re not beating them down, are we?”

“You are welcome to try, if you so wish. I have my doubts that even you would be successful in such an attempt.”

“There’s another entrance, then?” Shin turned away from the doors and to her. “Like the servant’s entrance earlier.”

She gave him a satisfied nod. “Indeed, there is.”

She started moving in the direction of a corridor connecting to the vestibule, continuing down it for a while before turning around a corner. There, she stopped before another door. This one had two keyholes in it. She pulled out her key and put it into the first hole, then looked back at Allyssa. “If you would be so kind,” she said, gesturing towards the other hole.

The girl looked between her and the door for a moment, a flash of realization passing over her face. She reached into her clothes and took out the other key. After she placed it into the second keyhole, a click sounded out and the door slid open.

Scarlett stepped through first.

She entered into a sizeable study that had a high ceiling. The floor was made of a polished granite, and bookshelves lined the walls, with tall paintings hanging between some of them, depicting various youthful women in different sceneries. There was also a small balcony alcove above a fireplace in the corner, with a wooden railing that hid parts of a chair and a door.

“How old is this place? Like, actually?” Allyssa asked after the rest of them had entered the chamber. The girl ran her finger over a telescope that stood near the wall, then held it up and inspected her clean fingertip.

“This whole mansion has been awfully clean for a place that’s supposed to have been abandoned, hasn’t it?” Rosa said as the woman also looked around.

“I do not know its exact age,” Scarlett said, “but approximately one hundred and fifty years should have passed since the mansion was ‘abandoned’, at least.”

“Wait. That long?” Allyssa spun to gawk at her. “That’s ages! Who’s going around cleaning this place? The dolls don’t have brooms, do they? And other than that custodian, we haven’t run into the ghosts of staff or anything like that.”

Scarlett met her eyes. “We have run into many of them.”

Allyssa blinked, her expression turning gloomier. “Oh.”

Scarlett shifted her attention back to the room itself. “Now, there is no rush, so feel free to explore as you wish. Inform me if you find anything of note, however.”

She walked over to one of the bookshelves and started looking over the titles on it. “For those that have nothing else to do, you may help me. Abelard was supposed to have a secret entranceway somewhere in his study. I do not know its exact location, but I do know that there is a way to open it hidden somewhere here. That is what we will be searching for.”

Her eyes paused on a nearby chiffonier that had a silver carafe on it. She reached out and placed the carafe into her [Pouch of Holding]. Didn’t hurt to bag some extra loot while she was at it.

The others spread out around the study. Surprisingly enough, Shin didn’t immediately make for the bookshelves, but rather for a wide desk that was located at the other end of the room. There were a few books and documents stacked on it, but not much more. The young Shielder started leafing through the piles.

“Find something interesting?” Allyssa asked him after they’d all been looking around for a few minutes. The girl had mostly been searching through a few drawers here and there.

“Maybe,” Shin answered. He held up a thin leather-bound book. “These look like journals of some kind, written by this Lord Abelard. I’m trying to find more detailed information about what happened here.”

Allyssa’s expression changed as she walked over to the desk, grabbing the book from his hands.

He stared at her, then at the book. “…Are you okay? You didn’t get possessed by one of those ghosts earlier, did you?”

“I’m allowed to be interested in books as well, you dunce.” She sent him an annoyed look as she began flipping through the pages.

While they were doing that, Scarlett continued to comb over the rest of the room along with the others. At one point, Leon walked up beside Scarlett, pulling out the books from one of the bookshelves and examining the wall behind. “What exactly are you looking for, Scarlett?” he asked, his voice quiet.

“Have we not already had this discussion?”

“I’m not asking about in this room, or whatever other answer you were planning to give. I’m asking what your true end goal is here. At first, I thought it was about money, but things don’t add up.”

She turned to him, considering him for a moment. “…I will be frank. I see no reason as to why I would be obligated to share that with you. Do not forget that you are merely here to aid me, in return for my consideration in the betrothal matter. You being aware of the reasons behind this excursion holds no importance to me.”

“It is important if what you’re doing here is something that can affect others in the future. We’re dealing with necromancy and Ittar-knows what other magic here. The fact that this place exists to begin with is bad enough, but if what’s found here can bring further harm, I can’t allow you to just leave with it.”

She stared at him.

Right. He was a knight of the empire. His duty was to it and its citizens, and likely held priority over all else in his mind. She didn’t doubt for a second that he would turn her in if he genuinely thought he had enough reason to.

“…What is it that you see when you look at me?” she found herself asking.

He frowned. “What?”

She shook her head. “Never mind. It is nothing that you have to concern yourself with. As for your worries… What I want from this mansion presents no risk to others’ lives. I am not planning on doing anything that might threaten the empire, if that is your concern.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Her primary objective here was to get an item that was needed for her plans with Gaven and the Countess. Those plans weren’t exactly ‘legal’ or ‘virtuous’—and depending on who you asked, they could very well be considered a national threat—but she would at the very least try to ensure that no innocents were harmed. She also didn’t have much choice in the matter.

Leon’s eyes stayed on her for a few seconds. Then he turned back to sifting through the bookshelf. “…I wasn’t implying that you were.”

Scarlett couldn’t stop the scoff that she let out at that. “Are you certain?”

The man remained silent in response.

Soon, she left and walked over to another part of the study to search through a bureau and its drawers.

After a while, Rosa passed by closer to her. “Hey, mind sharing exactly what we’re searching for? I’ve been looking around like a miller in Silverborough but haven’t found anything but a bunch of far-too-clean books. With a secret entrance being, you know, secret, it’d be helpful if you knew what that secret looked like.”

“Unfortunately, I do not have an answer for you,” Scarlett said.

It’d been a while since she had been here in the game, and this was such a minor puzzle that she couldn’t remember exactly what it had been like.

“Most likely, we are searching for hidden levers or buttons of some sort. Two or three of them.”

The bard let out a thoughtful hum, then shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I suppose that’s better than nothing.”

They continued for a while longer. Eventually, Fynn found a small lever hidden inside the fireplace, and not long after, Leon found another one in one of the bookshelves.

Even after they pulled both, however, nothing happened. Which meant that there was probably at least one more that they had to find. After looking around for another ten minutes without finding traces of it, though, Scarlett pressed her lips together in thought. They had already scoured most of the study.

“What about up there?” Rosa asked.

Scarlett looked to where the woman was pointing, up at the alcove above the fireplace.

“That does seem like the only place we have yet to look,” Leon said.

“How about it?” Rosa turned to Scarlett. “Feel like going for a climb?”

“I’ll do it,” Fynn said, stepping towards the fireplace.

“No, that is quite alright.” Scarlett met Rosa’s mirthful gaze. “I would not want to disappoint Miss Hale, after all.”

The woman gave her a surprised look. “Yeah, really? What are you planning on doing?”

In response, Scarlett walked over to stand in front of the fireplace, looking up at the alcove. After a second’s focus, a thin mist sprung up around her. The moment after, she was standing on the alcove. The others stared up at her as she looked around for a lever. She quickly found it. A thin metal rod sitting on the wall next to the door that was up here.

She pulled it down.

A collection of clicks and grinding sounded out as one of the bookshelves shifted, sliding inwards and dissipating away like an illusion. It revealed a stairway that led down into complete darkness.

Mist formed around Scarlett once more as she teleported back down to the others, affording Rosa a small smile. “Does that satisfy you, Miss Hale?”

The woman chuckled. “I guess it does, yeah. That’ll teach me not to expect the unexpected.”

“What was that?” Leon asked, studying Scarlett.

“It was merely the effect of an artifact of mine,” she said.

Up till now, they hadn’t encountered any actual situations where she had to use the short-range teleportation ability that came with the [Garments of Form], so this was the first time she was using it outside of her training sessions. Considering it had three charges, and each charge only took five minutes to recharge, it wasn’t exactly a waste to use it on something like this.

“Now then,” she continued and looked towards the new entrance in the study. “Shall we proceed to the next part?”