Redo of a Romanceless Author’s Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth

Chapter 458. An Exciting Night with Two Girls Outside the City: The Alleged Haunted Castle. (1/10) 

After that encounter with the spider just now, I really wasn’t in the mood to play games.

I decided to be patient and wait them out until they got bored and came in. I wasn’t going to play their little game.

A minute passed by before the footsteps started up again. However… rather than sounding like they were drawing closer, they sounded like they were moving away now.

This little game they’re playing isn’t funny.

I exited the room and shone my flashlight down the hall only for the footsteps to abruptly stop again. Had I caught Rosa and Dawn red-handed? No. 

Then what did I see?

Was it a wandering soul?

No.

If neither of those, whatever could it be?

Well… the answer to that question was… nothing.

I turned to look the other way but there was nothing there either.

There was no one in sight.

Anywhere.

Did they think they were clever by ducking into one of the rooms? As if I’d fall for a cheap trick like that.

I started walking down the passage and checking inside each room one by one in silence. I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of thinking they were getting to me with their little prank.

When I got to the last room I was certain they had to be in it.

They must have thought I’d give up and not check every single one thoroughly. Too bad for them, I wasn’t going to be tricked.

I burst into the final room quickly and spun around with the flashlight only for my eyes to open wide.

… nothing.

There was… no one here.

But… how?

Had they disappeared into thin air?

Or… did the footsteps I hear really not belong to them?

A ghost?

An evil spirit?

Some sort of… demon?

I gulped nervously when I considered that last option.

This wasn’t funny.

Demons?

Devils, sure I’d come to accept that, but demons?

If the story about this place was true… what if that psycho killer was actually a demon or… they became a demon? Similar to how... I became a devil...

If devils exist… could demons too?

Demons are said to be obedient to devils though, right?

In that case… was there anything for me to be afraid of?

I didn’t know. I had no way to know. When had I ever met a demon before?

Never.

I refuse to believe it.

I refuse to accept the existence of demons.

Demons are man’s creation. A creation of one’s mind.

I’m going to lose my mind and go mad if I stay inside this castle for too long.

Hold on, the footsteps I heard earlier, could they have possibly been the result of a hallucination? Perhaps from all the mold inside this castle?

Mold could do strange things to your brain. Toxic molds were known to cause psychosis and hallucinations. That could be precisely what this is all about.

If that was true, staying in here for long wasn’t a good idea after all.

My eyes shot open wide as I was struck by sudden realization.

I see! So that was it!

The origin of the story regarding wandering souls was probably precisely this! Toxic molds! People would hallucinate and see things that weren’t there and they’d associate it with the castle being haunted by ghosts, evil spirits, or wandering souls.

There never were wandering souls here to begin with. It was all a sham caused by the mold.

I can’t believe it took me so long to make that link.

I must be an idiot.

“Haaaaaah. It seems I wasted my time like an idiot.”

I shook my head and returned to the room I was originally in. When I stepped inside, two girls stood at the center of the room with their backs to me. It was naturally Rosa and Dawn. In Rosa’s right hand, to her side, she held a lifeless rabbit’s corpse.

“It’s about time you two got back.”

“Ran!” Dawn called out anxiously as she turned to face me.

“Jeez, you had me worried for a second there. I thought a ghost really spirited you away for a second there.” Rosa turned around in sync with Dawn.

The second I saw their faces I stumbled back while panting heavily.

It startled me.

What I saw in place of their faces.

All withered rotten bones devoid of skin.

“Ran, what’s wrong?” Rosa asked.

I shut my eyes and shook my head.

When I opened them next, they were both back to normal.

I shook my head again and apologized, “Sorry… it’s nothing. We shouldn’t stay here long and should leave as soon as we’re done here.” The mold would start affecting them too. However, I still wanted to snag Dawn’s soul here as it was the perfect opportunity to do so.

“Jeez, what are you in such a rush for? Are you suddenly getting scared of summoning a devil?”

“Of course not.”

Rosa approached me, leaned in close to my ear, and whispered, “Did you prepare on your end?”

I stuffed my hand into my pocket and pulled out the contract for her to see.

She snatched it out of my hand and said, “Lend me your pen too, I don’t have one.”

“I can just give it to her, can’t I?”

“I’ll give it to her. I’ve already got a plan worked out. You can leave everything to me.”

“What is it?”

Rosa pulled something out from the hoodie pocket and handed it over to me. She whispered a quick summary of the plan she’d concocted. When I heard her explanation, I understood why I couldn’t give Dawn the pen myself.

I didn’t see any problems with her plan so I figured I’d trust her and go along with it. I didn’t have to do very much. Rosa would take care of most of it for me. It was a good deal.

“By the way Rosa, it seems this room, or maybe even the entire castle, is filled with toxic mold that can induce psychosis and hallucinations. Try to finish this up quickly.”

“Oh? Did you start hallucinating while we were gone?”

“Unless it was your footsteps moving around in the hall up here about twenty minutes ago, then yeah, I did start to hallucinate.”

“Was that what your weird reaction was about when you saw us just now?”

I nodded.

“What’d we look like to you exactly?”

“Rotting bones without flesh.”

“Haha, that’s quite the scary sight.”

“It definitely startled me. Also… you may want to be on the lookout for a big ass Huntsman Spider.”

“How big is it exactly?”

“The size of a dinner plate.”

“Wow, that’s quite a big one. But it’s pretty harmless though.”

“Even if it’s harmless, if you start hallucinating when you encounter it, it could turn out badly.”

“What are the two of yuh sneakily whispering about in secret?”

“Haha. Nothing much. I’m just consoling him because he said he nearly had a heart attack when a big ass Huntsman Spider jumped out at him when he was alone.”

“A Huntsman Spider? Where is it?” 

Dawn looked around intrigued as if she wanted to see it herself.

“It ran away as soon as I shone a light on it. It was on those two chairs covered in webs when I first saw it.”

“Webs? That’s weird.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s another spider’s web. I think the Huntsman Spider likely ate it and I came across it while it was in the middle of feasting upon the captured prey of the original spider who spun those webs.”

Rosa hummed, “hmmm, the perfect representation of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.”

“Yeah.”

“Is this the world trying to warn us? What if it’s foreshadowing what’s to come right now?” Rosa mused to herself.

Us effectively preying on Dawn’s soul, faking a devil summoning, only to summon a real one and for that devil to come after our own souls. That certainly would be some awful irony and foreshadowing.

A chill ran down my back. I was suddenly feeling a bit overly conscious now. It felt like someone was watching me from behind. I glanced over my shoulder at the open door but nobody was there.

The mold was probably getting to my head. Rather than a devil getting us, it might be the mold that gets us in the end. I suppose the mold could be considered the invisible devil hunting us from behind here.

So long as you recognize those hallucinations for what they really are, remain calm, and do not succumb to fear, you should be fine. At the end of the day, they were nothing more than falsehoods concocted by the mind. They didn’t truly exist as they appeared to us.

“Yuh mean how we hunted a rabbit only to possibly end up being hunted by a devil?” As she was unaware of what we were doing, Dawn misinterpreted the meaning behind Rosa’s words.

“Yeah, something like that. Anyway, we should get to work already and begin our little ritual to summon a devil.”

“Should we… really go through with this?”

“Jeez, relax Dawn, it’ll be fine. I’ll totally protect you. That devil won’t even be able to touch you with me here.”