C138: Afterthought of the midnight encounter

‘This is annoying.’

Arriet—or rather, Izzy controlling Arriet—clicked her tongue irritably.

She cast her gaze upward, glaring at the crows perched atop her head.

‘Why are these little shits sitting on me?’

She shook her head briskly in an attempt to drive them away, but not a single one moved.

Earlier, she had even tried poking them with her fingers out of annoyance, hoping to irritate them enough to leave.

Instead, they seemed to enjoy it even more.

“You don’t have anything better to do?!” she snapped at them in frustration, but it was useless.

The crows merely sat there silently, tilting their heads while staring at her with glossy black eyes, as though wondering: 'What is wrong with this strange creature?'

‘Figures…’ Izzy sighed.

And the situation earlier hadn’t helped her mood either. She had needed to act carefully the entire time, maintaining the image of a composed young lady with proper manners while talking smoothly with the Inspectors.

She had also intentionally emphasized the word “couple” repeatedly, hoping to distract their focus so they would depart without stepping foot inside the cemetery.

‘They suspected something, didn’t they?’ Izzy pondered, recalling the glare of the man in the white fez.

Why else would they insist on meeting her father? She had literally told them there was an active funeral inside!

What exactly had they hoped to accomplish there?

Yet, for some reason, the moment Glen appeared, they chose to leave instead.

Izzy had genuinely thought her charade had failed. She had prepared herself for the worst, expecting them to force their way inside and compel her to launch a desperate counterattack.

But in the end, they still bought the “little lady” act. There were a few unexpected moments during the exchange, but success was still success.

'This is child's play,' she thought.

Inside the mindscape, Izzy crossed her arms and puffed out her chest slightly while taking a sideways glance toward Isa sitting beside her.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Ah!” Isa’s eyes widening.

“Wow, Izzy! NICE! You should have seen their faces!” Isa clapped her hands, her green eyes flashing with excitement as she let out a loud giggle. “Ehehe! They totally believed it! Izzy is the best!”

“Mmm.”

Izzy nodded. It wasn't like she needed a compliment for that.

“Izzy…”

“What?”

“...”

Back in the real world, Arriet waved her hand and shook the umbrella irritably.

“Caw! Caw!”

“Ugh, what the hell?”

The crows flew upward slightly before immediately reclaiming their spots on her head and her shoulders again.

“...”

Arriet let out a sigh, dropping her arm in complete defeat.

She chose not to strike at them or provoke them further. Crows were intelligent creatures, they would seek ways to torment her if she earned their enmity.

‘Let me try, Izzy!’

Inside the mindscape, Isa’s excited voice rang out.

The moment Izzy loosened her control over Arriet, Isa instantly took over the vessel.

“Caw! Caw!”

However, contrary to expectations, the entire flock of crows suddenly took flight in a panic, scattering at once.

“Hey, wait! Let me pet some of you!”

Arriet stumbled forward, chasing after the retreating birds, but her physical stamina was soon exhausted, forcing her to abandon the pursuit.

“Hah… hah… why…?”

Isa stared at the distant flock in bewilderment and betrayal.

‘Hmm. Jack has arrived. Let’s finish our work first, Isa.’

Inside the mindscape, Izzy calmly reminded her.

“Yes…” Arriet sighed under Isa’s control before the young mind finally relinquished the vessel and returned toward Arnold and Rudolph.

Izzy immediately resumed control over Arriet while simultaneously directing Jack into the cemetery to assist with the body-snatching operation.

“Caw, caw!”

The scattered crows swooped down from the branches, settling themselves comfortably upon her shoulders and the rim of her hat once again, as though nothing had happened.

“The hell is wrong with these things…?” Izzy muttered irritably through Arriet.

“That’s not fair…!”

Inside the mindscape, Isa pouted while glaring accusingly at Izzy.

“Why does Izzy get special treatment?!”

“Hey, I don’t know,” Izzy replied while furrowing her brows.

Isa stubbornly seized control over Arriet again.

“Caw!”

The entire flock erupted into motion, scattered away once more.

Izzy switched back into control.

The crows returned.

“...”

“This is not fair…” Isa whimpered, thoroughly dejected.

“We can just possess one back at the mansion.”

“It is not the same, Izzy ><!” Isa shouted loudly, flaring her arms. “If I possess them just to groom them, then it’s basically the same as grooming myself!”

“We still have Kaiser.”

“...” Isa fell silent. She puffed her cheeks out, which was endearing enough that Izzy chose not to reprimand her for her childish stubbornness.

“Yes, we still have Kaiser...” Isa muttered weakly, finally accepting her fate. “Only Kaiser would never betray us…”

“Right, right. Let’s finish our job first.”

That was a strange emotional outburst.

Izzy exhaled slowly.

Personally, Izzy didn’t like crows.

To her, they were basically smartass bullies, clever little scavengers always waiting for the perfect opportunity to swoop down and exploit something.

Still, she couldn’t deny how intelligent they were.

Maybe that was why they could somehow distinguish between Izzy and Isa.

Izzy tilted her head. It wasn’t important, so she quickly dismissed the thought altogether.

—

After finishing today's objectives, Izzy returned to her mindscape, sitting down on a plush velvet chair in the crimson theatre.

She crossed her legs, tilting her head back against the soft fabric while deep in thought.

'Today was a fruitful day.'

Just within a day, they had delivered the letter to the Inspectors, mapped the structure of the village, secured an alliance with Danz, eliminated the maid, and obtained seven corpses to store in the mansion's basement to prepare for the arrival of the Herald.

Well, the third maid had her head cleanly severed. There was no way to sew it back.

Still, that wasn’t a problem.

As long as it could still respond to her corpse control, she could control it just fine.

“Ha. You got what you deserved. It’s called karma,” Izzy snickered, recalling the corpse of the maid.

The other two maids had holes blown directly through their heads. Izzy assumed that it was Gregory’s revolver at work. There were no visible exit wounds on the back of their skulls, however, which meant the bullets were still lodged within their brain.

She could extract them later if necessary. Or perhaps not bother at all.

A few bandages wrapped around their heads like Arnold’s would probably be enough to disguise them as ordinary maids wandering through the mansion.

To be fair…In this iteration, Florence technically hadn’t done anything directly to Izzy, yet. But even so, Izzy still felt incredibly satisfied.

The corpses had already been moved into the mansion basement. Erin would probably faint if she ever discovered them. But that only mattered if the girl somehow found the basement in the first place.

And honestly, Izzy didn’t particularly care.

Izzy shifted her weight, adjusting herself against the soft velvet. The cushion felt incredibly comfortable beneath her backside, the plush fabric contouring perfectly to her frame as though the chair had been crafted exclusively for her.

Well, this was her mindscape. Of course it would shape itself to make her feel entirely comfortable.

“...”

Her thoughts returned to the letter she had sent to the Inspectors. The one contained information regarding the village.

That had been the true cornerstone of today’s operation.

First of all, the reason she had chosen to communicate through a letter instead of meeting them face-to-face was simple.

The Inspectors, especially Gregory, were dangerous.

Based on the previous iteration and the information carved into the black monument, Izzy strongly suspected they possessed a lie detection ability.

With the dangerous secrets Izzy possessed, she was certain that meeting them directly was a terrible idea. She couldn’t answer their probing questions without immediately raising their suspicion.

So instead, she hid herself. “Arnold,” using the false identity “Anon,” had delivered the letter to Mary, ensuring the Inspectors would never connect the letter to Arnold.

She had also instructed Mary on what to say if she were questioned by the inspectors.

The little girl must not lie. That was important, because Gregory would notice it if she lied, and suspicion would arise. So Izzy had teached her to speak partial truths, deliberately omit the full truth.

That way, Mary’s testimony would pass scrutiny.

Ideally, the chain of information would become difficult to trace backward toward Arnold.

And even if Arnold himself were discovered later, he could claim that someone else had handed him the letter.

Which was technically true. Jack had delivered the letter to Arnold.

Because it was Jack who had initiated the trap, exposed the vampires, everything would naturally point toward Jack. Exactly as Izzy intended.

Of course, there were still many loose ends, many questions that could potentially expose the relationship between Arnold and Jack.

But Izzy would handle those problems when that complication arose.

Secondly, the main content of the letter.

“A rumor about violet-eyed monsters.”

She had steered that rumor toward vampires, directing their attention to the maid and the church.

Because simply mentioning the word "vampire" would not have been enough to mobilize the Inspectors seriously, so Izzy intentionally added another crucial piece of bait.

Lady Amelia.

The moment Amelia’s existence was known, the Inspectors no longer had the luxury of ignoring the situation. They would be forced to act.

Naturally, Izzy carefully selected which information to reveal and which to conceal. It would have been idiotic to write something like:

“A fake moon will descend and slaughter everyone.”

If the situation really involved a Monarch, there was a possibility the Inspectors would abandon the mission entirely and flee.

Afterward, she had directed the inspectors to the street that the maid used when traveling between the Baroness's estate and the village church.

She had done this because the Black Monument mentioned that the investigators possessed an ability that functioned similarly to her Field Vision.

Truthfully, Izzy had been lucky with her timing.

She only specified the road near the church because, during the second iteration, Florence had traveled there on Monday to meet Victor.

And Arnold had died around that time frame. Izzy assumed the back-hair maid was responsible, so she expected her to travel that road tomorrow.

However, The maid unexpectedly traveled there tonight. She fell for Jack’s taunt, exposing her powers, which allowed the Inspectors to identify her as a Stagefarer without needing further evidence.

Most importantly, The Inspectors only saw “Jack.” Not Arnold.

Finally, Once the maid died, the credibility of the letter skyrocketed. At that point, the Inspectors could no longer dismiss its contents as a childish prank.

This set the stage for the next step detailed in the letter: the Baroness's estate.

With the death of the maid, the overall threat level of the village was significantly reduced, making it much easier for Izzy to gain control over the situation.

The estate would no longer be considered a major threat by Izzy, as the inspectors were now actively moving to secure it.

With it, Izzy would gain a pair of eyes watching the Baroness, allowing her to determine whether the Baroness had any connection to Victor at all.

'Mmm.'

On the other hand, Izzy had also successfully secured a deal with Danz. Granted, the price of that agreement was becoming an official member of his gang.

To be honest, joining a thug group in exchange for Victor’s death and only paying five Alan coins was still an absurdly favorable deal.

Well…That only applied if they actually succeeded in killing Victor.

And once again, Izzy doubted they could. If Victor were genuinely that easy to kill, then someone would have already done it long ago. There would have been no need for her to personally orchestrate his death now.

Besides, Izzy suspected there was another hidden variable involved. Someone, or something protecting Victor and preventing Danz from touching him.

That was exactly why Izzy had also revealed the church’s secret to the Inspectors.

If Danz failed, the Inspectors would become the second blade aimed at Victor’s throat.

'And I still need information.'

That part was equally important. Information about vampires, for example. Even though the immediate threat of the maid had been neutralized, Izzy still couldn’t be certain if she was the only vampire in the village.

Remaining ignorant while more appeared later would be akin to awaiting execution.

Furthermore, there was also the matter of the Golden Trader, another unknown variable whose true motives and capabilities remained unpredictable.

‘I can ask Davis about it.’

Danz was knowledgeable, yes. But conversations with that gigantic man were exhausting.

Compared to him, Davis was far easier to speak with. Grantly, of course, if that man did not deceive her.

Slowly, Izzy lifted her hand.

An imagined dagger materialized within the crimson theatre, condensing into existence before dropping into her palm.

She lowered her gaze.

The exquisite dagger. The weapon she had discovered resting upon the table inside the hidden basement room, the room with the crossed swords piercing the skull in an X-shape.

‘This dagger is truly a masterpiece.’

Izzy had mostly figured out the dagger’s true function after using it against Glen.

‘Basically, it’s just a fraud knife.’ A wry smile tugged at her lips.

The dagger possessed an ability. It made the wielder appear overwhelmingly dangerous in the eyes of others.

The “danger” it projected could be strengthened depending on how much energy from the orange bottle was infused into it.

Of course, once Izzy understood the mechanism behind it, the dagger stopped feeling threatening to her.

It was incredibly useful. That alone was the reason Arnold had been able to stand calmly before Danz earlier without getting beaten half to death.

‘And he mistook me for a Stagefarer.’

She recalled Danz’s reaction this afternoon.

‘The Moon Faction…’

So that was the official name of the vampire’s faction.

Honestly, it made sense. There was already the Moon Monarch. Naturally, their faction would inherit that symbolism.

‘Speaking of which… I only have two orange bottles left.’ Izzy frowned slightly.

She had already consumed a significant portion of Yan Essence today. Both the dagger and the cane required it.

Unlike the dagger, the eagle-head cane was especially dangerous.

Even Izzy herself had been affected when she activated it briefly, so she had to limit its usage.

As for the dagger, she had poured an entire orange bottle directly onto the blade to ensure its effect worked properly against Danz.

These orange bottles remained a mystery. The black monument had referred to it as Yan Essence.

The liquid inside the bottle behaved unnaturally.

While sealed, it remained in liquid form. But the moment the bottle was opened, the liquid transformed into gaseous vapor, like boiling water releasing steam.

Her current reserves right now only consisted of two bottles of Yan essence and half of a single blue vial containing Yi essence.

Yi Essence.

Unfortunately, Izzy still had almost no understanding of how to properly utilize Yi Essence.

So far, the only confirmed use she had discovered was weakening Violence Faction Stagefarers. Which meant the blue vial currently sat abandoned in the attic corner.

Perhaps she could use it against the Herald later. Assuming the Herald belonged to the Violence Faction.

‘One day left.’

Izzy leaned deeper into the velvet chair.

The entity that roamed inside the forest remained an enigma to her.

And according to everything she knew so far, tomorrow was the final day she could safely remain outside without becoming actively hunted by it.

To escape the forest, she needed to destroy the fake moon.

And destroying the fake moon meant unraveling the conspiracy of the village.

Izzy wasn’t sure what effect that would have on the forest, or on the entity lurking within it. Maybe breaking the Rite would lift some kind of curse from the village, or weaken the entity?

Regardless, It was the only option she had.

Izzy hoped she could resolve the village’s situation and flee before the Herald arrived.

The last thing she wanted was for all of these disasters to happen simultaneously.

That would be… bad.

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