C86: Another Layer, Another Question

After Arriet finished cleaning up the hidden space inside the dining room, she returned to her own room, holding the gray-haired doll in her arms.

She placed the doll aside, shut the door and moved toward the bed. After resting herself in the comfortable cushion, she let her consciousness sink inward.

Inside the mindscape, Izzy sat alone before the theatre screen, her elbow resting on the armrest as she tapped her chin, replaying the scenes of the day.

“First of all, Mary has gone missing.”

The timing bothered her. Mary had vanished precisely when Izzy needed her, right when Izzy was ready to start probing the village’s secrets.

“Lumber Smith.”

Lumber Smith, Mary’s father.

From the limited interaction Izzy had observed, Lumber was a lone parent who had raised Mary by himself for years.

He was gruff, overbearing, blunt, and stubborn. But beneath that rough exterior was a worrying father, protective toward their child.

The most significant impression she had of him was…

“A Warrior Path Stagefarer in the Violence Faction.”

Izzy guessed he might be at the Entry or Apprentice stage.

He also knew about the Inspectors. That was why he was so submissive toward that girl, Hazel.

And more importantly, from his reaction when Otis’s name was mentioned, Izzy deduced that he knew something.

He ran into the forest without hesitation, as if he already knew Otis’s whereabouts. And with that, that guy knew where Mary had gone, or at least where she might end up.

He might even know something about the forest, given his confidence.

“The forest.”

The forest was the most unknown and eerie variable to her.

She had walked that path countless times using Arnold, traveling between the mansion and the village, yet aside from Mr. Gentle, she had never encountered anyone else.

Villagers appeared only near the forest’s edge, close enough that the houses were still visible. Beyond that point, it was always empty.

It was as if everyone inside the village avoided going into the forest.

Even more troubling, they had lost their bird puppet inside it while tracking Lumber.

Izzy clenched her hands.

She hoped it was just a coincidence. A larger predator bird swooped down and ate Isa’s puppet.

That was the most reasonable explanation. Anything else would be… troubling.

“The violet-eyed monster.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

The violet-eyed monster. It was interesting.

Izzy remembered the maid in Madam’s estate. She had violet eyes, and she had also commanded the thugs to go back, leaving a dark red liquid on the ground.

‘Was that blood?’

It looked like the color of blood.

Were they related?

The rumour of a violet-eyed monster who sucked the blood of people at night. Was it related to that maid by any chance?

Or just a folklore disguised as a warning?

“The Moon Maiden, the Moon Elf, and the Rite.”

Izzy leaned back to the soft cushion, letting the images form again in her mind.

On the day of the rite, the Moon Maiden would bless the Moon Elf, offering the Moon Elf to Her Majesty. The blessed Moon Elf would in turn offer the village a better harvest and peaceful dreams.

It was a cultural tradition of this land, not a sacrifice ritual. A symbolism.

At least, that was what they claimed.

Otis had been selected as an elf attendant, specifically a knight. It would be quite ridiculous if he were chosen as the Moon Elf, though.

‘That role clearly favors girls.’

Near the day of the Rite, the church would host rehearsals. They would gather within the church grounds and dance, participating in the ceremonial training.

“That is the extent of our knowledge of the village.”

As for the mansion side of things, Izzy thought, swiping the theatre screen with a flick of her hand.

The image shifted, replaying the newest discovery Erin had uncovered, the hidden space behind the dining room’s frame, and the items concealed within it.

“The ingredients for my awakening.”

Izzy raised her eyebrows.

Why was it phrased as her awakening?

Did Benjamin still believe that she had not awakened yet? Or was he aware that she existed, but assumed she was still incomplete?

Or was there something else, another stage to their existence?

A sentence from the past came to her mind.

[“You will be fully liberated, as the Monarch wills it.”]

Izzy clicked her tongue.

“So cryptic.”

She disliked cryptic statements like that. Vague words designed to sound meaningful while revealing almost nothing.

And what was up with that crab drawing and the number “23”? It was as if a child had drawn it, a strange, almost whimsical note. That number also served nothing.

She shifted one leg over the other on the velvet seat and tapped her chin.

“Five pure yi essence bottles, one hundred human children’s bones, one [ ]’s finger bone, and a yi vessel, Lady Amelia.”

Was that why there were so many children’s bones inside the prison cells under the basement? Was the careful arrangement also served as a part of the ritual?

"And one [ ]’s finger bone. Whose was it?”

That part of the text had been scratched out violently, scraped until the surface was almost ruined.

Either the writer had second thoughts, or someone else had tried to erase it later.

Izzy reached out and drew the finger bone that had been hidden in the secret space toward the portrait, hovering it in the air.

“It should be this thing.”

When she concentrated on it, a faint mist began to emanate from the bone.

Izzy widened her eyes.

‘What?’

The mist was gray, almost white, nothing like the green mist she was familiar with. It did not feel repulsive or hostile. The most fascinating thing was…

“Delicious.”

It felt delicious.

It was delicious.

“!”

“!”

Izzy snapped out of her trance, a jolt of alarm running through her!

The gray mist slowly flowed into her main body, the portrait. Just for that brief moment, she had already consumed it instinctively!

“No!”

Izzy yelled out loud in her mindscape, simultaneously using her Psychokinesis to hurl the bone finger far away. Of course, she knew better than anyone that one ought not to just consume anything without checking if it was safe first.

The bone finger hit the far corner of the attic.

Upon impact, it slowly dissipated like smoke, as if it had never existed in the first place.

Izzy shut her eyes, preparing for the change in her body. In her thoughts, she had never expected that she could consume another mist besides the green one, let alone consume it unconsciously!

“...”

“…?”

“Izzy?”

However, nothing happened to them, besides the same elating feeling as when she consumed the green mist.

No, it was not ‘like’ it. It was identical.

Izzy furrowed her brows. Her energy reservoir had spiked up, filling to the brim in an instant. She felt saturated, heavy with power, uncomfortably full.

“What was that bone?”

Just a single bone could fill up her entire energy reservoir?

The amount of energy it provided exceeded Glen’s entire band combined!

There was one question, though…

“Why are we not powering up?”

She tilted her head. Normally, in the movies and games of her past life, when the experience bar reached the threshold, the character would power up to a new level.

She had expected they would grow stronger each time they filled up her energy reservoir. But was that not the case?

“How did we grow stronger in the past?”

Izzy searched her memories.

Izzy remembered the time when they first grew stronger. It was after they killed Benjamin and absorbed his green mist. They had felt full and drunk at that time, which had made her lose consciousness for some time.

“Uhh?”

“...”

“i–izzy!”

“?”

Izzy turned her attention toward Isa.

‘Huh?’

In front of her, right in front of their main body, something began to take shape.

A faint glow condensed in the air, gathering like mist pulled together. Slowly, an ethereal image of a girl emerged.

“Izzy, look!”

“!”

‘Isa!’

Floating in front of the main body in the attic was a tiny Isa!

“Look, look!”

It was an ethereal small girl, even smaller than the doll, perhaps around the size of an adult’s finger. Her whole body glowed a vibrant green. A large flower with five petals bloomed atop her head, and at its center shimmered a tiny star.

It was an even mini-er version of her miniature version.

Isa floated around the attic, spinning in the air, giggling with pure delight.

“Hahaha, hehehe! I can fly!”

She suddenly shot forward at high speed—

*Bang!*

“AKKK!”

Isa slammed into something invisible and tumbled down, her tiny body bouncing awkwardly before landing on the floor.

Izzy immediately understood the situation.

‘15 meters.’

This new ability of hers, to manifest a smaller, ethereal version of herself out of the real world. Its limit was only 15 meters, centered around the portrait.

Isa scrambled back to her feet, her tiny legs skidding against the floor. She immediately began to test what Izzy intended to test.

‘This ethereal version isn’t physical. It doesn't seem visible to the naked eye.’

‘It can fly, it can jump high. It can also interact with objects, or bypass an object.’

What was this supposed to be?

Spirit?

Why did they gradually look more and more like a real ghost from a horror story now?

‘Hmm.’

What should she even call this newly acquired ability?

“Spirit manifestation!”

‘That’s a bit long,’ she thought. ‘Let's just call it spirit for now.’

Izzy looked at her young mind, who was now flying around half the attic, laughing and testing limits with unrestrained joy, with a complicated expression.

‘How can you do that…’

It looked fun.

Izzy tried to imitate her, attempting to manifest her own spirit.

“...”

But it was no use. Her spirit wouldn’t come out.

For all its novelty and spectacle, this ability was, practically speaking, useless to her.

‘Izzy, are you sulking?’

‘No.’

Her Field Vision and Possession had already covered 150 meters. Compared to those, this spirit manifestation offered little advantage.

Her existing ability to move the painted Isidora within the portrait, too, was as useless as this one.

‘Hmm.’

Yet, it was strange.

Their Field Vision and Possession abilities did not change. They did not strengthen or extend their range.

What was the nature of this?

Just absorbing an unknown bone, and she instantly gained a new ability?

‘What are we? Dogs?’

Izzy shook her head.

“I’ll think about this later. There’s something more urgent right now.”

Ignoring the young mind as she continued to play gleefully with her miniature form, Izzy turned her attention back to the list of ingredients.

"Lady Amelia."

She conjured the picture of the bubbling, short-haired girl with blue eyes into her mind. The girl’s expression was impassive, almost looking like she was frowning.

Izzy knew this girl.

The Inspectors sought her because she was the Marquise Augusta’s only daughter.

And this very girl happened to be the final requirement, the 'Yi Vessel' needed to fully 'awaken' her.

“That means that guy will bring her here."

The Herald. Based on the conversation between him and Benjamin, he would absolutely deliver the last ingredient himself.

“That means I now know her whereabouts.”

Or rather, where her whereabouts would be.

But there were problems.

“She’s not here yet.”

The village, the Moon Maiden, the Rite, and the Herald; there was a singular connection tying these disparate threads together.

“The time of the full moon.”

The full moon would rise in three days.

Lady Amelia would only arrive when the Herald brought her, which would likely be on that day, or shortly after.

That meant Izzy could not exchange information with the Inspectors or secure a passage out of the forest immediately. She would have to wait until the pieces moved into place.

‘Hmm.’

If escape remained impossible for the moment, then she would have to orchestrate a clash.

When the full moon came, she could make them fight each other, perhaps assisting the Inspectors in killing the Herald.

After that, she would trade the girl’s safety for the information she needed to leave this forest.

Of course, there were some inherent risks with this plan.

It would only work if the Inspectors did not snoop around and figure out that their true body, the portrait, was also here in the mansion.

She also needed to understand their abilities more thoroughly, just in case.

“A viable plan.” Izzy nodded to herself.

Her gaze drifted to the doll.

Then, what was the purpose of this thing?

She scrutinized it carefully. The gray-haired doll sat atop the attic desk, its porcelain surface smooth and flawless. Arriet, or rather Isa, had brought it here earlier.

“Are you alive?” An ethereal voice rang out from the portrait.

There was no response.

"Stand up." Izzy commanded again.

Still, there was no reaction.

‘Figures.’

This doll appeared everywhere inside the mansion. First in Arnold’s room. Then wedged awkwardly into the candelabra.

And by sheer coincidence, Erin discovered the hidden space only because she removed it.

And now it expected Izzy not to be suspicious?

“You’re very suspicious.”

If it really wanted to be noticed, it would have moved openly by now, not sneak around without her knowledge.

Of course, if there was an ‘Isidora’ within the painting, there was no reason that this doll could not house something similar.

“...”

There had been no mention of a doll in the ingredients list. She had expected it would be her body, if she failed to kill Benjamin.

But now there was only Amelia. Amela was meant to be her real vessel.

“Did Benjamin lie to the Herald?”

Izzy suspected as much. Benjamin was a Deceiver from the Violence Faction.

It was not strange to think he had a private motive. He might have wanted Isidora bound to him alone, rather than to the Dispute Order. That would explain the creation of the doll.

“Mmm.”

Since this doll alone did not harm her, Izzy decided to leave it be for the time being.

She did not want to throw it away or burn it, in case something else dangerous happened, likely triggering it into action.

There was a saying in her past life: ‘If it ain't broke, don’t fix it.’

Izzy tapped her chin. A nagging unease still occupied her thoughts.

“We’re very unlucky, aren’t we?”

Everything happened so fast and so suddenly.

She traced the line backward in her memory.

Benjamin drank the yi potion, weakening himself enough for her to kill him. Glen’s band appeared exactly when she needed an energy source. Their bodies became available, allowing her to move freely and gather information.

Erin discovered their main body at the exact moment Izzy least expected it. The Inspectors arrived precisely when Arnold was questioning the thugs. Mary disappeared the moment Izzy realized the village itself was wrong and needed her help.

And now, she obtained the information about Amelia right after accepting the commission of the Inspectors? In a secret space that Erin found out because of the doll?

All of this happened, in just the span of five days?

A warning surfaced in her mind.

‘When nothing feels amiss, yet nothing is…

They’re watching.

Dare not meet the Blind’s gaze.’

Izzy shook her head.

“I’m just unlucky.” It should make sense.

Izzy dismissed her uneasy feeling.

Since everything had been sorted out, she recorded every new detail onto the black monument and returned to Arnold’s body.

“It’s time to investigate the church,” Izzy sighed.

She really needed a break after overworking too much like this…

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