Chapter Text
The revolution had ended. I had confessed to Claire and to my surprise she had accepted. We had moved together to our new house just outside the capital. It was peaceful. Or so I thought before this happened-
We were out in a forest a few miles away from our new home, gathering some herbs and fruits for my new dish. Normally, I would do it alone but today, Claire had insisted that she comes with me. Naturally, I didn't have any problem as it only meant more Claire time to me! Ralaire had also come along. She was on top of my head, excitedly looking around.
"This forest is pretty dense." Claire commented. It was indeed pretty dense. Dangerous monsters lived here and it was said that at night, eerie noises could be heard. However, that did not bother me, as it was around noon and we weren't that deep into the forest.
"Oh Miss Claire? Are you perhaps scared~?" but that did not prevent me from teasing my Claire.
"I am not!" She screamed, her face flushed red. She was so cute. "A-and besides....you're here so...." she mumbled the last part.
"Hm? What was that?" I asked. I couldn't quite hear what she said as I was focusing on the plant in front of me. That is a pretty rare variety hmmm... I should take some home.
"N-Nothing!" Claire interrupted my thoughts. She turned around, her cheeks even redder than before.
Ohh, she's just the cutest!
Just then, Ralaire jumped off my head and started jumping around. She was looking at a bush, few metres away from where we were. A monster? I quickly took out my wand and assumed fighting stance. Claire did the same noticing.
Silence.
Just as I was about to put away my wand, something pulled Ralaire into the bush and vanished.
"Ralaire!" I shouted. Without thinking, I ran towards the bush and tried to follow it. I could not grasp what pulled Ralaire in. It was so quick.
"Rae! Wait!" Claire called me out, but I was already deep inside. I went on, running and shouting Ralaire, trying to call her. But I got no response. There was no tract of where she was taken. Where did she go? What took her away? Ralaire, please be safe! As I kept on thinking of all the possibilities, I finally saw something. I came out of the bush, huffing. As soon as I looked up, I became silent.
"Rae!" Claire came up beside and grabbed my shoulder, trying to regain her breath. "Why did you-ah...." As she looked up, she came to a standstill as well.
In front of us, was a dilapidated mansion, smaller than that of Claire's previous one, but large enough for a mid-ranking noble. The windows were broken and there were scratches and marks all over its worn down walls. A typical look of a haunted house.
"What is the-" Claire was as shocked as I was.
"A haunted house..."
"W-what? S-Surely, you jest. Ahaha." Claire tried to feign being amused by faking a laugh.
"Ralaire was taken by something. She is surely inside. Let's go in, Miss Claire."
"H-Huh? A-A-Are you sure...?" Claire stuttered. Why was Claire scar—ooohhh, how could I forget? My Claire was not good with ghosts! "Miss Claire, you don't need to force yourself. You can stay here if you wa—"
"N-No! I'll go too. Ralaire is important to me as well! A-and what would I do if s-something were to happen to y-you..."
Miss Claire is worried for me? I am so blessed! Okay, now's not the time for jokes. Focus, Rae!
"Okay, then. Stay close to me."
"Y-yes." Claire quickly grabbed hold of my left arm.
We went towards the front door of the mansion. It had a welcome mat placed in front of it, with 'Welcome' written in an horrendous way. Paying no heed to that, I cautiously opened the decrepit door. It made a creek which felt very sinister. Claire squeezed my hand even tighter. As we entered, I saw two flights of stairs leading to the second floor of the building. It was covered by an old, dusty carpet, torn in some places. The walls were covered with spider webs and dust and had intricate designs on them. Even though it was around midday, the interior of the mansion felt awfully dark, with the light from the door being the only thing that illuminated it. I took slow steps, Claire following me.
We weren't even half the way in when, with a lot thud, the door to the mansion closed. It went completely dark—
"KYAAAA!" Claire's beautiful voice reverberated in the silent room.
"WHAT DO WE DO NOW?"
"Miss Claire, calm down!" I held Claire close to me to calm her down. Luckily, she did but she was still trembling. She then summoned a small fire light from her wand. It lit only around one fourth of the entire room, but was enough for me to make my way to the door.
I slowly reached out to the door and tried to open it but,
"It's locked..." I clicked my tongue. Claire gave me a worried look, but surprisingly stayed calm.
"We have to find another way out." I said looking around the room. It was dark but I could make out some details. The windows were covered with something akin to wood. A chandelier hung on the ceiling, which looked cleaner than the rest of the room. I could faintly see something similar to a portrait on the front wall. Rest of the room was completely dark. I did not know why it was happening. Did ghosts really exist here? But it was midday outside! It would had made sense if it was night. Maybe it's a work of a monster? But I knew no monster capable of doing something like this.
Suddenly, Claire tugged my shirt,
"R-Rae, what is that...?" She pointed towards one of the stairs. There was something small, round- a shiny entity which glowed under the light of Claire's fireball. I cautiously moved forward to examine it.
"C-Careful..." Claire said from the back.
I stopped after reaching closer, but still a safe distance away. That thing was—
"Ralaire!" Ralaire jumped into my arms at the sound of my voice. She was shivering so I rubbed my fingers against her to calm her down. Claire heaved a sigh of relief.
But it wasn't over yet. We still had to get out of this place. Then something clicked me.
"We could just destroy the door!"
Claire's face lit up at that. We aligned ourselves in front of the door and—
"Fire Lance!"
"Stone Cannon!"
We fired simultaneously at the door.
.
.
.
Nothing happened.
"What...? It should have worked..." I said.
Then I looked at Claire and above her the Francois crest floated. She was so desperate to get out of here.
"Magic Ray!" She fired one shot.
Still nothing.
She fired again.
Nothing!
She fired three this time.
.
.
Still nothing!
"W-what in the world is that thing made of?" Claire was as confused as I was.
The door looked worn out enough to be destroyed with simple strikes, but even five consecutive shots from Magic Ray did nothing. This was really a haunted house.
"Then I guess... we'll have to look for another exit." I said, sighing.