HTPTMOTMM Chapter 36

"It's been a while since I've seen that face, but you're not even happy to see me."

The man tilted his head as he looked at Raphael, whose eyes had widened in shock. The umbrella he held in one hand tilted to the side along with him.

"How disappointing."

Raphael's heart raced wildly, as if it had rolled down that steep curve and was tumbling helplessly. Now that he knew the man's identity, even that unsuitable tone of speech felt eerie.

The people at Stella now called Raphael a demon, but Raphael remembered that there had been someone far more demonic than himself in Stella from the beginning—someone he could never compare to.

But he was supposed to be dead...

"More importantly, Raphael. I wonder if you remember what I said before."

He should have died by his own hand.

"I said I'd gouge out those eyes if we met again, didn't I?"

Raindrops scattered before his eyes, glowing white like broken pearls in the moonlight.

The demon stretched his lips into a long smile. It was a chilling, sharp smile that looked like it could cut just by looking at it.

The man before him stood perfectly still, doing nothing at all, yet his very presence felt threatening—as if some massive black beast had spread its shadow over everything above. Raphael's guide shrieked a warning inside his head.

For the first time since his promotion to a 2nd-rank Inquisitor, he felt this sense of crisis and hurriedly drew the gun he had hidden inside his priest's robe.

Bang...!

Rumble, crash...!

Soon the gunshot was swallowed up by the massive thunder and disappeared.

"It certainly seems like a lot of time has passed."

The pouring rain swallowed every sound, while its heavy curtain concealed anyone caught within from sight.

"You lasted longer than I expected, but you've picked up some bad habits in my absence, Raphael. Relying on your guide has made you as sluggish as those lower-world insects you once despised."

Cheswick spoke with apparent regret as he casually kicked the gun lying on the ground with his foot.

It slid across the muddy ground and finally stopped when it bumped into the body of the man sprawled beside it.

The priest's robe, which had been unusually white and clean as if its owner had a cleanliness obsession, was now soaked in muddy water and stained all over. Sharp raindrops fell on the long golden hair that had held a brilliant light and the angelically beautiful face that matched his name.

In the fiercely pouring rain, Cheswick still stood alone under his umbrella, looking no different than before.

His shoes and pants cuffs were splattered with rainwater from the ground, but aside from that, he looked perfectly clean, as if he hadn't been touched by a single drop of rain.

Soon Cheswick's body bent over the man lying on the ground. A moment later, when he straightened his back again, there was something like an oval gemstone the size of a thumbnail in his hand.

It was the guide that had been embedded behind Raphael's shoulder. Cheswick looked down at it and tilted his head.

'By the way, Lynn really was from Stella? That's unexpected... I didn't catch any of that scent at all.'

Then a thin smile with a mischievous feeling bloomed at the corners of his mouth.

'Maybe I was the one whose senses had dulled?'

But for a prediction that had gone awry, there was no displeasure in that smile.

Cheswick reached for the man at his feet again to clean up.

The rain that had been pouring down fiercely as if it would never stop began to subside only after the white dawn light spread beyond the high walls of the Redford mansion.

A Dangerous Game of Tag

I read and reread the manual book until dawn broke.

I was finally able to read through the manual book completely without getting stuck, which I had previously been forced to abandon midway due to many indecipherable words. This was thanks to the system functions being partially restored.

But the content was surprisingly profound, requiring me to read through it several times, mulling over the meanings.

Then I suddenly felt the dawn light spreading in from outside the window.

I lifted my gaze from the fully read manual book, looked at it, and impulsively left my room.

"Oh, good morning, Caregiver. You're up early today."

The employees who had risen early and were already working greeted me when they saw me. I passed by them and stopped in front of the high wall that surrounded the mansion.

"Yes, it's a good morning."

The gardener who had just greeted me first glanced at me with questioning eyes.

I turned my back to him and looked at the wall in front of me, briefly gauging its height against my abilities.

I thought this level would be just barely possible without other help.

I backed up and then ran at maximum speed. Soon I kicked off the ground and jumped up, reaching out my hand. I heard a gasp from behind as I dangled from the wall.

"Hey, Caregiver! That's dangerous! Come down quickly!"

But I climbed up easily without falling and stood looking down below.

"Aha."

A low laugh escaped me unconsciously at the sight I was seeing for the first time in my life.

An empty wind blew, wrapping around my hair and clothes.

What spread before my eyes was a scene that could give someone acrophobia and panic disorder even if they'd never had them before.

'What is this now.'

No matter how much I looked around, I couldn't see a single rooftop of another building, a blade of grass, or a person.

The empty air was filled only with gray, cloud-like fog.

This was the landscape of the 18th World that Raphael had spoken of.

One mansion existing alone in the vast empty space whose end couldn't even be known.

This Redford mansion alone was the only castle existing in this narrow world.

Raphael really disappeared from the mansion before the sun had fully risen.

"Really? He's not in his room?"

I was slightly dumbfounded when I heard the news from Sara Rose.

"Yes, I heard from the maid in charge of the guest room. He seems to have left as soon as the sun rose. When I asked Uncle John, he said he really did take the priest out of the mansion very early in the morning and came back."

How is this proper manners between colleagues working at the same place, leaving without saying a single word?

'He wasn't visible when I went to his room last night either.'

Actually, I remembered briefly seeing Raphael wandering outside the mansion just before entering the dining room, and since I had something I wanted to ask him, I had visited the guest room last night. But Raphael wasn't there then either.

'He said he couldn't even stand breathing the air of a lower world, so I guess he really didn't want to stay here even one minute longer.'

"But you look tired too, Lynn."

"Ah, I stayed up all night reading a book."

"What? So you didn't sleep at all?"

Sara Rose handed me a towel with wide eyes. But if Sara Rose had been me, she wouldn't have been able to sleep either.

"Why did Dian come to this mansion?"

A little later, during the returning breakfast time, I asked while watching Dian, who was stuffing his mouth full of omelet and moving both cheeks cutely.

Dian hesitated, not expecting to hear such a question from me.

"Well, of course it's because I want to help people."

My heart ached again at those extremely altruistic words.

"I'll become a wonderful adult and definitely pass the test. Then disasters won't happen, people's land will expand, and the number of Morose will decrease..."

Dian rattled off the advantages that would occur when he passed the final test and became an adult befitting the purpose of the Redford mansion.

Seeing his eyes sparkling brightly and the lively flush on his cheeks, I could almost feel how sincerely and desperately Dian dreamed of becoming the chosen boy.

I looked at such a Dian and smiled, pulling at the corners of my mouth.

"Yes. That's a good goal. You'll definitely be able to achieve what you want."

Hearing my words, Dian smiled brightly. It was a pure and radiant smile like morning sunlight, but dark clouds seemed to gather in my heart as I watched it.

| Manual Book Terminology |

※ Representative terms are adopted based on words commonly used in the Central World.

※ Exception: The names for children raised in the Redford mansion vary drastically across worlds—savior, gatekeeper, saint, holy person, guardian, sacrifice, regent, etc.—making it difficult for the Central World's language to be representative. Therefore, this manual book adopts "regent" as the representative term, which has been recommended by the Pan-World Human Rights Committee and has begun to be used in the upper worlds most recently.

Gate: Each passage connecting the 44 worlds discovered so far.

Void: Ownerless empty worlds that began appearing from the year 2543 based on Central World time.

Caregiver: Talent selected to nurture regent candidates who will become masters of the void.

Regent: Talent selected to become master of the void and close the gates to empty worlds.

Morose: Monsters born when souls that were sucked into the void and could not find rest return.

After having breakfast with Dian and coming outside, the corridor was noisy.

Wondering what was happening, I went to look and found Olivia, the caregiver of Room 5, having a fit.

"Dead! Why did they die! We haven't even uncovered the mastermind yet, so why die! Did the real culprit secretly tamper with them?"

Even from a distance, I could roughly understand the context.

I had heard news that they had identified the person who put poison in the teacup Olivia almost drank from last night in the dining room. But it seems that while they had the culprit confined for in-depth investigation to see if there might be other accomplices, the person had died.

"Olivia seems to think there's a separate real culprit."

"Didn't the culprit confess everything yesterday? They said it was done out of resentment for being beaten because they burned clothes while ironing."

"Olivia was jumping up and down saying it was nonsense since she never touched a hair on their head."

I could hear the maids whispering as they passed by without noticing me.

I didn't know who the real culprit was, but it did feel unsettling that the confined person had died for no reason.

I wondered if a quest window might appear related to this, but the system remained quiet.

'Let's see. 12th World, 5th World, 33rd World...'

Checking the personal information of the maids, they all indeed showed different worlds of origin.

I moved locations while recalling Olivia's words from some time ago.

Back then, part of her words sounded like a strange language, but now that the language had already been decoded by the system, I could recall her words in complete form.

"Well, anyway, not every child in the mansion can become a guardian, so don't lament too much that you couldn't be paired with an outstanding child like our Sergio."