Chapter 91 : What Is Truly Scary Are Humans (part 1)
It took about a day and a half to reach the ruined city of Regenberg.
Because all of Cecil’s property had been confiscated by the kingdom, she didn’t have money to rent a carriage, and so we had no choice but to go to Regenberg on foot.
I have a lot of money because my store is prosperous lately, but I just thought that I shouldn’t spend my money here.
Besides, the cabmen in the city became scared after we told them that we were going to go to Regenberg. Some of them even raised the price to 300 pels. That was ridiculously expensive considering the destination is not that far away.
*/according to chapter 4, you can pay for an inn and food for 6 days with 300 pels.
Therefore, I hated it but I chose to spend the night outside with Cecil and Rozelia…
While we were surrounding the bonfire and eating dried meat, Rozelia started talking with a somewhat mischievous face.
「Since we’re heading to Regenberg, I’m going to tell you a story about that city, both of you, please listen to me~☆」(Rozelia)
Uhh, is she gonna tell a scary story again?
Well, I’m not scared at all, so I’m fine with that.
For some reason, people will usually feel a presence behind them when they are listening to a ghost story.
However, I’m more concerned about Cecil, who’s sitting next to me, than the unknown presence behind me.
「Cecil, if you’re scared, you don’t have to listen.」(Hanna)
「H-Huh!? Wh, Who’s scared!? D-Don’t make a fool of m-me…!」(Cecil)
「You’re shaking though…」(Hanna)
「I, It’s because the air is cold! A, Aa-aahh… I wish I had a hot drink right now…」(Cecil)
It’s almost summer now and there’s a bonfire in front of us, so it can’t be cold.
Looks like she didn’t want to show me her weak side. Well, I can understand. She’s Cecil after all.
「Ahem. This is a story about a certain party of three adventurers a long time ago…」(Rozelia)
Rozelia started telling a story.
To summarize, the story was like this…
On their way to the neighbouring country, Lupt, the party stopped by the city of Regenberg.
The magician in the party insisted on going to the city because he was interested in the architecture of the city, and the two other members agreed with him, thinking that they might find a better place to sleep than sleeping in the wild.
Although they knew the rumors about the city, they were not afraid of ghosts at all.
After all, they had fought monsters and demons that were more scary than ghosts.
They thought that the people of Regenberg were just suffering from mass hysteria.
The magician who loved architecture was very excited when he entered the city.
He was amazed by every building in the city such as the chapel, the houses, the aristocrats’ mansions, ect.
The warrior, who was illiterate, and the thief, who was only interested in gold, were making faces as if saying, “What’s good about these buildings?”, but the magician kept talking about buildings and enjoying the view of the city without minding them.
When they reached the square in the center of the city, the magician stopped talking all of a sudden.
『What’s wrong?』(warrior)
Wondering why the magician suddenly stopped talking, the warrior asked him.
『Umm….. I feel like I just saw a child over there just now, but…』(magician)
While saying that, the magician pointed to a decaying wooden bench that no one sat on.
『Oi, oi. Stop talking nonsense. There can’t be a child in this abandoned city, right?』(warrior)
It wasn’t weird if he saw an adult, but what he saw was a child.
There were no towns nor villages near the city that could be reached by children after all.
『I bet you just saw the rumored ghosts. (Hahaha!)』(thief)
The thief sounded like he was laughing, but his face was serious.
『Wh, Who just laughed!?』(thief)
『Huh? You did, didn’t you?』(warrior)
『No, it wasn’t me! Someone just laughed as if they tried to match my voice!』(thief)
After looking at the thief’s serious face, the warrior immediately noticed that the thief wasn’t lying or joking.
The next moment, they were suddenly in the middle of the crowd before they realized it.
They saw the scenery of Regenberg when it was still crowded with townspeople.
『What the hell is happening…?』(warrior)
『Are we seeing the same dream…?』(thief)
The scenery of people who appeared out of nowhere was too real for a dream.
They even started to think that they might have been sent to the past.
『Ugh… gaaaa…!』
『AaaaAAaAー!』
『Guuughh…!』(people)
After a moment, the people around them started screaming while scratching their throats with expressions of agony. Their faces then became swollen and turned purple.
Some of them were spitting blood, some tearing off their own hair, some punching the ground, some writhing on the ground….
The peaceful daily life in the city of Regenberg suddenly turned into hell.
Even though the adventurers were veterans who survived countless battles, they couldn’t help but tremble after seeing such a terrifying scene.
If it was a reality that was really happening, they might have been able to calm their mind and take action to help the people.
However, it was nothing but an illusion. There was nothing they could do but watch the people dying terribly.
The ones who showed that horrifying sight to the adventurers were the ghosts or the souls of those who died in despair that were remaining in that ruined city.
When the adventurers were regretting having entered that city, there was a spirit of a short girl approaching them slowly.
『Dear living people, welcome…』(girl ghost)
The girl who was wearing a hood that covered her eyes, started talking to the adventurers in a monotone voice.
『This is the city of the dead. Living beings are not allowed here. If you want to stay, please take a look into this mirror.』(girl ghost)
Saying that, the girl showed the old mirror she was holding on her chest.
The skull and bone-shaped frame of the mirror gave an eerie atmosphere.
The warrior swallowed his saliva and asked the girl.
『What will we see if we look into it…?』(warrior)
And then, the girl looked up at the warrior.
At the same time, a gust of wind blew her hood, revealing her face.
『ーー！！』(warrior)
The warrior was shocked.
The eyes of the girl that were supposed to be in her eye sockets were not there.
『What is reflected in this mirror isーー』(girl ghost)
「ーーYour dying face!」(Rozelia)
「GYAAAAAAAAAAー！！！」(Cecil)
Cecil fell over backward in surprise because Rozelia suddenly shouted like that with a scary face.
This girl really likes to tease her own best friend…