“The scene of the crime”

– Man, this place is really dusty.

After barely escaping Ever’s claws, I was left staring at the terrible state of the palace while mopping.

Hallways, windows, corners. Everywhere I look there’s dust as if it was piled up snow.

I wonder how many years without cleaning it takes for a place to be this dusty.

– What gives. I have to finish as soon as possible.

Enough complaining. I should probably get to choosing my room already.

Ever told me I could choose any room. If I’m going to be living here I’d rather make sure I choose a good place.

I started looking at the rooms on the ground floor. From the outside, I could see 3 floors, each with about 30 or so windows.

So I’m going to carefully take a look at each room.

– First, here.

I opened the door at the corner of the hallway.

If it’s in the corner, there has to be a window with good lighting. Also, having only one neighboring room means I won’t have to worry too much about noise.

There’s no one else here, so I shouldn’t worry about those things, but I used to live in a poor apartment. Some habits never die.

– *Cough* As I thought, full of dust. This isn’t bad though.

The room was about a room of six tatamis (10m~) and the only furniture was the bed and a small lamp. The lack of appliances would make this much easier to clean.

Maybe I’m deciding too fast. I should open the windo-

” H E L P ”

There was some writing on the windows.

– ……

I quickly wiped the dust off the window with my finger, and then…

” H E L P

I W I L L B E K I L L E D ”

“B E C A R E F U L

A D E M O N

R E S I D E S

I N T H I S P A L A C E ”

” I T W I L L

F O L L O W M E

U N T I L T H E E N D

” I M S C A R E D

P L E A S E H E L P M E

H E L P M E

H E L P M E ”

“H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E

I W I L L D I E H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E H E L P M E

H E L P M E I W I L L D I E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E

I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E”

Those words appeared on the window.

And then-

*THUD*

– EEK!?

The door suddenly slammed shut, which made my heart rate skyrocket.

When I looked at the door-

” W E L C O M E ”

A message was written with blood. And there were countless bloody handprints filling the rest of the door.

– HYAAAAAAAAAA! EXCUSE MEEEEEEE!

After the warm welcome from the invisible people, I rushed out of the room. I cannot imagine what would’ve happened to my heart had I not been able to open the door.

Was the Sage’s Palace built on a graveyard or something!?

I was excited to show everyone in Searat how much I had grown after my training, but I’m starting to regret my decisions.