As the manor gradually returned to the scenery it ought to have had, bright yellow flames appeared on all five monsters the masters of the estate had become beneath the afternoon sunlight. Yet rather than howling in the fire, they smiled joyfully after regaining their senses.
The night curtain was torn open, and sunlight flooded the long-abandoned manor. Ghosts and dried corpses drifted or crawled out of the mansion one after another, only to be burned into ashes beneath the sun.
The winter afternoon sunlight fell across his face, and the warmth felt quite pleasant to Shade as well. He bent down to pick up the suitcase that had fallen into the snow, then grabbed the Holy Grail emerging from underground. This time, the rune was Memory. That was different from in the past.
"I'll take this as a memento."
He shook the picture frame in his hand.
At that moment, the ogre's limbs regenerated, and he rose to his feet amid the flames. The little monster with a rat tail grew larger and supported his old father. The two souls gradually turning transparent in the flames embraced, and then the little girl, still covering her face, turned toward Shade as well.
The family of five stood together amid flames burning in the void. Then the picture frame suddenly cracked in his hand, though fortunately, the yellowed old photograph inside remained intact. It showed a family portrait of six.
Old Watsont, whose face remained terrifying, nodded.
"It belongs to you. Thank you."
"No need to thank me. I didn't come here specifically to save you."
He waved farewell to the five of them, then turned his back to them and trudged through the courtyard beneath the sunlight, his feet sinking unevenly into the snow surface, until he reached the fence