Sairiel Haunted House

Name: Starlight

Scale: Small

Leader: Rhode Alant

Members: 1 person

Stronghold: None

Level: 1

Reputation: Unknown

Facilities - Training Room (Cannot Build), Bedroom (Cannot Build), Hall (Cannot Build), Tower (Locked), Study (Locked), Alchemy Room (Locked), Forge (Locked)...

Looking at the system prompt that appeared before him, Rhode couldn't help but feel a bit helpless. This was far from the starting point in the game. In the game, when players formed guilds, the system would approve their application after confirming they met the requirements and would also grant them a stronghold. Now, he didn't even have a stronghold. But thinking about it, it made sense. In the game, players had to complete several quests to qualify for an application, while he was essentially getting something for nothing. In the original Dragon Soul Continent game, NPC mercenary groups rarely had strongholds, so it wasn't strange. And now...

The immediate priority for Rhode was to purchase a stronghold to serve as the center of his mercenary group.

Of course, this required money. Fortunately, for Rhode, he wasn't entirely without opportunity.

A crisp knock sounded at the door, and Lize walked into the guest room. After resting for a night, the girl, having changed her clothes, appeared much more energetic. With a lively and sweet smile on her face, she greeted Rhode.

"Mr. Rhode, I'm ready."

"Good, let's go."

Rhode said, standing up and walking towards the door. Lize, with a gaze mixed with curiosity and confusion, watched the young man before her and followed closely.

Lize had no idea what Rhode was thinking. While she hadn't agreed, she hadn't objected either. Because before discussing practical matters, there was a more pressing issue to deal with—lack of money.

Including the reward Mace had given them earlier, and the spoils from the two Gargoyle safes in Mist Town, Rhode and Lize currently had one thousand gold coins. Although after arriving in Deepstone City, Rhode had asked Lize to sell most of the gems and crystals they had, resulting in a gain of two thousand five hundred gold coins. However, this was still not enough to buy a house. Not to mention, Rhode had set his sights on the ground floor of the highest level. That was the noble district, where even the most peripheral areas had sky-high housing prices, unaffordable for anyone.

But now, walking with Rhode on the path leading to the upper district, looking at the young man's confident expression, Lize couldn't suppress her curiosity. She wanted to see how Rhode intended to use this money to buy a house in the upper district. But if it was just about buying property, why would he instruct her to prepare supplies in advance? There wasn't anything to explore in Deepstone City.

Could it be that he planned to rob it?

Recalling Rhode's past actions, this possibility seemed plausible.

Upper district, southwest corner.

Unlike the clean, tidy, and magnificent mansions surrounding it, what appeared before Rhode and Lize was an old house corroded by time. Dense vines crisscrossed the walls, and unattended weeds had grown almost to their knees. The once spacious courtyard now looked like a mess, littered with garbage and the droppings of stray cats and dogs. The entire sky was overcast, with not a trace of sunlight.

A cold wind blew, accompanied by the distant barking of a stray dog, making Lize shiver involuntarily.

The moment they stepped into the courtyard, the girl keenly felt a change like ice and fire. The upper district outside was quiet, clean, peaceful, and serene. But this courtyard was exceptionally cold, messy, and deathly silent. The contrast between the two was as stark as a magnificent palace and a mass grave.

"M-Mr. Rhode, you're really planning to buy this place?"

The girl instinctively hugged herself and asked in a low voice.

"Not planning to."

But unexpectedly, Rhode waved his hand without looking back.

"I've already bought it."

"..."

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

"Huh?!"

Lize's eyes widened in surprise, completely disbelieving what she had heard.

"You, you've already bought it?"

"That's right. They only wanted five hundred gold coins. It was a really good deal."

"Five hundred gold coins?!"

Hearing this, Lize was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth in surprise.

"This is the Sairiel Haunted House!?"

The Sairiel Haunted House was known to almost everyone in Deepstone City. Sairiel was formerly a third-rate family in Deepstone City. Unlike other families, this family's rise to prominence was built on artistic sculpture—in other words, they grew and prospered through their stone carving skills.

The most outstanding member was the former patriarch of the Sairiel family, Martin Sairiel. He possessed unimaginable talent in sculpture, especially in depicting the human body. The figures he carved were lifelike and vivid. He was once known as a master figure in Deepstone City.

But everything changed because of a stone.

When Sairiel was twenty-nine, he obtained a white stone dug from the mines of Deepstone City. No one knew what possessed the art master, but he brought the stone home that very day, declaring he would create an eternal and perfect work of art.

At first, no one took it seriously. After all, as an art master, this was what Sairiel pursued. The nobles, however, had plenty to talk about privately, speculating about what masterpiece the art master would produce. Sairiel's behavior was normal at first. He locked himself in his room and stayed with the stone for a whole week without going out, which made more people anticipate the art master's new work. They believed that if the art master put in so much effort, he must be carving the most perfect piece.

But then things began to become increasingly bizarre.

Sairiel's maids started disappearing one after another. No one knew where they went. As a noble family, the Sairiel family sent out many people to search, but strangely, these people seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Not only these maids, but even the surrounding areas reported disappearances from time to time. For a while, the entire upper district was in a state of panic. Then, a major incident occurred in the Sairiel household: Sairiel's wife and beloved daughter also disappeared.

This time, the family members could no longer remain calm. They disregarded what Master Sairiel was carving as a perfect work of art and went to confront him, hoping he would investigate the matter. However, when they opened Sairiel's room, everyone was stunned.

The entire room was filled with dismembered limbs and severed arms. Sairiel's wife and daughter were hanging from the ceiling, now two cold corpses. The art master sat on a chair with a serene expression, caressing a sculpture of a woman beside him.

The rest was simple.

Everyone quickly apprehended Sairiel, and he confessed to killing the missing women. However, he believed their deaths were all worthwhile, a sacrifice for the sublimation and perfection of art. Their lives were offered as a noble and respectable act.

No one would be satisfied with such an explanation, so the Lord of Deepstone City quickly sentenced Sairiel to death. The scene that followed, however, left everyone dumbfounded: upon learning of his impending death, Sairiel had actually broken out of prison like a madman. To capture him, the Deepstone City Guard, the Mercenary Association, and even many nobles sent men in pursuit. But to everyone's shock, that artist who had previously lacked the strength to truss a chicken managed to kill over a dozen advanced experts and hundreds of soldiers, finally collapsing from exhaustion in his own sculpting room, where he breathed his last.

This tragedy shocked Deepstone City, and talk of a curse began to spread. Many believed the stone was filled with demonic nature, having seduced the artist and turned him into a cold-blooded devil. As for the sculpture everyone called the culprit, it inexplicably vanished from under the guards' noses the very day after Sairiel died!

For a time, all of Deepstone City became unsettled. Many of Sairiel's sculptures were smashed, and after that, everyone chose to selectively forget the incident.

Unfortunately, although Sairiel was dead, it seemed he still hadn't forgotten how to attract attention.

First, a noble who had been on good terms with Sairiel came to manage the estate, but a month after moving in, the entire family was found starved to death in the dining room, with the rotting, foul-smelling food before them left completely untouched.

The second victim was a wealthy merchant who moved there from out of town two years later. To integrate into local high society as quickly as possible, he ignored all warnings and bought the property. His fate was no better than his predecessor's—half a month later, the merchant, his entire family, and their servants were all found hanging in their rooms, as if they were so close they had to count down to heaven together.

These two consecutive horrific events made everyone instinctively avoid the Sairiel Haunted House. Even the Deepstone City authorities found the property a massive headache; with no other choice, they set the lowest possible price, leaving it there for whoever dared to buy it. Believe it or not, five hundred gold coins for such an estate was a huge temptation for many who were broke yet ambitious. Someone bold enough bought the property, but this owner was a bit sharper: he not only paid a high price for the estate but also spent money to renovate the entire house inside and out, and hired a team of shrewd, formidable mercenaries before moving in with a flourish.

This time, however, the luck was even worse. Perhaps the house itself was enraged by being sold at such a bargain price, for it didn't even provide a buffer period, simply ensuring no one who entered ever came out. The day after the owner moved in, the lights in the house went out for good—and as for the mercenaries, they naturally fell silent as well.

This time, no one even wanted to confirm the outcome; it was as plain as a louse on a bald head.

Lize had lived in Deepstone City for so many years that she was naturally well-aware of the rumors surrounding the Sairiel Haunted House. Upon realizing that Rhode had gone behind her back to do something so dangerous, she immediately jumped up.

"Mr. Rhode, do you know what this place is? This is..."

"I know perfectly well."

Rhode waved his hand, thinking, I not only know the cause and effect, but I'm also crystal clear on the hidden rewards and who the boss is. The Sairiel Haunted House was one of the ten exclusive quests in Deepstone City and the first hidden quest Rhode had ever completed, so he naturally had a deep impression of it. However, unlike back then when he had been caught off guard and scrambled to react, he was now fully prepared to handle this hidden quest and its boss.

"Don't worry, it's just a house, and besides... I'm ready."

As he spoke, Rhode and Lize had already crossed the overgrown garden and arrived at the front door. Through the rotting entrance, the gloom within was clearly visible. Rhode reached out and placed his hand on the door, then turned his head to look at the tense Lize.

"Are you ready?"