Ginny and the Vagabond

Returning to Wilson Castle, Green was back in his familiar room after several days away. However, the atmosphere throughout Wilson Castle was extremely tense.

Yesterday, something had happened not long after Green left. Let us turn back to yesterday morning...

Ginny Will was a senior maid at Wilson Castle, specifically responsible for the castle's kitchens. That day, it happened to be time to purchase supplies, so Ginny Will took two strong male servants to a farm outside the city to buy food.

Because strange incidents had been running rampant lately, compounded by the disturbances caused by the Tower of Yin Spirits, the people of Landon City were gripped by panic, and the markets were extremely sluggish. Moreover, for safety reasons, Wilson Castle no longer purchased food through the market. Instead, it went directly to farms outside the city to buy supplies.

Ginny Will was highly capable. Nothing unexpected happened while she led the others in purchasing food—until they passed an intersection on the way back, when a ragged vagabond suddenly burst out of a nearby alley.

Vagabonds like this were common in Landon City. They were mostly farmers who had gone bankrupt. After losing their land and being unable to survive, they had been forced to seek a living in the city. With no skills to rely on, they could only become beggars. This vagabond walked very quickly, his eyes clouded and vacant, as though sleepwalking. He paid no attention at all to whether there were carriages or other pedestrians on the road. The Wilson family's coachman had grown overbearing from habit as well. When he saw someone rushing out, he did not even think of dodging, certain that no one would dare collide with a carriage belonging to the Wilson Family.

The result was predictable. Neither side yielded, and they slammed into each other with a heavy crash. The horses pulling the carriage let out a loud neigh, but the experienced coachman held the reins fast and brought the carriage to a stop in the middle of the road.

Ginny Will, sitting in the rear compartment, was jolted and nearly fell face-first into a basket of potatoes. For no reason at all, she got a noseful of dirt, which irritated her. She demanded crossly, "What happened? Can't you drive properly?"

"Big Sister Ginny, this fellow suddenly rushed out. I didn't have time to dodge," the coachman explained aggrievedly. He glared viciously at the vagabond sprawled on the ground, only to realize in astonishment that the man was bleeding from his mouth and nose, his hands and feet twitching, and seemed on the verge of death!

The coachman panicked. A mere scrape would have been nothing, but if he had killed someone, then even if the carriage belonged to a viscount, the culprit would certainly not escape unscathed. He hurriedly jumped down from the carriage and went over to take a look.

At that moment, Ginny Will also came out of the rear compartment. Seeing the vagabond lying on the ground, she frowned. If he had been killed, she would have trouble explaining herself as well. She quickly extended a finger to feel for his breath and see whether he was truly dead. Unexpectedly, the moment she approached, the vagabond suddenly sat up. Beneath his disheveled hair, his gaunt cheekbones jutted out, and his eyes stared unnaturally wide, as though he meant to tear the corners apart. In a hoarse, low voice, he cried, "The strange thing is here! The strange thing is here! We're all going to die. No one can live. No one can live..."

Ginny Will was startled. With a cry of "Oh my God!" she hurriedly backed away, but the vagabond clung tightly to her skirt. No matter how she struggled, she could not break free, and she screamed in terror. Fortunately, the two strong male servants were right nearby. They rushed over, pried the vagabond's bony hands away, dragged him to the roadside, and left him beneath a tree, hurling him onto the ground before turning back and dusting their palms with disgust.

The vagabond did not struggle. He merely repeated those words over and over with a vacant expression, while his gaze remained fixed on Ginny Will.

Ginny felt extremely uncomfortable under his stare. She wanted to order the two male servants to teach the damned madman a lesson, but she feared that he was too frail and that they might beat him to death. That would be troublesome. After weighing the pros and cons, she restrained herself, simply stopped looking at the vagabond, hurried back into the carriage, and left.

If it had been nothing more than such a minor episode, it would not have mattered.

However, last night, around the time Green was slaughtering his way through the enemy ranks, a shrill scream suddenly rang out from the small building beside Wilson Castle where the servants lived.

A terrified male servant screamed shrilly as he tried to push away his roommate, who was straddling him and frantically biting at his neck.

That crazed male servant was one of the men who had gone with Ginny Will to purchase supplies during the day. At that moment, the veins bulged across his face, the pupils had vanished from his eyes, and he had already bitten a chunk of flesh from his unfortunate roommate's neck. His mouth was a bloody mess, yet he was still chewing!

At the same time, commotion and screams came from the room next door. That was where the other male servant lived, and it too had descended into utter chaos.

On the ground floor of the castle, Ginny Will was entitled to live inside the castle because she was in charge of its kitchen.

At that moment, inside her room, a hunched, filthy man stood beside the bed, watching Ginny Will sleep.

As if sensing something, Ginny suddenly opened her eyes. Seeing the man standing beside her bed, she immediately let out a high-pitched scream. She instinctively sat up and kicked at him.

The man neither dodged nor fought back, simply allowing Ginny to scream and beat at him like a madwoman.

The commotion soon alerted the guards making their rounds. When two armed guards kicked down the door and burst in, the inexplicably appearing vagabond had already been beaten to the floor. One of the guards went over to examine him and could not help being startled—the man was actually dead!

Ginny was still shaken to her core. Clutching the blanket, she panted heavily. When she learned that the vagabond had died, her face grew even paler. Her expression was fearful and disbelieving. As a woman who was neither strong nor trained in any sort of combat, she found it hard to imagine killing a man with her bare hands.

After the incident, however, Viscount Paul was not concerned with whether someone had died. What concerned him was how the man had entered the castle through its heavily guarded defenses.

Unfortunately, Doctor Wilkins had left, and Green had not been there either. Throughout Wilson Castle, only two junior magic apprentices could operate the defensive array. They knew only a smattering of its workings, making it impossible to find any flaw in the array, much less determine how the vagabond had entered the castle.

This left Viscount Paul and Vincent feeling as though thorns were pricking their backs. They immediately ordered the guards to strengthen security and kept the lamps burning all night, illuminating every room inside and outside the castle until it was bright as day.

Ginny Will was questioned for an hour before returning to her quarters, exhausted and terrified. Yet, faced with that familiar room, she could not bring herself to sleep again no matter what. She went straight to share a room with another maid she was usually close to...

A few hours later~

It was past four in the morning. The night was at its darkest, and people were sleeping most deeply.

Suddenly, another shrill and ghastly scream shattered the silence of Wilson Castle for the second time that night.

In an instant, the entire castle erupted into commotion once more. The guards on night duty hurried toward the source of the screams, while Viscount Paul, who lived on the upper floor of the castle, received the news at the first opportunity.

Viscount Paul sat fully dressed behind the enormous solid-wood desk in his study. What had happened earlier had given him an ominous premonition, so he had simply not returned to his bedroom and rested in the study instead. Beside his hand lay a finely crafted enchanted pistol engraved with complicated runes, its bullet already chambered and ready to fire at any moment.