Bruce rode behind Ragwort's old horse. It was past its prime, but fortunately, Akin Village was not far from Lane Village, and he arrived before sunset. A dusky yellow streak colored the sky, gilding the distance with a touch of brilliance. The beautiful scenery helped Bruce relax a little.
Although he had failed to figure anything out, he was already here, so he might as well go to Wayne Manor. At this point, he had no better option. There was no turning back now. Even if danger lay ahead, he would have to grit his teeth and face it. Men died for wealth, just as birds died for food.
"Pah, pah, pah! Why would I say something so unlucky?"
"Heaven help me. Please don't let anything terrible happen."
Bruce took a deep breath. The air was cool.
In the original Bruce's memories, he had only visited Lane Village as a child. He had never returned after reaching adulthood, and his memories of Wayne Manor had grown very hazy. He seemed to have been there before.
Bruce did not know where Wayne Manor was or how to get there, but he could always ask. He stopped a villager and explained who he was and why he had come. The villager happily led him to Wayne Manor.
Along the way, the villager kept casually mentioning that his daughter had received professional training in Rhode Town and could work as a nanny, a general servant, or the like.
Bruce also learned from the villager that Wayne Manor had dismissed its previous servants. No wonder the man was so eager to recommend his daughter. He wanted to find her a good job.
Working for a wealthy landowner would probably pay well.
Bruce explained that he had not yet inherited the estate and did not really understand the procedure. If the man's daughter truly wanted the job, he could consider interviewing her when he hired staff. He gave no definite answer.
Wayne Manor stood in a secluded corner of Lane Village, some distance away.
By the time Bruce arrived, the light had faded. Wayne Manor stood on the western side of Lane Village, shrouded in shadow, the whole estate dim and gloomy. Bruce felt as though he were standing before a painting, albeit one with a rather sinister style.
Bruce gave the villager who had guided him the few Copper Rune Coins he had on him.
Bruce stopped at the manor entrance and tethered the carriage to a wooden post nearby. From outside, he could see no one moving about. The entire estate was deathly still, like a slumbering beast, with the iron gate as its mouth.
Bruce felt that entering would be like a lamb walking into a tiger's jaws. The trace of unease in his heart kept spreading.
Why did the wind feel especially cold tonight?
Bruce rubbed his arms, telling himself that it was only his nerves making him feel that way.
In one of Wayne Manor's bedrooms, a strange light flashed across a mirror.
"The darkness has been answered. Something has come to the manor. Its destiny has arrived."
A low voice echoed through the empty room, then quickly faded away. From the sound of it, the speaker seemed to be a woman.
Some of the strange things within the manor were beginning to change...
Tiny black flowers bloomed in an inconspicuous corner, and a tremulous rattling of chains rose from a basement piled with clutter.
Danvers, who was sitting in the manor's main hall, suddenly felt an inexplicable pain in her chest.
At the manor entrance, Bruce's anxious heart settled a little.
Everyone yearned for power, wealth, and the chance to become someone who could bend the world to their will.
Bruce did not want to become a powerful figure. Right now, he simply wanted a comfortable life. He coveted wealth and could not bear to abandon a fortune that was practically within his grasp. He was willing to brave Wayne Manor's dangers.
Indeed, men died for wealth, just as birds died for food. Unlucky as the saying was, they all did so willingly.
Bruce took a deep breath, raised his hand, and pulled the iron ring on the gate to knock at Wayne Manor's entrance.
Knock, knock...
The noise startled the two wolfdogs guarding the estate. Fortunately, both were tethered, so they could only rush toward the gate and bark furiously. Even so, they gave Bruce a fright.
The two dogs were so black that they had been invisible as they crouched in the corner.
Danvers heard the commotion outside as well. She sprang to her feet in a fluster, but stepped on her skirt as she started forward and nearly fell.
"Someone's here? Who could it be?"
Danvers felt inexplicably agitated.
Wayne Manor stood in a secluded location, and the family's farms were elsewhere, so it could not be a tenant farmer passing by. Few people ever came here. Who would visit Wayne Manor at a time like this?
It could only be Bruce, coming to claim the inheritance.
Jessica blinked, watching her suddenly flustered older sister in bewilderment.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
Danvers forced a smile.
"Hopefully, it's a villager passing by, or a close friend coming to offer her condolences."
Danvers quietly reassured herself, straightened her clothes, and stepped out the door.
The moment she emerged, Danvers saw someone standing at the gate.
A young man.
It had to be Bruce Wayne!
Danvers had an urge to shut the door immediately, but she walked over anyway. The short distance from the house to the manor gate somehow made her feel as though she had forgotten how to walk. Her legs and feet hardly felt like her own.
She did not know how she reached the gate.
As she drew closer and examined the visitor, she grew even more nervous. He was a young man in worn clothes, dusty from travel, with a face whose contours bore some resemblance to her father's and a gentle gaze. It seemed he really was her cousin Bruce.
Once Danvers and Jessica came out, the two guard dogs stopped barking.
"Hello. May I ask who you are?"
Danvers spoke, truly hoping the man would say he was merely passing by. But his answer shattered that hope.
"I'm Bruce Wayne, from Akin Village. I heard about my uncle. You must be his daughter, Danvers. I'm very sorry. I only just received the news and couldn't attend his funeral. Please accept my condolences."
Bruce had put together a few words to say. Before coming, he had asked who lived at Wayne Manor: a pair of sisters, his cousins. He did not know what he ought to say, since he was taking their family's inheritance for himself.
He also found it astonishing that the Rune Kingdom had such an inheritance law.
This was Bruce's first time meeting his cousin. She was in a terrible state, her eyes red and swollen, her face pale, with no makeup or grooming. Clearly, her parents' deaths had left her devastated, and he felt sympathy for her.
Despite her unkempt appearance, she was naturally very beautiful, enough to catch his eye. But his admiration was only fleeting. He was greedy for money, not women.
He was not safe himself at the moment and had no attention to spare for such things. The secrets and dangers hidden in Wayne Manor still awaited him. There was something suspicious about Uncle Flaikent's death, and people from the Goddess of the Night Church might even come looking for him.
At the thought of the Goddess of the Night Church, Bruce's heart skipped a beat. How had he failed to think of that problem on his way here?
What if the people from the Goddess of the Night Church discovered that he was a transmigrator?