The Wooden House's Fantasy

Kaiming Clinic.

For the wooden house, the night was lonely and dreamlike.

It had seen the fake Kaiming die and the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll come and go, yet it could scarcely believe any of it.

The fake Kaiming had vanished so completely that no remains were left behind. Even the ashes seemed to have blown away in the wind, swept into the cracks between the street's paving stones.

A crazy notion occurred to the wooden house: perhaps there had never been a Xie Yu or a fake Kaiming...

It was as if this were an ordinary night, just like every other day for the past several decades. Kaiming had returned home after finishing his house calls, leaving the night to the house alone, and he would come to open the door the next morning.

It waited and hoped that a familiar figure would miraculously appear at the end of the street, swinging his cane and walking with a spring in his step.

[The quack Kaiming is about to start another day of swindling.]

The wooden house looked forward to it so much.

Perhaps this was the first time in over a decade that it had looked forward to Kaiming's arrival in the morning.

But it never happened. It waited from the small hours until dawn, then until daylight, but nothing came.

All that came were...

Two uninvited guests.

A familiar magic carriage appeared once more.

The last time it had appeared, a young man named Roman Brown had stepped out. His silvery-white hair was easy to recognize.

There had also been a lady whom he called his "eldest sister."

This time, the wooden house saw it more clearly. The black carriage's exterior was made of irregular obsidian slabs inlaid with gold, and gold thread traced the name "Brown" around the door handle.

The door opened, and the people from its memories of yesterday appeared.

"He's not here." The lady still wore a black veil and a black robe, as if she were ready to attend a solemn funeral at any moment.

"Did he run off with the Sealed Artifact? Not even holding the funeral anymore?" Roman Brown sneered.

"Did the old bastard really think a single Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll could protect him for life?"

"It's also possible that the Sealed Artifact's original owner took action after learning of Wig Brown's death," the black-robed lady said.

She stepped forward and lightly touched the wooden house's wall with a fingernail painted bright red, then closed her eyes and silently felt for traces.

"There are remnants of battles involving minds and souls, and more than one. The traces of soul scorching and spirit devouring can be identified as Pure White, a spell from the family's magic system. There should be no one else in Black Pine City who can use it. Wig Brown must have fought here."

"The first use was the day before yesterday, in the front yard outside the house, before we arrived. Based on Wig's account, he should have used it when he dealt with the mage named Kaiming. Those traces are to be expected."

"The second use was last night, in the attic, after we left. The enemy is unknown."

Her tone was cold, without a trace of hesitation or ambiguity. She was clearly certain of her conclusions.

The wooden house felt dazed.

Following the lady's words, it remembered Kaiming's death again, and the sight of the fake Kaiming standing in the doorway, straightening his clothes. That deep fear welled up in its heart once more.

There were many things that would not cease to exist simply because it told itself they were fantasies.

This shattered the wooden house's fantasy.

It told the wooden house that everything it had seen was real.

[Kaiming is dead, and the fake Kaiming is dead too. It's like a dream...]

The wooden house gradually realized that the figure it had hoped to see that morning truly could never appear again.

If anything could comfort it, it was that the fake Kaiming was dead too, truly killed by the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll.

"A four-star mage carrying a Sealed Artifact stronger than he is, coming to grief in this remote city? What a joke. Which Magister did he offend?"

Roman Brown kicked the wooden house's door hard. The copper-core lock, which had not been replaced in years, finally broke without mercy. The door creaked slowly open, revealing the dim entrance hall inside.

He struggled to remain calm.

"Even a Magister might not have been able to do it so cleanly. Who knows if the old bastard staged the whole thing himself?"

The Sealed Artifact was powerful and deadly in combat, possessed special functions, and was highly compatible with Wig Brown's power. With the two working together, even if they could not defeat a Magister, they should certainly have been able to find a chance to escape or leave more traces behind.

The black-robed lady pondered briefly and offered an explanation.

"Unless the Sealed Artifact never helped him, or even turned against him."

[Turned against him... The Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll turned against him.]

[I saw it. It really did turn against him and kill that guy.]

So the wooden house thought.

The figure of the boy appeared before the wooden house's eyes again: the boy who had insisted on becoming Kaiming's assistant despite its warnings, the boy who loved to read, the boy who had "snatched" the Sealed Artifact away.

There was no doubt who was behind the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll flying back to kill the fake Kaiming.

The wooden house accepted reality and figured everything out.

Nothing could ever go back to the way it was... but at least someone remembered, and someone had taken revenge.

[Xie Yu, was it really you?]

"Whether Wig Brown is alive or dead, someone else can take his place. But where did that Sealed Artifact go? Father specifically mentioned it. It has important uses elsewhere."

Mr. Roman Brown's brows were drawn tightly together.

The black-robed lady laid out her analysis methodically.

"To make the Sealed Artifact turn against him, to know of its existence, to have the means to deal with Wig Brown, and to know that this Mr. Kaiming was Wig Brown..."

"In all of Black Pine City, I can think of only one faction capable of doing all that."

Roman Brown said nothing. He, too, could think of only one faction.

Before coming, he had naturally read all the information on this "old uncle" in Black Pine City.

The only ones who seemed capable of it all were the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce, the former custodians of Sealed Artifact 3-0771, who bore a grudge against Wig Brown for killing a son, but had once been suppressed by the family.

"They're courting death." He clenched his fists.

Then, unable to control his temper, he punched Kaiming's mailbox and newspaper box, knocking over the two poor iron boxes, each supported by a single post.

Their contents spilled across the ground.

There were letters from patients requesting visits, messages asking why Kaiming had failed to make his house calls as promised yesterday, and this morning's newspaper.

The newspaper slipped down, revealing a boy's face on the front page.

Naturally, Roman Brown and the woman in black did not recognize the face in the newspaper. They had no time to pay attention to the paper lying on the ground; it had nothing to do with their mission.

But the wooden house recognized him.

The portrait in the newspaper looked so much like Xie Yu.

Only he looked younger, more immature, and more innocent, with a more flawless smile.

The wooden house could read, and it loved books.

[Xie Yu, the only examinee in the entire Northern Lands province to achieve a perfect score... He said he was a genius in the field of Sealed Artifacts. He really is a genius in the field of Sealed Artifacts.]

[He made the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll turn against Wig, made it kill him instead. It really was him. It could only have been him.]

The wooden house figured everything out and became certain of it all, finally sorting through its jumbled memories of the past two days.

[The book-loving wooden house's Affection has risen to 100!]

Xie Yu had been planning to push ahead and raise the Chapter of Teleportation's Affection to the maximum in one go. With the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll helping, he would soon achieve that goal.

But at this crucial moment, different words appeared.

[Congratulations, you have conquered the book-loving three-story wooden house!]

[You may choose one of three rewards:]

[1. Lifelong Entrustment] [Its Affection will never decrease.]

[2. Full Disclosure] [The history of Magic Hat Road's development in Black Pine City over nearly forty years.]

[3. Friend of the Wooden House] [The initial Affection of all wooden items you encounter from now on will be +1. This effect can stack.]

[You are not currently near the wooden house. Some rewards cannot be issued until you approach it.]

A wooden house? What happened? Why did its Affection suddenly reach the maximum?

Xie Yu frowned slightly.

There had been no response when he killed Wig Brown last night, but now its Affection had soared. Something was clearly unusual.