When Duanmu Huai and Mary returned to Baskerville Manor, the others came over with anxious expressions.
"Mr. Duanmu, what exactly happened just now...…your clothes?!"
Seeing the torn fabric across Duanmu Huai's chest, the Baroness of Baskerville was alarmed, but Duanmu Huai waved his hand.
"Don't worry, I just had a scuffle with that creature. Nothing serious."
"Hm? Oh, is that so? Are you injured? Should I call a doctor...…"
"I'm fine. That thing couldn't actually hurt me — only the clothes took damage."
"I see...…"
Hearing his answer, the Baroness let out a breath of relief. Duanmu Huai then stepped over to her and held out his hand.
"Forgive me for being forward, but does this look familiar to you?"
"This is...…"
The Baroness looked at the pendant resting in Duanmu Huai's palm and furrowed her brow slightly, searching her memory.
"I feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but...…"
"That is a pendant that belonged to the Baskerville ancestor."
Fortunately, there was someone present who did know. The old butler had walked over and was now looking at the pendant as he spoke.
"Oh? You've seen it?"
"Only in a painting."
"A painting?"
"Yes — the portrait of that Baskerville ancestor...…please follow me."
Led by the old butler, Duanmu Huai was brought to the drawing room, where a row of portraits of Baskerville ancestors did indeed hang along the walls. The butler pointed to one of them — a painting of a young man dressed in fine clothes, standing on a rock with a longsword in hand.
"That is him — the ancestor of legend...…"
Though the old butler's words were somewhat vague, when it came to the legendary Baskerville ancestor, there was obviously only one candidate: the one with the unsavory reputation. Looking carefully, Duanmu Huai could indeed see that the man's chest bore a pendant identical to the one in his hand. Moreover, looking at the portraits of the earlier ancestors in the family line, most of them wore the same pendant as well.
"Is this the Baskerville family crest?"
Old World nobles naturally all had their own family crests, but whether the Baskervilles had one or not, Duanmu Huai didn't know.
"That I'm not certain of. I only know that this pendant has been passed down through the Baskerville family for generations — up until that ancestor. After that, it disappeared, and no one knew where it had gone...…I truly cannot imagine how you found it, Mr. Duanmu."
"Oh, I took it off the creature I dealt with."
"What?!"
It had to be said — both the Baroness and the old butler were completely stunned.
"Does that mean the demon hound was the ancestor?"
"Based on what we have so far, perhaps — but...…I have a feeling something doesn't quite add up."
At least from the vision Duanmu Huai had seen through the pendant, that ancestor's death was certainly not straightforward. According to the Baskerville legend, those who arrived afterward had found the ancestor's body alongside the girl's, with a hound tearing at the ancestor's corpse nearby.
Though the story never spelled it out explicitly, the sequence of events led most listeners to assume the ancestor had killed the girl and then been punished and slain by the demon hound.
But from the vision Duanmu Huai had seen, that ancestor had stood essentially no chance against the girl — and that final scene was clearly the girl turning the tables and killing the ancestor herself.
Of course, that was on the premise that the girl was not human — and she certainly hadn't looked human.
"What does this pendant actually do?"
"I can't tell...…hmm...…"
Duanmu Huai was examining the pendant carefully when Lingnu suddenly wriggled out of his pocket, jumped up onto his hand, and batted the pendant with her paw a few times. And then...…
"Click!"
With a soft snap, the pendant suddenly opened, transforming into something resembling the shape of a key.
"What — what is that?"
Everyone present was startled, and Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow.
"Do either of you know what this is used for?"
"Well...…"
The Baroness and the old butler exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
"Mrow."
Lingnu, however, seemed to know something. She let out a cry, then leaped down from Duanmu Huai's shoulder and ran off deeper into the house. Duanmu Huai and the others followed the black cat with curiosity as she led them through the corridors and brought them to...…the Baskerville family patriarch's study.
"What's in here?"
Everyone entered the study looking puzzled, but Lingnu paid no attention. She hopped up onto the writing desk in a couple of bounds, then reached out and patted the cabinet beside it. Only then did Duanmu Huai notice a strange decorative relief carved into the wall next to the cabinet. On a whim, he pressed the pendant into the gap at the center of the relief.
And then...…
"Click."
With a soft sound, the tall bookcase that had been standing flush against the wall suddenly slid silently to one side, revealing a stone door leading down beneath the floor.
"What is this?"
Duanmu Huai looked to the two of them. The old butler and the Baroness were both equally bewildered.
"Forgive us, sir, we never knew this existed...…"
"It rather seems like your black cat knows our house better than we do ourselves...…"
Well, Lingnu was a ninja — finding hidden places was practically a ninja's calling.
"Either way, let's go in and have a look."
A secret chamber was a staple of any proper adventure, and though he hadn't expected to stumble upon one at a time like this, finding a secret room and not going inside would be a betrayal of both his identity as a player and as an [Inquisitor].
Duanmu Huai picked up his flashlight. The Baroness and the old butler followed at his side. Mary was curious, but since this was ultimately a private matter for the Baskerville family, she chose not to join them. Duanmu Huai also had Lorena hold the others back — after all, no one knew yet what was down there, and if it turned out to be some sealed Evil God or something of that nature, things could get very complicated.
The underground passage was wide and deep, and quite cold inside. Truthfully, Duanmu Huai had wanted the Baroness to wait outside — her health was already not great, and this was hardly the right environment for her condition. But the Baroness refused outright.
"I am the last surviving member of the Baskerville family. I must know everything that has happened to this family, so that I can carry it forward."
As she spoke, the Baroness rested a hand on her abdomen. Well — a mother's resolve was something else entirely, and this was precisely the kind of situation that phrase was meant for.
Though...…
Duanmu Huai shone his flashlight around and took stock of the surroundings.
A mysterious secret chamber, an old butler...…he hoped nothing bat-related was going to turn up in here.
At the end of the passage was a large underground room — though there was no Batmobile in sight, and certainly no Bat-armor. What there was, however, was a considerable collection of weapons and armor, including crossbows and bolts among the other armaments.
"What on earth is all this...…"
"What was the ancestor doing down here?"
The sight was enough to astonish not only Duanmu Huai but also the Baroness and the butler, who were staring at it all with their mouths open.
"My lady, there are records about the Baskerville family here!"
The old butler seemed to have spotted something and hurried over to one of the walls. It was thick with dust, but something appeared to be carved into the surface. He began wiping the wall vigorously, and before long had cleared away the dust and cobwebs that had covered it, though by this point he was covered in grime himself — not that he seemed to care in the slightest. In that regard, the old butler did seem to be genuinely devoted to the Baskerville family.
What was recorded on the wall was the legend of the Baskerville family ancestor's valor in battle — though frankly it read more like a fantasy novel than a historical record. According to the wall's inscription, the earliest Baskerville ancestor had been an exorcist. When he first came to this place, the daughter of the local lord had been afflicted by a creature, and that ancestor had driven off the creature that was tormenting the lord's daughter. He then married her, and made a vow.
As descendants of an exorcist, they would protect this land from all manner of demons and monsters — a pledge made as a testament to the love between the exorcist and the lord's daughter. And so, from that time forward, every generation of the Baskerville family head and heir would study various exorcism techniques and do battle against the demons that threatened their territory...…
Frankly speaking, this read less like a historical record and more like something out of a fantasy novel.
But for the Baroness and the old butler...…it carried a weight of reality that was difficult to dismiss.
"I never could have imagined — that the Baskerville family had such a hidden past...…"
The old butler stared at the secret chamber around him in astonishment, and the Baroness beside him was equally stunned. Duanmu Huai, by contrast, remained composed. The vision he had experienced when touching the pendant had already made him skeptical of the legend's official version, and now things were becoming somewhat clearer. It was evident enough — the girl the Baskerville ancestor had caught was not human, but rather something like a werewolf. She had seized the moment before the lord could kill her and fled, been chased down, and then turned the tables and killed him instead...…
Well, that sort of thing — dying by your own hand through insufficient skill — did occasionally happen.
Hm? But according to the legend, a girl's body had also been found afterward.
Unfortunately, this was all over a hundred years ago by now, and there was almost certainly no useful evidence left to find.
Duanmu Huai did genuinely want to investigate the story of that ancestor from a century ago, especially after seeing the vision from the past. He couldn't shake the feeling that something about the whole affair was off, and as an [Inquisitor], he could say with certainty that there was the unmistakable scent of conspiracy about it. But so much time had passed, and the Baskerville family had cycled through several generations since then.
Fortunately, there was something here that could help answer at least some of the questions...…a diary!
Well, wasn't it wonderful that in this world, whether victim or perpetrator, everyone seemed to keep a diary.
Truthfully, Duanmu Huai had never been able to understand it. It made some sense for a victim to keep a diary just in case — but why would any criminal be foolish enough to confess their supposedly airtight criminal scheme in their own diary?
Through the ancestor's diary, Duanmu Huai and the others did manage to uncover several things.
According to the diary's account, this ancestor, like those who had come before him, had inherited the power of the exorcist and had been quietly protecting the people of this region from the shadows.
Then this ancestor encountered a scholar who had come from elsewhere.
He called himself Dominic, a scholar of the occult, who had come to this area to research its local folklore and legends. At first the ancestor found his research somewhat interesting, and the two had kept up a correspondence for a time — but gradually the ancestor began to notice that something seemed off about this scholar named Dominic.
To put it simply: Dominic had written to him once asking for help investigating some legends in the deep mountains. But in a subsequent letter, Dominic had developed what seemed like a state of fear, claiming that "something had been following him." The ancestor naturally grew suspicious of what had befallen the scholar, and paid a visit to the man's lodgings.
When he arrived, the Dominic he found was lying in a chair looking gravely ill, claiming he had caught a chill in the mountains, and asking the ancestor to help retrieve some items that had been left behind up in the hills. At the time the ancestor had no suspicions, and agreed without hesitation.
But later, the ancestor began to notice that something about Dominic's situation wasn't right, and moreover...…
"...…The things he asked me to collect were nothing like what he described. He called them scientific instruments, but he did not know that I too have studied such things, and I can say with certainty that these components are not parts of any ordinary scientific device. I began to suspect whether he was truly an ordinary scholar, and so I conducted an investigation...…"
The diary skipped over the details of what followed, but the next entry was quite clear.
"As I suspected! He is no scholar — he is a demon wearing a human skin! I do not know what he intends, but I will not allow him to succeed! He has gathered everything he requires, yet I will not be his instrument. I have made my preparations. That object has been hidden by me in the secret chamber, and as long as he cannot find it, he cannot leave. In this way I will be able to destroy him utterly, and not even his lackeys will be able to stop me...…"
The diary ended there.
"Now this is a rather fascinating account."
Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow after reading it, then looked around the room. And there, on a stand nearby, he spotted a strange object.
It looked like something made of glass — a circular base at the bottom, a glass enclosure above it, and what appeared to be buttons on the outside. Viewed from the outside, it did indeed have the appearance of some kind of scientific instrument.
Except...…
"This is what it was?"
Duanmu Huai furrowed his brow slightly upon seeing it. He had never laid eyes on the thing in person, but he had heard more than a few players talk about it on the forums...…after all, it was one of the most commonly visited landmarks players liked to check off their lists.
Well, if that was the case, it wasn't surprising that the ancestor had died by his own miscalculation.
Because his enemy wasn't a creature — it was...…
After they had finished with the diary, the Baroness and the old butler were struck with astonishment.
"The Dominic family? They're connected to all of this?"
"Oh?"
Duanmu Huai turned to look at them.
"You know them?"
"Yes — the Dominic family is quite well known in this area. The old man Dominic is said to be extremely learned...…"
The old butler's expression was somewhat complicated.
"How many people are in the Dominic family?"
"I believe it's just him and his granddaughter...…"
Heh. An old man and his granddaughter.
Hearing that, Duanmu Huai's eyes narrowed, and a cold glint passed through his gaze.
"Where does the Dominic family live?"
He asked.
The Dominic family lived in a remote stretch of woodland outside the town. According to the old butler, old Mr. Dominic had always lived there with his granddaughter.
To the people of the town, old Mr. Dominic was not an easy man to get along with, but his granddaughter would occasionally come into town to buy supplies. In the eyes of the townsfolk, they were simply an ordinary household — nothing more.
Until tonight.
"Good evening — Merry Christmas!"
With those words, Duanmu Huai kicked the shut door open and strode into the dim, gloomy cottage before him. In that moment he looked every bit like a Christmas Eve maniac who had materialized out of nowhere, wearing a savage grin and intent on murdering every innocent soul who was out celebrating the holiday — well, strictly speaking, that wasn't entirely wrong.
"Who, who are you?"
Faced with Duanmu Huai's sudden intrusion, a girl stepped forward with a terrified expression, shouting at him, a telephone receiver in her hand.
"Leave immediately, or I'm calling the police!"
"Oh, I was just passing by and thought I'd pop in for a look. Speaking of which...…"
As he said this, Duanmu Huai fixed the girl before him with a vicious stare, the corners of his mouth curling into a savage smile.
"You live somewhere this remote, and you haven't even kept a few dogs to guard the place — how very careless of you...…or could it be that you're worried those dogs might bite through your own throats first? You hybrid from beyond the stars!"
The words had barely left his mouth before Duanmu Huai suddenly grabbed the chair beside him and hurled it straight at the girl's head. Faced with the sudden attack, the girl let out a sharp scream and threw herself backward to dodge. The chair crashed heavily into the door frame beside her, and at the same instant Duanmu Huai lunged forward, clenched his right fist, and drove it straight into the girl's face.
"BANG!!"
"—————————!!!"
A punch like that from Duanmu Huai was enough to obliterate an ordinary person's skull — yet when it connected with the girl's face, it produced only a deep, rubbery thud, like striking a tire. Even so, it was enough to make her cry out in agony, and with a scream that sounded nothing like a human being, the girl's face suddenly cracked apart where Duanmu Huai had struck it — and from within, a monster's head covered in writhing tentacles emerged, lunging straight at Duanmu Huai.
That twisted, savage face — the very one Duanmu Huai had seen in the vision from the past.
(End of Chapter)