Chapter 307: The Haunted Inn
Because Eivass lacked wind-attribute mana, Liz couldn’t elementalize him along with herself.
However, even simple low-altitude flight quickly led them in the direction of Windpipe Town.
After all, when they first arrived at Eagle Cape Village, the two Gryphon aunts had already guided them past Windpipe Town. If it hadn’t looked so unlike Eagle Cape Village, they might have landed here.
Once Windpipe Town was within sight, Sherlock, on the Gryphon, subconsciously looked back.
He found that Eagle Cape Village hadn’t disappeared just because he had left. A circular village lay perfectly in the valley. From this angle, he could even see that the edge of the village was a very neat circle.
He immediately patted Eivass’s back, sharing this observation with him.
Eivass also looked back, then fell into thought.
“So that’s how it is…”
Once you’ve been to Eagle Cape Village, you’re no longer fooled by the barrier?
Or were there other conditions—perhaps being remembered by the inhabitants, or sleeping there for a night?
Thinking about it, Daiya—the Phantom Demon Egg belonging to the Succubus—might have also visited Eagle Cape Village.
Was she still at that inn?
He supposed not.
Succubi were legitimate Upper Demons, usually living in the Dream Realm.
Without a contract from a Demon Scholar, Upper Demons found it difficult to stay in the Material Realm for extended periods. Unless a Demon Scholar summoned her again, she should always reside in the fantasy domain of The Path of Beauty.
…That must make the Earthbound Spirit there quite lonely.
She probably thought the Succubus, being skilled in manipulating illusions and dreams like herself, could stay and play. But she didn’t realize the other was a busy lady who only came for a brief visit before returning to work…
With a cry from the Gryphon, its altitude began to descend slowly.
“It seems the chaotic time flow wasn’t attached to us. Our sense of time immediately returned to normal after leaving Eagle Cape Village.”
Eivass first looked up at the sun in the sky, moved by the fact that the moments were no longer jumping erratically.
Then he looked down, clearly seeing the road sign ahead.
It was a crooked, old metal sign.
It faced the direction of Windpipe Town, standing at a fork in the road.
On the left, a red arrow bore a warning: “Dangerous here, no entry. violators will be sentenced to death.” On the right, a black arrow read “To Windpipe Town,” with another black arrow above it, “To Windpipe Town.”
It was currently tilted forty-five degrees to the left, as if blown by the wind. It was covered with dirt formed from damp mud and numerous dried, scattered mud splatters.
Few people clearly came here. On the somewhat damp road surface, apart from the footprints Liz made upon landing, there were no other footprints or tracks.
Sherlock, however, suddenly frowned, looking around and falling into thought.
He suddenly dismounted the Gryphon, ran to the back of the road sign to take a look. He then immediately retreated and patted Eivass’s arm.
“Eivass, purify this sign,” Sherlock said.
“Mhm.”
Eivass’s lips curved slightly. Without even asking “Why,” he waved his hand, releasing a Flame Butterfly carrying purification flames.
It slowly flew onto the road sign, then burst into a ball of flame.
Within the flames, the sign was not burned but underwent a peculiar change—the words on it suddenly transformed into a different font.
The original upward arrows turned downward, and the text on both sides flipped accordingly. The dangerous arrow pointing left now pointed right.
“As expected,” Sherlock sneered. “I figured this sign was either inserted backward or blown around by a storm. Failing that, some sort of illusion must have flipped it inside out.”
“At the crossroads in Avalon, if the sign points toward a one-way path on its front, it won’t point upward but downward. Only when the sign faces away from that path will it point upward—just like how ‘up’ on a crossroad means forward.”
“This indicates that the Earthbound Spirit’s power is not as weak as we imagined,” Eivass said softly. “From this far away… she’s already capable of creating illusions that affect such a distant area.”
“Alice… was it?” Sherlock murmured.
Earlier, Eivass had recounted his experiences during the Ascension Ritual, including the pitiful girl named Alice buried in the foundation. She was the Earthbound Spirit of the haunted inn and the source that attracted Daiya, the Phantom Demon Egg, leading to a series of calamities.
Generally, Earthbound Spirits create illusions or dreams to kill passing travelers and absorb their souls to strengthen themselves.
If the Earthbound Spirit had become much stronger in the past sixty years…
It might mean she had consumed many people.
“…Perhaps it was a fierce battle,” Little Sherlock warned solemnly. “She is no longer the innocent girl who had only recently become an Earthbound Spirit sixty years ago.”
“Not necessarily,” Eivass shook his head. “I’m inclined to another possibility…”
“What?” Sherlock sounded doubtful.
“No, I’ll tell you later.”
Eivass did not answer.
It was merely a conjecture, with no evidence. It would seem presumptuous to voice it now.
As they remounted the Gryphons and flew in the correct direction.
Soon, the sky darkened.
Like a video tape on fast-forward—perhaps because the Gryphons they rode were too fast, the dark clouds in the sky seemed to grow and pile up at a visible rate.
They had only seen the inn from afar, and the sky, which had been merely overcast, had already become completely cloud-covered.
With a flash of lightning.
A chilling wind howled, and rolling thunder sounded.
Then, a downpour, without any warning, suddenly came crashing down!
“—Again?”
Sherlock frowned deeply. “It’s still an illusion, right?”
“I can’t dispel this one,” Eivass chuckled, merely raising a hand to shield his eyes and gazing at the rapidly approaching inn, unconcerned.
By the time they reached the inn’s entrance, Sherlock’s newsboy coat was completely drenched.
He wore a grim expression, his brows furrowed, as if contemplating how much compensation he should demand.
The inn, however, did not look like it was rife with illusions.
Its sign had been roughly removed, leaving behind white glue marks. The building, visible from the outside, was clearly dilapidated. A layer of visible white dust, like a computer fan that hadn’t been cleaned in over a year, was thickly piled in the gaps of the building.
“Is anyone here?”
Eivass dismounted the Gryphon, called out, and pushed open the inn’s door.
The empty main hall of the dilapidated inn, looking like it belonged to the last century, was desolate.
In the dim inn, there was only a young front desk clerk.
He looked very thin. Wearing thin clothes unsuitable for the season, he lay on the counter with his hands clasped, dozing like a student.
But with Eivass’s Divine Vision as a Third Tier Priest, he could easily see that the clerk’s body outline was semi-transparent.
Eivass’s lips curved slightly as he walked boldly to the front of the counter.
“Yo, long time no see, kid,” he greeted with a smile.
