VIP Chapter 449: Visiting My Own Grave
“Ugh… So, they just buried ‘me’ here?”
The former site of the Hysterm Family.
Outside the long-abandoned Hysterm Family manor, as early summer arrived, grass grew lush and birds sang, presenting a vibrant scene compared to Will’s visit in winter.
However, the vibrant scene was only in the “natural environment.”
The two graves in front of Will were worlds away from that description.
His grave, the grave that read “Will Systom”…
It was placed side-by-side with the grave of the dog named “Sanqi” that he had buried at the time, facing the lush forest outside the Hysterm Family grounds.
The two graves were not well-maintained; far from being covered in dust,
The only difference was that the grass on the dog’s grave was a bit taller.
After all, it was buried nearly ten years earlier.
The midday sun cast dappled shadows on the ground through the trees.
At the same time, the shadows of the two people standing there also fell diagonally across the graves before them.
In particular, Will’s own shadow perfectly enveloped the words “Will Systom,” making the scene appear quite profound.
“How should I put it, seeing this… It’s hard to describe whether the dog got promoted or I got demoted.”
Why he was here, to put it simply…
Inside the witch’s lair, they had carefully studied with Iaar, analyzing Reviers’s findings, and had indeed gained some understanding of the Dungeon’s structure and intentions.
But for some reason…
He always felt that the Dungeon described by Reviers was not the whole truth.
What were Carver and the Death Hall planning by joining forces? And why did they have to kill him at that specific time and place?
What were Carver, who possessed more information than he knew, and his associates doing?
Many mysteries shrouded this world.
Therefore, before officially starting his next journey, Will had something he had always wanted to accomplish, but previously couldn’t due to his lack of information –
To visit his own grave!
According to Iaar, and considering the various rumors about the “Young Master of the Hysterm Family” after his death, he should have been considered dead by the Hysterm Family and also by Carver.
So, theoretically, he should have a grave.
No matter what the Hysterm Family had done to him, they shouldn’t have been unable to afford him a grave.
“Oh my god! Being able to visit my own grave, that’s so cool!”
With such thoughts, Will asked Iaar to lead him to visit his grave.
And then…
Unexpectedly, Iaar brought him here.
The place where everything began.
The place where his memories as a child began.
The place where he became the character “Will Systom.”
“Mhm… It really is like that. When I saw it for the first time, I was… very surprised. I suggested many times then, ‘At least bury Young Master Will in the Hysterm Family mausoleum,’ but they clearly didn’t do that. The decision to… to bury you here, it seems Carver made it.”
“He decided? What did he say? After all, this isn’t the main Hysterm Family residence anymore. Choosing this place is quite subtle; there must be a reason?”
“Let me think…” Iaar pondered, tapping her chin. “The explanation at the time was that you would like this place.”
“Huh? I don’t like being buried with my dog.”
“Mhm?!”
Upon hearing this, Iaar’s ears perked up, and her tail twitched.
“I wasn’t talking about you. Besides, you weren’t my dog from the beginning, were you?”
Will gently patted Iaar’s head, especially the area between her two beast ears, which slowly calmed her tail and ears.
“I know that the current Iaar is someone ‘very important’ to Will!”
“With that kind of reason, he thought I would like this place? Or rather, he thought I was suited for this place?”
“It sounds like Carver thought so. Of course, I think he definitely wanted to treat you differently and just made up a flimsy excuse. I don’t believe that person would consider your feelings!”
“That’s what you say, but when you think about it carefully, burying me particularly in a place that isn’t visited often is actually more troublesome than just burying me in the mausoleum, isn’t it?”
“W-what if he just didn’t want to admit you were his child, and that’s why he did it?”
“Is Carver that petty? At least when it came to giving me money, he wasn’t stingy.”
Will came here simply wanting to walk freely, especially to do something cool like visiting his own grave, before he became a wanted “criminal” by the Adventurer’s Guild.
Now, he felt he had made the right decision.
Perhaps…
Some secrets about Carver – the enemy he wanted “revenge” against – would need to be investigated starting from this abandoned old house.
Especially…
Starting with the grave before him.
Will crouched down and examined the grave carefully.
The public story was that not even his “corpse” remained, so the grave wouldn’t contain his body.
He reached out and used a bit of earth magic, causing the soil on the grave to loosen, and then slowly swirled it up.
“D-dear… are you digging up a grave?”
“Uh… digging up my own grave shouldn’t be considered grave robbing, right? I’m just curious about what he buried. Isn’t it said that when mourners arrive, only the tombstone is left?”
“Then let me help! With such a shallow grave, a few scrapes with my paws will unearth it!”
“Huh?”
And so…
Will did the second thing he thought was cool, but truly hadn’t had the time for –
After paying his respects at his own grave, he then dug it up.
“Inside is a small box like this?”
Will used water magic to wash Iaar’s paws while continuing to look into the grave.
It had to be said that canids might have a racial talent for digging. Iaar took only a few minutes to reveal what was inside the grave; if he had done it himself, he probably wouldn’t have finished digging it out yet.
As Iaar had said, the grave was shallow; if there were a body, it would likely not fit.
Carver hadn’t prepared a coffin for him; it made sense, as it would be a waste to build a coffin when there wasn’t a complete body.
In the pit, temporarily reinforced with wooden planks to form a small grave, lay a small box.
An ordinary box, not even resembling an urn.
He crouched down and reached for the box placed inside.
Carver had always been an enigmatic “father” to him. He had never fulfilled the role of a father. When facing him alone, he clearly didn’t treat him as a “son” in his words.
Even…
Will sometimes felt a trace of disgust and hatred from him.
He had never experienced any fatherly emotions from Carver.
So then…
How would Carver view him?
What would he place in this desolate and uncared-for grave as a substitute for his body?
“What could be inside this box?”
Will picked up the box, dusted it off, and then was able to open it naturally.
“Carver never showed it to anyone.”
*Click.*
With a puff of dust, the box opened.
Lying inside the box was the frame of a broken pair of small glasses, its temple detached from the frame. It was missing its lenses, which had been removed.
And these glasses were very, very small, not wearable by an adult; they were clearly meant for a child.
“Why glasses?”
Iaar asked the question before Will, even glancing at him.
Ever since Will started wearing a monocle on one side, she hadn’t seen him wear a full pair of framed glasses in a long time.
“Iaar, you must remember, these were the first pair of glasses I wore as a child. I didn’t even know where they went myself.”
Will’s mind began to dredge up memories from over ten years ago.
The doctor who fitted and changed his glasses was hired by Carver. Due to the hereditary nearsightedness in the Hysterm Family, there had always been a dedicated doctor responsible for him.
So he kept his first pair of glasses because the doctor who was responsible for them was an acquaintance.
After the glasses were replaced, he kept them.
“That’s not right. Why would he keep the young master’s first pair of glasses from back then?”
Even Iaar found it incredulous.
A father who never came home, a father who didn’t care about Will at all, a father who wanted to kill him, prepared a grave for him containing a pair of glasses he wore as a child?
“Some things, since I’ve returned, and didn’t have time to look at back then, I can now find some clues. Iaar.”
