Chapter 61: First Time
The city’s outskirts buzzed with activity, but the abandoned mansion loomed in stark contrast, its dilapidated facade casting an eerie shadow under the fading daylight.
A line of about fifty people snaked toward its creaking gates, their chatter a mix of excitement and nervous anticipation.
Baines, cloaked in the guise of a middle-aged man, muttered, ’What is going on?’ he thought, his sharp eyes scanning the scene.
The mansion, with its cracked stone walls and overgrown garden, exuded an unnatural gloom that set his instincts on edge.
"What’s happening here?" Baines asked the man ahead of him, his voice low but firm.
The man turned, eyeing him as if he were a fool. "You don’t know?"
Before he said further, Baines slipped a gold coin from his pocket and pressed it into the man’s hand.
The man’s eyes lit up, his tone shifting to eager compliance. "This is the town’s tourist attraction. A mansion like this in a backwater village? It was only bound for word to spread fast. At first, they tried burning it down, but it wouldn’t even char. Aura, mana, nothing could touch it. Then some folks went inside and found ghosts, mummies, and spirits wandering about freely. We called it the Ghost House cause none of its harmful. Now it’s a draw for thrill-seekers and tourists."
’Safe?’ Baines’s mind rejected the notion. "Since when has this been happening?" he pressed.
"A couple of years, I think," the man replied, pocketing the coin.
Baines fell silent, his thoughts racing as he shuffled forward in the line.