Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Haunted House
After killing Baron Madi, Yulian "borrowed" a carriage from Madi Manor, picked up his family, and set off on the journey to the capital.
After four or five days on the road, they arrived in the capital.
Lin Qi and his group didn't rest upon reaching the capital. Instead, they went straight to the Pactum Mundi Chamber of Commerce in the city.
As soon as he stepped down from the carriage at the chamber's entrance, Lin Qi saw a round, ball-shaped man rushing toward him.
"Young master Isaris, you've come to the capital too!" Link, drenched in sweat from running, grabbed Lin Qi's hand tightly.
"Link? What are you doing in the capital?" The newcomer was none other than Link from the Pactum Mundi Chamber of Commerce in Kissmark Town.
"Heh heh, I have you to thank for this. The sale of the Roland family assets all counted toward my performance. The chamber saw how excellent my results were and transferred me from Kissmark Town to the capital. They even gave me a promotion.
Young master Isaris, my authority increased a lot after the promotion. Don't worry, I'll definitely get you the best price." Link's eyes sparkled with shrewdness
Link knew that the Roland family assets had sold for an astronomical sum. Now that young master Isaris had come to the capital, wouldn't he need a place to stay first?
A noble young master with a huge fortune wasn't going to buy a straw hut, was he?
"Alright. Recommend me an estate." Lin Qi knew what Link was thinking. The guy probably thought he was a rich fool. But Lin Qi didn't mind. Money was just a number to him. Strength was the foundation of everything.
Link led Lin Qi and his group to a private room and personally brewed a pot of black tea.
"Young master Isaris, please take a look and see if any estate catches your eye." Link handed Lin Qi a photo album about twenty centimeters thick.
Inside were beautifully photographed estates.
Lin Qi flipped through and roughly selected three estates of moderate size, asking Link to focus on introducing those.
"Young master Isaris, you have excellent taste. You've picked the three best estates here. This one with a small pavilion at the entrance originally belonged to the Terra family. They moved to Kalmont Town later. This estate is about ten hectares and includes a main building..."
Lin Qi's attention was mostly on the last estate he had picked. The moment he saw the photo, it felt familiar. It looked like the territory of a very popular boss from his past life. Though it seemed similar, Lin Qi couldn't be sure yet. He'd better listen to Link's introduction first.
"...As for this last estate... to be honest, young master Isaris, I don't recommend you choose it. Even though it's the largest, most luxurious, and cheapest of the three... it's..." Link hesitated.
"Just say it."
"Link, I like making money, but I don't want to be responsible for someone's death. Especially you, young master Isaris—you're my lucky charm. This estate... it's a haunted house."
"Oh? Tell me more about the haunting." If he wasn't sure before, the words "haunted house" basically confirmed it for Lin Qi.
This was exactly the boss from his past life—the Dreamweaver, Viola Didier, and her Didier Manor!
"The name of this estate is Didier Manor. The Didier family were originally nobles in the capital. But one night, for unknown reasons, the entire family died in their sleep. Later, during a foreclosure auction, a merchant bought the manor. The next day, that merchant also died in his sleep... After that, the manor changed owners about four times. Two of them were Sequence 8 powerhouses. But they all died!"
Link's voice trembled with fear, as if he was afraid the manor would take his life too.
Viola Didier was originally the most beloved youngest daughter of the Didier family. Beautiful, gentle, and talented, she was also a Sequence 9 Wood-Shepherd.
When Viola was thirteen, her sister gave her a music box. That music box, which looked like a crystal ball, was actually a very dangerous A-Class Forbidden Object!
The more powerful a Forbidden Object, the more it seeks out an owner.
In anyone else's hands, it was just a D-Class Forbidden Object that would accelerate the owner's aging. Viola's sister, jealous of her beauty, had bought it from the black market and given it to her. She wanted to accelerate her sister's aging and make her ugly. But it triggered a tragedy.
The Forbidden Object, having found its owner, shed its D-Class outer skin and revealed its terrifying fangs.
This Forbidden Object would put everyone within a certain range to sleep. If the sleeping person did not wake within ten hours, they would die.
The most twisted part was the cost to the owner. The cost of this Forbidden Object was that the owner could no longer distinguish between reality and dreams.
What Viola thought was reality was actually a beautiful dream woven by the Forbidden Object. Meanwhile, the reality where her family couldn't be woken up, she took as a nightmare.
Then, in Viola's nightmare (which was actually reality), people would inexplicably break into her home. So she hid in the manor's basement, waiting for these people to fall asleep, then killed them.
From Viola's perspective, she had the same nightmare every day. In the beginning, the family in her dream couldn't wake up. Later, law enforcers would break in. Believing herself to be trapped in a nightmare, Viola fled to the basement and would kill anyone who broke into her home during the nightmare.
In the past life, after players defeated Viola, she finally distinguished reality from dreams. The reason Viola was so popular was simple.
Viola was the quintessential noble girl—blonde with big waves, a black dress and black stockings, long slender legs, and an angelic face. Countless players in the past life had screamed "Mommy!" on the forums.
"I'll take this estate!" Lin Qi made his decision.
Based on the timeline, Viola was probably still Sequence 9 right now. Lin Qi could handle her with ease. He would get a great estate at a good price, obtain an A-Class Forbidden Object, and if he was lucky, maybe even a blonde with big waves...
"Uh... young master Isaris, won't you reconsider? I can give you a discount on the other two estates. This one is really a haunted house..." Link tried to persuade him.
"Don't worry, Link. Even if I die and turn into a vengeful ghost, I won't come after you." Lin Qi patted Link on the shoulder.
"Alright, young master Isaris." Seeing that he couldn't talk Lin Qi out of it, Link went to prepare the contract.
After signing the contract and paying, Lin Qi and his group drove the carriage to Didier Manor.
Didier Manor was located in the northwest of the capital. There were no other estates or buildings nearby. Either they had been scared away by the haunted house reputation, or this area was just considered the suburbs of the capital.
"So this is Didier Manor?" Lin Qi sighed as he watched Kaff push open the iron gate, which had a sign with a horse on it.
It looked much bigger than in the photos.
After arriving at the main building, the group looked at Lin Qi, waiting for his instructions.
Yulian's family hadn't entered the Pactum Mundi Chamber of Commerce, so they didn't know this estate was a haunted house.
Yulian's parents and sister stood nervously before Lin Qi. Back home, their son had only said that a noble boss had taken a liking to his skills and would take them to the capital. The family, already fed up with the rumors in the village, hadn't thought twice before getting into the carriage.
Only now did they see the noble Yulian had spoken of.
Hair as golden and dazzling as the sun. A black suit that looked very expensive. An elegant smile. Every gesture and movement exuded noble bearing.
Compared to the fat, ugly Baron Madi, the young man before them fit their image of a noble much better.
"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Isaris Roland. I moved to the capital from Kissmark Town for certain reasons. I took a liking to Yulian's skills and want him to be the head of security for the estate. Since he couldn't bear to leave his family, and the estate is indeed short on help right now, I brought the three of you along.
All three of you can do whatever work you're capable of around the estate. My butler Kaff will teach you. I'll pay each of you a salary of thirty silver coins per month." Lin Qi spoke to the nervous parents and young girl before him.
"Thank you, my lord. We don't need a salary. Just giving us food is enough." Yulian's father said while carefully watching Lin Qi's expression, afraid of saying something that might displease the noble.
"Haha, the salary is necessary. I'm not some feudal landlord." Lin Qi shook his head and continued, "Let's do as I said. Yulian, stay behind. Kaff, take them to their rooms."
"Understood, sir." Kaff acknowledged and led the three upstairs.