“Oh, you seem quite flustered. I’m sure you have many questions, but for now, just follow me. There’s no need to stand by the door and chat, is there? Ah, but first I should introduce myself.
I am Edmund, the caretaker of this mansion… just think of me as a positional authority.”
“Harpas—”
“Oh, that’s just a disguise, nothing to worry about. It’s commonly referred to as ‘Surprise!'”
Why was only the ‘surprise’ part in a female voice? I had a million things I wanted to comment on, but I shut my mouth and quietly followed him.
As I followed him silently, an enormous castle that hadn’t been in my line of sight suddenly appeared. It seemed well-maintained, so someone was clearly taking care of it.
“Welcome to the mansion of the Quartz family.”
“Isn’t it just a mansion?”
“If you think of it as a mansion, then it is one.”
“And as I mentioned earlier…”
“Oh, I expected that kind of reaction! We need someone to show such a reaction since there are only crazy folks here!”
He began rambling about how the Quartz family members were monotonous, did a shit job, spoke loudly, caused daily incidents, yet never cleaned up afterwards, guiding me along.
Where were we going?
“Where are we going?”
“We’re heading to the reception room. Hmm, this room should suffice.”
“Isn’t it just a wall?”
“No, no. Look closely.”
He knocked on the wall with the back of his hand. Just as I was about to say something about this nonsensical act, suddenly a door appeared, creaking as it opened.
“Alright, step inside.”
I followed behind him in silence into the reception room. While it wasn’t extravagant, it was adequately furnished with everything one might need. I glanced at him sitting in a rocking chair before taking a seat in the rocking chair across from him.
Ugh, the swaying was a bit annoying.
“What kind of chair do you prefer?”
“If I had to choose, it would be a plush sofa.”
“Understood.”
He snapped his fingers. With a snappy sound, I began to feel a plush sensation beneath my butt and back. Looking down, I found myself sitting on a very soft sofa.
“How about that?”
“It’s fantastic.”
“I’m glad you like it. It’s been a while since I’ve entertained a guest. It’s quite rare for someone other than Quartz to visit this mansion. The last guest probably came over 500 years ago.”
More than 500 years? That must have been before the Empire was established. Just how long has the Quartz family been around? As I stared at him filled with curiosity, he fiddled with his wings and said,
“I believe this is called small talk?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
“Then I’ll stop the small talk and get to the main subject. We have much to discuss.”
Even saying that, I didn’t have that many questions to ask. I took a moment to gather my thoughts in silence. I needed to extract quality information if possible.
Considering that being nice now doesn’t guarantee niceness later made it all the more pressing.
“The one who sent the invitation was me. I’ve confirmed that you have the qualifications.”
Qualifications?
So you mean you’ve been watching me the whole time? How? By whom?
“What do you mean by qualifications?”
“If you were an ordinary Quartz family member, qualifications wouldn’t mean much, but… you’re a soul that has entered the body of a descendant of the Quartz family. In order to step into this place, you had to prove yourself.”
“And that’s why I was left on a deserted island?”
“That was an unexpected incident. At that time, I thought you, that is, the original owner of your body, had died. Originally, he wasn’t that capable, so I thought… well, it turns out, after 10 years, you conquered the dungeon and did not leave the island? Quite interesting, indeed. That’s when I started observing you.”
Did he think I wouldn’t be able to escape the deserted island?
If it weren’t for the variable named Karina, perhaps I would still be digging away in some corner of that deserted island. She was the one who revealed the existence of the outside world to me.
“Well, I understand that. So why did you call me?”
“Well, it’s because you’ve overcome the observed incidents.”
Observed incidents, huh?
They seemed to know about the ‘original work.’ Considering how they’d thrown someone on that strange deserted island to watch me and sent an invitation as soon as I snagged the dragon, it was impossible not to know.
“We’ve observed this time countless times. Many descendants, apart from you, have either died without escaping the deserted island or passed away midway. To be honest, hardly anyone thought you’d still be alive by the time you took out the dragon.”
“Hardly?”
“I mean those troublesome souls stuck here. You’ll likely meet them soon. The moment they see a newcomer, they rush over, so it’s best to prepare yourself. They’ve all gone a bit mad.”
So, you’re saying there’s not a single normal person, huh?
Is it because of their mixed blood with outsiders, or is there another reason?
One way or another, it was clear that this wasn’t a place to stick around in. After all, right in front of me, someone was pretending to be the demon I killed to welcome me.
A rational person wouldn’t do something like that.
“So what’s the reason for calling me, then?”
“Since you’ve acquired the qualifications, you should inherit the legacy of the Quartz family! I also want to take a break.”
You’re telling me you want to slack off?
“Don’t look at me like that. After living with those idiots for hundreds of years, it gets tiring. It’s thanks to the mad bloodline of my ancestors, but you seem perfectly fine because your soul is different.”
“Madness?”
What kind of family is this that madness gets genetically passed down?
“Well, a mixed bloodline of an outsider and a human can’t be normal, can it? One way or another, the outsider’s traits are bound to manifest. If it were just a twist in the ego, it would be cute, but many have bodies that are indescribably twisted.”
“That’s quite a horrific thought.”
Am I the exception because I switched souls?
“You’re the first case like that, so I don’t really know.”
“So it might happen, or it might not.”
Do I want to be happy about this or not?
With this sudden Schrodinger’s madness, I could only furrow my brow even more.
I hope it’s just a dud.
“Now, let’s stop the small talk… and I should tell you about us.”
This guy just proceeds as he likes. But since I wanted to get to the main topic too, I said nothing and stared at him.
“I believe you know at least to some degree. We are mixed blood of outsiders… and humans. Simply put, you could understand it as the offspring of a human that was bred with a monkey.”
Why’s the analogy so crude? Of course, it’s not wrong since the outsider and human had a tryst, but couldn’t they have wrapped it up more elegantly?
I couldn’t help but sigh at Edmund’s stark analogy. The thought of what more might come out of that mouth was already tiring me.
“So, what in the world was the outsider thinking when having children with humans?”
“According to them, initially, it was mere curiosity. The moment their curiosity turned into love was when both pairs of eyes met… At that moment, they decided to betray their kind.
Our matriarch, as they say, was quite an enchanting individual.”
“If you’re not going to share a heart-pounding romance story about them and the matriarch, can we just skip this?”
I somehow felt like I’d have to hear this for an eternity, so I wanted to skip it. But perhaps my statement displeased him. Edmund raised an eyebrow.
“Oh! This is something everyone in the family should know! Just shut up and listen!”
“Ah, yes.”
It seemed he wouldn’t move on to the main topic until he finished this tear-jerking love story, so I decided to quietly listen to Edmund’s tale.
Seeing me adopt a quiet and attentive posture, he grinned in satisfaction and resumed his story.
“The first encounter between them—”
And thus, Edmund’s tale stretched on endlessly. From their first meeting to how they fell for each other, their scandalous first night, and even about their first child.
The trivial stories just kept droning on.
“…and that’s how we came to be.”
“So basically, children were born, but since being mixed blood rendered them somewhat inhuman, the Quartz family built this mansion on the line between life and death for their descendants to live… Right?”
The details were so long I got confused, but it seemed my rough understanding was correct, so Edmund clapped joyously.
“That’s right! You got it!”
“Then how did you have more children?”
“The Quartz family has a rule that if you marry, you must live in this mansion. Since the child of a Quartz is hard to perceive as human.
By your generation, the blood has diluted significantly, appearing human, but just a few generations back, it wasn’t uncommon to see kids with more than ten eyes or four arms.”
…I’m lucky not to be in a freakish body at least.
“Can I start asking questions now?”
“I’ve heard exchanges are important in dialogues. So sure, go ahead and ask one.”
“I’d like to know what the Quartz coming-of-age ceremony is.”
Let’s see if I can find out why I woke up on that deserted island.
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