The clearing sank into a heavy silence.
Only the quiet crackling of the campfire broke it, mixing with the hysterical chirping of insects in the tall grass. The cool autumn wind picked up again, answered by the rustling of leaves. The surrounding world remained completely unaware of what had just happened before its eyes, but the teenagers were different.
Just recently, they had been shouting, arguing, placing bets, and cheering the fighters on. But now, no one was in a hurry to break the silence hanging over the clearing. The same scene kept appearing before their eyes again and again.
Grey's savage attacks.
The torn shirt. The bandages. Bloody stains that looked like oceans.
And then...
That very same person calmly got to his feet as if nothing had happened, listened to Achilles's confession, and without saying a word, headed back to the estate to clean himself up.
As if everything that had happened was so insignificant that it did not even deserve to be mentioned.
Their overactive imaginations painted those fresh memories in even darker colors.
Grey's image underwent significant transformations in their minds.
He no longer seemed like merely a strict commander and leader. Instead, he had become a furious madman who hid his cruelty behind a gentle smile and perfect self-control. He was welcoming and cold at the same time, calculating and caring, gloomy and sincere, cheerful and strong-willed...
In short, he was not a person, but a puzzle.
Even Lily could not find the right words to express the storm of emotions raging in her mind.
'Was it worth it? If Grey was so badly injured, then why did he fall for her little tricks? Was he really that worried about his reputation and unwilling to lose face in front of his subordinates? Just how important was the Void's Order to him when he had only just announced its creation? Where did he even get so many injuries?' An endless stream of questions spun through her mind, but there was no one to answer them.
«Haa...» Josh slowly exhaled, breaking the prolonged silence.
He looked in the direction where Grey had disappeared.
«He truly is our commander. A man you want to follow.»
Reus silently stood off to the side.
His gaze was fixed on the ground, on the spot where the defeated Achilles had been lying just a minute ago. His fingers gripped the dagger at his waist so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
«Scary.» He uttered only one word before falling silent.
«Even while covered in so many wounds, he was still able to defeat Achilles... a fighter who was several levels above him.» Allen thoughtfully drawled. «Of course, he's very ruthless with us during training, but I have to admit, he shows absolutely no mercy toward himself. I can't even imagine when I'll gain the same kind of willpower...»
Kai awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
Several times, he opened and closed his mouth, about to say something, but changed his mind every time.
In the end, he could not hold back any longer.
«Hey... where did the boss even get those injuries?»
Allen frowned.
«That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out.» He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. «Those weren't fresh scratches from training. His entire body... it looked like someone had been stabbing him with a knife for a long time, over and over again.»
Kai turned pale.
«Is he... experimenting on his own body?»
«What?»
«Well... just think about it!» Kai hurriedly said, waving his arms as if he had just arrived at some strange conclusion.
«The boss is always coming up with some strange, sometimes even crazy training methods. What if he tests them on himself to find out the limits of his body? Maybe he deliberately injures himself because he has nothing left to lose? He wants to get rid of his crippled status no matter what...»
«Even I couldn't come up with such an idiotic theory...» Garen calmly remarked.
Kai puffed out his cheeks in annoyance.
«Then come up with your own!»
«No idea.» Garen shrugged. «But I think he knows what he's doing.»
That was exactly how real barbarians tempered their bodies. Back in his native tribe, he had witnessed such training many times, so he saw nothing surprising about it. The only difference was that barbarians preferred to walk around bare-chested and proudly show off their scars, while Grey, for some reason, hid his beneath his shirt like a shy maiden.
Meanwhile, Zebra walked over to Achilles and held out a hand.
«Stop lying around here,» he said with his usual laziness. «It's time to celebrate your joining Void's Order.»
Achilles stared at the outstretched hand for several seconds. Then he smirked and accepted the help.
«Thanks.»
He absentmindedly brushed off his clothes before glancing toward the old estate where Grey had disappeared. For the first time, signs of him truly realizing his defeat appeared on his face, and his lips twisted into a crooked line.
«I... landed so many blows on him...» He fell silent for a second, as if replaying memories of their fight in his mind. «And he didn't even make a sound.»
Those simple words made several teenagers shudder. The scene of the recent duel appeared before their eyes once again.
Heavy blows to the body. Falls. Brutal collisions.
And in the middle of it all was Grey's calm face. Not a single grimace or complaint. As if pain had long since stopped being anything special to him. As if he had grown so used to it that he simply stopped noticing it.
Cheryl lowered her head. Her hands unconsciously clenched.
Unlike the others, she knew the answer for certain. At least part of it.
She remembered how terrible he had looked the previous night, and the next day, she had learned about the destruction of the cult's base.
However, of course, she could not explain anything. Grey still kept his feat a secret and had even clearly stated that someone else was responsible for it. That meant she had no right to challenge his claim.
An awkward silence settled over the clearing, which Zebra soon broke.
He slapped Achilles on the shoulder several times and grinned broadly.
«Stop worrying about the boss already. That lunatic knows exactly what he's doing,» he pointed his thumb toward the campfire. «Let's go have a drink instead and properly celebrate your defeat.»
«Hey!» Kai protested. «Why are you so happy about it?»
«Because a strong fighter just joined our team today, idiot!»
«But he actually lost!»
«That's exactly why we need to drink,» Zebra replied calmly. «If he'd won, sooner or later I'd have to say goodbye to a friend. And that would mean drinking to drown my sorrows.»
Several people couldn't help but chuckle, and the tension hanging over the clearing finally began to ease.
...
Somewhere deep inside the estate, the man responsible for all these arguments calmly adjusted his bloodstained bandages and fastened his shirt using the remaining intact buttons. He had no idea that his performance today had firmly established his reputation as a madman in the eyes of his subordinates.
«I did pretty well, didn't I?» Grey chuckled inwardly.
«Of course,» a familiar voice replied. «An iron body, a stone face, and a dramatic finish. Ten out of ten. I'm sure the girls were impressed. Maybe you'll even get a chance to lose your virginity today...»
«Shut up,» Junior grumbled, feeling the blood rush to his face.
However, despite their lazy banter, Grey still didn't allow himself to rest.
After fixing his appearance, he washed his face and began inspecting the empty mansion, trying to determine whether anything had changed after nightfall.
Grey slowly walked down the long corridor, his gaze sliding over the peeling walls. Wealthy people had surely lived here once. The remains of wall paintings, fragments of carved railings, and long-faded patterns on the ceiling all testified to that.
Now, despite his subordinates' efforts, the place looked miserable. Over time, neglect had slowly and methodically destroyed all its former splendor. Restoring the mansion to its previous state would require an enormous investment. There was simply no way around it, and that was frustrating.
The empty window frames let in the cool night air. His footsteps echoed over the creaking old floorboards. Cobwebs swayed lazily in the corners.
Nothing unusual.
«So, what do you think?» Senior asked inwardly, hoping that the experience of a native Eridanian might help identify any anomalies.
Grey pushed open the door to another room.
Empty.
«Nothing so far.»
He glanced at a battered wardrobe standing alone against the wall.
Meanwhile, Senior went over the key points from the teenagers' explanations, worried that Junior might have forgotten something. Nightmares. Ghostly howling. Creaking floorboards in the corridors and small objects falling over on their own.
«Any guesses, ideas, anything we can use to start our investigation?»
«It could be anything...»
«Such as?»
«An overweight house cat with a hoarse voice that decided to return after realizing people had moved back into the mansion.»
«Ha-ha, very funny, genius,» Senior wasn't in the mood to listen to Junior's jokes. «No matter how hard you try, my sense of humor just doesn't suit you. You can stop trying to imitate me. You'd be better off sticking to that indifferent mask of yours. At least then you look somewhat natural.»
He fell silent for a minute.
«Now, seriously?»
Junior fell into thought.
Back in the Village of the Abandoned, he had been a regular at the library and had heard countless stories from Uncle Robert, who was a witcher. His profession had forced him to deal with all sorts of strange and bizarre forms of supernatural creatures, so he had no shortage of stories to tell.
All Grey had to do was narrow down the possibilities, and a few theories had already begun to take shape in his mind.
«Household parasites,» he mused aloud.
«Household... what?»
«Magical creatures about the size of rats. They like old buildings and human attention. If disturbed, they start making noise at night, stealing things, and playing little pranks.»
«Wait.»
«What?»
«Are you telling me that supernatural creatures that literally wake people up just because they're bored actually exist?»
«Yep.»
«That's the most human form of evil I've ever heard of.»
Grey shrugged indifferently.
«Some researchers believe they're the reason legends about haunted houses first appeared.»
«Any other possibilities?»
«Wailers.»
«I don't even want to ask.»
«Female spirits that appear near places where there has been a lot of betrayal within families. They're sometimes mistaken for ghosts because of their howling at night. They don't attack first, but their constant moaning and the guilt they instill can drive a person insane.»
«And where does such filth even come from?»
«Humans are talented.»
Senior fell silent for a few seconds, but Junior continued.
«Dream Feeders. A lesser breed of spirits that feed on the emotions of sleeping people. They usually settle near places where large numbers of people have died or suffered for a long time. They can't kill an adult, but they can cause nightmares, insomnia, and gradually drive their victims to nervous exhaustion.»
«Sounds unpleasant.»
«It is. But they're cowards. If discovered, they usually run away.»
By then, he had returned to the first floor without finding anything.
«Maybe someone simply decided to play a prank?» Senior suggested, returning to his original theory.
«What about the nightmares?»
«Self-suggestion exists in every world. One person hears a strange noise and tells the others. The rest start expecting it to happen again. The greater their anxiety, the worse they sleep.»
«That's too obvious. You're really stretching it.»
Senior snorted in displeasure. «That's exactly why it's the most likely theory.»
«You're a terribly disappointing investigator. If you were a witcher, not a single client would ever hire you.»
«And you love the supernatural too much.»
Junior shrugged.
«This is Eridania, not your old world... With mana around, practically anything can exist here.»
Grey stopped.
A massive wooden door reinforced with darkened iron bands stood before him.
The basement.
Junior sighed, realizing he could no longer put this off.
«You or me?»
«Better let me handle it.»
«Why?»
«Do you really have to ask...? Your stone face doesn't look intimidating at all. It's hardly suitable for proper negotiations.»
«Fair enough.» Junior nodded. «I didn't want to get involved in this mess anyway.»
His body twitched, and a charming smile appeared on his face.
...
P.S.
It's time to show Grey's dark side.
You have no idea what he'll do to you if you don't leave likes, reviews, and comments, my dear readers.
If I were you, I wouldn't make this dangerous monster angry.