Chapter 219 Fire at the Old House Site, Portrait, Caught in the Act
Things were progressing slowly, but time seemed to be fast-forwarded.
After summarizing the information that Anderson and he had gathered, Rye gradually began to understand the whole situation.
However, although nearly a century has passed since that incident, he felt it would be better to personally visit the ruins of the Egrich Manor to inspect them.
After giving his instructions to the old butler, Leigh secretly rode away from the manor with Ryan.
The old house of the Egrich family, which was engulfed in flames, was not located in the royal city.
Back then, the center of the royal city was closer to the old residence. Over time, and due to various historical factors, it gradually took shape into the layout we see today.
There is little useful information about what exactly happened to the old house back then, but it's not nonexistent.
Among these messages, the most widespread rumor was that the old house was cursed after the fire.
Among the bystanders of the incident that Ray visited, some could even clearly recall the scene at the time.
“My old house was not far from the haunted house in Egrich. I was only a teenager at the time. I remember that evening, my family and I were sleeping soundly when there was a very urgent knocking on the door, which woke us all up.”
After the father opened the door, a thick cloud of smoke drifted into the room, choking everyone and causing them to cough.
The village chief told us that Mr. Egrich's house was on fire, and he sent my father and grandfather to put it out.
The fire burned for a day and a night, and no amount of firefighting could put it out. Finally, an elder from the church arrived and extinguished the fire.
Later, the town patrol went in to check and found that the entire Elgrich family, along with their servants and livestock, had perished.
The small square was filled with corpses, and the main house was full of charred bodies, making it impossible to tell who was who.
The servants living in the side rooms were in better condition and could still be identified.
But I heard from the adults that they all choked to death in their sleep.
She gasped, and only continued speaking after Ray showed the same shocked expression.
"Later, the church, the mage association, the town, and the royal city all sent people to investigate, but after many years of investigation, no one knew how the fire actually happened."
Rumors circulated that the fire at the Elgrich residence was not an accident, but a murder.
The old woman's expression was so serious, as if she had witnessed the crime scene herself.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Lei was intentionally playing the straight man.
"Foolish! If it were an accident, how could no one have escaped?"
"You're right."
Lai then asked the old man about some rumors about the old house being haunted.
That happened a month after the fire.
That day, a family's dog suddenly came back carrying a hand in its mouth. Everyone thought it was a murder and reported it to the patrol team.
The patrol searched the town for three days and finally found the remainder in the original location of the Egrich family's garden.
When they found him, he was already stinking, but they still couldn't find the murderer.
Later, the neighbors said they could hear crying coming from that house at night, and I remember hearing it too.
It was a woman's voice, crying so pitifully and terribly!
Several more bodies were found there in the following years, but the identity of the killer could not be determined.
After that, no one dared to go there anymore.
About thirty years after our family moved away from the fire, I heard that a minor nobleman wanted to buy that land and build a villa.
Although the house was built, strange things happened to that family, and several of them died, so they eventually moved away.
That piece of land changed hands several times, but none of the buyers fared well, so it just sat there, and no one dared to buy it again.
As Lai hurried along, he recalled the story about the old house.
The old man's account is at least 70-80% credible; the other rumors are simply outrageous.
Some even told Ray directly that the souls of all the Egrich family members were still guarding their family's land.
There's absolutely no way Ray would believe something like that.
What a joke! The soul and bones of that respectable Egrich family member from Southon are working for necromancers; how could he possibly be guarding an empty house?
Because the old house was located in a neighboring town with relatively smooth roads, it took Lai more than half a day to get there on horseback, and he didn't experience much bumping along the way.
But there's little hope of making it back in one day. Even if he doesn't need to rest, the horse does.
So he reserved a room at a hotel in town and walked there himself.
The old house in Egrich is quite famous in this town. After resting for a while, Ray just asked someone and found out the exact location.
The closer you get to that area, the more desolate it becomes, with almost no one living in the nearby houses.
The dilapidated state of the place shows that it has been abandoned for a long time.
“Young man, don’t go any further in that direction. There’s something bad in that big house.”
Lai searched for the source of the sound and saw an old man sitting by the door, basking in the sun.
"It's human."
Ryan reminded him.
"Hello, are you and your family the only ones living here?"
"Young man, what are you doing here?"
“I have a relative who owns the villa, and he asked me to take a look at the villa while I was here.”
"Oh, I see."
Are you the only one living here?
"No, there are still a few households left. The young people have all gone to the city to work. It's not very safe here, so they don't want to stay. It's rare to see a young person like you come all this way."
"I'm doing this on someone's behalf," Lei said with a smile. "I'll head over now, it'll be dark soon."
"Go, go, and remember to bring a weapon."
"Okay, thank you."
The old man waved goodbye to Lai.
Beyond these houses lies a vast expanse of woods and wasteland.
Wild grass from the roadside spread onto the road, obstructing pedestrians' steps, and most of the old stone slabs on the ground were broken into small, scattered pieces.
However, once you get here, you can already see the outline of the villa.
"Would there be anything there?"
Ray asked Ryan if he felt much more relaxed when they were alone together.
"What is that?"
"Ghosts, spirits, and the like."
"Those are just things to scare children."
"......"
“You’ll know when we get there,” Ryan added.
"oh."
The trees around the villa hadn't been tended to for a long time, and their canopies had grown into a continuous expanse along the road leading to the main gate.
It was already afternoon, and the light wasn't so strong. Walking on this path shaded by greenery, there was an indescribable sense of oppression.
Lai quickly arrived at the villa's gate, which was locked with rusty chains and padlocks.
Without much hesitation, he used the energy ball to destroy the iron lock on the door.
The impact of the enormous energy blasted a large hole in the wooden door, and dust exploded at the entrance like a small mushroom cloud.
"Cough cough cough!" Lei covered his mouth and nose with his hand. "Mistake."
Ignoring the dust, Ryan flew in first, followed closely by Ray.
The interior of the villa was perfectly normal; there was no indication that it was the legendary haunted place, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
In this renovated state, there is no trace left in the house of the Egrich family.
Maybe this trip was in vain.
"You're back? How did it go?"
Ryan shook his head slightly.
"It's very clean, there's nothing there."
"All right."
Lai decided to leave the villa and go for a walk outside.
The soles of my shoes creaked as I stepped on the wooden stairs.
The stairs have been eaten away by insects. This is the third floor, and you have to be careful with every step.
There was some reflection at the corner of the second-floor staircase, which looked like some framed picture frames.
"I'll go take a look."
It was just a short walk away, so Lai decided to go check it out.
He was not surprised to see the same portrait he had seen when he first arrived at Victor Estate.
"What's wrong?"
Ryan saw that Ray stood in front of those picture frames for a long time.
"These paintings all depict the same person."
Ryan floated to Ray's left ear.
Three half-person-high portraits on the wall are particularly eye-catching, depicting the subjects at ages 12, 16, and 20 respectively.
Don't ask them how they know; the age information is clearly marked on the painting, making it hard to miss.
"I have a feeling that I've seen this person somewhere before."
Ray stared at the face in the painting, lost in thought.
"If he were still alive, he would be more than fifty years old."
"That's what Ryan said."
"Okay, let's go."
Hearing an unusual noise in a place you know is deserted is a very frightening thing.
Fortunately, Rae did not have such an experience while in the villa.
To highlight the owner's status and power, most of the independent buildings in the royal city adopt the model of a residence plus a garden.
After bypassing the villa, Ray and Ryan arrived at the back garden, the place where the body was originally found.
Apart from a few extra buildings, this place is no different from the wilderness, and the gaps between the stone paths have been overrun by all kinds of weeds.
"There's nothing unusual here either."
Before Ryan could finish speaking, a rustling sound came from the bushes, and Ray immediately became alert.
"snake."
There are quite a lot of small animals here.
Lai put away his dagger and walked around the garden, but didn't find the corpses that were rumored to spawn from time to time.
This shows that rumors are sometimes unreliable.
The original site of the Egrich family house was already quite large, but the villa built by the later owners was much smaller, so the current garden is particularly large.
These architectural ruins show that the person originally intended to build several large warehouses in the garden.
But for some reason, it was eventually dropped.
The stone pavilion near the villa was covered in bird droppings, and the ground inside was still damp, perhaps because it had rained.
"This pavilion is not newly built."
"How did you know that?"
Lyon was there, and His words represented authority without question.
"observe."
Even after looking closely, Lei couldn't see any difference.
However, two snails were found courting in the moss-covered corner of the pavilion.
"Observe the elements moving in the air."
"good."
With Lian's guidance, Lai finally discovered the difference in the stone pavilion.
"There is a lot of fire element here."
"Um."
"It's a remnant of that fire."
"Maybe."
Lian flew around the stone pavilion once.
Something is coming.
Upon hearing the warning, Lei immediately became alert.
I'm stunned, I'm stunned.
It was the sound of bones I had heard before.
"Who's there!"
A person completely covered by a cloak emerged from behind the tree.
He slowly removed his hood and face mask, revealing a bald skull and eye sockets glowing with green soul fire.
“It’s me, Ray.”
His voice was as hoarse as ever.
"Shuton, what brings you to the royal city?"
"If I hadn't come, would you have forgotten our promise?"
The constantly flickering soul fire seemed to be able to see through a person's heart.
"I never break my promises."
"Hehe, that would be best."
The skull's upper and lower jaws moved, creating an eerie atmosphere in broad daylight.
"You haven't answered my question yet."
Xiu paused for a moment.
"Rosen Town is not safe, so that person moved back to the royal city."
A cunning rabbit has three burrows, but a scourge can linger for a thousand years.
Ray thought to himself, but Ryan heard it all clearly.
"You were the one who contacted me a while ago, weren't you?"
"Just some necessary friendly reminders."
"Aren't you afraid of being discovered by Seral?"
"Don't mention that name. He placed a taboo on me, allowing him to monitor my activities."
"Now?"
"Temporarily blocked."
Good heavens, a spying session in the Magic Continent version.
Ryan flew openly to Xiu Dun, but the other party did not react at all.
Shudon's level was too low to detect Ryan's presence.
"Do you need me to help you eliminate him?"
Ryan asked Lai.
"No, he has an even bigger problem ahead of him."
Ryan floated back expressionlessly, and Xiu Dun involuntarily shivered, his bones making a soft cracking sound.
"You were following me?"
"It was just a chance encounter; I came here to take a look at my old house."
Hughton changed the subject, refusing to discuss his next plan. Ray, not wanting to continue the argument, asked directly.
"How can I help you?"
He stared intently at the two clusters of soul fire.
"All you need to do is help me get the Soul Box."
Hughton's answer made Ray frown.
"I don't know where that person will hide your soul box."
Hearing what Ray said, the skeleton knew that he had already done his homework.
This is good; it reduces a lot of unnecessary explanations.
"In fact, I have a few guesses."
Ray raised his chin, signaling the other person to continue.
"One is here, the old site of the old house. Another place is Soul Ruins. Besides these, the only other place I can think of is his Mirror Space."
Soul Ruins?
How could Ray not have heard of this place?
Legend has it that the first member of the Undead race was born in the ruins of an ancient battlefield on the continent of Casa.
As time went by, the place was eventually occupied by the dead, and a thick fog perpetually enveloped it. No one who went inside ever came out again.
That area was eventually referred to by the people of the mainland as "Soul Ruins," one of the most mysterious places. No one knew exactly where it was or whether it actually existed.
Of these three locations, only the old house site sounds safe; the other two are not places to mess with.
"I think the Soul Ruins are more likely."
Xiu Dun added.
"This place has already been bought by that person. Although he won't be living here, it's not a good place to hide things."
"Are those portraits on the wall yours?"
Ray had seen Faral; the portrait couldn't possibly be his.
A stifling silence fell over the air.
Shudson gave a soft "hmm".
“I was in poor health and suffered from severe heart palpitations. I died in my early twenties.”
Logically speaking, the fire destroyed everything in the Egrich family's house, so how could those three portraits have been left behind?
Things started to develop in a strange way.
Ray had a vague feeling that Shutton was hiding many things from him.
"I can't go to the Soul Ruins."
Xiu Dun was also aware that his demands were unreasonable.
But Ray possesses the purest soul.
Legend has it that those with pure souls can cross the misty sea of the undead and never get lost.
This is the hope he has been waiting for for a hundred years.
"Shuton, you've made me look for you quite a bit."
Upon hearing the sound, the skeleton visibly panicked.
The gray mist suddenly appeared behind Xiudun, and a foot stepped out from inside.
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