Chapter 89: The Man in the Manor


    Leo’s eyes scanned the area, waiting in tense silence. Since the man had agreed to tell them about the [Fragmentholder], the other villagers had also lowered their weapons, but none had actually spoken yet. It was as if they were waiting for someone else to break the quiet first, and it didn’t help his unease. Exactly how powerful was this [Fragmentholder] to make people scared of even talking about him?


    Just when Leo was considering saying something himself, the man—Morris, according to [Judgement]—finally opened his mouth.


    “ …You ever hear of the Lowthell family?”


    Leo furrowed his brow. The name sounded a bit familiar, but he wasn’t sure from where. Spade didn’t seem to recognize it either, but Allan’s eyes sharpened.


    “They’re a noble family, aren’t they?” He turned to Leo and Spade. “They used to be one of the most powerful families in Avel,” he explained, “but they fell out of the public eye several decades ago. Rumors say there was some sort of disease that killed the family line off. There’s a lot of horror stories about them that kids like to spread. It’s a bit of a local legend.”


    Morris snorted. “It’s more than a legend. They’re real, and you’re not wrong about the disease.” He shook his head. “I never knew what it was, but for long as I can remember, there’ve only been two living Lowthells around.”


    That caught Leo’s interest. “So they didn’t all die out?”


    “Nah.” Morris roughly pointed his shovel behind him, past the small village buildings and into the foggy forest beyond. “The Lowthells moved south and bought up some property. Technically we’re standing on their land right now.”


    He lowered his shovel back down to the ground, forehead creased. “For long as I can remember, the Lowthells’ve always been kind. More than any other noble I’ve ever seen. Lord Lowthell used to visit the village and ask us if we needed anything, that sort of thing.”


    Leo listened intently, committing each detail of the story to memory. So far, it wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting. “…What happened after that?”


    Morris shrugged. “Dunno. Nobody can say for certain, but about a year ago, he started acting different. More paranoid and jumpy. Rumors say his daughter got sick around that time. She’s the only other living Lowthell, or, well, she was,” he added in a quieter voice. ”No one’s seen her in years.”


    The man heaved a heavy sigh. “Lord Lowthell stopped showing up so often, starting keeping to himself. Pretty soon after that, the disappearances started.”


    Spade raised an eyebrow. “They began before the Administrator crest shattered?”


    “Yep.” A few of the villagers shifted uncomfortably. “Mind you, it didn’t happen often. First few times we thought folks had just gotten lost. In this forest and fog, it happens.”


    Morris rubbed his forehead. “Then that blasted notification appeared, and ever since then folks’ve been vanishing left and right. No one really wanted to believe what was happening at first, but it became pretty hard to deny.”


    Morris nodded his head to one of the other villagers, and Leo turned his attention to her. She appeared young, a teenager still, and had a pair of garden shears in her hand. Her eyes flitted nervously between the trio before she spoke.


    “I—I was out gathering firewood,” she explained. “I was close to the manor, and I remember seeing someone standing outside. It was foggy so it was hard to see, but it looked like Lord Lowther. It looked like he was casting some sort of spell.” She shuddered. “I swear the air rippled. Something didn’t feel right, so I ran back here fast as I could.”


    “Next day, someone else who’d been out at the same time didn’t come back,” Morris finished. The girl nodded glumly.


    Leo studied the villagers. According to [Judgement], the girl’s personal skill was called [Clear Sight]. While he only had the name to go on, he suspected it gave her some sort of ability to see through illusions or magic in general, which was likely why she’d been able to escape whatever spell Lord Lowthell had used. The villager who’d vanished hadn’t been so lucky.


    He frowned, thinking. It seemed all but confirmed that Lord Lowthell was behind the disappearances, aided by the boost in power he’d received from the fragment, but what was his motive? Why kidnap random villagers, villagers he’d supposedly once cared about?


    His mind wandered back to what Sol had said. “We ourselves must never be drawn into our own illusions.” If Morris’s theory about his daughter’s sickness and possible death was true, then the whole thing painted a rather dark picture.


    Leo shook the thoughts away. Regardless of the man’s motives, he had a fragment. Confrontation was inevitable, and his motives wouldn’t change that. Leo turned back to Morris. “How do we get to the manor from here?” he asked.


    The man’s eyebrows rose. “You’re still going after him? He’s a powerful mage, you know, and that was before the fragment.”


    Leo smiled wryly. “Well, we’re fragment hunters. It’s kind of our thing.”


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Morris shook his head disbelievingly. “Crazy fuckers,” he muttered. He jerked his head back, gesturing southeast. “You walk straight through the woods and you’ll see it. The thing’s huge. Hard to miss.”


    Leo nodded, carefully following the line of the man’s arm to make sure they had the direction right. It looked like they’d have to step off the main road to reach it.


    “Thank you,” he said. Morris snorted.


    “Don’t go thanking me. We’re not gonna go after your corpses.” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Now hurry up and get out of here.”


    Leo shrugged, but stepped back. They’d gotten the information they’d needed; it was time to leave. As he turned towards the forest, however, he paused, a thought entering his mind. He glanced back.


    “Why don’t you all leave?” he asked. He was willing to bet the family they’d encountered on the road was from here, and given the circumstances, it seemed like getting out of the area was the best bet.


    “How?” Morris gestured to the wooden homes behind them. “John’s family tried to leave the other day, and you know what happened? We found their corpses along the road the next morning. They got caught in the Silence.”


    Leo was quiet at that. Between the risk of the Silence appearing and the increase in fragment hunters, traveling was even more dangerous than before. Most people weren’t equipped to fight off Echoes, and there was no way of predicting what nights the Silence would show up.


    It was odd to think about, in a way. He used to be like that; he remembered barely sleeping on the journey from Adrya to Avel.


    At some point since the shattering, though, he’d gotten used to traveling, and he was more confident in his ability to deal with Echoes than ever before. So much had changed in such little time.


    Leo’s gaze moved over to the villagers’ tired, sunken faces. They’d been living in fear since the Administrator crest had shattered—arguably for the past year. In a small community like this, how many knew someone who’d vanished? He swallowed.


    “I know it probably doesn’t mean much,” he began, “but we’re going to stop him.”


    There was no response to that, no change in their deadened eyes, but he hadn’t expected one. With one final look, Leo turned around, Allan and Spade behind him, and stepped into the forest.


    —


    “This whole thing seem weird to you guys too?” Leo asked, shoving a branch away from his face. This part of the forest, it seemed, became increasingly dense, and they had to wade through the bushes covering the forest floor as they maneuvered around the trees. The fog didn’t help the visibility.


    “A bit, yeah.” Allan ducked under a branch himself, frowning in thought. “Do you think his daughter is actually sick?”


    “It would make sense, especially if what you said about that disease running through the family is true. I don’t know how kidnapping comes into the picture, though.”


    “Perhaps he’s using the villagers to create some sort of medicine.”


    Leo paused, glancing over at Spade. “That…” His voice trailed as he thought about it a little longer, and he furrowed his brows. “Shit, you might be right.”


    He shuddered at the mental image. It made his gut churn to think about, but that would explain the disappearances. If the [Executioner]’s theory was correct, it might even mean that a few villagers could still be alive.


    He swallowed. He had a feeling that whatever they ended up finding at the manor wouldn’t be pleasant.


    Returning his attention to their surroundings, Leo squinted, attempting to make out the manor through the trees. They’d been walking for at least half an hour by now and should be nearing the building, but it was impossible to tell through the dense fog. The whole world was blanketed in a hazy white, and only the dark silhouettes of nearby trees gave any sense of solidity.


    “Can either of you see the manor yet?” he asked. He tugged his cloak a little closer to his body. The thicker the mist became, it seemed, the colder it got.


    Allan paused, taking a moment to peer past Leo, but shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but the second he did, a notification flashed across Leo’s vision.


    [??? has activated the [Specters of the Mind] spell]


    The [Fragmentholder]’s eyes widened. He immediately snapped around, wildly scanning the surroundings for any signs of movement. “Careful!” he yelled. “There’s an illusion spell active!”


    Leo turned to tell Allan and Spade to stick close by, but he came face to face with empty air. There was no one behind him. Nothing but an endless sea of white fog and crooked trees.


    He cursed and quickly used [Judgement] on the spot Allan and Spade had been standing. No spells showed up—it wasn’t an illusion hiding them from sight, then. They must have wandered off, caught in the spell’s visions. His heart raced. Where had they gone? It couldn’t be far; the spell had only just activated.


    Leo raised his voice, calling out again, but there was no response. He carefully took in the surrounding trees, then directed his attention upwards. He narrowed his eyes.


    With one powerful jump, he leapt upwards and immediately activated [Air Walk] just as he began to fall back down to the ground. Like before, he felt a solid “platform” of air form below him, but this time he was prepared for it. He jumped up again, using the boost to get above the treeline and peer down.


    Below him was a dense sea of mist and leafy canopy, but he caught a quick flash of movement further south towards a grassy area that must be around the manor.


    Leo plummeted back down to the earth and used [Air Walk] again to break down his fall, landing softly on the cold ground. He immediately straightened and ran in the direction he’d seen the movement.


    Vaulting over a jagged boulder, Leo shoved a swinging branch out of his face and burst past a dense bush, leaves scattering behind him. “Allan! Spade!” he yelled again, but all he heard in response was the echo of his own voice.


    He glanced around. The trees were beginning to thin out around him, meaning he was probably close to the clearing he’d seen, but the fog made it impossible to see the manor itself.


    Carefully, he withdrew his dagger and held it in one hand, his other one prepared to fire off a [Firebolt] at a moment’s notice. He didn’t know how long Lord Lowthell’s magic range was, but on the off chance that he was close by, he was prepared to fight.


    Exhaling, Leo stepped forward slowly, making sure to activate [Judgement] every now and then. “Allan?” he called again. “Spade?”


    He didn’t hear from the [Healer] or the [Executioner].


    Instead, a different voice answered.


    “Brother?”