Chapter 91: Plan in Action (1)

The bodies weren’t only from the killings inside the mansion. I had spotted the recent victims, and maybe the old gardener was among them too. I just didn’t know what he looked like.

But there were way more bodies than that. Robert said the weird killings were usually just 1 per year, so how was that place packed with corpses?

It could only mean they were killing people from the surrounding area. Maybe even going to a nearby city to do it. I couldn’t leave the mansion. No one could. But I could still search for information on the internet, though there was no way it would be easy to find. Considering how much power the owner of that mansion had, and how smart he was, the chances of finding nothing were much higher than finding something useful.

"What do we do now?" Gary asked me.

Despite the fresh blood in that basement, Gary didn’t act on his urges. He just stood there with both hands behind his back like a loyal lackey. It surprised me.

"Let’s take a look around. Then I’ll go talk to Robert."

We searched the whole place, not just the open area where we found the bodies, but also the rooms the different tunnels led to.

There were a few tables with medical tools, like scalpels to cut someone open. I found a room with a surgery table, and in that same room I saw organs stored in refrigerated chambers.

"They’re taking organs out of those bodies," Gary said. "Maybe selling them on the black market? No, I don’t think so. This looks more like dark magic to me."

"Dark magic?" I asked.

Gary, being a monster who lived in the rifts most of the time, certainly knew more than the average hunter.

"Yes. I’ve heard about grimoires found inside the rifts that contain spells related to the dark arts. Anyone can learn them, because the grimoire itself has a way of unlocking your mana, forcing an awakening."

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Unexpected, to say the least. So even ’normal’ humans could become as powerful as awakened humans if they found a dark arts grimoire? Wasn’t that just too powerful?

Once again Gary had helped me with something valuable, which was great. I still had my doubts about him, since I didn’t fully believe a vampire, but he was being useful.

We left that place, and Gary returned to my pocket dimension. I didn’t lock him up this time, so he could roam free and just chill in there.

Of course, I was watching everything, and there were rules.

"Don’t touch my monster crystals, and don’t touch Bob."

"I understand, master."

I went to talk to Robert the moment I left that basement, making sure nothing showed that I had been there. Even before leaving the mansion I could hear the shouting outside.

People were already drunk and talking louder than they should. Some were lying on the grass, looking at the starry sky.

Almost everyone was drinking. Robert wasn’t. The man was still wide awake and on full alert in case he saw anything strange. Once he spotted me outside, he came straight to me.

He whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"So? Did you find anything?"

I nodded. "This isn’t the place to talk. Can we go somewhere private?"

"I’ll go to your cabin at around 1 am."

I returned to my cabin and just waited, absorbing a few monster crystals and increasing my power even further. Robert showed up at the scheduled time.

We sat on the couch, and I explained what I had seen, including the fact that I found the bodies of the people who were recently killed.

"This is impossible," Robert said, getting up from the couch. "We used magical items from the rift to preserve the bodies while their families came for them. It was the best way we found, considering no one is traveling right now."

"Are you sure the bodies are where you left them?" I asked. "Should we go take a look?"

Robert wouldn’t be able to sleep that night without checking. He had to know if the bodies were there or not.

"Let’s go."

We left my cabin. Some guards saw us walking through the courtyard, but they didn’t care. Robert was the one in charge, so they just accepted it and kept patrolling.

The morgue was inside the mansion, in a different basement. This one didn’t need a secret passage to be found. It was just locked behind a sturdy door that required not only a passcode but also two different keys to open. A really secure place, and not an easy one to break into.

The morgue looked like any other morgue, except the bodies were preserved with magical artifacts from the rifts, which meant they would look the same forever.

Robert opened the chamber where the maiden’s body was supposed to be, and when he saw the inside, he couldn’t even form a sentence.

"No fucking way. The body isn’t here. Someone took it!"

He checked the other chambers, all the ones holding people who had died recently, and found nobody. Completely empty, just like I expected.

Robert was devastated, sitting on a white chair with his hand on his head.

"What will I tell the families? And more importantly, why are the bodies in that basement you found? What are they doing with them?"

"Certainly dark magic. Do you know if anyone ever acquired an artifact from a rift? Maybe the landlord, or someone else who came with it when they got hired?"

"No, never. I didn’t see anything. What do we do now?"

I knew exactly what to do.

"We still don’t know which entrance they’re using. It could be the secret passage I found or the trapdoor outside. I think we should watch both places and see if someone shows up. The bodies are still fresh, so they’ll use them for something pretty soon."

Robert liked the idea, but he didn’t have anyone he could count on. Any guard could be the culprit, so asking one of them to watch an entrance wasn’t ideal. I knew what to do, and I would have to trust Gary for it.

"I can watch both entrances. But some employees might wonder where I am, and that could make the culprit hold back. What should we do about this?"

"Let me handle it. Just do what you have to do."

Robert left. I slept soundly the whole night, and early in the morning it was time to put our plan into action. I talked to Gary, who kind of knew what we were doing, since he could hear most things.

"I’ll do it. Let me handle the trapdoor outside, since you’re the only one who can hide inside Christina’s room using your ability."

That was what I had been thinking. But should I trust him? Gary would be alone, outside, in that forest. He could flee if he wanted to.

"You can trust me. Where would I run to? We’re in a different country, and the vampires I lived with will probably kill me if they find me, afraid I shared things I shouldn’t have. Like it or not, I’m one of your lackeys now. If I want to survive, staying with you is my best shot."

He sounded sincere, so I gave him the chance to prove he was someone I could trust. I left the mansion through that hole, showed him where the trapdoor was, and released him from the pocket dimension.

"I’ll hunt some animals around here and drink their blood," he said. "It’s my only option. It’s either that or attacking someone in the mansion, and I really don’t want your blood, since you’re my master."

"Alright. But hide well. I don’t want you getting caught."

"Understood."

Gary left, and I went back to Christina’s room. Robert had given everyone 1 free day, so no one was working, and they were enjoying everything the mansion had to offer. Most of them were at the pools, while others were playing on the gaming desktops, playing snooker, reading books, and so on.

I first made sure Christina’s room was empty before going in, and then I entered my pocket dimension to hide.

Bob came to talk to me.

"Are you really trusting that vampire? He doesn’t look like he’s going to betray you, but I wouldn’t trust him the way you’re doing."

"Let’s give him this chance. It’s not like I can’t track him down if he flees."

"Makes sense."

I sat near the wooden porch outside, facing the lake, and just fished, absorbing a few monster crystals from time to time. I even read some of the books Bob had copied from the restricted section back at the academy. There were so many that it would take me a while to get through them.

Nothing happened inside Christina’s room the whole day. She came back at night, took a shower, and put on lingerie to sleep. She came out of the bathroom naked, and I ended up seeing her for a moment.

It felt weird, honestly, like I was doing something wrong.

She went to bed without getting anywhere near that passage. Late at night, though, someone else entered her room.