The Ignis Duke’s Mansion

This is a story from a slightly future point in time when the anomaly of magical beasts from other regions gathering in the north occurred.

A small troop led by Princess Aine reached the vicinity of the duchy governed by Duke Ignis.

Eve Ignis, one of the princess’s confidants and a key figure in the troop, was looking at her homeland with an expression mixed with various emotions.

‘I thought I’d never return…’

That day, the day she came to believe she had hurt her younger sister Riel.

With a broken heart, Eve fled from her home.

Afterward, Eve devoted herself to studies and work, joined the Magic Corps, and in less than ten years, she was able to attain the position of Princess Aine’s right hand.

A rise that could be called highly honorable and a great achievement.

But in a corner of her heart, the guilt of abandoning her family and homeland was heavily weighing on her mind.

Such a person, having recently reunited with her younger sister and learning that she wasn’t hated by her, felt her once-broken heart starting to burn again.

Realizing that the situation was more serious than she had thought while helping her sister, she returned to fix everything that had been broken in her childhood.

To her homeland, Ignis Duchy.

“This area hasn’t changed much.”

Brimton, the central city of Ignis Duchy.

This was the first impression Eve had upon setting foot in this city where she and Riel were born and raised, after about ten years.

Leading a small number of knights and magicians as an advance party into Brimton, Eve took in the sight of territory residents bustling along the streets.

Indeed, people still living busy and diligent lives without much change.

When she was young, she would sometimes sneak out with Riel to play.

…Though in reality, they had been discovered, and guards had already been following them.

“Excuse me… Are you Lady Eve?”

At that voice, Eve was slightly startled but looked directly at the owner of the voice while remaining cautious.

“…Who are you?”

“Oh, it is you! It’s been a very long time!”

The man wearing a hat took it off and bowed respectfully to her in greeting.

“You may not remember me, I’m Olson, who runs a trading company in Brimton!”

“Trading company… Olson…?”

“I visited a few times while doing business with the Duke’s family!”

“Ah, you’re that merchant from back then!”

She remembered.

He was indeed a merchant they used when the Duke’s family needed supplies.

Quite some time had passed, but his distinctive goatee and blue eyes remained in her memory.

“You remember me, well now… You’ve grown into such a beautiful lady!”

“Haha… I don’t think flattery will get you much from me…”

“Hoho, it’s not flattery but the truth! It’s been about 10 years, hasn’t it…?”

“Yes. It’s toward the end of the holiday, so I came back to my hometown after a long time.”

Eve made up an excuse about returning home.

Inwardly, she thought this was fortunate.

Isn’t this perfect for obtaining information about the Duke’s family?

“But returning to my hometown after such a long time… Has anything unusual happened recently?”

There was no need to be roundabout.

After all, the Ignis Duke’s family was her family, and she was a member of the Duke’s family.

It would be stranger to ask indirectly rather than directly.

“Hmm… If you’re asking about recent strange happenings in Brimton…”

Thus began Olson’s story.

It was indeed something too strange to dismiss.

“You say the soldiers are completely out of sight…?”

“Yes. I thought there were already fewer soldiers visible lately, but recently, they’re hardly seen at all.”

Many of the Duke’s private soldiers resided in Brimton.

While private soldiers were stationed throughout the duchy, Brimton, being the city with the Duke’s residence, had a larger number of private soldiers.

But the Duke’s soldiers not being visible in such a Brimton? It was certainly unusual.

Eve gave a knowing look to a knight waiting behind her.

The knight, recognizing Eve’s signal, nodded and left.

Eve continued to chat with Olson, asking if there was any other information.

She was able to obtain various other information, but the most important was the story about the soldiers just heard.

And the fact that trade with the Duke’s family had been cut off for the past few months.

She wondered if they might have started trading with other merchants, but according to him, they hadn’t established trade with any merchants he knew of.

Things were becoming increasingly strange.

After parting with Olson, the knight who had left earlier returned to Eve, who had been waiting.

“Well. How was it?”

“Yes! Indeed, as the merchant said, soldiers couldn’t be found anywhere in the city!”

“…Soldiers used to stay in the barracks near the Duke’s residence. We’ll have to go and see.”

Eve decided to lead her subordinates to the Duke’s residence.

The Ignis Duke’s mansion, located on the outskirts of Brimton.

Returning to the house where she had lived after a long time, Eve’s expression was close to shock.

Indeed, it had been a very long time since she’d visited the mansion.

But even so, could it have changed this much?

The Duke had left with his wife and son, and with Eve leaving and Riel leaving, the mansion had become one without any masters.

But even in a mansion where the masters are absent, the servants should maintain the mansion so that it would be fine whenever the masters returned.

But now, the mansion that Eve was looking at from the front door was in a terrible state.

“…What on earth happened here?”

The once beautiful garden was dirty from lack of maintenance, and the windows were filthy with accumulated dust.

The tall stone wall was still there, but parts of it had collapsed here and there.

Though the traces suggested natural collapse, no repairs had been made.

Eve was speechless at the serious state of the mansion, which looked as if it had been abandoned for at least a month.

Moreover…

‘…Why aren’t there any soldiers who should be guarding the mansion?’

The guards who should have been standing at the mansion’s main gate to protect it.

Even without such guards, Eve, recalling that there wasn’t a single soldier in the village, turned her gaze toward the barracks located near the mansion.

There too, not a single soldier was on standby.

The mansion and barracks, with not a hint of human presence.

Feeling something eerie, Eve immediately issued orders.

“From now, divide the troops in two. Search the mansion and barracks thoroughly.”

“Yes!!”

There was no resistance or interference until they entered the mansion.

The interior of her childhood home, which she was visiting after a long time, was a mess with no cleaning having been done.

Eve directed the knights following her to investigate the interior of the mansion and headed toward her own room.

“…Huh, well now.”

She had come up to the second floor where her room was, but Eve was at a loss for words at the dust thickly accumulated as if almost no one had passed through.

There were dozens of servants living in the mansion.

But for the mansion to be neglected to such an extent that not a hint of human presence could be felt—had they all resigned?

If not, had they been negligent in their duties because the masters were absent?

That didn’t make sense either. Though they were humans who looked down on their masters, they had always been faithful in their work.

At that moment, one of the knights rushed to Eve.

“What is it?”

“We’ve found people!”

“…Where on earth were they hiding?”

“Well… rather than hiding…”

At the knight’s troubled face, Eve sensed something was not right.

“Show me.”

The place the knight led her to was the room where the servants resided.

Looking inside the room, Eve was at a loss for words.

The servants, all of them, were still in the mansion.

No, they were literally just there.

“…”

“……”

The servants, sitting dazed on the floor without saying a word.

On chairs, sofas, floors, beds.

Sitting or lying down everywhere, staring into space with unfocused eyes.

“…What on earth happened here?”

Eve’s mind was in chaos at the sight before her.

Looking around, she spotted a familiar face.

Lena, one of the maids who had worked in this mansion since Eve was a child, and one of the betrayers.

“Lena, get up! Lena!”

“……”

“Snap out of it! Lena!”

“Uh… uuh…”

Despite being slapped and called, Lena only moaned with a dazed face.

Eve felt like her head was about to explode.

“What in the world…”

“Lady Eve, according to the knights who went to the barracks, the situation there is the same as the mansion.”

“Then… are you saying that over two hundred soldiers are all in this state as well?”

“…That’s correct.”

What in the world…

What on earth has happened?

Eve desperately racked her brain, but she couldn’t even guess what kind of situation would result in hundreds of people simultaneously ending up like this.

At that moment, a report came in that could potentially help navigate this situation.

“Lady Eve! We’ve found someone in the mansion who can communicate!”

“Really?! Bring them here immediately!”

In a situation where everyone was in a state close to coma and unable to speak, there was someone normal.

Would they know something? Thinking this, Eve sat in the living room and waited.

Then the knight brought in a young maid.

“I… th-that is… who are you p-people…?”

A young maid trembling as she was brought in by the knight.

Probably a little younger than Riel, Eve’s expression softened slightly at the sight of such a girl.

“Calm down, we have no intention of harming you.”

“Wh-who are you…?”

The girl looked at Eve with eyes full of wariness despite Eve’s voice.

“My name is Eve. Eve Ignis.”

“…What? Then… the eldest young lady…?”

“That’s right. You seem like a face I haven’t seen before…”

The young maid stood up with a start, as if she had just come to her senses.

She seemed to have let her guard down, but tension had replaced it.

“I, I am… Luca Altran!!”

“Altran… So you’re from the Altran Count family…?”

“Yes! I’m the third daughter! I started working in this mansion at the beginning of this year!”

Luca answered in a loud voice.

If it was the beginning of this year, she seemed to be a new maid who had been here for only a few months.

Eve smiled as she looked at Luca.

“Alright, Luca. I’d like to ask you some questions?”

“Yes! If… if it’s something I can answer…!”

“What exactly happened to this mansion?”

At Eve’s question, Luca briefly wore a dark expression.

She began to tell about what she had experienced.