“The scene of the crime”

    – Man, this place is really dusty.

    After barely escaping Ever’s claws, I was left staring at the terrible state of the palace while mopping.

    Hallways, windows, corners. Everywhere I look there’s dust as if it was piled up snow.

    I wonder how many years without cleaning it takes for a place to be this dusty.

    – What gives. I have to finish as soon as possible.

    Enough complaining. I should probably get to choosing my room already.

    Ever told me I could choose any room. If I’m going to be living here I’d rather make sure I choose a good place.

    I started looking at the rooms on the ground floor. From the outside, I could see 3 floors, each with about 30 or so windows.

    So I’m going to carefully take a look at each room.

    – First, here.

    I opened the door at the corner of the hallway.

    If it’s in the corner, there has to be a window with good lighting. Also, having only one neighboring room means I won’t have to worry too much about noise.

    There’s no one else here, so I shouldn’t worry about those things, but I used to live in a poor apartment. Some habits never die.

    – *Cough* As I thought, full of dust. This isn’t bad though.

    The room was about a room of six tatamis (10m~) and the only furniture was the bed and a small lamp. The lack of appliances would make this much easier to clean.

    Maybe I’m deciding too fast. I should open the windo-

    ” H E L P ”

    There was some writing on the windows.

    – ……

    I quickly wiped the dust off the window with my finger, and then…

    ” H E L P

    I W I L L B E K I L L E D ”

    “B E C A R E F U L

    A D E M O N

    R E S I D E S

    I N T H I S P A L A C E ”

    ” I T W I L L

    F O L L O W M E

    U N T I L T H E E N D

    ” I M S C A R E D

    P L E A S E H E L P M E

    H E L P M E

    H E L P M E ”

    “H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E

    I W I L L D I E H E L P M E H E L P M E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E H E L P M E

    H E L P M E I W I L L D I E H E L P M E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E

    I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E I W I L L D I E”

    Those words appeared on the window.

    And then-

    *THUD*

    – EEK!?

    The door suddenly slammed shut, which made my heart rate skyrocket.

    When I looked at the door-

    ” W E L C O M E ”

    A message was written with blood. And there were countless bloody handprints filling the rest of the door.

    – HYAAAAAAAAAA! EXCUSE MEEEEEEE!

    After the warm welcome from the invisible people, I rushed out of the room. I cannot imagine what would’ve happened to my heart had I not been able to open the door.

    Was the Sage’s Palace built on a graveyard or something!?

    I was excited to show everyone in Searat how much I had grown after my training, but I’m starting to regret my decisions.