Caren smiled.
Then he turned back to Dead Guide.
“Good job, you smart monster.”
Dead Guide smiled and opened its mouth to say something.
But blue sparks appeared around it, and it faded away.
“Rest for now, you moron.”
Then Caren looked at what he had found…
not exactly himself, but Dead Guide had no right to claim that it had found it.
In front of him was a cabin.
It was made of yellow wood.
There were two windows at the front of the cabin.
Beneath them were flower pots filled with strangely small sunflowers.
The cabin had a pitched roof covered with red stone tiles.
Most importantly, many statues stood in rows in front of the cabin.
They were all the same type of soldier as the one Caren had seen before.
The only difference was that this time, they were holding spears pointed forward.
“That’s incredible.
I mean, who built these here?
And how?”
There was no stone, no wood.
And still, there was a cabin.
“Does anyone live in here?”
“Kill whoever lives there.”
The almost invisible ghost appeared again and began its ominous whispers.
Caren turned his gaze toward it, but then took a step back.
He froze for a second and then frowned.
“You…
Why are you becoming more visible?”
The ghost’s white hair swayed in the air before it stared at Caren with eyes that were still unclear.
“What?
You don’t want to kill them?
You were more curious before.”
Caren paused.
His face became confused.
“What do you mean by that?
You knew me before?”
The invisible creature giggled, its voice soft and feminine.
“Of course.
After all, we had a long journey together, almost like lovers, but crazy ones.”
Then it started repeating itself.
“Kill whoever lives there.”
“Kill whoever lives in that cabin.”
“Kill whoever lives there.”
Caren sighed and ignored the creature.
Then he started walking toward the cabin.
He looked at the statue.
“Please, don’t be alive.”
He kept walking until he was in front of the door.
Caren stood still for a few seconds.
What if there was a monster living there?
Were monsters that smart?
Maybe there was an old Upside Downer who was trapped there.
Maybe it was even…
the entrance to a hidden underground city where the locals lived, with a secret market that the monsters didn’t know existed.
He shook his head.
Of course, that last one was stupid.
Then he knocked gently on the door and waited for a response.
When there was no response, Caren just knocked harder.
But there was no difference.
Caren sighed and started walking.
He stopped in front of one of the windows and, with the utmost politeness, peeked inside the house like a respectable gentleman.
But to his surprise, the only thing he saw was his own reflection, along with everything behind him: the statues, the grass, and more grass.
“Is this…
some kind of protective spell?”
Caren’s face went blank when he realized how stupid he’d been.
The window was a mirror!
“Who puts a mirror instead of a window?!”
Caren walked next to the door again.
He grabbed the doorknob and turned it.
The door opened with a creaking sound.
Caren stepped inside and looked around.
He tried to make his aura appear, but he had used up all his aura earlier.
A warm feeling immediately washed over him.
It was as if he had lived in this cabin for years.
He looked around.
The room was almost empty.
The only things that caught his eye were a bed and a table covered with food.
There was everything from steak to water and bread.
A lamp-like lantern hung from the ceiling, surrounded by a prism-like structure that somehow spread its light throughout the cabin.
“Well, it’s not what I expected to see.”
Caren slowly walked toward the table.
He ran his hand over it and felt its wooden surface.
“It doesn’t make sense.
Where did this wood come from?
Or that steak?”
Caren picked up a piece of bread and stared at it.
He brought it close to his nose and smelled it.
Then he hesitantly took a small bite and chewed it.
He swallowed and waited for something to happen.
Luckily, nothing bad happened, so Caren started eating the bread eagerly.
After running for so long, he needed food.
Then he took a glass of water and took a sip.
After that, he picked up a whole piece of steak and started eating it.
At the academy, they only had hamburgers for dinner.
He loved hamburgers, but not when he had to eat them every day.
Caren enjoyed the food for a while before swallowing his last bite with satisfaction.
Then he looked at the bed.
It looked really comfortable.
He looked outside through the open door.
It was getting dark.
Caren lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Caren was laughing, but he could hear someone else laughing too.
Someone was laughing beside him.
It was a boy with blond hair and blue eyes.
They were running away from something.
They entered an alley, then turned and entered another one.
They both hid behind a tree and fell silent.
“We should stop doing this, you know?”
Caren spoke.
His voice was soft and childlike.
The boy smirked.
“Come on, we’re only twelve.
There’s no need to worry.
All we need to do is have fun until we graduate from university.”
Caren giggled.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
The blond-haired boy sighed.
“But knocking on people’s doors and running away has gotten a little repetitive.”
Caren nodded.
“Yeah, it’s kinda repetitive.
What should we try next?”
The boy licked his lips.
“I have an idea.
Something really fun and cool.”
Caren’s face lit up.
“What is it?
Come on, tell me.”
The boy looked at the sky.
“Let’s kill every Upside Downer.”