Ashy's already low patience was running out. He was both hungry and thirsty, plus he was sleep-deprived and in an unfamiliar world.
Also, he had a nagging feeling that this girl was lacking something. Was it because he was not in good condition that he was missing something easy to see?
Ashy didn't know if he was being paranoid or not. He didn't care either.
He was full of stress and needed to vent them.
"Are you playing with me, girl? When are we going to arrive at this place?"
"Little bit more…"
Even holding the sword felt like torture. This body was weak, too weak.
Strangely though, they didn't encounter any undead while the girl led the way.
'Maybe she knows the completely safe paths?'
"Did you see something?" The girl turned to Ashy and asked, as if sensing something.
"Not at all."
"Then why are you trembling? Did you–"
"It is cold, isn't it? It is normal to tremble when it is cold. Don't you feel cold too?"
"Oh, I see… that is right. It is cold." The girl also began to tremble lightly.
"By the way, what is your name?"
Ashy clenched his teeth. It was really colder than yesterday.
"I am Elissa."
"A pretty name, indeed."
"Right? I also love this name." The girl smiled sweetly, showing her lengthy canine teeth.
With that, the conversation died down. Ashy managed to think in the silence.
A question was in his mind from the beginning.
'How did she know that I was in that house?'
Although Ashy could guess and somehow accept that there might be people who could sense living or maybe even undead, it was hard to trust someone who could find where he was staying in the middle of the pitch-black night.
"What is your name, brother?"
Ashy woke up from his thoughts and immediately answered.
"It is Ashland. Though, you can call me Ashy for short."
"A pretty name, indeed."
"...is it? I think it is a strange name. Though I already got used to it."
"..."
Silence descended once again, this time it lasted until they reached their destination. Ashy preferred this way.
"Here." Elissa stopped in front of a large mansion and gestured.
Ashy gulped as he lifted his head. Seeing such a large mansion that was in relatively good condition in this desolate place was both strange and hopeful.
"You first, I will follow behind." Ashy raised the sword. Its tip was pointing to the gate that was covered with decades of rust.
Elissa didn't utter a word, just did what Ashy said. Easily pushing open the metal gate accompanied with ear scratching rusty friction.
What welcomed Ashy was a stone road to the mansion. Its both sides, which was the garden of the mansion, were filled with human-sized grasses, tall trees, and some bushes with berries. Some of them were rotten or dried while some of them full of life.
'A noble's mansion before the residents disappeared? Its garden must have gone out of control after the gardeners and maybe even animals disappeared.'
Although Ashy had the desire to pick up and eat some of the berries, he was worried that they would be poisonous, plus, the berries were too few to satisfy his hunger.
It simply wasn't worth the risk.
He cautiously followed after Elissa.
*Creak!*
The girl opened the door of the mansion nonchalantly and entered.
The inside was large and full of dust. Dark red, almost black, dried blood spots were everywhere. Some walls and furniture were broken, and in the middle was a fallen-apart golden chandelier.
The mansion was simply not reliable in Ashy's eyes. Maybe in a few years, it would be nothing more than a wreck.
'I guess I expected too much. It would be nice if I can just find food and water.'
While Ashy was momentarily distracted, Elissa quietly walked around the broken chandelier and began climbing the stairs of the mansion.
Portraits were hung on the wall of the stairs. Except for one, all of them were either too damaged or stained with blood.
In the only intact portrait, a girl who looked like Elissa was smiling wide enough to show her teeth. However, the girl in the portrait looked more alive and full of energy.
Right under the portrait was a phrase filled with infinite love.
[To my daughter, Elissa.]
'Fuck…!'
Ashy couldn't help but tremble as he looked at the portrait. Precisely, at the girl's teeth. They were pretty ordinary human teeth.
And this was the problem.
'I am sure as hell Elissa's canine teeth weren't normal like that. It was lengthy as fuck!
*
In a dark room with a vigorously burning fireplace, Ashy was sitting on a chair while Elissa was on the floor. Shadows were dancing in front of fire and the windows were closed by wooden planks, letting slight hues of weak light inside.
Ashy still couldn't put his finger on what was wrong with this girl, but the same feeling increased a lot in this dark room with a burning fireplace.
He couldn't focus at all because of hunger, thirst, and drowsiness. If this continued, he didn't know how much he could endure before closing his eyes forever.
"Sigh…"
Right in front of Elissa, a bunch of bright red berries were resting on a relatively clean cloth.
The same wild berries as the ones from the mansion's garden.
"Are you sure they are not poisonous?"
"Yes." Elissa popped a berry into her mouth.
"Are you really really sure?"
"Yes yes."
"Then eat more."
"Okay."
…
"That is enough. Now lay down quietly." Ashy stopped Elissa from eating more.
Although his stomach was slowly eating him inside out, and his lips were dry and chapped, Ashy couldn't bring himself to trust this girl.
Was she a human or just something that looked like a human? Was she all right with humans? What was her impression of humans? Was she friendly?
That is why, his doubt and fear suppressed his hunger and thirst.
Ashy didn't know anything and didn't want to ask. If this girl was strong and if she noticed that he found out she seemed strange and lacking, there would be no guarantee to his life.
But that didn't mean he was just going to stay away with fear and hesitation gripping his heart.
If he couldn't ask these questions to this girl, he could maybe find some information, a book, in this mansion.
Right?
It was more or less understandable that the commoner houses he entered didn't have any books. After all, in the medieval age of his homeworld, commoners didn't have much reason to read and write. They just farmed and raised livestock.
However, nobles were different.
Even at the entrance, he could see books. Even in this room, there were a few books here and there. Most of them were not in good condition but at least Ashy could at least pick up some information, useful or not.
Yet, he waited for Elissa to sleep, or at least waited for her to close her eyes.
Ashy didn't want to turn his back on her even for a second.
And at last, the opportunity he was waiting for had come. Elissa's breathing turned softer and her chest was rising slowly, deeply. She was asleep.
'Nice.'
Still not turning his back to the girl, Ashy moved slowly to not cause any noise or vibration.
With that, he collected four books. Three of them were in terrible condition while the last one was in relatively good shape.
Ashy randomly selected one of them and began to turn its pages. Somehow, he could read the language of this place.
The book in his hand turned out to be a diary.
[A black beam arose in the direction of the Empire of Light and reached the skies. Is this the sign of the apocalypse?]
[A day passed after the appearance of the ominous light, and corpses began to move. They are relatively easy to deal with—]
The rest of the page was impossible to read. Feeling frustrated that he couldn't read the way to kill the undead, Ashy flipped a few more pages.
[20th day after the Beacon of Darkness appeared. The sky darkened and the light of the sun weakened. More than half of my citizens died. If this continues, my soldiers won't be able to keep up with the rising number of undead in a few months.]
[30th say. My daughter began to act strange. She doesn't have a shadow anymore.]
"...!"
Ashy clenched his trembling hands. Half of his attention was already on Elissa while reading the diary.
It was obvious that the owner of the diary was the lord of this land and this mansion. So, 'the daughter' he mentioned must have been Elissa.
To Ashy, the diary in his hand was old, maybe ancient. A few pages crumbled in his hands while he was carefully flipping pages.
This meant many things.
'Elissa is old as fuck!'
And,
'Elissa must have been wasn't like this before the appearance of this thing called ''Beacon of Darkness'' '
After all, Ashy now noticed what was wrong with this girl.
'She doesn't have a fucking shadow!'
For hours he tried to find out but it was somewhat funny that he missed something so easy to notice.
The fireplace was burning wildly but this girl didn't have a shadow at all.
'I need to continue reading!'
Calling his nerves down, he lowered his gaze to the diary.
[40th day. My wife committed suicide.]
'Fuck…'
Pages flipped one after another. But of course, Ashy was being careful to not cause any noise and his attention was on Elissa. The drowsiness was gone with the adrenaline that coursed through his being.
[69th day. Everyone will die, including me. I want to take the easy way out too, but I can't leave my daughter alone in this harsh world.]
[I failed, both as a father, husband, Lord, and human.]
[96th day. This monster isn't my daughter! It can't be my sweet, adorable daughter!]
[117th day. I don't have any reason to live anymore. This monster isn't my blood. It is a vicious devil. Damn you @#$# and your @#$#!]
The diary finished. Some parts were like they had been removed magically as if something or someone had personally deleted the name of the person and something particular about them.
However, Ashy couldn't care less. Right now, he needed to deal with this shadow-les girl, who was called a monster by her father.