Thump. Thump. Thump.
I realized the bed was shaking. My eyes snapped open. Feeling next to me, I realized there was only one girl holding me. It was Lydia. As for Miki, I could not see her at all. The entire bed flew up off the ground and then slammed back down. This time it was enough that Lydia woke up.
"Eh? Master!" She cried out, jumping off the bed. I jumped off the other side.
At that point, an item flew off the nightstand and at my face. I dodged, only realizing it was a bucket after it bounced off the wall. The bed was still dancing like the floor was lava, and then the window slid open and slammed back closed again.
"M-master!" Lydia cried out, "I-it's ghosts!"
"You can see them?" I asked.
She nodded tearfully, hugging herself and backing into a corner.
"Miki! Where are you?"
Miki didn't answer. If there was some way to track where she was by her slave seal, I was not aware of it. I felt that was probably a future Slave Master skill. However, I was only at level 1 right now. Miki could be in severe trouble, and it was really worrying me. That's when I remembered that we were still in a party together.
"Lydia!" I looked at her as she was shaking in the corner. "I'm going to go."
"Please, master, don't leave me!"
"Please watch after Miki. I'll return as quickly as I can. Don't let her go anywhere."
"Master?"
"Position Switch!"
A second later my body disappeared and appeared outside. I was standing on the street and there were several people around me shouting angrily.
"You foxkin! This is your-" Their expressions instantly froze as the person in front of them was no longer an animalkin, but the so-called hero of their town.
I looked around to see the entire village was in pandemonium. Doors were opening and closing. People were screaming. Stuff was flying. The entire town was under an attack by ghosts that no one could see nor touch.
"Ah… Deek, we…" The person looking guilty was an animalkin who I had healed during that first day. "It has to be her, right?"
"We'll talk about this after the crisis is over," I responded sternly. "Where is the Guild Master?"
He pointed and I didn't have to walk far to see the man. He had gathered a group of Adventurer's, specifically mages, and they were casting attacks on anything that would move.
"Deek! I'm glad you're up. We might have some wounded soon."
"Is this serious?" I asked. "Like… Old Chalm?"
The Guild Master blinked and then shook his head. "I don't think it's that bad. This is just a couple of poltergeists. When you entered and left Old Chalm, they must have followed you. I'd say there are only a dozen total and mostly low level. Ghosts are never an easy monster to fight, but we'll defeat them or they'll flee. Just head back to the inn, and we'll get this settled.
"Okay…"
Although I did feel a little guilty. I was being chased by puppets and jumped straight back to here using a portal. I wasn't certain, but I suspected these guys slipped through the portal with me. That meant all of the damage tonight was my fault. Had I just used Return at the time, none of this would have happened. However, at that time, I didn't know what I knew now.
I returned back to the inn, even though the night was still filled with screaming terrors. If this was the act of just a couple poltergeists, I'd hate to see what level was needed to force the people to flee the city of Chalm. Although truthfully, it was probably higher level and more deadly ghostly spirits.
"Miki, wait!" Lydia was outside and Miki was walking on her own.
She ran in my direction as soon as she saw me, her expression anxious. "M-master! I can help! I have a special talent. I meant to tell Master about it when the time was right. It's called Spirit Fire. Only a 3-tail or higher fox can make it. My previous master used it for alchemy… but it also can fight ghosts."
As she spoke, she ran towards me, and a blue flame started to form between the palms of her hands.
"Ah… don't worry about it. They have it handled." I said, eyeing the fire.
Miki shook her head, nearly in tears. "No, Master. The ghosts are definitely here because of me. This is my fault! The rabbitkin was right. All my tails do is cause trouble. The least I can do is help fix it."
"Wait, watch out!" A flying horseshoe hit her in the ankles as she tried to approach me. She let out a cry and fell to the ground. Her arms went up, and the blue flame went with them. Her blue flame ended up heading straight for my face!