'I wanted to give this a try since I gained the ability to change shape at will,' Solus explained.
'It's amazing! What can you do in that form?'
'The same as always. Store things and use the magic that you know by consuming your mana. If you allow me to do it, obviously.'
'Then what's the point? Last time we checked, our mind link was around 10 meters (10.1 yards). Sure, I could plant and use you like a bug, but then I would need to somehow retrieve you without raising suspicions. How far can you move on your own?'
'We are about to find out!' Solus started moving fast, first on the floor, then up the wall, until she reached the ceiling. Then she moved on the opposite side of the room, putting 5 meters (5.4 yards) between them.
'So far so good. I feel like I can move even further.'
Arthur opened the door of Morgan's room, checking with Life Vision to be sure that there was no one hidden in some corner or behind a secret passage that they were unaware of.
Then they let Solus get further away from them. She kept humming the entire time, making it possible for Arthur to determine how the strength of their mind link changed with distance.
At ten meters (11 yards), it was perfectly clear, like she was still on their finger.
After twenty meters (22 yards), it became muffled. They could still share her senses and communicate with her, but it required focus. At thirty meters (33 yards), her thoughts were barely a whisper.
'I don't feel so good. I'm afraid that this is my limit. If I get any further, I won't be able to receive your mana anymore, and I will begin to consume my life force in order to move. My reserves are not as depleted as when you first found me, but the idea of being all alone, bleeding energy with every step frightens me quite a bit.'
Arthur could understand her fear. She had already come very close to death once, and in order to survive, Solus had to pay a terrible price.
'If mana is the problem, let's see if I can do something about it.' Arthur created a string of mana with spirit magic and used it to connect to Solus.
Suddenly everything was clear again. They could even feel her little body perform a joyful dance. Solus was able to proceed swiftly until the distance between them was fifty meters (54.7 yards), the new limit of spirit magic's range.
Sending her mana over a further distance required increasing focus and energy consumption on Arthur's side. It was like casting and keeping several spells active at the same time.
For Solus to reach the servant quarters, Arthur required such concentration that they became blind and deaf to whatever was happening around them, going into a meditative trance.
'This is completely unacceptable! I need to babysit the Count and their kids at all times. What would happen if we got attacked while I play the sleeping beauty? Not to mention how can I possibly explain my "narcolepsy" to the Count without either losing their trust or revealing Solus's existence?'
Arthur tried to open their eyes, to listen with their own ears instead of using Solus's senses. It didn't come easy. It was like pushing a car uphill—the slightest mistake, and they would be back to square one. After numerous failures, Arthur snapped.
'Damn! If finesse doesn't work, let's go brute force!'
Arthur forcefully awoke. Morgan's room was as they had left it, the door still barred from the inside since Solus had gone beyond their line of sight. They could hear and see again, but the burden on their mind and body was unchanged.
They could feel their mana being drained, their mind slower than usual. It was like trying to do mental calculations with a commercial jingle stuck in their head. The mind link was still there, but it was blocked.
'Seems that at this range I can either use my senses or hers, not both. It's not great, but still an improvement. At least I won't have to fall asleep at the weirdest times.'
Closing their eyes again, Arthur asked Solus to come back. When she returned, they started planning their next moves.
In the following days, Arthur would stay with the three nobles at all times, barricading themselves in the Count's private quarters and surrounded by guards.
That way, from the outside, it would look like Arthur's arrival had changed nothing, but appearances couldn't be more different from the truth.
Arthur would make them drink only water they conjured, and before letting them eat even a single bite of any food, they would use magic to search for poisons and detoxify them.
They would also use Vinire Rad Tu, the light magic diagnostic spell, to cover up their use of Invigoration, their body-strengthening/imaging breathing technique, to check their bodies for slow-release poisons they could have ingested before their arrival or any relevant anomalies.
The poison was mostly in the food, covered by spices and sauces. The only anomaly they could find was Keyla's acne.
'Poor girl! This stuff doesn't just cover her face, it also covers her back and shoulders. I guess for her debut in society, she will have to pick a dress that leaves a lot to the imagination.'
While Arthur was seemingly holed up, they were actually checking on their suspects one by one. To avoid useless energy expenditure, they would establish their mind link with Solus before attaching her to a plate, tray, or under a servant's collar.
When Arthur woke up, they discovered they weren't in their bedroom anymore.
The moon was covered by clouds, and with only the dim light of the stars, they couldn't figure out their new location.
Arthur only knew they were now in the open. The cold night breeze and the rough feeling of the earth under their hands left no space for doubts. As their eyes started to adjust to the penumbra, they noticed some humanoid forms laying on the ground, only a few meters away.
Glad not to be alone, they slowly crawled towards them, while trying to remember what had just happened. Arthur was about to shake their roommates when the clouds moved, and the moon illuminated the forms, revealing them to be skeletons.
Arthur started to scream, and when they recognized the nightgowns they were wearing as those they had seen countless times on their friends, it turned into a shriek.
Around them, multiple figures started to moan and move about. They tried to run away, but tripped over something soft and squishy, hitting the ground. When they opened their eyes again, they were staring at a tombstone which was engraved:
"Here lies Croblan Lark, beloved father and husband."
Arthur suddenly realized where they were and why it felt so familiar. They were in the Lark family burial grounds, where all the forefathers of Count Lark were laid to their eternal rest.
At that moment, they remembered everything: the poisoning, the rattling knob, the ghost. They
wanted to believe it was all a bad dream, but their foot still hurt after the fall. Arthur was about to lose their mind when the moonlight revealed that the moving figures weren't undead, but other members of the staff they knew all too well.
Two of them were actually their accomplices, Zamon, the second oldest butler after Poltus, whose loyalty actually lay only with the Countess, and Bisya, a young maid that had been planted a couple of years ago to keep an eye on the Count's private quarters.
The three of them had been tasked by the Countess to ensure their return to power, by eliminating all possible obstacles. It was only thanks to Zamon's and Bisya's help that they had been able to slip the poison in the food unnoticed, even when they weren't supposed to be in the kitchen.
Either by relying on Zamon's authority or Bisya's flirting charm, they had managed to complete every task assigned to them after the Countess' forced departure.
There were also two more staff members with them. Rea, a young valet they had often worked with, and Olmund, one of the many butlers of the household.
"Lynna, is that you?" Bisya looked confused, shaking their head, trying to regain their focus. "That scream of yours almost made my head explode."
"Where in the gods' name are we? Why am I not in my room? I clearly recall…"
Zamon's voice was cut short, the blood draining from their visage as they remembered the last events.
"The Count!" They exclaimed.
At those words, all five of them froze up in place, swept away by the terror caused by the unnatural encounter.
"The Count is back!" Rea said with a choked voice.
"And the gods know why, but they believe I'm responsible for their death!"
Soon they all started looking around, finding the corpses of their own roommates. Their clothes were unscathed, whereas their bodies seemed to have aged centuries.
"Rorryk, why did this happen to you?" Olmund fell to their knees, near the remnants of their oldest friend, crying desperately.
"Shut up, you fool!" Zamon forced their mouth shut with a hand.
"In case you haven't noticed we are in a cemetery! It is better not to wake that which can eternal lie." Zamon didn't dare emit more than a whisper, they were very superstitious.
Usually, Arthur would mock them for their cowardice, but this night was different. They could feel their guts twisting and turning in fear, their body begging them to run away.
Suddenly the ground trembled, and a raging fire erupted from an open grave.
Count Trequill Lark's grave.
"How could you do this to me?"
The Count's spirit slowly emerged from the flames.
"Prepare to be judged by my ancestors."
From the tombs nearby the Count, three skeletons arose, unearthing themselves up to the waist.
"Murderers!" Wailed an old man's voice.
"Traitors!" Yelled a woman's voice.
"Vermin!" Said a man's voice.
The three skeletons were struggling to get free from the earth's embrace, while announcing their verdict. The dirt, tattered clothes they wore kept ripping apart.
"The die is cast!" The Count's spirit said with an otherworldly deep voice.
"Confess!" They were pointing their finger towards Rea, who suddenly felt pushed down on the ground by an invisible force.
"I'm innocent! I swear!" They said, sobbing uncontrollably.
The three skeletons started to wail as one, in a cacophony of indistinguishable voices. Their hollow orbits emitted a red glow, like a candle had been lit within, and like the Count, blood tears started to endlessly flow along their cheekbones.
"Liar!" The Count yelled, and Rea was dragged by the invisible force towards the Count's open grave, whose flames started to rise and roar loudly.
The others tried to hold them by the arms, but the spirit's pull was too strong. When Rea was thrown into the fiery pit, they emitted an inhuman shriek while the flames turned from bright red to an ominous purple.
"They will serve me in the netherworld, to atone for their sin." The Count's spirit said.
"Confess!" This time they were pointing at Olmund, who promptly complied.
"I confess! I confess! It was me stealing the silk bolts, exploiting my inventory duty. That's why there was never enough."
"And how do you atone?" Said the spirit, its eyes reduced to two flaming slits.
"I'm so sorry! I swear!"
"Words are not enough!" The corpses on the ground arose, their orbits brimming with a red light.
They lifted Olmund with their skeletal hands over their heads, and threw them into the pit.
"Rorryk, why?" Was their final scream before disappearing in the flames.
Before the ghost could pass their judgment, Arthur knelt deeply, head on the ground, begging for forgiveness.
"I confess! It was me poisoning you, and those two are my accomplices!" They said, pointing at the two survivors.
Zamon and Bisya tried to take a step back, but the skeletons had returned, surrounding them again.
"Because of you my children are alone in this world!" The ghost wailed in pain.
"It's only a matter of time before they join me in death! How do you atone?"
"I'm so sorry! I've been stupid, I have no proof. I threw away the poison and burned all her Ladyship's letters."
"Then burn yourself!" Arthur was then dragged by their dead roommates into the pit. Only the flames put an end to their shrieks.
Zamon and Bisya kneeled too, going straight to the point.
"I can save your children!" Yelled the young maid. "I'm not stupid, I never trusted that b*tch as far as I can throw her. I kept all her letters, her orders, in case she broke her word! I keep them all under a loose board in the kitchen's pantry."
"And so did I! On top of that, I know where she keeps all her personal correspondence hidden."
The old butler rushed to add, fearing that they would become useless to their captor.
"She ordered the poison months ago! Plus there's so much more to it! It's all in a secret compartment right under her bed. I swear, that's all that I know! Please have mercy on this old fool!"
"Magnificent!" Said the Count with their usual joyful and enthusiastic tone, clapping their hands in delight.
Suddenly they didn't sound otherworldly at all. The skeletons fell down like puppets whose strings had been cut, the fire went out and the Count came down to the ground with a thump loud enough to be heard.
"Was this all…" Zamon couldn't believe their eyes.
"A farce?" Poltus completed the sentence for them. "Yes, old weasel. I knew you were always up to no good." The traitorous servants were able to put a face to the old skeleton's voice.
"Jadon, Keyla, be a dear and go retrieve the evidence. At this point, I can't trust anyone else." The Count's heirs came right after Poltus, nodding, before running back to the house.
Knowing they were doomed, Zamon still found the strength to look into the open grave, finding out that everyone was still alive, just bound and gagged by tendrils of earth.
Thinking about what would befall them and their family, the old butler was filled with regret. The long years of loyal service, the savings of a lifetime, all those careful plans for their retirement, shattered together with their hopes for a better tomorrow for their sons.