Chapter 11: Mr. Ghost, Are You Friendly?
Pare manor belonged to Simon Pare, a wealthy merchant. His father had bought it a few years ago from the original owner. Simon inherited it along with a plethora of other wealth after the death of his father last year.
Finally the master of his own life, Simon felt liberated. He splurged on whatever he wanted for the first few months. While the money on his coffers decreased by quite a bit, he had a stable income from the business and didn't mind it much.
His new hobby was decorating his manor with all the things he had bought. It filled him with great joy to move things here and there and watch a new look take shape. But as the time went by and he added more things to his collection, his main house began to look clustered. There just wasn't enough space for all of his things.
As it got increasingly harder to find decent spots to showcase his collection, he decided to renovate the abandoned house behind his manor. Though his father had warned him not to approach the house and leave it be, he found it a waste to not use a perfectly good house.
Aside from the interiors having degraded because of no one maintaining it, there wasn't much damage. To suit the place better to his taste, he decided to do a complete makeover. Everything went well for the first few days. The work's progress was smooth and he even found some valuable stuff left behind by the previous owner.
However, on the fourth day of the renovation, rumors of the house being haunted began circulating among the laborers. At first, Simon dismissed it as a prank but had to take it seriously when some of the laborers refused to work and left. They didn't stay even after he increased the pay.
Looking at the scared faces of the laborers, his father's warnings replayed on his mind. Cutting off the fear that was growing inside him, he steeled his resolve. He tripled the pay and a few laborers happily agreed to continue the work.
Simon breathed out a sigh of relief when the renovation was completed. Some of the servants and laborers did report sightings of supernatural occurrences but nothing major happened. Pushing the matters of ghosts and stuff to the back of his mind, he began putting up items from his collection.
A year passed with nothing unusual happening. A few sightings of ghosts became common every now and then and even the servants grew numb to it. After all, no one had ever been hurt.
Just to be on the safe side, Simon had even invited a ghost expert. And with the expert's assurance that the happenings were harmless, he decided to leave it be. After all, the supernatural appearances added a flair to his collection. With time, he began to see the ghosts as a part of his collection.
Unfortunately, things began taking a bad turn a week ago. A servant had been scratched by a ghost that suddenly began behaving like a rabid dog. This had never happened before. The ghosts had always been like flies, floating around without a purpose. To have one suddenly attack in a maniacal manner, everyone grew scared.
The number of ghost appearances increased in frequency as well. And to make things worse, more and more ghosts began getting aggressive. In just a week, nine servants had already been attacked. The lucky ones got away with minor scratches but two unlucky victims were bedridden after getting bitten. One of them even lost a chunk of flesh from his arm.
Both of the servants who were bitten were down with extreme fever and the doctors couldn't find an effective cure for them.
Left with no choice, he called for the ghost expert again. Looking at the man who had assured him that the happenings didn't hold any danger, Simon spoke with a little doubt. "Mr. Bell, Didn't you say that the ghosts were harmless? Almost everyone in the manor is on their edge because of how vicious they have become."
"Something must have happened." The ghost expert answered with confidence. "I am certain that the ghosts before were just spirits with no ill intent. For them to suddenly become aggressive, the reason might be quite serious."
Simon's heart sank at the man's words. Though he didn't think of the man as highly as he used to, the man's abilities were genuine. If he said that the reason behind the change might be serious, Simon would believe him.
Simon gulped a mouthful of saliva in nervousness. "Everything will be fine right?"
Mr. Bell looked at his fearful client and replied seriously. "I would have liked to tell you that but I will have to check the house properly before anything."
"Yes, yes. Let me get some servants to follow you for your investigation."
Soon, three servants were put together to help the ghost expert. The group of four set out to explore the house and figure out what caused changes on the ghosts.
Looking at the items from Simon's collection being displayed everywhere, Mr. Bell posed a question, "Did Mr. Simon perhaps add something new to his collection? Something..... a little different? Something people would refer to as cursed?"
A short servant answered honestly. "I don't think so. While master likes strange things, he cannot stand creepy or scary stuffs. Plus, his collection hasn't had a new addition for a while now. These ghosts started getting hostile only a week ago."
"And the number of ghosts appearing increased drastically?"
"Yes. Before, there would be a single sighting every three or four days. But now, there's at least several sightings each night."
Mr. Bell nodded at the answer. Thinking for a while, he asked again. "At what time do these sightings begin? Has anyone taken note of when they are most likely to happen?"
"They begin after the sun sets and it gets darker." A tall man spoke with a little fear in his eyes. He had been one of the lucky few who got away with just a few scratches. Still, the vengeful visage of the ghost still left a deep impression on him. Recalling the event when he got attacked, he continued. "As for when they happen the host, it's around 3 am. Most of the attacks had taken place around this time as well."
The group investigated the house cautiously. The process took about an hour but they didn't find anything out of place. As Mr. Bell reported his findings to Simon, the latter asked hopefully, "So.... everything is fine?"
"No." The ghost expert answered without sugarcoating anything. "Since we could not find anything, it means that the reason for the recent happenings might be more serious than I thought. I will have to investigate again at night."
*****
Vincent made sure that his outfit was perfect. Satisfied with his taste for mysterious looking cloth, he pulled his hood down and scaled the walls. He had already done his research in the day and knew exactly where the ghosts appeared inside the manor.
As he jumped down the wall, he checked his surrounding to make sure that no one saw him. Finding no one near him, he made his way to the house cautiously.
The moons were shining brightly and the clouds would roll over and cover one every now and then. The greenish light from the bigger moon illuminated his surrounding and he especially liked that. It made him feel like the pale green color gave a different vibe to this ghost hunting adventure of his.
After a couple minutes of walk, he finally reached the place that was supposed to house ghosts. He had expected to need some time exploring before he could actually spot a ghost but was pleasantly surprised when he saw one immediately.
It was translucent and you could easily see through him.
'Hmmm. The ghost has a pale skin. How fascinating..... you can see through him but can't see his innards. Do they have any innards in the first place? I should capture this one and study it.' Vincent thought to himself before taking action.
Since he had heard that these ghosts were harmless, he decided to try and talk to it first. "Hello Mr. Ghost. I am Professor Can Hellsing. I am asking purely for academic purpose, but can you tell me if you are a friendly or an evil ghost?"
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