"It's okay. Take deep, slow breaths."
Hearing his words, I tried to respond:
"M-Mas… ter… I… kil-led… some-one…"
"Don't worry. It's alright. That wasn't the person you knew," he said, trying to comfort me.
"M-Mr. Scott… might… have been… a-live… I…"
"You didn't kill him. That wasn't Scott. That was black magic taking over his body. You didn't kill Scott; you killed the curse. He was never truly Scott anymore."
Holding me close, Valorant felt a disturbance in the flow of mana within my body.
He began to worry I might fall into a berserk state.
"I have to act fast. If I don't pull him out of it now, his emotions might destroy him. He needs to calm down before he goes berserk."
[I'm a murderer. I killed Scott. This is my fault.
If I had controlled myself, he'd still be alive.
This is all my fault.]
These thoughts kept echoing in my mind.
At that moment, Master seemed to understand what was going through my head.
He tightened his grip on my shoulder and pulled me into a firm embrace.
As he held me close, the storm in my thoughts slowly faded.
I could only feel the warmth of his arms.
The trembling in my body stopped.
We stayed like that for a while.
Eventually, I fully calmed down.
The cold, the fear—it all left me.
"Master… I'm feeling much better now."
"Then that's good," he said, gently letting me go.
On the other side, Gustav joked,
"Attu, want me to give you a hug too?"
"No—no, thanks. Master's hug was more than enough."
Master stood and reached his hand out to me.
I took his hand and said, "Thank you," as I stood up.
"Is it over?"
"Yes. It's all over."
"I'm glad to see you're alright."
"And I'm happy to see you all safe as well."
"Then, where are Suna and the young lady?"
"Oh right, they were with me! I hid them inside that cabinet," I said with a laugh, pointing at the cabinet door.
"Open it up. They might be stuck in there."
Master and Gustav watched as I went over to the cabinet.
I noticed a box was blocking the door and removed it.
"Here they are," I said, opening the cabinet for Gustav and Valorant to see.
At that moment, both Suna and Anna shouted:
"Attack below the belt with the coat hanger!"
They both struck me in a very sensitive spot.
Master and Gustav both watched and winced, looking at each other:
"Oof, that had to hurt!"
Holding my wounded pride, I bent over in pain.
Suna didn't even check who had opened the door.
"You little rat!" she shouted, and she began hitting me over the head with the coat hanger.
Anna was about to join in, but she paused, looked at me, and said,
"Suna, wait."
Suna blinked. "What is it, Anna?"
"Stop hitting him, it's Attu!"
Suna looked at me again and realized I was the one who had opened the cabinet.
"You idiot! Why didn't you say you were Attu, or that you were the one opening the door? I thought you were a skeleton!" she yelled, smacking me once more.
"Sorry… next time I'll say something."
Then Gustav stepped forward and said,
"Suna, young lady—don't look over there. Come this way,"
and led them out so they wouldn't see Scott's body.
"Attu, get up."
"I'm fine now. The pain's gone. What do we do now, Master?"
"My mission was to protect Anna and take her to the Elven Nation of Yggdrasil after Duke Alaris's death."
"If that's the case… then who was supposed to deal with Duke Alaris?"
"Are you asking who would've killed his undead body if we left?"
"Yes, that."
"According to the plan, Gustav was supposed to handle the undead and take care of everything.
But plans changed—there's no need now."
"Then I guess we're heading back to our little hut?"
"If Gustav stays by Anna's side and watches the house, then yes, we can return to our cabin.
But…"
Before he could finish, I interrupted.
"Ugh, I really don't want to leave this place."
"What? You got used to warming food and a cozy home?"
"Of course! I don't want to leave. This place is way better than our hut."
"Still, eventually we'll have to leave this place."
Just then, a strange smell began to spread through the air.
"Master… do you smell that smoke too?"
"Yes, I smell it."
"What could be burning?"
Valorant paused, thinking.
He remembered how the skeletons had thrown torches into the house while trying to enter.
Remembering that, he shouted,
"Run after me, quickly!"
Master took off running.
The two of us rushed toward the main entrance of the house.
From the doorway all the way inside, everything was in flames.
Inside the house, Gustav, Anna, and Suna were trying to carry out everything they could.
"Suna! Get these out! Take the small boxes too!" Gustav shouted.
Suna saw me and, still angry, yelled,
"Why are you just standing there? Come help!"
Master and I rushed in to help carry things out.
As the fire spread deeper, Anna tried to go inside.
I stopped her and said,
"No, don't go in. You might catch fire."
"But my grandfather's books are still inside!" she cried.
The fire burned through the night until sunrise.
By morning, we all sat in front of the burned-down house, faces covered in soot, clothes blackened.
[The house is gone. Anna has no place to go now… she has nowhere to return to.]
Suddenly I burst into laughter:
"Ha-ha-ha! I guess we're definitely going to the elven forest now!"
Everyone laughed with me—except Anna.