Chapter 26
I'm going to carry you guys. In return, give me a ride until the boss room.
"Alright. Let's do that."
"Thanks. I'll make sure not to be a burden."
I packed a fruit cream cupcake for Tesilid as a sign of asking for his cooperation.
"…We definitely fell into a dungeon, so why are we eating so well? I've never eaten anything like this even on festival days."
"You have to eat well to fight well."
"Besides, the food you give me doesn't trigger the sin of gluttony no matter how much I eat…."
"Really? Then eat more. Add chocolate tiramisu and peach milk tea!"
"…."
I emphasized that digestive potions were also stocked and fed Tesilid plenty of delicious things.
Meanwhile, I opened the system and examined the mansion's map.
The four star pavilions divided into east, west, south, and north formed perfect symmetry with each other.
The first floor of each star pavilion consisted of a reception hall, banquet hall, kitchen, guest bedrooms, and so on, with maze-like corridors connecting the rooms.
'Let's see. To get to the boss room….'
To make full use of the possessor's advantage, I also checked the original work's content from the integrated library.
I had bookmarked it in advance, so it was easy to find the necessary parts.
[Bookmark 473 - Sweet potato sprout days flashback scene #ToyMansion #Childhood #BattleRoyale]
'Hmm, if it's according to the original work, the young protagonist who is suffering from chronic poison and losing stamina from fighting even now… As expected, you reap what you sow from planting sweet potatoes.'
Around the time I had fully familiarized myself with the content, Tesilid, who had devoured the chocolate tiramisu, informed me of an important fact.
"The pierrot doll's presence has disappeared. I think we can go out now."
It was when we carefully opened the wardrobe door and stepped out.
From somewhere, butler Rodrigo's voice was heard.
Looking closely, a bronze relief shaped like a human face decorating the fireplace was moving its mouth.
The bronze relief made a grotesque sneering expression.
"Let's smash it after listening to everything."
"Good idea."
Agreeing, I picked up the poker and readied my stance.
I'm already looking. Right now it was clean without a single spark.
Hellfire was a living flame, a formless demonic creature that burned everything in its path.
Crack!
As soon as the bronze relief closed its mouth, Tesilid crushed it. My poker lost its usefulness.
Tesilid dusted off his hands and looked at me with a serious face.
"What are they plotting again?"
The third game I confirmed from the original work was 'Hallucinatory House Play.'
Children who tasted desserts containing hallucinogens from the demon realm fall into madness and cause a tragedy.
"They'll play tricks with the food. There are many kids who were brought here starving, so they definitely won't be able to resist the smell of freshly baked bread. We have to stop it."
"Is there a way?"
"Yeah. Let's preemptively strike."
Tesilid gave me a look telling me to explain quickly.
I smiled, thinking about how to outsmart the mischievous butler devil.
"Let's go to the kitchen and raise hell."
✠
Grrrrumble…. Thud!
A giant bear doll wearing a chef's hat and a frilly apron fell to the floor.
The bear doll, the last magical beast here, had been the head chef.
"Good work, Tesilid."
Tesilid and I crossed the kitchen, stepping over the scattered dolls.
On the workbench, cookies and cakes iced in sinister colors were piled up.
I repeatedly warned Tesilid.
"You can't eat them."
"Thanks to you, I'm full and don't want to eat anything. The colors are unpleasant like poison mushrooms too. Is there really poison in them?"
"Not poison, but hallucinogens. If you eat them, you'll go mad and attack other people."
"But how do you know that so well?"
"Secret."
Tesilid looked at one side of the kitchen with a stiff expression.
What his gaze was fixed on was the cutlery holder. The knives and forks to be served were sharpened extremely finely.
Even without exercising outstanding imagination, the aftermath was obvious.
"Ailet, if we leave them like this, the other star pavilions will be in pandemonium. We have to go and stop them."
I agreed with the goal. But the method was the problem. I pointed out the realistic obstacle.
"There's not much time left. It's unreasonable to move to another star pavilion and sweep the kitchen within that time."
"…."
"This isn't the time for that. We also need to move to the banquet hall right away. The butler guy said he'd release Hellfire everywhere except the dining hall once the banquet starts, right?"
"Then how about going to the banquet hall in another star pavilion since we're going to the banquet hall anyway? Even if the banquet starts, if we subdue the children until the hallucination wears off, we can reduce the damage."
Tesilid's heart, trying to save even one more of the remaining three places, was genuine.
That's why he's the protagonist, I suppose. Even if he's a sweet potato.
"I wonder. The path to another star pavilion is uncertain. If there's a chef-level gatekeeper like here in the kitchen, time will be delayed and we could be in danger too."
"Ailet, I won't force you into danger. I'll go alone…."
You're making the sound of a sweet potato being mashed. You're just a little kid who hasn't even awakened your regression ability yet.
"By yourself? Do you know the way to another star pavilion?"
"…."
"You don't know. You only got to the kitchen because I guided you."
"If you draw me a rough map…"
"There's no paper. I'm bad at drawing. I don't want to."
"…."
"Don't think about doing anything reckless."
Tesilid surrendered to my iron-wall-like stubbornness.
"Then… do we just have to watch? Being satisfied with the fact that we at least blocked the western star pavilion's banquet?"
"No?"
"What? Didn't you say there was no way?"
"I never concluded that."
Only then did a sparkle return to his sea-colored eyes. I began to rummage through my satchel.
"There's no need to go and save the children directly. In other words, it's a problem that can be solved if we just deal with the hallucinogens, right?"
From my hand, herb baskets much larger than the bag were pulled out one after another.
Of course, these weren't travel luggage, but things I had stored due to expiration dates.
"…Truth be told, you came here to smuggle herbs into the Holy Kingdom, right? That's at least a cartload."
"I'm caught. I also bribed you earlier, so pretend you didn't see it."
The ingredients were sufficient, and this mansion-type dungeon was said to boast the latest climate control system.
Everything was perfect.
"Let's go play with fire, Tesilid."
✠
In the garbage incinerator of Count Orshu's mansion lives a special demonic creature.
A formless demonic creature that barely sustains its spark by finding skulls to burn in the place where only ashes remain. Looking like a bonfire at first glance, this was 'Hellfire', Hellberos.
It had been 200 years since Hellberos left his warm hometown of Muspelheim and came to the Orshu mansion.
During that time, he had taken charge of tasks such as garbage incineration, firing the kitchen stove, and mansion heating.
Honestly, Count Orshu's mansion wasn't a good workplace. He had come because they said they'd feed him premium firewood three meals a day, but what was provided as fuel were only corpses.
And even those were barely given once every few decades.
He was curled up starving again today when someone knocked on the tin incinerator for the first time in a while.
"Hellberos, it's time. Set fire to the mansion. Except for the banquet hall."
The butler of this mansion, Rodrigo. A very vicious fellow who worked others to the bone.
"Here, eat. It's a corpse."
An adult corpse not even worth turning into a doll was thrown in.
"Shut up, you degenerate devil-like thing! Want me to throw you into Niflheim?"
Niflheim was a permafrost on the opposite side of his hometown, Muspelheim. He absolutely hated the cold.
Hellberos trembled and swallowed the corpse. The size of the flames grew a little larger.
Rodrigo, turning back, issued another command.
"Oh right, also heat up the bathwater. The human brats came in covered in outside dust, so it's gross."
It was pitiful to have to prepare even the butler's bathwater, not just the count's.
Hellberos grumbled but sent a spark into the hole in the wall with a flick. It was a pipe hole connected to the bathroom.
Now it was time to work. Hellberos, having gained strength from burning the corpse, sluggishly crawled toward the largest pipe.
The first place he arrived at was the single space in the center of the mansion's first floor, the dance hall.
The pipes of the count's mansion were designed to spread out from here to each star pavilion in the east, west, south, and north.
Whoosh!
Hellberos, popping out through the fireplace, was startled by the soft feeling.
Wasn't there a pile of hay in the fireplace that should normally be empty?
Of course, given that stingy bastard Rodrigo's personality, he wouldn't have prepared a special meal, but since he was so hungry, he ate it first.
How long had it been since he had vegetables? Moreover, it wasn't cheap weeds but a luxurious herb scent that seemed like it would make him healthy spread fully.
Hellberos went around all the fireplaces in the dance hall and devoured the piles of herbs.
His body, which had started as just a bonfire, grew as large as a fire dragon's breath and surged.
Before he knew it, Hellberos, who had eaten an entire cartload of dried herbs, burped.
Buuurp, the herb scent spewed out black along with the smoke.
Hellberos, slipping back into the fireplace, puffed out black smoke and raced through the pipes like a runaway locomotive.
Overflowing with power, it was possible to spread sparks without having to visit each fireplace.
From every fireplace connected to the pipes Hellberos passed through, crimson flames poured out like lava. Plus the pungent herb smoke.
Thanks to this, the scent of detoxifying herbs filled every corner of the Orshu mansion.
A special privilege for the possessor