Chapter 156 - 156 Ten Tales
Match spread through society with tremendous momentum. Due to its convenience, the speed at which it replaced flint was considerable, and once made, they sold like hotcakes.
One reason was that the expansion of the economy increased the number of magic aptitude tests, and as the number of Separation Magic users increased, so did the supply.
Now, unrelated to such social circumstances, on a certain hot day, Aurora, Daphne, Evelyn, and Sherry had come to Archibalt Land. It just so happened that their hot spring trip schedules had overlapped. Sherry, warmed by the hot spring, while eating shaved ice made by Steve,
"It's hot. Isn't there any magic to make it cool?"
she asked her younger brother.
Steve, being asked, thought for a moment. There wasn't enough time to build an air conditioner now. If he used Ice Magic, the room would become flooded with water.
So what he came up with was ghost stories.
"Shall we tell scary stories?"
"Will scary stories make us cool?"
"When you think something is scary, goosebumps rise and you feel cool."
When hearing a scary story, the body feels stress, and the sympathetic nervous system becomes active. As a result, the blood vessels in the heart expand and the heart rate rises, while conversely, the blood vessels in the pores and the skin's surface layer constrict, causing goosebumps and poor blood flow, making the body cool down.
Since that explanation would be long, he omitted it and simply answered his sister that it would make them cool.
Hearing this, the other members got excited about wanting to hear scary stories. Except for Daphne.
Nancy, noticing Daphne's lack of enthusiasm, spoke with a mean smile.
"Oh my, is it true that even the Commander of the Royal Guard Knights Order dislikes scary stories?"
Teased by Nancy, Daphne pouted and retorted.
"There is no way that could be. I was just questioning whether scary stories would actually make us cool."
"So, it means everyone will participate, then."
Told by Nancy, Daphne made up her mind. In fact, Daphne was not good at scary stories. She was so bad at them that even when receiving reports of ghosts or zombies appearing, she would maneuver so as not to go investigate herself.
Nevertheless, it was a decision to participate born from the desire not to show weakness to Nancy here.
"However, if it is a scary story, shouldn't we also invite the Saintess? I want to see how a professional reacts."
Daphne proposed that. Somehow, she felt that if the Saintess were there, the fear would be mitigated.
Thus, with Aurora, Daphne, Evelyn, and Sherry, plus Christina and Nancy, who were his wives, and Julia and Camilla, along with Mercury and Jupiter joining in, Steve decided to perform the ghost stories.
Since they waited until Julia and the others arrived, the sun had completely set, and the dining hall of Steve's mansion was lit only by ten candles. The candles were placed in front of each person except Steve.
Also, the guards Harry, Scarlett, and Bella were standing against the wall.
"It's quite dark,"
Sherry said, looking around.
"Please extinguish the candle in front of you in a clockwise direction from Christina after each story ends. When the last one goes out, something will happen."
Steve explained that. Christina, looking at the candle before her, asked Steve.
"Why ten candles?"
"This is a proper style of ghost story called the Ten Tales."
"To no mono gatari?"
Originally, it is the Hundred Tales, but that would be far too long. So they settled on ten. They also played with Yanagita Kunio's "Tales of Tono."
Anyway, the ghost story began. Steve started speaking in a slow tone.
"A certain noble purchased an old house in the Royal Capital. It was strange because the house was less than half the price of the surrounding houses, but――――"
There was no sound in the dining hall other than Steve's voice. Everyone was silently concentrating on Steve's story. As the first story approached its climax, Steve came up with a little prank.
"When the noble felt a sense of incongruity and called a craftsman to peel off the wall,"
Crash!!!
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
Steve took out a metal dish he had stored using Storage Magic invisibly and dropped it on the floor, causing a loud noise to echo throughout the room. Daphne screamed in response.
Only Daphne had screamed, but the heart rates of all participants had jumped up. However, the fact that no one showed it on their faces was impressive.
"This doesn't feel like it's going to reach the final punchline anymore,"
Steve said, prompting Christina to extinguish the candle. Christina exhaled and extinguished the candle.
Then the story progressed, and when the ninth story ended, Steve looked around at the participants. Everyone except Daphne had a relaxed expression. Steve was not quite pleased with that. He felt like he wanted to scare them a bit more.
"For the last one, I plan to add visuals in addition to the story. I will use Illusion Magic, so please remove any magic items that resist it."
Saying that, Aurora and Evelyn removed their magic items. Oh my, Steve thought.
He had thought that Daphne, the Commander of the Royal Guard Knights Order, was also wearing magic items to prevent the enemy's mental attacks.
"Isn't Daphne wearing any?"
"No."
Seeing Daphne hesitate to take them off out of fear, Nancy provoked her.
"Oh my, is it true that even the Commander of the Royal Guard Knights Order gets scared by just a story?"
"Grr."
Daphne felt frustrated but couldn't bring herself to take off the magic item ring.
Steve considered Daphne's feelings.
"If you are scared, you can stop here and wait outside."
"I am fine."
Rather than being left out by waiting outside, Daphne held her ground to listen to the scary story. And she took off the magic item ring.
"Then, shall we begin the last story?"
Steve began the tenth story.
"In a certain country, a knight was entrusted by the king to investigate a lake. When the knight arrived at the lake on horseback, he noticed a fog had appeared around him. The fog was thick, visibility was poor, and he thought he couldn't investigate like this, so he decided to rest at a nearby village. Then, as he walked down the road, a restaurant appeared. Since the knight was hungry, he thought about having a meal there."
In sync with Steve's narration, a scene of thick fog appeared before the participants' eyes. It was a view from behind the knight entering a restaurant where lights could be seen in the dense fog.
"When the knight entered the restaurant, there was one owner inside and a family of three sitting at a seat in the back. The family was a young couple and a girl about ten years old. The owner whispered secretly to the knight. 'That family are ghosts of nobles who fell into the lake in a carriage and died. No matter what, do not respond if they speak to you.'"
To make the scene inside the shop easier to see, the perspective switched to the knight's point of view at this moment. In the back of the shop sat a family dressed in elegant clothes, looking at the knight. Their faces were pale white with no blood, and their feet were wet with water.
"The knight said, 'Thanks for the advice. I suppose I just shouldn't talk to them. I'll sit at a seat away from them. Owner, I'm hungry, so please bring me food quickly.' He sat at a seat away from the family. The owner took the order and went into the kitchen. While waiting for the food to come out, the child walked towards the knight. 'Let's play,' he said, pulling the knight's pants."
The sensation of the child pulling the knight's pants was conveyed to everyone. The pale, lifeless face was that of a dead person itself, and Daphne tightly closed her eyes from terror. However, against Illusion Magic that shows images directly to the brain, it was ineffective, and she was shown the girl's face just like the others.
"The knight initially ignored him, but since the child was so persistent, his anger finally exploded. 'Go away!' he shouted. Then, the owner came out from the back of the shop. His face was a rotting mess, nothing like the owner from before. He said to the knight, 'Oh dear, you spoke to them. You are now stuck in this world just like me.' Terrified, the knight hurriedly ran out of the restaurant, mounted the horse tied outside, and galloped away. Behind him, the family and the owner chased after him at speeds that did not seem human."
The image of the four screaming and chasing after the horse gave terror to all participants of the Ten Tales.
"The knight managed to shake off the four, but it was already night when he returned to the Royal Capital. Once he felt safe, he realized he was hungry again. Glancing around, he saw a street stall with a light on. The stall owner was facing away, but the knight spoke to him. 'I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat?' Then the owner said, 'In that case, I will start grilling meat now, so please wait.'"
The owner's back spoke with a middle-aged male voice. At this point, Daphne had a bad feeling. Steve continued.
"The owner asked the knight, 'What were you doing at this hour of the night?' Feeling relieved at returning to the Royal Capital, the knight told him that he had gone to investigate the lake, got caught in the thick fog, and met the dead at a strange restaurant. 'No, I don't even want to remember that,' the knight said, and the owner turned around. 'Found you.'"
At that moment, the stall owner turned around, and the illusion ended when his face was revealed to be the restaurant owner's, and the scenery of Steve's mansion returned.
Steve instructed Nancy to extinguish the last candle.
"Nancy, extinguish the candle."
"Understood."
When Nancy extinguished the candle, the room was enveloped in darkness. Suddenly, a light lit up in front of Steve, and the dead girl from the hallucination appeared.
The girl smiled and asked everyone.
"Do you want to hear more scary stories?"
Asked that, Daphne, Christina, and Sherry screamed.
In fact, up until this point was a hallucination created by Steve. When the magic was released, there was a lit candle in front of Nancy.
Steve smiled maliciously.
"Come on, let's try extinguishing the last candle?"
"Let's not,"
Christina said, taking the candle.
"Then, let's call it a day for today."
Steve ended the Ten Tales.
And then, he got very angry at Sherry and Christina.
"Steve, why do you do such scary things!"
"But, Big Sister wanted to get cool. You actually got cool, didn't you?"
"You went too far!"
"Steve-sama, I agree with my sister-in-law. You went too far."
While Sherry and Christina were angry, the four who had come from the church were calm.
"It was a very enjoyable event. When visuals are added to the story, the fear increases,"
Julia said, smiling at Steve.
"Weren't you scared?"
"After seeing Necromancy, I knew from the start it was fabricated, so the fear was reduced."
From the expressions of Aurora and Evelyn, their inner thoughts could not be read. However, Evelyn had asked Scarlett,
"When we get back, I want you to do this to me too,"
so it could be inferred that she liked it very much.
Since it ended generally to great success, Steve considered whether he could make a business out of this. And later, he would perform ghost stories in a theater in the Royal Capital. Tricks that suddenly made noises to surprise the audience became popular, and tickets sold out immediately.
It was rumored that even when invited by his subordinates, Daphne always declined saying she was busy, and this reached Archibalt Land.
Also, although Aurora maintained a blank expression throughout, she told Harry that she would never participate in ghost stories again. In fact, she was scared. Harry had seen Aurora since he was young, so he knew this. He often thought in his heart that she had participated well.
There was a reason Aurora didn't want to be left out.
And that was why she maintained a blank expression. The fact that she didn't scream was due to noble education. She had thought how nice it would be if she could scream in the middle.
Aurora thought it was good that no one found out.
Thank you always for your typo reports.