Possession

It had been a while now, and I kept training in magic with Conall, and in doing so, I learned a lot more. It felt as if knowledge were being poured directly into my mind.

Drinking water from a cup, I looked at Conall, who was training with his sword.

"Aren't you bored, Taro?" Conall said, still slashing his sword.

I nodded my head slowly. "Yeah, this place is big, but there's nothing really to do. However, it's better than nothing."

Conall put his sword back in the barrel and sat in the opposite chair from me. "Well, yeah, that's one for sure. But I think it's because of my father."

I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"He used to host all sorts of events here to liven the place up, bringing other vampire families in for dinner or whatever. Yet now, he seems more sluggish and worried."

The more Conall spoke, the more I sensed he was holding something back.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked directly.

Conall took a deep sigh, his eyes darkening. "I fear that he's possessed by a dangerous entity. At first, I thought I was wrong since Eden didn't notice, but it also made sense. The entity knew that Eden would notice too quickly, so he started sending her on these random missions."

I looked at Conall, who was lowering his voice to make sure that nobody could hear him. I also remembered my first meeting with the lord; he was weird.

"If that's the case, shouldn't you tell Eden?"

"I thought about that as well. However, Eden is too emotional—she might attack the entity directly. And if it has already possessed a mage as powerful as my father, then it might not be something my sister and I could handle ourselves."

My expression tensed. "Then why are you telling me this?"

Conall smiled. "I think you can help me. You've gained a great amount of magic knowledge over the past few days, and I don't think you're the type to fear the unknown, are you?" He looked at me with fierce eyes.

"Sure, however, I need you to assure my safety; I am not doing this for free," I replied.

The boy in front of me nodded. "Of course, why would I give you a dangerous mission just like that?"

Conall moved his hand from left to right on the table in front of us, and then a book with crimson leather that had the texture of skin appeared. Holding it, Conall explained, "This is a magical item called the Ars Notoria."

Opening it to the first few pages, the air around us grew heavy, though the change was almost imperceptible. Inside the book were runes and different writings.

"In a few days, I will have dinner with Father. And in the meantime, I want you to draw this symbol on the upper floor from the hall we're eating in. And at that time, you will get a signal, and if everything goes right, then we will have exorcised the entity with no issues."

I looked at the symbol inside the book for a few seconds before replying, "You said it yourself, the entity is strong. How are you sure that it won't recognize what we're trying to do?"

Conall then pointed at me. "Because it's not watching you. When Eden brought you here, I was sure that he was trying to discover anything dangerous about you. And since he didn't mind you after that, which means he sees that you can't harm him, his full attention is on me, Eden, and Mars. Since he possessed Father, he can order the spirits, so there's no point in trying to use them."

I listened to Conall closely. Conall had helped me those few days; both Winfield siblings did. So I want to repay them, but this felt like too much. Even with Conall's reassurance, I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

This wasn't something normal at all. But I have to trust Conall; that's for the best.

"Of course, if you don't want to. You can just forget we talked about any of this. I don't want to bring you trouble." He explained.

Shaking my head, I rotated the book and looked at the drawing on it. "I have to warn you, however, I am not a good artist."

Conall looked at me, dumbfounded, then laughed. "That's no issue."

Then I started thinking about it. "Do you think the entity would detect my smell if I wear the clothes Eden gave me? She told me they work well for hiding my scent. If I had to, I would go out at night, then use them and draw the runes."

Conall replied immediately. "Yeah! That's a good idea. I was also thinking of telling spirits not to go near the upper floor for private reasons, while also mentioning not to tell Father since it will be a surprise for him."

Conall and I continued discussing the plan. After finishing, I took the book back into my room. I hid it in the wardrobe.

I felt a twitch in my stomach; I haven't eaten anything for a while now. Walking out of my room, I walked down to the kitchen only to find Lilith there, cooking various dishes.

The moment she saw me, she stopped looking at me. "Why are you here?"

I smiled nervously. "I am hungry."

Lilith nodded and then gestured to me to come closer. "Then help me, and I will make you something."

This really had become a habit of hers, asking me for help. I don't mind it, but I am surprised since I didn't expect Lilith to open up this fast to someone like me. "Why are you cooking anyway? I thought vampires can't taste food."

"Sometimes they love to pretend."

Nodding, I stood by her; I saw that she was making food. Noticing that some dishes were not cleaned yet, I took that job on myself.

I turned the water on and started cleaning slowly. I am not sure why, but it felt relaxing.

The sound of music played around the corner; I looked there to see a small music box. It was relaxing. "What's that?" I asked while taking a plate.

"It's mine; I use it when bored," Lilith replied, cutting down the meat.

"I never expected you to be the one to listen to music boxes," I replied half jokingly.

"I am not; I just found it randomly in the forest, and the lord let me keep it. It probably belongs to someone who lost it."

"That might be the case, but you're also using it now. Doesn't it mean that it has some value to you?"

Lilith looked down at the pieces of meat cut down. "Value is a funny thing. Maybe this box has value because I decided it does. It plays a pretty tune, so it's useful for wasting time..." She stopped moving the knife, looking out the window at the forest. "I suppose that makes us alike. We're both just things that someone else decided are useful enough to keep around. And if nobody were to pick it, then it would've stayed in that forest forever."

I didn't reply, as I felt that there was nothing I could say at the moment. After helping Lilith a bit around the kitchen, she prepared some food for me, and I ate.

Then, in the middle of the night, the castle fell silent, leaving only the sound of the wind outside. Today is the day, and I will be starting the plan with Conall.

I wore the clothes Eden gave me from before and took the book with me. Conall said he had already prepared the room to be empty and put the necessary drawing equipment there.

I opened the door to my room slowly before closing it, and then I started moving to the upper floor. There, I noticed the door to the guest room. I opened the door to see the inside.

It was smaller than the room where I had met Mars. The furniture had been pushed neatly against the walls, leaving the center of the floor clear.

I took the book out and started searching for the page where the rune I had to draw was. However, the moment I started flipping the pages, I felt like my hand was being torn apart. I looked at it to see that the ring was shining a bright purple color.

"W—what is going on!" I grunted as the pain amplified. And the book fell to the ground. Then I heard screams in my brain; at first, there were only a few screams, but they quickly multiplied, swelling into a cacophony of nonsensical words.

I held my hand and looked at the book; transparent green figures writhed on the pages, struggling to escape the book as if it were a portal into our world.

It seems like somehow my ring activated some hidden mechanism in the book, and now it's doing this. I clenched my teeth, then put my hand forward, the air becoming more and more tense.

I can't allow them to get out!