Chapter 71: The Mansion's Butler

Chapter 71: The Mansion’s Butler

Back with Emily, Kurt, and Joe.

Emily, Kurt, and Joe are walking through a hallway in the mansion that is filled with creepy paintings of scary-looking people. It’s almost like the people in the paintings are staring at them.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Emily remarks.

“I think that’s the point,” Joe replies. “They want to creep us out to make it more difficult for us to proceed.”

“And that’s exactly why it shouldn’t creep you out,” Kurt says, assuring. “This isn’t a haunted mansion or anything. It’s a very large trap. There is nothing supernatural about it.”

Despite Kurt’s assurance, Emily still darts her eyes around. “I get that… it’s just that… ugh, I hate it here.”

“We all hate it, and I’m sure it won’t take us long at all to reunite with Zeth and Sasha, kick Daykona’s ass, rescue Clora, and get the hell out of here,” Joe says, trying to increase Emily’s confidence.

“Just be careful,” Kurt warns. “Daykona was literally able to capture a real angel. She will likely be a tougher foe than the poison demons and the poachers were, maybe even Gorge as well.”

“Must you always be so cautious?” Joe asks. “It’s a lot more exciting to believe that we’re going to walk right into the enemy’s waiting spot and kick their ass! Besides, Daykona can’t be more powerful than Gorge was, otherwise she could come kill us herself.”

Kurt turns his head to give Joe a stern look. “Overconfidence would be our downfall against a strong enemy.”

“I’m with Kurt on this one,” Emily says. “Let’s just keep going and be ready for anything.”

Joe rolls his eyes, seeming a bit annoyed. “Yeah, yeah…”

They soon reach the end of the hallway and find a large door, made of the finest wood, with shiny golden handles that curl.

“I’m not the smartest, but I can only guess that a large door leads to some important place,” Joe comments.

“That’s a pretty good guess,” Kurt replies.

Emily steps forward, fully determined. “There’s only one way to find out. We’re going in!”

Emily opens the large door, and then they all head through it. They enter a large dining room. There are lots of tables and a staircase leading higher in the room. Unlike the previous areas they have been through, this room is well lit.

“I don’t know if I would call a dining room that important, but you would think with all these tables that this mansion gets a lot of guests,” Joe points out.

“It’s doubtful,” Kurt replies. “This mansion has magic properties all over it. This place wasn’t built to be lived in or visited by a lot of people. Having this many tables must serve some sort of purpose.”

“Forget that,” Emily says, dismissive of taking time to figure that out. “We just need to know where to go next.”

Before they can continue, they hear an unknown voice with a high-class tone. “You won’t need to go anywhere. You can stay in this room and enjoy a meal.”

The three heroes are alerted, turning their attention to the staircase to see a man coming down the stairs. He wears a black tuxedo with a white undershirt. His black hair is neatly smoothed back, and his bushy mustache curls at the ends.

Daykona’s Butler – Walno

“I assume you are just one of Daykona’s cronies?” Kurt asks in a serious tone.

Walno responds while smiling politely. “Serve Daykona? Yes. A crony? No. I am the butler of this excellent mansion. My name is Walno.”

Kurt glares, not trusting Walno’s polite act. “I hope you don’t mind letting us move on because we have friends to find.”

Still smiling politely, Walno thrusts his right arm forward, and a magic wave comes out and hits Kurt, knocking him into a chair in a sitting position. Walno makes a motion with his hands, and then another chair turns into liquid and wraps around Kurt, strapping him into the chair he is sitting in.

Shocked, Kurt asks, “What magic is this?!”

“It’s Item Manipulation Magic,” Walno replies, still keeping up his polite smile. “If it’s not a living thing, then I can manipulate it. And yes, I do mind if you move forward. Why don’t you stay awhile and enjoy yourselves?”

He thrusts both of his hands forward, trying to hit Emily and Joe with the same magic wave, but they dodge it.

“If you want a fight, we will give you one!” Joe yells.

Walno’s polite smile finally turns into a disapproving frown. “You won’t survive, but if you want it, then so be it.”

Walno starts using his magic all around the room. All of the chairs in the room, except the one that Kurt is strapped to, start to become humanoid as two of the legs bend to become arms.

“Can you handle these chairs?” Walno asks sternly. “With my magic, they also have power.”

The chairs begin charging at Emily and Joe, though lacking any kind of strategy.

Emily throws her Dual Spinning Blades, and they slice through many of the chairs. She then uses her B3 Tide Shotgun to shoot other chairs, blasting them to bits.

Joe throws lightning bolts at some chairs, electrically breaking them apart. He charges his fists with magic winds and destroys some other chairs with punches, helped by the force of the winds within his hands.

Walno politely smiles once again. “Impressive.”

Eventually, a few chairs do make it through without being hit and pound both Emily and Joe.

Emily takes out a sword that is sharp but bends at the top. “How about my new sword!? The Slasher! It may not be the best sword for stabbing, but it produces some of the best cuts when slashing!”

She charges the sword with a lot of magic energy and slashes a chair, slicing clean through to the point it cuts in half. An energy wave releases from the slash and destroys more chairs.

The remaining chairs back off, fully ceasing their attack. The heroes look at Walno, who stares down at them, fully impressed by their capabilities.

“Well done,” Walno says. “Combined, you might just have a shot at defeating me. Maybe anyway. Are you ready?”

Emily and Joe smile confidently.

“You bet!” Emily shouts.

“It’s go time!” Joe declares.

Walno has tested Emily and Joe to see their abilities, and now it’s time for them to fight him!

Chapter 71 END

To be Continued in Chapter 72: Emily and Joe vs Walno