Chapter 35: The Ghost of Cabaret (9)
The Devil and the Ghost.
Tension hung between them like a cold breeze.
Breaking the silence was Ella's voice.
"Cough cough, what's this?"
Ella, barely catching her breath, looked at Wonderstein.
Her gaze held her incredulous emotions.
"Who are you to call someone trash?"
In response to her blunt remark, Wonderstein inwardly groaned.
Well, who am I to curse someone?
Considering what Wonderstein had done to her, he had no right to object even if he heard the word "trash" a hundred times.
Still, Wonderstein didn't show any signs of confusion. Thanks to the smiling man, he could respond in a nonchalant manner.
"So, that guy bothered Ella, and you're angry on his behalf?"
"Hehe, yes. Ella is my assistant, after all. Shouldn't I get angry as the leader?"
Ella's expression soured as she looked at him.
This cheerful devil, really.
Just when she was about to retort,
The Ghost made an unexpected move.
"Kraaaah!"
Swish.
He suddenly rushed forward, raising his arm towards the edge of Mantula's blade.
It was the arm with the dagger.
Due to the speed of his charge, the Ghost's arm cleanly severed.
Blood sprayed into the air, and the severed arm tumbled to the ground.
"Ugh! Crk! Crkk!"
Derek gripped the wounded area, emitting a mixture of groans and laughter.
He had broken free from the 'mass' that blocked material penetration.
He opened his eyes and grinned menacingly at Wonderstein and Ella.
"What now? I am free again"
Suddenly, a dagger flew towards him.
It was Ella who had thrown it.
However, Derek had already used his material-penetration ability.
The dagger passed harmlessly through the empty space.
Derek sneered at her.
"What's this, lady? Were you on his side from the beginning? Was everything you told me about your past a lie? Did that monster really massacre your hometown?"
Ella's expression twisted at his words.
"Shut up!"
Ghost pointed at her in response to her reaction.
"Haha, so it was true after all. But even so, you wandered around with circus folks and the like, right? You claim to seek mental freedom, huh? Your master became a monster, your friends died, and you pretend to not even know! Haha! What a remarkable excuse! Hahaha!"
Ella heard something snap in her head.
It was Ella's breaking point.
Wonderstein, the Iron Pillar Supporter.
The current enjoyable life.
The contradiction of two irreconcilable things.
She had thought she had compromised with barely two and a half years of time, but now he was digging up painful wounds again.
Ella gripped the dagger in reverse and stepped forward.
Wonderstein tried to stop her by placing his hand on her shoulder.
But she shrugged off his hand.
"Don't touch me! Stop pretending to be close. Damn it... damn it... Devil's advocate."
Ella stared at him coldly.
"Ella, he's..."
"Get lost. I'll handle him."
Standing on the pile of rocks, Ella faced off against Derek.
In front of her, a translucent ghost was looking at her and giggling. Although his face was not visible due to the mask, his lips were enough to charm people.
"Haha, what can you do, huh? Just because I've mastered a few tricks, you can't catch me! My power, truly a blessing from Kirku! Inspira, you see!"
At his words, Ella's expression turned cold.
"What?"
"Yeah, that's right. Even Kirku acknowledges me! Recognizes that my actions are part of art!"
The ghost floated into the air and, in an instant, materialized to grab a switch on the wall.
With a thud, something descended from the ceiling, sliding down on metal chains.
The heavy pulley came to a stop.
Before Ella's eyes were swaying figures.
"This, this is...?"
"My 'little birds,' they are."
At the end of the chains were birdcages hanging.
Cages of various sizes, some large, some small, just enough for a person to fit in.
Inside them were decayed skeletons, one in each cage.
Judging by their bones and size, they were all young girls, not yet in their teens.
"These are the children I've saved! Some of them even had the audacity to receive my grace and then reject my mercy. Birds that tried to escape, you see. I broke their wings and put them in cages. And on the day the first bird starved to death! Kirku whispered to me. He told me to fully unleash my talents!"
At his words, Ella bit her lip.
Kirku, the deity revered by all acrobats, the embodiment of wit, creativity, and the art itself.
The fact that such a wretch had received Kirku's favor was an affront in itself.
Just then, Wonderstein's chilling laughter interrupted Derek's words and interjected.
"Haha, a blessing, you say? A blessing? Hmhm, don't lie."
The ghost glared at him as he sneered.
"What, what? What do you know?"
What did he know?
He knew everything.
"Kirku has cursed you. A disappearing curse, to be precise. A punishment for anyone who insults the stage and the actors. You're supposed to fade away, gradually, into nothingness. But you've barely clung to this world thanks to 'one particular element.' Strictly speaking, your ability isn't material transference. Material transference is an intermediate stage of the curse. Your developed ability is to temporarily break free from the curse and solidify yourself. And for that, you needed 'sulphur,' right? That's why you hide in this stinking underground place. Feces, when they decompose, produce hydrogen sulphide, you see. You need to absorb sulphur to solidify yourself. Isn't it funny? Human consumption and absorption, and the waste they produce, becoming the material that can anchor your existence? Only sulphur can affect your illusion. The reason your face melted was because your second bird spread sulphur to escape from you, right?"
"How, how do you know all of this...?"
The ghost shivered as if he had contracted a disease.
Even without looking, it was clear that his face beneath the mask had become as pale as the mask itself.
Wonderstein looked at Ella and shouted.
"Ella, it's now!"
As soon as he spoke, Ella's hand moved swiftly.
What she threw was the stolen "sulfur powder" from Wonderstein's pocket.
As Wonderstein had prepared it as a means to capture the ghost, Ella had snatched it when she briefly held him.
With a popping sound, the cloth unravelled, and the powder inside scattered into the air.
The ghost, engulfed in it, screamed.
"Aaargh!"
With a hissing sound, flames erupted.
The ghost's body gradually regained colour and then plummeted downward.
Ella breathed a sigh of relief and watched the ghost writhing in agony on the floor.
"Excellent skill. You even fooled me with your acting. For a moment, I thought Ella might be genuinely angry and trying to escape. Until I discovered that my pocket was empty."
"I was genuinely angry. I told you not to pretend to be close because I meant it. Since you wouldn't listen to me, I just left you alone."
"Oh, you know me well."
The devil grinned mockingly as he looked at her, and Ella raised her hand as if she was too tired to react.
"But where did you suddenly get sulphur powder from? Did you buy it from the Alchemy Guild?" she asked.
"The Alchemy Guild doesn't sell ingredients without a clear source and qualifications," he replied.
"Did you steal it then?"
"No, I didn't. I went with someone who had the proper qualifications. One of those qualifications includes being a guild member."
"A guild member? Ah, the moustached man."
The muskets used by guild members were loaded with black powder. However, no guild member carried gunpowder in its final form. Gunpowder was difficult to store due to moisture and could be dangerous if mishandled, so they carried raw materials and mixed them to make gunpowder when needed. Gunpowder ingredients included saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur.
While Ella was at the theatre, Wonderstein had convinced Anais's bodyguard, Porsche, to visit the Alchemy Guild and buy sulphur. He knew Porsche well, understanding his personality and preferences, so he easily struck up a friendly conversation with him. But even with their close relationship, he couldn't avoid asking about the intended use of the sulfur.
"I am making fireworks"
"That sounds plausible."
Wonderstein and Ella approached the ghost. His clothes were riddled with holes, and the exposed skin underneath was discoloured from burns. He still writhed in pain, and it seemed like he couldn't shake off the sulphur clinging to his body.
"What should we do?" Ella asked.
"We should turn him over to the police," she said.
He hesitated for a moment at Ella's suggestion. The quest clearly instructed them to defeat the ghost. However, Ella didn't seem to desire that outcome.
What is she thinking? he wondered.
During their recent encounters, Wonderstein had made two mistakes. First, he failed to stop the ghost on top of the windmill, and second, he let the ghost sever his arm while paying attention to Ella. Both times, he deviated from the quest's strategy, from Wonderstein's character, and acted based on his own emotions.
Wonderstein wouldn't have cared if Ella had not being getting closer to him. He wouldn't have cared if she cursed him. But now, he needed to make a clear decision.
"Hehe, I'm sorry, Miss Ella," he said.
"What?"
Thunk.
Mantula's blade pierced through the ghost's shoulder.
"Argh, ugh!"
And then came successive strikes.
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.
Abdomen, chest, thigh, arm.
Followed by...
Thunk.
The head.
"K-k-kill m-me..."
With a sigh, the ghost's body fell backward.
He was undoubtedly dead.
[You have completed the sub-quest "Ghost of Cabaret." As a reward, you receive the "Phantom's Mask."]
An alert appeared, displaying a silver mask.
He decided to postpone retrieving the mask for now. There would be time later.
Wonderstein closed the window and tossed the ghost's lifeless body into the water.
With splashes and gurgling sounds, the body slowly drifted away in the current and disappeared into the darkness.
"Ah," Ella sighed as she watched the ghost's body vanish.
"Hehe, was it shocking?" Wonderstein asked.
"Well, it was... but compared to what you've done before, it's nothing. He wasn't even a target worth sympathizing with."
"Is that so? I'm relieved."
After giving him a momentary glare, Ella continued walking towards the boat.
"I just felt relieved."
"Hehe, why?"
"Because you're still someone I can hate."
Wonderstein raised an eyebrow.
Having arrived late, he hadn't heard the conversation between Ella and the ghost. He couldn't understand why she would feel relieved.
Why would she feel relieved?
He followed her, pondering silently.
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