“Ironstone Family Residence.” Kaizen read aloud to himself while putting his hands on the doorknobs of the double door and finally turning both at the same time, opening them.

As the two parts of the heavy double door were opened, the smell of dust impregnated Klaus Park’s nostrils, causing him to cover the lower part of his face with one hand. The odor escaping inside the residence was not fetid but unpleasant. This smell resembled a mixture of campfire ashes and a hint of lemon, making Kaizen wonder how long the place had been closed.

When his eyes stopped burning from the sudden odor, he looked inside the place. ‘Damn, it’s all dark…’

Most of the corners of that cave were poorly lit, but the darkness seemed to take over every inch of the interior of the Ironstone residence, an endless pitch that wouldn’t let Kaizen see anything there.

Kaizen knew that it would be a very foolish idea to enter a place without light, so he immediately looked around him, searching for something that might help him solve this problem. As Kaizen was in luck, he spotted something metallic in a small pile of unlit crystals further to the right of the entrance, and the top of this object had a shape very similar to that of a lantern.

Interested, Kaizen approached these crystals, crouched down, and then dropped them on top of the object, revealing that it was indeed a lantern.

The lantern had the geometric shape of an ordinary bell and was not golden but silver. There were bars, a small crank, and a chain to hold it. In addition, there were ornamental designs on the limited grids of the lantern, which gave an appearance of elegance and nobility to the object.𝑶𝓋𝗅𝒩xt.𝗇𝓔t

[You have found a Miner’s Lamp.]

Kaizen had never seen a lantern in person, but he knew how such an object usually worked, having seen dozens of old movies.

So, he turned the small crank on the left side of the lantern, hoping that there was still some oil or kerosene stored inside because if there wasn’t, the lantern’s flame would not ignite.

On the first attempt to turn the crank, he could not even move it. This was not because he was weak, but because the thing had not been turned for a long time, that is, it was locked and oxidized.

‘It is not possible. What’s wrong with this thing?’

Still hopeful, Kaizen gave the lantern a weak tap and tried to turn the knob once more. Apparently, the knock helped him fix what was wrong, and on the second attempt, the crank turned easily. However, instead of the crank turning to start the fire, it opened a compartment of the lantern.

*Clac*

A small door in the center of the object opened, and a bluish glow, as intense as the light from the crystals on the second floor, blurred Kaizen’s vision, dilating his pupils abruptly. He rubbed his irritated eyes and, after a few seconds, looked at the lantern again. The intense glow was coming from the open compartment, but usually, there should be a flame. In fact, there was a slight residue of the most vital glowing type of crystal.

Kaizen was confused for a few seconds, wondering how exactly this technology worked.

It didn’t take long for him to realize how much this lantern was to the local miners was, because as the crystals already naturally emitted a continuous luminescent light, using them was cheaper and more effective than using oil to produce fire.

Holding the dusty object by the chain with his right hand, Kaizen thought aloud:

,m “For some reason, the crystal’s glow is still strong, so it looks like I’m in luck. The lighting on that thing seems to be even a little better than it would be if I used fire.”

Since it was probably getting close to dinnertime in the real world, Kaizen didn’t want to waste too much time stalling on the quest. After all, eating in Rise Online only conveys the feeling of satiation to his brain, but it doesn’t actually satisfy, so it would be bad for Klaus to be sick from playing for too long without actually digesting any nutrients.

Therefore, Kaizen decided that he would move on to the Ironstone residence without stalling. Even though he was only at the door, thanks to the light of the lantern, he could now see a good part of the room.

The room was clearly extensive and had several long dining tables, all made of wood. It resembled the picnic part of a family park and a large dining room because of the long benches that replaced chairs.

‘Now, what kind of house has such big tables? I thought Therkara’s family was just her and her father, at least that’s what it looked like from the earlier talk.’ Klaus analyzed, looking around the room.

Just then, he took the first step to enter the room, but just as his right foot was about to touch the floor, he felt that the sole of his foot was touching something hard. Kaizen didn’t mind and finished his stride, steadying his right foot on the floor, and at that very moment he heard a breaking noise. Initially, Kaizen thought he had stepped on a weak floor plank and broken it, but when he looked down to confirm this suspicion, he was startled to see a long bone broken in half under his foot.

‘What the hell is… that?’

Quickly, Kaizen retreated back two steps and better illuminated the floor of the enclosure with the lamplight. At that moment, he saw that the broken bone was nothing more than a small fraction of a large human skeleton that was lying on the floor. He couldn’t help but be shocked. It didn’t matter if this was just a game or not, to find himself in this kind of situation so unexpectedly was macabre, to say the least.

Kaizen began to slowly make his way back with his back to the entrance, his eyes frowning at the skeleton.

“What the hell happened here?” he asked aloud, breaking into a cold sweat, with all the hair on his arms completely shivering.

Suddenly, a familiar voice answered his question.

“I couldn’t help them…” said Therkara Ironstone with a wailing tone.

Kaizen turned behind him outside the residence and saw the woman-king standing there, without the hood on her face, exposing her long, delicate brown hair. Before Kaizen could ask or utter anything, Therkara continued to speak.

“Now I remember everything perfectly. Returning to my family’s home is like… taking a bath with cold water during winter.” She said, looking at Klaus. “Listen well, Kaizen, what I am about to tell you happened only a hundred years ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday…”

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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