Chapter 4
A Mansion and Book
"Welcome to my paradise~." Elizabeth grinned flinging open the front door to her home.
"W-wow..." Cassable's eyes widened as she looked at the white and silver halls. The house seemed to have belonged to someone closer to a duchess than an adventurer.
"By the way, how is that body treating you?" The Elizabeth closed one of her eyes causing Cassable to examine her hands.
"W-well, losing a finger is kind of weird, but the cat ears are pretty cute." Cassable looked at her hand, she only had four fingers counting her thumb. It wasn't like it was cut off, rather the very structure of the bones in her hand had changed.
"You're the one that wanted to be a cat. You should have picked something more traditional if you wanted to keep all your digits!" Elizabeth pointed out leading the brown haired archer to the second floor of her manor. "Speaking of that I'm going to be having company over so try not to do anything stupid."
"S-sure." Cassable straightened her body. "So, how long until I can see Neutro?"
"That guy is staying with Lozen, if she followed the schedule then he should also be recovering." Elizabeth replied.
"Oh, so he's staying with a girl?"
"Hmm~? Is that a hint of jealousy I hear?" Elizabeth pressed her finger to her lips.
"O-of course not!"
"Listen, you need to get any idea of true love out of your head right now." Elizabeth eyes narrowed."We demons are creatures of desire, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he and Lozen are doing it right as we speak."
"..."
"Stop making that face!" Elizabeth snapped. "You decided to turn into a demon right? There is no use sugarcoating what your body is going to go through, just accept it and enjoy it." Elizabeth opened the door leading into another large room.
It was a large library with rows upon rows of books nearly stacked to the ceiling. Cassable held back another gasp as Elizabeth walked towards the center table undoing her hair.
"Normally I'd be in my bathing chambers, but it's rather rude for me to do that before someone comes over," Elizabeth grumbled undoing her hair.
"I didn't expect you to be such an avid reader." Cassable looked around the room causing Elizabeth to scoff.
"I'm not, I hate reading, I just bought these books to fill the shelves." The blonde then clung to the side of a nearby bookshelf crawling up the side like some sort of spider. "The only reason I'm here is because my visitor has a connection to a very specific book," Elizabeth took her nail pulling out a large tomb from the shelf. She then tossed it onto the table below.
"What is that?" Cassable looked down at giant book.
"It's a book about Goblin Slaying, written nearly 300 years ago," Elizabeth said, "well technically it's a reprint. The book was popularized due to demons hunting monsters, but most of the information is outdated." Elizabeth then jumped down from the top of the shelf.
"Oh? Are you selling it to your visitor?"
"No, it's more of a conversation piece. You see my visitor is the great-granddaughter of the people who wrote this novel," Elizabeth said before taking a seat.
"Really? Wow, you must know a lot of amazing people!" Cassable clapped her hands. "So who wrote the book anyway?"
"A man named Goblin Slayer and his wife Priestess."
"Um, wait...that was their actual names?!"
"Yes, they were from the world before the gods and demons vanished." Elizabeth pointed out, "believe it or not there are still some people who use that naming convention."
Cassable frowned picking up the book. "Do you mind if I read it?"
"Go ahead, there is some information about other monsters in there as well, but the guy who wrote had a real goblin obsession," Elizabeth sighed.
"Actually, he only provided the information his wife did most of the writing." Both Cassable and Elizabeth flinched as an unknown voice came from the entrance of the room. The two turned their attention to a silver-haired woman walking into the study.
Her eyes was a deep-red, the clock that was wrapped around her body hid the tattoos that littered her skin. "At least, that is what I heard from my adoptive mother."
"You know it's pretty rude to enters someone's house without knocking Necromancer," Elizabeth grumbled.
"My apologizes, I was simply acting as any proper demon would," Necromancer replied before her eyes slowly wandered down to Cassable. "Is she a friend of yours?"
"More like a girl I have to babysit while she gets used to being a demon...I really don't know why the hospitals don't handle this garbage," Elizabeth grumbled.
"Oh~ so you just became a demon?" Necromancer smiled while she twirled her staff. "How does it feel to be at the top of the evolutionary ladder?"
"I don't really feel that different..." Cassable frowned.
"Do not worry, the differences will make themselves apparent soon enough." Necromancer pulled out a chair taking a seat between Cassable and Elizabeth.
"Um so, did your great grand-parents really write this book?" Cassable lifted the book causing the Necromancer to chuckle.
"That is what everyone has told me, but you'd have to ask my mother for more details," Necromancer said, Elizabeth letting out an irritated grumble.
"Speaking of that cow, I suspect you got the information that I want?" Elizabeth asked.
"That depends, do you have the corpses that I require?"
"Yes, they are in my bathing room." Elizabeth sighed. "You should be happy, I had to drain the pool and clean everything out before you came by."
"I suppose that is the reason why I can actually bear the smell for once," Necromancer smirked.
"Really? I find the smell amazing, the mansion feels so...empty without it."
"Um, if you don't mind me interrupting. There is some info about ogre in this book, right?" Cassable pointed to the section of the book causing Elizabeth to give an almost longing sigh.
"Oh wow, it's been awhile since I heard about those monsters...Their flesh always had the sweetest taste to it," Elizabeth spoke about the creatures in the past tense causing Cassable to press her finger to her lips.
"What happened to them?" Cassable asked.
"They went extinct," The Necromancer answered. "Due to their race only being able to reproduce via rape, and their flesh being highly valuable, demons hunted them into non-existence."
"Oh wow, this book must really be old then..." Cassable continued to flip through it.
"In the future we need to be more careful about such a thing, it would be a problem for us demons if monsters stop existing," The Necromancer sighed pulling out her own small book. "The amount of flesh we demons need far outweighs the areas surrounding resources, we can't live off of animals alone."
"S-scary..." Cassable shivered, the idea of starving to death didn't sound particularly appealing. "T-that won't happen again will it? We will always have food here right?"
"Don't freak out, the capital has plenty of food and they are constantly producing more. Things are a lot different compared to when those ogres went extinct, so don't worry about it!" Elizabeth said.
Cassable face turned a bright red, it was at that moment she realized that would need a lot more information about the capital to be able to function in it properly. "D-do you mind if I look through this library later to read up on some information?"
"Go ahead, like I said, I just bought most of these books for when a cute boy or girl comes over and I want to impress them," Elizabeth yet out a yawn.
"By the way, you wouldn't happen to be an archer would you?" The Necromancer eyes wandered to the bow that was slung around Cassable's shoulder.
"Yes!" The excitement in Cassable's voice rose.
"Have you thought about changing your class?" The Necromancer asked.
"W-why?" Cassable gripped her bow like it was her child.
"A bow is completely useless to a demon, something like an assassin would fit a cat better...no?" The Necromancer smiled.
"Said the woman raised by an elf," Elizabeth scoffed.
The Necromancer simply twirled her staff once again. "It's because I was raised by an elf is how I realized that such weapons are but toys to a demon."
"I-I'll think about it..." Cassable swallowed harshly.
"If that is the case, why don't you leave us alone?" Elizabeth said. "Me and this pale woman has some important matters to discuss."
"Ah, but what am I supposed to do while you two are talking?" Cassable frowned.
"I don't care, look around the manor and familiarize yourself with it. You're going to be here for a few days, and I don't need you asking where the bathroom is every few seconds."
Cassable sighed taking the hint. "Do you mind if I at least keep this book?" Cassable picked up the monster tomb.
"Yes, yes, now hurry up and leave." Elizabeth snapped causing the cat-demon to slump her shoulders. She quickly grabbed the novel and left the room, entering the daunting lobby of the mansion once again.
"I suppose I should explore a bit..." Cassable groaned. "Ah, I wonder what Neutro is doing right now?"
Cassable descended the stairs, opting to start from the bottom and work her way up to the top of the building. Most of the rooms were simply empty guest rooms with nothing of note in them, there were two kitchens and three bathrooms...for whatever reason.
Despite her searching however Cassable wasn't able to find the supposed bathroom that Elizabeth mentioned. Most of the time such rooms were large to fit multiple people, yet the brown-haired archer wasn't able to find a single trace of the so-called room.
"I guess I can pick any guest room I want..." Cassable pressed her finger to her lips walked down another hall, from the corner of her eye she noticed a large steel door that seemed completely out of place compared to hand crafted halls and walls.
"Hmm?" Cassable pressed her hand against the door, the moment she got near the eerie entrance a horrid stench entered her noise. It took everything for Cassable not to gag and collapse. "What the heck is that smell?"
Cassable pressed her hand against the metal doorknob. "Locked..." Most normal people would have just left it there, but... "She did tell me that I can check any room I want."
A cat like smile appeared on Cassable's face before she looked around the surrounding area for a key. Elizabeth didn't strike Cassable as someone who would put a lot of thought in hiding her stuff.
"Maybe it's in a nearby room?"
"You know it's rude to try to break into a locked room without permission..."
"E-eek!" Cassable nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around to see the pale necromancer standing before her. "I-it's not what it looks li-"
"No need to explain yourself, curiosity naturally leads to advancement. I would be a hypocrite if I reprimanded you for wanting to know forbidden information, no matter how small it is..." The Necromancer brushed her hair to the side taking out a small key.
"E-Elizabeth gave you a key?" Cassable's eyes widened, living up to her cat like nature.
"Yes, she also told me to make sure you don't see anything in this room... at least not yet."
"What? Why not?" Cassable pouted.
"She said that you wouldn't be mentally prepared for it," The Necromancer then smiled. "Do you really want to know what's on the other side of this door?"
"Ah..." Cassable voice froze, she wanted to say yes, yet something was stopping her. From both the smell coming from the room and the Necromancer's expression something told her to simply refuse. "S-sure..." even so, she had to know what was in the room.
"Very well then...please don't make too much noise, Elizabeth would throw such a fit if she found out I showed this to you now." The Necromancer winked opening up the door up.
At that moment the horrid stench filled the entire hallway, a knot got stuck in Cassable's stomach. The room had no light, like a strange void that devoured all the senses.
"She at least could have left the light on for me." The Necromancer walked into the darkness, Cassable on the other hand decided to wait outside.
After a few seconds the light in the room flickered on. The first thing Cassable saw was walls completely stained red. The newbie adventurer inched her way into the room looking around, the walls weren't the only thing covered in dry blood, even the floor was covered in it.
Not only that, but there were small holes on the floor, almost like a drain.
"It always impresses me how creative Elizabeth can be, though it does make it tough for me to actually retrieve the bodies," the necromancer sighed staring up at the ceiling.
Cassable's finally looked up only for her to be greeted with a grisly sight. Monsters torn open impaled from what seemed to be spears and spikes. Their frozen expressions burned themselves into Cassable's mind.
Parts of their bodies were rotten, and yet, despite the horrid condition of the bodies not a single drop of blood fell from the roof.
"Ugh..." Cassable covered her mouth and closed her eyes.
"Please refrain from throwing up, this room is directly connected to Elizabeth's bathing room, I do not think she would appreciate having vomit in her tub."
"H-her bathing room? Why would it be..."
"Elizabeth likes to bathe in blood from time to time," The Necromancer said lifting her staff. In an instant the bodies that were stuck on the spears started to slide off landing with a thud.
"B-bath in blood?"
"Yes, if you get on her good side she might ask you to join her." The Necromancer examined each of the many monster bodies. "I know I've joined her from time to time..."
"A-are you really okay with that?" Cassable shivered.
"Please, you are starting to sound like my mother," the silver-haired woman slung three bodies over her shoulder. "Now that I have feed your curiosity, what will you do?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"What will you do with the information? You wanted to know for a reason no?"
"That's..." Cassable's eyes fell to the floor causing the Necromancer to laugh.
"Never mind, maybe I'm just being a bit nosy. Now if you excuse me, I have to get these bodies out of here. I suggest you leave before Elizabeth finds out I showed you this room."
Cassable didn't have to be told twice, she quickly left the room rubbing her shoulders. She couldn't stop shivering, between the stench and the scene itself she didn't know what to do.
"I-I should have known better." Cassable bit her bottom lip, a brief flash of the scene in the woods flashed in her head. They were demons, SHE was a demon, to expect them to follow the same morality as humans was pointless.
"W-what did I do to myself?" Cassable pressed her hand against her chest staggering into a nearby guest room. The only reason she even became an adventurer was because of Neutro, he was the reason she even decided to become a demon.
"I-I need to lie down for a bit," Cassable took a deep breath falling face first onto sheets. The cool sheets felt nice against her skin, despite that her body simply continued to heat up.
A slow realization dawned on the archer, that what may have been happening to her might not have been due to her current panic attack, but something else entirely.
Author note
This will probably be my last chapter for awhile. I decided to switch to Cassable for a bit, once again more talking and world building. The idea of Goblin Slayer writing a book was hilarious to me, so I decided just to make it that he just gave the information to the Priestess and she did the bulk of the writing.
Both the Necromancer, and Elizabeth have a connection to High Elf Archer, she is also still alive despite the time that has passed.
