The Case of the Forgotten Door

I made it back to the Royal Capital of the Oriana Kingdom. Violet-san was tagging along with me, too.

Outside the city walls, the Royalist Faction Army had the place surrounded. Word on the street was that they were planning a full-scale invasion in a day or two.

“It sure is quiet...” I muttered to myself as I strolled down the empty streets.

The sun had already dipped below the horizon, so the lack of foot traffic made sense. But the fact that none of the buildings had their lights on? That was unnatural. I couldn't even hear the sound of people talking.

I can definitely sense people nearby, though...

As I walked along, wondering what was up, the wind carried the unmistakable stench of blood to my nose.

“Well, there’s a war on. A little blood in the air is par for the course,” I told myself.

But then I saw it: the snow piled along the street was stained with a massive amount of gore. Shredded clothing was strewn about, and I even spotted a severed human finger lying on the ground.

I panicked and fished Violet-san out of my pocket to check on her.

“Phew. I thought I’d dropped her.”

Violet-san gave a little puru-puru tremble.

“Well, there’s a war on. A few dropped fingers are to be expected.”

Pechin.

There were multiple sets of bloody footprints trailing down the street. At least ten people’s worth. Curious, I decided to follow the clearest set. They led straight out of the Commoner District and into the High-class Residential Area.

And that’s when I heard it.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

A scream pierced the distance.

I dashed toward the sound and found myself in front of a noble’s mansion—a three-story grand estate sitting on a massive lot. More bloody footprints circled the area. I kicked the fancy double doors of the entrance wide open and marched inside.

“Oh, man. This is just like a horror movie.”

The grand hall was a literal sea of blood. Mounds of human flesh were piled on top of each other, and the expensive murals and decorations were completely ruined by the spray. Unfortunately, everyone was already dead. It looked like there’d been one hell of a struggle.

I hopped over the puddles of gore and headed for the second floor, following the noise. Running down a blood-slicked corridor, I delivered a R*DER KICK to the door at the end of the hall.

“Kh... Get away from me!”

Two people were locked in a struggle inside. A man in a tailcoat was pinned on top of a woman, trying to sink his teeth into her. The woman, dressed in a gown, was desperately trying to dodge his biting attacks.

What the hell is this setup? Wouldn't it be faster to just strangle her?

Suppressing the urge to ask why he was so obsessed with biting, I decided to intervene like a proper mob character.

“S-S-Stay away from herrrrr!”

I launched a MOB KICK at him.

“Huh?”

He didn’t even flinch. It was a pathetic little kick, sure, but I thought I’d aimed it at a pretty good spot. The man on top of her turned to look at me with eyes that were completely bloodshot.

This time, I kicked him in the face with a little more juice.

Splat.

“Ah—”

He was way more fragile than I’d anticipated. His head basically exploded, scattering bits of meat and blood everywhere. The woman, now drenched in the guy’s remains, looked up at me.

“Thank you. You saved my life.”

She was surprisingly calm. She used a bedsheet to wipe the gore off her face and picked up a sword from the floor. I noticed the emblem of the Midgar Academy for Spellswords engraved on the hilt.

“Wait... I know you from somewhere.”

She lit a lamp, and light filled the room.

“You’re... Cid Kagenou, right?” she asked, peering at me.

“Uh, and you’re... Mob-ko-san?”

“No.”

I tried to play it off with a random name, but no dice.

“I’m Christina. We’re in the same class. Did you seriously forget?”

“Of course I remember! It was just a joke.”

Now that she mentioned it, her face did look familiar. I had a vague memory of her being part of the popular crowd in class, though obviously, I’d never spoken to her. She was quite the beauty—red hair, red eyes.

“You have a strange sense of humor, being able to joke in a situation like this. Still, I’m impressed you took him out in one hit.”

Christina looked down at the headless corpse in the tailcoat.

“It wasn't one hit. I kicked him twice, for the record. Besides, he felt kind of flimsy. Maybe he had osteoporosis or something.”

“Osteoporosis? What are you even talking about...? Well, whatever. It’s true that while these things have a lot of power, they’re surprisingly brittle. I would have been in trouble if I hadn't dropped my sword. I really owe you one, Cid.”

Christina gave me a small smile.

“I just happened to be passing by when I heard your scream,” I said.

“You heard a scream?” Christina’s expression darkened instantly.

“Yeah. Why?”

“This is bad. They’re attracted to noise.”

“Who are ‘they’?”

“I mean these things!”

Christina pointed at the headless man in the tailcoat, but I just tilted my head, acting confused.

“Do you really not know what’s happening?”

“I, uh, got sick during my vacation and I’ve been passed out in an inn this whole time.”

Yep, let’s go with that backstory.

“A vacation at a time like this...? Look, there’s no time.”

Christina threw a coat over her dress.

“Uh, what’s going on...?” I asked, doing my best to act like a bewildered mob character. To be fair, I actually had no idea what was going on.

“The ones who heard that scream are going to swarm this place. They aren't human, Cid. They’re... Abominations.”

“A-Abominations...?!”

Whoa, what is this? This setup is getting exciting!

Right then, I remembered something very important.

“Oh, now that you mention it, I think I left the front door broken wide open.”

“...What?”

Christina’s cheek twitched.

Suddenly, from the floor below, a roar echoed through the house—a sound that was definitely not human.