[FDJ]Chapter 154: The Abandoned House (Patreon)

The scene before Yuki Suzuki vanished swiftly. When he recovered from the invisible sense of crisis, he found himself and Befana standing hand in hand by the riverbank. The magical formation made of syrup beneath their feet simultaneously lost its effect.

"Luckily, the marks used for deception can also serve as emergency coordinates," Befana indicated for Yuki Suzuki to stay still. She used magic to detect the surroundings and only signaled for Yuki Suzuki to let go after confirming there were no unusual traces.

"Did we just encounter other Servants?"

Yuki Suzuki had also heard a sound from behind the wall. Before he could turn to observe, Befana had already taken him away from the scene. Without any hesitation, it seemed Befana was ready to flee at any moment.

"Yes, a formidable opponent who can control minds and flames without magic. Most likely an Assassin. Do you have any clues, Master?"

"Um... not at the moment."

Yuki Suzuki thought for a moment and answered truthfully. He couldn't make a guess based on such limited clues, but if he could narrow it down by region, he might be able to come up with a few options.

Befana threw candy into the river as if adding a marker.

"Let's not think about it for now. We need to continue searching for a suitable area to construct a magical workshop. It's getting late. If we did encounter an Assassin earlier, there's a chance they might come looking for us to ambush."

Befana, who appeared to be 14 years old with a sweet voice, always maintained a contrasting mature and cautious demeanor in her actions. Yuki Suzuki hadn’t noticed before, but during their teleportation to the riverbank, Befana used at least seven types of magecraft in succession, from concealing traces to wide-range detection, divination, marking, and reinforcing the concealment effects on both of them. She even used some magic unknown to him.

She noticed Yuki Suzuki’s confusion and explained that the magic she used was all low-cost basic spells. She gazed across the river, watching the citizens returning home on the other side. Those few citizens were also hurrying home, aware that the nights in the plague-ridden city of Florence were not safe for going out.

"I don't engage in fights where I lose the initiative and lack information, so don’t ask why I didn’t save that woman. To save anyone other than you, I must feel completely secure first."

Yuki Suzuki had just formed the thought when Befana preemptively explained, clearly monitoring his inner thoughts at all times. There was no need to build rapport; if magic could solve the problem, let magic handle it.

"I’m not familiar with choosing a site for constructing a magical workshop. However, would it be suitable to select a concealed building near the riverbank?"

Yuki Suzuki recalled some related content from his memory. Unfortunately, Chaldea only taught basic knowledge. While Yuki Suzuki knew methods to reinforce buildings, he couldn’t use magecraft himself.

With such limited knowledge, Yuki Suzuki didn’t try to show off in front of Caster Befana. The two walked along the riverbank for over a hundred meters. Feeling the efficiency was too low, Befana stopped and waved her wooden staff at the riverbank.

"I originally wanted to choose underground, but after a rough detection, I didn't find a suitable area. The riverside..."

Befana waved her staff, and five candies floated in the air, dissolving into patches of syrup, each forming a blurry landscape painting before her. She quickly scanned the shapes reflected in the syrup and pointed to the fourth scene from the left.

"Let’s go with this one for now."

After speaking, Befana once again grabbed Yuki Suzuki’s hand. The same scenery disappearing and recomposing, coupled with a dizzying sensation, almost made Yuki Suzuki fall. After regaining his balance, he found himself in a deserted courtyard. Through the gaps in the fence, Yuki Suzuki could see the riverbank outside. There were no signs of people outside the courtyard, only black "P" marks painted on every wall. Judging by the width of the riverbank, they were roughly at the downstream position.

"This place is empty," Befana surveyed the actual vacant house, her gaze immediately focusing on a corner of the courtyard, a spot untouched by light.

"The plague took away the unfortunate, and those who survived fled from here. The plague's influence hasn't entirely dissipated, but it hardly affects us."

Following Befana's gaze, Yuki Suzuki looked over. Although he didn't see anything unusual in the corner, he instinctively became alert.

"Oh, that's a wraith. The unclean remnants of multiple plague victims' grudges, which can be somewhat aggressive."

She waved her wooden staff, pointing at the corner. A sweet breeze blew through, and the strange feeling disappeared instantly.

"You chased the wraith away?"

"You could say that."

Befana showed no awareness of having driven away the "inhabitant." She gently tapped her wooden staff with one hand, and the house and its surrounding walls immediately took on an unreal sense of partitioning—another type of magecraft Yuki Suzuki had never seen before.

"Master, you should rest inside the house for a while. I need to systematically set up the magical workshop. If you get hungry, you can eat these. When night falls, we'll discuss our subsequent battle plans."

After saying this, Befana handed Yuki Suzuki a few candies, a bag of dried meat, and a water pouch, then she retreated outside the courtyard to attend to her tasks.

Taking his Servant's advice, Yuki Suzuki, feeling a bit guilty, pushed open the dust-covered door. It was evident that the original owner of the house chosen by Befana was a minor noble. The small house was divided into several rooms. If not for the pungent smell of rot, he might have entered to check out the situation.

Is it okay?

Yuki Suzuki was quite worried about how effective the disease resistance provided by Befana's skills would be in an unsterilized house.

As he pushed the door open, two rats knocked over a broken wooden chair and quickly scurried into the darkness, giving Yuki Suzuki another unpleasant surprise.

Yuki Suzuki could bet that there was a 60% chance those two rats carried the disease. Summoning his courage, he tied the food and water Befana had given him around his waist and took out a bronze mirror from his pouch—Jupiter's amulet. The bronze mirror showed no obvious reaction, only flashing a light briefly in the farthest right-hand room.

Holding the bronze mirror again, Yuki Suzuki looked towards the farthest right-hand room and once more felt the discomfort he had sensed upon arriving in the courtyard.

There's more?

Quickly, an unclean presence with a foul stench approached Yuki Suzuki from the right. Feeling the danger, Yuki Suzuki hadn't yet called for his Servant before being entangled by the wraith. The invisible entity seemed to greatly dislike the magical artifact Yuki Suzuki held, emitting a terrifying shriek that interrupted his evasive movements.

But in the next moment, the wraith's binding sensation vanished, as if the danger he had just encountered was an illusion. Yuki Suzuki carefully examined his surroundings and used the bronze mirror to reflect every corner. This time, there was no reaction.

Befana, who had been observing from the rooftop, was quite surprised. She had thought the wraith outside had been afraid of her. After driving it away, she controlled another inside the house, seizing the moment when Yuki Suzuki was using the magical artifact to force the wraith to attack him.

From this, she realized that her Master possessed a holy relic. The low-level wraith had been instantly purified upon contact with Yuki Suzuki. Though the rare artifact was useless against Servants, it was highly effective against unclean spirits. Befana even thought that without relying on her skill benefits, her Master wouldn't get sick.

As long as the plague in the city was just a plague.

Concluding her impolite test, Befana glanced at a magical workshop upstream along the river. That was her original ideal location, but it had reactions from two Servants and multiple magi. To be safe, she hadn't hurried to take her Master there.

She couldn't be sure if the master of that place would remain friendly towards her own master. If they had already allied with other masters and servants, rushing over there could be quite dangerous.

"Now I just need to pretend I'm working on setting up the magical workshop."

The small Befana stood on the rooftop, surveying the house back and forth. After a moment of thought, she had an idea.

Inside, Yuki Suzuki endured the stench of decay as he inspected the house, which had six rooms and a hidden basement. In the farthest right-hand room, Yuki Suzuki found a highly decomposed corpse, with rats and various insects feasting on it.

Just one glance made Yuki Suzuki step back several paces, leaning against the wooden wall and retching; he expected he wouldn't have any appetite for the next 12 hours.

The door to the farthest room suddenly closed, and Befana's voice came from the rooftop.

"Master, don't go into that room for now. I need to take care of something."

Thoroughly frightened, Yuki Suzuki quickly checked the other rooms and finally paused to rest at the entrance to the basement. He didn't dare go in there, although the stench of decay had lessened significantly after the farthest right-hand room was closed off.

There was nothing of value in the house, which showed clear signs of a hurried departure—like broken vases on the floor, paintings without frames, and wardrobes in other rooms left wide open, containing only items too cumbersome or worthless to take.

Yuki Suzuki put away the bronze mirror and took a water sample tester from his pouch, pouring a little water onto the dust at the basement entrance. He then touched the water with the tester. The device quickly provided feedback, confirming that the water sample came from the Italian region, dating to the mid-14th century, consistent with his findings before entering the city. The instrument also detected excessive microorganisms and traces of blood.

Seeing the results, Yuki Suzuki was even more reluctant to enter the basement. He had hoped to detect pathogens this way but found no such evidence, discovering instead that the floor had once been stained with blood.

"Master, are you conducting an investigation?"

Befana asked as she walked in from outside, holding her candy staff. She curiously observed Yuki Suzuki's water sample testing. Though she didn't understand the futuristic device, she could guess what her master was trying to do.

Most of the rats in the house were diseased, and the fleas and other parasites on them also carried pathogens. However, these pathogens would quickly die after leaving their hosts, making it impossible to detect them by testing dust and air.

"There are bloodstains here," Yuki Suzuki said, putting away the device and pointing at the narrow entrance to the basement.

"Relax, there's no corpses or wraiths down there. As for the bloodstains, isn't that quite normal? A sick person coughing up blood where you're standing could leave such marks."

Befana deliberately made it sound frightening, ignoring Yuki Suzuki's rising nausea. She took a step back and tapped the floor with her staff.

Everything in the house suddenly looked brand new. All traces of dust and grime vanished, and the furniture, doors, and windows restored themselves to their original state, no longer appearing dilapidated. Even the vase on the floor was once again filled with fresh flowers and placed back on a once-nonexistent, ornate little wooden cabinet.

"Doesn't it look much better now, Master?"

Befana could have easily used magic to clean the abandoned house from the start, but it seemed she purposely wanted Yuki Suzuki to leave with unpleasant memories.

This was Florence in the year 1348.