The Main Heroine Likes the Extra

27 – Duke Ignis’s Mansion

This is a story from the future, when monsters from other regions gather in the northern part of the country.

A small unit led by Princess Aine reached the suburbs of the dukedom ruled by Duke Ignis.

Eve Ignis, one of the princess’s henchmen and one of the main characters in her unit, was looking at her homeland with a mixed expression of various emotions.

‘I thought he’d never come back…’

That day, the day she thought she had hurt her younger sister, Riel.

Eve, whose heart was broken, fled from her hometown.

After that, while focusing on her studies and work, Eve joined the magicians, and in less than ten years, she was able to hold the position of the right-hand man of Princess Aine.

Achieving success can be said to be a very honorable and great achievement.

However, in a corner of her heart, the guilt of abandoning her family and hometown and running away was weighing heavily on her heart.

She did, and after her recent reunion with her sister, she knew that she was not hated.

Her broken heart started to burn again.

While helping her sister, she realized that her situation was more serious than she thought, so she came back to fix everything she had ruined in her childhood.

In my hometown, in the Duchy of Ignis.

“Not much has changed around here.”

Brimton, the center of the Duchy of Ignis.

This was the first impression Eve felt after stepping on this city in 10 years, where Eve and Riel were born and raised.

As an advance party, leading a small group of knights and wizards, Eve entered Brimton, and caught sight of the territories busily going back and forth on the road.

Really, people who are still busy and live hard without much change.

When she was little, she would take Riel out a few times to run around.

… Though she said she was already caught sneaking out and the escorts were already following her.

“Are you… Lady Eve?”

The voice she heard at that time, Eve was slightly startled and wary, but looked straight at the owner of the voice.

“…Who are you?”

“Hey, that’s right! Long time no see!”

The man wearing her hat took off her hat and bowed her respectfully towards her.

“I don’t know if you remember, I’m Orson running a store in Brimton!”

“Shanghai…Olsen…?”

“I’ve been looking for you while doing business with the duchy a few times!”

“Ah, that merchant then!”

It was in my memory.

He was definitely a merchant who used the duke’s family for necessary items.

It’s been quite a while, but the distinctive goatee and blue eyes remained in my memory.

“You remember, hey, this is… You grew up so beautiful!”

“hahahaha… Even if you flatter me, I don’t think I’ll give you much…?”

“Heh heh, I mean it, not flattery! Is it the first time in 10 years…?”

“Yes. It’s the end of the holiday season, and it’s like coming back to my hometown after a long time.”

Eve made the excuse that she had just returned home properly.

Inwardly, I was thinking that it just went well.

Isn’t it a perfect way to get information about the duke’s family?

“By the way, it’s been a while since I came back to my hometown… Has anything happened lately?”

She didn’t have to float on purpose.

Anyway, the Duke of Ignis is his family, and he himself is a member of the duchy.

It’s not strange to ask directly than to ask around.

“Hmm… If it’s the strangest thing in Brimton lately…”

That’s how Olsen’s story began.

It was definitely a strange thing to just let go.

“You can’t see the soldiers at all…?”

“Yes. I thought there were few soldiers that I saw these days, but recently, I hardly see them.”

A large number of privates of the duchy reside in Brimton.

There are enlisted soldiers stationed in various parts of the dukedom, but since Brimton is the city where the duke’s residence is located, there are more enlisted soldiers.

By the way, I don’t see any duke’s soldiers in Brimton? It was definitely strange.

Eve winked at the knight waiting behind her.

Recognizing Eve’s signal, the knight nodded and left.

Eve chatted with Orson for a while and asked if there was any other information.

He was able to obtain many other information, but the most important information was the story of the soldier he just heard.

And it was the fact that business with the duke had been cut off in recent months.

He wondered if he had started trading with other merchants, but as far as he knew, he had never done business with any merchants.

Something got weird.

After parting ways with Orson, the knight who had just left returned to Eve who had been waiting for a while.

“Yes. How was it?”

“Yes! Certainly, as the merchant said, there were no soldiers anywhere in the city!”

“…The soldiers were staying in the barracks near the duke’s residence. I guess we have to go and see.”

Eve decided to lead her men to the Duke’s residence.

The mansion of Duke Ignis located on the outskirts of Brimton.

She was Eve, returning home after a long absence, but her expression bordered on her astonishment.

Certainly, it’s a mansion I haven’t seen in a really long time.

But even so, can it change to this extent?

The Duke left the place with his wife and son, Eve left, and Riel left, leaving the mansion without an owner.

However, even if the owner was away, the servants had to wait for the owner while maintaining the mansion so that it would be okay even if the owner returned at any time.

But now, Eve stood in front of the door and looked at the mansion in a different state.

“…How did this happen?”

The beautiful garden was messy as if it hadn’t been maintained at all, and the windows were dirty with a lot of dust.

The stone walls, piled high and tall, were still intact, but in places they had collapsed.

The trail itself seemed to have collapsed naturally, but it hadn’t been repaired at all.

Eve was at a loss for words at the state of the mansion, as if she had been neglected for a month.

Besides…

‘…Why are there no soldiers to guard the mansion?’

Guards who were originally supposed to stand in front of the mansion’s main gate and protect it.

In the absence of even such guards, Eve remembered that she had no soldiers in the village, so she turned her eyes to the barracks located near the mansion.

Even there, there are no soldiers on standby.

Mansions and barracks where you can’t feel the presence of people at all.

Eve felt eerie and immediately gave the order.

“From now on, divide the unit into two. Search the mansion and barracks thoroughly.”

“Yes!!”

Until I entered the mansion, there was no restraint or hindrance.

The inside of my hometown house, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, was a mess because it hadn’t been cleaned at all.

Eve instructed the knights who followed her to investigate the inside of the mansion, and he headed toward the room where he lived.

“…Huh, this is true.”

He came up to the second floor where he had his own room, but Eve lost his words in the thick dust as if he had hardly been around.

There are dozens of servants living in the mansion.

But the mansion is neglected to such an extent that it doesn’t feel like people are at all, doesn’t it mean they resigned?

Then did you do a rough job because there was no owner?

That doesn’t even make sense. They were people who used to watch their master like sh*t, but they did one thing faithfully.

At that time, a knight ran to Eve.

“What’s going on?”

“Found people!”

“…Where were you hiding?”

“It was…Rather than hiding…”

Looking at the knight’s troubled face, Eve sensed that something was unusual.

“Guide me.”

I followed the article to the room where the servants live.

Looking inside the room, Eve was speechless.

The servants were still in the mansion.

No, I just literally stayed there.

“…”

“……”

Employees sitting on the floor in a daze, without saying anything.

Whether it’s a chair, sofa, floor, or bed.

He was sitting or lying on his back in all sorts of places, staring into space with unfocused eyes.

“…What the hell happened to this?”

Eve’s head was complicated by the sight in front of her eyes.

Looking around, I found a familiar face.

She was Lena, one of the maids who had worked in this mansion since she was a child, and one of the traitors.

“Lena, wake up! Lena!”

“……”

“Calm down! Lena!”

“Ugh…Uh…”

Even when I call out to her with a slap on her face, Lena just moans with a blank face.

Eve felt like her brain was about to explode.

“What the heck…”

“Eve-sama, according to the knights who went to the barracks, the barracks are the same as the mansion.”

“Then…You mean that even over 200 soldiers are all in this condition?”

“…Yes.”

Alternatively…

What happened?

Eve tried desperately to roll her head, but she had no idea what the situation was like when hundreds of people were doing this at once.

At that time, a report came up that seemed to be able to break the situation.

“Eve! I found someone with whom I can communicate in the mansion!”

“Really?! Bring me here right away!”

In a situation close to a coma where everyone can’t communicate a word, there is a person who is fine.

Does he know something? Thinking so, Eve sat in the living room and waited.

And then, the knight brought in a young maid.

“Uh…That…You guys, what…What the hell…”

A young maid trembling while being dragged by a knight.

Seeing the girl, who was probably a little younger than Riel, Eve’s expression softened slightly.

“Calm down, I don’t mean to harm you.”

“Who… Who are you…?”

A girl who still looks at her with her wary eyes at the sound of her voice in Eve.

“My name is Eve. I’m Eve Ignis.”

“…Yes? Then… Big lady…?”

“That’s right. You seem to be the first person I’ve seen…”

A girl maid who wakes up and wakes up.

Her guard seemed to be relaxed, but instead of her, her tension filled her.

“I-I’m… Luca Altran!!”

“Altran… So you’re from Count Altran…?”

“Fourth! Third daughter! I started working at this mansion earlier this year!”

Luca answered in a loud voice.

At the beginning of this year, it seems like a new maid who has been here for a few months.

Eve looked at her Luca with a smile.

“Okay, Luca. Then I’d like to ask you some questions.”

“Yes! My…If I can answer…!”

“What the hell happened to this mansion?”

Luca puts on a dark expression for a moment at Eve’s question.

She started talking about what she had been through.