Chapter 59: The Two at the Crossroads (12)
The two of them entered the outskirts of Hoyerhys. Laila fiddled with the badge on her chest as she stared blankly at the desolate landscape.
“I wonder if it would have been better to go to Vintosys.”
Eustar responded calmly to her words.
“Even if we had gone that way, you’d have felt the same, Laila.”
Still, she understood why she had said that. Even now, they could only see the roofs and windows at the village entrance, yet nothing about it felt pleasant.
“The houses are relatively intact. It looks like no one’s lived here for at least ten years.”
Laila agreed with his observation.
Once a place is abandoned, houses tend to decay rapidly.
Mold spreads across walls and floors, moss takes root, and dampness rots the beams. Roofs collapse, windows crack, and with no one to repair them, within a few years only traces of the former house remain.
This is not some eerie phenomenon, nor a trick of ghosts. It is simply the natural power of time.
Yet the houses of Hoyerhys, though empty, gave off an ominous vibe rather than falling into ruin. It was as if something invisible held them together.
Laila approached the nearest house and touched its exterior wall.
“It’s very cold.”
“Isn’t that just because it’s made of stone?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t think that’s all of it. You should touch it too.”
She grabbed Eustar’s wrist and pressed his hand against the wall. Surprised by the sudden gesture, he instinctively pulled back, then slowly spread his fingers with a meaningful expression.
The moment his palm fully met the rough stone, a sharp, whistling wind-like sensation pierced his mind. Startled, Eustar quickly pulled his hand away from the wall.
“You feel it too, don’t you?”
Laila asked, teasing. Eustar didn’t answer immediately, but his expression alone confirmed her observation.
He stepped back from the house in silence and gazed up at the still-intact roof.
Some patches of grass sprouted between the wooden beams, and empty nests left by birds were scattered here and there—but that was all. It was surprising that nothing had completely decayed yet.
“What could be the reason?”
Eustar muttered to himself, keeping his eyes on the roof.
Laila noticed a faint unease in him and was quietly surprised. He was usually unshaken by anything, yet this village unsettled him.
“There’s still something left here,” Laila said.
“A soul? Or perhaps some lingering grudge?”
“Maybe. It could be both. But it’s not just one thing—there are many, small and weak, like a swarm of ants.”
Her words left a strange, vivid impression. Eustar shook his head to rid himself of the fleeting unease.
“Alright. A swarm of ants. Saying it like that makes me feel a bit braver. At least I can step on them if I need to.”
However, contrary to expectations, no matter how thoroughly they searched Hoyerhys, nothing noticeable was found.
The two walked along the main road of the village, inspecting the houses.
Like the ones at the entrance, all the houses had stone walls, which gave off an odd, unsettling chill to the touch. Though the sun was still up, the interiors visible through the windows were all dim and pale.
“Look over there, Laila.”
Laila lifted her head toward the place Eustar pointed out. A mansion stood there, unlike the other houses, slightly elevated and surrounded by a proper-looking fence. The walls were covered with ivy.
“Looks like the house of the old lords. See the balcony at the top? Standing there, you could have looked over the entire village.”
Laila shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand.
The balcony Eustar mentioned was semi-circular at the front, with long windows on either side. As with the other houses they had passed, not a single window of the mansion was broken.
The mansion seemed solemn, giving off the air of a harsh temple. Looking up at its stone walls, seemingly indestructible, Laila pointed near the balcony.
“Look there. The vines.”
“Ivy? It covers the entire wall.”
“No, look closer at the balcony, Eustar.”
The spot she indicated was partially hidden by decorative pillars. As they stepped closer, Eustar could finally see what she meant.
“The vines are deliberately intertwined.”
“You could probably climb up using them. Someone must have done it intentionally… but why?”
“Well, maybe it was a secret meeting. Perhaps one of the mansion’s owners invited a lover in secret, hidden from their partner, and… indulged in a little mischief.”
Laila’s face flushed slightly, then stiffened as if in anger. Eustar found the sudden change amusing, though he thought it was not the time to comment.
They finished circling Hoyerhys but found nothing worthwhile—just empty houses and dry gardens that needed tending. Yet a bigger problem remained.
“It’s still not moving,” Eustar muttered, clutching the Seeker, a magical tool used to detect syncs. It had been silent the entire time. The needle twitched briefly then stopped, and the distance to the sync could not be measured.
“Could it be appearing and disappearing like before?” Laila asked, expressing doubt.
Eustar tilted his head ambiguously.
“Perhaps. But you read the reports, right? If such phenomena had occurred, the area would have been thoroughly investigated. It’s not common.”
“Then could it have disappeared naturally?”
“A sharp observation. It’s rare, but possible. Yet the timing seems too coincidental. The sync was clearly there until a few days ago; it vanishes the moment we arrive—naturally? Unlikely.”
Laila pondered, touching her nose and lips.
“Let’s go to Vintosys.”
Eustar nodded.
“Alright. Let’s hope we can find something there.”
Returning to the signpost, they saw an old man sitting beneath a fir tree.
He was hunched, and his ankles looked as thin as bones beneath rolled-up pants. His skin was dark with age spots, suggesting a lifetime of labor.
Seeing them emerge from Hoyerhys, the old man squinted his deeply lined eyes.
“Are you ghosts? Or humans?”
Eustar smiled lightly.
“Luckily, humans.”
“Then why are you coming out from there?”
“We have something to investigate. We are knights of Tentinella. There have been many reports of strange occurrences in this area, so we came to check it out.”
The old man suddenly let out a chilling laugh.
“Strange village, isn’t it? Everyone wanted to tear down those eerie places, but no one dared. Afraid of a curse, I suppose.”
Eustar and Laila exchanged glances.
The magical wind from the hillside whispered unwelcome premonitions in their ears. Branches shivered with rustling sounds. Birds folded their wings and hid in the shadows.
Eustar stepped closer to the old man. Though weak, needing to lean on his cane even while seated, the old man’s gaze was sharp and hostile.
“You know about the two villages, don’t you, sir?”
“And what would you do if I did?”
Eustar regarded the man carefully.
“Nothing, sir. We will do you no harm. But… if you know something about the two villages, could you tell us?”
The old man looked at them in turn with meaningful eyes, cautious and weathered, like a criminal avoiding the police.
“Vintosys and Hoyerhys were both the names of villages and of families. The last heads were Turfen Vintosys and Bemaier Hoyerhys.”
He slowly stroked his deeply wrinkled chin and remained silent for a while. Perhaps recalling old memories took time, or he was lost in thought—it was unclear.
“Then, were all the residents family or relatives?”
Laila asked. The old man chuckled, his mouth sagging, and tapped the ground with his cane.
“Yes. The two villages are ancient family settlements. Even long before Helros—the village you came from—Vintosys and Hoyerhys existed. The mansion of the head of the family was like the old lords’ castle. There were probably lords living there at some point, overseeing serfs.”
As Eustar tried to respond, the old man chuckled throatily.
“The crossroads begin right here, where you and I are standing. They said the day the villagers from both villages met was the day the gravedigger would buy drinks.”
“What does that mean?”
The old man gazed at them intently.
“The left and right cannot coexist. They always intended to go in opposite directions. Do you understand what I mean?”
Laila thought for a moment and replied,
“They didn’t get along, right?”
The day the gravedigger bought drinks meant he earned a lot. When the villagers met, someone always ended up dead…
The old man studied Laila carefully, then continued.
“The families couldn’t even tolerate accidental meetings, so they made a rule. A very peculiar rule… They took turns, every fifteen days, coming to Helros village for necessities. Back then, Helros wasn’t a separate village, just a kind of market district.”
“So?”
Laila urged him. The old man took a moment longer. A tiny ant crawled slowly beneath his worn leather shoe.
“Life was relatively peaceful as long as they followed the rule. But in Hoyerhys, someone broke it.”
For the first time, the old man’s previously calm voice trembled. Eustar reached out to steady his hand on the cane, but the old man stubbornly shrugged him off.
Eustar asked,
“Who, and why did they break the rule?”
The old man’s chest rose and fell with deep breaths, exhaling a smell of old ointment.
“Kaoli of Hoyerhys had a premature birth, and the child couldn’t breathe properly. They had to leave the village to fetch a doctor from the market district… but the young men of Vintosys at the crossroads stopped them.”
