What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, Part 1
1608 Words
It is deep in the night.
While practically everyone in the Kingdom of Lebenswasserheim is enjoying their well-earned sleep after a day of work...
...several places within the kingdom's sovereign borders are filled with an unexpected brand of horror.
Bykskishire, Pulozuela Prefecture.
The so-called “town of townhouses”, simply because it's nothing but rows of townhouses that are alternated by straight roads.
While everyone's fast asleep, a ghostly figure emerges from out of nowhere.
And with a wave of his hand, spikes that are as tall as doghouses emerge in the townhouses' front lawns.
Thankfully, those spikes never harm any living thing. Except for the poor blades of grass.
And the figure just vanishes.
Somewhere in Willowcreen Forest, Willowcreen Prefecture.
An elf is gathering some herbs as part of a last-minute task given to him by his father.
He's about to go back to the Elven Enclave of Bea-Davaeth when...
Another ghostly figure shows up in front of him.
“Hey! Who are you?”
The figure doesn't answer the elf's question.
Instead, he unleashes flying eyeballs the size of fortune-telling crystal balls from his hands, which startles the elf.
The elf tries to hurry home, trying his best not to let go of his gathered herbs, but is chased by the eyeballs.
“It's truly a blizzard of balls!” he remarks.
But abruptly, both the eyeballs and the ghostly figure vanish.
“What was that all about? Oh well, time to go home and call it a night.”
Needless to say, the elf walks away unharmed, if a little startled by this unusual phenomenon.
Escarosdon, Wadifil Prefecture.
This town is unusual for one thing.
Around 50% of its male residents have Remington as their given names.
This is in honor of a famed adventurer, Remington Yoso, who is a native of this town.
He was the first adventurer to complete a quest with the highest difficulty level of 10 ever since the modern questing system was implemented in this kingdom 25 years ago.
Due to how a significant part of the town's population is named, the town itself is nicknamed “Remingtontown”.
However, this distinction also comes with a curse, albeit a coincidental one.
In the form of yet another ghostly figure that spawns randomly in houses containing at least a male resident named Remington.
He tries his best to scare the guys, but ultimately fails.
But that's no concern to the figure himself.
One would think the figure is trying to scare all Remingtons to death, but no.
He just shows up without warning, and he then disappears also without warning.
But one thing can be assured: The peaceful sleep of the entire town is disturbed.
Linus Sebastian Basinger Building, Lebenswasserheim Royal Academy Military School.
In one room of the otherwise peaceful building, where a male and female cadet are sound asleep in their own beds...
There's another ghostly figure who just glances at the window, and then conjures a bunch of bullfrogs that land right on the cadets' faces.
Bullfrogs by nature are poisonous, but the ones that were conjured by the figure are not, for safety reasons.
Naturally, the guy and the girl are scared right out of their peaceful sleep, as they try to ward the frogs off.
“Oh no! There are a few bullfrogs invading us! We must toss them out the window, quick!”
The two, after a little game of cat and mouse, finally catch the frogs and toss them out of their room's two windows – and the ghostly figure doesn't care.
The figure and the frogs then just disappear as the cadets are back to their briefly-interrupted sleep.
These four seemingly isolated incidents and more that all happened within the span of 12 ante meridiem and 4 ante meridiem, on the 2nd of Watermonth, 1017 CE, are connected to one thing that everyone in the kingdom should find out, lest they would by burdened by another horrible night full of curse-like pranks.
***
5:15 ante meridiem.
I'm the first to wake up among us three, even though that waking up is caused by an unexpected vertigo.
Well, better take some anti-dizziness medicine and get some rest before it gets worse.
5:45 ante meridiem.
Thank goodness, the dizziness is gone.
Now for my morning rituals.
6:15 ante meridiem.
As we three are prepared for today's classes, we all chance upon Hershey in the hallway.
“Good morning, nya! As discussed last night, I've already made my decision.”
We three chant one thing in response: “Alright, sing away.”
She clears her throat, and then belts out the following in a surprisingly cutesy voice.
“Nature is free, my one and only 17~
“Free is nature, onward to my lovely 18~”
With her words, we can only guess one thing.
“It'll be nature-themed, right?”
“Right on the ball, nya!”
“Great! Now we look forward to the invitations and stuff!”
“Sure thing, nya! Well, catch you guys later!”
As we and the feralkin cadet part ways, we head towards the designated classroom for Political Belief Systems 101 class.
The professor presiding over this class is none other than Professor Kaitlyn Melanie Schum, whom we've first encountered as the one who stressed the importance of not having romantic relationships between family members, especially siblings.
She still maintains an air of calmness and sobriety as she begins to discuss the basics of the so-called political spectrum, and why understanding it is essential in preventing conflicts that could lead to full-scale wars, as well as to foster understanding among people with different beliefs.
While she's wrapping up her lesson, Cpl. Ben-Kulera makes his way to the classroom, and we cadets promptly stand up and salute him.
In his hands holds a letter and a freshly-printed newspaper. He starts...
“Cadets! Our superintendent dispatches some urgent news that definitely needs your attention. Apparently, two of our cadets were visited by a ghostly being last night, and he even sent frogs to startle their sleep. There are also reports of similar incidents that happened in our kingdom last night. Now then, please take your seats, and read the letter and newspaper I will provide to give you a better understanding.”
As we take our seats, we take our turns reading the letter and the newspaper. The letter reads...
To our proud cadets:
It has come to our attention that Cadets Dietrich Kessler and Xyline Ella Pamatong were visited by strange bullfrogs at around 1 ante meridiem in their room, Room 219, at Linus Sebastian Basinger Building. Luckily, they were unharmed. Furthermore, they sensed a ghost-like being floating outside their room, who is seemingly responsible for the frogs showing up.
This incident is likely related to other cases within the kingdom that happened within the toward-morning period of this day, which all involved similarly scary but harmless pranks wherein ghostly figures akin to the one the two cadets encountered are also the apparent instigators. Thus, we are coordinating with the Royal Armed Forces, the Royal Constabulary, and the Lebenswasserheim Adventurers Association in conducting a kingdom-wide investigation to get to the bottom of this string of incidents.
To our cadets, please stay vigilant in case another string of incidents happen tonight and other subsequent nights, and do everything you can to resolve all of this once and for all to the best of your abilities.
So ordered.
Signed,
Lt. Gen. Russel Alphonse Caralde
Superintendent
Lebenswasserheim Royal Academy Military School
Educational District, Lebenswasserheim Burghal
We then read the news regarding the incidents in one of the kingdom's major newspapers, The Kingdom Guidon.
“A Horrible Night to Have Curses”
Several residents in different places within the kingdom were besieged by curse-like pranks that are apparently done by unidentified ghost-like figures. The affected residents reported those incidents to have occurred between 12 ante meridiem and 4 ante meridiem, and they all recounted how those pranks more often than not disturbed their peaceful sleep, disrupted their honorable nighttime activities, or caused strange structures such as spikes to manifest in affected areas. While none of the affected residents bore injuries or perished, they were fearing for another string of curse-like incidents to occur tonight. The Royal Armed Forces, the Royal Constabulary, and the Lebenswasserheim Adventurers Association are currently conducting a joint investigation, and the Unusual Phenomena Observation Bureau of the Royal Department of Science and Technology has also pledged to join the investigation.
Curses, huh?
Definitely not a good way to start the second year, but they're a thing that's happening and should be stopped before more of them get unleashed upon unsuspecting people.
Also, I personally believe that there are reasons for everything – this spook-tastic string of incidents included – and those reasons should be searched painstakingly for the truth to be known to everyone.
“Sir, I have a question, sir.”
“Alright, Cadet Sir Floribunda, please stand up and ask.”
“Sir, were the two cadets debriefed on what actually happened to them, sir?”
“Glad you asked. Fortunately, they were willing to cooperate with the superintendent on what they knew and experienced last night, so you can pay a visit to the superintendent during lunch break and ask him for a report. Also, to prevent further emotional trauma, the two affected cadets will be temporarily excused from their classes for today; and they ask not to be visited anytime today, too.”
“Sir, thank you, sir.”
I then go back to my seat.
Well, time to get my investigative senses tingling.
- Writer
