Prisoners of Time

Exchanging a look with Officer Natalie, the two followed the old butler inside the mansion without a word.

Since they could operate openly in Rhine City, worshippers of this evil god ought to be reasonably approachable. Might as well take the plunge.

The loyal old butler had suffered only a slight graze, which was already bandaged. He respectfully led the way, his words full of gratitude for their intervention.

“This estate was left behind by the old master. After his passing, the young master and young lady took over its management.”

As the old butler walked, he introduced the residence. The estate was roughly on par with those of ordinary wealthy folk in Rhine City; even the garden could hardly be called large. It was completely out of the league of places like Riverside Manor or the Valente estate, and couldn't even compare to the Randall family mansion from when Lynch had first transmigrated.

However, it was meticulously maintained. The mansion looked lovely, and the garden bloomed with vibrant flowers, giving off a warm, homey feeling.

Yet Lynch noticed something peculiar: almost all the edges of objects in this mansion were curved. Where two objects met, the junctions were also rounded. In other words, throughout their entire walk inside, Lynch had hardly seen a single sharp corner or angle.

“Both the young master and the young lady are in frail health and must rest indoors year-round. The young lady is slightly better off and occasionally steps out to manage household affairs. Please make yourselves comfortable in the drawing room; she will join you shortly.”

With that, he ushered the two into the drawing room and excused himself to prepare tea and refreshments.

The interior matched the outside: every furnishing was custom-made in bizarre, distorted shapes, replacing sharp corners with gentle curves.

This seemed well beyond the realm of ordinary personal eccentricities. Still, seeing that both the old butler and the servants behaved normally, Lynch and Officer Natalie took their seats.

“Worshippers of the Lord of a Billion Radiance are relatively friendly. It should... be fine, right?”

Lynch toyed with the custom-made items on the table, sensing that this mansion was steeped in secrets.

“You had better not think that way, Lynch,” the police officer said solemnly, kicking him in the shin. “You haven’t been in this world long enough, and your understanding isn’t deep enough. You cannot judge cultists by common sense. Even if humans who worship evil gods look perfectly normal on the outside, they might still be utterly raving lunatics. That is precisely why cultists are so dangerous. It doesn't matter who they worship—never make assumptions based on common sense just because you met a few normal-looking cultists. Everyone who does has paid a terrible price.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“She’s right. Cultists are more or less abnormal, including myself. Routine contact with the Great Old Ones makes us unconsciously absorb forbidden knowledge that does not belong to humanity. That severely damages our sanity and drives us mad; the only difference is the degree of madness. Mine happens to be on the milder side.”

A young voice drifted in from the doorway—soft, gentle, and utterly devoid of strength:

“Furthermore, you’ve misunderstood something. We aren't worshippers of the Lord of a Billion Radiance. We’re different from those librarians in the city. They worship the Lord of a Billion Radiance—the All-in-One, Yog-Sothoth itself—and pursue endless wisdom and the world's truths. But our family worships Tawil at'Umr, the Ancient One, a projection of the All-in-One. In short, while the two are fundamentally the same Great Old One, they are functionally distinct identities. Strictly speaking, our beliefs are different as well.”

“Like the relationship between the Swelling Daughter and the Lurking Chaos?” Lynch mused aloud.

“Mm... Strictly speaking, there is zero similarity, but you can understand it that way if you like. Really figuring it out would only push you closer to utter madness.”

“Yet you seem to have figured it out.”

“Which is why I’m mad. You just can’t tell.”

Lynch suddenly developed a slight fondness for this cultist. He carefully appraised the lady slowly walking in from outside the drawing room.

She was a pale woman.

White hair, pale skin, with a long black dress that made her pallor stand out even more.

She looked to be in her twenties, with a frail, sickly frame, holding a black rabbit doll in her arms.

Her features were quite pretty, but her almost translucent skin gave her an exceptionally eerie appearance.

“I am Skye—Skye Milt. On behalf of my brother, Speth Milt, I welcome you two outsiders.”

It came as quite a surprise. The two of them had envisioned the master of this besieged mansion in many ways, but they had never expected such a sickly young woman, fragile as a porcelain doll that might shatter at the slightest touch.

Lynch hesitated slightly. Originally, he had planned to learn more about the family from the town first, but now that they had unexpectedly met face-to-face, he hadn't yet decided how to broach the subject of the Miracle of Light.

Her stance remained unclear; he couldn't reveal his trump cards too early.

“You don’t need to fret over that, Lynch. I know why you came. Your information is correct—we do possess information regarding the Miracle of Light.”

Lynch's body tensed, and his gaze turned cold.

“Are you sure you haven’t said it?” Ms. Skye blinked playfully, offering a faint, frail smile. “Perhaps you truly didn’t say anything just now, but are you sure you haven’t said it at some point in the past, present, or future?”

That avatar with the long string of names probably wielded the authority of time. This kind of power was always the biggest headache.

“You don't need to worry. Howard's death occurred because he inadvertently revealed secrets from the depths of time. But you two have no such worries. You can discuss it however you like.”

“Because he learned certain foundational secrets that seemed inconsequential, combined with the information he spoke aloud, it risked exposing the true nature of time. Thus, he was hunted down by the hounds roaming through time. As long as you don’t know that underlying secret, discussing it freely won't matter.”

“How could he have known that secret? Is that something an ordinary person could know?”

“You know the answer.”

The answer flashed through Lynch’s mind instantly. The Shadow Alliance must have mixed that fatal secret with other information and fed it to Howard, leading him to unknowingly violate the taboo.

They must have used that as a weapon to kill him by Lynch’s hand. Their methods were truly... vicious and impossible to guard against.

“Fine, I indeed know,” Lynch said with a wry smile. “However, since you know so much, with your strength, those townsfolk outside shouldn’t have been an issue at all. Were we sticking our noses where they didn't belong?”

“Do you think I could massacre them? Unless I slaughter every last one, there’s nothing I can do to them.” The pale woman sighed and shook her head. “Don’t think too highly of us. We’re merely two poor prisoners trapped by time. If they had broken in and destroyed this house, my brother and I would have died very quickly. So don’t doubt it—you truly saved our lives, which is one of the reasons I’m willing to trust you. Without you, things would have been exceedingly dangerous this time. I never imagined that even without the influence of the Great Old Ones, humans could become so inexplicably mad.”

Lynch sighed internally, then asked cautiously, “Pardon my curiosity, but why did nothing go wrong for so many years, only for you to suddenly refuse to help this time? Is there a specific reason?”

“Heh. You want to help resolve our trouble in exchange for information on the Miracle of Light.”

“...” A wave of frustration clogged Lynch’s chest. Talking to this woman was suffocating; he couldn't even tell whether he had spoken words out loud or not. I couldn't possibly be so brainless as to leak everything across time, could I?

The woman’s smile vanished abruptly, her expression turning stern. “However, I apologize, but please allow me to decline. That deal cannot be made.”

Lynch frowned. Catching the hand of the police officer beside him to stop her from speaking, he asked in a low voice, “Why?”

“Because the trouble this time is directly related to the Miracle of Light itself. Once you resolve our trouble, you will naturally find out. There is no need to make a deal with me.”

“...”

“Fine,” Lynch said, twitching his mouth and keeping a straight face. “Then what about the answer to my question earlier?”

“The reason I refused them is that an invisible hand seems to be orchestrating everything behind this cattle murrain. My brother and I suspect their objective is to use the dying livestock to force out the Miracle of Light. That is why we had no choice but to refuse their pleas for help. But we truly never expected the townsfolk would go this far.”

Officer Natalie couldn't hold back her curiosity and pressed, “You didn’t see the outcome?”

The woman let out a faint sigh and shook her head. “Not everything can be casually peered at, Natalie.”

“Tell me what you can right now about the Miracle of Light and this incident,” Lynch said straightforwardly, without hiding anything. “We will do our best to resolve the trouble with the townsfolk for you.”

“Deal.” Skye paused, then murmured, “The Miracle of Light is actually a very bizarre mystery relic...”