Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 386 - 386 243

386: 243.

Sara’s Book of Death 386: 243.

Sara’s Book of Death The four Exorcists thought Baron Joseph would recount the incident of encountering an evil spirit next, but instead, it was the butler standing beside the Baron’s seat who spoke on his behalf, “You have all passed the Baron’s test, and your strength and mystery are what we need.

We hope you can assist the Baron.”

“What do we have to do?”

“What’s the trouble?”

The two Exorcists who had arrived later spoke in turn.

They were neither investigators nor night watchmen.

The butler swept his gaze over the faces of Lu Li and the others, answering the two men without a hint of inflection in his voice, “The Shadow of Puppetry, help Baron Joseph rid himself of its ritual.”

Aside from Lu Li and Petra, the two men’s brows furrowed in unison.

During the assessment, they had sensed a chill-inducing presence hanging over Baron Joseph’s head, but had not expected it to be a malevolent spirit.

“As far as I know, the only way to escape The Shadow of Puppetry’s ritual is to complete its story,” Petra said slowly.

“I second that,” another Exorcist in a tailcoat added.

The butler nodded, and they had naturally found this information as well, “So you’ll need to voluntarily join the ritual.”

This time, apart from Lu Li, the other three, including Petra, looked solemn.

Any malevolent spirit must be treated with the utmost caution, as they could toy with anyone who doesn’t understand the rules like ants.

In the silent drawing room, only the sound of breathing and the crackling of the fireplace remained.

Amidst this, the butler continued, “I know this is risky, so Baron Joseph agrees to give you a satisfactory reward in advance.

You can each come to me later to make your demands, and if you wish to withdraw, you may, but we hope you will keep this secret.”

The last of the Exorcists, a short man, looked around and noticed that nobody wanted to leave.

The butler nodded, “Then I will now relate what happened.”

The evil spirit appeared three days ago, the day before Baron Joseph sent out invitations to the Exorcists.

It suddenly appeared in Baron Joseph’s bedroom at dawn, pulling the Baron and the four maids serving her into the ritual.

When the abstruse and ancient voice began to echo in their minds and ears, one of the maids was terrified, screamed, and that triggered a ghostly claw of The Shadow of Puppetry to emerge from the void, reaching for the maid who shrieked out of fear, turning her into a wisp of black mist in an instant.

The grisly fate and terrifying scene of that maid scared the remaining three maids.

They screamed, trying to flee the room, and this behavior hastened their deaths.

Except for one maid who, frightened to the point of collapsing on the floor, and the composed Baron Joseph, the other two maids were touched by the desiccated claws that descended and turned into black mist, dissipating into the void.

Composed, that’s what the butler called it, but whether Baron Joseph was truly composed at that time, was unknown.

The obscure ancient voice in their minds did not stop, and began to tell a story.

The story included the Baron and the only surviving maid.

The butler then repeated the voice that Baron Joseph and the maid had heard.

[Sara’s Book of Death]

[Author: The Puppeteer]

[Chapter One: The Awaited Letter]

[Another day dawns, and young Miss Sara, like every morning, wakes up in the bright sunshine.

Maid Irene and Daria attend to her as she gets out of bed.]

At that moment, on Baron Joseph’s bed, a black silhouette of a sitting woman appeared.

Hearing her name pronounced by the arcane ancient voice, the remaining maid, Daria, finally could not contain her fear and screamed.

The dark withered claw descended once again, and when it dissipated, only the baron and the black silhouette of a woman remained in the bedroom.

The voice, ancient and obscure, also changed.

Maid Daria hurried out of the bedroom, “Maybe she has some urgent matter,” Sara thought to herself, looking towards Maid Irene.

The baron probably knew she was facing some kind of strangeness; she picked up the dress the maids had intended for her to wear and clumsily slipped it onto the black silhouette.

A bizarre scene unfolded: as the dress appeared on the black female figure, it too turned into a terrifying black.

The ancient and obscure voice continued, “Having put on Sara’s favorite dress, she left the bedroom with a spring in her step, heading for the kitchen.

Today was Friday; every week, that person would send a letter at this time—”

The voice disappeared, perhaps because the black female silhouette had moved away from the baron, or perhaps the unfolding events no longer involved “Maid Irene.”

The baron seized the moment to escape from the bedroom, encountering the head maid and butler who came running at the sound of screams.

After she recounted her ordeal to them, the butler found someone and learned of what had happened to the baron.

And it was then that the ancient and obscure voice resumed, “Maid Irene remembered that the ink in the study had run out and quickly ran to the storage room to fetch some ink to deliver.”

Already aware of her own predicament, the baron did as The Shadow of Puppetry had arranged, and upon reaching the study, she indeed saw “Sara” sitting at the desk, writing something.

The baron hurried over and unscrewed the cap of the ink bottle.

But having never done this task herself, she fumbled and accidentally spilled the ink, staining the papers on the desk black.

The dark withered claw began to descend, but the baron, in a moment of quick thinking, shouted to “Sara,” “I’m really sorry, it was my fault, please forgive my blunder.”

The dark withered claw halted, and the ancient, obscure voice slowly rose again.

Maid Irene was curious about the content of the letter, but as she looked around, she accidentally knocked over the ink bottle, staining the letter sent by that person and several lines of the reply that Sara had written.

“Please forgive my blunder,” Maid Irene nearly cried in her anxiety, but Sara, of course, wasn’t angry; after all, she and Irene had been good friends since childhood.

Sara gently touched Irene’s head and softly said it was alright.

“Sara’s” hand reached out to the baron.

Bearing with her revulsion, the baron let the black hand touch her hair.

The dark withered claw dissipated into the void above her head.

Maid Irene was very grateful for the young lady’s forgiveness; she quickly tidied up the desk so that Sara could continue writing the letter.

The baron did just that and, following the command in the ancient and obscure voice that said, “Irene quietly leaves the study,” she left the study.

The baron’s quick wit seemed to have created a glimmer of hope; perhaps she could survive until the end of the ritual.

Just in case, though, she agreed to the butler’s suggestion of hiring the exorcist to provide a solution.

Finally, at six o’clock in the evening, Irene completed the first chapter of The Shadow of Puppetry, and in the voice that was ancient and obscure saying, “Holding onto hope, Sara drifted into dreamland.

(End of Chapter One),” she temporarily broke free from the story, gaining her liberty.

Partial liberty.

Then came the second and third chapters of yesterday and today, with the baron persevering until the end of the third chapter, swiftly beginning her assessment.

“Why didn’t the baron hire the exorcist who informed you all of the true situation?” The diminutive exorcist asked after listening to the butler’s account.

“It only provides information services,” the butler answered.

This pronoun made Lu Li think of a merchant.