Red Light, Green Light

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 6, Post Number 143

-Outside Sombras Manor, midnight-

Wearing her green, white, and gold outfit with bike shorts underneath the skirt, Argent Gloves on her hands, and Silver Longsword on her left hip, Leona walked down a path surrounded by woods. As she walked towards Sombras Manor she could not help but to feel that the imposing four-floor structure was staring her down as she approached it. Leona looked up towards one of the windows and could have sworn that she saw a spectral figure gazing at her through the window, but it vanished before her eyes could fully focus on it. Leona shrugged it off and looked at the front double doors to the manor. They were made of solid wood and seemed to be in rather good shape considering the age of the place, which looked to be much older than the Wizard Saint.

Leona walked until she was within five meters of the front door, then paused to catch her breath and stretch her legs. It had been a long walk from Silver Wolf Guild Hall to Sombras Manor and the Wizard Saint was winded. She did not think to hitch a ride on Winged Lion until she was already here... oh well. She had been called here by the Order of Lightbringers mage Amberlin, who had specifically requested Leona's help in investigating the manor. Having worked with Amberlin at least once before and wanting to do something to take her mind off of her last job, the Wizard Saint decided to answer the call.

Leona had gotten here as fast as she could. However, she did not see Amberlin anywhere in the immediate area... maybe the cleric had already gone inside to start her investigation. The Wizard Saint would go in soon, but first she really needed to take a break.

Once she had taken a five-minute break and stretched her legs, Leona looked at the doors. She took a deep breath to focus, then began to approach them. She had only taken four steps towards them when they creaked open of their own accord, causing her to pause in place. It was like someone had been expecting her. Leona was debating whether to go inside or not without her job partner when she was interrupted.

"LEONAAAAAA! LEONA, WAIT FOR ME!" A female voice called out to the Wizard Saint. The blonde remained in place and turned around to see Amberlin running towards her from about four meters away. Leona turned around and waved at the pink and white-clad cleric to show that she had heard her shouting and was acknowledging it.

"Oh hey Amberlin! I was just about to go inside when you showed up!" Leona greeted the pink-haired Order cleric once the latter reached her. Amberlin exhaled loudly and looked at Leona with blue eyes, then backed away a half-meter and began to breathe deeply.

"I'm glad... that I caught up. With you in... in time. Leona." Amberlin said between deep breaths. While Leona waited for her partner to recover from the exertion of running to get here she looked towards the open doors. The Wizard Saint thought that she heard a female child laughing from somewhere within the manor.

"Did... did you hear that?" Amberlin asked Leona, recovering from her exertion almost instantly. Leona looked towards the pink-haired mage and nodded.

"Yeah, I heard it. It sounded like a young girl laughing." Leona replied in the affirmative. Amberlin looked towards the Wizard Saint, then towards the open doors that were patiently waiting on the pair to enter Sombras Manor.

"Well, the manor won't investigate itself..." Amberlin said to Leona with a voice full of apprehension. Leona could tell that the cleric was not exactly thrilled to be going into a place infamous for paranormal activity, but she would do it because it was her duty as a member of the Order of Lightbringers.

"I'm here to help you, Amberlin. Let's do this." Leona said in an effort to bolster her colleague's confidence. Together the pair walked towards the open double doors and passed through them. Once they had walked through the doors creaked shut behind them.

-Inside Sombras Manor-

Leona and Amberlin looked at their surroundings and noticed that they had a choice of direction. They could either take the large hallway to their left or go down the one that led straight ahead. The pair also noticed that there were a lot of lacrima lanterns hanging from the walls around them. The lanterns were casting an eerie orange light on their surroundings, but that was not the creepiest thing about the place. Both mages felt like they were being watched by many pairs of invisible eyes.

Leona and Amberlin were busy trying to decide which hallway to go down first when they heard a young girl's laughter coming from what sounded like everywhere. The lanterns began to glow blood red, then emerald green. The Wizard Saint and the Order cleric observed the changes with great concern.

"I'm soooooo bored! It's been such a long time since I've had any guests... I know what we can do! We can play a game!" The young girl's voice told them. When they heard that Leona and Amberlin braced for the worst.

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"A game? What kind of game?" Leona blurted out a question as the lanterns continued to shift between blood red and emerald green. The voice giggled at her as if making fun of her for asking the question. Leona frowned. Leona did not have the best childhood while growing up, so she had very little knowledge of popular childhood games and how they worked.

"You funny old lady! It's an old game called Red Light, Green Light! An adult like you should know what that game is!" The voice answered while Leona bristled at being called an "old lady." She was not that old. She was only twenty years old, for Ishgar's sake!

Once Leona calmed down she remembered that she had never heard of that game before. She looked at Amberlin for an explanation. The pink-haired mage gave a pained smile to the blonde and then gave her a summary of how the game worked.

"Red Light, Green Light's a game where you move towards a person when the light's green, kinda like you do at traffic lights. When the light's green you move as fast as you can towards the person, but don't go too fast because they can call for a red light at any time. If you're caught moving on a red light you're out of the game." Amberlin explained how the game worked to Leona. The voice giggled again.

"The small girl's right! Only in this game you guys want to get to the third floor of the manor! When the light's green run for it as fast as you can, but don't get caught moving on a red light or you'll be sorry!" The voice told them. Leona did not like the sound of that. It sounded like the stakes for getting caught moving during a red light were much higher than just being unable to play a game any longer.

Amberlin turned to the Wizard Saint and made a suggestion.

"OK, let's try the hallway to our left first. I've been here before, but it's been almost two years ago since I was last here, so I might get us turned around. I think left is the way we need to go." Amberlin suggested to Leona. Lacking any better ideas of her own, the blonde agreed to the cleric's idea. The lights began to flicker faster and that put the two mages on edge.

"Watching you two talk is soooooo boring! The game's about to start, so you'd better get ready to run if you know what's good for you!" The young girl warned them. The lights flickered faster and faster until they stopped on green.

"GO NOW!" Amberlin shouted to Leona. Both mages sprinted forward as fast as they could go to cover ground before the light turned red and they had to stop. However, Leona was taller and had longer legs than Amberlin, so the former covered more ground than the latter. Both of them kept running until the light began to flicker red, than screeched to a halt with mere seconds to spare; Leona stopped at the corner while Amberlin was about six meters behind her

"Hey Amberlin, are you sure we're going the right way? I'm not seeing anything but more hallway up ahead!" Leona shouted a question to Amberlin, who was standing six meters away.

"I don't know, Leona. Like I said, it's been awhile since I was last here!" Amberlin shouted back. Leona blushed a little when she heard that. Open mouth, insert foot. She quickly recovered from the mishap and called back her plan to Amberlin.

"The next light I'm gonna walk so that you can catch up with me because I don't know where I'm going!" Leona called back. Amberlin nodded. Leona turned back around and once the lights flashed green she began to walk slowly around the corner while Amberlin scrambled to catch up with the taller blonde. The scene would be kind of funny if it were not for the unknown consequences of being caught in motion on a red light.

Amberlin caught up to Leona just before the lanterns turned red. The pair stopped where they were and took a deep breath, then looked at each other. They were doing well so far, but they should not get complacent. The Wizard Saint doubted that the second floor would be so easy to traverse.

"I might be wrong, but I think that this hall bends to the right and leads to a staircase that'll take us to the second floor. If I'm right we just took the long way around, but we'll get to the staircase as long as we pay attention to the color of the lanterns." Amberlin chimed in. Leona gave a thumbs-up.

"I don't know the way around, so your guess is as good as mine." Leona replied calmly. The Wizard Saint of Courage had learned long ago to swallow her pride and defer to others when she did not know something. Now she was deferring to the Order cleric who had been to this place once before. Even though Amberlin was unsure of which way to go, being able to borrow her knowledge of the manor was better than having no knowledge at all.

"OK then. Once the light turns green, follow me." Amberlin instructed Leona. The blonde nodded and waited for the lanterns to turn green before moving again. She did not want to find out the consequences of moving on a red light, so she would wait right where she was until it was safe for them to move.

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After moments of waiting the lanterns turned green and the mages went into motion to cover as much distance as they could before they had to stop again. Leona jogged to avoid outrunning her partner as Amberlin ran around the corner and disappeared for a moment. The Wizard Saint picked up the pace and caught up with Amberlin, who had stopped in place as the lanterns began to flicker.

"STOP!" Amberlin shouted a warning to the blonde. Leona obediently put on the brakes and screeched to a halt at Amberlin's left with only a second to spare and held her breath. Had she waited too long to stop jogging? Seconds passed and nothing happened to them. Leona exhaled in relief.

"Looks like I'm in the clear this time." Leona remarked to Amberlin. The pink-haired cleric looked to her left and gave Leona a small smile.

"Yeah. We've got a few seconds before we can move again, so let me point out the stairs." Amberlin said. She raised a gloved hand and pointed to the corner in front of them.

"Around that corner and down the hall on the left side is a stairway that leads to the second floor. Hopefully there aren't any lanterns on the way up to the second floor because it's kinda hard to make any meaningful progress up the stairs." Amberin informed Leona of where the stairs leading to the second floor would be. Leona nodded in understanding.

"OK. As soon as the lights turn green we're going for it." Leona said.

"Right!" Amberlin replied in a bold voice in an effort to boost her confidence. She knew that she was at a bit of a disadvantage because of her shorter legs, so she had to work harder to keep up with the Wizard Saint who was almost as fast as the wind. The cleric looked down the halls and noticed that the lights were flickering from red to green. She pointed them out to Leona and the blonde took notice and prepared to jog. Once the lanterns flickered green and stayed green the pair took off towards the stairs.

Again Leona jogged so that Amberlin could keep up with her and the pair was making good progress when they had to stop halfway to their goal. The pair screeched to a halt just in time to avoid the penalty for moving on a red light. They took an enforced break while keeping their eyes peeled for both the signal to move and for any unpleasant surprises that their ghostly hostess had sent their way like ghosts or zombies. So far the coast was clear, so they only had to focus on playing the "game" their hostess had set up.

Once the light turned green they jogged the rest of the way and reached the stairs without incident. Leona went up first followed by Amberlin, who carefully looked down at the stairs in order to avoid looking up the Wizard Saint's skirt even though the blonde had on bike shorts. Leona happened to look back and blushed when she noticed her partner looking down... next time she would let Amberlin go up the stairs first.

-On the second floor-

Leona and Amberlin reached the top of the stairs and took a look around. In front of them loomed a wide hallway lined with doors and dusty old furniture ending at a window that overlooked the woods. To their right was a wide hallway lined with oil paintings that looked liked they had been cleaned only yesterday. Leona found that odd but shrugged it off in favor of paying attention to the lanterns hanging around the area, which were currently on red.

"Which way do we go?" Leona asked Amberlin. The cleric silently pointed down the hallway to their right.

"OK. I'll follow your lead." Leona told Amberlin. The pair heard ghostly laughter again and braced themselves for an unpleasant surprise. They were probably about to get hit with a new stipulation to make the game more "interesting" to their invisible hostess. And by "interesting" that meant "dangerous" like a wave of zombies, ghosts, or some other beings hostile to the living. Oh well. No one ever said being a Wizard Saint was easy.

"This game's kinda boring, so I'm gonna add a surprise!" Their hostess told Leona and Amberlin. Leona grimaced. Amberlin looked at Leona with an expression of dread on her face. They waited to hear what that surprise was and soon got their answer. The lights at first glowed a ghostly blue, then they began to flicker faster than they had on the first floor, meaning that there was a lot less room for error.

"This should be a lot more fun to watch now!" The voice congratulated herself for the new addition and started giggling. Leona and Amberlin remained silent. This new twist was going to make things tough, but they would have to find a way through it.

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After their hostess changed the speed of the lanterns the pair remained silent and watched them flicker to determine exactly how fast the new speed was. They watched them flicker from green to red in about five seconds, which was half the time they had on the first floor. Leona did not have any problem with it because she was fast on her feet, but the shorter time limit would work against Amberlin because of her shorter legs.

"Well, that was unexpected, but I'm ready to move when you're ready." Leona said to Amberlin, who did not like the look of this. She looked up at Leona. She looked like she had an idea.

"I'm ready too, but before we move, I had an idea for this floor that I'd like to share with you. I go ahead on the first red light, green light sequence and you follow me on the second." Amberlin suggested to the Wizard Saint. Leona looked at the pink-haired cleric and then at the lights. That was a sensible idea... it would make sure that Leona would not leave her behind by accident, but then the blonde thought of a downside to that plan.

What if Leona caught up with her on the second red light, green light and accidentally ran into Amberlin just as the light changed red?

"That's a good idea, Amberlin. But what if I run into you and knock us down when the light's about to turn red?" Leona asked her smaller companion. Amberlin blinked and gave Leona's reservation some thought.

"I would say to just let you go first since you're a lot faster than I am, but I don't want us to get separated." Amberlin offered up another suggestion and then shot it down in the same sentence. Leona found that to be a reasonable concern and did not protest when the cleric nixed the idea. Amberlin then offered another suggestion to the Wizard Saint.

"I suggest that we go only two meters at a time so that you don't outpace me. I also think that as long as we keep moving forward we're good. It'll be slow going, but I don't want to risk getting caught on a red light for getting greedy." Amberlin suggested to Leona. The blonde nodded.

"Good idea. As soon as it goes green I'm going only two meters." Leona informed her. Amblerin gave a small smile and looked forward so that she could judge when the light would turn green. Leona followed suit.

The two mages would play it safe and only go two meters at a time instead of getting greedy and trying to steal three meters in a single dash and risk getting caught on red. In this manner they would slowly but surely advance down the hallway at a pace the pink-haired cleric could easily keep up with. Leona would do a two-meter sprint and Amberlin would follow behind. It seemed that they were going with the nixed plan to let Leona go first, but that was out of necessity rather than it being a good idea.

With that being decided, the next time it turned green the pair made a dash for it. Leona raced down the hall first while Amberlin did her best to follow the Wizard Saint. The pair made it to two meters and stopped with a second to spare. The light flashed red, but by then both mages were safely stopped.

While on an enforced break Leona looked around at the hallway they were running down and noticed that all of the decorations  in this hallway were paintings. The paintings on display had a definite "farm" theme: the painting just to her right was a painting of a man cutting down wheat with a scythe and the one to her left was another man sowing seeds in a field. That was all Leona had time to look at before she had to get moving again. Once the light turned green the blonde began to run another two meters with Amberlin following close behind.

Amberlin was so quiet that aside from the sound of footsteps coming from behind Leona barely knew that the cleric was there. When Leona stopped at the two-meter mark she felt obliged to ask if the pink-haired mage was still with her.

"Hey Amberlin, are you still with me?" Leona asked the cleric standing to her right while looking forward.

"Yeah, I'm OK!" Amberlin replied confidently while looking forward. This was a slow way to get down the hallway, but as far as the blonde knew they were not under a strict time limit to get to the third floor. All they had to do was advance down the hallway and not get caught moving on a red light.

As soon as the light turned green they did another two-meter dash and stopped in the nick of time in front of a painting of a log cabin sitting in the middle of a prairie with grass that was waving in the wind. Leona turned her head left to look at it and felt an odd sense of peace coming from the painting, but she did not have time for art appreciation. She had to get ready to move again shortly and needed to be focused so that she did not mess up the timing and find out what the penalty was for moving on a red light. She turned her head toward the hall and waited for the next green light to flicker on before she dared to move forward.

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-On the second floor, ten minutes later-

After a slow and steady progression down the hallway Leona and Amberlin were so close to the stairs that they could almost reach out and touch the doorframe, but now was not the time to get careless. They had made it this far by playing it safe and they were not going to throw that away and get greedy when their goal was within sight. Resisting the impulse to steal another few meters and make it to the stairs before the red light came on, Leona stayed where she was, which was about five meters from the stairs that led up. The light flashed green and it was time to go.

"IT'S GREEN! GO!" Amberlin shouted. Leona faced forward and rushed forward two meters, then paused in place and waited for Amberlin to catch up. The pink-haired mage did and the pair patiently waited through the red light. They were three meters from their goal and patience was more important now than it had been earlier. Once the light turned green they sprinted forward another two meters and paused, resisting the urge to complete the dash and jump on the stairs.

"We're so close! The stairs are right there!" Amberlin said to Leona, pointing to the stairs that were in front of them and only a meter away to the right. The pink-haired cleric looked towards the stairs and clearly wanted to throw caution to the wind and risk a dash to the stairs. Leona would be lying if she said that she did not feel the same urge, but she managed to resist it. Leona took a deep breath and faced the cleric.

"We're almost there, Amberlin. Just be patient a little longer." Leona advised her companion. It was a sad day when Leona was the one counseling patience to someone. The Wizard Saint had learned patience the hard way and she was determined not to let her impatience get her into trouble like it had several times in the past. Leona took another deep breath and faced forward.

"We're gonna have to decide who goes for the stairs first, Amberlin. Both of us won't be able to squeeze through the doorframe at the same time. But we don't need to split up because who knows what's waiting for us on the third floor." Leona raised a point to her companion. Amberlin sighed.

"You're right, Leona. We can't both fit through the doorframe at the same time, but we're gonna have to split up anyway in order for both of us to get through. I say that you go first. You're faster than I am and can fight if there's anything waiting for us on the third floor." Amberlin suggested. Leona looked towards the stairs and decided that Amberlin was right. She would go first and see if it was safe for Amberlin to join her. If it was, she would call down to the cleric. If not, she would fight whatever was waiting for them and clear the way for the cleric.

"OK. I'm going now. Wait for my signal!" Leona said. Amberlin nodded. The moment the light turned green Leona sprinted for the stairwell and made it with a second or two to spare. She hurriedly climbed the stairs and reached the third floor.

-On the third floor-

Leona stepped onto the third floor and carefully looked around for anything hostile like zombies or ghosts but did not see either of those. She also did not see the young ghost that was their hostess, but she was obviously a ghost, so Leona would not see her without special glasses, a special spell, or some other item. Furthermore, Leona did not see any lanterns here, which meant that there was no more Red Light, Green Light... she hoped. The Wizard Saint looked around a little more before she walked back to the stairs to give Amberlin the all-clear.

"IT'S CLEAR, AMBERLIN! RUN FOR THE STAIRS WHEN YOU'RE READY!" Leona shouted down the stairs with her hands cupped over her mouth.

"OK!" Amberlin called out. At the next green light Leona heard the rapid thumping of footsteps on the floor and saw Amberlin scramble up the stairs until she reached the top. Leona backed out of the way to give the pink-haired cleric room to stand up because it looked like the latter had overexerted herself during the hurried climb.

"I... I made it." Amberlin panted. Leona looked around the area and noticed that its layout was exactly like the second floor. It had a hallway that led straight ahead and had a window on the end and a hallway that led right. The Wizard Saint was not sure which way they should go, which was why she was waiting on Amberlin to recover before she made a move.

"When I was younger I hated Red Light, Green Light. I wasn't a very good runner, so I couldn't cover much ground before I had to stop. I was even worse at sudden stops because sometimes I'd stop too hard and fall on my face." Amberlin groused a bit about the game they had just played. Leona did not blame her at all. If that was a childhood game, Leona was glad that she had missed out on it. Even though she was faster than Amberlin, Leona was not very good with sudden stops either. She was just glad that she had not fallen onto the ground face-first during one of her many sudden stops during the run down the hallway.

"Well, we're on the third floor. Now where do we go from here?" Amberlin asked Leona. They heard the giggling again and looked at each other with expressions of dread. Whatever happened next was probably not going to be good.

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"Hahaha! That game was a lot more fun to watch!" The girl's voice declared and the sound of clapping filled the air for a few moments. Leona and Amberlin were glad that their invisible hostess was entertained by watching them play Red Light, Green Light. They were just waiting for the other shoe to drop so that they could stop worrying about the next challenge and work towards getting past it.

"But now I want to play something else and you two are gonna play my game!" The little girl declared. Leona and Amberlin did not like the sound of this, but there was little choice but to play along. Leona hoped that it was not another children's game.

"But first the funny lady needs to get rid of her weapons!" The ghost declared. Leona felt a tug at her left hip as her sword belt was unfastened and her Silver Longsword began floating in front of her. The Wizard Saint grabbed its scabbard and managed to hold on for a moment before a strong force yanked the scabbard away from her, causing her to fall backwards and land on her backside on the wooden floor. Leona heard invisible laughter.

"HEY!" Leona protested impotently as her sword floated out of reach and vanished down the same stairs that she had just climbed up. The Wizard Saint was not happy with her Silver Longsword being confiscated because it was the only weapon she had brought with her that could harm the supernatural. Amberlin looked at the fuming Leona and gave a pained smile. Leona had not thought to bring one of her two knives in her right boot, but it would have been confiscated too. At least she got to keep her Argent Gloves.

Leona stood up and dusted herself off. She had just completed that task when their hostess spoke to her and Amberlin again.

"You don't have to worry about the lanterns any more 'cause I have a different game in mind! I want you to find and get rid of all those stupid dead people hanging around here! They smell bad and they're no fun to be around!" The voice told them. Leona suspected that the "stupid dead people" were zombies. She was going to have to fight them without her Silver Longsword, but she had plenty of spells to compensate for her sword being confiscated. Amberlin had a lot of spells of her own, so between the two of them they should be able to find and defeat all the zombies they came across without too much trouble.

"Let's start the game on this floor!" Their hostess declared just before all the doors in the hallway in front of them were flung open and out shambled zombies dressed in adventurer attire with a few of them missing limbs. Leona frowned while Amberlin raised her hands in front of her and began to power up for a Holy spell. The Wizard Saint would let the cleric fire her spell and wipe out as many zombies as she could before the former moved in to mop up the survivors.

Amberlin began to chant as her hands glowed gold and the zombies approached with their arms outstretched. The cleric pointed her hands towards the hall of zombies and fired the spell, filling the hall with golden light and blasting the zombies to ash in a beam of Holy magic. Thanks to her Holy magic the diminutive cleric could punch far above her weight and quickly deal with crowds of the undead, something that Leona appreciated because her magic was not very good at crowd control or at quickly defeating the supernatural.

Once the golden light had cleared the mages saw that there were a few stragglers who had managed to avoid Amberlin's spell, so Leona moved in to deal with them so that they could move on. The Wizard Saint activated her Gale Force ability and pointed her right index finger towards the first zombie shambling towards her, a female zombie wearing a leather cuirass under a green tunic with a green skirt. She was missing an ear and part of the left side of her face from where it had been badly gnawed. Leona carefully aimed and fired a Wind Bullet that made its head explode.

She then turned her attention to a male zombie to her right wearing chainmail over a brown shirt and green traveling pants. It reached for her and Leona replied with a Mach Straight to the face that caved its face in, causing both Leona and Amberlin to wince. After dispatching that zombie the Wizard Saint found herself facing a gaggle of eleven zombies who had avoided Amberlin's spell, but Amberlin came to Leona's rescue.

"Leona, get out of the way!" Amberlin ordered. Leona quickly got out of the way and Amberlin fired another wide beam of Holy magic that destroyed the rest of the zombies.

"Thanks, Amberlin." Leona thanked the pink-haired cleric for her timely intervention. Leona could have handled the zombies, but it would have taken a lot longer and would have involved a lot more risk for the Wizard Saint since her sword had been confiscated. Leona waited and listened for any more zombies that might have escaped Amberlin's Holy magic, but when she did not hear any moaning or shuffling feet against the wooden floor the blonde believed that all the zombies on the third floor had been dealt with.

"No problem, Leona. Now we'd better get going to the second floor. I'm sure that there's plenty more zombies waiting for us down there." Amberlin said to the Wizard Saint. Leona nodded and faced the staircase that would take them back to the second floor. They could hear moaning coming from the bottom, meaning that the moment they went downstairs they would be fighting for their lives.

"I'll go first." Leona declared and led the way down the stairs. Amberlin followed close behind Leona with her hands raised to fire off another beam of Holy magic once she had some targets in sight.

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-On the second floor-

Leona went down the stairs first and when she reached the bottom was almost immediately set upon by a group of six zombies to her right. Leona quickly turned to face them and fired a Wind Blast that knocked them down, giving her enough time to face left and see a large group of twenty former adventurers shambling towards them with outstretched arms while groaning loudly. Knowing that she could not take care of them all in time before she was overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, the Wizard Saint called to Amberlin.

"Amberlin, there's a large group of zombies to my left! I need your help!" Leona called out to the cleric. Amberlin hurried down the stairs and faced left and down the hall. Amberlin began to charge for a spell while Leona dealt with the zombies to the right.

"I'll take care of them, Leona! You deal with the ones on the right!" Amberlin declared. Leona focused on one of the zombies who had gotten to its feet and waited for just the right moment before executing a Tornado Kick that caught it in the right temple and knocked its head off, sending it flying and bouncing off the left wall and then the right like a soccer ball until it finally stopped at another zombie's left. She heard a burst of giggling and shuddered. Their hostess was watching every step of their progress through the zombie-infested halls.

Leona faced another zombie that had gotten up and hit it under the chin with a Mach Uppercut, knocking its head off. The head soared up into the air and hit the ceiling before plopping down almost exactly at the feet of the zombie it had once been attached to. She turned to deal with a third zombie when out of the corners of her eyes she saw a golden flash fill the hallway behind her and knew that a good chunk of the zombie problem behind her had just been taken care of by her partner. Leona heard more moaning coming from down the hall, but she did not have time to worry about that because the four zombies in front of her needed to be eliminated first.

Leona moved forward and dealt with a male zombie that was wearing a leather cuirass and chainmail coif by using a Silver Blade spell to slice diagonally through its head covering. The metal rings could not stop the Gale Force-powered Silver Blade: they flew away from the impact area and the zombie's head split diagonally. It fell to the floor and Leona turned to the fourth zombie in the group, an unarmored female zombie in green hunter's clothing with a quiver of arrows on its back that was missing its right arm and its right ear and sporting numerous bite wounds on its left arm where the leather bracer could not protect the limb. Leona thrust her right hand outward and fired an Air Pressure spell at its head that was so strong that its head exploded when the column of compressed air hit it.

With the fourth zombie down the Wizard Saint focused on the last two zombies, both of them  wearing full plate mail on their bodies and chainmail coifs that exposed the missing parts of their faces. The clanking menaces approached Leona and the blonde carefully aimed and fired a Wind Bullet that destroyed the head of the zombie to the left. The armored zombie on the right then lurched towards Leona with speed that momentarily caught her off guard, but she recovered and struck back with a Mach Straight to the face that staggered it. The Wizard Saint finished it with a Fast Ball spell to the head that bashed its face in and killed it.

Leona turned around to see how Amberlin was doing just in time to be momentarily blinded by a golden flash. When the light faded and Leona's vision returned she saw that Amberlin had taken care of the zombies to the left. Leona also saw Amberlin standing with her hands held out in front of her ready to channel another spell in case more zombies were on the way.

"I cleared the right side of the hallway." Leona reported to the cleric.

"It's clear to the left... for now. I'm sure that there are more zombies waiting for us just around the corner." Amberlin reported to Leona. The Wizard Saint took a deep breath and looked over Amberlin's shoulder. She was not seeing anything down the hallway, but that did not mean that nothing was there. They were in a place infamous for paranormal activity, after all.

"Are you ready to move on, Amberlin?" Leona asked her companion. The diminutive cleric nodded.

"I'm ready when you are, Leona." Amberlin replied. The pair cast a wary glance to the lanterns on the walls and noticed that they were a plain soft yellow color instead of blood red and emerald green like they had been earlier. Both mages were glad for that, but they were concerned about the possibility that a new game of Red Light, Green Light could begin at any point their hostess wanted. They proceeded down the hall towards the stairs that led to the first floor and looked for any zombies lurking down the hall to their right before going down the stairs.

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[Total Word Count: 6,435/11,000]

-At the stairs, the second floor-

The pair had made it to the end of the hallway without encountering any more zombies and were about to go down the stairs when they heard a sound that they did not like. It sounded like more moaning coming from the hallway behind them, so they spun around and prepared for another fight. Sure enough all the doors flung open and the rooms disgorged their undead occupants to attack the mages and add them to the undead residents of Sombras Manor.

Amberlin raised her hands and channeled golden magic into them while Leona faced forward and got ready to help Amberlin any way she could when she heard moaning coming from the stairwell they had their backs to. Leona turned around and saw a quintet of zombies attempting to shamble up the stairs towards them!

"They're coming up the stairs behind us!" Leona reported, not quite believing what she was seeing. In her experience she had never seen zombies use stairs, but she learned something new every day. Amberlin frowned at that news.

"Deal with them while I deal with the ones in front of us! Don't let them get up here!" Amberlin ordered Leona. Leona nodded.

"Right. I'll deal with them!" Leona replied confidently. Taking a deep breath, she mustered the courage to go down the stairs, but then she realized that she might not have to walk right into their arms. She could cast a Wind Blast spell and knock them off the stairs, then go down them to take care of business. That was exactly what Leona did. The zombies attempting to climb the stairs were knocked down like dominoes and slid helplessly down the stairs, but they were not neutralized... moments after hitting the wooden floor they were already trying to get back to their feet.

"Let me know if you need help!" Leona said before going down the stairs and leaving Amberlin to deal with the zombies on the second floor.

-On the first floor-

Leona took a quick look around her and saw that the zombies lying on the floor were trying to get up, so she had to kill them now. The blonde pointed her right index finger at the head of one of the zombies, a shirtless male zombie with multiple bite wounds on his arms and shoulders. She fired a Wind Bullet that destroyed its head.

The second zombie she saw was a male zombie wearing full chainmail slowly rising to its knees. Leona quickly performed a Tornado Kick that caught it in its right temple and knocked its head off. The severed head rocketed left down the hallway and hit the doors to the exit before coming to a halt, eliciting another burst of giggles from the ghostly hostess. Leona faced the third zombie, a female zombie wearing a leather cuirass with leather pauldrons and iron gloves and missing a good chunk of the right side of her neck. She had gotten to her feet already, so Leona hit it with a Mach Uppercut under its chin and knocked its head off. The head was launched to the ceiling, where it hit the ceiling and landed right in front of the body it was once attached to.

"That was funny!" The ghostly girl commented before laughing again. Leona was glad that the ghostly girl was being entertained by Leona's fighting, but the blonde did not have time to complain. There were still two zombies to kill, but they were already on their feet.

Leona backed off to the left of them to give herself space to safely execute more of her spells without fear of getting grabbed and mauled by the two remaining zombies.

"ARE YOU OK DOWN THERE?" Amberlin shouted a question.

"I'M OK, BUT I'VE STILL GOT TWO ZOMBIES LEFT TO DEAL WITH!" Leona shouted her reply before taking a single step forward and using a Silver Blade spell to cut through the skull of one of the zombies. Its head fell apart and Leona turned to face the last zombie, who suddenly lunged at her with its arms extended and its hands grasping for her.

The Wizard Saint, having encountered a lunging zombie on the second floor, knew exactly what to do. She sidestepped the lunge attempt and circled around it as it recovered, then hit it with an Air Pressure spell that made its head explode. Now that Leona had dealt with the last of the zombies currently in sight on the first floor she went back over to the stairs to see Amberlin walking down them.

"I cleared the second floor." Amberlin informed Leona the moment her feet hit the wooden floor.

"I took care of the zombies trying to climb the stairs. I don't know if there are any more zombies on this floor, but I'm going to assume that there are a lot more than just five zombies waiting for us." Leona informed Amberlin. The cleric nodded and the pair instantly began looking around for more zombies. There had to be more zombies lurking somewhere on this floor.

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"I think you're right, Leona. Zombies rarely travel in small groups." Amberlin seconded Leona's belief that there were more zombies on the first floor. The two mages looked all around them for stragglers getting to the scene but were not seeing any coming from either hallway. Then Leona had a thought about another threat, one that was less obvious than zombies.

What if ghosts were heading their way?

Leona was helpless against ghosts without her Silver Longsword. Therefore she would need to rely on Amberlin to deal with any restless spirits who decided to accost them. However, being able to fight spirits depended on being able to see them in the first place, which was something Leona could not do. Amberlin likely could see them or make them visible with a spell, which was why Leona decided to ask a question pertaining to her concern about ghosts.

"Hey Amberlin, are you picking up any ghosts in the area?" Leona asked the cleric. Ambelin shook her head.

"Not yet." Amberlin replied laconically. Leona then asked another question of the cleric.

"Which way should we go?" Leona asked Amberlin. She pointed towards the entrance.

"I suggest that we walk towards the entrance, then take a right and head down that hallway." Amberlin offered a suggestion on what to do next. Since she had no idea on how to proceed, Leona decided to take the cleric's advice.

"OK. We'll head that way." Leona agreed to the plan. Together the two mages set out for the entrance while listening out for the distinctive moan of zombies in the area. Leona looked around the hallway and noticed that there was no artwork on the walls on the first floor. There were no paintings and no mirrors, only the occasional chair or dresser sitting against the walls and the lanterns hanging on the walls. Leona and Amberlin walked to the entrance of the manor, where the decapitated head of a zombie looked up at them from the floor with milky white eyes.

"That head came from a zombie I decapitated with a Tornado Kick earlier. The ghostly girl giggled whenever I decapitated a zombie." Leona explained where the ghastly decoration had come from and told the pink-haired cleric what little she had learned about their invisible hostess. Amberlin frowned a little and used her hands to motion for silence. Leona quickly obeyed the command.

"I think I hear moaning coming from somewhere nearby." Amberlin explained why she had motioned for Leona to be silent. The Wizard Saint listened carefully and thought that she could hear it too. She was not sure what direction it was coming from, but she could certainly hear it. She looked to her right.

"It sounds like it's coming from down the hall to our... right..." Leona trailed off as the zombie horde came into view. This horde was composed of fifteen people who were dressed as butlers and maids. They looked older than the adventurer zombies the two mages had fought earlier, but Leona was not going to underestimate them.

"I'll handle these guys!" Amberlin declared. She raised her hands and began to charge for a Holy spell while Leona watched the hall they had just walked down. A few moments later and Amberlin's spell was ready to go. She fired a wide beam of Holy magic that turned the zombie horde to ash and momentarily blinded Leona. By the time the Wizard Saint's vision recovered there were no more zombies in the hallway.

Now that the hall was clear the pair proceeded to go down it in search of more zombies to eliminate at the behest of their hostess. They heard giggling and stopped after only six steps.

"You two got rid of all those smelly dead people for me! You two did me a big favor! Now meet me in the library on the third floor!" Their hostess ordered them. Soon silence filled the air.

Leona looked at Amberlin and blinked.

"Um, what library?" Leona asked the cleric.

"There's a library on the third floor. I went there once before during an investigation here in the past. I'll guide us there." Amberlin replied.

"OK Amberlin, lead the way." Leona said. Amberlin spun around on her heels and began to guide the Wizard Saint towards the library on the third floor. The lanterns continued to glow a normal yellow color, but Leona did not trust them to remain that way for very long because her hostess enjoyed springing unpleasant surprises on her guests.

-On the third floor, twenty minutes later-

"Well, here we are. Back on the third floor." Amberlin said to Leona after the pair exited the stairwell and stopped five steps in front of it. She pointed to the hallway in front of them that had the window at the end.

"Down there... down that hall's the library. Oh, how I'd love to stay in it and go through the books..." Amberlin mused aloud.

"I hate to ask a dumb question, but which door leads to the library?" Leona asked Amberlin, pointing towards all the open doors in the hallway. There were multiple doors and all of them had been left open since the zombies had been loosed on them almost an hour ago. Amberlin blushed in embarrassment.

"Um, I don't know, Leona." Amberlin replied sheepishly.

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Leona remained quiet when Amberlin told her that she did not know which room the library was in. Suddenly they heard giggling and saw a ghostly young woman dressed in a flowing blue dress float out from one of the open doorways. Both mages faced the apparition and dreaded yet another unpleasant surprise being sprung on them. The ghostly young woman looked to be about Leona's age and height and did not look like their hostess... she also did not act like their hostess either.

"Hello, travelers. I am Cynthia." The apparition introduced herself. Leona and Amberlin blinked.

"Um, hey there... Cynthia. Can you understand us?" Leona asked the ghost. Leona heard giggling and saw a smaller ghost wearing a pink dress pop up behind Cynthia and float just to her left.

"Of course she can, you dummy! How do you think we talked to one another?!" The smaller ghost asked Leona. Leona recognized the younger ghost's voice as their hostess.

"Louise! There's no need to speak to our guests like that!" Cynthia rebuked the other ghost. Louise shrunk momentarily before defending her position.

"But that old lady's dumber than those smelly dead people... you know I'm riiiiiight!" Louise protested in a whiny voice. Leona frowned.

"HEY! You take that back right now!" Leona demanded indignantly. The blonde knew that she was not very smart, but being compared to zombies was an insult her pride would not let her ignore. Louise's only response was laughter.

"You're funny, Old Lady!" Louise said to Leona. Leona frowned deeper while the smaller ghost stuck her tongue out at the Wizard Saint. While Leona was busy contending with Louise, Amberlin took the opportunity to speak to Cynthia.

"Cynthia, is Louise your sister?" Amberlin asked the older apparition. Cynthia nodded.

"Yes, Louise is my younger sister. I'm sorry that she caused you two so much trouble." Cynthia apologized on behalf of her sister. Louise crossed her arms and pouted. Leona stopped frowning and asked a question.

"Your sister told us to meet her at the library. Where is the library?" Leona asked Cynthia. The blue-clad ghost wordlessly pointed to the doorway to her right.

"Oh, thanks." Leona replied meekly. Louise laughed again. Amberlin turned to the Wizard Saint.

"Let's go into the library, Leona!" Amberlin strongly suggested. Leona nodded. Together the two mages followed the two ghosts into the library.

-Inside the library-

"Oh my... there's so many books! Just look at them!" Amberlin exclaimed happily. Leona looked around the room and saw wall-to-wall bookshelves complete with a rolling ladder to reach books that were at the very top of the bookshelves. The shelves were immaculately clean of dust and the books were all neatly organized in alphabetical order. The wooden floor was spotless and four chairs were arranged around a rectangular wooden table made out of a dark wood, most likely mahogany.

"Please, join us for tea." Cynthia bade the two mages. As if on command the four chairs were gently pulled out all at once. Cynthia and Louise disappeared momentarily and sat in the top center and right chairs. Leona and Amberlin looked at each other with expressions that asked each other if joining ghosts for tea was really a good idea.

"Don't worry. The tea isn't poisoned." Cynthia told them in an effort to ease their fears. Louise suddenly sported an impish grin.

"Not yet, anyway!" Louise chimed in. Leona and Amberlin looked at Cynthia and Louise laughed mischievously.

"LOUISE!" Cynthia rebuked her younger sister. Louise smiled while her sister glared at her. Eventually the smaller ghost relented.

"OK, fine! I'll apologize to them!" Louise declared. She turned to face Leona and Amberlin.

"I'm sorry for making the joke about poison. The tea's not poisoned. I promise." Louise apologized to the two mages. Leona and Amberlin looked at each other, then at Cynthia. They decided to trust Cynthia now that her younger sister had apologized for the awful joke.

Leona and Amberlin sat in the left and bottom center chairs respectively. The moment they sat down Cynthia spoke to them.

"Now if you will give me a few minutes, I will get the tea ready." Cynthia requested patience from her two living guests. Leona and Amberlin nodded.

"Excellent. I'll be back as soon as I can." Cynthia said to them before standing up. She turned to Louise, who was looking kind of bored.

"Louise, please try to behave yourself while I'm gone." Cynthia pleaded with her sister before disappearing. Leona and Amberlin looked at each other, then at Louise. Louise looked back at them and smiled slightly. The two mages did not like that at all. By now they had learned to dread Louise taking an interest in them, but Amberlin was brave enough to speak to the young spirit anyway.

"I like this book collection, Louise. It's very large and well-organized." Amberlin said to the ghost. Louise kept her smile as she responded.

"Yeah, it's pretty big. My sister was quite the collector." Louise said to them in a calm voice. Leona and Amberlin paid attention to Louise, waiting for her to tell them more about Cynthia's library... or anything else about this place, for that matter.

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-Twenty minutes later-

Twenty minutes after leaving Cynthia had returned with four cups of tea and had set them down in front of each person. Leona was not sure what benefit ghosts would get from drinking tea or if they could even drink it, but she was not going to question Cynthia. All four young women picked up their tea cups and began to quietly and carefully sip the tea.

Leona took a sip and learned from the scent and flavor that she was drinking green tea, a flavor that was a bit stronger than the normal variety of tea. It was not her beverage of choice... she much preferred coffee. Coffee had a certain something that tea lacked, which was a powerful dose of caffeine delivered on the spot. Still, the green tea was acceptable. Leona needed all the antioxidants she could get.

The Wizard Saint continued to drink her tea as Amberlin did the same, albeit with much greater enthusiasm than Leona. The pink-haired cleric was halfway through her cup, as were Cynthia and Louise. Leona did not quite understand how ghosts could drink tea, but she was not going to question it. As long as they were not attacking her or sending zombies to attack her Leona was content to sit at a table and share tea with spirits. Besides, without her Silver Longsword, it was not like she had much choice in the matter.

Leona was wondering where her sword had been taken when Cynthia spoke to her human guests.

"What do you think of the tea?" Cynthia asked Amberlin and Leona.

"I like it a lot. Green tea's my second-favorite drink next to ordinary tea." Amberlin replied first. Leona was worried about Cynthia being offended by that admission and sending ghosts after them, but Cynthia smiled. Moments later their hostess turned her eyes to Leona.

"I like the tea too." Leona replied truthfully. Green tea had no hope in Ishgar of dethroning coffee as her favorite beverage, but it was still a good drink. Again Cynthia smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that. It's been so long since I was alive that I've forgotten how to make tea for living people." Cynthia admitted to them. Amberlin gently set her tea cup on the table and spoke.

"How long has it been since you and your sister were last alive, Cynthia?" Amberlin asked the ghostly young woman.

"It's been a little over one hundred years, give or take a few years." Cynthia replied calmly like she was discussing the weather. Upon hearing that response Leona set down her cup of tea and looked at the blue-clad ghost.

"Over a hundred years?" Leona repeated the figure in an interrogative. The pink-clad ghost chose this moment to chime in.

"Yeah, Old Lady! We're a lot older than you and your pink-haired pal!" Louise chimed in, referring to the blonde as "Old Lady" as if it were the gravest of insults. Leona was more used to how Louise acted and was not quite as insulted as she was the first time the young ghost had hurled the insult at her. Leona remained quiet as Amberlin continued the conversation.

"This might be a really bad question to ask, but do you remember how you and your sister died, Cynthia?" Amberlin asked the older ghost. Cynthia shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, sorry." Cynthia answered regretfully.

"Me neither. I remember going to sleep one night and the next day I woke up like this." Louise chimed in with no traces of mischievous humor. Leona was quick to notice that. From what little she knew about the younger ghost, if Louise was not taking the opportunity to make a joke at the blonde's expense, then the subject had to be serious. Leona wondered what could have caused Cynthia and Louise to die so suddenly.

"Do you two remember being sick in any way?" Leona asked her own question of the two ghosts.

"No." Cynthia replied.

"No." Louise replied. As far as they knew, Leona and Amberlin could safely rule illness out as the cause of death.

"Did you two get into any fights with anyone? Did anyone want you dead for any reason, like to get revenge or to get the manor?" Amberlin asked the ghostly siblings.

"We didn't have many visitors, so I don't think they wanted us dead. We didn't have much household staff either." Cynthia replied in the negative.

"My sister's right. I don't remember anyone being angry at us either and the staff was kind to us." Louise supported her sister's story. Since neither Leona nor Amberlin had the evidence to question that story, they had no choice but to accept the story they were being told. Cynthia looked at her tea cup and Louise held up hers. Cynthia then looked at Amberlin and Leona.

"Would anyone like more tea?" Cynthia asked everyone.

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-Thirty minutes later-

The quartet had drained another cup of tea and were sitting at the table in amiable silence. They had mostly determined that foul play by visitors or household staff was not the cause of Cynthia and Louise's untimely deaths. They had also mostly determined that illness was not the cause either. Amberlin and Leona were not sure how exactly the ghostly sisters died because the sisters themselves could not remember how exactly they died, only that they went to sleep one night and woke up as ghosts the next morning.

The quartet chose not to dwell on that subject too long because the same thing could happen to Amberlin or Leona at any time. Even though they were physically healthy, they could die suddenly because some cosmic entity had decided it was their time to go. If that ever happened there was nothing that either of them could do to prevent it. No armor, no magical shield, nothing could stop it from happening.

That was not something that Leona wanted to think about.

Leona was certain that her lifestyle was not conducive to a long lifespan, but she had chosen to travel that path with full knowledge of the risks that a traveling mage's life entailed. Even though there was a lot of risk that risk could be managed by being careful and striking her enemies first. There was no managing the risk of sudden death by... well, dying suddenly. It could happen at any time, anywhere, and that was not something Leona wanted to think about. That possibility would not go away just because Leona did not want to think about it, but that was something the Wizard Saint had to do in order to get through the day without losing control of her emotions.

The amiable silence that had prevailed was broken by Louise, that amiable young ghost with an mischievous sense of humor.

"So, are you guys gonna head home soon?" Louise asked Amberlin and Leona. The pair nodded.

"I miss being alive. Being a ghost isn't much fun. Sure, you get to scare people by making stuff float in front of them, you can walk through walls, and you can project your voice anywhere in the manor, but there's not a whole lot to do here if no one shows up. Only the adventurous types come here anymore. Hanging around here with little to do gets old real fast." Louise lamented in a serious tone of voice. Amberlin and Leona thought about that for a moment and felt sad for Cynthia and Louise. While the two living mages could go anywhere they wanted at any time, Cynthia and Louise were stuck in Sombras Manor for the rest of their afterlives. That thought likely prompted them to leave quicker than they would have otherwise.

"We'd better get going. Thanks for the tea and the conversation." Amberlin said to their ghostly hostesses and got up from her chair. Leona followed suit. The Wizard Saint was not sure how their hostesses would handle their departure. She was not sure if the ghosts were going to be angry enough to try and keep them from leaving by any means they had, up to and including making the two mages permanent residents of Sombras Manor. Instead Cynthia smiled while Louise pouted for a few moments.

"It was nice to have human company again. I've almost forgotten what it was like for us to have human company for tea." Cynthia said in a calm voice. Leona was doing her best to keep a straight face, but she was sure that a bit of worry was going to show on her face. Cynthia was almost too calm about it, like she had a plan to keep the mages here for good.

"It's no problem, Cynthia. I'd like to stay and look through this library some time." Amberlin said. Louise's facial expression turned sinister.

"If that's what you want, we can make sure you stay here for good. You can stay in the library as looooooong as you want." Louise offered in an eerily calm voice. Leona flinched and Amberlin's face went pale. The Wizard Saint did not have her Silver Longsword, so she would not be much help in fighting off the ghostly sisters if they really wanted to kill the two mages. After a few tense moments Louise smiled.

"Just kidding! You guys shoulda seen the looks on your faces!" Louise told them in a cheerful voice. Leona and Amberlin relaxed, but only a little. Louise was way too good at those kinds of mind games. Having many decades of practice certainly helped the young ghost perfect her craft. The thought of that made Leona a little sad... scaring people was all Louise had to do for fun and if no one showed up she would be bored out of her mind.

"Just be sure to come by for tea again some time. Next time I'll try and make sure that Louise doesn't scare you too badly." Cynthia offered to host them again for tea and make sure that Louise did not frighten them with more ghostly games. Amberlin and Leona were up for that. Having tea with ghosts was not the weirdest thing that had ever happened to the Wizard Saint, but it was a welcome change from always having to fight them.

"Sure thing, Cynthia." Leona said to the older ghost. She pushed her chair back in and waited on Amberlin to do the same. Amberlin soon pushed her chair in and the pair said their goodbyes before leaving the library to return to their respective homes.

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-On the first floor of Sombras Manor-

Amberlin and Leona had left the library behind and were walking towards the manor entrance when Leona stopped in place and felt around her left hip. She realized that she had forgotten something very important. She had forgotten her Silver Longsword! Louise had confiscated it earlier and had not given it back!

"You look distressed, Leona. You look like you lost something." Amberlin said to Leona.

"Yeah. My Silver Longsword. Louise confiscated it earlier and I haven't gotten it back." Leona told the pink-haired cleric.

"You got it from the Order, right?" Amberlin asked the Wizard Saint. Leona nodded.

"Yeah. It was a gift to me for helping Order Knight Diana find the Supernatural Sleuths team lost in Haunted Castle." Leona replied and told Amberlin exactly how she had received the weapon. Amberlin looked at Leona for a moment.

"We can just give you another one if you want, Leona. It's not that big a deal. I can talk to someone and arrange for another one to be given to you." Amberlin assured Leona. The Wizard Saint shook her head.

"I can't just leave it behind, Amberlin. I don't want the Order to think that I'd throw away their gift just because I don't want to retrieve it. I've also gotten kind of used to carrying it." Leona explained why she refused to just leave the sword behind. Aside from its practical value, the Silver Longsword had sentimental value to the Wizard Saint. It had been a gift from the Order of Lightbringers and she did not want to leave it behind like it was rubbish. If Leona made it a habit of leaving gifts behind because she did not want to be bothered to retrieve them, then people would stop giving her gifts.

Leona and Amberlin looked at one another and the blonde was about to turn around and walk all the way back to the library on the third floor when she felt a sharp slap to her backside. Leona yelped as something metallic clanked to the floor. Amberlin walked over to the object and picked it up, holding it in both hands.

"It's a sword." Amberlin stated as Leona turned around. Amberlin drew the sword with her right hand and examined it.

"It's a silver sword just like the one the Order uses." Amberlin said, allowing Leona to see the blade. Leona smiled. She suspected that Louise was playing one last prank on the blonde by hitting the latter on the backside with the flat part of the scabbard. Amberlin put the blade back in its scabbard and handed the sword to Leona, who wasted no time in securing it to her left hip.

"Thanks Amberlin." Leona thanked the cleric for picking it up. Leona heard the sound of a throat being cleared from right behind her.

"Thanks Louise!" Leona quickly thanked the younger ghost for returning the weapon if it was really Louise and not Cynthia. Judging from the younger ghost's behavior earlier in the evening, the culprit was most likely Louise who had returned the Silver Longsword in such a mischievous fashion.

With that the two mages walked to the manor door, opened it, and left Sombras Manor behind for the time being.

-Outside Sombras Manor-

"So, what do we do now?" Leona asked Amberlin as the pair walked away from the front door and down the path that led away from Sombras Manor.

"I've got to make a report about this. I was sent here to investigate rumors of malevolent activity, but those ghosts aren't malevolent. Still, we need to be cautious about them." Amberlin told Leona. Leona smiled a bit. The Order of Lightbringers seemed to have its share of paperwork too.

"I've likely got paperwork back at the office too." Leona commiserated. When she got back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall she would have to tackle the large stack of papers that would be sitting at her desk. It was part of her responsibilities as a Guild Mistress and nothing that could not be handled after drinking a cup or two (or maybe even three) of coffee.

Tonight had been an interesting night where they had had tea with ghosts, which was a first for Leona. Amberlin implied that as long as Cynthia and Louise remained non-threatening there would be no action taken against them, a stance which was good enough for Leona. As long as they were not actively hurting anyone Leona would not take action against them either. With that being settled the two continued to walk towards home to take care of paperwork and get ready for another day of fulfilling the responsibilities that came with their offices.

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