The moment Mauro said those words, Sebastian just glanced at him before taking a deep breath while Kaley looked like she didn't like the way Mauro chose to enforce the bet between gentlemen. Sure, a bet's a bet and there wasn't any specific ruling as to what should and shouldn't be requested beforehand, but in all fairness, making use of it to forcefully dig into someone's personal life wasn't gentlemanly at all.
But yeah, Mauro doubled down as he repeated himself:
"Hey, did you even hear me? I said spill. Don't give me that look unless—"
Sebastian cut him off after a short exhale, "I apologize but—"
"Don't fucking apologize. All you have to do is—"
"Please, my lord. Let me finish. What happened here isn't entirely a secret but it was just a story forgotten by time. If you all want to hear the story, I could tell you all over dinner but if you want to waste calling in a favor, my lord, I'll gladly do so…"
Kaley interjected, "Sebastian… A-Are you sure about that?"
Sebastian chuckled, "Of course, my lady, it is a tad depressing but I'm here now so it probably has a good ending, no?"
"I-If you say so…"
"I do have to thank you for the comfort and the kind words, it truly helped me calm down. In any case, why don't I give you a tour of the place I 'lived' in for years?"
With that said, everyone was satisfied with the crumbs he was feeding us but it was hilarious to see such a strong powerlifter struggle to open the door which was apparently, not unlocked. Eventually, all it took was a solid front kick to bust it open but the bugs, dust, and debris that came out almost wiped half the group off the porch.
In all honesty, I was expecting at least a few ritualistic sacrifices and a couple of pentagrams drawn on the walls but it was… as normal as normal gets.
The first thing we saw was like a regular old shack that had an antique stove of sorts, wooden furniture for almost everything which was covered in dust, a few books by this end table, a discarded antler as a display piece, lamps powered by oil, etc.
And making our way to the partial(?) second floor—for lack of a better term—that was the bedroom of sorts which we could see below was also as simple as simple gets as it only had this dusty old bed with this mattress that had its own ecosystem, a broken old mirror, and this dresser which was missing half of its door and all of its supposed dresses.
In any case, I was expecting way, way~ worse than a hoarder's den we needed to clear out but I would've preferred it honestly right after Sebastian kicked down the dresser and revealed a narrow passage before us.
"This…"
Sebastian let out a faint smile, "That… Beyond that is the place I— no, we lived in… And again, I'll go on ahead for everyone's safety but please… if you're gonna sneak up behind me again, no jumpscares, okay?"
"You were really scared that time?"
"You can't even imagine, my lord…"
"Hah… If I get scared, I either scream or scurry away like a cockroach, not commit bloody murder…"
"Haha… Old habits, I guess… A-Anyway, to those who're not gonna follow after me, I suggest starting with the living room… Leave the kitchen to me because I swear to all things living that the sink and the cupboards will be a tad diabolic… Tread lightly…"
On that note, only Mauro, Elsa, and Megan followed after me as Sebastian disappeared inside the passage though Mauro was having a hard time walking down the creaky steps because of his wide frame. He had to be behind everyone else and almost had to resort to walking sideways but after a couple of turns and a few more careful steps, we had to use our flashlights because there was no chance in hell we could see in pitch darkness.
"Home sweet home, I guess…" Sebastian joked as he turned around to face us.
Pointing my flashlight around, and with the help of the others' light sources, I was able to deduce that this was simply an old and musty room that had been left for ages, but everything that we could identify was just pure rubbish or junk.
Granted there were unknown mushrooms that I would strongly advise to not pick up and eat or in our case, we shouldn't be casually inhaling the spores as we should've gone down here with respirators on.
Megan remarked, "Y-You've lived in this place alone for years?"
"Hmm? Well, not alone but it's safe to say we could only see each other when we get our nightly visits…"
"N-Nightly visits?"
"I… I should be telling this over— hmm~ maybe after dinner would be more appropriate but since you all came down with me, I'll grant you the privilege of hearing a few tidbits…" Sebastian trailed as he pointed his flashlight to the farthest corner of the room where four rusted metal rods were sticking out, "There… That's the place I slept, ate, drank, pissed, shat, and did everything for a number of years as I thought it was the norm…"
"W-What?"
"I used to be all alone here until~ I dunno the exact time actually because I wasn't even aware of that concept but what I thought were more visitors were actually my new roommates, I believe you've seen them a little bit earlier… Shame I forgot to introduce them properly…"
"W-What were their names?"
"Well, I guess it's safe to say that all of our last names are one and the same: Rivas… Pff… Which we're all very thankful for but the one in the middle without any visible scars was Gerald, the one with the scar on his eye was Chris Irvine, and the one with the scar on his lip was Keith. Let's just say that even though we aren't related by blood, we've bonded over some— no a lot of things over the years. There was actually more of us but you know… We're not actually sure if they're still out there or not but once we got out of this place, we were the only ones that are left…"
"What… What actually happened here?"
"Hah… A lot of things that I'll gladly tell you after dinner possibly with a cheese board, some jerky, and a bottle of wine… Wouldn't you all agree?"
Elsa chuckled, "I'd love that… I hate to say this but I think we should… somehow… air this place for a little bit before staying longer… I dunno how but we should… right?"
Sebastian nodded a few times, "Of course, my apologies… We should head above ground for now because as I said earlier… I might have a little shortcut for that…"
"What now?"
lightsΝοvεl ƈοm As Sebastian stated earlier, he did ask to leave the kitchen area to him for some reason but everything became clear once he ripped off what was left of the kitchen sink and counter before starting to chop down on the moldy and mushroom floor below it.
And as the hole got bigger and bigger, it was revealed that the sink had a direct line to the basement instead of a drain or something similar and everyone's faces went sullen when they pieced together that not only was Sebastian living in that damp basement in complete darkness, but he was also probably being fed with all the food wastes plopping down at indeterminate intervals.
"W-What's that place?!"
"Home?"
"Wha—"
"I haven't aired it for years, apologies… It's the only way to do it now…"
"W-What's that growing over there…"
"Hmm~ Even I with my extensive knowledge of herbalism couldn't identify what are they exactly. It might be a new cross-species or something but I'll advise everyone to open up all of the windows before everything else… We should also work on the outside first while we're letting the sun do its thing over here…"
"It's only shining on that hole—"
"And it's either that or tearing this whole floor down… Part of me just want to burn this cabin to the ground… If it weren't for the view…"
"S-Seriously?"
"Yep."
"Did you just talk informally, for once?"
"I did, didn't I? Huh… That was… I don't even know what to call it…"
With that said, I was just dying to know how he got, lived, and escaped from this area to turn into this one hell of a butler who somehow found powerlifting as a hobby while being able to still smile or joke around given what he went through.
There was only so much a normal person could take and I imagine that even assuming the worst couldn't have cut it.
Because as bad as this would sound, sometimes, people with the most fucked up past could smile the brightest or have the most fucked up sense of humor—even using what they went through as the weapon or the armor that could push them forward with what regular folks call "adversity".
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