We had no food left.
Not a single piece of bread. Not a drop of water. Only the empty sound of footsteps against the damp forest floor.
Hunting was our only option now. The plan was simple—walk deeper into the forest, find something, anything we could kill, and eat.
That was two hours ago.
Now, the only thing filling the silence was the labored breathing behind me.
Huff… huff…
Sarah walked beside me, her expression calm, controlled, but I could still hear the exhaustion in her breath. She was holding up well.
Darcy and Lindy, on the other hand… not so much.
Darcy's hair clung to her face with sweat, and every step looked heavier than the last. Lindy's pace had slowed down, her boots dragging across the muddy path. Their bodies weren't built for this. Not yet.
I glanced back once, briefly, then kept moving forward.
And then—
Hope.
At first, it looked like a mirage in the distance. But as we stepped through a line of overgrown bushes, we saw it clearly.
A mansion.
Old.
Large.
Rotting.
It stood there like a forgotten corpse in the middle of the woods. The brown paint had peeled off the walls, and the windows were either broken or hanging loose. Ivy and moss crept up its sides like it was being eaten by the forest itself.
The gate was half-broken, creaking slowly in the wind.
And at the center of it—
stood an old woman.
She didn't move.
She just stood there, her frail hands gripping the iron bars of the gate, her eyes locked onto us as if she'd been waiting. Watching.
Her hair was thin, like spider silk, and her skin looked pale and paper-thin.
She wore a black dress that fluttered slightly in the breeze. Not a smile. Not a frown. Just… still.
I narrowed my eyes, instincts sharpening.
A place like this in the middle of nowhere? A woman guarding the entrance?
Something wasn't right.
But we were tired. Hungry. And the others had nearly reached their limit.
So I stepped forward.
Not carelessly.
As I approached the gate, the old woman's eyes never left me. She stood still, her frail form almost blending into the faded brown iron bars behind her. The wind shifted the long tendrils of her hair, but she didn't flinch. Something about her felt ancient, like the woods themselves had birthed her into existence.
The others caught up, Lindy's eyes wide and filled with suspicion, Darcy looking exhausted but curious, and Sarah… well, Sarah kept her usual cool but was clearly wary.
I took a step forward, my gaze locked on the woman. She finally spoke, her voice crackling like dried leaves.
"Welcome," she rasped, her words slower than they needed to be. "I have been waiting for travelers such as you."
"Travelers?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. We had been walking for hours through a forest with no sign of life, no sign of anyone else. Yet she stood here, waiting. Watching.
She nodded, a slow and deliberate movement. "Yes, yes… You are hungry. Tired. I have food. You'll come inside?"
I exchanged a glance with Sarah, Darcy, and Lindy. I wasn't entirely sure about this—this woman felt too… still. Too calm. But in the end, hunger outweighed caution. We had no choice.
"Alright," I said. "We'll come in. But we expect food, and we expect to be safe."
The woman didn't reply immediately. Instead, she stepped aside, her old bones creaking as she opened the gate. It groaned in protest, but eventually, she let us through.
We stepped into the yard, the ground covered in moss and overgrown plants. The mansion loomed in front of us, towering above the overgrown garden, almost like an ancient relic. There was a strange calm here, like the place itself had forgotten time.
The old woman led us to the door, pushing it open with a strength that seemed impossible for someone of her age.
The inside of the mansion was even more worn down than the outside. Dust covered the floors and the furniture, and the air smelled faintly of mildew. But there was something warm about it—something inviting.
She ushered us inside and motioned to a table covered with a simple cloth. "Sit. Eat. You will not find food like this again," she said, her voice now a bit sharper, as if revealing something.
I didn't waste time. We sat down, and she disappeared into a small kitchen nearby. A few minutes later, she returned with a platter of freshly cooked meats, bread, and warm stew. It smelled heavenly—like the first meal we'd had in days.
We ate in silence at first, the food too good to waste words on. But after a while, Lindy spoke up, breaking the silence.
"So, who are you?" she asked, her tone polite but curious. "And why are you out here all alone?"
The woman didn't respond right away. Instead, she glanced toward the window, as if something had caught her attention. Then she turned back to us. "I am a mage," she said simply. "A seer. I can tell you who is on this island, who belongs, and who does not."
"Seer?" I repeated, chewing the food slowly, my mind working. "You can see people… even those who are hidden?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Yes. It's not a power many possess." She paused. "I see you. You are not like the others. I can feel it."
That caught my attention. I looked at her, but she turned away, as if suddenly uninterested in us. "But, enough talk. I know why you are here. You need this place."
I didn't say anything at first, but Sarah's sharp eyes caught the flicker of something in the woman's gaze. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
The woman smiled. It was a slow, knowing smile. "You will understand soon enough." She paused again, as if weighing her next words carefully. "But I can't just give this place away. Not for free."
I felt a sense of unease. "How much?" I asked.
She looked at me, and her eyes glittered. "Ninety-five gold coins. I will take that for the mansion."
I blinked, surprised at how quickly she had come to a price. "Ninety-five?" I repeated, my mind racing. I looked over at Darcy and Lindy, who were both still eating quietly, not yet realizing what had just happened.
I didn't trust her. But what could I do? I wasn't in a position to argue. We were desperate. We were out of options.
I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of my decision, and opened my inventory. The cold shimmer of gold coins filled my hands. With a resigned sigh, I handed her the ninety-five gold coins.
She took them without hesitation, her fingers brushing mine. It felt like the world had gone still for a moment, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just been scammed. But I had no choice.
The woman turned her back to us as she pocketed the gold. "You have what you came for. Rest here. I will be gone in the morning."
And just like that, she vanished into the shadows of the mansion, leaving us alone.
I stood up, feeling a strange emptiness in my chest, but there was no time to dwell on it. We needed to explore this mansion.
I led the others into the main hallway, the doors creaking open as we moved. We explored the mansion room by room—old, but sturdy. It was surprisingly spacious, with large windows letting in the faint moonlight.
The kitchen was filled with supplies. Fresh vegetables, jars of preserved fruit, dried meats—enough food to last us weeks. There was a storeroom as well, filled with tools, blankets, and more supplies than we had ever imagined.
It wasn't perfect. The mansion had its flaws. But in this place, it felt like we had found a home. For now.
I looked at the others—Lindy, Sarah, and Darcy—who were beginning to explore, too, their tired faces lighting up with relief as they uncovered all the goods.
"This is more than we could have hoped for," Sarah murmured, running her fingers over the wood of the kitchen table.
"Yeah," I said, glancing at the gold I still had in my hand. "I guess we're lucky."
But I wasn't so sure. A part of me still felt uneasy.
I had paid ninety-five gold coins. But for what?
Next morning she was gone with a bunch of documents on the dinner table about this house and near land in which there was my signature now I was the owner of this mansion and nearby 50 km of land .haha