Reincarnated extra refuses to die

Arc 1. Chapter 2-2

I could not leave the room without Lucas or Mathias accompanying me. I remembered the latter saying something along those lines yesterday. So, Lucas taking me away from my bedroom was just perfect for me. It was necessary to explore the enemy territory after all. Never know when it'd come in handy.

As I was staring at the architecture of the hallway, with marble floor and carved pillars of granite, I was once again taken aback at the magnificence of it all. The first time I passed through these halls it was on the shoulder of the demon butler, Sebastian, and the second was late at night after a failed escape. So, it was the first time I could look at everything leisurely, with attention to detail.

It really was on another level. As Mio, I never wanted for anything. Mom and dad worked hard and then when I became an adult I gained enough money as a violinist to keep up the lifestyle I was used to. But I wondered not for the first time the reason nobles could have such luxuries while people like me had to hunger and survive as they could. Though, like I embarrassingly told Lucas yesterday, it wasn't always the case. A farmer's life wasn't entirely bad. It was just a bad moment, not only for my family but surely for many others. When the bad moment passed, we could work the soil again, and there would be no reason to keep being hungry.

I said we because I definitely was going to get out of this alive. I would escape, hide for a few months from the viscount, and then go back to my family to help them with the farm. Mom and dad would be happy to know I was alive, and Thomas, my little brother, as well. I got sad thinking how much he must be missing me. In my most impartial opinion, he was a total sis-con. Who knew what he did when he found out I was sold.

I didn't worry about the viscount retaliating when I ran away. If memory served, the ritual to give back life to someone deceased could only be done before a year from the death of the person. The soul lingered only so far. Trying to do it any later would deteriorate the consciousness of the deceased and the person brought back to life would be less and less human, until it came a moment when it no longer reasoned for itself and was completely dependent on the necromancer fueling its life.

That's how zombies were created.

Besides, the heroes would arrive a few days later, defeating the viscount, so more reason for me to be safe afterwards. I would have nothing to do with the plot and thus I could live a peaceful life. It was perfect.

But first I needed to determine how to leave without being trapped.

Lucas was silent throughout the walk. He was walking in front of me, two guards closing in behind. Trapped in the middle of them, without an opening to escape. But I wasn't going to escape now. It would be futile. The plan needed to be laid out first. Still, I wondered what he wanted to show me. I couldn't see his face, and that bothered me more than I thought it would. He didn't even spare me a glance as we made our way to wherever he was guiding me. It really annoyed me.

So I opened my mouth to fill the suffocating silence, when something on my peripheral vision caught my attention. I stopped.

"Elaine? Is there something wrong?" Lucas asked when he could no longer hear my footsteps. He walked up to me, and turned to look at the place I was observing. "Ah, who left the door to the music room open?"

The music room. Double doors with carved wood leading to a spacious room. From the doorway I could see the impressive grand piano in the middle, occupying center stage, but it wasn't the piano that caught my attention. It was the violin case, leaning in a corner with other string instruments. Without thinking, I took a step forward, intending to enter, but an arm interposed, blocking my way. I looked up to see one of the guards giving me a censuring look.

"You may not enter, young lady."

"It's alright Samuel" Lucas told him just when I was about to give him a piece of my mind. "Are you interested in the piano Elaine?" he asked me, softer. I pursed my lips. Like I said, it wasn't the piano what called me inside, but for the sake of it, I nodded. Now that I think about it, would it make sense for a farmer's daughter to be interested in a violin? It was hidden from sight after all, disposed of in a corner. It made much more sense that the piano, so visible from the hallway, would make me stop to take a look.