"You know what, Hanna? It's very likely we'll find something good here." As he said this, Merle pointed his flashlight forward and the entire room was illuminated.
It wasn't a very large room. It was less than two meters wide, and the glass display cases on both sides occupied almost all the space. In total, the wall length was six meters. This place was built in the shape of a corridor. A room like this was something that people entering the house would not easily notice.
After making sure there was nothing that could put them in danger, Merle lowered his weapon and began to inspect everything with the help of his flashlight.
Although there were display cases everywhere, they were all made of glass, and you could see inside them at a glance. At the far end there was also a table that was different from the rest.
The beam of the flashlight swept across the glass display cases, and Merle was surprised to discover that they were all storing weapons inside—every kind of weapon—and all the ones that caught his attention were firearms.
"I can't believe it. The owner of this house must have had a great love for weapons."
Not only pistols, but also rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and, most exaggerated of all, machine guns. The glass cabinets were filled with weapons, and many more were hanging on the inner walls.
After looking around the entire room, Merle simply found a box and began packing all the weapons into it, then sent the boxes outside.
It took the two of them more than half an hour to take all these weapons out. Looking at the empty cabinets in the room, Merle smiled. Although no ammunition had been found, these weapons were still in fairly good condition, though they would need maintenance after being unused for so long.
Looking at the military uniform hanging by the entrance, Merle reached out and pulled it.
Ksss!
The clothing stuck to the wall could not withstand the force of his grip, so it was torn directly off the wall, and Hanna on the side called Merle a barbarian.
The clothes were already in pieces, but Merle's gaze remained fixed on the place where the clothes had been hanging, and Hanna followed his gaze.
"Huh? What is that?"
"A hidden space?"
A smile appeared once again on Merle's face. He reached out and pulled out the small box from the hole in the wall.
"Is this a safe?"
"Could it contain a will?"
The box in his hand was very light, and there was a rattling sound when he shook it. It should contain something not too large, and the sound resembled that of a metal object.
"What is this? Give me the axe."
After receiving the axe that Hanna handed him, Merle inserted the blade of his machete into the gap of the box and began to apply force.
Crack!
First of all, it wasn't a particularly strong box, and after a few seconds it was damaged by the force Merle was applying. With a click, the lock fell to the floor.
When the box opened, three metal objects fell out, bounced several times on the display case, and dropped onto the floor.
Click! Crack! Toc!
A crisp sound echoed in the room, and Merle bent down to pick up the three items, with a slightly strange expression on his face.
It turned out that what he was holding were three keys, and they were very large keys with extremely complicated teeth. At a glance, one could tell that the keys corresponded to locks that were rarely seen in ordinary places.
One large figure and one small figure looked at each other. Both understood what the other meant, and without mentioning it, they immediately began searching. After all, the weapons outside couldn't disappear, so they had to find something that used these locks.
This mansion had three floors, but according to Merle's deduction, even if there was something that used these keys, that place should be on the first floor. Since they had arrived, they had not seen a basement anywhere in the house. Merle found that very strange since almost every house had a basement, so that became the first search target.
Then the two searched the rooms on the first floor again, but they found nothing. Merle was starting to go crazy. This time he also paid special attention to the floors of each room, but he still found nothing.
Strange. There was probably nothing. Not to mention that there was nothing wrong with not having a basement; they might just be focusing on one type of basement, but there could be different kinds.
Merle rubbed his chin and looked at the floor of the room in front of him.
"Is the entrance not on the floor? Or is the entrance not inside the house?"
The more Merle thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Thinking that the entrance might be outside, he slowly walked toward the window. The courtyard was very elegant and retro, but there was no visible entrance to a basement.
He frowned, looked around the room, and finally glanced down at his feet unconsciously.
"Huh? What is this?"
The place where the two were staying was a bedroom. In the center of the room there was a large bed, and there was a fluffy carpet under it. Although it was already full of dust, it was still possible to see that the carpet was quite valuable.
Merle fumbled around on the floor for a while, lifting the carpet and pushing the bed. Hanna was confused and didn't know what Merle was doing.
Seeing the old man lying on the floor without knowing how to help him, Hanna simply walked to the window and cautiously looked outside.
The road was just outside the villa's door. Although the location was relatively remote and there were few walkers, there were still some wandering around occasionally. The absence of danger last night did not mean there would be no danger today. What if a large number of walkers started climbing the mountain?
After feeling around for about ten minutes, Merle, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly burst out laughing, startling Hanna who was by the window. When she turned her head to look, she discovered that Merle had gotten himself into something.
With a click, the entire bed lifted slightly. Merle pushed hard, and the entire bed rotated 90 degrees around the base against the wall, and the side of the bed moved directly toward the window.
Hanna, who was standing near the door, was startled and stepped aside, and with a loud bang the bed hit the wall.
"Hey, I found it."
Hanna looked up and saw the metal door under the bed at a glance.
"It really is a basement."
"What is this, the damn house of Agent 007?"
"You've seen the movie?"
"Huh?"
Merle ignored the girl. At that moment he was focused on the strange entrance, about one meter long and wide, that had been exposed under the bed. The hidden iron handle had a circular cover protruding from it. After removing it, the keyhole could be seen.
Merle's eyes lit up when he saw the keyhole, and the expression on his face became even more pleased. There was only one keyhole under the round cover. One had to know that there were three keys at the moment, which meant that there were at least three hidden basements in the mansion. Now one of the three had been found—but where were the other two?
Taking out the keys he had obtained earlier, Merle began testing them, and soon there was a sound indicating that the door had opened.
With a strong pull, the basement door opened, revealing a concrete staircase below. A cold breath came out from the dark entrance, and Hanna, who was standing beside Merle, shivered.
"Hey kid, you go down first."
Hanna didn't know that he didn't want to go down alone, fearing that she might betray him and lock him inside. Although the possibility was small after spending a few days together, who would want to be trapped somewhere by someone they had just met?
As they went down the stairs, the light from the flashlight shone, making the surrounding walls look pale.
Merle sniffed, and a strange smell entered his nose, making him sneeze uncontrollably.
Hanna, who was now behind Merle, shouted in surprise, and Merle, who was in front, simply smiled and curiously explained the room that was below.