'If... I, the Ghost Ferryman, can get my hands on that strange doll, wouldn't I be able to make a comeback?'
Back then, he'd followed the Lord of District Ten, Chomu, as his strategist. He'd almost managed to ruin that man completely, but disaster had struck from nowhere. A massive flood had washed away everything he'd painstakingly planned.
But the most terrifying thing wasn't the flood itself.
It was that the instant the flood submerged all of District Ten, everyone in District Ten, from the lord down to the residents, all turned into walking corpse-like monsters.
If he hadn't come into contact with a strange statue long ago and become something neither human nor ghost, he would probably have become one of those mindless monsters as well.
After that, he followed the horde of walking corpses all the way here.
He just wanted to see where these walking corpses were going.
And so he arrived at the legendary District Seven, Ethan's territory.
Originally, he hadn't planned to come inside.
After all, plenty of people had already heard of the Lord of District Seven's reputation.
But by the time he got here, he was genuinely hungry.
And the food those maids were bringing out smelled amazing.
The Ghost Ferryman couldn't resist. He followed the others inside and ate a big bowl of soup. But he didn't dare stay in District Seven's territory for long. His plan was to use his Ghost Ferry Technique to stir up some chaos, then leave immediately.
Who could have expected that right after he controlled four or five refugees to start causing trouble, the well-trained residents of the manor surrounded them?
Now, if the Ghost Ferryman suddenly left the manor, it would be far too suspicious.
So... he could only stay where he was and wait to see what happened.
What he hadn't expected was that someone would bring over a strange scarecrow.
The moment the scarecrow was set down, the refugees under his control instantly became unable to move. They even assumed the same pose as the scarecrow.
Although he could still sense their presence, he couldn't control their actions anymore.
The Ghost Ferryman found it rather frustrating.
He could only think of another plan.
Then... Ethan appeared.
And along with him came an incredibly strange rag doll.
On the doll, the Ghost Ferryman saw the same kind of aura as his Ghost Ferry Technique.
It was a black aura.
'If I can control this rag doll...'
'Won't I become invincible?'
'At that point, forget the mere Lord of District Seven.'
'Probably no one in the entire Area A would be a match for me.'
'Then I can make a comeback!'
'I will become the king of all Area A...'
'Or even the king of the entire Alphabet Region!'
'Hahaha...'
"You!"
Just then, the instant the Ghost Ferryman lost himself in his fantasy, Ethan suddenly pointed at him.
"That's right, you! Stand up!"
"..."
The Ghost Ferryman had no idea how Ethan had noticed him.
Still, he obediently stood up as instructed. He even imitated the vacant expression of those residents who had lost their consciousness, making himself look dazed and sluggish.
"What's your name?"
Ethan stared at the Ghost Ferryman's face with suspicion.
When he'd turned his head just now, he'd clearly noticed that this refugee sitting in the corner looked suspicious.
Especially the strange smile at the corner of his mouth.
It wasn't the kind of expression a player who had completely lost their sense of self should be able to make.
But by the time he'd ordered the refugee to stand up, he looked completely normal again.
Had he been overthinking it?
After all, the flood had destroyed three districts.
Whether they were residents or lords, they should all have become mindless refugees.
So perhaps he'd really just seen it wrong.
"My...", The Ghost Ferryman tried hard to recall what those residents had looked like when they first entered his territory. Then, pretending to be slow and sluggish, he said, "My name is Old Ghost."
"Old Ghost?"
Ethan looked him over.
But what puzzled him was that no corresponding information appeared above this man's head.
For example...
Attendant Five had a prompt above her head.
[Resident · Attendant Five]
Opening it revealed Attendant Five's detailed information.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Loyalty: 100%]
[Strength: 10]
[Defense: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Tier-2 Unit: Mage Apprentice]
[Traits: Can cast Tier-1 magic. Well suited for learning household magic!]
[Special Abilities: Soft and Squishy, Hard as a Rock, Tidying Magic, Cleaning Magic, Freezing Magic]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
But this man named "Old Ghost" had nothing.
'Could it be because this group of refugees hasn't been registered yet?'
Ethan glanced at the other refugees.
Sure enough, red exclamation marks appeared above all of their heads.
[New Resident · Unnamed]
[New Resident · Unnamed]
[New Resident...]
"Attendant Five, how many refugees did we take in altogether?", Ethan asked.
Without even needing to count, Attendant Five immediately replied, "Reporting to you, Lord. Excluding the one who just died and the five restrained by Mr. Scarecrow, there are 135 remaining."
"So excluding the dead one, that's 140 in total."
Ethan checked the citizen count in his magic book.
But the number of newly accepted residents was only 139.
One person was missing.