Chapter 385: Keziah Mason
Translator: Lonelytree
Mr. Joyce plated the olette and sliced bread before bringing them to the table. The dining table was pushed to the corner of the kitchen. The surface was covered in mottled oil stains and so spots were mouldy. Normally, a dical student like Gu Jun would have a higher requirent for cleanliness but his hunger won over. Once dinner was served, he started to chomp down. The al was scrumptious, it brought new aning to the phrase farm to table.
“What happened back then?” He asked the old man about the incident that happened 2 years ago at Innsmouth.
“To be honest, we outsiders know very little about it. It happened around the winter. The rumors were that it was due to prohibition violation but I know for a fact that’s not possible. Jack has done plenty of research into the economic structure of Innsmouth and Innsmouth has no one selling bootleg alcohol.” Mr. Joyce had his suspicions regarding this speculation. “Many people were captured but no one knew where they were taken and there was no following trial. The news slowly died away. There were so inquiries being done but those were quickly suppressed by the governnt. I swear sothing must have happened there.” Gu Jun frowned silently. Could it be an action taken against Innsmouth by FBM? Back in his world, Innsmouth did not exist so FBM could not do anything, but if Innsmouth did exist, FBM and by extension, the US governnt, could have done sothing like this.
“I just want to know the truth about my son’s death.” Mr. Joyce munched on the bread and his voice caught. “I’ve tried asking the police but no one paid any attention. I’ve tried the dia but no one was interested in my story. My friends either thought I’ve lost my mind or they did not want the trouble.”
“Sir, perhaps.” Gu Jun offered, “I can help you conduct an investigation.”
“Oh?” Mr. Joyce’s eyes were practically shining. Gu Jun then ca up with sothing more persuasive, more fitting for his identity. “I need to find sothing to do to earn my place since I just arrived in this country. I can help you go to Innsmouth to investigate. I’m an outsider, perhaps they won’t pay any attention.”
“Yes, Mr. Gu, you’ll be able to fit right in there!” That was one of the reasons why Mr. Joyce helped Gu Jun. He was glad that the man made him the offer. “You can pretend to be a Dagon disciple!”
“Yes, but to do that, I need to know more about them.” Gu Jun nodded. “For one, I wish to know is there any legend about witches at Innsmouth?” The talk of witches was taboo at a place like this. If this was 200 years ago, private discussion of witches could bring them to the gallows.
“Witches...” Mr. Joyce widened his eyes and then chuckled. “I’ll put it this way, everything that happens here is related to witches. Ol’ John’s family lost a few eggs, it must be the work of the witches. Ol’ Carter’s family dog kept barking at night, it must because there were witches on the prowl.” The old man munched on the bread as he mumbled. He accidentally choked on so crumbs, “See, perhaps there were witches listening in on us and she made choke. Ha ha....”
It was clearly a joke but Gu Jun’s heart chilled. He studied the old man’s shadow under the light. The sky outside was darkening... He knew the joke might not be entirely false. Kedou did ntion seeing sothing in the ‘shadow’ before.
“Legends about witches are what I grew up with.” Mr. Joyce clearly did not think much about this. “Naturally there are stories about witches at Innsmouth, but based on my knowledge, it has nothing to do with the Dagon Cult. But there is a famous witch house at Arkham.”
Gu Jun was surprised. Arkham was a location that the old man ntioned earlier. Gu Jun thought it was just a normal location but now it appeared like he was mistaken.
“Arkham?” He prompted.
“Arkham is the biggest city around this district. It’s quite developed, at least compared to the rest of the district.” Mr. Joyce explained. “That place is filled with strange legends too and one of them is related to the witches. But to explain that, I will have to tell you the stories about Salem that happened years ago.”
Gu Jun did know his history but he did not stop the old man from telling his tale. After all, the history here might be different. But based on what he heard, everything sounded the sa. The stories were about the Salem Witch Trials. It happened 200 years ago, in 1929. It started with a preacher’s daughter at Arkham who fell under a strange illness. Soon after, the girls that she normally played with fell under the sa illness. It did not take long for the illness to infect all the girls in the city. “They would scream and convulse. It was like they were possessed, making curse-like noises.” Mr. Joyce regaled Gu Jun with these historical pasts. “At the ti, no one, not even the doctors, knew what to do with it.”
Gu Jun was silent. In dical history, the Salem Witch Trials was also an unsolved mystery. There was a hypothesis suggesting that the witches were actually victims of Tourette Syndro but theoretically speaking, Tourette Syndro was not contagious and it would not cause hallucination. Another hypothesis was that it was due to ergotism, a condition that develops from ergotamines, substances produced due to fungal contamination of grains. However, that did not explain why only the girls were infected. Due to the plague, the town of Salem underwent history’s biggest witch hunt. According to the old man, several hundred people were captured and tortured. People died from public stoning and on the pyres.
“Keziah Mason was one of the accused witches.” Mr. Joyce continued, “But sohow this witch managed to escape from the Arkham prison and she vanished overnight! The next morning, the prison guard was found rambling incoherently. He claid that Mason has used so lines and angles to open so kind of dinsional portal...”
The old man’s disbelief in these stories was evident. From the old man’s perspective, the Dagon worshippers did not have any superhuman ability, they were just delusional and crazy. He treated these local witch legends with the sa attitude. The stories were most likely exaggerated. After all, if Mr. Joyce believed in the actual existence of the devil, he would not be in such a convivial mood with Gu Jun.
However, Gu Jun’s heart chilled from the story. According to Kedou, the witch’s shadow walked out from the corner of her bedroom... That matched the story of how this Keziah Mason escaped from her imprisonnt. However, that was not evidence enough for Gu Jun to confirm that this Kezain Mason was the witch behind the tragedy back on Earth.
“In any case, Keziah Mason’s ho is located at Arkham.” Mr. Joyce explained, “Naturally everyone gives it a wide berth.”
Suddenly a thought dawned on Gu Jun. The reason why he was transported to this space and ti... Could Arkham be his actual destination and not Innsmouth? Was he supposed to find so clues at this Witch House? Could this Keziah Mason be his ‘big sister’ or the existence with a thousand faces?
While Gu Jun was thinking, the dogs outside the farm started to bray. It was followed by approaching commotion.
“Joyce, you old bastard, soone saw you brought the heathen ho!”
“You blasted old thing, hand over the heathen. Do you intend to have us killed, like you did Jack?!”
“Get out of my way, bitch!” With the curse, one of the dogs yelped in pain. Clearly the mob had arrived and their first victim was the innocent animals.
“Damn it, damn it...” Mr. Joyce put down his bread and stood up. His beard trembled from anger. “Damn it, those bunch of boors have found their way here!”
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