RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE - The House of Dimitrescu

Chapter 6 - The Walls Have Ears

After a cold and particularly uncomfortable night, Y/N rose with the sun streaming in through the hole in the roof. Cracking the cramps out of his tense muscles, he clambered back over the wall of crates and paced around the attic room for several minutes, stretching painedly and trying to work some feeling back into his numb muscles.

Y/N's stomach was groaning softly as he moved, and his mouth felt drier than ever. He needed food, and water, but first he had to get his priorities straight, and plan his attack.

Quickly, Y/N dragged over the other table from the corner of the room, then positioned it next to the one in the center, before spreading out this gear across the combined surfaces. There was hardly enough to fill the space.

'Okay...' Y/N murmured to himself as he regarded the gear, comprised of his box of research, his guns, lockpick, chain, ring of keys, and the ornate steel key bearing the crest of Dimitrescu. 'We need food, that's the first priority. And probably some ammunition. Although,' he thought back to the way the Countess had shrugged off his last bullet, and the swarms of black insects that made up her daughters, 'I doubt that would do much good here.' He finished with a grimace. 'But still, it keeps those other creatures away.'

Y/N's eyes came to rest on his ring of black keys, his mind turning them slowly over in his head. He hadn't found the one he was looking for, the one to the outer doors, but these could be helpful if only he knew what they were for...

'Ah well...' he murmured, glancing around at the attic room, 'if we're going to be here a while, I need to make some adjustments.'

Over the next few minutes, Y/N comprised a mental list of things that he needed, and where he could possibly steal them from within the castle. Food and water he knew could be obtained from the kitchen, and failing that, he could spend the silver coins he had obtained to buy food from the Duke. But why pay for something that he could steal?

Other than food, there was linen for the attic which Y/N planned to use to make a bed of some sorts or insulation for his bed-corner. The freezing temperatures would keep the daughters away, but it might also kill him if he was to live in this room.

In addition, Y/N resolved to steal small valuables that he could easily conceal, tradable materials to the duke and whatnot, and also to discern the purpose of the ring of keys he had stolen from the Countess.

However, once it became clear that he had thought all the thinking he needed, Y/N hid his gear behind the crates, took up the ring of keys and his chain, then began to clamber back down the ladder towards the drafty passageway and the bell-room.

Y/N clambered through the dirty passageway, doing his best not to dislodge the many spiders and cobwebs as he went. As he arrived into the dark space behind the portrait of the Countess, he looked upwards, examining the dark wooden back to the huge canvas. 

'I wonder if people still paint these...' he murmured to himself, before he moved forwards to lay his hand on the dark wood. Unsure as of how to open the portrait from behind, Y/N quickly searched for a handle along the edge, tugging at the frame but with no success, until suddenly to his surprise, he found a small, sharp keyhole hidden in the wood. 

For a moment, Y/N looked at the keyhole in amazement, then he quickly drew the keys from his pocket and rifled through them until he found the one marked with a bell at the base. Inserting it into the frame, Y/N gave it a quarter-turn and felt the teeth click into place. 

'Brilliant...' Y/N murmured, a broad grin spreading across his face. He turned the key all the way round, and once again heard the soft grinding noise as the hidden locking mechanism retracted. He withdrew the key, then gripped the frame with his fingers. The portrait swung smoothly out of the wall towards him, revealing the empty bell-room beyond. The armchair that Y/N had used to prop the door shut was still lodged in place on the other side of the room. They hadn't searched here.