Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Corin's Shadow (12)
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Though the castle's forces followed Louis, you never know what might happen. We moved as stealthily as possible, muffling our footsteps to avoid running into anyone. I went especially carefully, cloaked in my Shadow Cloak to hide my presence entirely. Lloyd was Louis's friend, so showing his face wouldn't raise eyebrows, and El could pass as Louis's attendant. But I was a different story. To the Crows, a "Druid" was already a figure of suspicion. Better safe than sorry.
We headed for the lord's office. Two guards stood watch over it. Spotting Louis, they relaxed their vigilant stances and gave him a light bow in greeting.
Louis exchanged a few brief words with them, then introduced Lloyd as his longtime friend before entering the lord's office together.
I slipped inside just before the door closed.
The lord's office wasn't a place just anyone could enter freely. Not even the lord's son could come and go without permission. But with Corin's lord absent—more precisely, in a state where he couldn't move—his sons had naturally taken over his duties, allowing them access like this.
'Of course, Dawood's the one who's been using it mostly lately.'
But Dawood was off personally leading the orc subjugation right now, so Louis coming and going wouldn't seem odd.
-Thud.
The heavy door shut with a resounding boom. The office inside was silent. It carried that peculiar emptiness of a space long unused and unoccupied.
I shed my Shadow Cloak and looked around the office. There was a window fitted with pale-tinted glass, a massive bull-head hunting trophy, an empty mahogany desk, and a chair that looked unnaturally tall and uncomfortable...
"......"
An unlit fireplace.
"I've already checked everywhere."
"Is that so?"
"Contrary to what you might think, there's nothing wrong here."
"......"
"I suspected this place at first myself. But Theodore, I've spent twenty long years in this castle. Having grown up here, I know it better than anyone."
"Hmm."
"I searched every inch, but nothing's changed. No oddities..."
Ignoring him, I approached the unlit fireplace. I picked up the poker leaning nearby and prodded the dry logs that had clearly been recently placed. Ashes scattered beneath them.
"Burning letters is common enough."
So said Louis. He was right. For ordinary folk, maybe not, but for someone of Corin's lord's stature, the contents of correspondence were grave matters—burning them after reading was only natural.
But.
"Would anyone send letters so important they needed burning to your brother, who hasn't even ascended to the lordship yet? When your father hasn't 'died'..."
Exactly. Dawood was still just the lord's "heir" for now. Until his father died and he truly took the seat, who would send the mere heir letters so sensitive they had to be incinerated?
Burning letters in the lord's office meant Dawood was already acting as lord. Even while his father still lived.
'He must be certain he'll become lord.'
Which, naturally, implied Corin's lord—Dawood's father—would die.
"Louis. How is your father's condition?"
"He's not waking, but I've heard there's nothing wrong with his body."
"Is that right?"
"I saw him myself, and truly... he didn't look like someone who'd suffered a 'falling accident' at all. He was in remarkably good shape. Just... not waking."
"......"
If he seemed that "fine," he could wake any moment. Dawood was far too complacent. What if his father awoke and pinned the accident on him? Even as his son, that could mean his head on the block. It was strange.
Plenty to be suspicious about. Lost in thought, I scanned the office here and there. Lloyd did the same. El too. Nothing stood out no matter how we looked. It felt off, sure, but as Louis said, burning letters was hardly unusual... and it wasn't a crime.
'There's definitely something here.'
That "unnatural" vibe permeating the whole office. I couldn't pinpoint it—well hidden, whatever it was—but it nagged like knowing there was a cockroach in the house without spotting where.
'......But no skills or items to detect it.'
Would a priest or mage have made a difference? Frustrating. I stood before the massive portrait hanging on the wall behind the desk, deep in thought. Nothing came to mind.
'What could it be......'
I gazed blankly up at the portrait. It depicted Corin's first lord standing before what looked like this very office. With a stylish beard, he stood stern-faced, one foot on a fallen bull with a broken horn.
A bull.
Bull, huh...
I turned to the hunting trophy mounted by the door. The bull-head trophy was imposingly huge, its glossy horn gleaming. Just the one.
"Louis."
"Hm?"
"What's that?"
I pointed at the trophy. Louis answered with evident pride.
"You don't know the Mad Bull story? When our first lord of Corin, Stein Corin, arrived in these lands, a mad bull was trampling villagers to death. He saved them barehanded by beating it down."
Sounds like a tall tale... But arguing wouldn't help, so I nodded vaguely and asked again.
"Then, what's Corin's 'family motto'?"
"Fear not the horn."
"Fear not the horn..."
I narrowed my eyes and stared at the bull head by the door. Its massive, glossy horn drew the gaze. I studied it intently, then turned back to the portrait. I ran my hand over the wall it hung on.
"Unfortunately, there's nothing behind it."
Louis said.
"Just the wall."
"What if there's a secret space? Like a hidden passage."
"Impossible. Unless there's another room beyond the office, but this is the edge of the castle."
"Hmm. I see."
"For starters, that portrait takes eight grown men to move. If there were a 'secret space' behind it as you say, they'd have to call eight men every time they wanted in. Utterly foolish. It wouldn't stay 'secret' long."
"You might not know all the ways."
Louis frowned, pride wounded, but flashed a slightly cocky smile.
"...No way."
I smiled back in reply and walked over to the desk. The chair was oddly tall and uncomfortable-looking. Sit in it, and your feet might not touch the floor. Did people really use this? Examining it, I spotted worn marks on the legs. From just sliding it in and out?
No.
These were drag marks.
"Hold on, mind if I borrow the chair?"
I grabbed it and hauled it to the trophy.
"Theodore, that chair is the lord's..."
Louis called out, troubled, but I'd already climbed atop it. Eye level now matched the trophy perfectly. I inspected the man-sized bull head from all angles, then gripped the glossy horn. Up close, the spot I held gleamed unnaturally slick.
-Clunk!!!!!
Fearless, I pressed down hard.
-Rrrumble!!!
The horn sank in like a button.
-Kuuguuguu...
A heavy grinding sounded from behind. I turned to look.
"Gasp...!"
Louis sharply inhaled. No wonder. I chuckled and stepped down.
-Kuuguuguu...
The portrait—supposedly needing eight men to shift—was sliding smoothly aside. Heavy, but effortless. Once fully moved, a hidden door emerged behind it. I approached it slowly.
"No way..."
Louis muttered in disbelief.
"Fear not the horn. Your family motto checked out."
I patted the gaping Louis's shoulder. He swallowed hard and shook his head.
"Ah, probably... a secret room revealed only upon becoming lord."
"Makes sense. A space for the 'lord' alone."
I grasped the handle carefully. Regaining his wits, Louis grabbed my arm.
"But beyond this is really just open air. Opening it, nothing but sky... The castle's layout. Truly, nothing behind."
"We'll see when we open it."
"......"
In the end, Louis released me and fell silent.
I knew he was right. The castle's structure left no room beyond this wall. Even if there was a door, it opened to empty air.
'Maybe they used it for executions.'
Shoving people out to fall... But that seemed too gruesome for Corin's style.
'More likely a secret space.'
That would explain the nagging feeling in this room.
'Exciting.'
It could be a trap. Still...
'No choice but to check.'
Like Corin's motto—fear not the horn—only by advancing without fear could I uncover the secret beyond.
I flung the door open with force.