Deception
The battle that had erupted so suddenly was swelling in heat and madness with every passing second.
Like a wildfire spreading unchecked, undead tore out of the soil, clashing against waves of knights and soldiers hacking away with their blades.
Visceral brutality and despair spiked sharp through the air, while a gnawing sense of panic, crisis, and dread choked rational thought. Even the atmosphere felt tainted. If I could feel it this keenly while drinking all alone in the safety of my room inside the Duke's Castle, the frontline had to be an absolute living hell.
"Phew..."
With a pleasant, drunken buzz dulling my head, I let my imagination wander. What if I suddenly awakened some transmigration cheat, gained untouchable, godlike might, swept away every enemy in one strike, and saved the ducal castle?
"Heh, heheh..."
I couldn't help but laugh at myself.
Swallowing down the sour bile of rising self-deprecation and self-loathing with a swig of strong liquor, I stared blankly at the ceiling. I felt so languid and hazy that I could have dozed off right then, but in a crisis like this, letting my brain shut down was suicide.
"So..."
Outside was already a pandemonium, but this was only the opening act.
According to the setting guide that meticulously cataloged the ducal family's fall step-by-step, the ongoing siege was merely one part of High Demon Cambello's multifaceted scheme. Direct brute force wasn't his style. He was bound to be concocting another angle right about now... The real kicker was that even I didn't know what it would be. Why? Because the present situation was a twist in history that was never supposed to happen.
"Hmm..."
The pivotal factor, above all, was whether the head of the house and Sword Master, Stanasila Urtega, would turn traitor. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the ducal house's destruction hinged entirely on which way his sanity tilted.
Where the hell was he right now, and what was he doing? Was he out on the frontline commanding the battle? Or was he holed up somewhere, desperately clinging to his senses against the ceaseless assault of the mental curse? According to the game's lore, he possessed an unexpectedly deep love for his wife, so there was a chance he was with Stanasila Pitra.
"Alzen! What on earth are you doing in here?! This is no time to be lazing around drinking!"
"..."
Well, that blew my last hypothesis right out of the water. Speak of the devil.
"B-Brother..."
Crimson hair, crimson eyes. The mistress of the ducal estate and an archmage of extraordinary caliber stood in the doorway, beads of sweat glistening on her panicked face. Her right hand gripped the small hand of the youngest, Vivian.
"...What brings you here, Mother? In the middle of such a crisis."
"That's my line! What do you think you're doing sitting there?! You really are... Good grief! I'll scold you later, so just come with me for now!"
"Come with you? Where do you plan on going?"
"To somewhere safe, of course! Don't worry. This castle is riddled with secret passages and hidden chambers. I even carved defensive magic circles into some of them myself. We're heading there!"
"Hmm... Mother, I'm being completely serious when I say this, but that sounds like a terrible idea."
"What...? What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Brother... please listen to Mother..."
Seeing the frantic, fidgeting mother and daughter, I let out a heavy sigh.
When dealing with people who despised, loathed, or antagonized me, I felt zero obligation to care. But watching them show genuine worry and concern made it impossible to just sit by. The guy named Kang Han-gil had never been that cold-blooded.
"Mother, I guarantee you... the enemy has already mapped out every single secret passage and hidden room in this castle. Fleeing into one will only walk us straight into a death trap."
"Don't be ridiculous! Many of the vassals have already evacuated to their assigned hideouts!"
"...Then they're already dead. Might as well start praying for their souls now."
Pitra's face contorted sharply at my grim remark. Yet I wasn't just talking out of my ass.
From playing Origin World until I was sick of it, and poring over every short story and setting guide available, I had learned one immutable truth: secret passages and hidden chambers were the most lethal places on the map. There were virtually no exceptions. Whether due to dramatic cliché or sheer narrative malice, the moment a place was branded a 'secret passage' or 'hidden room,' it transformed into a nightmare crawl infested with traps and assassins.
"Mother, stay in this room with me instead. It'll honestly be safer."
"Have you drunk yourself mad? You're babbling nonsense. Sigh... Fine. If you won't come, suit yourself. Stay here."
Immediately after, Pitra shot me a cold glare, gripped Vivian's hand tighter, and turned toward the door.
"Wait. Hold on."
"Hmm? What is it? Finally decided to follow? Good."
"..."
Pushing through the alcohol weighing down my limbs, I struggled to my feet and stumbled toward her.
"Good heavens... Just how much did you drink? You can't even stand properly... Absolutely pathetic."
"...My apologies, Mother."
Vivian's eyes went wide with shock at my sudden apology. Mother, however, didn't show much of a reaction.
Stepping past the doorway, I glanced left and right down the corridor. Fortunately, several of Mother's escort knights and castle garrison troops were stationed nearby.
"...You there, female knight. Ternien, was it? Are you the highest-ranking officer among the knights gathered here?"
When I singled out the female knight whose name I recognized from the setting guide, she offered a slight, surprised bow. She was probably bewildered that I even remembered who she was.
"That is correct. I serve as Lady Pitra's personal escort."
"Right... That's truly..."
I exhaled a long breath.
"Disappointing. Or rather, since my disappointment hardly carries any weight, should I call it pathetic instead?"
"Pardon...?"
As her expression tightened in offense, I silently mouthed words to her without making a sound:
Draw your sword.
"―?!"
The instant her confusion gave way to reflex and her hand snapped to her hilt, I spun around in a sudden blitz and gouged my fingers straight into Pitra's eyes.
"Aaaagh?!"
"Lord Alzen?! What are you doing?!"
Fortunately, catching Mother off guard as I did, my strike landed without resistance. ...In truth, that made no damn sense. An archmage of her stature wouldn't be caught completely defenseless in the middle of a castle siege.
My suspicion confirmed, I tore out a fistful of her hair in the same motion while snatching the youngest, Vivian, by the wrist. The real mother would never have released Vivian's hand for anything, but this creature was too busy clutching its gouged-out eyes to care.
"B-Brother...?"
Pulling the frozen, terrified Vivian into my embrace, I darted swiftly behind Ternien, who was already drawing her blade toward me. Before I knew it, the surrounding escort knights had formed a perimeter, weapons leveled at my chest.
Before they could skewer me, I thrust the clump of hair into plain view.
"Ternien. Calm down and look closely. This is the hair I just ripped from 'Mother.'"
"What does that have to do with―?!"
Mid-shout, her eyes stretched wide. Seeing her posture freeze stiff, she had clearly caught on.
The crimson strands caught between my fingers were squirming and writhing like living worms. An impossibility for any human being.
"Behind you."
"!"
The moment I dropped that sharp, cold command, instinct overtook her confusion. She spun on her heel and slashed downward in a single, fluid arc.
"Skrrrreeeek! Gyaaaargh!"
Cleaved clean in two, the Doppelganger's glamour shattered, collapsing into an amorphous, bubbling sludge that splattered wetly across the corridor stones.
"W-What in the world is this...?!"
"Can't you tell? It's a Doppelganger. Not an ordinary one, obviously—a specialized breed modified by a high demon to mimic Mother down to the details."
"..."
Just in case, I plucked a single strand of Vivian's hair. Thankfully, hers dangled limp and motionless.
"...! Everyone, pluck hair from the person next to you and verify they're human!"
Taking the cue from my actions, Ternien barked orders, sending the knights into a frantic scramble of mutual hair-pulling. Relief washed over the corridor when none of the knights turned out to be impostors.
"Ternien. Where did you start escorting that Doppelganger disguised as Mother?"
"T-That... from Lady Pitra's bedchamber...!"
"Hmm. Then we might already be too late."
I took another swig from my bottle, making Ternien's shoulders flinch.
"...! How can you speak so casually about this?!"
Her voice cracked with frantic outrage, making me scowl.
"Keep your head, Ternien. If you lose your cool, your subordinates will crumble into total chaos."
"...B-But..."
Watching her struggle to rein in her panic, I sighed.
"B-Brother... Then... what happened to the real Mother...? D-Don't tell me...!"
Smart as she was, Vivian was still just a kid; the gravity of the situation finally hit her, and her small hands clamped onto my tunic as if to tear it off my chest.
"Sigh... Dragging my ass around is such a pain..."
Even as I grumbled, the gears in my head were spinning at full throttle. My gut told me that sitting idle was no longer an option.
Stanasila Pitra's safety was far too critical. Whether she lived or died could very well decide the sanity of Duke Urtega.
"...Ternien. Follow me."
"Pardon? A-Ah...! Forgive me, but I am Lady Pitra's personal knight! I must comb the estate and search for her immediately―"
"We are going to find Mother, so shut up and follow. I have a good idea where she is."
"Truly?!"
"Yeah. So if you want to get there fast, someone carry me and Vivian."
"I'll carry you!"
"No, let me! My legs are faster!"
Before the words were even fully out of my mouth, hulking slabs of muscle hoisted me and Vivian up like sacks of grain.
"..."
I was kind of hoping the pretty female knight would carry me... Whatever. With my luck, fat chance.
"Lord Alzen, where are we heading?" Ternien asked, her face tight with desperation.
"Well, let's see..."
Piecing together lore from the setting guide alongside Alzen's inherited memories, I mapped out Stanasila Pitra's behavioral patterns and personality, calculating how she would react in a crisis like this. She was gentle and composed by nature, but when a decision had to be made, she never wavered. Furthermore, as an exceptional magician whose craft demanded ruthless logic and detachment, she tended to assess crises from a broad, calculated perspective.
"Hmm..."
Though she possessed a soft spot for her family that bordered on indulgence, she was never one to ruin the bigger picture because of it. The fact that Vivian had been left behind near me was proof enough. If she hadn't been killed yet, it meant she had a priority that took precedence even over keeping Vivian by her side. In that case, the most rational course of action Stanasila Pitra would take right now...
"We're going to the library."
"What? The Duke's personal study? Forgive me, Lord Alzen, but we do not possess authorization to enter―"
"Not that one. The Second Library."
"Ah! Understood!"
The knights kicked off the flagstones, surging forward like released ballista bolts. Aura wisped off their bodies as they sprinted flat-out without looking back... but I really wished they'd show a little consideration for the guy on their backs.
"W-Wuh-blb-blb...!"
My neck and spine nearly snapped from the violent momentum. A glance at Vivian showed she had coated herself in mana to weather the turbulence. How the hell did she even do that? Damn it all, this body really was utter trash. Was he even related to this family?
"We have arrived!"
Despite the sprawling size of the estate, it took less than a minute to reach The Second Library. The beads of sweat running down the faces of Ternien and the knights showed just how desperately they had run.
"Ugh... Good work. Now follow me."
"Yes, my lord!"
Pushing the doors open, the interior of the library was dead silent. Not surprising—who in their right mind would visit a library during an undead invasion? Moreover, even if it was called The Second Library, ordinary people were barred from entering without proper clearance.
"Now let's see..."
Wading through the dense scent of aged parchment, I scanned the categorization markings on the shelves until I found the secluded section. Third shelf down, sixteenth book from the left. I tilted it back.
The entire bookshelf groaned and shifted aside with a mechanical click, the flagstones parting to reveal a dark, subterranean passage.
"Hmph..."
I really didn't want to go down there. Like I said earlier, hidden passages turned into demon-infested deathtraps simply by virtue of being hidden passages. On top of that, High Demon Cambello's Soul Gears, the Soul Pit, possessed the power to place insidious curses on both living beings and inanimate objects. There was a very high chance the entire ducal estate had already been corrupted into a cursed domain.
"Brother... Is Mother really down there...?"
Part of me desperately wanted to dump the whole mess onto the knights and kick back... but having me along would at least minimize casualties.
"Sigh... Yeah. She's down here. Let's go."
"Okay...!"
Downing another mouthful of alcohol, I led the knights into the subterranean tunnel.
"Ah, Ternien. Take point with one reliable knight."
"Pardon? Ah, yes..."
"Don't block my line of sight... Do we have any mages with us? None? Damn it... Fine. Move out."
Taking command as if it were the most natural thing in the world drew bewildered glances from the knights, but their skepticism evaporated before long.
"Curse on the left wall—sever it with aura. Same side, underfoot, magic circle—gouge it out along with the masonry. Trap five paces ahead, floor-drop mechanism. Beast tracks on both walls; expect something small and agile."
Following my exact directives, Ternien severed curses, neutralized magic arrays, bypassed pitfalls, and preemptively butchered approaching monsters. She looked back at me, her eyes wide with shock.
"Lord Alzen... How could you possibly know all this...?"
"Does it matter? I know because I know. Keep your eyes forward."
"Ah, yes! Forgive me!"
Hurrying our pace, I scanned every inch of the passage.
"Hmm..."
To ordinary eyes it would mean nothing, but having memorized the setting lore and cleared the game countless times, the signs were screaming at me. Faint, deliberate lineations etched into the walls, floor, and ceiling. Geometric symbols scribbled into shadowed corners, leaking a vile, nauseating aura. The entire tunnel was functioning as a colossal black magic circle. Given the presence of monsters, it was likely a summoning circle. Cambello seemed to have prioritized neutralizing the ducal castle from the inside out over anything else. Whether to praise Cambello's thoroughness or mock House Stanasila's pathetic perimeter security, I couldn't quite decide...
"Skrrrreee!"
"Kee-kiiiik!"
"Groooaaar!"
"Shkraaaah!"
How far had we advanced? The subterranean cavern echoed with the cacophony of screeching monsters.
Yet something felt strange. We weren't so far away that they wouldn't notice us, but the beasts were howling hysterically toward the far end of the tunnel, frantic as if pursuing something far more urgent. Even so, they weren't pressing forward—held back like water meeting an impenetrable dam.
"This is...!"
"Lord Alzen!"
"Leave two behind to guard us and charge. Wipe them out."
"Yes, sir!"
"For Stanasila!"
Roaring in unison, the knights ignited their blades with vibrant auras.
"Gaaah?!"
"Skreeeech!"
"Grrrgh!"
Undead, ghouls, and oversized chimeras barely small enough to squeeze through the corridor fell beneath their swords. A menagerie fitting for a necromancer, curse-weaver, and shaman like Cambello. Yet they stood no chance against the charging knights. These weren't ordinary guards; they were the elite retainers handpicked to protect the Duchess, Stanasila Pitra.
Carving a bloody swath through the horde in seconds, Ternien pushed past the carnage and suddenly fell to one knee.
"Lady Pitra! Is it truly you, Lady Pitra?!"
"Haa... haa... Ternien... How did you find this place...?"
There, slumped against the wall in sheer exhaustion, sat the real Stanasila Pitra.