Chapter 23
Chapter 23 - The Owner of the Ruined Castle(1)
After walking through the sewers following Leila for a while, she suddenly asked me a question.
"Come to think of it, did the master give you any instructions about your arrangements?"
"Arrangements?"
"Where you'll sleep, how you'll eat, and your status within the castle - whether you'll be treated like a servant like us, or as the master's formal guest... you know, these trivial matters."
"Ah... that."
Damn. Here it comes.
I racked my brain to the max. How should I navigate this difficult situation? Think. I don't want to die again! I'm already sick of waking up in this sewer and babbling about exciting adventures!
After deep contemplation, I carefully said,
"I heard that I should leave it to Leila... That you would explain everything to me. That's all I heard."
I began to use the unknown Margrave of Halcenberg as a convenient scapegoat.
It was a kind of gamble. While it would easily get me out of the immediate crisis, if the Margrave of Halcenberg turned out to be someone who was principled and strict? There was a high possibility the lie would be exposed immediately.
As I nervously looked at her, Leila was lost in thought and suddenly stopped in her tracks. She let out a deep sigh.
"You're pushing it onto me again. Well, I can understand, but..."
She mumbled with a sad face. There was self-mockery at the corner of her mouth. It was so fleeting that I wondered if I had seen it wrong.
In any case, she soon moved her steps again with her usual expressionless face.
"Then I'll guide you to an empty room first. Anyway, it's almost like a ghost fortress, so the main residence is full of empty rooms."
"Oh... okay."
After that, we didn't have any significant conversation. Leila walked while seemingly lost in thought, looking straight ahead. I didn't particularly want to get close to her, so I didn't bother to speak.
During the journey, we encountered quite a large group of goblins, but the situation was quickly resolved by Leila either slicing them up with her ghost-like sword skills or crushing them instantly by swinging her iron club like a windmill.
While peeling off the blood clots stuck to her iron club, Leila muttered,
"Phew. Are there more goblins lately because it's their breeding season? I'm getting a bit tired."
She shouldn't be not tired.
From what I've seen, she seems to have killed at least 100. I'm certain that all the goblins I've killed today combined are far fewer than the goblins Leila has killed in the last hour.
As we continued to advance without hesitation, we soon reached the end of the right waterway. And I unknowingly muttered, moved to tears:
"The... exit..."
It's light.
An old rope ladder attached to the wall at the end of the waterway. A dim light was seeping through the hole above it. The light, which felt warm just by looking at it, was obviously sunlight. The light of the outside world.
Leila, who was quietly observing my appearance as if I might burst into tears, tilted her head. Then she covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Why are you like this? You look like someone who's been trapped in the sewers for dozens of days."
"... N-no. Just... a little while... haha..."
I hastily turned my head and made excuses.
Of course, it's true that I was here for a short time in this life. But with the memories of my previous life fully intact, it really felt like I had been trapped for dozens of days.
How accurately she pierced my feelings. Is this women's intuition? Or maybe this woman just has an unusually keen sense.
"Let's go up. To Halcenberg's castle."
"... Okay."
I swallowed a gulp of saliva and immediately went outside. Tick, tock. I climbed the ladder step by step, holding the moisture of the sewer. As I climbed, the light became stronger. When I had become accustomed to the darkness and unknowingly started squinting:
"Ugh!"
At a certain point, the surroundings suddenly brightened.
At the same time, a cold wave of air hit my cheeks. I squeezed my eyes shut while hurriedly inhaling that air. My heart felt like it was freezing, but a refreshing sensation completely different from the suffocating air of the sewer rushed in.
Outside.
I finally came outside.
I'm essentially stepping on the ground of this absurd otherworldly for the first time!
"Keu. The snow..."
I continuously rubbed my eyes, trying to look around. When Leila, who followed me, stood beside me while brushing off her clothes, I finally blinked my eyes back to normal.
And I froze in place like a stone statue.
"... Why are you so surprised? It's not like you're seeing this for the first time."
As I blankly stared at the scene of the castle before me, Leila hurried my steps, saying this. Her face was unusually flustered. It seemed she was embarrassed by my reaction.
I moved towards the castle following Leila's urging, constantly turning my eyes around.
Corpses scattered everywhere, covered in snow, starting from the tall castle walls.
A vegetable garden filled with rotting plants. Flocks of crows flying around, enjoying a feast.
Snow covered in blood. And then that blood frozen over. Then covered by snow again.
The castle walls, impressive with their overgrown weeds and gloomy colors. Within it, a castle standing quietly like a dead mouse. The castle, with its tattered flags fluttering in the strong wind, reminded me more of a horror version of a medieval setting rather than Disney's dream castle.
"This is..."
A ruined castle.
Just as Leila had said in my previous life. The appearance of a fallen castle was spread out nakedly before me.
* * *
"Hmm…
Late at night. About 30 minutes have passed since I entered the fallen fortress of Halcenberg.
During that short or long time. I was sitting on the bed in the room assigned to me by Leila. Sitting down, I was repeatedly pondering while looking at the panel in front of my eyes.
If I were to talk about this panel, it appeared at a time when I had not yet escaped the shock of the Halcenberg landscape. It appeared the moment I stepped into the crumbling castle.
[Quest Occurred!]
[Name: Escape the Ruined Castle]
[Difficulty: Legendary]
[Details: The 131st trial of Mittelland to become an official hero. Abolished due to an abnormal surge in difficulty, but specially redesigned for the Guardian of the Egg. Use any means necessary. Escape from the cursed ruined castle of Halcenberg.]
[Reward: Official Hero Title. Grade 1 Random Box - Death God’s Favour. +20 to All Stats. Hero Sense +5]
It was the quest panel that I was already familiar with.
Well, a quest is good. It's an indispensable element of games. The content is quite intuitive. It clearly defines my purpose, which is actually good.
Moreover, it provides a reward upon clearing. Seeing that it gives a 'Hero Sense' that cannot normally be raised, it seems to be the kind of systematized quest referred to as an 'experience of touching God’s Dice' that I saw in the description earlier.
Well, it's all good. But there's one thing. Just one thing that's bothering me...
"...Difficulty is legendary?"
In this nurturing system, including quests, all registered items or skills have grades. This tier system is very familiar to those who have played RPGs.
What I just learned with Mimir's eye is as follows:
[Detailed Information – Rank (Graduation)]
[A category that classifies all items, skills, and quests registered in Gailand's World Tree system according to their hierarchy. There are five grades in total. From lowest to highest, they are classified as Normal, Advanced, Rare, Relic, and Legendary.]
[Normal: Most common difficulty/rarity/performance.]
[Advanced: Slightly elevated difficulty/rarity/performance.]
[Rare: Difficult to adapt/extremely low discovery probability/clearly high performance.]
[Artifact: Difficulty that only one in ten thousand can pass/rarity permitted to only one in ten thousand/tactical-grade performance.]
[Legendary: Difficulty/rarity/performance of a world-unique level.]
I turned my head back towards the quest panel. The difficulty was still marked as legendary.
I stared silently and muttered.
"Difficulty of a world-unique level..."
Yes. Now that I think about it, it's truly worthy of being called legendary.
Throwing newbie players into sewers crawling with monsters, and as if that wasn't enough, unleashing a monster-type murderous maid.
I've died dozens of times. But I'm here because I resurrect like Super Mario.
If one had only one life, they would become a cold corpse when a few monsters attack, each taking a share in the corpse mountain at the end of the sewer.
'Of course... probably no other heroes would take this trial.'
I frowned and clicked my tongue. Drawing the face of Shithair in my mind, I hurled curses like a bucket.
The reason is simple. The detailed text of the quest panel provides evidence.
―Abolished due to an abnormal surge in difficulty, but specially redesigned for the Guardian of the Egg.
Let me elaborate on this in simple terms.
The original trial given to other candidates was not of such a vomit-inducing difficulty. It was a trial that was abolished due to balance issues, but was resurrected specifically for me.
In other words, I'm suffering here precisely because I'm the Guardian of the Egg.
“What the heck! What the hell is this damn egg…!”
Feeling wronged, gut-wrenching, dirty, and so unfair that I can't stand it.
Eventually, as I've been doing until now, I rolled around on the bed. I threw the problematic egg from my pouch onto the bed and unleashed all kinds of curses.
I've been repeating this for the past 30 minutes. Even I think it's quite unsightly.
Just as I was starting to feel self-loathing and wanting to stop, a knock suddenly came from outside.
"Are you there, junior? I've brought some food."
A familiar voice, dry tone, and characteristic way of addressing me. It was Leila.
"Oh. Um. C-come in."
I hastily stopped what I was doing and started my normal person cosplay.
After clearing my throat, Leila carefully entered. Her two hands held a tray with steaming soup and a small loaf of bread.
Leila placed the tray on the table next to the bed. Then she strode up close to me and sat down on the bed.
"Please eat. I'm not sure if it suits your taste."
"Oh, sure. Thank you."
I dipped the bread into the soup and took a bite.
Dry and bland. Both the soup and the bread. Compared to the meals served during the trial, the taste was definitely lacking.
But I'm a beggar who eats whatever is given. I swallowed everything in my mouth and nodded satisfactorily.
"It's edible."
"I'm glad to hear that."
Leila slightly smiled at my words and then swung her legs. Rubbing the tips of her shoes, she played with her feet. It's quite a human-like side of her.
I can't match this with the image in my head at all. Just looking at those shoe tips makes me feel like I'm about to choke. Damn it.
"How are the sleeping arrangements? I selected the most luxurious and cleanest room available."
Leila suddenly asked me. I quickly scanned the surroundings.
A simple structure with neat furniture. There was some dust, but it was relatively well-maintained. The previous owner seemed to be a knight, with an elaborate banner and armor displayed prominently in one corner of the room.
"Well... it's not bad, certainly."
"Right? That's fortunate. We won't need to look around the room any further."
Leila exhaled a sigh of relief. I chuckled and focused on swallowing my food.
In truth, I don't care where I sleep as long as it blocks the wind and rain. I'm confident I could sleep in a tent without complaint. After all, in my previous life, I spent several days in a sewer reeking of rotting corpses.
What's important to me right now isn't an immediate shelter. It's how I protect the shelter I've obtained. That's what matters.
'Looking at my current reaction... it seems I haven't yet reported my existence to Margrave of Halcenberg.'
What I was most anxious about was the situation where Leila would immediately report my presence to Margrave of Halcenberg upon her arrival.
If that happened, my lie would have been instantly exposed. This place would have become a grave instead of a shelter. I would have to start my 22nd exciting adventure in that disgusting sewer again.
Please. I don't even want to imagine such a scenario anymore. I stared at Leila, who was playing around beside me, and steeled my resolve.
'By any means. By whatever method. I must meet the Margrave of Halcenberg before her!'
And I must negotiate with him, or beg, or match his terms. I must become Park Jeong-yong, the mercenary hired by the Margrave of Halcenberg and forced to settle here.
'Alright. Let's just dive in.'
Once the decision is made, there's no time to hesitate.
I immediately decided to take action.