Chapter 24
Chapter 24 - The Owner of the Ruined Castle(2)
I called Leila, who was sitting quietly beside me.
"Hey, Leila."
"Mm? What is it, junior?"
"I think I need to meet the Lord right now... Where might he be at this time?"
"The Lord? You mean the Margrave?"
Leila stared at me with a puzzled expression. Please don't look at me with that kind of expression. My heart was racing, wondering if I had said something wrong.
For a while, she stared at me as if we were having an eye contest, but soon she shook her head and answered obediently.
"If you mean the Margrave, he should be in the corridor of the main building right now with the Margravine."
"The corridor of the main building..."
"It used to be used as a place for meeting the local lord. Now that no one visits, it's just a large, empty room."
It seems she's talking about something often seen in medieval foreign movies or dramas.
An incredibly wide corridor with a high-ranking person sitting at the far end, with columns lined up, and people kneeling on a wide carpet in the middle to pay their respects... Well, that's how I imagine it.
I recalled the scenery of the castle that I had seen while being led by Leila.
"Hmm... Was there such a place?"
"There is. Even if it's a fortress for battle, it's still a castle belonging to a Margrave."
"I probably didn't pass by it when I came here. I don't remember."
"No, we passed right through the middle."
No. No matter how I think about it, I don't seem to have seen such a wide reception hall.
Suddenly, I felt a cold sensation on the back of my neck and opened my eyes wide. And I stared intently at Leila.
'Could it be that this woman...!'
Was this question also meant to test me? Wasn't her suspicion about me not completely resolved yet?
I felt like a knife was at my throat. I swallowed a dry gulp. With an even more cautious expression, I spoke while watching her reaction.
"Among the large rooms I passed by when coming here... there was a garbage room and a morgue and..."
There were indeed wide spaces. One was a spacious room with household garbage piled up randomly. The other was a rectangular space with burnt human corpses stacked like a mountain.
Neither of these places could be called a reception hall. No, not just embarrassing - they were terrifying.
As I counted my fingers, Leila, who had been quietly listening, tilted her head.
"A morgue? There's no such place in this castle."
"... Eh?"
"Ah, I see. Well, it's understandable to misunderstand."
Leila seemed to have found the problem in our parallel conversation and let out an exclamation. As she nodded her head and smiled a little sadly, she pointed to the door.
"Go to that morgue. The Margrave should be there."
Only then did I realize.
The one who was mistaken wasn't Leila, but me. The reception hall she was talking about was the morgue I was referring to.
I was momentarily speechless. I walked out of the room as if possessed. Just before closing the door, I barely managed to speak.
"Was it you who stacked the corpses in the reception hall?"
I didn't look at Leila. To be precise, I was afraid to look. Because she might be wearing the same expression she had when she killed me twenty-one times.
But the dull voice of Leila coming from behind me revealed an even more horrifying reality.
"No. It was the Margrave himself."
That's what she said.
My steps toward the reception hall became even heavier.
"Can you go alone? I can accompany you if needed."
"... No. I need to adapt."
"As you wish."
Leila asked worriedly. I waved my hand and quickly closed the door.
Just before it closed, I heard her small voice.
"... Be careful, junior."
* * *
The morgue... reception hall I mentioned was located in the center of the castle. Since the dormitory for the knights where I was staying was attached to the left tower, I walked out of my room and immediately followed the right corridor.
As I walked, I looked around here and there. Cold wind blew through the cracks of broken windows. I hugged my arms.
"Ugh, damn. It's already cold, and it's even scary."
The stone floor was worn and cracked, and the carpet was reduced to rags. The originally elegant wall paintings were stained with blood and filth, creating a horrific atmosphere. The chandelier had fallen and was rolling around in a corner of the corridor.
"Here it is."
At the end of the ghost house-like corridor, the reception hall appeared. A wide rectangular space with corpses scattered sporadically. It was exactly as I remembered.
Earlier it was much brighter thanks to the magic lantern Leila was holding. Now, the only lighting was the occasional candles on the walls. The group of corpses flickering in the candlelight seemed like they could move at any moment.
"Th- oh oh oh..."
Oh, damn! They're really moving!!
"Eek! What, what is it! What is happening!!"
I backed away from the group of corpses in shock. Looking closer, their fingertips and toes were twitching. From their burnt, crumbling mouths, voices like scratching wood were seeping out.
My mind went blank. As I was about to faint from dizziness and leaned on my forehead, a solemn voice hit my ears.
"Who is it?"
Without realizing it, I quickly turned my head.
At the end of the corpse pile, on a chair that retained a faded grandeur, someone was sitting. A face with stiff wrinkles and gray hair. Deep black eyes. Wearing a pitch-black armor that covered his entire body, he was sitting on the throne, looking at me.
That man....'
I instinctively sensed it. The owner of this castle. The Margrave of Halcenberg.
There was a unique energy emanating from the man. I could tell. I'm not a martial arts master, so how could I detect some guy's energy? But at least from this man, there was definitely an aura that even an ordinary person like me could feel.
I immediately bowed my head as deeply as possible to show the utmost respect.
"Oh, hello, Margrave. This is... the first time meeting you."
"... Well. What brings a traveler to this crumbling, shabby castle?"
The man... Halcenberg responded in a leisurely tone, contrary to the suffocating atmosphere.
My first meeting with Halcenberg began like this.
* * *
I remained stiff, locked in a staring contest with Halcenberg. He too simply stared back silently, showing no particular reaction.
My stiffness wasn't solely due to the sudden appearance of the moving corpse of Halcenberg.
The female corpse sitting quietly beside Halcenberg had completely captured my attention.
"Ah... uh... oh."
With a unique voice like scratching wood, she rolled her white eyes back and continuously twitched her body. Her features, which might have been beautiful when alive, were now rotting and oozing. Dry limbs like an old tree protruded from the dress's hem. White maggots crawled over the bright red ruby pendant around her neck.
'Wow.'
And I belatedly noticed. Halcenberg was holding her tree-like fingers preciously. I vaguely sensed their relationship.
Perhaps sensing my gaze, Halcenberg turned his head sideways. And spoke somewhat awkwardly.
"My companion. Her name is Isabel. Isabel von Halcenberg."
"Ah. Yes. She... her beauty is... outstanding."
"Enough with the pleasantries. What beauty is there in a decomposing undead?"
"……."
I was speechless by the unexpected development. Who would directly call their own wife a "decomposing undead"? So he wasn't crazy from missing his dead wife. My preconceptions were wrong.
As I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, Halcenberg let go of Isabel's hand and stood up. Clank. With the heavy sound of armor, he took a step toward me.
"Well. After all, it's been a while since we've had a guest. Halcenberg always welcomes travelers."
"Oh, yes. Thank you for your hospitality."
"How is it? Your impression of our castle. I want to hear your honest evaluation."
"……."
To be honest, I'm thinking, what kind of crazy place is this? People who ask for honesty rarely actually want pure honesty.
I'll try a strategy of wit and humor. I pointed at the pile of corpses and laughed awkwardly.
"Those are... decorations? Haha. How nice. Gives quite an eerie atmosphere."
"They were my territory's people."
"……."
"More precisely, they were my territory's people, now ugly undead. Hahaha."
Oh, damn. I stepped on a landmine.
While Halcenberg laughed heartily, my face stiffened pale. I tried to lighten the mood but only achieved the opposite effect.
But Halcenberg, never losing his smile, returned to his chair. After sitting down, he stared at me intently again.
"Come to think of it, we haven't even introduced ourselves properly."
"Ah. I'm just a passing... civilian? Anyway, my name is Park Jeong-yong."
"I am the castle's lord, Margrave Johan von Halcenberg. Now just a nobleman with only a nameplate left, so feel free to address me however you want. You can even use informal speech."
"No. How could I use informal speech..."
Halcenberg rested his chin on the armrest. His expression clearly indicated he didn't care how he was addressed. Despite his strict appearance, his personality seemed quite laid-back. Looking at the state of the castle, worrying about honor or dignity would indeed be ridiculous.
In any case, with such a personality, there might be hope. I immediately brought up my request.
"Margrave. I'm sorry to be so direct upon the first meeting, but might I ask a favor?"
"A favor?"
Halcenberg raised his eyebrow. Even I thought it was an audacious statement.
He first looked somewhat dazed, then chuckled. He seemed to enjoy meeting slightly crazy people. Staying in a place like this must have muddied his mind. Tsk.
"What a bold traveler. Very well. What is this favor?"
"Can you let me work here?"
"... Oh. Hahaha. That's quite an interesting statement, traveler."
Halcenberg laughed to himself for a while. I was being serious, but from his perspective, it must seem hilarious. Suddenly showing up at a nearly ruined castle and asking for employment–Well that makes sense.
Eventually, when he stopped laughing, his eyes held a strange look toward me.
"So. What kind of work do you want to do?"
"I want to handle the monsters in the sewers."
"Hmm. For that, it would be better to find my loyal maid Leila..."
"I've already met her."
When I shook my head and dismissed his suggestion, Halcenberg looked surprised. But soon, as if he thought I was lying, he gave me a light reproachful look.
"How could that be? How are you even still alive?"
"…… Pardon?"
"If you had met Leila, you wouldn't be alive. Isn't that right? If you had truly met her, you would understand what I'm saying."
I stared at Halcenberg with wide-open eyes.
Come to think of it, that makes sense. There's no way this gentleman wouldn't know what's happening in the sewers beneath his own castle. In other words, he would know all about Leila's hero massacre.
What kind of relationship is this? What hidden circumstances are behind the hero massacre? With my thoughts in total disarray, I hear Halcenberg's one statement that instantly organizes my jumbled mind.
"Aren't you a hero summoned from another world?"
"... !!"
I've been caught.
I did nothing wrong, yet I've been completely exposed.
Cold sweat began to flow from my entire body like a waterfall.