Chapter 84: The Path of the Castle Lord (3)
Chapter 84: The Path of the Castle Lord (3)
Several days after Eugene and his party were drawn into the Wandering Castle.
The Rostock guards who had been controlling the surrounding crowds ended their duty.
"We're pulling out. Tear down the checkpoints."
"Is that for real, Captain?!"
"Finally!"
The mentally exhausted guards cheered and threw their arms around one another.
-You wretches! Do you know who I am that you dare do this?
-Forgive us. It was by order of Duke Ismar...
Travelers, mercenaries, and adventurers could simply be kept in line by the authority of the city guard.
But the nobles who came from all corners of the continent were the problem. Among them were even those of royal blood, however low in the line of succession.
-Under customary law dating back to antiquity, this castle is classified as abandoned property on land. It is not the Duke's private property, yet you will not even let us touch it? Even if it lies within his domain, is that not going too far?
The difference in status already made the nobles difficult to handle. Once they invoked obscure customary law that an ordinary guardsman had never even heard of, there was no arguing with them.
-Pull them out. If we keep worrying about accidents, we'll only earn the whole house their resentment.
In the end, Duke Ismar had no choice but to abandon control.
Human nature was simple: if you were standing, you wanted to sit; once seated, you wanted to lie down.
Some had already moved beyond curiosity to the next emotion: greed. Plenty had arrived greedy from the very beginning.
"When are those dwarves getting here?"
"They say they'll be two days late because they had to secure passage by ship on short notice."
"And what if someone else opens it during those two days?!"
A certain count fumed as he watched mercenaries and adventurers fiddling with the castle gate.
"My lord Count, do you really think a gate built by the ancients will yield to those people? Frankly, even the dwarven siege engineers may not be able to break it. I'm more worried about whether we can strike the gate without Duke Ismar's permission."
Bringing in siege engines and attacking the gate could easily offend the duke. After all, it amounted to operating something like a military force on another lord's land.
"Ahem! Challenging an abandoned ruin is a noble's legitimate right. We haven't brought an army with us, so the Duke will surely turn a blind eye."
For direct property such as a mine, the lord of the territory where it was discovered held the strongest claim.
Abandoned ruins, research facilities left by ancient mages, and other man-made structures were different. They were treated as ownerless spoils, so the first person to explore them was granted substantial rights.
The custom dated back to the age when humanity lost vast stretches of territory to monsters after the fall of the Ancient Kingdom.
The law had been created to encourage settlers and explorers to risk their lives reclaiming lost territory. Even now that the world was more stable, those rights were still respected.
"Mage. Find a way to open it."
"Me?!"
"I heard from the man who introduced you that you're an expert at opening seals."
In front of the gate stood a glaring knight and a flustered young mage.
"My magic lets me take a letter out and put it back without breaking the wax seal."
It sounded trivial, but it was an impressive skill: he could secretly read the letters of high nobles without being detected.
"I don't want to hear it! The Viscount ordered me to produce results, so find a way. Otherwise I'll report you as a swindler who tried to make money by deceiving a noble."
"N-no! Wait just a moment!"
The blindsided mage looked ready to cry.
In this age, mages served as advisers and general problem-solvers at once. As a result, they were often ordered to deal with matters far outside their specialties.
Tampering with a wax seal and undoing the seal on a colossal gate vast enough to take one's breath away were entirely different disciplines.
The ignorant knight did not care. His logic was simple: "You're an expert at opening seals, aren't you?" So he forced the mage to try.
"Come now, Count Berman. Have a drink."
Meanwhile, the nobles who had come from every region held one banquet after another, almost competing over who could pitch the most luxurious tents and serve the finest food.
Merchant companies, entertainers, laborers, city residents, mercenaries looking for work or amusement, and free knights hoping to make connections with nobles all joined the gathering.
Thousands of candles, torches, and lanterns carried by people moving among the tents kept the plain bright even at night.
But that light reached only the lower portion of the Wandering Castle. Light from the ground could not reach above its middle tier.
Then, one night.
"Hm?"
A dark elf who had ignored the gate and kept watch on the upper castle suddenly opened his eyes wide.
"What is it?"
"There—look! Report it to Lord Rex at once!"
An intense white light unlike anything seen in a noble household shone from the castle's middle tier.
It stood out at once, glittering alone amid the total blackness.
RUMMMMMBLE.
A low, heavy sound rolled across the plain, as though the enormous castle were stretching awake.
Like muscles rejoicing as blood began circulating through veins that had been dry for ages.
FWOOSH!
Lights began coming on one after another all across the castle, which until then had existed in the darkness only as an even blacker silhouette.
"Good heavens!"
"Am I dreaming?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared upward in wonder.
The torches, candles, and lanterns across the plain numbered more than a thousand altogether. Yet fewer than a hundred lights surrounding the enormous castle outshone them all.
"Beautiful."
A noblewoman who had looked bored beside her husband throughout the banquet clasped her hands and gazed up at the castle in rapture.
It felt to her as though the stars in the night sky had descended to just above her.
"So that's how it's done."
The one who had awakened those stars clenched his fist and nodded within the Wandering Castle's core. He had successfully completed his first command since assuming the office of castle lord.
HUMMMMM.
The Wandering Castle's core drank in its new master's thoughts with its entire being, as though rejoicing that its long existence as an empty shell had finally ended.
It was a throne no less magnificent than the one occupied by the emperor in the capital of Roman. Eugene sat upon it.
"It is remarkable that one person can control a castle this vast. Even a single galley needs dozens of oarsmen and a crew to command them."
"I'd like to show Varda-nim around too, but it seems only the castle lord can enter."
"A pity, but fortunate in another way. No one but you can sneak in here and try anything foolish."
Varda nodded in satisfaction.
She seemed happier that Eugene's authority as castle lord stood on a firm foundation than she was curious about the core.
"May I offer a word of counsel?"
"You don't need to ask permission. Say whatever you like, anytime. If I'm asleep, you can kick me in the butt to wake me up."
"Pfft."
Varda let out a soft laugh, yet felt a swell of emotion rise within her. She stroked her ample bosom at the sensation that was both joyful and faintly tingling.
A person's growth was easiest to notice after time apart; when you lived together, the changes were hard to feel.
Yet the knight before her seemed to leap to greater heights at every turn even though they were always together.
And each time, with a few words like these, he brought her along to stand beside him.
"Then I'll speak freely. I think you can put away the sword on your lap now."
Eugene sat on the throne with Last Autumn resting across his lap, one hand on the hilt so he could swing it at a moment's notice.
"I can't help being wary in case this damned castle tries something."
"The chains from your dream? The ones that bound you when you tried to rise from the throne?"
Eugene nodded and gave the sword in his hand a few idle swings.
"With this, I should be able to cut them apart in one stroke."
"To me, there doesn't seem to be any sign of danger at all."
Varda recalled the moment Eugene had first sat upon the throne.
-The succession is complete.
-The tempered body and tempered soul have been joined as one.
-The cheap will born of flesh is no longer necessary.
The jubilant voice melted away as though rotting into sludge. After that, neither Varda nor Homi heard another whisper.
All that remained were two bodies obeying a single soul.
"This is not a contract with a spirit. You simply became its master. The castle will not harm you the way it did in your dream. It has neither a reason nor a will to do so anymore."
Varda's gaze shifted slightly downward.
At the foot of the throne, Homi sat hugging her knees. A soft cushion she had found somewhere was tucked beneath her bottom.
"Most importantly, you shouldn't keep a blade so close to your precious squire's head."
"You're right."
At that, Eugene immediately sheathed his sword.
"Isn't that uncomfortable? There are plenty of good sofas and chairs. You don't have to sit there."
Shake, shake.
Homi loved sitting below the throne and looking up at her lord. Every so often she rubbed her tail or back against Eugene's leg and smiled brightly.
Resting his chin on one hand, Eugene stroked her head.
'They're less like a knight and squire and more like...'
Varda apparently decided the thought would be rude and stopped herself. In any case, the sight was warm enough to make her smile.
THUD!
At that moment, a small impact sounded against the main doors of the audience chamber. Homi's and Varda's ears twitched.
Graaah—.
Grrrk—.
Faint monstrous cries leaked through. Eugene could not hear them, but the two young women, whose hearing was far sharper, frowned.
Even though Eugene had become the castle lord, countless demons, undead, and other monsters still roamed the castle.
Homi reached for the military hammer she had set beside her, but Eugene stopped her.
"It's fine. They can't get in here."
Ancient construction techniques had been used inside as well, so the interior was sturdy even if it was not as formidable as the exterior.
"I may be the castle lord, but at this rate I'm no different from a hostage trapped in a fallen fortress."
"Good thing there are living facilities behind the audience chamber."
As if designed for a siege like this, the interior contained a latrine, a bath, and a magically maintained growing chamber.
No matter how strong Eugene was, withdrawing for the moment was wiser when surrounded by monsters whose numbers and identities he did not even know.
When Eugene rose, Varda and Homi followed him.
After walking some distance down a passage that ran diagonally from the throne, they reached enormous windows for observing the outside, each roughly ten meters wide and stretching all the way to the ceiling.
"There really are a lot of them."
Far below lay the plain before Rostock, dotted with countless tents and crowds surrounding the Wandering Castle.
"The Black Hand Tribe is over there."
With elven eyes that pierced the darkness, Varda picked out a familiar banner.
"There are more of them than yesterday. It looks like they've suspended their mercenary work and gathered the tribe's full strength here."
"By now they must be starting to feel fate calling. Even those who insisted the prophesied place was some other city or land will have nothing to say after seeing this castle."
Trouble was already beginning to break out between them and other mercenary companies and nobles.
"You mean to accept them?"
"Of course. I have to keep my promise. Besides, a castle this large needs a lot of people. Wouldn't it feel empty with only the three of us and a few dozen mercenaries?"
Tap.
Homi pressed both palms against the glass. She looked frustrated that she could not immediately boast to the people below about what her lord had accomplished.
Even this late at night, all kinds of craftsmen moved around the main gate, trying to figure out how to open it.
"If only we could open the main gate from here."
"But we can."
"...!"
Varda stared at Eugene in surprise at his casual reply.
"I'm still learning, but the core can do things like open and close the castle gates."
Eugene rubbed his temple.
Whenever Eugene entered the core, whispers flowed into his mind, as though etching instructions for operating the castle directly into his memory.
It was not a pleasant sensation, so he did not stay long. He planned to learn gradually.
"I can't manage fine control yet, but I can do more than enough to show my retainers the castle lord's authority."
"For example?"
"Things like turning on the lights, controlling the heating and cooling, or teleporting the castle to another region."
Tap, tap.
Homi tapped Eugene's arm, then signed that they should open the gates once morning came.
With so many armed men gathered outside and everyone burning with curiosity, clearing out the monsters inside would certainly be possible.
"That would be troublesome. I could secure the castle without lifting a finger, but then I'd owe them."
"Ah!"
Homi cried out softly, looking embarrassed that she had thought about it too simply.
"There are so many nobles. If they later demand a stake, it'll be a headache."
"Exactly. I own an enormous castle, but my army numbers only a few dozen. I'm an absurdly lopsided lord."
He was a lord all alone, without even a baronial title and with no blood ties or marriage alliances in noble society.
The moment the gates opened, every mercenary company, free knight, and noble would think, 'Now's our chance!' and pour inside.
Even if someone only stabbed one insignificant monster, he would inflate the story and demand to be rewarded.
"Besides, if we open the gates, our dark elf friends will be the first ones in and the most enthusiastic about it."
"Of course they will."
The promised place that would end generations of harsh wandering stood right before them. Eugene's safety after being dragged inside was merely a bonus.
"They're strong warriors, but they specialize in outdoor guerrilla warfare. If they fight the countless monsters inside this castle, people will die one after another."
Eugene shook his head.
"I can't allow that. They're friends who will still be helping me with plenty of things in the future."
"Then what do you intend to do?"
"I have a plan."
Eugene took out a map of the continent and spread it open.
"This place is...?"
"There's a reason people say there's no place like home."
Eugene's finger pointed to the southwestern edge of the continent, into the heart of a forest stretching west beyond Kingdom's End.
"It is so dense that after a hundred paces, you can no longer see the sky."
"And it's one of the most dangerous places anywhere, teeming with every kind of monster and predator."
Varda smiled, as though she had read Eugene's thoughts.
"I plan to teleport the castle there and then open the gates. Monsters are easiest to deal with using other monsters. That way, I won't owe anyone anything."
Using one enemy to subdue another was always an excellent tactic for a ruler, difficult though it was to employ.
"This castle has so many wonderful facilities. It's full of things Varda-nim, Marbas-nim, and our tribal friends will love. I want to reclaim them quickly and let everyone enjoy them."
Homi and Varda looked down through the window.
"They all came this far, only to go home empty-handed."
"Heh."
Despite what they said, both young ladies were smiling, because neither had the slightest intention of sharing any stake in this magnificent castle. Their smiles were lovely and somehow sinister.
"But what if we open the gates and the monsters refuse to leave? By now, this place must be as familiar to them as home."
"I have a way to deal with that too."
This time, Eugene wore the sinister smile.
A short while later, Eugene entered the core of the Wandering Castle through the castle lord's private passage behind the throne.
Before him stood a device resembling an armillary sphere.
It was roughly two meters across. A metal sphere the size of a human head sat inside several precisely intersecting rings.
HUMMMMM.
The device vibrated as though delighted by its master's visit.
Each time the rings rotated, the air resonated. The resonance became indescribable whispers that seeped into Eugene's brain—no, into his very soul.
As if begging him to learn everything about it, and to use it to its fullest.