The private jet slowly descends down to the ground, reaching the landing area and not long after the gate of the jet opens, making the exquisite scenery of the area visible. To be frank, the scenery was breathtaking. There was this magnificent and huge castle surrounded by hills on three sides and a lake on the fourth side, making it look as if it were straight out of a fairy tale.
The lamps and yellow lighting all around the castle added a nice touch to it and since it was night time, their touch made the scenery look as if it were a painting.
As soon as Zero stepped out of the jet, what greeted him first wasn't the castle exactly, but the residents of that castle. Surprisingly, the whole Leeway family was waiting there to welcome them.
The Leeway family had 19 members in total living together in this enormous castle:
Mark Leeway and his two older brothers, their wives and their children and the eldest brother's two grandchildren. There were also fiancees of a few Leeways living together along with them. Other than the Leeway family, a few more people, Mark and his brothers' henchmen, also were present there with a lot of butlers and maids.
Zero moved down along with Mark and Bernette with Eliza, Cristine, Rheo and the others following them behind one by one. For obvious reason, the whole family's gaze was fixated on Zero as he walked with a confident smile on his face. A few children had confusion on their faces, while a certain young girl was a bit more shocked than the others. Following her gaze, she was gawking at Linda.
'That's Irene Leeway, isn't she?' Zero thought as he chuckled inside before the two brothers of Mark came in front of him. Looking at Zero, they had a question-filled expression, and the smile looked more of a predator than that of someone who was here to greet his guests.
Firstly, the man on the left, the middle child Cedric Leeway, orangish black hair like Mark but a bit more thin looking. He has 3 children, one more compared to the 2 children of Mark Leeway. With an S-Ranked System, High Vanguard System, he was one of the strongest persons in this castle. Personally, I found him to be a trustworthy guy. After all, he has helped Mark till his last breath.
Then the other man on the right, the eldest child Elric Leeway, had his hair more on the blackish side with an orange hue to them. A father of 4 children and grandfather of two, he was one of the oldest members of the family. He too had an S-Ranked System, Half Decoy System, which was… in a way, a really good System, to be honest. As for his trustworthiness… he is okayish all right. He kind of dies first before the other people, so it is difficult to judge what kind of person he was. Though it was said that he loved his family as much as the other two brothers.
"I am Elric. Nice to meet you. You must be Zero, quite the confidence you have there," Elric spoke as he moved a bit towards Zero and he smiled in return as he observed the former's face.
'Is that the first thing you say to your guest? Well… must be normal for the Leeways I suppose,' Zero thought as he extended his hand for a shake and then both of them shook hands and Zero answered,"Nice to meet you too, Elric. Let's have a nice chat sometime." and almost everyone's breathing halted as they looked at Elric and Zero.
"Oooh! Quite the guts you have there," Elric spoke, not minding the latter's lack of respect for him. According to Elric, if Zero can do what he is supposed to do here, then he has earned enough right to speak with that guts and confidence. Though Elric's wife and children did not like the way he addressed him.
"What the-" One of the elder children began moving forward, but Mark, Cedric and Elric simultaneously shot a sharp look, making him stop in his tracks. This… made everyone present dumbfounded. Zero wasn't being treated as someone below them… but Cedric, Mark and Elric… all three of them were treating Zero as their equal. Just why? Most of them could not comprehend while those who knew why… still thought that this was kinda out of place.
"We should go in," spoke Mark and the rest of them nodded as they all began moving inside the castle. Their baggage was carried by the maids and butlers to their respective rooms.
Under the gaze of everyone, Zero finally entered the castle and reached the office where only Mark, Cedric and Elric were present, with no one else to disturb them.
Cedric's gaze turned sharply to Zero as the latter smiled in return before speaking,"before placing traps, make sure that you understand who you are dealing with. While I do understand your urge to want to test me, it would still be better if you limit your approach."
When Zero stepped inside the castle, he felt a certain circle built on the ground that decreased his mana level and made his mana control more complex. While the effect was quite low, it was still there.
'At first, I thought it was the defence mechanism of the castle, however… It was Cedric's skill who was testing me. It was the pinhole effect of the mana skill that was fixated on me and not anyone else. Lucky, I knew how to expand my magic and cancel that effect right then and there,' thought Zero as he observed Cedric, who seemed a bit irked.
"Well… well… you aren't normal either, young child. So it won't exactly be unfair of us to test you, now would it?" spoke Elric as he saw the young lad, Zero, getting a bit irritated with their behaviour.
'Well.. their logic is quite on point I suppose, still I wonder if I could use this to my advantage,' thought Zero as he looked around and then striked up a conversation since the others had turned quiet,"So what do you want here? I mean, right here, in this office. Why did you bring me here?"
This time it was Mark who spoke up,"It was to tell you a few things regarding the castle and stuff you need to know. You can pass it on to the others," and Zero turned to Mark a bit curious as he smiled before his expression turned serious and he spoke,"this castle holds its own secrets. We haven't ventured into this castle long enough to find out all the secrets of the castle."
Hearing his words, Zero made a confused expression as he asked,"Explain it in a bit more detail."
"While from the outside, this castle may look like a normal castle, but in reality, it is a magic castle. We should not be telling this to you, but the situation says otherwise. The basement of the castle is deep… way more deep than you can imagine and the more you venture inside, the more complex it becomes…. On certain occasions even monsters are found inside the basement at the very depth of it. All I want from you is to not to go towards the basement as we don't want you to end up foolishly dying before you could even cure Bernette," Mark spoke and Zero had a complicated expression on his face.
'Well… this is new. How come I haven't heard of it in my past timeline? Interesting… How very interesting…' thought Zero before nodding and speaking,"All right, I will not go anywhere near that dungeon at all. I will also make sure none of the people who came with me enter that area either. Can you tell me anything else about that place? For example, I am curious to know why are you living in such a place if it is so dangerous?"
Hearing his question, this time it was Cedric who moved forward as he spoke,"Well… while that basement is dangerous, it has never created any problem as long as we don't venture into it. The fact that the Leeway family has survived over a few centuries in this castle is the sure proof of it."
He had a slightly complicated expression, and I smiled at him before asking,"then is there anything about that place that I should know?"
After that, the conversation went through a few smaller questions and answers about the basement and other regions of the castle before Zero finally said that he needed to take a rest, as he was a bit tired from the journey.
Bidding goodnight after asking for the directions to his room, Zero moved out of there as the only thought that occupied his mind currently was….
'Hmmm… when should I explore that basement? Today would be a bit too early… I will actually need more information on it. Let's see what we can do about it. It would be too much of a waste to leave things without even trying, wouldn't it?'
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