Chapter 429
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Chapter 429
"What's going on?"
As soon as he got permission, Emun opened the door and stepped inside, pausing for a moment when he saw the alcohol placed in front of Kishiar and Yuder. But he quickly averted his eyes and spoke his purpose.
"Ever has requested you to come to the underground dungeon's 4th floor immediately. She said you would understand if she just said that much..."
"Understood. Prepare the carriage and tell Kanna to come. You can fill Kanna's place for a while."
After Emun hurriedly left, Kishiar stood up, his face showing no sign of intoxication. Yuder got up and followed him, asking curiously.
"The 4th floor of the dungeon, you say? Is there a reason to call Kanna as well?"
"We'll talk about it on the way."
Kanna, who had been observing the Star of Nagran Awakeners, quickly joined them and got into the carriage. She too wore a puzzled expression, not knowing why she had been summoned.
During the swift journey through the darkness, Kishiar finally explained to the two who were in the dark.
"While investigating the nobles today, I requested a bit of cooperation from Baron Koelt. It seems that the Koelt family still has information about the underground dungeon's 4th floor."
Once upon a time, the current Baron Koelt, who had done much in the name of Duke Tain and was almost as famous as the Willhem family, still possessed much valuable information.
Although he had fallen from grace, he was a well-known historian. He showed great interest in the story of the 4th floor of the dungeon that Kishiar subtly brought up. He had heard it as an old tale from his grandfather but never expected it to exist.
He was also from the Duke of Tain's family, so he was fully qualified to open the 4th floor of the dungeon. There could be no better person to investigate than the new caretaker of the West.
"So I ordered him to head to the underground dungeon's 4th floor with Ever as soon as the investigation ended. If they found anything inside, I told them to send word, but they sent someone quicker than I thought."
Through Kishiar's explanation, Kanna, who seemed quite interested in the new Baron even before meeting him, found out that he was also the informant who had secretly passed information to Pruelle, the one who stayed with Kishiar until the end of the party to protect him.
"I don't know either Tain's 1st Duke or him, but I've seen their names often in the information I've read since coming here. I wonder what they found there."
"We'll find out soon."
The front of the security management team building was bright as day, with many lights lit. While Kishiar was finding him and conversing with the startled members that there was no big problem and they should continue with their work, Kanna, who had been by Yuder's side, suddenly spoke with a hesitant face.
"Yuder. Do you, by chance, have any concerns?"
"No. Why?"
"Just from the carriage... I felt you were more than usual. If you don't want to answer, you can ignore it."
Though he did feel down due to news of Emperor Keilusa and the trial with Kishiar that he must attempt tomorrow, he had not intended to show it. But it seemed to have been futile before Kanna's greatly enhanced abilities.
Yuder glanced at Kanna's kind blue eyes, which seemed to worry whether he might be upset, and shook his head slightly.
"It's okay. Thank you."
"Mmm. But if you ever need my help, you know you can ask, right?"
Kishiar and the condition of the Emperor's body were confidential, making it genuinely difficult to ask for help, but the sincerity Kanna felt from Yuder lightened his mood somewhat.
They began to descend towards the third floor of the underground dungeon. The wide dungeon was packed with prisoners, and the cacophony from their individual wailing was almost unbearable.
Fortunately, the third floor, which confined serious criminals, was much quieter. Of course, that was until they discovered two people separated and imprisoned in cells with barred partitions.
"How dare you betray me! Without your nonsense, I wouldn't have been trapped here!"
"Is it only to that extent that you've gone mad, brother? I will not forget what a heinous act you committed, and I will report it in detail to Duke Tain, so please know that!"
"Do you think Duke Tain will believe your words?"
"Silence. The Duke's trust was more with me. He even bestowed this brooch upon me and trusts me over you, a mere Baron. How dare you doubt his intentions?"
"You're making a fuss over just a brooch? How many times has he lamented your stupidity to me and asked me to monitor your handling of matters...!"
Kanna, upon seeing Baron Willhem and his sibling squabbling incessantly inside the bars, tightened her facial muscles and bit her lips.
"Um, hmm. You seem very busy."
"It's more accurate to say they're busy with their mouths. Let's move on; it's too noisy."
Kishiar smoothly replied, turning away from the scene. Beyond the iron bars, the two disheveled men who had clawed at each other several times drifted further away.
"Commander, you've arrived."
"I greet you, Your Grace."
At the end of the third floor of the underground dungeon, where the hidden entrance to the fourth floor existed, Ever and Baron Koelt awaited, expressing both joy and tension as they greeted them. Yuder exchanged brief eye contact with Ever and then observed Baron Koelt talking with Kishiar, suddenly taken aback.
'That person is...?'
He had heard stories since yesterday, but this was the first time he had seen his face. A vague memory from a previous life surfaced as soon as he saw him.
'Yes, I'm sure. He was the one who almost uniquely showed kindness during the Western mission.'
In the collapsing Western region, where even Baron Willhem of Tainu fled, a barren place where no one welcomed or helped the Cavalry, there was a man who happened to meet them and showed kindness.
He was leading several people in flight, and Yuder was heading into the village they had fled from to subdue monsters. Unlike others who avoided the Cavalry, the man had provided a suitable place to rest and shared information about the terrain, then departed.
And what Yuder found after clearing the monsters occupying the village was the man's party, annihilated by another swarm of monsters not far from their first meeting place.
'Back then, he looked so miserable that I never thought he could be a noble.'
Their brief encounter lasted just a few minutes, and Yuder had assumed the man to be merely a village chief leading his people from danger. The realization that the man was a Baron, and that they would meet again in this way, was even more astonishing.
Yuder resolved to believe in his humanity even more firmly and quickly than when Kishiar had taken an interest in Baron Koelt and told him his story.
"What did you discover that you contacted us so urgently, Baron Koelt?"
“I believe I’ve found a clue that can shed light on the actual purpose and history of the fourth floor of the prison, so I took the liberty of contacting you. It would be easier for you to understand if you go down and see it for yourself.”
Unlike in his previous life, the perfectly healthy Baron Koelt was a person who felt very scholarly, with a neat and upright impression. Through his glasses, his eyes shone, and from his flawless posture, a rigid character was clearly felt.
In front of Kishiar, he did not overly humble himself; conversely, he did not act as if he was higher in front of Ever, Yuder, or Kanna either.
“Alright. Let's go down.”
As soon as Kishiar nodded his head, Baron Koelt stood in front of a wall engraved with Tain Duchy's insignia and placed his palm against it. Thanks to the still-unhealed wound from a previous cut, the floor and wall soon shifted, revealing the way down to the fourth floor.
‘That place…’
As everyone naturally followed the moving staircase down, the door closed behind them. Ever, holding a lantern, led the way.
“It looks... different from the upper floors.”
Finally stepping onto the fourth floor, Kanna looked around and muttered softly. Indeed, the fourth floor of the prison looked similar to the upper floors but was somehow different. First, the bars covering the cells were not black iron but white stone, and the ceiling was much lower.
Inside each cell on the floor, there was a large magic circle, aged and mysterious. This was evidently where the victims of human trafficking had been held.
‘They said they could almost live without eating or drinking in there...’
“There's an empty space ahead. It looks like nothing is there, but I searched around, thinking that there must be something.”
Baron Koelt opened his mouth in a serious tone.
“And I discovered an insignia on one wall, similar to the entrance above. When I smeared blood on it...”
As he spoke, the previously empty space revealed itself just as he had described. Only now, one wall had opened, and another space inside had newly exposed itself.
“A researcher's lab has been revealed.”
“A research lab?”
“Yes. It's definitely an old mage's research lab.”
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