Chapter 191
Zeke found Clone sprawled out in front of the castle garden.
Clone, slumped over, had a very exhausted look on her face.
"Clone."
Hearing Zeke's voice, Clone managed to raise herself and waved at him.
Zeke approached her.
"The mission must have been tough."
At his words, Clone frowned.
"The monastery was crawling with those damn paladins. If it weren't for Boris and the new recruit, it would have been close."
"Did you safely rescue the Lubern descendants?"
Clone nodded. At the same time, she clenched her teeth.
"The Holy Kingdom. If you knew how those bastards treated the children, you'd want to go and wring the Pope's neck right now."
Seeing Clone getting worked up, it seemed the treatment of the children trapped in the monastery was quite severe.
"Where is Princess Arina?"
"That Sion guy? The clan guy you caught. She went down to the basement to treat him."
It seemed Decker had relayed Zeke's words to Arina.
Zeke looked around the castle, entrusted the fussing Arslan to a servant, and then went down to the castle's basement prison with Aaron.
"Ugh!"
Aaron, unable to speak properly due to the Soul Binding, twisted and turned, resisting.
Crackle!
Annoyed by his struggles, Zeke sent an electric shock through the chains.
"Kgh!"
Aaron convulsed from the electric shock and collapsed.
"Follow me quietly."
Aaron, brainwashed by Siemens and no different from a fanatic, was trying every trick in the book to escape even in this situation. But he couldn't escape Zeke's grasp.
Zeke threw Aaron into one of the basement prison cells and went to where Sion was.
Woong!
He could see the light of healing magic flashing in the room where Sion was.
Zeke quietly entered the room. Arina was using healing magic on Sion.
"Whew."
Arina, who had been using magic for a long time, got up from her seat.
She then noticed Zeke standing behind her.
"Sir Zeke!"
"Arina."
Arina smiled at Zeke as usual.
Zeke looked at her and said,
"You've worked hard. I heard from Sister Clone that it was quite an intense mission."
Arina nodded.
"We infiltrated the monastery well in disguise, but we were discovered by the pursuers while bringing the children out. There were so many paladins. Fortunately, we were able to escape thanks to Sir Felix's efforts."
"Felix?"
"Yes. The way he threw himself to save the children was exactly like the holy knights in the old stories."
Arina's words felt sincere, but the image of the Holy Knight Felix didn't quite form in Zeke's mind.
"Anyway, I'm glad you returned safely. Where are the children?"
"We hid them in a safe house we prepared. We plan to take them to Agamemnon Castle when things quiet down in the Holy Kingdom."
"Good. The Holy Kingdom won't be able to barge into Mycenae easily."
The revived Agamemnon clan had been recognized as Draker's blood alliance again.
Moreover, they were also receiving strong support from the prominent clans of the Central region.
Therefore, even the Holy Kingdom couldn't easily intrude into Mycenae.
Even if they did dare to enter, the Black Sword Knights guarding the castle wouldn't just stand by.
Zeke looked at the sleeping Sion and asked Arina,
"How is he doing?"
Arina said with a regretful expression,
"I don't know who conducted such a terrible experiment, but his body is slowly collapsing."
"He kept having seizures, and even though I used healing magic to restore him, he's not getting any better."
"That's to be expected. Sir Zeke's healing has tremendous power, but it ultimately maximizes self-recovery. No matter how much healing magic you use on a body that has already begun to collapse, like his, it will only return to its best possible state at the present, and it can't fundamentally cure a crumbling body."
Zeke realized for the first time that there were things his healing couldn't cure.
It also meant that Sion's condition was that abnormal.
Zeke looked at Arina and said,
"He's an important person directly connected to the upper echelons of the Nostra clan. There must be a way to save him."
Arina pondered Zeke's words and then spoke,
"There's a magic called 'Recovery' among the light magic."
"What kind of magic is that?"
"It's magic that restores a damaged body or soul. With that power, it might be possible to repair his body."
"That's great. Let's try using it right away."
Arina shook her head.
"Unfortunately... I can't use that magic. It's a different type of magic than what I mainly use. But there is one way."
"What is it?"
Arina pointed at Zeke and said,
"Sir Zeke can use that magic."
"Me? But I'm not a mage..."
Arina nodded as if she understood.
"I'll create an artifact that can use Recovery magic. Then, Sir Zeke can use that artifact to cast Recovery. Although it's called magic, you can use the healing you usually use, Sir Zeke."
Zeke was surprised by Arina's words.
"Is that possible?"
"We have to try. If it doesn't work, we have no choice but to wait until Alice learns Recovery magic."
"It would be best to make it as soon as possible. What do you need to make the artifact?"
Arina smiled and said,
"The Orichalcum sword you had before. That sword should be strong enough to engrave with Recovery magic."
Zeke nodded and took out the jeweled sword, Roland.
Arina was surprised to see Roland, ornately decorated with jewels.
"This is completely... in the old Lubern style."
"Lubern style?"
"Yes. The Lubern style is incredibly ornate and detailed. Some scholars see this Lubern style and make absurd claims that they were pushed back despite establishing the Empire because of their extravagance. But the reality is different."
"Could it be that they were using the power of jewels even back then?"
"You knew about that even though it's not well known? That's right, there are records that Lubern developed and used 'Jewel Magic' using jewels, in addition to light magic. Although it's a lost technique now."
Jewel Magic, which uses the power of jewels to cast magic, was a technique that had disappeared in the present day.
The Jewel Magic lost hundreds of years ago was now contained within the jeweled sword that Zeke had enhanced.
But without saying much, Zeke entrusted Arina with engraving Recovery onto the sword.
He also asked her to interrogate Aaron, whom he had newly captured.
"Oh my, I don't know how to interrogate."
"...Huh? I saw you turn Dario into a meek, gentle lamb."
At Zeke's words, Arina clapped her hands.
"Aha, I can do it that way? That's easy."
Zeke was quite curious about Arina's interrogation methods, but he had things to do first, so he didn't ask further and left it to her, then came out of the basement prison.
When he went upstairs, Arslan, who had washed and changed clothes, was waiting for him.
"Sir Zeke!"
The cleaned-up Arslan still looked haggard, but he had changed into a rather dignified old knight compared to before.
Zeke asked Arslan,
"But Sir Arslan, what did you eat to survive in that place for thirty years?"
"I barely survived by mainly eating moss growing on the walls and rainwater that flowed in! But on the days I found a field mouse that came in, I could feast!"
He had incredible survival skills for a knight. Zeke nodded and smiled in acknowledgment.
After confirming that he was able to move without difficulty, Zeke headed to the Four Seasons Castle in Atlas with Arslan to report the completion of the dispelling of the cursed haunted mansion.
***
Bang!
Howard Draker slammed his fist on his office desk.
The crystal ball that was on the desk fell to the floor.
"Is that even possible!"
Crackle
Noise leaked from the crystal ball that fell on the floor, and then the voice of the person on the other side was barely transmitted again.
―"W-we don't know what happened either. There's no signal from the dispatched personnel..."
"You idiots! Are you saying they were all captured by the mansion's ghosts?"
―"We haven't figured that out yet..."
Thud!
Howard stepped on the crystal ball and shattered it. He breathed heavily and gritted his teeth.
"What kind of people did Abel send to get such a result? Damn it!"
That's when it happened.
Knock, knock.
A secretary entered Howard's office.
He yelled at the secretary,
"I told you not to come in until I called you!"
Howard, who usually pretended to be kind, was now throwing a tantrum because his plans had gone awry.
The flustered secretary carefully said to Howard,
"S-Sir Zeke Draker, whom you mentioned, has returned to Four Seasons Castle."
"What?"
He approached the secretary, thrust his distorted face forward, and asked,
"Zeke Draker to Four Seasons Castle? What for? Did he give up on his designated mission?"
The secretary shook his head with a terrified expression.
"I-I heard he completed the mission..."
"That's impossible!"
Howard roughly shoved the secretary aside and hurriedly left his office, heading downstairs.
When he went to the central hall of Four Seasons Castle, many people were already gathered there, buzzing with excitement.
On the bulletin board in the central hall, completed missions were posted, excluding special missions that required confidentiality.
People were chattering while looking at the bulletin board.
"Wow, he really dispelled the curse of that haunted mansion?"
"And he even rescued Sir Arslan Solmara, the Cross Sword, who was trapped there."
"No way. Sir Zeke doesn't have a knight order, so he went alone?"
Howard pushed his way through the admiring crowd and stood in front of the bulletin board.
He gritted his teeth as he confirmed the post stating that Zeke Draker had completed the mission assigned by the head of the clan.
'What in the world happened?'
Just as the murmurs seemed to grow louder,
"Councilman."
Howard turned around at the voice calling him.
Zeke was standing there.
He looked at Howard and said,
"Councilman. You shaved your beard. I almost didn't recognize you."
"S-Sir Zeke."
Howard stared at Zeke as if he were looking at a ghost.
Zeke grinned at Howard.
"Thanks to you, I had an interesting experience. While dispelling the curse and looking around the mansion, I found quite a few poisonous rats."
Howard gulped and said,
"Haha. Is that so? It must have been tough."
"Not really. Now I have to find out where those rats came from, that'll be the hard part."
Zeke said with a sharp glint in his eyes,
"Once I find the rat hole, I'll exterminate them so they can't crawl out again."
Howard forced a smile with a stiff face at Zeke's words.
Zeke politely bowed to Howard and left the hall.
Arslan decided to stay at Four Seasons Castle for a while before returning to Thebes to testify about what happened in the maze.
He left a message for Zeke, saying that he wanted to repay his kindness and that Zeke should definitely visit him in Thebes.
Zeke got into the carriage and headed to the Atlas mansion for now.
'Howard, that sly bastard.'
Considering how much Howard had made him suffer in his past life, it wouldn't be enough to tear him apart and kill him.
'Just you wait. I'll find your weakness and kill you with my own hands.'
Zeke muttered to himself and then spoke to the person sitting across from him in the carriage.
"It's been a while, Shadia."
Shadia, a disciple of the Murderer's Guild and an assassin dispatched to Zeke, sat in front of him with a new face.
"It's been a while, Boss."
"Yes. How was the north?"
Shadia had just returned from the Northern Continent, where she had been sent by Zeke to gather information about the Northern Duke and the surrounding situation.
Without saying much, Shadia took out the documents she had prepared and handed them to Zeke.
"This is the information I gathered while I was in the north."
Zeke scanned the documents Shadia handed him.
It was data that she had compiled after investigating the power dynamics of the Northern Duke in Himonas, as well as the surrounding lords and old noble families.
Zeke clicked his tongue as he looked through the data Shadia had compiled.
"The Northern Duke's situation is quite bad. It wouldn't be strange if the lords of the Northern Continent revolted at any moment."
Originally, there were more non-human races than humans in the Northern Continent.
And during the era of the Holy Empire, the Pope had used various hard-line policies to control the other races in the Northern Continent.
At that time, the lord of Himonas fought against the oppression of the Holy Empire and protected the other races, including humans.
Eventually, the Pope granted the lord of Himonas the title of Northern Duke and recognized their autonomy.
Since then, the Northern Duke of Himonas had held symbolic significance, almost like a king of the north.
It was only natural that the lords of the north would covet the position of the Northern Duke.
Zeke looked at Shadia and asked,
"So what is the current Northern Duke doing? Has he made any moves to win over any of them?"
That's when it happened.
Shadia, uncharacteristically pale, swallowed hard and said,
"They're all dead."