“Yaaawn.”
Kim Jae-ho opened his mouth wide and glared at the Gate in front of him.
In front of the blue glowing Gate were many Sirius Gate guards with fierce glowing eyes.
Kang Yi-sin, the boss, asked Kim Jae-ho to stop people who might enter this Gate later before he went inside.
A special mission only Kim Jae-ho could do, he said.
Kim Jae-ho nodded readily at the words that it couldn’t be entrusted to the weak Han Seo-hyeon.
Well, that guy is useless at guarding things! I’d have to protect him if anything!
Before that day was even over, Kim Jae-ho regretted that decision.
And now, about two weeks later, Kim Jae-ho wanted to go into that Gate and drag out Kang Yi-sin and Han Seo-hyeon if he could.
The outside was too boring.
When it was this boring, he used to go into Han Seo-hyeon’s room. Then Han Seo-hyeon would crumple his face and shout at him to get out, and if he still stayed, the bone minions would appear and rush at Kim Jae-ho.
The new black bone minions were good because they were fun to beat up.
He wished someone targeting that Gate would come instead.
Kang Yi-sin said he could go back to the main base and rest if it got difficult, but he didn’t want to. Being bored is different from being tired.
‘I’m hungry.’
Kim Jae-ho took out a hot bar from his backpack. This backpack Kang Yi-sin had given him was packed full of instant food that would last for months.
Strangely, it didn’t taste good even though it was what he always ate. It only tasted good when he ate with those guys.
‘Come out quickly.’
Kim Jae-ho whispered, glaring at the blue Gate.
* * *
“Any results?”
I shrugged at Han Seo-hyeon’s question. It was already the seventh day we’ve stayed here. All I’ve done during that time was eat and read books.
Did I gain anything?
Not entirely nothing.
━ 「Understanding of Magic Power Operation」 ━
Potential: B
Type: Passive
Becomes even more adept at mana operation by encountering mana operation methods from another dimension.
I got a new skill. I learned it while reading books about Mein. I didn’t know I’d gain a talent in this way.
—There are numerous ‘possibilities’ in your body after all.
Certainly, it seems mana operation has become a bit smoother. Unfortunately, apart from gaining that skill, there wasn’t much else I gained.
“Is the spire still accessible?”
“Yes. It seems sand isn’t counted as a living being. She’s still sleeping without waking up.”
“Hmm.”
I closed the book. This was the last one, so there’s nothing more to look at now.
There were still many unsolved mysteries.
Count Hermann, the owner of this castle and ruler of this region, clearly hated Serena.
But why were the facilities in the spire so good? And who is ‘Serena’?
“Isn’t it obviously the name of the woman sleeping in that spire? It seems she’s the one who made this castle like this too.”
“I thought so at first too, but the name ‘Serena’ doesn’t appear in this journal. Count Hermann thoroughly hated the child. To the extent of not even giving her a name. In this journal, the count referred to the child using pronouns like ‘it’ or ‘monster’.”
Who could Serena be? If Serena refers to the child in the spire, who gave her the name ‘Serena’ and took care of her?
“There must have been someone who took care of her, avoiding the count’s eyes.”
“Someone who helped a person called a monster, huh.”
“Maybe there was at least one good Samaritan in this castle too. If we can find out that person’s identity, we might be able to find out about the conquest too.”
Unfortunately, there was no trace to be found in all these books.
The village search team said they had no results either, so I was thinking of searching the castle again.
“Ugh.”
I stretched. My whole body was stiff from reading books downstairs for so long. After loosening up, I said to Han Seo-hyeon:
“You should go back to the main base.”
“Ugh! The atmosphere there is really bad. That Yoo Seon-je guy drops lightning outside all day, so it’s noisy too.”
A show of force, or what? Han Seo-hyeon, who chattered like that, crumpled his face. Yoo Seon-je was literally throwing a tantrum. Even after a week had passed.
“He says he’s creating a technique, but.”
“What technique. He’s just venting his temper, that’s all. Huh!”
Over the past week, the relationship between Han Seo-hyeon and Yoo Seon-je had only gotten worse. Even though they hadn’t exchanged words, he says he can feel him looking down on us just from his expression.
Certainly, the corner of his mouth that slightly raised only on one side whenever he saw us was really unpleasant even to me. I was fine because I had immunity, but Han Seo-hyeon was different.
“He doesn’t even know we came to save him! In the first place, we’re going through all this trouble because of him!”
I left Han Seo-hyeon alone as he burst out complaints. He’s a guy who can’t even open his mouth comfortably except in the basement.
“Let’s be patient a little longer.”
“Huh, you know I’m enduring only because of you, boss.”
Saying that, Han Seo-hyeon headed towards the main base, stomping his feet.
After parting with Han Seo-hyeon, I began to thoroughly search the castle in earnest. The basement I thought would be the key to the conquest ended up being a bust after all.
—It wasn’t a complete bust, was it?
“We didn’t find out how to do the conquest.”
—Tsk. You told the kid not to mind that guy’s words, but aren’t you the one minding them the most?
“Ahem.”
Is it because of what I experienced during my academy days? It’s true that every single word of that guy stimulates my nerves. Maybe I spent the past week foolishly in that basement to prove that guy’s words wrong.
Actually, I guessed all the books there were trash after just three days.
“Anyway, it seems something is hidden in this castle for sure. Let’s search a bit more.”
I began to search the castle more meticulously. I even checked parts I had just passed by once again for no reason. I even felt all the walls wondering if there might be hidden spaces, like the door that had been hidden behind the ice curtain.
As I was feeling the walls like that, something strange caught my eye.
“Wait.”
—What is it?
“Aren’t the thickness of this wall and that wall different?”
Even though there was just one pillar in between, this wall was a few centimeters thicker than that wall. Although it was hard to notice from the outside as they were all covered in pure white ice, you could definitely feel the difference when touching them.
“There might be something inside this. Let’s analyze the inside once.”
I placed my hand on the wall and said to Ray:
“Please.”
I entrusted my body to Ray. I could scan the inside with mana too, but I was still lacking in remembering all the scanned paths and drawing a picture in my head.
How long did I wait like that?
Ray’s excited voice rang in my head.
—There are paintings inside. Portraits! It’s not that there were no portraits. They covered all the walls where paintings were hanging with ice.
“Can we break the ice covering the paintings?”
—Hmm, it seems possible. There’s a space between the painting and the wall because of the frame. First, leave your body to me.
Ray, who took over my body, began to delicately carve the ice. In about ten minutes, all the ice covering the wall disappeared.
Two portraits that had been hidden by the ice wall were revealed. One seemed to be a painting of ‘Count Hermann’, the owner of this place.
Although I couldn’t tell the colors because everything was made of ice, I could recognize his distinct features.
Next to the painting of the count was a portrait of a woman with her hair elegantly tied up.
“Could this be the Mein who married the count?”
—No, the journal said that after she died, Count Hermann burned all her portraits. His hatred for the child and sense of loss from losing her was so great that he tried to deny even his past of loving her.
With his perfect memory, Ray remembered perfectly even parts I had missed.
—I don’t think this is the only hidden portrait. We should look around more.
I nodded at Ray’s words. I began to remove all the ice from places where portraits were contained by investigating the walls.
After tearing down a few more walls like that, I could finally know the identity of that woman.
“It seems Count Hermann remarried after that incident. Well, he couldn’t not do so as a nobleman.”
The portraits that appeared from the torn walls were all of two people drawn together. The same shaped rings were shining on both of their ring fingers.
—There was no information about this woman in the journal.
“It means Count Hermann wasn’t a good husband. To the extent that he had no interest at all in the woman he remarried.”
Could this woman have been the ‘good Samaritan’?
She does look quite kind. The woman had such a gentle impression that it seemed she couldn’t even kill a fly with her own hands. But I’ve experienced too many things to just believe someone because they look kind.
“Still, there’s too little information about this woman.”
There was too little information about this woman in this castle. You’d think someone of the rank of countess would have had her own space, but there wasn’t even a place estimated to be this woman’s room.
—Maybe it’s hidden.
“Like the portraits?”
—Yeah.
Just like they covered the walls like this, they might have covered walls elsewhere too. As I was thinking that and tapping around, I ran into Lee Hye-won and Lee Jae-eun who were about to go upstairs.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah, I was wondering if there might be hidden spaces inside these walls.”
I explained the situation. And not long after, we were able to discover another suspicious wall.
“Ha, to think they really made an entire wall to hide it.”
Days of hard work flashed through my mind.
I put my hand on the wall and instantly removed the wall as I had done so far. As the ice broke away and a door was revealed, Lee Jae-eun and Lee Hye-won looked at me with surprised faces.
“How…”
“Haha, it’s a small trick.”
—Small trick? Really. They say the bear does the tricks but someone else pockets the reward.
Ignoring Ray’s petty grumbling, I flowed mana into the handle. The locked door opened lightly. As soon as I opened the door, I quickly ushered Lee Hye-won and Lee Jae-eun inside as ice began to spread, and closed the door.
Fortunately, when I closed the door, the ice no longer spread inwards.
“Wow.”
Lee Jae-eun’s exclamation rang out. I also belatedly looked around the room. This place too was perfectly preserved like the basement. But unlike the damp and cool basement, this place…
“It’s a beautiful room.”
It was certainly beautiful, befitting a room where a noble aristocrat stayed. The room filled with antique furniture was as large as several rooms combined. A bed placed in the center and a huge wardrobe that could store dozens of dresses. And a dressing table, desk, and bookshelf full of books.
“Why didn’t this place freeze?”
At Lee Jae-eun’s question, I casually threw out words:
“Let’s investigate this area first.”
I immediately headed for the desk. There were piles of letters on the desk that hadn’t been sorted yet. As if in the middle of writing a reply, there was even an open inkwell and quill pen. I picked up the unfinished letter. Looking at the letter, I couldn’t help but be surprised by its contents, and the name written at the bottom.
“Ah.”
“Wh-what is it?”
Lee Jae-eun cried out in surprise at my voice.
“It’s nothing much, just that I think I know the name of this room’s owner.”
“What is it?”
“Serena Helen.”
At that name, Lee Jae-eun opened her round eyes wide and cried out:
“What?”
It seemed we had found the owner of this ice palace.