Chapter 233

Chapter 233

The group mission was over, and we had no more business at Epiacs, but our curiosity brought us back to the castle.

‘The system did mention Achievement Points, but still...’

I wondered if the three of us could uncover something the Temple’s own investigators couldn’t.

I considered bringing along other students who might be interested, but Harriet did not seem to like that idea much, so the three of us set out for the castle.

We trudged through the snow-covered forest, just Ellen, Harriet and I.

We would likely not be in any danger. If there had been any safety concerns around this suspicious, spooky location, the Temple wouldn’t have allowed us to embark on a mission here.

Harriet seemed overly excited, thrilled by the prospect of uncovering the secrets of the mysterious, unidentified castle, or perhaps just enjoying being with us.

“Oh...”

Of course, her excitement waned as soon as we arrived.

Whoooooosh...

The eerie silhouette of the ancient Epiacs Castle loomed once more through the snow.

At first, we had only known it as a spooky place to go on a mission, but now, we knew it was an unknown, deserted castle built in a wasteland.

This knowledge made Harriet’s excitement turn into trepidation.

It was one thing to know that there were no ghosts, but to feel like there would definitely be ghosts was something else entirely.

As usual, our reliable, always-composed Ellen stood there calmly, merely observing the ominous castle.

Harriet, perhaps out of nervousness, pulled something out from her belongings.

“I... I need to use this.”

It was a pair of earrings imbued with Tranquility magic.

‘She carries this around with her all the time, it seems. Well, what can I say? It’s meant for situations like this.’

After putting on the earrings, Harriet took a few deep breaths.

“... It’s still scary, though.” Her mood did not completely change, even with the tranquility aid. “But... now I understand.”

Harriet nodded slowly, having gained a bit of composure with the help of the magical item. It seemed she was determined to do what needed to be done.

“It’s not a castle,” Harriet said as she pointed to Epiacs. “It’s a palace.”

It was not a castle, but a palace.

That made sense.

There were no defensive moats, no towers with arrow slits, no drawbridges.

This wasn’t a fortress built for defense. It was a place built for living in and performing ceremonies. A palace.

When we had first entered, we hadn’t noticed these details. Now that we were looking at Epiacs from a fresh perspective, we saw that it was meant for living in, and not just for defense.

Harriet recognized it because she was accustomed to living in such places. She was most definitely a princess.

***

Based on Harriet’s observation and the knowledge that this was not a defensive structure but a residential one, we ventured further into Epiacs with a newfound understanding—this mysterious and seemingly abandoned palace held secrets waiting to be uncovered.

There were no outer walls, and although the buildings were almost interconnected, the main area that was used was the central structure shaped like an inverted “U”.

I wasn’t sure if there had been gardens or other such elements around it, but the grounds were quite expansive.

The more we looked at it, the more Epiacs seemed like a truly strange place.

The servants who had been stationed there temporarily for the mission had already left, and the already-vast Epiacs compound felt completely empty.

There were no locks on the doors or gates, so we walked directly into the dark and sinister castle. If anyone were to squat here, no one would notice.

However, if trespassers actually managed to live here, they deserved an award for that alone, as there were no resources required for basic living nearby.

“Given the scale of this palace, people akin to royalty must have lived here...” Harriet said, and both Ellen and I couldn’t help but agree.

According to Mr. Effenhauser, though, this place was in uncharted territory, and only the small nation of Glamos lay far to the south.

“I don’t know much about Glamos, but could their royal palace be this big?” I asked.

Harriet shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t be. I don’t know much about Glamos, but the fact that I know so little about it is proof that it isn’t some grand nation.”

‘Wow. That’s some serious disdain in her voice. If anyone from Glamos heard that, it would definitely hurt their feelings. That statement wasn’t meant to disparage for the sake of disparaging.’

“A palace of this size could certainly serve as the royal palace of a fairly wealthy nation, even if it wasn’t one as grand as my own duchy. The problem is the location.”

It seemed many nations would gladly accept it if the entire Epiacs castle was picked up and placed in their own land.

Click, Clack.

The silence was so profound that the sound of our footsteps echoed loudly throughout the corridor.

Ellen didn’t seem afraid at all, and Harriet was managing, thanks to her Tranquility earrings.

“This isn’t the Dark Land,” Harriet pointed out, clearly puzzled.

Indeed, while this was the northern polar region, it wasn’t part of the Dark Land.

“Demons don’t necessarily only live in the Dark Land,” Ellen replied.

“That’s true...”

Demons were not exclusively confined to the Dark Land. There were instances where monsters and creatures appeared in human territories and needed to be exterminated.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t yet certain that demons had built this place.

“It could have been the headquarters of a secret magic organization. The construction could have been done with magic, and a high-level mage could procure materials fairly easily.”

Harriet, who was a mage, seemed inclined to think along magic-related lines.

It made sense for a secret magic society to set up their base in such an uninhabited area, where people rarely ventured. With enough mages, procuring supplies and constructing the buildings through magic would have been feasible.

“That would explain why there’s no throne, and why there is a round table in what should be an audience chamber,” Ellen said as she nodded, finding the idea plausible.

“Yeah.”

If the leader of a magic society wasn’t a king or a person with similar rank, it makes sense that the audience chamber would house a round table and act as a meeting room instead.

Non-human entities, or a magic society...

It was clear that the original inhabitants of Epiacs were anything but ordinary.

***

Who exactly lived in Epiacs remains unclear. But wandering through the gloomy castle, even in the middle of the day, was both spooky and unsettling.

Whoooosh...

A whistling could be heard throughout the corridors, whether due to the wind or something else.

One might say the wind was wailing, and that was exactly what it felt like.

“Ugh, even the sounds here are eerie,” I commented.

“It’s just the wind, you dummy,” Harriet retorted.

After wandering around for so long, Harriet seemed more curious than scared. Or perhaps the tranquility earrings were doing their job, since she didn’t seem frightened.

‘In this scenario, shouldn’t you be crying in fear? Isn’t the artifact I gave you too much of a cheat?’

“Are you scared?” Harriet asked.

“The fact that you guys aren’t scared is what’s weird!” I snapped back.

‘Fear isn’t age-dependent! I’m especially weak against scenarios like this!’

One of us was holding out thanks to an artifact, and the other would probably nonchalantly acknowledge a ghost if it appeared.

Harriet looked rather amused as she peered at me in one of the rare moments when I felt slightly afraid. She never expected this from me.

“Hah. It would be great if a ghost showed up.”

“Can you stop talking nonsense?”

The ghost wasn’t important to her. She just wanted to be entertained by the sight of me getting scared.

‘What’s wrong with her brain?’

Awoooo, Awoooo...

“Why does the wind sound like someone crying?”

The wind sounded like it was sobbing, and I wondered if I was starting to lose it.

“What crying? It’s just the wind blowi—”

Awoooo... Hoooo... Hoooo...

‘No, really, something’s definitely crying!’

“Ahhhh! What is that?!”

“Ahh, shit!”

Snuggle!

Both Harriet and I instinctively clung to Ellen, who was walking between us.

Ellen seemed puzzled when both of us suddenly latched onto her.

Reflexively, she hugged us back as if to protect us.

With Ellen holding tightly to us, Harriet and I made eye contact.

It was clear.

Both of us instinctively knew that sticking close to Ellen was the best course of action in times of danger.