Volume 5 - CH 9

Chapter 9 – The Old Castle

Currently, Eto is in a field warehouse near the west gate of the Royal Capital with Dent and the others. Besides the people from the firm, Dent has also recruited some laborers, who are in the middle of bringing the wooden boxes one after another to the Firm’s carriage. The boxes contain every kind of foodstuffs such as vegetables, meat and flour.

“You don’t have to help them. I hired them for that, after all. Still, you sure are fit physically, Mouthless. Did you do any martial arts by chance?”

Dent squinted his eyes at Eto, trying to confirm something. And looking at that, Eto judged that lying there would create another suspicion on him. Thus, he mimicked a sword with his right hand and swung it down from the top.

“Swordsmanship? I see, so that footwork and strength were that of swordsmanship, huh.”

Dent nodded, convinced by Eto’s answer.

‘Footwork, huh.’ Eto thought.

No matter how careful he is, there are times when he would react in reflex. If someone with good intuition saw that, of course he would raise his vigilance toward Eto. Even Sarah seems to have found something about him, so the undercover investigation may be reaching its limit soon.

After loading the boxes into the carriage, they left from the west gate and proceeded along the highway. Incidentally, the firm didn’t hire any professional coachman, and just used two people from the firm as the coachmen, while Eto and Dent were sitting on the hooded wagon. Having taken a nap in the afternoon before they departed, Eto didn’t feel tired at all. So, while looking at the scenery from the loading platform, Eto thought that he was finally going to do something very undercover-like.

The carriage on which Eto rides then entered the side road to the south from the highway. That side road was a narrow path through the forest that was only used by people who knew about it. After a while, the carriage wasn’t speeding on the dirt road anymore, as the road turned into a stone paved road. It led to a stone bridge that crossed the stream, and soon the carriage reached the castle gate.

As the carriage stopped in front of the gate, two men who seemed to be the gatekeepers came out from inside. They were not armed, but the two just had a bad-looking face, which was accentuated by how they put their hands in their pants pockets and looked at the carriage with a scowl. Then, following Dent, Eto gets off from the loading platform. And perhaps because they are wary of a new face, the two men stared scrutinizingly at Eto.

“Don’t worry, this guy is here at Tulle-san’s order. Besides, we don’t have enough manpower due to the typhoon. So I want you to help us bring the luggage in.”

Dent said to the gatekeeper.

“Haa, that’s your job, right? Not our problem.”

One of the men said, as if to spit at him.

“…This is a letter from Tulle-san. The things that I just said are also written in there. Show this to your leader.”

“Tch! If you have such a thing, hand it over from the start!”

One of the men then roughly snatched the letter from Dent and began reading.

“Understood. As usual, go to the back of the castle. We’ll also send someone to help you guys.”

After finished reading the letter, the man reluctantly said.

“Aa. Please do.”

“Heh! Go on.”

The two gatekeepers let the carriage pass by their side. Irritated, one of the men spit as the carriage passed them.

“Remember, don’t ever think about who they are. We just have to leave these things to my master and Tamara-san. Understood?”

Having returned to the loading platform, Dent said to Eto.

Eto then answered him with a nod. The two gatekeepers who seem to be people from the other side of the society also seem to have a strife with the people from the Tulle Firm. Still, Eto doesn’t know what kind of development it will bring in the future. But, if they really don’t work well together, that’s likely to be a chance for Eto.

The old castle was more like a magnificent stone mansion than a castle. Looking at the exterior, it looked like a three-story building, and it was hidden very well behind the trees in the forest as it was not so tall. In other words, it is probably the right place to be made into a hideout if someone has something to hide.

Then, with the carriage parked to the back of the castle, people begin to bring the wooden boxes into the castle. From inside the building, five men with tough bodies also appeared to help the Tulle’s people bringing in the boxes. At first glance, Eto knew that the five have quite high combat prowess. Although he didn’t know what kind of weapon they used, they are likely to be adept in close quarter combat inside the castle.

“Oi, brat. The place for meat is here, follow me,”

One of the men called out to Eto.

Eto nodded and followed him. As Dent already told them that Eto couldn’t speak, the man started walking ahead, without being suspicious toward Eto. And as the two went down the stairs, Eto felt that the temperature suddenly had dropped a lot. Stuffs that easily rot are probably stored underground where the temperature doesn’t rise easily.

“Put it inside here. Don’t touch anything unnecessary.”

The man put his box down and quickly left the room. Following him, Eto also lowered the wooden box he brought and headed for the stairs to the top. At that time, suddenly, he heard a horse’s neigh from the deepest part of the basement. The sound of trampling on the stone floor also echoed from there.

After confirming that no one is on the stairs, Eto goes to the direction where he heard the sound. The first thing he saw around the corner was a long passage with prisons on one side. The sound of the horse’s neigh came from there. As he approached, Eto saw two eight-legged war horses, Sleipnir, were chained in a prison.

The hair and mane that covered the skin of the two Sleipnir was jet black, to the point it assimilated them with the darkness of the basement. The two Sleipnir were scratching the floor with their hooves, as if complaining about something to Eto. These Sleipnir must be stolen objects, that’s what Eto thought. And since they’re not something that can be handled with regular transactions, they had to be kept in prison until they found a buyer.

“Those two love cleanliness. If you keep them in a prison that has never been cleaned for a long time, they will begin to act violently.”

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From one of the prisons in the distance, Eto heard a voice. And Eto, who went to the source of the sound, saw something different from his imagination, making him unable to withhold his voice.

“A beastman…”

“What’s wrong, brother? Is a beastman that rare to you?”

The lion beastman laughed fearlessly.