A month had passed since the trouble in the empire. The emperor honored
and praised me as the hero who saved Regulus. I was formally recognized as an
adventurer from Belfast who happened to be in their capital on the day of the
incident.
Taking advantage of the situation, Regulus also announced its renewed
friendship with Belfast, as well as the Duchy of Brunhild, which would be
formed using territories from both nations.
And, of course, the grand duke of that duchy was me. A lot of people seemed
surprised at the sudden announcement of a new nation, but the commotion
died down shortly afterward. The interest in it actually lasted a lot less than I
had expected. I didn't mind, since I had no plans to move there any time soon
or anything.
Plus, it wasn't like there were any actual people living there, either. I began to
think about what to do with the vast amount of land that the duchy consisted
of, though. I thought maybe making some kind of orchard or cultivated field
would probably be a good start.
The formal announcement of my engagement to Yumina and Lu was put on
hold. The reason was that the sex of the baby being carried by Belfast's Queen
Yuel was still unknown. The child's sex would determine my position as well, so
we stalled the announcement until that was confirmed. The announcement of
my engagement to Lu was also put off as a knock-on effect.
General Bazoar and most of the upper-ranking military officials were
sentenced to death. That was only natural, since they'd committed high
treason. The Blockbracer and Drainbracer that the General had wielded were
also confiscated, just in case those with similar ambitions decided to take up
the mantle once more.
It was decided that since they'd cause nothing but trouble for Belfast or
Regulus if misused, that they had to be destroyed. Part of me wanted to stand
up and say "Excuse me, but those are ancient treasures from Babylon, which
makes me the rightful owner," but obviously I couldn't do that.
I also considered creating fakes in the workshop and switching them out, but I
didn't want to cheat the king or the emperor. They were going to both be my
fathers-in-law, after all.
And so, in front of a royal audience, I crushed both bracers flat with [Gravity].
I regretted it, but to be honest... They still smelled kind of bad.
After all was said and done, the land was formally broken from the two
countries and granted to me, which marked the official founding of the Duchy
of Brunhild.
"...So then, are we going to move to the new country?"
"Eh... do we have to?" I sipped some tea that Laim had brought me as I
replied to Linze's question. Really more of a pain in the ass... It'd be better to
stay here.
"I do not think it's a matter of concern, I do not. I believe we have already
made arrangements to move there, we have."
"Wait, what?!"
"You're a total dumbass. If your engagements to Lucia and Yumina get
announced soon, then living here's only gonna make it look like you're favoring
Belfast." Oh, fair point. I guess that'd reflect pretty poorly on the empire, huh?
But honestly, I don't see it as a huge deal. I have [Gate], so it's not like I can't be
at either location in a flash anyways...
"So we've got no choice but to live in Brunhild? Then what, do you guys want
me to transport this whole house there?"
"I think it'd be smarter to leave this house right here. That way it can act as an
embassy of sorts for Brunhild."
Alright, that also makes sense, I guess... But that means I'll have to build a
whole other place there. Damn it...
"Should I just buy a mansion and have it transported to Brunhild? Oh, wait,
can't we just use the housing complex I have in the Hanging Garden of
Babylon?"
"If we're going to the trouble of moving to begin with, why not construct a
castle? For all intents and purposes, Touya, you are the head of the state. It
would be wonderful if you could create something more magnificent than a
mansion."
"Ahh, that sounds superb! A pure, beautiful white brick castle... Oh my..." Lu
reacted well to Yumina's proposition, and the two began chattering amongst
themselves about ideas. They really were getting along well. I had a feeling that
the two being of similar age had something to do with it. Not to mention the
fact that they had similar circumstances growing up. To be honest, I'd much
rather they got along handsomely than if they were clawing each other's eyes
out, so I couldn't complain.
"Hm, a castle..." I pulled up my smartphone and connected to the internet,
running an image search for "castle." In a flash, several images of castles were
projected out by the hologram setting.
"Touya, what's this?"
"Heh, I guess you could consider it a castle catalog... or maybe more like an
illustrated guide." I shrugged off Linze's question, then scrolled through each
image as they passed by.
"Goodness me, there are even castles here like the ones in Eashen, there
are."
Because I'd ran a search for "castle," it was only natural that there'd be a few
Japanese-styled ones in the mix as well. To be honest, there were a ton of
castles, more types than I had imagined. I wanted to see if I could see any
similar to Het Steen. It'd be an appropriate type of castle for a [Slip] caster like
me, after all.
"This castle is so beautiful and white..." The castle that Lu was going crazy
over was Hluboka Castle, that big one from the Czech Republic. It was white,
and very beautiful but...
"Isn't it a tad too large? We don't have any staff or servicemen right now, so a
place like that would only be a burden."
"Aw... I suppose you're right."
"For now, let's start with a relatively small castle, and we can make
extensions to it as needed, alright?" Come to think of it, I don't actually know
how to build a castle.
I reasoned that as long as I had the necessary materials I could definitely
cobble together a solid exterior with [Modeling].
I couldn't guarantee that it'd look great, though... Not to mention the fact
that the interior would almost definitely be terrible. I could maybe use Belfast
Castle as a mental reference, but I had a feeling that putting all that together
bit-by-bit would take more time than I had.
"I don't suppose there's a castle lying around that just isn't in use, is there...?"
"Sir, yes sir! I had a feeling this might happen, sir!" With a war cry and a loud
noise, Rosetta exploded into the room. Damn it, that scared me!
"The time has come, sir! I can finally show you the true potential of the
Workshop, sir!"
She clenched her fist tightly and raised it high up to the heavens. She had way
too much enthusiasm, if you asked me.
"The workshop doesn't just replicate stuff, y'know?! We have an automated
remodeling system, too! Yessir we do! We can scan objects and reshape them
to suit your tastes, sir yes sir!" Rosetta's ragged breath spewed from her mouth
as she explained it all at once. Automated remodeling system? So we can
manipulate objects that get scanned?
"Let's hustle, on the double! Right-left, right-left! To the workshop!" Lu
couldn't contain her awe when she saw the workshop for the first time. We all
walked over to the great cube that housed the actual facility.
There were smaller cubes piled up in various places around the floor, and a
structure somewhat like a monitor was built up near the middle of the room. In
a similar fashion, there was a cobbled-together chair composed of the white
cubes right in front of the monitor. Rosetta plonked her butt down on the chair
and reached her finger toward the monitor.
"Ten-hut! Gonna scan this country's castle good, sir!" Babylon had been
moved to the skies of Belfast, just above the royal castle, a bit earlier. Naturally,
it wasn't noticed by anyone due to the built-in stealth field.
I was a bit perplexed by the fact that it didn't even cast a shadow over the
city, though... No matter how many times I looked at it, it was unreasonable to
think about. But maybe it made sense... Shadows were cast when light was
blocked by an object, but in this case light was still going around the object...? I
decided it was best not to think too hard about how magic and science worked.
I'd simply lose sleep for no good reason.
The monitor displayed an aerial view of Belfast's Castle. Suddenly, a green
light covered the castle for a split-second, only for the display to be replaced by
a three-dimensional model of the building.
"Scan completed, sir! I'll switch to the automated system now! Did you have
something specific in mind?" Rosetta turned around and posed a question.
"Uh... anything specific? Well, it definitely doesn't need to be so big, so could
you start by shaving off some of the rooms?"
"Mission orders received, sir!" Rosetta frantically swiped here and there on
the screen, slashing and slicing away various rooms on the 3D model. I
wondered if it had some kind of smart learning system that automatically
picked changes in relation to cuts and tweaks.
"Oh, this rampart tower is pointless, too. You should get rid of it. I'd like the
courtyard to be a little wider, as well." As if responding to my whims, the castle
transformed again. I could definitely get used to this kind of remodeling
function. It was really useful. I didn't realize that the workshop could also be
used for such intricate designs and renovation. Then again, it was pretty much
the same as when I modified my Brunhild, just on a larger scale.
"Anyone else got any changes to make?"
"Ah, yes... I would prefer a wider balcony."
"I desire a magnificent dojo, so that I might spar and train there, I do."
"Oh, if she's getting one, then I want a training zone for unarmed combat,
too!!"
"I-If it's not too much, I'd like a library installed..."
"I'd love a broad moat, and a magnificent drawbridge as well!" As everyone
made their own changes, the castle model distorted. It was no longer
recognizable as the Belfast Castle it originally was. It had become completely
unique. A moat, a gate, a drawbridge, even little buildings around the castle
now made it distinct.
"Well then, sir! Is this quite alright?!"
"Yeah, looks fine by me. So, how're you gonna make it real?"
"A paltry matter, sir! We simply take off to the desired location and plot this
data. I flatten the landscape and begin automatic assembly! I estimate it'll take
three days, sir!" I was amazed that she could do it in such a short amount of
time. The workshop was truly an amazing tool. Why stop at a castle? We could
easily construct a town or hamlet with it.
"Well, that is if the materials are readily available, sir!"
"...Sorry?" What did she mean, exactly? Materials for the castle?
"You mean like the basic stuff, right? Marble, brick, metal, and so on?"
"Not just that, sir! Lumber, glass, brass, iron, cloths like cotton and silk! All
these materials are necessary to complete your castle, sir!"
"I don't have all of that!"
Besides, do you know how long it's take for me to gather all that stuff?! It'd
end up costing me the same as if I just went and bought a regular castle, if not
more! We'd maybe save on labor, but it's not like it'd be a considerable sum to
begin with!
"Uhm... d-do the materials have to be brand new?" Lu suddenly spoke up,
nervously addressing Rosetta.
"No, ma'am! Old materials are disassembled and rebuilt from the ground up
like new anyway, ma'am! Only extremely decayed material would be totally
useless!"
"I-If that's the case, then... there's an abandoned castle fort to the north of
the Regulus Empire. If we harvested it, wouldn't we have enough materials for
our new home?" That made good sense to me. If we used a building that pretty
much used to be a castle anyway, we'd save massively on material needs. Even
if stuff was tattered, shattered, or worn down, it could be recycled and used
again! Lu was a genius.
I didn't think it would be a big deal if an old abandoned fort was torn down,
either, so I decided to go and get permission from the emperor at once. The
plan was settled.
Lu suddenly spoke up in concern, despite being the one to suggest it in the
first place.
"A-Ah, uhm... actually... about that fortress, perhaps we shouldn't... or they
might be disturbed..."
"What might be disturbed?"
"The... The ghosts..."
Oh come on... Was she serious? A haunted castle?!
◇ ◇ ◇
So the story goes, there was once a benevolent young lord who lived in a
castle fortress to the north of Regulus. He had the full trust and support of the
emperor, and the people loved him for his kind nature, wonderful work ethic,
and generous policies.
But one day everything changed. The young lord's wife passed away.
Afterward, he became reclusive, shutting himself inside his castle. Not long
after, strange incidents began to occur in the surrounding area...
One by one, people went missing. And one day, a young girl was seen being
carried away by the very lord who had locked himself up not so long ago. The
people of the village all went to the castle, wanting answers.
Strangely, there were no people guarding the great gates of the castle. Even
more strangely, they found the castle completely barren. No servants, no menat-arms, no guardsmen.
The people pressed on, desperate to find their missing families and friends.
What they found instead... were corpses. Mounds of corpses, piles of the dead,
lazily discarded and strewn around. The young lord had been committing the
most vile of acts. He had researched the art of necromancy, all in the name of
returning his beloved wife to the world of the living. Those who lived inside the
castle were culled like lambs, used for his twisted experiments. And when they
were all used up, the young lord simply started reaching into the nearby village
for new livestock.
The people, horrified, clambered and ran their way out of the castle. They
appealed directly to the emperor and gave testimony. The army was sent in,
and the young lord was easily caught. He was executed without trial.
But it didn't end there. Before long, a new lord was appointed to the castle.
He died of a withering disease, so another was appointed. The second fell off a
horse and broke his neck. The third lord? Stabbed to death by his wife in a
furious rage. Rumors spread that the young lord had left behind a most
malignant curse. The fourth lord assigned to the territory refused to live in the
castle, and it slowly decayed, with no residents to call it home.
Naturally, the abandoned structure attracted the dregs of society. Brigands
and bandits took up lodging there, seeing it as the perfect base. But none of
them stayed for long. All the thieves who were captured had only one thing to
say...
"A revenant spirit walks those halls..."
"It's that castle, isn't it?"
"Well, that story is from over a hundred years ago."
A cursed castle... That kind of thing might be super spooky at night, but in the
daytime it wasn't terribly frightening. The air was clear, and there wasn't a
cloud in the sky. If anything, it was quite pleasant.
I brought the usual suspects, along with Lu, to the castle. My monarch trio,
consisting of Kohaku, Sango, and Kokuyou were with us too. Before our eyes
was an enormous, ominous-looking old castle. I unconsciously crossed my arms.
It gave off the vibe that a monster was going to pop out or something.
"We got the emperor's permission, right?"
"Yes, we do! Destroy it, recycle it, rebuild it, we're permitted to do as we
like." Sounded good to me. I figured the best course of action would be to move
the whole thing off at once. The castle was a little bigger than the one we had
designed at the workshop, so there was even a chance we could get all the
materials we needed right here. Even if it wasn't enough, I'm sure we'd be able
to afford whatever leftover stuff we required.
"Alrighty, should I just expand a portal underneath this thing to move it all to
Brunhild?"
"Please wait a moment... Shouldn't we make sure everything inside is fine
before we do that? It's possible that thieves, or monsters, or the undead might
be inhabiting this place right now."
"Maybe even the ghost, h-heh..." Elze suddenly cut in as Linze was advising
me. Linze definitely didn't believe that old story, but Elze almost looked a little
nervous...
Either way, there was a fair point being raised. It was probably important that
we at least check out the interior before moving anything potentially dangerous
onto my land. Hope I don't run into any weird Slimes.
We passed through the gates and entered the castle, making our way to the
entry hall. The interior was just as gloomy and downtrodden as the exterior,
dust and cobwebs all over the place.
"Alright gang, let's split up and search for clues. We can pair off, and have the
Heavenly Beasts go with each group that isn't mine. That way, we can stay in
telepathic contact in case something goes wrong. Kohaku, you go with Yumina
and Lu, Sango and Kokuyou, you go with Linze and Yae. Elze can come with me."
"Wh-What? I-Is that okay...? Th-Then let's, uhm... Yeah, let's go this way,
ahahah...!" Elze spoke up noisily and began a brisk walk to the interior. She
abruptly stopped once she got far enough and turned to yell at me.
"H-Hey, Touya! C'mon already!" Linze suddenly smiled and let out a small
giggle. I wonder if she knew Elze would end up like this. I briskly walked to catch
up with my adorable partner, then started to walk by her side. The other groups
all dispersed in their respective directions, too.
I looked outside, noticing a gathering of clouds. That's weird, it was clear
earlier, wasn't it?
"So, Elze. You're the type who's scared of ghosts, huh?"
"Huh?! Wait, what are you saying?! Ghosts, where?! There's no such thing as
ghosts..."
"Then what's that white thing behind you?"
"Eeeek!!!" Elze shrieked out loudly and clung to me.
Ow, ow! This is supposed to feel good, don't squeeze me like that! It's like a
goddamn bear hug!
"Sorry... was... curtain... Can't... breathe..."
"Curtain?" Elze turned to see a slightly-yellowed old curtain that was now
blowing slightly in the breeze. After she ascertained that it was not, in fact, a
ghost, she released me.
Man, I really thought she was gonna break my spine.
"O-Of course it was just a curtain..." An expression of relief came over Elze as
she placed a hand over her chest.
"So you're not good with them after all, then?"
"Ugh..." Elze turned to face me, her cheeks a bright crimson. Her mouth was
flapping open and closed like a fish. Honestly, I think she was trying to find
some kind of excuse.
"There's no shame in having fears, everyone has one or two!"
"Well, I guess so... Didn't expect you to say something like that, though."
"It's just that you can't hit them, so they're a pain, that's all..." Elze frowned
and turned away. Her face was still red, regardless. That reason felt pretty weak
to me. I didn't think Elze had any issue smacking skeletons or zombies, so ghosts
shouldn't have been that frightening to her.
I grabbed Elze by the hand.
"E-Eek!"
"You don't need to pretend like that with me. If you're scared, just take my
hand."
"...O-Okay..." Elze nodded, just a little bit. With our hands locked together, we
began searching for suspicious stuff. We started peeking our heads into rooms
to confirm whether or not there was anyone around.
As expected, the castle was remarkably big, but it was also covered with dust,
looking largely unused. For this amount of dust and spider webs to gather up,
you'd expect there to have been nobody in here for a long time. Just as I fell
into that comfortable line of thought, something moved in the corner of a room
we were checking.
"A-Agh!" Elze freaked out and pulled her whole body against my arm. Two
soft, round objects squeezed up against my arm as well.
I'm okay with this.
The bringer of my good fortune, in this case a rat, scuttled out from the
corner and left the room.
"I-It was a rat..."
"You're fine with rats, right?" Normally you'd expect girls to be scared of
things like mice, rats, and roaches, but the girls of this world were quite tough. I
didn't think it would rattle her that badly.
"Should we check out the second floor?" As we ascended the stairs, I noticed
a massive portrait hanging up at the top of the landing. It was of a fairly younglooking woman in a lovely green dress. She was seated in a rather luxurious
looking chair and looking out with a smile.
Is this the wife of the last lord who lived here? She's really beautiful. They're
pretty big, too...
"What are you staring at?"
"Huh?! Nothing! Nothing at all!" Elze glared right through me, so all I could do
was look away. She definitely didn't lose to Yumina or Lu in the bust
department, but perhaps she was worried about being slightly smaller than her
sister. It wasn't like I cared, but that was probably just how she felt.
Still holding Elze's hand, we marched up to the second floor. I looked outside
a nearby window again, and noticed the clouds were getting darker and more
intense. But it was so clear earlier on that it made no sense to me.
"Kohaku, Sango, Kokuyou. Report in, what's the situation on your ends?"
"Nothing to report, my master. Not even a mouse."
"There'ssss nothing to report here, either."
"There was only a rat here, a little boring if you ask me."
It seemed that nothing was happening anywhere. While it was true that you
couldn't expect six people to scour every room of the place in this amount of
time, thieves or brigands would've definitely made themselves known already.
Not to mention the fact that the rooms we'd been in so far were clearly longabandoned. Every corner of the place was covered in dust. We'd even left
footprints in some places. If an animal, monster, or person had been here, they
surely would've left a trace.
"Hm, were they just rumors after all, then?"
"Y-Yeah, as I thought... there's n-no way ghosts could exist, right?"
"Well, I mean, there are probably spirits in the world like Wraiths, Phantoms,
and Specters, so I guess you could consider monsters like those to be ghosts. In
fact, just yesterday Linze was—"
"Augh! Sh-Shut up! I can't hear you, I can't hear you!" Elze stuck her fingers
into her ears in an attempt to blot out my words. How childish of her.
Monsters like Wraiths and Phantoms were well-known in this world, but there
was no evidence that actually linked them to the souls of the departed. That
being said, I think it was proven that zombies and other undead monsters were
still linked to formerly-living people.
Hm...? Oh, it's raining.
I took a look outside, and noticed heavy raindrops pelting down from the sky.
I hoped that the roof wouldn't leak or anything, but given that the building was
over a hundred years old, it definitely would.
With Elze clinging on to my arm ever-tighter, I made my way deeper into the
castle. It was a lot darker than it was back at the entrance.
Before long we reached the end of the hall, a great big double-door. I
wondered if this was the door to the lord's chambers. I turned the knob. It
creaked slowly and spookily, and the door opened.
The room was huge, and the ceiling was high up. A beautiful chandelier surely
swayed up there once in the olden days, but now it was a smashed and
scattered pile of glass on the floor. The metal parts must have gotten rusty or
something.
There was an old worn-down chest of drawers near a ruined fireplace that
had a row of vases sitting atop it. In the corner of the room was an old rusted
suit of armor, giving an unusual feeling to the situation at large.
"Something doesn't feel right about this place..." Elze nervously tightened her
grip on me. She sure was acting bold for such a frightened girl.
There was a portrait on the wall of this room, too. This one depicted a sturdylooking fellow in military dress, who sported a fine beard. Beside him was a
fairly plain looking woman in a simple dress.
Is this the lord who killed all of his servants? Wait, that can't be right. The
ownership of this castle changed hands three times after he died. So, does that
make him the most recent resident of the castle, then...?
Suddenly, a cold chill went down my spine. Something was very wrong.
Wait, but... this can't be right. If the woman in this portrait is the last lord's
wife, then... they're... not big.
"What's wrong?"
"The person in this portrait... she's not the same as the one in the landing
portrait, is she?"
"Oh, maybe you're right..." Just as I turned to take a closer look at the
portrait, the wide-open door that we entered the room through slammed shut
with a bang.
"E-Eeeek?!" Elze screamed and squeezed me even tighter.
Ow, ow, ow!!! Are you casting [Boost] right now or something, woman?!
"Was it the wind or something?"
"Th-The wind?"
This place is falling to bits, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a wall with a
hole letting in the wind somewhere... Wait, what's that? I perked up my ears
and suddenly heard a faint clattering noise.
A rat again? No, this sounds more like... a shaking vase? One of the vases atop
the chest was shaking and gyrating like crazy.
Suddenly it stopped spinning and lunged at us.
"Gah!" I leaped out of the way, dragging Elze with me. The vase shattered on
the wall behind where we stood.
What the hell?! Isn't this a stereotypical horror movie event?!
Another vase jumped up toward us in a similar fashion. I shattered that one
mid-air with Brunhild. Right after that happened, an old ink pen and a pair of
scissors laying atop a desk came flying at us, then books came flying off some
shelves.
I shot them all down with relative ease. Elze wasn't much use at all in the
situation. Just when I thought it was out of things to throw at me, I heard a
creak from the corner of the room. The old, rusted suit of armor drew its blade,
then began staggering toward us.
"H-Hey now..." Outside the window, lightning crashed and thunder roared.
Heavy rain continued to brutally pour down.
The armor stomped and rattled, slowly making its way toward me.
"Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!" The spear of light
impaled the suit of armor, and even went through the wall behind it. The armor
itself was reduced to hunks of twisted metal.
"O wretched fiends that dare to invade my castle... I will murder you...
murder you all...! This is divine retribution... Leave now, this is your final
chance..." A disembodied voice echoed through the room. I was mostly
surprised by the fact that it was giving us a chance to leave. I'd have expected it
to be more unreasonable, to be honest.
"So you're saying that if we leave, you won't hurt us?"
"That's riiight... nothing will happen If you leaaaave."
"Then I refuse." With that, I fired off more light spears into a nearby wall. A
huge hole burst open, exposing the pouring rain outside.
"Kohaku, Sango, Kokuyou. Tell everyone to get outside and take cover. I'll
fight the ghost alone up here."
"Very well. Leave the safety of the ladies to us."
"Of courssse, darling." I fired off another light spear as I sent my telepathic
message off. I broke through to the room next to this one. The main pillar was
still intact, so I didn't have to worry about the roof collapsing on me just yet.
"Y-You theeeere, wh-what do you think you're doiiiing?"
"I'm trashing the place. It's all coming apart anyway, so it doesn't matter how
I do it!"
"W-Wait, you mean... you're gonna destroy the castle?! Er, stooop this at
once, mortalll! The curse will claim your liiife!" Something felt off. I didn't feel
any kind of pressure or intensity at all from this supposed malignant spirit.
"Hey, ghost... Are you actually a ghost?"
"Cough, cough! Th-That's correeeect! I am a wicked ghoooost, bound to this
castle by faaate!"
This thing just coughed. Why would a ghost cough?
"If you're bound to this castle, then you'll disappear along with it!"
"Thaaat's trueee, er— Wait, no! It's not! Even if you trash this place, I'll live
on and haunt you foreeeeverrrr."
You're really not impressing me anymore, fake-ghost. Even Elze, who was
completely terrified, was now just staring ahead with a blank expression.
"Hey, ghost. Who are you, then? If you just explain what's going on, I'll listen.
But here's your last warning, if you don't explain, I'll turn this place into rubble."
"..." The ghost didn't reply. I had no idea who they were, but they were
definitely here in this castle. With that in mind, I figured they might be up for a
reasonable chat.
"Fine then, if you have nothing to say, I'll bring this place down."
"Agh!!! W-W-Wait, please! I got it, I got it! Loud and clear! I'll explain
everything, just go to the landing again."
"The landing?" We left the now-extremely-ruined lord's chambers, returning
to the stairs. Just like before, the portrait of the woman in green was there. I
looked at the image of the woman, who was standing up with a chair behind
her.
Just as I thought, they're really big... That meant this portrait wasn't a portrait
of the last lord's wife.
"Hold on a minute..."
"Something wrong?"
This portrait... it can't be the wife of the first lord who lived here, can it? This
place has changed hands three times already, and I definitely wouldn't have
placed a picture of some dead crazy guy's wife in my hallway. And hold on,
wasn't this portrait of a woman sitting down?! Why is she standing up now?!
"Agh, h-hold on..."
"Wh-What?! How is that— T-Touya, someone's coming out of the painting!
It's a ghost!" Elze once again held onto me for dear life. It was no longer, soft,
delicate, and playful. It was actually causing me extreme pain, so I wanted her
to stop already!
"I-I'm not a ghoooost. I am a maaaagical being. The portrait frame is my true
body, and this form is merely a projection of my wiiiill."
A magical being? So she's a creature made from magic or something? Does
she mean like a homunculus or a Golem, maybe? But why a picture frame of all
things?
"I see... Well, obviously something like that is gonna get you confused with a
ghost. Why'd you try to chase us away?"
"W-Well, that's because thieves and baaandiiits used to come heeere, and
they'd make a real mess of the plaaace. My real body is this fraaame, so if it
were to be damaged or destroooyed, then I could dieee!"
Hm, that reminds me, I heard that thieves and bandits made this place their
home a few times... Did she drive them out or something?
"So was it you who murdered each new lord who moved in?"
"N-No, that's a misunderstaaanding! I didn't murder anyone, got it?! The first
lord had a terrible illness and died in the night. The second lord fell from his
horse and died of a tragic accideeent! The third lord got into a really bad
argument with his craaaazy wife, and she stabbed him! Honeeeest!" As she
spoke, she pointed right at Elze with a dramatic flair. Elze suddenly shrieked and
took a few steps backward.
So the murdered feudal lords weren't murdered by a ghost... In fact, they
weren't even murdered at all!
"After thaat, nobody came here for a looong time. Sometimes thugs would
come insiiide and start traaashing the place just for fun. It was then that I
staaarted to worry about my preeeecious picture frame being damaged..."
"So you donned the guise of a vengeful spirit to protect your own life." The
woman from the frame nodded her head and gave a small bow.
"Who even created something like you?"
"A briiilliant doctor from a long-dead civilizaaation. She was a true geniuuuus,
but certainly a little off-beat and eccentriiic."
"...Wait just a damn minute."
Doctor, woman, eccentric, and genius...? When all those keywords line up, I
can only picture the smug grin of a certain individual...
"...What was the name of that doctor?"
"Doctor Regina Baaabylon!"
"That bastard!" Well, I guess bastard isn't quite right, but why her again?!
Why does she keep causing trouble, and why does that trouble always come to
me?! What sorcery is this?! I've had enough, damn it! Ugh...
I decided that freaking out wasn't wise, so I calmed down and resolved to
approach the situation sensibly.
"So, you're something that Doctor Babylon created, but why are you here?"
"Uhmm, weeeell... for the longest tiiime I was floating up in the storehouse in
the skyyy, but the administrator up there is suuuper clumsy, and about threehundred yeaaars ago she totally broke part of the wall in theeere! So by
accideeent, me and a few other items of intereeest fell aaaall the way down to
the ground. Luckily, we were at a looow altituuude, and I fell on to a snooowy
mountain, so I made it out intaaact."
"Wait... do you mean the Storehouse of Babylon?!"
"Oh myyyy, do you know of it?" I felt like I was repeating a lot of old events.
First that damn jewel that Kansukay had, then the Blockbracer and
Drainbracer combo that General Bazoar had, and now this. The culprit has to be
the administrative gynoid running that place. I'll have to find her and mete out
justice.
"I'm just a picture fraaame, so it's not like I could do much. I waiiited around
until a hiker found me, and from there I was treated like an antiiique. I just went
with the flooow, y'know? For whatever reason, once this old looord put a
portrait of his dead wife inside my fraaame, I gained the ability to use magiiic!
So I would waaalk around in the dead of night, but slooowly that guy went
crazy..."
Oh no... Anyone would go insane if they saw their dead wife walking around
every night, wouldn't they?
"So eventually, he started to research reaaaally weird stuff. And just when I
thought I'd enjoy some peace and quieeet, the royal army came in and killed
hiiim! After that, a new lord moved in. I waaaanted to see what kind of
peeerson he was, so I went into his rooom in the middle of the niiight. When he
saaaw me, he suddenly stopped moving and dieeed! Then, the next lord saaaw
me while he was riiiding his horse. As soon as he did, he lost control and fell
oooff!! The lord who came after, well, his wife must've been craaazy. She ran
around yelling about how he was a cheaaaater, and hiding another woman in
their hooome! Then she stabbed hiiim!"
"But that means—"
"Elze, just don't." I cut off Elze, who was trying to state the obvious. This
picture frame person was clearly the source of everything and she didn't even
realize it.
The first lord went insane at the supposed phantom of his dead wife roaming
his halls. The second clearly went into shock or had a heart attack when he
thought a spirit was approaching his frail, ill self. The third obviously went into a
panic on his horse after seeing her and lost control. And the wife of the last lord
here must've mistaken the frame-woman as her husband's secret lover.
This was most unpleasant.
"Is there something wrooong?"
"No, not really... But now at least we know the story, so I can demolish the
castle without any worries."
"Wait, whaaat?! How could you be so wickeeed?!"
"At least hear me out first. I'm offering you alternative accommodations. If
you come with us, you can live freely and not have to worry about being
trashed. How does that sound?"
"Oh, really? Is that trueee?! I'd definitely be happy with thaaat!" With that,
the negotiations were complete. I had her return to the picture, then
unfastened the frame from the wall. As I did so, I was struck by some curiosity
and wondered why the lords after the first kept the painting of the first's wife
around. Typically, one would expect a painting like this to be removed during
the redecoration process.
"Uhhm, they were gonna toss me out a few tiiimes, but it turns out the guy
who painted this thing is really faaamous, so they kept it because of thaaat!"
Well, that made sense. So the artwork itself was actually quite valuable. I
wondered if I shouldn't just remove the picture and sell it off, then. Wasn't like I
wanted to keep the portrait of a long-dead lord's wife laying around, anyway. I
could just put another picture in the frame and the frame-person would be fine,
probably.
We returned to the entry and reunited with the others. I roughly explained
the circumstances and let them know the truth behind the ghost story.
Remnant of the ancient civilization or not, it was a pain in the butt to me. Still, it
was hardly something I could change at this point.
Now that the problem was sorted, I opened up a portal and sucked the whole
castle back to Brunhild. As you might expect, I was a bit nervous moving
something so huge for the first time, but it turned out just fine.
After that, I went to the workshop and spoke with Rosetta. According to her,
we still didn't have quite enough materials. The missing material wasn't much,
though. Just some lumber, glass, and cloth. I had no choice but to cover the cost
for that stuff myself. Glass would be easy enough to acquire from old
structures, but cloth should've probably been bought new. It seemed you could
only recycle and reuse fabric up to a certain point.
"Alright, sir! Bring the relevant materials to the workshop whenever you can!
They'll automatically hop to it and be added to the build site based on my
projection data, sir! Ah, a query, sir! Where do you want the castle?!" I pointed
to the dead center of my territory on the map. That was only natural. Brunhild
had a fairly level terrain, so it would be easy to get around and expand for the
most part. In my opinion, it was most sensible to put the castle in the middle.
After all, we had no other building plans at the time. If it caused an issue, I'd be
able to move the castle again using a [Gate].
The castle should take three days to complete, so I should get to work finding
the remaining materials...
◇ ◇ ◇
"It really only took three days..."
"Yessir! That's the power of my workshop, sir!" Rosetta pridefully puffed out
her chest. Not that there was really anything to puff out.
I looked at the monitor in the workshop. It was displaying my brand new,
white castle. Though it was rather small for a castle, it was still considerably
larger than my mansion in Belfast.
Apparently worn-out fabrics and cloths couldn't have their integrity restored
even if we recycled them, so I ended up buying most of that stuff brand-new. I
could've gone out and harvested from silkworm cocoons, but it was easier to
just buy it. Making stuff out of raw materials was a pain in the ass anyway. I'd
rather spend money than time and effort.
That being said, I chopped a lot of oak and hinoki for the lumber. That was
faster and easier than buying.
So, with a bit of elbow grease, the castle was finally built.
We brought down the drawbridge over our vast moat and advanced on
toward the inner walls. The water in the moat was crystal clear, and was being
sourced from a nearby river. The water purifier was similar to the one
employed in the Hanging Garden of Babylon.
It was also possible to manipulate the flow of the water by using floodgates
situated both up and downstream. That would be handy during flash floods or
heavy rain.
We passed the castle walls, through the sturdy castle gate. We made sure to
take time to admire the defensive buildings in the area. There was a station for
guardsmen, as well as some well-built towers for men to be stationed inside.
There was a trail that led around to a fully-equipped training field around the
back, as well.
We continued on toward a fine marble staircase that opened up into a
magnificent garden with a water fountain in the middle.
We crossed through the garden until we finally came across the double doors
to the castle interior. We opened up the large doors and went inside. What
greeted us was a magnificent hallway with a high ceiling. A beautiful chandelier
was suspended in the middle of the room, just above a vast staircase. The
staircase split off to the right and left partway through, leading to two other
entrances. The stairs were also covered by a beautiful red carpet.
That smoothly curving staircase really reminded me of the royal castle in
Belfast. That shouldn't have really been surprising, though. This place used
Belfast Castle as a base, after all.
"Ah, how wonderful. There's just something calming about this place."
Yumina seemed to feel the same. It was probably because the place was based
on the place she had called home most of her life.
We went up to the second floor and came to an enormous door that opened
out into a vast room. There was a huge skylight fitted on the ceiling, which
seemed to focus the light down in a single ray on to an extremely beautiful
elevated chair. Is this the royal audience room?
"I-Isn't this a little bit too extravagant?"
Who's supposed to sit there, me?
"This is surely the room where you will entertain visitors from other nations
and so on. If it isn't a little gaudy, you may be looked down upon. My dear
Touya's magnificence must shine on display at all times!" I could understand
what Lu was getting at, but I still found it embarrassing. After a bit of coercing,
everyone eventually convinced me to try sitting on the chair. I felt extremely
uncomfortable. But everyone said stuff like "Wow!" and "Incredible!" without
considering my feelings.
Who's going to send representatives to a country that has nothing in it,
anyway? We don't have any vassals, either. This room'll probably go unused for
a good while.
After we left that room, everyone scattered off to look around the castle at
their own leisure. I tried to look around too, but wasn't able to see every single
specialized room in one go. The ones I did look at included a ballroom, a dining
hall, a library, a music hall, a training hall, and a nice courtyard.
Isn't this place a little big? I thought the plan was to make it small-ish and
manageable...
After everyone finished looking around, we all gathered together to relax in a
large room with a balcony attached to the outside.
"It certainly is spacious here, it is. Cleaning it up will be quite the feat, it
will..."
"Nope, we'll be fine. The whole castle is enchanted with [Protection], so dirt
and wear won't affect it. Well, dust will still pile up, I guess..." As I answered
Yae, I looked out to the balcony and saw Yumina and Lu happily chatting with
each other and looking out across the landscape. Ah, youth... Such an energetic
time. Wait, that makes me sound like an old man.
Lapis, Cecile, Renne, and Cesca came into the room bearing tea and cakes.
Laim dutifully followed behind them, as well.
"Ah, sir. This is a magnificent castle. I didn't think that I'd be serving inside a
castle again just one year after re-entering service."
"Ah, I'm sorry, Laim. You stopped working in a castle, finally became a
mansion butler, and then I went and did this..."
"Think nothing of it, sir. Youngsters nowadays certainly seem more hotblooded. I'm sure things will get even more exciting as the days go by." Laim let
out a small laugh as he spoke. Well, if he didn't mind working in a castle again,
then I wouldn't mind either.
"Master, there is a garden here with a fountain, but I'd like permission to
restructure it." Cesca made a curious request as she poured my tea. She
managed the floating garden of Babylon, so it went without saying that
gardening was her specialty. Julio was in charge of the courtyard, so I decided to
let Cesca do what she wanted with the general garden area.
"By the way, where can I find the naughty training room?"
"Enough!"
This girl really doesn't know when to stop! As I picked up my teacup, Renne
brought a selection of cakes to me.
Renne was slowly becoming a very proficient maid. She was helping out a lot
more compared to when she started out. Sometimes she messed up, but that
really wasn't a big deal. As an aside, it seemed that Renne was happily
exchanging letters with her grandmother in the empire almost every day. She
was making good use of the Gate Mirror.
"Heyyy, sir. Isn't it a little inconvenient for us to live heeeere? It'll be difficult
for us to go and buy stuff, you knoooow?" Cecile spoke up with her usual soft,
elongated tone. She had a point. There was nothing but this castle in this
country, so no shopping could be done here at all.
"Well, the current plan, at least for the time being, is to connect the castle to
our Belfast home with a [Gate]. It's not perfect, but it should help." I intended
to create a special [Gate] that could only be used by certain people. By
combining [Search] and [Gate], it should have been simple enough to create a
portal that only opened for certain people. Better to be safe than sorry, after
all.
"I'll ask Tom and Huck to continue being the gatekeepers at the mansion. That
way, if anything happens over there, they can contact us about it. As for the
guard here... should I just summon Cerberus and let him live in the garden?"
"He's definitely the strongest watchdog we could ask for." Elze chuckled. The
Hound of Hades was now my watchdog. I was fairly sure he'd be able to sniff
out any intruders with that powerful nose of his.
It should be fine to summon Lizardmen and werewolves to guard the castle,
right...? Wait, no... if I go that far, people might start thinking this is some kind
of monster territory or something...
"Hm...? What's that...? Is it a puppy? No, wait, it's... a bear? Is that a stuffed
bear...?" Lu, who was out on the balcony, suddenly spoke up. A stuffed bear? It
can't be...
I ran out on to the balcony and shifted my gaze over to where Lu was looking.
Sure enough, there was a little stuffed bear toddling along through the castle
gates. A little stuffed bear accompanied by its master, who was strolling along
with a black parasol...
"Goodness me, I look away for a moment and you end up becoming a grand
duke or whatever... That's quite the step up, isn't it? Color me surprised." Leen
sipped tea and commented on my situation as she reclined on a couch. Paula
was nearby, prostrating herself and rubbing her paws together in my direction.
The programming of that bear never ceased to confuse me.
"Not to mention the fact that you've claimed the Regulus Empire's princess,
too... What a carefree life you're living now." The sardonic nature of her
sentence did not go unnoticed. It wasn't like I'd claimed anyone, if anything I
got a princess and a country as a package deal.
"Well, I won't bore you with the details, but here's the short and long of it.
Starting today, I'll be living here as the ambassador for Mismede. Yep, yep. Nice
serving you, Your Dukeliness."
"What?! Hold on a second, aren't you serving as the ambassador to Belfast
right now?"
"I already delegated that role to another. This place is far more interesting."
Are you for real...? It's not like I mind, but changing your place of work on such
a dumb whim isn't exactly good... Well, if the beastking is fine with it, I guess it's
alright.
"There's one final, personal matter. There are a few youngsters who asked
me if they could work here... Could you possibly allow it?"
"They want to work here... in this country?"
"That's correct, yes. They want to serve the Duchy of Brunhild."
H-Hrmph... it's true we don't have a lot of staff right now, but I don't want to
needlessly employ anyone. I don't want anything to get complicated, or for bad
people to end up being employed by me. Oh, Yumina has her Mystic Eyes, at
least. I guess I can use that to see if anyone has any bad intentions.
"Well, I may as well meet with them. Where are they?"
"They're waiting for you outside the gates." I took Yumina and Leen along
with me to the end of our drawbridge. There were three young people there.
Well, I said young people, but it wasn't like I was old or anything. They were
around my age, maybe younger. When the three of them saw me coming, they
bent down to their knees and lowered their heads in reverence.
Augh, stand up! That's not comfortable for me or you!
All three of these people are beastmen... There's a rabbitboy, a foxboy, and a
wolfgirl... I think. Hold on a sec... this rabbit, don't I know him from
somewhere...? Oh, I know!
"Excuse me, you're Lain, right?"
"Ahaha... it's been quite some time, but I'm glad you remember me, Sir
Touya." The short, redheaded boy grinned at me.
He was one of the subordinates of the wolf beastman Garm, from the
excursion to Mismede. But wait, shouldn't he be in service to the Kingdom of
Mismede, then?
"I've retired from the employ of my country, so I've come to ask if I may serve
your nation instead."
"I see... But why? Garm definitely seemed fond of you, so I'm sure you were
going places in that army."
"Sir Touya, when I saw you strike down the Black Dragon, I... I was moved
beyond words. When I heard you had founded a country, I knew I had to serve
you here. I asked Lady Leen for your details immediately."
Wow, talk about dedication. I don't deserve that kind of devotion at all... As
Lain spoke, the wolfgirl next to him gave a short giggle.
"Now now, Lain, calm down a little. You're gonna scare Sir Touya off!"
"A-Ah... Forgive my overzealous tone." Lain turned beet red and bowed his
head in shame. The silver-haired wolfgirl glanced sidelong at me, bowing her
head.
"The name's Norn. You worked with my big bro some time ago."
"Your bro?"
"Norn is Garm's younger sister, Sir Touya." Lain piped in with a brief
explanation.
Ah, that makes sense.
The foxboy was the only one who remained. He quickly bowed his head. He
definitely seemed the overly-serious type. From looks alone, he seemed one or
two years older than me. That much was clearer up close. He was really tall,
too. His gold-blond fox ears twitched, and his tail wagged dutifully.
"Nikola Strand. The pleasure is mine, my liege." He stood at attention as he
spoke, his posture firm and upright.
Please don't say "my liege"... I know I'm the head of this duchy, but apparently
the term "duke" is a bit more flexible in this world. My title's different from the
"duke" in Duke Ortlinde's title, too. Over here I guess it's just something akin to
"king of a nation." Well, there's no point sweating the small stuff. More
importantly...
"Did you say Strand? Are you related to Olga Strand?"
"Olga is a cousin of mine from my father's side. Her father, the famous
merchant Olba Strand, is my uncle."
Aha, just as I thought. Wait, doesn't that mean all of these guys have some
kind of personal connection to me? Well, I guess that's not unreasonable. I only
just founded this country, so only people related to me, however tangentially,
would bother coming to work for me.
"These three are rather skilled individuals, so they're more than fit to protect
your castle." After hearing out Leen's recommendation, I looked over at
Yumina. She looked back at me, giving nothing but a small nod and a silent
smile. It seemed that her Mystic Eyes of Intuition hadn't picked up anything bad
about them.
"Hm... well, nothing's final just yet. I don't have a formal Knight's Order or a
standing army, either, so I think your duties will mostly just consist of odd jobs
for the time being. If that's still fine by you, then I'd be happy to have you
here."
"Thank you for having us!" All three of them exclaimed those words in unison.
I was pleased by their response.
Now, for the time being... where should they sleep? I should probably divide
their quarters by sex. I guess they can just live in the castle for now... I decided
to think about that more later.
If they ended up becoming the foundation for a formal knight order, then I'd
probably end up giving them a separate building.
"Alrighty then, two men and one woman. It's not quite enough to call a knight
order yet, but I'm pretty sure we'll e...ventually... get there... Uhh...?" The air
around Lain grew heavy as I spoke. Norn smiled somewhat awkwardly and
averted her eyes, while Nikola just looked at the ground as if he'd just heard
something awful.
Huh, what's wrong? Did I say something stupid?
"You absolute twit. Lain is a girl, you know."
"...What?" Leen suddenly shot those words out, and I noticed Paula put her
paws to her own face as if to say, "Oh man, what are you doing?" Sweat began
to spill from all of my pores as I started to process my mistake.
Wait, seriously? I slowly turned my head toward Lain, who was now looking
somewhat dejected, rabbit-ears dangling in resignation.
But... that short hair... that handsome, androgynous face... I-I guess it looks a
little womanly if I look close enough... Oh geez, oh no.
"...She's a woman."
"Oh no, I'm so sorry! Really!!!" I suddenly fell to my knees in apology. It was
unprecedented for a sovereign to prostrate himself before his subordinate, but
that was just how my country began.