The darkness of the basement was chilly, and Jared held a torch in his hand as he carefully explored his surroundings. But his way of exploration and ordinary people are different, Jared did not even like other people to knock on the floor and walls, but the hand to the torch in which direction, and then quickly analyze the light structure of those, if there is a gap in the back to be able to pass through the light, then Jared can feel. Not to mention the fact that this world's architecture is not very advanced, if there really is a dark room or something, then it is too easy to be found.
But Jared walked around the basement and was disappointed. There was no secret treasure, no secret room, no secret passageway, as he'd expected.
It seems that all the stories about a ruined castle with a treasure underneath were made up to fool children.
Jared shrugged, but it didn't matter.
Anyway, he's just going around on a whim.
The castle was much better than it had been when it had fallen into disrepair, and Jared's biggest problem, the road, was the best solution for Kylie. With a single chant, the trees and plants were removed and the road was paved. All that was needed was for the soldiers to smooth out the road with sand and gravel, and it was ready for use. After that, the empire also sent some of the same ex-soldiers to settle here one after another, but they didn't use teleportation magic like the 50 people before, instead, they advanced along the road that Kelly had made with her magic. According to Wendy's message, it would only take a few days for them to arrive at the castle.
"Lord Jared, Lord Kaylee has a message for you."
As soon as Jared stepped out of the basement, one of the elves reported to him, while Jared nodded in understanding and then walked towards the study with a helpless expression.
Fifteen days had passed since Kura's last visit, and in those fifteen days, Kylie had worked her ass off to find designated positions for almost everyone. Centaurs and Orcs with powers were assigned to Serenity's patrols, while Elves stayed behind to clean and sanitize the entire castle. The rest of the men, with the exception of the soldiers who stood guard at the gates as a matter of course, took off their uniforms to work the fields and build houses. Although Jared had asked if they could move into the castle, Kylie had firmly rejected the idea.
"Don't joke about it, Jared. You have to realize that you're not their equal in any way. These ex-soldiers are on their own, we don't have to care about their living conditions. If they can't do it themselves, then our help is useless."
If Kelly said so, Jared was fine with it. He was going to leave everything to Kelly. Jared wasn't interested in anything more than digging the prince's people out of the forest and killing them. He was just a temporary agent, and Jared wasn't in the mood to worry about whether this place was built right or wrong.
(Jared.)
And just then, Caroline's voice suddenly came out of Jared's head, which startled Jared slightly.
"What happened?"
(Serenity finds signs of a camp in the wilderness...)
"Is it the prince and those stupid henchmen?"
(Unclear, there's nothing around to prove it.)
"Where are you headed?"
(Jung-hee...)
"OK, I got it."
Jared finished lightly, and then closed his eyes, soon, his senses began to quickly line up the tectonics in front of him, all the time to the west forward mapping, just took only a few minutes, Jared looked for Caroline's tectonics. Judging from the values, they appeared to be halfway up a small mountain, so Jared quickly eliminated the useless parts of the surrounding area and began probing. But he soon realized that something was strange. There was very little of the construct left around the trail, and if it were to be reduced, it would only be the size of one person at most. So Jared quickly withdrew his senses and asked.
"Any other anomalies in the neighborhood?"
(It's gone, and I've searched carefully, and I haven't found any other traces in the neighborhood.)
"..."
Jared was deep in thought, this was obviously not right, considering that when they met the prince, there were five or six of them in the group. And there were no animals in the forest that were particularly dangerous, except for the black dragon. Even after the old man and Stephen, who were killed by Jared, there should be four people left in their group. But the residual trajectory is strange, it only shows the value of one person, which is obviously not right. Could it be that the Sword Artists are all dead? Of course not. If they were all dead, Prince Heine would have evacuated long ago. After all, his purpose was to scout, not to have a blood feud with the San Marino Empire to the point of fighting to the last man.
Jared suddenly sneered at the thought.
"Looks like we have a new guest."
（Do you mean there are other forces lurking in the forest?)
"Of course ... this matter should not tell Serenity first, anyway, for us, one more is an enemy, two more will also be killed. Only the dead are the most honest."
(I see.)
Caroline didn't say anything more, after all, it was a waste of time and brain cells to speculate on who they were and what they were doing here. Since they were here, they would surely show up at some point, and at that time, if they were arrested and tortured, then they would know everything. Jared and Caroline never thought twice about it, and if the other party didn't show any signs of being related, then the most they needed to remember was that there was such a person.
"Jared! What are you gawking at there! I've called you several times!!!"
Kelly's voice suddenly appeared, which brought Jared back to his senses, he gave up on continuing communication with Caroline, and instead looked helplessly at Kelly, who stood in front of him, cross-eyed.
"I say, Missy, what's the matter again? Why don't you just take care of it all?"
"You are the master of this castle."
Kelly flung the pile of materials in her hands and grumbled with great displeasure.
"Although Lord Celestia and Lord Berukelin have also appointed us to assist you, you should be a little more conscious, shouldn't you! Miss Caroline is out on patrol every day, and you're here doing nothing! Do you even have the heart to build this place!!!"
"No."
Jared answered quickly.
"I'm different from you, you may get a lot of benefits here, but for me there is no need for those, so I have absolutely no psychology to manage these boring things. Just leave it to you ... don't worry, at that time I will throw all the credit to you, if there is any problem, all of them will be pushed to me."
"That ... is not the point!!!"
Since Jared's answer was so unexpected to Kelly, it made her blush, and it took her a long time to hold her tongue.
"What else is there? I've promised to take the blame and give you all the credit, so what's the problem?"
Jared thought this was a very good offer, in fact, he would have liked to have been given a "bad governance", so he could have done what he was supposed to do, instead of sleeping around all day and night. But Kylie was red in the face, she wanted to say something, she did not know what to say. Kylie's character is arrogant, but for the task sent down to complete very seriously, but she did not expect Jared will be completely nonviolent non-cooperation attitude, which makes her very surprised. After all, in Kylie's image, men are keen on power, and Jared's dragon slaying and killing of one of the top ten sword masters of the federation, also let the academy council has a good evaluation of him, so specially let Jared to be responsible for the governance of this piece of land. But she did not expect, Jared every day in addition to chatting with Caroline, the rest of the time is to eat, sleep, sleep and eat, and then run to the surrounding walk, do not care about anything.
Doesn't this man have any interest in power?
That's why Kylie was so pissed off when she saw Jared.
"Okay, just kidding."
Jared sighed, he didn't want to have to deal with Kelly's endless lectures.
"What the hell is going on?"
"About the Traveling Merchants Association! Their vice president will be here in two days, and as a lord, you must show up to greet them even if it's temporary!"
"Okay, I got it."
Jared stretched and nodded his head in agreement, but he then looked as if he had sensed something, and his expression shifted slightly.
"That's it! ... Don't you forget it!"
Kelly said, huffing and turning to leave, but she didn't realize that just then, Jared suddenly grabbed Kelly's hand.
"Fuck, what?! Get off me, I have a lot of work to do ...!"
"Kelly."
At the moment, Jared's expression changed to a very gentle one, as he gazed deeply at Kelly, as if he was mesmerized by her beauty. This makes Kelly's resistance immediately stopped, she panicked and turned her head, trying not to look into Jared's eyes." You're ... you're ..."
"How about a walk in the woods with me tonight?"
"You, what are you talking about!"
Kelly tried hard to free herself from Jared's hold, but she wasn't very strong, making it seem like she was half-pushing.
"In case Ms. Caroline finds out ..."
"Don't worry, Caroline won't know."
Saying that, Jared suddenly brought his head over and whispered something in Kelly's ear, then Kelly's complexion changed slightly, but at the moment Jared had already left her body, while winking at Kelly.
"Don't forget, tonight, no matter what."
"I'm not going!!!"
Kylie snorted coldly, turned around and quickly left. Jared looked at Kylie's distant back and shrugged his shoulders, then he closed his eyes again and was silent for a few moments.
A smug smile of triumph at the corner of Jared's lips.