The Safety Guidelines of The Duke’s Haunted Castle Chapter 65

Melissa happened to have a perfectly good reason to communicate with them, too.

She remembered the conversation she had with the High Priest that very morning.

“I heard that Your Highness has been communicating with someone from the Belmont Duchy. Would it be possible for you to deliver a letter from us to them?”

“What is it about? If it could damage our relationship, I don’t want to deliver it.”

“It is nothing more than a few simple questions. If someone there really is a person from hundreds of years ago, they must be experiencing tremendous confusion, so we would like to approach them carefully.”

The reason was obvious. It would be too risky for the temple to recklessly approach the supposedly cursed Belmont territory in its own name.

They still believed that the Belmont Duchy was a land abandoned by God. Even so, now that they had received word from the Belmont Duchy after being completely cut off for so long, they couldn’t simply pretend they hadn’t heard.

The Belmont Duchy, which had now almost been forgotten, had been cut off from the outside world for reasons unknown, with no contact with the outside for hundreds of years.

Actually, saying that there had simply been no contact wasn’t quite accurate. Even people who set out with the Belmont Duchy as their destination never managed to reach it.

They all gave the same account: a strange fog would block their vision and make them lose their sense of direction, making it impossible to approach.

Only after deciding that they could no longer reach the duchy would they finally be able to find a safe path and return. Until then, they felt as if they were endlessly wandering around the same place.

Because of this problem, the High Priest, who was renowned at the time for possessing the greatest divine power, had personally traveled there. But even he had been unable to approach it.

However, there was one meaningful statement he had left behind.

“It is a fog filled with an ominous and sinister presence. However… there was something strange. I could sense the power of the primordial god, Chronos, coming from that place.”

Based on his testimony, the temple came to believe that an evil disaster beyond human ability to withstand had occurred in the Belmont Duchy, and that the primordial god had taken action before that power could spread throughout the world.

That action was the sealing of the Belmont Duchy. It was the only explanation for why a place that truly existed could neither be seen nor approached.

“According to someone under our protection, there may have been some kind of change within the Belmont Duchy.”

“Someone under your protection? Who is that?”

“I’m afraid we cannot tell you that. We merely wish to determine what caused this change and whether it is entirely part of God’s design.”

From Melissa’s perspective, it didn’t really matter whether the Belmont Duchy, which had been separated from the rest of the world for more than two hundred years, was reunited or not.

However, as the princess of the empire, she had a duty to cooperate with the temple, which served as the spiritual support of the empire’s people.

‘I’ll just take care of both things at once.’

Melissa was naturally curious, so she was also interested in what was happening inside.

Of course, for now, her biggest question was why the bread she had eaten before tasted different from the bread she was eating now.

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

“This is the Belmont family’s secret archive.”

After arriving at the library, Edwin and I told the librarian why we had come.

The librarian initially looked surprised, but soon quietly led us deep into the library.

“As I mentioned earlier, only His Grace the Duke is normally permitted to enter this place. An exception is made for those who possess a special library pass. And both of you meet those requirements.”

After looking at Edwin and me for a moment, she unlocked the large lock on the firmly closed door.

Creak.

The hinges made a sharp sound, as if the door hadn’t been opened in a very long time.

I could barely see inside, but the space seemed to stretch endlessly. Even so, I could tell that countless books completely filled the walls.

[You have entered a new area for the first time. Exploration reward granted. +300 Diamonds]

[New Area <Belmont Duchy: Secret Archive>

A space containing ancient books, forbidden books, and countless records passed down through the generations of the Belmont family.

Powerful magic governs this place, so only specially authorized individuals may enter.]

Just as the system message described, perhaps because of the magical power, the atmosphere inside the archive was extremely strange.

I held my breath for a moment under the strange sense of pressure, and the librarian continued her explanation.

“You may freely examine anything stored in the archive. However, damaging anything is strictly prohibited.”

Of course. I especially knew how much the librarian valued books, so I quickly nodded.

“You may leave anything you examine, including books, exactly where you found them. There is always a spell in place that keeps the secret archive clean, so anything that has been removed from someone’s hands will quickly return to its proper place.”

“…….”

“His Grace the Duke and Miss Windsor are the only people permitted to enter today. If you happen to sense someone’s presence besides the two of you, please pretend you didn’t notice and tell me as quickly as possible.”

I nodded without thinking, but the librarian’s explanation somehow reminded me of one of those Japanese-style horror stories with strange rules.

‘N-no way, right?’

Nothing will happen. Besides, Edwin is here too, isn’t he?

Thinking that, I looked around before entering. A strong smell of old paper drifted through the narrow gap of the open door.

Keeping the librarian’s warning firmly in mind, I naturally followed Edwin, who had taken the lead, into the secret archive.

The first thing I noticed was the slightly chilly temperature. Perhaps it was to preserve the books, but the inside of the secret archive was completely different from the pleasantly warm outside. Once the door closed, it even felt as though we had been completely cut off from the outside world.

I was absentmindedly looking around when my eyes met Edwin’s. He happened to be looking in my direction.

Two grown men and women alone in a completely sealed room….

I ignored the strange little fantasies beginning to bloom in my mind and gave him an awkward smile.

“This place is… so huge. Won’t it take several days to find what we need?”

“I’m glad I was able to come here with you.”

“…Pardon?”

I-is this a green light? Is he making a move on me the moment we’re suddenly alone like this?

When I stared at Edwin in confusion, he quickly added, as if he wanted to leave absolutely no room for misunderstanding.

“If I had to search for everything alone, it would have taken at least a month.”

Ha, haha…. So that’s what he meant?

The pink atmosphere I’d secretly been hoping for shattered instantly, and I suddenly found myself feeling like a cruel boss who had dumped even more work on an already busy man.

Actually, Edwin wasn’t wrong. Looking at the size of the place, it really would have been impossible for one person to search through everything.

“Anyway, I’ll start checking from here. Would you check the area behind me?”

“Ah, yes. I think that would be best.”

“Then, let’s get to work.”

After giving me a brief greeting, Edwin walked away briskly. I watched his back with deep disappointment.

‘It would have been easier if the librarian were here too.’

She was rather picky and wasn’t particularly good at organizing things, but she genuinely loved books. I felt like she would have found the documents for us in no time.

Anyway!

I barely managed to straighten my determination, which was already beginning to wilt, in front of the vast wall of books before heading deeper inside.

There were a lot of them, but surely I’d figure something out if I kept at it, right?

Expecting the comforting simplicity of repetitive work, I reached out my hand.

.

.

.

Three hours later.

I finally fell to my knees in front of a mountain of books.

“This is a lie.”

Was it really this difficult to find a single employment contract?

The secret archive was overflowing with all kinds of documents in addition to books. Land deeds, bonds, certificates of rights with unknown purposes, titles of nobility, notes received from various people, and so on….

But no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find even the first letter of the word ‘employment contract’!

At this point, it was almost impressive.

‘They even kept every single weekly ledger without missing a single week?’

Wouldn’t it have been much easier to keep ledgers like these in the study so they could be found more easily? Why on earth….

‘No, there’s no point complaining about it now.’

After blaming some unknown person in my head, I began searching through the archive again with hollow, exhausted eyes.