Volume 8 Chapter 15 Lord's Castle Of Hell
After walking for a while, we saw an old castle on a cliff.
"That's one impressive building."
A snowy old castle standing tall and narrow on a sheer cliff. It had a great atmosphere. It wouldn't feel out of place as the lair of a vampire.
It was at the center of this area shrouded in fog. Surrounded by steep cliffs except for one slope, it looked like a fortress that was really easy to defend.
Clay and Sur were holed up here. Sur's strength was unclear, but I'm sure Clay was fine. I wondered what happened, and while I was thinking, I checked the route.
And at the same time, the Demon who attacked us with the tower of the Dungeon is probably living here, as the Lord.
"Let's go around this to the right, then climb up the slope."
Ice nodded at my words. Mudi didn't nod, but he probably just couldn't be bothered to react. I didn't mind, and I went on ahead.
As we were doing that, I suddenly sensed a warning signal. The air was tense. Mudi and I, who were leading the way, stopped in our tracks.
"Here it comes," Mudi said.
"Yeah," I replied.
The moment I responded to Mudi's warning, it happened.
With a loud "Whoosh!" the person landed in front of us, scattering snow everywhere. Mudi and I stood our ground, facing the snow head-on. It was a bit of a shock.
Then, the person spoke in a loud, commanding voice.
"Halt! Identify yourselves and state your business, you fools! If you can't give a satisfactory answer, I'll consider it an act of defiance and have you executed on the spot!"
The person looked like a kid, maybe a few years younger than us. He had a small build and were dressed in noble attire, just like we were yesterday.
It seemed like this kid was the lord's child, and he was dressed in fancy clothes.
Mudi and I exchanged a glance, and Mudi gestured to me with a "go ahead" expression. I took a deep breath, stepped forward, and said:
"We are the Demon King's investigation team! We were sent by the Demon King himself to investigate this land. We believe you are connected to Lord-sama, so could we possibly request an audience with them?"
"Huh!? Demon King Army!? ...Nah, nah, nah! I ain't falling for that! If you're with the Demon King Army, show me some kinda badge or something..."
When I showed the badge I received from Mudi, the kid's face went pale. Silence. The kid blinked rapidly, then nervously said to us, rubbing his hands together.
"Uh, well, I totally apologize for my rudeness. Umm, I am the son of lord Bael, my name is Cabby the cat."
"A cat?"
Looking closer, I saw that young Cabby had cat ears sprouting from his head. The tips kinda poking out from the inside. Must make it hard to hear properly.
"T-The questions I'm asking today, due to the unstable situation around us, there are reasons why we need to ask you firmly, not at all intending to insult anyone in the Demon King Army...hehe."
Sweating bullets, Cabby's attitude from before was nowhere to be seen, completely groveling. Even for a kid, he's got a good way of acting humble. Feels kinda petty.
"Umm, you don't have to be so subservient, you know..."
Ignoring it, Ice appeased Cabby. Cabby stares at Ice's face and spits on it.
"What, just a lowly grunt who's not worth the effort of being considerate. Tch, wasted effort on humility."
"..."
Who does this guy think he is? I'll sock him one.
"Hey... Wade-kun, it's okay..."
As I was about to speak out, Ice reproached me. I was going to argue back with a "but," but I stopped. I could tell by her expression.
If Ice feels disrespected, she'll make sure her opponent knows it.
"Ha! Well, well, seems like we've got a freshly born naive investigator straight from the capital. You've been coddled quite a bit, huh? Have you never died even once?"
Meanwhile, Cabby, oblivious to Ice's quiet determination, kept provoking. This guy talks tough; is he older than us by a good bit? Feels like he's like one of those old dudes who acts young. Too many shotas around.
Then, Ice spoke with a quiet smile.
"Ice Create."
Ah. I had to give a warning.
"You said your name is Cabby? Apologize to Ice right away before you get taken out."
"Huh? What kind of apology do you expect from a low-level nobody who can't even approach someone with humility...?"
With Ice's magic spell, ice soldiers appear one after another. "W-what?" he says in confusion.
"Wow~! She's bringing out a ton of minions! How many will she summon?" Philia says.
"Interesting. They have runes carved on them. It reduces the load on the processing power. I believe your teacher was Alex-san, wasn't he? I see, this is exactly what he would do," Mudi says.
Ice smiles and continues to create more and more ice soldiers. Clanging their weapons in unison, they surround Cabby from all sides.
"Kyu~, Kyu~..."
Cabby must be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Being surrounded by 4 full-body armored soldiers would be intimidating enough, but now there are... wow, close to a hundred of them.
His eyes filled with tears, Cabby starts shaking.
"I-I-I'm so sorry! P-p-please, let me show you inside... please forgive me..."
"Well, alright," Ice says.
Ice claps her hands twice, and all of the ice soldiers vanish, turning into snow. Cabby focuses on the snow on the ground, then asks,
"...By the way, what about the others?"
"They're all like this."
"The Demon King's army is really powerful!"
Unintentionally, their conversation spreads the reputation of the Demon King's army.
Led by Cabby, we head up the hill.
"I-I'm sorry for asking such a rude question. B-but, i-it was necessary for that exchange to happen. R-really."
Cabby says unconvincingly, despite the fact that no one suspects him.
"My father's magic is specialized in keeping enemies away from that castle. If I failed to identify you properly, he would have fired his cannons."
So, their tactic is to interrogate people and eliminate anyone who's a threat. Even if Cabby himself is defeated, he'll be fine.
In other words, it seems like Cabby is the son of the gatekeeper. It's hard to understand why his father would make their son do such dangerous work, but he's probably one of the stronger ones, considering his initial attitude.
"Speaking of which, yesterday, haha, we had another visitor yesterday."
Cabby cabbie said, and we reacted.
"Someone else visited besides us?"
"Yes, someone who called himself a notable merchant... haha, he had some strange powers that didn't suit a merchant, so I sent word to my father, and now he's staying in the castle as our guest. If you are interested?"
"Yes, we'd like to meet him."
"Ok, I'll let you know. Then, um, after I speak to my father, I'll introduce you to him, haha... phew, that way we can avoid dealing with those scary guys."
Cabby said, his true thoughts spilling out.
Ice and I exchanged a glance, and we both guessed it was Clay. Then Ice sent out his ice bird. She was probably trying to scout ahead and let the merchant know we were here.
Mudi and Philia followed us, yawning. It's great how free these guys are... they're too used to the underworld.
As I was thinking this, we arrived at the castle.
"And so, ahem, let me introduce you again."
Cabby said. He ran ahead of us and greeted us with a noble's bow.
"Welcome to the territory of Bael, Demon King's Army. My family welcomes you as honored guests. Our territory is unstable at the moment, but please relax and make yourselves at home."
"This way, please." Cabby put his hand on the castle door.
It was too large for a human to open on his own, but he was a demon, after all. I wondered how such a small body could contain so much power. He easily opened the massive door, which must have been several dozen meters high.
The door opened with a creak, revealing a marble floor with a red carpet leading up the stairs.
We followed Cabby inside. The soft feel of the red carpet was a welcome contrast to the snow we had been walking on.
"Um, first, may I introduce you to my father, or rather, will you meet him...? Haha, um, my father would very much like to meet you."
The groveling gets worse and worse. At first, he was standing tall and straight, but now he's bowing so low that he's walking funny, like a duck. He's almost crawling.
"Well, then, yes. We'll meet with him."
"Oh, thank you so much! I'm in your debt! Please, this way! This way, if you will!"
We felt a little sorry for him, but if we tried to help, he'd look down on us, so we followed Cabby with mixed feelings.
We climbed some stairs and walked through a few large rooms before we reached the door. The audience chamber. That's what it reminded me of. It looked like the room Eiosnight was in.
"Excuse me, Father. I've brought the guests."
Cabby straightened up and said in a respectful tone. Are all demons like this? They're so extreme, both when they're groveling and when they're arrogant.
"Enter."
Cabby opened the door as instructed by the gravelly voice.
Inside was a man with an eagle-like nose, a Kaiser mustache, and a crown. He had a frog's head on his right shoulder and a cat's head on his left. I finally understood why Cabby called himself "cat."
As soon as Cabby opened the door, he rushed over to the man—Lord Bael—and said in a hurried voice,
"Father, Father! It's bad! Really bad! They say they're part of the Demon King's army, and they're definitely high-ranking! They summoned a hundred soldiers in an instant!"
"What? ...I've paid my taxes to the Demon King in full. I've even given him gifts from the goods I get by ambushing merchants. They have no reason to complain."
These guys have no sense of ethics. It's almost refreshing.
We stepped forward with uncertain expressions and knelt before Lord Bael as a sign of respect.
Bael looked at his son, Cabby, with suspicion. Cabby said, "They're just putting on a show for now." So in the demon world, groveling is a way to trick people?
"Ahem! First of all, welcome to all of you from the Demon King's army investigation squad."
Bael spoke to us in a condescending tone.
"Since you call yourselves an 'investigation team', I take it you're here to investigate this place, but what brings you here this time?"
"Yes sir. As Your Excellency said, we've been sent by the Demon King to investigate this place. Specifically, We're here to look into the mysterious fog that's covering this area."
I replied, and Bael burst out laughing, "What's this? You're here on such an errand? Hahaha!"
"That fog is a spell cast by my daughter to prevent the foolish people from escaping my rule. Oh, with that spell in place, none of you can leave Hahaha!"
―――So that's it. These guys are the culprits.
I thought about taking care of them right here, but something didn't feel right. I looked at Mudi, who shook his head. Ice and Philia looked at us with puzzled expressions.
"...Are we not going to fight here...?"
"Not yet. We're still observing."
I said, and Ice nodded, putting away his battle stance. Lord Bael looked taken aback, "Huh...?" but then regained his composure, "No worries."
"Then, let's get rid of that fog by tomorrow morning. If we do, you all can return to the Demon King's castle. ...And there's one thing that's bothering me, but it's no big deal."
Bael muttered to himself, and I asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just saw a shadow in the tower of the dungeon that connects to the surface, so I attacked it yesterday. I suspect someone might have made it this far, but they're probably dead by now."
Hahaha! Bael laughed loudly, and we chuckled along with him, "Heh heh." Who would have thought that the person was right behind us?
I had suspected it was him who attacked us, and it turned out to be true. If we get the chance, we should take him down.
"Anyway, I'll get rid of the fog by tomorrow. Until then, please stay at my castle."
Bael welcomed us with a smile, and I returned the smile, "Thank you, we appreciate your hospitality."
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