Chapter 48 – Witchcraft

When Ed got up from his seat with Merjen, Arin followed them and got up from her seat too. Diego tried to get up from his seat but Ed pressed his head down.

“Stay at home. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Oh, well…”

Ed patted Diego’s hair and went outside. When Merjen and Arin followed, Thane briefly called Ed separately.

“What’s wrong?”

Thane hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth.

“I don’t know if I can say this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Caren, he’s a difficult person to deal with. He is one of the influential figures of the kingdom that empowers the Prince. Now that the second prince’s death and the second prince’s faction has lost power, he is the influential figure in the kingdom. And he is the person keeping Pendragon in check.”

“So what?”

“If you make a mistake, he can give you a hard time.”

“He did that to Pendragon too?”

“Right. It’s likely that he already knows that you’re here.”

“So, he’s already spying on this place, right?”

“Right. In fact, demon killing isn’t difficult until you get caught up in his politics. Pendragon tries not to care as much as possible, but those who are afraid of his existence are trying to pull him down.”

Ed knew why Thane was saying this.

“So you’re telling me not to stand out because we might be seen by Caren.”

“I’m sorry. If you’re a decent nobleman, you can solve problems under Pendragon’s name, but not something like this.”

Ed nodded after thinking for a while. He didn’t mean to make a fuss anyway, but he guessed he had to move much more secretly now.

Ed walked over to Arin and Merjen. Ed looked back at Merjen because everyone’s attention was focused on her.

“How far can you go to save your colleagues?”

“I can risk my life.”

It’s not going to be that easy.

“That’s good enough. First, I’ll go first and collect the information. A man named Caren is said to be a big man in the kingdom of Travia, so we need more evidence.”

Merjen stared at Ed.

“So, you’re going alone?”

“Yes.”

“This is supposed to be my problem though?”

Ed burst into laughter at her words. Merjen was at a loss for his help, perhaps because she had rarely received favors from others.

“I’ll help you this time, so you help me next time.”

Merjen nodded firmly at his words. Ed looked back at Arin. He smiled because he felt a willingness from Merjen to repay his kindness.

“I’ll be back.”

Arin was well aware that collecting information was not her forte.

“Tell me whatever you need. We’ll be able to seek help from Archbishop Benedict.

If Archbishop Benedict is involved in something that needs to be dealt with secretly, it will now be a battle between the kingdom and the church. That’s a much messier situation.

“I’ll tell you if I need you.”

Arin nodded and looked back at Merjen.

“Let’s go inside. We haven’t even talked with each other yet.”

Arin was also interested in Merjen, the daughter of Helena. Ed, who sent the two inside, met Thane, identified the location of Caren’s mansion, left his equipment, and quietly left the house.

Thanks to the shadow cape, Ed was not noticed by people. He waited for the night to go deeper. In order for his identity to be concealed, he left his ice arrows and his infinite arrows at the house.

Ed was wearing only simple equipment and ran out of the street without a trace. In fact, Ed could run faster than riding a horse. In addition, his physical strength is comparable to that of a horse.

Thanks to Ed’s shadow cape, he ran faster than a horse and moved unnoticed, so no one could find him.

Ed arrived at Caren’s mansion. It was the place where Caren’s family name was engraved in their gate. There was a design in which a thorn tree climbs over the shield.

Ed checked the design and looked around the mansion. Certainly, the boundaries are tighter than in other places.

Many people who think of their own safety this much, commit many crimes. Looking at his tight security, it seems that he did not commit just one or two crimes.

Ed looked up at the sky. Only the moon and stars were floating in the sky. Ed, who was watching a few pieces of cloud flow, warmed up lightly.

And the moment a cloud covered the moonlight, he ran through the squares of the guards and crossed the wall as if he were a snake. The height of the wall reached five meters, but the moment he stepped on the wall, he passed smoothly and landed on the floor silently.

Ed hid in the shadow of the wall and looked at the mansion. Pendragon’s mansion was also surprisingly large, but it was also formidable. The landscape is well-equipped in a garden wider than a soccer field.

In addition, lamps were turned on all over the garden. It was not known whether leaving a lamp on where a single person did not pass was for vigilance or because of vanity.

Ed looked at it for a moment and began to feel the footsteps around him. Perhaps because the higher the level, the more sensitive his senses became. Ed could hear the guards joking around with each other and even their footsteps.

Ed agonized while looking at the mansion hiding in the shadow.

Where can he find Kyle and Leaf?

Ed had been agonizing for a while and tilted his head sharply. Kyle and Leaf came here with the idea that they would find his younger brother.

Fearless kids.

Would Caren have saved Kyle, the son of someone who broke down the Confederate of Southern Nobles?

Seeing that they weren’t seen for three days, Ed thinks they’re somewhere here, but who knows where they were taken?

The easiest way was to ask Caren, but the risk is quite high.

Ed wore a hood attached to the cape and flew toward the mansion. There is an easy way to go in, but if you can’t go that way, there is only one thing to do.

Search.

Ed, who approached the mansion with the intention of searching, checked where the windows were opened. After confirming that the window of the kitchen behind the mansion was opened, he went inside.

Ed entered the mansion and walked silently. Ed, who was moving like a shadow, felt strange. It’s quite late, but how can there be no movement like this?

A place where a strange silence flows as if there were no people. There was no sign of a person in the mansion. If he had servants and maids, they can’t escape Ed’s senses.

In a mansion this size, there should be some people awake at night, but Ed couldn’t feel anything.

There’s no one in this big mansion?

Ed moved a little more boldly when he realized that he couldn’t feel any signs of people. Ed, who confirmed that there were no real people as a result of searching the room of the mansion, found a place to go down to the basement of this strange mansion.

The structure itself is similar to the mansion where Thane was staying, so it was not difficult to find the stairs going down to the basement. Ed looked down at the stairs and made a strong impression.

It looked dangerous.

Come to think of it, Caren is the next king of the kingdom of Travia. What kind of person lives in a separate house?

Just as Pendragon gave the mansion to Thane, if he gave it up to someone, the person here could not be an ordinary person. Ed smiled when he realized it.

If so, he is more likely to be here. Rather than locking someone up in the main building, it was more likely that they would have locked someone up in such a well-underground place.

Ed took a dagger out of his arms and went down the underground stairs with it in his left hand. But there was nothing on the stairs. There was nothing to the point of overshadowing the nervousness.

“Look at this.”

Caren would have tried to prevent someone from breaking into his house, but he didn’t. The underground pathway was a representation of the owner’s confidence.

Ed quietly approached the door and opened it. Ed, who opened the door carefully not to make a sound, listened carefully to the inside. A scream was heard from the inside.

“Ahhh! Save me!”

“I told you everything I know! Please save me!”

“Ahhh!”

Ed looked at the door he opened. Is this door this soundproof?

Ed closed the door quietly and walked away. Ed, who was walking inward, was able to find a staircase going back underground.

A stone staircase that is wide enough for a person to barely pass by. There was a terrible scream below it. Ed went down the stone steps feeling nervous.

When he went down to the basement, there were prisons blocked by a long line of iron bars from side to side. Ed walked along there.

And he frowned when he saw people trapped in the prison cells. Some people’s skin was rotting, some were bleeding, while others were injured badly that you could see their bones.

However, Ed could not see any tools for torturing. They were just tied to a chain.

The people almost looked like they were high on drugs.

Ed passed through the terrible prison cells and got inside the basement. It’s only been three days since Kyle went missing. If he were here, Ed hoped that he wasn’t in terrible condition.

While going inside, Ed could not see a boy tied to a chain until he reached almost the end. The boy biting his molars was sweating like rain.

Ed stood in front of the prison cell and asked.

“Kyle?”

At Ed’s question, the boy looked up. His grimly distorted expression seemed to be enduring terrible pain. But his eyes did not face Ed.

It felt like he was looking at something else.

“What do you want now? You can’t change anything even if you beat me up.”

Ed could tell that he was Kyle.

“Merjen sent me here”.

“Merjen? Who is that?”

Kyle was struggling and looked like he was going to die. Ed took a step back and swung Etrian’s sword. Etrian’s sword, injected with mana, split the bars at once, and Ed was able to get the chains off of him.

Ed knelt down in front of him. And Ed knew he was lying. But his eyes were still out of focus.

“Are you hallucinating?”

Kyle laughed at his words.

“What kind of witchcraft is this? You’re going to give me a new curse?”

Ed knew why Kyle was doing this now. Without worrying, Ed took off the necklace he received from Aaron and put it on Kyle.

When the necklace on his neck gave off blue light, Kyle’s eyes cleared up and the curse was broken.

“Gasp!”

However, Kyle breathed heavily, perhaps because of the rebound caused by the release of the curse. Ed took the necklace back from Kyle’s neck and put it around his neck.

“Kyle. Merjen sent me to get you.”

Kyle looked up at Ed. Kyle, who had been hallucinating due to the curse so far and suddenly returned to reality, was doubting whether this was a hallucination.

Ed slapped Kyle on the cheek. When Kyle turned his head and came back, Ed asked.

“Wake up. I heard that you were together with Leaf, a dwarf. Why are you alone?”

Kyle spat out blood and looked back at Ed as he was shocked. Perhaps he came to his senses, but his emerald eyes were shining strongly.

“How about Merjen? Is she okay?”

“She almost died of hunger. But she is fine now.”

Kyle replied, raising himself up.

“If she had come with us, this place would have been a sea of fire, and we would have been wanted.”

“You’re already wanted”.

Kyle smiled bitterly at his words.

“You know a lot of things.”

“Why are you worried about Merjen right now? Get a hold of yourself. Let’s grab Leaf and get out.”

Kyle struggled to get up and stumbled. When Ed grabbed his arm and left the prison cell, he saw a person coming down the stairs.

The brown-haired, haggard-looking man smiled when he saw Ed helping Kyle.

“As expected, I knew there would be someone coming after you.”

Kyle looked at him and shouted urgently.

“He uses witchcraft! Don’t make eye contact with him.”

Even before Kyle’s cry was over, the witchcraft man collapsed with a dagger stuck in his forehead.

“Huh?”