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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 9

The villagers were also indifferent to Siluca, almost as if they could not see her at all. Even when she was passing by them, none of them as much as glanced her way.

In addition to all of that, Siluca could feel a unique Chaotic odor resembling the stench of death permeating the entire area of the village, and since there are many people among the mortals who seek eternal life, she was willing to bet there are probably Artists who possessed the gift of immortality among the villagers.

For such artists, this place might as well be a sacred ground, as ironically as it sounds. Siluca’s current investigation only included this village, but there is probably more than one such village sprawled out across the entirety of the Forest of Eternal Darkness. She did not know how many of the villagers actually possessed immortality, but she had to assume that it was more than one at the very least.

As she proceeded through the village, the road began to split in two, and beyond the road on the left, she could see a jet-black spire jutting out from above the trees of the forest.

「That has to be it… 」

Siluca muttered and took the road to the left until she eventually reached the castle.

Although it did not have defensive walls of any kind, it was still of considerable size, and the same could be said about its sturdy double-doors with iron rings instead of the regular handles.

Siluca reached out with her hand and tried to open one of the door’s wings, but before she could do that, the doors have opened by themselves with a loud and unpleasant creaking sound… or at least Siluca thought that they have opened by themselves, but once she went inside, she saw that there were actually

I thought the door had opened on its own, but there were two well-built men standing on the other side of the door.

The two silently and respectfully bowed to her when she went past them, and Siluca did the same out of politeness and then she moved on further into the castle’s interior, to a large atrium that was covered with a bright red carpet.

At the back of the hall, there were stairs on the left and right that climbed upwards while drawing a curve… and at the top of the stood the figure of the lord of the castle.

「Welcome to my castle! 」
A sonorous voice resounded all around the atrium, and a man in formal attire came down the stairs on the right with a cane in hand. Several women in formal attire descended from the opposite ends of the stairs behind him.

「I beg you to pardon my sudden intrusion upon your domain, King Dimitri. My name is Siluca Meletes, and I have come here today acting as a messenger on behalf of Vilar Constance, the Earl of Artuk. 」

Siluca greeted him respectfully.

「I’ve heard a lot of rumors about you. It’s a pity that the Lord Theo Cornero, whom you have a contract with, is your master. 」

「Accept my humblest apologies for disappointing you. 」

At the same time, Siluca wondered just how far did the rumors about her and Theo managed to spread.

「As you can see, my Lord is not with me right now, because currently he is in the middle of conducting a very important mission on the orders of the Earl of Artuk himself. I also came to visit you today because I would like to ask a request of you that is related with my Lord’s mission. 」

Siluca raised her head and looked at Dimitri.

「What exactly is your wish? 」

Facing Siluca, Dimitri nodded and asked.

「To tell you the truth, there was an incident in which more than ten heavy knights of Waldrind crossed the border between Artuk and Waldrind and killed several Werewolves. We have tried looking for the perpetrators, but so far we have been unable to locate them successfully. Given the circumstances, we have determined that there is a high possibility that they are hiding somewhere in the Forest of Eternal Darkness so we would like to request King Dimitri’s permission to conduct a thorough search of the forest. 」

「There is no need for me to grant that request of yours. 」

The Vampire King replied as he laughed.

「May I ask why? 」

「Because I already know where they are hiding. 」

「You know that already? 」

Siluca stared at Dimitri in amazement.

「The entirety of this forest is my territory. That is why in my forest, my eyes are everywhere and my ears are everywhere as well. 」

Siluca thought that it would not be strange if that really was the case. Maybe this is because the Vamipre King is just that deeply connected to the Forest of Eternal Darkness.

「Why do you allow the heavy knights of Waldrind to continue hiding in the forest? 」

「You mean to say that I cannot do that? 」

Dimitri asked.

「That is… 」

Though it is technically a part of Artuk territory, The Forest of Eternal Darkness is an extraterritorial land, and the one who holds the right to exclusively decide everything about the forest and what happens within its boundaries is the Vampire King and the Vampire King alone.

「I know that we are overstepping our boundries… but Artuk must capture them at all costs. If we will not do that, then they will plunge all of Artuk, including this forest,, into chaos. 」

「Chaos… you say? 」

Dimitri muttered that word as if he was chewing on it.

「That would be a shameindeed. After all, all I want is peace. 」

「Can I ask for your cooperation then? 」

Siluca asked, anxiously waiting for the Vampire King’s answer.

「Follow me. I will show you something most interesting… 」

Without answering Siluca’s question, Dimitri said so and headed towards the dark, narrow staircase whose descending stairs were hidden behind the stairs going up. She was feeling hesitant about the idea of going together with Dimitri into the unknown, but in the end she realized that she does not have much of a choice here but to follow him along, so she lit up the tip of her magic wand and joined the Vampire King as he descended down the stairs.

At the end of the spiral staircase there was a crisscrossing underground passage, forming something akin to a natural maze. Sewage was flowing in the gutters, and the entire area was densely populated by rats, bats and insects of all kind. The walls of this entire area were carved in a way that made them resemble shelves, and these shelves had various human bones enshrined in in them.

「What is this place? 」

Siluca asked. This place was certainly eerie, but she did not feel any kind of paralyzing or bone-chilling fear, since rats, bats, insects, and human bones were nothing that could cause direct harm to her.

「These are the castle’s catacombs. My job is being a grave keeper, you see. 」

「is that so…? 」

Siluca nodded, but she could not stop wondering why Dimitri had brought her to a place like this. But on the other hand, he is a type of superhuman who was alive ever since the age of Extreme Chaos, so maybe it is actually pretty natural for her to not understand what is the type of existence like him is thinking and what motivates him?

In any case, Siluca began to draw a map in her head every time Dimitri was taking another turn to make sure that she is not going to end up getting lost on the way back, but Dimitri seemed to have no particular intention of misleading her, but seemed to be taking the shortest route somewhere. Before long, the atmosphere of the passage changed, and a gorgeous door appeared in front of them

The Vampire King opened the door to the room himself, and then he looked back at Siluca and nodded. Siluca returned his nod and went into the room first.

The room was brightly lit by many huge candles. Luxurious carpets were laid out on the floor, and the walls were decorated with many gorgeous tapestries. There was also a bed with a canopy, as well as the finely decorated furnishings.

In the depths of the room, a sphere was floating in the air. Inside the sphere was the figure of a naked woman curled up and hugging her knees like a fetus. She had sinister patterns carved all over her body, but there was also something mysteriously godly about her.

「This sphere is… 」

Siluca noticed it first and immediately became appalled.

「Dimensional Barrier! 」

It is the ability to cut out the space of this world and create a different space within it.