Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Whoosh!

Zeke took Felix to the Agamemnon Castle.

As the Syndicate branch manager said, the road to the castle was completely blocked, so they had to get off the carriage halfway and walk up towards the castle.

“M-Master, isn’t this place too gloomy?”

The path to the castle was overgrown with bizarrely grown trees and thorny vines tangled in between, making it impossible for people to pass through.

Eventually, Zeke and Felix had to cut through the thorny vines with daggers to make their way.

After struggling up the desolate hill path, the two finally stood in front of Agamemnon Castle.

When Zeke nodded, Felix knocked on the castle gate.

Bang! Bang! 

Dust fell from the gate, showing how long it had been since it was last opened.

When there was no response, Felix knocked again while shouting.

“Lord Zeke Draker, a pureblood awakener of the Draker family and the youngest blue-rank knight in the continent, who received the youngest formal knighthood, has come to visit the Agamemnon family!”

After Felix knocked a few more times, there was finally movement from inside.

Creek!

The door opened, revealing an elderly maid with ash-gray hair, milky white eyes, and tree bark-like skin.

“Cough!”

“Did you say Lord Zeke Draker?”

The old woman spoke in a voice like nails scratching on metal.

Felix was slightly scared by the bizarre old woman’s appearance.

Zeke, who was standing behind, stepped forward.

“I am Zeke Draker. I wish to meet the head of the Agamemnon family.”

The old woman approached Zeke and caressed his face with her long, withered hands.

Felix tried to stop the old woman midway, but Zeke raised his hand to stop him.

After a moment, the old woman made a strange laugh.

“Heeheeheehee!”

It sounded like a donkey about to take its last breath.

The old woman said to Zeke and Felix.

“Heehee, please come in.”

Zeke and Felix followed the old woman through the castle gate.

The inside of the castle was thickly covered in dust, as if it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time, and cobwebs were everywhere.

All the furniture was covered with cloth, giving it an eerie feeling.

Felix, getting goosebumps, stuck close to Zeke and whispered quietly.

“M-Master, something feels strange here.”

“I know. But Felix, I’d appreciate it if you could keep some distance.”

The old woman lit an old lamp and went up a narrow spiral staircase.

While following the old woman, Zeke examined the castle’s structure and materials.

‘This is an extremely old castle. It must be at least 1000 years old.’

It might even be older than that.

Following the old woman up the stairs and through a narrow corridor, they came to a door.

Guided inside, they found a large room with a long dining table where dim figures were gathering mysteriously.

Elderly people in old noble attire sat there, with disheveled white hair, pale faces, dark circles under their eyes, and vacant, hollow gazes.

Felix tried to step back in surprise when he saw them.

“M-Master! They’re g-ghosts!”

Zeke stepped on Felix’s foot firmly to keep him in place.

Zeke approached the elderly people and greeted them.

“Zeke Draker pays his respects to the elders of the Agamemnon family, masters of Mycenae.”

The ghost-like elderly people remained silent at Zeke’s words.

Just then, the maid with the candle brought something.

Clink!

The old woman began placing oddly scented soup in front of the ghostly elderly people.

She then placed portions for Zeke and Felix in the empty seats at the table.

The old woman said to Zeke.

“Heehee! Heehee! Please enjoy your meal.”

When Zeke gave Felix a look, he sat down reluctantly, clearly frightened.

Stirring the soup the old woman had prepared with a spoon, there were unidentifiable ingredients mixed in thickly.

The ghostly elderly people ate the soup silently.

Zeke also started eating the soup with his spoon.

Felix rolled his eyes around before slowly scooping up some soup and putting it in his mouth.

“Ugh!”

The taste was impossible to swallow.

Looking beside him, Zeke was sitting straight and diligently eating the soup.

Seeing Zeke like that, Felix reflected on himself.

‘This must also be an ordeal to become an excellent knight.’

He steeled himself and took a big spoonful of soup.

‘Blegh.’

Still, bad taste was just bad taste.

After Felix finished his soup as well, the old woman came back to collect the bowls.

The one seated at the head of the table among the ghostly elderly people looked at Zeke with hollow eyes.

Zeke spoke to the elderly person.

“I have a request for the family head.”

The elderly person remained silent.

Zeke continued speaking.

“As a direct blood relative of the Agamemnon family, I would like to receive your patronage.”

At those words, the eyebrows of the elderly people, including the one at the head of the table, twitched subtly.

Just then, the old woman’s bizarre laughter was heard from behind.

Heehee! Heehee! Heehee!

At that moment, the elderly person at the head of the table suddenly stood up.

“Gasp!”

Felix was startled by that sight.

The ghost elder was much taller than expected.

He stared at Zeke with hollow eyes, then quickly turned and went somewhere.

Zeke also got up and followed the elder.

Felix followed behind Zeke while trembling.

The tall ghost elder passed through the dark hallway and slipped into a room at the end.

Zeke also followed inside.

The magical lights weren’t working, so oil lamps and candles were lit.

The room appeared to be a library, packed densely with an enormous number of books.

That’s when Zeke discovered a painting hanging on one wall of the library.

“Felix, shine the light on that wall.”

At Zeke’s words, Felix shone the light on the wall.

“Gasp!”

Felix almost dropped the lamp in shock at seeing the scroll painting on the wall.

It depicted a horrific scene of countless people dying while coughing up blood.

Dead bodies were piled like mountains, and in front of them were people writhing in agony on their knees.

It was in incredibly poor taste to hang such a painting in a library.

Just then, the tall ghost elder appeared near Zeke.

But in his hand was a long, sharp skewer.

Felix jumped in front of Zeke in surprise.

“M-Master! I-I’ll block him, please run away!”

It was pitiful to see Felix standing in front of Zeke while trembling.

Zeke patted Felix’s shoulder and stopped him.

“Felix. It’s alright, step aside.”

The ghost elder approached the scroll with the terrifying painting while holding the skewer.

Then he used the skewer to flip the scroll backward.

Another painting appeared behind the scroll.

Zeke examined the painting carefully.

‘Is that?’

It seemed to be a scene of people throwing corpses by a lakeside.

The lakeside was red like blood.

And someone was drawn throwing themselves into the lake while holding something to their chest.

The lake was bubbling around that person.

The ghost elder who flipped the scroll back stared at Zeke with hollow eyes.

He suddenly opened his mouth wide.

A dried black tongue was visible inside.

Wheeze! Wheeze!

A whistling sound came from the elder’s mouth.

At the same time, an eerie sound like tearing came from his throat.

『Family symbol! Gone! Cursed! No succession qualification! Curse! Here! Everyone dies! Die!』

Felix’s legs gave out at the bizarre sound unlike a human voice.

The ghost elder glared at Zeke and Felix while making hissing sounds.

Zeke spoke while looking at the elder.

“Are you saying the family symbol disappeared so there’s no qualification to succeed as heir?”

The elder nodded affirmatively at Zeke’s words.

Felix’s eyes went wide seeing this.

‘How was that interpretation possible from those words just now?’

Zeke seemed to realize something and took Felix out of the library.

“M-Master. This place really seems cursed. Maybe we should just return to Atlas…”

Just then, an old woman appeared silently in the hallway.

“Heeek! Heek!”

Zeke asked the old woman making strange sounds.

“Let me ask one thing. Did the family symbol sink beneath the lake?”

The old woman who let out bizarre screams nodded.

He turned on his map and checked the location around the castle.

Then he discovered there was a large lake behind the castle.

‘Lake Nahuel. This is it.’

“Show us the way to the lake.”

The old woman’s expression changed.

Her expression changed from laughing with ‘heek heek’ sounds to becoming stiff like a plaster statue.

Zeke said to the old woman.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry and guide us.”

The old woman stared intensely at Zeke’s face with her stiff expression.

Then suddenly strange sounds flowed from the old woman’s mouth.

“Cough, cough! Heeek! The child with black eyes heek! Will restore heek! The family to its original state!”

The old woman quickly turned and walked somewhere.

Zeke said to Felix.

“Let’s follow.”

Felix followed behind Zeke while sweating nervously.

How long did they walk following the old woman through the maze-like corridors? At some point, the three stood in front of a small door leading outside the castle.

The old woman opened the door.

Zeke said to the old woman.

“We can find our way from here.”

The old woman bowed her head to Zeke in response.

When Zeke and Felix went outside, the door closed with a bang.

“Huuh. Master. This place is really too strange.”

Zeke quietly replied while turning on the map to find the way to the lake.

“Stop nagging and follow me, Felix.”

Zeke took Felix and climbed up the hill through rough terrain covered with bizarrely shaped bushes and thorny thickets while looking at the map.

After climbing for a while, they could see a huge lake above.

Felix gaped at the sight of the lake.

“Wow, I’ve never seen such a large lake before.”

He never thought there would be such a place on the hill.

Zeke bent down and examined the lake water.

The lake water was foul-smelling and murky.

Zeke recalled the picture he saw earlier.

And he remembered the image of someone jumping into the lake while holding something in that picture.

Zeke suspected there must be some connection between that picture and the curse of House Agamemnon, since the old man deliberately showed it to him.

‘I guess I’ll have to go in to find out what it is.’

After thinking briefly, Zeke opened the item shop.

He purchased ‘Whale’s Breath’ among the potions, which allows breathing underwater.

Zeke said to Felix.

“Felix, I’m going into the lake. It might take a while, so wait here.”

Though Felix tried to stop him in shock, he couldn’t dissuade Zeke who had made up his mind.

Zeke took out camping equipment from his inventory for Felix, drank the potion, and immediately jumped into the lake.

The inside of the lake was as deep as it was enormous.

Zeke used his Dragon Eye skill to secure visibility.

‘Let’s see what’s in here.’

Zeke swam deep into the lake.

The lake was so deep that the bottom wasn’t visible even after swimming for quite a while.

Just as he was amazed by the lake’s depth, Zeke finally reached the bottom.

‘Whew, it’s deeper than I thought.’

As Zeke began walking along the lake bottom in earnest, he discovered something.

‘Skeletons.’

Countless skeletons had sunk to the bottom of the lake.

Zeke examined the condition of the skeletons.

‘They seem to have been here for quite a long time. At least 50 years, it appears.’

Zeke carefully looked for anything notable while passing through the skeletons.

That’s when it happened.

Something glowing white was visible among the skeletons.

‘What’s that?’

Zeke slowly approached the light.

The glow was seeping out from between the piled skeletons.

Zeke cleared away the skeletons and examined what was inside.

Surprisingly, unlike the other skeletons, one skeleton that maintained its original form was holding something glowing in both hands.

It was an intricately crafted golden mask.

‘Is this the symbol of House Agamemnon? It doesn’t seem like an ordinary artifact.’

He removed the artifact from the skeleton’s hands.

Suddenly, the skeleton’s body crumbled into powder.

At the same time, the glow emanating from the artifact disappeared.

‘What’s this?’

At first, he thought it was just something related to House Agamemnon, but the energy it emanated felt somehow familiar.

Zeke carefully examined the mask after its glow had faded.

And he discovered a sun-shaped pattern drawn on the mask’s forehead.

‘It’s similar to the Holy Kingdom’s emblem.’

That’s when it happened.

Kugugugugugu!

Something approached rapidly behind Zeke.

At that moment, a message window appeared before Zeke’s eyes.

[Great dragon species corrupted by tainted energy detected.]