Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru - Chapter 226: The Forgotten's Story III

A year had passed since she started working for the castle.

To be precise, she didn’t work for the castle, but served Her Holiness Lyridias. Unlike the other maids, she was given special treatment.

She was invited to Lyridias’ private chambers, sometimes ate and slept with her, and was treated on par with the knight who guarded her. The most important difference was that she could come and go freely from the castle.

However, she was not foolish enough to let that go to her head.

She had an inkling.

Of the secrets lurking within the castle and the royal family.

The sudden disappearances of servants, the part of the castle’s basement where entry was forbidden, and the eerie presence she felt night after night.

These secrets were a deadly poison that could kill with the slightest touch.

She couldn’t avoid the danger by remaining ignorant. The most sensible thing to do would be to run away and leave the continent right away, but she couldn’t leave Lyridias’ side.

Calling it a friendship made it sound cheap, but she was someone with whom she had formed a bond. In her own way, she felt a small sense of pride. Though it was small, it was something worth risking her life for.

So, she deliberately ventured closer to the secrets.

First, the eight princes.

Three of them were operating outside the castle.

The second prince was touring all over the center continent in an effort to quell civil unrest.

The fifth and eighth princes were on an expedition to the left continent where they were waging war against the barbarians.

The remaining five were apparently in the castle.

She hadn’t seen all of their faces. The two she hadn’t, she knew about only from the rumors circulating among the maids and nobles.

The first prince was said to have been holed up in the basement for a very long time, conducting some kind of dubious research.

The fourth prince was said to be suffering from the same disease as the king and stayed in his room all the time.

The third prince had been fooling around endlessly with the women of the country. The race and the position of the women mattered little to him. He had also tried to ask her out. He was frivolous, but she could tell that he was a man with an agenda.

He was spreading his seed and carelessly increasing the number of nobles. It was unclear if there was any meaning to this behavior or if it was just the nature of men.

The seventh prince was the one she felt she had to be the most careful with. He was the head of the center continent’s merchant association. He controlled Elysium’s economy, and more importantly, he was the head of Elysium’s clandestine operations. He controlled all the information that the country had at its disposal.

The sixth prince was………………called Ardi.

He served as both the knight commander of the Ardi Knight Order and Lyridias’ bodyguard.

When she was told that he was a prince, she was taken aback.

She had attempted to change her attitude towards him, but he had snickered at her, which pissed her off, so she reverted to her original way of interacting with him.

「You’re good like that」

She was angered by his oddly high-and-mighty tone. She didn’t quite understand it, but the irritation she felt was comfortable to her.

Though it was in bits and pieces, she was able to get information on the princes.

But what she couldn’t get was any shred of information about the king.

To begin with, the king had never appeared in public since the founding of the country.

There were some among the butlers and maids who claimed that he was dead.

Even the princes were unable to meet with the king.

The only one who could see him was Lyridias.

Even though they had grown close, she knew that probing Lyridias about it would be dangerous.

While she was contemplating whether or not to sneak into the darkest part of the castle, her former teacher, Garving, who had recently been invited to Elysium, appeared in front of her.

Without a word of greeting for their reunion, Garving led her to the basement of the castle.

The magician and his disciple descended into the basement of the castle, which had been warded with many layers of barriers.

They went down a long staircase that seemed to go deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth.

The place they arrived at was a vast space. A space where the air felt like magma and the screams of people echoed all around.

In that place was a gigantic lump of flesh.

It was a mass of such hideousness that she, who had seen all sorts of things on two continents, found herself wanting to turn away from it.

From that entity’s egg-shaped body sprouted the characteristics of many different creatures.

It had bird wings, insect wings, snake tails, beast tails, scales, claws, tentacles, crustacean feet, as well as compound eyes, snake eyes, and human eyes filled with emotion.

Adding to the horror was the massive mouth that took up half of its body.

There were four long canine teeth, incisors, and molars, all of which were typical of humans, but there were hundreds of such mouths inside its mouth.

It opened its massive mouth and devoured a chained human alive.

The sacrifices were of all ages, all genders, and of all races. There were beastkin, elves, little ones, and even a maid who had misbehaved.

A death cry rang out.

It was high pitched at first, then became muffled, interspersed with the sound of flesh being mangled.

Following that, a chorus of screams began.

The lump of flesh joined in and sang along.

It was a hideous wail, but she caught the melody in it.

The song sounded familiar, and then she gasped.

It was the song Lyridias sang whenever she was in a good mood.

She had said that the king had taught it to her when she first met him in her youth.

This was no joking matter.

「You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re telling me that’s what has become of the King of Man, Ra Guzuri Duin Oruosuouru? Or should I say, what became of the king?」

Garving had not lied. And as proof, Lyridias was there beside the lump of flesh.

Lyridias was interacting with the hideous lump with the familiarity she had towards her and Ardi.

「What are you going to do, my disciple?」

Even as they spoke, a person was being eaten.

It was a woman about her age.

Lyridias didn’t pay her death any mind.

She wasn’t young enough to be shaken by the death of a human, but she hadn’t ceased to be human enough to be unfeeling about it either.

「Make no mistake. In my path of magic, justice is a trivial matter」

「I know. You fiend」

The teacher and disciple finally exchanged greetings for their reunion.

「Let’s hear what my disciple has to say about this」

「You’re asking someone for their opinion?」

Garving ignored her and continued.

「Will you denounce them, incite the people, and return Elysium to the hands of the righteous? Will you join them, take them in, and embrace the secrets of the royal family? Or will you try to conceive a monster like that woman? My disciple, for the first time, I’m glad you’re a woman」

「Drop dead」

She didn’t need to be told by this man, she had made her decision instantly.

About what had become of the king and Her Holiness Lyridias.

About the great country of Elysium, which harbored such a monster.

There was only one thing to be done.

A simple thing that she was capable of doing.

「Garving, seeing as you’re asking for my opinion, I assume you’ll be willing to collaborate with me?」

「Of course, but just this once」

That was good enough for her.

What is “she” going to do now that she has uncovered Elysium’s secret? Well, since this is the past, I’m sure you can guess. Still, was it a surprise that Ardi of Vindoobunikuru was one of the beast-hunter princes? And who was it that Ardi had a child with again? Hehe.

I think you get the drill now, we’ll have to wait for the next arc to finish before we get the continuation, but stay tuned!

I apologize for 2 short-ish chapters in a row. I want to keep the arcs separate and that’s going to result in this kind of thing happening every now and then, I’m afraid. Nevertheless, I apologize once more.