Lord Maublanc Paimon didn’t hide his surprise once they reported their discovery to him. “You have found a stairway into the Poison Gardens inside Eleanor’s sarcophagus?”
“The Poison Gardens? Is that what that dreary place is called, Dad?” Anna put her fists on her waist and gave her own father ‘the look.’ “You knew about this?”
“I knew there was a Dungeon beneath Castle Carcas. It is half the reason we built this castle here, besides its access to the sea.” Lord Paimon crossed his arms. “However, Balzam walled off all entrances when he beca Overlord. I wasn’t aware he had left any way in.”
“Why raise a castle atop a Dungeon?” Simon inquired. That sounded like insanity to him. It didn’t end well for the Kish Empire, after all.
“We chose this place for a few reasons. First of all, it bolstered our defenses. Sappers trying to tunnel their way in would find monsters waiting for them; and should the fortress’ fall beco inevitable, then we could have opened the Dungeon’s gates and unleashed the Abyss upon our attackers. Second, it gave our soldiers an easy way to train and level-up.” Lord Paimon shook his head. “To leave a secret entrance in his own wife’s tomb without informing … what was Balzam thinking?”
“At least the lock seems solid enough,” Simon said. He had put the lid back on after the discovery to prevent any accidents. The sarcophagus’ magical lock had imdiately stopped the flow of miasma coming from below when reapplied.
The voice still continued to whisper in his mind whenever he put the Overlord outfit on though, sothing which Lord Paimon quickly picked up on.
“It is a faulty lock that lets whatever lurks inside contact you anyway,” he said. “Either the seal has weakened over ti, or the force beneath our feet is powerful enough to whisper through it anyway.”
“Neither would be good news,” Anna said, a scowl of concern on her face.
“We could not find Lady Eleanor’s body anywhere we looked,” Leonard added. “I would wager this is the reason why her ghost continues to linger in this world.”
“Her resting place was desecrated,” redith said, her voice dripping with disgust. “We should find her bones and bury her properly.”
“Circumstances would suggest her remains were placed within the Dungeon, but Balzam might have placed them elsewhere.” Lord Paimon turned to Simon. “This may be a blessing in disguise, my future son-in-law. I had intended to send you to confront the Green Mother’s cult out in the wilderness, but we now have another hunting ground closer to ho.”
The sa thought had crossed Simon’s mind. Besides his desire to investigate the source of the voice, the Dungeon beneath the castle would be the only place where he could fight with the Overlord armor on without risking exposure.
Anna didn’t share his enthusiasm, however. “You want to send my fiancé to fight his way through so dreary ruin? Do you want widowed before we even seal the deal?”
“He has powerful retainers, and we already cleared the Dungeon’s upper levels of its most dangerous inhabitants long ago,” Lord Paimon replied. “Besides, the threat of the monsters below will pale compared to that of Louis or Euphemia.”
Or Vouivre. Simon starkly recalled how she had crushed Thalas in Telluria, and Leonard had insisted she wouldn’t survive long against the elites of House Magnos. He’s right, I cannot cower from danger.
“What do you know of this Dungeon, Un—Lord Paimon?” Simon ignored his fiancée’s chuckle at his hesitation. “What foes can we expect there?”
“You actually want to go inside?” Anna raised an eyebrow. “You have grown more confident.”
“The Poison Gardens used to be a temple to so forgotten water deity, so you may face serpents, slis, maybe insects,” his father-in-law replied. “I do not recall fighting anything stronger than a level 30 or so in the upper floors. You and your retainers should have no trouble there.”
“Then there’s no ti like the present,” Simon decided. No reason to waste a free afternoon. “Our pronade will have to wait, Anna.”
“You already plan to abandon , Simon?” Anna scoffed. “You won’t get rid of so easily.”
Simon raised an eyebrow. “You wish to co along?”
“Are you certain?” her father asked, though he didn’t sound too concerned.
“It is not the pronade I had in mind, but since my father makes it sound so easy…” Anna put on her Class outfit, her armor and sword of mana, appearing on her. “Besides, I am a level 37 Lord. I can handle myself.”
Simon smiled, but in his heart, he was torn with annoyance.
Even his fiancée was stronger than he was!
The Poison Gardens didn’t live up to their na.
Simon’s group spent the afternoon clearing the upper floors, an expedition during which they faced neither the threat of poison nor plants. The Dungeon instead turned out to be a maze of waterways and passages infested with foul white slis, dire octopi, bats, toads the size of dogs, bloated undead corpses, and even one water elental that redith had swiftly dispatched with a Thunder Spear spell.
Simon’s team proved to have surprising synergy. He and Leonard took the vanguard, with Simon’s Dreadful Aura scaring off most weaker monsters—when they didn’t outright submit to him due to Unquestionable Ruler—and Leonard easily intercepting those that didn’t flee. redith supported from the rear with long-distance spells or the occasional spear throw, while Anna’s Lord Class provided passive bonuses that buffed their party. Even Lorimor, while useless in battle, proved useful by mapping out the twisting passageways.
Simon could tell he received less experience from direct combat when fighting with a group rather than on his own, but the flow eventually culminated in a level-up after he smashed his hundredth giant toad’s face into the ground, and a second after they destroyed the elental.
Level 17 Overlord Perk: Lord of the Demon Castle II (Passive): You can suppress all Prayer or Holy effects produced by creatures of a lower level than you within Frightwall.
Level 18 Overlord Perk: Deathmastery II (Active): You may cause any corpse you touch to rise as a mindless undead under your control.
The forr was a relatively niche perk. Many of the Overlord’s abilities revolved around its castle or fighting on its ho turf. Simon wondered if he would have an easier ti gaining levels by managing a Dungeon rather than ruling one. The second perk would probably interest Duchar, but he didn’t see a way to test it out outside of the Dungeon without bringing every Inquisitor in the realm knocking on his door.
Lord Paimon was thankfully right; the upper floors’ occupants were nothing to write ho about, and finding their way through the passageways proved a bigger hurdle than clearing them of monsters.
The rooms and hallways they encountered were mostly made of marble and supported by cracked, ornate columns showing carvings of scorpions, the sea, and the moon, with the occasional fountain here and there. Many spots had collapsed over ti, and progressing past so flooded waterways required opening or closing sluice gates. Simon had Lorimor map everything and take records of the carvings in case they included a clue about what they could find in the lower levels, then called it a day by evening.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Unfortunately, Simon faced so frustration elsewhere. Duchar had patently refused to assist him in any way in spite of his telepathic ssages so long as he didn’t et with the new Overlord face-to-face. It didn’t matter that Simon presented him with intel on him, Cassandra, and the Archive; the old man was too wary of violating Balzam Magnos’ orders to believe a voice on a telepathic line, even one created by the Brand of Sloth. Perhaps he feared soone could magically impersonate the Overlord this way.
Simon had no idea how long it would take to get Duchar to co around, but he vaguely recalled that his father’s maps marked a demonbarrow’s location sowhere in the Berwick Islands. The presence of a Dungeon right beneath Castle Carcas was too much of a coincidence.
The voice calling out to Simon had to be a Zodiac miasma crystal like the one he encountered in Telluria.
Was Father trying to take it before he died? Simon wondered after returning to his room. That would explain why he had set this all up beforehand. No, things don’t add up. He hasn’t visited the Berwick Islands in years.
His father must have had a plan for the demonbarrows, or else he wouldn’t have been looking for them so fervently. So of the empire’s recent conquests coincidentally covered areas housing them, so so of Endymion’s most recent invasions might have been motivated by the need to secure these crystals.
All these pieces of the puzzle had to fit sohow, yet Simon couldn’t begin to tell how for the mont. He had the feeling that the Poison Gardens might hold the solution, and he needed to ensure the miasma crystal there wouldn’t cause a catastrophe like how it corrupted Eole in the previous reign.
Now that he was alone in his bedroom with the night ahead of him, Simon wondered what to do. He wasn’t tired in the slightest, and he was done practicing his spells for the day. His gaze lingered on the wardrobe and its secret passage. Knowing Anna, she was likely waiting behind it, ready to laugh if he dared to visit her…
I guess I could take a look and see if it does lead to her room, or if she was joking, Simon mused as he touched the wardrobe and opened the secret door Anna had shown him earlier. It easily slid open to reveal a passage into the wall hardly large enough for one person to fit through. It is at least more welcoming than the Gardens below.
Simon squeezed through the passage and quickly noticed faint light at the tunnel’s end. Was the other side open? It didn’t take him long to confirm it and walk into an enormous, regal bedroom paneled with darkwood planks and decorated with hanging silk, a desk with a stuffed armchair, a wardrobe thrice bigger than his own, and other luxuries. A canopy, king-sized bed throned in the moonlight shining through stained glass windows.
A woman rested atop the bed, naked as the day she was born and smiling shyly at him.
“Welco, Your Highness,” Tiella giggled on the bed. “Surprised?”
“See, Tiella?” Anna’s voice said from behind Simon, her words swiftly followed by the sound of the secret door closing. “I told you he wouldn’t last the week.”
Simon turned to find Anna smiling at him, her clothes in a freshly discarded pile on the side of the room, and with only a ribbon in her hair. Simon knew she owned his soul the mont he saw her like this, saw her breasts, her curves, the freckles on her pale skin…
“Yes, Simon, this was a trap,” she said, her arms moving around Simon’s neck before he could react. “I’m afraid your escape route has been cut off.”
“A pincer attack?” Simon mused, his hands instinctively moving to seize Anna’s waist. “You are truly the Commander’s daughter.”
“You don’t spend ti with a tactician of my father’s caliber without learning a few things.”
As I’m sure you planned for a while, Simon thought. It looked way too much like that setup at the academy to be a coincidence. “Can I expect reinforcents to keep Tiella company?”
“We toyed with the idea, but decided against it,” Anna replied. “Between us, we had planned for Tiella to have so fun at the academy. You know, invite two boys—probably you being one of them—and let her pick the one she wanted while I would take the other so she wouldn’t feel alone.”
Simon knew it. That ‘study session’ had been always been a sham from the start! “And since she’s trapped on the Berwick Islands with you, she can’t attend this year.”
“Exactly, you and I owe her,” Anna said mirthfully. “Tiella doesn’t want to wait any longer, but she has been my handmaiden for a very long ti. She knows everyone here. It would be awfully awkward if we invited so stableboy to join in, and I insisted that her first ti be–”
“Princely?” Simon guessed.
“Special,” Anna replied with a laugh. “Cocky, aren’t we?”
“I’m sorry,” Tiella apologized, her cheeks bright red. “I… I can leave if it’s too much…”
“Don’t tell you’re going to turn her away?” Anna asked Simon as she leaned forward to press her lips against his own. “Or complain?”
No. No, he wouldn’t.
He was fine fighting this battle on his own.
What followed was probably the best night of Simon’s many lives.
He had never been in a threeso before, especially not with Anna of all people. Though he had already slept with Tiella once–albeit when she had a few more drinks–having another person along turned it into a wholly different experience. Tiella still cried and proved clumsy to the end, but Anna clearly had many other n before Simon. She took the lead and swept him off his feet until he struggled to follow her lead, biting his tongue when her nails sank in his back, submitting when she pushed him down so she could better ride him… he forgot all about their childhood, their friendship, Casval, the Zodiac Fiends, and everything until she was the only thing occupying his mind. She had cast a spell upon him, and it was only when they were done that he managed to lift it.
When they at last finished, Simon found himself in the middle of the bed, sighing and breathing while Tiella gently played with his hair. Anna stood by the bedside, pouring herself a cup of wine.
“Before you say it… yes, I know I am amazing,” Anna boasted as she returned to the bed with her cup in hand. “But please don’t be afraid to remind every so often.”
“It was amazing,” Simon confird upon gathering his breath. Would he feel so exhausted each night from now on? “Were you pleased too, Tiella? I hope you enjoyed yourself.”
“I did,” she replied shyly.
“We could do it again,” Anna said while sipping her drink. “Tiella will have to marry soon too, so we should enjoy ourselves while we are both free spirits.”
“Well then, I hope you’ll marry late,” Simon said, which caused both won to chuckle.
“Go on, enjoy your freedom while it lasts, because it’ll end after the wedding,” Anna joked. “I’m serious. If I find another woman in your bed after our honeymoon, I’ll have her hanged from a tree.”
Was it wrong to say that Simon found her possessiveness alluring? “Even Tiella?”
“Even Tiella.” Anna gave her handmaiden an amused look. “I’m sorry. I love you, and I’ll weep and pay for the tombstone, but I’ll still do it. I don’t share my husband. Vows are vows.”
“It’s okay, I understand,” Tiella replied with a strange air of resignation. “I was supposed to et my own fiancé soon after the academy. I hoped I would have a sumr fling or have knights fight for my hand, like in novels…”
“You’re already engaged?” Simon asked. She never ntioned that at the academy.
“To Duke Flauros’ son,” Tiella lanted with a sigh. “I’ve heard he’s made of ice.”
“You haven’t been legitimized long enough to understand that being a noble ans your parents will decide half of your life for you, Simon,” Anna said with a hint of sorrow. “That was what I envied about you when you were still a bastard. That freedom.”
Simon wasn’t sure what to say. He had never given thought to these questions because Anna was right: no one cared about marrying him off back when he remained a re bastard, a rare luxury in this world. He was never part of the aristocracy, even if he had been born among them.
In Tiella’s case, tonight was one of the few monts when she would be able to have a degree of freedom in her life without soone watching over her shoulder. No wonder Anna felt guilty about preventing her from attending the academy.
“Well…” Simon took Anna’s hand into his own. “I swear you will have no cause to regret this marriage, Anna. I’ll make you happy.”
Anna gave him a bashful smile. “You’re sweet, Simon. I’ll hold you to that promise.”
“You can count on it?” Simon kissed her on the lips. “If any other man makes you doubt, tell and I’ll kill him myself.”
“Glad to know our vows will go both ways.” Anna licked her lips. “How does it feel to have scandalously made love to your honorary cousin before marriage, Simon?”
“You can’t make this weird, Anna,” Simon teased her back. “I’m used to it.”
“Is that so?” She took it as a challenge. “Then you won’t take it the wrong way if I call you ‘little brother’ the next ti you kiss ? I’ll allow you to call Lauriane if you want to play very dirty.”
The proposal was so outrageous that Simon couldn’t help but blush, which led to Anna laughing in his face and Tiella covering her mouth.
“That reminds , Simon…” Anna’s expression beca serious. “Dad set the wedding date for the vernal equinox, to inaugurate the new year.”
“So in three months?” Simon asked. That was plenty of ti to prepare.
“Yes.” She t his gaze. “He will have to invite your side of the family.”
Simon scowled in annoyance, though that didn’t surprise him. Not inviting House Magnos to the wedding of one of their own would be taken for an insult, not to ntion suspicious. Maublanc likely intended to lie low and hide his ambitions until the ti was right to strike. Moreover, Simon’s improved Anathemic Secrecy should help him hide his true strength easily enough.
Still, he hoped the likes of Thalas would snub the wedding. With luck, his mother Euphemia would have him stay at the academy.
“Anyway, let’s enjoy the bachelor life while we can,” Anna said while crawling closer to her fiancé. “You’ll have to return to your bedroom before the maids can catch us, but we still have ti…”
This could be my life, Simon thought as he kissed his fiancée. Ruling the Berwick Islands, living the noble life, waking up next to Anna against my chest… maybe having children with her one day.
He hoped they would have a very long life ahead of them.
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