Chapter 34

Do You Like Playing with Fire on Summer Nights? (4)

“Ugh, wh-what is this?”

Legina, having plunged into the room, wrinkled her nose at the repulsive, metallic smell that invaded her nostrils. And then, her lips pressed together as her eyes took in the scene before her. It was a space saturated with blood, whether human or animal, she couldn’t tell. There were jars whose purpose she couldn’t discern, a large table whose function was unknown, and a pot boiling in one corner without a fire. The two, briefly speechless at the scene within the basement, which transcended strangeness into discomfort, slowly began to survey their surroundings.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the individual who had committed these acts was absent, allowing them to examine the interior in detail without much difficulty.

“It is animal blood.”

“…Should I say it’s fortunate it’s not human, my lord?”

“Neither looks like the work of a sane person.”

“My lord, do you happen to know any curses?”

“I know many, but I have no desire to teach them to you.”

She felt like letting out a string of curses if she knew any. However, even while repeatedly fleeing and fighting before her regression, she had no memory of ever uttering a crude word. For that reason, the option of cursing was out.

Legina moved carefully to avoid stepping in the pools of blood, beginning to search every corner in the opposite direction from Aaron. She meticulously searched for a long time, but found nothing remarkable except for three or four unidentified herbs and the pot boiling without a fire. Of course, those alone were suspicious enough, but the blood covering the floor left her no room to consider them special. Those unaccustomed to blood would have panicked.

Aaron, thinking along those lines, turned his gaze to Legina as if he had realized something.

A person born in the Imperial Palace and raised with such care, accustomed to blood?

Just as he tilted his head in fresh puzzlement, Legina, who was examining the blood-soaked floor, discovered something strange. Though blood had splattered everywhere and formed pools in various places, one corner of the basement room was strangely clean. Furthermore, the traces of blood that should have splattered in that direction were cut off as cleanly as if by a knife.

“My lord, it seems there’s something below here.”

At her call, Aaron pushed aside his internal questions for the moment and cautiously approached, beginning to examine the area Legina pointed to.

“It seems there is a space below.”

“Could this be a handle?”

“I will open it. Please step back.”

Aaron looked at the tiny groove Legina had found, took a short breath, and then thrust his sword into it. Other knights might have felt aversion to using their swords in such a way, but Aaron, who believed a sword’s purpose was simply to pierce and cut effectively, used his without hesitation whenever necessary. The floor didn’t budge at first, but as Aaron repeatedly thrust and pushed upward, its solidity gave way, and a crack gradually began to appear. Once the gap was wide enough for two hands, Aaron handed the sword to Legina and began to lift the solid flooring with both hands.

With the sound of heavy rock being moved, a hidden space was revealed. And at that moment, an even stronger scent of blood wafted up. Legina instinctively recoiled a step, her expression creased in disgust.

“I hear a sound.”

“What?”

Legina pricked up her ears at Aaron’s words and focused. Just as he said, she heard a whimpering sound. Legina’s face relaxed slightly, as she had been momentarily tense, though she tried to pretend otherwise, since it was a blood-soaked place.

Legina picked up one of the torches hanging on the wall and cautiously descended into the secret space, ignoring Aaron’s attempt to stop her. A surprisingly spacious area revealed itself. Aaron, following her with another torch he had taken, also began to move, illuminating their surroundings and following the faint whimpering sound.

“This is a space created by someone who used the castle without permission.”

“Is it a space that didn’t originally exist?”

“Yes.”

Legina, who had previously confirmed the secret passages built by the original creator through blueprints, was convinced that the one who created this unknown space, unbeknownst to her, was the very person responsible for this bloody smell.

Aside from creating disease, could there have been another reason for its creation?

Just as Legina tilted her head in thought, a sharp yelp—”Yelp!”—was heard. Aaron and Legina looked at each other and immediately began to move quickly towards the source of the sound. Contrary to their entry, Aaron, with his sword drawn, led the way, with Legina following him.

“…What is that?”

“It seems to be the owner of the blood pool.”

And there, they discovered the carcass of a giant dog. The large dog, as big as an adult man, had several tubes inserted into its four legs, neck, and back, presumably for extracting blood. What kind of human would do this to such a magnificent beast so miserably? Judging by the lack of decay, it had clearly died recently.

“Did we hear its last cry before it died?”

“I don’t think so.”

Aaron, kneeling and examining the dead dog, pointed to the area beneath its prone belly. Its stomach, which seemed to have been starved for a long time before its death, was heaving.

“Surely not?”

“It seems so.”

Aaron gently nudged the dead dog’s body, lifting its belly, and two puppies with black fur appeared. Unlike their emaciated mother, they were plump and had glossy fur, indicating that the dog had meticulously cared for its puppies until its last moment.

“So those were their whimpers.”

Legina, looking at the two trembling puppies that were baring their teeth and growling, reached out her hands and gently stroked the mother’s fur for a long time, then extended her hand towards the puppies. The two puppies, hesitating for a long time as if wondering if Legina and Aaron would harm them, slowly moved and sniffed Legina’s hand. And then, they stuck out their tongues and licked her hand. Legina carefully picked up the two puppies and held them in her arms.

“Do you intend to take them yourself?”

“This wouldn’t have happened if the castle had been properly managed. I must take responsibility.”

Though they were four-legged animals, they were still living creatures on the land of the Ellias Empire. Legina, who had been watching the massive mother dog’s carcass, killed with ill intent, for a long time, brought the two puppies to their mother’s face. The puppies, as if realizing it was a moment of farewell, licked their mother’s nose and burrowed into Legina’s embrace.

“I’m sorry. I want to bury you in a sunny spot, but I don’t have enough strength to carry your body out. Instead, I will take good care of your puppies, so please be happy in a place where there is no pain.”

Legina, judging that there was nothing more to examine in the space below, turned around. Aaron, who had been looking at the mother dog’s carcass for a moment, also followed Legina, exiting the space. The two then retrieved the buckets of oil they had left on their way down and carefully sprinkled it throughout the basement.

After thoroughly dousing the mother dog’s carcass with oil and taking a small sample of the liquid boiling in the pot, Legina entrusted the two puppies to Aaron and personally picked up a torch. Although abandoned, it was still imperial property. It was right for Legina to do it herself.

“Come to think of it, my lord, I didn’t get an answer from you?”

“What?”

“If you like playing with fire.”

“I’ve never done it, so I don’t know.”

“Fireworks?”

“Not bad.”

“Really? Then you look at the sky. I’ll look at the castle.”

Legina threw the torch onto the fireworks powder piled high at the castle entrance and quickly retreated, coming to stand beside Aaron. Legina took the two struggling puppies back into her arms from Aaron and looked at the castle, which was rapidly catching fire. And at the same time, a spectacular fireworks display began in the sky. Having bought all the remaining stock from the store, fireworks of overwhelming size and quantity, greater than those used at an ordinary festival, began to paint the sky.

“With this, rumors about me will surely spread, won’t they?”

“Why did you collect that liquid?”

“Because I need to know what kind of mischief was brewed here. I’ll order an investigation as soon as we return.”

“Might it react with the fire and show some strange effect?”

“It’s fine. It will just burn cleanly in the fire.”

If it were to react to heat, something should have happened when this castle was burned before her regression. However, Legina remembered burning down this castle before her regression, making the disease disappear. It was surely the work of the same person, so this would also be similar. The problem was that Legina knew this all too well, but Aaron did not. Aaron’s red eyes deepened, as if puzzled by her confident voice. Unaware of his reaction, Legina watched the enormous fireworks that noisily painted the sky and the castle below, which had begun to burn fiercely.

The castle Theore had burned down before was several times larger than the one she was burning now.

Even this is spectacular; the burning of Carnian Castle must have been truly a sight to behold.

Legina, thinking something that would make Selma clutch her chest if she heard it, felt the warmth of the tiny puppies in her arms. Then, she gasped, startled, as Aaron suddenly drew his sword and guarded their rear. She started to regret having left Titi—the nickname for Theore’s personal club—behind, excited about today’s playing with fire.

“Who’s there! Show yourself!”

Aaron yelled towards the rustling bushes.

– Mochinuna.