Chapter 26: Lord of the Berwick Islands (4)

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 became 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 become 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 me… 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 immediately 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, something 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 time, 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,” Meredith 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 home.”

The same 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 some dreary ruin? Do you want me 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 some forgotten water deity, so you may face serpents, slimes, 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 time like the present,” Simon decided. No reason to waste a free afternoon. “Our promenade will have to wait, Anna.”

“You already plan to abandon me, Simon?” Anna scoffed. “You won’t get rid of me so easily.”

Simon raised an eyebrow. “You wish to come along?”

“Are you certain?” her father asked, though he didn’t sound too concerned.

“It is not the promenade 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 name.

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 slimes, dire octopi, bats, toads the size of dogs, bloated undead corpses, and even one water elemental that Meredith 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. Meredith 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 elemental.

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 former was a relatively niche perk. Many of the Overlord’s abilities revolved around its castle or fighting on its home turf. Simon wondered if he would have an easier time 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 home 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 time, and progressing past some 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 some frustration elsewhere. Duchar had patently refused to assist him in any way in spite of his telepathic messages so long as he didn’t meet 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 someone could magically impersonate the Overlord this way.

Simon had no idea how long it would take to get Duchar to come around, but he vaguely recalled that his father’s maps marked a demonbarrow’s location somewhere 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. Some of the empire’s recent conquests coincidentally covered areas housing them, so some 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 somehow, yet Simon couldn’t begin to tell how for the moment. 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.

“Welcome, Your Highness,” Tiella giggled on the bed. “Surprised?”