Ian, having previously used bandits to raid this place, knew that a great deal of valuables were stored here.
‘The bandits are all dead, and the items they stuffed into their sacks must have been returned here intact.’
He was filled with the intention of taking the spoils he hadn’t been able to claim back then.
Before the surrender documents were properly finalized, he planned to take as much as he could from this place.
‘With expenses piling up…’
The funds he had on hand weren’t enough to utilize the people who would operate in the shadows for Schrantz.
‘I’ll hand everything over to Hubert later, so until then, I’ll manage it myself.’
These people weren’t moving as his personal soldiers but rather for the sake of the territory.
He couldn’t keep them under his control forever.
Until he handed them over to Hubert, he had to ensure they were well-prepared to function independently.
As he thought about the wealth of items that must be piled up in this villa, his face twisted with disappointment.
“Is this really all of it?”
“Yes, that’s everything.”
“When I came here before… no, from what I’ve heard, there should be more than this.”
The items loaded onto the cart didn’t even amount to half of what the bandits had stuffed into their sacks.
As Ian’s expression soured in real time, Lutherus panicked.
“Th-this is truly all of it! A few months ago, bandits attacked. Since then, we’ve been gradually moving items from the villa to the main estate of the Earldom of Erce. I can even show you the inventory of the villa’s assets!”
Ian frowned.
“Is that true?”
He turned to one of the cavalrymen who had accompanied him, asking if anyone had secretly taken anything.
“Yes, when I went in, the items in the warehouse were all that was there.”
The guard confirmed it, and Lutherus was even offering to show the inventory, so it didn’t seem like he was lying.
Moreover, he looked desperate.
It was clear he was doing everything he could not to provoke Ian.
‘I never thought they’d move the items.’
This was a situation Ian hadn’t anticipated.
‘Well, it makes sense. They wouldn’t leave valuables in a place that’s already been raided.’
He had to admit his oversight.
Meanwhile, the villa’s servants, unaware of what Ian was thinking, could only watch his expression nervously.
Though he had promised them safety, to them, Ian was an invader.
No one knew if he might change his mind on a whim.
Moreover, unsettling rumors were circulating throughout the empire.
In some areas where territorial wars had broken out, there were reports of massacres aimed at ensuring the territories could never recover.
There was no guarantee Schrantz wouldn’t do the same.
Of course, Ian would find this misunderstanding deeply unfair.
‘What a shame.’
What could he do? They said it was all there.
Of course, they might be lying, so he planned to scrutinize the inventory carefully.
“I see. You’ve worked hard. Keep up the good work managing the villa. And steward, come with me to the warehouse.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Ian, suspecting there might still be some items left, headed to the warehouse with the steward and a few guards to inspect it.
It seemed they had indeed moved everything, as the warehouse was completely empty.
“Wait. What’s this?”
“W-what are you referring to?”
Ian had noticed something strange in the warehouse.
The villa’s steward, trembling with worry that they might have missed something, watched Ian nervously.
But no matter how much he looked, the warehouse was empty except for dust.
Ian’s gaze was fixed on a wall.
A seemingly ordinary wall, except…
“Why is our family’s emblem carved here?”
The emblem of a roaring bear.
The symbol of the Earldom of Schrantz was inexplicably carved into the wall of the Earl of Erce’s villa.
“Huh? What do you mean…?”
Lutherus examined the wall Ian was pointing at.
He got close, touching it and scrutinizing it with his eyes, but he still looked confused.
“You don’t see the emblem?”
“No.”
“What about the rest of you?”
“We don’t see anything either.”
Everyone who had followed Ian to the warehouse reacted the same way as Lutherus, unable to see any emblem.
If it had just been the steward, Ian might have suspected he was pretending not to see it.
‘Is there something wrong with my eyes?’
Since even his own knights said the same thing, it seemed they truly couldn’t see anything.
The cavalrymen who had accompanied him also confirmed it, making Ian seriously wonder if there was something wrong with his vision.
‘No, even if my eyes were playing tricks on me, why would only this wall clearly show the family emblem?’
The emblem of the roaring bear, symbolizing the Earldom of Schrantz, was vividly visible.
But when he looked elsewhere, it was just a plain wall.
Only this one wall distinctly bore the family emblem.
There was no way his eyes were deceiving him.
“You really can’t see it? It’s right here, clear as day…!”
Frustrated, Ian placed his hand on the wall.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a light emanated from the wall.
Swoosh—!
“Huh?”
His body, which had been leaning toward the wall, vanished into it.
The others could only stare in shock as Ian disappeared through the wall.
—
* * *
“……?”
Ian blinked his eyes.
When he touched the wall, the emblem suddenly emitted light, and he passed right through it.
Seemingly quite startled, Ian stood there in a daze for a while before regaining his composure and looking around.
The space around him was enclosed and vast.
Strangely, even without any torches, the area was faintly illuminated by some light.
When he looked up at the ceiling, he noticed something glowing wedged between the cracks of the stones.
‘…It’s not something radioactive, is it?’
Having picked up bits of knowledge from the internet, he briefly worried about radiation exposure. But if that were the case, the game system would have alerted him with a danger signal immediately.
“Wait. Can I get back?”
Ian turned to look behind him.
There, he saw the same wall he had seen before entering this unknown place.
The wall with the emblem carved into it.
Just in case, he touched it and confirmed that his hand could pass through.
Ian cautiously stuck his head through the wall.
“Gah!”
He then saw the villa steward and guards withdrew in horror, falling backward.
It was understandable.
One moment, Ian had disappeared into the wall, and the next, only his head popped out.
‘At least I can come and go as I please.’
That was a relief.
He looked at them, who were staring at him as if he were a ghost, and said,
“Wait here for a moment.”
With that, he went back inside the wall.
“What kind of place is this?”
For now, it didn’t seem like a dungeon.
As he explored the area, he noticed rusted sword blades and rotting wooden swords scattered haphazardly around.
This gave him a rough idea of what this place was.
“A training ground?”
It looked like a training ground.
A wide space with weapon racks and everything—it definitely resembled a training area.
“Why would they hide a training ground with such elaborate mechanisms?”
Ian continued to inspect the area and soon discovered a life-sized statue of a knight.
It stood at the end of the training ground.
“Who is this?”
For a moment, he thought this might be a memorial for a great figure.
Fortunately, at the base of the statue, there was an inscription identifying the person.
Dust had piled up, but after wiping it away with his hand, he could finally read the words clearly.
—
[The First Count of Schrantz, c von Schrantz]
—
The inscription also detailed what this person had done before the statue was erected, but Ian wasn’t interested in that.
Instead, his attention was drawn to something else.
“Why…?”
Ian couldn’t understand.
“Why is the ancestor of Schrantz enshrined in the villa of the Earl of Erce?”
Moreover, it was the statue of the founding ancestor of the Schrantz family.
One mystery after another.
Then.
Whoosh—!
An unknown sound reached his ears.
A sound of something reacting.
Naturally, Ian’s gaze turned toward the source of the sound.
The sound came from a small orb resting in the statue’s hand.
He hadn’t noticed the orb earlier because his attention was on the statue.
But that wasn’t the important part.
Zap!
A sharp pain, as if a needle had pricked his finger, and the orb forcibly drew out a tiny amount of Ian’s mana.
It was a minuscule amount, but a drop of blood formed on his finger, and it tingled as if static electricity had shocked him.
The orb’s colour changed as it absorbed the mana, then returned to normal. Soon after, the surroundings began to change.
The bright training ground grew dark, and the light gathered in one place, forming a shape.
That shape was…
“The First Count of Schrantz?”
It was exact like the statue he had just seen.
The figure of the First Count of Schrantz drew its sword and—
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, it charged at Ian.
In an instant, the blade was right in front of Ian’s face. Reflexively, Ian tried to draw his sword to block.
‘Shit!’
The thought that it was too late flashed through his mind.
Before he could fully draw his sword, that blade would surely cleave him in two.
It was unexpected, but even if he had anticipated it, the speed was too fast to react.
For a moment, his life flashed before his eyes.
“Eeeek—!”
He screamed, trying to block it somehow, but reality was cruel.
The figure of the First Count of Schrantz swung its sword and slashed through Ian’s body.
……
“……?”
There was no pain.
He wasn’t dead.
He was clearly still breathing, and his body was intact.
And then, the figure of the First Count of Schrantz, which had been in front of him, disappeared.
No, it was still there.
Just not in front of him—it was now behind Ian.
The figure of the First Count of Schrantz was simply swinging its sword and moving forward.
Ian watched this for a while, then cautiously stepped in front of the figure to block its path.
Whoosh!
It just passed right through him.
“Damn, I thought I was dead.”
Ian plopped down on the ground, realizing that the figure was just some kind of hologram.
Now that he knew what it was, he felt relieved, but the memory of screaming like that earlier came back to him.
“Good thing no one saw that.”
If anyone had seen it, he’d have been a laughingstock for life.
“Looks like the ancestor was determined to mess with his descendants.”
In that short moment, he had broken out in a cold sweat, and his back was drenched.
Ian sat there, watching the figure of the First Count of Schrantz move on its own.
Now that he had calmed down, he could see what it was doing.
‘Swordsmanship?’
It was demonstrating swordsmanship.
A fierce and precise swordsmanship, aimed at striking the vital points of an enemy.
‘Incredible.’
It was a sight so mesmerizing that it could make one lose themselves.
With every step and every swing of the sword, it felt as if destructive power was emanating from it.
