# Chapter 105
Only then could Arden understand Seirios’s words. Rite had entered the castle. This realization snapped Arden back to attention. This was no time to be idle.
“May I borrow a map?”
“By all means.”
For reference, our position is here. Seirios flicked his finger at the bottom of the map. Arden immediately grabbed the map and ran.
Rite knew nothing about this labyrinth. He needed to deal with the instant-death traps first.
* * *
Arden wasn’t sure if he could sincerely congratulate Eden on marrying this man. Without Seirios, he couldn’t have gotten out of prison, and he would have certainly died a miserable death caught in a trap while wandering the castle, but regardless of his gratitude, he couldn’t help but worry about his colleague.
Arden’s eyes fixed on Seirios standing behind him.
“Need my help?”
“No. Not at all.”
Seirios made a childish sound with a sulky face. Arden found it impossible to believe all the rumors he’d heard about Seirios. That such an immature person was really the head of the knights. That he was the subject of such terrifying rumors. Arden continued to be astonished.
“Anyway, we just need to break it, right? Breaking it one way or another is the same. Once it’s crushed, it’s all junk.”
“Absolutely not! Do you have any idea how this moves…!”
Arden raised his voice but then glanced at Seirios’s waistband. He could see a bunch of keys hanging neatly there.
With keys available, why use hands…?
Arden couldn’t ask aloud and swallowed the question inwardly. The rumors about him not appearing human seemed true. Hadn’t he confirmed it just earlier? Arden had witnessed Seirios turn thirty mechanical soldiers into heaps of scrap metal.
“There must be protective mechanisms. It’s designed to respond somehow if it receives an impact.”
“Then we can break those too.”
“I mean we don’t know how it might affect Rite.”
As Arden wandered through the castle, he could viscerally feel the labyrinth the Emperor was said to have created. The moment Rite entered this castle, its structure changed. No matter how much preparation had been done, whatever plans had been made, they were now useless.
Arden looked at the wall with a complicated expression. It was the last wall before entering the corridor with the trap. When Arden couldn’t enter carelessly and was only examining the surroundings, Seirios simply demolished the wall. Though Arden tried to stop him in shock, there was indeed a massive machine inside the wall.
Signs of security measures were evident. Encased in a large covering, it was impossible to determine what kind of machine it was without taking it apart. For that, he first needed to remove it… Arden looked at the tools on the floor.
A small dagger, a broken arrow, and a needle. The equipment was woefully inadequate. Even these were provided by Seirios emptying his pockets; without them, Arden would have had to dismantle the machine with his bare hands.
“That forest you lived in. Are there really that many dangerous monsters there?”
“Yes.”
Arden responded casually as he began unscrewing with the dagger. The dagger kept slipping, scratching the machine’s surface. At the spine-chilling sound, Arden removed his hearing aid.
“…many?”
“I didn’t hear you. Please speak louder.”
“How dangerous is it?”
After inserting the dagger into the screw’s groove, he turned it little by little. After dealing with this trap, he would need to find proper tools first. Arden made plans by himself.
“Monsters don’t communicate. With the snow burial, it’s hard to hear, and with feet sinking deep, even knights would find it difficult to swing their swords.”
“Hey, if this works out… give me that forest.”
“It’s not even mine.”
Though Arden couldn’t hear Seirios’s words perfectly, they were close enough that conversation wasn’t impossible. Arden continued working while occasionally turning his head to check lip movements.
“You’ll become… right? That… monster or… child or… lover… whatever.”
“…It’s Rite.”
Why did the word “lover” sound so clear? Arden barely removed one screw and began unscrewing the next. As he worked, his hands became more accustomed, and his pace quickened.
“I have no intention of becoming Emperor, and he’s not a monster, not my child, and not my lover.”
“Then why are you doing this? What is he to you?”
Arden’s hands continued to move busily, but he didn’t open his mouth. By now he was familiar enough with the task that the knife no longer slipped. He put his hearing aid back in his ear and opened the case lid.
“If you can’t give me the forest, at least give me the house.”
As if not particularly expecting an answer from Arden, the captain continued his frivolous talk. Arden responded casually while examining the inside of the machine.
“Are you buying it? There’s no specific owner, so I can’t even sell it.”
“Sell? Not even giving it to me for free? After all the help I’ve given you?”
“…You’re already wealthy.”
A large container caught Arden’s eye. He carefully inserted his upper body inside and examined it up close. As he slowly turned the container, he saw a sticker with a warning message.
“You’ll soon be wealthy too.”
“Me?”
“Aren’t you going to take a share? I came wearing clothes with many pockets expecting that.”
“…”
“I’m joking.”
Seirios quickly added when Arden didn’t respond. Arden hadn’t actually taken offense at his joke. The container held hydrogen cyanide. It was a trap designed to release toxic gas when someone entered the corridor. Without any preparation, anyone who entered would certainly die.
If that’s the case, it would automatically seal windows or doors. Arden clenched and unclenched his trembling hand once, then continued examining the machine. He felt urgent. There were more than twenty other traps left to deal with.
“But there’s an inner breast pocket here. It could hold a few brooches. I’m worried though. Her Majesty the Empress doesn’t wear much jewelry. Will there be anything valuable?”
“You have that big mansion and you want to steal brooches?”
“Thanks to this, I’m likely to lose my retirement fund, so I need to secure money for old age. That way I can support Eden too. You think I dig up money from the ground?”
Though I’ve dug graves before. At Seirios’s words, Arden turned to look at him. A question he should have asked earlier belatedly came to mind.
“Is it really okay for you to be involved in this?”
“In what?”
“What Eden is trying to do and what I’m trying to do carry different weights. Your entire family and house could fall.”
“Ah. It’s fine. I’m not even part of that household anymore. I don’t care whether that old man lives or dies.”
Just as Arden was about to ask what he meant, Seirios grinned widely.
“Besides, I’ve got plenty of grudges against our Emperor.”
“…Pardon?”
“He doesn’t paint my face in the knights’ room.”
“…”
“How much could the paint cost? So petty.”
Arden thought of Eden.
Is Eden really planning to marry this person? Why on earth?
Seirios squatted down, tilting his head and blinking as if asking what the problem was. It seemed clear that Eden was indeed blinded by love.
I’m not one to talk, planning to kill the Emperor for someone else.
Arden dismissed the thought and organized his mind. Now was the time to focus on the immediate objective.
* * *
Eden was right. There was no one guarding the entrance to the castle. Except for the fallen knights.
There was no time to wonder who had done it. Rite passed through the castle gates so naturally and quietly that no one could imagine him as an intruder. And at the same time, the castle began to move. As if it recognized Rite’s return.
Despite the unusual sounds as if it might collapse, there was no change in the scene before him. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, precariously swaying as if it might cover the entire corridor, but that was all. And when Rite took another step.
“…”
All the armored soldiers, which had appeared to be decorations, turned their heads to look at Rite. With the sound of heavy armor clanking, they approached him. It felt just like reading a novel.
The soldier at the front swung the iron flail he was holding. Rite lightly stepped back on his toes. Though their movements were slow due to the heavy weight, the marble floor where Rite had been standing was dented. The unrealistic weight impossible for a human to lift was possible for a machine.
“Shouldn’t there be an explanation for this?”
Rite laughed in bewilderment. From behind the soldier with the flail, a long spear suddenly approached. He reflexively grabbed the spear, but two soldiers with swords were running towards him. The lead knight who had pulled his flail out of the floor straightened his back. Dozens of soldiers, perhaps dozens of machines, were targeting Rite.
