# Chapter 58
Ion stared at the door that opened downward like a collapsing floor, recalling a day from his past.
That day, his mother had been unusually excited.
“Come here, Ion. Can you see what I’ve made on this hill?”
“I thought you’d made something strange again, but I don’t see anything.”
“Look carefully. When I press the grass in the opposite direction like this…”
Back then, his mother pressed the bent grass in the opposite direction, just like now. A small sound, like a click, came from underneath.
“…Did you hear something?”
“Now, let me do this side too, and that side as well. Doesn’t it look like a picture?”
“I suppose, but…”
As his mother changed the direction of the pressed grass, the outline of a cute rabbit’s face appeared on the ground. His mother had quite a talent for drawing if nothing else, so he thought she was good at this strange trick of making pictures by bending grass.
When she finally bent the tips of the rabbit’s two long ears—
THUNK!
“Whoa!”
Ion clutched his startled heart as he watched the rabbit face section of ground suddenly drop downward. His mother grinned, asking, “Surprised?” with a delighted expression.
“W-what just happened?”
When he approached and looked down, what he’d thought was just a part of the hill had a rabbit-shaped board that had dropped downward. Falling from a height about the length of his young arm, the soil and grass that had covered the board were now in disarray.
With a satisfied face, his mother pointed to the edges of the board below. Countless threads were sticking out all around it.
“Actually, there are hidden blades connected to the roots under the grass. To support the board, I ran these threads deep into the ground, and when you bend the grass this way, the blade inside cuts the threads…”
His mother excitedly explained the mechanism.
Though her explanation was elaborate, simply put, when the grass was bent in the opposite direction, the blades moved and cut the threads below. Since the blades weren’t particularly sharp and they were cutting from underground, a few of the dozens of threads might remain, but by bending all the grass, the remaining threads would be too few to support the board and would break.
At the time, he thought his mother really enjoyed wasting time on useless things.
Recalling this memory of his mother, Ion looked at the open iron door below with a doubtful expression.
‘Could it really be a coincidence that my mother could make something like that?’
Instead of a wooden board, there was an iron door that could open and close, and instead of threads breaking, there was a clicking sound, but Ion couldn’t shake the feeling that this mechanism was similar to what his mother had shown him.
‘And then there’s the annex to the ballroom where the former princess’s records were kept…’
Since his mother was the former princess herself, it made sense that she would know the mechanism of the place where her records were stored. But there was a clear difference between simply knowing about it and demonstrating the mechanism disguised as a game or prank like this.
But he had no time to think more deeply about it. Ion addressed four of his men, excluding Owen.
“Two of you guard this place from the outside, and the other two capture enemy soldiers scattered around the hill to check their reporting methods and shift times. We’ll need to pretend to be their sentries until our army advances.”
Then he nodded to Owen.
“Owen, follow me into the secret passage.”
Among the 5,000 soldiers he had created, Ion considered Owen, his adjutant, to be the most powerful and trustworthy. He trusted Owen enough to believe that just the two of them would be sufficient. He also had faith that the others, with their infinite loyalty and immortal abilities, would carry out their assigned tasks perfectly.
Ion looked down into what appeared to be a deep drop. Thanks to Owen’s torch, he could roughly see below—the depth was about the height of a two-story building, and there was a ladder attached to one side for exit to the outside.
It was clearly a secret passage by anyone’s standards.
Owen jumped down without relying on the ladder. As soon as he landed, he surveyed the surroundings and listened carefully, then signaled to Ion that no one was there. Only then did Ion follow him down.
The inside was wider than expected. In terms of width, it was almost identical to the southern road that the Delos Empire army would have to pass through during their march. It made sense that it would take about an hour from here to Iron Fortress, similar to the other route.
The deep tunnel, made large enough for 10,000 or more to march through, stretched endlessly ahead. Owen walked in front holding the torch, still keeping his ears alert.
“It seems there’s no one here.”
Even after walking for a long time, there wasn’t the slightest sound or sign of anyone. Ion looked around at the surprisingly sturdy and solid interior as he replied.
“This place is probably rarely used except during battles. The north side probably has soldiers standing guard.”
Based on its direction and length, the north side of Iron Fortress that Ion suspected was a supply route most likely connected to the port city of Antarbo.
‘And that road would also serve as an escape route if Iron Fortress were to fall.’
It was impressive enough to have built such a secret passage under the hill, but they had also prepared supply and retreat routes in case the sturdy Iron Fortress should fall. The initial designer of Iron Fortress must have been an extremely cautious person.
After walking for quite some time, Ion took out the pocket watch he had kept in his chest. Already, more than 50 minutes had passed since they entered.
Ion, who had deliberately walked at the pace of marching troops rather than rushing in order to gauge the time, nodded toward Owen’s torch. Understanding his intent, Owen drew his sword and split the torch head vertically. The severed piece of the torch head was noticeably weaker in flame and looked like it would go out soon.
Ion and Owen continued walking through the dark tunnel without a torch.
After about 10 minutes.
Both men sensed a presence simultaneously.
Meeting each other’s gaze in the darkness, they saw flickering light at the far end and concealed their presence even more carefully.
Soon, they could make out two soldiers standing with torches on either side of a massive iron door. Instinctively realizing they had reached Iron Fortress, both men sprang forward without needing to communicate.
The two soldiers, not yet accustomed to the darkness because of their torches, were unaware of anyone approaching. When they suddenly saw the black-masked men enter their field of vision, they tried to scream.
“Ugh—!”
“Mmph—!”
Ion and Owen each tackled one soldier, covering their mouths first and then swiftly cutting their throats. They looked at the door the soldiers had been guarding. The entrance was locked with a large padlock, and naturally, one of the two sentries had the key.
Owen, holding the key, looked at Ion and asked.
“Shall we proceed further?”
It was clear that Iron Fortress lay beyond this point. He asked because stepping beyond here meant not just reconnoitering a secret passage, but entering a dangerous place where numerous troops were stationed.
Ion was already removing the black glove he wore on his left hand. Revealing his palm with golden glowing patterns engraved on it, he unhesitatingly cut across the center with a dagger.
Realizing what Ion was about to do, Owen lifted the face of a dead soldier whose neck was half-broken and forcibly opened his mouth.
Ignoring the pain from his cut left hand, Ion squeezed it tightly, letting blood flow copiously into the soldier’s mouth. He then fed his blood to the other soldier in the same way.
Moments later.
The dead bodies of the two soldiers began to twitch on their own, and the wounds on their necks started healing rapidly. Soon their necks became smooth again and began moving, breathing slowly.
The two soldiers who had been dead opened their eyes wide as if waking from a nightmare. Their cloudy eyes quickly changed to a clear light, and as they sat up abruptly, their bodies felt even lighter than before death.
With bewildered expressions, the two soldiers examined their physical condition, and as soon as they saw Ion, they knelt on the spot and bowed their heads. Owen carefully wiped Ion’s bloody hand with a handkerchief while looking down at the two soldiers.
“From now on, you will serve a different lord than before.”
Even without Owen’s words, the two soldiers responded as if it were only natural, looking up at Ion with eyes full of reverence, as if he were an absolute deity. Already intoxicated by Ion’s blood, they had become immortal and were simultaneously forced to swear eternal loyalty to him.
After repositioning the two soldiers as if nothing had happened, Ion was able to learn several things about the fortress from them. However, due to time constraints, he couldn’t listen to everything in detail, so he mainly asked about routes to avoid areas with many sentries.
“Among the various paths beyond this door, if you go through the right door three times, you’ll reach stairs leading up to the fortress ramparts. Normally there are many sentries there too, but now some high noble is there sightseeing, so they’ve pulled back the surrounding soldiers to avoid disturbing him.”
“A high noble?”
When Ion asked again, the soldiers replied with faces that showed they didn’t know much either.
“They call him Count Aden, a very young man.”
