Chapter 175 - Investigation (2/2)

For Amber who’d blended herself in such places growing up, this was a very pleasant process.

Especially when she didn’t even have to fork out the money for the ale herself, this feeling was even better.

She’d dressed in an outfit that suited her identity —— black leather armor and a slightly worn-out cape, together with the dagger at her waist that would pop out from time to time, and the ‘lucky stone’ tied on her wrist; the image of a vagrant warrior was complete, and civilians were in awe yet curious about such people, so getting information would become very easy.

After three rounds of drinks and enough talk about the farms and ghost stories inside the old residence, Amber felt that it was time to talk about the feudal lord; thus, she looked towards the local blacksmith seated at the table with a curious look. “I heard your feudal lord is someone very good at governing the territory. Is that true?”

“I don’t know about governing the territory,” the blacksmith’s breath reeked of booze as he said with a glazed look. “But Lord Victor is indeed a great, great person… Burp. With him around, everyone gets to fill their stomachs and be half-full even in the winter. It’s been ten-odd years since anyone has died of starvation in the territory!”

Further south, there was another place where civilians not only didn’t starve to death, they could even get to eat meat occasionally.

Amber muttered to herself but wore admiration on her face. “That’s remarkable!”

“Exactly, Lord Victor is the most benevolent feudal lord I’ve ever met.” Another old drinker took over. “But I heard from the people who deliver vegetables and milk into the castle that the castle is pretty gloomy. There is always a feeling that there was wind leaking in somewhere…”

A slightly chubby tavern maidservant placed the wooden cup before the patron with a thud. “Don’t spout nonsense! The castle isn’t your shabby thatched cottage. Old George, who delivers the vegetables, was most likely drunk and thought he was in the castle when he was feeling the cold winds in the mud pit!”

This plump maidservant made a joke that wasn’t funny, but it had the whole room roaring in laughter.

“Then it seems Victor is really a pretty good feudal lord,” Amber commented while wagging her head. “Only, I wonder how’s the Viscountess——”

Once this was said, the scene strangely went quiet for that one moment.

Some people looked at one another; some bowed their heads and drank, while the older people frowned as if something bad had come to mind. Amber immediately realized that there was an inside story; thus, she questioned curiously, “What’s wrong? Why are all of you reacting this way?”

“You’re a foreigner. It’s normal that you don’t know about this,” an elderly man who appeared to be the oldest here spoke up. He was probably a wealthy landowner or a retired craftsman; there were rarely elderly among the poor who yet to die of injuries and sickness, and such a person would not only understand civilian life but also have heard about matters of the feudal lord. “The Viscountess… It’s probably been a few decades? When she died…”

“The Viscountess is dead? She died decades ago?!” Amber was instantly shocked. “How did she die?”

“She’s a pitiful woman. The entire incident was especially tragic. That sort of thing shouldn’t have happened to a good person.” The old man frowned; he seemed reluctant to say more, but the alcohol made it difficult to control his speech, and a youth beside them who didn’t know the past incident well also urged him to go on. “Sir Sandro, tell the story. I’ve heard people discuss this incident since a young age, but I’ve never learned of the complete story. —— You’re old, so you should know what exactly happened then.”

Amber glanced at the youth who prompted him with considerable admiration and decided to buy the person a drink using the money Gawain had given her.

And this old man who seemed to have gone through the incident then sighed. After taking a mouthful of ale, he slowly said, “That was thirty… about thirty years ago. It could be longer too. It was also during this month of the year, also raining, but the rain was especially heavy, and it had gone on for several days…”

“At that time, Lord Victor was still young. At that time, he was an impartial, benevolent feudal lord just like he is now. Then, he was returning from inspecting the granary in the next town. The Viscountess was with him, and their only son, Young Master Belm. They rushed back in a carriage on the road from the west. Although it was raining heavily, they still set out on the journey… They really ought to have stayed another day in the next town. Sigh.”

“You can guess without me saying. Such heavy rain, so slippery, a mishap was bound to happen. ——The carriage met with an accident at the old hillside. It flipped, slipped, and fell into the mountain creek from the highest point of the hill. The entire carriage was in pieces… A whole night passed, and no one knew the Viscount’s entire family had met with an accident outside until when the sun came up the next day. When the rain stopped, the Viscountess appeared in the town, covered in blood… She’d practically crawled into the town, wounds all over, crying so hard that she almost couldn’t breathe. She said she’d watched the Lord and Young Master get flung out of the carriage before her and landed in unknown spots and told us to quickly go save them.

At this point, the old man could not help sob a little, and he drank another mouthful of ale before he could go on. “We escorted the Viscountess back to the castle, then immediately dispatched people to search for the whereabouts of the carriage, the Lord, and Young Master at the old hillside. But for three whole days, other than some blood stains and broken pieces of the carriage, we only found the bodies of the two horses.

“The Viscountess bathed her cheeks in tears every day in the castle. Sigh. She was a kind, good person. She’d always cared a lot for the poor people in the territory. Since the day she married here, she would distribute firewood and rye bread to the poor every year, but she encountered such a thing. For three whole days, her husband and son couldn’t be found, so she finally went mad. According to the handyman who was working in the castle at that time, she locked herself in the room and screamed and shouted. Then she ran to the various dark corners of the castle and spoke to the husband and son in her delusion. Finally, she locked herself in the cellar of the castle’s north tower and drank poison there, ending her own agony.

“The fourth day, Lord Victor and Young Master Belm returned to the castle, alive. They had not died.”