26. The Second Conquest
Nash laid her body down on a bed stuffed with horsehair instead of straw and covered in linen.
As she pulled up the fluffy quilt made of wool, it felt as if her body were melting away in an instant.
She burrowed deeper into the bedding, thinking to herself.
‘Today… was fun….’
When the Lord had suddenly ordered, "You, become my knight," her world had gone pitch black.
Even the Knight Commander, who had taken her to the training grounds, hadn't seemed pleased.
He had sighed repeatedly, muttering things like, "I truly wonder what the Lord is thinking…," which made her heart pound with anxiety.
She had been terrified that if she made a mistake here, she wouldn't just be sent back to being a maid, but kicked out entirely.
‘But the Commander was incredibly kind to me.’
She had been praised just for running.
It was also the first time she had been complimented for being good at lifting heavy things.
‘The seniors were all nice, too….’
Everyone told her she was a once-in-a-decade genius.
When she worked as a maid, all she ever heard were words like "idiot," "moron," and "half-breed."
The best part was being able to eat her fill at every meal.
They even gave her meat, and snacks with sugar in them.
She had her own room, and was generously provided with clothes and shoes.
‘The other maids have become so kind, too.’
The maids who usually wouldn't even make eye contact with her now brought her washing water and cleaned her room.
They said she would receive a salary from now on.
They mentioned that since it replaced the fiefdoms granted to knights in other regions, she would also be provided with a private residence, but honestly, it was so complicated that she didn't even understand half of it.
Having never received a single penny as a maid, she didn't really know how to spend a salary anyway.
‘Ah, come to think of it… didn't they say I had a salary… all along?’
When she asked her seniors, they told her that the previous Head Maid had been embezzling the salaries of orphans like her, which was why she hadn't received any money until now.
As soon as the Lord found out, she had the woman arrested and thrown into prison.
While saying that, they had gossiped among themselves about things that were hard for Nash to understand.
‘To think it’s forced labor instead of burning or hanging—that’s not like the Lord at all.’
‘I know, right? And the way she’s suddenly being so nice to our Commander… it’s like she’s a completely different person….’
Then the Commander had scolded them severely, saying, "Don't talk nonsense about the Lord," and everyone had scattered.
He had told Nash, too, not to think unnecessary thoughts and just to listen well to the Lord.
The problem was that even that "listening well" was an incredibly difficult task for Nash.
‘I’m a fool, so I make more mistakes and errors than others….’
What would happen if she committed a grave error or a crime against the Lord?
Would she go to prison, too?
‘What do I do? I can’t sleep.’
She had to go to the Tower with the Lord tomorrow.
If she ended up nodding off in the Tower, it would truly be the end of her.
This won't do. She should at least take a lap around the training grounds.
Feeling restless and tossing and turning, Nash suddenly sat up.
Wearing only a robe, she threw the door open.
Since it was the middle of the night, the hallway was empty….
"Sir Shumel."
"Eeeek!"
Nash screamed at the sight of a maid in a linen dress who had suddenly called out to her.
Was it a ghost? Or a demon?
She clenched her fist to fend off whichever it was, but the maid spoke.
"Sir Shumel, it is I. Aisha Kandisha."
"Oh… oh? Th, the Lord’s maid?"
"Yes."
The maid replied with an expressionless face and held out a tray.
Nash received it in a daze to find a mug of warm milk and a plate with cookies studded with dried berries.
"Th, this is…?"
"It was sent by the Lord. She said it is best to fill your stomach a little when you cannot sleep due to nerves."
"…Oh, oh, th, thank you?"
It was a level of consideration she hadn't even imagined. When she stammered her reply, Aisha gave a single nod and retreated.
Her attitude was somewhat cold.
But to Nash, who held the cookies and the mug of milk, that didn't matter at all.
Her heart felt as soft and warm as the heated milk.
‘Th, the Lord… perhaps she is a good person?’
Come to think of it, the Lord had never once gotten angry at Nash.
Hadn't she patted her head even when Nash made foolish mistakes or insisted on fighting more?
‘She is a little—actually, a lot—incredibly scary, but no. The Lord is a good person. She must be.’
Clutching the tray, Nash armed herself with optimism.
Perhaps, she thought, she might become close with the Lord during tomorrow's exploration and no longer be afraid of her.
‘Yes, that must be it!’
"Go, Nash. You should be able to take down a 2nd-floor named monster on your own."
"…M, m, me alone?"
"Then who else would you go with? Fight now."
Cancel that.
The Lord was indeed a cruel and merciless person.
Otherwise, there was no way she would send Nash out alone in front of a giant sewer rat that reached two meters in height.
‘U, ugh….’
Nash held back tears as she raised her shield and mace.
The giant sewer rat, standing on two legs and called a Ratman, was normally terrifying, but the Lord was truly scary.
However, she didn't have the courage to initiate the attack first.
She had no choice but to stand there, hesitating and bracing herself.
[Grrrrrrr!]
Thinking it was being looked down upon, the giant rat growled and lunged.
A club, closer to a log than a weapon, aimed for the top of Nash's head.
Reflexively, she raised her shield to deflect the club and swung her mace with all her might at the giant rat's leg bone.
CRACK!
[Keeeeeeek!]
With a sound like a cannon going off, the giant rat collapsed as its ankle bent at a grotesque angle.
"Hiiik…!"
Startled, Nash struck the giant rat with her shield as well.
CRACK!
Once again, with a sound like a cannon, the other leg was crushed. A scream followed.
[Squeak, squeak!]
Realizing that the little girl was actually a monster, the rat crawled backward, half-dragging itself.
Nash finally came to her senses.
Or rather, she realized it a beat late.
‘Oh… this is doable?’
It was a bit sturdier than the knights who would just snap when hit, but there was no difference in the fact that it shattered if she hit it with all her might.
[Grrrrrrr…!]
Even in its fear, the creature didn't let go of its murderous intent.
But Nash wasn't very scared anymore.
She knew exactly what would happen if she struck it with all her might a few more times.
"L, Lord, um, do you need the materials?"
Having regained something like composure, Nash asked the Lord cautiously.
Camellia pondered for a moment before replying calmly.
"…Training comes first, so for now, do as you please."
She had heard that the byproducts left behind by named monsters were incredibly valuable, yet the Lord was allowing her to waste them.
‘As expected, is the Lord… scary, but a good person?’
With a heart fluttering with joy, Nash decided to give it her all.
She gripped her mace with all her strength.
"I, I caught it! The rat! I, I did well, right!"
Looking at the corpse of the named monster, which had been reduced to a bloody rag, Camellia thought to herself.
‘Can I really say she caught this…?’
It had clearly been nearly two meters in size, but now it had shrunk to the size of a shredded piece of carpet.
She was somewhat—actually, quite severely—intimidated, but Camellia decided to act like a Lord.
This meant she patted Nash’s blood-soaked head to praise her.
"Well done. You faced it very bravely."
"I, I worked hard!"
Perhaps happy to be praised more than she expected, Nash beamed.
Camellia brushed a long, whitish piece of intestine off Nash's hair and signaled to Netanel.
The quick-witted priest immediately cast a miracle of purification, cleanly erasing the filth from both of them.
"Let us move on."
"Yes, Lord."
Since the only thing worth salvaging was the magic stone, Lohengrin, who had quickly collected it, took the lead.
Camellia began to explain to Nash, who was sticking close to her side for protection.
"We are currently heading toward the stairs. Do you remember what the stairs are?"
"I, I remember! The gates that allow us to go to the floor above or the floor below are called 'stairs'!"
"Correct."
Camellia handed her a candy as a reward.
Today's goal was to get the party accustomed to floor exploration and combat.
As a bonus, a crash course on the Tower was also conducted.
Knowing that trying to educate Nash, who had an intelligence stat of 6, would be of little use, Camellia chose a hands-on, customized education method.
"Now, Nash. Let's review one more time."
"Y, yes!"
"When entering the Tower, you can only do so by passing through a gate, but there are two ways to leave. What are they?"
"Th, through the gates at the entrance of each floor, or by opening the 'temporary gates' in the safe zones installed throughout the floor!"
"That's right. You got it right. Since you got it right in a row, I will increase your reward."
Camellia took two candies from her inventory, placed them in Nash's hand, and said,
"If you get the next one right, it will be four."
"…!"
Perhaps the magic of compound interest had melted away her fear and dread, as Nash's eyes sparkled with seriousness.
"I, I'm ready to answer…!"
Camellia asked with a strict, solemn, and serious face.
"I see. Then I shall ask. How do you activate the 'temporary gates' in the safe zones on each floor?"
Having had it explained a few times, Nash answered without difficulty.
"By paying a magic stone! Ah! A, and after using it, you have to pay silver coins, too. Because all the artifacts in the Tower belong to the Lord."
Camellia gladly handed over four candies.
"Actually, besides those two methods, there is one more way to leave the Tower."
She gestured toward Lohengrin, who was walking at the head of the party, and explained.
"Lohengrin and Netanel have already experienced it."
Lohengrin, who had been watching them with curiosity while they talked, replied belatedly.
"Pardon? Me?"
Lohengrin, who had asked back in confusion, soon realized and let out a small exclamation of wonder.
He was remembering the day they had gone in to seal the 1st floor.
As soon as Camellia finished the resealing, a gate had miraculously opened in that very spot.
A Gate that connected to the outside of the Tower, at that.
“……Gates do open inside the Seal Chamber, as well.”
“T-the Seal Chamber?”
“It is the place where the ‘Evil’ I sealed away in the Tower long ago lies dormant.”
The first Lord of the Territory had sealed all the ‘Evil’ in the world within the Tower to protect humanity.
However, because each ‘Evil’ was an incredibly powerful entity, they exerted influence over the Tower even while sealed.
The monsters that existed on every floor, constantly regenerating, were also created because of that ‘Evil.’
As I condensed and explained the gist of that lore, fear flickered across Nash’s face.
“T-to think it keeps creating monsters even while sealed…… Is, is that even possible?”
“The Tower is both of this world and not of this world, so such things are possible.”
While we went back and forth with questions and answers, the party finally arrived in front of the Seal Chamber.
Just like the door on the first floor where the resealing had taken place, the door on the second floor was wrapped in thick, sturdy chains.
Above them, dozens of layers of magic circles were floating and glowing with a faint light.
“This is…… the Seal Chamber.”
Nash swallowed hard and stepped back.
It was because she felt the overwhelming pressure instinctively.
I was about to tell her that it was fine since it was currently sealed, but I paused.
【Why is the Lord of Nidstar…… why is that monster here?】
It was because the thought waves emitted from somewhere had flowed in through the ‘Mind Reading’ I had kept active just in case.
They were very sharp and hostile waves.
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