A Dragonslayer’s Peerless Regression

Chapter 70

Whiiing!

Sieg headed toward Agamemnon Castle with Felix.

Just as the Syndicate Branch Manager had said, the road to the castle was completely blocked, so they had to leave the carriage midway and proceed on foot toward the castle.

"Ma-Master, this place is really eerie."

The path was overgrown with grotesquely twisted trees and tangled thorny vines that made it practically impassable for people.

In the end, Sieg and Felix had to cut through the thorny vines with daggers to create a path.

After much struggle, they climbed the desolate hillside and finally stood before Agamemnon Castle. At Sieg's nod, Felix knocked on the castle gate.

Thump! Thump!

Dust fell in clouds from the gate, indicating it had not been opened in ages. With no response, Felix shouted while knocking on the gate.

"Sir Sieg Draker, the Pureblood Awakener of the Draker family, the continent's youngest knight who achieved Blue Rank, the youngest formal knight receiving this title, is visiting the Agamemnon family!"

Felix knocked a few more times before hearing movement from inside the castle.

Creeeak!

The gate opened to reveal an old maid with ash-gray hair, white eyes, and skin like an ancient tree.

"Ugh. Did you say Sir Sieg Draker?" she spoke in a voice like nails scraping a metal plate.

Felix was slightly intimidated by the eerie appearance of the old maid. Sieg, who was standing behind, stepped forward.

"I am Sieg Draker. I wish to meet the head of the Agamemnon family."

The old maid approached Sieg, feeling his face with her long, withered hand. Felix attempted to stop the maid, but Sieg raised his hand to prevent him.

After a moment, the maid let out a strange laugh. "Hee-hee-hee-hee!"

It sounded like a wheezing donkey on the verge of collapse. The old maid spoke to Sieg and Felix.

"Hee-hee, please come in."

Sieg and Felix followed the maid through the castle gate. Inside, the castle seemed not to have been cleaned for a long time, with thick layers of dust and cobwebs covering every corner. The furniture, shrouded in cloth, gave off an eerie feeling.

Felix, creeped out, whispered close to Sieg, "Ma-Master, something feels off here."

"I know. But Felix, could you keep some distance while walking?"

The maid lit a lantern and led them up a narrow spiral staircase. Sieg scrutinized the castle's structure and materials along the way.

'This is a very old castle. At least over 1,000 years old.'

It could have been even older. After following the maid past the stairs and through a narrow corridor, they arrived at a door.

Once inside, they found a long dining table in a spacious room with faint silhouettes gathering around it.

Old men with unkempt white hair, ghastly pale faces, deep-set dark circles under their eyes, and vacant gazes were seated in old noble attire.

Startled by their ghostly appearance, Felix recoiled in shock.

"Ma-Master, th-these are ghosts!"

Sieg stomped on Felix's foot to keep him in place. Approaching the old phantoms, Sieg greeted them.

"Sieg Draker pays respects to the elders of the Agamemnon family, masters of Mycenae."

Despite his words, the phantom elderly gentlemen remained silent. Meanwhile, the maid, holding a candle, brought in something strange.

Creak!

The maid started placing a savory-smelling soup in front of the ghostly old men. She also placed portions for Sieg and Felix at the table.

The maid said to Sieg, "Heeek! Heeek! Please, enjoy your meal."

Sieg exchanged glances with Felix, who reluctantly sat down, deeply unsettled. Stirring the soup, whose ingredients were a mystery, Felix watched the silent phantom elders eat.

Sieg commenced eating with a spoon. Felix, eyes darting around, finally took a cautious sip.

"Ugh!"

The taste was utterly unpalatable. Glancing to the side, Felix saw Sieg maintaining perfect posture, diligently consuming the soup.

Reflecting on Sieg's stoicism, Felix resolved himself, 'This must be another trial on the path to becoming an exemplary knight.'

Preparations complete, he courageously gulped the soup.

'Ugh.'

Yet, it was no less distasteful.

Once Felix had finished his soup, the maid returned to collect their bowls. The foremost elder amongst the ghostly men, seated at the table's head, fixed his vacant eyes on Sieg. Sieg addressed the elder.

"I have a request I wish to present to the head of the house."

The elder maintained his silence. Sieg continued.

"As a direct descendant of the Agamemnon lineage, I seek sponsorship."

His words elicited a subtle twitch in the eyebrows of the high-seated elder and the other phantom elders. At that moment, the eerie laughter of the maid resonated from behind.

Heeek! Heeek! Heeek!

Without warning, the elder at the head of the table abruptly stood.

"Gasp!"

Felix was startled to see how exceptionally tall the ghostly man was. Gazing intensely at Sieg with his hollow eyes, the elder abruptly turned and walked off somewhere.

Sieg stood to follow the elder, and Felix, trembling, followed suit. The tall phantom led them down a dark corridor to a room at the end, where Sieg also entered.

The room, dimly lit with oil lamps and candles due to the lack of magical lighting, was packed wall-to-wall with books, suggesting it was a study.

Sieg noticed a painting hanging on one wall of the study.

"Felix, shine the lamp on that wall,"

Sieg instructed.

Felix pointed the lamp at the wall.

"Gasp!"

The painting on the hanging scroll depicted a horrifying scene of numerous people vomiting blood and dying, shockingly vivid in detail.

Piles of corpses amassed like a mountain, while others writhed in despair, kneeling before them.

The fact such a painting was hung in a study reeked of a fascinatingly bad taste.

The ghostly tall elder approached Sieg, clutching a long, sharp skewer in his hand.

Alarmed, Felix moved protectively in front of Sieg.

"Ma-Master! I'll protect you, so please run!"

Despite his trembling, Felix tried to shield Sieg, who patted his shoulder to calm him.

"Felix, it's fine. Please stand aside."

The phantom elder approached the terrifying artwork with the skewer and deftly flipped the scroll revealing another image.

Sieg contemplated this newly uncovered picture. 'What is this?'

The painting seemed to depict people discarding bodies at a lakeside, the water stained blood-red.

In the foreground, someone clutched something to their chest and hurled themselves into the lake, the water boiling around that person.

Once the scroll was flipped back, the ghostly elder gazed at Sieg with hollow eyes. Suddenly, he opened his mouth wide, revealing a dried, withered black tongue.

Siiiiick! Siiiick!

A hissing sound emanated from the elder's mouth, accompanied by a horrifying noise that seemed to rip from his throat.

"The family symbol! Gone! Cursed! No right to succession! The curse! Everyone here will die! Die!"

The voice, unearthly and chilling, caused Felix's legs to buckle beneath him.

Filling the air with sibilant hisses, the ghostly elder glared at Sieg and Felix. Observing their reaction, Sieg addressed the elder.

"You mean the family symbol has vanished, hence no heir can claim succession?"

At his words, the ghostly elder nodded in affirmation. Felix widened his eyes in amazement.

'How on earth did he interpret that so easily?'

Possibly catching on to something, Sieg guided Felix out of the study.

"Ma-Master, this place truly seems cursed. Shouldn't we just return to Atlas...?"

Just then, the maid appeared from the corridor.

"Heeek! Heeek!"

Sieg questioned the uncanny maid, "Let me ask you something. Has the family symbol sunk beneath the lake, by any chance?"

The maid let out an eerie sound before nodding. Sieg activated his map and scanned the surroundings of the castle, noticing a large lake at the back.

'Lake Nahuel. That must be it.'

"Please guide us to the lake."

Suddenly, the maid's expression shifted from giggling to a tense, statuesque gaze.

Sieg reassured the maid, "It's alright. Show us the way without worry."

Glaring at Sieg intently, the maid suddenly emitted a bizarre noise.

"Urgh, urgh! Heeek! The child with dark eyes! Heeek! Will restore the family!"

Turning swiftly, she walked off. Sieg motioned to Felix, "Let's follow her."

Felix, sweating profusely, trailed behind Sieg as they followed the maid through labyrinthine corridors until they stopped at a small door leading outside.

The maid opened the door for them.

Sieg said to the maid, "We'll find our way from here."

The maid nodded towards Sieg and as they stepped outside, the door slammed shut behind them.

"Ugh, master. Everything here seems too strange."

Sieg quietly responded while using his map to find the path to the lake, "Stop complaining and follow me, Felix."

Using the map, Sieg led Felix through the twisted underbrush and thorn bushes, trekking up the hill. After quite a climb, they finally reached a vast lake at the summit.

Felix gaped at the sight, "Wow, I've never seen such a huge lake."

Who would have thought a place like this existed atop the hill?

Sieg stooped to inspect the lake's water, noting the foul stench and murky quality. He recalled the painting he had seen earlier, the person jumping into the lake with something in their arms from the picture.

Given that the ghostly elder had specifically shown it, Sieg suspected a connection between the artwork and the Agamemnon family's curse.

'I might have to dive in to find out.'

After pondering this over, Sieg opened the item shop and purchased a potion with the ability to allow breathing underwater, known as 'Breath of the Whale.'

He informed Felix, "Felix, I'm going to enter the lake. It might take a while, so wait here."

Felix, panicking, attempted to dissuade him, but Sieg, now resolute, handed him camping gear from his inventory and consumed the potion before leaping into the lake.

The lake was as deep as its enormity suggested. Activating the Dragon Eyes ability, Sieg secured his vision underwater.

'Let's see what's down there.'

Swimming actively, Sieg descended into the depths of the lake, which was so profound that he couldn't see the bottom for quite some time.

Finally, reaching the lakebed, Sieg remarked to himself, 'Phew, it's surprisingly deep.'

As he began traversing the lakebed, he stumbled upon something.

'Bones?'

An incredible number of skeletons lay sunken at the bottom.

Examining them, Sieg thought, 'They've likely been here a long time, possibly over 50 years.'

Sieg navigated carefully among the bones, looking for anything unusual or noteworthy.

Then, he spotted something glimmering brilliantly among the bones.

'What's that?'

Drawn to the light, Sieg cautiously approached the source. Emerging from the stacks of bones was something that emitted luminescence.

Carefully moving the bones aside, Sieg discovered one skeleton that retained its original form, clutching a radiant object in both hands.

It was a finely crafted golden mask with intricate designs.

'Is this the symbol of the Agamemnon family? It doesn't seem like an ordinary artifact.'

Removing the artifact from the skeleton, its body crumbled to dust instantly, and the luminous aura also vanished alongside it.

'What just happened here?'

He initially assumed it was a mere connection to the Agamemnon lineage, but the energy it radiated was oddly familiar. Sieg studied the now-dulled mask closely and discovered a sun motif engraved on the forehead.

'This resembles the emblem of the Holy Kingdom.'

Suddenly, a warning message flashed before Sieg.

『You have detected an ancient dragonkin corrupted by contaminated energy.』