ebookland Chapter 509 Castle
Chapter 509 Castle
After drawing aside the curtain, the first thing Marquez saw was the moose pulling the carriage.
When he first learned that he was going to cross the ice field in this way, he just thought it was absurd. He and one person accompanying him were riding in such a simple and primitive means of transportation, without a logistics team, no guards, and no guide, and they completely put their lives in the hands of these beasts pulling the cart.
Although the process was indeed a bit difficult, these beasts actually brought him to his destination.
Then he looked forward and saw a vague black shadow gradually appearing in the snow-covered sky and earth. The monotonous color of the snow made him lose his judgment of distance, and he could not be sure how far he was from the black shadow.
The moose continued to move slowly, and Marquez thought they still had to walk a long way, but after crossing a certain boundary, the wind and snow suddenly stopped.
Then he saw clearly that the black shadow was actually a mountain. The craftsmen had carved out roads and towers directly from the gray stones of the mountain, and thus a castle rose up against the mountain.
When the moose reached the front of the mountain, it stopped moving forward and turned to a hay shed nearby to nibble on the wheat straw and alfalfa hay piled therein.
"They can't go any further," Sandor said. "We're here."
After a little hesitation, Marcuse followed Sandor out of the carriage. He first stretched his body hard, and his joints crackled. He had basically not gotten off the carriage in the past few days, and the carriage could only accommodate him to barely stand upright.
After stretching his body a little, Marquez did not immediately head towards the nearby castle, but instead walked to the moose that was pulling the cart for them.
Is this thing really a living thing?
Marquez bent down and stared into the animal's eyes, trying to see some clues.
The two moose pulling the cart never rested along the way, and no one fed them or gave them water. Marquez even once suspected that this thing was a bionic machine, so he spoke so cautiously.
But he only saw his own reflection in the other's eyes. He wanted to reach out and touch the other's wet nose, but before he could touch it, the animal snorted in protest.
Well this is a real moose.
Marquez was sure of this, and then he started looking again, trying to find out the differences between these livestock, such as whether they had positioning or recording functions installed, but he returned empty-handed.
"They want to keep it secret," Sandor said as he came over.
"They want to keep it secret, but let us suffer." Marquez sneered.
Looking back at this redundant process now, it is obvious that the people of Helvethon did not want those who came to attend the farewell ceremony to communicate with each other, and they did not want the location of the castle to be discovered. In fact, as early as entering the snowfield, Marquez found that all the electronic equipment he carried with him had malfunctioned, and Sandor's electronic prosthetic eye had also lost its function.
Fortunately, I didn't make any strange modifications. If they were those guys who replaced their bodies with mechanical hearts and mechanical lungs, they probably wouldn't be able to come here at all.
Then Marquez realized that this was actually a form of screening. Young nobles would not easily transplant mechanical organs unless their own organs were worn out, so those who could come here were basically the younger generation of each family.
But that was the end of Marquez's complaints. After confirming that there was nothing worth noting around, Marquez turned up the collar of his coat and hurried towards the stairs leading up the mountain.
But Sandor was one step behind him because he noticed something that Marquez didn't notice.
He saw a lot of mosses and lichens growing on the ground, and some plants living in symbiosis with the mosses had even produced many small flowers. Sandor squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil.
The soil was cold, but still soft.
It was not until Marquez urged him that Sandor shook off the dirt on his hands and quickly followed.
The entrance to the castle is a stone door that opens inward. The stone door is nearly seven meters high and the tree emblem of the Helvetic family is carved on the surface.
Just as Marquez raised his hand to knock on the door, the door opened a crack by itself, and then a cold wind rushed out from the gap.
Marquez and Sandor both took a few steps back to make room for what was behind the door.
The first thing that appeared was a silver three-pronged candlestick. The candle on it was already half burned, and the wax was about to overflow from the tray. Then they saw a dry hand holding the candlestick. Finally, a man of unknown age poked half of his face out from behind the door. He glanced at Marquez indifferently and said:
"Mr. Campbell, please follow me."
Marquez and Sandor looked at each other. The man did not greet the gentleman from the Parasos family. Perhaps he did not care about such a small character, or perhaps he did not recognize him at all.
Marquez winked at Sandor, meaning, why don't you go and introduce yourself?
Before coming here, Marquez did have the intention of using Sandor to stir up some trouble, and he still does so now. But the difference is that now he is still willing to say a few words for this guy and introduce him. If it works, that would be the best. If not, he would go back to the original plan.
But Sandor, perhaps because his mechanical eye was broken, completely ignored Marquez's hint and instead said to him like his followers:
"Mr. Campbell, please come in."
Marquez glared at Sandor inconspicuously, which was really rude.
Since Sandor said he was here to meet Hildra, he would have to reveal his identity sooner or later. If he revealed his identity now, he would still be an unexpected guest. Besides, with me here, the Helveticon family would not drive him away even if they did not allow him to meet them. If he only revealed his identity when I took him to meet Hildra, it would be a bit indecent.
Entering the castle, the interior seemed even more solemn and cold, and there was also an indescribable weird and gloomy feeling. Marquez felt that the air inside seemed to be colder than outside.
Does it mean that the more heroic and invincible a person is when he is young, the more he likes to stay in such a haunted place like a vampire when he gets older?
"Is Master Hildra in good health?"
As a guest, Marquez expressed his customary greetings to the head of the Helvetic family.
"The lady is in poor health," the strange and eccentric guide said without concealing the truth. "Therefore, she can only see a limited number of guests each day and needs to rest the rest of the time. Your meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, so please rest today."
Marquez: "It's a shame. I wish her a speedy recovery."
Then he added, "You said there were other guests, but I didn't see anyone else along the way."
The guide did not explain, but just said something strange:
"You won't see them."
After turning countless corners, the guide led Marquez to his room. The moment the door was opened, Marquez couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The decoration of the room was quite comfortable and luxurious, and even for his taste, he could not find any faults. When he first saw this stone-carved castle and thought about his experience here, he thought he might have to sleep on a stone bed.
He was about to express his gratitude to the guide and take out a small piece of gold carving he was wearing as a gift, but he found that the guide had disappeared.
Really like a vampire.
Marquez raised his eyebrows, not feeling particularly surprised. He walked into his room, took a deep breath of the high-quality aroma in the air, and suddenly felt relaxed, all the fatigue from the journey dissipated.
Very good, being able to come here means that half of his goal has been achieved. What he needs to do next is to wait patiently for the meeting tomorrow, and then determine the true condition of that terrifying woman for the family.