Episode 28

I passed through the gap in the half-collapsed castle gate and went inside.

Inside the castle, the damp and cool chill characteristic of stone buildings permeated the air.

Under the faint moonlight streaming through the narrow and long windows, abandoned furniture and torn carpets were revealed.

The stone walls were full of dirty stains, as if someone had filled a bucket with filth and splashed it against the walls.

I know what those stains are.

Those are the bloodstains of the people who lived here.

Those unknown owners of the castle met a gruesome death at the hands of a suddenly arriving dark magician.

The reason for their deaths was nothing special.

A sinister dark magician needed a secret place to conduct research.

They happened to be living in the place the dark magician had chosen.

That alone was a miserable death, but what made it worse was that the dark magician left for another place after only a few months.

Saying it was too cold to stay.

In the end, those people died because the dark magician wanted to use this place for only a few months.

Now, it’s an abandoned castle with even the dark magician gone.

As I continued deeper into the castle, large statues appeared on both sides of the corridor.

The statues of naked men and women and half-human half-beast monsters were looking at different places with empty, pupil-less eyes.

As I approached them, the neck of the female statue, which had been staring blankly at the ceiling, turned with a strange sound.

I made eye contact with the statue.

A dark, burning pupil appeared in the statue’s white eyeball.

“Hey.”

The statue looked down at me silently.

“Want to work with me?”

Of course, the statue didn’t answer, and I didn’t wait for one either.

There was no need to wait, as the statue immediately began to move its limbs and stepped off the pedestal.

The nearly two-meter-tall statue walked towards me without hesitation.

With each step she (?) took, the ground shook, and dust fell from her well-proportioned body.

If she were a person, I would have thanked her for approaching me first, but this was not the time for that.

Because that statue was the main culprit in the massacre of the castle’s former inhabitants.

I drew my Holy Sword and gripped it with both hands.

Sparks flew from the hilt, covering the Holy Sword, and lightning danced along the blade.

I thrust it towards the moving statue.

The sparks from the Holy Sword shot towards the statue, binding her limbs.

Crack…

The statue’s movements slowed rapidly and then stopped completely.

I approached the statue, which was still faintly sparking, and examined it closely.

The dark magic is so potent that even after the dark magician left, the magic remains intact, causing it to move and function.

That damn woman didn’t even clean up her mess before leaving.

Well, that’s why I can use it now.

This statue stands still and then mercilessly crushes and destroys intruders when they come.

Moreover, it doesn’t leave a certain area and returns to its position, making it perfect for guarding the wagon parking area.

But it’s too big and somewhat obscene to just place in an open space…

There must be other smaller statues around.

I went further inside, but I couldn’t find a statue of the size I wanted.

It would be nice if one of normal human size and a decent appearance came out.

Even after wandering around the wide hall, there was no sign of another statue.

So, I decided to go down to ‘that place’ once.

Maybe there’s something left down there.

I retraced my memory and found the stairs leading to the basement.

The basement was even darker than the already dim castle.

As I descended the stairs, the light gradually disappeared, so I took a small torch from the small bag I carried on my side.

It was only two spans long, emitting a faint light, but it was perfect for providing simple illumination.

As soon as I took out a match and struck it against the stone wall, a strange feeling suddenly washed over me.

I threw away the torch and match, trying to draw my Holy Sword.

But that strange feeling was faster.

In an instant, flickering black lights flew straight from all directions and pierced me.

It wrapped around my limbs, torso, and neck indiscriminately, constricting and restraining my body.

Velda’s Cursed Vine…?!

I had fallen into a magic trap called Velda’s Cursed Vine, operated by dark magic.

At the same time, the candlestick in the basement flared up.

The basement revealed by the candlelight was exactly as I remembered it.

Dirty desks and bookshelves.

And lined up on them were bizarre biological specimens and unknown tools.

Over there were a black iron cauldron, piles of bones, and all sorts of repulsive things that filled the place.

This is one of the workshops of Idwild, the dark magician who was once my comrade.

It was abandoned long ago, and the research tools from that time remained as they were.

But… why is steam coming from that cauldron…?

“Wh-who is this…?”

Startled, I turned towards the voice.

Someone walked out from a corner not reached by the candlelight.

It was a small woman wearing a pitch-black robe.

Her hair, blacker than ebony, hung down long, covering half her face.

The black eyes visible through that ominous hair were hollow and seemed very timid.

Her skin contrasted with her hair, being pale rather than white, giving a somewhat sickly impression.

The robe she wore was a typical wizard’s robe that reached her toes, but there was one difference from an ordinary robe.

It was the chest area.

The robe, which was worn larger than the body like a cloak, should have fallen almost vertically, but her robe did not.

The chest area bulged forward as if concealing a watermelon under the robe.

Looking at her dark, sunken face and her impossibly large chest, I quietly called her name.

“Idwild.”

“Bertrand… Is that you…?”

A glimmer of light appeared in the hollow eyes of Idwild, the dark magician.

“Bertrand… Is it really you…?”

She hesitated and slowly approached me.

Through her black, drooping hair, her black pupils scanned my face thoroughly.

“It’s really… Bertrand… Haa…”

Idwild let out a faint sigh through her dry lips.

“I never thought… I’d see you again…”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just… doing some research…”

Idwild fumbled with the black thread in her hand.

“You got caught in Velda’s Cursed Vine… I’ll… I’ll free you…”

Then she suddenly stopped her hand and looked back at me.

“But… Bertrand, dark magic doesn’t usually affect you…”

Before I could answer, Idwild let out a low exclamation.

“Ah… you’re no longer a hero… the Goddess’s blessing must have worn off…”

Idwild’s face took on a strange expression.

She looked at the Cursed Vine wrapped around my body and spoke ominously.

“So… Bertrand… you can’t move right now…?”

She avoided my gaze, lowered her head, clenched and unclenched her fingers, and twisted her legs.

“That means… I can do whatever I want with you…”

Idwild’s voice trembled, and her lips quivered even more.

Her pale fingers fidgeted with the string on her robe’s chest.

“I never thought this day would come… to become one with you, Bertrand…”

I looked down at her with utter pity.

“Get a grip, you crazy woman.”

“Can you insult me more…?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”

At my curse, Idwild’s breathing became slightly heavier.

Her fingers swiftly pulled the string of her robe.

The neckline of her robe, loosened, fell to her shoulders.

The robe slipped helplessly off her shoulders to the floor.

Under the thin sleeveless linen shirt she wore, her overwhelmingly large breasts were visible.

Literally, they were larger than her head.

Perhaps because of her small stature, her already large breasts looked even bigger.

Despite their size, the shape of her breasts was incredibly beautiful.

Although covered by the shirt, their perky, bouncy shape without sagging was quite pretty.

“Finally… I can completely give myself to you, Bertrand…”

I now noticed that Idwild wasn’t wearing anything on her lower half, only black panties.

She was wearing a string panty with a knot tied at her hip, and Idwild was hesitating whether to untie it with her fingers.

“Bertrand… I couldn’t do anything because of the Goddess’s blessing… but not anymore…”

Idwild’s voice gradually became more sensual as an ominous black flame began to flicker over her entire body.

“For this day… I’ve kept my virginity… to be solely yours, Bertrand…”

I sighed.

I knew for a long time that this crazy woman had excessive delusions and obsessions about me.

But due to her inherent gloominess and timidity, she could never properly express it to me.

Moreover, dark magic and the Goddess’s blessing are completely opposite forces.

So, this gloomy busty woman spent her time as my comrade emitting a sinister aura and hovering around me.

But now that I’m trapped in Velda’s Cursed Vine and defenseless, she finally acts.

Looking at her, I felt pity rather than discomfort.

Poor human being.

A twisted, gloomy mind that can’t even reveal its desires in a normal way.

But that’s that, and this is this.

Just as Idwild was about to undo the knot of her string panty, I moved and tore off the Cursed Vine.

“Wh-what… How…?”

Watching me tear off the Cursed Vine wrapped around my body, Idwild stammered, her face pale.

She stepped back hesitantly, and I irritably shook off the rest of the Cursed Vine.

“Why haven’t you changed at all?”

“Wh-what… How… Velda’s Cursed Vine should have…”

The black flames around Idwild’s body began to fade as she was filled with confusion.

“This can’t be… It had a firm grip on you, Bertrand… Then… what about me…”

“Never mind. Since we met, just give me a gift.”

“No… No… It can’t end like this…”

Idwild didn’t listen to me and muttered to herself like a lunatic.

Not just like a lunatic, she was truly insane.

“This can’t be… I’ve dreamed of this moment for so long… It can’t end so futilely…”

The black flames that had been fading flared up again fiercely.

“Hey, Idwild. Are you listening to me?”

The eyes of the short, black-haired woman, who was wearing only a thin sleeveless shirt that revealed her full chest and black string panties, began to burn with a dark light.

“Now that it’s come to this… If we burn together and turn to ashes… If that’s how we can assimilate and become one… wouldn’t that be a happy ending in its own way…?”

“What are you talking about!? Hey!”