Chapter 13+
THE CASTLE ON THE LAKE (continuation 1)
Elayna and I reached the Castle on the Lake about an hour before sunset, having managed to cover one hundred and thirty miles in less than a day—the distance that separated the castle from the capital of Aramia. This was far from a record for covering distance with horse changes. The record is much greater, I think two hundred and fifty miles or something in these figures, as I recall from an article I once read on the subject. The fact that we slept before the last leg of the journey turned out to be the right decision. We both rested and didn't arrive after dark.
Elayna stopped her mare in a grove near the shore of the lake, from a hillock which offered a picturesque view of the castle. The shadow cast by the thick branches of an oak tree hid us from the gazes of the castle's inhabitants, and we, in turn, could survey this "ancient" (as of last Thursday, of course) citadel of the noble vampire dynasty.
There was nothing special about this castle, and the lake itself wasn't very large. More like a large pond than a lake. In the middle, on an artificial island of gravel and sand, rose a red brick castle. Four towers at the corners and a tall structure in the middle, a drawbridge at the gate with a massive portcullis raised by a winch, and a long, wooden bridge to the shore, which was a superstructure on an older structure already on stone supports. I had seen this construction in the pictures in the manga, but reality was even more boring. It was, after all, a minor castle, in no way suitable for the role of a vampire king's refuge.
Elayna, just like me, was seeing the Castle on the Lake for the first time, surely known to her from her grandmother's stories and history textbooks from school. And by all appearances, the size of the castle was also somewhat disappointing to her.
"I knew it!" she declared, gazing somewhere into the distance.
"What about? The size?" I asked, immediately adding. "Well, yeah, the castle isn't very impressive."
She made an impatient gesture with her hand.
"No, I'm not talking about that. Look over there."
I followed her pointing finger and noticed a boat with two teenagers at the far end of the lake, where trees hung over the high bank. The forest there came right to the edge of the lake.
"So what?"
I still didn't understand what she was trying to say.
"They're fishing," she explained patiently.
"And?"
Elayna looked at me, started to explain, but then cut herself off.
"Do you want me to go ahead and find out for myself if they have an unwanted poster with your image?" she suggested.
I thought about her words. Yes, that was sensible. If we go together, my outcast status will automatically transfer to her. She will no longer have a chance to negotiate with the castle's owners. However, it's not like I hadn't thought about this too. I was just held back by the thought that she might not agree. But since the girl herself is offering.
I nodded.
"Alright. Go do reconnaissance, I'll wait here."
"Try not to be seen," she said and rode towards the bridge…
I waited for her for at least an hour in vain. After feeding my horse, I tied it to a tree in the grove and settled myself on the root of a large oak, wrapped in my cloak, leaning my back against the tree. Imperceptibly, I fell asleep, never seeing my companion return. In my sleep, I dreamed that Elayna had betrayed me. Guards from the castle seized me and joyfully dragged me towards the castle. The Galactic citizen protection seemed didn't work in my dream, and until I woke up by falling off the oak root, they had their fun mocking me and kicking me.
As is fitting for a bad dream, moving was damnably hard, as if I were a fly stuck in thick honey.
"Ah, you, bitch! Why did you sell me out!" I involuntarily cried out in my sleep, before finally waking up.
"What are you yelling about? Idiot! Nobody sold you out!"
I peeled my eyelids open and realized I was lying on the ground, face down, wrapped in my cloak – thick honey in my dream, and that Elayna herself was looking down at me through the faint light of the morning sun penetrating the tree canopies. And again, from such a precisely calculated distance that even if I wanted to, I couldn't peek somewhere I shouldn't. But if she took just the slightest step forward…
I chased away the unworthy thoughts, sat up, shivering from the morning chill, like a large caterpillar.
"I had a dream," I explained, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry."
"Figured," she grumbled in response. "So in the dream, I sold you? And how much did they pay me?"
"They didn't say. Calm down. I already apologized. I was sleeping on a tree root, do you think it's pleasant to spend the whole night like that? You yourself probably slept on a bed in the castle."
"I wouldn't say it was a pleasant night," Elayna answered gloomily to my remark.
"Why's that? Was the bed too hard?"
"Mosquitoes," she explained reluctantly. "It's a lake, after all."
I peered at her face. Indeed. Her face was bitten by mosquitoes. It seems Kunisada-san didn't provide magic against mosquitoes. I unfolded my cloak and stood up.
"Alright, what did you find out?"
"I have: bad news, very bad news, and very good news."
I frowned and remarked doubtfully:
"That's something new. Usually, it's bad news and good news. Or bad and very bad."
"They have your poster. A magpie brought it."
I nodded, slightly disappointed.
"To be expected. Is that the bad or the very bad news?"
"Bad. The very bad news is the master of the castle. He's a womanizer, very vain, and very stubborn. More stubborn than any donkey. And very much a womanizer. Very."
"And what's the good news?"
"His wife runs the castle. Do you have two large Elfers on you?"
"Two large gold coins? Yes, I do."
"Give them to me!"
Elayna held out her palm.
I was taken aback by the unexpected request.
"Explanation?"
"No time," she cut off and immediately added, "you said it yourself we don't have much time. Give me the money, and in an hour I'll get Romulus's family out of the castle for three days. Will three days suffice?"
"How are you going to do that? They already have a letter from the queen! You're not planning to…"
Elayna impatiently waved her palm, not listening to my objections.
"It's even better that they have the letter. Give me the money and wait here."
I silently pulled two gold Elfers from my jacket pocket and placed heavy gold coins on her palm...
An hour later, I was, indeed, in slight shock as I watched Romuldon's entire family and the other inhabitants of the castle leaving the castle over the bridge on two loaded carts, some on foot. The nephews and servants walked, the master of the castle on horseback. In which I recognized Elayna's white mare. I counted twenty-three people, not fifty, as the book claimed. The only explanation for this could be that in a game world, there is no need to create real episodic characters. Especially ones that only live until the seventh chapter and then perish. There's no point. Even twenty-three sentient AIs is a lot for such an insignificant role. All of them except the master of the castle could have been NPCs without consciousness. Nevertheless, for the trillionaire, at whose whim this game was once made, even for such an episodic role they created real self-aware artificial personalities. But fifty would have been overkill even for that madman.
Meanwhile, Elayna saw off this whole procession. The last to say goodbye to her was the master of the castle. Elayna gave him a false smile in parting, and Romulus, restraining the skittish mare dancing under him, was saying something to her. Probably some dirty hints or compliments. For some reason unknown to me, this angered me. So much so that even when the procession disappeared down the road, Elayna noticed it on my face.
"Wow, are you jealous, Taler-san?" she said cheerfully and casually, beaming from a job well done.
I silently untied my horse, and we began our descent to the bridge across the lake.
"How did you do that?" I asked, still in shock, ignoring her stupid question. Jealous of one android for another? Yeah. Right!
"Haven't you guessed? We read the chapter together. Remember?" Elayna was enjoying her resourcefulness and superiority over the "Emissary of the Ancient Gods," Taler-san.
I waited silently for the continuation. But she continued to tease me.
"But you read it yourself, about the pies that the castle mistress herself baked. And you and I also saw the nephews fishing."
"What we read hasn't happened yet," I began to object, not listening to her, then a premonition struck me. "What do pies have to do with it? Fishing?"
Elayna laughed at my lack of understanding and began to explain.
But it had already dawned on me. I slapped myself on the forehead. So that's it! How did I not guess immediately! I remembered my father's words from many years ago: "Economics is behind everything, Timm. Behind wars, behind epidemics, behind show business. Even behind aliens! That damned Goddess, squeezing in wherever she can, rules everything!" And indeed, economics would be the main problem of a fantasy world made real. Imagine a small castle on a lake. An alien machine creating reality simply transfers it with its inhabitants from a virtual world to a real one. How does a medieval system function in such cases? Usually, a few villages in the area are assigned to the castle, which support it: pay taxes, etc. To maintain a large castle, there would have to be a good two dozen such villages. This is all fine in other places, Kunisada described it all, but the Castle on the Lake is an exception. It has no assigned villages. It's a castle of blood-feeding vampires, captured by the invented ancestors of the current Romulus. The question arises—who will feed him? The game's screenwriters didn't bother their heads. Why bother with it at all if in the seventh chapter all the castle's inhabitants are killed anyway. But even if they are saved. What next? Who cares about them anyway? Or maybe this loophole was intentionally left to resolve the unresolvable? So that gamers could beat the game and save everyone? After all, the sponsor of this game—the trillionaire businessman Hofner—was a close friend of Kunisada. Such an economic solution is obvious to him—buy out a family of nobles who literally have nothing to eat! Because they were only created last Thursday and they only have ten bags of flour in their warehouse, and it's unclear how they've existed until now. And on what…
"So you realized they had financial problems when I was reading the chapter to you aloud in the park?"
Elayna nodded, confirming.
"Of course. The baroness personally bakes pies and cooks for all the inhabitants of the castle. And the daughter helps. That's unheard of!"
"Maybe they just became poor," I suggested, although I understood perfectly well. They hadn't become poor at all. They hadn't existed at all.
"Maybe. Romulus had a brother, Ulfik; he, they say, hunted monsters in the Misty Forest and earned a living for the castle. Romulus told me at dinner."
"Then why doesn't Romulus himself do it?"
"He was planning to. But I got the impression that he's a coward and doesn't want to do it, putting it off as long as he can, afraid he'll be killed like his younger brother. So when I offered to rent the castle for three days for one large gold Elfer for a magic ritual, he agreed almost immediately, but he also asked for my mare. He probably would have agreed for just the Elfer. They have absolutely no idea what to do or how to feed the servants when the flour supplies run out. For one large gold Elfer, you can buy fifty bags of flour."
"Wait? You said for one Elfer. But I gave you two."
"Well, yes, I kept one for myself for my work. Do you mind?"
I waved my hands before she could misinterpret my words.
"Of course not. Let me give you ten more. You could have given them ten large Elfers, or a hundred, so they wouldn't show up here for two months. Or even a year!"
She laughed, ringing, seeing my reaction. And unexpectedly reached out to ruffle my hair.
"You're funny, E... Taler-san. It's clear you've never been in need of money. Throwing Elfers around like that."
I dodged her hand. This money wasn't even accessible to me before my father's death. I had no idea my father was so rich. And I grumbled barely audibly: "Well, yeah, and you've definitely experienced it. Last Thursday."
While we were chatting so pleasantly, we finally reached the castle entrance via the bridge. The gate's portcullis was raised and locked in that position. We passed through it, and Elayna skillfully lowered the portcullis by knocking out the brake on the winch that held the grate in the raised position.
"So the vampiress doesn't escape," she explained.
I just nodded. From the side, it looked as if she, as the older one, had completely taken the initiative into her own hands. I was just agreeing with her plan. But what would she suggest doing with the vampiress? You can't buy her. Can't kill her either. A dead end.