NOVEL WEB Chapter 35
Soon, Astaire’s voice came through.-I’m coming up now.“No, don’t come. Hide nearby.”-…Is there someone else on the second floor?“Yes. It’s best if we wait for them to leave before moving.”As she finished speaking, Elsez focused on the sounds coming from the basement.Voices echoed up the staircase.“This bastard—he didn’t even touch the food we gave him!”“Hey, give him some water at least.”The sound of water splashing against the floor followed, then gagging coughs—someone struggling to even breathe properly.Then came laughter.At least two men were tormenting someone.Elsez’s first instinct was to rush downstairs immediately.But she recalled Astaire’s warning and held herself back.‘The right move is to gather solid proof first, then request an official investigation.’They needed to be stealthy until they had undeniable evidence. Acting too soon could ruin everything.Elsez clenched her fists tightly.A moment later, the men’s laughter stopped.“Tch. He passed out.”“Leave him. As long as he wakes up before His Excellency comes down, it’s fine.”The sound of footsteps moving up the stairs followed.Elsez slipped out of the room and hid on the balcony.Soon, the men emerged from the basement—two knights wearing Count Lort’s insignia.They approached the fireplace and removed a candleholder from its mount, placing it onto the table.With a low rumbling sound, the fireplace shifted, sealing off the staircase.Elsez memorized the mechanism before watching the knights descend the stairs to the first floor.Once the coast was clear, she tapped her earring.“Two men just went down to the first floor. The fireplace leads to the basement. I’ll check it out.”-I’m coming now. Wait for me.A short moment later, Astaire arrived, quickly spotting her and moving to her side.Elsez picked up the candleholder and, copying what the knights had done, placed it back onto the mount.With a deep groan, the fireplace shifted open, revealing the hidden staircase.“There’s someone locked inside,” she murmured.“There may still be guards. We should move quietly,” Astaire cautioned.They descended the long staircase carefully.Since the entrance was on the second floor, the stairs extended far below ground.The dim glow of torches barely illuminated the area, but even in the shadows, it was clear what kind of place this was.A prison.A perfect use for a basement.Scanning the area, they confirmed there were no guards inside.They moved deeper into the prison.Then—Astaire suddenly stopped.Beyond the iron bars, inside one of the cells, a boy lay unconscious on the floor.Elsez stepped forward, pulling a torch from the wall to get a better look.Her eyes widened.“This is the boy who had the Shard of Dimension.”His battered and bruised condition told the full story.This wasn’t recent abuse.Some of the bruises and cuts were old, evidence of prolonged suffering.Astaire’s brows furrowed, his expression pained.‘We still haven’t found any definitive proof. If we free this boy now…’They would leave traces of their infiltration.Count Lort would be alerted and hide anything incriminating even deeper, while increasing security.If they wanted to stop this completely, the smart move was to walk away.But…As he hesitated, Elsez suddenly moved.She had disappeared for a second but quickly returned, carrying a ring of keys.She immediately began testing them on the cell’s lock.“Lady Elsez, those keys…”“I saw them hanging by the entrance earlier,” she replied without hesitation.She was already focused on unlocking the door.She knew what this choice could mean—and yet, she didn’t hesitate.Astaire watched her, momentarily stunned.Then, he bit his lip.‘She didn’t even waver for a second. And I…’Standing before her unshakable conviction, he felt ashamed of his own moment of hesitation.After testing several keys, she finally found the right one.With a clank, the rusty lock unlatched.Elsez hurried inside, kneeling beside the boy to check his condition.“He has a fever.”Astaire followed her in, examining the boy himself.She was right—the boy was burning up, with bruises all over his body.The fever would require proper medical attention, but the wounds—Astaire could do something about those.He placed his hand over the injuries and cast a healing spell.The warm glow of magic illuminated the darkness, wrapping around the boy’s wounds.Elsez sighed in relief.“I’ll check the rest of the prison,” she said, standing up.“Be careful,” Astaire murmured without looking away from his spell.Elsez searched every cell, but there were no other prisoners.She returned to Astaire’s side.“This boy is the only one here.”“…Ugh…”A faint groan broke the silence.The boy’s eyelids fluttered open.His unfocused eyes darted around before locking onto them.Upon recognizing them as strangers, his entire body flinched in terror.“W-Who are you…?”Elsez softened her voice.“It’s okay. You’re safe now.”She gestured to Astaire beside her.“He’s the Cardinal.”The child glanced back and forth between Astaire and Elsez, then widened his eyes when he saw Elsez.“You’re the one from the alley back then…”Elsez responded with an awkward smile instead of words.The boy’s eyes, fixed on the two of them, grew red, and soon he burst into tears.It was the kind of crying that comes from the relief of knowing someone is alive.“Thank you… for saving me…”Astaire took off his jacket and draped it over the crying child, waiting quietly until the boy’s sobs subsided before asking,“What’s your name?”“…Valentin.”“Valentin, can you tell us why you’re trapped here and what happened?”Valentin hesitated, glancing between the two of them, then cautiously began to speak.“I live with my mother. She’s not well, so I run errands for the guild to make a living.”One day, when Valentin went to the guild to get work, he was offered a job that paid unusually well.A guild member said it was a simple task—just delivering a box to an important person.While carrying the box to Count Lort’s estate, Valentin got into trouble with a member of the Ones Guild, and that’s how he met Elsez.After parting ways with Elsez, Valentin safely arrived at the count’s estate, where Count Lort made him a new offer.If Valentin helped him with his work, the count would treat his sick mother at the estate.It was an offer Valentin couldn’t refuse.Without even knowing what the “work” was, the boy nodded eagerly.Count Lort then led Valentin to the basement of a separate building.There, two boys a few years older than him, who also seemed to be there to help the count, were waiting, along with two mages cloaked in black.“And in the very center, there was a small black shard floating.”Astaire and Elsez, who had been silently listening, exchanged glances at the mention of the “black shard.”A shard of the dimension.They decided to hear the rest of Valentin’s story first.“The mages stood around the shard and started casting spells on us.”Soon, unbearable pain pierced through the three boys.Two of the boys, overwhelmed by the agony, collapsed and stopped moving, and only then did the magic cease.When Valentin begged the count to spare his life, the count clicked his tongue and said,“Didn’t you say you’d do anything for your mother? Is this the extent of your filial piety?”“……”“It’s not time to open the door yet, so let’s stop here.”As he turned to leave the basement, he added,“Lock him up and feed him well. He’s a precious sacrifice to open the door.”After that, Valentin was moved to this place and left here until he met the two of them.Elsez and Astaire realized that the “door” the count mentioned referred to a dimensional rift.And the method to open that door was by accumulating life force through killing someone.Unconsciously, Elsez muttered,“That bastard…”Astaire and Valentin turned in surprise at her cold whisper.Realizing she’d let her thoughts slip out loud, Elsez quickly changed the subject.“Ahem! Do you remember where that shard was?”“In the basement of the mansion on the other side.”Astaire had already searched the opposite mansion thoroughly.Since he hadn’t found it, it meant the entrance to the basement must be very well hidden.Moreover, with the count and his guest currently in that mansion, they couldn’t search it immediately.It was likely that the count would notice Valentin’s disappearance before Elsez and Astaire could investigate and find the shard.If the count finds out someone took this boy, he’ll probably hide the shard somewhere else.If the count reported this to the crown prince, it might even lead to a conflict with the royal family.Astaire bit his lip. But leaving the boy here was not an option, so there was only one answer.“Let’s get out of here first. We can go after the shard next time.”“No, we need to find the shard now.”Elsez firmly opposed Astaire’s suggestion.“If we take him out, the count will just sacrifice another child to open the dimensional rift. We have to find solid evidence and capture the count before that happens.”“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. I swear on my name. But we can’t search the mansion right now.”“We don’t have to search it ourselves.”Astaire looked at Elsez with a puzzled expression.“The Count will lead us to the shard himself.”Her voice was filled with conviction.