Chapter 84

Thud! Rumble!

With a deafening crash, the door was torn off its hinges and rolled across the floor.

Fortunately, perhaps thanks to the earlier warning, no one inside was hurt by the impact.

Lucian stepped through the wide-open entrance and muttered,

“It really doesn’t cut. I thought, since this sword is made of the same material, with a bit of luck I could split it.”

“…”

The knight, half in shock, stared at the door lying on the floor, not even reacting to Lucian’s words.

The metal slab had only a large dent and a slight deformation; the real problem was the wall.

The anchors and clamps holding the door had remained attached to the wall.

No matter how sturdy the door was, if those points couldn’t withstand the impact, it was bound to be ripped out.

“Well, the door’s open now. I guess we can go in. There’s no need to wait anymore, is there?”

“W-wait, please. What do you think you’re doing in such a historic place…?”

“This is my house and my property now. Enough with the ridiculous excuses—move aside.”

Whoosh.

The knight, still trying to block the way, flinched and stepped back.

A bluish aura of magic rippled around the boy’s body—who stood at least a head shorter than him.

If Lucian wished, all that magic could strike with the same force as before.

“Damn…”

Imagining himself reduced to dust, the knight shut his eyes tightly and moved aside.

With the obstacle gone, the soldiers gathered near the entrance also backed away, startled.

“Why are you all crowding here? Were you trying to do something inside while I was stuck outside unable to move?”

“N-no, it’s not that…”

“Enough with the excuses. Get out. If I see you hanging around again, next time your heads will go flying.”

At the icy warning, the soldiers withdrew, pale-faced.

After confirming there were no more obstacles, Lucian turned to Glenn.

“Sir Glenn, what are you doing? Come and proceed with the inheritance.”

“A-ah… yes! Forgive me, Your Highness!”

Glenn, still half in shock, reacted immediately and headed toward the entrance.

Seeing the scene, the knights of the Count Calix household stood with blank expressions.

After decades of guarding that territory for their lord’s ambitions, they now saw it handed directly to someone else.

***

As soon as Glenn officially announced the legitimate succession, all the members of the Count Calix household managing the mansion began packing.

Once the Grimaldi inheritance passed into Lucian’s hands, they had no reason to stay.

“We’ll take our leave. Now that everything belongs to the duke, we don’t know what charges we might face if we touch anything else.”

“A wise decision. Though, there’s a nuance in your words—from the start, everything here was mine. You merely occupied it illegally. Technically, I should press charges, but since you even cleaned the place, I’ll grant exceptional forgiveness.”

“…We appreciate Your Highness’s magnanimity.”

The knight clenched his teeth and looked up briefly, but upon meeting Lucian’s icy gaze, he shrank back again.

At that moment, his eyes landed on the adamantium alloy door still lying on the floor.

A chill ran through him, and after a quick bow, he fled nearly at a run.

“Tsk, if you don’t have the guts to face someone, don’t go picking fights.”

Lucian clicked his tongue and headed into the mansion.

As its outer appearance suggested, the interior was equally luxurious and so well maintained that he could move in right away.

While Lucian looked around nonstop, Glenn approached with a smile.

“You’ve finally reclaimed your rightful inheritance. My congratulations.”

“All of this was made possible thanks to His Majesty the Emperor. His favor is so great I have no way to repay it—my only option is to serve him loyally.”

Lucian showed a deeply grateful expression while hiding his true indifference.

After all, having received Asagrim from the emperor, this mansion was just a bonus.

“Anyway, this place only had symbolic value. Now that I have Asagrim—which eclipses everything else, even in symbolism—this place holds little meaning.”

He would ensure the ownership was clear so no odd characters could use it, but that was it.

Unless he found a concrete use, it would likely be left half-abandoned like before.

“Still, since we’re here, how about looking for some treasure?”

It was a mansion with a very long history and, moreover, the place where his maternal grandfather had lived.

Who knew—maybe a hidden treasure would turn up while rummaging around.

***

“Search every corner. If you find anything suspicious or odd, let me know. If you think something’s hidden, you can break it. Check everything without exception.”

“What!?”

The vassals blinked, stunned by the order. Even places only the family head could enter? And damaging a mansion with such a long history?

While everyone stood speechless, Raymond grabbed Lucian, his face contorted.

“My lord, is it really okay to break things? Do you know how many years of history this mansion holds?!”

“Of course I do. But you also know how much Asagrim is worth.”

“And what does that have to do with this?”

“That their value overlaps. Tell me honestly—after receiving Asagrim, do you think we’ll ever come back here?”

“…”

Raymond fell silent, hit right where it counted.

They might visit again someday, but it would only be a surface-level stop at most.

“If we’re not going to live here, it’s better to tear the place apart than treat it like a relic. Like you said, it has a long history. Who knows if something’s hidden here?”

“Hmm you’re not wrong, but…”

“A thousand years from now, when all the symbolism is gone, what value will this place have? Better to go through it all now. With Asagrim as a replacement, there’s nothing to regret.”

Faced with such sound reasoning, Raymond ended up nodding. He more or less understood what Lucian was after.

“Magic?”

“You catch on fast. Yes, exactly that.”

It was a mansion built long before the mage-led rebellions had erupted.

If they searched well, they might find items related to magic—artifacts hidden away by the Empire.

“Even if it’s just a hope, it’s not impossible. In an old mansion like this, there are always secret passages or hidden records.”

With the lord’s intent clear, Raymond nodded and stepped away.

Finding a magical artifact would be a stroke of luck, but even without that, there was a high chance of uncovering something hidden.

While the vassals scoured every corner of the mansion, Lucian decided to inspect the study.

The records left by past generations were usually kept there—or in the library.

***

“There’s nothing useful.”

Tap.

Lucian set the book down with regret.

The study was filled only with public records like ledgers, as well as poetry collections, novels, and various other items.

No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find any personal writings—no memoirs or diaries.

‘Could it be that the House of Count Calix secretly took something? Maybe they saw something confidential while managing the mansion…’

Just as his suspicions toward the Calix family began to grow, Hugo’s voice rang out from outside.

“My lord! There’s something strange here!”

Lucian’s eyes lit up, and he immediately headed to where his vassals were.

“Did you find something?”

“We discovered an entrance to the basement, but someone’s sealed it completely. Look at this.”

Hugo pointed to the basement entrance. A black iron lock and thick chains wrapped around the door, ensuring no one could open it.

Lucian stepped closer and examined the chains.

‘The door is quite old, but the lock and chains are recent.’

Judging by the state of the metal, they had likely been installed no more than three years ago. Lucian gripped the hilt of his sword, but quickly let go.

If they destroyed it by force, the entrance might collapse.

“Felicia, can you cut it?”

“I’ll try.”

Felicia drew her sword and took a vertical slashing stance.

At the same time, magic began to stretch out in fine threads around the blade.

Like a silkworm spinning its cocoon, the magical threads wrapped around the sword over and over again.

Slice!

With a sound like paper being sliced, the blade brushed against the chains.

Immediately, the chains and lock slid apart smoothly along the path of the cut.

Lucian touched the cleanly cut section of metal and gave a thumbs-up.

“Perfect. As expected of the future Swordmaster.”

“You’re too kind.”

Felicia lowered her head slightly, a faint blush on her cheeks. Lucian cleared the remains of the lock with his vassals and entered the basement.

“By the heavens…!”

The vassals looked around in awe.

Though called a basement, what lay beneath the mansion was a massive cavity—larger even than the entire residence.

As Lucian and the others stood stunned by the enormous space, they noticed numerous hollows carved into the walls.

“And these holes?”

“Looks like they were made to hold something.”

“A place to insert something? Keys?”

“If they were keys, there wouldn’t be this many. Maybe handles or some kind of lighting.”

Hearing the word “lighting,” Lucian touched one of the hollows again. Looking closely, there were fresh marks showing something had been forcibly removed.

‘They blocked off the basement entrance and also removed all the lighting?’

It now made sense why the torchlight felt insufficient. It seemed someone had deliberately removed the lighting to hide something.

As the group descended to the floor of the massive cavity—

Creak.

“Ahh!”

“What happened?”

“T-the floor moved!”

Hugo quickly backed away, shining his torch on the ground beneath his feet.

When everyone looked, sure enough, one of the floor tiles had shifted.

Upon closer inspection, each tile had a slightly different engraving.

‘A puzzle?’

It didn’t seem the floor had moved from old age; rather, it looked intentionally designed that way.

While Hugo examined the shifted tile, Raymond shone his torch around and spoke.

“My lord, from what I can see, this entire basement looks like a giant puzzle.”

“I think the same. Now I understand why they took away the lighting.”

It was to prevent the engraved designs on the floor from being seen.

If the entire floor formed a single puzzle, it would’ve required a massive amount of lighting.

Lucian let out a dry laugh in the dim light of the basement.

‘Look at them—since they couldn’t solve it, they tried to stop anyone else from doing it.’

From the condition of the locks and the missing wall fixtures, it was clear these precautions were taken before Lucian had arrived in the north.

Since the House of Count Calix couldn’t solve the puzzle, they had sabotaged it to prevent anyone else from succeeding.

To Lucian, the rightful owner of the mansion, it was infuriating.

‘So this is what kind of people the House of Calix are.’

“What shall we do? Set up torches and bring in more people?”

Raymond suggested.

Lucian shook his head.

“No. How long do you think that would take? Besides, there’s no guarantee solving this will yield treasure. Maybe it’s just artistic. Let’s leave it and go to Asagrim first.”

“That’s true… even the House of Calix doesn’t seem to have solved it. And with the time we have now, it’s impossible. Glenn would find out too.”

“Exactly. Still… it’s impressive. I don’t know how they managed to build something like this in such a huge cavity.”

Driven by curiosity, Lucian crouched down and ran his hand over one of the floor tiles.

Flash!

“…!?”

The moment his palm touched the tile, a blinding beam of light burst from deep within the underground chamber.