*Smack!*
"You killed her! You killed my baby..." An old woman screamed at Mykel as she was being held off by two men, and then she started crying.
Mykel's bottom lip was bleeding because of the claws of the old woman when she slapped him in the face. Mykel didn't say anything as he was being pulled away by someone.
"I swear to God! I will make you pay for what you have done Mykel Alester!" The old woman screamed and everyone was staring at her as she glared at Mykel with hatred and anger. "If I see you visit her grave, I will kill you! I will kill you!" The old woman continued.
Mykel stared at the grave, and then Agnez came and stood in front of him.
"Everyone is waiting," Agnez said as she stared into Mykel's eye.
"I know, I'm just thinking about something," Mykel replied as he turned around and walked toward the others. He saw them staring at him and thinking about what was on his mind right now. They started to notice that something was off about him.
Everyone left the Nenhaz Castle and went to the northeast of the kingdom.
"What did Benurtus say again? The widest castle in the Kastihel Kingdom?" Rozan asked as he looked at the book in Gunnar's hand.
"Yes, Calish Castle, the lord's name is Cirgius. That was where Bernutus went after the death of Lord Avello. Although he went to Calish Castle, he said that he didn't want to because Cirgius was a greedy and ignorant person that everyone hated," Gunnar answered as he reread the book.
"Right, he wanted to go to Arkas Castle but the lord didn't welcome anyone unless they're a strong knight. What was it called? The white knight?" Jeanne asked.
"Yeah, it was mentioned in the book that the White Knights were the strongest force that the Kastihel Kingdom has. They were the ones who conquered and defeated the enemies. I wonder what kind of end the lord and those knights had, but at the same, I don't think they will be an easy opponent," Gunnar answered as he put the book in the bag.
They arrived at Calish Castle, and the place was massive as Benurtus said in the book. There was a hedge maze, and they had no idea why there was something like that. The castle wasn't even a castle. It was a palace with another two palaces on the sides.
"No wonder Cirgius was the richest man. This guy has a very deep pocket if he can make something like this," Sven said as he looked at the big fountain made of gold in the distance behind the fences.
Gunnar opened the gate, and suddenly they heard piano and violin coming from one of the palaces. He then grabbed his book and a new page appeared.
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot how Cirgius loved to party and took almost all the women who came to his castle on their own. He would find the women he wanted to sleep with after the waltz party that he held every week. His favorite song was Masquerade Suite Waltz," Gunnar said.
"Nobody knew how many women he had been sleeping with, maybe almost ninety percent of the young women that fell into his arms. I wasn't jealous, and neither was everyone else, we were disgusted by how filthy he was, especially the jester of his who only made dirty jokes to please him," Gunnar continued.
"I could say that Lord Avello and Lord Delenise were loved by the low-class people, while Cirgius was loved by the high-class people. Calling him my lord was the most painful and disgrace for me, but he was the only option that I had. Minister Kilneg and Ministress Convael were enslaving everyone under their territory," Gunnar flipped the page.
"After investigating and hearing rumors from the people, I realized that all the ministers were trying to take whatever that belonged to the lords of Kastihel Kingdom. I thought to myself that it wouldn't take a while before Cirgius fell from his grace, and I was right about it," Gunnar flipped the page and found the drawing.
"This is a bit disturbing to look at," Gunnar said as he showed the drawing.
"Are those titties? But it looked like the woman was being choked by someone. The vase and the flowers are down as well," Lillith asked as she looked at the body of a woman, but her face was out of the frame, only her naked body was seen.
While Agnez and the others were busy staring at the drawing, Brynhilde walked toward them and grabbed Agnez's wrist.
"Agnez, something is wrong with everyone," Brynhilde said as she looked at her team and the Lord Knights. "Not just them, but Asmond's team as well," Brynhilde continued.
Mykel looked at them, and then looked at the sky. They had been staying in Kastihel World for almost three days, and they should have noticed about it by now.
Everyone was breathing heavily, and they looked pale and exhausted. Alberta bought [Stamina Potion] and thought that it would help, but after she drank it, nothing happened until she looked at her status screen.
"Wait, what happened to my basic skills?! Their levels are so low!" Alberta said.
Everyone looked at each other and then checked their status screens, and most of them experienced the same thing as Alberta. Agnez and the others, on the other hand, their [Body Enhancement] skill was maxed out, but they also got lowered by 2.
"This is weird, no wonder everyone was so easily exhausted," Jeanne said as she looked at her status screen. "But everything else is fine, only the basic skills,"
"Yes, you're right. I think the longer we stay, the worse it will get," Agnez replied as she closed her status screen. "We have no other option but to keep going and buy as many stamina potions as you can. We aren't stopping from now on,"
All of them nodded and bought [Stamina Potion].
They entered the castle and followed where the song was coming from, and it was coming from the palace in the middle. They entered the palace after they all felt better, and then they saw spirits dancing and wearing fancy outfits with masquerades to cover their faces.
"Masquerade ball, but they all look fine, not like the spirits we encountered before," Nagy said as she watched the spirits dance in the hall.
"No, they're unhappy, and you can see it in their expressions. It looks like they were forced to dance and who knows for how long they have been dancing," Gerrard replied.
"What are we going to do now? Should we try and purify them?" Asmond asked.
"I know that I'm not an expert, but this whole thing looks so suspicious. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do because they have been ignoring us and don't even bother to look at us," Gunnar replied as he looked at the spirits.
"Gunnar is right, and I think it's better if one of us tests it out, and to be honest, I have been doing nothing ever since we came to this place. I will try and purify one of the spirits," Brynhilde said as she unsheathed one of her swords.
All of them nodded with understanding, and then Alberta blessed Brynhilde's sword.
Brynhilde carefully walked toward the nearest spirits that were dancing in front of her. She swung her sword around, and when she was in range, she swung her sword down diagonally.
The spirit screamed so loudly, but weirdly enough, the other spirits kept dancing and didn't react to it. The spirit that was purified by Brynhiled turned his head toward her, and he glared at her furiously.
"Why?! Why did you do this to me!" The spirit yelled at Brynhilde as he flew toward her and flew right through her body.
Brynhilde fell to her knees and started coughing blood as she held her neck with both of her hands because she couldn't breathe. Alberta ran toward her and immediately tried to check what had happened to her.
"You're cursed! I will purify your body!" Alberta said as she cleansed Brynhilde's body thoroughly.
Everyone surrounded Brynhilde to check her condition, but she was fine after Alberta cleansed her body. Suddenly they heard laughter in the distance. They all looked up and saw a man wearing a jester hat with a wide mouth and yellow teeth.
"Welcome! Welcome, to my master's extravagant party where everyone dances all day!" The jester said as he stared at the ceiling with his arms wide open. "I see that we have a few guests here, and as my master's servant, I will personally entertain the guests," The jester continued.
"Now, let the party begin," The jester said as he smiled widely from ear to ear with his eyes closed, and the song got louder as the spirits intensified their dancing.
