How To Live As A Third Son Of A Failure [EN]: Chapter 222

How to Live as the Third Son of a Wasted Novel – Chapter 223

A lord resides in a castle.

Therefore, a castle must have a space for its lord.

As if to prove it, the place I broke into after destroying the vertical passage was a vast hall.

Considering the structure of the hall, it seemed likely to be a space used for banquets. But that wasn’t what surprised me.

Lines drawn by artificial hands, clear to anyone. Countless lines were chaotically intertwined, creating patterns difficult to discern at a glance.

And that pattern was right beneath my feet.

[Oh, a magic circle?]

Aphen’s words in my head snapped me out of my momentary daze.

Even without magical knowledge, anyone could tell this was a magic circle. The problem is, it could be a trap.

I glanced back.

The mana branching out from the vertical passage was heading towards the magic circle drawn here.

It was clear. This wasn’t a magic circle designed by Kerwyn. If it were, he would have told me in advance.

“A trap?”

[If it were, it would have gone off already.]

“Then what is it if it’s not a trap?”

[I don’t know. It’ll take some time to figure it out.]

“Useless.”

[Idiot! Do you really need to figure it out? Anyone can see it’s being used to weaken the barrier by siphoning off mana!]

Ignoring Aphen’s growls, I continued to look around.

It was a vast hall, but there wasn’t a single piece of furniture inside. Only piles of dust indicated that it hadn’t been maintained for a long time.

But that’s why the traces were clear.

Footprints revealed among the layers of dust. Evidence that someone had clearly been coming and going from this place.

“Surely, monsters wouldn’t design a magic circle like this. First of all, the footprints are all human.”

[Of course, it’s those guys! Well, it’s okay now. If we reinforce it the way Mom taught me, they won’t be able to steal mana anymore.]

“It’s easy for you to say.”

The fact that they found this ancient castle was clear. And unless they were idiots, they would know that the mana flowing from the underground wasn’t a natural phenomenon.

“They must have realized that this place is important for maintaining the barrier.”

[I told you, that’s why they’re siphoning off mana with that magic circle.]

“But if that’s the case, then that’s strange in its own way.”

[What’s so strange about it? Just get rid of it and do what we need to do.]

Right. If we just do what we need to do, those guys won’t be able to interfere with the barrier anymore. But something about this is suspicious.

Ignoring Aphen’s urging, I carefully examined the magic circle drawn in the vast hall.

Purpose…

If it’s a magic circle used to siphon off mana that should be maintaining the barrier, then as Aphen said, we could just get rid of it and reinforce the barrier as Kerwyn told us to.

“No, this is definitely strange.”

[Ugh! Why are you thinking so much!?]

Yes, it’s definitely strange.

If they knew that this castle was a key location for maintaining the barrier spread across the mountain range, it would probably be their top priority.

“But why, why bother with such a half-assed method? I wouldn’t do something so stupid. Yeah, this is too stupid.”

[Stupid, dog, sea squirt, cockroach… Huh? What did you say?]

Aphen, who had been spewing all sorts of childish insults, turned her attention back to me at my confident words.

“For example, if they just invaded the underground chamber and closed the subspace where the mana flows in, wouldn’t the barrier be over that day?”

[Are you underestimating my mom too much? You were able to get in here easily because I was with you!]

“So the security is solid, then?”

[Of course!]

“But still, it doesn’t make sense. As a second option, wouldn’t it be better to just destroy the castle altogether?”

Aphen clicked her tongue at my question.

[What’s the point of destroying it? The underground chamber is enchanted, so it won’t be affected even by a fingernail. Those guys realized it too! The only way is to steal the mana midway!]

“Even so, it’s still strange. If that’s the only way, why did they only install one magic circle to siphon off mana? If it were me, I would have plastered dozens of them all over the place.”

[Maybe it was hard to install even one.]

“Are you even serious?”

[……]

Aphen, who was momentarily speechless, continued in a bewildered voice.

[Umm… now that I hear it, that’s true? Why did they do this? Are they really as stupid as you say?]

“Honestly, I thought that the guys who came to scout first would be holed up here, working to break the barrier.”

But they’re not here. Of course, the beastmen were guarding it, but they were only there to chase away monsters.

Why?

Looking at the actions of those guys so far, weren’t they trying to send the monsters of the north beyond the mountain range to bring down the kingdom?

Question after question arose.

Aphen spoke to me as I stood there blankly, lost in thought.

[Maybe there’s a reason why they can’t break the barrier?]

“A reason not to break it?”

Is there a reason? The thing that’s most in their way right now is Kerwyn’s barrier.

That’s when it happened.

I felt like lightning struck my head. It was as if the hazy fog was clearing.

‘No. That’s not it.’

Let’s look at it from a broader perspective.

The fact that they haven’t tried other methods and left it as it is means that there’s a good reason for it.

What could that reason be?

To resolve the question, we had to go back to the beginning.

First, what the Neros Order guys want is the downfall of the kingdom. But that’s a rough goal, and if we dig deeper, it’s probably to seize the hegemony [leadership or dominance] of the continent in place of the kingdom.

To do that, they need to have a way to reliably control the monsters that will bring down the kingdom. The Neros Order wouldn’t be able to get all the monsters of the continent to follow them willingly.

So, until that means is prepared, it would be beneficial for them to maintain the barrier.

Yeah. That’s why they couldn’t destroy this castle or break the barrier. They needed it too.

‘Is that so?’

A smile came to my face. I felt like the clues were slowly unraveling.

Why did those guys research magic stones?

To control monsters.

Why are they trying to control monsters?

Because they’ll have to regain control of the continent after the monsters sweep through it when the barrier collapses.

Then what about Rodkius?

They needed an internal helper to cause division so that the kingdom wouldn’t unite, making things easier later on.

‘But now I’ve found out about that fact.’

Then how will they react? Will they speed up the destruction of the barrier and try to destroy the castle?

No way!

If the barrier collapses right now, wouldn’t the uncontrollable monsters rush down and devastate the kingdom beyond repair?

That’s where what those guys want becomes clear.

Not the complete destruction of the continent.

The establishment of a new order to rule the continent.

[Why are you smirking to yourself? Don’t keep it to yourself, tell me too!]

I ignored Aphen’s words and continued to think.

‘Then, controlling the beastmen with magic stones to guard this place was…?’

At first, I thought it was because they needed security while they were breaking the barrier.

But that wasn’t it. Those guys weren’t staying here now.

Then what’s the reason? Just because monsters are annoying? Are magic stones so abundant that they can be used for such trivial reasons?

That’s not it.

Then the answer is clear.

They were experimenting with the power of magic stones on the beastmen. Yeah, what we need to think about carefully here is the experiment.

A bad feeling arose.

Clearly, the first incident where I learned about the true nature of the Neros Order was when I subjugated the Orc Blade Tribe.

At that time, I thought the reason for using the orcs was to create chaos within the kingdom.

But now that I think about it, that wasn’t it.

“Practice run.”

Aphen quickly asked at my sudden words.

[Practice?]

“Yeah, practice.”

[What do you mean? Don’t be so frustrating, let me know too!]

I nodded at Aphen’s urging.

“Those guys are creating magic stones now.”

[Uung.]

“Creating and utilizing something is almost impossible with just theory alone. It’s necessary to embody that theory and prove it through multiple experiments.”

[Experiment? Prove?]

“Blade Tribe. Those guys were orcs. Unlike ordinary monsters without intelligence, they form tribes and live in groups, a group whose way of life is somewhat similar to humans, and a specimen.”

[……]

“Such experiments would have been going on before the Blade Tribe. Maybe the first start was with beasts without intelligence, like bears or wolves. The next stage would have been monsters at the bottom of the food chain, like gnolls and goblins.”

[Then the Blade Tribe orcs we subjugated before?]

“That means it wasn’t the early stages of the experiment. It was a somewhat advanced model.”

Perhaps sensing what I was trying to say, Aphen’s voice began to tremble.

[…Then the dark elves and the wolf beastmen friends we saw earlier?]

“Evidence that the experiment is nearing its final stage.”

[Final… stage?]

I smiled bitterly at Aphen’s question.

“The end of that experiment will probably be humans. To that end, they’ve been controlling and experimenting on dark elves and beastmen, who resemble humans, in this north for a long time.”

The dark elves were bound and sealed, using the evil energy of magic stones to prevent them from resisting.

The beastmen were made into puppets after losing their ego using the same power.

After that, they would have observed the progress and side effects of the two cases over a long period of time.

The result?

The dark elves have maintained their unique reproductive abilities and maintained their society even while sealed.

On the other hand, the beastmen have become loyal guard dogs, guarding the ancient castle for a long time even while being eroded.

What would happen if this were applied to humans?

Perhaps ordinary humans would have their power castrated [rendered ineffective] and provide labor and population.

On the other hand, knights with strong abilities would become puppets like the beastmen and become loyal guard dogs.

‘So that’s why.’

Suddenly, I remembered sending Ruth as a scout after finding out that the Neros Order’s base was in the southern archipelago a long time ago.

The story I shared with Ruth after returning was still vivid in my mind.

“People are disappearing near the southern archipelago.”

“People are disappearing?”

“Yes. That place is originally a neighborhood where pirates who engage in human trafficking are rampant…”

“But.”

“Originally, the pirates mainly captured strong men or young women to use as oarsmen, but from some point on, they’ve been sweeping away men, women, and children indiscriminately. Isn’t that strange?”

Here’s the question.

What exactly is the Neros Order doing with the people they’ve captured, regardless of gender or age?

The answer is to conduct control experiments with magic stones and sacrifice them to create magic stones at the same time.

“This is fucked up.”

Feeling an indescribable unpleasant feeling, I twisted my lips and spat out a curse.

Yeah. Really, no matter how I think about it, I can only think that they’re fucked up guys.

[Then, if that’s what you say, the reason why they left this castle intact is…]

I sighed at Aphen’s question.

“In the end, the barrier spread across the mountain range was necessary for each other.”

The barrier was a wall that protected the kingdom from monsters, and at the same time, it was a device that gave the Neros Order time to plot their conspiracy.

Then from now on, it was a chicken game [a situation in which no one wants to give in].

Whether those guys complete all their plans first, or I find them first and uproot them.

The presence or absence of a barrier no longer mattered. The moment the barrier was no longer needed for those guys meant that my defeat was confirmed.

It’s not even funny.

A hollow laugh leaked out without me knowing.

At the same time, I wanted to ask.

‘Did you know, Kerwyn?’

That your goodwill for humans was instead nurturing a terrible evil that was endangering humans.”