Chapter 4: The Hidden One

“Huff…”

Julian put down the document in his hand and rubbed his brow, a feeling of fatigue washing over him.
Although after accepting this body and absorbing its memories, Julian understood that things would be troublesome, he hadn’t expected it to be difficult to this extent.

Laid out before Julian was a detailed report on Twilight Town, and the results of this report were giving Julian a headache.

The reason for this was still related to this fief – although the great nobles had indeed given young Felix genuine and valid documents, it should be known that they weren’t fools. In case he knowingly went to his death and then ran there to deliberately mess everything up, he could die face down in the dirt and leave this world carefree, but the future reconstruction and stabilization work here would still be left to those great nobles to worry about. The nobles naturally wouldn’t have failed to consider this point, so what they gave Felix was a “noble fief.”

On this continent, there were two forms of fiefs. One was the “royal fief,” which was directly ordered by the royal family and granted to others. Of course, those who had the honor of obtaining such fiefs were all those who had made outstanding contributions to the royal family or had blood relations with them. The territories these people obtained were mostly sufficient to maintain their status and reputation, and had relatively abundant resources. The other type was the “noble fief,” which was used by lords who had obtained “royal fiefs” to reward their subordinates. Unlike “royal fiefs,” “noble fiefs” didn’t have a general sphere of influence, and in fact, this type of noble fief was also difficult to develop, because those nobles would only hand over the management of specified parts of towns and fortresses. Just like the fief Julian now owned, although the great nobles had given him the entire Twilight Mountain Range, he could only collect taxes from Twilight Town. As for those villages and towns on the outskirts of the Twilight Mountain Range, although they were within the sphere of influence, Julian had no jurisdiction over them.

And Twilight Town, as an isolated small town, didn’t have much production capacity itself. They had lived here for generations, relying only on the farmland they had reclaimed and hunting wild beasts in the forest, with no special source of income. The monthly tax revenue of this small town was only a little over a hundred gold coins.

A little over a hundred gold coins wasn’t a small amount for ordinary people, but for nobles, it wasn’t even enough to fill a tooth gap. Obviously, specifying in the document that Julian only had the power to manage and collect taxes from Twilight Town was also to limit his development. Although for the nobles, a dying person had nothing to worry about, a desperate last-ditch effort before death was something they didn’t want to see. After all, Twilight Town was small with few people, the total population was no more than a hundred, and with no economic power, even if you wanted to raise an army to rebel, you wouldn’t have the ability. Just let them struggle as they please.

The only advantage was that, considering he was a dying man, those great nobles finally didn’t quibble with Felix anymore, and very “generously” exempted him from taxes for a year. In other words, within this year, Twilight Castle didn’t need to pay taxes to those great nobles. This was also the only good news for Julian. Otherwise, with Twilight Town’s monthly tax revenue of only one hundred gold coins, and having to give half to those nobles, even if Julian had heaven-defying abilities, he would probably have to just wave his hands and run as far as he could.

Twilight Castle wasn’t a small castle. In Julian’s era, it was located on the border of the kingdom, backed by the Twilight Mountain Range, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Twilight Mountain Range was steep and complex, and the only flat area was here. It integrated with Twilight Town below, supporting each other. Under the protection of the castle, Twilight Town wouldn’t be attacked by enemies, and with the support of Twilight Town, the castle wouldn’t have problems due to lack of supplies. Combined with the clear spring water flowing down from upstream, this place could be said to be an almost invincible fortress.

In Julian’s era, this place had once been attacked by the allied army for a full half year. Although the number of enemies far exceeded the garrison inside the castle, in the end, the allied army still returned empty-handed. After paying the price of nearly ten thousand corpses, they had no choice but to retreat. And legend has it that it was because of these tens of thousands of corpses that this forest became so lush.

However, now it had lost its former military value. Relying on this fortress, the kingdom’s territorial boundary had expanded by one-third, and because of this, the original military fortress had already become useless. The status of Twilight Castle determined that it couldn’t transform into a commercial or transportation hub, so this once glorious fortress had completely fallen, and Twilight Town had also lost its former glory, becoming a place that almost had no meaning for existence now.

They were like warriors; when war no longer needed them, their reason for existence disappeared along with it.
Shaking his head to throw these boring feelings to the back of his mind, Julian refocused his attention on the intelligence before him. There was a lot to do. The work of cleaning and tidying the castle could be left to the group of Wraith Warriors, but managing the castle couldn’t. Moreover, Julian wasn’t planning to spend his lonely old age here. He had his own plans, and for this plan, he needed quite a few things.

Julian wasn’t unfamiliar with this situation. In his own world, he had also started from scratch and eventually achieved success. If it weren’t for the tricks of fate, he wouldn’t have left his world and come to this magical and strange capital. Then, Julian still followed his own desires and successfully became one of the most powerful existences in this world. Moreover, even back then, Julian had already considered various situations that might arise in the future and made corresponding preparations.

But now it seemed that the current situation was even worse than starting from scratch.
No matter how powerful Julian was, he only had two hands and ten fingers. He couldn’t take care of everything. Therefore, he must find suitable talented people to assist him in his work. However, from the current situation, this was obviously a luxury.

“In any case, I can only rely on myself for now.”

Sighing helplessly, Julian closed the document in front of him. Then, a cold wind blew past, and the document placed in front of Julian was lightly rolled up by the wind, swirling in the air before falling onto the bookshelf beside him. Although this castle had been uninhabited for nearly thirty years, because the previous residents were afraid of bringing the “demon’s curse” with them when they left, they didn’t move the furniture placed here. So Julian didn’t need to worry about this aspect. Plus, because of the presence of the Wraith Warriors, ordinary insects didn’t dare to approach this castle, so these pieces of furniture weren’t particularly damaged. At least for now, they were still in a usable state.

The cold air faintly transmitted weak laughter, echoing in this huge black castle. It would normally make people feel fear and unease, but for Julian, this was just a small game of those Wraith Warriors, so he didn’t stop them too much. Originally, Julian planned to go to bed and rest before making new plans, but the whisper in his soul made him stop in his tracks.

Julian clearly felt that the originally gentle soul wind suddenly became intense and confused. He concentrated on listening to the Wraith Warriors’ report, then raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?”

Julian muttered to himself, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

The light and warmth emitted by the burning torch dispelled the darkness and chill in the underground passage. Julian held the torch and walked down the frost-covered stairs step by step. His expression was serious, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Even without the sense of being the Knight of Demise, Julian could easily feel the danger contained in this darkness.

There were wraiths here.

In fact, originally, the Wraith Warriors should have continued to clean this castle for their master like last night, and keep it clean and hygienic. But after coming here, the Wraith Warriors were surprised to find that they couldn’t work. Because there was an aura stronger and colder than theirs dominating this place. With no choice, the Wraith Warriors had to report to their master and leave it to Julian to handle.
For Julian, this was a very strange thing.

It should be known that these Wraith Warriors were not ordinary ghosts. They were born in the Age of the Luminous Moon a thousand years ago when magic was most developed. They possessed strong power themselves, and being bound by powerful soul magic, after the baptism of time, although their power was not as strong as a mage’s, they had few rivals in the soul world. In fact, as a former battlefield, countless people had died on this land, and wraiths were naturally not uncommon. But most of those wraiths had been completely devoured by the Wraith Warriors as food and eliminated. And now, there were wraiths that these Wraith Warriors couldn’t eliminate, which undoubtedly aroused Julian’s interest.

And now, standing in the dark underground passage, Julian finally understood why those Wraith Warriors couldn’t advance.

The air was filled not only with the wraiths’ characteristic fear of death and obsession with life but also with strong shadow energy. This was a unique magical energy that only reacted to those without physical form, illusory existences. Because of this, for the incorporeal Wraith Warriors, this place filled with shadow energy was their death trap. As long as they dared to enter, there was only death awaiting them.

However, why was there such strong shadow energy spreading here?
Julian frowned and continued to walk in. Generally speaking, only mages would emit magical aura after death. Could it be that a mage had died in his castle? But why did the Wraith Warriors seem to have never discovered this?
The narrow corridor was dark and gloomy, even the light from the torch became dim. Turning around the corner, the killing intent of the soul became more obvious. Almost without needing to confirm, one could find the source.
It was a vertical well.

It should have been behind the wall of the dungeon originally. Due to the passage of time, the collapsed gap in the dungeon wall had allowed the originally sealed aura to leak out. The well water had long dried up, revealing bare inner walls and bricks. Julian jumped down, turned his head, and easily found his target.
It was a corpse.

Or rather, something that should have been a corpse originally.
Due to the passage of time, the clothing had become tattered, and most of the white bones within had been buried under the yellow earth. Julian moved the torch, illuminating the corpse in front of him, then his gaze moved upward, looking around.

In the light of the fire, what was revealed on the walls were fierce scratch marks.
The stones used to build wells, considering the pressure they need to bear and their permeability, are all of the best quality. Even if you tried to chop them with a sword, you might not be able to leave any marks. Moreover, although the well water had dried up, the moist air left behind had nurtured moss, making the surface of the stone bricks even more slippery. But now, on those stone bricks, there were marks of scratching. The traces left on the hard rock showed how strong the person’s desire to live was.

But fate still didn’t give any chance despite the person’s efforts.
This is fate. No matter how hard some people try, they can’t achieve their goals… even if they sacrifice their lives.
Julian crouched down, trying to clear this pile of remains. So far, that wraith hadn’t appeared, but to lure it out, Julian had his own ideas and plans.
And just as he crouched down, cold, violent energy suddenly erupted from behind Julian, extinguishing the already flickering torch.