NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 278: The Rothschild Family (3)
Chapter 278: The Rothschild Family (3)
“You know about the puppet in the Settling Basin...?! How on earth do you know...?”
“Why so surprised? It’s just one of countless relics across the continent. Some date back over a thousand years, and this place is only 250 years old.”
Karyl pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket.
“You’ve heard of the Gnome Kingdom, right? They were also believed to have been destroyed during the Magical Era, but recently, the king’s heir was found.”
“No way...”
“Yes. They have been revived recently. It was the elder of the Gnome Kingdom, Calypson, who informed me about your family.”
He then handed the letter of introduction to Kay.
“For a long time, gnomes and dwarves have been renowned for their craftsmanship of golems. While the secret of the Rothschild family lies in necromancy, you use puppets, which are similar to golems. The connection with the Gnome Kingdom must be special as well.”
“...”
Kay examined the seal on the letter; it was indeed from the Gnome Kingdom. The intricate and complex design of the seal was something that could not be crafted by human hands.
“Additionally, I was fortunate enough to acquire a legacy left by Kaye Aesir. There was a will inside, which naturally included information about his comrades.”
“That's impossible... The story of Gald Rothschild was said to have been erased from history... There isn’t even a trace of it left in our family.”
Karyl made note of the name Gald before responding nonchalantly, pretending he had already known about him, “Well, maybe he didn’t trust his descendants, or perhaps he couldn't share it with his family but left something for his comrades instead—like how to operate the puppet in the Settling Basin.”
“You... You really know how to breathe life into the puppet?” For the first time, Kay looked at Karyl with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
Funny seeing her so talkative.
In his past life, Karyl had only heard her voice a handful of times, but now she was reacting like a young girl hanging on his every word.
“...”
Anthem quietly touched his neck, recalling the puppet Karyl had destroyed, and sighed. The contrast between the puppeteer who had tried to attack them without hesitation and the young girl standing before them was quite striking.
“As I said, that’s why I came here. Your family may have vanished from history, but the Aesir family still exists in the empire. In a small warehouse called Einheri, I found Kaye Aesir’s last will. It was there that I discovered information about Gald Rothschild.”
Karyl continued without hesitation, “But his will didn’t reveal much about who he was. Then, through the leader of the Immortal Council, Nain Darhon, I learned that he was a puppeteer. Finally, Calypson of the Gnome Kingdom revealed your location to me.”
“...”
“The Settling Basin was just a byproduct of that process. Kaye Aesir’s will mentioned that there was something just as valuable as the treasure he left behind in this place.”
However, there was no mention of what the treasure was—whether it was a puppet or a relic. But Karyl already knew what lay in the deepest parts of these ruins. Combining the memories of his past life with the information he had gathered in this life, Karyl had crafted a story that fit together like perfectly aligned gears—a story that would gain Kay’s trust.
Anthem was somewhat puzzled as to why Karyl was explaining all this in such detail to the young girl. But this seemingly unnecessary process wasn’t just a means to gain her trust.
Karyl wasn’t aiming to earn Kay’s trust in himself, but rather in the information he provided. She was the only one who knew the way to the Settling Basin, and real trust couldn’t be built in one go.
I might not win her trust, but I can make her believe the process that brought me to the Rothschild family.
As Karyl had expected, Kay finally made up her mind after listening to his story and reading Calypson’s letter of introduction.
He appears to have ties to the leader of the Immortal Council and the supposedly extinct Gnome Kingdom. He even knows about Kaye Aesir’s will. Whoever he is, there’s no way he’s making this up.
She glanced at Karyl, assessing him carefully.
He even destroyed the golems guarding the door. It’s clear he genuinely wants my help, given that he’s not being forceful. Rather...
The real issue would arise once they reached the Settling Basin.
“We’re here,” Karyl spoke up, although the entrance was still out of sight. It was as if he knew exactly where they were.
“Don’t think about taking any unnecessary detours. We need to go to the right, correct?”
“...”
At that, Kay hesitated for a moment before she turned in the direction he indicated.
It’s fortunate that when the Oracle was prophesied and we came here to find the relic, we passed by the Settling Basin. I don’t remember the path well, but I do recall passing through the quartz growths.
Karyl observed the small minerals protruding from the floor of the maze as they continued. As they reached a dead end, Kay started to feel around for something.
Anthem watched her carefully, while Karyl remained silent, waiting patiently.
Click—!
It sounded like a button was pressed, and to Anthem’s amazement, the seemingly solid wall began to part in the middle, revealing a passageway.
“Wow...”
Anthem was in awe at the sight—massive pillars encircled the area, and from the ceiling above, a single beam of pure white light shone down.
“The air... It’s heavy,” he noted.
“Of course it is,” Karyl replied. “This place is filled with countless dormant souls. Though these puppets serve as vessels, the craft is still necromancy. The concentration of soul energy here is even denser than the dark energy of necromancy.”
Karyl fixed his gaze on a coffin placed under the beam of light coming from the ceiling.
Clang!
They heard something from underneath them. Anthem quickly looked down to find that the loud noise had come from something metallic scraping across the floor.
“...!!”
The light from above couldn’t illuminate the entire chamber, and in the dimmer areas, there were piles of severed limbs, torsos, and heads, scattered everywhere.
“These aren’t corpses. They’re the remains of puppets. This is where the Rothschilds crafted their puppets,” Karyl explained.
Kay nodded, then strode purposefully toward the coffin bathed in light.
“This was my ancestor’s workshop. We also call it the Puppet Graveyard. You might be the first outsiders to ever step foot in here.”
“Considering the owner of the house couldn’t leave it herself, you should be grateful I opened the door for you."
“...”
Kay pulled her hood further down, perhaps to hide her expression.
Rumble—
Then, she forcefully pushed the coffin lid open.
“...”
Karyl’s expression hardened slightly as he gazed inside.
“This is the puppet you mentioned. But I haven’t been able to find a way to activate it,” Kay explained.
“Heheh...”
Kay tilted her head slightly, puzzled by Karyl’s reaction.
“Of course not. This puppet is entirely different from the marionettes you create. To make it move, you need a specific type of soul.”
“A soul? Infusing a puppet with a soul is one of the basics of puppetry. You think I don’t know that...?”
“You need the right soul for this one,” Karyl went on.
“...What?”
Hissssss...
Karyl reached into the puppet and pulled out its heart, gripping it tightly. At that moment, a soul rose behind him like smoke, growing exponentially in volume.
“...!!”
Kay, who could wield necromancy, immediately understood the weight of death carried by each wisp of that smoke-like spirit.
“Wh-What is this...?"
The sheer number of souls was overwhelming, and the air in the Settling Basin, already heavy, became even more suffocating under the pressure of those spirits.
[You intend to entrust me to this mere novice?]
“She may be a novice, but the puppet lying here isn’t. Besides, you showed up because you’re interested, right? I mean, how could you not be?”
Karyl turned his head slightly and, gesturing to the stunned Kay, called out to the elven spirit, “Zarka Hochi.”
[Yes, I suppose I should understand what kind of mess this is. Did you know this would happen?]
The spirit’s voice was tinged with irritation.
“No, I didn't know. If I had, I would have brought you here immediately. Why else would I bother keeping you sealed in a sword?”
[Hmph...]
“Don’t take it too hard. I want to know what’s going on just as much as you do.”
Karyl nodded in agreement with a wry smile. Although Zarka was currently in a spectral form, making his features difficult to discern, Karyl remembered seeing him as a lich back at the Ghost Castle.
“You once said that it was Narh Di Maug who killed you but that you didn’t know who resurrected you. However, I heard a story from Quenite about the necromancer who brought you back.”
[Quenite...? You mean the Spirit Summoner, the one known as the Covenant of the Forest...?]
Zarka seemed surprised at the mention of that name.
“Yes, her. Though the names of people from the past don’t really matter now, she told me that the necromancer who brought you back was one of Kaye Aesir’s companions from 250 years ago."
[...]
“Because of that, I tried to track down renowned necromancers from the past, but it wasn’t easy. I eventually found out about this thanks to Nain Darhon, and now it all makes sense. The necromancer belonged to a family that disappeared during the Magical Era.”
Zarka’s expression hardened as he realized what Karyl was saying.
[Then it’s no surprise that there’s a puppet resembling me in this place.]
“Exactly. Kaye Aesir mentioned something interesting in his will. He said there were two other wretched ones like him, and that they wouldn’t be recorded in history because they were even stranger than he was. And it turns out he was right. Gald Rothschild was just as much of an oddball.”
Karyl wondered why he hadn’t realized it sooner, but it was understandable.
In the previous timeline, Kay’s puppet always wore a mask, so Karyl had never seen its face. Moreover, even though they were both part of the group of ten chosen by the Oracle, they had barely interacted with each other.
“Who would have imagined that behind that mask was your face? Was this merely a coincidence, or was it all arranged for you to find your way here and join her?”
[Whatever it is, I feel like I’ve been played. Not only was the one who resurrected me the necromancer you’ve been searching for, but the fact that this was done... it’s infuriating.]
“Or maybe it’s good fortune. What were the odds that your soul and this puppet would end up together? Perhaps you should be grateful to me.”
Shockingly, the puppet’s face was identical to Zarka Hochi’s
“Kay,” Karyl called out to her. “It seems we have a lot to discuss, but before that, I have a proposal for you.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“How would you like to revive the Rothschild family?”
Kay’s eyes trembled at his question.
“And not just on a small scale. Instead of toying around with a single puppet, how about commanding hundreds, or even thousands of souls?”
As Karyl gradually released his power, the elven spirit behind him took a clearer, more defined form.
“I can make that happen.”
“...!!”
Kay’s eyes widened in shock as she recognized Zarka Hochi’s visage.
“How would you like to become the Queen of the Dead?”