My Dream is to Get My Own House - Chapter 113

Episode 113

“Something feels a bit strange.”

Duke Saboia looked puzzled by the words that popped out of my mouth.

“Huh? What do you mean by strange?”

“That lake… Doesn’t it seem a bit odd?”

I couldn’t pinpoint it, but it definitely felt strange.

Duke Saboia responded with a gentle smile.

“I don’t sense any dark magic in particular, my dear.”

I stared at the lake, lost in thought.

‘Is this suspicion excessive?’

I looked at the distant sky.

The day of ruin with the rising blue moon, as written in the prophecy, hadn’t come yet.

It seemed better to think calmly for a bit longer.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dylan, Claude, and Mung Mungi had arrived at what was called the ‘shell house,’ Lotvart’s stronghold.

Mung Mungi, who had transformed from a puppy into a human child, gave Dylan a teasing glance.

“But seriously, Dylan, why are you so excited?”

“Because something good has happened.”

Claude looked at the door mischievously and muttered.

“Something good?”

“Yes.”

“Somehow it doesn’t sit well… Let’s just get inside quickly.”

“Yes, let’s.”

Despite clearly displaying a bad mood, Dylan was smiling like a mature adult.

‘What on earth? What’s with that expression?’

Annoyed, Claude kicked open the door of the shell house.

With just a kick, the door broke with a thud.

It was as if they were waiting for their arrival.

Mung Mungi peered inside and whispered in awe.

“I thought it was a cabin!”

Elaborate gold carvings on the red walls, a solid marble table, even an angel statue.

Claude scowled and muttered, tapping his foot uncomfortably.

“Why did the criminal brat bring an angel statue?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Dylan didn’t waste any time.

His sword sliced through the angel statue’s head with a loud noise, shattering it.

“Hehe.”

Suddenly, a palm-sized glass swan figurine, which had been inside the angel statue, rolled out and fell to the ground.

Claude chuckled and lifted the swan figurine.

“Is this the main body?”

With a few flicks of his wrist, the swan figurine’s neck snapped with a crackling sound.

At that moment, a small apparition appeared before them.

A man with his entire face covered by a mask smiled slyly and extended his hand toward the brown-haired boy.

‘You will follow me and become our leader.’

The brown-haired boy grinned widely, evidently pleased with the idea that he held some value.

‘Can I, really?’

‘Well, you, a humble orphan, have already become a wind-based archmage. Now, you just need to do one thing.’

“What do I need to do?”

“You will permanently seal the origin of dark magic within your body.”

The corners of the masked man’s mouth curled up.

As soon as those words ended, a sword pierced through the boy’s heart.

Yet the boy did not die.

He was simply gasping for breath.

The masked man with satisfaction on his face smiled.

The abuse was endless, including tattooing the young boy’s body and contorting his expressions.

The final cruel act was stamping a seal onto the boy’s wrist.

“Listen carefully. Lady Diana is our precious goal.”

As he listened to the story with the seal stamped, the boy was enduring an excruciating torment to the point where he could hardly open his eyes.

“After I die, you will become Lotvart. Remember the dream of the <Red Castle>.”

The ambiguous apparition with uncertain intentions disappeared.

Claude dropped the swan figurine to the ground and spat out curses.

“Dammit!”

Brown hair, brown eyes, wind magic user, and a seal stamped on the wrist named <Red Castle>.

“Seems like the abused brown-haired boy is Lotvart?”

“Yes. The one who created <Red Castle> seems to be already dead, and the second leader has emerged.”

“What does this kid want us to do by showing us his past?”

Mung Mungi frowned with an expression of skepticism.

“He looks a bit pitiful, doesn’t he!”

“Is he trying to invoke sympathy?”

“He’s not exactly pitiful. It’s just that… both of them seem strangely familiar.”

Claude shrugged as he caught Dylan’s subtle expression.

“Then let’s dig deeper.”

Claude flicked his fingers a few times.

…That’s all he did.

From somewhere, a fiery phoenix flew in and began to engulf the entire room in flames.

Mung Mungi stomped her feet anxiously as she looked at the burning walls.

“C-Claude is trying to kill us!”

“It’s an illusion of fire, Lord.”

“Ugh.”

Claude chuckled as he played with the flames.

“You can even touch it without getting burned. It’s fire fueled by lies.”

The walls that Lotvart had created through dark magic collapsed aggressively.

As the blaze engulfed the entire house, the sword containing Oler cleaved through the air.

The dazzling walls disappeared entirely, revealing a rather humble and nondescript appearance.

Old wallpaper, an ancient fireplace, and a small study with only a table emerged.

“He was deceiving us with dark magic after all.”

Dylan shrugged, and Mung Mungi widened her eyes and nodded vigorously.

Claude muttered with a lack of enthusiasm, looking at the burning wall.

Did everyone already have a suspicion?

Mungi Mungi is a genius, so he knew instinctively!

The name “Shell House” itself is suspicious, isn’t it?

Right! It’s a name that seems to hide something important!

Claude, who had been watching them with a mischievous expression, eventually shrugged his shoulders.

Well, let’s start a real search from now on.

Dylan, who had been looking around the old and decrepit house, eventually walked over to the fireplace.

There was an old parchment notebook there that hadn’t been burned, with pages that looked worn.

“What’s this, Dylan?”

Mung Mungi quickly nudged his foot as if urging Dylan to open the notebook.

Dylan nodded and opened the notebook.

There weren’t many words written in the notebook.

It was just the spelling of “Lotvart” in ancient script, written haphazardly.

“Wow, but there’s a crossword puzzle next to it!”

“There’s an anagram too.”

Mung Mungi tilted his head and said, nodding his head repeatedly.

“Mung Mungi doesn’t know what an anagram is!”

“An anagram is when you rearrange the order of letters to make a different word.”

Mung Mungi nodded and focused his gaze on the notebook again.

“Really? There are jokes here too! Jokes that kids love!”

Crossword puzzles, anagrams, and even funny wordplay.

Claude said, rolling his eyes.

“Well, he’s played around with all sorts of things. Is he trying to deceive us again this time?”

“Ugh, deceived again!”

The atmosphere passed over insignificantly with trivial evidence.

Dylan folded and unfolded the note.

Perhaps, it might not be a mere bluff.

He had pursued the <Red Castle> for a long time.

The notes collected from the shell house were more than mere scribbles.

His eyes narrowed in an instant.

As Mung Mungi glanced at Dylan, he murmured softly.

“Dylan, your eyes have changed again…!”

“Yes, I need to take care of it quickly and see the lady.”

Mung Mungi and Claude looked at each other.

They seemed more intense than usual, but why?

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the grand castle.

As time passed and night fell, me and Duke Saboia took our positions within the grand castle.

Duke Saboia was overly protective of me.

Whenever I seemed like I might even slightly exceed my limits and feel pain, he showed excessive concern.

So, finally, this dawn.

I quietly slipped out alone.

To reach my limit, it seemed I needed to momentarily escape Duke Saboia’s overprotection.

‘I should head to the most dangerous place in the grand castle.’

After taking deep breaths and exhaling repeatedly dozens of times, I finally reached the top of the tower.

In the dark night.

At the top of the tower, there was perennial snow that shone brightly even in the moonlight.

I precariously sat on the pointed roof, where snow rarely accumulated.

As I slowly reached my hand out toward the perennial snow, light suddenly emanated vividly from my hand.

The light that approached the perennial snow emitted an explosively radiant light, like a spark.

Then, like the dust falling from a fairy’s wings, it scattered down to the ground.

Thud!

Kwang-.

Clearly, I heard a massive sound.

However, even after looking around, there was no change.

The perennial snow, too, remained unmelted.

It was when I looked down at my hand, wondering if I should do more.

A cough was about to burst out from within me.

I covered my mouth and coughed violently, as if vomiting blood.

Then, at a certain moment, the cough abruptly stopped.

I removed my hand covering my mouth and paused.

“This is insane….”

There was a faint trace of blood on the palm of my hand.

I instinctively realized.

The fact that if I continued like this, I would break through a limit.

Like a person possessed, I raised my hand to my eyes again.