A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 275: Chapter 221: The Secret of the Western Mansion_1 @@novelbin@@

Duanmu Huai remained ignorant of the events unfolding underneath the Royal City, continuing his duties at the Volcano Manor, while maintaining contact with his companions.

Ogis was still under Lani’s guidance, acclimating to her body. Bambi and Melfy were still on Mistelina’s trail, fortunately, they have learned from their previous efforts and have begun asking about her whereabouts from wanderers at each location. According to the wanderers, Mistelina seems to have escorted a young girl to the Royal City…

Meanwhile, Lorena seemed the most at ease, claiming to be training on the Sacred Snowfield–according to her, this frigid and high-altitude landscape was ideal for training. As per Lorena’s account, she had also made an interesting friend on the Sacred Snowfield…

Well, Duanmu Huai could almost picture the young girl running a marathon on the snowfield. It did seem quite fitting.

Concerning the enemies on the list, Duanmu Huai didn’t encounter much difficulty in dealing with them. In fact, given his current strength, he could easily neutralize most of the warriors.

Originally, Duanmu intended to bring back a severed head or ear as proof of his victories. However, his enemies would instantly crumble to ash after their defeat. He initially feared that Tannis would disregard his claims, but to his surprise, she didn’t seem to doubt his reports. He presumed she must have her own means of confirmation.

“Ah, Master,”

As Duanmu Huai accepted another “job” and left Tannis’s side, he was called back by Audrey.

“Hm? What’s the matter?”

Upon hearing Audrey’s voice, Duanmu Huai halted his steps, but Audrey simply shook her head.

“It’s not me, it’s Miss Layas… She seems to have something for you.”

“Layas?”

Duanmu Huai curiously followed the direction Audrey pointed to and quickly spotted the young hunchbacked girl in a green robe, standing timidly in a corner as she always did. He walked to her and greeted her.

“Hello, Miss Layas.”

“Ah, hello… Hero.”

Layas hastily returned the greeting.

“I heard you needed my assistance?”

“Yes……”

Upon Duanmu Huai’s query, Layas hesitated for a moment.

“……Hero, have you heard any strange noise within this mansion?”

“Strange noise?”

Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow as Layas nervously continued.

“Yes, sometimes I hear it, the noise comes from the other side of the wall, along with sounds that resemble breathing….and scales rubbing against each other….I’m sorry for asking such an odd question…”

“I haven’t heard anything like that….”

Duanmu Huai shook his head and turned to Audrey.

“Did you hear anything?”

“Um….”

Audrey hesitated for a moment.

“I seem to have heard something similar, but I thought it was just insects… Maybe a snake?”

“Have you discussed this with Tannis?”

“I didn’t think it was appropriate to bother Lady Tannis with such a trivial matter… Maybe… I’m just tired.”

“It seems quite intriguing.”

Duanmu Huai seemed interested.

“I’ll look into it, might stumble upon something.”

Perhaps this was related to Lacard.

Certainly, Duanmu Huai couldn’t dismantle the Volcano Manner to investigate (even though it would be the most efficient course of action), but he had his own methods. After all, the Judge’s Power Armor offered numerous functions besides its prestige, one of which was scanning and analyzing the surrounding environment. Duanmu Huai hadn’t done this initially due to propriety, but now that Layas had pleaded for his help, he activated the scanner and patrolled the corridor.

As he suspected, he quickly discovered a hidden passage behind a guest room on another floor. Although he wasn’t sure where the passage led, the sounds Layas had heard were likely related to it.

“Alright, that should do it… Where can we find Layas?”

“Ah, Miss Layas should be in her room over here.”

As she spoke, Audrey led Duanmu Huai to a room in the inner section of the manor and delicately knocked on the door.

“Miss Layas, it’s me. We’ve found some clues. May we come in?”

Shortly, Layas’s voice answered from within.

“Ah, Miss Audrey, please come in.”

“Thank you, pardon our intrusion…”

As she spoke, Audrey pushed the door open and entered. But as she stepped into the room, she seemed to have witnessed something startling and froze.

“What’s wrong? Audrey?”

Seeing his maid’s rare disorderly manner, Duanmu Huai curiously approached and entered the room, then…

“Holy smokes, what is this creature?”

There in the room stood a giant red lizard, nearly two meters tall. It had short limbs and wore a green robe–wait, wasn’t that Layas’s robe?

Did this creature eat Layas?

Just when Duanmu Huai decided to step forward and take a swing, the lizard turned its head and looked at them curiously.

“Ah, Hero, Miss Audrey, you’re here… huh? Why do you look so horrified?”

At that point, Layas seemed to notice something, looking down at herself, and then jumping in surprise.

“No way, am I still in the form of a snake? Ah… how can this be…!!”

“Um… Layas, is that you… right?”

Upon hearing Layas’s familiar voice from the lizard’s mouth and seeing her crouching down looking panicked, it was quite clear who she was.

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

Layas reluctantly stood up, looking truly disheartened.

“I’m sorry, I panicked, but even with my appearance, neither of you lost your composure, and I feel terribly rude.”

“Uh… that’s okay, it’s just a bit of a surprise.”

Duanmu Huai silently put away his Thunder Warhammer – fortunately, Layas hadn’t noticed.

“Yes, I’m sorry. This is my real form, and my real name is Zelaya Silk. I regret not presenting my true self to you when we first met, for this, I deeply apologize. But please believe, only my identity is false, everything I told you about the Volcano Manor… every word spoken by Miss Tannis is true.”

“Hmm… alright, I don’t really get hung up on little things like this…”

Duanmu Huai coughed.

“So… is Tannis your mother?”

“Yes.”

Little Layas nodded obediently.

“My mother was blessed by the great king which resulted in my birth. Therefore, my appearance is a symbol of my mother’s joy… my appearance is also my honor.”

“….???”

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Huai and Audrey looked at each other in confusion. Tannis looks completely human. If she, as a human, gave birth to a half-human, half-snake creature like Layas, that looks more like a curse than a blessing.

However, considering that Layas might be lying to comfort herself, Duanmu Huai had no intention of exposing her.

“However, not everyone sees it that way.”

Layas sullenly lowered her head as she spoke.

“If I show my snake form, they refuse to listen to me. That’s why I have to disguise my true form to adequately perform my role as a recruiter.”

Of course! Duanmu Huai admitted that if he encountered such a big lizard in the wild, he would definitely attack it with his war hammer without a second’s hesitation.

“This matter and my real name is a secret between Miss Tannis and me. I hope both of you can keep this secret for me too.”

“Of course, no problem.”

Duanmu Huai snapped back to reality quite quickly. In contrast, Audrey seemed shocked until Duanmu Huai nudged her and she nodded.

“I will also keep it a secret, Miss Layas. Rest assured.”

“Thank you both, well… I’m going to try to transform into human form now, so…”

“Alright, we’ll leave.”

Duanmu Huai had clearly understood Layas’s hidden meaning, so he took Audrey and left, closing the door behind them. Audrey remained silent throughout the process. It wasn’t until they got back to her room and she pushed the door open that Duanmu Huai saw Audrey collapse onto the floor.

“What the hell, what just happened?”

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai was taken aback and quickly asked.

“I-I’m sorry… Master, I was so scared…”

“Alright, I can understand that… but isn’t your reaction a little delayed?”

Duanmu Huai wasn’t surprised that Audrey was shaken. Any normal person would react similarly at the sight of a two-meter-tall walking lizard. What baffled him, however…

“You seemed fine when you were talking to Layas?”

As Duanmu Huai carefully recalled, aside from her initial fright when the door opened, Audrey seemed generally calm for the rest of the time. Even though her reactions may have been a little delayed, she did not show any signs of abnormality.

“I… I received an education for this.”

Putting her hand on her chest, Audrey let out a sigh of relief and slowly began to calm down.

“As a noblewoman, I must remain calm in all situations. I absolutely cannot give in to hysteria or indulge in my emotions. As a wife, I cannot let my extreme emotions harm the reputation of our family or my husband…”

“…Well, it seems that at least some of what you’ve learned came in handy.”

Duanmu Huai muttered under his breath.

“So, master, what do you plan to do next?”

“Hmm… I’m quite curious about this Layas.”

Duanmu Huai rubbed his chin in thought.

“So, I plan to talk to Tannis to find out what’s really going on.”