Episode 72

“Grandfather.”

Zeke grasped Rufus’s remaining hand tightly.

In response, Rufus pulled Zeke into a warm embrace.

“Finally, I get to hold you.”

Because of the curse, Rufus had suppressed his emotions and refrained from hugging Zeke properly when they first met, fearing it might harm him.

The other elders of the Agamemnon family, who stood behind, also approached and enveloped Zeke in a group hug.

With their large frames, Zeke was soon buried among them.

Yet, the affection in their eyes was so palpable that Zeke felt no discomfort at all.

Rufus reluctantly ended the embrace and spoke.

“This isn’t the time for this. Let’s head to the castle. We must properly honor the savior of our family.”

One of the elders beside him cheered enthusiastically.

“Finally, no more of that dreadful herb soup!”

“Fifty years of eating that cursed stuff because of the damn curse, damn it.”

Felix, who was standing behind, sighed in relief upon hearing this.

‘So it wasn’t just me who found that soup strange.’

With that, Zeke and Felix headed to the castle with the elders of the Agamemnon family.

The atmosphere of the castle had completely transformed.

What was once a narrow and old structure was now adorned with elegant decorations and spacious corridors.

Felix gaped at the sight of the castle.

“Master, how… how did the castle change overnight…?”

He never imagined he would witness such a legendary transformation, where the castle regained its original beauty once the curse was lifted.

While Felix marveled at the castle, Zeke recalled the message window that had appeared earlier.

‘It said something about deactivating emergency defense mode.’

It seemed possible to use various functions linked with the system, much like the Sanctuary of the Dragon Slayer or the Sanctuary of Kaishir.

Zeke pondered whether the abilities of his system were connected to the Elder Dragon’s artifact he had discovered in his previous life.

‘Could Cain’s Hershion or this mask also be related to the Elder Dragon?’

Lost in thought, Zeke arrived at the place where he had eaten the soup the previous day.

Like the rest of the castle, the dining hall’s atmosphere had completely changed.

Beautiful stained glass adorned the walls, and the clear sunlight streaming through the windows gave the entire dining area a fresh and vibrant feel.

As Zeke, Felix, and the elders took their seats, maids began bringing in the food.

“Young Master Zeke with the black eyes! We’ve finally been able to showcase our skills for the first time in 50 years, in honor of our family’s savior.”

A woman with a graceful demeanor, dressed in a neat maid’s uniform, spoke in an elegant voice, unlike the hunched old woman from before.

Felix was taken aback once more.

“Is that really the same person from yesterday?”

“Yes, indeed!”

The head maid playfully replied as she began serving the food.

Their bodies had been deteriorating due to the curse, but thanks to the power of Zeke’s Great Purification, the curse was cleansed, and their physical forms were restored to their original state.

This time, instead of the thick soup, the table was filled with refined and elegant noble cuisine.

Rufus looked at the dishes and spoke.

“Under the curse, we couldn’t see the sunlight or eat proper food. It worsened our condition, making our tongues stiff and our voices weak.”

The elders nodded in agreement.

For the first time in 50 years, they were able to enjoy warm food.

Zeke, adhering to etiquette, focused on his meal without speaking.

The elders also savored the meticulously prepared dishes by the head maid.

Once the meal was over, they moved to the garden to have tea.

Sitting across from Rufus, Zeke took out a golden mask from his pocket.

Rufus’s face lit up with emotion upon seeing the mask.

“The Golden Mask of Agamemnon. I never thought the symbol of our family would return.”

Zeke asked Rufus.

“Patriarch, could you explain what happened?”

Rufus nodded.

“Yes, Zeke, you have the right to hear the secrets of our family.”

He caressed the golden mask as he began to speak.

“Fifty years ago, a great plague swept through Mycenae.”

“I’ve never heard of a plague from fifty years ago.”

Rufus nodded.

“That’s because our family used every means to prevent the plague from spreading beyond Mycenae. Back then, I was just a young man who had barely come of age.”

Rufus gazed into the distance, recalling the past, and continued.

“The elders of the family tried to quarantine those infected and bring the uninfected into the castle for thorough protection. But the plague spread too quickly to contain.”

“Do you remember what kind of disease it was?”

Rufus nodded.

“It was a terrifying disease. Those infected suffered from high fevers and red spots on their faces, and most of them coughed up blood and died within three days.”

Zeke was taken aback by Rufus’s words.

‘Could this plague be the Scarlet Fever?’

Though the time to death was different, the symptoms were eerily similar to the Scarlet Fever that had spread along the borders of Alencia.

In his previous life, the Scarlet Fever had caused great devastation across the central continent’s nations.

Fortunately, a cure was developed before the disease could spread further, but had it not been, the consequences would have been dire.

Rufus continued his story slowly.

“But the plague wasn’t the only problem. At night, something horrifying happened.”

“What do you mean?”

Rufus’s hands trembled slightly.

“When night fell, the dead rose and began attacking the living.”

Zeke’s expression hardened at the unbelievable tale.

“Are you saying they became zombies?”

“They were different from the zombies controlled by dark sorcerers. When the risen dead bit the living, they too would rise and attack the living.”

“So it was an infection, like the plague.”

“Exactly. To us, it seemed like a curse had befallen Mycenae. During the day, people died from the disease, and at night, the dead rose to attack the living.”

Imagining the scene Rufus described was truly horrifying.

“So what happened?”

“We completely isolated Mycenae from the outside world and fortified the castle, waiting with the living for the plague to pass. But the number of dead only continued to grow.”

Rufus’s voice quivered slightly.

He caressed the golden mask as he spoke.

“Zeke, this mask is a sacred relic passed down through our family for generations. From the earliest ancestor of Agamemnon, it has been handed down.”

“Do you know who made this mask?”

Rufus shook his head.

“That part hasn’t been passed down. Most records from the Golden Age have been lost.”

Zeke felt a pang of disappointment at Rufus’s answer.

He had hoped to find a clue about the Orichalcum Hershion.

Rufus continued his story.

“This castle and the golden mask have always symbolized the Agamemnon family. Perhaps because of the sacred power within, even the dead couldn’t enter this place. But there was a limit to how long we could hold out inside the castle. Eventually, my aunt, who was the head of the family at the time, made a decision.”

“What decision?”

Rufus swallowed and replied.

“To submerge the dead in the sacred lake to purify their unholy energy. The head of the family and the elders volunteered to be the bait.”

“The painting you showed me earlier depicted that event.”

“Yes. Thanks to the sacrifice of the head of the family and the elders, we succeeded in luring the dead into the lake. But then a problem arose.”

Zeke had a suspicion.

“The unholy energy of the dead tainted even the sacred lake.”

Rufus nodded.

“You’re right. The sacred lake turned into a swamp, and even the guardian spirit of the lake was transformed into a monster by the unholy power.”

Zeke understood why Nahuel, the guardian spirit, had turned into a beast.

Rufus spoke with tears in his eyes.

“So the head of the family embraced the golden mask imbued with sacred power and threw himself into the tainted lake. He intended to purify the unholy energy, no matter how long it took.”

Zeke recalled the golden mask that had been glowing at the bottom of the lake.

‘He used the mask’s purification skill to cleanse the unholy energy.’

Even after death, the head of the Agamemnon family had been using the sacred relic’s power for fifty years to purify the lake’s unholy energy.

But the unholy power was so strong that it outpaced the purification, spreading to the surrounding lands.

Had Zeke not arrived, the Agamemnon family might have been completely consumed by the unholy energy, turning the land into a barren wasteland.

Zeke looked at Rufus and spoke.

“You spread the rumors of the curse to protect the citizens, didn’t you?”

Rufus nodded.

“Yes. We had to take precautions in case any remnants of the plague remained.”

“The curse that claimed children’s lives was also due to the unholy energy’s influence.”

“That’s likely. The power that could even deteriorate our trained bodies would have been unbearable for the frail children.”

The true nature of the curse on the Agamemnon family was revealed.

The Agamemnon family had nobly sacrificed themselves, bearing the stigma of a curse to protect the citizens and countless people across the continent.

Zeke felt relieved to know that his maternal family was such a place.

He bowed his head sincerely to Rufus.

“I express my respect and admiration for the honorable sacrifice of the Agamemnon family.”

Rufus and the other elders looked at him with pleased expressions at Zeke’s heartfelt gesture.

Rufus looked at Zeke and said.

“The more I see you, the more you remind me of your mother.”

Zeke raised his head and looked at Rufus, asking.

“Grandfather, I want to know about my mother.”

Rufus’s expression hardened at Zeke’s request.

“Didn’t Arthur ever tell you about her?”

Zeke nodded. “I don’t even know her name. Everyone in the Draker family avoids talking about her.”

Rufus clenched his fists, trembling with anger. “That Arthur… I should have stopped Laura from marrying him!”

Laura Agamemnon. It was the first time Zeke had heard his mother’s name.

He asked Rufus, “I heard the Agamemnon family was once the strongest ally of the Drakers.”

Rufus let out a derisive snort. “An ally? Ha, Zeke. The Drakers were originally just a rural knight family allied with us, the Agamemnons.”

“Not a blood alliance, but just an alliance?”

“During the Holy Empire era, the Drakers were a minor force in the western outskirts. Their rise to prominence in the central continent, alongside the legend of the dragon slayers, would have been impossible without the support of the Agamemnons, who held sway over the central continent since the days of the Holy Empire.”

Rufus continued, “Midland itself began as a city alliance centered around Mycenae after the fall of the Holy Empire. But when Mycenae was weakened by a plague, the Drakers seized the opportunity to absorb its allied families and expand their power.”

There was no hint of falsehood or exaggeration in Rufus’s voice. Zeke, well aware of the Drakers’ political cunning despite their facade as mere knights, found Rufus’s words credible.

“That’s just like the Drakers,” Zeke thought.

He asked, “If my mother knew all this about the Drakers, why did she marry Arthur Draker and have me?”

Rufus sighed deeply. “Laura was my daughter, but she was always a mystery. When children in the family kept dying due to a cursed power, my late wife and I had almost given up hope. Then, miraculously, Laura was born.”

“It’s incredible that she was unaffected by the curse and grew up healthy.”

Rufus nodded. “There’s a reason for that.”

Lowering his voice, he revealed, “Zeke, your mother was a healer.”