A Young Lady in A Castle

The closer they got the more vivid the object that they saw. It got bigger as they were closer and it looked like a small castle. The castle was brimming with light as if it was the work of magic. It had a wall encircling it with the front open. The two towers on each side looked majestic even though they weren't that huge. The front gate was made of fine iron and it had aesthetic carving. Janu had arrived in front of the gate and he was staring at it with awe mixed with curiosity. Berut, who kept following him, was standing behind him.

"Are you going in?"

'Uh um."

Janu pressed the gate with his two hands.

Creaakk…

The gate was easily opened despite its size and material. The magic continued and there was a soft layer that separated the water outside and the air inside the castle. The two entered one after the other. They were on alert and scanned the area inside but they didn't find any living being.

"Ahh.. Finally."

Being able to speak again was relieving for Janu. He couldn't speak along the way down there and it was frustrating when he strayed from his way and couldn't consult his companion. All he could do was use the artefact, but it wasn't convenient to use it all the time.

"It's strange. How can there be air here?"

"It might be an artefact."

"What? The whole castle?"

"Nothing's impossible in this world."

"You're right. Why is it here in the depths of the lake?"

Berut shrugged, not knowing how to answer that question. It was accidentally brought there long ago.

They explored the area and found a golden altar in the middle. The base was a symmetrical golden trapezoid with four pillars, each on its corners. A cat size figure of presumably heroes adorned the altar from the bottom to the top. At the top most there was a 2D model of a crown. On the backside of the trapezoid was a semi circular wall with a picture of a person. In front of the portrait, on the trapezoid table, was a golden grail. Almost all parts of the altar had intricate carvings.

"Who is it?"

Janu looked at the picture on the wall with a serious expression. He tried recalling figures from his memory to find if there was any that resembled the person in the picture.

'It looks like him. If it's him then it's very possible that this whole castle is an artefact. Why is it here?'

"You don't know?"

"No."

Beirut wasn't sure and it decided to not reveal anything until everything was clear.

"The statues. All of them are different. Are they humans?"

Janu kept observing the altar.

"What is this grail for?"

"Hey, are you still here?"

Janu didn't get any answers from Berut, and when he looked at it, Berut was in deep thought.

"Oh.. Err.. What?"

"Are you hiding something?"

"Why would I hide anything? What's there to hide anyway?"

"There's just too much that you hide."

"Whatever."

Janu continued to explore the castle and he arrived at the throne room. He suddenly stopped. His eyes were staring sharply at the glass coffin in front of the throne. The coffin was strangely placed in a standing position.

"Eh?"

Berut, who was following him, was stupefied at the scene.

"Who are you?"

Janu talked to the one on the glass coffin. There was a beautiful young woman in a yellow dress standing inside. She was in mid twenties and she looked like a princess from a fairy tail who was waiting for a prince on a white horse to save her. No movement from her could be seen and even her eyes were closed.

"She might be cursed."

"Cursed?"

Janu moved forward to get closer to the woman.

"Be careful."

"I know."

"Is she still alive?"

"She's alive."

"She's like a statue. She's not petrified, is she?"

"No, it's not petrification. It's most likely a curse."

"A curse… If it is a curse.."

"What?"

"There's a legend. A prince was cursed and he became a frog. One day, a beautiful girl kissed him and he turned back into a human. The curse was broken. Maybe, if a toad kisses her, she might be saved from the curse. Wanna try?"

"The hell.. Why would a girl kiss a frog in your legend?"

"That's not the point. Will you kiss her or not?"

"No. Why don't YOU kiss her?"

"No. That's not what a true man would do."

"A true man? Bah.."

"How can we bring her out?"

The two were pondering about who the woman was, how she got there, and how to bring her out.

…

"How does the crab relate to this castle and this woman?"

"No idea. This castle might be a prison. That crab could be either the guardian or the culprit. And that man…"

Berut stopped its sentence and out of curiosity Janu expected it to continue its sentence.

"Uh um? That man what?"

"He could be the creator of this castle."

'Who?"

"Vastra, the Deva of Craft."

"Deva of Craft?"

"It's only a possibility. It might be someone else."

…

"So, how do …"

"The grail."

Before Janu could finish the question, Berut gave a response. The two came back to where the altar was.

"Drop your blood to the grail."

Janu took a dagger and positioned his left hand above the grail. He then slashed his palm and blood dripped into the grail. The grail was lit with dim light and slowly Janu's mind was filled with images of the castle. He saw all parts of the castle, including the unexplored ones. He also received information about who the woman was and what had happened to her.

The castle was indeed an artefact, and the crab was the previous owner. It kidnapped the woman when she wanted to cross a certain river. The crab then imprisoned her in the castle. As the new owner of the artefact Janu could control it.

"What happened?"

"It's really an artefact and I'm the new owner. Let's go back to the woman."

"It is!? Is it that simple? I should have given my blood…"

Berut was a little regretful.

Janu sat on the throne and he concentrated. With a thought, the glass coffin became transparent and soon it was gone.

The woman breathed and she slowly opened her eyes.

"Aaaaahh…"

She screamed and ran to the back towards the throne. Due to the sudden change, she couldn't run perfectly and she stumbled. She fell on the floor and while trying to get up from her position she saw Janu, who was still sitting on the throne.

"Are you alright?"

Janu stood and walked towards her. When he arrived, he stretched his hands to help the woman. She was still cautious and doubtful whether to accept the helping hand. Behind her was Berut, the toad that she saw when she opened her eyes and made her frightened.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

She was still not calm and she looked back and forth between Janu and Berut.

"Where is that monster?" The woman inspected the area with a worried look on her face.

"The crab? It's dead."

Berut answered in Janu's stead.

"Really?"

She confirmed it to Janu.

"That's right. Please stand up."

Janu helped her stand and introduced himself.

"I'm Janu and that is Berut."

"I'm Klenting. That crab kidnapped me and wanted to marry me."

'Klenting? What a name.'

"That crab is no longer alive. Do you know how to come back to where you're from?"

"I have a special pendant. It can bring me back to my fiance. The crab took it and I don't know where it is now."

"There's a treasure room in this castle. Let's see if the pendant's there."

"Alright."

"Let's go," Berut was enthusiastic after hearing the word treasury.

"Can't you change your size? We are in a building and you're oversized."

"I'm fine with my size."

"Then you can stay here."

"Why?"

"You jump. And it causes the floor to shake. It's very annoying, ok?"

"Fine. Fine."

At its thought, Berut's body was shrinking. It got smaller, but that wasn't the only change. It became more and more like a human. It stood on its two feet and its hands were no different from those of humans. It even had a human head. The bad thing was that he was only wearing a piece of clothes down there.

Janu was speechless seeing the changes, but one thing bothered him.

"Fooh.. So, you're male. Not bad. You're more handsome than many humans. But isn't your body too small, now?" Berut's size was similar to human teenager's. He was no taller than 150 cm.

'There's more to this than meets the eye. What other secrets are you hiding?'

"Stop complaining. This is my human form."

'So, you monsters can shapeshift, huh? If they came out of dungeons and took human form, isn't it dangerous?'

"Can all monsters change into humans?"

"No. Not all. Only SPECIAL ones can."

"You're special? What a joke."

…

"How can monsters take human form?"

"I've told you. We're special. That snake had a human head, right? The crab also had a human body. I bet you have encountered other monsters that have humans' parts. Stronger monsters have completely taken human form."

'It's true. Some monsters, no, boss monsters have human parts. So, you're stronger than those monsters? But you are only level 95. There's no use thinking about this right now. I need more information.'

Janu took out some gears and gave them to Berut.

"Wear these."

"Why would I? Don't wanna."

"You're sore to the eye. There's a lady here. Just wear them."

Berut wore those gears. An armour and a pair of boots fit him perfectly despite his size.

They moved to the left tower. There were circular stairs going up the tower, but that wasn't their destination. Janu went to a statue near the stairs and turned the mace that the statue was holding. The floor was shaking and part of it opened. There was a stair leading downward. The three took the stairs and they finally arrived on the bottom. There was a door at the edge of the stairs and Janu opened it. When the door opened, yellowish light illuminating the room.

"Look what we've got here.. Uh..uh.."

The room was filled with chests full of gold coins and invaluable items. Some antiques were placed on the shelves against the wall. There were even some weapons and gears of Heroic grade.

"Look at these! We're rich, man."

Berut was overjoyed and extremely excited with their discovery. He opened the chests and scattered the gold coins.

"Hold your horses. I'm the owner of this castle, so it's only right if all of these belong to me."

The riches there were tempting and it would without doubt give birth to greed to most humans. But, that was not really the case for Janu. He wanted to test Berut.

"Oh, c'mon man. We discovered these together. At least lemme take some."

Saying that, Berut opened its mouth. He sucked up the gold coins and they magically entered his mouth.

"What!"

'You can do this!?'

Janu kicked his butt.

"Ouch.. At least lemme have some."

"I'll let you have half of the gold."

"Really? You're being suspicious, you know?"

"Of course there's a condition."

"What? Don't propose to me. I'm into a female toad, not a male human."

"I'm starting to regret my decision to save you. Give me that thing."

"What thing?"

"That thing. Your HP."

"Oh.. I only have one. Here if you want it. There's no use for me anymore."

Berut spat something from his mouth. A bottle of bluish liquid dropped together with his saliva.

"It's disgusting."

Janu was about to collect the bottle despite feeling disgusted.

"Wait. That's so filthy."

Klinting waved her hand and water washed the bottle clean.

"Water out of nowhere? How convenient."

Berut was fascinated by the magic.

'What kind of magic is it? No chanting and it's not offensive magic. Is he a water bender like the one in the movie?' Klinting's action was never actually seen in his life as a raider. It was completely different magic.

"Thanks."

Janu took the bottle and observed it.

"Don't rush. It's a loss if you drink it now." Berut gave a warning.

"I know."

[Water of Prosperous Life

Type: Potion

Rank: Legendary

Description: Increases Max HP permanently by 25%]

'It's not even in my system store. It's best if I drink it when my Max HP is high.'

"Where can I obtain it?"

"Stop being greedy. If others know about it, what do you think will happen?"

"Humans will kill. I don't know about other races."

"Why do you think that snake hunted me?"

"Yeah..yeah.. I get it. But in case you have another, trade it with me."

"You wish. Only the Great Sage can make it and it's not easy."

"The Great Sage?" 'You need to keep your mouth shut, don't you?'

"What? What Great Sage? Never heard of it."

"Hahaha… You're getting worse at lying, you know?"

"Oh I almost forgot. You're looking for a pendant, right?" Janu asked Klinting to confirm.

"Yes, it's a pendant."

Janu walked towards a glass box on a table. He opened the box and there was a pendant inside.

'Rainbow?'

The pendant had a rainbow stone and it reminded him of the rainbow stone he got back then.

'Are they the same?'

"Is it your pendant?" Janu handed the pendant to Klinting.

"That's right. With this I can go back to where I'm from."

"That's good to hear. But before you go, would you please tell me about yourself?"

Klinting had a pendant with a rainbow stone and it raised curiosity. Janu wanted to get some information that might be useful for him and if it was possible, give him a clue.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I'm a princess?"

"There's no reason not to believe you. You look like one."

"Hehe.. But, I'm not. I'm not a princess. Sorry."

"Oh, really?"

"That's right. The three of us, I believe, are from different realms. Our realms shouldn't have been connected, but for a reason, here we are. Only the higher beings can interfere, but why? They shouldn't have done that."

"Higher beings? Do you mean the Devas?"

"Uh..um.. And the other ones."

"The other ones?"

"Ok, Lady Klinting. This human kid knows nothing. But since our realms have interconnected somehow, he will find out about it sooner or later. It's the Asuras."

"The Asuras?

"The lord of the underworld. Different races reside in different realms. These realms are divided into the upperworlds and the underworlds. Devas reside in the upperworlds."

"And these words should not interfere with each other supposedly."

"That's correct."

"There are a lot of mysteries. One more thing. Where did you get that pendant?"

"My fiance gave it to me. I don't know how or where he got it."

"I see."

There was no significant information that Janu could get, so he decided not to continue the interrogation.

"It is farewell then. I'm really thankful I'm saved. Please, take this. I can't thank you enough."

"If you insist."

"It's a magic scroll. I hope this can help you in difficult times."

"Thank you."

Janu received the magic scroll and put it in the inventory. Klinting held the stone on the pendant and suddenly she disappeared in the air.

"She's left."

[Obtained:

One Thousand Temples Tenth Floor Key x1]

[New Mission:

Clear One Thousand Temples Tenth Floor]