Chapter 58: The Matthew Castle’s Secret Passage

On the return journey, the Knight of Marshall and Abel went to Matthew’s Castle first. For the sake of clarity, the territory around Marshall Castle was already under Abel’s possession.

As the entire Mathew family was no longer, the area that was 100 miles in between the Bennett Knight’s domain and Harry Knight’s domain was technically unclaimed. The same could be said for everything that was in Harry Castle.

While Abel didn’t ask for it, he was granted the authority over these said properties. He could design his new Coat of Arms now if he wanted to, but he would have to wait for it to be approved after going to the ceremony in Bakong City.

As the carriage approached Harry Castle’s front gate, Butler Ken brought a few guards and servants to welcome them in. They seemed quite eager to do something like this. After all, with their former masters gone, no one knew what their future would be like. The least they could get was the first impression of the man newly in charge of this territory.

Yesterday, the city’s government sent someone to announce that the Lord Matthew’s estate was now the Lord Abel’s estate. What that meant was that the castle and all the land that surrounded this place was now Abel’s property. Abel could do what he wanted with this place, and that worried a lot of the servants, guards and even the senior staff here. They were genuinely in fear of getting kicked out to elsewhere.

The Knight of Marshall said to Abel before he exited the carriage, “You are in charge of this castle, Abel. You should meet with the people who serve you.”

Abel replied with a smile, “This is the land of the Harry family. There are two Coats of Arms that represent it, but it will still always belong to the Harry family.”

Regardless of their influence or wealth, the nobles would always have a Coat of Arm to represent their family name. When a territory was lost, its Coat of Arm would be denoted from the territory that it has claimed. When a Coat of Arm was in place, one would have to learn all the history and meanings behind it to be recognized as a proper noble. There were nobles without their land or a Coat of Arms, of course. That being said, they were certainly considered inferior to those who did.

Right now, Abel had the Coat of Arms of the Unicorn, which symbolized his linkage with the Harry Family. If his children were to reach adulthood, he would do the same as the Knight of Marshall and pass over all his inherited possession. This included the Coat of Arms, the Harry Family’s domain and of course, his title as an honorary lord of the region that he ruled over.

The smile on the Knight of Marshall’s face stretched even wider. Abel was his foster son and also the son of his best brother. While this boy’s heritage remained ambiguous, he has spent no time hesitating to claim the new territory as the Harry Family’s.

The coachman opened the door. Abel stepped out of the carriage first, and the Butler Ken bowed to him.

“Dear Lord Abel, your castle welcomes you,” Ken said as he lowered his head.

“Ken, I’m so glad to see you again,” Abel welcomed Ken with a smile, “Come on, take me around this castle. I’ve been waiting far too long for this.”

“It is a pleasure for me as well. Follow me, Sir,” Ken complied, then proceeded to greet the Knight of Marshall with a bow, “It is an honor to see you here, Sir.”

The Knight of Marshall waved and said to Abel, “Mind if I tag along? Matthew’s never invited me here before.”

Ken didn’t seem to react to what the Knight of Marshall was saying. After all, Lord Matthew never got along well with the Knight of Marshall. It wasn’t like they were complete enemies, but Lord Matthews didn’t have much respect for someone like Marshall, who was a nobleman by the blood he spilled and not by his birth. The Knight of Marshall was the foster father of Abel, yes, but Ken wasn’t going to spend too much time appealing to someone whom his former master disliked.

Abel kind of liked that about Ken. He seemed to have a sense of integrity about him and demonstrated his character without being disrespectful to the Knight of Marshall.

It was very dark when Abel was trying to rescue Matthew Castle a few days ago. While he had arrived, some of the buildings were already burnt down in ruins.

This was why when Abel had come here today, he was very surprised to see that everything had already been restored. Because the castle was built by giant carved boulders (not wood), it was able to withstand the fire that would have destroyed it on the spot. Besides, the servants have worked very hard themselves. Apart from the traces of fire on the outer wall, the disaster of that day was no longer visible.

Whilst observing the sense of satisfaction that was on Abel’s face, Ken felt more determined to work hard for his new master. The efforts of these past few days have been recognized by the new owner.

When Abel was checking the interior of the castle, Ken said to Abel humbly, “Here, Lord Abel, sir. Everything here has remained untouched over the past few days. The city’s government asked for all the property here to be sealed up. You’re meant to be the first one who was to examine them.”

It was Lord Dickens who had sent the order. Abel knew at least that much. As the owner of his massive castle, Lord Dickens wouldn’t mind spending some more money to appeal to the new owner of the Matthew Castle. It was a win-win for everyone.

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In the storeroom, Abel saw a few huge wooden boxes made of iron and wood. The boxes were sealed by the city’s government. As for the content inside of them, Abel wasn’t sure.

Abel turned to Ken, “Ken, can I trust you?”

Ken knelt on one knee and said solemnly after hearing that “Yes, Lord Abel! I pledge my utmost loyalty to you.”

“I accept,” Abel replied as he held Ken up, “You are the butler of my castle. You are a member of my family now.”

“Thank you!”

Ken’s eyes were filled with tears. He thought that he has lost everything before, but now, all of it was coming back to him.

“The servants and the guards are now under your command. Whoever can stay is under your command. As for those who wish to leave, at least give 5 gold coins to each one of them. Now that Matthew isn’t here, I’ll be the one to thank them in his place.”

Abel didn’t want to worry about the trivial things in the castle. For him, he would rather have someone professional looking after everyone here.

“Thank you, Sir. I will arrange it properly, and the final result will be reported to you.”

Ken was very grateful for Abel’s trust. In this world, the relationship between a butler and his master in this world was very, very close. A butler was like a bodyguard, but instead of simply protecting his master’s life, it was about spending his entire life looking after all the things that were needed and requested.

Being a butler was the equivalent of being the second-in-command of a castle. With that being said, the status of this position was extremely high. Ken was a very lucky man in this regard. Better yet, a successful future was guaranteed if he was working for a gifted master like Abel.

Without saying anything, the Knight of Marshall watched Abel on the side as he gave out instructions on how the castle should be managed. This was Abel’s castle. He didn’t want to get involved in Abel’s affairs. He was very clear about this. At the same time, he admired Abel’s ability to handle things and was at ease when he saw that Abel was able to find a suitable butler.

When several people entered the study, Ken took a wooden box from the bookshelf and said, “There’s a secret room here. The opening method is in this box. I will leave first.”

After Ken retreated from the study to the door, the Knight of Marshall was about to exit the study but was stopped by Abel on the way.

Abel smiled, “Let’s visit Lord Matthew’s collection together, Uncle Marshall.”

“Sure,” the Knight of Marshall nodded his head in compliance, “It’s a pretty rare opportunity for me. I don’t get to see how the other nobles have their collections.”

Abel opened the wooden box. He opened the mechanism according to the records above. On the wall of the study, a secret door was opened and the two walked into the secret room.

This secret room had a long staircase going down and the staircase was very dark, but it had no effect on the two knights.

Whilst walking along the stairs, Abel and the Knight of Marshall entered a huge room. This room visual inspection reached 20 meters wide and 50 meters in length. Five legendary luminous pearls were engraved on the roof, reflecting the light in the entire room brightly.

In the middle of the room, there were two neat rows of wooden cabinets filled with various items. The surface of these items was very clean, indicating that the owner took great care of these items. When Abel stepped forward, he found that every item had an individual description written on the parchment in front of the item.

Looking at the 10 rows of display cabinets on the left and right, Abel was surprised by the Matthew family’s collection. Viscount Dickens did promise him the entire castle and everything that was in it, but he had no idea that the Matthews had so much treasure that was unknown to others. If Dickens had seen it… Who knows? Maybe he wouldn’t be so generous towards Abel.

And let’s just talk about those five legendary luminous pearls. If Lord Matthew was bold enough to put them in the castle hall, all robbers on the mainland would’ve come within days.

Abel didn’t know much about the history of this world. Still, he was fascinated to see all the historical items that were in this place. It was an eye-opener for him. Every time he looked at a treasure that could be dated back many years ago, he would always wonder if it was a treasure from a certain country or a weapon of a famous general.

“Hey Uncle! Look at all this! Do you still remember what we have in Harry Castle? Hey, Uncle!”

The Knight of Marshall threw a side stare at Abel, “Think about the years that have been put into this collection here. This family has been collecting for hundreds of years. What’s the point of comparing it to my collection?”

The Knight of Marshall seemed pretty okay with it on the outside, but secretly, he’s already decided that he was going to make a new collection room when he went back. This comparison was simply too overwhelming for him, and it was making him more embarrassed than if he was wearing nothing but his underpants.