A carpenter?
At a time when the villagers generally avoided him like the plague, someone was actually taking the initiative to come to him?
Igor raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Understood. I’ll go have a look.”
He gave a slight nod, concluded the interrogation, and left the dungeon.
Arriving in the manor’s courtyard, Igor saw several people already waiting there.
The leader was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a solid, oak-like build. His thick arms and broad shoulders were sharply outlined beneath a simple linen shirt.
He had gray hair and a square face, deeply etched by sunlight and wind. His large hands were calloused, now clasped together uneasily.
Despite his robust physique, his eyes were somber and sorrowful, as if weighed down by an invisible burden.
“Honorable Knight!”
Upon seeing Igor, the man immediately stepped forward, bowed, and said in a low, earnest voice:
“Thank you for eradicating those scoundrels of the Blood Wolf group for us!”
“My name is Ruben. I’m the village carpenter. I heard you need to repair Snow Vow Manor. My apprentices and I wish to contribute our efforts to repay your kindness.”
Igor’s gaze swept over Ruben’s calloused, slightly trembling hands and the evasive eyes and tense postures of the apprentices behind him.
A thought stirred within him, but his expression betrayed nothing, showing only a hint of mild approval:
“I appreciate your sentiment, Mr. Ruben. This manor has indeed been left in ruins for too long and urgently needs repair. In that case, I shall trouble you and your apprentices.”
He gave a slight nod and continued in a steady, clear tone:
“I will dispatch guards to assist you all. Lumber, nails, paint… whatever materials you need, feel free to ask. I hope this manor can soon regain its former dignity through your hands.”
He acted like a new lord eager for talent, showing no suspicion.
Ruben seemed to relax a little, repeatedly saying it was his duty, and motioned for his apprentices to prepare to enter the main residence.
“By the way.”
Igor suddenly spoke, stopping them.
Ruben seemed not to have expected to be called, pausing for a moment before asking:
“Sir Knight, is there… something else you require?”
Igor looked at him, his tone gentle:
“There is one question, Ruben. I have been ordered to investigate the disappearances in Frostwhisper Village. Regarding this matter, do you know anything?”
The carpenter paused, then once again wore a simple, honest smile:
“Disappearances? No, our village has always been fine. No… no one has disappeared. It’s all rumors.”
Igor said nothing.
Under that profound, fathomless gaze, the carpenter Ruben seemed somewhat uncomfortable.
“That… Sir Knight, may I… begin my work?”
He scratched his head, asking cautiously.
Igor smiled.
He didn’t press the matter further, instead gently patting the other man’s shoulder, saying mildly:
“Go ahead. Don’t be nervous. I was just asking casually. If there’s nothing, then forget it.”
The carpenter, as if granted amnesty, quickly led his apprentices to take measurements throughout the manor.
“Keep a close eye on them. Don’t let them notice. See what they intend to do.”
Watching the carpenter and his apprentices busily working, Igor gave a low command to his guard.
The other villagers were wary of him, but this carpenter was so proactive. There must be something odd about it.
Not to mention, their poorly suppressed nervousness couldn’t possibly escape his notice.
Igor’s intuition told him that this carpenter who came forward of his own accord was definitely not here simply to repay a debt and repair a house!
Sure enough, by dusk the next day, the guard assigned to surveillance quietly reported that the carpenter Ruben, under the pretext of needing to measure interior walls, had lingered multiple times outside the room where Blood Wolf was imprisoned, with a strange look in his eyes. Read this novel at novelping dot com for the best experience.
A cold laugh rose in Igor’s heart, though his expression remained unchanged as usual.
After some thought, he gave his guard a new order, adjusting the guard shifts to create a seemingly lax, brief gap.
Night deepened. A cold wind blew through the dilapidated manor, emitting a mournful sound.
The carpenter made his move.
Under the cover of darkness and building materials, he quietly slipped into the corridor leading to Blood Wolf’s room.
He clutched a sharpened chisel tightly, his eyes burning with the flame of hatred, step by step approaching his unconscious enemy.
And just as the carpenter closed in, raised his chisel, and was about to strike down—
“Hum—!”
A powerful surge of icy mana suddenly descended, and the air instantly solidified.
Carpenter Ruben felt his entire body stiffen. The arm he had raised was clamped by a formidable force, utterly unable to descend any further.
Igor’s figure appeared like a specter from the shadows, his blue-gray eyes glinting with a cold luster in the darkness.
“Ruben…”
His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable authority:
“Is this your way of repaying kindness?”
All color drained from Ruben’s face. He struggled twice, found it futile, and his eyes were instantly flooded with hatred.
“Revenge! I’m here for revenge!”
He rasped in a low roar, no longer pretending:
“Blood Wolf killed my wife! He deserves to die! You nobles, you knights, you’re all the same! Only protecting these beasts!”
Igor looked at his twisted face, sighed inwardly, but had no time to argue with him.
He subdued Ruben and ordered him taken away under strict guard.
However, when he ordered his men to pursue and capture the accompanying carpenter apprentices, those apprentices had vanished without a trace.
Igor frowned slightly:
“Search carefully! They shouldn’t have left the manor yet.”
Yet, no matter how they searched, the guards couldn’t find any trace of the carpenter apprentices.
They… seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
Igor looked out the window at the heavy night, the unease in his heart growing stronger.
After some thought, he suddenly had an idea and commanded his guard:
“Release that carpenter. See what he does.”
“On second thought, you all continue searching the manor. They must be hiding somewhere. I’ll follow the carpenter myself.”
Following Igor’s command, the guards released the dazed carpenter Ruben, who then staggered out of the manor in a confused state.
Igor followed silently in his wake.
He saw that the carpenter Ruben did not linger in the village, but went straight back to his simple wooden hut on the village outskirts and closed the door.
Igor waited quietly outside the house for about an hour, but there was no movement inside, not even a lamp lit.
A feeling of wrongness surged within him.
He hesitated no longer. Under the cover of night, he silently infiltrated the hut.
The interior was empty. The carpenter had disappeared.
Only a simple wooden bed had been moved aside, revealing a dark, pitch-black hole beneath it, emitting a chilly, damp odor…
It was a tunnel!
Igor’s heart jolted.
The tunnel was narrow and winding, filled with the smell of earth and an indescribable, fishy odor.
Igor hurried along. After about a quarter of an hour, a faint light appeared ahead.
The exit was actually in a hidden ravine outside the village, surrounded by dense thickets. It would be extremely difficult to spot unless one came from inside.
Under the moonlight, Igor saw only a few chaotic footprints leading back towards the village. Ruben was already nowhere to be found.
“Damn it!”
Igor’s expression changed sharply. He immediately realized he might have been tricked.
Ruben’s dazed state was probably mostly an act to lull him into a false sense of security!
A flash of insight struck his mind. He suddenly remembered those carpenter apprentices who had entered the manor with Ruben but had mysteriously vanished by dusk…
“There’s… probably a secret passage inside the manor as well!”
The young man’s expression shifted slightly. He immediately returned to Snow Vow Manor at full speed, gathered all the remaining guards, and sternly inquired about the last known locations of those apprentices.
Yet, no one could answer that question.
Igor felt a headache coming on.
He knew it must be because the villagers were more familiar with this manor than the guards, which led to them losing track of the apprentices.
But he also knew he wasn’t these guards’ direct superior. His orders were indeed difficult to get them to carry out earnestly.
They… most likely had been lax in their surveillance of those apprentices.
“Search! All work is to cease immediately. Everyone participates in the search. I order in the name of the lord: Even if we have to turn over every stone in this manor, we must find their hiding place!”
Igor commanded.
However, a whole hour of frantic searching by the group yielded no trace of a secret passage.
Even Igor returned empty-handed.
He couldn’t even mobilize the elemental perception that Elementalists possessed to conduct a survey.
It couldn’t be helped. Although this manor was dilapidated, it had once belonged to an Elementalist. The elemental barrier preventing prying eyes was still operational.
This barrier was likely established by the Greater Spirit contracted by the White Knight back then. Its level was very high and had been interfering with his perception all along.
“An elemental barrier… If there are any tunnels or hidden rooms, they must be concealed by this manor’s elemental barrier.”
Eliminating other possibilities, Igor arrived at a further judgment.
Unfortunately, when it came to constructing or deciphering elemental barriers, Igor, this ‘self-taught’ Imprinter, had almost zero knowledge.
His level of understanding wasn’t just a blank slate; it was next to nothing. The feeling was like throwing a newly literate apprentice at an ancient, lost scroll to decipher.
He didn’t even know where the core of this manor’s elemental barrier was established.
‘Blood Wolf often lingered near the dungeon… Could it be in the dungeon?’
‘But we’ve already searched the dungeon many times.’
‘Could it be… I need to ask Gray Harbor for help?’
Igor couldn’t help but think.
He didn’t understand elemental barriers, but Gray Harbor surely had Elementalists who did.
But going there and back would take who knows how long, and Igor felt an increasingly restless sense of panic.
He had a vague feeling… perhaps… by the time he brought back a knowledgeable Elementalist, it would already be too late.
‘If only… Lord Ale could wake up. She would definitely know about elemental barriers.’
Igor sighed inwardly.
And just as Igor was frowning in deep thought, the familiar, clear, cold female voice once again sounded in the depths of his heart:
“If I were you, I would take another careful look at the deepest part of the dungeon.”
…