Guest Room

As he cleared out the area, Lucian also gathered up everything that could be picked up.

The Steel-Wire Torch, Stonesword Key, Twinblade Talisman, and whip were all there was.

They were all things he had no use for at the moment, so Lucian stored them away in the Grace beside the prison.

Lucian and Julius returned to the courtyard, checking once more along the way to make sure no enemies had slipped through the net.

Edgar had already gotten to work, clearing the corpses from the ground alongside the soldiers.

Irina, supported by a maid, was making her way toward one of the rooms in the castle.

Seeing Julius and Lucian return, Edgar stopped what he was doing and approached them.

"Julius, why didn't you bring Mr. Lucian a new set of armor?"

The moment Edgar saw the Greatsword in Lucian's hand, he knew they had already visited the storeroom.

Yet Lucian was still wearing that battered suit of armor, making Edgar think Julius had failed to bring it out.

"It's not his fault. I actually took a liking to a suit of Banished Knight Armor."

"But I was worried it might have been left behind by one of your companions or ancestors, so I didn't take it without permission, lest I cause offense."

"If you don't mind, I'll go put it on."

Lucian stepped forward and explained the situation.

"I see."

Edgar nodded and recalled the set.

"That armor was worn by one of my grandfather's companions."

"When my grandfather was appointed lord of Castle Morne, one of his companions was assigned here alongside him."

"He left no descendants, so the equipment was never passed down. If you can wear it, I'm sure he would be pleased."

Lucian was delighted. Now he could take it without any reservations.

"Good. Then I won't stand on ceremony."

He was about to head for the storeroom to put it on.

But Edgar called out to him.

"Please wait. Julius can simply bring the chest over. Please, come with me."

Lucian did not refuse. It was not as if they were withholding the armor from him, and there was no rush to put it on.

Before long, Edgar led Lucian to the door of a room.

"This is the room we prepared. It used to be one of Castle Morne's guest rooms. Please rest here from now on."

As he pushed open the door, the room's interior unfolded before Lucian.

It was spacious, with a soft bed. Though there was no other furniture, it was still the finest room Lucian had seen since crossing over.

Edgar looked somewhat apologetic.

"Because of the Misbegotten Rebellion, much of the furniture was damaged. I had people clear it out, and the rest of the room has been cleaned up as well."

"There are clean clothes on the bed. I don't know your size, but they shouldn't be too far off."

"With Castle Morne as it is now, this is all we can manage. Please forgive us."

Lucian walked around the spacious room. There was no unnecessary furniture, and the open space made him like it even more.

In his previous life, the little place he lived in had already felt cramped, and it had been stuffed full of all sorts of things.

He had never expected living in a large room to feel like this.

Suddenly, Lucian noticed there was a full-length mirror in the room. One corner was broken, but it was still perfectly usable.

It suddenly occurred to him that he had not looked in a mirror once since crossing over.

Walking up to it, Lucian finally saw what he looked like.

Overall, he looked much the same as in his previous life, but his face looked as though it had been retouched. He was far more handsome now.

And it was the rugged kind of handsome. No one would ever doubt he was a warrior because of that face.

If he had been somewhat handsome in his previous life, then now he was undeniably handsome.

Only the blood all over him and his tattered armor looked rather out of place.

Lucian was a little puzzled. Wasn't this supposed to be a soul transmigration? Why did he still look so similar?

But it could not have been a physical transmigration either. He had been a shut-in in his previous life, so where could this combat instinct have come from?

Unable to make sense of it, Lucian gave up thinking about it.

Really, crossing over was already absurd enough. His appearance barely changing was nothing by comparison.

Lucian pushed open the adjoining room. Inside was a large wooden tub filled with water, with a towel draped over the side.

Although it was cold water, Lucian did not mind.

Given Castle Morne's current conditions, asking someone to heat water for him would have been a bit unreasonable.

He took off his battered armor and carefully examined his body.

The lines of his muscles were clearly defined. He was nowhere near a hulking muscle monster, but in his previous life, he would have been called a beast of a man.

He scooped up a ladleful of water and poured it over himself. Blood and grime flowed down with the water, following the slope of the adjoining room into a drain.

There was a bucket and some rough paper beside it. It seemed this was also the latrine.

Lucian had been surprised at first that a medieval-style castle even had a drainage system.

But thinking of the various elevators throughout the Lands Between, as well as its many grand cities,

the Lands Between's craftsmanship was clearly quite advanced. Building a drainage system was nothing strange.

After giving himself a rough rinse, Lucian grabbed the towel, wet it, and scrubbed himself thoroughly clean.

This was his first bath since arriving in the Lands Between, and Lucian washed himself carefully. After all, there was no telling when the next one would be.

After taking care of his personal hygiene, Lucian picked up the clothes on the bed. There were two sets in total.

One was a full set of cotton clothes, meant to be worn beneath armor.

The other was a light green robe covered in embroidery, the sort of upper-class robe from the game, clothing for noble heirs.

Lucian did not put on the robe and instead directly changed into the cotton clothes.

Because Julius had already carried the Banished Knight Set to the door.

Lucian brought the chest inside and put on the Banished Knight's equipment piece by piece.

The fit was fairly good, and he finished dressing without much difficulty.

Lucian was not simply eager to cosplay, or rather, that was not all there was to it.

He needed to check his equip load. If it was too heavy, he would need to allocate some points when he found Melina to level up later.

Lucian currently had more than 67,000 Runes on him, nearly as much as he would have earned from farming the big white dragon without using a Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot. He was practically swimming in wealth.

When Singh died, the fivefold Rune multiplier was still active. He had been very lucky.

In the end, the hundred-odd Misbegotten had contributed 48,000, while Singh had contributed 19,000.

These Runes were enough for Lucian to raise his level substantially. When he faced enemies on the level of the Grafted Scion and Leonine Misbegotten again, they would not be nearly as troublesome.

He tried running a few steps. There was no problem, but with a weapon added and prolonged combat, he would probably tire more easily.

As he silently refined his leveling plan, Lucian prepared to head to the Grace.

Though there was a soft bed behind him, it was not yet late.

He would set out now, first find Melina and spend his Runes to increase his strength, then go take a look at the Roundtable Hold.

Though the Roundtable Hold had only a few NPCs in the game, if even the Confessor carried Fia's Baldachin's Blessing, then there might be more Tarnished at the Roundtable Hold than Lucian had expected.

Writing at home really was different. It felt like I could finally build up some saved chapters. Please give me some free recommendation votes! ∩_∩