Volume 2: A New Journey
Chapter 1: Damansk
Komer’s gift seemed to have paid off. When he received the invitation from Prince Thomas, he knew his words had impressed these guests from Rosenberg. No matter how valuable or rare the gift was, it was merely a stepping stone; what truly attracted them was his own words. It was easy to imagine the benefits and impacts if what he said came true. For himself, profit might be the top priority, but for Thomas, gaining greater influence was likely the main reason for inviting him—after all, the position of crown prince might be his ultimate goal.
Komer swayed leisurely, lost in thought, while the wine in the bottle on the table seemed to ripple along with his movements. Since the Night at the Rose Lounge, Komer had suddenly found himself falling in love with fine wine, especially the slight intoxication it brought, which made him feel incredibly relaxed. The pleasure of indulging both mind and body was simply wonderful. Whether he was in a good mood or restless, a glass of wine could bring him relief.
Opposite Komer, Puber wasn’t as relaxed. Ever since he decided to follow Komer to the Caucasus, he had been busy preparing. Although his family knew he was close friends with Komer, they never expected him to accompany him to the Caucasus to seek death. Even his father, who rarely inquired about his personal affairs, seriously talked to him, advising him not to act on impulse. After being rejected, no one in his family tried to persuade him anymore. In their eyes, deliberately seeking hardship was a form of pursuit and strength—only it seemed surprising coming from Puber, who loved pleasure.
Watching Puber carefully studying documents at the desk across from him, Komer felt a mix of emotions. As the saying goes, true friendship is tested in adversity. After all, Puber was someone he had grown up with, working hard for his own goals, while he himself remained idle. Yet it seemed he couldn’t interfere with Puber’s busy schedule, so he could only feign concern about whether he needed help before returning to his wine tasting.
Puber was indeed quite overwhelmed. Determined to serve as an administrative officer in the Caucasus region—though it was a remote and barren area—he still intended to do his best. The numerous books and materials borrowed from Homer’s local library together with Komer seemed to provide little information about the Caucasus, with hardly any existing references available. The south was already the poorest region in Homer’s lands, and the Caucasus lay at the very southern border. Not only were the roads distant, rugged, and difficult to traverse, but the population was sparse, with not even a proper town. It seemed that past grand dukes had shown little interest in the area, as there wasn’t even an accurate boundary map. The only relatively complete map available was extremely simplified—just a few rough sketches of mountains and rivers drawn with sparse charcoal strokes. Puber could hardly believe this was the map treasured in the library.
These were not Puber’s biggest concerns. What he was desperately trying to find were materials related to Fort Damorlensk. In fact, most of the fame of the Caucasus stemmed from Fort Damorlensk. Built 160 years ago, it was originally constructed by a member of a branch of the Philip family who was exiled to the Caucasus after being expelled from the city of Cyprus for improper behavior. For some reason, this man suddenly became wealthy and prosperous upon arriving in the Caucasus, and he began building his own castle. To construct it, he spent a great deal of money importing large quantities of grain by sea from various parts of the continent and acquiring large amounts of Qingling stone from the barbarians living in the southern Cordillera wilderness. This was a type of stone from the Baden Golden Mountain region; once carved and polished, it was as smooth as jade and also had a cooling effect—making it a rare building material in the hot southern regions. It took twelve years to complete the construction.
Fort Damansky covers an area of over 120 mu and is divided into an eastern and western part, with a famous Angel Square in between. The square is elongated in shape, separating the two parts of the fortress, though stone corridors connect them on the second floor. There are more than 350 rooms inside the fortress, not including over a dozen basements. These details actually hold little value; what Pube is eager to know is what happened to the previous lords there. Viscount Morin, the founder of Fort Damansky, died three months after its completion due to a strange natural disaster. While hunting, a large rock suddenly rolled down from a mountain and crushed him and his horse to pieces. Since then, Fort Damansky has been shrouded in fear, with various rumors spreading. The most famous one claims that the fortress was built atop an “evil eye” in the Caucasus region, and any creature living on such land is cursed by the earth’s demons. It’s not surprising then that Viscount Morin suffered such retribution.
These rumors quickly spread throughout the entire Homer region. From then on, no one wanted to be granted land there. It was already a remote and desolate place, and with such rumors, who would want to take the risk? It wasn’t until fifty years ago that Viscount Burke, the grand duke’s favorite, led a large group of warriors and brought along a magician friend to spend three months vacationing at Fort Damansky. Yet one night, he died mysteriously in his bedroom, with the guards sleeping at his door and the magician in the adjacent room hearing no noise at all. Since Viscount Burke was the grand duke’s favorite and his family was well-known in Cyprus, his body was transported back to Cyprus after being processed. The grand duke even invited Mr. Nanding, a renowned medical expert from the continent, to diagnose him. Even Mr. Nanding couldn’t determine the cause of death, only speculating that it might have been due to extreme shock causing some bodily abnormalities, with other causes remaining unexplained. The knights sent by the grand duke returned empty-handed, with no signs of anything unusual there.
From then on, Fort Damaskev became a forbidden place throughout the entire Homer region and even the Kingdom of Nicosia; no one dared to live there. Although the two subsequent lords did not reside in Fort Damaskev, they too met with misfortune, casting a shadow of terror over the entire Caucasus region. Twenty years ago, Baron Fayedz was demoted and assigned to the Caucasus. Just three months after arriving, he provoked rebellion among the local inhabitants, who killed the knights and guards he brought with him. Eventually, he was killed in Angel’s Square in Fort Damaskev. Although the knightly order sent to suppress the rebellion quickly quelled it, from that point on, the Caucasus truly became an ominous place for the Kingdom of Nicosia. Baron Hawkins’s experience ten years ago further proved this point. To show off his bravery, he dared to stay in Fort Damaskev for several nights, but while walking along the Katania River, he suddenly went mad and nearly fell into the river. Fortunately, his servants were with him and caught him in time, but his mind was completely shattered, and he had to be sent to Cyprus for treatment. To this day, he has not recovered. The reason for his madness remains unknown.
After listening silently to Puber’s introduction to Fort Damaskev, Komer said nothing. The beautiful Fort Damaskev had so many beautiful and touching legends. This might truly be a rare opportunity for him to face a challenge. Just passing by Fort Damaskev did not mean he understood it. To be fair, Puber had gathered quite detailed information, but there was no conclusive or accurate explanation for the deaths of those lords. Most of the accounts used words like “presumably” or “probably,” which made the reliability of the information questionable. However, Komer had never believed that these few pieces of information alone could uncover the mysterious and terrifying nature of Fort Damaskev. Perhaps only by experiencing things firsthand could one discover the reasons and truly establish a foothold in the Caucasus region—though this might cost him his life.
Yet none of this was enough to make Komer give up, despite his many dark experiences. His former teacher had guided him to deliberately wander through various places filled with darkness and death, hoping to use the energy of spirits to stimulate his so-called spiritual meridians and accelerate the improvement of his dark magic. However, to his teacher’s disappointment, Komer seemed not very sensitive to this spirit energy, and progress in his dark magic was extremely limited. Even by the time his teacher passed away, Komer had made little real progress in dark magic. Komer was more interested in practicing various types of magic, especially those whimsical necromantic and dark magic spells. Of course, light magic was also good, but Komer felt that those lesser-known spells suited his somewhat twisted psyche better, while light magic seemed more suitable for concealing and disguising himself.
His teacher had analyzed Fort Damorlensk, though he had never been there. He believed there must be special reasons for Fort Damorlensk’s notorious reputation—either due to the presence of monsters or necromantic entities, or perhaps due to some factors on that land that were beyond ordinary people’s understanding. These were the only possible explanations. However, identifying the reasons did not mean solving the problems, but understanding some of the ins and outs was at least a good start. Especially when one had no other choice, knowing more was even better.