My Castle, My Castellan - Chapter 1 - My World Will End
This was a somewhat run-down house. The high roof and the large s.p.a.ce added an ancient European style to it. The house was full of all kinds of clothes and strange stuff. Everything in this house seemed old and worn out, one could tell that they were from centuries ago.
A young man rummaged through the room and buried himself in various chests of boxes, he kept throwing out some old things. An old man was following what he was doing, he tried catching things that the young man threw out, both were so busy that they kept sweating.
"My castellan, what are you doing? Tucker"s strong army with 70,000 soldiers has already arrived under the city. My castellan, you must think of a solution soon. The 100,000 people in Toss City, whether young and old, are all waiting for you to solve this. Both the Northern and Southern camps have been taken over, and women, children are acting as guards. This is not a sustainable method. Please…my castellan, do something."
The old man wiped the sweat off his face, on his wrinkled face, there was only anxiety. With his pair of white eyebrows pointing downward, he looked shabby and pitiful.
"My castellan, please do say something. I will find anything that you need. But all the people outside need you. The 100,000 people in the Toss City are expecting you to fight Tucker. You have to save your own people."
Suddenly, a pair of old tattered trousers with a musty smell was thrown on the old man"s face, his nose was covered with dust. The old man hurriedly shoved away the tattered trousers, fearing that he might faint if he waited one more second. When he did this, he was shocked by what he had seen. He almost had to recover himself with the filthy pair of trousers.
What was in front of him was a face. To be more accurate, it was a peculiar face. The bridge of the nose was high, so high that it was almost pointing to the sky. The ears were clearly defined but they were obtusely angulated. The eyes were sharp, but they were triangular. The lip lines looked fine, but the two front teeth almost looked as if they were popping out. The forehead was a bit tilted and his face was hollow. His hair was parted in the middle and was grey and yellow. Although the old man had been with this person for twenty years, he was at times still scared by this peculiar face.
"The old man, what is your name and who are you?" The young man"s triangular eyes looked at the old man strangely and asked in a depressed mood.
The old man looked at the young guy with uneasiness. In fact, since that morning, the castellan had been looking uneasy. He had been doing and saying abnormal things. Even the way he was looking at people was strange. "Your servant is called Garcia. Don"t you remember, my castellan? Your servant has been following the castellan for twenty years. I have been witnessing your childhood - from a kid learning to speak, to a kind and respectful castellan. Every aspect in your daily life has been taken care of by me - your servant. It is not possible that you"ve forgotten about me. The previous castellan had reminded me for many times that I have to take very good care of you. Really, how can you have forgotten about me? My castellan, are you just kidding?"
"Garcia? Very good. How can I forget about you? Don"t worry, I remember you, Garcia." The young guy"s triangular eyes said clearly that he was shocked, but he was laughing anyway. His two big front teeth looked almost like they were ready to fall. He reached out and pat on the old man"s shoulder, and the old man trembled a little, "this…Garcia, what about my jewelry and my other stuff? How is it that this place has only the useless stuff? Come, go and search for my money and other precious things."
"Castellan, you still remember me…I am so fortunate. I will praise G.o.d…I knew that you wouldn"t forget about me…my castellan, I did see you as a child, and…" Garcia was trembling when he talked, he looked both excited and pleased to know that the young man did remember him.
"Stop. I know, you"ve watched me grow up, right? But, it"s not the time to discuss how I grew up, you just need to look for my private treasury. I am the master of the city, I know that I have some reserves. Hehe…I will even give you some if you can help me find them, because I am a good person." The young man interrupted the old man without hesitating. He was so annoyed by his non-stop talking. There was a moment of excitement on his peculiar face.
The excitement of Garcia"s old face has not yet dissipated, and doubts already surfaced. "My castellan, what are you talking about? There is no private treasury. You are the most generous and kind-hearted castellan. You did say that your money belongs to the people of Toss City. How is there still private money?"
"The most generous and kind-hearted castellan? No private money? No private treasury? What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? There is no reserve here? Then what the h.e.l.l can I use to enjoy myself? Old crook, don"t try to deceive me. I have made a trip in time. If you think that I am so easy to be fooled, then you are d.a.m.n wrong. I will kill you if I find out that you are lying…quick, go find my money! You heard me?"
The young man was furious, and he yelled loudly at the old man Garcia. As a glorious member of the time travel army, let"s not mention about a golden crown or being a protagonist. This d.a.m.n old guy was someone he found when he traveled in time, he had to obey every order of him and hand over his wealth. However, the old Garcia would not do this. On the contrary, he was going to send him to death. An army of 70,000 people, who did Garcia think he was? Even seven people alone could kill him. Before travelling in time, he was just an ordinary guy who stayed at home every day, watching beautiful girls online. He couldn"t fight anyone, and he wasn"t even that intelligent. This old guy wanted him to be sent to death, how resentful that was! And now, he was even trying to hide his private money! How can he escape without his private money? Anyone who dared to stop him was in turn his enemy!
The old man looked confused, he didn"t understand why the castellan"s behavior was so strange. What happened to his lord who was so wise, brave and kind-hearted? "Castellan, you, you…what are you talking about? I really don"t understand. Also, why did you just curse? This is not something a n.o.ble should do."
"n.o.ble? Very well, since I am a n.o.ble, why did you lie about my money?" The young man was furious, he was sure that the old man was lying to him. As a castellan, how was it possible to have a single penny? It was intolerable."
"My castellan, don"t you remember? You have used the wealth that the previous castellan left to you, and the taxes that you"ve received every month to build our almighty Toss City. You once said that you"d rather have one meal less, so that our people would not starve. You have been doing this all these years. Aside from some copper coins that are enough to sustain your life, you did give away all the other gold and silver jewelry." The old man was in tears when he explained. He was once so proud of raising the young castellan, but he had now become such an arrogant person.
The young man was speechless. From the way the old man looked and explained, it didn"t seem like he was lying. Was he really a kind-hearted pacifist in his previous life? Or to be more straightforward, was he an idiot?
"What"s my name again, Garcia?" The young man was trying to suppress his anger. He knew that time travel would not always lead to a happy ending, and his was undoubtedly a tragedy. He remembered still boiling two eggs in his pan. How could he have traveled in time and arrived in this s.p.a.ce after a nap?
The old man tried to straighten his chest and said proudly and sincerely, "McQueen Thomas Arathi! The great Arathi"s descendant! The most beloved McQueen Castellan of the Toss City!"
"d.a.m.n! So, this idiot is called McQueen, how lame." The young man threw away the broken cloak in his hand and looked at the mess in the house. He tried to take a deep breath. So, he was the Castellan of this so-called Toss City, in a house full of broken stuff. And he"s a pacifist. Wasn"t this a joke? There"s not even a penny for him to run off. And the 70,000 people army that was waiting for him…was G.o.d playing with him? "Let"s surrender! How can I fight a 70,000-people army? There might even be a way out if we surrender."
"What? Surrender? No!" The old man heard, and suddenly stomped the ground using his thin legs. He said, full of righteous indignation, "absolutely not, as a great Arathi"s descendant, there is absolutely no way to surrender to a thief like Tucker. As a n.o.ble, this should not be your decision. Absolutely not!"
"Why not? You might want to die, but I don"t want to. Let"s surrender quickly. Maybe that guy called Tucker will even grant me an official t.i.tle. It may even better than being a d.a.m.n castellan. Isn"t it? I didn"t know that I was so clever. Well, maybe I am really talented in this time travel thing." The young guy, once a time traveler and now McQueen, suddenly thought that he had found a way out. He was so excited. He forgot the reason to be angry and he put on a big smile on his peculiar face.
"No, no way! Castellan, are you out of your mind? This is such a bad idea." The old man swayed his hands in panic and was so anxious that he sweated. He tried to change McQueen"s mind.
"Look, old man, I have limited patience. You have tried to stop me for so many times, what are you trying to do?" McQueen became furious and he glared at Garcia with his eyes widely opened. If Garcia failed to give him a reasonable explanation, he wouldn"t mind using some violence.
"Sigh…why has my castellan changed so much?" Garcia sighed helplessly. He turned away his gaze and looked at the bright moon outside the window. "A butcher like Tucker is out there killing people relentlessly. How is it possible that he will stop killing with our surrender? Ever since the Northern and Southern camps have been taken over by our enemy, there are only about 100,000 women and children left in Toss City. Is there a difference for Tucker if we surrender or not? And why would he care? It was you, my castellan, who used to tell me about all this. Why is it my turn to explain this to you now?"