The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 507: Sub Basement

"I see you looking at the wall. If you want to move to the old meeting room, I don’t object. It looks like the handle has been removed, but a touch of magic will open the door just fine." Trionne suggested.

Dominic tilted his chin to the Acolytes, but the old woman patted him on the head.

"Relax, they won’t tell anyone. They literally can’t."

So, they weren’t silent because they were well-trained, they had a curse of silence cast on them to keep them silent until they ’earned the right to speak’, as she had called it.

"Are you up for a spot of historical exploration? I haven’t been down there since I came back." Dominic asked.

She should also know if there were more hidden passages or tricks to accessing the space. He was a child when Wistover fell, certainly not privy to meetings between the Nobles and other dignitaries.

"Oh, that would be lovely. I do love nostalgia. I will lead the way."

The wall slid back, then to the side, revealing a narrow doorway. Inside, the air was stale, and Dominic could see a thin layer of dust over everything.

Not as much as he had expected, but with the room sealed, there wouldn’t have been much dust to accumulate. Fortunately, there was ventilation, Dominic could sense the magitech circuitry on the wall, separate from the house’s regular systems.

When he activated the circuit, fans turned on, and the lights came on, guiding their path down the stairs.

Trionne sighed comfortably as she stepped down the stairs.

"Ah, this is better. No offence, but Wistover smells too much like grass and rain and nature."

Dominic laughed. "Usually, people mean that as a compliment."

The ancient Techno Witch laughed. "The scents make magic more difficult to cast. When a Witch’s magic goes awry, there is usually a feeling or smell. But if you’re doing it outdoors, with changing scents, you can miss it.

Besides, I live in the Shersdonia castle, which is full of undead. It’s got that stale air necromancer’s lair vibes thing going on."

Dominic looked down the side tunnels as they reached an intersection, and quickly realized that they ran up toward the kitchen, and down toward the river.

That side smelled like water, but the tunnel was dry, so it was likely blocked and sealed.

Now, he had to find the entrance in the kitchen so that the staff could come down here when they were needed. The fact that it had been hidden from everyone so effectively was actually impressive.

With so many skilled people in the house, he thought that someone would have found the entrance by now.

Trionne paused as she looked for the activation mechanism to lead them in the right direction. Then, she reached out and pushed her hand through an illusion. The tunnel opened ahead of them, slightly offset from the previous tunnel, so checking for a hollow cavity directly in front of you wouldn’t find anything.

The Techno Witch stepped through into a large room, and turned the lights on with a wave of her hand.

Inside, it was clearly a Royal Banquet hall, larger than the actual Manor house.

There were artificial windows, stained-glass with illumination behind them to simulate daylight. It gave the space a rather open feeling, despite Dominic knowing that they were at least ten metres underground.

"Just as I remember it. But empty. I think that they cleared it all out after the last event. Which means there is likely a storage item here with all the spare furniture. The Earl of Wistover used to have staff put the tables into a storage cube after dinner to open the dance floor.

That should be here somewhere, if those Dagos thieves didn’t destroy it."

"Care to explore? I’ve never been in here." Dominic suggested.

"Oh, this will be fun. We will go together, can’t have the King thinking I would steal from you. He’s got a soft spot for your lineage."

Dominic laughed. The space wasn’t large enough that she could easily steal anything, but exploring together would eliminate any chance of misunderstandings.

"Oh, this is easier than I thought. The storage cube is literally on the table at the door." Trionne laughed, with a gesture toward a large bronze magitech device sitting on a stone end table, next to a vase with a fake flower arrangement in it.

"Well, that was anticlimactic. Now, we hope that it’s not bonded to someone. Though, you can likely fix that, given that you’re a Techno Witch."

He placed his hand on the cube and found that not only was it unlocked for general use, it was completely packed with furniture.

Tables, chairs, cots, divider screens, bed linens, wall tapestries, curtains, even rugs were rolled and organized inside.

"That space is insane. Whoever made that had some real skills." Dominic noted.

"I believe it was a gift from the King. Being able to store everything for the meeting hall would normally take a half dozen cubes, but he always used that single one."

"This space is incredible. Are there more rooms attached to this? Or did they just redecorate the one space?" Dominic asked.

"There are sitting rooms on the sides that got redecorated as bedrooms when someone was staying over. There is also a portal array around here somewhere.

I forget what room it is because I have my own, so I just use that one to travel.

When we held meetings here, we would all meet in the front room of the Manor so that anyone watching from the outside didn’t see us arrive, and then we would go down to the basement for privacy."

"We have so much to talk about. The more that I find in the Duchy, the more that I realize I didn’t know half of what was going on here before the invasion."

"Well, we can talk as we explore. This sitting room by the stairs was always my favourite. The stairs lead to the balcony boxes above us. Oh, the stories those stairs could tell. I heard a rumour that the King of Cygnia was conceived right here on the balcony steps."