Northeast of Castres, Porto Alegre.
As the name suggests, this is the last direct-controlled territory of the Legris family, the capital of the Viscountry of Legris, and also the northernmost city of the Earldom of Castel.
Of course, this is also the last stronghold of the rebels' resistance.
As a border port city, Porto Legris has a city defense system comparable to that of North Port, which caused considerable trouble to Castell's army in its siege.
But, it's just some trouble.
After the main force of the Leglis family was destroyed, it was only a matter of time before this place was breached.
Especially after the arrival of the support fleet led by Viscount Roman Fore and Earl Ulster.
Facing the powerful Castel fleet and the "extraordinary mercenaries" led by Count Eustace, it was almost impossible for the city to mount any effective resistance.
In just half a day, the port of Laglise, which had held out for many days, was completely captured.
At the port of Glis, the Castel warships had put away their stone-throwing cannons and were anchored in the harbor.
At the bullet-riddled city gate, the mighty Castell army was entering the city in an orderly manner under the command of noble officers.
The flags belonging to the Legris family on the city wall have been taken down.
In its place was Castel's battle flag.
From today on, the history of the Legris family's rule over this city may be coming to an end.
However, what is strange is that after entering the port of Legris, Castel's army did not find any members of the Legris family.
Only the soldiers surrendered and laid down their weapons. As for the members of the Legris family, not a single one was seen, as if they had evaporated into thin air.
"Haven't you found anyone yet?"
In the lord's castle of the Port of Glis, the Fire Elf Sebastian frowned as he watched the soldiers coming and going.
The soldier shook his head.
"Master Sebastian, no, there is no one in the castle, not even waiters or maids."
“What do the residents around here say?”
The soldier hesitated and replied:
"Lord Sebastian, the residents around here said they saw people coming in and out of the castle yesterday. Last night they also saw the Legris family summon all the nobles. Many people thought the Legris family would use the castle as their base for the final resistance..."
Sebastian narrowed his eyes immediately:
"But there is no one in the castle..."
"Interesting. How could an entire family, including so many nobles, disappear out of thin air in the castle?"
After a moment's silence, he said:
"The members of the Gris family wouldn't disappear out of thin air. They must be hiding somewhere, or... evacuated in some way."
"Search, keep searching, even if you have to dig three feet deep! See if there is any teleportation array or secret passage hidden somewhere in the castle."
"yes!"
The soldiers responded respectfully and then prepared to continue the action.
"Wait a moment!"
As if he remembered something, Sebastian suddenly stopped them:
"Look around and see if you can find some special marks..."
"Special...mark?"
The soldiers were stunned.
Sebastian nodded.
"Yes, special marks, such as roses or cat's paws."
"Anyway... if you see any suspicious signs, come back and report to me."
Following Sebastian's order, the soldiers took action and continued to search the lord's castle.
And soon, a discovery was actually made.
"Lord Sebastian! We found the mark you mentioned in the castle's storage room!"
A soldier ran over excitedly, panting.
"Oh? There's really a mark? What is it?"
Sebastian was a little surprised.
"It's... a rose, with the mark of a rose entangled with thorny vines!"
The soldier replied respectfully.
"A thorny rose?"
Sebastian was stunned for a moment, then sneered:
"I never thought that guy would start to flatter the master."
"Come on, take me to see it."
…
Led by the soldiers, Sebastian soon arrived at the storage room of the castle.
He immediately saw the pattern of thorny roses carved on the wall of the storage room. The pattern was not very standard, as if it was scratched by some kind of claws. It was a miracle that the soldiers could recognize it.
Sebastian almost instantly determined that this was definitely the work of Black Cat Nice.
"It seems that the guy is still safe. He should have been taken away by the Laiglis family."
Sebastian groaned.
He carefully observed the pattern on the wall for a while, and then his eyes flashed slightly.
He suddenly drew a long sword from the scabbard of a soldier beside him, and used his magic power to smash the wall hard.
A force far beyond that of an ordinary silver moon erupted instantly, and the entire wall shattered, revealing a dark passage.
"A secret path! It's a secret path!"
The soldiers around exclaimed.
"You guys stay here and I'll go in and take a look."
Sebastian's eyes flickered as he gave the order.
As he spoke, he picked up his sword and disappeared into the darkness.
…
This is a typical underground passage in a noble castle.
However, after Sebastian entered, he soon discovered that this secret passage was not as simple as it seemed.
After going deeper into the secret passage, he discovered that this underground passage was connected to more secret passages, which crisscrossed beneath the ground like a huge underground city network.
These secret passages were all made of brick and stone, but they looked very old. Even with Sebastian's hundreds of years of experience, he couldn't tell the specific age of these secret passages.
After entering the secret passage, Sebastian discovered thorn rose marks left in the corners one after another, one in each section, guiding him to go deeper.
After walking for who knows how long, he finally came to an open underground space, and what came into his sight was a magnificent underground palace.
No, perhaps it cannot be simply called a palace.
Looking at the ancient religious murals depicting towers and war scenes, and the dilapidated statue of the God of Lake Mo that was enshrined in front of the palace, Sebastian's heart was moved:
"Is this... an underground temple?"
Taking a deep breath, Sebastian carefully searched for the holy emblem in the temple, wanting to see which god this temple, which had been buried for who knows how many years, belonged to.
However, what surprised him was that all the places where the holy emblem should have been had their traces erased artificially.
However, in his search for the holy emblem, he once again discovered the symbol of the thorny rose.
He continued calmly along the markings, deeper into the temple, until he came to an ancient stone door.
It was a huge stone gate, at least twenty meters high.
There are unclear patterns carved on the stone gate, and there are grooves surrounding the patterns.
There was a strong smell of blood coming from the groove. Sebastian took a look and soon saw some residual bloodstains.
In the center of the gate, you can see a devil's eye symbol. The symbol is obviously newly carved. You can vaguely see that before that symbol, there were actually other symbols carved on the gate.
"This is… "
Sebastian's eyes narrowed slightly.
"This is the mark of the Blood Demon Duke..."
"Haha, I never thought that there is still an ancient temple in the North. No wonder those crazy people from the Blood Demon Cult want to do something here."
A lazy voice came from behind him, and Sebastian was instantly alert.
He drew his weapon almost subconsciously, and then saw a handsome young man in black appear behind him.
"Bloodlines?"
Looking at the other person's scarlet eyes, Sebastian raised his eyebrows.
The handsome young man smiled slightly and looked Sebastian up and down:
"Red hair, tailcoat, you are Lord Sebastian, the butler of Count Castel?"
"Nice to meet you, Lord Sebastian. You can call me Yulster."