After searching the envoy, Bai Shi had no intention of fixing his jaw.
The guy was incredibly annoying, and if he bit his tongue and committed suicide, it would be difficult for Bai Shi to explain it to Edgar, who would surely want to interrogate him thoroughly.
Although it was unlikely they could get any information out of an assassin like him, a living one was always more useful than a dead one.
Ignoring the envoy, Bai Shi looked toward Edgar. He wanted to look around the castle to find a new set of armor, a weapon, or something of the sort.
The Grafted Blade Greatsword was quite good, its skill increasing all attributes by 5, but this particular one was completely different from the one in the game. It was far too sinister. Moreover, the strength requirement was too high, and he hadn't decided which stats to level up yet, so he put it aside for now.
He didn't have many weapons left in his inventory—only the Ritual Straight Sword and the envoy's reinforced broadsword were barely usable, but Bai Shi didn't feel particularly comfortable wielding either of them.
If possible, Bai Shi wanted to find another weapon like a greatsword, halberd, or greataxe.
Or perhaps a lighter, smaller weapon like a dagger, which would make it easier to apply Ashes of War like Quickstep or Bloodhound's Step in the future.
He saw that Irena and Edgar, the father and daughter, were still immersed in the warmth of their reunion.
The rebellion of the past two days had put immense mental strain on him. As the castellan, he had to remain composed, but now he could finally release his pent-up emotions.
Seeing that their conversation wouldn't be over any time soon, Bai Shi temporarily gave up on the idea of having Edgar show him around.
A nearby soldier, noticing Bai Shi watching Irena and Edgar, spoke up:
"Lord Edgar may seem stern and difficult to approach, but he's actually very kind and treats commoners like us well. Everyone in the castle respects him deeply."
"It's a shame that such a man has faced one misfortune after another. The castellan's wife passed away not long after giving birth to Lady Irena, and Lady Irena herself was born with a defect in her eyes."
"So I am truly grateful to you for reuniting Lord Edgar and Lady Irena."
With that, he made to kneel and bow again, but Bai Shi quickly stopped him.
"If you truly want to thank me, then show me around the castle." Official source ıs 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⚫𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⚫𝔫𝔢𝔱
"I need new armor and a weapon right now. We can clear out any remaining Misbegotten along the way."
The young soldier immediately agreed and found another soldier to take his place guarding the envoy.
Then, he began to show Bai Shi around the castle.
Castle Morne was many times larger than in the game. The explorable areas in the game were mostly just the walls; the internal layout of the rooms was never shown.
During their conversation, Bai Shi learned the soldier's name: Yulius.
His father was a blacksmith, which was a good profession in the Lands Between—one never had to worry about going hungry. His mother did handicrafts. His family lived a decent life in Castle Morne, and he even had a kind and considerate childhood sweetheart.
When Yulius came of age, he joined the army and began training. He had a knack for it, and Edgar had once praised him as the most promising candidate to be knighted in recent years.
The young man should have had a bright future ahead of him, but now everything was ruined.
Yulius led Bai Shi straight to the armory, explaining the purpose of the various rooms along the way. It didn't take them long to arrive.
The armory was in a mess. The Misbegotten had broken in earlier and plundered it, taking many of the shortswords, daggers, and similar weapons.
Yulius expertly navigated through the mess and led Bai Shi to a corner of the armory.
Because his father was a blacksmith, Yulius also held a part-time position restocking the armory after joining the army, so he was very familiar with the place.
He was also the one who had led the men to the armory earlier to retrieve the crossbows and nets for support.
"These are all heavier and longer weapons. Those beasts don't know how to use them, so a lot are left. However, these are all standard-issue weapons, so the quality is pretty average," Yulius explained, pointing to the two rows of weapon racks in front of them.
"Spears, straight swords, greatswords... although some have been damaged or lost, the variety is still quite complete."
"Please, take a look around, but there aren't any particularly good weapons here. Afterward, I'll take you to a deeper storeroom where the quality is much better."
Bai Shi took a closer look. They were all the most common types of weapons, with no Ashes of War on them. He wasn't particularly impressed.
Since Yulius said there were better quality weapons inside, Bai Shi decided not to take anything.
Seeing that Bai Shi hadn't found a weapon to his liking, Yulius led him into a connecting corridor behind the armory.
As they passed a wooden crate, a Misbegotten suddenly leaped out, its dagger raised high above its head, and stabbed viciously toward Yulius, who was leading the way.
Yulius reacted quickly. Despite being ambushed, he immediately raised his shield to defend, but another hand was faster.
Bai Shi's left hand caught the Misbegotten's wrist, the one holding the dagger, while his right arm circled around the back of its head, his large hand gripping its face.
With a sharp tug of his right hand and a sickening *crack*, the Misbegotten's head was twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees. It collapsed limply to the ground.
Bai Shi dusted off his hands. He was now all too familiar with how to kill a Misbegotten; dispatching one with his bare hands was effortless.
"Lord Bai Shi, you're incredible!"
Yulius looked at Bai Shi with adoration, like a young fanboy.
There were no more such interruptions on the rest of the way, and the two arrived at the storeroom smoothly.
Unlike the armory, the storeroom was a small room with no weapon racks. All the weapons were kept inside chests.
"What's in these chests?"
Bai Shi asked, noticing there were no labels on them to indicate their contents.
"The ones in these wooden chests are weapons once used by outstanding warriors."
Yulius opened a large wooden chest first, displaying the weapons inside to Bai Shi.
There weren't many weapons in the chest, and all of them were in scabbards.
Bai Shi casually took out a Lordsworn's Straight Sword and drew it. The blade was well-maintained, and it had the Spinning Slash Ash of War.
"Not bad at all, much better than the ones in the armory. So, what about the ones in those stone chests?"
"The stone chests hold Castle Morne's finest weapons. I'm sure you'll be satisfied."
Yulius opened a stone chest. Inside lay a single, sheathless greatsword. Though it looked a bit old, it was still sharp.
Bai Shi picked it up for a closer look and immediately took a liking to it. Its blade was wider than the Lordsworn's Greatsword, the hilt was wrapped in thick leather, and it had already been upgraded four times.
But what truly caught Bai Shi's eye was its Ash of War—Lion's Claw.
"This is the one. I like it a lot."
No warrior could refuse Lion's Claw.