Chapter 115

Chapter 115 - Interior

Currently, the area practically used within the Moving Castle is not even 20 percent. They only reorganized and use the passages and rooms close to the large entrances.

Even so, it was equipped with basically all necessary facilities. If one were to point out the least popular place, it would undoubtedly be the sanctuary.

Because not only the Lord, Eugene, but his subordinates and residents were all people with no interest in religious life.

-To a noble lord, faith is like a formal suit. Whether you like it or not, whether it fits your body or not, keep up appearances. Because things might become awkward when receiving noble guests.

Thanks to Valda's advice, the sanctuary had been maintained cleanly, and finally, a use arose for it.

"This is an incredible spoil of war."

"I've never seen such a large lump of gold. Is this pure gold?"

The guards stationed in the castle were greatly excited seeing the golden goddess statue loaded on the cart.

"It is too precious an item to sell. Shall we move it to the treasure vault?"

The tribal merchant who came out to greet them with servants asked.

Spoils are roughly divided and stored in three types of warehouses.

The first is a place storing general merchandise to be sold off immediately when visiting villages or cities.

The second holds items of cashability, such as gold coins, silver coins, jewels, and accessories, which do not deteriorate over time and can themselves substitute for money.

The third are things that can be classified as treasures. Things of a sort that elevate the prestige of the castle and the family by being kept rather than sold.

However, Eugene had no intention of keeping the goddess statue in the warehouse.

"Even if ruined, a god is a god. And it would be a discourtesy to shove a being that governed the virtue of tolerance into a warehouse."

Thus, the holy statue of Vanas was moved to the sanctuary.

Befitting the posthumous work of an ancient kingdom where polytheism flourished the most, several sanctuaries existed within the Moving Castle.

Perhaps the people back then considered it disrespectful to enshrine all gods in one place, as they were not built in the form of a pantheon.

"It is small, yet massive."

"Just how did the ancients carve stone like this?"

Even Dwarves, whose pride in architecture pierced the sky, had no choice but to concede a step before the masonry of the ancient kingdom.

"Do you remember the statues that were broken and rolling around when we first entered here?"

"Of course. Their heads were cut off clean with a single stroke of a sword. In other sanctuaries, there were also ones smashed with a hammer."

"At the time, we merely cleaned them up thinking they were just broken statues. Looking back, they too might have once contained the wills of gods."

The original owners of this castle, the ancients, seemed to have abandoned their faith for some reason.

One wonders why they would do that when they were devout enough to painstakingly build splendid sanctuaries, but there is no one left to answer.

"This Goddess is also quite lucky. Isn't this the best spot since it connects directly from the central castle gate?"

Whether in faith or commerce, accessibility is always the most important factor.

"Because a first connection is a precious thing."

"As expected of you, Sir Knight."

"If needed, changing the spot is enough."

"...As expected of you, Sir Knight."

No matter how much nobles use religion as a means to establish their own authority, there were limits.

Because, while one could be halfhearted about faith, they could not take the fear and belief in gods lightly due to the limitations of the era.

However, wasn't the Lord in front of them treating it with an attitude as if dealing with a mercenary group or a merchant association?

Thus, the golden goddess statue was placed atop the sanctuary's altar.

Bristle!

The moment it was enshrined, the Dwarves' beards reacted. Although they knew nothing of magic, they intuited that some strange phenomenon had occurred.

"There is no need to be tense."

"But my Lord. A person who does not move when their beard stands on end will be ridiculed at their funeral."

"So I learn one of the Dwarves' sayings."

Having had the experience of fighting immortal enemies at the slave traders' hideout, the Dwarves reacted sensitively.

"Rest assured, it really isn't dangerous."

Eugene, being a magician, felt the mystery of the dangerously weak goddess statue rapidly gaining vitality.

If until a moment ago it had been a sapling withering after being pulled from the soil, now it looked as if its roots were soaked in a hydroponic cultivation tank filled with nutrient solution.

Having tasted the nourishment that the slave traders' twisted devotion alone could not fulfill, spiritual ecstasy leaked out.

"It is a sanctuary built by ancient people concentrating their technology and magic. There must be something satisfying enough for a god to reside there as well."

"It certainly did not feel like an ominous kind of sensation, though."

The Dwarves stroked their beards and nodded.

"Our new family member seems to like this place very much. That's a relief."

Did Vanas also feel embarrassed by the intense reaction she showed? The wavelength radiating from the holy statue settled calmly.

"How is it? Did she seem satisfied when enshrined in the sanctuary?"

When he finished the work and returned, Marvas ran over aggressively and asked.

To him, a summoner, a god was one of his greatest interests. Since they were the most powerful and mysterious subjects among beings rooted in other worlds.

And unlike major religions that built mighty powers in the current world, it was a ruined god where annoying interference with approach and research would not intrude.

Yet its existence was intact, and its origin also stemmed from a benevolent domain.

As a summoner, one had to consider that conditions this perfectly aligned for researching a god had never existed.

"Why not go and see for yourself? Seeing is believing, isn't it?"

"That is a bit..."

"Are you afraid?"

Marvas quietly nodded.

He was someone who tasted a harsh experience due to youthful bravado. Even knowing in his head that it was safe, encountering it directly seemed to give him goosebumps.

"I learned that you should not hunt fish for someone, but teach them how to hunt. As a magician, you must be able to face mysteries directly."

Eugene pushed Marvas's back and led him to the sanctuary. Although it would be correct to call it the Sanctuary of Tolerance or the Sanctuary of Vanas now.

"W-wait a moment!"

"Would a Goddess of Tolerance really try to do us harm?"

"Have you forgotten that we butchered her believers?"

"She didn't really seem to hold much of a grudge for that."

"No, really?"

"She is a goddess born precisely out of tolerance. Since they reduced her to a lackey for the act of turning innocent people into slaves, it would be weird in its own right if she had deep affection for them. The slave traders were devout and Vanas also spared no blessings, but it seemed closer to a business relationship."

"...Tell me more about it!"

Eugene slowly pushed Marvas little by little deeper inside the temple as he explained at a leisurely pace.

* * *

If the sanctuary was the least popular place in the Moving Castle, the most popular place was the gymnasium.

-You want to make a gymnasium? We already have an indoor parade ground, don't we? Rather than that...

-Rex. The parade ground is a place to build stamina by running or doing formation training. What I am trying to build is a place to grow this.

When Eugene tapped his arm muscles, Rex's face brightened.

-Ah! We absolutely must have that!

The place created like that was the indoor gymnasium. The birth of the world's first fitness club.

Thud!

An iron dumbbell fell to the ground, emitting a loud noise.

"Hey! Can't you put it down gently?"

"Doing that won't break the floor... probably, but what are you going to do if the dumbbell gets ruined?"

Befitting a place built with the masonry of the ancient kingdom, the floor didn't suffer a single scratch no matter how roughly it was treated.

Most of those exercising everywhere were, once again, the Dark Elves. The human and Dwarf mercenaries were repulsed by it.

Since they seemed to take weight training as a form of punishment rather than training, Eugene also specifically didn't recommend it. As time passed, they would naturally join in one by one.

"It is truly a shame about the mirrors."

"I combed through the whole castle sorting out the intact ones, but this is the limit."

Rex spoke while scratching his head.

During the long neglect, most of the glass had broken or cracked. And they couldn't exactly rip out the ones placed in the throne room, sanctuaries, or other important places.

"I want to fill an entire wall completely with glass if I had my way."

"That would be a luxury not easy even for an ordinary high noble."

Glass itself was treated as a valuable commodity, and top-grade mirrors that would pass Eugene's standards were pricelessly expensive.

Elsewhere, Cassandra could be seen hanging from a high horizontal bar, pulling herself up and down.

"Isn't she truly beautiful? And not just because she is a person from our tribe."

Cassandra wore the tribe's traditional sleeveless workout clothes that fully exposed her back.

Thanks to that, her well-developed shoulders and back were unabashedly revealed, and the Dark Elf's dark skin tone further accentuated the beauty of her muscles.

"Hup!"

Along with sharp breathing sounds, when her sculptural arms moved, her latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles rippled like waves. It felt like invisible wings were fluttering.

The problem was that she was overtraining. The cause was Homi, hanging parallel side-by-side with Cassandra.

"Even though I told you to value taking breaks while dividing sets."

"Because she's a fiercely competitive kid."

For the prideful Cassandra, stopping while Homi was still going was unacceptable.

"She'll get hurt at that rate. Why don't you go and stop her?"

"Even if I say something, she'll just easily ignore me. Still, if you add a word from the side, Sir Knight, she'll come right down, won't she?"

"..."

This was why he had not yet placed relatively simple-to-make yet highly effective equipment like barbells.

Weight training using weighted equipment had a risk of injury, and his subordinates were sorely lacking in their preparation for it.

He planned to systematically add equipment after conducting more thorough education.

As he approached the horizontal bar, a heated, somewhat sweet body scent rushed onto Eugene's face.

With trembling arms, pouring rain-like sweat, Cassandra gritted her teeth and pulled her body up.

Droplets of sweat traveling down her long neck, smooth armpits, and deeply indented waist formed beads at her toes. A small puddle was about to form underneath her.

On the other hand, Homi beside her was taking it easy. The white tail between her legs drooped limply on the way down, and curved into a U-shape on the way up, taking the force. It was an incredibly cute figure.

"Cheer up. Lady Cassandra."

"Do not lose."

Cassandra was having such a hard time that the cheers of her aides didn't even properly enter her ears.

"Nngh!"

As she tried to go up with sheer grit, at a certain moment, her body suddenly became very light.

"I thought I said you'll get hurt if you overdo it?"

"Eek?!"

Eugene, who had approached from behind at some point, grabbed Cassandra's waist and lifted her.

Because the startled woman suddenly lost her strength, she landed on the floor and fell on her buttocks.

Tap.

On the other hand, Homi landed quietly and then gracefully paid her respects.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

Cassandra, who frowned at the pain felt from her buttocks and a sense of defeat. However, she quickly changed to an amiable expression.

Because she could not take the hand the Lord extended with a face other than a smile.

"Horizontal bar exercises also only have proper effects when done with correct posture. Should I spot you from behind, so how about you take a quick rest and then do it again?"

Cassandra, who was about to readily accept, saw her drenched body and calmed her excited shoulders. Her nose twitched quietly.

"I am glad for your consideration, but I will stop here for today. Because it would be troublesome to overdo it and get hurt."

"Alright. Keep that mindset."

Cassandra busily moved her feet out of the gymnasium in a posture bordering on standing at attention.

"Was I right? Even that disobedient kid listens perfectly when you speak, my Lord."

"Well, it doesn't quite seem to have strictly been because of that, though."

Eugene tilted his head.

"Do Dark Elves have sensitive senses of smell?"

"Though not to the level of Beastkin, they are more sensitive than humans. Why do you ask?"

"I couldn't smell anything at all, so seeing her unnecessarily caring about it by herself and getting embarrassed was just cute, you see."

"Pardon?"

Eugene merely smiled at the bewildered Rex.

* * *

A universally popular place regardless of race or age was the armory.

It was called an armory, but it was also a place where armor was kept together; spoils obtained from battles or newly purchased equipment were stored here.

The diverse array of armaments obtained passing through various battles was a magnificent spectacle in itself.

Not only mercenaries coming to seek weapons that better suited them, but also young hopefuls dreaming of becoming next-generation warriors visited with faces full of curiosity.

Due to Eugene's policy, they were rented out for free if one just paid a small repair fee after battles, so less-experienced mercenaries visited frequently.

Because the surest way to discover a weapon that suited oneself best was by trying out this and that.

"What is the rental status?"

"Currently, 52 pieces have been taken out. Since weapons hardly get damaged during training anyway, repair fees don't even occur, so it's practically free."

The armory manager reported.

"They're using it more than I thought."

"There are many mercenaries who force themselves to use whatever weapon comes to hand due to cost issues. There are countless individuals who use weapons unsuitable for their aptitudes until the day they die. There are more than a few seeking their optimal weapons through this opportunity."

Eugene intended to eventually take responsibility for all weapons and armor of his subordinate forces.

Under the Lord's management, even new recruits would receive equipment above a certain quality to train with.

That was a part Eugene had dreamed of for a long time regarding the armies of this era, where everything ran without any order whatsoever.

In addition, he intended to set up a bank to immediately dispose of spoils obtained from battle at fair prices within the castle, and securely store the money obtained that way.

Warriors focusing fully on training and combat. A military focusing strictly on those two things was what Eugene desired. It was probably an ideal realizable only strictly within this castle.