Chapter 249: Ransacking Viscount Parker

After Parker's death, the battle that had lasted from evening until dawn came to a complete end.

He ordered his subordinates to continue searching the castle, leaving no survivors, while also gathering the spoils.

"My lord, look! We found this in the third-floor storage room! It's all treasures!"

Not long after, Migen and the other knights carried five chests to Gervas's side, their faces glowing with uncontainable excitement!

"Really? Open them!"

At Gervas's command, Migen and the others wasted no time.

First were the three largest wooden chests, each one and a half meters long and over eighty centimeters tall.

As the chests slowly opened, three full containers of gleaming copper coins came into view.

"So much?"

Even though Gervas had been lord for several months, he had never seen this many copper coins before.

After all, the wealth of his own castle was mostly luminescent pearls and gold coins, or other supplies.

Such a reserve of copper coins was truly rare.

These three large chests must have held at least a million copper coins.

Of course, converted to gold coins, it was only about a hundred gold coins.

"My lord, there's even better stuff coming!"

Migen reported with a sly grin, then began opening the fourth, slightly smaller chest—about eighty centimeters long and fifty centimeters tall.

As the chest opened, a dazzling silver glow blinded Gervas.

"Ha! My lord, Lord Parker was truly wealthy—this many silver coins must be at least ten thousand!"

Ten thousand silver coins amounted to a hundred or so gold coins.

For a viscount, it wasn't much.

Still, as before, Gervas had never seen so many silver coins packed together in one large chest.

"And, my lord, I think none of the previous chests compare to this one—this last chest is made of iron and locked!"

"Then open it!"

Gervas was genuinely curious.

Migen didn't hesitate, pulling out his dagger and immediately prying at the lock.

With a sharp click, the flimsy lock gave way.

The next moment, the iron chest's lid slowly lifted.

As the chest opened, a golden glow burst forth!

Too bright!

So incredibly bright!

A vast sea of golden coins blinded everyone's eyes.

Even Migen and the others stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, frozen before the contents of the chest.

Even though Gervas had expected something substantial, he was still stunned by the gold inside.

"This… this is too much, my lord—there must be at least a thousand gold coins here!"

"I think it's over fifteen hundred!"

Gervas, with his experience, could estimate the number of coins by the size of the iron chest.

His estimate was remarkably close.

The seventeen hundred gold coins Parker had intended to send to Eagle City to bribe officials were now inside this chest.

The other chests of copper and silver coins could remain in the domain for daily expenses.

"Over fifteen hundred? No wonder it's a viscount's castle—so incredibly wealthy! Congratulations, my lord, you've gained a tremendous bounty!"

"If only we could find more castles like this in the future!" Migen said with eager hope.

The other knights clearly agreed with this thought.

One thousand seven hundred gold coins were an enormous sum in this world.

Many minor nobles couldn't accumulate that much over generations.

Now, it had been acquired in a single night.

Gervas himself felt deeply moved.

No wonder nobles loved looting.

It truly was a path to wealth.

Still, he knew the risk was great—failure could mean total ruin.

So, better to stick to trade; the profits could even outpace raiding.

Next, he ordered his men to seal the wooden chests and load them onto carts, while also seizing all manner of gold and silver vessels and valuables from the castle, then gave the order to retreat.

Because if they waited any longer, dawn would break.

Though many ordinary supplies couldn't be carried off—tools, food, linen, and so on.

But time was limited; they had no choice but to abandon them.

Still, the total value of what Gervas took away was at least three thousand gold coins—truly a full haul.

Before leaving, Gervas instructed his men to make a simple arrangement in the castle.

First, they took away the bodies of Parker, Kieran, Bell, and other vassals and servants.

This was done not only to prevent visible signs of human-caused wounds from being seen.

But also to create an unsolved mystery.

After all, if he had looted the castle's vaults clean, yet Parker's corpse remained inside,

even with corpses of dark creatures scattered everywhere,

it would immediately reveal that a third party had been here.

After all, dark creatures were murderous—but not greedy.

So by taking Parker's body, no one could determine whether he was dead or alive.

Nor could they tell whether the treasure had been taken by him—or stolen by others.

As the first streaks of red dawn rose over the eastern horizon, Gervas and his men arrived back at the castle.

While Gervas returned laden with spoils, the people of Lord Parker's domain felt as if the sky had collapsed.

As daylight gradually brightened, some bold townsfolk, worried about their wealth, cautiously returned to the village.

Once they confirmed no dark creatures remained in the village, they dared to head toward the castle.

Last night, everyone had heard noises coming from the castle direction.

When they approached within a few hundred meters of the castle, they immediately saw the gruesome scene: corpses and bloodstains everywhere.

More importantly, the castle gates stood wide open—with not a single soul in sight.

"This… the castle… has it been breached?!"

"Oh heavens, what happened to our viscount?!"

"We don't know! What should we do now?!"

The townsfolk were utterly at a loss.

At that moment, one clever townsman's eyes gleamed strangely, "What if we search inside the castle?"

"Huh?"

The others froze for a moment, then suddenly understood—their eyes lit up.

"Yes! Let's go look!"

Immediately, the townsfolk surged toward the castle.

Even if danger lurked inside, it seemed unable to stop their determination.

Soon, the townsfolk searched the castle thoroughly but found no trace of the lord—only the cold corpses of servants and guards.

After failing to find the lord, the serfs began to exit the castle.

Yet beneath their clothes, they seemed to be hiding something.

Then, more serfs arrived!

"What are you doing? What happened to the castle?"

The few serfs who had entered earlier jumped in fright, "We… we went inside to search for Lord Parker, but he didn't seem to be there… then I needed to use the latrine, so I left…"

Saying this, the serfs hurried away.

Clatter!

"Hey, you dropped something!"

Hearing this, the serfs ran even faster.

The new arrivals stepped forward and saw a white porcelain cup—something only a noble could afford.

"This…"

The men exchanged glances—they understood perfectly.

"What if we go inside and search for Lord Parker too?"

"Yes!"

Thus, more and more serfs entered the castle, searching for "Lord Parker!"

As they ransacked it, the last traces of evidence within Parker's castle vanished completely.