Okay, now the hardest part must be done. Going inside the castle legally may be one of the hardest things I have ever done. I could make it pass as if I was an itinerant prestidigitator wanting to impress the city''s Lord. Of course, I''ll be checked to see if I''m not an assassin since it is a time of war and the security went up but I should still be able to enter, the nobles do love being entertained and who can blame them, boredom is a plight that humanity is fighting since ancient times.


    I took a deep breath and stepped forwards. It did not take very long for the guards to stop me in my track. You have to expect that much security for a castle, otherwise, you wouldn''t survive a day. While they did not seem very strong compared to the one I trained at the Stardust mansion but I can see they are disciplined enough to be efficient. Since they are only guards and not nobles they don''t wear a heavy armor but they have enough not to get killed by anything.


    |Heya mate, whatcha doin'' here ?|(Guard)


    |I am but a wandering minstrel wanting to help the lord get rid of his boredom.|(Apocalypse)


    He looked at me and then at his colleague. He shook his head from left to right.


    |Listen, mate, it ain''t possible. Come back after the war has ended.|(Guard)


    |O of course, the war. Those wondrous battles, the field of battle where the heroes are born. The great calamity that the Divine Apostles created. O I have many stories to share with our great lord. O my muse, what a gift for you to have brought me here at such a needed time.|(Apocalypse)


    The two guards looked at me with doubtful eyes as I was unpackaging my drums and setting them up in the middle of the street. I''m a bit tired of using my head but I swore to myself that I will try to avoid casualty this time so I won''t kill them, I hope. I initially wanted to do what I''m about to do when meeting the lord but I guess I''ll have to do it now. It is something beast tamer able to use magic use in order to tame magical beast without taking too much risk. They pour magic in the sound they make in order to sooth the beasts, it works on Human too since some magic user use them in lullabies.


    But I hope I haven''t lost what I''ve learned during my youth. I took my drumsticks and made them spin. okay, one two three, one two three. Okay, let''s rock this place. I began to play a very calm tune, yet a bit thrilling. I poured magic in the sound and the people around me started to get drowsy and then after a few more seconds, they fell down, sleeping in the street. Since I am inexperienced in such magic even low-level mage should be able to resist it and sense it but it''ll have to do.Stolen novel; please report.


    I immediately stored the drums in my ring''s storage and ran inside the castle. Some people were sleeping while other, surely gifted with stronger magic resistance, were using the walls to help them stand up. I sped up so they could only see a blur when I passed. I am looking for the lord, I can only assume where he is by using what I know of Alice''s and my schedule. Since the sun rose just a few hours ago, then he must have woken up and started to do some paperwork if he is a good lord, that or he is using a decent staff to do his job for him.


    And if I follow the castle''s architecture then his office should be near the tallest tower, if he followed the convention. I darted towards it without caring about the magic protection set in the castle. Well that guy knows how to protect himself, it''s inefficient against me but if I were to be a regular man I wouldn''t have been able to enter. I had to run even faster so I would have time to discuss with the lord without having someone barge in the room.


    After a few seconds, I found the door. It was a large heavily guarded door, as I burst through it I had to knock out the two heavily armored guards that were on the outside. Inside the room was, like I had predicted, a noble, I can tell because of the crest he''s wearing, sitting or more accurately sleeping on his desk. Using magic I sealed the door and walked up to him. He was a small man, around Eali''s size. Such a shame he doesn''t have much hair, it would go well with that beard of his. I took him by the shoulder and slapped him to wake him up. Before he did I put my hand on his mouth so he wouldn''t scream.


    He opened his eyes and instead of panicking he just looked dead inside, not like he had given up on life but more like "O, it''s you". I let him go and change back into my original form, something to witch his only response was his lifting his eyebrow. Well, that guy certainly has more guts than many people I''ve seen so far, I kinda like that about a Human, they really miss that courage in face of strange things. But to be honest I also feel that his reaction his lacking.


    |No seriously, can''t ya be a bit more entertaining ? Like "Oh no what are ya doin'' here ?!" or somethin'' like that ?|(Apocalypse)


    |Ye''ll have ta do more ''han that boy, us Demi-dwarf ain''t so easily surprised.|(Noble)


    Ok, wait for a second, which one is the mother ? I heard Dwarven women were horrifying looking, even worse than the men. I mean Dwarven beards and beer are amazing but just look at their noses, in what world is it possible to have a nose so broken and red that people will think you are a bipedal Rudolf. Hell, are Dwarves Guarmille''s king henchmen. My god have I stumbled upon the world''s greatest secret ? I must tell everyone, the world will change. Fun aside, it is strange to see a Demi-Dwarf.


    |So mate, will ye stop lookin'' at me like I''m a piece o'' meat. What can the great Apocalypse Vermillion want from a lil'' mortal like me ?|(Noble)