The gang stood in front of the behemothic castle, its colossal shadow extending across the small valley even in midday.
"....I guess we are gonna have to stay for more than a day here to explore the castle."
Ryder could sense the smugness radiating from Purple silently mocking him.
"I can practically smell that juicy, meaty prime steak. Don't disappoint me, Ryder~" Purple cackled loudly as he forcefully punched the humongous castle doors wide open and left a fist-shaped dent. It caused a huge gust of dust inside the castle and sent the skeletons behind the doors flying. The sound of the iron door smashing against the wall reverberated throughout the valley. Green and Ryder cringed at how little Purple cared about the worn-out castle. The human sighed depressively and advanced into the building.
"I will guard the entrance, Ryder. You should have fun with Green."
The duo turned around.
"Aren't you curious about what's inside the castle, Brown?" Green nodded in agreement.
"Someone needs to make sure there won't be any distractions trying to enter the castle." Even in her dragon form, her kind smile shined through.
The duo thanked her cheerfully. Green deposited all the supplies he was carrying to Brown before making their way into the castle. The earth dragon nested herself comfortably right in front of the entrance with a tall mudwall.
The light pouring through the large, enchanting glass windows illuminated the bloody hallways littered with corpses. Many of the skeletons had armor on them, while the rest wore torn dresses and suits. A silent hymn of death followed the duo's rhythmic footsteps.
Ryder held his notebook close to his chest before sneezing, futilely trying to wave away all the dust occupying the lifeless castle. He opened it up again and sketched out a rough layout of where they had been. Green sauntered out into the large garden full of weeds and decayed plants. There were a couple of corpses lying on the ground as well. They looked...smaller. He solemnly stared at it, before using his innate magic to clear out a section of the garden and used his vines to lay the bodies to proper rest. He then revived a handful of flowers and placed them down on the grave. Ryder, witnessing Green, approached the graves and paid his respect along with his dragon before moving on.
The next location they arrived at was the banquet hall. The doors remained unbroken due to being heavily fortified from the inside. Unfortunately, the soldiers protecting the nobles were a little too confident that the attackers wouldn't try destroying the rather thin wall with brute force. The duo stepped through the gaping hole and tried not to imagine the gruesome deaths that took place as some of the corpses have very incomplete skeletons. Green took a whiff at the 'food' that was on the only intact table in the hall before tilting it over, causing a loud crashing sound. Ryder sternly looked at him for disturbing the silence. Green blepped before trotting to the large puddle of black ash. It was about the same height as the hole in the wall. Ryder made a mental note to get Purple here later so he could learn what creature was this.
The sun descended further as they went past the garrison and the large courtyard before arriving at the hugeeee kitchen. Ryder's eyes lit up in excitement as he examined every inch of the place. Green was glad there weren't any corpses around to potentially get them sick after dinner with the 'bacteria' thingies that his rider rambled about before. The human couldn't stop remarking about the ingredients, how they were kept fresh with magic after so long and what dishes they could be made into. The duo then left the kitchen discussing what they could have for dinner later.
They examined the living quarters for the workers on the first and second floor, located right next to the spiraling stairs. Ryder wasn't sure if this layout is typical for a castle, but he ignored the thought. Besides, he's in another world. It's already a surprise there are so many resemblances between the two worlds. There were rows of beds with small nightstands and chests beside it.
"Talk about privacy, yeesh," The human quietly sent his condolences to all the once-alive introverted occupants. Green curiously opened up every chest with his vines and poked his face into it, hoping to find anything that caught his eyes. Ryder didn't notice what the dragon was doing until it used its tail to smash open locked chests. It upset him. Yes, they were here to explore and loot the place, but these items belonged to the peasants. It didn't feel right to steal from people who were already being treated badly when they were still alive. Green did not share the same sentiment. They had a small argument, but Ryder conceded after being reminded they were sorely lacking in money. So the duo rummaged through all the chests, albeit Ryder doing so guilty, and grabbed any interesting or valuable items they found. Right as they were about to head back to Brown, Green noticed something shiny was hiding between a bed and its frame. There were indeed tiny gems and a rotten letter stashed there. With this discovery, the duo applied the standard RPG tactic of going through every nook and cranny to search for more hidden loot. By the time they found a large enough sack to lug everything they found back to Brown, Purple was waiting impatiently in the setting sunlight.
After learning Purple's own discovery, the gang decided they would rest in the royal chamber on the highest floor. It didn't have any corpses and the bed was made out of a magical material that froze its pristine condition in time. Green and Ryder took their cooking ingredients before the other two went upstairs after closing the castle door.
In the kitchen, the duo methodologically cleaned the cooking apparatus as well as the ingredients. The menu for tonight's dinner would be: Purple's precious, precious prime steak (Ryder sheds a tear), a hopefully delicious and totally not poisonous pot of stew with well-preserved decades-old ingredients from the kitchen, garlic puffs, and Green's favorite, a giant bowl of salad. The human could barely hold back the joy of finally cooking in a kitchen again, especially in one that is as grand as this. With Green as his assistant, the duo began their work.
As the stars grew brighter than the waning sun, Purple lit up the candles on their way to the kitchen on behalf of Brown's insistence. Brown stayed at the chamber to complete her fortifications and traps to repel possible intruders.
After arriving at the kitchen to check on his steak, the purple-dragon rapidly calibrated his anti-gravity spell and sat on a kitchen counter far from the chefs. Green used his vines to make the garlic puffs and his salad simultaneously while Ryder muttered to himself the correct sequence of ingredients that he should dump into the stew. Purple's large slab of steak had been left searing on a pan with a handful of aromatic herbs next to the boiling pot.
The demigod had to be asked politely by his rider to clean up the banquet hall so that they would have a comfortable place to eat. For the sake of savoring his steak as much as possible, Purple begrudgingly requested for the hall's direction and left. The skeletons laying on the ground irked him, so he swept all of them up to the courtyard with his wind magic.
Once the banquet hall had been lit up to be as bright as the two moons hanging in the sky, Purple worked more of his magic to clean up the space. He then swiftly used a spell to restore one of the smashed dining tables and four chairs back to its original form. He then sat on one of the chairs and whipped out his book. However, he was immediately disturbed by a few immaterial residents of the castle. He found these ghastly beings entertaining when he was younger, but now they're little more than just pests. He sighed in frustration before placing his book on the table and got to work. A demigod exorcising ghosts sounds like a shitty punchline to a crappy joke.
Brown was satisfied with her work in and outside the chamber before leaving for the kitchen. She froze when a spectre passed through the walls and floated towards her with a detestable appearance. Even as a dragon, she was always afraid of them in the way that Ryder is afraid of roaches. Brown did her best to dodge the spectre as calmly as she could, recalling her people's advice that the more scared you are of them, the harder it is to shake them off. Her attempts were futile, however, as the spectre noticed her fear. She instantly broke into a sprint in her human form. Purple definitely would have noticed the issue, and he'll likely be the only one who knows how to extinguish them. It'll be embarrassing for her to appear so frightful of a mostly harmless being, but it beats having nightmares in a castle full of corpses.
Landing on the first floor, she saw two light sources across the courtyard. Her seismic sense informed her that the banquet hall would be where Purple was. She peeked at the spectre behind her and regretted it as more of its friends gathered. Once inside the courtyard, she bent her knees and slingshotted herself across it with earth magic. A mud puddle formed at her landing spot and dampened the impact. Through the hole in the wall, she saw Purple standing in the hall with a weird hand gesture. Just as the spectres zipped through the air, almost catching Brown, the demigod uttered his spell.
All the spectres, including the one that was almost seen by Green and Ryder, were shredded out of existence in an instant. Purple grinned condescendingly at Brown before going back to read his book. She wiped away the dirt on her clothes as she stood up and strolled towards the kitchen, feeling more annoyed than embarrassed.
Ryder asked what happened outside, and she assured that nothing was out of the ordinary. With the cooking concluded. Ryder held up a plate with Purple's steak, Brown with the puffs and salad, and Green with the stew as well as bowls and spoons on his vines.
Purple thanked his rider, to the bewilderment of everyone, for the steak and gracefully began his meal with a fork and knife. It was equally astonishing to see the demigod's expression bubbled in pleasure. Ryder was very tempted to take a photo with his smartphone, but he preferred it remained unbroken. Green placed the pot of stew near the table instead of on it due to its weight and they all shared a delightful meal. Thankfully, there was no food poisoning. Before Purple left for the library, in response to Ryder's prompt, he explained that the creature responsible for the chaos in the hall likely belonged to the elusive troll creature, believed to have gone extinct in a joint extermination effort a long time ago.
The trio headed to the royal bathroom after cleaning up the dishes. The shower system was partly made up of magic, therefore, they were able to enjoy a clean and refreshing bath. Green was joyous when the bed held up to his weight as it meant that he could snuggle with his rider on a super comfy bed. Brown rested right next to the only opened window in the room, and the trio entered their slumber.
