Wizard Earl

To maintain secrecy and ensure that these secret passages remained unknown to outsiders, the then-head of the Ferguson family, Del Ferguson, on the advice of the family elders, decided that these passages would not be used together, but rather separately according to the family's different statuses.

The family elders have their own secret passage, the core members have their own secret passage, and the family head, his heirs, and relatives also have their own secret passage. These secret passages are not connected to each other, and they all lead to different directions. This way, the family can be kept secret to the greatest extent possible, and the family can be protected from being wiped out by others.

Now, several centuries have passed since the secret passage was built. With the consolidation of imperial rule and the establishment of a society governed by law, the secret passage in Ferguson Manor has become less and less important than originally intended. However, in this time of crisis, the secret passage is the greatest hope for Butler Martinez and even the entire Ferguson family!

As the family's head butler and an elder, Martinez was supposed to leave through the Elders' Secret Passage according to custom. However, he did not intend to do so. The reason was simple: in his eyes, Bernardo and Domenech, the organizers and implementers of this manor conspiracy, were both elders of the Ferguson family. They knew the location and route of the Elders' Secret Passage perfectly well. If the men in black did not find him in the manor, they would likely go to the Elders' Secret Passage to intercept him under their instructions.

After leaving the bushes, Butler Martinez did not rush to find the secret passage. He quietly came to a small bungalow in the manor where the servants lived, took off his clothes and burned them in the stove, changed into a servant's clothes, and smeared some soot on his face to conceal his appearance as much as possible, so that he would look like an old and stupid servant rather than a family elder and the powerful butler.

Having disguised his identity, Butler Martinez lightly flicked his finger on the black cane. With this movement, the only weapon he currently possessed—the black cane—seemed to activate its mechanical mechanism. Under Butler Martinez's force, it transformed into a short stick about the length of a palm, which he then concealed in his sleeve.

After finishing these tasks, Butler Martinez left the servants' quarters and slowly walked towards the northeast corner of the manor. Along the way, groups of men in black were rushing about, searching for Butler Martinez in every corner of the manor on Domenech's orders. Little did they know that their target was right beside them.

After walking for about ten minutes, Butler Martinez, disguised as an old handyman, arrived at a junkyard. Because Ferguson Manor is so large, it has two junkyards to collect and transport the garbage generated by the manor. One is located in the southwest corner of the manor, and the other is the northeast corner junkyard that Butler Martinez has now arrived at.

Upon arriving at the landfill, Butler Martinez didn't rush into action. Instead, he surveyed the area, and only after confirming there were no men in black around did he begin his operation. Following his memory, he went to the landfill's workers' toilet. Looking at the stench, Butler Martinez showed no disgust; on the contrary, a hint of delight appeared in his eyes…

Arriving at the tightly locked tool room in the restroom, Martinez, the Grand Knight and head butler, easily knocked off the lock with a clean and swift chop and entered. Looking at the tool room filled with a dazzling array of toilet tools such as mops and brooms, Martinez searched for something among these tools while recalling his memories.

Soon, Butler Martinez found what he was looking for: a roughly made but sturdy iron hammer. Without hesitation, he began smashing it against the right wall of the tool shed. It was unclear what was so special about this seemingly ordinary hammer, but the wall, constructed of reinforced concrete and supposedly very solid, was smashed open with just a few blows, as if it were made of tofu. Through this opening, one could vaguely see a large, dark iron door behind it!

After a few more hammer blows, Martinez's butler tore down the wall, revealing the large iron gate behind it. The gate was about two meters high and one meter wide, and apart from a keyhole in the center, there were no other markings on it.

Upon seeing the iron gate appear, Butler Martinez tossed aside the hammer in his hand, a complex look appearing in his aged eyes. The Ferguson family's collection of books numbered in the tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, but without exception, none of them contained any record of this iron gate. This iron gate and its current location existed only in the oral tradition passed down through generations of Ferguson family heads!

This iron gate is forged entirely from high-quality steel. Once locked, it is extremely difficult to open unless one has a unique method of doing so, even using tons of gunpowder would hardly be enough to blast it open. Behind this massive iron gate lies the most secret and hidden passage of the Ferguson Manor, the patriarch's secret passage. According to the Ferguson family's rules, this passage belongs to the patriarch and the first in line of succession. Only the patriarch himself knows about it, and it is then personally passed on to the first in line of succession when the first few heirs come of age.

Although he was the family's head butler and a member of the family's council of elders, Martinez did not know the location of this secret passage before, according to the rules. However, more than a year ago, Connor's father, the Earl of Ferguson, Alfredo Ferguson, was seriously ill and knew that his days were numbered. Seeing that Connor had not returned to the family for a long time, he was filled with despair and feared that he would not see Connor return before he was alive.

Therefore, in order to prevent the secret of the patriarch's passage at Ferguson Manor from being lost, Alfredo Ferguson made a very bold decision. He broke with the Ferguson family tradition that the patriarch would inform the first in line of succession about the patriarch's passage. Instead, he revealed the location of the patriarch's passage to his most trusted butler, Martinez, who had served the Ferguson family diligently and devotedly throughout his life. He hoped that after his death, Martinez would tell Connor the secret of the patriarch's passage at Ferguson Manor.