Nat Nwe - Castle

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When Kay arrived, the rain had already set. The village was shrouded in fog. The mountain on which the castle stood was hidden by darkness and fog. There was not even a light to indicate that there was a castle there. Kay stood on the wooden bridge on the main road to the village and stared for a long time at the deceptively wide expanse above him.

Then he set out to find a place to sleep for the night. The inn was still busy. The innkeeper, embarrassed by the lack of room for an unexpected guest who had arrived so late at night, allowed him to sleep on a straw sack in the living room. Some of the farmers were still drinking beer, but Kay didn’t feel like talking to them, so he carried a straw sack from upstairs and lay down next to the stove. The place was warm and the farmers were quiet, and he fell asleep while watching them with tired eyes.

But he soon woke up. A young man, with thick eyebrows, narrow eyes, and the face of an actor, dressed like a city man, stood beside him, with the innkeeper. The farmers were still in the room, some of them turning their chairs to be more visible.

The young man apologized very politely for waking Kay, then introduced himself as the son of the chief of police. He then said,

“This place belongs to the castle. So, whoever lives in this village, or spends the night in this village, is like staying in the castle. No one is allowed to do so without the king’s permission. You don’t have that permission either. Or you can’t show any permission.”

Kay got up from his bed a little, ran a hand through his hair, and looked up at the two people standing next to him. Then

"What am I doing here? There is a castle in this village."

"Is there?"

"Surely. It is the castle of my lord, King Westwest."

As heads shook here and there at Kay's words, the young man spoke slowly.

“Does a person need permission to sleep here?”

Kay asked, wanting to make sure what he heard wasn't a dream.

“A person must have a permit.”

After the young man replied, he made a mocking gesture towards Kay and then asked the people in the room.

"There must be a permit, right?"

"Okay, then I'll go get a permit."

Kay pushed the blanket away to get out of bed and yawned. “Who are you going to get it from?” the young man asked. “From the king. That’s the only way to do it.”

K replied.

"Are you going to get permission from the king in the middle of the night?"

The young man chanted as he took another step back.

"Isn't that possible?"

Kay asked coldly.

“Then why did you wake me up?”

Here, the anger of the youth boiled up.

"Don't be a fool. Respect the king's authority. I'm telling you to leave the king's territory right now."

He shouted.

"Don't make these kinds of proportions"

K replied in a cold voice. Then he lay down again and pulled the blanket over himself.

“My dear, you have gone a little too far. I will speak to you about your conduct tomorrow. If necessary, the innkeeper and the gentlemen of the house will support me. I will tell you. I am the surveyor you are looking for. My two assistants will arrive tomorrow with their equipment in a horse-drawn carriage. I came here to walk in the snow. But unfortunately, I often get lost and am so late that I have to wait so long.

"I've just arrived. I knew before you told me that it was too late to report to the castle. That's why I'm sleeping here. That's why you have the right to disturb me so uncivilized. That's all I have to say. Good night, sir."

Saying this, Kay leaned towards the stove.

"Are you writing a land survey?"

He heard a hesitant question from behind him. Then all was quiet. However, the young man soon regained consciousness and, as if aware that K was sleeping, raised his voice, but spoke to the innkeeper in a loud but clearly audible voice.

"I'll call and check."

So, is there a telephone in this village inn? They have everything they need. For a moment, K was surprised. But all in all, it was exactly as he had expected. The telephone was right above his head. He was so sleepy that he didn’t see it. If the young man had to call, no matter how good he was, he couldn’t help but disturb K. The problem was that K wouldn’t let him call. K decided to let him. Then he wouldn’t have to pretend to be asleep. So he turned around.

He saw the big farmers standing head to head. The arrival of a land surveyor was no small matter. The kitchen door opened. The huge figure of the innkeeper, standing in the doorway, blocked the entire doorway. The innkeeper tiptoed over to the woman to tell her what was going on.

Now he heard a voice on the telephone. The chief of police was asleep. He was in contact with one of the deputy chiefs, Hafriz. The young man called himself Schwarzer. He reported that he had found Kay. He was in his thirties, sleeping peacefully on a straw bag, and that he had not found a shoulder bag to use as a pillow, and that he had not found a walking stick nearby. He did not suspect the creature.

The innkeeper had failed to do his job, so he (Shawarza) had to make inquiries, he had woken the man up and questioned him, he had to remind him that this was the king's territory, the man did not seem to take it well, and finally the man said that he was a surveyor hired by the king, so he needed to get official confirmation of this statement, so Shawarza asked Hafriz to inquire at the headquarters whether the surveyor was waiting for him. He told him to call back immediately.

Fritz made his inquiries and the young man waited for an answer. K did not change his position. He did not turn around once. He just stared into the open air, seemingly indifferent. The mixture of anger and cunning in Schwarzer's report made K realize that even subordinates like Schwarzer in the castle were rich in diplomatic skills. Not only that, they were not negligent in their diligence. They were assigned to the night shift at the headquarters. They seemed to answer inquiries immediately. Fritz called back. His answer seemed to be brief. Schwarzer immediately hung up the phone. Then, in anger...

"As I said. There's no trace of a land surveyor. Just an ordinary person. A vagabond and a liar. It could be worse than that."

Kay thought of them all. The Schwarzer, the big farmers, the innkeeper, the landlady. They would all be gathered around him and attack him. Kay crawled under the blanket to escape their first attack. At that moment, the telephone rang. Kay thought it was a special call. He slowly raised his head. This call could not possibly be related to Kay, but everyone hesitated. Schwarzer picked up the telephone. He listened to the other person talking for a long time. Then he said softly.

“Is it a mistake? I’m sorry to hear that. The head of the department himself said that? That’s strange. That’s strange. How can I explain all this to the land surveyor?”

Kay listened. In this case, the castle recognized him as a land surveyor. However, in a way, this was not a good omen for him. Because this meant that the castle knew him well. After anticipating the possible situations, he accepted the challenge with a smile.