Twilight Overture (Premium)
Page 8
Thus, they blended in with the surroundings and moved towards the fountain.
“Aishia, the splashing water will make the space shake. You can undo it now,” Rio said.
“Okay.” After Aishia undid the spirit art, Celia’s vision returned to normal.
“Just in case a guard comes, I’ll leave you to unlock the entrance, Professor.”
Prompted by Rio, Celia immediately began searching around the floor. “Leave it to me. It should be around here...”
Then, after a moment, Celia discovered the entrance to the hidden passageway. “Here it is!”
She moved her hands and pressed against the stone tiles on the ground, moving it towards the side like a sliding door. However, Celia lacked the strength to move the stone tile easily.
“Let me help. I just have to pull it this way, right?” Rio asked, promptly offering to assist her.
“Yeah, thank you...” No sooner than Celia had nodded, Rio was lightly moving the stone tile to the side, revealing the hidden stairway down to the house.
“I’m going to close it,” Rio said as they headed down.
“Yes, please. I’ll just light the place...” As Rio closed the entrance back up, Celia fiddled with the magic artifacts in the underground corridor to give the passageway light.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
They headed down the passageway; at the end of the long and narrow corridor was a wide, open space. It was probably directly below or very close to the house.
“I’m lighting the lanterns,” Celia said, activating the artifacts in the room. The lights on the ceiling immediately lit up, illuminating the space. Directly opposite the corridor from the fountain was a set of stairs leading up to the upper floors; it was lined with several doors on either side.
“It’s very spacious,” Rio noted, looking around the room curiously.
“No one other than my family comes here, so don’t worry. The doors on the left and right lead to the kitchen, bedrooms, and emergency living spaces. The stairs directly before us lead to the house, exiting at father and mother’s bedroom,” Celia said, explaining the structure of the underground room to Rio.
“I see. Then shall I leave your letter in your parents’ room? If they’re present, then we can also possibly arrange for you to meet them...” Rio asked, observing Celia’s expression.
“...No, don’t. The two of them should be in the capital right now. Mother regularly cleans this place out, so you can leave it here instead. The servants sometimes go into the bedroom, too.” Celia shook her head and took the letter out of the pocket of her cloak.
“...I understand.” Rio was about to suggest they wait around until her parents returned, but he swallowed his words and agreed instead. It was possible that Celia hadn’t completely organized her feelings yet, after all.
“Thank you, Rio.” Celia smiled softly.
“No problem. Let’s come see them some other time.”
We definitely will, Rio vowed to himself and returned Celia’s smile.
Interlude: Behind the Departure...
Meanwhile, in Beltrant, the capital of Beltrum; the morning after Rio and Celia had visited Count Claire’s territory...
At the foot of the hill where the Beltrum royal castle stood was a large lake that sustained the water for the entire capital. Next to the lake was a harbor where enchanted airships were anchored.
At present, the Ricca Guild’s enchanted airship was also anchored there, awaiting the boarding of Liselotte, the only daughter of Galarc Kingdom’s great lord Duke Cretia. In a private room on board the enchanted airship, Liselotte impatiently waited for departure as her waiting maid, Aria, poured her a cup of tea. But contrary to her elegant manner of sipping tea, Liselotte sighed wearily.
“Goodness me. We can finally leave...”
After being invited to Celia and Charles’ wedding ceremony, the uproar over the abduction had resulted in her containment in the Beltrum castle’s guest house under the pretext of protection up until last night.
“It’s been four days since the ceremony was suspended. Given how busy your daily life is, my lady, I humbly believe that this was a well-deserved break...” Aria, Liselotte’s close confidant and head maid, said to her in a calm voice.
“But the work will be piled up when we return, you realize? When I think about that mountain of paperwork...” Liselotte muttered with a gloomy face. As the governor of Amande, the president of the Ricca Guild, and the fact she would have been gone a week by the time she returned, just imagining the amount of work piled up had her feeling despondent.
“There’s no helping that. Try not to think about it until we return,” Aria said bluntly.
“...Well, I suppose you have a point. It’s not like I can do any of that work in my current situation.” Liselotte sighed quietly and pouted, her lips sticking out cutely as she slumped her weary body over the table. Seeing that, Aria thought her expression was befitting of a normal fifteen-year-old girl rather than a noble or merchant. Aria giggled at the sight of Liselotte’s true self.
“Lady Liselotte, it’s Chloe!” The voice of a young girl could be heard along with a knock on the door.
Liselotte immediately shot up into a proper posture and gave the girl permission to enter the room. “Come in — you can open the door.”
With a clack, the door opened. “E-Excuse me. I came to report that the preparations to depart have been completed.” Chloe — a cute girl in her early teens, wearing attendants’ clothing — stated her business with a hint of uncomfortable nervousness.
“Got it. Tell them I’m ready to depart at any time. Quickly and safely, that is,” Liselotte said with a nod, smiling gently.
“U-Understood, my lady! Please excuse me!” Chloe bowed deeply and left the room.
“She still seems to be rather nervous,” Liselotte said with a giggle.
“Honestly. Her training period is over now, yet she still has no awareness of herself as a maid.” Aria sighed tiredly.
“Fufu, that’s a newbie for you. And isn’t she just scared of you?” Liselotte said amusedly, turning to Aria. “Even taking that into consideration, her awareness is still lacking,” Aria stated resolutely.
Liselotte chuckled. “My my, how strict of you.”
Several minutes later, the enchanted airship departed from Beltrant’s harbor with Liselotte on board. The wings attached on either side of the sailing airship flapped gently, gradually increasing the speed of the boat along the surface of the water until it lifted off into the air. Its speed accelerated along with the liftoff, causing the ship to soar gently into the sky. At normal operating speed, the airship flew at roughly 50 knots (approximately ninety kilometers per hour).
Today’s weather was clear; the enchanted airship was swathed in bright rays of sunlight as it left the city of Beltrant behind it and flew on eastwards to the Kingdom of Galarc.
Then I guess I shall head off, too.
Reiss, the ambassador of the Proxia Empire, watched the airship. He stood on the surface of the water away from the harbor and gazed up vacantly at the sky.
Chapter 5: Infiltrating Rodania
Several hours after Liselotte’s airship left Beltrant harbor...
Rio, Celia, and Aishia had departed from Cleia, the capital of Count Claire’s territory, and made their way to Rodania, Marquess Rodan’s territory located to the northeast of the Kingdom of Beltrum. They flew through the air with spirit arts and looked down on the town from a distance.
“It’s smaller than Cleia in size, but it’s been built rather sturdily,” Rio said, voicing his first impression.
“Marquess Rodan’s territory borders both the Proxia Empire to the north and the Galarc Kingdom to the east, after all. It’s a vital location in terms of the military... That’s why the city has also been fortified as a citadel. Perhaps it was the perfect place for Duke Huguenot’s faction to establish themselves?” Celia explained. Though she may have been a shut-in researcher
of sorcery, she wasn’t a noble for nothing. She was fairly knowledgeable about the geography of every region.
“I expected as much, but I guess I’ll need to prepare myself for this. Let’s land somewhere outside the city first. I’ll take out the stone house so you two can wait inside, and I’ll come back once before it gets dark.”
“Okay.”
“Got it.”
At Rio’s suggestion, Aishia and Celia both nodded in unison.
◇ ◇ ◇
After landing outside the city and setting up the stone house, Rio snuck into Rodania alone in broad daylight. He jumped over a section of outer wall that was relatively unguarded and blended in with the crowds of people inside the city.
Rodania was currently estranged from the Beltrum government, but the city was still bustling with life. It was possible that the possession of Princess Flora and appearance of the hero had an influence on the people, but if those governing the place were truly vicious, then the city certainly wouldn’t be this lively.
Is this the work of Duke Huguenot and Marquess Rodan? I didn’t have a very good impression of them, but...
From his past experience of being falsely accused during his time in the Beltrum Royal Academy, Rio’s impression of the two noble families governing this land had been one of brutality and cunningness. However, their reign seemed rather peaceful on the outside.
That being said, cruel and cunning members of nobility were better at hiding their visible flaws.
After Rio had observed a reasonable amount of the city’s state, he began to gather information. First, he needed to know if the hero was really summoned in this land — and whether or not that fact was announced officially or not. For that, he decided to start with his usual chatting up of stall owners through purchasing their products. First, he went to make an order at a skewer stand.
“I heard through the grapevine that a hero appeared in this land, is that true?” Rio said to the stall owner as though he was casually gossiping.
“Yeah, it’s true. There was a hero summoned here in Rodania,” the stall owner said with a friendly smile.
“...So it’s true, huh. Is that a well-known fact?”
“Of course — it’s a well-known story around here. A huge pillar of light shot up from the depths of the district where the nobles live. That was when the hero was spotted, apparently.”
“What kind of person is the hero? Like their name, or...” Rio asked boldly.
“Ah, sorry. I don’t know that much.” The skewer stall owner shook his head apologetically.
“No no, I was just asking out of curiosity.”
“Hahaha, the heroes are the disciples of the Six Wise Gods, after all... Makes sense that you’d be curious. You seem to have a pretty devout sense of faith there, kid. You’re young, yet you mind your manners.”
“Ah, thank you...” Rio smiled faintly and tried to avoid elaborating. The stall owner must have mistaken him for a devoted believer of the Six Wise Gods, but he decided to go along with the misunderstanding, as it was convenient.
After Rio finished eating the grilled skewer, he continued his search for information. However, he was unable to figure out the name of the hero, and had to place his hopes on the night infiltration instead.
◇ ◇ ◇
That night, Rio returned to the stone house and brought Aishia back to Rodania with him. Celia watched the house alone.
The city of Rodania had completely fallen dim, flickering under the light of torchfire. Rio looked down at the city from the skies above.
“First, let’s approach the estate. We’ll communicate in telepathy from here onwards.”
They began their infiltration immediately, slowly lowering their altitude. Their destination was the estate on the cliff at the very furthest end of the noble district; its appearance was like that of a stronghold, built like a sturdy fortress. Behind the cliff was a large lake that sustained Rodania with water.
Rio confirmed the strict state of the security and gave Aishia instructions to close in on the rooftop. ...Let’s go down to the roof of the estate first.
Okay.
Covered in their black cloaks, the two of them blended with the darkness and landed on the roof. Then, I’ll be off now.
Aishia would first sneak into the consulate and sound out the hero’s location and surrounding security. She turned into her spirit form.
Make sure you take extra care against sensory type artifacts and barriers, Rio said with worry in his voice. No matter how much she could change into her spirit form, there were areas where even Aishia would have difficulty getting into. When it came to places with strict precautions for detecting sorcery set up, spirit forms made of ode were in danger of being detected.
Aishia nodded. Got it. Faint particles of light scattered as she turned into her spirit form. Only the black cloak she had been wearing remained, fluttering gently to the rooftop.
Contact me immediately if anything happens, Rio said, retrieving Aishia’s cloak.
Aishia nodded again.Yup.
A long time passed. Rio hid any and all inklings of his presence and waited silently on the rooftop.
Haruto, I can’t find the hero’s location, Aishia’s said telepathically.
...You can’t find it? You mean there’s no one around that seems like a hero? Rio asked, finding that strange.
Yeah. Not within the range I can move, anyway, Aishia confirmed.
You mean there were rooms or areas you couldn’t enter because of detection artifacts or barriers?
Yup.
Then it’ll be impossible to get in without being noticed, I guess. No, it’s possible the hero has moved away from Rodania too... Rio thought, processing the situation. All right. Can you come back here first? I’ll come along this time, do you think you can show me the way? I want to at least confirm the hero’s name before we go back today.
Within a minute, Aishia had returned to Rio and the two of them snuck inside together. All right, let’s go.
This way — it’s easiest to get inside from the rooftop via the watchtower.
The two of them began to move, Aishia leading the way in her material form by pulling Rio’s hand. They cast wind spirit arts along the way to make themselves invisible and approached the watchtower.
We have to enter carefully so the guards inside don’t notice us, Rio said through their telepathic connection, listening carefully to the watchtower. Guards were chatting idly amongst themselves.
“Man, I’m so bored. Nothing ever happens.”
“I know, right?”
“Tell me a funny story.”
“I don’t know any. Shouldn’t you know some?”
“If I did, I would have told them to you ages ago.”
There seemed to be two guards in total.
They’ve got their guards completely lowered. We should be fine to go, Rio thought, about to give Aishia the direction to go, when one of the guards suddenly spoke up.
“The hero sure has it nice, always bringing beautiful women with him everywhere.”
Rio froze on the spot, trying to listen to more of their conversation.
“Beautiful women? You dumbass. Watch your mouth. That’s the Second Princess and a duke’s daughter you’re talking about, you realize? If anyone heard you say that...”
“Nobody’s listening. Anyway, that hero took those two girls and went somewhere, didn’t he? Sure must be nice. He looks like he’s even younger than me, too...” One of the guards started complaining, and the other guard sighed and agreed sympathetically.
“...Well, I can understand why you feel that way... But compared to them, we live in a completely different world.”
So the hero’s left Rodania now, huh? Then there’s no need to force our way inside the estate. If I could at least find out his name...
Rio decided to hang around in the hope that one of the guards would say the hero’s name out loud.
“I wish I could meet someone too...”
Aishia. It’s a little risky, but I’m going to cast an illusion on the two guards in the tower. I’ll use a wind spirit art to hypnotize them.
All right. Will I need to do so, too? Rio shook his head with a smile. It’s okay. You can just watch.
With a deep breath, he focused on gathering essence in his hands and sent a faint breeze towards the watchtower. Roughly one minute later, the panicked voice of a guard in the tower could be heard.
“...Hey, I suddenly really need to take a piss.”
“Ah, you too? I need to go, too, actually...” The other guard also announced in a restless voice.
Seems like it worked. Rio chuckled when the effect of the hypnosis became obvious. Since he wasn’t in direct contact with his target, he couldn’t cast a very strong hypnotic spell and it took some time for the effect to take place, but everything went as expected.
“Could I step away for a sec?”
“No fair! I want to go too!”
“I-I was the one who asked first, right? I’ll be back as soon as I can, so... Please?!”
“Guh... F-Fine, but make it quick!”
“Thanks!”
With that exchange, one of the guards dashed off with haste.
Let’s go. This time, I’ll place the remaining guard in a waking dream and have him tell me the hero’s name.
Leave that to me. Aishia took the lead and moved first.
The events that happened after that were a splendid display of skill. Aishia snuck into the watchtower easily, holding the guard’s head from behind him as she activated her illusion. After spending a few seconds confirming the guard’s mind was controlled, Rio snuck into the watchtower next.
The guard gazed at Rio blankly, caught in the illusion. “O-Oh, you’re back! That was rather... fast?” he said, face brightening happily. He seemed to have mistaken Rio for his coworker that had gone to the toilet first.
“No, I actually haven’t gone yet. I wanted to ask you for the hero’s name first.”
The guard looked at Rio impatiently. “H-Huh?! What the hell, man. Now’s not the time for that...!”