Chapter 335

Late into the night, we hid in one of the Royal Capital’s unfrequented back alleys.

I proceeded to cast the Invisible Illusion on everyone.

“Hmm? Wait, are we really disappearin’?”

“I can see everyone else just fine.”

“The spell’s been coded so that we can still see one another. Other people won’t–“

“”Cool! Let’s try it out!””

“Wait for me!”

And there goes Bruce, Betty, and the stupid dog.

Why the hell they’re having so much fun, I have no idea.

Well, I guess Pochi and I did mess around with the Invisible Illusion quite a bit too, back when I first learned it.

Oh, speaking of the dog… she’s back.

“It’s… it’s like I don’t exist at all!”

“Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to do to you!”

Man, talk about dramatic. What is she, a little kid?

Now Pochi’s crying… for some reason. I did my best to ignore her.

“How should we go about sneaking inside?”

“At first, I thought we’d go through the hidden passageway, but that might be dangerous. So I say we walk in through the front door.”

“The hidden passageway is dangerous? How so?”

“Pochi used to say that villains would naturally know where the hidden passageways are… I know it’s a part of her hero schtick, but it does make sense when applied to this case.”

Oh, Lylia’s started holding her head. Is she having a headache?

“Ugh… Well, if things go south, I suppose I can punch the walls to break us out.”

Oh no. I think I’m having a headache, too.

“A-anyway, it’s about time we went in! All further conversations will be through Telepathic Call, all right?”

“Got it,” said Blazer.

Among this group, only Betty has learned the Telepathic Call magecraft from me… but as it turned out, much to my surprise, every Silver member could use it now.

It does make sense, though — The team had grown in numbers substantially over the years. Ryan had advised that communication was important for the team’s work to go smoothly, so Blazer has pushed for the magecraft to be taught to everyone.

I’m concerned about the connectivity of the Telepathic Calls while inside the Castle, but I think I can control my arcane energy well enough to keep everyone on the line, as long as I’m not in battle.

Warren also gave us a map of Regalia Castle that Irene had made, so that’s helpful.

[“Let’s go…!”]

With Lylia’s signal, we started to move.

Then I saw Bruce carrying Betty on his shoulders, messing around in front of the gatekeepers. But I didn’t laugh. I deserve praise for my ability to hold back my laughter, God damn it.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

[“…It’s so dark.”]

Blazer’s right — and it’s not just dark, either. It’s so quiet that we’re not sensing any human presence anywhere ever since we jumped over the front gate.

And the main door leading inside is… locked, naturally.

[“Master, what’s that over there?”]

Pochi looked up and saw that one of the east building’s windows had been left slightly open. The rest of us turned to look at one another.

[“Totally suspicious.”]

Betty’s right — it’s most likely a trap.

They couldn’t have known the exact time at which we’d try sneaking in, but they must have at least expected to have some infiltrators eventually, whether it be thieves or something else.

[“I’ll check it out. You guys hold position.”]

I held out my hand toward the window.

[“…Called it. Thing’s quite well-hidden, but they’ve set up a fixed-position type surveillance Spell Circle there.”]

[“Can you get rid of it?”]

I’ve already started working on it before Lylia even asked.

[“Let’s see here… Rise, Parasitic Edit & Remote Control.”]

[“Man, so you do that chant in your mind too, huh?”]

[“Shut up. C’mon, let’s get going.”]

After I was done erasing the surveillance Spell Circle, we opened the window and jumped inside, with Pochi in the lead. No one’s inside the room, but…

[“There are people outside. Two of them.”]

Well, this room is meant to be a trap. Of course they’d post some guards right in front of here.

Time for another trick…

[“Rise, Slumber Sleight: Count 2 & Ground Spell Delivery.”]

A few moments later, two thuds could be heard from behind the door.

Betty opened the door, then she and Bruce carried the unconscious guards into the room.

[“What’re we gonna do with these guys?”]

[“Well, if I set up two fixed-position Magic Drain Circles right under them…”]

[“What’s gonna happen?”]

Bruce folded his arms and looked at what I was setting up.

[“They work in a pair. One Magic Drain absorbs one guard’s arcane energy and feeds it into the other Circle. Their operation can both be maintained using each other’s arcane energy.”]

[“I see… And they’ll just keep on working unless someone else tampers with them.”]

[“Right.”]

I nodded to Blazer’s comment. At the door, Pochi and Lylia were peeing out into the corridor when they noticed something.

[“More people incoming, sir.”]

[“Two of them… guards on patrol, I suppose?”]

Betty made her move immediately.

She slipped in between Pochi and Lylia, then threw… something at the guards that were walking on the other side of the corridor.

A moment later, the same two thuds as before could be heard.

[“Daggers laced with either paralytic or sleep-inducing toxin… Impressive.”]

Ah, I see. They were flying so fast, so I didn’t quite what they were.

[“Now they won’t wakey-wakey for three whole days. Tee-hee.”]

Betty stuck out her tongue and chuckled, making Bruce cringe hard.

[“Gah, stop and consider how old you are before saying that…”]

[“Did you say something?”]

Now there’s a new dagger pointed at Bruce’s neck.

And so Bruce’s face immediately turned into a smile. Man, this pair never changes…

[“And… there we go.”]

Blazer and Pochi carried the two other guards into the room, and then we finally made our way down the corridor.

Quickly but quietly, we made our way northward through the Regalia Castle interior.

[“So Emperor Vaas should be in the highest tower in the north-east, yeah?”]

[“SHOULD be, yes.”]

[“Don’t jinx it, man. I don’t wanna be in here too long…”]

[“Well, we’ll be here for only as long as we need to. Miss Irene’s intel could be outdated by now, for all we know.”]

Bruce’s concern is reasonable, but it’s also true that the intel we have is fairly old.

Now, the question is… should we split up into two groups, for efficiency’s sake? No — we’ll only do that if the enemy somehow finds us.

Yeah, it’d be wiser for us to keep pushing like this.

Why? Well…

[“I see another soldier.”]

[“Almost done with this one. Gimme a second here~~”]

[“Door’s locked… No problem for ol’ Bruce! Hehehe…”]

…The Silver trio is too reliable. So much so that they almost look like they do thievery as their main job.

Pochi’s got her eyes all sparkling, and even Lylia is visibly impressed.

It’s like the trio is trying to leave no work for the rest of us… Or maybe it’s their way of saying we’re meant to do other, more important things.

…Yeah, they’ve probably caught on to what Pochi and I had noticed.

The deeper we went into Regalia Castle, the closer we got to an ominous source of arcane energy… Yeah, that can’t be good. I hope my worry is unfounded, but this is the enemy’s stronghold we’re sneaking into. Maybe it never was going to be a smooth ride…

[“Looks like we must go up those stairs to get to the tower, but…”]

Blazer suddenly stopped — though I’m not surprised that he did.

It’s most certainly because of the two people he saw in the distance, illuminated by lantern lights — one a woman, the other a man.

[“Catherine and Jacob of the Six Braves… Huh.”]

These two are the people who popped up after Barun during my Rank-up Evaluation.

Why the hell do they have to be here specifically?

And man, Catherine’s wardrobe is as bad… or good, as ever.

[“Holy… they’re quite flashy for someone on guard duty.”]

[“What’re you talking about, brother? Look how strong they are — they’re totally good enough to be Emperor Vaas’ bodyguards.”]

[“Do you think we can slip by them, Asley?”]

Blazer turned to ask me.

There’s a narrow corridor to the top right of the flight of stairs. That’s probably the way to the north-east tower.

Maybe we could get there unnoticed by setting up some Teleportation Spell Circles and send one over to the other side, but it’s unsafe — we have no idea if there’s anyone else further up ahead.

[“…Get any closer, and they’ll notice us. So we’re stuck here, unless…?”]

Before I could finish, Bruce and Betty had already rushed on ahead.

Naturally, Catherine and Jacob noticed their approach as they ran through the hallway in front of the stairs.

[“W-what the!? Seriously!?”]

[“They found us!?”]

Lylia, ignoring Pochi and my surprise, rushed ahead as well, with Blazer following right after her.

“Oh? Do we have some uninvited guests?”

“What a bunch of fools. Should’ve known better than to infiltrate this part of the Capital!”

“”Hmph!””

Bruce and Betty faced the duo — the former against Catherine, and the latter against Jacob.

The act opened so quickly that Catherine and Jacob had to immediately draw their swords.

And as soon as the actual fight broke out, both of the enemies lost their composure.

“Ohh? They’re actually quite powerful, hmm?”

“Looks like I mustn’t hold back here!”

Lylia and Blazer proceeded to hit the enemy’s flanks, then Pochi and I followed them.

The pincer attack was a success thanks to them seeing and exploiting the momentary opening created by Bruce and Betty.

[“Rise, Deca Boundary: Count 2 & Remote Control!”]

“”NGH–!?””

I unleashed my Boundary magecrafts behind them, landing accurate hits and restricting their movements.

Then, as if they had been waiting for that, Bruce and Betty struck in perfect sync.

“”Hah!””

“”–!?””

With powerful blows from their blades’ hilts, the Six Braves duo fainted.

And man, the inappropriate face Bruce is making as he holds Catherine in his arms… I don’t think I’ll be able to unsee that.

“Dude, have some restraint. We’re on a mission here.”

“Ehehehe… Huh?”