“This is where we lived.”
As Naoto leads us through the castle, I’m surprised by how quiet it is.
There are traces of destruction from battle, but other than that, it’s completely still. And it’s also strange how we came this far and haven’t seen a single person.
If they’re after the king to conquer the castle, it makes sense that they’re heading to the throne room.
I vaguely remember it being on the upper floor. I feel like back then, knights took me down a few flights of stairs.
“Normally, the people who looked after us would be here, but…”
The room is empty. I’m sure they heard all the commotion and evacuated.
And the room the saint… Miharu used is also empty.
“Miharu was recovering after being attacked on the way back from a dungeon, right? Do you know where she might be?”
I ask, and Naoto crosses his arms and thinks.
It would be simple if I used Map, but even here it’s still not working well. Presence Detection’s range is also about a tenth of what it normally is.
I feel like something is obstructing magic and support skills, but it’s not like everything is like this. The Item Box hasn’t been affected, and I can infuse the mithril sword with magic energy just fine.
“They said they were going to treat her, and didn’t tell Shun where either. According to them, she was in critical condition and we couldn’t see her. That means it has to be somewhere we haven’t been…”
“If we don’t know, we should ask someone who does… How about we check where the holy sword was?”
Proposes Rurika, as we’re all stumped.
It does sound better than staying here and thinking.
“…Yes, there’s a lot of foot traffic around the place where the holy sword was kept. And she could even be there. There’s also a path on the other side that I’ve never been to. And back then…”
Naoto says that when the king looked that way, his eyes were like he was looking at trash.
He whispers that we should go, and we all agree and hurry there.
The fact that he’s not just taking off running is a sign that he’s keeping his head cool.
There’s a high risk that we’d run into an ambush if we ran without thinking, and put ourselves in risk if we were suddenly in a fight.
Well, it sounds cool when put like that, but I think I’m just feeling insecure.
Normally I can use Map and Presence Detection to avoid ambushes, but now that I can’t use those very well, I’m feeling anxious.
I look at Hikari and Rurika, and they look the same as always.
“Master, what is it?”
Asks Hikari while tilting her head, so I tell her exactly what I’m thinking.
“I’m feeling anxious because I can’t really feel presences that might be coming this way.”
“…It’s all right. I’ll protect you.”
“Thank you.”
I say, before casting another shield on everyone. That’s about all I can do.
We keep walking cautiously, and I can’t really tell if there really isn’t anyone around, or if the skills are just malfunctioning.
Maybe it’s just in my head, but I feel like when I try to use Presence Detection anyway, I get tired even though I’m walking.
Maybe it’s because I’m using Parallel Thinking. When I use more than one skill, my SP slowly goes down.
“Are you all right?”
Now Chris is worried.
Eventually we go through a door, and go down a spiral staircase that goes on for a while.
I don’t know if I’m just imagining it, but I feel like it gets colder with each step I take.
I have a bad feeling about this. And it looks like Chris feels the same way, because she’s trembling.
But Naoto looks fine. He’s walking forward without a care like he’s in his backyard.
When we reach the bottom, the path splits in two directions. If we follow the path on the right, we’ll reach the place that’s said to have housed the holy sword.
“So? Should we go to where the holy sword was first? Or there?”
Asks Naoto, with his eyes on the left path.
“Just to confirm, only you can enter the place where the holy sword was?”
“The way the king spoke led me to believe only heroes and royalty can enter it. The person that looked like a sorcerer that was with the king all the time never accompanied him in there either.”
Could it be that the sorcerer could actually enter, but did that to support the lie?
“Wait!”
Says Rurika, sharply.
Hikari is also looking at the left side with caution.
“It looks like someone’s there…”
I couldn’t tell, but it looks like they feel a presence.
I follow them, and hold my weapon, ready to fight.
“Should we go or wait?”
Naoto was in front, but he’s falling back. I can tell by his voice that he’s nervous.
Sera takes his place in front, and Hikari and Rurika stand next to her.
I stand next to Chris to protect her, and Naoto moves to the opposite side.
And then, while looking out for any attacks from the back, we start moving towards the passage on the left side.
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Thanks for the treat.