“Looks like a sweet chance.” I nodded after hearing the old lady and the thin little guy with little presence explain the situation. “Crashing into some holy festival to kidnap a saint is such an unholy move I’d hate to not do it…”
It was a few hours after my meeting with the king, and I was already in another noble’s room, but this one was fine. Both the old woman in plate armor and her short attendant (and likely spymaster) were reasonable. They even seemed unaffected by my haughty act, reporting what they knew as if they would prefer if we didn’t try this mission.
All in all, they were nice, which was unusual for nobles. Either that or my perception was too skewed by now...
Meanwhile, getting here ended more complicated than usual now that the rumors were spreading. For one, right after we teleported into the city (which I forgot the name again), people started crowding around as they noticed me.
People do love their heroes, even the ones with questionable policies about the use of napalm.
It was fun seeing that many people looking pleased with me, though. Very nice, but very tiring too.
I could only deal with so many people at the time, even if they had a positive view of me. And it only got worse as we got closer to the lady’s office.
After the normal population, rich folk started to take notice of me too, and these were just annoying. All the worth I got from them was finding out that I had a nickname now.
The Hero of Frercross does sound nice.
And then there was the briefing the local lady gave us.
Long story short, the religious folk of that Divine Federation had an important day tomorrow. Huge festival with an important location close by, and since they had an army there, they decided to mock Prourene by partying close to the frontier.
It reeked of a trap and, in the best case, would still be a troublesome fight. The numbers were too different and the terrain was a pain. The only reason it seemed too good to not go was the fact they were bringing a whole saint other than their champion to it.
Or at least, that was what the spies found out.
“Kidnapping a saint and then blackmailing the country to win the war… You know there’s a reason why no one does that, right?” Elen spoke up as she finished hearing the finer details of my big plan. “I thought you wanted to kill whoever it was or burn some supplies, but getting there to ‘steal’ the saint is a little...”
“Infiltrating an army and kidnapping the most protected person inside seems like too much indeed,” Cal added as he seemed to consider possible plans to deal with this situation. “We could manage with some troops, but with only us…”
“Yeah. Sneaking around would be troublesome enough, but you want to go head-on, don’t you?” Elen continued while still with the small plan I gave them on her head. “Even considering that you can pass off as someone local, I don’t see how it’d help.”
“It can be done. This skill is way too good for something like this.” I assured them the best I could. My intuition was telling me it was possible, and more than that, I had the skill everyone overlooks when thinking about isekai heroes.
Also, it would be a problem if it didn’t work.
Anything less than the most unreasonable plan would be jumping into their trap. At least, it would be so if they were competent. A plan so out there no one would a counter was much better.
“I will say it again, young girl, are you sure about this? I'll give you all the support I can, but this sounds like suicide. Hero or not, there’s too much there.” The lady added with a sharp glare on her face. “It’s so bad, this brat by my side almost got dismissed the moment he told me to bring you for a try…”
“You risk your life to bring good information and that’s how you’re treated…” The spy answered without changing his expression at all. “Still, unless you have a good way of getting to the border fast, milady, it’s suicide for sure. I’d never believe it if someone bought this up, but a certain someone told me you have the tools to deal with it... He even told me to show you something nice if I could. Though that you’ll have to find by yourself.”
His eyes went through my equipment and then to the princess and the mage following me right now. Expected from a spy, I guess, but he seemed to know what was the deal about me and my party. It seemed that this guy knew a lot more than he seemed and that, although she wasn’t clueless about me, he also had secrets the local noble didn’t know.
Now that is something very spy-like, isn’t it? Makes me wonder if he knew that scheming person from the palace…
“It sounds plausible, but still…”
“Worry not, Elen, I brought the right tools for the job, and if all’s well, we can even manage some extras.” I proudly proclaimed while holding the weird item that was meant to act as a teleport and a little pendant that was part of my experiment. “We have a super mage, a brawler maid, and a rogue princess here, you know? If you add the element of surprise and the things me and Cal got at the library, we can deal with anything. Probably… Maybe… I think… We’ll survive, at least.”
“Not sounding like someone who’s sure of her plan, young girl…” The old lady's face twitched as she saw me talking, but she then turned to Elen by my side. “Is this a good idea, Your Highness?”
“She’s not stilling much confidence for sure, but it should do well enough. Not stilling confidence is pretty much how Illia works anyway...” Elen gave shoulders as my sureness on the whole infiltration thing started to sizzle away. “Worst case, we go with my way of solving this. Though, I’m almost sure it’ll be more of a minor annoyance than anything major at that point.”
“Some hit is better than no hit at least.” The armored lady sighed at last but then glared at me a moment later. “Anything else you need to start moving? We’re mobilizing, but we can spare some of almost everything.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Other than what I asked your spy over there, I’m pretty much prepared already. It’s not as if we have too long to prepare anyway…”
The enemy army was preparing their festival at a certain, and very big, temple close by. A place that was somewhat of a neutral area considering it was both a temple and an important place to this continent’s religion. It was likely another problem, but I could ignore this one for now. I mean, I’m not religious.
All I know about it is that they have two big goddesses and a bunch of minor ones, and that’s considering I’m not totally crazy and actually can talk with one of them from time to time.
Either way, they were around the corner and just one day off the planned date. Not enough time for some complicated plan, so no point trying to add anything more now.
“If that’s so, then we are done here. Call me if you need anything more, and good luck.” The local lady ended her piece and, with a nod from the spy by the side too, she sent us away from the office.
It ended a very simple affair this meeting. Dealing with people who ‘knew me’ already and were somewhat up-to-date with the situation was simpler than dealing with usual nobles. This one was pretty much the only reason I didn’t send Elen to deal with it and hid somewhere else like last time.
I like the excuse that I wanted to up the ‘surprise factor’ for when I presented myself later, though, but that’s kinda irrelevant now.
As we left the office, Eve rejoined the group with the two knights I called as symbolic bodyguards and, for later, bait.
“I have something to report, milady. Something unusual did happen while I waited for you…” She told us in a somewhat confused tone while carrying some bags. “Lady Alianne’s spy came to me with these while we waited. They seem to be priest robes and noble clothing from the Federation…”
“Oh? So it’s already… Wait a little! I just asked for these, didn’t I?!” Seeing the items I needed already prepared was nice, but noticing that they shouldn’t be here was weird. I mean, my explanation of the plan was made a few minutes ago, and the spy guy was still inside.
I want whatever magic this person has!
“Spies are fun people. You wouldn’t believe the antics of some of them…” Elen commented offhandedly as she took the bags and started to rifle through them. “My guess is that they had these prepared already and that short guy used something to communicate with his people. Shouldn’t be hard since we’re in their territory… I use the same to spy on the throne room.”
“The same thing, eh?” I mumbled after hearing the princess say something very outrageous. Not that it explained why it was so clear he was using it. “Then… Can you tell me how this thing works here? Show me it, even.”
“That’s a way to see it, but I don’t see how you could use it… It needs a huge setup. And when I say huge, I’m talking about having a room somewhere in this castle only for that.”
“If we are talking about sound transmission, then it is actually possible to make the magical circle smaller. Something like two meters by two meters as long as you do not care about the higher mana costs.” Cal added by the side after hearing the princess cite the room-sized spell needed for this communication thingy. “I never saw one, but it’s a known fact that they can be used for espionage. They’re easy to disrupt if you know about them, though. As easy as having a small trinket creating an abnormal air flow…”
“I don’t know the technical details here, but it sounds right.” Elen agreed, but she then started to smile smugly. “Any decent noble has one somewhere and anyone rich enough will have a way to defuse the damn thing.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness? Defusing them would be…”
“What I mean is that, if you ever get your father’s position, you’ll be able to learn some very interesting bits about ‘usual’ magic.” She kept on smiling while staring at the handsome guy in glasses who, even though he took a while, managed to understand the meaning there. Meanwhile, I took it as a matter-of-fact thing from the beginning, so there wasn’t much surprise. “Hells, maybe even I’m not fully 'in the know' there… Dad’s way of moving is a little too much for me. Looks as random as what Illia does…”
“That’s my suspicion too.“ I went back to the main subject while also trying to avoid wasting too long. “Either way, let’s find this room. Worst case, I can temper with it in case we need an emergency signal to call reinforcements…”
Wasn’t betting on it, but something like this would be the least for this to actually be worth all the ringing in my head. Either that or the aching pain and the tiredness were getting beyond what I could hold out. It would be weird considering how the king was acting.
He could very well be just swamped in his job and couldn’t do anything more complicated than call me head-on and tell me what all he could, though. It wouldn’t even be something bad in reality.
I didn’t trust the guy, but I didn't dislike him. It also wasn't as if I could fight a king like this.
It was a little bothersome to not know the full scope of what I was running with, though… Whenever I had to do it, something bad would happen. And that’s especially true when someone older is nudging me around.
Almost makes me remember my parents...
Goddammit, now I’m losing the character again… I need to fix my damn hairstyle and rest properly after this. Anything more and I'll start slipping. Especially considering my current plan actually involves straining the act even more...
What a pain...
Back to business, please.
“Well, since you want to see it, we can always find the place… It’ll be a good pastime, at least.” Elen dismissed the weirdness and then turned to the maid who was quietly waiting. “Do you have a good idea of the location already, Eve? The structure shouldn’t be that changed from the last time we looked…”
“There are few places with the proper conditions for something of the kind, Your Highness, so it shouldn’t be hard to find. This castle’s blueprints are still fresh from when we investigated everyone…”
“I guess that’s an extra perk from that wild chase from a while ago… Lead the way.”
At Elen’s words, the maid bowed and started to walk, leading us all through the corridors for a little while. As we walked, I noticed an unusual number of guards and many knights training outside, which gave an extra kick to my sense of urgency. Another thing I noticed, though, was the fact we had eyes on us, or actually, we had eyes on us for a little while.
They vanished soon after Elen whispered something to her maid and started a small spell, though. Rogue is indeed more fitting than ranger for this princess, isn’t it? She's even affecting Cal while at it.
Be as it was, we kept moving until we were at a somewhat empty section of the castle. An area that seemed to be their storehouse or a dungeon maybe, but the door Eve opened, after checking no one was inside, ended as neither.
This one was, as expected, a room with a huge magical circle surrounded by several pedestals with glowing rocks on top of them. Very much a ‘magic room’ if you asked me, and after glancing at it for a while, I couldn’t see anything worth coming here.
To not confuse anyone, I could somewhat read the spell. It was some mix of ‘air’, ‘lightning’, and ‘earth’ magic if you asked me, but I couldn’t really replicate it with what I had right now.
The whole thing reeked of mana-intensive and if I had to use the black saber to cast it, the tenfold increase would knock me out right away. It’d be worse than trying to summon something with a vague image like ‘gun’ as I did before.
The only interesting bit I could take from it, and only because I now knew that my ‘reading’ was half-learned and half-skill, was that not all the runes there were ‘proper’ ones.
This circle was mostly working on magic normal people could cast, of course, but there were some unusual bits here and there… Almost like an artifact. These parts were probably why it could send messages through things even though the only 'elements' being controlled were the air and electricity. Which meant I could use it in different ways, maybe.
Maybe, even make it longer range.
“Anything worth it?” Elen asked, likely noticing the lightbulb popping over my head (though this one was barely working). “Maybe a new trick even?”
“I think so… But I’ll need to test it out,” I answered while still unsure of what was the point of all this, and then turned back to the exit. “Let’s move out. We need to get ready for a big party…”