Chapter 440 Underground Passage, and Nokia Royal Palace.

A group of twelve people, only women, went on the night road while holding their breath.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there was moonlight tonight and it was not so dark. However, if you were not careful, your foot might be stumbled.

They could easily sneak into the royal mine north of the royal capital of Nokia. In the first place, this mine had exhausted the remarkable ore and was almost unused.

Over here. There should be an entrance to the ruins in the basement of the royal palace.

As they followed Princess Pafias guidance, they saw something like a tunnel that pierced a rock and was solidified by earth magic in a corner of the mine.

The height of the tunnel was about 3 meters and extends down to the basement. Naturally, the inner part was pitch black and they cant see anything.

[Come Hikari, small illumination, Light]

Linze created a small ball of light in the palm of her hand. Relying on the light, they went down a bumpy but gentle downhill and came out to a slightly wider mine.

The road was a junction, and the road continued to the left and right. Pafias foot stopped just at that intersection.

Its supposed to be here but there should be an underground passage ahead. It seems that we cant enter from this side.

Is there a passage ahead? We can only see it as an ordinary rock wall, degozaru ga

Yae murmured while touching the rock wall. Similarly, Lean touched the rock wall and hit it.

I dont think this is an illusion like [Mirage], this is just a rock wall. I wonder if its crushed normally to proceed.

There is a magic stone that reacts to the magic power of the royal family in the passage over there, and that is the key, and the door here opens

Oh, I see. Earth magic is used.

As soon as Lean was convinced, he nodded a little. Since ancient times, earth magic traps and gimmicks have been common in these underground ruins and dungeons. This is probably one of them.

What should we do? Crush it?

How about using [Explosion] to blow it?

Older Sister (Elze) clench her fist, and Little Sister (Linde) try to activate magic Is it because they are twins that they have similar thoughts for some reason?

It may be a bad idea to destroy at here. It leaves a mark that someone has trespassed.

As Yumina replied with a bitter smile at the twins actions, Sakura picked up the stone at her feet and began to hit the rock wall. Sue called out with a suspicious expression.

What are you doing?

Im hitting with a rock

No, I can see that by looking at you

There is a difference in the sound that resonates. The thickness is less than fifty centimeters. In this case, I can jump. [Teleport]

Sakuras figure disappears.

Ah!

While everyone except Tokie was surprised, Sakura reappeared in her original place a few seconds later.

Its okay. Theres a dungeon passage ahead. There seems to be a demon beast, so I can jump with two people at a time.

Oops, Sakura-dono!?

Sakura-san !?

Teleport

Shun, Sakura grabbed Yae and Hilda then disappeared again. She chose them first in case something happened at the transfer destination.

Sakura that came back then held Lean and Lous hands and transferred again.

Pafia and Lithia, Yumina and Sue, Elze and Linze, and then Sakura transferred everyone to the other side of the wall one after another. Tokie transferred by herself.

Tired

Although she said that, Sakura had a face that didnt look tired. Actually, she was not too tired.

The magic power consumed by [Teleport] is determined by the distance. Everyone knew that teleportation, which is less than a meter away, wouldnt consume much magic power, depending on the number of people jumping with her. Sakuras tired remark was probably mental fatigue that came from fine control of coordinate designation.

Fumu. It certainly feels like a dungeon of ruins.

Sue looks around and gives her impressions. Earth-type magic stones were embedded in the dead-end wall. The rock wall will open when magic power is poured into it.

The underground passage was similar to a dungeon on a remote island owned by Brunhild. A stone wall and a floor, apparently an artifact made of earth magic. Even if it wasnt illuminated by Linzes [Light], a faint light was emitted from the stone.

Did they synthesize light magic when making stones with earth magic ?

Synthetic magic. I think this is an ancient magic civilization for the times.

Linze and Lean consider while touching the stone wall. The underground passage stretched straight and turned to the right.

With Yae and Hilda at the front, proceed steadily through the stone passage. The width and height of the passage was a square of about 4 meters, and it was not narrow enough to swing weapons.

Yumina asks Princess Pafia, who walks ahead.

This underground passage was originally a dungeon of ruins, wasnt it?

To be exact, its part of the dungeon. Theres an entrance from the basement of the royal palace into the dungeon of the ruins.

The dungeon and the royal palace are connected ? Is it okay? Some monsters enter the royal palace

Its okay. Many barriers on the royal palace side keep monsters away. There are monsters in this passage, but only weak monsters such as slime.

Is it safe? Yumina, Elze, Linze, and Yae suddenly stop at Pafias words, who always smiles.

Lets crush slime as soon as we find it

Yeah. Completely

Dont leave a single one, desu

Its a deadly enemy, degozaruna

The eyes of the four people who muttered were completely set.

The four of them once had a terrible experience with slime and have hated slime ever since.

Princess Pafia, who did not know such a situation, suddenly withdrew with a laugh at the four people whose atmosphere changed.

Ah, slime, ja

[Penetrated ice, freezing needles, Ice Needle] (koori yo tsuranuke, hyouketsu no sanshin)

As soon as Sue finds the green slime in front of her, Linze shoots an ice needle. The slime, which turned into a hedgehog in a blink of an eye, pierced the core on the spot and died quickly.

Im scared

Green slime is a female enemy, desu. Its the same with Kanaza.

Females?

Green slime likes to eat textiles such as clothes. Its a natural enemy for female adventurers.

Lean explained to Sue, who twists his neck. As she was convinced, Sue nodded and catch up to everyone walking ahead.

After that, they climbed the stairs, and although there were some forked roads, Yumina and the others went on the road to the royal palace with almost no hesitation.

One of the reasons was that Princess Pafia remembered this path well.

Eventually, her sister, Refia, who was thinking about these possibilities, repeatedly reminded her. They wouldnt have expected it to be an invasion route to defeat Kanaza, not an escape route.

Its a forked road

Um on the left. To that direction.

The reason for the delay in replying to Hilda, who leads the way, was that the directions she learned were reversed. Following Pafias instructions and everyone turned to the left aisle.

Its quite a long, I think we are already quite advanced

Its a little more. We should have already reached the basement of the royal palace.

Yes, right Then we should proceed carefully from here, right?

Linze, who is relatively physically weak, listens to Pafias answer and regains her spirit. Certainly, monsters such as slime have disappeared from earlier. The influence of the barriers of the royal palace may have already come out.

After a while, Yae and Hilda, who were leading the way, stopped.

What happened?

Lou, who was behind them, looked forward over Yaes shoulder. There was a staircase in front of them, but it hit the ceiling on the way and disappeared.

Is it the end point, degozaru ka na?

Climb the stairs and Yae knocks the ceiling.

The sound is different. The ceiling is probably thin.

When Yae examined the ceiling in response to the voice from Sakura, there was a slight joint point in the square. Pafia in the back opens her mouth.

It should lead to a royal palace room that is no longer in use.

I see. Then I should lift this up, degozaru na? Funu!

When Yae reached the ceiling and put some effort into it, the square stone slipped slightly and lifted up. However, even though it is thin, stones are stones. It was quite heavy, and Yae tried to lift it with her face bright red, but she couldnt move it.

Fununununu ou ou ou !

Ya-Yae-san? Your face is getting into a state where you cant show it!

Buha!

Yae breaks her knees, exhausted by Hildas voice. Seeing that, it was Elze who came forward while waving her arm.

Leave this to me. Ill lift it in one shot.

Nuu. Im sorry, degozaru

Elze makes a light baton touch to Yae who descends from the stairs.

Like Yae, she put her hand on the stone on the ceiling and Elze exhaled.

[Boost]!

Gagogo! There was a sound of the stones shifting, and the stones above Elzes head were lifted at once.

What Elze saw when she lifted the stone and stood up was a dimly lit room.

Elze lowered the lifted stone to the front and crawled out of the hole. It wasnt until she turned around that she realized that she was crawling out of the fireplace.

It seems to be an unused room, and there are almost no furnishings. The fireplace was also empty.

Look carefully around and make sure there are no people around.

It looks okay. Come up.

[Block the wind, calling the silence, Mute]

Leans magic was released from the basement to answer Elzes voice. With this, the noise in the room does not echo outside.

It is wind magic that has an effect similar to the non-attribute magic [Silence] used by Touya found in Babylons Library.

Everyone crawled out of the fireplace one after another. Only Sakura and Tokie have transferred.

Successfully sneaked in, right?

What are we going to do next?

Ill talk to Otou-sama and Refia Ane-sama and ask them to evacuate somewhere. And Kanaza with this hand !

Pafia clasped her hand. A flame of anger swirled in his eyes.

And where is His Majestys room?

The sleeping area is the innermost room on the third floor. Etto

Pafia runs through a dimly lit room while answering Elze, heading towards the window. Slightly open the closed curtain.

See, you can see it from here. Its the innermost room on the third floor.

In the front window where Paffia stands, the courtyard spreads out in the moonlight, and Pafia is pointing to the building diagonally above to the left.

Its surprisingly close

If I can see it, I can jump with [Teleport]

Sakura looks into the kings sleeping quarters through the window and checks the distance. Unlike [Gate], [Teleport] does not interfere with the transfer destination, so it is not hindered by amulets. The question is whether there is anyone other than the king at the end of the transfer

Maybe its okay. Even Tou-samas trusted retainer and maids couldnt get close to him at Kanazas command. Only our sisters and doctor were able to enter the room. Of course, the doctor was Kanazas puppet. But

The fact that the doctor is a puppet means that the king can be killed at any time. Or it may be that he continues to be in such a desperate situation and is waiting for the kings heart to weaken.

Then, Pafia-san and Lean-san will transfer with Sakura-san. If you transfer, [Mute] as in the room here.

Yes, I understand.

Sakura takes the hands of Pafia and Lean. By the way, Paula also clings firmly to Leans leg. Make sure to check the kings sleeping quarters that can be seen through the window.

Teleport

In an instant, the three transfers to another room. Its as dim as the previous room. It seemed to have transferred to the edge of the room, with a wall behind it and a large canopy bed in front.

[Block the wind, calling the silence, Mute]

Lean immediately activated the blocking magic. It was another person who was neither Sakura nor Pafia who responded to the action.

Who!?

With a rattling noise, a person who seems to beside the bed stood up and headed to us Who What (Asking Identity).

Not a king. Its a womans voice. Apparently, there is a different person in the room than the king who slept on the bed. Pafia jumps before Lean casts a spell to neutralize her opponent.

Refia Ane-sama!

Pafia ? Are you Pafia !? Ah, you are safe !

From Leans point, she can only see her dimly, but it looks like she is Pafias sisters, first princess, Refia.

Refia strongly embraces Pafia who jumped into her chest. It was the first reunion in three months.

Three months ago, Kanaza made up a fake corpse and said Pafia was dead, but Refia didnt agitate at all. No matter how similar she is, she wont mistake her sister. She has always believed that the absence of her body means that her sister is still alive.

After all, her sister is alive, she embraces her like an important treasure in her chest.

Lighted by the moonlit, the first princess of the Nokia kingdom, Refia, looks a lot like Pafia.

She is over 20 years old, dressing in a Nokia folk costume based on white, and has long chestnut-colored hair, the same as Pafia, extending to her waist. Although her eyes are not as sharp as Pafia, she seems a strong woman.

It looks like its okay. Leave here to me, bring everyone here.

Hmm

When Sakura nodded to Leans words, only she disappeared from the room.

In less than thirty seconds, Sakura with Elze and Linze reappear, and only the person disappears. Seeing strangers appearing one after another in the kings sleeping quarters, Refia wide her eyes.

Pafia w-who are these guys?

The fiance-sama of His Majesty King Brunhild, who is a collaborator.

Eh !? Even someone who is that old!?

Ah no, she is His Majestys grandmother

Pafia hurriedly corrected Refia, who widened her eyes, when she saw Tokie who had been transferred by herself. She may be a natural airhead.

Refia loses her word when she sees a total of nine fiancs, excluding Tokie and Lithia, Pafias maid.

Since the destruction of Yulong, information on here and there and the outside world has come in, but the most talked about is the Principality of Brunhild, which also (believed to have) destroyed the hated empire Yulong. Among them, the anecdotes of the King are numerous.

Alone, defeated a huge demon, leaded a soldier to subdue a flock of dragons, scratched the princess of the demon kingdom, crushed the military power of the new continent, etc. Its hard to tell which one is a lie.

However, one of the most frequently heard stories is the rumor that the king loves women. He prefers like a hero, but because of Kanaza, Refia didnt have a good image of King Brunhild.

Unlike Kanaza, in the case of the King, he showed his intention to properly marry his wife and evaluated only the fact that he seems to treat them carefully.

Refia-sama, right?

Ah, yes

Sir Kanaza of your kingdom used summons a monster in our country to aim for His Majestys fiance. Therefore, Sir Kanaza will be punished or so that is the official stance. Because Pafia-sama was in trouble, so we came to assist her.

Yumina talks to Refia in a somewhat ridiculous tone. When Refia heard Yuminas words, she bowed deeply. It is a declaration of overthrow Kanaza after understanding all the Nokia circumstances. No other ally is as powerful as this.

Thank you very much ! As a Nokia princess, I really give my thanks to Brunhild !

Brunhild Do you want to get in the way of Kanaza-sama? Cant be forgiven CANT BE FORGIVEN!

A voice that suddenly echoes from the bottom of the earth echoes around. The room is in [Mute] magic. In other words, the voice comes from inside the room.

It is over there!

At Yuminas point, something like a white haze was rising from the kings mouth lying on the bed.

The haze gradually grows, and two golden eyes appear in it. It had the same shape as Evil Spirit (Specters) appearance that rampaged in Brunhild.