Translator: P411
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 178 – Just a Step Away
While I was surprised to see Yukihira in front of me, he grinned and looked between me and Vidello-san.
I returned his greeting, wondering if there was a quest from the royal palace today.
“So, I’ll take you to the prime minister’s place. But as luck is not on our side, you’ll have to stay in the waiting room next door. And Mac, you’ll be alone there. Now that you know, follow me.”
With a thud, Yukihira turned on his heel.
As I followed his lead, he slowly guided us to the room.
“If you turn here, you’ll reach the dining hall. The meals here are excellent. They don’t charge you anything, so it’s nice for the staff. Beyond there are rooms where the bureaucrats live. In short, those who work behind the scenes. Don’t go in there. You could get cut down by someone with a short temper. But over there is a staircase that leads to the outside. Bear it in mind. It’s an emergency exit. There are several exits, but the people working here know better than you, so if you get chased, it’s safe to assume that the exits will be blocked first. So boldly escape using the front door. Oh, and if you turn this way, there’s a residential area for the low-level employees here. The third floor and above are the living quarters for the nobles. If you want to have an audience with the king, you go there following the huge staircase at the front, and you’ll get interrogated several times along the way. Remember, without an appointment, you’ll never make it to the top.”
Yukihira, who had been explaining to me non-stop, appeared to receive some kind of notification. A thought crossed my mind while looking at Yukihira, who had been thoroughly explaining the paths here. It seemed like Yukihira was on some kind of quest. Maybe guiding the way here was one of his quests. But if he was shooting all the facts at me in rapid succession, it would be hard for me to remember them all. The map function was probably working, so the only saving grace here was that all the paths I took were mapped out.
“When someone well-dressed passes by, just bow your head a bit and avoid them. It’s better not to make eye contact with them. There are those who will pick on you for just meeting their eyes and they’re a pain in the ass to deal with. There are also security measures around the palace, so if you break a window facing outside, the guard knights will come. They won’t revoke the security system unless there’s a good reason to, so be careful with it.”
“Uwahh, the palace, how bothersome…”
The more I listened to his explanation, the more my frown worsened. Should I praise him for surviving working in a place like this? If it were me, I would wholeheartedly decline.
“Well, I suppose you’d feel that way. But you can also get your hands on rare rewards that match the trouble here.”
“And are you on a rare reward quest right now?”
“Something like that.”
He responded lightly, supposedly telling me not to probe the question further.
Vidello-san was listening to his explanation in silence.
After turning several corners, walking up the stairs, occasionally stopping by the wall to bow to the nobles, and walking for quite a while, Yukihira stopped his steps.
“Mac, is your map of this castle area filled up?”
“Yeah, pretty much… Could it be… Did you purposefully let me map out this place?”
“Well, we’ll stop by this room for a moment.”
Casually dismissing my question, he pointed to the door next to me. We had been walking down the corridor all this time, so this was my first time entering a room.
“This room, you see, is where they keep the armor of the Imperial Guards. Listen, Mr. Good Luck, you can wear this. It will make it much easier for you to walk around the castle, and you won’t look strange. Do you know why I’m showing you guys around?”
“Is it because there’s a lot of influences and power struggles inside the palace?”
“You’re half right. The prime minister is quite alarmed because that reclusive Pope is in unusually high spirits today of all days. And there’s an appointment with you. Making an assumption that you’ve already made something extraordinary, he made me run this errand. My job is [ Paladin ], so I’m able to discern the essence of things to a certain extent. I can’t be tempted or deceived by something, especially standing with the side of evil without knowing it.”
The Pope’s timely movement meant that information was being leaked from somewhere. But if the Church was taking action, it could also be interpreted that a lot of details had been leaked. I had only revealed my information to a couple of people that I trusted. Oh well, let’s not worry about that right now. I had to give the prime minister the recipe and the actual item no matter what.
While Vidello-san was changing into the armour of an Imperial Guard, I was groaning at the thought of what I must do. When I suddenly looked up, the sight before me took my breath away.
White armor with gold and blue patterns, combined with a crimson cloak, made him look truly, truly divine.
“…So cool.”
Vidello gave a wry smile hearing my mumble.
I knew he would look good with any armor, but his deep green eyes and beautiful blonde hair were so enhanced by the white armour that his beauty was out of this world. As expected of an ikemen. He was truly cool. I felt like my heart was about to stop beating for a second. I love you!
“Mac~? It’s about time you come back.” (PK: Mac forgets everything. XD)
Yukihira’s tired voice brought me back to the reality before me. But as soon as I turned my head, I was instantly charmed by his beauty again. He looked so majestic. Please hold me now.
“You look like you’re drooling, Mac.”
“It’s not my armor, but next time, should I buy armor like this?”
“I saw some white armor on sale in the frontier region. It wasn’t as detailed as this one, but, well, it was quite expensive.”
“The frontier region… How long would it take to get there from here by horse?”
“Are you serious about getting that?”
“It’s because of the expression he’s making, he’s so cute. It’s like he’s saying ‘I love you’ with his whole being.”
“Ah… Okay, okay.”
Overhearing their conversations, it was a secret that I quietly made up my mind to head for the frontier region. I would buy that white armor and give it to him as a present. Absolutely!
While my heart was racing fast from looking at him, Vidello-san put his helmet on and lowered the front cover. With this, no one could tell who was on the inside, but I was relieved to see those dark green eyes through the eye slit, knowing it was Vidello-san behind it.
I walked between the two guys in armor and continued down the corridor again.
I wondered if the prime minister walked this long way to work every day. That sounded rough. Or was there a direct route or something?
The carpeted corridor masked the sound of the footsteps from the metal armor. I liked this noise-canceling feature, but it would be hard to notice someone approaching you.
Just as I was lost in my thoughts, my feet caught on something.
But when I looked down, I saw there was nothing. I took a few steps forward, and when I felt there was no discomfort, I sped up to keep up with the two.
They turned the corner, and I was about to follow them, but just as I was one step behind the two, I heard a faint voice and my body was stuck to a wall. A thin, film-like thing covered in front of me.
“…Eh—”
“O Holy Spirit of Darkness, cover this noisy mouth and silence its deafening high-pitched voice, [ Silence ].”
I was pulled by the arm, my mouth was shut, and a short spell was cast right next to my ear.
Something flowed through my body, and the hand holding my mouth was quietly released. I breathed out and tried to raise my voice… And then, I realized no sound came out from me.
Yukihira and Vidello-san ran right in front of me, calling my name.
They were totally unaware that I was right next to them. Was this some kind of concealment?
I’m here! I tried to raise my voice, but I felt that my vocal cords weren’t responding to my command. This feeling was similar to the time I was cursed into silence.
Even when I tried to move my neck, I couldn’t, as I was held by a strong arm, and my legs wouldn’t move, as if I was restrained from my thigh to the ankle. Needless to say, I couldn’t draw a magic circle with my arms.
Even when I tried desperately to struggle, I didn’t budge at all.
While Yukihira was opening the door in front and looking inside, Vidello-san was keeping an eye on the corridor. When Yukihira opened the next room and looked inside, I was brought into the room he first opened by the guy behind me.
“Mac! Where are you?!”
“Mac! How in such a split second…?”
“They’re using some kind of concealment! Those bastards, we’ve been outwitted…!”
Their urgent voices were heard from the corridor.
I’m just nearby! I clenched my fists in frustration as I was thrown into a dilemma. No matter how much effort I put in, my voice couldn’t be heard.
If I could move away from this guy, at least the concealment would be lifted, so I might appear on Yukihira’s map.
Anyway, I had to get away from him. I flailed as much as I could, swinging my legs, which were still bound, and succeeded in kicking the man in the shin. The man clicked his tongue in annoyance, and invisible threads, similar to the ones that bound my legs, entangled my hands. Now I had my hands bound behind my back.
Even as I lost my balance and fell down, I didn’t make a sound because of the soft carpet underneath. And I regretted that I was still in the range of concealment even after falling. If I could roll away like this, I might manage to escape. With that hope, I tensed my shoulders.
“O Holy Spirit of Darkness, grant this one who has been forsaken by sleep the mercy of the deep, deep slumber, [ Deep Sleep ].”
Ah, no, I was about to be put to sleep.
The moment the spell was cast, alarms went off in my mind, but having no means to counter it, I could only burn the image of a Bordeaux-colored robe in my memory along with my fading consciousness.
