For the journey, I used the Magic Armor.
Transporting it fully assembled would be a hassle, and if there was going to be a battle in the capital, it seemed wise to bring it along.
The mana drain from the travel itself was concerning, but I chose to overlook that.
As for other methods of transport for the rest of us, there was the option of carrying people on my shoulders and running, but the vibration would likely be terrible, and the ride quality would be the worst.
Considering the distance couldn't be covered in a single day, it would be better to have some kind of seat.
So, I settled on using a horse cart.
I reinforced the cart bed with Earth Magic to keep it from tipping over, then connected it to the Magic Armor to pull it along.
It should have been faster than traveling by horse, but the ride quality turned out to be absolutely miserable.
Zanoba was retching nonstop, and Roxy had gone pale.
Still, we reached the capital in five days.
I don't know how much mana I had remaining.
Given the lingering fatigue in my body, it was clear I hadn't fully recovered.
I hadn't been in combat-ready condition, so I'd like to think I still had some margin—but fighting Orsted would be completely out of the question.
This time, we were heading to rescue Pax.
I believed the Death God was on our side, but who knew what might happen.
I needed to stay sharp.
---
The royal capital of Rattakia was under lockdown.
The entrance gates were sealed shut, and soldiers who appeared to be part of the rebel army stood along the tops of the walls.
Outside the walls, a large crowd of people who had been shut out wandered about in despair—merchants, adventurers, mercenaries.
There were also soldiers from the kingdom who had set up camp.
They had probably come from another town, or perhaps they had been on guard duty outside when the coup began.
"It seems they have no intention of letting anyone interfere until this is resolved," Roxy said.
"Which means Pax is still alive, then."
About ten days had passed since the coup. So the royal castle still hadn't fallen.
I didn't know how great the disparity in military strength was, but they were putting up a surprisingly stubborn resistance.
Well, with the Seven Great Powers involved, I suppose that was to be expected.
Or perhaps Pax was already dead, and the lockdown was for some other reason entirely.
"The exit to the underground passage is along the river," Zanoba said.
Following his lead, we made our way along the riverbank.
The thought of charging straight through and defeating the rebel army did cross my mind, but I decided against it.
Breaking things without understanding the situation was not wise.
And I really didn't want to overthink things any further...
I also wanted to know the answer to why they were barricading themselves inside.
We avoided the people gathered around the castle as well.
If word got out that Zanoba was a prince, it would cause quite a commotion.
General Jade would recognize Zanoba as an enemy allied with Pax.
It was better not to be found.
"......"
The riverbank was remarkably tranquil.
Fish glinted in the gentle current, and duck-like birds swam across the water's surface.
It was hard to believe a battle was happening just nearby.
Where exactly was the border between war and peace?
"That would be it, over there," Zanoba said.
As we traveled along the river, we came upon a watermill.
I brought the Magic Armor to a stop there.
Zanoba and Roxy climbed down from the cart.
Both of them were deathly pale, and Roxy immediately went to the river and threw up.
I was starting to think this mode of travel wasn't such a great idea.
"There should be an underground passage somewhere inside the watermill," Zanoba said.
His voice sounded energetic enough, but his face was ashen.
Healing Magic could temporarily alleviate seasickness, but it couldn't restore lost stamina.
Zanoba had plenty of power but no endurance.
"Shouldn't you two rest for a bit?"
"No, we may not have a moment to spare. We should enter immediately."
We didn't know what was happening inside the royal castle.
This watermill might be our last rest stop.
If we were going to go through an underground passage, we wouldn't be able to use the Mark I anyway. I wanted to be as prepared as possible.
My mana probably wouldn't fully recover, but I should at least restore the体力 of Zanoba and Roxy.
"Zanoba, calm down. We should take a break here and catch our breath. You two look terrible—not to mention myself."
"Mm..."
"There's a saying: haste makes waste."
"I've never heard that, but... very well."
Zanoba reluctantly nodded.
Good.
Fatigue could slow your reactions when it mattered most.
"Before that, we should probably verify that there actually is a passage here," Roxy said.
"Good point."
Following Roxy's suggestion, we inspected the watermill's interior.
The inside was packed with wooden crates and barrels.
It looked like a storage room.
Zanoba and I moved them aside while tapping on the floor and walls.
Then, at the far end of the watermill—partially hidden behind a wooden crate—there it was.
A metal plate.
You could call it a door, but there was no doorknob to be found.
"This would be it?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself. It could just be a storage cellar or something."
I muttered that despite not really believing it as I examined the plate.
How did it open?
Well, if it was an escape passage, it wouldn't be unusual for it to be designed so it couldn't be opened from outside.
It was probably designed to be pushed open from the inside.
"Haah!"
Zanoba ripped the metal plate away with brute force, revealing a vertical shaft with a ladder beneath it.
It wasn't a storage compartment after all.
I used Fire Magic to illuminate the interior.
The bottom was visible a few meters down.
I could also see a horizontal tunnel leading in the direction of the capital.
But I still couldn't rule out the possibility that it was just an underground storage cellar.
I descended partway and shone light into the horizontal tunnel.
There was nothing stored in there—just a narrow passage that stretched on endlessly.
No doubt about it.
This was the underground passage.
"How was it?"
"Looks like we found it."
"Shall we take a break, then?"
"Yeah."
After the break, I returned to the cart and equipped the Mark II Magic Armor.
The shaft was too narrow for the Mark I.
But the Mark II should still perform well enough, as long as we weren't fighting any of the Seven Great Powers.
With Zanoba and Roxy now restored, we entered the underground passage.
---
The passage was a narrow corridor—barely wide enough for two people to pass each other—stretching on into the distance.
There was nothing that could serve as a source of light.
...Presumably, entry from this side was never intended.
I used a Scroll of the Lamp Spirit to illuminate our surroundings.
It was as useful as ever.
The passage was dark and completely empty.
It seemed to have been built purely for transit.
We proceeded in single file—Zanoba, then me, then Roxy.
There was no need for a rear guard.
No enemies would be coming from behind.
"Traveling through narrow passages like this... it brings back unpleasant memories," Roxy said quietly from behind.
I started to respond to her words, but found nothing to say.
I only managed a small "Is that so?" before falling silent.
After that, we continued through the dark passage without a word from anyone.
After about an hour of walking, we reached a door at the end of the passage.
A single metal slab—like a door.
No doorknob. A flush-mounted door, just like the one at the watermill.
It probably could only be opened from the other side as well.
"Urgh!"
Zanoba jammed his fingertips into the gap between the door and the wall and wrenched it open.
Good thing he was leading the way.
"Oh... this is..."
But once the door was open, Zanoba let out a confused sound.
I peered past him and saw that the passage was blocked by rubble and earth.
A dead end.
There had been no forks along the way.
Which meant the watermill had been the right location after all...
"An earthquake must have collapsed it, or perhaps General Jade knew about this passage and sealed it in advance," Roxy offered.
Well, that was about right.
Or Pax might have destroyed it during the coup.
Either way, this at least explained one reason Pax hadn't escaped.
"Master, can you do something about this rubble?"
"...Sure, I'll give it a try."
I swapped places with Zanoba.
It wasn't as though I'd dug a burrow under my office for nothing.
I was well accustomed to handling earth and soil.
Fortunately, there was nothing in this passage that would interfere with magic.
I reinforced the walls and ceiling with magic while compressing the soil to reduce its volume.
It was like forming a pipe out of rock.
It was improvised, but I could maintain enough structural integrity to keep it from collapsing.
I was experienced enough with this sort of fine-tuning.
After about an hour, there was a crumbling sound and we broke through to the other side.
The distance was about five meters, I'd guess?
It felt short, and yet long.
But that didn't matter anymore.
What waited on the other side was a stunning sight.
"What the..."
There was a horizontal passage.
Was it a cave?
About two meters high and three meters wide.
A corridor of that size running perpendicular to ours.
The walls were lined with what looked like artificial stonework, and water trickled across the floor, though it didn't feel like a sewer.
Our passage merged into this horizontal corridor.
And at a slightly elevated position, no less—the drop to the corridor floor was about a meter.
"Zanoba, which way do you think we should go?"
"Well... I've never heard of any fork in this passage..."
We descended into the cave for the time being.
Even without using the Lamp Spirit, it was somewhat bright.
Looking around, the light came from mushrooms growing on the cave walls.
As a light source, they were a bit unreliable.
It felt like an artificial cave... but also not quite.
A faintly strange kind of cavern.
But I felt like I'd seen something like this somewhere before...
"Most likely, straight ahead," Roxy said, looking around from the passage.
She had jumped down while holding her hat and skirt in place.
"Rudy, try digging through the wall that's in a straight line from the passage we came through."
"Got it."
I didn't ask why.
It was Roxy, after all.
I simply followed her instruction.
"Roxy, would you mind explaining what this is about?" Zanoba asked in my place.
Well, I was curious too.
"This cave reminds me very much of a labyrinth we conquered in this kingdom before.
It's likely that the labyrinth's growth consumed part of the passage."
"I see."
"It's just a theory, though.
If it doesn't work out after Rudy digs through, we can try going left or right."
Listening to their conversation, I dug.
I dug like crazy.
I dug like a dog.
Well, technically I was using magic to dig.
And after another hour, I discovered a hollow space.
I sent the Lamp Spirit in and saw a passage just like the one we'd been traveling through.
We'd found it.
"There's a path!"
"Then let's proceed."
I built a staircase for them.
It would serve as our way back too.
But if this place was a labyrinth, leaving it like this might let monsters wander in...
Ah, whatever.
And here I was, thinking Roxy was something else. One glance at that cave and she'd immediately deduced it was a labyrinth.
The people I admired truly were on another level.
---
After that, another hour.
In total, we had probably spent about four hours traveling.
Just as signs of fatigue began to show on Zanoba, we finally reached the exit.
The first thing we emerged into was what appeared to be a basement.
About the size of a six-tatami room.
Walls and ceiling constructed from solid stonework.
Candle holders lined the walls.
And in one corner, a staircase leading upward.
Hidden behind one corner of the room was a secret door.
I knew immediately that this was the royal castle of the Kingdom of Siluone.
It was a familiar room.
In fact, I had lived here at one point.
"...Zanoba, is this—"
"Yes, this is where Master and I first met."
The place where our memories were made.
Well, that sounded nice, but in reality it was where Pax had trapped me inside a barrier.
I had assumed this was just an empty room, but it had actually been an escape route.
No wonder there had been strange contraptions and magic circle mechanisms.
The barrier was gone now, it seemed...
"How nostalgic. When I first met the maker of that doll, I truly believed the day had arrived—the pinnacle of my life. I never dreamed that even happier days would follow."
"Save the reminiscing for later," I said, hurrying along the sentimental Zanoba, who looked like he was doing a documentary interview.
We climbed the stairs and made our way through the corridor.
The castle interior was dead silent.
It seemed night had fallen while we were in the underground passage—the windows outside were dark.
Not a single maid in sight, not a single light in the corridors.
The quiet of a hospital in the dead of night.
Pax's forces must have been stationed outside.
"I wonder where Pax is?"
"Probably in Father's room."
Father's room... meaning the king's bedroom?
Zanoba walked ahead without hesitation.
Home sweet home.
He didn't seem particularly nostalgic—just strode forward without looking back.
We followed him in silence.
---
"...Ah."
Suddenly, Roxy stopped.
Right in front of a door. She froze.
"What is it?"
"I was just remembering that this was the room I was given, back in the day."
The door was open.
No one inside.
Nothing remarkable—just a bed and a desk.
The room's occupant must have fled in a hurry. The bed was rumpled, and both the desk and floor were in disarray.
Someone must have started using the room again after Roxy was gone.
It had a peculiar sense of lived-in warmth.
Now it was someone else's room.
But knowing Roxy had once lived here, I couldn't help but feel a certain sentimentality.
This was the room where I'd stayed while working as a tutor for Eris.
"Master, Roxy, what's the matter?"
"Roxy's getting sentimental looking at her old room..."
"Weren't you the one who said to save sentiment for later?"
Zanoba walked back with a weary expression.
Then he peered into the room, glanced at Roxy, and said, "Hmm."
"The room Roxy used was the one next to this."
"Huh?"
Roxy hastily opened the door to the adjacent room.
Then she compared it with the room she'd been looking at, glanced up and down the corridor, realized her mistake, and blushed.
"I-It was dark and I got confused."
That damn Zanoba.
Making Roxy feel embarrassed like that.
What was he thinking?
If Roxy said something was black, even white matter would be dark to her.
"Master, why are you stepping on my foot?"
"My foot just slipped, that's all."
"I know you hold Roxy in great esteem, Master, but getting sentimental over the wrong room won't accomplish anything..."
Fair point.
I'd stop stepping on his foot.
But still, hearing that Roxy had spent time in this part of the castle was rather moving.
If the Teleportation Incident hadn't occurred, might she have simply remained in the Kingdom of Siluone?
"Let's hurry," Roxy said.
With that, we left the spot.
---
Inside the castle, we ultimately didn't encounter a single soul.
No one was there.
For some reason, there was no one.
Perhaps because of this, Zanoba had become unusually talkative.
"The main entrance to this castle is on the second floor. All guests from outside enter through the second floor. On the third floor—"
He spoke about the castle in a matter-of-fact tone.
The first floor housed the living quarters for soldiers and servants.
The second floor contained the grand hall, the audience chamber, guest rooms, and various other diplomatic facilities.
The third floor held conference rooms, offices, and other administrative facilities, as well as corridors connecting to the defensive walls and main tower.
The fourth floor was the residential area for princes and princesses, along with the Royal Guard quarters.
And on the fifth floor was the king's bedroom.
What a strange castle.
If a fire broke out on the first floor, wouldn't the entire royal family be wiped out?
Well, there was hardly any royal family left anyway...
First floor. Second floor. Third floor.
Nobody.
When we reached the fourth floor, I looked out the window.
Bonfires blazed around the castle, and I could see the rebel army had surrounded it.
But there was no sign of Pax's forces.
No indication of any fighting.
Not a single figure in sight.
It wasn't just that it was too dark to see properly.
This castle was completely empty.
"......"
Zanoba seemed to have noticed the eerie atmosphere too.
By the time we started climbing to the fourth floor, his conversation had abruptly stopped.
His expression had stiffened.
Something was happening in this castle.
That premonition hung heavily over us as we climbed the final staircase.
---
And then, the fifth floor.
The topmost level of what could be called the castle keep.
The king's bedroom—the most prestigious room in the kingdom in terms of both status and price.
"............"
There, at the entrance.
On the landing.
In front of the door, he was sitting.
The Death God, Randolph Marianne.
He was sitting in a chair that seemed to have been placed there for no particular reason, leaning forward as if resting.
Elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of him, head tilted slightly to the side.
His skull-like face, half-hidden by an eye patch, was turned toward us.
"Why would the king of this country build his bedroom so high up?"
The "Death God," Randolph Marianne.
The moment he spotted us, he casually launched into that topic.
"What's the point of putting a bedroom up here? It's just inconvenient.
Even for work, having to go all the way down each time must be a pain.
If you have food carried up, it'll have gotten slightly cold by the time it arrives from the first-floor kitchen.
And once you get old and your legs give out, the climb up and down would be quite a struggle.
If there were a fire, you might not escape in time."
He tilted his weary face, muttering to himself while looking our way.
His posture was that of any tired old man, yet for some reason, a chill ran down my spine.
"If it were me, I'd put it on the first floor.
Work would go smoothly, and you'd get to eat your food while it was still hot.
Going out would be easy too...
But then again, I suppose that's because I'm a commoner."
Randolph babbled on, then let out a thin, unsettling laugh.
Roxy swallowed hard at his skull-like grin.
"Well, there are certainly advantages.
If you were going to hole up inside the castle, this would be the safest place.
After all, this castle is built with copious amounts of anti-magic brick.
It's exceptionally resistant to long-range magic.
Each floor has defensive positions, making it very difficult to fight your way to the top.
This castle was built for wartime, you see."
What was Randolph trying to get at?
He was just sitting there.
Could we simply walk past him?
Honestly, I didn't want to get even one step closer to this man.
"Lord Randolph," Zanoba said, stepping forward when I hesitated.
Without so much as changing his posture—the height of disrespect—Randolph smiled at Zanoba.
A grinning skeleton in the dead of night.
Chilling.
"Well, well, Prince Zanoba. What brings you all the way to a place like this?"
"Do you know anything about the state of this castle?"
"Oh, yes. Of course I do."
As he spoke, Randolph shifted his eye patch aside.
Beneath it, a single eye glowed with a sinister red light.
A six-pointed star-like pattern floated within the iris.
A magical eye.
"By His Majesty's order, I used the power of this 'Void Eye' to create a wall around the royal castle. That power continues to hold the enemy forces at bay even now."
A magical eye I knew nothing about.
Orsted had never mentioned such a thing.
That man never told me anything important.
But if he still wore the eye patch, did that mean he couldn't control it?
Did I really need to be as wary as I thought?
"I see. What about the others?"
"They were either killed or they fled."
"...And His Majesty himself?"
"In there."
"I see. Very well. Protecting His Majesty—that is a noble cause."
Zanoba made to pass by Randolph.
But Randolph spread his clasped hands and blocked the way.
"Why are you stopping me?"
"I have been ordered to allow no one through to His Majesty."
"This is urgent business."
"Even if it is urgent, His Majesty is currently very occupied."
Occupied with what, exactly?
With no one around, what could he possibly be doing up there?
"Stand aside. I have come to rescue His Majesty."
"It seems His Majesty has no intention of leaving this castle."
"......"
Randolph continued to hem and haw, his answers slippery—as if he were hiding something.
Zanoba was growing visibly frustrated.
"I will speak with His Majesty directly!"
When Zanoba tried to push past, Randolph rose to his feet.
He drifted upward.
His body moved as if only his head were floating in midair—an almost weightless way of standing.
"Please, wait. His Majesty is in tremendous pain right now."
"Pain?"
"From here, you can see the situation in the capital quite clearly.
The soldiers glaring up with hostility from inside the walls...
The soldiers gathered outside the walls who, for some reason, aren't attempting to help the king and are instead just watching silently..."
As he spoke, Randolph shifted his gaze behind us.
I turned around involuntarily, and sure enough, through the large window on the landing, the current state of the capital was vividly displayed.
The rebel army surrounding the castle.
The soldiers stationed outside the walls, shut out.
From this vantage point, it might indeed look like the gathered crowd had no intention of attacking the rebels.
But most of that crowd consisted of merchants, adventurers, or mere travelers.
They couldn't possibly help.
"I will not move from this spot until His Majesty's pain has subsided."
"And when will that be?"
"Well... I don't think it will take that long, but one never knows."
"Enough! Talking to you is getting us nowhere!"
Zanoba reached out to grab Randolph by the shoulder and shove him aside—
"Whoa!?"
He was sent flying.
He tumbled down the staircase with a series of thuds, slamming the back of his head against the wall.
The wall crumbled.
"I'm sorry for the clichéd line, but if you wish to pass through here, you will have to defeat me first."
Randolph drew his sword as he spoke.
In the darkness, a green-glowing blade became visible.
That had to be a magical sword as well.
Oh no.
This was bad.
I hadn't even brought the Mark I—fighting now was a terrible idea.
"Zanoba, calm down! Fighting here is dangerous!"
"But Master..."
Listening to what had just been said, Randolph was only protecting Pax.
Zanoba had come to protect Pax as well.
They shouldn't have been enemies.
If Randolph were a disciple of the Human God, that would be a different story—but that was unlikely.
If this were a trap to kill me, it was far too elaborate.
And if the goal was to kill Pax and prevent the founding of a republic, the Death God could have done that much earlier.
Like when we were still in the Dragon King Kingdom, for instance.
But just to be sure, I should ask.
"Randolph, sir—if you say wait, then I'll wait. But before that, there's something I'd like to ask. May I?"
"What would that be?"
"Do you know of the existence of the Human God?"
Randolph grinned.
A ghastly smile that perfectly matched the atmosphere of this castle.
"Oh, yes, I know of him. What about it?"
Randolph let out a dry, rattling laugh as he answered.
So that was that.
I now had a reason to fight.
This man was a disciple of the Human God, and he was here because of the Human God's machinations.
I didn't know what those machinations were, but this man had orchestrated this situation, and beyond it lay something that would benefit the Human God.
Which meant he was the enemy.
The enemy had to be defeated.
That was what I had decided.
Killing intent rose within me.
"Well, I suppose this means we're doing this after all."
Randolph drew his sword.
The green-glowing blade lit up the dim corridor.
In response, Zanoba raised his club, and Roxy pointed her staff.
And just like that, it began.
In a manner that could only be called a spur-of-the-moment escalation, our battle with one of the Seven Great Powers—without the Magic Armor, Mark I—had begun.