Chapter 397: Underground Palace
TLN: Please read my translations at , I did not give permission to any site to host my translations.
Editor: Tseirp
After eating dinner and getting six hours of sleep, the four from Room 10 left the inn.
They had reserved a room for one more day and paid in advance, but they didn’t have any of their things in the room.
In the northeast direction that Ryo mentioned, there stood what appeared to be a magnificent palace.
The ceiling of this underground city itself is very high.
About thirty meters high.
And within it stood a palace reaching all the way to the ceiling…
No other building, of course, reached such heights.
“This… is definitely a facility associated with the church, or the government, it’s either one or the other…”
“In an average country, it would be the lord’s mansion, but they practice Theocracy here…”
“There are guards at the gate, too, so it doesn’t seem to be a church open to believers…”
“It’s as if we’re treading on the enemy’s home ground! Perhaps at the end, a thirty-meter class golem will appear! ”
Niels said with a frown, Etho agreed, Amon made an observation of the entrance, and Ryo expressed his wish.
Ryo, of course, does not know if there is such a thing as a thirty-meter class golem.
If such a thing were to appear, the ceiling would collapse….
“I understand your desire, Ryo. Though I get it, nothing more!”
“You’re starting to resemble Abel with your witty remarks, Niels…”
Niels retorted and Ryo sighed.
Incidentally, Etho and Amon didn’t miss the fact that Niels looked a little bit happy at the words “You’re starting to resemble Abel”, which Ryo said along with a sigh…
“On a normal day, we would sneak in at night…”
“Seeing as it’s always bright in this underground space, that would be a little difficult.”
Amon sighed and Etho chuckled.
“I could pierce all the ‘lamp posts’ with and make it pitch black, but that would surely inconvenience the average upstanding workers. And it could lead to a riot.”
“Yeah, Ryo, don’t ever do that.”
“Wait Niels, by don’t ever do that, don’t ever do that, don’t… just stay still and get on with it! Won’t happen to be what you really mean, is it?”
“Hell no! What are you on about? Seriously, don’t do it!”
Ryo was relieved to see that Niels was a sensible adventurer.
The four of them entered a bar near the ‘palace’.
Of course, the purpose was not to drink alcohol, but to come up with a strategy.
“If even Ryo can’t probe from the outside, we’ll have to find our way in somehow… worst case, we’ll send only Ryo.”
“Send only me?”
Niels said, and Ryo tilted his head.
“Ryo can use his magic to probe the inside as long as you can get in there, right? Even if you can’t rely on your eyes, I’m sure you can manage somehow, right?”
“Yeah… well, I guess I should be able to manage somehow. The problem is that the only entrance seems to be that one right there at the front. You would have to have some serious stealth skills to get in through that main gate without being discov…”
Niels said and Ryo answered, but… Ryo stopped mid-sentence.
“Ryo?”
Etho called out to him anxiously.
“There just might be a way. Though it’s only for one person.”
Ryo said and pulled out a silver bracelet from his bag.
“A bracelet?”
“I did some research on the magic formula inside. It is very delicate, but if I carefully apply magic to it, even I can use it.”
Amon asked, and Ryo answered.
“What’s the bracelet for?”
“It is a concealment bracelet.”
This ‘concealment bracelet’ (named by Ryo) was used by Cesare and others, and Ryo received it from the Republic as a token of apology.
Naturally, the bracelet is customized so that only certain users can use it.
This is because it would be a problem if it were to be stolen and used.
It can apparently sense the slightest difference in each person’s magic power…
The reason for using the term ‘apparently’, is because even Ryo doesn’t understand it.
That’s how high a level the alchemy used is.
Even the biometric authentication part.
And Ryo is trying to forcibly hack into it so that he can use it…
As he had said previously, it’s impossible.
This would be impossible unless one was as proficient in magic control as Ryo is, or perhaps someone endowed with such proficiency of the highest level even among magicians, and also knowledgeable and experienced in alchemy.
There’s probably no such person… or so he thought.
(I kind of think Sera could do it…)
Magic control as good as or even better than Ryo’s, and a wealth of knowledge about alchemy by virtue of her race as an elf…
Well, one would have to be in the same league as Ryo or Sera to forcefully use this bracelet.
Moreover, even for Ryo, it requires a great deal of concentration, as if threading a thin, fine needle continuously.
Hence, it is impossible to use other magic or even run while using the bracelet.
That’s how burdensome it is to forcefully utilize user-specific alchemy tools…
Ryo activated the ‘concealment bracelet’ and walked through the main gate.
Passing through the ‘Palace’ gate, he walked through the open main entrance.
At that moment, he felt as though he had passed through a thin membrane of air.
(The membrane just now was the cause of the water vapor reacting strangely…. From the looks of it, it could easily prevent wind-attribute magic like and the like.)
He made it inside, but he couldn’t probe with sonar while using the concealment bracelet.
He would need to unequip the bracelet somewhere out of sight and then begin his exploration.
However, since he’s unfamiliar with the structure, he’s practically walking blind…
Going up and down the stairs didn’t seem like a good idea, so he managed to wander around the ground floor… and finally reached the end of a hallway which appeared to be obscured enough from the surroundings.
()
Since he couldn’t use out of the blue.
Sensitive people can perceive it after all.
However, with increased accuracy can pick up on significant changes in any given situation.
Even people who are breathing in their sleep.
(There are over a hundred people in this palace…. If they are being held captive, I guess it would make more sense for them to be in a dungeon?)
That was Ryo’s logical reasoning.
If they were locked up, it would be in a dungeon or on top of a tower.
This ‘Palace’ doesn’t have a tower, so dungeon it is.
(Looks like there’s another place with strange water vapor reaction deep inside the second-floor basement. Assuming it’s just like the situation back at the entrance, does that mean it’s also separated by a membrane of air?)
Having no choice, Ryo decided to head over there.
With the ‘concealment bracelet’ activated of course. On foot.
Even knowing they couldn’t see him, he still got nervous whenever he passed by someone.
He noticed that there were a lot of people who looked like knights inside the building.
And magicians, too.
However, perhaps because magicians are more sensitive to the flow of magic power, some looked toward Ryo more than once.
However, seeing nothing there, they thought it was just their imagination and withdrew their attention.
Repeating this several times, he arrived deep inside the second-floor basement, in front of the air membrane.
He could see right through.
The space inside was fairly large.
Considering that it is inside the palace, perhaps an atrium?
The air membrane was in front of such a place.
(I have a bad feeling about this…)
Still, he must continue his exploration.
Making up his mind, Ryo put only the tip of his right hand out beyond the air membrane and immediately chanted.
()
(Found them!)
Further inside the large atrium, four people were placed in separate cells in chains.
Probably some kind of chain that constantly drains magic power… or something along those lines.
And further inside the four cells…
But at the same time, Ryo sensed something.
In the center of the large atrium.
Moreover, the other party was also completely aware of Ryo. He understood that, too.
“Guess I’m blown.”
Ryo muttered and walked into the atrium.
Then, he called out to the person standing in the center.
It’s been a day.
“Hello, Your Holiness.”
TLN: Please read my translations at , I did not give permission to any site to host my translations.
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