Seirei Gensouki's
Chapter 172: Infiltration of the Proxia Empire

This incident occurred on the same day that Flora was transferred to the kingdom of Paladia.

——

After staying in Almond for one night, Rio then went towards Proxia the next morning. Of course his goal was to pursue Lucius' trail. Although it was still unclear whether Lucius belonged to the Proxia empire or not, even more so because it was the self-proclaimed ambassador of the Proxia empire, Reis said, he could not ignore that information. Infiltration could be considered a success as long as he could obtain information about Lucius from the imperial higher-ups.

Rio flew to the imperial capital of Nidgard, located at the center of the empire, with his wind spirit arts.

Although he stopped in several cities along the way to gather information about Lucius from famous mercenaries, he could not get any useful information. On the third day after leaving Almond, Rio arrived in Nidgard.

（The castle is far …………. . From its size, it could be considered a big city. Even if it's just a self-proclaimed kingdom. ）

walking on the nearest road leading to the city, Rio entered the imperial capital from outside the fortress and stared at the imperial castle far in front of him. The imperial castle reflected in his eyes was actually a display of overwhelming and imposing might.

But the development of the city outside the fortress where Rio stood was irregular and a gloomy atmosphere enveloped the entire city.

（Let's take a look at the inside of the fort for now. ）

Rio decided to head towards the center of the imperial capital first.

An hour later, after confirming the imperial state of the street stalls he had stopped by, he arrived before one of the gates of the fortress. After paying the tariff, he went to the area inside the fort.

Upon entering he could clearly see that the inside and outside of the fortress were like two completely different worlds. Although he could see even from outside the fortress that the standard of living rose higher and higher as he got closer to the fortress, the rich lifestyle became more prominent as he stepped in.

Other than the clothes of the people, from the aura of the people inside the fortress and the street stalls that could be seen everywhere, the inside of the fort was a very crowded place. Moreover, even when it was filled with neat and tidy buildings, all of it was well maintained with soldiers patrolling everywhere to protect the safety of the citizens.

Although there were many cities that had large gaps between the living environment outside and inside their fortress, a city that showed priority of developing an inner region was rare. As if reflecting the raison d'etre of the former mercenary who became emperor, Nidol Proxia, he built a separate place that emphasized on the survival of the strongest.

「…………. Uhn's？ 」

Rio felt a little uncomfortable looking at the appearance of the majestic castle in front of him. When he sharpened his eyes to see the reason for the uncomfortable feeling, he noticed that a cylindrical magic barrier enveloped the entire castle.

（What kind of barrier is it?）

Rio's eyes opened wide and a serious expression floated on his face.

First of all, barrier magic had a complicated structure and had yet to reach the practical level with the level of magic techniques in the Strahl region. Although some countries managed to reach the semi-practical level by analyzing the parts of the ancient magic tools, it still had a mistake, namely the resources to maintain the barrier. So the current civilization in the Strahl region had no choice but to abandon the theme of this research when it came to large-scale magic barriers. At least it's used for the protection of important people.

But now, the magic barrier that covered the entire imperial castle was clearly a large scale. Although his level was still far from the level used by Seirei no tami, this level of magic technique was clearly at the peak in the Strahl region.

（The effect is to detect intruders but ………………. . Very disturbing effect. There might be another one too. There were even guards patrolling during the day checking the barrier. Better wait until it gets dark. ）

Rio frowned, as expected ―― He thought that there might be a connection between this barrier and Reis, so he sighed. Even though he wanted to sneak into the castle, that alone might prove to be too troublesome.

Then, Rio arranged his stay at an inn and decided to gather some more information about the situation inside the castle so that it would not come back to bite him later.

◇ ◇ ◇

In the end, he had no important information at all. Although he would be able to conduct a more thorough investigation if he spent a few more days in this place, it was likely that he obtained more information without the slightest assistance.

As a result, Rio chose the high-risk high-return method. Late at night when all the citizens of the imperial capital were asleep, dressed in black clothes, he quietly slipped out of the inn through the window. His target was the fortress of ―― Climbing some of the walls he passed without encountering any problems. The imperial capital at night is very quiet, especially in residential areas. There was hardly anyone walking outside aside from the patrolling troops.

After entering a little further, from a certain point closer to the imperial castle, after leaving the noble district, he exited to the paved plaza that commanded a beautiful view of the city landscape when the scenery was disturbed. The plaza in front of him was hidden by the great wall of the imperial castle. Rio stopped his steps right before entering the square.

（They made fire watches and there were many warriors going around. The range of the barrier was also calculated precisely to hide the castle. Should I look around the castle for a while?）

Although it was low, there was still a possibility of this barrier cracking. So Rio decided to go around the barrier boundary that enveloped the castle. First he looked for gaps in the ground.

The gap he was looking for did not exist. At the very least, infiltration from the ground was impossible.

So he had no choice but to try to infiltrate from the sky to see if it would be obstructed or not. Nevertheless, he wanted to avoid infiltrating from the sky as much as possible. Due to this type of barrier, he would be found at the same time when he infiltrated the area within the barrier. He was left with no choice but to infiltrate through the sky.

Rio body slowly rose from the ground until it reached a height higher than the barrier boundary. After ascending some distance from the ground, he better look at the castle from above. There, he noticed …

（There is a faint gap at the top of the barrier. Maybe it's a trap but .....................）...

Perhaps due to the lack of magic power, he finally found a gap at the top of the barrier.

He thought he needed to learn the nature of the barrier because it could be considered a trap as well, but his potential ambusher might be aiming for that opening.

The matter of planning to create a new infiltration route would take too long and at the moment he could only find this gap that might be fixed tomorrow.

After worrying for a while – ――

（Come try to enter. ）

He decided to enter using that gap. He knew the risks of this choice from the start and he had already decided to go as far as excruciating if it meant getting the information he needed. There was no time to hesitate as someone inside the castle might know Lucius' whereabouts.

As there were many soldiers patrolling inside the garden, he descended on the rooftop and entered the castle from there under the cover of the night. First of all he needed to understand the structure within the castle as much as possible. Rio went to the castle through the unused room window. He confirmed that there was no one around while on high alert for the soldiers patrolling. When he started walking carefully―― ――

（There …………. . It doesn't look like there's a magic-type detection device either. ）

Rio was amazed at the fact that there were no soldiers patrolling inside the castle at all.

A gripping sensation permeated the interior of the castle that was enveloped by total darkness and total silence. He sharpened his eyes, but was unable to find any trace of the detection magic used.

（Despite so many soldiers waiting outside …………. . This is really a trap huh?）

Rio considered that possibility for a moment but, seeing the frightening silence inside the castle, he thought that he might be thinking too much about other things. However, he could not shake the unease in his heart. Without anyone patrolling inside the castle, the situation seemed designed to invite him to go further.

But Rio shook his head and decided to investigate the castle longer. Although there were no soldiers patrolling, he was very careful and did not let his guard down.

In addition, although the imperial castle has several mansions in it, the current location is the top of the main castle ―― With some buildings mainly used for the administration of military affairs, offices, and, throne room and conference room.

Although a normal castle was supposed to place soldiers inside the castle, probably because there was no one inside, he felt that there was almost no sign of life inside the castle.

（Come see the bottom floor. If not, try another building. ）

Perhaps the nobles who work in the castle or the royalty―― may be resting inside one of the buildings.

As long as he managed to infiltrate, he would be able to get as much information as he wanted from the people inside. The current target of Rio was not the moving army, but the people living inside the building. Since the people who live there may be a great opportunity, there is a high chance of him hitting the jackpot.

Since it was possible for anyone other than the army to be inside the building that looked the most conspicuous, he decided to infiltrate it. But he still could not feel any signs of humans inside the tightly locked room.

In the end, Rio decided to go up to the bottom floor.

Because it is common sense not to build paths on the first and second floors connecting to other buildings, entrances are usually installed on the third floor which is connected to the entrance of other large houses by bridges.

In Rio's case, even though he could sneak through the window while he could fly, he decided not to and walked while checking inside the building. He advanced with great care as if trying to blend in with the darkness.

As he explored, he found a soldier standing guard on a bridge connected to another house. In total there are 5 bridges that connect one large house with another.4 of them are guarded by soldiers.

It was unfriendly news for those who tried to infiltrate, but Rio instead felt relieved to see that soldier. Nevertheless, he quickly devised a plan for how to quickly cross the bridge.

（Are defenses ignored because they are non-existent? He probably knows the structure of the building as well. This situation traps but …………. ）

He decided to look for a building that had a bit of a lookout. Although the chances of someone becoming negligent was extremely low, as long as he could understand its structure, it would be useful in the long run.

Thus, Rio quickly moved towards the silent bridge as possible. After crossing the bridge …

（What .................... this place anyway? Training field? Or, arena?）

It had a circular structure like an arena. With the ceiling fully open, moonlight shone on him. The place where Rio was standing was currently above the audience room. The vast, neatly laid out land spread beneath him.

（Well, there may be no soldiers guarding this place. There is no need for me to investigate the inner structure of this place. ）

Rio lost interest and was about to turn around and leave when-,

「!!!!! ? 」

Rio, whose senses had been maximally enhanced with spirit arts since the beginning of the infiltration, felt a faint mark. The next moment, Rio was already getting closer to the source of the mark.

He practically jumped from that place in a panic. ――,

「Hou, so you felt a faint mark left when I hid in the darkness huh? Just incredible! You are the only intruder who has made it this far in the barrier. My name is Nidol Proxia. This imperial emperor. Welcome to my palace, you insolent bully. 」

Standing there was the founding emperor of the self-proclaimed proclamation of the Proxia―― empire A stone-like man with a bright smile on his face.