Seirei Gensouki's
Chapter 184: Paladia Royal Castle and Village Situation

The second afternoon after the night he fought Nidol in the kingdom of Proxia, Rio visited the royal palace of Paladia. If he were to speak frankly about the aspects of the castle town scattered around the lake, it was clearly prosperous as a big royal city. From the roadside of the commercial area, one could see the sight of many merchants and buyers raising their voices.

（It ………. Very normal）

Is Rio's first impression of this royal capital. Following the information he got from Nidol after the fight in the royal castle of Proxia, the first prince of this kingdom –Previous imprisonment of the mercenary group Lucius– may have information about Lucius, but—

He had no choice but to trust and check the truth of that seemingly shady information.

（Let's go into the castle once day turns into night）

Rio looked at the castle built on a small hill by the lake. Its appearance, surrounded by sturdy high walls, was closer to the castle than the castle. It was quite compact compared to the royal castles of large empires like Bertram kingdom or Galwark kingdom.

Although an indescribable feeling began to appear inside Rio's chest when he thought of the possibility that Lucius, his mother's killer, was living inside the castle, he calmed down after taking a deep breath.

◇ ◇ ◇

Day turned into night.

The Paladia royal castle had closed its gates and fortifications as if resisting interference. The defense became very tight with bonfires built in almost every possible place within the castle walls and a greater number of guards than during the day patrolled around the castle in general sequentially.

When he judged that the offense from the ground would take too much time, Rio snuck into the castle from the air under the cover of the night and landed on the roof of the royal castle of the Paladia kingdom. Wearing dark clothes and a dark mask, he moved silently by blending perfectly with the darkness and erasing all signs of his presence. After looking at the situation in the courtyard for a while, he decided to enter through one of the windows.

Typically, castles are not designed to have low-rise windows that take security into account, but royal castles similar to Paladia castles have even fewer windows for potential intruders to use. Although he found windows from time to time, they were tightly sealed and locked from the inside.

Even so, as long as the invaders look for it there must be a route ――

（Should I log in using this surveillance tower?）

Rio decided to enter the castle by using the tower that was meant to search. But he couldn't go there without preparation because there were three guards in the lookout and maybe more inside the castle hall.

Rio created a special magic field that made his body invisible to the eyes with wind spirit arts by making his magic power penetrate the surrounding air. But, since her magic could not prevent the sound from leaking and it could break due to the sudden movement, she had to move very carefully.

When he goes along the wall and will enter into the scout—

「N? 」

All the guards reacted to what might be the sound he made when he landed. But they immediately turned around after making sure that no one other than them was on guard.

Rio crouched on the spot for a few seconds after landing then slowly stood up and walked inside the lookout as if walking through the gaps of the guards. He walked towards the inner part of the castle when—,

（This is the real battle: looking for the first prince's room. ）

He focuses himself.

Despite that, he could not just go around in circles in the open with all the soldiers, who were patrolling around, high-level magicians, who had acute magic power, patrolling around, positioned inside the castle and other dangers such as magic tools that can detect magic power. This was the place where his skill in gathering information by sneaking through the consciousness of the guards, detecting the abnormal reactions of magic power, was, look for signs of people and knowledge of when to cancel out his invisibility or when to activate him come into play.

Rio was already used to this kind of activity thanks to his experience of sneaking into the royal palace in several kingdoms. Perhaps because he came to the conclusion that he should leave without worrying too much about the consequences at times like these, he started moving without any doubt or excessive moderation.

After descending the tower stairs, he finally arrived at the castle. He used invisibility when passing patrol soldiers, hiding in the ceiling or using shadows, in short, he adapted based on the situation.

（This is not as big as kingdom level, but there is no gap in the setting of scout）

Rio stepped deep into the interior of the castle while thinking so. He decided to pacing back and forth because he had comprehended the lookout structure and the building itself. The soldiers on guard were divided into many divisions based on the structure of the building. The target was the superiors present in the building.

After taking a short walk in the castle, Rio, who should have decided on his strategy, went to that place with fewer people.

（The residence of the nobles is supposed to be a multi-storey main building ..... But, the problem is how to enter the place）.

As one might expect, even Rio found it difficult to enter the gap between the door with the two soldiers standing guard next to him. He could naturally open the door in his invisible state while ignoring the fact that it would expose him, but a case where a door opened by itself would definitely cause a commotion. Being involved in such a situation was not a funny thing for him.

（Should I go and see the situation from the window?）

（Or wait for someone to enter?）

The efficiency of the second method was really bad as he did not know where the first prince's room was and someone else might enter the room. The infiltration would be much easier with Aisia who had a spirit form, but she could not ask for that luxury since she was with Celia in the marquis region of Rodan at that time. Finally–,

(Or…… . . Should I look for information about the first prince in the inner part of the castle? I might be able to find her room as long as I stretch my ears and eavesdrop on）

Plan and sure . Rio chose the third wisest and safest option.

He moved out of the area with many people gathered on the lower floor, a less dense part of the castle. Since the lower floors of the castle were mostly inhabited by soldiers and servants of the castle, he could probably hear various stories there.

That's where most of the interesting gossip is shared. Perhaps because employees happen to have too much free time with nothing to do and like to gossip, they talk about various things in their spare time.

For example, the negative rumors from their co-workers seemed trivial to Rio, and of course the interesting gossip about the nobles and nobles living in this castle. The downside was that he could not guide the topic because they knew the way the world inside the royal palace was the best.

For an hour he eavesdropped on their conversation, Rio learned that the first prince's name was Duran. A rumor related to Duran was currently spreading like wild fire in the knight area. Rio listened carefully and finally found some clues about the first prince's whereabouts.

「Duran-sama went looking for a new woman? Looks like she's some kind of pretty girl at the inn in the neighborhood. 」

A certain warrior who flowed with curiosity opened the topic.

「A ~ h, that again huh? That's how it is. She changed her woman like underwear. 」

Another soldier said so with a tone of envy. Dan–, though,

「Good face. I want to be important too. You're even allowed to play around like that, aren't you? 」

「It won't be messing around because you haven't even been married since the beginning. Find yourself a girlfriend before bragging about messing around. 」

「S-Shuttle. It's just "If". 」

The other soldiers also joined in on their pleasant chat.

「There is a saying that says that great men love pleasure ual. Duran-sama's battle achievements are too frightening, including those around him, you can't let go of such careless comments, you know. 」

「In short they are released when he gets bored with them to prevent future problems. Want to bet, how long will this woman last? 」

One of the soldiers offered a bet.

（It looks like he has an unpleasant hobby with his fondness on women）

That's what Rio thought.

「But then, Duran-sama left together with one of his troops and the mercenary acquaintance of him. I wonder when he'll be back. 」

Rio reacted to the words 「Introduction to Mercenary」.

「Fu ~ hn. Is there anything strange like that? Say, I haven't heard of any big fights lately. Is there some kind of big problem that requires Duran-sama to come out? 」

When another soldier changed the topic again to make their conversation more festive――,

"Who knows . I heard they're heading to the west highway, but ………. . 」

The soldier who asked shrugged his shoulders. The thing that Rio obtained from that warrior was—,

（So he headed to the west highway along with his mercenary acquaintances ……. . Which means that the first prince is not in the castle now?）

He had a pensive expression on his face.

The thing that made him really curious was the so-called 「Introduction of Mercenary」 mentioned by the soldiers in their conversation. Rio kept wondering if those mercenaries could be Lucius.