Well, that was a bit of a flag, but I decided to ignore it.
“All right, in that case, let’s go straight from the Holy City to the empire by flying over the mountains. That way, we should be able to avoid going over any other cities.”
“That does seem like our best option,” Lionel agreed with a nod.
“The only problem is that it makes it trickier to explain ourselves if we get caught,” I said. “I want to make sure we can claim we’re just there for a friendly visit, after all.”
“You might want to give up on that idea,” my master chimed in.
“We could say we didn’t notice we had crossed the border because it’s our first time using the airship?”
“If that was a serious suggestion, then it’s back to the classroom for you,” he said. His eyes weren’t smiling.
“I’m just kidding,” I assured him. “Anyway, between dropping directly into the palace and sneaking into it from inside the city, which option seems safer?” I asked our Illumasian companions.
Ketty was the one who replied. “There are lots of ways to sneak into the palace, so both seem viable to me.”
Judging by her words, perhaps she had done it before. Or perhaps it was just knowledge she’d gained from her year as an assassin. Either way, what mattered was ensuring everyone’s safety.
We also needed to get the empire’s citizens on our side, and for that we needed Lionel. If he succeeded, we should be able to confront the emperor without having to fight anyone. Plus, if the empire was oppressing its citizens through war, we’d need Lionel to inspire the people to rise against the emperor’s tyranny.
“As I said before, I’d like Lionel to act like he’s making his triumphant return to the empire.”
“Then we’ll boldly walk all the way from the center of the capital to the palace. Even if someone were to attack us on the way, we should be able to deal with them easily. And if my impersonator is around, I’ll unleash hell upon him,” Lionel said. He seemed to have made up his mind already. Ketty’s eyes shone with determination as well. The fake Lionel was done for.
But then, I noticed that Estia—who had chosen to accompany us to the empire—looked a little grim.
“What’s with the long face, Estia?” I asked. “Is there something you’d like to say?”
“There are a lot of child slaves in the imperial capital, most of whom were brought there against their will. I’d like to save them,” she said.
Saving slave children, huh? Had she remembered part of her past?
Talking about the empire’s slaves and children made me think of Bottaculli. He had sold his patients as slaves to the empire in order to save his daughter’s life. Just like Estia, I hoped we could save as many of the child slaves as we could.
“Our safety comes first, but I’ll do my best to find a way to rescue the children if we can. After all, I can easily remove their slave crests with Dispel,” I said. “Our main objective this time is destroying the empire’s demonization research facilities, but we’ll try to free as many child slaves as possible along the way.”
“Thank you so much,” Estia said.
I nodded and turned to my comrades, scanning their faces one by one. “If anyone has anything to add, now’s the time to speak up.”
Lionel raised his hand. “The empire’s soldiers are strong. A moment’s hesitation and you can consider yourself dead. I want you all to remember not to lower your guard a single second until whoever you’re fighting is down for good.”
It felt to me like those words were meant for him. After all, it was possible he’d end up having to fight soldiers he’d trained himself or that he was familiar with. His warning made me wonder how I would fare in his position...if I’d be able to fight my former allies in cold blood.
Everyone’s gazes shifted back to me, and I decided it was time to wrap up our meeting. “Let me remind you all of our objectives one last time. First, we need to destroy the demonization research facilities. Second, we’ll cure any demonized test subjects we come across, if there are any. Third, we must deal with Lionel’s impostor. And if possible, we’ll also free the child slaves. But no matter what happens, we’re all coming home alive.”
A chorus of “Yes” and “Yes, sir” echoed around the room, and our briefing session was officially over.
My next order of business should have been to take Galba back to Merratoni, but he’d already left. I thought of heading to Dongahar’s cell to take him to the pope, but that was Granhart’s job, so I wasn’t sure what to do next.
“Well, if we don’t have any other tasks, how about we head straight to the empire? We don’t have that many things to get ready before we go, do we?” Brod suggested.
He had a point. But then Lionel pointed out that my master was just impatient to leave the airship because he didn’t like being in there, and Brod left for his room, sulking.
“His idea wasn’t bad, though,” Lionel added. “Illumasia probably doesn’t know about our airship yet. Making our move before they catch wind of it might be an option.”
Everyone seemed on board with the idea, so we decided to leave without even telling the pope. However, Dhoran noted that he had some adjustments to make to the ship before we headed to Illumasia, so Estia came up with an idea. She told us about the little town where she’d stayed after escaping the empire and suggested we head there first, seeing as it was located in the Republic of Saint Shurule.
I personally thought it would have been better to stay where we were and take care of the last-minute arrangements, but seeing how much everyone disliked the idea of staying at Church HQ, I reluctantly channeled some mana into the airship, causing it to lift off the ground and slowly ascend into the sky.