Chapter 3:
Infiltrating the Royal Castle
THE PRINCIPALITY OF FANOSS had once been an archdukedom under the Holfort Kingdom’s flag. The bloodline of the archduke’s family could be traced all the way back to Holfort’s royal family. Fanoss had won independence from Holfort after frequent outbreaks of war between the two.
They’d been part of the same country and shared the same bloodline, but fighting still broke out. In the wake of all that, they were now bitter enemies.
For the lore of what was supposed to be a fluffy otome game, that part was particularly bloody and brutal. Maybe the developers had tried to flesh out the backstory to make the Principality seem more evil, since they were the game’s villains.
“So this is the royal castle of Fanoss, huh?”
Fanoss’s capital was much like Holfort’s, though on a much smaller scale. Both cities were built around a royal family’s castle. This one sat on an elevated slice of land, jutting upward as befit a fortress.
Marie pulled a face. “The place has no design sense,” she said. “It’s shaped like a plain old box.”
In the gaming sphere, we often referred to blocky, undecorated buildings as having a “tofu” aesthetic. That kind of architecture was convenient and simple, but at the cost of visual appeal, so that was really what it resembled: a plain, boring block of tofu.
“Considering that this is an enemy fortress in the game, I think the unrefined look suits it, don’t you?” I said.
Marie rolled her eyes at me. “What’s wrong with you? You always frame stuff based on how it was back in the game.”
I grimaced. She had a point. I treated this like a video game, rather than as the reality it had become for us.
“My bad,” I said. “Anyway, let’s do this.”
“Yeah.”
The two of us began scaling the fortress’s outer wall, hoisting ourselves upward. Luxion had made our gloves and boots expressly for this purpose. They used suction to latch on to flat surfaces, which made our job easy. He’d done even better with the black outfit he’d made us; although piloted suits whizzed around the castle’s perimeter, guarding against intruders, we melted right into the background. Thanks to our optical camouflage, they couldn’t see us at all.
“I know they can’t physically see us,” I told Marie and Luxion as I continued hauling myself up, “but I’m worried about whether they have magic radar or anything that could detect us. What do you think, Luxion? Will we be okay on that front?”
Luxion hovered above, leading us up the wall. “What capacity they do have to sense magic is primitive at best. My mobile unit is more than able to fool them. But, just in case you need a reminder, your coming here personally to carry out this mission directly contradicted my recommendation.”
In his formal, roundabout way, he was telling me off for ignoring his advice and choosing the hard route. What he didn’t mention was that his recommended course had been unthinkably barbaric, so we’d only had this option in the end.
“And in case you need a reminder,” Marie said, mimicking his tone, “your recommendation was to sink the entire island that the Principality occupies, remember?”
“I simply recommended the quickest, easiest method to accomplish your goals. If there was any demerit to my proposal, it was that we would lose the opportunity to properly analyze the Magic Flute.”
According to Luxion, the Magic Flute that the Principality kept secretly tucked away hadn’t existed back when he was created. The flute had the ability to manifest and control monsters. In exchange for the user’s life, it could also summon a behemoth which had been the first game’s final boss.
“Monsters did not exist when I was created,” Luxion added. “They are most curious beings, given how they simply disappear at the moment of their defeat. I am deeply interested in them.”
That interest was, in fact, what discouraged him from throwing too much of a tantrum when Marie and I opted to infiltrate the castle and steal the two flutes ourselves.
“You annihilation-obsessed maniac. Couldn’t you come up with a more peaceful solution to the problem?” I asked.
“I was merely offering the most efficient one,” he shot back insistently. “I ordinarily oppose anything which would endanger the two of you.”
While Luxion and I bickered, our group finally reached a window that led into the castle proper. Luxion slipped in first to make sure the coast was clear, then urged us to follow.
“We can reach our destination from here,” he said.
Once I was through the window, I paused, turning back and reaching a hand out to help Marie inside. “It almost feels like we’re phantom thieves,” I mused.
She grabbed my hand. “There’s no ‘almost’ about it. That’s exactly what we are.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Vandel Him Zenden, often still referred to as the Black Knight, was an old knight well past his prime. The crown of his head was balding, though he’d grown out the surrounding gray hair that remained, and he had an impressive beard to match.
The Black Knight was a viscount, which gave him great influence in itself. More importantly, he was the realm’s most powerful knight, which made him an exceptional figure in Fanoss. Vandel was a hero who’d saved the Principality from danger countless times.
Currently, the Black Knight was visiting Fanoss’s royal castle. He’d been meeting with the two princesses, but now that business was over. The hour was growing late; all that remained was for him to leave the premises and return home.
But something gave him pause.
“There’s a foul presence in the air,” he said as he stood before the castle’s gate. He froze, glancing behind him.
The knight seeing him off smiled wearily. “I assure you, should any intruders appear, we’ll have things well in hand. They can’t escape our notice.” The young man sounded confident that their night crew could keep a vigilant watch.
His words rang hollow to Vandel, however. The ranks of the castle knights teem with weaklings who can’t even sense when the enemy is near, the Black Knight thought. How ironic that the guards here are the least dependable of all.
The quality of Fanoss’s knights wasn’t necessarily lacking, but that was only if you weighed the army as a whole. The worst of their number were, sadly, the very ones assigned to guard the castle.
“I forgot something. I’ll need to go get it,” Vandel said unconvincingly. It was obvious that he’d made up an excuse, but he quickly spun and began marching back into the castle.
The knight with him panicked at the Black Knight’s sudden decision. “There’s no need to retrieve it yourself. I can do so for you!”
“That’s not necessary!” Vandel barked gruffly.