When she heard my command, after her wild coughing fit that shook everything that could shake about her, she stared at my face with a complicated expression.

“… I’m warning you, but you can’t enter that place without the key. Only my husband holds it.”

“Key? No need.”

After all, unless it’s spatially locked, we can just use the Shadow dimension to bypass barriers. Although it’ll mean we have to leave Queen Thalia behind later, that still works.

As if realizing that we wouldn’t have reached her bedroom undetected without proper skills to back us up, she sighed.

“Alright… But let me change clothes first.”

She was wearing nothing but a negligee, after all. Although there’s nobody who could see her as long as she’s inside the barrier, she’ll be exposed to everyone if we leave her behind.

“Oh, please. Don’t mind me.”

I basically saw her almost naked right now, anyway. Nothing changes much, even if she changes before me. Or so I thought until Fang raised her voice. 𝗼𝐯𝐥.𝗻𝐭

“Leader, please turn around!”

Unexpected support came from the side. Fang even moved between us and raised her hand as if to block my view. Her ears and tail were standing straight up, agitated.

“… Alright.”

I don’t know why Fang has been acting like this since earlier. Probably something that Ember and the others told her… Probably Fina? Well, it was just eye candy. There’s nothing much to lose out on.

After I turned around, sitting at the edge of the bed, I could hear Fang running out of the barrier before returning a short while later. She has her own set of centralized barriers, so she should be safe from detection.

A short period of silence was followed by the rustling sound of cloth brushing against the skin. Then, a sound of buzzing…? Followed by the sound of something being crushed.

“Fang, is everything alright?”

I turned around, expecting to have a lucky glance, but Queen Thalia was already dressed in a thicker nightgown matched with a robe. It was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I noticed that she was shaking a little. Her face was blue, too.

“Nothing’s wrong, Leader. Let’s go.”

Fang urged me on, but I noticed traces of energy in the air forming something that remotely looked like letters. Did she write words in the air using her dark energy? My gaze was pulled toward the crumpled pieces of what seemed like a block of wood, a part of the bed’s canopy, crushed to bits and scattered on top of the bed.

Blue face as if afraid, traces of letters, and crushed wood… Did Fang threaten her or something? I’m curious, but since she kept quiet about it, I’d rather not probe deeper. She would tell me about it if she wanted to.

I stepped on top of the bed and walked to the other side, where the two were. Then, as we all gathered at the same spot, Fang reentered the shadow dimension, hiding herself from view.

“Now, please lead the way.”

I asked as I gestured toward the door. Queen Thalia, whose face was still a deep shade of blue, stepped out of the bed with faltering steps. When she tripped over her own legs, I was about to catch her. But I saw her quickly jump away from me as if fearing for her life. She slammed against the post of the bed, though; that must’ve hurt quite a bit.

“I-I’m fine, sir. P-Please don’t mind me…”

She muttered as she tried to stand up once more. She took several deep breaths while her gaze swept toward the shadows on the ground. Shortly after, she regained her composure and, with unfaltering steps, went towards the door and pushed it slowly open.

The door was regular-sized, so it was easily covered by the barrier’s range. Even if it was opened, nobody should’ve noticed or heard it.

As we exited the room, a wide hallway welcomed us, extending in three perpendicular directions. Without hesitation, Queen Thalia walked towards the path where there were the fewest guards present, which was forward.

“…”

As we were pacing through the hallway, I surveyed the surroundings. The design was pretty different compared to the other Royal Castle. By design, it was gothic, and the decorations hanging around were pretty dark in color, regardless of the current time being a little past midnight.

I guess the theme was horror? Even the paintings were quite freaky, not gonna lie.

Soon, we reached the end of the hallway and were welcomed by a flight of stairs spiraling downward. Queen Thalie went ahead and grabbed the railings, taking one careful step down at a time.

The stairs were actually made of metal, and each step echoed loudly inside the barrier. If we weren’t blocking out the sound, then the whole castle might have heard us going down this path.

When we reached the bottom, we were already on the ground floor. There, presences were detected from all over, with guards patrolling around at even intervals.

“From here, there’s no area where we can stay out of sight. How powerful is your barrier? Can it prevent sight from up close?”

Queen Thalia asked, her tone flat and seemingly unaffected. However, thinking closely, she was definitely probing the limits of our barriers. It’s better to keep the absolute limits off of her ears, so I just mentioned that we can stay clear if we are ten meters away, more than twice the actual distance where we can stay undetected.

After she nodded her head in understanding, she turned to the left hallway and waited. Soon, a pair of guards came from one corner and turned, heading towards us.

“We’ll stick close to the back of these guards. They’ll lead us straight to the underground chamber’s entrance.”

As she said, we took a few steps back, about seven-eight meters away from the corner. A few seconds later, the two guards passed by and went straight to the right hallway. Their footsteps should have been echoing loudly, but they were muffled by the barrier.

After they passed, Queen Thalia gauged the distance and followed behind them. When we passed the corner, they were already more or less ten meters ahead of us. It was timed perfectly.

After that, with the guards as our guides, we followed their steps for a few minutes. Every corner we pass, we make sure that there’s nobody ahead before chasing the guards again.

Although it was dark, we didn’t lose sight of them. After all, it was hard to miss two large men wearing shiny silver armor walking with clanky steps.

“We’re turning right at the next corner.”

After a while, Queen Thalia warned, with the said corner just a few steps ahead. When we reached it, peeking over the corner to check, it was a short set of stairs leading downward.

“This isn’t the one…”

I remember the stairs leading to the underground being a bit labyrinthine, with a slight curvature as they went downward. The underground I was aiming for was definitely not this one.

“I know what you’re thinking. The stairs you are looking for should be down there.”

She went ahead and descended the flight of stairs. Having no choice, I followed shortly behind her.

However, just before reaching the last step, I could feel Fang sending warnings to me. I quickly pulled Queen Thalia’s shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. At that instant, a black tentacle smashed the last step.

“…!”

It was a nauseatingly familiar attack. And one that’s aiming not only for our lives but even for the Queen’s. Without me pulling her back, she should be dead after that hit. She seemed to realize this too, as her face paled quickly.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

Just as I was wondering why there was no follow-up attack, a familiar voice echoed loudly. Of course, who else? It was none other than Noir’s voice.

“Trying to hide from my senses? Sorry, but that doesn’t work on me.”

As he said this, dozens of tentacles came to attack us, coming from all angles within the narrow staircase. Fang jumped out of the shadow and, in a single flash, amputated all the tentacles instantly.

“Hiss!”

Fang landed before me, just a little ahead of Queen Thalia. She was on all fours, and her fur stood on end. Her energy was starting to rev up, activating all of her newly learned buff skills.

“Oh? What’s this? So the little mice were actually Will and co.?”

As soon as Fang appeared, Noir immediately knew our identity. Now that we’ve been discovered, maintaining the barrier would be a waste of energy. I sighed in exasperation before turning all of them off.

“It seems like you were expecting us, though.”

If not, then why would he be here, standing on guard at this unholy hour?

“Well, I know a bit of fortune-telling after all.”

As I went down the stairs, I could finally see him in the exact middle of the wide room. He was standing aloft, hands inside his pockets, and a carefree smile on his face.

“You almost had me the last time. But I’ll make sure that today will be your last.”