The underground aqueduct was connected to a water vein, so Koutarou and the others entered the water vein from an old well and moved on to the aqueduct.
The moved underwater, but they all had barriers or spells to breathe underwater or other measures, so it wasn't a particularly difficult problem.
“Sanae”
”Aye! Thank you for your hard work!”
”Don't be so loud. We're in the enemy's castle”
“Right”
Koutarou released the armor's barrier and put down Sanae who he had been carrying on his back. Sanae landed on the stone paved floor with a familiar motion. They were currently in a maintenance passage running next to the underground aqueduct. If they continued on that passage they would be able to get inside of the castle.
“Still, we were lucky the aqueduct and water vein were connected”, Harumi said as she looked at the water vein she had just come out of. If the aqueduct hadn't been connected to it, infiltrating the castle would have been difficult. Moreover, the people of Folsaria would have had a much harder time. If the people thrown from Forthorthe hadn't ended up here they would surely have had much more tragic lives.
“Harumi, it's less luck and more thanks to their efforts. I think they desperately dug at the aqueduct to connect it to the water vein. Well, even then that was still very lucky”
Having been sent here from Forthorthe, the castle's underground aqueduct became useless. The water vein that the aqueduct was connected wasn't sent with it. So the people at the time began digging where the aqueduct stopped and connected it to Folsaria's water vein. Reaching the water vein was one of the reasons why the people thrown to Folsaria from Forthorthe had survived, as there were neither any lakes or rivers in the area.
“So Maxfern's castle is up ahead... it feels kind of strange”
“To think that the final battleground in the legend of the Blue Knight would still exist... I can't believe it”
Compared to Harumi and the others, Theia and Ruth had a different impression. The castle of Sariachal was a legendary place to them. It only existed within movies and books. That's why it was a strange feeling for them, knowing they were entering a legend.
“At least this is being properly maintained. Very good”
Shizuka looked around and smiled. The urban area was in ruins, so as a landlord it was an unpleasant sight. However, since this passage handled drinking water, it was well maintained and Shizuka was in a cheerful mood.
“This isn't a laughing matter, Kasagi-san”
“Oh, why?”
“If it's being maintained, it means that there is someone who maintains it”
Maki was right, if this passage was clear it meant there was someone cleaning it regularly. It would be very dangerous if Koutarou and the others were to run across those in charge of that.
“It's okay. For places like these, you clean regularly after a schedule. They wouldn't show up at times when people would be using the water”
”I see... as expected of Kasagi-san”
Shizuka showed off her experience as a landlord. Performing maintenance on the aqueduct couldn't be done when the residents were using the water. They wouldn't want garbage mixed in with the water. That's why maintenance would usually be scheduled for early mornings or midnight. Since it was still daytime now, the chances of people coming were low.
“Well then, we've safely gotten inside... but the problems start from here on. Yurika what do you plan on doing now?”
“The controls for the weapons are probably in the command room or laboratory. If possible I want to get there without being noticed, but if that doesn't seem possible we'll break through”
“Understood. Wait a moment... Ruth, come here for a second”
”Yes, Kiriha-sama”
“Use your scout to gather information alongside the haniwas”
“I understand”
“Ho-, Leave it to us Ho-!”
“It's our time to shine Ho-”
Kiriha and Ruth got to work gathering information at once. They wanted to reach the controller for the automated weapons without being found by the enemy, so trying to rush through the castle was a bad idea. Instead they would suppress their unease and gather information.