At dawn, I glanced at the sky that had yet to give way to daylight.
Hoban was silent while the tension in the air continued to rise and spread throughout the entire town.
The only sounds that could be heard were Ariane’s, Sil’s and my footsteps as we made our way to the stone bridge from yesterday.
When we arrived at the sewer entrance, there were two men standing around keeping watch.
Sil nodded at the two while he slipped between the bars and entered the sewers.
Ariane went in next, holding Ponta, and I followed behind her as she ran after Sil.
Ariane moved through the sewers without hesitation, whereas my directionally challenged self would wander around like a lost child in this underground labyrinth without a guide.
It wasn’t a really serious problem thanks to 【Transfer Gate】though.
Before long, we came upon the already opened wall entrance of the secret passage. A group of stern-looking men dressed like soldiers were hanging around it.
Since the passage was only as broad as a single person, they were probably on stand by until they could storm the castle.
We passed through the dank and dark passage and climbed up the stairs to the dimly lit small room. Beneath the lamp’s light, a squad of men stood in the squalor.
Every one of them was wearing lightweight leather armor and they all had a tense expression while grasping their weapons tightly.
Labatt was sitting on the top of the stairs that lead to the castle, dressed in his personal set of body armor.
“Yo, you came. Quite a few of my former subordinates are also participating in the revolt. If you see a white cloth wrapped around a guard’s right arm then they are our allies.”
“Hoo, so you were once a guard……”
“Surprised that a former guard commander is taking part in this? It is now my plight to rebel against the feudal lord.”
Labatt laughed as he twisted his mustache.
“What are the arrangements once we enter the castle?”
From the depths of her gray cloak, Ariane’s golden eye’s peeked out as she asked her question.
“Once we break in we’ll split into two groups. This passage is connected to a warehouse located between the inner court and the main castle gate. The first group will gain control of the bridge and bring in support of the outside, while the second group will attack the guards stationed here so that the outside group has nothing to fear. Afterwards, our top priority is to gather everyone at the castle gate so that it can be destroyed.”
He said so as he took a sphere about the size of a fist from his breast pocket.
The black sphere seemed to be a combination of 2 half-spheres that were tied together with a string. It resembled a baking pan ball a little.
“An explosive magic crystal!”
Ariane opened her eyes in surprise when she saw the sphere.
“Onee-chan is a rather knowledgeable person. This fellow can easily blow the castle gate off of its hinges.”
“I heard that explosive magic crystals used magic stones as a detonating agent and that they were rather expensive……?”
“It a souvenir from our collaborator in the capital. That fellow blew dozens of gold coins on this.”
That explosive magic crystal seemed like a magic-powered hand grenade. The collaborator in the capital must be a high ranking noble with a lot of funds to send something like that over to these guys.
“I assume that we’ll be starting soon……”
As Labatt’s words trailed off, the tense men in the room naturally focused their attention on me.
Prompted by their stares, I climbed the stairs in the back of the room and placed my hand on the ceiling panel.
The tension in the room rose to a higher degree as people were swallowing their saliva and focusing their eyes on my hand.
When I pushed on the panel with a little strength, I heard the heavy rumble as it opened.
The tension that had filled the room till had now turned to shock as Labatt started to give his men instructions while laughing in utter amusement.
“Admirable, but we all have our own jobs to do. Two people lock the mechanism that the ceiling panel in place. Four people stand watch around this warehouse, Sil go down and call those waiting below.”
“Understood!”
Sil responded in high spirits before he ran out of the room to get the men waiting outside.
After listening to Labatt’s orders, the men in the room begin to calmly travel up into the castle one after another.