— Late at night
The carriage with the darkness god corps party had safely arrived at Sanc Adiet and passed the first gate.
The city was silent, as if it was deserted, as all of the city folk was sleeping in their beds. There were lights here and there that were mostly emitted by the overnight bars and brothels. Only around these parts could they spot a figure or two of someone moving in the shadows.
“The city… feels kind of sad during the night.” (Sun)
That was the impression that the slightly drowsy Sun had of the nighttime view of Sanc Adiet. Yuusuke agreed that the difference between the daytime and nighttime city was excessively large.
When Yuusuke’s party arrived at the palace, the carriage boarding area was brightly lit despite that it was late at night. As the knight’s carriages and private carriages were continuously coming and leaving, this place alone did not sleep.
“It’s so noisy.” (Someone from the party)
“As expected, after all a village was destroyed.” (Someone from the party)
The damage this time was different from the provocateur attacks that Blue Garden employed before. As there were no evidence pointing to Gazzetta aside from survivors testimonies, palace officials were busy gathering the information.
“Yo, Yuusuke” (Hivodir)
“Hivodir?” (Yuusuke)
Having gotten off the carriage, Yuusuke’s party met Hivodir, clad in the usual fire god corps uniform along with his servant at the entrance to the palace. The way he presented himself was truly fitting for an aristocrat. It seemed he was ordered to go and inspect the villages that were owned by the Volace family.
“Wouldn’t the villagers be sleeping this late into the night?” (Yuusuke)
“I am ordered to station the soldiers in the village. Villagers will have to deal with it.”(Hivodir)
“There are talks about the increase of the number of active military personnel, these late night inspections serve as an implication for the discussions,” explained Hivodir about the purpose of the late night dispatchment.
“Thus, I am in a hurry. Good bye.” (Hivodir)
“Wait a minute.” (Yuusuke)
Yuusuke tried to stop Hivodir, who was about to board a carriage with a Volace family crest on it and for no specific reason had decided to customize the mantle that Hivodir was using as his casual clothing.
Although it was a common uniform of the palace corps, it seemed that it would be able to provide special effects to the wearer. Without hesitation Yuusuke endowed it with the healing effect.
Enveloped by the light effects, the mantle fell off (unequipped) Hivodir’s back.
“Hmm? My mantle… what the hell did you do to it?” (Hivodir)
“I just… added something like a protective charm on it…” (Yuusuke)
Although Hivodir did not understand what Yuusuke meant by that, he took the mantle from Yuusuke, who was holding it, saying “Don’t worry about it,” and put it on again. Afterwards he boarded the carriage and left the Volance palace.
“With this, everyone is off duty for now.” (Yuusuke)
“Thank you very much, captain.” (Shaheed)
“Yaaaawn, I’m sleepy~~~” (Fonke)
“We will take turns in resting.” (Vermeer)
Separating from Vermeer’s group, Yuusuke took Sun along and headed towards the guest room on the fourth floor. Violet had prepared the same room for Sun when she stayed at the palace before, and it seemed that the girl was familiar with the atmosphere of the palace by now and did not feel anxious when visiting the palace for the third time.
“We’re here… Then I’ll head back towards my room as well.” (Yuusuke)
“Okay, uhm… Yuusuke san.” (Sun)
Sun was facing Yuusuke in front of her room while clutching the bow that she had received from Bahana close to her chest.
“Good night, Yuusuke san.” (Sun)
“Mhm, goodnight, Sun.” (Yuusuke)
They exchanged their goodbyes, with somewhat awkward smiles.
Incidentally, although Violet had succumbed to sleep in the carriage boarding place while waiting for their return, she was picked up by Krielov and could not meet them that night.