Chapter 505: Probing the Capital

[A/N: My previous writing style on this one was becoming very lazy and bad, so I’m changing the writing style and giving it more work now. Hope you guys will like this writing style!]

Once night had fully fallen, I decided to head out. My companion would be Zhu Biao.

Lady Sonya had said, "Wouldn’t it be better to take someone with you? Two people should be safer than one," so I looked over the group, trying to decide who wouldn’t just slow me down. Zhu Biao or Li Jing could probably keep up. Xu Meiyi was a step below them, and everyone else failed the test. Lady Sonya’s own subordinates were completely out of the question. When I hinted at that, they seemed to take it as a loss of face and started grumbling, but the moment I cast the mental magic "Intimidation," they shut up immediately. A few of them even went pale. With skills like that, could they really protect Lady Sonya if something happened? Calling me a "kid" behind my back was one thing, but they needed to improve themselves first.

When I asked Zhu Biao and Li Jing, both said they wanted to come. However, if both of them left, there would be no one left to protect Xie Honghua and Xu Meiyi. I believed Lady Sonya could keep them safe, but there was always the chance of something unexpected. Because of that, I decided to leave Li Jing behind.

The moon tonight was just past full—bright, but not so bright that it would be a problem. Zhu Biao and I ran toward the capital. Dressed entirely in black and moving at high speed, to ordinary eyes we probably just looked like something dark flashing past. People might even think we were wandering evil spirits.

As we ran, Zhu Biao spoke up.

"Lord Robbie (for some reason, Zhu Biao and the others call me that), do you know the layout inside the castle we’re heading to?"

"No. But cities completely enclosed by walls like this usually have similar layouts. The location of the lord’s mansion, where the nobles live—it’s more or less the same regardless of the city’s size."

"I see. Is that so?"

He sounded impressed, but it wasn’t anything special. Chang’an, Luoyang, and Beijing were all basically the same, weren’t they? I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t.

Zhu Biao seemed to steel himself before speaking.

"Would it be possible for us to become your retainers, Lord Robbie?"

"What!? Why!?"

This was a bigger request than I’d expected.

"I don’t think Lady Sonya is a bad master. In fact, I believe she’s a good lord. But it feels like it would be better to serve under you."

He looked uncomfortable as he said it.

"You think so? I believe Lady Sonya will make a fine lord. Her father as well. I’ve met him, and he was a very good man. He seemed like someone worth serving."

This was more than I could handle.

"That’s because you’re from this world, Lord Robbie. Those of us who came from another world aren’t treated the same as people who were born here. When we were in the Empire, we heard it both openly and behind our backs. Some even called us subhumans. Things feel a little better here, but I get the sense that the underlying attitude is the same."

It was clear they were feeling a significant amount of discrimination.

"For some reason, that doesn’t seem to apply to you. There’s even a sense that you’re looking after us. The fact that you chose me this time... was that because you wanted to give me a chance to earn merit? If so, I thought it would be better to serve under you."

He was probably overthinking it.

"I’m sorry, but I don’t hold any territory. An ambassador is just an envoy sent from one country to another. I can’t hire you."

I also couldn’t afford to take on that kind of trouble. I was already looking after Takamoto Konoka, and there was no way I could keep four people this conspicuous inside the embassy. It was better to leave them with Lady Sonya.

"That’s why I think you’ll have to earn recognition from the people of the Eisleben lands through your own strength. They seem like the type who acknowledge people if they’re strong. You’ll probably have to silence any complaints with ability."

"..."

The more I said, the worse I felt for them.

"I have to return to my country someday. Back home, I’m the eleventh prince. Succession to the throne is nothing more than a distant dream, and I can’t even have subordinates. At most, I can hire a single maid. I appreciate the sentiment, but I can’t meet your expectations."

"I see..."

A regretful tone leaked into Zhu Biao’s voice.

We continued in silence until we reached the base of the city wall.

"Are we climbing this? It doesn’t look like you have any tools for climbing."

Zhu Biao looked at my hands, then at my face. The wall was over five meters high.

"I think it’s lower than the walls of Nanjing, but what are you going to do?"

"Like this."

I crouched, gathered my strength, and fixed my eyes on the top of the wall. Counting to three in my head, I jumped.

"Oh!?"

Leaving Zhu Biao’s surprised voice behind, I shot upward along the wall. A little short? I grabbed a gap between the stones to gain momentum, then landed on top.

"You made it!?"

Zhu Biao’s voice came from below. I scanned the top of the wall and confirmed there were no patrolling soldiers. Had even the guards been pulled away because of the Richmond Margrave’s invasion?

I took a rope from my mana bag and lowered it down to him. Zhu Biao could probably make it up in a single jump, but there was no need to push him.

I held the end of the rope, planning to haul him up once he grabbed it. Zhu Biao gripped the rope, felt the tension, then jumped on his own and made it about three-quarters of the way up. From there, a light pull on the rope was all it took for him to reach the top. He looked a little pleased with himself. As expected of his abilities.

"Shall we go? I think the lord’s mansion is near that spire."

"Spire? Also, there’s no need for you to speak to me so formally."

"It’s just the normal way of speaking to someone older, so it comes out that way."

"Is that so?"

"It depends on the person. Anyway, the spire is that tall, pointed tower over there."

"Understood. It looks just like a Jesuit church."

I see. I should have just called it a church. The Jesuits had gone to Ming as well. They’d arrived in Japan sometime between the Azuchi-Momoyama period and the early Edo period.

"We’ll jump across the rooftops. Try not to make too much noise."

I led the way, running across the roofs and leaping from one to the next. Zhu Biao looked nervous at first, but he adjusted quickly.

"That wall over there is probably the one separating the noble district from the commoner district."

I jumped over it as I spoke. Zhu Biao followed. Even though it was the middle of the night, the streets were completely empty. I’d expected the city to be busy with war preparations even at night, but was it really okay for it to be this deserted? If all the men were being taken for the war, thieves might start running wild. Houses where the master had gone off to fight, leaving only the wife and children behind, seemed like easy targets. Then again, if there wasn’t anything valuable inside, maybe the thieves wouldn’t bother.

We jumped across the roofs of simple houses that looked like they belonged to knight barons—plain, almost poor-looking. Many of them had no signs of life inside. The Itsuki Margrave had seemed to live luxuriously, but were the lives of the lowest-ranking nobles really this impoverished?

As we continued leaping from roof to roof and gradually moved into areas with higher-ranking residences, a figure appeared ahead of us.