Heavenly Castle

Flying through the sky, they passed through thick clouds and finally saw an island drifting in the sky.

Suddenly presented with the flying island, its white buildings, the beautiful yet imposing castle, the two became entranced with it, unable to make a single sound.

「......I can’t believe it.」

Without thinking, Catherine muttered in astonishment. Thought Grey didn’t speak, his expression was saying the same.

As they, still in a daze, landed on the flying island, Torraine, Schnee, and Rant appeared near them with more than a dozen robots.

「Welcome to Heavenly Country.」

As Torraine said this she bowed her head. The two couldn’t help but stare at the top of her head after noticing her ears, and tail, as they returned the greeting.

「Y-yes. Ehm, thank you...」

Grey replied half-heartedly, to which Torraine nodded with a smile.

「Please, this way. The King is waiting.」

Being told that, Grey gulped, while Catherine narrowed her eyes.

Noticing the nervousness of the two, Rant said「Please, be at ease.」with a laugh, and was immediately poked into the back with an elbow by Schnee.

「We shouldn’t talk unless it’s required. Yuri-sama told you, didn’t she?」

「Ah, right.」

With such easy-going conversation happening beside the nervous duo, Grey and Catherine slightly relaxed, their stern expressions relaxing a little.

But they reverted as soon as they stepped inside the castle. Surprised by the robot opening the gates, gasping at the sights inside the castle, and by the time they came to the guest room after a ride on the elevator, they completely lost their speech.

「Why, why can the capital be seen through that giant window......」

「And here is the sky and then mountains scenery......?」

Mistaking the giant screens on the sides of the control room for windows, the two kept restlessly looking around.

Then, Taiki, who was observing the two with a forced smile, called out to them.

「Nice to meet you. I’m the owner of this castle, Shiihara Taiki. Welcome to Heavenly Castle.」

The two turned to Taiki as he made a simple greeting.

Catherine immediately kneeled, lowering her head and said.

「......My name is Catherine Halfen. For this invitation, you have my gratitude.」

As Catherine said this in a trembling voice, Grey also kneeled and lowered his head.

「I’m Grey. For this invitation, you have my gratitude.」 𝑓𝘳ℯ𝒆w𝘦𝘣𝙣𝘰ѵ𝘦𝚕.c𝗼𝓶

「Aah, no no...... Please stand up, both of you.」

Faced with the two’s formal attitude, Taiki said with a bit of a troubled expression, to which they timidly raised their heads.

「...So this is Heavenly Country’s...?」

「Young... But I doubt his age matches the appearance......」

The two muttered in small voices as they stared at Taiki, and after noticing a robot standing behind their backs gulped.

Watching over the two with his peripheral vision, Taiki operated the console, changing the picture on the screen.

The picture on the screen at the front changed from the aerial view of Karluk Kingdom’s capital to Taiki’s slave store.

「Eh?」

「Wha-what......」

Before the two could comprehend what happened, Taiki also changed the view on the left screen as well. Now it was showing an old building, in which Grey’s comrades were hiding.

Who knows what Grey thought of that, but his expression turned stern, with a wrinkle appearing between his furrowed brows, and now he was glaring at Taiki.

「......A threat, huh?」

An angry voice, to which Taiki paid no heed, changing the view on the right screen.

Now it was Catherine who gaped in amazement.

「...The King of Karluk...」

On the screen was Inishida der Karluk, the king of Karluk, clad in a mantle and berating his soldiers.

The view and those words changed Grey’s look to one of surprise.

Finishing with the console, Taiki turned back to the two and observing how they glanced on the screens, spoke.

「Now, let’s begin from exchanging information. After we are done with it, if the two of you would agree with it, I would like to get you cooperation.」

The two inclined their heads quizzically.

「Cooperation?」

Nodding in confirmation, Taiki donned an auspicious smile.

「Well, you see, I thought of changing the treatment of slaves......」

Starting like that, Taiki told them about the events so far.

☆

The dinner that day at the dining hall were not only Taiki, Ayla and Yuri, but also Grey and Catherine.

Taiki, Ayla, Yuri, Grey, and Catherine were sitting at the long dining table.

Mea, Aifa, and others were sitting at another table nearby.

After finishing to some degree with eating and drinking, Grey and Catherine could finally look at Taiki calmly.

「...I see. So if this country got serious and invaded, not even dust would remain from Karluk Kingdom.」

Beginning from those words, Grey stared Taiki in the eyes.

「And yet, why would you ask for our cooperation......?」

Under the gaze consisting entirely of suspicions, Taiki made a wry smile and nodded.

「To tell you the truth, Grey-san and your company have brought upon yourselves the grudge of the royal family of this kingdom as well as the wrath of its biggest trading association, so if I wanted to do business properly, I would’ve preferred not to get involved with you. In fact, a few high nobles already marked you. In a few days, they probably would begin to act.」

「Wha-what?!」 ｆ𝘳e𝒆w𝗲𝐛𝘯𝐨νe𝚕.cｏ𝓶

Standing up from the chair with such momentum that it fell down, Grey shouted.

While Taiki wryly smiled at that sight, everyone also changed posture, turning towards Grey.

In a mere second, the relaxed atmosphere turned tense. Taiki made a dry laugh and shrugged his shoulders.

「Well, acting at such a scale, a witness is bound to appear somewhere, were nobles to search using their money they surely would find out eventually.」

「No-no way...... No, wait. To avoid being tailed we always returned to the hideout through complicated routes. And there is more than one hideout. If someone gets suspicious we immediately abandon them. There is no way we can be found out that easily......」

Dismayed, Grey still objected to Taiki’s words. However, Taiki shook his head regretfully.

「I’m sorry to say this, but it’s truth.」

As Taiki repeatedly told him this, Grey made a face that clearly showed he has no idea what to say, and then looked at Catherine with a vexed look.

Catching that look, Catherine sighed once, then narrowed her eyes and looked at Taiki.

「...Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking out of place. The movements of the nobles that you mentioned earlier...... How has Your Majesty learned of them?」

「Hm? It came from the nobles that wanted to get on my good side and from the slave merchants that looked to make more profits with me in the future.」

As he answered without hesitation, Catherine slightly lowered her head.

「......I can’t imagine that all of that information could have been given by one or two cooperators. Which means that a considerable number of nobles and merchants decided to take the side of Your Majesty.」

「The number of cooperators increased quite a lot. But merchants aside, I can’t guarantee any position to nobles, so I have them cooperate in a different form, something similar to an alliance. 」

Being told so, Catherine cast her eyes down, sinking into thought for a few seconds.

Then, raised her head.

「......Different form, what might that be?」

For the first time, Taiki hesitated to reply to Catherine’s question. But after only a short moment of indecision, he said.

「......It seems that a portion of nobles decided to conspire and revolt. Well, we agreed that I won’t obstruct them during that. After all, if by some chance Heavenly Country sided with the Karluk Kingdom, the revolt would become a lot more difficult. 」

Taiki’s answer petrified Grey.