36. We Finally Free.....

We are all enjoying the city views with the help of Vira... even though I said that, Vira actually didn't do her job as a guide at all.

All we've been hearing is her talking about her time at the knight academy with Katalina and how Katalina was their best student, blah blah blah.

Basically, everything she talks about is to praise Katalina...

"Ah, I gotcha! So Katalina was ahead of you at the academy!" Vyrn said to Vira as he listened to her story.

And Vyrn kept asking her questions so we had to listen to her constantly praising Katalina...

"That's right! Her skills were unsurpassed... as was her beauty," Vira replied to Vyrn with shining eyes.

"S-stop it, Vira... You're embarrassing me." Meanwhile, the victim all this time just blushed and covered her face with her hands.

Instead of telling her to stop, she just keep getting embarrassed...

Haaahhhh... I could only take a deep breath and restrain myself from telling her that her job isn't to show off Katalina but to show us this city.

"Fufufu Are you bored Rei?" I heard Narmaya's voice beside me.

Narmaya and I chose to walk behind, away from their conversation, but my hearing was sharp enough to still catch their conversation...

"Yeah, if I knew it would be like this, I would have just stayed on Grandcypher," I answered Narmaya, a little annoyed that I was late to remembering the story from the game about this island.

"Hey, what if after we're done with this island, we practice together? I'm curious to see your sword skills" Narmaya said to me.

Hmm, practicing with Narmaya, huh? I'm also curious about her butterfly dance technique. "Alright, I've never fought against a swordmaster who also uses magic before so this is gonna be my first time."

Narmaya immediately smiled after hearing that I agreed. "Fufufu~ then this mean I'm gonna take your first time"

"Um, Narmaya, if you say it like that, it might make others misunderstand," I tried to look towards Djeeta and Lyria.

Fortunately, both of them didn't hear what Narmaya said because they were too busy listening to the story about Katalina's past.

After spending some time "sightseeing around the city", we finally arrived in front of Albion Castle.

"Major General Furias awaits you in the state room of Albion Castle," Vira said to us.

Djeeta and Vyrn looked amazed when they saw this large castle because it was the first time they had seen a place like this.

"Wow, you sure know what's up! You work in the castle or something?" Vyrn jokingly said to Vira.

"Well... I suppose you could say that. The lord's office is in the castle, after all," Vira replied to Vyrn with a slight laugh.

"Wait a sec... Are you the Lord of Albion?" Io understand what Vira's meant immediately asked if her guess was correct.

"I am indeed. For about six years now..." Vira replied to Io, but unlike before, she seemed to answer with a sad expression.

I then turned to Katalina and as I suspected, I could see that she had a guilty look on her face.

...Hahhh, all of this is really giving me a headache.

"Now, right this way. I'll show you to the state room," Vira tried to change the subject as if she didn't want to talk about that past anymore.

We all followed Vira into the castle, and we could see many Empire soldiers walking around inside.

All the Empire soldiers we passed always seemed to watch us until we were far enough away, and I could feel many people staring at me sharply.

"They seem to be very wary of us," Narmaya said, observing her surroundings.

"Yeah, I can feel those sharp stares too... this is not comfortable at all," I replied to Narmaya while rubbing my neck.

"Hey, Katalina. Are you okay? You seem a little tense..." Lyria suddenly said to Katalina.

Katalina hearing Lyria's question immediately snapped out of her thought and looked at Lyria.

"Eh, Lyria? No, no... I'm just thinking about something," Katalina hesitantly replied to Lyria.

"Perhaps it's seeing your little friend that's bothering you?" Rosetta guessed why Katalina had been silent.

Katalina was shocked when she heard Rosetta's words because her words were indeed true.

"Rosetta! How did you—"

"I didn't. I know nothing. But anyone with eyes can see it quite clearly," Rosetta cut off Katalina's sentence before she finished it.

"Rosetta is right, Katalina. You've just been letting your friend embarrass you and continuously try to get close to you," I said to Katalina.

"From your reaction, it seems like you owe her something, and because of that debt, you let that woman keep humiliating you. You should tell her to keep her distance from you."

I could see Katalina getting even more shocked upon hearing my words. I knew she was surprised because I had guessed that she felt indebted to Vira, which is why she let Vira talk to her carelessly and damage her reputation as a Knight a bit.

Katalina remained silent after that, and our conversation ended there.

Finally, we arrived at the place where Furias was waiting for us. Vira stood in front of the door of the room and then turned to us.

"This is the place. I'll wait here because it's your business with Major General Furias, so i can only wait here," Vira moved to the side of the door so we could enter the room.

We all looked hesitant to enter the room because we were afraid they might have set a trap for us.

But in the end, Djeeta gathered her courage to open the door to the room, and she finally entered it.

As Djeeta had entered the room, we had no choice but to follow her.

Oh wow... Furias really doesn't want to take any chances, huh?

Every corner of this room was filled with his soldiers, and even behind Furias, there were many soldiers ready to attack us if we did anything strange...

In this room, like a typical office, there were many documents, desks, chairs, and lots of books.

We walked towards Furias, who was sitting on a chair, staring at us without blinking at all. He was really on high alert towards us, especially towards me... it seems like he still holds a grudge from when I punch him before.

We then stopped in front of Furias, who was seated, waiting for him to say something. Furias then used his left hand to point at the chairs in front of him, indicating that we should sit first.

Seeing Furias point at the chairs, we looked at each other and eventually nodded. Djeeta, Lyria, and Katalina would sit in front of Furias, and the rest of us would stand behind them to protect them or be ready in case his soldiers suddenly attacked us.

After the three of them sat down and we were in position, Furias immediately spoke to us.

"I've given up, I say! I've thrown in the towel! You're so much stronger than we expected, and it just doesn't pay to keep up the fight," Furias said, staring at us. But from his expression, I could see hatred and a look as if he saw us as trash. His acting was really bad...

"Getting her back and figuring her out will cost us more than she's worth. We'd do better to spend our resources elsewhere, which would benefit the empire as a whole."

Suddenly, Furias stood up, using both hands to point towards us. "So there you have it! You're all free as a bird! Take your little airship and fly wherever you please. So long! Let's have a nice, hot cup of tea next time we meet." Furias then ordered his soldiers behind him to push us out of the room.

Everything happened so quickly that we didn't have time to respond to Furias' words, and in the end before we realized we already standing outside his room.

"Hold on a sec... I still don't understand what happened back there," Djeeta spoke after realizing they were already outside the room.

"We gave him all that trouble, and now he's backing down?" Rackam also spoke as he tried to process what Furias had said earlier.

But we didn't have time to process everything because Vira immediately said something to us, "Just think it over. I'll show you to your rooms, and you can sleep on it. How does that sound?"

Huh? Why should we stay overnight in this place? I don't think it's a good idea to sleep inside a literal fortress full of our enemies...

"I'm sorry, but I don't think your offer is good for us because this place is filled with Empire soldiers, so I'm not sure if it's a good place for us to stay," Narmaya replied to Vira with a smile.

But even though Narmaya said that, Vira still smiled and managed to come up with another reason, "You don't need to worry. Earlier, Major General Furias said they won't chase after you anymore, so you don't need to worry about them attacking you. Let me show you to your rooms." Vira quickly headed towards the rooms she wanted to show us.

We all just watched Vira walking away from us... we hadn't even said if we agreed or not.

"Hey, you haven't even heard our answer, and you're already leaving like that!" Io shouted at Vira, but Vira didn't listen to Io's words and kept walking.

"So?" I said to the others.

"Hahhh, let's just follow her but stay alert," Djeeta reminded us, and then she walked to follow Vira.

We started following Djeeta and walked behind Vira until we finally arrived at the room she wanted to show us.

"Here is your room. It's quite spacious and has many beds inside, so all of you can sleep in one room," Vira opened the door to the room.

And indeed, the room was really spacious, with about four large beds for us to sleep on.

"I've heard tales of all your travels that eventually led you here. You poor thing... Surely you're exhausted from fighting day after day," Vira suddenly said to us.

Even though she said that, Vira had been only looking at Katalina the whole time she spoke, as if she was only worried about Katalina, not us...

"It's fine at this point; we're already used to it," Vyrn replied to Vira. It seemed like he didn't realize that Vira's words were directed only to Katalina.

Vira smiled again upon hearing Vyrn's words. "In that case, I'll leave you to rest here. I hope you sleep comfortably."

Vira then walked out of the room but not before winking at Katalina, without us noticing, or more like without the others noticing, because I noticed everything due to remembering the story from the game.

After Vira left, we all fell silent in the room.

"I don't sense any traps in this room, so we don't need to worry about sleeping in those beds," I informed them.

"Hahhh... then it's better we rest for now, and tomorrow morning we leave this island before they change their minds," Djeeta said to us.

After that, we all started walking to our respective beds to rest... and as usual, Djeeta walked with me towards the bed I wanted to sleep in while smiling.

I already used to all this, so I didn't comment, and it had been a long time since I slept with Djeeta... but why were Lyria and Narmaya also following me?

Lyria walked with a hint of nervous also with little bit of blush on her face, while Narmaya just smiled with her eyes closed...

Hahhh, I understand if Lyria's also want to follow me but why Narmaya too?

I then looked at Narmaya with a confused expression.

But Narmaya just said, "I feel comfortable hugging you, so let this onee-san do it again~."

...Djeeta and Lyria just stared at Narmaya, or more accurately at her really big chest with looks full of hate.