Anxiety rose in me. Using my new trick, Noire wanted to hand deliver her other message to the Demon King. In other words, opening a [Portal] in the Demon King's very castle, entering without permission, which could potentially be treated as capital offense.

"I have several concerning questions," I rebutted, "Is there anything that could prevent me opening [Portal] in the Demon King's castle? What about security? Won't going in there unannounced be considered breaking and entering royal property?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes, you'd be suspected of breaking and entering at first sight before getting apprehended for questioning," Noire answered, "It's also under these same circumstances that it's virtually impossible for someone to use [Portal] or a Transportation Crystal to get into the castle. There's a magic field surrounding the property that prevents such entry, as well as defending against large-scale magic attacks."

Damn, I should have expected that much from the castle of a Demon King. Is that the work of Shining Teaset, too?

"These are based on 'normal' circumstances, however," Noire continued before turning to her sister, "Opal, stand over there, turn around, and keep your ears and eyes blocked. Don't move until I say otherwise."

"Yes, Sister Dearest!" Opal exclaimed without questioning it, moving to that aforementioned spot and followed through with the instructed gesture. She seems to have recognized what Noire will say next is very confidential.

Noire then instructed me to shrink the [Soundproof] spell's range to only surround the two of us, of which I followed. She then held up two fingers, "I said bypassing the magic field was virtually impossible for a reason. There are two ways to ignore those defenses. One is a pendant that serves as a key to gain entry into anywhere in the castle, even Her Highness' own office. That pendant is only given to those who the Demon King truly recognizes as her ally, and are put under oath to never mention it to anyone, save for family members that they and Her Highness can truly trust. Father is one such person under the previous Demon King's ruling, and his daughter allowed him to keep it knowing her own father's trust in him. I was recognized by Her Highness enough to be filled in on that tidbit, too, and I was also put under that same oath of secrecy."

"You just broke that oath now, though? To me," I said while pointing at myself.

"I'm confident Her Highness will understand once she hears what's going on," Noire argued while glancing over to her sister, "I've taken the necessary measures to keep this information only for yourself, a pure outsider, to learn, after all. Even though I trust my sister, Opal must work to gain that same trust from Her Highness on her own merits. Her Highness said that much to me, at least."

That's some trust the two of them have.

<Tell me about it,> Nyra commented, hearing my thoughts.

"Unfortunately, that pendant is only limited to one per household, and you can guess who has the Krauss Family's right now," Noire said while turning back to me with a furrowed brow, "I can't take the chance that he's working with Rowling, somehow, which is why I won't approach him for the pendant, which leaves us with our second way of bypassing the castle's magic field. Out of everywhere in the castle, only one room is not affected by the field's effects, serving as a backdoor to get inside. That room is only to be used for dire emergencies should we not have the pendant."

"And you've seen that room before, I take it? Which is where my trick comes in," I said.

Noire nodded, "Precisely, but we don't want to risk word of me being in the castle reaching Father's ears. Thus, when we get to that room, we'll sneak up to Her Highness' office, avoid the guards, deliver the message, and done, mission complete. Not a bad plan, right? Best of all, you'll be able to see the Demon King like you wanted, if only briefly."

It's true that I've wanted to meet the Demon King at the start. After all the mind-blowing bombs I've been through today, though, I'm not mentally prepared to face her. I knew she wanted to meet me, but won't seeing me with Noire under those peculiar circumstances bring suspicion to her later? Like, if she divulged something so confidential as the two ways to pass through the castle's magic barrier to an outsider like me, then what else could she have told me behind her back? For example, the mystery behind The Blink that Sue mentioned to be a government secret? Something that the Demon King doesn't want people looking into very deeply?

I wasn't only anxious of myself meeting that same Demon King, but I worry about the consequences Noire might endure for associating with me like this. I have my own beef with that person and I'd rather not get other people pulled into it, if possible.

"Jinma? Something wrong?" Noire asked with worry. My silent moment of thought must have been too drawn out.

"N-No, I'm fine, I've just had a hectic day and I honestly didn't want to worry about the Demon King right now," I said while scratching my hair.

"... Are you nervous about meeting the Demon King, or something else?" Noire prodded.

I averted my gaze, "Both. I'm worried whether you'll get in trouble for this. If she suspects you of releasing such secrets without permission, then …"

Noire held my cheek and turned my face to see her gentle smile, "Hey, don't worry about me, darling. This involves my soon-to-be ex-fiance, something I should be handling myself, but I now know how serious this really is after you told me about Chaos Barrage and their plan for a coup. We're bending a few rules to assure Her Highness' safety as well as this kingdom's, and she and I go pretty far back before her father's death. I'm positive she'll understand our motives for doing this, and she's a good girl when you get to know her. I know she'll certainly be interested in you once I introduce you to her."

<Oh, believe me, we know how interested she is in Jinma already,> Nyra spoke for both of us, but with our mental connection cut off, Noire didn't hear it.

"What do you say, Jinma? Do you trust me?" Noire asked.

It sounds like Noire has some history with Demon King D, but would the former know anything about what happened last night when Sue altered my memories and got my blood sample? An act her very ruler ordered to do when I had my guard down? Actually, would the Demon King alter Noire's memories? Could that play into how Noire trusts her so much?

The mere thought of it made me more worried enough that I had to look into it immediately.

"Sorry, could you give me a moment to think real quick?" I asked.

"Of course," Noire said. 

With that, I pulled away, turned around, and focused, concentrating my mental power hard on a specific person. No better time to give this a whirl, I suppose.

<... Sue? Can you hear—>

<Wah?!> Sue exclaimed in great shock, uncharacteristically so, even. It even left me surprised.

<Wow, I should be expecting it, but I honestly didn't think my [Telepathy] could reach that far.>

With my [Telepathy] skill at max proficiency, unless there's a way to block that connection, I could supposedly contact anyone from anywhere in the world. There's usually no cost if they're close by, but it would take MP if I try to contact them after a certain distance. I didn't think I could connect to Sue that quickly, though.

<J-Jinma?! How did—?!> Sue exclaimed, unusually flustered.

<Uh, sorry if I'm interrupting something important in your cooking. Are you too busy to answer a few quick questions?> I asked.

She took a bit to answer, <... No, I can answer some questions.>

<First, do you truly recognize Noire as your ally?> I asked, <You wouldn't do anything like altering her memories when she's done nothing wrong, would you? Like you did with mine and Nyra's?>

<That's not—!> Sue exclaimed before stopping herself, <... I admit that was an act of poor judgement on my part, but I normally don't do that without a good reason. Noire and her father have proven to be loyal supporters to the Demon King, so unless they did something that betrays her trust, you can best believe that their punishment won't just stop at a simple memory wipe.>

<... Okay, not very enlightening, but good to know. So you'd never do anything to them if it was for your own gains? Or the Demon King's?> I asked.

<No. On the contrary, if there was something they need from the Demon King, from nobility to royalty, if their reasons are just, she would do whatever she could in her power to help them.>

It didn't seem like she was lying, but I wondered if my [Intuition] worked through a telepathic connection.

<And to prove I'm not lying, here's a tidbit. I'm currently wearing a bright green thong right now, because green is my favorite color.>

Well, that proves [Intuition] works even through [Telepathy], because that lie was off the scale. Sue apparently hates the color green, and though her underwear isn’t the same color, she is wearing a thong. My skill at its max level can pick that statement apart to such an extent.

<... Alright, it seems you were telling the truth about Noire, but I'm going to make this clear,> I said, <Noire may not officially be part of the party yet, but I still consider her one of us. Just like my other party members, if you do anything to her, I'll never forgive you or the Demon King, and you can expect some heads to roll, with or without my untrained [Devil Eyes]. Understood?>

<You have my word. I'm assuming there's a reason why you're asking me about my relations with Noire in such depth?>

I anticipated Sue would ask that. I thought about it briefly before contacting her, but she did say she wanted to trust me. I'm not even sure if this is the right move, but after she gave something so valuable and potentially dangerous as the 'Pendants of Hidden Anonymity' to us, the least I could do is give her assurance that her trust in me wasn't a mistake.

I briefly filled her in on what Noire and I were doing and her plans to meet Demon King D. She was quite surprised that I was in Korangar right now, but didn't ask for further details on that. I even told her the two ways of bypassing the castle's magic barrier that Noire told me.

<I see, Noire really is a cunning one, that girl,> Sue praised.

<Do you know anything about this Vladimir guy by any chance?> I asked.

<Why? Afraid you might have more competition for Noire's hand in marriage?> Sue teased.

<After encountering Krigeran while we're dealing with Rowling? I can't take chances,> I said honestly.

<You can relax,> Sue said, <Vladimir's the son of the Royal Guard's General. Both of them are well acquainted with the Krauss Family head, being the Minister of Defense and Weaponry that he is, especially since the son's stationed as one of his personal guards serving the house. Vladimir's currently engaged to a noblewoman who'll marry into his own household.>

A weight was lifted off my shoulders after hearing that last statement. Putting my earlier worries aside, it sounds like Noire's using Vladimir to reach out to his father, probably to prepare some guards to search through Rowling's residence. The message to Demon King D must be to get the approval and warrant to search that house. I now understood how important it was for Noire to deliver that message privately, but that didn't lower my anxiety.

<So you or the Demon King won't reprimand Noire for breaching that oath to secrecy?> I asked Sue.

<It would be a different story if it was someone else that Noire released that information to, but this is you we're talking about. I'm sure her Highness will let it slide,> Sue answered.

I sighed, <That's a relief.>

<More importantly, you'll be helping Noire getting into Her Highness' castle, yes? Would you want to see Her Highness while escorting Noire to her?> Sue asked.

<... To be frank, I don't feel mentally prepared to meet her yet, not after all the stuff I learned today. I need some time to gather my thoughts into them, and that may be difficult with the dungeon crawl tomorrow,> I said.

<... But you still want to see her, right?> Sue asked with a slight hint of anxiety in her tone.

I nodded lightly, <Yes. For the goals I need to achieve, meeting the Demon King is unavoidable. I'm just not ready to do that yet.>

<... Understood. I believe around this time, the guards in the castle will be rotating shifts, lessening the security in the process. Noire has seen enough of the castle to know where to go and find Her Highness in her office. There should be no problems if you only stood outside that office and waited for Noire to finish her business. After that … you might be able to use [Portal] to escape the castle without getting back to what Her Highness calls the ‘emergency room’,> Sue said with a hint of uncertainty.

<I ‘might’?> I asked with a raised brow.

<Just contact me if you have problems. I’ll handle it in a flash. At any rate, if you're going to deliver that message and want to avoid getting caught, now's the best time to go, but you must hurry,> Sue said, dodging my suspicions.

Despite my skepticism, it didn’t seem like she was lying about handling the repercussions, so I tried to calm myself, <... Alright. Thank you, Sue, I really appreciate this. I'll come back soon with high hopes for your cooking.>

<... You won't be disappointed.>

With that, I cut the telepathic connection, took a deep breath, and turned back to Noire, still standing in the same spot and waiting patiently.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," I said, "I'll go along with your plan, but only if I don't meet with the Demon King. I'll just stand outside the room while you do your thing."

Noire nodded in understanding, "Thank you for cooperating with me on this, Jinma."

"Of course, I do whatever I can for my girls. We should get going now while there's still light out, though," I said.

After Noire agreed, she quickly released Opal from her 'censored mode' and notified her of our departure. She reiterated her request of sending the message to Vladimir as soon as possible without drawing suspicion from their father. The little Vampire sister nodded in understanding.

Noire then pulled Opal into an affectionate hug, "It's going to be some time before I get back, so stay strong while I'm gone, okay? When this is all over, I'd like the three of us to have tea together and introduce you to Jinma properly."

"I'm still skeptical about this arrangement, but I'm happy you're in a better mood now than when you left, Sister Dearest," Opal said while hugging back tightly, "You must tell me everything that happened over tea when you come back."

"Of course," Noire said before planting a kiss on Opal's forehead, "Love you, Opal."

"Love you, too, Sister Dearest."

Wonder if anyone in Japan ever expressed sibling love like this? Or maybe some other foreign country?

<Would you do that with your own sibling?> Nyra asked.

<Definitely not for my brother … but I'd be too afraid of my sister hating me if I did it to her.>

Once the Krauss sisters bid their farewells, the older of the two approached me, "Alright, I'm ready. Just like before?"

I nodded before taking out my tanto. We then did the same trick that got us to Opal's room, the owner of which gasped in awe as she watched the magic unfold before her. With the emergency room Noire imagined with clarity in my mind, I opened a [Portal] to it with no problems.

Our infiltration in the Demon King's castle commenced the moment we stepped inside.

Orange_Rain

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