Chapter 11: Castle corridors

"Arias?" Someone approached me while I was walking down the corridor inside the royal castle.

"Hmm? Yes?"

He was wearing a knight armor with the crest of the royal family, a brown bird with golden eyes sitting atop a silver tree.

He was a palace knight. Covered completely in a strong armor, someone who should be as strong as a (B) rank knight.

"Well..."

"Well?"

"You know..."

His face was covered by the helmet right now but I could still tell what he was talking about.

There was also a distinct smell of perfume around him, one that was certainly used not as a fragrance, but to hide a different smell altogether.

’He’s a customer as well.’

I have been inside this glamorous place with vast gardens with pristine fountains and spotless walls for about a week now.

This palace has every luxury a rich person can think about and every unfathomable thing that a common man could even dream of.

There are hundreds people who work here, dozens of knights and people who protect this place.

And just like the many people who earn an honest living while working here with a bright smile on their faces, I’ve encountered more like this knight than I had wished.

"Look, mister knight. You know and I know it. So it’s obvious that the suppliers know it as well. The higher ups are watching us closely."

Even right now, the knight had stopped me in a seemingly rare blind spot.

There were surveillance devices all around us. In fact, there are some so cleverly made that they look like birds or everyday objects.

Even the paintings on the wall here have eyes and ears. So, it has not been easy.

"Yes, but I heard you know some workaround? I mean..." The knight pulled out a bag of coins from his pocket and secretly placed it between the bundle of clothes that I was carrying.

"For the old time’s sake."

According to my investigation until now, the person I am right now has interacted with many people until now. There are many who are showing signs of withdrawal already.

The drugs that were circulating inside the palace was no normal thing, and the fact that the people in the royal family were turning a blind eye to it must have a deeper meaning to it.

’If they know everything that goes on inside their walls they would obviously have known about the drugs.’

But they still overlooked it as if they had something to do with it as well.

’I’ll have to investigate that myself.’

For now, however, I still have to deal with this problem.

"Sir knight, I may have had some workarounds but not anymore. I have to go now."

I ignored him on purpose even though I’ve been keeping up the supply limited to those who ’I’ really knew.

This knight wasn’t one of them. So it’s clear that he’s one of the investigators from the royal family.

"I’ll keep the payment though. I’ll come to you straight away if I get my hands on any of the products."

The Arias that others know would obviously keep the money even if the one giving it was a knight of his rank.

He was a shameless bastard when it came to business. And since it’s money anyways, I don’t mind keeping it.

’I can treat Sam and Beth to something good with this.’

Anyways, as I walked away, I heard the whispers of the knight with my heightened senses.

"Yes. Yes, he seems to be in the clear right now. Alright, I’ll move on to the next one."

That must be someone in a higher position investing the disappearance of the Prince.

’I’ve made quite a few observations in this past week.’

The first and foremost: the royal palace is Vast. Not just big and beautiful, but actually vast and magnificent.

The area it covers alone is one third of the entire capital city.

There are about nine gardens in the castle, all filled with fountains that have a different colour of water flowing through them, plants of a diverse variety, and elements that almost seem magical.

’As a lower ranking servant, the places I can go to are extremely limited, but that’s when talking about Arias the butler.’

With every moment I get, I’m investigating different things stealthily, and while doing so, I’m also avoiding the assassin-like members of Elision.

They’ve infiltrated the entire palace as well.

’They’re among the servants, among the knights, and even among the higher ups.’

According to the information we gathered by eavesdropping on them, their higher ups are officially working with the Royal Guards.

’Unlike us who are still hiding in plain sight, they are engaged in a deeper operation.’

Furthermore, many of the priests and holy knights have also arrived here.

’But they aren’t hiding themselves.’

I see people in priestly clothes walking down the hallways freely, there are knights wearing spotless white armour, and above them, there are those who have the blessings of the gods: the Aura users.

’And we’re stuck between all of these groups.’

I’m a butler that’s working on the lower level that carries out tasks handed to me by the head butler that serves the second princess while Sam is working as a garden maid so she comes across the other two groups a lot more.

Furthermore, we were able to get Beth inside as a repair personnel.

’She’s currently working from the annex building that has all kinds of workshops which help in the production of different things.’

Thanks to her, we have set up a surveillance system of our own and Sam has figured out the entire Palace’s security system in the past few days.

’She’s confident that she can hack into their system without them knowing.’

But to do that, we will have to distract most of the royal forces as well as those who are currently working on the assigned mission.

’Thankfully, we will get our chance tomorrow.’

It’s time for Lily’s official palace visit, and along with it, we will start the first part of our plan.

"Haaa..."

That was it.

That’s all we were supposed to do, so we still have some time on our hands.

And I was going to spend that time secretly following the knight I crossed paths with earlier, but right as I was about to leave the room I was dropping those clothes in...

-Tuck!

I felt a sudden jolt of pain on the back of my head.

-Thud.

Something so sudden and so powerful that I fell to the ground on the spot... unconscious.