Isekai (3)

I think we would get nowhere if the discussion continues like this..

"Let's vote. Who prefers to just.. ignore this situation and who wants to assist the Princess."

"I will consider leaving it to her own devices. It's something she must face herself," Liliath said.

"I don't want to abandon the princess..I choose to assist her."

"As for me.. you know what? Fuck it. This is isekai so I'll go with Prune's idea."

So last was me.

"Okay, let's put it like this then, Princess Siesta, in exchange for our assistance, whether it helps or not, you have to treat Prune and Nine like heroes.. or Irregulars that you found."

Darn. I'm ordering the princess around? What kind of development is this anyways..

"That is for certain.."

"Eh wait.. so how about you and Liliath then?"

"Let's split up getting information. The two of you will take the normal 'meet the king' route, while Liliath and I will take the freelance route."

"No.. that wasn't what I had in mind," Nine pouted.

"Uh.."

So Nine wants everyone to go together?

"Noel.. there are royal knights coming," Liliath said, looking towards the direction of the castle.

"Shit, what do we do now.." Nine cursed.

Haah.. what now? I looked around the place and when I saw that plus sign on Princess Siesta.. I suddenly felt as if I'm as dumb as a pudding.

"I got it," editing the widgets, I then said, "Princess, open your status window. Just think of it and it'll appear."

"What did you do?" Nine asked.

"We'll keep in touch-- I added a messaging function to her system, we need to escape now right?"

"Wait.. I don't understand how this operates.. ha..?" Siesta was stopped by the appearance of her own limited UI mid-way through her sentence.

Yes. I realized I could've done that and got everyone out of here to begin with.

"We have to go. Nine, Prune, what are your choices? To join us or to join Princess-sama?" Liliath asked.

"Since we'll keep in touch then.. we'll go. I wouldn't want to be controlled by the castle.." Prune said.

"Your Highness!" a cliche yell from a cliche female knight echoed in the distance.

"Yes, teleport. Teleport!" Nine said.

"Princess Siesta-sama, may I wish a future encounter."

"W-Wait!?"

Saying that a red circle glowed around us, Siesta's voice was drowned out into the wind and.. we teleported in a forest.

"God damn.. that was so scary.. fuck," Nine cursed.

"No shit." I said.

"Where is this?" Prune asked.

"We aren't out of it yet, we are but a few dozen meters from the summoning circle. We must escape from here," Liliath said.

I brought up my map UI, and so did everyone else. It seems the summoning circle monument-structure thing is built inside castle walls. It's supposed to be part of the royal courtyard, it's huge..

There's also an additional dot behind our position, which is Siesta. You could see her dot moving closer to the castle area. And I wonder.. did we make the right choice in choosing independence? Though.. it's more like my selfish decision..

Liliath generated a ball of light to ward off the darkness and we kept moving forward, pushing against branches and shrubs that have weird leaf shapes.

"We have to go past this wall to the other side," Liliath said.

"Can't you just teleport us there? Or is there a reason why that's not possible?" Prune asked.

"Noel, what would happen if other people saw Siesta with the UI?" Nine asked.

"I made sure to edit it so the UI can be seen by herself and us only."

"Oh.. nice."

"I cannot teleport to places I have not been to. There's a risk we might hit an obstacle." Liliath said.

The sound of grass and snow being crushed under our feet, the earth smell of the forest and chilly air.

"It's so dark.." Prune said.

"So, what do we do after we reach the outside?" Nine asked.

"Maybe we will go to an inn?"

"How about money then?" Prune brought up an important issue.

"Right.. I'll check my shop when the time comes.."

There are too many things to solve. Well.. first things first, we need a place to sleep, rest and think.

"I think I can see it.. that's the wall. It's rather high.. what's that?!" Prune traced the wall from the base all the way to the upper most point and on one of the thicker pillars, there was this floating rainbow icosahedron.

"A sentry.. I didn't think they'd built so many," Liliath spoke in awe.

The entire wall is lined with these things, every pair a few dozen meters apart. So they're like turrets?

"We should stay away from those right? Does it shoot something?" Nine asked.

"Yes. Hence we have to be prudent."

We soon reached the base of the wall, it seems the sentries' range didn't cover all the way to the ground, fortunately. But..

"Um.. do you teleport us outside from here?" I asked.

"I have no choice but to do so do I?" Liliath bit her lips.

"Is there a problem?"

"I don't know what's beyond this. We could die if I made an accident in my calculations..."

"Hey.. Noel, what can we do now?"

"How about we take a break here.. I still haven't tried out my ability yet.." Prune said and then a fancy door appeared out of thin air.

"Oh wait.. that's right."

"Ah, I think my brain is going to blow.. I'm so confused. There's too many things to register," Nine said.

Prune grasped the handle and opened the door to reveal..

"Huh?"

"This is our apartment isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's very similar."

"Should everyone go in? What would happen to the door if we left it here?"

"It says I can dematerialize it after we enter and materialize it again when I wish to exit," Prune pointed at her light blue UI.

"Ah.. let's just go in. I'm so tired I want to die," Nine said.

"I agree. We'll think up a plan after a break," Liliath said.

It's getting really late. From the time widget I have, the current time is around 1 am. Hey wait.. how the hell is that princess not asleep at this sort of time!? Suspicious.. very very suspicious.

Entering our apartment through Prune's unique skill, I suddenly wondered if there was going to be some time distortion to it.. but I suppose it's something we can test out tomorrow morning when we exit this place.. or domain.

"I've dematerialized the door, it's set to reappear when the door opens," Pune said.

"We're saved.. we're saved.. thank you Prune," Nine hugged the floor.

Yeah, like honestly, this is our apartment alright. Though, things like the books I usually leave on the table, the kitchen food items and miscellaneous daily life objects are gone. It's all fresh, as if we returned to the time before we started living here.

"Noel, there is only a single bedroom and bathroom. It seems some portions of the apartment have been altered," Liliath who checked the place said.

And it was only Prune's room that was present. The other rooms were replaced by walls. The only bathroom present was the one near the kitchen and it was the same as what I remembered it to be.

"Ah.. there's some food in the fridge," to our surprise, there are eggs, some vegetables, mushrooms, meat slices and a few cans of drinks. I kinda feel as if this was a hotel. Weird..