Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

"N-never a-again," Visla said, her voice trembling as much as her body as soon as she returned to the loving embrace of the ground. She lay down flat on her back and closed her eyes, feeling the stability of the earth beneath her.

"I didn't think you'd be scared of heights;" Zach commented. Since they didn't want to be seen by anyone who might be below them, Zach had pushed himself and brought them high up into the sky. Personally, he was awed at his own greatness. It was freeing being able to fly that high.

Visla was not of the same opinion. She had been mostly fine when they were just high enough that she wouldn't be able to jump up onto the barrier. It was a height where she would be fine if she fell.

However, when they continued rising, her heart clenched, and her stomach sank. She had to close her eyes and lay down with her head in Nora's lap to stop herself from panicking.

"Shut it, please." Since Visla had never been that high up before, she hadn't known she was that scared of heights, either.

"No, but I can move on to something else," Zach said as he turned toward the direction the Hydra's Child had flown in. At the horizon, he saw it. Ciel. The capital city of the Evandiel duchy.

Mandra had confirmed with her spell that the Child's traces led there. But there was just one problem.

"I thought your people had taken over Ciel?" Zach asked. That was what he had heard in Rittel and Storum. The barbarians had swiftly moved in on the city when the Evandiels' absence was discovered and made it their base.

"So did I." That same information was the one circulating in the camps deeper into imperial territory as well.

Firstly, why would the Child go to a place under the control of the leading tribes of the invasion, the strongest on the Steppes.

Secondly, how were several of the biggest tribes crammed into the city without being noticeable from this distance?

The Sesha Steppes had far from as many human inhabitants as the Empire. But their population might be able to rival the East's. But only a small portion of the Evandiel duchy's people lived in the capital. Even if all of the tribes could fit in the city and the houses, would they want to?

They would spread out and make full use of the vast space around the city.

Needless to say, something wasn't adding up.@@novelbin@@

"You good yet?" Zach glanced at Visla, who was covering her eyes with her forearm like she was sick.

Visla grunted and slowly got up.

"Good. Let's go."

Something was off about Ciel. But it was the center of this whole war. The answers to their questions, the method to establish peace, and the Children of the Hydra. All of them would be found there.

Zach had to gather and conserve as much of his strength as possible before they arrived. And it wouldn't be any good if Visla was about to collapse. They walked the last part. Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire

But even as they arrived, not a single person, barbarian or otherwise, came out to meet them. The city wasn't a ghost town, but it was a lot emptier than either of them had expected it to be. It also wasn't guarded like they thought the headquarters of the invasion would be.

Zach and Visla exchanged glances, stopping in front of the ajar city gates. Zach glanced at Mandra. She nodded and cast her stealth spell on the group.

They entered Ciel, a place filled with both good and bad memories for Zach. For Visla, it was just the biggest imperial city she had seen. Now, she had seen it twice. Once when she entered the Empire and now.

Neither of them had forgotten what brought them here.

Mandra glanced at the sky before following the trail of orange magic energy with her eyes to the center of the city. She didn't know what was there, but Zach, Nora, Yanael, Alzara, and Visla did. They had been there before, after all.

It was the Labyrinth of Jira.

Zach looked at Visla when they approached. There were barbarians around the entrance to the Labyrinth. The building that had housed the entrance was entirely gone, so they saw the archway even from afar.

Unlike with the city, the guards seemed to take watching the entrance seriously. There were also more barbarians around it nearby.

"Do you want to talk to the tribes here or just enter?"

"Just enter," she answered shortly.

Zach took a look around. It certainly didn't seem like they would get anything from talking to the people here. It would only cause trouble and delays.

If it could have led to talks of peace between the Empire and the Sesha, that trouble and those delays would have been worth it.

But most of the barbarians in the city seemed to be, for lack of a more respectful word, weaklings.

For whatever reason, the Child of the Hydra had entered the Labyrinth. But so seemingly had the majority of the barbarians as well.

It was that or they had moved on or retreated, leaving behind only the bare minimum to keep the city occupied.

The Labyrinth certainly held a lot of treasures and secrets. But none of them could understand why the Sesha would enter it with several tribes' worth of people.

Zach thought about the environment on the first floor, the only one he had been on. Aside from the rat-like monsters popping out behind every strand of grass, it was a nice place. Green grass. Fresh air. Clear skies.

It was certainly an environment people could live in. Coupled with the apparent possibility that the barbarians were hungry and no longer able to sustain themselves on the Steppes, it led Zach to the idea of the barbarians trying to live in the Labyrinth of Jira.

The barbarians weren't just invading the Empire, they were invading the Labyrinth.