Not What I Expected (1)

In the center of the ballroom, a mysterious door suddenly came into existence.

"Hey look!"

"It finally appeared! Cease it!"

"Nita go!"

"Kryoo!!"

"Wait! Wait! Hold it!"

At the preemptive attack, Aoki Kaito shouted. Everybody halted in their steps. During that gap in time, Nine and Sayu Takata made their way out of the door and before it once again vanished into thin air.

"Oi! Aoki-san, what the hell?!" Nanako Rika exclaimed.

"Kaito.. why.." Alytia Erudite had her hands readied on her sword.

Nanako Rika was also a hero. She possessed the Unique Skill [Dragonnewt] which made dragons fond of her.

Of course, she had finally had her first tame– Nita, the wyvern whose skin was shiny like the moon, growled at the duo with a hissing sound.

And Alytia Erudite. She was.. let's just say she's Kaito's second harem member.

"Your Highness, how should we proceed with this," a royal knight asked Alytia. They had been stationed here since last night. And as predicted, the door did appear however.. with the door now gone, their plans to capture it had failed.

"I'll handle the discussion.."

"Alytia.. the situation isn't what you think it is.." Kaito tried to explain.

"Which side are you on. Our side, or their side?" she asked in a grave tone.

"We.. don't know," Sayu replied warily. She didn't understand why Alytia would act so severe just because of this.. weren't they family?

"Bring that door back."

"We don't have control over it.. sorry," Kaito said.

"Then? Why are you here? You're telling me those demon lords just tossed you out?"

"Um.." Kaito looked around.. Nine wasn't here.. looks like the diversion succeeded, "I suppose?"

"What is it Nita… Nita?! Sorry my Nita is.. wait!"

The wyvern, Nita ran out towards the hall. Rika chased after it.

"What are you planning," Alytia took a step forward, drawing closer to Kaito.. but in response, Kaito took a step backwards.

"When you get to know the story on both sides you'll understand that it isn't as simple as who's right and wrong." Kaito said in defense.

Alytia bit her lips. The sight made Kaito's heart go numb. If he could, he'd didn't want to see Alytia like this..

"Sector chief, we stand down.."

"I have to ask, what exactly is their motive?" the royal guard, presumably the sector chief to this wack a door operation stepped up.

Kaito and Sayu looked at each other.

"We don't have any."

"The demon lords wanted to meet His Highness Kyoshi Toren."

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"W-Why you.. I thought we shouldn't be exposing the plans?!"

"I-I never heard that!"

"So which one is correct?!"

"Her's," Kaito went with Sayu's explanation– which was indeed much more accurate. Plus, there was no way to cover up something so obvious anymore.

"Then.. doesn't that mean the trap wasn't needed?" Alytia asked the sector chief.

"It seems so.. but we can't be too sure."

"What.. do you mean by that..?" Kaito's mind was left running in circles.

===

'Thanks, escape success.'

Nine had made her way out of the encirclement. A concealment barrier surrounded her as she walked through the halls.

"Do I follow the path down or.. do I just teleport over? Huh?"

Nine noticed how there were a number of orange dots clumped where Sid was located. Rather, Sid himself was an orange dot.

What a bummer.

Sid was their enemy now.. apparently.

Nine hoped she would be able to persuade him..

"Teleport it is.."

Kashick–

Nine turned around to see a white wyvern digging its nose on the floor… an antique vase had just fallen from the stand. Uh oh.. It looks like a police wyvern (dog) was on Nine's tail.

"Nita?!" Rika screamed when she saw the broken vase.

"Kryoo~" it chirped.. or barked.. whatever onomatopoeia made sense.

"What is it? Is there something suspicious here?"

"Teleport it is."

Nine pressed the button and appeared inside the prison.

First and foremost– Nine put up a sound barrier as an extra level of precaution so that the guards outside wouldn't notice them. Only then did Nine pull down his concealment barrier to have her presence known.

"Nine..san?"

"I'm here.. first, sorry about what happened, it wasn't on purpose."

Jennifer whose lavender coloured hair curled at the edges, and Margrett whose grey hair looked ragged as if having faced turmoil. Margrett gently shook the sleeping Jennifer's shoulders to wake her up.

"You understand if you do this.. you'll be sowing discord in the kingdom and.. we'll become the kingdom's enemy," Margratt said in a strained voice.

"I understand.. that's why we're moving."

"To the Elven Territory? What are the chances of us being able to settle down there? Elves are notorious for their strict culture and way of life. They look down on humans just as much as us humans look down on them–"

"That's bout the only option we could think of.."

"First of my concerns is, how would you intend to gain their cooperation? Entering a territory and getting a citizenship isn't as simple as applying for one, more so when it's a territory where another race is of the majority."

"Noel has his ways.. he said he has connections with The Goddess of Nature? Something of that sorts.."

"Simply ridiculous," Margrett sighed.

"Mom.. there's no other way.." Jennifer said.

"I know.. I just needed to confirm the viability of this plan.. Nine-san, do you mind if I made a request?"

"Yes?"

"Provide me some time to persuade my husband."

"Time? Persuade about?"

"This decision. Unlike us, he doesn't know you people.. simply put it, he would side with the humans.." Margrett chuckled sadly, "Demon lords.. who would've thought we'd get ourselves into this kind of mess.. there are many questions I have for you too, but that can come later."

The door appeared.

"Please come in," Prune had been waiting at the entrance. Looks like she operated it on her side.

"Jenn-chan, you go first."

"Mom.. are you going to be alright.."

"I will.. I will talk to Nine-san for a bit.."

"Okay.. take care."

Jennifer entered, Prune and Nine gave each other a nod before the door disappeared.

"Good. I can discuss with you freely.. you've probably heard from Jenn-chan that my husband's execution will be conducted later in the morning."

"I'll prevent that. Definitely."

"It's a farce."

"Farce?"

"I told Jenn-chan to lie to you."

"What do you mean..?"

"They want to talk. With you, no. With Noel-san.. sama and Liliath-sama. It's bait."

"Bait.. they're in a difficult situation right now.. especially Liliath. If it's Noel, then it should be alright. They want to talk out the issues?"

Margrett nodded.

"Hm.. then that makes more sense.." no wonder there were so many orange dots clustered around Sid. They expected them to rescue Sid just as they would with his other family members. "It's alright to just walk in right..?" they were, after all, in a sort of interrogation room.

"I will warn first and foremost– it might be a trap."

"Right.. so what exactly should we do.."

Nine and Noel had done investigations the night prior. But they didn't expect things to change so quickly while they weren't looking. Initially, they thought that the heroes surrounding Sid's special cell was to increase the difficulty of rescue. But that wasn't the case it seems.

'Noel, there's something we need to decide on.'