Tok, tok.
"Excuse me, is there someone inside?" Luke asked while knocking on the door repeatedly to give a sign.
I could only wait behind him, while looking around in case something approached us.
Luke finally stepped back a few steps after not hearing any response from his knocking.
He turned and looked at the three of us.
"It didn't work. I didn't hear anything from inside."
Hime immediately supported her chin with her hand, thinking about what we should do.
The mission we have to complete right now depends heavily on this residence that is said to belong to the anti-kingdom group in Chyvera.
If we don't get anything now, we will have to wait without knowing how long it will take.
"Wait a second, do you hear that?"
Yuu-chan suddenly spoke while bringing her ear closer to the surface of the door, she felt like she heard a sound from inside.
"That's impossible, it's probably just your imagination." Luke replied, already convinced that Yuu-chan was just lying.
She immediately denied that and tried to listen more carefully, pressing her ear and the side of her face against the door.
Both of her palms held her body so she wouldn't fall and could stay balanced while trying to eavesdrop.
I could only stay silent before approaching her and trying to listen as well.
She's probably just trying to prank us again, see, I don't hear anything—
Wait a second!
There are sounds of rather heavy objects falling to the ground, the sounds can be heard several times from here.
But I can't hear anyone responding to Luke's knocking.
Little by little the sound feels like it's getting closer to the door in front of us, maybe it is already right on the other side of the door.
Yuu-chan gently pulled my robe, asking me to step back and see what would happen next.
I didn't respond to her action, instead I followed her and stood beside her.
Krek.
Someone inside pulled the left door inward, a little dust could be seen scattering when the door was opened.
It looked like an old building that hadn't been occupied by anyone for so long that the door made quite a loud sound when it was opened.
"My apologies, is there something I can help you with?"
A young man, his height about the same as mine, bright brown hair with clothes almost the same as what Luke was wearing.
Maybe he was also wearing clothes from Samatoki, that's why the design looks familiar to me.
He wore black glasses resting on top of his nose, he hadn't returned them to their proper position in front of his eyes.
His hand was holding onto the door while staring at us with a face full of wrinkles from exhaustion.
"... We have some business here, can we ask you something?" I asked.
He finally pushed his glasses upward so his eyes could see us more clearly.
"I don't have much time, I will answer as long as it is a light question."
When I was about to start asking him, Hime suddenly stood in front of me and signaled me not to say anything anymore.
I don't know why she suddenly did that, but I feel like she had already planned everything.
"Yukito-san, we shouldn't stay here for too long. Also, we have business with you, a member of the anti-kingdom group."
Hime glanced at the man with a deep meaning in her gaze, which made him flinch in surprise because of the name Hime used.
Maybe he didn't expect that the business we meant was related to that group.
He coughed several times while clenching his hand and covering his mouth before giving his answer.
"In that case, all of you can come inside. But... Please don't get too excited, the current condition..."
He stopped before finishing his sentence and walked inside.
Hime and I looked at each other before walking inside first, followed by the other two.
I began to feel cautious because the man held back his words earlier, maybe there was something he was hiding from us—
Oh...
My face immediately became very blank, now I understand why the man didn't finish his sentence earlier, everything is answered now.
Right when we entered, there were so many books scattered across the floor, only a little part of the floor was empty, used as a path to walk.
Even the entire room was filled with books numbering in the thousands, covering the doors to the other rooms.
Is the headquarters of the anti-kingdom group that wants to take the throne from the very powerful Barbara... really this shabby?
A group that could unite the people to protest and pressure Barbara to step down from her throne...
Even that man looked confused himself while trying to clear the front of one of the room doors.
Hah... For some reason, our previous expectations became a little smaller.
"The three of you, try to look around here, maybe there are some useful books." I said before quickly approaching the man and helping him move the books here.
He looked at me in confusion for a moment before focusing again on cleaning everything.
When the floor around this door had been cleared, he immediately pushed the door without wasting time.
"You can wait inside here, I want to get something." he said before going to another room on the second floor.
He almost fell while running on the stairs, could he be the type of person who tends to be clumsy when panicking?
"Luke, bring the two of them here." I said while shouting a little so Luke could hear me.
Hime and Yuu-chan were picking up several books somewhere else, and the closest one was Luke, that's why I asked him.
—
I entered this room without any hesitation in my heart, after what I saw outside.
There was a fireplace at one end of the room, with a chimney attached to the roof of the building.
Beside it were several paintings displayed, along with a small fir tree with several colorful accessories on its leaves.
That tree must be used when Christmas comes, but it's still quite far from now, if I remember correctly we are still in autumn... maybe.
The temperature and weather on each continent are different, but here in Nakuso the air feels quite cool, that's why I think Chyvera will soon be entering winter.
On the other side, there were only tables and shelves that were almost empty, only filled with books and small plants that I had never seen before.
In the middle of the room, there were two sofas facing each other, quite long with a deep green color that looked like they had been placed here for a very long time.
There was a table with the same length placed between those sofas.
The floor was also covered with a thin red carpet shaped in a circle surrounding the sofas and the table.
The four of us sat on one of the sofas and waited for the man to return and finish his business with us.
Until finally he returned while carrying a box with both of his hands and closed the door.
Klak.
He placed the box slowly on the table before standing straight while looking at us and lowering his head.
"Thank you for coming here, allow me to introduce myself."
"One of the servants of the Vanda family, secretary of the anti-kingdom group, Bareska Vol, please call me that."
He then sat on the sofa in front of us after introducing himself.
"Yukito-san, I think we don't need to hide our identities from him."
"Of course, take out that paper, Hime."
——
"P-P-Party of heroes?! Ehem, after seeing this paper, I can only assume that you truly have that status." Vol-san replied after seeing the paper containing Charles-san's signature.
But well... I thought he would have ears on top of his head, or a soft tail behind his back.
However, he was just an ordinary human living on the beast-man continent Nakuso.
"So, what business do you have coming here?"
"Only one, we want to know about your plan to take the throne of the Chyvera kingdom and reorganize the slavery system in Nakuso."
Without beating around the bush, Hime directly stated what our main mission was.
Of course Vol-san immediately got shocked and slammed the table quite hard until the box shook a little.
"W-WHAT?!"