Chapter 143.3 : Infiltrating Proxia Empire

（There is.......... No one?　It doesn’t look like there are detection type magic tools either.）

Rio was amazed in seeing the fact that there were no soldiers patrolling inside the castle at all.

An eerie sensation was permeating the insides of the castle that was enveloped by total darkness and total silence. He strained his eyes but was unable to find any trace of detection magic being used.

（Even though so many soldiers are waiting outside.......... It really is a trap huh?）

Rio considered such a possibility for a moment but, seeing the eerie silence inside the castle, he thought that he might be overthinking things.　And yet, he couldn’t dismiss the uneasiness in his heart. Without anyone patrolling inside the castle, the situation looked as if designed to invite him to go even further.

But Rio shook his head and decided to investigate the castle for a while longer. Though there were no soldiers patrolling, he was being very careful and did not let his guard down.

Furthermore, even though the imperial castle had several mansions inside, the current location was the upper part of the main castle ―― With some buildings that were mainly used for the administration of military affairs, offices, the throne room and a conference room.

Though normal castles should have soldiers stationed inside the castle, maybe because no one was inside, he felt almost no sign of life inside the castle.

（Let’s try looking at the lower floors then. If there’s no one, then try another building.）

Maybe the nobles working in the castle or the royalties―― might be resting inside one of the buildings.

As long as he successfully infiltrated, he would be able to get as much information as he wanted from the people inside. Rio’s current target was not the moving soldiers, but the people living inside the building. Since the people staying there might be big shots, there was a high chance of him hitting the jackpot.

As it was possible for someone else other than soldiers to be inside the most conspicuous looking building, he decided to infiltrate it. But he still couldn’t feel any signs of humans inside the tightly locked rooms.

In the end, Rio decided to advance towards the lower floors.

Since it was common sense not to build pathways on the first and second floors connecting to other buildings, entrances were usually installed on the third floor which connected to the entrance of another mansion by bridge.

In Rio’s case, although he could sneak in through the windows as he could fly, he decided against it and walked as he checked inside the buildings. He advanced very carefully as if trying to blend in with the darkness.

As he was exploring he found a soldier standing guard on a bridge connected to another mansion. There were 5 bridges in total that connected one mansion to another. 4 amongst them were guarded by soldiers.

It was an unwelcoming news for those trying to infiltrate, but Rio felt relieved instead in seeing that soldier. Nevertheless, he quickly made a plan of how to quickly cross those bridges.

（Is the defence being neglected due to them being undermanned? He might know the structure of the building too. This situation is screaming trap but.........）

He decided to search the buildings that had less lookouts. Though the possibilities of someone being that negligent was really low, as long as he could grasp the structure, it would be useful in the long run.

Thus, Rio quickly moved towards the bridge as silent as possible. After crossing the bridge..historical