"Mmm, I think that's unreliable. Wouldn't that just be gambling our fate entirely on others?"
"That's why Plan A is the most passive approach."
Certainly His Majesty the King would send envoys to negotiate with Duke Borgia, but we had no way of knowing the outcome of those negotiations. If His Majesty was persuaded by Duke Borgia, we'd only be able to rage helplessly while trapped within Duke Borgia's territory.
"By the way, Anna's lap pillow is quite comfortable. You smell so nice... Ow!"
Hand chop ×1.
"Plan B: Smuggle out."
"Even Anna's [Spatial Transfer] can't escape, so is there another way to get out?"
"At the lowest efficiency levels, barriers aren't completely sealed—they have several entry and exit points. Completely cutting off such a large ducal territory from the outside world isn't a small matter. It would severely impact commerce and trade, so I believe Duke Borgia would set up several entry and exit points as appropriate."
"...But security would definitely be strict."
Even a fool could figure that out—Duke Borgia would certainly deploy heavy troops to guard them.
First, he'd use quest rewards to make all adventurers in the ducal territory work for him, then concentrate his military forces to heavily guard the few entry and exit points. This was precisely the trap Duke Borgia had set.
"Right now I'm just considering the possibility. Theoretically, it's a viable escape route."
"But if we're discovered, I feel like there'd be developments like 'If you don't want to be exposed, use your lewd body as hush money...' Ow!"
Hand chop ×2.
There was no such possibility.
"With orders issued directly by the duke, no one would be negligent in their duties. It would be very difficult for us to bribe the guards."
"We have too little information, Anna. We don't know what's happening outside at all."
Sigrdrífa hit the nail on the head regarding the key issue. After escaping Rothschild, we'd been doing our utmost to avoid contact with outsiders. While this ensured Lily's safety, it also left us lacking sources of information. We had no idea what was really happening in the outside world.
"They probably haven't seen much of me. In a bit, I'll go to nearby Baron Hurst's territory to gather intelligence."
"No need. Carol Cat should be coming to meet up with us soon. She definitely knows more than we do."
After repeatedly using [Spatial Transfer] and traveling all day, Carol Cat had no mount and was relying solely on her own pace—there was absolutely no way she could catch up to us.
"Carol Cat... Duke Borgia's rewards for adventurers—Carol Cat should have received them too. Anna, are you sure Carol Cat won't betray us?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then why are you still..."
"If she betrays us, I'll deal with her."
"To say something quite terrifying so casually..."
At least for now, I was willing to trust Carol Cat. From my observations, she wasn't a hardcore player, so how much interest she'd have in quest rewards requiring bloody competition was unknown. But we absolutely couldn't carelessly trust Carol Cat either. Neither Sigrdrífa nor I had quest panels, so we couldn't even confirm the specific content of Duke Borgia's rewards.
Of course maids had the duty to clear away all obstacles for their master. Moreover, Carol Cat could resurrect anyway, so if she was confirmed as an enemy, there was no need to hold back. For now, I was inclined to view Carol Cat as a friend.
"What's Anna's third method?"
"Before I explain that, don't turn face down."
Hand chop ×3.
"Who told Anna to have such soft white thighs... made me think facing down would be more comfortable..."
I didn't know about comfortable, but enjoying a lap pillow face-down—if outsiders barged in, they'd undoubtedly develop strange misunderstandings about us.
"Plan C: Eliminate Duke Borgia."
"...Hoh. Interesting."
"Sigrdrífa isn't scared at all."
"On my way from Midgard to the Kingdom of Michel, I killed some bandits."
Sigrdrífa unexpectedly had experience stabbing NPCs to death.
"Anna plans to forcibly terminate the quest by eliminating the quest reward provider?"
Once Duke Borgia died, the quests he'd issued to players would be in the awkward situation of "losing their reward source." If no other NPCs or players capable of paying rewards took over, the quests would be forcibly terminated before long.
I didn't deny that some enraged players might continue as enemies, but most adventurers should end their meaningless behavior.
"That's one of the reasons. Another is that Duke Borgia's death would temporarily collapse the barrier."
"Why?"
"Dukes are granted special authority to use [Barriers], and they also function as the [Barrier]'s core, equivalent to the human heart."
If Duke Borgia forcibly raised the barrier's level while we were disguised and trying to smuggle out, we'd be helpless. However, Duke Borgia's death would both eliminate the adventurer threat and remove the biggest obstacle to leaving Duke Borgia's territory.
Most importantly, the one targeting Lily was precisely Duke Borgia.
"I see... then it's definitely Plan C... no need to ask..."
"Assassinating a duke isn't easy, you know. Duke Borgia is one of the Kingdom of Michel's top fighters. Even if his advanced age, poor health, and various factors have greatly diminished his strength from his prime, he's still not someone who can be casually assassinated."
"I'm good at... stealth..."
"Rifa?"
"(。-ω-)zzz..."
She fell asleep.
Although for certain reasons I couldn't see Sigrdrífa's sleeping face, I thought my lap pillow should be pretty good, right?
"Anna... hehehe... prprprpr..."
"..."
Hand chop ×... no, I'll let it slide this time.