The coup d'état began in the Royal Castle, and it's likely that it will spread beyond the capital by tomorrow morning.
Naturally, this was caused by the Nobles Faction, which was led by the Strong Grandson. Their knights and nobles that were in the castle took action, which caused the simultaneous mobilization of their troops that had been mixed in with the royal guards.
Just as the carefully planned coup d'état began, they were able to successfully round up almost all the members of the Royal Family.
Although the palace guards of each of the royal family's palaces put up some resistance, they were eventually defeated by superior numbers. Maybe it was because they were facing their own countrymen, however, there were only a few casualties and those who had been injured quickly received medical treatment.
It can't be helped that the Strong Grandson and the rest of the Nobles Faction's vanguard force consisted of the Hero of Quivering Water Freed Acty, who was reluctantly helping since his family was kidnapped and is being held hostage, and the Hero of Iron Rock Gascade Barossa Meloi, who was helping because of a favor that he owed to the dead Minister and could not repay.
Right now there are only four people in the Sternbild Kingdom that are Heroes, and two of them have already been secured by the enemy. There probably would have been five if Avenger hadn't joined me, though. On top of that, only strong people are selected to become a [Hero].
Although the two [Heroes] and their comrades rushed into the Amber Palace in search of the Strong Grandson's greatest obstacle, the Tomboy Princess, the palace was completely empty. Faced with this situation, they could only laugh as they were briefly overcome with surprise.
Due to the Water Hero's motivation, which stemmed from the situation with his family, he had quite a large reaction to the scene. Being outwitted disappointed the Rock Hero since he initially expected a short yet annoying fight before securing the target.
Regrettably, the image of the two heroes and their companions looking like fools, which was burnt into their own eyes, could not be recorded. Well, let's set their reactions aside.
Although it was an unexpected situation, it was still going according to the Strong Grandson's current plans, since the Second Queen and the Tomboy Princess' younger siblings had been imprisoned within a spire in the Royal Castle, giving the inconspicuous King little chance to intervene.
Although they were treated politely, the royal family was not allowed to leave the spire, though there was no decline in their standard of living. Since it was originally a place to confine people like the royal family when they have suffered a major political defeat, every room was luxuriously made.
The spire's structure also makes it an easy place to defend against attacks, and since they are being very cautious right now, it would be hard to rescue them quickly.
It seems that the Strong Grandson and the others are planning to turn the Tomboy Princess' younger brother into the new King. Since kings are trump cards against people that aren't part of the Nobles Faction like the Duke's family, I'm sure he won't be killed.
That's only for the moment, though. He shouldn't be killed so long they can still make use of him.
Since the First Queen and the Tomboy Princess had not been caught by the surprise attack, the Strong Grandson realized that they might have already escaped and quickly expanded the search for them. Leaving behind the minimum number of troops needed to hold the Royal Castle, most of their forces were currently busy searching the Royal Capital.
The reason the Nobles Faction is searching for them is that, along with their companions, they are able to interfere with their current plans to install a new King. The two people originally responsible for the coup d'état are the deceased Minister who built its foundation and the Strong Grandson who is putting it into action.
With their biggest obstacle still out there, they can't remain calm. However, it's possible that the Strong Grandson won't be able to find us even if we don't do anything to hide.
This is because the First Queen was brought underground yesterday, along with ourselves and our private army.
In each palace, there appear to be secret passages that only the master of the palace knows about. Not even the King knows where they are, so it's unlikely that the expanded search efforts will find someone if they enter them.
Besides, one of the Sternbild Kingdom's Four Symbolic Heroes, the Dark Hero, is on our side and is currently with the First Queen. Although it's not possible for the Dark Hero to win against the combined might of the Water and Rock Heroes, she is overwhelmingly superior when it comes to covert operations. Right now, she is busy using her abilities to hide the First Queen's group.
Aside from fighting strength, it is nearly impossible to find the Dark Hero's party since she already has an escape route ready in case they are discovered. I have no doubts about her capabilities since she told me about them herself as she continued to protect the First Queen.
Setting aside the First Queen, we used one of the secret passages that the royalty from each palace uses in case there's an emergency, which led to a room that the Tomboy Princess didn't even know existed.
The rectangular room was approximately 30 meters in length, 20 meters in width, and 4 meters in height. Since there are only a few people with us, it's possible to relax in it.
The room's air is stagnant and the thick dust that has piled up over a long period of time has made it filthy. I was able to predict how long the room was neglected and unused for by how much the condition of its decorations have deteriorated over time.
The reason that the Tomboy Princess didn't know about it, is that its previous owner had died just before he was able to tell anyone else about its existence.
Having been forgotten, it's easy to see the reason for its current condition. Among the old lithographs that are displayed in the secret passage, there is one with the figure of a beautiful woman equipped with a battle ax that was fighting against a gigantic ape. The most important reason for its neglect though was the corpse with an arrow embedded in its back, which was found as we felt around the room when we first entered it.
He probably came here in desperation after he was attacked by an assassin or something like that. I immediately took care of the corpse and offered a silent prayer for the dead man, who had not been taken care of, as I removed it from the floor.
Having said that, since the room has been forgotten, the possibility of us being discovered has declined even further.
For the time being, I decided to quietly pass the time by cleaning the room. There's no way that the Strong Grandson's group would expect that their targets were leisurely cleaning right beneath their feet.
Imagining them frantically searching above ground for the princess when they were actually beneath it, made me laugh. Looking at it objectively, the Strong Grandson must have had a pitiful appearance that was somehow like a clown.
Although the current state of the Sternbild Kingdom was quickly changing, we weren't in any hurry to continue our job. There's no need to worry though since we will move after night falls.