The Imperial Palace has disappeared – Oscar’s report naturally threw us into confusion.

It wasn’t just a small tree or two that had vanished, but the largest building in the empire, the Imperial Palace, had suddenly disappeared.

Since it was something impossible by common sense, Martin was reluctant to believe Oscar’s report.

“Did you perhaps get confused about the direction? Take another look.”

“No, sir. There’s no way I could have gotten confused about the direction. I’ve visited the Imperial Palace several times, so I couldn’t possibly mistake it.”

“You’re sure you’re not confused…?”

“Yes, I’m absolutely certain. The Imperial Palace has disappeared. More precisely, the palace has vanished and in its place, there’s a suspicious black sphere.”

It would be nice if we could see what Oscar saw through his far-sight, but our ordinary eyes couldn’t yet see the palace.

However, I still believed Oscar’s words.

His eyes had always been accurate.

So I shared my speculation with Martin.

“Could it be some kind of ability at work?”

“That seems most likely. Though I’m not sure what kind of ability they used to pull this off.”

Martin said that and then addressed the team members.

“From here on, we approach carefully! We don’t know what might be waiting, so stick close together and don’t fall behind!”

Following his words, we cautiously approached the area.

As we got closer, it was true.

In place of the Imperial Palace stood a black sphere even larger than the palace itself.

Since it was a phenomenon none of us had ever seen before, no one could properly explain what it was.

We even asked nearby civilians, but all we got were answers saying they didn’t know.

Fortunately, after asking around some more, we were able to meet someone who knew something about the situation.

“In the middle of the night, there was a flash of light from the direction of the palace, and suddenly this thing appeared overnight. Some people went inside thinking the palace might be in there, but no one has come back out.”

A middle-aged man, who claimed to be the owner of a fruit shop near the palace, explained.

Wanting to hear more details from him, I asked:

“So it’s possible to enter that black space?”

“Yes, although it looks like a solid wall, it has no physical form. If you put your hand in, it just goes right through. That’s why a few people went in, but for some reason, they haven’t come out.”

“How many days has it been since that appeared? Have you heard any screams or anything?”

“It’s been exactly three days. And no, we haven’t heard any sounds coming from it.”

I asked a few more questions, but he didn’t seem to know anything else.

I gave him a small reward and immediately headed towards where the black sphere was.

Afterwards, I reported to Martin, who was investigating the sphere nearby.

After hearing my report, he muttered with a serious expression.

“They haven’t returned, huh…”

That part seemed to worry him the most.

After all, we couldn’t recklessly enter a place we might not be able to come back from.

At that moment, he suddenly reached out his hand towards the wall of the black sphere visible to the side.

Startled to see his hand pass right through the wall, I urgently called out to him.

“Martin!”

“It’s alright. There’s no pain. My hand really does just pass through.”

He withdrew his hand from beyond the wall and showed it to me.

Thankfully, it wasn’t cut off or anything and looked perfectly fine.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I scolded him.

“What were you thinking, sticking your hand in there when we don’t know what’s inside?”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to check. Anyway, this is troublesome. It seems we’ll have to go inside if we want to take the Emperor’s head.”

We had already confirmed through an item earlier that Ernant was inside.

We had prepared a tracking item from the Habicht territory in case he abandoned the palace and fled, and it confirmed that he was definitely in there.

In other words, to eliminate him, we would have to enter that darkness where we didn’t know what awaited us.

Martin, who had been staring silently at the darkness, said:

“I think we should go in after all.”

“You’re really going in? In there?”

Surprised by his reckless statement, I asked, and he calmly nodded.

“Putting aside eliminating the Emperor, we can’t just leave something this dangerous sitting in the middle of the empire.”

“…”

“There doesn’t seem to be any other way from the outside, so I think we should go in first to investigate the nature of the sphere, and then find a way to remove it.”

I also had no intention of leaving this dangerous sphere that might trap people once they entered.

But I couldn’t just stand by and watch as my husband said he would go in himself.

“I can’t allow it.”

Martin looked puzzled at my words.

As if he hadn’t expected his opinion to be rejected.

I looked him straight in the eye and said:

“Until now, I’ve obeyed Martin’s orders as deputy commander. But now, before being your subordinate, I am your family, your wife. I can’t stand by and let you go into something so dangerous.”

“But—”

“I’ll go instead.”

As soon as he heard my declaration, Martin’s expression hardened.

“You, my wife? What are you—”

“I suspect that sphere might be something that attacks those who enter it mentally.”

I shared my speculation with him as he wore a puzzled expression.

“If there was something ‘physically’ dangerous attacking people inside, surely we would have heard screams or something. For example, if ordinary people were attacked by monsters, they would scream their lungs out.”

“That’s true.”

I continued as he nodded in agreement.

“But from asking around, no one has heard any screams. If that’s the case, there’s one way we can guess why the people who went in haven’t come out.”

“Which means—”

“It means they received some kind of ‘mental’ attack inside. For instance, they might have seen hallucinations through the power of an ability, or been forcibly put into a dream… In such cases, they wouldn’t be able to scream.”

Martin nodded, seeming to think it made sense.

I turned my gaze from the sphere back to him.

“Unlike other ordinary awakened ones, I have some immunity to mental attacks. In the past, I’ve even taken down monsters that show hallucinations together with Martin. So if someone has to go in there, I’m the best candidate.”

“…”

“I’ll go in, so I’d like Martin to command the team members from outside.”

He fell into deep thought, as if considering something.

During that time, I swallowed my tension and waited for his words.

I thought he would insist on going in alone after all that deliberation.

If he continued trying to shoulder the danger alone, I was prepared to knock him out to stop him from going in.

But then.

“Then let’s do this. Neither of us will go in.”

Contrary to my expectation that he would insist on going in himself until the end, he came up with a different proposal.

He continued:

“Instead of going inside, let’s investigate from the outside. We’ll gather scholars knowledgeable about abilities and have them figure out what that thing is and how to remove it. Would that satisfy you, dear?”

Since it seemed much safer than Martin going in there himself, I nodded.

“Yes, it’s better than recklessly jumping in.”

“Good. Then it’s late today, so let’s rest and start moving tomorrow.”

He soon guided me to my lodgings.

Along with words telling me to rest soon, since I wasn’t alone anymore.

Although it was unfortunate that we couldn’t quickly remove that sphere, I was relieved that we had found a safe method and fell asleep in the lodgings.

However, the next morning, I came to regret having trusted Martin so naively.

“My husband… went where?”

For some reason, Martin didn’t come no matter how much I called for him in the morning. As I was searching for him, I asked Elma about his whereabouts and heard an unbelievable story.

So when I asked Elma again, she answered with a pained look:

“The commander went inside that sphere. He said he would personally remove the cause forming the sphere from inside… Deputy Commander? No, you can’t! You have to wait here!”

“Out of my way, Elma! I have to follow him!”

“N-No! The commander ordered us! He said not to let the deputy commander in no matter what!”

It seemed Martin had ordered the team members to keep me safely confined here before he left.

Elma desperately blocked my way and shouted:

“The commander is strong, you know! Besides, he has some immunity to mental attacks, so he’ll be fine—”

“Move!”

I had to roughly push aside Elma, who was trying to persuade me to the end.

Bang! Unable to withstand my strength, Elma was shoved back and hit the wall.