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Walking through the stone path, [Yagokoro] wasn\'t completely unlike its sister city below. Still sporting the same style of architecture and overall decor, the only difference I could honestly tell was the fact that everything looked cleaner by comparison. There also weren\'t any of the regular guards or soldiers patrolling the place. Instead, what looked to be a special breed of soldiers roamed the silent streets. They didn\'t wield standard spears or pikes with generic leather armor. In their stead, gleaming halberds and metallic shoulder pads glimmered against the lamplight, clearly denoting that they were an entirely different force to be reckoned with.

"[Yagokoro] is the Imperial Administrative City," Shizu happily explained, her hands swaying around lackadaisically as if she hadn\'t just pleaded with us to help her country just a few moments ago. "With [Kotosa] being for the masses and the Empire expanding ever so larger, [Yagokoro] eventually became a necessity just to have a place for all of the stuffy business to be made."

"That, and it looked cool," Guidance chuckled beside me. "Having a giant celestial body hovering above a city inside a cave just felt right."

I could only wince as the princess failed to suppress the flinch that came over her body, her smile getting strained despite the poor girl\'s best efforts to keep her cheeriness alive. In all honesty, I was already feeling second-hand existential dread just from thinking about it.

"I-I see..." Shizu buckled ever so slightly, but she quickly pulled herself together as we seemed to climb higher. "Anyway, we\'re approaching the Imperial Palace! I\'m so excited for you to see it, Moriya!"

"And I appreciate the gesture, Shizu," I smiled. "I\'m sure it\'s a sight to behold."

"Oh, it\'s a sight alright..."

Shaking my head at the dev\'s self-absorbed preening, our footsteps eventually halted to a complete stop, Shizu placing herself to the side of the path as she presented the utterly massive building before us.

"This is the Imperial Palace!" the princess beamed, her arms stretched out wide as if to emphasize the scale of the palace. "It\'s exactly what you\'d expect from an Empire as grand as [Kattleyna]!"

"I... I agree..."

I trailed off, my neck subconsciously craning upwards and side to side as I struggled to even comprehend the sheer size of the building before me. Enclosed off in what seemed to be a massive fortification of brick walls, the Imperial Palace looked almost like a facsimile of the biggest and most prestigious cultural palace back in the old world. It was extravagant as it was massive; its red-tiled roof stretching on to what seemed like forever. Ornate decorations made of jade and stone littered every corner; statues and carvings of grandeur made everything look like an actual museum. And... wait... something looked off somehow... The windows look... generic? And the steps... Also...

"Is that an honest to god Torii gate?" I questioned skeptically, a frown forming on my face as I fielded the question to the one who designed it. "Why is there a temple gate in the middle of a palace?"

"What? I think it looks cool," Guidance pointedly defended. "[Kattleyna]\'s meant to represent Asian culture, so I made it work that way."

The cracks in Shizu\'s facade only grew wider as her strained smile threatened to come apart, her brows twitching as she visibly fought to keep her cheer up. "C-can we not discuss how my entire world came to be? Please?"

I immediately nodded, "Yep. I\'m willing to drop this for now. Guidance?"

To my side, the dev audibly let out a hitched breath, her eyes widening as she seemingly realized something. With a sigh, she replied, "I agree. And sorry..."

"I-It\'s fine," Shizu asserted, a bit forceful, I noticed, as she nodded. "Let\'s just go inside, okay?"

Giving the princess a nod, Guidance and I followed her into the compound, our footsteps echoing against the cobblestoned path as we breached the threshold between noble and royal. What were clearly Imperial soldiers immediately saluted our entrance, Shizu immediately giving out her own salute in the form of placing her hand over her chest and giving a slight bow.

"Princess Caris, we-"

"We must speak with the Emperor at once," she cut the soldier off, her voice regal and demanding as she spoke. "I have critical information regarding the War for the Deep."

By her command, the soldiers immediately stiffened. In chorus, they all chanted, "Of course, Princess!"

I blinked, kind of dumbfounded and caught like a deer in headlights. I\'ve been to my fair share of mandatory ROTC, but experiencing that level of commanding aura right in the face was making a part of me kick in like I never expected before. And to think that was all from cheery Shizu too... The emotional whiplash was jarring.

"So cool..." Guidance whispered out beside me. Almost panted out, really. "This is what I wanted to see..."

Ookay? I won\'t comment on the creepy tone I just heard. We\'ve had enough arguments for one day. We should really get things going.

Giving the soldiers a passing nod, we followed Shizu into the palace. The massive double doors parted with a groan, some kind of weird feeling washing over me as we passed yet another threshold between royal and imperial. And I know I was probably repeating myself already, but damn... This was just massively opulent!

"From here on out, address me as Princess Caris," Shizu elegantly reminded. Gone was her casual demeanor, replaced with a formal and proper gait as her back straightened and her expressions schooled themselves. "The court won\'t take kindly to what they\'ll deem as disrespect to the Crown Princess."

"Got it."

"Sure."

With our respective nods of agreement, Guidance and I kept our silence as we trailed behind our guide. Beside me, Guidance seemed jittery, her eyes darting all over the place as she took in each and every molecule. Well, not that I wasn\'t doing the same in the first place. After all, it wasn\'t every day we got to experience walking into a literal palace.

"Stay behind me," the princess instructed just as we stopped in front of yet another massive set of double doors. "Bow as soon as they announce my presence."

And with that, Shizu opened the doors.

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AN: Kindly vote so that I can get back to 2 chaps per day ^^