「Hey, Amilia… Are you sure you want to come?」
「Of course! It’s a perfect chance. Besides, I’ve got Yuuki with me!」
Amilia grinned as she checked her gear one last time.
True enough, this was going to be the battlefield in just a few days. Seeing it now couldn’t hurt.
「Alright then… let’s go together.」
「Yay!」
We slipped into black night clothes and cloaks.
I scooped Amilia up in my arms and leaped lightly over the fortress wall.
「First… 『Ultra-Wide Area Detection』」
I sent a thin wave of magic power sweeping across the surroundings, searching for enemies.
Nothing pinged.
(These past few days, the wild animals must’ve shifted their territory…)
Smaller creatures had moved into the woods near the fortress, while the larger ones retreated deeper into the forest.
「Okay. Just small animals, and no enemies registering at all.」
「Amazing, Yuuki… You’re spreading out such a faint magic power thread to map everything.」
Amilia, still cradled in my arms, gazed up at me with wide, impressed eyes.
「You can sense it?」
「Mhm. Somehow I can tell now.」
「Really? Then want to try it yourself?」
She shook her head when I offered, eyes sparkling with interest.
「No, it’s fine. I’ll practice during the daytime tomorrow.」
「Got it. I’ll teach you then.」
「Yes, I’m counting on you.」
「Alright… there it is.」
「That’s… wait, isn’t half of it collapsed?」
Amilia pointed ahead.
Part of the second fortress wall had crumbled inward.
「Yeah. The really big ones pass through here, so it keeps breaking from that spot.」
「Big ones…」
Amilia swallowed hard.
She was probably picturing monsters towering far above the walls.
「Amilia. They’re probably smaller than you’re imagining. About twenty meters tall… roughly the same height as the third fortress walls.」
「Really? Twenty meters is already huge, but I thought they’d be even bigger…」
We landed in the nearby woods and gazed out together.
The second fortress had lower walls, only thirteen meters, so anything truly massive could smash right through.
「Let’s take a short break here, then infiltrate.」
「Eh? Infiltrate?」
Amilia blinked rapidly.
Enemy numbers were low enough that sneaking in felt safe.
「Yeah. From what I detected, there aren’t many inside. I think it’ll be fine… What do you say?」
At my question, Amilia’s lips curved into a mischievous grin.
「Sounds fun. Let’s do it.」
「Alright. We’ll rest a little longer, then head in…」
I pulled a drink from my Item Box and handed it to her.
Our fingers brushed softly as she took it, cheeks tinting pink in the moonlight.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
「Yotto…」
The collapsed section had campfires burning, so we slipped in from a spot farther away.
「Thank you, Yuuki.」
I gently set Amilia down from the princess carry, and we both pulled our hoods low over our faces.
「Alright, first things first, let’s see if the map we were given still matches the layout.」
「Understood.」
We moved forward as quietly as possible.
Their eyesight is poor at night, but their hearing is sharp…
(Well… that part can be faked easily enough.)
We walked through the fortress interior while keeping constant detection active.
There really were very few enemies, barely any reactions at all.
「Ugh…」
I opened yet another random door, and the moment it swung wide, a stomach-churning stench hit us like a physical blow.
I quickly shut it again and used wind magic to blow the smell away from us.
「Fwa ni fwo fwo… hwo fwai nio fwi na fwe do… (What is this place? The smell is awful…)」
「This must be where they dumped the bodies… The attack was about a week ago, so the soldiers’ corpses are just starting to really decompose.」
But something felt strange.
The damage to the bodies varied wildly.
「I’m going to take a quick look. If the smell’s too much, you can wait outside.」
Amilia hesitated for a moment, then gave a firm nod.
「No. I’m coming with you.」
「…Got it. Here, use this for now.」
I pulled a handkerchief from my Item Box and handed it to her.
She pressed it over her nose and mouth.
「I’m ready.」
「Alright… opening it.」
The moment the door opened again, the rotten stench and stinging air spilled out into the corridor.
We stepped inside and examined several bodies.
Exposed areas like arms and thighs, places where skin was easy to reach, were missing chunks.
Others had their armor sliced open, the contents torn out.
(They were eaten… The ones with armor cut away were probably eaten from the inside after the shell was breached.)
「Yu-Yuuki? Did you figure something out?」
「Yeah… let’s step outside for now.」
We retreated to the corridor and moved farther out into the open air.
「This should be far enough. You okay?」
「Fuu… that was rough. So… what did you find?」
「They were eating the bodies for food. But they don’t seem intelligent enough to strip armor, they only went for exposed skin.」
「Ugh… I really didn’t want to hear that…」
「Sorry, sorry. Still… this tells us a lot about what kind of enemies we’re dealing with.」
「Really?」
「Yeah. Only the higher-ranked ones are eating. The lower ones don’t seem to feed at all. And there aren’t even thirty leftover bodies, so…」
「But maybe more were eaten?」
「Possibly. But they left the equipment scattered around too.」
「Ugh… You noticed all that? I could barely look straight at them…」
「Can’t blame you. It was a total mess in there.」
「Honestly… everything was so jumbled I couldn’t even tell what was what…」
More than half were already heavily decomposed, after all…
「Alright. Let’s finish checking the rest and head back.」
「Y-Yeah…」
Remembering the sight, Amilia’s face paled slightly.
I gently rubbed her back to comfort her as we continued on.
Leave a Reply