Volume 2 - CH 378

9-12. Strategy Meeting

“Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

“”Gyakiyan!””

Three animals are chatting.

These guys converse with each other?

“Drink some water for now.”

I prepared some buckets and filled them with water.

Magic is really useful, isn’t it?

These guys have been running for so long, but I don’t see the slightest sign that they are tired.

Are they out of breath you say?

Ah, no, they are not.

“Ouren~! Hurry~!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

Alena called me and led me to the place where everyone was gathered.

We decided to think about a little bit of strategy together from now on.

In the meantime, I still have to deploy my haze.

So far, however, nothing seems to be moving.

Only small animals, I guess.

Roze and Yurie, who had been out checking the carriages, also joined us.

There seems to be no problem.

“Alright, then, now that we’re all here, let’s clarify what we’re going to talk about after we arrive in the Vulpan Kingdom.”

Maria clapped her hands once to get everyone’s attention.

Everyone seemed to agree with her and gave a small nod.

“Our objective is to rescue Prince Kreis and to stop Reizen-kun. The other side will probably resist, so we will split into two groups, one for rescue and the other for battle.”

“The ones who are good at infiltrating are me, Ouren-sama, and the rest of the Shadow Eye team. ……”

“I’ll stop Reizen. You guys won’t be able to stop him.”

“So, I’m going to ask Ouren-kun to join the battle group. Uchikage-kun will be in the rescue team. However, ……”

“That woman, huh. I can probably handle her, but what should I do?”

“If you find her, it would be better to let her fight. We probably could handle her.”

“So that’s how it is.”

She means that robed woman who has the skill to debuff her target?

Indeed,……, even Uchikage was slowed down that much.

If others were to take those skills, they would most likely not be able to move at all.

A good choice.

“Well, that is if they find us. Then, Shadow Eye is in charge of the rescue team. Thunder Bow will be in charge of the battle group. Alena-chan is better suited for the rescue team. Houen-kun, you’ll be in the battle group. Of course, I’ll be in the battle group. Alena and I will be in charge of each team.”

Yes, that’s fair enough.

For safety and combat capability, this is probably the best we can do.

“What about methods of communication?”

“We’ll have no choice but to do it on our own. …… I didn’t bring any expensive communication crystals with me.”

Oh, well, it can’t be helped.

What Maria just suggested is what would happen if there was a battle.

The best course is to find and rescue Prince Kreis safely without any trouble and without any battle.

We can deal with Reizen after that.

Once the hostages are gone, …… he will no longer follow them, but I’m curious about the slave mark that was mentioned.

In the case of the slave mark, no matter how the situation unfolds, we cannot escape from fighting.

We should be prepared for that.

“So, what’s the first thing we do?”

“Shadow Eye, Uchikage, and Ouren will gather information. First, we need to find out where they are being held. You’re good at that, aren’t you?”

“Well, it is impossible to rely on the …… senses alone.”

“There will be four escorts. Do not fail. Once we know their location, we’ll all go in together.”

The least thing we want to do is force our way through.

That might not be an option.

In the meantime, there are two people we need to be wary of.

Reizen and that robed woman.

If we encounter Reizen, everyone except me has to run away somehow.

Because no one can really win against him.

He’s too good in close combat and at long range.

He’s just too hard to begin with. ……

After Maria had finished telling most of the strategy, Yurie asked her a question.

“Maria guildmaster.”

“What is it?”

“There is something messy about the plan, isn’t there? Normally, I would have thought we’d have …… done a more detailed plan.”

“That’s a long-term plan, or something that happens in the Kingdom of Salettana.  So this time, we simplified it so that we could act quickly and appropriately.”

“It’s what they call ‘flexible’.”

I guess it’s a little easier for us to be flexible.

We don’t know what’s going to happen, and the unexpected thing can happen, so the more freedom we have the more we appreciate it.

When you think about it, the plan is simple.

First, find where the prince is being held captive.

Then we rescue him.

Lastly, do something about Reizen.

Yes, it is roughly divided into these three steps.

We may have to rescue the prince and deal with Reizen at the same time, though.

“It’s settled. If anyone else has any objections or points that are unclear, please ask.”

“Ah. me, me, what about our meet up point?”

“Don’t worry about that, Alena-chan. These two can run to the vicinity of the Vulpan Kingdom on their own.”

“”Gararara! (Leave it to us!)””

Rose answers Alena’s question.

It’s convenient that we don’t have to leave one of them here.

I wonder if the battlehorse can’t do the same thing.

No, he might go along on his own if he wanted to.

I’ll talk to them.

“When the two of you go on your run, please take the battlehorse with you.”

“”Gururu! (Sir, yes sir!)””

Okay, this should be fine.

I’m sure they can talk to the battlehorse and will take him along with them.

They’re generally good kids.

Then something caught my deployed haze manipulation.

Uchikage seems to have figured it out too, and stands up, keeping a wary eye on everything.

The silhouette is that of a four-legged creature.

It was rushing toward us at full speed.

“Ouren-sama.”

“……huh? This is …….”

The silhouette’s appearance changed.

It turned around and turned into a human silhouette, and ran towards us at a slightly faster speed than usual.

What the hell is she doing here?

“What’s going on here ……?”

Lize appeared in front of us, slightly out of breath.