CH 78.1

Caenista Capture Operation 3

“Carol-sama, please deliver this one.”

“Nn?”

Nicholas handed me a smaller box the day before we were supposed to start making some moves.

As I recalled, this was a magical tool that could hold large items, right? An item bag similar to my [Bag] which were very rare in this world, and even if you could find one, the biggest would have a capacity equivalent to a carriage and cost tens of thousands of gold coins, but this one was a well-researched and manufactured magical tool that was as big as a travel trunk.

It would be a great thing if they could make it as big as a book, but the problem with that would be the cost which would be around one large gold coin for one of these, and since they were disposable, they would only be used by wealthy people who wanted to give gifts to distant places.

“It was entrusted to me by Camille-sama. If I miraculously met Carol-sama, I was told to give it to you.”

“Cam…”

He told me that inside of this was a dress that I could wear if I were ever to return to Caenista. But it was made in little Carol’s size, so Nicholas wasn’t sure whether he should give it to me or not, but he decided to give it anyway.

“…Thanks.”

We were now going to infiltrate Arceides territory on my grandmother’s recommendation. I did not know if we could use it as a base, but we could make it happen for sure.

Lilia and others had already left with as much silver as they could take with them in a few wagons. First, they intended to go to the border area to buy food. I heard that the price of food was already skyrocketing, but I asked them to buy as much as ten times what they needed as long as they could afford.

“Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes, Carol-sama!”

A woman from the knights of the demon tribe immediately replied to my voice. They were the knights from the demon tribe who volunteered to be my escort.

This time, since we were going undercover with a small group, there were three from among the Daemon Knights and three Hippogriffs, their cavalry beasts. Bert-san, whom we had left behind last time, was insistent that we take him along, so he and one of the griffons he rode. One Sleipnir, that could run fast enough to keep in touch with the daemons, then me and Pochi.

“…”

“Young Lady, this ain’t gonna give you away, is it?”

Although our group was small, Pochi was 10 meters long, and the griffons and Hippogriffs were also over 5 meters long, so the pressure was too great.

“I think I don’t have a choice. Since that’s the case I will ride Sleipnir and Pochi will…”

[I, for one, do not want to stay at home!]

…Didn’t you say before when we arrived that you were tired after flying for a long distance?

They were all selfish, but it was too much trouble to persuade them to stay, so I took them with me.

We flew around 4000 meters above the ground just to be safe. Due to the high altitude, everyone was cold and shivering, and I could not tolerate any more selfishness.

We flew quite high above to avoid detection, but it was pretty bad down there….

Since it was harvest time, I thought the wheat fields would be either bearing crops or mowed to reveal the soil, but there were many fields that were withered and littered.

Not only the regular forest, but the adjacent Demon Forest was also eroding with a dead brown color, so I wouldn’t expect any blessings from the forest. Enhancing my eyesight and looking down, I did not see any local person at all in the rural areas.

There must have been tens of thousands of people in Arceides territory alone, but when I searched for where they might be, I found a large group of farmers in the largest town in the territory, where the commercial guilds were located.