Chapter 210. Blunder (5)
The edge of the ruined city spread out in the forest.
After shaking off the pursuing enemies, it surprisingly didn't take long to reach the point where the forest truly began.
Enoch decided that a short reorganization and rest were needed after the recent battle.
Before heading deep into the forest proper, they decided to take a short break on the outskirts of the ruins.
The party walked to the center of the ruins and paused for a moment.
When Enoch happened to look up at the sky, a large moon was hanging high, casting a cold light.
Despite the battle, the night was still deep, and there was quite some time left until dawn.
It was also a good time to roughly decide on a course of action before entering the forest in earnest.
Enoch leaned against a wall, turned on his flashlight, and spread out the map, lost in thought for a moment.
Just then, Alicia, who was sitting leaning against a pillar of the ruins, spoke quietly from the side.
“That’s a relief. I don't think those magical beasts from before can possibly pursue us this far.”
Enoch nodded.
“I suppose not. It would be quite a long way for them to find us accurately within this complex ruined city.”
“Thank you, Direct Lineage Member.”
Alicia said, glancing back at Enoch.
“We were able to shake off the enemies thanks to you two. Especially if you hadn't given the order, Direct Lineage Member, I would still be dangerously holding them off alone right now.”
“I just judged that it would have been dangerous for you to remain in that position.”
Alicia's eyes widened slightly at those words, and then she smiled faintly.
“Hmm, does this mean the tactical doctrines they teach at the officer's academy aren't always right? Ehehe.”
Enoch shifted his gaze and looked at her.
Until now, Alicia had been bound by her duty as a member of the Dragoons.
Perhaps it was only natural for her to be so concerned with standard tactical doctrines and regulations.
“I was honestly surprised when you said you’d hold your ground there.”
But what came back in response to Enoch's calm reply was Alicia leaning in abruptly.
“I was more surprised by you, Direct Lineage Member!”
“Me?”
“Yes! The previous battles were the same, but I could tell just by watching the last one. That you, Direct Lineage Member, are an incredibly skilled commander!”
“A commander's capability? What do you mean by that?”
“Umm, ah! Well, you see?”
Alicia pondered for a moment, then turned her head a little awkwardly and said.
“Among the Dragoon commanders educated at the officer's academy, there are cadets who don't directly experience or participate in battle, and just want to command from the rear.”
“This is the first I'm hearing of this. Is that a common case in Victoria's officer's academy?”
“Ahaha, not everyone is like that. It's usually the cadets from noble families. If your magic rank is high, there's practically a separate special admission for it.”
Alicia lowered her head slightly.
“If they become commanders through special treatment based on their magic rank without any combat experience, they usually treat other soldiers' lives like consumables. My teacher hated that a lot too.”
Enoch nodded at her answer.
“Even if one's magic rank is high, it doesn't necessarily mean they're skilled in command. It's hard to believe such a system exists in the first place, though?”
“Umm, my teacher said it's because the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain itself is in turmoil. I heard the political situation has become chaotic due to factional strife among the nobles.”
It was easy to forget, but the current magical beasts were also related to the 'rebellion' that was about to occur in the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain.
He would have to dig deeper for the full story, but for factional strife to be occurring while the head of the Victoria Main House took no action...
The current head of Victoria must also be a Rank 1 mage, yet they seemed unwilling to be easily involved in any worldly affairs.
Suddenly, Ixion's past words came to mind.
The words that the Rank 1s, who were practically demigods, had little interest in this world, might be something he was now starting to truly feel.
Enoch sighed lightly.
“……With the talk of rebellion and all, it seems it would be difficult to survive in the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain without a sense of politics.”
“Ah! Right?!”
Alicia clenched her fists and exclaimed.
“That is, my teacher said so too! That my head doesn't work in that direction, and she always chided me.”
“Chided?”
Alicia, who didn't seem to have very good memories of it, pouted and mumbled.
“Yeees. A-actually, it seems my senses are a bit dull in that area. Even at the officer's academy, those politics-related subjects were……. Ugh.”
“Is that so.”
Enoch let out a small sigh. He felt he could now clearly understand why Equistelle had been worried about her.
“Yeees. Still. I think I understand one thing.”
Suddenly, Alicia hugged her knees, which were propped up against her chest, and spoke quietly.
“To protect people, I think you have to be able to fight alongside others and feel their pain directly to become a good commander.”
“I don't know. A commander rolling around on the front lines doesn't seem like a very commendable thing.”
Alicia smiled lightly at Enoch's words.
“Ahaha, I guess so, right? That's why I didn't think something like that was possible until now. But!”
Then she turned her upper body sharply this way and brought her head closer.
Beyond her ash-brown hair, her deep blue eyes sparkled.
“I've found an exception like this!”
“……An exception, you say.”
“Honestly, even though my teacher recommended you, I was a little scared until now because of all the bad rumors!”
Alicia stared intently at Enoch, then smiled with her eyes.
“Still, with this, I feel like I've gotten to know you a little better, Lord Enoch!”
A faint blush was cast upon her white cheeks, illuminated by the moonlight.
Enoch watched her blankly, then slowly nodded.
“I'm glad to hear that.”
Somehow, hearing her words left a strange impression.
She must have heard rumors about Enoch here and there before, but Alicia was trying to believe in the Enoch she saw for herself rather than such things.
In any case, this clear display of goodwill from Alicia was certainly something to be thankful for.
He could be sure of it after this battle.
Alicia would definitely become an important asset in the future.
Especially if she later overcame the wall of a mage's rank, Alicia's area-of-effect attacks would be virtually unrivaled.
“Anyway, we've had enough of a break, so let's end the chatter here and get to the main point.”
First, Enoch turned his gaze to the map.
“We'll be moving deeper into the forest soon. We need to set up some countermeasures here just in case.”
“Countermeasures, what kind?”
“For example, a rallying point to gather at if we get separated.”
“Hmm, that's true. Since communication is impossible, we should at least coordinate a code of conduct.”
Alicia nodded as well and, while still sitting, pushed off the ground with both hands and slowly crawled closer.
While exploring inside the forest, they didn't know when they might be pursued by magical beasts like before.
If such a situation occurred and they were forced to separate, they would have virtually no way to contact each other.
It was necessary to prepare for such an event.
Enoch glanced at Alicia, who had come closer to his side, and added.
“That's true, but there's a problem.”
“Huh? A problem?”
“The map is quite complicated, making it hard to know all the terrain.”
The map certainly had detailed records of the terrain inside the forest.
But the problem was that strange markings, indicated by treasure hunters, were also densely recorded.
Of course, he should be grateful just to know the general terrain of the forest, but among them, there was also a lot of information about the terrain that was completely incomprehensible.
“Ah! Could I perhaps see that map too?”
Enoch nodded.
Alicia then abruptly stuck her head in and scanned the map intently, before tilting her head.
“Hmm, a lot of these don't match the Victoria-style map reading method. The symbols seem completely different, too.”
Enoch, also looking at the map, agreed with her.
There were strange notations all over the map, and there were also places with separate markings as if they were important.
It was probably some kind of code known only to the treasure hunters, as it wasn't an official map.
“There might be traps to prepare for the map's leakage, or they could be places marking dangerous areas.”
“Hmm, you're right. It's best to avoid any place that isn't confirmed to be safe, right?”
“I think so too.”
Enoch said, briefly scanning the map.
“For now, the risk is too high for unidentified terrain. Let's decide on a more easily recognizable landmark.”
At those words, Alicia hummed in thought, then pointed to a corner of the map with her hand.
“There's a huge river up ahead! If we go east, it seems there's a giant waterfall. If anything happens, let's meet up there!”
Enoch nodded.
There were no special markings on the map, and it would be easy to spot from a distance.
“Alright, let's do that.”
“Yes. The sound of the waterfall should also mask our presence from any nearby magical beasts.”
Alicia tilted her head, her eyes lost in thought as she lightly pressed her finger to her lips.
“By the way……. The fact that there are treasure hunters must mean there's an incredibly ancient ruin somewhere in this forest. I wonder what kind of ruin it is?”
“I don't know, I'm not sure about that either.”
The fact that there was an ancient ruin in the forest of this outsourcing district was something that had not been revealed even in the original story.
But it wasn't that Enoch had no interest at all.
Like Rhodes, an ancient ruin would ultimately be a civilization from before the Magic Empire was established.
Although extremely unlikely, he couldn't declare that there would be nothing related to the Sword Saint there.
But for now, it was out of the question. He'd have to look for it after this operation was over, if at all.
“Young Master, it is about time to depart.”
Just then, Lien, who was standing to the side, informed him in a polite, maid-like voice.
Enoch met Lien's gaze and nodded.
“Alright, let's move.”
Then Alicia, who was getting up and dusting off her uniform skirt, raised her head and asked.
“Umm, ah. I was wondering while looking at the map.”
“What is it?”
“It's good that we've made it to the front of the forest like this. But where do we go from here? I really can't get a feel for it.”
Enoch answered simply.
“I know the general direction. It should be straight ahead.”
“Huh?”
At those words, Alicia's eyes widened, and then she exclaimed as if she just remembered, slapping her palm with her fist.
“Aah! Come to think of it, when we were dealing with the magical beasts' separate unit before, you said you definitely found traces of the flying-type magical beasts……”
“That's right.”
Enoch unfolded the paper map once, shone the flashlight on it, and scanned it.
“I remember the direction they returned to.”
The flying-type magical beasts that had dropped the separate unit behind the freelancers' troops and flown away in the previous all-out battle.
He remembered their trail, which he had confirmed clearly even in the darkness with his Sense of Mana.
Even if it was somewhere in this vast forest, if he knew the exact direction, an encounter would surely be possible.
Furthermore, if he knew the general direction to proceed, it wouldn't be difficult to narrow down the candidate search areas on the map by process of elimination.
The remaining problem was how quickly they could reach Indiviltal while preserving as much of their strength as possible.
And the success of this operation would also depend on that.
“Anyway, we're almost there!”
Alicia lifted the lance she had been leaning against the wall and exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with energy.
“Alright! Let's do our best to finish the rest of the operation!”
***
After leaving the ruins where they had rested, taking care to leave as few traces as possible, how long had they walked?
Advancing through the darkness and leaving the ruins, they finally saw a massive abandoned factory that bordered the forest's entrance.
It was probably a place where wood or mana stones were originally extracted and primarily processed, and it was so huge that it couldn't be taken in at a single glance.
“The real forest begins beyond that factory.”
Enoch briefly looked at the factory and frowned.
“By the way, that factory. Its location is exquisite.”
There were too many piles of rubble around it that looked artificial, and the terrain was also blocked off by trees.
It was a place that seemed to invite them in.
“Yeees. It would take too much time to go around that factory.”
Alicia also tilted her head and said.
It seemed that cutting through that massive abandoned factory was the only way to save time.
“What should we do?”
This was a time-limited mission from the start.
Wasting time before even beginning the main exploration was not a good choice.
When he had checked the map, there were no particular markings or warnings in this ruined area.
Enoch said, walking forward.
“Let's move through the inside of the factory.”
They exchanged glances, and Alicia entered the place first.
Enoch followed behind her, and finally, Lien walked into the factory a step behind him.
But the moment they stepped inside the abandoned factory, a sudden foul stench assaulted their noses.
Alicia frowned.
“This place is……”
Enoch could also instinctively tell that the atmosphere was unusual.
Alicia, at his side, turned on her flashlight to illuminate the surroundings, then covered her mouth with one hand in surprise.
“Ah! That is……”
A sharp, giant gear of unknown use was covered in rust, and below it, a trail of blood, as if an animal's intestines had spilled out and been dragged, led further inside.
The flashlight's beam illuminated a bloody handprint on the hallway wall.
The moment even Enoch was at a loss for words at the sight.
Kbooooooooom!!
Suddenly, with a massive roar, the factory door slammed shut, and an alarm began to blare from inside.
- Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
An ear-splitting alarm rang out, the noise instantly spreading beyond the forest submerged in darkness.
In that instant, Enoch grasped the situation, narrowed his eyes, and stared into the abandoned factory in the darkness.
In the flow of this battle, which had until now been compared to a game of chess, a single word suddenly flashed through his mind.
Blunder, in other words, a bad move.
“…I thought the terrain outside the factory was strange.”
Was this some kind of trap set by someone, deliberately inducing Enoch to explore this place?
He didn't know exactly who had set the trap, or with what intention.
But at the very least, it wasn't a design simple enough for magical beasts to have made.
Kurururururururu!!
And the next moment, as if it had been waiting.
A dry sound began to echo madly from the collapsed outer wall of the factory, getting closer.
Magical beasts, emitting a green glow, began to approach, shrouded in the night's darkness.
Alicia, her eyes wide as if she had no idea what was happening, shouted.
“What in the world is going on? Why is there an alarm?!”
“Questions later.”
At Alicia's shout, Enoch quietly grabbed his cloth bag and raised his head.
“First, we break through.”