Chapter 63: Fort Polwyn (2)
“I’m confident in reconnaissance”
The first person to react to my voice was Sierra.
[Disciple, I wonder if you have too thick of a skin.]
Sierra’s eyes narrowed as she turned to me.
“Even if you say you’re confident……No, I mean, how in the world are you confident…?”
The man holding the paper doesn’t find my answer easy either, and he clenches his jaw in repetition.
“You can’t even see the map, aren’t you just in the wrong place?”
The other man, scratching his head, is no different.
A Suin woman reclining on a rickety couch stands up, ears perked.
“I think I’ve got the answer!”
Her eyes sparkle.
“What do you mean, an answer?”
“It’s just another bunch of bullshit, Yakuna.”
“It’s not bullshit! Just listen to me, you idiot!”
The Suin woman named Yakuna suddenly slapped the man who was arguing with her on the head.
“Ouch…”
After dusting off her hands, Yakuna spoke up.
“We’re the night scouting party.”
“Why is that…?”
The man rubbing his head glared at Yakuna.
“Because it’s dark! Isn’t it the same for all of you who can’t see anything except me?”
“…Oh!!!”
The man exclaims, feeling somewhat dumbfounded.
‘Except for me…’
Yakuna was a Suin.
They tended to have strong individual characteristics and personalities, so it wasn’t unusual for them to have night vision. In fact, she might have a similar vision to my ‘night vision’ skill.
“Well, it’s not like I can’t see at all, but it’s hard to see…”
“It’s okay, why don’t we just carry him around? If he can’t see the map, it’s less work for us.”
Yakuna scolds them with a frustrated tone.
They were recruits, after all, so their doubts didn’t last long because they were not in a position to judge us from above.
“My name is Yakuna, take care of me for a while, okay?”
Yakuna stopped staring at the men and approached Kaen, introducing herself in a cheerful voice.
Eventually, her exuberance is matched by the others, who introduce themselves as well.
The man with the paper is Rooster, and the man who was hit by Yakuna in the head is Buckland.
‘Pretty good acting, huh?’
The Demon Worshipper blended seamlessly into the scouting party.
I realized he hadn’t been able to infiltrate Polwyn for nothing.
Finally, after introductions were made, Kaen, who had been standing nervously beside me, spoke up.
“What do you think we should do now?”
“Sleep.”
Rooster replies tersely.
“Hah… I haven’t slept since you guys got here.”
This was followed by a yawning Yakuna.
“I’m going to bed,” Buckland says, before retiring to his room.
Kaen makes an “ahh” sound at their flowing behavior.
It was simple enough. As a ‘night’ scout, we were supposed to sleep during the day and work at night.
I’d be fine if I didn’t sleep for a few days, as I have Reina bracelet, but Kaen, who’s a light sleeper, would be better off sleeping now.
***
“Whoa… Are you guys ready to go?”
Rooster said with a sour breath.
I hadn’t slept, because there was no way I could have gotten any sleep during the day but Kaen looked groggy and tied her hair up.
Finally, Yakuna emerges from her makeshift quarters and calls out.
“Night reconnaissance group one, let’s go!”
With that, we started moving slowly.
Along the way, the guard standing at the gate glances at me and the others, muttering, “Isn’t this the Night Scouting Group?” but he doesn’t say anything.
We headed straight out of Polwyn and up to a nearby snowy mountain.
Rooster explained that the snowy mountains were the scouting party’s territory.
The snow was still falling hard in the north and although it was supposed to be dark, the skill Night Vision was working well.
As I’ve noticed every time, I can see more clearly than during the day.
We made our way through the snow on the road and eventually reached the snowy mountain.
There was a huge chunk of ice on the side of the mountain. This is where the lich would be.
I glanced over at the demon worshiper, and he was staring at the block of ice as well.
I realize he’s ecstatic…and somewhat disgusted so I guess he didn’t think anyone else could see him.
I frowned. Of course, he couldn’t see my frown since my eyes were covered by the blindfold.
Once on the snowy mountain, we had to get to work.
The job of a scout was quite complicated.
There was no war going on right now, so it wasn’t reconnaissance to get information about the enemy instead it was more of a patrol, to make sure that there were no abnormalities in the cables that were installed all over the mountain, and to check the behavior of the dangerous monsters that lived in the snowy mountains.
I was told that there was a building at the top of the mountain to monitor the movements of the demons. Of course, we wouldn’t go there, Rooster said.
Such an important task wouldn’t fall in the hands of an Academy cadet on a brief tour.
We split up to finish our task faster and Yakuna insisted on taking me with her.
I told her I could remember the streets I’d traveled, and she said she’d have less to teach me. Thus, Kaen naturally joined Rooster and Buckland.
For some reason, Kaen ended up with a demonic worshiper, but he was weaker than Kaen, so I wasn’t too worried.
He hadn’t even resurrected the lich yet, so nothing would happen to Kaen.
‘I need to give Kaen some information…’
I’ve decided what I’m going to do with Kaen and telling her something simple would be better than something complicated, like a demonic worshiper with a hidden identity.
The location of the event is a bit of a problem…but Kaen would understand.
‘We’re adults, after all.’
I followed Yakuna, thinking about Kaen.
Yakuna didn’t give me any indication that she wasn’t really confident in teaching. She hadn’t even pulled out a map to see if she had memorized all the locations of the nets.
She moved swiftly up the snowy slopes with the nimble movements’ characteristic of the Suins.
I followed her pace and it wasn’t overwhelming since I could keep up with her if I strengthened my body with mana.
There was a faint glow in Yakuna’s eyes as she surveyed her surroundings.
“Ms. Yakuna, do you have night vision and what you said during the day…”
“Uh, yes, but…”
Yakuna’s tail flicked as she walked away from me.
Her animal ears and tail were covered in black fur. The unusually soft fur reminds me of the way she brushed her tail with a comb back at the quarters.
“I’ve heard that Suin people have certain senses or body parts that are developed, and it seems that Ms. Yakuna’s eyes are one of them.”
“I’m proud to say that I inherited them from my parents, and with these eyes, I can see in the dark with no problem.”
Yakuna turned around and smiled brightly at me.
She was smiling brightly enough to show her teeth, but I couldn’t see any happiness on her face.
‘Maybe that’s why she joined the Alliance…’
I decided to leave it at that since I shouldn’t ask more questions or speculate.
My reconnaissance with Yakuna was simply to follow her.
“Okay, that’s it! You’re following me so well that we’ve gotten through the checkpoints quickly. Can we take a break?”
Yakuna said excitedly as she finished checking the last place.
She seemed to find it interesting that I was able to keep up with her pace.
“There are still monsters left, right?”
I asked her excitedly, and Yakuna waved her hands in the air.
“There aren’t any monsters.”
***
The cadet assigned to the night reconnaissance team, Zetto, was blind with a thick bandage over his eye.
At first, it was hard to understand him when he said, “I’m confident in reconnaissance.” But after watching him from the sidelines, it was clear that he was right.
Perhaps Zetto has more animalistic senses than I, a Suin, does.
I had eyes that could see through the dark night while Zetto was blind and unaffected by the darkness.
I was amazed that he was able to keep up with my pace, but at the same time, I thought to myself.
‘For him, it must always be dark, day or night…’
It was ironic. I can see brightly, day or night, and he is the opposite.
Just then, Zetto, who was walking beside me, spoke up.
“Ms. Yakuna, you said earlier that we can roughly check the monsters…?”
“Yes, the monsters here are slow and don’t move much.”
I said and tapped Zetto.
“Since we’re done here so quickly, I thought we’d go into a nearby cave and rest.”
Zetto is more meticulous than I thought and at that moment, Zetto said something meaningful in a low voice.
“So, are there any…large monsters?”
“Big? Oh, if it’s a big one…”
There are Yetis, but they don’t get violent unless you touch them first… That’s what I was going to say.
[Thump, thump, thump, thump!]
If it weren’t for the sound of the Yeti’s footsteps in the distance.
The Yeti was running, and its footsteps picked up speed.
[Grrrr!]
Suddenly, Zetto had his sword out and was running his fingers along the hilt but he was holding the sword strangely backwards.
‘I need to move…’
Ever since I heard the Yeti’s footsteps, I had been frozen in place, unable to move a single step.
[Boom!!!]
The Yeti’s furious face was immediately revealed as it smashed a nearby tree.
Zetto swung his sword at the roaring Yeti but he couldn’t reach it as he swung his sword in the air.
“Zetto…!!!”
I shouted, barely able to get my lips to part.
He must have miscalculated the distance but the next thing I know, the Yeti that hasn’t even been touched by his sword and is charging straight at Zetto at breakneck speed.
‘What should I do in a situation like this…?’
I was no match for the Yeti and I wouldn’t be able to make a dent in its thick hide.
Zetto, the Academy’s cadet, should be stronger…but he swung his sword once in the air, then stood motionless.
I wondered if he was in shock, realizing he had made a mistake.
If I let this continue, a cadet on a field trip might lose his life because of my carelessness.
“No…!!!”
I somehow managed to throw myself at Zetto, pushing him away just before the Yeti slammed into his body.
As I fall, hugging Zetto, I hear a strange sound from the side.
Something…It was the sound of something being torn apart.
I turned my head, still on Zetto’s body, to face the Yeti but the Yeti was standing still and his head was nowhere to be seen.
[Thud!!!]
The next thing I know, its giant head is falling off into the distance with a loud crash.
I didn’t understand what was happening and Zetto, who had fallen to the ground beneath me, asked me in a casual voice.
“So the big monster…What was it?”
“It was a Yeti………”