Carlos held his chin while considering that option as well. I wondered if I was being too obvious about my plan. By making a lot of people buy arrows, I could recover them faster on the battlefield and I wouldn’t need to carry a lot of them. Still, my plan had merit for them as well, despite my secret reasoning.

  “All right, everyone. Let’s do this. We can prevent a lot of damage and possible losses if we all buy the bows and arrows. Are any of you against this?”

  No one raised their hands or nodded with their heads. That was probably going to end the stock of arrows in the fortress, but it wasn’t a real problem. With some luck, they will give up on the arrows and let me use them instead.

  Everyone left the training grounds to buy the bows and arrows… I couldn’t help but be astonished by that. That should be something that they should do after deciding on a clear battle plan. It was too late to regret this, and I was planning to make the most out of this incursion, but I sure wasn’t going to stick around with those guys.

  ‘Seriously? They don’t fear death enough to plan how they are going to fight in most possible scenarios?’

  I wondered if I was a scared cat for considering my plans carefully, or if they were just plain stupid. Maybe it was that kind of stuff. They believed that they would be able to accomplish anything as long as they stick together. The monsters aren’t a real problem and those three guys only died because they were heavily outnumbered and caught off guard. It was all just a bunch of excuses for me, but maybe it was what they were thinking.

  I decided to leave and rest as much as possible to accomplish the most the next day. While I was in the hot bath, I realized something about myself. I’m the type of person who thinks a lot and tries to read between the lines for some reason. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been alone. I don’t know if all my guesses about these guys are right, but I can’t shake the feeling they’re not too far off the mark. It’s like I’ve developed this habit of trying to understand people better by picking up on little things, even when I’m not entirely sure if my conclusions are accurate. Maybe I just do it because, well, I’ve had to rely on my own thoughts and observations for so long. There’s something about it that gives me a sense of control, even if I’m only half sure of what’s really going on.

  It’s kind of frustrating, though. I’m the only one here taking things seriously? Thinking about all the possible outcomes, and it feels like I’m the only one who sees how important it is to plan properly. Maybe that’s why I feel so alone in all of this, even when I’m surrounded by people.

  ‘I can’t tell what mindset is the correct one for now. If results are everything, then we will need to wait and see who will be alive in the end.’

  Once I was done cleaning myself, I went to fill my belly as much as I could. The sun had yet to set, but I took my time since the restaurant was still empty. It took a long while before anyone began to show up. While I was thinking about that, I suddenly heard a voice.

  “Hey, are you the only hunter of this round?”

  When I raised my head, I saw a middle-aged woman wearing an apron approaching. I always thought that the man that I saw delivering the food was the one who was making the food, but it seemed that his wife was doing the cooking here. She was a bit plump, and she had this motherly figure while having short blond hair and blue eyes, but she was looking at me with some serious gaze.

  “I guess I am. How can I help you?”

  “I heard about you from the guards. Aside from that guy leading the group, you seem one of the few who are taking things seriously here.”

  It seemed that the people of the fortress had their own information network as well. I didn’t see the guards leaving their posts, but I didn’t pay much attention to them either. Still, it was no surprise that they would change places now and then to rest and eat. Regardless, I waited for the old lady to make her point.

  “If you guys are going to destroy the closest goblin camp, I need to ask you not to leave any of them to escape. Not even the goblin kids and women.”

  “That was already the plan.”

  “No, I mean it. Those guys probably won’t take the risks of following the monsters to exterminate them if they think it is dangerous. You need to make sure of that.”

  I didn’t say anything in response to that. That certainly wasn’t my responsibility, so I just stayed silent. If I could help it, I wouldn’t be ordered around.

  “If you do that, I can give you a gem and a piece of information about another hunting ground that you can use alone.”

  “I didn’t hear that it is common for the inhabitants of this fortress to ask prisoners for such tasks.”

  “It isn’t common, but it isn’t rare either. It usually takes some time, but it seems that you show a bit of promise. I want that because when people like you do a half-assed job, the goblins return and siege this place.”

  “The fortress doesn’t look like it had ever endured a siege or actually suffered one.”

  “It happened several times and we repair everything since we can’t allow sustained damage on the walls.”

  “Why don’t you ask the redhead and the other guards? Aren’t they supposed to be a lot stronger than us?”

  “We don’t have the manpower here to pull that off and the captain isn’t here. Anyway, are you going to accept it or not?”

  “Only if I have some sort of way to confirm that you will really pay what you promised.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Fair enough. Give me a moment.”

  The middle-aged lady left, leaving me with a moment of silence. As I waited there, I noticed her husband at the counter. His face was hard to read at first, but there was something about his expression, a kind of complexity. He was looking at me, his brows furrowed slightly, before he let out a long, tired sigh. It didn’t seem like he was completely against what was happening, but there was something off about it. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like he didn’t have much of a say in the matter, like he was going along with it for reasons I couldn’t fully understand.

  Before I could dwell on it, the lady returned. She held a gem in her hand, its surface gleaming in the light. It was a red gem, and it looked powerful for some reason. Maybe it was because of the color that I felt that way.

  “This gem can add the fire element to weapons or projectiles as long as you attach it to your quiver. The damage isn’t all that great, but it can finish off the goblins as long as the arrowhead pierces them deeply, even without hitting a vital point. As you should know, they can become stronger the more you use them. Just remember that I will want this back if you fail to make sure that the goblins won’t escape. I will know if they pull it off.”

  “All right, I will do that. None of them will escape.”

  The lady left after nodding, convinced. I studied the gem for a while, but soon put it in my pocket. Using it on the quiver was the best option, but if I got another one like this, I probably could attach them to my knives and become a bit better at close range combat.

  Once I was done eating, I decided to leave the restaurant and then return to my room. I needed to rest as much as possible to remain in tip-top condition tomorrow. I was already planning to do my very best, but this time, I was going to pull 120% of my capabilities somehow, at least my excitement told me so.

  When morning came, I was fully ready for the battle and then headed to the southern gate at sunrise. We didn’t mark a time to leave, but I could only assume that they wouldn’t risk letting the fight last until sunset or beyond it. The goblins here weren’t exactly nocturnal creatures, but they still would have the upper hand at such periods of time.

  I waited at the southern gate, my patience growing thin as the hours ticked by. I had already spent three hours standing around. No one showed up. My head began to ache, and the frustration that was building inside me made my blood boil. I didn’t have high expectations of that group, but they still managed to let me down in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

  The anger wasn’t about the delay itself, it was the feeling of sheer incompetence that they showed. I was ready, prepared to give my all, and yet here I was, standing alone and wondering if they’d ever bother to show up.

  Half an hour later, they started trickling in, one by one, but not many of them actually bothered to show up at all. The few that did seemed distracted, unfocused, and I couldn’t help but feel the weight of disappointment. It was clear they weren’t taking this seriously. How could they expect to win if they couldn’t even muster the basic discipline to be ready when needed? Carlos showed up around nine and he greeted everyone.

  “Sorry, Sean. We had planned to tell you that we were leaving mid-morning, but when we finished the preparations, it was already midnight, so we assumed that you were already sleeping.”

  I didn’t say anything in response and Carlos could only show a wry smile while enduring my silent glare. It took another full hour before everyone had arrived. That made me wonder if everyone became stupid or they also lost their notion of time after losing their memories. I certainly didn’t, but it was better not to use my own behavior as a basis for everything, given that I was only here for my own benefit.

  “All right, everyone. We are moving. We can’t surprise the enemies with these numbers during the day, so we will send a scouting party ahead to deal with the goblins that could alert the others about our approach. We need to be at least five hundred meters away before we are found out, so please, be careful and try not to make too much noise. Regulus, can you lead the scouting party? Naturally, I am going with you. How many mages do you think that we need to deal with the scouting goblins?”

  “As many as possible as long as they can hit anything fifty meters away.”

  Carlos showed a complicated expression while looking at the mages. It didn’t seem like they had those with good aim. At this point in time, I had given up on finding every single flaw in their group, but I couldn’t help but be shocked by the fact that Carlos refused to tell them to shut up all the way to the enemy fortress. It seemed that he would need to be shaken up a bit in order for him to realize that some things needed to be done, no matter what.

  In the end, I was a bit surprised to see that Carlos actually had a mage in his group who could hit targets from the same distance as me. I asked for that kind of requirement just to be sure that no mage that can explode the back of my head would follow me, but it seemed that the requirement wasn’t as harsh as expected.

  The mage was a short girl that had light brown hair and eyes. She probably was barely five feet tall, and since she had a young face that seemed even off thanks to her blank expression, I couldn’t help but frown since I assumed that all the prisoners were adults. Everyone looked to be around twenty or thirty years old at max. I didn’t feel older than twenty-five.

  “Her name is Maya, and she is our best mage. She already saved the asses of a bunch of us, thanks to her accuracy.”

  The girl bowed slightly in my direction, and it made me frown. What kind of greeting was that? It felt unnatural to me. There was something about it that seemed... rehearsed, like she was going through the motions without fully understanding the act. But then again, I had a nagging feeling that this type of greeting was common to some people]. I couldn’t be sure.

  I wasn’t entirely convinced by Carlos’s praise either. I had my doubts about whether he was exaggerating her abilities a bit too much. But as I looked at Maya again, I noticed she didn’t shy away from meeting my gaze. That caught my attention. She either had guts or she lacked the common sense to be intimidated, and either way, it intrigued me. Was it courage, or was it something else entirely? It was hard to tell, but I had the sense that Maya was more than just the quiet, small mage she appeared to be on the surface.

  “All right, let’s get this over with.”

  “Aren’t you usually more cautious, Sean?”

  “I didn’t mean that we would dash ahead like mad men. Just follow the route that I lead and keep a distance of five meters. If I raise my hand while it is closed, you guys stop. If I open it, can you follow me while keeping a low posture? Got it?”

  “Okay. You sure are meticulous.”

  I felt like sighing, but I couldn’t help but think that I was in the wrong feeling like that. I didn’t have to be short-fused, right? Regardless, we began to move. A few times, I turned around to check things and I could see the remaining members of the group around three hundred meters away. Even from this distance, I could see them very relaxed while maintaining no formation whatsoever and also chatting. When Carlos noticed that, he showed a wry smile.

  Before long, I raised my hand and then they stopped and lowered their stances even more. I didn’t see anything around, but I could smell it. The smell of the goblins’ clothes filled with sweat, dirt and some of piss. When I followed the scent, I found a hole covered in leaves. Sean gulped when he saw that anyone stepping on that would get their feet spiked by some nasty spikes.

  I found other traps like that and signaled their location by putting a branch of them that could be seen from a distance. Still, soon we found other problems…