92 This Hero Prepares the Assault! (1/2)
”Foo…” I let out. I don't like this. It's tedious and makes me nervous. I haven't seen any movement this entire time, but there's still an entire enemy camp in front of me. All it would take is me making too loud of a noise for all of us to have to run for our lives. I hate that… Honestly, when will they-
”Is everything alright, Kenji-san?” Erana tilted her head upwards to look at me. Her long dark hair rested its ends on the ground, displacing some of the frosted grass as she did so.
”Wha-... Yeah. I'm fine. Just nervous I guess.” I couldn't move my gaze, but I could still talk. While this power is draining, it's not like my other abilities that are only for combat.
”Well, I was just worried. You two have been shifting back and forth for a while now and it's even making ME restless. I understand that it's an important duty, but I don't want you to hurt yourself by trying to get this done.” Erana subtly shifted into a stretch. Sitting still and doing nothing can be exhausting too if you're worried about something after all.
”I appreciate that. Really, I do. I just need to make it clear that even if I'm not doing great that it doesn't matter right now. We're in a dire situation and we need to find a way out. This is our only method right now.” I clenched my hands around the rock that I was looking over. While I was trying my hardest to restrain myself, there were still very subtle cracks that were developing on its surface.
”I understand. How about this… Let's talk about something so we're not sitting in our heads. How about you tell me more about where you're from?”
I gripped the rock so hard my fingers crushed holes into it. This was one of the only questions I was not ready to be asked. I honestly would have preferred to have been asked about my previous sexual experience in comparison.
”W-Why are you asking? I uh… don't like talking about it too much!” I stammered. My focus is waning from the operation.
”Woah… did she just say you're from Japan?” Yuna opened her eyes and looked over at me immediately. Her eyes were filled with a childish innocence.
”N-No! She uh… Um… Um!”
”I've always wanted to meet an adventurer from Japan! They're the rarest of the rare! Kilin over there is from a rare race of humans, but Japanese people are even more rare! Tell me, is it true your home is 'Ee art' or is that just a lie I was told?”
”It's Earth. I MEAN, UH-”
Busted. No getting out of this now.
”Haah… Fine. Yeah, I'm from Japan. What do you want to know?” I decided to accede to their requests. The best way to hide my true nature is to act like I'm already telling the truth. People will always be more accepting of a kernel of truth than a full plate of lies after all.
”Yes! Okay… Uh, first! Is it true that everyone has black hair like you there? That and slanted eyes.” She pulled at her eyes to emulate my own when she asked this.
”Pretty much. Some people have brown or blonde hair, but just about everyone there had hair as black as mine. As for the eyes, everyone had eyes like my own.”
”Woah… Why are your eyes like that? The hair I understand, it helps you sneak up to people at night when it's dark, but slanted eyes? How do those help?”
”I don't know. It probably has something to do with the food we grew MOVEMENT!” I interrupted my own explanation. I could see the hobgoblins swap out with others. The swap took only ten seconds. This is going to be a tight window if they maintain it like this.
”Quick, what time is it?” I looked around our group desperately looking for answers.
”6 P.M.” Kilin quickly declared. His voice was as sharp as it was before.
”Okay… I'm going to contact the other group.”
”So are we heading back now?” Yuna began to stand up, but I held a hand out indicating her to stop.
”We need to watch for when the next swap is. We saw this swap, but already missed out on this opportunity. If everything goes well though, they'll swap out in another half an hour and that's when we'll strike. Judging by how much the hobgoblins were shivering by the end of their shifts, I'm probably right in assuming that's the case.”
”So we need to sit around for another 30 minutes? Seriously?” Yuna flattened herself on the ground again, throwing her arms out into an X.
”Patience is a virtue.” Erana quickly announced. ”My father taught me that. It was always what he told me whenever we would hunt or whenever I would want berries to grow.
”Speaking of patience, the wait won't be nearly as bad as it originally was. We only need to check in about 30 minutes to ensure that we're right.” I began casting the mind connection spell. The screen appeared before me like it had earlier. I quickly navigated the menu and tapped on Tael like I had before.
\u003cHello? This is Tael thinking! Is it time to blow it up?\u003e
\u003cWhat? N-No. This is Kenji. I just wanted to let you know that we're probably going to start the operation in 30 minutes. Have you found a good idea for what to distract with?\u003e
\u003cFufufu… We found something even better than ”good.” We stole a few barrels of gunpowder from their base thanks to pipsqueak. You give the signal and you'll hear the boom.\u003e
\u003cAwesome. I'm looking forward to it. Here's the plan: All of you except for one need to make their way to my group. The one that should stay behind is Kany since she can use her stealth ability to hide from the enemies while they go to investigate. Kany will meet up with us at the center tent during the confusion. The rest of you will rush in with us, okay?\u003e