The Ruthless Trek and the Demon's Plan
Ten kilometers from the southeast of Valua. After walking for over an hour, the Razil Mountains finally came into view. The soldiers were in such poor physical condition that after just a little over an hour of marching, they were not only exhausted but complaining bitterly about sore feet. Only Cloud, Lucy, and Leonald remained completely fine. Meanwhile, Leonald hadn't even donned his armor. He wore explorer clothes and carried a light backpack as casually as if he were on a picnic. "Then I'll scout this mountain alone for the raw materials of the black market. When the mission ends, shout loudly so I can come back in a big hurry." With that, Leonald strode off into the mountains without a second glance. Cloud didn't bother to stop him. He simply let the man go as freely as livestock. "I heard there are bandits in this mountain. Are you sure it's safe?" As Lucy watched Leonald grow distant, she asked with a worried voice. Cloud scratched the bridge of his nose lightly and replied. "Inside me, that guy is already dead." "What kind of talk is that? He's still alive, right?" Cloud shook his head with a deliberately serious expression. "The most courageous soldier, Leonald from the Tenth Regiment, has been gone from my chest for a long time. He fought bravely against the enemy and died." "Sigh." Lucy placed a hand on her forehead and sighed. "No matter what, he's the lord's son. What if he dies like that? The commander is really clueless." "He won't die easily." Cloud answered lightly and scanned the mountain scenery. There were more worries than one. How to find the bandits' base in the mountains, and what to do when our soldiers' stamina ran out before we could exterminate them. He looked back. Sixty soldiers were all sitting on the ground, panting heavily. Their condition was terrible. "...What now..." As he stroked his chin and sank into deep thought, someone suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Heh heh heh." Cloud turned his gaze and saw Latinus, looking completely different from usual, laughing heartily. "Grandpa? Why are you laughing so much?" "I woke up from my dementia, this old man." Lucy said with a bright smile. "Cloud. Don't worry because I am here. Heh heh heh." "Do you know who I am?" "Of course I do. Yes, you rascal. Even if I am a demented old man, I wouldn't not know the newly appointed captain." "Oh~ How much memory do you have left?" "I know everything, you rascal. I was worrying about how to find the bandits in this huge mountain?" "Grandpa is amazing." "Thanks to the memory I planted before my dementia relapsed. As long as I regain my senses, everything I saw and heard in the dementia state comes to me." After that, Latinus gathered Cloud and Lucy and explained his plan. "With magic, it's possible. Finding the bandits in this vast mountain." "Grandpa, use your strength." "But what if we find them? We three alone?" Lucy asked. "No wide-area spells?" "Of course there is. And since I can cast high-speed spells, I can easily handle wide-area spells with high mana consumption. Even without using them, about twenty people could be dealt with easily." "Oh, Grandpa is really amazing. I won't tease you anymore." Cloud looked at him with admiration. He was so cool that Cloud wanted to copy the single remaining strand of hair on his forehead and style his hair like that. "You rascal. Even when I was young, I was a mage who cast fireballs at a huge dragon's belly skin. Heh heh heh." "So how do you plan to find them? Do we just stand still?" "You have to help me. To find the bandits' hideouts, I will spread thousands of tiny water droplets across the entire mountain, and I need water for that." "Water?" Cloud looked around and listened but heard no sound of streams. "It seems there is no water nearby. Should we go far to find it?" Latinus laughed. "You rascal, there is. It's very close. Why make yourself suffer?" "Where?" "There, right there. Heh heh heh." Latinus pointed at Cloud's crotch. *** Latinus had planned to create thousands of tiny water droplets using the soldiers' urine. He would spread them across the entire mountain to scan every corner through the water droplets like a third eye. Therefore, Cloud decided to collect the urine of all ten soldiers in the five helmets they were wearing. "First, piss." At Cloud's words, Lucy's expression twisted. Cloud understood her feelings. As a woman, she would obviously be ashamed. Lucy kept narrowing her eyes in displeasure and glared at him. She was afraid he would sulk, but there was no time to hesitate. Cloud spoke again calmly. "Then since I am the captain, I will go first. You are the vice-captain, so the second." Cloud picked up the helmet and tried to go into the bushes. Lucy immediately stepped forward and snatched the helmet away. "Better to do it first yourself than to watch someone else do it. Don't move." Although Lucy's fierce and stubborn impression contrasted with her actual personality, she was not the type to insist on her point to the end. Her expression was displeased, but since she did whatever he asked, she was just grateful. After a while, Lucy who had disappeared into the bushes returned. She left the helmet filled with urine and still had a full face of displeasure. As a way to cheer her up, Cloud smiled and approached. "Did you relieve yourself comfortably?" Thud! Immediately his leg was kicked. Annoyed, she went under a nearby tree, hugged both her legs, and sat down. Her fat expression was like a picky cat. If left alone, she would calm down by herself. Cloud thought so and walked away from her. He started whistling and disappeared into the bushes. After a short while, Cloud returned and walked casually in front of Lucy. "Lucy." "What." Lucy answered coldly while turning her face away. "So..." Cloud hesitated several times in his head about what to say to her displeased face. Finally, he said it, probably because she was easy to talk to. "You have quite a lot of meat." After a short while. "Waaaaah! Save me!" "Please, Vice-Captain, calm down! We came here to exterminate the bandits, not to exterminate the captain!" "Give it back! I'll kill that brat!" Angry Lucy drew her sword and tried to kill Cloud for real. Young Toma had already grabbed her waist and stopped her, which was fortunate, or else Cloud would have been tortured. After the commotion, no matter what, the five helmets were filled with urine. Latinus squatted in front of them and began muttering the spell. Soon the urine mass in the helmets rose into the air. "...No one can escape from the hand of the watcher. Hawk Eye!" Latinus clenched his fist and the urine masses that floated in the air separated into countless tiny sizes and immediately spread in all directions. Not long after, Latinus who had kept his eyes closed suddenly opened them wide. "Found it!" Cloud once again used agile Lucy for confirmation. "Only two guards..." Lucy climbed a high tree and leaned on a branch that looked like it would break under her weight, secretly looking down. Two armed bandits were chatting and guarding the uphill path leading to the bandit camp. She returned with her breath held, to the place where everyone was. "Two people armed with swords. Each has a horn on their waist." "Good work." Cloud nodded. "Me, Lucy, and Latinus. Only the three of us will go. Sixty people moving at once would increase the risk of being caught, and moreover, with poor armor, many would die without fighting properly. So the others should stay here and if any escaping bandits come by, swarm them and catch them without letting them escape. Got it?" "Yes!" Everyone nodded vigorously. However, they had never experienced a life-or-death mission before, so they swallowed nervously with tense eyes. "Let's go." Cloud, Lucy, and Latinus set off. They rushed to the entrance of the bandit camp in one go. In the middle, when Latinus, who was over seventy, lagged behind, Cloud simply carried him on his back and ran. "Here it is." Upon arriving at the entrance, Cloud immediately drew Gesaengquiya and attacked the two bandits from a distance. The extended sword edge of Gesaengquiya curved to the left and right and stabbed each one's neck separately. "Ugh!" "Aah!" With their final screams, the two men collapsed. Cloud gestured and Lucy quickly leaped and jumped up onto the tree. She continued jumping from tree to tree in a zigzag, advancing forward. After a while, she returned from scouting the camp with a serious expression. "Captain Leonald is being held by the bandits." "Oh dear." Cloud sighed and chuckled. "Why are you laughing?" "Just funny." "Strange person." While Lucy narrowed her brows and stared, at that moment a distant shout came from far away. "Cloud! If you and the others here surrender willingly, I will save your lives and give you the raw materials of the black market! Ahahaha! I finally found the raw materials of the black market! Come here quickly and surrender, Cloud!" Lucy let out a long sigh. "Are they enemies or allies."