Kutlanka Ruins (1)

Status window.

Heh heh heh.

A satisfied smile crept across my face as I looked over the window. I'd burned through every last point of Potential, but the stats I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gained in exchange were nothing to sneeze at. Among three-star Masters and Fairies, there wasn't a soul alive who could match these numbers.

And that wasn't all. Constantly casting Heal on my party members and pelting bandits with Wind Arrow had naturally pushed both skills up a few levels. They were only Common-grade, so the bonuses weren't dramatic — but getting stronger, even a little, was what mattered.

The second we get back to the city, I'm promoting to four-star.

I'd already decided on my growth path: dump every Growth Stone into the party and raise my own stats through Potential. That meant promotion was the only way forward from here. Until I hit four-star, I wouldn't be able to raise a single stat.

Wonder how much the others have grown?

I dismissed the window floating in front of me and was just about to pull up Aquaril's when—

"The Snake Bandits are coming! Battle stations! Battle stations!"

"Ugh... those disgusting sons of bitches."

I clicked my tongue at the sight of the bandits charging toward us, kicking up a storm of sand. Nobody else's expression looked any better.

"Fuck, they're back again?!"

"How many times is this now?"

"Don't those bastards ever get tired?!"

The Snake Bandits had clearly made it their mission to make our lives hell. They hit us on the march, during meals, in the middle of the night — whenever the mood struck them, with no pattern and no warning.

Which attack was this now? The fourth? The fifth? Somewhere around there.

What made it even more fucked up was that they never committed. They'd fight just long enough to be a pain in the ass, then pull back. And it wasn't like we could chase them — the bastards released vipers in their wake every time they ran.

"Their intent is painfully obvious."

"What's that, Kanisia?"

"They're trying to grind down our stamina. That's the whole point. The problem is, even knowing that, we still have to play along."

"Hmm."

I couldn't argue with her. Every move the Snake Bandits made reeked of the same malicious calculation: bleed us dry before we ever reached the Kutlanka Ruins. And just as she'd said, seeing through it didn't change a damn thing. Nobody knew this desert better than they did.

"Let's just go fight."

"Hah... yeah. Fine."

Kanisia let out a long breath, took up her spear, and followed me out to meet the enemy with the rest of the party in tow.

If there was one silver lining, it was that my party members' levels were climbing fast.

I was genuinely curious how far they'd come by the time this campaign was over.

Harassed at every turn by the Snake Bandits, the suppression force pushed on regardless and eventually reached the second settlement along the route: Eslama Village.

The moment the village came into view, a ripple of relief passed through the ranks. Magical camping gear could only do so much. No matter how many conveniences you'd packed, sleeping under a real roof with real walls beat a tent in the sand every time. Visions of a proper inn and a proper bed had everyone in high spirits.

Those hopes shattered the instant we arrived.

"W-what the hell is this?"

"Fuck..."

"....."

The village looked as though a hurricane had torn through it. Houses had collapsed into rubble. Not a soul stirred. Even the livestock were gone — not so much as a single animal's cry carried on the wind. Wrapped in that suffocating silence, Eslama Village was a ghost town in every sense of the word.

"...Search the village. Now. Move!"

"Y-yes, Commander!"

Commander Pazniri sent the soldiers in to sweep the ruins. They returned a short while later, their faces tight with anger and a hollow, sinking loss.

"Not a single person, sir. The livestock are gone too — not one animal left."

"Every building's been demolished. There's nothing standing we can use."

"Same with the food. Not so much as a crust of bread."

"They even took the metal tools. Stripped the place clean."

"....."

Pazniri's expression darkened with every report. The Masters and Fairies of the expedition didn't look any better.

I've heard of this strategy. What was it called again? Scorched-earth tactics?

Scorched-Earth Tactics — the practice of destroying every scrap of supplies, food, and matériel an advancing enemy might use, leaving them to exhaust themselves on empty ground. It had turned up now and then in the wars of my previous world, too. Goguryeo had used this exact strategy to break the Sui armies.

In war, supply lines were everything. Push deep enough into enemy territory and you couldn't count on support from home, which meant living off the land. So the defender harvested, burned, or hauled away anything the invader might take, and left them with nothing. Even the strongest army in the world would collapse once the food ran out.

These bastards are vicious...

And the Snake Bandits were running that playbook against us right now.

One more village after this and we'd hit the Kutlanka Ruins. Judging by the state of this place, the next settlement would look about the same.

Do we have enough food?

My eyes drifted, almost on their own, toward the wagons loaded with our provisions. If we couldn't forage and our remaining stores weren't enough to see us through, the only option left would be to turn around and march home.

"...We'll clear this place and spend the night. Stay sharp on watch — I don't want any surprises."

Guess we've got enough, then.

Pazniri had stood there with a grim, calculating look for a long moment before deciding we'd camp in the village. Contrary to my worries, the food situation was apparently fine. He wasn't enough of an idiot to push forward on an empty stomach.

And camping here beat getting ambushed in open desert with nowhere to take cover. That was probably part of the calculation too.

"Hup!"

"Hey! Gimme a hand with this! This thing's heavy as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hell!"

The soldiers set about clearing rubble so the expedition would have somewhere to rest. The work crawled. However well-trained they were, they were still ordinary men, and ordinary men had ordinary limits.

"Nngh... damn, this is heavy...!"

"Here, let me help."

"Thanks... w-wait, huh?"

I stepped in, hoisted a massive chunk of collapsed wall, and watched the soldier who'd been straining against it go wide-eyed.

The other Masters and Fairies had left the cleanup to the rank and file and were taking it easy. I didn't blame them. Soldiers mattered in a fight, but Masters and Fairies were the real high-value assets — and with the Snake Bandits running a nonstop guerrilla campaign specifically designed to wear us down, those assets needed to conserve their strength.

I could have sat it out with the rest of them. I didn't. If I was going to score points with Plasma, I was going to score them properly. Nothing won people over faster than leading from the front.

"Whew, this is heavier than it looks. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Where do you want it?"

"Th-that's... over that way, sir... I mean, no, please, you don't have to do this! Go rest!"

"Over there, you said?"

"Augh... M-Master, sir!"

I started walking with the wall fragment in my arms, and the soldier trotted after me in a helpless little panic. He looked like a puppy that needed to take a dump — desperate and completely at a loss.

Thud.

"Please, that's enough. Go rest. This is our job."

"It's fine. How hard can this be? Faster we finish, faster everyone gets to sit down."

"Hahh..."

I said it with a smile, and the faces of the soldiers nearby visibly brightened, like the words had actually landed. After putting up with nothing but Masters who strutted around like they owned the place, running into one as kind, handsome, and magnificent as myself had to hit them pretty hard.

And as if to prove I'd made the right call, a look of warm approval settled over Plasma's face as he watched me work.

That's plenty of favorability stacked. He'll come save me if things go south, right?

War was a crapshoot. You never knew what would happen or when. A stray arrow could find your throat. Someone far stronger than you could decide you needed to die. The better Plasma thought of me, the better my odds when one of those moments arrived. Nobody else was going to look after my life for me.

"Ugh, what are you even doing over here."

Kanisia came walking over with a sigh. Aquaril and Abraham — our Fairies — trailed behind her.

"Hm? Ah, go rest. I'll wrap this up and be right there."

"You're supposed to be our party leader. You think we're just going to stand here and watch? I can lift this, yeah?"

"I shall assist you, Master."

"You guys really don't have to—"

"Too late. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Let's just get it done and sit down."

In the end, the whole party pitched in with the village cleanup. They really were a bunch of softhearted idiots.

"Bwahahaha! You call this heavy? That's what you get for skipping leg day! It's a Strength problem! Strength!"

"I'm a mage, you muscle-brained idiot! I'm not built like a meathead like you!"

"Bwahaha! What a delicate little flower!"

"You son of a—"

Off to the side, Chae Gillard's party was helping the soldiers too. Of every Master and Fairy in the entire expedition, the only ones lending a hand were my party and his.

"Hmph."

That guy was starting to get under my skin.

After a night in the ruined village, the expedition resumed its march. The next settlement was a wreck as well, and the Snake Bandits hit us one more time. After that, even they seemed to decide that bleeding more of their own strength wasn't worth it. The ambushes stopped, and we covered the remaining distance to the Kutlanka Ruins unmolested.

And then we arrived.

"Whoa..."

Even from a distance, the colossal bones wrung a sound of awe and horror out of me that I couldn't swallow back. Those things looked bigger than any dinosaur fossil I'd ever seen.

Seeing Kutlanka with my own eyes — the undead raid boss I'd only ever known from Fairy Masters — was something else entirely. How the hell had the Fairies in the game ever managed to hunt a thing like that?

"Just how many Snake Bandits are there for their village to be that huge? Hell, at that size, can you even call them bandits anymore?"

Kanisia clicked her tongue, staring from Kutlanka's bones down to the settlement sprawled beneath them.

A massive village had grown in the shadow of those deep-purple remains — larger, by a comfortable margin, than every settlement we'd passed through combined.

"Looks like a trap to me."

"There's not a single person in sight. That's a trap, no question."

Kanisia and I studied the village as we talked. Just like the ghost towns we'd already walked through, this one was completely empty.

And it was packed with places to hide. I could see a hundred houses at a glance, easy, with thorny vine barricades strung up in the gaps between them. Walking in there was going to be a nightmare. That much was obvious.

"Lord Plasma. Might I have a word?"

"Of course, Commander."

Commander Pazniri stared at the Snake Bandits' den with a grave expression, then disappeared into a wagon with Plasma.