High Risk, High Return

Until now, our method of travel—or rather, the way we decided where to go—had been simple enough.

We would set the location Baramson had mentioned as our final destination, and if we stumbled across any bandit dens along the way, we’d clear them out while we were at it.

But the newly revealed location of Bipurit was, without much exaggeration, right under our noses. There was not the slightest reason to take a detour for the sake of giving people room to breathe.

In other words, rather than waste time mopping up small fry, going straight for the head would be far more efficient at this distance.

Well, he had said he couldn’t be a hundred percent certain, so Bipurit might not actually be there. Still, it was a path we would have taken eventually either way.

There was nothing to lose by preparing thoroughly before heading in. Even if Bipurit wasn’t there, a fortress was still a fortress, and taking one of those always required preparation.

“You’re not seriously planning to go right now, are you?”

And so I brought up the idea of charging in among ourselves, just like that—

“We leave at dawn.”

—and meant it. No joke. Completely serious.

“They’ve seized an entire fortress! Are you really going like this? What about the main force?!”

Naturally, Dev nearly had a heart attack.

“Um, Demon Knight. Even from where I stand, I believe it would be better to join with the main force before engaging. The distance between us is only two or three days now.”

“Sir Knight, let’s exercise a little patience. We don’t know what kind of demon might be waiting for us. Of course, we’ve obtained some information from those who escaped and those we managed to plant inside, but that’s only a partial picture… When even a stone bridge ought to be tapped before you cross it, charging in blind is a bit…”

Listening to them present perfectly reasonable arguments, I found myself agreeing on the inside.

Yeah, I know that’s the proper way. Strictly speaking, this is siege content.

And ordinary sieges come down to terrain, numbers, and gear advantage. It’s not the kind of thing a party can just force its way through.

“Even in this very moment, more demons are being born. And yet you ask me to spare more than a day?”

But hear me out. Let’s say they’ve summoned demons—and will keep summoning them.

Assume Lower Demons form their main force. That means a war of attrition, right? And attrition wars chew through both sides’ troops hard.

Do we even have that many troops to throw around? On top of that, them summoning demons is ultimately the same as carving up the islanders as sacrificial offerings.

The longer the fight drags on, the more lives get sacrificed! And in quests like this, what does a rising civilian death toll lead to?

It can lead to GAME OVER…

And if they called something like a Kraken—a raid-boss-class threat—that would be its own disaster.

Even if I stepped up to face it myself, I could already picture the people getting caught in the crossfire and dying. Same story if those newly invented curse-throwing pots I’d seen a few times at the bandit dens made an appearance.

“But still…”

“The weak are only a hindrance.”

In short, for all my circling around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the point: waiting to join the main force would only expand the damage. That was what I meant.

And if allied losses grew too severe, the game would surely say, Not a chance—try again!

Ha. That outcome was the one thing I would absolutely not accept. No retries. Ever.

“Even so, if we go at them head-on, even you, sir…”

Of course, going in with just this group had major drawbacks too. Setting aside that Baramson was useless in a fight because his combat power was nonexistent, a frontal assault was more than even I could handle.

“I do not know what the Archmage saw in the likes of you.”

But what if it wasn’t a frontal assault? What if it was infiltration and assassination? I figured that had decent odds.

Come on—escaped or not, the high-ranking people formerly connected to Ayu Hin were right here with us. Surely they knew of at least one secret passage?

“Where are Ayu Hin’s treasurer and captain of the guard?”

“Pardon?”

Of course, this approach carried its own risks. They weren’t fools; they would have prepared countermeasures. If we were discovered, enemies would be everywhere and there’d be nowhere to run.

On top of that, we had a traitor among us. If that traitor leaked this plan, we’d be shoving our heads straight into a tiger’s jaws—I knew that well enough.

But on the flip side, if we succeeded without going through the traitor? A secret passage is designed so you can flee from the heart of a place to the outside without being noticed. Reverse that, and you can pierce the core in a single stroke.

High risk, high return. I considered this a gamble well worth taking.

“Why the treasurer and the captain of the guard…?”

“A secret passage…?”

Really now—if the choice was guaranteed death for hundreds versus a chance of survival for four, or a chance of death for four versus guaranteed safety for hundreds, wasn’t the answer obvious?

At least, it was for me.

“Sir, are you thinking of a secret passage?”

Sharp-eyed Dev asked me. He already looked certain of the answer, so I didn’t bother replying. Instead I simply glared at him, as if to say, Just give me the answer.

“I’ll guide you right—no, wait. Hold on. Wait here just a bit while I go fetch some people.”

His dark green eyes, shadowed by his hood, glittered.

“Security and infiltration are my specialties, after all.”

We’d dragged this out long enough. Time to really push the story forward.

I would have liked to sleep at midnight for the sake of my fatigue. Naturally, that wish was far beyond my station.

Still, sacrificing some of that rest had been worth it.

We’d gathered the city’s officials, members of the information guild who knew every back alley, and more—and successfully mapped out an infiltration route.

As for the traitor… well. I believed we’d been as careful as possible with security. Anyone who wouldn’t help with the planning was cut from the discussion entirely; we didn’t even mention them.

And if our operation still leaked after all that, there was nothing to be done. If someone we’d brought in because we needed them for the route turned out to be the traitor, the whole exercise would have been meaningless from the start.

Anyway, enough dark talk. We also secured solid support.

Of course we did—supplies might have been scarce, but whether we succeeded was a matter of life and death for everyone here. No one was in a position to quibble over logistics.

Though the officer watching the list of items I was vacuuming into my inventory did look rather like he was dying inside.

“May the sea wind push at your back.”

“Haha! Fortune favor you!”

In any case, we set out under the farewell of Baramson, who at least knew we were leaving at dawn even if he didn’t know where we were going.

Why was Baramson seeing us off? Because he’d been cut from the party, of course.

His personal combat strength was weak. His specialty—sailing—was useless inland. And he wasn’t a native of Ayu Hin, so we couldn’t use him as a guide either.

On the other hand, if he stayed behind he could serve as a buffer between the harbor and the people of the main force. There were far more reasons not to take him than to take him, and no necessity whatsoever to drag him along against all that.

“I’m counting on you to cover my share.”

Especially when the man himself agreed. Of course, what he’d actually been told was more along the lines of Your combat power’s too low, better stay here—but still.

Then again, even without knowing the fine details of the plan, he seemed to have figured out we were making a direct run at Ayu Hin. Baramson must have gotten a pretty good read on what kind of person I was.

The fact that he’d shown up to see us off right on time, even though we hadn’t told him we were leaving at dawn, said as much.

“Do you think Sir Baramson will handle the main force well?”

But that was two days ago now. Worrying about it any further was meaningless.

“The Archmage is there. I believe it will be fine.”

“True… With the Magic Tower involved, things shouldn’t fall apart completely.”

“More than that, I’m worried about these horses. Once we arrive, are we just turning them loose in the forest?”

“We’ll have to.”

“They’re dead, then.”

“Odds are high, yes. With beasts attacking like this.”

“I hope they live.”

“I’d just rather they don’t get demonized like these ones. Ugh.”

For reference, the horses generously provided at the secret harbor had also been reduced to consumables, thanks to how many demonized beasts filled the forest.

Using horses expensive even on the mainland—and even more expensive on the island—as expendables felt wrong, but that was reality. Time was money, and walking the whole way wasn’t an option.

This game really needed a mount patch, and soon. A few quality-of-life features, too. No—the most urgent thing was the logout function.

“Seems you have leisure enough to flap your mouths.”

I said as much while tossing aside the corpse of a demon I’d just stabbed to death. At my muttered remark, the two dumplings snapped their mouths shut in perfect unison.

“I wouldn’t even dare go to the bathroom alone out here.”

Meanwhile, Lukquan, walking behind us, kept cracking jokes no matter what I said. Oh—who’s Lukquan? The person who joined the party this time in Baramson’s place.

“I’m more amazed by your guts for even thinking of going off alone to do your business, miss.”

And it wasn’t just Lukquan. We’d brought several more people who had both the advantage of being locals and the advantage of being skilled at infiltration.

“I make my living by hiding. Can’t very well get scared of something like this.”

Which meant that, all of a sudden, we’d added five more thieves from the Ayu Hin branch of the information guild… but they were competent, so I’d let it slide.

The downside that the Inquisitor found them hard to deal with, I’d write off as a charming quirk. As long as her oath meant she couldn’t treat them the way she treated Dev, that was fine.

And a party composition of one swordsman, one holy knight, and six thieves… well, now that things had gotten more realistic, maybe it wasn’t such a terrible combination?

“Hold on—tracks.”

“Looks like a patrol route, this does.”

DPS might still have been questionable, but at least our ability to find enemy traces had improved dramatically.

“We’ll have to abandon the horses now.”

A patrol route meant our destination was close, and a close destination meant the infiltration was about to begin in earnest.

Ha. So it was true foot-slogging from here on out. I looked at Dev, roughly meaning, You thinking the same?—and apparently the look came out a little ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sour.

The one on the receiving end of my gaze twitched his lips, then nodded.

Squelch.

My boots were the first to step down onto ground that had been turned into something like a swamp. The soft, soggy sensation of walking through mud made my eyebrows shoot up on their own.

Thud.

I’d put on light armor for the infiltration, but the Inquisitor—the heaviest among us after me—was second down.

The thieves dismounted one after another and began gathering the reins.

“Run free.”

Erasing the traces of the horses after they found their freedom was also the thieves’ job. While they wiped our trail clean, I did a final check of my skills.

Not that it meant much. Combat skills could be used without putting points into them, and I’d already maxed every passive that raised health, defense, and attack.

I’d even maxed the ones that boosted healing amount and speed. What remained were negotiation and detection-type skills…

I’d already allocated points before setting out, but I’d gained one more level on the way here. I put it into a detection skill.

Early on I’d figured this line wasn’t worth much and planned to leave it for last, but in the current situation it might actually be useful.

Though… was this thing really working? Why didn’t my footsteps sound any quieter to my own ears?

With a mental note along the lines of Ugh, the system’s slacking off again, I slowly started walking.

With Lukquan—a Shagi in the form of a black panther—bringing up the rear, the curtain rose in earnest on our infiltration. Our destination wasn’t the fortress itself, but the entrance to a secret passage said to lie somewhere near the walls.

“Incredible… I never imagined anything like this.”

Once the thieves had followed the passage’s traces, clearing and fiddling with various things, the entrance opened in no time. Among those who saw it, the most raw reaction belonged to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Inquisitor.

“The Order must have a couple of these lying around too. Funny that an Inquisitor wouldn’t know.”

We were working together, but the lingering bad blood hadn’t fully cleared. One of the thieves slipped in a dig.

“True. I have never heard of such a thing.”

“…You’re awfully brazen about it?”

“There must have been a proper reason they chose not to tell me. Why should I not be brazen?”

“…”

But our girl really was consistent. Dev shook with silent laughter, muted and trembling. Lukquan—who seemed to be the thieves’ representative, though since they weren’t the same organization he didn’t appear to have actual command authority—was snickering too.

“All right, all right. Don’t waste energy on nonsense.”

She gave the back of the person who’d tried to put one over and gotten it right back a couple of pats, then finished the work of concealing the entrance.

At last, the quest had updated as well.

“We move.”

No matter how much work you did at a passage that served as both entrance and exit, lingering around the spot afterward rendered it all meaningless.

We set our steps deeper into the passage. The path, which had been little more than a burrow, changed in the composition of its ground the farther we went, until at last it became an artificial corridor of stacked stone.

“Could we get some light?”

The air was thick and stuffy; you could feel the lack of oxygen in your body. In a space like that, using oil lamps was a fine way to suffocate.

We discarded every oil lamp we had. In their place, what Lukquan took from me was an electric lantern I’d put to good use ever since logging in.

It didn’t run on electricity in the literal sense, but as a magic item of sorts, it didn’t consume oxygen. Perfect for a situation like this.

“Sir, and you—take these as we go.”

While Lukquan and the thieves found the way, Dev handed something over to us.

“This is a scent-erasing medicine. This dyes your hair for a day. And these are slave clothes we got from the people we rescued—since a clean slave would look suspicious, let’s rub some soot on them as we walk.”

Well, the goal was concealment, and there had been talk of disguising ourselves just in case. I’d left them to figure that out among themselves and stayed hands-off.

But damn, Dev—you really went all out preparing this…

“Is there anything for me to do?”

“You just stay still, ma’am.”

Like it or not, an expert was an expert. The Inquisitor left everything to the professional and quietly followed instructions, walking along meekly.

As they matched their paces and began the makeup work, her face—which had looked like a white steamed bun—quickly turned grimy. Clean clothes with only that filthy face was somehow funny all over again.

“Your hair too… Ah, try walking without bobbing so much. Can’t you even do that?”

“I-I am doing my best!”

“The crown—the crown ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of your head!”

Because the height difference between Dev and the Inquisitor wasn’t that great, Dev spent the entire time applying the hair dye walking on tiptoe.

If they’d been able to sit down and take their time, it would have been more comfortable, but unfortunately there was no time for that.

Even a magically made hair dye needed a little while to set, after all. And you couldn’t exactly waste another hour right on the fortress’s doorstep.

“Sir Knight, would you mind for a moment as well?”

But nobody said I had to do this too. Gyaaah.