episode_0047

While we were taking a short break, I took a glass container out of my bag and observed the large larva inside.

The larva’s body length is about 1 meter, similar to a glass barrel, and it looks like the head of a carnivorous insect attached to the body of a slug.

Looking at the sharp snout, I think I can understand why the corpses in the prison were ruined to such an extent.

Considering Laura’s comment that it seemed like it exploded from the inside, this larva or egg must have been inside a person’s body, then grew to a certain extent, then tore through the person’s body and came out.

I’ve set up a few parasites like this, but I’ve never made one this big.

Maybe I would have chosen one of the ones I made and enlarged it.

I looked through the worldview dictionary in my head to find the original version of the larvae, but I couldn’t find a clear answer.

Just like monsters or demon parasites, they are creatures I don’t know.

There is no law that says that only creatures that I have created exist in this world, but it is unpleasant to see creatures that I do not know, and even terrible ones, keep popping up in the world that I have created.

I felt annoyed and put the glass container back in my bag.

The bag contained a total of 34 glass containers, but thanks to the weight locking function, none of them were heavy.

If I didn’t have this bag, it would have been quite a hassle.

Since you have to carry all kinds of luggage on your back and you can’t even carry it all, you must have made a cool-headed choice based on priorities.

And when he had a lot of money, he probably bought a few slaves to use as porters for his harem or something.

Bags and coin pouches are assets as precious as life, so I must take good care of them as I have done so far.

“Rebecca, I think it would be best to leave now.”

Laura, who was sitting next to me and leaning on my shoulder, stood up and said.

Then Iris, who was occupying the other shoulder, also stood up.

This is an atmosphere where I can’t even say, “Let’s take a break just a little longer.”

“Then. Since we were unable to rescue the survivors, we should at least perform another mission properly.”

“Rebecca, don’t be too upset. It was something we couldn’t do.”

Laura looked sad when she saw me mentioning the survivors.

She seems to misunderstand that I’m really blaming myself for not being able to save those people.

Of course, I feel a sense of responsibility, but as Laura said, I am trying not to dwell on something that cannot be helped.

Even if we had arrived sooner, it would not have changed the outcome of the larvae popping out of the body and dying.

And even if I had participated in the punitive force, instead of saving these people, my life would have been threatened.

“Don’t worry. Because I’m fine. You guys, please don’t take this incident to heart too much.”

I acted uncharacteristically strong.

Laura and Iris seemed to have noticed this and hugged me back and forth.

They are truly lovely and kind children.

So I took turns kissing Laura and Iris with gratitude.

“Then shall we go?”

We wore helmets, and as always, Laura took the lead, I took the middle, and Iris took the back.

As expected, there was no way to reach the destination observatory, but with the power of magic armor, I was able to climb the mountain without difficulty.

Although gunshots were heard intermittently, it didn’t seem like a full-scale battle had begun, as it ended after a single sound.

We walked in silence for quite a long distance without saying a word to each other.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, it’s that I need to move as quietly as possible.

In a quiet snow-covered mountain, even if you speak normally, it will resonate loudly, increasing the chances of being discovered by the enemy.

So, I relieved my boredom by enjoying the crunchy sound of stepping on snow.

Eventually, we climbed up to the same height as the fortress and decided to take cover behind a large pile of rocks and take stock of the situation.

I opened the map window and looked to see if there were any people around, but all I saw was a few sentries standing on the walls of the fortress 100 meters away.

As soon as I was relieved and closed the map window, Iris spoke to me in a low voice.

“Rebecca, it’s a bit strange that there aren’t any birds of prey.”

“Not even one?”

“Yes, I checked the walls with my magical eyes, but I could only see people.”

“That’s strange. I’m sure you said that the last time the punitive force was attacked, they were also attacked by the Birds of Prey.”

“It was definitely like that. Could it be that an infighting broke out and everyone was killed?”

“Maybe so. If not, I’d just be doing something else.”

I think it would be a good thing if there were no birds of prey.

Fighting with people is hectic, but it would be really tiring if the birds of prey got involved.

Meanwhile, Laura is looking at the observatory with a telescope.

The observatory is located on a small peak at the end of a gentle slope leading from the fortress, so you can fully observe it by sticking your head out just a little.

Laura carefully looked around the observatory and reported the situation to me.

“Rebecca, birds of prey are gathered at the observatory. Most of them were injured.”

“How many are there?”

“There are about 30 of them. There are 12 adults and the rest are all babies.”

“The situation looks different from when we scouted. There were that many Eucharistic bodies back then.”

“Yes, I think things have changed a lot in the meantime. Like Iris said, didn’t they all get kicked out from the observatory due to internal strife or were taken prisoners?”

“It’s a bit awkward to say that you’re a human who takes demons captive. But since they were the ones who made a deal with the demons in the first place, it wouldn’t be surprising if they did something like that.”

“That’s right. Maybe the Birds of Prey got scammed.”

When I heard that I was a demon who was deceived by a human, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Since I couldn’t make a loud noise, I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled.

“It’s so funny to think that the people who took advantage of humans all the time got the wrong treatment. But if you go out to the observatory here, don’t you think you’ll be caught right away?”

“Yes, you will definitely be found out. So I think I’ll have to climb up the cliff behind the peak. Fortunately, the wind is calm today.”

“Since I’m wearing magic armor, Iris and I can climb up, right?”

“Just in case, I’ll go up first and lower the rope.”

“Okay. Please do me a favor.”

“Yes, Rebecca. Please just leave it to me.”

We bowed and followed Laura towards the back of the peak that could not be seen from the fortress.

I took out a thick, strong rope from my bag and handed it to Laura. She put it on her shoulder and climbed up the frozen cliff.

Laura, who was originally good at rock climbing, was able to almost fly when she wore lightweight magic armor.

There were situations along the way that seemed a bit risky, but Laura solved the problem immediately with her skillful improvisation and continued to climb.

Laura quickly reached the flat top and lowered the rope to us.

“You won’t have enough arm strength, so just calmly hold on to the rope and climb up.”

“Okay. Don’t worry, just wait.”

I grabbed the rope and began to carefully climb the steep rock wall.

It certainly wasn’t difficult at all thanks to the magic armor, but my feet kept slipping, so I just had to use my arms to climb up the rope.

On the way, I inadvertently looked down, and even though it wasn’t really that high, it seemed far away.

I was scared for no reason, so I hurriedly climbed the rope and somehow managed to reach Laura’s side.

“Ugh. I thought I was going to die.”

“If you’re wearing magic armor, you won’t die from falling from this height.”

“Laura, aren’t you being too cold-hearted?”

“Rebecca, are you really upset?”

“No.”

“Hehehe, I will provide proper service when I return to the hotel later, so please take a look.”

Laura tempted me with a seductive laugh through her helmet.

I guess she thought that was all she could do to get rid of her cruel treatment of me… It’s such an accurate solution that I have nothing to say about it.

“Iris, it’s your turn now.”

“Yes!”

I watched Iris come up with Laura.

Laura was holding on to the rope as tightly as I had when I climbed up, but I was still worried.

Fortunately, Iris was able to climb the rope much better than me.

It’s my first time, so I don’t have any tips, but I think I’ll be able to get the hang of it quickly if I learn rock climbing.

Come to think of it, I asked Laura to teach me something like climbing a tree the other day, but somehow I keep putting it off.

It wasn’t urgent, but I didn’t want to just ask him to teach me and then move on and pretend it never happened.

Once this is over, I will have to take some time to learn.

While I was momentarily distracted, Iris reached where we were.

“Phew, it’s all uploaded.”

“Good job. Weren’t you scared?”

“I wasn’t scared at all. Rather, it was fun.”

“Really? Thank goodness.”

Laura showed a kinder attitude to Iris than to me.

Rather than discriminatory treatment, it seems like people pay more attention to Iris because of what happened to her this morning.

I hope Laura continues to be that kind to Iris in the future.

Laura organized the rope, returned it to me, and asked for my judgment.

“Rebecca, what are you going to do now? Should we attack the observatory right away? Or should we wait until the main force attacks the fortress?”

“I don’t think it would be a bad idea for us to be the signal for an attack.”

“It’s some kind of disruption operation.”

“That’s right. Veronica must have kept that in mind and decided to send us to the observatory.”

“For some reason, it seems like they are using us as bait.”

“If that was the plan, they would have put us in a situation where it wouldn’t be surprising if we died at any time. For example, an order would have been given to carry out a sabotage operation within the fortress or to attack the command center.”

Unlike Laura, I don’t think Veronica put us in this operation with the intention of taking advantage of us.

If they had really intended to use us as bait, they would not have used such a cumbersome means of leaving behind clear evidence as trial registration in the first place.

Just like Veronica believed in me, I want to believe in her.

“Certainly, in that situation, there would have been no way in which I would have been entrusted with a mission such as rescuing survivors. Sorry, I guess I was too sensitive.”

“No. That could be true. Since you are always more cautious than me, I always rely on you.”

“Really? Hehehe.”

Laura heard me and laughed happily.

He must be making a very cute expression behind the helmet.

“Iris, what do you think?”

“As the vice-captain said, if you occupy the observatory, unilateral fire support is possible. For enemies who find it difficult to deal with the knights in front, shooting from the rear will feel very uncomfortable.”

“Okay, then let’s take action. Most of the enemies are injured, so taking them down won’t be too difficult. Let’s clear out the enemies as quickly as possible before responding from the fortress and enter the observatory.”

“Yes, Rebecca!”

I led Laura and Iris, who answered almost simultaneously, up a slightly steep uphill road.

The uphill road led straight to the entrance of the observatory, and the birds of prey guarding the place made eye contact with me.

I easily dealt with the panicked guy by shooting him in the head with a magic pistol, and fed magic bullets to the bird of prey who turned around in surprise after hearing the gunshot.

Soon, Laura and Iris stood next to me and fired non-stop at the other birds of prey with magic rifles, ruthlessly killing them.

Since we were not dealing with people, there was no need to take cover.

All you had to do was trust in the magic shield provided by the magic armor and silently shoot at the enemy.

I felt virtually invincible, like when I was taking down a gang.

The number of adult birds of prey was small and almost all of them were injured, so they collapsed helplessly in front of our gunfire.

“Rebecca! Watch out above!”

After hearing Laura’s words, I looked up and saw the cubs hiding above the observatory jumping down toward us, each holding a weapon in their hand.

Their attack had no meaning, but they struggled like crazy and struck the magic shield with their weapons, blocking their vision.

I killed the bigger guys with a gun, and beat the other smaller guys to death with punches and kicks without having to waste magic bullets.

I was a bit hesitant when it came to killing this little fluffy little thing like a chick, but since it’s a man-eating monster that eats people anyway, there’s no reason to show mercy.

I frantically killed the baby birds of prey, while Laura and Iris swept away all the adults who attempted pointless resistance.

And when the screaming and gunfire stopped at the same time, there were piles of bloody corpses around us, and the magic armor was covered in blood, feathers, and filth.

“They were really persistent guys. Iris, how is the situation in the fortress?”

“There was literally an emergency.”

“Where are you from?”

“Hmm… I think they’re trying to fire magic cannons at the fortress.”

“Okay, we served as a good signal. Let’s quickly go into the observatory and prepare for support.”

I opened the observatory door and went inside, taking Laura and Iris with me.

There was a nest-like thing on the floor, and a pile of broken eggshells.

Perhaps the birds of prey who were driven out of the fortress hatched their eggs here.

“The smell is so disgusting. I have to burn it all down later… What are you talking about?”

Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a woman crying from beneath my feet.

I immediately opened the map window, but there was no sign of anyone. It’s clearly a trick.

I quickly looked around and found a trapdoor, opened it and went down.

Then, holding the magical shotgun, he slowly moved towards the place where the sound was heard.

The crying that continued to be heard stopped as soon as I heard my footsteps loudly.

Eventually, when I reached the source of the sound, I made eye contact with a truly strange being.

The imprisoned being, half human and half bird of prey, was held in the arms of the withered bird of prey, completely frightened.

And I aimed the magic shotgun at them.