Peijin & Co. had provided the expeditionary party with carts, which had been loaded with supplies packed into wooden boxes. Those were now being pulled to the beach under the cover of concealment magic. At the beach was a merchant ship, which the Peijins had hurriedly arranged, and goblins were currently hard at work loading delivered supplies on board.
The goblins were capable of controlling water through magic, but their powers stretched well beyond simply handling the flow of water. They could completely bend water to their will, and in this way they ensured that every single box was packed onto the ship entirely dry.
I’d expected all of this, but I do feel a touch sorry for the Peijins. They’ve said this ship is ours once it reaches Baarbadal’s shores because any attempt to return it might only draw suspicion...and potentially trouble. Still, seeing as they readied us a ship out of the goodness of their hearts, it would be a shame not to put it to good use.
This is quite the stroke of good fortune. Yes, we’ve paid a fair sum and a share of the most expensive equipment we looted, but all of that pales in comparison to the value this ship brings us.
Aymer was sitting on Aruharu’s head overseeing the supply loading when Aruharu spoke. The young woman was dressed in new clothes now, having recently picked out some that suited her from among their supplies.
“That falconkin sure has some eyes on him, huh?” she said. “It couldn’t have been easy counting two thousand troops from the sky.”
“Oh, he didn’t count all of them,” commented Aymer. “He only needed to count a portion of them. That portion could then be used to estimate the overall size of the force. Ah, I see you don’t quite follow. Let’s look at an example—take a look at the heap of boxes before us. Now, make a circle with your fingers and look through it. How many boxes do you see in that circle?”
Aruharu—dressed in her new dress, shirt, and waistcoat—did as she was told.
“Uh...four,” she replied.
“Very good. Now I’d like you to count how many of those circles it would take to cover all the boxes you see. There’s no need to be exact; we don’t require an exact number.”
“Uh... About ten circles,” said Aruharu.
“So we have four boxes per circle, and one heap of boxes about the size of ten circles. That gives us forty boxes. We also know that there’s another row of boxes behind the ones we can see, so if we double that we reach eighty in total. Now, I know for a fact that there’s a total of seventy-six boxes there, so in the end we weren’t too far off.”
Aymer explained that this was the method Sahhi used to count the number of soldiers in the insurgent battalion. Because armies often marched in orderly formations, this counting style was very effective.
“Naturally, you end up with a rough estimate and not an exact number,” said Aymer, “but nonetheless it’s especially helpful when you’re in a rush or you don’t want to be spotted.”
“Huh... And so now that we’ve counted the rough number of what we’re up against, we’re going to run subterfuge on them...? Is that even possible? I saw you giving Zorg orders. You’re going to use the concealment magic and late night attacks—is that it? Because to be honest, I don’t see it going very well given the disparity in numbers.”
“They don’t have to do the job perfectly,” replied Aymer. “All they need to do is buy us some time. A day—or maybe even half a day—should be enough. We’ve largely accomplished what we set out to do, and all that’s left now is to retreat, which is the easy part. We already have our escape route and means secured.”
As far as Aymer was concerned, all they needed now was just a little extra time.
“And while two thousand troops is a lot,” Aymer continued, “stopping their march for even a little will only eat into what supplies they have left. In truth, the insurgents lost the moment they ordered such a large force to address us. We’re the reason they’re low on supplies, and yet they’ve chosen a strategy that will only waste a great deal of what they have left. You really have to wonder how long their morale will hold out...”
“Hmm... And I know firsthand how much it sucks to starve,” Aruharu noted. “It’s thanks to you that I can eat my fill again, but up until I ran into you guys, it was hell.”
Aruharu clasped her hands behind her head and stared at the boxes of supplies before them. Most of it was equipment, but there was a little food among it all, and it was this that Aruharu had her eyes on.
“The food is for our trip home,” said Aymer. “You’re not to touch it any earlier, please. We’re going to wait here until our friends arrive to load everything, and they’ll likely bring food with them—expect lots of seafood.”
“Wow! Seafood! Now there’s something to look forward to! Sure, sure, no touching the food. I get you. Not like I’d go and do it behind your back anyway. I don’t want you scolding me.”
Aruharu chuckled. While Aymer couldn’t see her friend’s face from the top of her head, she knew Aruharu well enough now that she knew the girl’s expression without looking. With a little sigh, she turned her gaze to the north, where Zorg and the others had set off to disrupt the enemy, and silently prayed for their safe return.
✦ ✦ ✦
Zorg hid in the shadows, his breathing so slow and light it was almost like he wasn’t breathing at all. He held in his hands a magical stone from which he drew power to cast his concealment magic. He had washed off his own scent in river water, masked it in mud and various other local scents, and decked himself out in camouflage. He peeked out from behind a tree and watched as armored troops marched along mountain paths.
The path the soldiers walked had been made by clearing the trees. Zorg noticed that they had been split into platoons by race, and one in particular caused him to let out a short, surprised gasp. The soldiers were dressed in silver-white armor, with bows crafted from white wood over their shoulders. Their long hair wavered in the breeze, revealing long, pointed ears—ears that Zorg had seen before.
“I’d heard they might be here,” he whispered, “but I never expected them to play a part in all of this.”
“So what now?” one of his fellow onikin asked. “Do we let them go? They’re the same race as your nieces, right?”
“We’ve no good reason to let them go. They’re the ones who kicked my nieces out of the village they called home. I’ve half a mind to teach them a harsh lesson as a message that they’re not to come anywhere near the twins, but I’m not about to disobey Aymer’s orders. Right now, that’s our focus.”
The onikin nodded, and the group walked through the trees, each of them carrying magical stones and rope.
“All we have to do is follow orders,” whispered Zorg to himself. “Aymer will have worked something out for the twins should anything happen.”
The time had come to put their plan into action, and Zorg gripped his magical stone tight.