Keeping my eyes glued on Alaina, I walked over and picked up what she’d left on the ground. It was about the size of a fist and wrapped in some kind of paper. The paper was thinner than parchment, presumably made from some plant or other. I opened it up and found a small scrap of wood inside akin to a simple paperweight. The paper wrapper was scrawled with ink: “I didn’t know how to approach you.”
“So annoying!!!” I found myself shouting. I glared up at her, causing her to duck behind a tree again. “I get that you’re anxious, but can you at least make an effort to talk like a normal person?”
At this, she pulled something else from the pocket of her high-collared jacket and tossed it my way. It was another small parcel. I opened it up. The wrapper this time read: “When I get nervous, I can’t get my voice above a whisper.”
“...”
The fact that she’d produced these puppies straight from her pockets told me they weren’t spur of the moment. She’d actually drawn up a bunch of notes in anticipation of questions she expected to receive. Talk about dedication to a gimmick!
“Argh...” I mussed up my hair in frustration. “Okay, Alaina! I’ll ask, and you answer. For a yes, give me a thumbs-up. For a no, wave your hands. If you can’t answer either way, palms out in a ‘stop’ sign. How does that sound?”
A thumbs-up—in other words, a yes—poked out from behind the tree trunk.
Excellent. But still annoying!
I was already feeling exhausted by this point, but instead of admitting it, I pressed on. “So the skinny is that you followed us because you have something to say, but you don’t know how to break the ice, so you’ve just kept mum all this time?”
Another thumbs-up.
“Now, as for what it is you wanted to tell us...”
Let’s see... How do I phrase this as a yes-or-no question? As I was mulling that over, Alaina once again retrieved something from her pocket and tossed it to me. This was a bigger parcel than before.
I opened it and found... a hand-drawn map? It featured a large asymmetrical circle that looked like Atessa, with lines that looked like the roads to Zephilia, Saillune, and Kalmaart. On the opposite side of the big circle from the roads were four smaller circles. There were also small Xs strewn about, primarily concentrated either along the lines or between the big and small circles.
“Is this for us?”
Another thumbs-up from behind the tree.
“So the big circle is the city. The small circles are mines. And the Xs are points where attacks happened. Is that correct?”
Another thumbs-up.
“Thanks! But why give us this map?” Back at the restaurant, she’d made it sound like she didn’t want us involved. “Well, I guess you can’t answer that one with a yes or a no. In that case...”
As I was pondering what to ask next, there came a commotion among the birds. Alaina reacted immediately. She peered into the forest, took a whip in each hand, wrapped one around the trunk of a tree in the direction she was looking, and began swinging from tree to tree in that fashion.
“Something’s happening,” Gourry said. He immediately started to take off running, but...
“Wait!” I called out.
Alaina was moving deeper into the woods far faster than we could on foot. Given her direction, she was probably headed to one of the mines. I could only assume she’d determined something was going on there based on the sound of the birds, but...
“This way!” I began to run in the opposite direction.
Gourry, right behind me, asked, “Why this way?!”
“Instinct!” I replied. It would’ve been too much trouble to explain, but there was a rationale behind it.
Basically, assuming it was the raiders who’d just struck the mine, it was unlikely we would cross paths with them if we made a beeline to the scene. They’d managed to elude the local guard all this time, after all. So instead, Gourry and I were heading back to where we’d sensed someone watching us when we first hit the city.
Given the timing, it seemed likely that the presence we’d sensed had been the raiders on the way to mess with the mine, who had just happened to spot us on the way. Which meant there was a good chance they’d take the same route back.
Using my swift-flight spell would’ve sped things up, but maneuvering in the forest was difficult. There was a nonzero risk of slamming into a tree. And going up over the canopy would’ve only slowed us down and exposed us to the enemy. So, with little other choice, Gourry and I were left running through the woods. And after a while of that...
“Lina,” Gourry said. “They’re here.”
I slowed down and looked in the direction Gourry was staring. The sunlight filtering through the trees dappled the ground covered in moss and grass, but it made the darkness of the forest beyond seem all the more impenetrable. I couldn’t make out a humanoid form, and what I felt wasn’t quite pronounced enough to be called a presence, but I did have the palpable sense something was off. More importantly... If Gourry said that someone was there, they definitely were.
We both stopped in place. “Heya! I think we’ve met before,” I called out, raising my voice.
The atmosphere changed. Whoever was near probably hadn’t realized we’d sensed them before, and they probably didn’t think we’d sensed them now.
“I know you’re no run-of-the-mill bandits! But since you keep going after Atessa... I bet you’re really after that, aren’t you?”
And by “that,” I obviously meant... something I’d completely made up! I was trying to sound smart about it, but I actually hadn’t the faintest clue what they were after.
Nevertheless, my claim left the opposing party with three possibilities to think over. One, I was bluffing. Two, I really knew what they were after. Three, I knew something they didn’t know and had incorrectly assumed it was their objective.
If they went for Option One, they were better off ignoring me. If they went for Option Two, they were still safe to ignore me. But if they went for Option Three... Well, who knew what might happen then?
“What are you talking about?” came a man’s voice, unable to discount the possibility of Option Three.
Yes! Sucker! There was a stirring in the dark forest, and five humanoid silhouettes appeared from within.
Aha... No wonder we couldn’t see them. They were dressed in dull green tunics and pants, fastened here and there with sand-colored string. Their faces were also wrapped in similarly colored cloth, revealing only their eyes. They showed no skin—even the exposed area around their eyes had been thoroughly stained with grass extract and mud. With camouflage like that, so long as they stood still among the trees, you’d never spot them even from fairly close by. They blended in so well with the foliage that I couldn’t identify their ages or sexes. I couldn’t even be entirely sure there were only five of them.
“What do you know?” asked the one farthest to the right—the same one who’d addressed me before. The voice suggested male, but I couldn’t be sure if it was his real voice or put-on.
“We’re on the same page, buddy,” I said.
“Talk.”
“Not sure that’s the best strategy for getting info out of someone. Maybe if you bow, hand over a hundred gold, and ask nicely—”
My snark was interrupted by almost a dozen Flare Arrows! They’d appeared from the outstretched palm of the leftmost figure, who must have used our talky time to chant the spell. It was an attack spell, of course—one that let you conjure and fire multiple flaming bolts. The exact number was determined by the skill of the caster.
Gourry and I quickly leaped to each side! Ba-bwoosh! The arrows struck the ground in a flurry.