The forest was quite large, and the chance of falling into the pits dug haphazardly between the trees was very small. It was impossible that every spot could be a trap. That was why it didn’t take much time or detailed analysis for the adventurers to realize that it wasn’t by chance that this was happening. They’d been skillfully led here, to a killing ground of deadly traps.
Those bushes. That bed of grass. The carpet of fallen leaves before them.
Where were the wires? Which was a trap? What was lurking there?
Before long, everything looked like a trap. In fact, it seemed that the only likely safe place to stand was on the tree roots. The adventurers hesitated to even step off of them.
...Everyone stood still. On top of being lured here, the adventurers were now trapped in place.
No, to be precise, they weren’t held in place by the traps themselves; it was the fear the traps had instilled in them. No matter the reward, there were few who would leap into that sea of traps with no plan. This was exactly the reaction Gaius had been anticipating, and that Sashalia had planned for.
However...
“Don’t panic, you idiots!”
Just before their fear could crescendo to pure, unthinking terror, someone arrived to metaphorically seize them all by the scruffs of their necks and shake some sense back into them.
It was their leader, who had chased after them to regroup his forces, the knight in the red armor, Guildmaster Wyatt.
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Wyatt’s chest heaved as he caught his breath, turning a sharp glare on the nearby adventurers. “There’s no reason to chase after them! They’re not going to abandon their village! If the dogs run, all we need to do is march to their homes and burn them down! Those beasts are using tricks like this to keep us from getting there! Are you all too incompetent to understand that?!”
The shouts doused the adventurers’ spirits like a bucket of cold water.
“Use your heads! Do you think they could stop dozens of us with simple pit traps?! You fools got full of yourselves and did exactly what they expected!” From the victims he’d spotted on his way here, Wyatt was sure he’d seen through the kobolds’ plan. “You don’t want to set off their traps, do you?! Of course you don’t! So pull your heads out of your asses, work together, and test the ground before you move forward! That way you won’t get caught in them!” His simple countermeasure was something any idiot could understand. All he wanted was for them to think about how to get out of the current situation. Just doing that would stop them from panicking. The adventurers close enough to hear him were regaining their calm. “Tell the others what I’ve said! Repeat my words! Make sure everyone who’s still chasing them hears!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
“Hey! Stop! Come back! Tell everyone!”
“Back! Back!”
“Got it! Heeey! Back this way, back!”
“We’ve got one trapped here! Help us!”
“Send help. But be careful.”
“You over there! That’s enough! Come back for now!”
“I can’t move! Somebody help me!”
Voices bounced back and forth between the trees. But, unlike the earlier screams, these voices were rational, with purpose to them. Wyatt had restored the group’s crumbling morale with his tirade.
“This is as good a spot as any.” Wyatt looked around and got the attention of his subordinate still shouting out orders. “Ashcroft, gather everyone here. This space should be big enough for us to reorganize.”
“Sir!”
“You there, start checking for traps. Just around here where we’ll be gathering. And be cautious.” One after another, he gave orders to the adventurers he’d brought and the rangers and hunters he’d hired, and they all set about their tasks with “yes, sir”s.
“Now, Cyril. We’re closer to the village here, yes?” Wyatt glared at the shackled former hunter, and the latter shivered.
“Y...Yes. Much closer. If we head straight that way, we should end up in the field where the village is. I found a shortcut that this intersects with. It’s easy to walk here, which makes it like a landmark. I remember it very clearly, so I’m sure of it.”
Wyatt nodded wordlessly.
“A-Anyway, Guildmaster, could you remove these shackles? I won’t be able to defend myself if something happens. And I don’t think you need my guidance anymore.”
“No. In fact, I’d like to have your legs bound, too. It’s your fault we lost so many last time. I’m only keeping you alive until we’re through with this mission.”
“B-But sir...”
The surrounding adventurers all turned to Cyril with loathing, some of them even spitting in his direction. It wasn’t that the dead Hubert had been very popular among the adventurers, or that they felt a solidarity with their own, but they still couldn’t accept what Cyril had done.
Eventually, the stragglers caught up. Those who’d rushed ahead returned and the injured were being retrieved. The corpses would have to wait. During all that, a few more fell victim to more hidden traps, but as no one was off on their own anymore, they were able to get help quickly and it didn’t lead to another mass panic.
“Looks like things aren’t going as they planned, either.” Ashcroft said. Wyatt turned away from the healer he’d been speaking to and looked in the direction Cyril had said the kobolds’ village was. He spotted the beasts and that swordswoman watching the gathering adventurers with regret.
“It’s pretty obvious what they were trying to do now. But with this many of us together, they’re not even going to get close anymore.”
“Looks like it.”
“We’ve suffered significant losses, but we can start getting back to our plan now.”
If they could send the injured to the rear, then the remaining members of their parties would be able to fight without misgivings. Their whole force wouldn’t have to be halted here. Thanks to Wyatt catching up to them, the group that was lured into the forest had been mostly recovered.
That should have been the case, anyway...
Hyooh.
Hyooh.
“Huh?” Cyril had been crouching to rest his weary, shackled arms, but he suddenly stood. The hunters who had finished checking for traps nearby also started glancing around warily.
“You hear that?”
“Yeah.”
“Th-That was a warning! I’m sure of it!”