The shrill scream pierced the night and echoed off the distant mountains, causing every monster and animal within earshot to scatter like bees from a fallen nest. It wasn’t a sound one would expect a monster described as “holy” to produce (though in reality, the moniker was one the Sterite Theocracy had given the near-extinct ashmonkeys to make them seem more important, rather than signifying any particular divinity). When Char screamed, it evoked a painful, almost visceral reaction in her classmates, as though the sheer sound was penetrating their skin and reverberating around their very organs.
“Incredible... She’s infused her mana into her voice. I feel like I’m listening to one of the beasts of legend.” Coco murmured, wide eyes fixed on Char’s distant figure where she’d scaled one of the trees. She was barely recognizable as her usual, gentle self, with aggressive, bloodshot eyes and her face screwed up in something akin to rage. It was almost as though she’d been possessed.
“We don’t have the time to stand around being impressed, Coco. Keep looking for darkpherrets,” Kate urged, her tone somewhat desperate; she could understand why Char had been reluctant to demonstrate her technique in front of the boy she liked, whether he found it “incredible” or not.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ah, right... Oh, there! Pisces, on your left! Don’t let it get away!”
“I see it!”
Careful not to lose sight of it, the four members of Coco’s team moved to encircle their prey.
“When threatened, darkpherrets usually try to escape by climbing a tree, but not this one... Maybe it’s because Char’s up there? She’s unbelievably intimidating...”
“Coco, focus! Sophie, cover Pisces! We’ve got a Darley buffalo heading right at us from his side!”
“Leave it to me!” Sophie cried. She darted between the near-hysterical buffalo and Pisces and swung her glaive, cleanly severing the horn that doubled as its mana core.
All through the night, the perimeter teams hunted without pause, steadily driving their prey toward the trap that awaited deep within the Melmarshes.
✦ ✦ ✦
As soon as the sun rose the following day, Vesta and I set off to complete a far more detailed survey of the surrounding landscape.
We’d taken turns keeping watch through the night, which let me catch up on some much-needed sleep. Vesta, on the other hand, hadn’t slept at all. On the plus side, his all-nighter had given him plenty of time to think (which was probably a good thing, since he claimed his head felt like it would explode the second he stopped thinking), and when I woke up a little before dawn feeling nicely refreshed, he’d wearily presented me with the incredibly elaborate “basic” plan for our stronghold.
Even to a novice like me, Vesta’s design was clearly a work of art. He’d accounted for—and incorporated countermeasures against—every possible risk in the most masterful way, exceeding even my wildest expectations. He hadn’t just scribbled barricades everywhere and deemed it good enough, of course. The key areas would be heavily fortified, while certain “unguarded” paths would serve as perfect hunting grounds for our unsuspecting prey.
All in all, it was a beautiful plan. Unfortunately, with the materials and labor we had available, it was also one that would take several years (at minimum) to see to completion. He’d designed the full fortress compound just as I’d asked—including all of the standard buildings, fortifications, and strategic shortcuts one would expect to see—but that was really just to help me visualize the bigger picture. We obviously weren’t going to be constructing any multistory stone keeps over the next few days, after all. No, we’d prioritize the fortifications, which (if everything went to plan) was all we’d need to teach our teacher the error of his ways.
Thus, having given Vesta’s basic plan my stamp of approval, we set out to conduct a much more thorough investigation of the surrounding terrain, giving him a chance to see the landscape for himself and adjust his design as necessary while we waited for our classmates’ return. While Godolphen wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity—off snooping on the third scenario instead, I assumed—I could sense the other tracker nearby. He wouldn’t have much to report back on, however, as Vesta and I were putting on a decent show of gathering materials while secretly making our observations. The tracker would hopefully assume we’d already given up on the idea of building any significant fortifications on account of our minimal man power.
“Is this really necessary, Allen?” Vesta finally asked, frowning deeply. In reality, he hadn’t actually wanted to inspect the landscape for himself. Citing our lack of time, he’d instead wanted to start the actual construction part of the scenario as soon as possible.
I nodded firmly. “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, Vesta. You can’t build a house without first laying a solid foundation, right? There’s no point getting flustered and building something shoddy with just the two of us—it would be a complete waste of time. But if we get this part right, everything else will fall into place. Trust me.”
Vesta blinked. “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, huh...?” He smiled faintly. “I like that.”