Chapitre 294: Mission to Scout
The next morning. At dawn.
Blue sky, fresh air, and soft and warm sunlight.
Yeah, today is going to be a great day.
I left my tent and looked at the surroundings with a smile. I must say that my mood today is pretty good. Mm, probably because yesterday was a crazy good day. I humiliated Alan not once, but twice. Besides, I caught Bryan and tormented him at my heart content, before flirting happily with my sister.
And to put the icing to the cake, I finally slept with Iris.
I wonder if today will be as good as yesterday.
While I was lost in my thoughts, Daisy walked towards me. As the lovable and nice maid she is, she brought me breakfast (she woke up even earlier than me to prepare it), and gave me a good morning kiss.
Unfortunately, our intimate time was quickly interrupted when Dina appeared in front of us.
"Cough. Claus, Daisy, come with me."
Dina said awkwardly. I could see a bit of jealousness in her face, though. Thus, I quickly rushed towards her and stole a kiss.
"Hey! W-What are you doing!? Someone will see us!" Dina whispered in a scolding tone while hiding her embarrassment.
I grinned "Calm down, sister. There is no one nearby."
"What about Daisy!?"
Daisy smiled softly and waved her hand. "Don't worry, Princess, I'm already used to his highness's flirty ways."
Dina blushed again and rushed towards her tent in embarrassment.
I gave Daisy a thumbs-up and another kiss as a reward. Girl, you are the best.
When we arrived at my sister's tent, we realized that it was already full. There were more than fifteen people squeezed inside the small tent like sardines in a can.
Besides Dina, Daisy, and I, there were also several teachers, plus Katherine, Rose, Louise, Andrea, and other students from the students' guards.
By the way, Iris was the only one of the student council that was not here. When I asked Andrea about it later, she said that Iris excused herself with the excuse that she was feeling unwell.
… Umu, yeah, she is probably resting after our crazy stunt last night.
As soon as Daisy and I entered, Dina coughed.
"Now that everybody is here, let's start this meeting. Firstly, let's talk about our plans from today onwards. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
The people in the meeting room looked at each other in silence. Nobody wanted to be the first to talk.
Finally, it was teacher Tear who took the initiative to step forward.
"Princess, why don't you tell us about your plans?"
Dina nodded. "Very well. Katherine, show us the map."
Katherine walked forward and put a map in the middle of the tent. The map seemed recently drawn, perhaps last night, and it showed the forest of wolves and its surroundings.
After nodding to Katherine, Dina looked at the other people in the room.
"This map was drawn based on the memory of several teachers. It's not one hundred percent accurate, but it will have to do for now." Dina then pointed to a section of the map. "We are here."
The teachers and students looked at the place Dina pointed. It was close to the center of the forest. Moreover, the closest exit from the forest was around twenty kilometers away.
Dina continued speaking when she was sure everybody was following her. "Currently, our camp has gathered around seventy percent of the students in the forest. I'm planning to lead this group outside the forest."
A teacher raised his hand. "But Princess, traversing the forest with this number of students is dangerous. We will be vulnerable to ambushes from the daemons. I think it's better if we fortify our position and wait for reinforcements."
"Moreover." Another teacher opened his mouth. "If we leave now, what about the other students in the forest? Are we going to abandon them?"
"We must leave," Dina said decisively. "I received information that we won't have reinforcements soon. Apparently, the empire's troops are too busy to come to help us. Of course, the situation may change after two or three days, however, I fear we can't afford to wait for that much."
"What do you mean?" Katherine asked in surprise.
Dina moved her gaze through the tent and spoke of something many people failed to notice.
"… The daemons did not attack last night."
Several people tilted their heads in confusion, however, a few others understood Dina's meaning.
"Think about it," Dina explained with a grave expression. "The daemons have attacked just once since we established this camp, leaving after a short confrontation. However, this is the biggest camp of students in the forest. Do you think the daemons will really give it up so easily?"
"… However, they have not attacked yet. In other words…" Teacher Tear's expression turned serious.
Dina nodded. "Yes, I fear they are gathering forces to attack once they are confident in destroying our camp in one go. If I'm not wrong, they will attack tonight or tomorrow. If we wait until they are ready and attack us, our losses will be unimaginable… As for the other students, unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about them."
I nodded. That is the right choice.
According to my senses, several daemons are keeping an eye on our position currently. And behind them, the other daemons are grouping to attack our camp.
According to my estimates, they will attack tonight, or perhaps tomorrow at dawn.
The students and the teachers in the tent changed their expressions. Many of them looked around nervously.
Dina, on the other hand, kept herself calm.
"That is the reason we need to leave. I suggest departing as soon as we can. If possible, two hours later. The problem is, a group as big as ours will be defenseless against ambushes if we wander through the forest like this. Moreover, our size limits the paths we can take greatly."
Dina then pointed to the map, signaling three lines she had drawn before.
"According to my knowledge, these are the routes our group can take with the smallest likelihood of a daemon's ambush. Perhaps there are other better options, but now we don't have time to find them. Thus, we need to decide on one of the three paths right now."
The people in the tent looked at the map. And quickly, most of them looked at the shortest path.
"What about this one?" One of Katherine's subordinates asked.
However, Teacher Tear shook her head.
"That is the most obvious route, so I don't recommend it. I'm sure there will be tens of daemons waiting to face us if we chose that route."
Smart.
"Then, we need to decide from the other two, huh." Katherine muttered.
The other two routes were a bit longer than the first. The group probably needed to walk around thirty to forty kilometers before being able to leave the forest.
These two routes shared half of the way. Only in the latter half did they separate.
"I suggest sending two groups to scout these paths," Dina said. "What about this. We will form two teams of two people and send a team in each route. According to the information they bring we will choose our path. But the people we sent to scout must be relatively strong and quick in their feet, in case they meet with daemons."
"I'll go." Teacher Tear raised her hand instantly. However, Dina shook her head. "No. Teacher Tear is one of the strongest people in the camp and she can easily get the students to obey. She must stay."
The other teachers and students looked at each other to see if anyone else volunteered.
In truth, almost nobody wanted to volunteer. After all, this mission was obviously pretty dangerous.
I sighed. Well, I think this is time to help my beloved sister.
"I'll go then."
When I raised my hand, the entire tent looked towards me.
Dina was surprised, but before she could say something, I smiled.
"Don't try to stop me, sister. You know how strong I am. Moreover, I can't be of much help here unless the daemons attack. I think I'm the fittest person for this job."
Dina hesitated slightly before finally nodding. But then, something interesting happened.
Several people more raised their hands almost at the same time.
Daisy, Louise, and Rose.
Andrea also wanted to raise her hand, but when she thought about her pitiful strength, she could only sigh in defeat.
… Girls, we are not going on a date or something like that, okay?
Dina also seemed to think the same, because her expression turned slightly stiff.
"Katherine, you will go with Claus."
Katherine thought for a moment and nodded to the disappointment of the other girls.
I smiled wryly inwardly. This girl…
Soon, the second group was also decided, with Rose and a relatively strong teacher in it.
With the two groups formed, we decided to depart as soon as possible.
Before leaving, though, I approached to Dina.
"… Sister, are you not going to wish me good luck?"
Dina snorted. "Hmph! I'm mad at you and the other girls. To think they volunteered to the mission as soon as they learned you were going. Do they think it's the time to be flirting around?"
I smiled in amusement. So that was the reason you chose Katherine as my partner.
Are you sure it's not your jealously acting up?
"And are you not afraid that I will take this opportunity to make Katherine fall for me?" I asked jokingly.
Dina was startled. Then, she looked at me with a teasing smile. "You can try. I will not mind it if you manage to steal her heart."
Girl, is incredulity what I'm hearing in your voice?
Could it be, are you challenging me?
"Are you sure about your words, sister?" I smiled with a mischievous expression. Dina hesitated slightly, but when she remembered Katherine's personality, she was convinced.
"Hmph, try if you can."
Hehe, let's see then.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone