章節 48: Setting Up the Traps

"Cuh... Carriem...!" Zuzu lifts up her cutesy magic staff into the sky after an adorable twirl, her cheeks blushing red with strained effort. She barely manages to squeak the incantation out but hey, it still works! The staff glows a little brightly with a generic, twinkly magic light and a couple of the baited bear traps rise into the air, lifted by her magic energies.

"Good job, Zutiria. Send them off over to the field, now." Boss is overseeing the operation diligently, making sure every bit of his plan goes off without a hitch.

For now I just gotta wait as Zuzu finishes transporting the traps into the steezweed field. It sure is taking her a while, though. We ended up with a whopping sixteen whole traps from the evil-looking butcher but because of Zuzu's shaky control over her magic she can only lift two or three of them at once. Then she has to fly them all the way over to the drug field, which takes a fair bit longer than I was expecting.

The good part though is that amazingly, right after she sets down the first few into the soft green of the distant field we almost immediately hear the loud, pained cries of several desperate demonic wolves being snapped up by powerful metal jaws.

It worked! It totally fucking worked right off the bat!

'I must admit, Sir. When you said you had a plan I did not assume it would be as elaborate or effective as this.' My cute little friend smiles and begins magically lifting the next batch and sending them up, up and away.

"I'm impressed, too! This is a lot more involved just telling us what to do against a certain enemy type, Boss. I mean, damn. More Guild Masters should work their asses off like you do." I smile and try to do my best to praise him, but my heart sinks when I watch the expression on his face sour fast.

"That just ties into some more of the commercialization aspect of it. Under the current system..." He looks at me and realizes he might be, uh, drowning me in info. He kinda is but I don't have the heart to tell him.

He sighs, shakes his head and tries to dumb it down a little bit for me. "Ok, so... If we were a lot more involved like the old days then I would think the Guild would deserve a larger cut for oversight and planning, meaning adventurers would take a slightly smaller reward."

"That... makes sense." I tilt my head to one side and think about the logistics. I ain't suited for this kinda thinking but I mean it DOES sound right, I think. I was never too good at some of the money crap the royal tutors tried to teach me about. Economy flew in one ear and out the other. Gods, I don't ever wanna be Queen of this realm...

Right after Zuzu sets down the new batch and we hear even more pained yelping, she turns to us and says, 'If I had to guess that would lead to two distinct problems. The adventurers don't want less pay, and the Guild Masters don't see the value in spending the extra time when many view adventurers as... expendable. Even if one side is willing to compromise it's likely the other won't care enough to.'

Anger rises up from behind Boss's sunglasses, not at Zuzu, but from the topic at hand. He clenches his fist, grits his teeth and all that kinda manly shit before sighing. "You're correct."

Everyone's quiet as Zuzu floats the remaining traps over into the field a little bit at a time. Sure enough, Boss was right just like always. Each time one lands a wolf shortly cries out in pain, with almost no delay. Problem is even as the last trap clattered to the ground, a few seconds later another furious and pained wolf cry reached our ears, meaning there might be more than sixteen.

"I was afraid of this. I can't believe that despicable, potion junky of a farmer. He tried to send us in here saying there was only one, but he was well fucking aware..." Boss's grumpiness continues to rise and he kicks some dirt off the road in frustration.

"Boss, how come you were able to tell that he was lying so quickly?" I tilt my head and point my finger into my chin, puzzled. He does seem to have a pretty good bullshit detector, after all...

"Have I not mentioned?" He takes off his glasses for a split second. "I'm good at reading most people's body language for signs that they're lying. It doesn't work on everyone, but for 'simpler' folk like our friend Spliffert, well. Needless to say he wasn't exactly going to be pulling a fast one on me anytime soon."

Wait, really?! Wait, hold up Sam. He said simpler people. He means idiots like the drug farmer. I mean if he could tell I was lying he would have said something about me actually being a princess by now, right? Hah. And to think I was scared for a sec.

"Well that's impressive, but it's not helping us get out of this mess we're stuck in." I say.

'Indeed. What's the plan now, Sir? I don't think our traps got them all. I'm trusting that you accounted for this in that thorough brain of yours.' Zuzu looks eagerly to the next part of the plan with great interest.

"Of course I did. Given the poor lack of description from our client, I had to consider every possibility... Can you carry yourself with that same spell, Zutiria?" Boss holds his chin up in deep thought.

'Hm. No.' Zuzu cutely shakes her head side to side. 'Carriem is a spell for small objects. I could use a levitation spell on myself but... not for very long. It's not the type of magic you want to use without an incantation, and if I tried it wouldn't last.'

Boss smiles. "It won't take you long to get where I want you to go. I need you up on top of the farm house over there providing long distance support. The field is too tall for you to see the oncoming wolves, so I just want you to shoot small attack spells from up there."

'Non fire spells, I'm assuming?' She laughs softly to herself in a cute, dainty manner.

"Yes. Stick to any other element or even just arcane attacks. I don't want that field going up in smoke, obviously..." Shit. It would definitely be kinda hard to fight if we all got high from the smoke fumes, now that I think about it...

I cut into the discussion with my hands on my hips. "And what about me, Boss?" Is Zuzu just gonna have all the fun or what?"

"You're going in there, Sam." He focuses his attention solely on me, adjusting his dark glasses cooly. "Finish off all the wolves with a bash on the skull using the flat side of your great blade. I'm sure Bludman would prefer we leave them in a state where he... can make the most enjoyment out of his time with them." Boss sighs, imagining whatever the fuck that creepy butcher is planning on doing with these soon to be dead devil dogs.

"Oh, I get it! So Zuzu will cover me from up high and shoot the ones I can't see?" I think I got it, and it's confirmed as soon as he smiles and pats me on the head.

"Pretty simple, right? I'll be standing back here so you'll have to be extra cautious." He smiles and scratches his neatly trimmed beard, playing it off casually.

What? I assumed Boss was gonna join Zuzu up on the vantage point and he'd shout instructions from up there. Not sure how I feel about this on my own. When I left home I was ready to tear a path ahead and kick ass, but Boss taught me very sternly that on my own I don't kick very much ass at all... "Are you not going to be helping out on this one? Couldn't you join Zuzu up at the vantage point and shout instructions to me from there?"

"I've been telling you that you'll need to do quests without my supervision sooner than later. Sam, it'll be alright. Just remember everything I've taught you, Princess, and you should be fine. If anything unexpected happens I'll run in and use these to adjust the plan on the spot." Boss clasps my shoulder with one hand and with the other he tilts down his shades, revealing a comforting glance of his glowing eyes. I'll never understand how so many people are afraid of them.

I take a deep breath. He's right. This isn't like me, I need to be confident and full of myself like usual! There's nothing in my way, and I'm ready for this! "Alright, Boss! We can handle it. Right, Zuzu?"

My best friend smiles back in that cute as hell, restrained way of hers, giving the two of us an enthusiastic thumbs up in response. It just reassures me even more and makes my blood burn all the hotter, I can't lose with these two by my side!

'I'll get into position.' Zuzu smiles and walks away, before lifting herself silently off the ground and up into the air with a wordless spell. Even as she rises I notice that the magic doesn't look very stable... she's shaky and it almost feels like she's gonna fall back to earth a few times. Despite the few scares, Zuzu thankfully ends up landing safely on top of Spliffert's house just like we planned.

I give Boss a teasing salute and a fanged grin before I run off into the field of danger myself, hopping up over the rickety wooden fence in a single bound.