Chapter 69: Infiltration

We carefully detoured through the forest while heading to the north, reaching to the point where the back of the fort could be seen. The lookouts seem to take turns to observe around the area from the turrets built in every direction, but as long as Leslie’s magic persist till the end, we will not be noticed.

The Zirconia’s base we found goes like this, first in line is a shipyard and barracks are built to protect the surrounding area, fences and turrets have also been built around it to prevent intruders. It has been thought well so they lasted till now.

There are traces of felled trees on the north side ―to make such fort, it should have been cut around two years ago. From that time, they probably attempted to build a warship and cross the border.

“Grass, if the woods felled from here were used to build that fort, can you get some information from it?”

Even if a tree is cut down and processed, it still responds to its tree stump. As Her Highness has said, when I touched the tree stump, I could feel where its woods were used in the fort.

For there to be such a thing….. The sacred tree controls all plants after all. Even the plants on Zirconia’s side cooperate with us who have contract with the sacred tree…!

I organize and reconstruct the memories provided by the stumps of the felled trees in my mind. Then I started drawing the fort on the parchment I brought using one of the stumps as a table.

“Grass-sensei, that is….. is it the map of this fort?”

“Yes. As Her Highness has said, I was able to trace the memory of the trees cut here.”

Relying on the moonlight shining through the forest, I finished the simplified outline of the map and have Presha-san look at it first.

“Eh?… R-Really? The commander’s bedroom… you even know that part?”

“The tree is still alive even if it was felled. We talked to these tree stumps and they told us about the formation of this fort.”

“You can achieve until that part huh… Grass, you mean that no matter how strong the fortress is, if wood was used, the structure can be uncovered, right?”

“It’s only been about two years from the time it was built so it’s still fine. As the years go by, the spirit of wood will fade so I think it’s difficult to get my call answered in that case you see.”

Presha-san and Raquel-san are looking at the drawing, thinking about the route we should take. There is a small door on the northern fence of the fort provided for troops to enter and exit. At first glance, it appears that it cannot be opened from the outside but in fact, there’s a mechanism to open it from the outside and if one knew about it, it’s easy to open.

The fact that only the commander’s lodging is built separately greatly contributes to our operation too. And one more thing ―the large one-story barracks which is likely to be used by the several troops at this fort. If we use magic, we can neutralize the enemy troops in several ways.

“Leslie, manipulating the flow of air is in the category of the “air” spirits, right?”

“….I can influence the air around me and get them to move. They are not as fast as the wind spirits and they can’t be used in a wide range.”

“I see…. there are such limitations huh.”

Perhaps what I’m trying to do now would be better off cooperating with a wind elementaler.

With Arlaune’s pollen, I can place the entire fortress under the Youka’s control. All I have to do is drop the pollen from the upwind, but that can’t surely let the pollen get inside the building, and even if some enemies were hypnotized, it makes no sense if the other soldiers were alerted.This is translated by Yume Neiji (yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com)

“…Grass-nii, I have an idea.”

“Hmm……?”

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can make an “air ball”. And I can trap Arlaune’s pollen in…”

“Y-You can do such a thing?”

Leslie nodded to Presha-san who was so surprised.

By working with Leslie, Arlaune’s pollen is turned into a projectile that can be used to make the opponent fall asleep ―“hypnotic air ball”, its power can be tested by using it on the soldier standing by on the turret, north side of this fort.

I then summon Arlaune through the bulb and let Leslie enclose her pollen in a ball of air. She said, “I can get them to move”, but that small ball of air appears to be at her disposal, then it flies straight towards the soldier who is on the turret ―then,

“… Summoner, it worked, my pollen reached the enemy.”

While suppressing her voice, Laune speaks with excitement. The soldier on the turret could no longer do his job as a watchman as he already falls asleep.

It turns out that the hypnotic pollen works even without any command if it’s just to put the target to sleep. Depending on how I use it, I may be able to control the movement of the enemy soldiers and it would be possible to eliminate the obstacles till we get to our objective.Translated by Yume Neiji (yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com)

“Magic can be extremely powerful depending on the method…”

“Laune, with the help of your pollen, it looks like we’ll be able to survive without needless killing.”

“Whoa…I’m happy that Summoner-sama and Princess-sama praised me…”

“Good for you, Laune. From here on, don’t make your voice that loud as it will be bad if they notice us you see.”

Laune immediately closes her mouth and holds it with both hands. Although we are a little worried with this infiltration mission as we are with the children, now that we know that Leslie and Arlaune’s combination was effective, even Raquel-san who is always strict did not scold her.Translated by Yume Neiji (yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com)

“Now then, we’ll aim for the command center. Let’s carry on with caution.”

Leslie strengthens the magical effect of erasing our presence. Other than ourselves, we became “unrecognizable beings even if we were there”, and finally, we went inside from the back of the fort.

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