117

I remembered this phenomenon being called some sort of “law.”

But as a thoroughly average gamer, I had a better name for it.

“Even like this, the desire sensor still worked, huh…”

I searched for a base near the elven settlement and found nothing, but when I turned north toward the Kingdom of Canaan, the thing I’d wanted turned up.

It was a structure overgrown with green—still retaining its original shape, which likely meant it had been built sturdy.

I’d returned to the old base once to grab only what I needed; while heading north, I noticed a patch where the trees thinned. When I went to check, I found this.

Around it lay objects already reclaimed by nature to the point of being unidentifiable, and the rubble wore a uniform coat of green.

To be safe, I walked the perimeter that appeared to have belonged to some facility.

Only one building had survived… and even that one had been badly eaten away by nature. Whether it was usable would depend on the inside.

(…From the shape, a warehouse? No—this was probably a former military site. Which would make it a garage, not a warehouse.)

The entrance was large enough even for my bulk to pass through, which led me to that conclusion.

I could have opened the shutter and confirmed it, but first I carefully checked the surroundings.

There was no guarantee the place wouldn’t collapse once I made an opening at the entrance.

This was a new base candidate I’d worked hard to find.

I wouldn’t lose it to some simple mistake; only after a thorough once-over did I pry the shutter up.

So I spent about thirty minutes circling the structure, inspecting the damage.

The verdict: the windows were broken, but otherwise it seemed mostly fine.

I wasn’t an expert, so I couldn’t be certain, but I felt “probably okay.”

Peeking through a window frame, I saw almost no supplies left inside, so I still couldn’t tell whether it had been a warehouse or a garage.

With that, I went “gag-gaa” and heaved the shutter up with a loud cracking creak.

I could speak normally now, but the growl slipped out of habit.

Balancing both sides and forcing it open by brute strength warped the shutter badly. I ducked under and stepped in.

“…Nature is hardcore.”

I’d assumed the broken windows would mean some degree of encroachment inside.

But the reality was about fifty percent worse than I’d pictured; I let out a long sigh.

From the window, it hadn’t looked that bad; seeing the whole interior changed the impression entirely.

(This would take time to make usable.)

Even so, a roofed building was precious.

Passing it up wasn’t an option.

I started searching—and, as expected, there was no underground facility.

I did find a few things, but nothing useful; the tools for vehicle maintenance and the spare tires told me this had been a garage.

The interior was large enough for a tank, with room for me to move around.

But it was still just a big garage.

Looking up from below at the warped ceiling, I thought it had survived not because it was well-built, but because it had been lucky—and I sighed at the thought of making it my main base.

“A temporary base, then.”

I figured there were multiple such military sites on the Republic side.

As a stopgap until I found a place in better condition, this wouldn’t be a wasted find.

I planned to search for anything usable, but judging by the state of things, I wasn’t expecting much.

Even so, “don’t search” wasn’t an option for me.

As long as even a sliver of possibility existed, I couldn’t ignore it.

It might not be my main goal, but I hoped there could be a hint leading me there.

Considering where enhanced soldiers like me would be deployed, it wouldn’t be strange to find leads in Republic-side military facilities.

For those reasons, I paced the carpet of weeds through the former installation… but found nothing promising.

I even carefully checked the footprints of former buildings in case there was a hidden room, but between that and clearing rubble, I resigned myself to testing the comfort of the temporary base tonight.

“My bedding set is still back there…”

It wasn’t something I could carry in one go, so the bedding and some daily goods remained at the ruins of the previous base.

I’d rigged the remaining surface portion into a makeshift storehouse so it wouldn’t be looted, but an ogre could clear rubble like that—hardly reassuring.

Then again, would an ogre bother clearing rubble be a “yes”? The answer was “no.”

The bed would be inadequate, but I’d use my luggage as a pillow and lie down.

Morning came; in a word, my impression of the temporary base was:

“No good.”

The problem: when the wind blew, the noise was awful.

There must have been just the right kind of gaps; coupled with the ceiling’s creaks, to these sensitive ears it was basically loud noise.

I’d been foolish to think “as long as it keeps out the rain and wind, it’s fine.”

So this settled into “a shelter I won’t use except in emergencies.”

It could at least serve as a materials cache, so it needed a marker.

Also, a patch of forest with fewer trees might be useful for something.

I tried to frame it positively, but that was all I could come up with.

Spending a whole day for this conclusion felt like a waste of time.

“…North, then.”

I scratched the back of my head and muttered.

I wanted spices first, but something else had my attention, so I prioritized that.

It was only a short detour—wouldn’t take long.

By the next morning, I’d found a highway, but it strayed from my destination.

I’d gotten confident at correcting my course on the run lately, so that stung a little.

I started east, and soon the place I wanted came into view.

(This made the third time here…)

There was nothing in front of the cave where the soldiers had been; there was even less sign of people than my first visit.

I scanned the area, but there weren’t even traces of anyone; at least within my detection range, no one was there.

I didn’t bother to ponder why they were gone.

Knowing wouldn’t help me.

“So, if I want spices, I’ll have to stake out that route again…”

Would the same trick still work?

If there had been losses and the cause hadn’t been removed, of course they’d use a different route.

Either way, I was still heading east.

Hoping nothing annoying cropped up on the way, I ran through the forest while keeping the highway within sight.

Progress was smooth for a while, but if memory served, I’d soon be near the newly founded town.

As a forward base for southern settlement, it would naturally attract mercenaries, and since they operated around it, passing by in broad daylight risked discovery.

(For my purposes, it would be bad if word got out that I was here. Wait till night, or use mimicry…)

Mimicry was handy, but time-limited.

Using it here wasn’t a bad choice, but if I got spotted, that ability might be exposed.

As before, invisibility didn’t matter if magical detection flagged me anyway.

So instead of moving during peak daytime earnings, even if I used the ability to slip through, the right call was to shift the timing.

I put distance between myself and the town, hid in the forest, and started magic practice.

For the record, I trained even while traveling; by now I could produce two flames simultaneously from my fingertips.

But my mana pool was still the same as ever.

Would the day ever come when I moved beyond “one-trick act”?