211

Five days had already passed.

I had left the Furon Council-State and was exploring the unexplored southeastern reaches of the Old Imperial territory, but I still had not found anything.

I had not expected things to be easy to find, but having no results whatsoever was unexpected.

Not being able to resupply even a single item was somewhat harsh.

I had hoped to exchange for some daily necessities and replenish what I had used up soon, but… gaining extra work was not a welcome situation when a time limit existed.

And there was one other unexpected problem.

Artillery had been brought into the forward base Seizeria had built on this side, the one I had discovered before.

After confirming the cannons lined up on the defensive wall with my telescopic vision, I hid myself, stopped, and thought.

That was probably what I had heard about from Boobs Lady, but even from a distance, the caliber and barrel length were enough for me to judge that caution was necessary.

There was a ninety percent chance the mass-produced model I had defeated before was there too.

“With several of those and artillery support… is that too much after all?”

The cannon performance was unknown, making it difficult to interfere.

If I prioritized safety, I could simply abandon that surrounding area.

However, if the reason they had built a base there was an Imperial legacy, the situation changed.

It was only a possibility, so there was no need to seriously consider it, and judging from the map, there was nothing in that location.

“Well, that comes at the very, very end, I guess…”

If I got too close, there was a risk of getting caught in their warning network.

I left the area to continue exploring efficiently.

Another three days passed.

Since there was no water source nearby, securing water took some time, but eating nothing but meat was painful too, so it was not entirely bad.

However, failing to discover anything was not good.

As I was driven by impatience while constantly correcting the map that was gradually being filled in, I grew restless.

Since the terrain was not paved, I had known slight deviations would occur.

Every time I found something and started worrying about differences from the map, the worst-case scenario flashed through my mind, and I found myself looking back.

“Calm down. Get a grip.”

My thoughts had tilted too far in a negative direction.

Thinking I needed to reset myself once, I recalled the happy events I had experienced so far.

Then I was stunned.

“…After taking this form, all of them were related to women.”

Ah, I missed the color of skin.

Apparently, my traveling companions had functioned as mental stabilizers more than expected.

The slight loneliness I felt was surely only because interacting with people had returned my self-perception a little toward the human side.

I would never return to human form.

Therefore, I would never return to human life either.

It was something I had understood, and something I should have accepted.

“Have I calmed down…?”

I muttered after letting out a deep breath.

My emotional suppression function was as hardworking as ever today.

Now was the time to silently continue exploring.

If this unexplored district would eventually fall within Seizeria’s sphere of influence, then the correct move was to finish searching this region quickly.

“But still, the central region and the southeast too… isn’t the greening progressing a little too much?”

Only now did I begin to question the fact that almost the entire Old Imperial territory had become forest.

At the very least, the Empire I knew did not feel like it had the factors necessary to turn this lush with greenery, even if humans had not touched it for two hundred years.

This southeastern region in particular had been one of the Empire’s valuable points connected to the sea.

There should have been defensive bases prepared for emergencies, as well as transportation networks for that purpose, so the sight of trees growing this thickly did not sit right with me.

“Well, thinking about it won’t help,” I said, and continued exploring.

Even if I gave up on the northeast of the unexplored region, there was still plenty of land left.

I renewed my spirit and kept running.

The next day, my consciousness cut out.

When I came to, I was still in the forest.

Losing track of my current location meant I would be forced to redo the exploration—or did you think I would say that?

I had anticipated something like this, so I had carved the same numbers that represented the map grid squares into trees in the corresponding districts.

That meant even if I lost my reason while exploring, I could recover afterward.

The problem was that I could not find the tree with the number carved into it.

“Damn it!” I shouted, but the problem did not end there.

Astonishingly, the iron plate attached to my backpack was gone.

Though I had avoided the tragedy of losing my luggage itself, the loss of the partner that had supported my meals since the beginning was by no means minor.

This would send me right back to a life of direct-fire roasting.

A voice rose inside my head, demanding a second iron plate as quickly as possible.

Food was one of the pillars supporting life.

There was no way I could neglect it.

“But I don’t know where I am… What should I do!?”

After agonizing over it for a while, what I came up with was, “If I move south, won’t I either leave the forest or reach the sea?”

It probably could not be called the best choice, but now that my current position was unknown, this was unavoidable.

I let out a sigh, looked up at the sky to confirm the direction, and began running south.

After all that, at dusk, I burst out of the forest with great momentum, and a tall, narrow artificial structure entered my field of view.

“A watchtower, maybe?” I tilted my head, and then my ears picked up the sound of a siren starting to blare.

Good work on sentry duty.

When I stood upright and looked around, I saw a small fortress-like building.

It had probably been built in a hurry after the battle with the Emperor made them start watching the north.

Judging from its small scale, its main duties were probably discovery and reporting, and even if combat had been considered, its preparations were likely minimal.

Considering the danger of it being captured, was this guess not fairly close to the truth?

I casually observed the soldier in the watchtower with my telescopic vision.

“Ah, smells like a new recruit.”

It was not my place to say that as a former trainee, but the sight of them panicking was somehow heartwarming.

For now, I decided to relax until the other side calmed down. I slowly lowered my backpack, poured water into a cup, drank it down, and let out a long breath.

The siren stopped, and through my telescopic vision, I saw the recruit shouting something downward with a confused expression.

While I was wondering what to do from here, a horse suddenly rushed out from the small fort with the watchtower and raced south at full speed.

I thought it might be a messenger, but if so, that meant this era had no communications, and witnessing the former Empire’s decline made my shoulders droop.

In any case, since there were people here, I should try negotiating.

If things went well, I might obtain information on my location and an iron plate, or something that could replace one.

So I slowly began walking toward the watchtower with heavy steps.

I could see the recruit in the watchtower desperately asking for instructions, but first, she should take the gun slung over her shoulder in hand.

“Did you properly finish your training course?” I asked in exasperation, putting myself on a shelf despite the fact that I had been scheduled to be sent to the front as an experimental soldier without finishing my own training course.

Then, as if following the first horse, about three wagons burst out of the fort and raced south.

“…Wait, did they maybe run away?”

I stood there for a while, watching the wagons leave, then raised my face and looked at the watchtower.

There stood the poor recruit, left behind.

If everyone was gone, then I might as well rummage through the place as I pleased.

So, assuming the recruit would run away too, I resumed moving, increasing my speed with heavy steps.

However, the recruit did not run.

Instead, after a while, as if finally remembering what was on her shoulder, she clumsily readied her rifle and aimed it at me.

“Don’t move!”

I stopped without thinking.

I could not help wondering what she planned to accomplish by telling a monster not to move… but more importantly, a new fact emerged.

The recruit was not a “he,” but a “she.”

Since I could only see her head and she was wearing a helmet, I had not been able to tell her gender.

Now that the distance had shortened, I could clearly tell she had refined features.

If she took off her helmet, I could probably admire a pretty girl’s face.

That was when a sudden idea came to me.

I would use the current situation, in which I was standing still, and start by easing her wariness.

As the first step, I maintained that frozen state for a while while looking at her as she pointed the rifle at me.

Then I slowly opened my mouth.

“What next?”

She must have heard my voice, because she made a face that said, “Huh?”

Normally, people would say, “It talked!” or something, but she was more confused because she did not know what to do next than because a monster had spoken.

That felt somehow fresh, so I decided to mess with her.

“We won’t get anywhere if I stay stopped. Since we’re here, shall we dance?”

After saying that, I began doing calisthenics, and she flusteredly threatened me with her rifle while shouting, “D-Don’t move!”

From the visible shape of the rifle, it looked like a bolt-action type, but as far as I could see, she should not have loaded any ammunition.

As I watched her finger movements closely while doing knee bends, the recruit on top of the tower looked like she was about to cry, unable to pull the finger resting on the trigger.

“Ah, did you load the bullet?”

At my words, she hurriedly loaded the rifle, but her gaze was completely away from me.

While she fumbled, I moved to the base of the tower.

“Where did it go!?” I heard a cute scream.

As if to say, “Over here,” I scratched the tower with a loud scraping noise, and another scream rang out.

“What are you!?”

Realizing from the shout coming from the watchtower that she had reached her limit, I decided to gracefully reveal my true identity.

“I am lost.”

A brief silence flowed.

Then she timidly peeked out from the tower and asked, as if confirming what she had heard, “Lost?”

“I don’t know my current location. Could you tell me where this is on this map?”

I reached out with the hand holding the map, but the watchtower was about five meters tall, so it did not quite reach.

And the little recruit leaned out from the tower as told, trying to look at the map.

The next instant, the rear of the rifle in her hand apparently hit something, slipped free of her grasp, and fell according to the laws of physics.

The recruit reached for it and fell toward me together with the gun.

A small “Ah,” and a face twisted in despair.

Having no choice, I used my free hand to scoop her up, killing the impact as I placed her on my palm.

She had fallen headfirst, so I adjusted things so she landed on her chest, and she possessed something quite nice.

Incidentally, I caught the rifle with my tail.

For now, I looked at the recruit on my palm to confirm she was safe.

My impression was, “Tiny…”

No matter how I looked at her, she was short.

Since she was a recruit, she had to be at least eighteen.

I thought she might be a legal loli, but her features were ordinarily close to those of an adult woman, and most of the childishness had left her.

“So in other words, she’s what they call a petite bombshell.”

On my palm, the recruit tried to straighten her posture but could not stand up.

The situation aside, I showed her the map to finish my business and once again pressed her to confirm my current location.

“…I think it’s around here.”

The place she pointed at was the southeastern edge of the Old Imperial territory.

“The sea is close.”

When I muttered that, she said that if I walked east from here for about an hour, I would be able to see it.

Now that my current location was clear, my next objective was… If the others had run away, there were various things I could do.

Now then, Miss Recruit over there, why don’t we have a little chat?