216

It was all well and good that I had decided to negotiate with the Furon Council-State, but a major problem stood in my way.

“…Where exactly should I go?”

Yes, regrettably, I did not have a map of the Council-State.

Because of that, I did not even know where any towns were, and first, I ended up worrying over which direction I should proceed in.

I had intruded a little before, but… if asked whether that memory remained in detail, I could only shake my head, and I also had no idea who might serve as a negotiation contact.

“At most, that tiny recruit and maybe one other person…”

If possible, I did not want to meet them.

To be precise, I did want to see her, but if I met her, I had no idea what kind of mistake I might make.

Considering the worst-case scenario of losing my reason during negotiations, I absolutely did not want to drag out the woman who seemed to be my sister’s descendant.

Faced with a problem that had made me stop almost immediately, I groaned for a while, but in the end, I would not know unless I went.

Where had my enthusiasm before departure gone? Feeling discouraged, I set my course southeast for the time being.

Then, on the morning of the second day, as I struggled with the density of the forest that made it difficult to run, my ears caught the sound of gunfire.

Even though I was still in the forest, I listened for a while to the sounds of battle coming from the east.

What I heard were male and female voices—from what I could tell, it seemed to be a group of two men and two women hunting orcs.

I tried to confirm their appearances with telescopic vision, but unfortunately, their positions were bad, and I could not find them.

Having no choice, I decided to approach the group that seemed to be a squad.

Since they might flee if they saw me, I also used camouflage.

When I got a little closer, I once again heard consecutive gunshots.

“As expected, if it hits the head, it’s a one-shot kill. There’s no reason not to conserve ammunition. Aim for the head.”

The conversation my ears picked up was the voice of a man who seemed to be the squad leader.

I also heard his subordinates answering, “Understood,” and I learned there were four of them, for a total of five.

I confirmed that the group consisted of three men and two women.

As I approached, I could finally see the unit’s appearance… and every one of them had the face of a fairly tough soldier.

“Veteran soldiers hunting the remaining orcs with a small elite force?”

Should I observe them for a while to learn about the military’s movements?

Just as I was thinking that, the unit changed course toward me.

If I moved carelessly, there was a risk of being detected.

However, since I was carrying a backpack, there was no way I would not be found if they got close, so I looked around, slowly moved beside a fallen tree I had found, and hid my luggage behind it.

I thought that would bring some relief, but the unit’s movements clearly shifted into a guarded posture.

“Ah, they noticed after all,” I said, slumping my shoulders as I sat on the fallen tree.

That was when I suddenly realized something.

“That’s right. I’ll use them.”

First, I prepared props so they would not shoot me immediately.

What I took out of my backpack was water and a cup.

Conscious of their line of sight, I released my camouflage and drank the water.

After waiting a little, one of them apparently noticed and reflexively pointed their gun muzzle at me.

Since there was still distance between us, the trigger was not pulled.

I felt relieved by the result that went as expected, but the important part began here.

“Are you soldiers of the Council-State?”

I turned my gaze toward them and spoke.

They all readied their guns at once, but because I remained seated on the fallen tree and made no attempt to stand, I could tell they were hesitating to attack.

“Five of you, huh. Did you get lost?”

I spoke to them while drinking water, paying no mind to their condition.

However, their response was silence.

They were probably unsure how to judge the situation.

The four subordinates were waiting for orders from the stern-faced older man who seemed to be the squad leader.

The distance between us was around eighty meters.

I did not know whether it was within effective range, but if they were old-model rifles, there would be no problem even if I were shot.

Rather, if they shot me, I intended to carry them back to town while keeping them alive and press for concessions with a mafia-style move like, “Hey, they suddenly shot me, you know? How are you going to settle this?” So that would be welcome in its own way.

However, the squad leader facing me seemed to be a cautious person, and after seeing me drink water from a cup, he used hand signs to make his subordinates retreat.

“Is he planning to come alone?” I thought, admiring his spirit of not exposing his subordinates to danger.

Just as I was impressed, the squad leader himself also began retreating.

He was slowly backing away while keeping his gun aimed at me.

-Was I a wild beast?

“No, I’m a monster,” I said, regretting that I should have chosen my words more carefully in response to their unexpected silent retreat.

But regretting it would not help, so I decided to follow after them.

With this, I could at least grasp the location of a military facility.

“Were you in the middle of a mission? My apologies. Don’t mind me.”

After saying that, I drank the water from my cup.

At the very least, it was probably better to keep sitting here like this until they could no longer see me.

Before these specs, which allowed me to follow them with either hearing or smell, escape would be impossible for mere humans like you—and as I was making a villainous face, the squad stopped some distance away and seemed to be discussing something.

There was distance, so even my ears could only hear them muttering, but I could still make out parts clearly.

“Why is a monster talking?”

“How would I know? Anyone know anything?”

“As if. Do you think guns would work?”

“If we aimed for the eyes or mouth?”

“If these were new models instead of Type Eights, it might’ve been worth trying.”

The content was roughly like that.

Incidentally, the order was Female Soldier A, Squad Leader, Male Soldier A, Female Soldier B, and then Male Soldier B.

From the conversation, the weapons they carried did not seem to be the latest models, and their appearance differed from the one the recruit had carried before.

It was hard to imagine that a new recruit would be carrying the latest weapon, so if I took that damage as the standard, the possibility increased that fighting in normal mode would involve risk.

“I need to become able to properly use Assault Mode quickly,” I thought, while feeling glad that at least their military technology was steadily approaching my homeland’s level.

That said, right now it was a source of concern, so my feelings were complicated, but it was still pleasing to see a country based on my homeland moving forward.

They seemed to be glancing over at me, so I waited for a moment when no one was looking and stretched out my tail to wave it around.

When the soldier looked back, they seemed to sense something strange and tilted their head, but apparently, they mistook the swaying branches and scattering leaves for the work of the wind.

However, since they did not know about me, should I assume that the matter of the Emperor, Type Ogre, had not spread very widely, and that information from Boobs Lady had also been restricted?

It was starting to feel as if my existence was not exactly welcomed by the higher-ups.

“Will concluding negotiations in a short time be difficult?” I wondered, nearly sighing at the dark clouds that had already begun gathering.

That was when I saw the squad leader, having made up his mind, heading toward me alone.

He approached to about thirty meters, stopped there, and first threw a question at me.

“May I assume that language works between us?”

“It is the language of the Imperial era, but if it still works in the present day, there should be no problem.”

As I answered, the squad leader glanced toward the soldiers behind him.

“May I ask what you are doing here?”

“As you can see, I am resting.”

I tilted my head as if to say, “I’m sitting on a fallen tree, so figure it out,” and from farther back, someone noisily protested, “How would we know!”

“Hmm… If you mean ‘in a place like this,’ then this entire forest is within my range of activity.”

“I appreciate that you understood what I meant, but… may I ask your reason for being here?”

“I do not think I need a reason. Rather, that is what I would like to ask you.”

I essentially said that I could be wherever I wanted, then asked back. But perhaps my consideration for them as soldiers—“If you cannot talk about your mission, you need not say it”—felt eerie, because the squad leader facing me made an indescribable expression.

“The southern part of the Fullretos Great Forest has been declared territory of the Furon Council-State. We are here to investigate for that purpose.”

“I see,” I said with a nod, and the squad leader looked even more suspicious.

“…You are not angry?”

“I have no reason to be angry. To begin with, I live in this forest, but it is not my territory. Besides, when I visited here before, I told your acting commander, ‘Do as you please up to the area that used to be the granary belt.’”

“What is that supposed to mean?” The squad leader in front of me was speechless, but perhaps my words made him think of something, because he made a proposal to me.

“Would you accompany us to the base once?”

“Your reason?”

“I want to know the range in which you recognize our country can advance north. At what point you would intervene—I want you to tell us that.”

Incidentally, even if I told this squad leader that, he said he could not make the judgment, so he wanted me to meet his superior.

It was exactly the development I had hoped for.

However, answering immediately here would be a bad move.

If they suspected that had been my intention from the beginning, their caution would strengthen.

I pretended to think for a while, then made it look as though I reluctantly agreed by saying, “Very well.”

I had been thinking things had been flowing poorly lately, but it seemed that here, at last, the goddess of fate had smiled on me.

Thinking that, I followed after them and waited at a place a short distance away from the base. Then someone who seemed to be the commander arrived together with the squad leader from earlier and a large man carrying a greatsword on his back.

When I saw that figure, recognizable even from a distance, my thoughts stopped.

There was no doubt that the squad leader’s superior was her—Rachel Aunes, the woman who seemed to be my sister’s descendant and who had served as acting commander on that front line last time.

The image of the goddess of fate smiling while raising both middle fingers at me with both hands came to mind, and I cursed my bad luck.