Chapter 97: The devil’s deception
After break, everyone forms a line that starts moving again.
[Acttually, I intended to ask and listen various of thing at the first break.
But because I wait until everyone catch their breath, wait for weapons choice and then wasting a lot of time with that fuss. I could not confirm the situation.
I can’t waste time, we will take a break many times anyway, so I listened to their story at the next break.
It’s impossible for ordinary people to talk about important story while walking the night forest in one column anyway] (Mile’s inner thought)
After walking for a while, Mile noticed a strange reaction of detection magic.
(... brown?) (Mile)
Those who don’t have hostility are blue, those who have hostility are red, those who don’t have both are yellow and those in between are displayed with mixed colors between them. And the display a little ahead is brown.
No, rather than brown I should say it’s ocher color ... and it was quite close.
Only a little bit and we will reach the brown marking, I will see it soon...
...(A Wild) Large monster or animal feces appear.
It seems that brown is mark of attention so we will not to stepped on it.
It was both useful and useless ... anyway we were saved.
(Oh, that’s right!) (Mile)
Mile stops and giving instructions to everyone in the rear row.
「There is a big feces, so please be careful! And we will take a break shortly!」(Mile)
The others walk carefully while paying attention to feces. And then they find a suitable place ahead and take a break.
And Mile went back a little. To the place of the feces
「Make a fragile container with the thin earth cover, coat the outside with magical power, give it strength, put feces in ...」(Mile)
Of course, putting feces into a container by magic, not touch directly.
And Mile was doing something suspicious.
「Among the smell of farts, it’s a protein system that becomes a source of particularly bad smell ...
A gas such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, indole, skatole, volatile amine, etc...」(Mile)
Mile put various things taken out from the item box in containers and transform them with magically degenerate and mix.
And lastly Mile drops some suspicious pebbles.
Mile gave an order 「magical pebbles that keep heating for a long time」
Nano-machines stuck to pebbles follow Mile’s instructions 「Continue to heat up for 24 hours or until this container breaks」
At the moment the nano-machines stuck to the pebbles were dropped into the container, they realized their fate.
(Ayaaaaaa ~ ~ !!) (Nano Machine+)
Mile covers containers again with magical coating and fixed it carefully at base of the tree branch.
And then she ties the white handkerchief out of her pocket to that branch.
It’s not a mark but white colour stands out a lot.
It’s also have Mile’s odor so the probability that the chasing beastkins miss it quite low.
「Thank you for waiting! Well, let’s go!」(Mile)
Mile who went back to the place where everyone was taking a break, as if nothing had happened. And she started leading the party again ...
***
The next morning, when the sun rise.
A morning watchman headed to hut that held prisoners to replace the night watchmen.
At the moment the door was opened, that sight was reflected in their eyes.
The wooden grid cut with a sharp cut, fragments of a scattering everywhere, the night watchmen are unconscious on the chairs, a large hole opens in the wall opposite the entrance...
「The prisoner had escaped!」(Watchman)
The watchman shouts with a loud voice
「Damn, that’s why I told you to make a better accommodation facility!」(Chasing Team Leader)
That’s fast organized party to capture escaped prisoner. A man who was given the command, was complaining while chasing.
Nevertheless, what he said still showed he is a good beastkin, because he never said words such as 「I will kill you」
But no matter how good he is, those who come to the battlefield as soldiers will kill people without hesitation if he received order.
The number of capture party is 20 beastkins.
Even they chasing in a hurry, they didn’t forget to check the confiscated weapons etc. before going. The prisoners had escaped barehand. The beastkins have no thing to fear in the battle with bare hand humans in the forest.
They even think that 10 people were too much, but they are still becareful with those who came to rescue.
And because they didn’t know the number nor the identity of the rescue party, they increased double their number to be safe.
(Beastkin leader POV)
From the report, there seems to be some female hunters was lost and run away after had a fight with our comrades but I can’t imagine such young girls who were run away after meeting our comrades could do anything.
I’m still wondering a little that our comrades said that they were easily defeated those hunters and chased them away. But why didn’t our comrades catch them.
Well, I doubt they are the one who rescue the prisoners.
Beside, if I was a human and met beastkins in the forest, I would get surprised and ran away.
There is no particular problem if they didn’t spot our camp.
Having a lot of unnecessary captives has no advantage in the first place
The chasing team leader thinks so.
[As long as no major problems occurred, humans will not cause trouble to the beastkins.
Although our relationship isn’t good but we still have the peace-treaty for the time being.
That was to avoid war.
To avoid our relationships worsened any further.
It was decided that humans or beastkins that cause trouble have to take responsibility by themself, not the whole race.
Both humans and beastkins had know that fact.
So, we must must absolutely re-capture those who ran away.
Even worst case, the information leaks, I don’t think the humans can move large army so soon.
It will take time to do so, and I’d like to secure surely enough time to finish our work here instead of withdraw
Just 10 more days, we will be manageable ...
I don’t believe that the humans can run a long distance in the night.
Humans should know, even if they try to get away as soon as possible but it’s inefficient move through night and accumulate fatigue physic, mental power. And when It got brighter, they could hardly move with those injury and fatigue. It is really stupid thing to do.
The leader thinking as he follows the olfaction, night vision, judgment.
The scout suddenly stopped, and the leader also frustrating stop himself somehow.
The following people also stopped and gathered.
「What happened?」(Leader)
「Yes, that ... 」(Scout)
Looking at the way the scout points, I saw a white cloth that looks like a marker on a tree branch and a container like a pot placed on the base of the branch.
「...What’s that?」(Leader)
「Well...」(Scout)
Even I’m curious about it. Time is important now.
As long as we stop here, they still keep moving and the distance will be longer.
However, I couldn’t leave this suspicious thing as it was.
「... Did they thought that it would be difficult to escape with this, so I put a landmark so they come to pick it up later?
Don’t they think that we can trace this trace so precisely.
Did they think we couldn’t find it, or ...」(Leader)
A trap?
Even though I’m thinking about that but I could leave this a alone and go ahead, what if I was wrong.
Besides, I do not know the reason why human hunters bother brought this things that seem to be heavy.
What did those hunters that didn’t know our beastkin’s existence, they just came to search for the missing hunters?
「... Did they find something near the excavation site and try to take it home?
No, because what we are looking at the site is ...」(Leader)
Again, there was only one conclusion.
「Check it out! Be careful, take down gently!」(Hunter)
Following the instructions from the leader, several young people gathered at the root of the tree marked with white cloth.
And the magical coating of the container disappeared at the moment everyone gently touched the container placed on the branch of the tree about 160 cm in height from the ground.
Pa~an! (SFX)
The container burst with an explosive sound, the contents scattered around.
The container itself was very thin made only by hardening soil. It wasn’t self-destructed yet only because the the magical coating outside.
Otherwise, it would have been broken just by the weight of the contents and the internal pressure increased.
The thin fragile container fragments didn’t cause harm to the beastkins...
However...
Batari (SFX) (splash I guess)
Bata bata (SFX)
Of 20 people, several people fainted on spot without a voice.
Those beastkins have whitened eyes, blowing foam and are cramping. There’re beastkins who is incontinent and soaks her groin.
Geee ~e! (Beastkins)
Gyaaaaaaa! (Beastkins)
There’re beastkins suffer in the stomach and vomit.
The leader holds his nose and breaths with mouth, tries to make himself consciousness while yelling ...
「... ..., withdraw! Take the fallen guys away too! They will die if we leave them there!!」(Leader)
After plenty of seconds, after spitting up to the (rainbow) stomach juice, the beastkins want to escape as soon as possible to the direction of the leader while grabbing their fallen comrade and dragged.
However, the bodies of those beaskins had a mystery mucus and stinky body.
It wasn’t a level that a beastman good with smell can bear.
Even those beastkins who drag their comrade keep vomiting with tears and runny nose, their face was soooo messy. They try their best to keep themself consciousness.
Some of them couldn’t bear it anymore and collapsed on spot.
「Take off your clothes! Breathe out with your mouth, keep your consciousness!」(Leader)
If they let go of clothes penetrated with liquid, it will be a little better.
After that, we have to leave the site as soon as possible ....
It is no longer a chase with trace or capture.
Olfactory? Everyone already take heavy damage and can’t even use it for several days.
Combat? In such a state that we can’t stand straight?
「We will head straight to the water field and then return to the excavation site ...」(Leader)
The leader ordered the change of destination.
It is natural. If you do return as it is, everyone remaining in the excavation site will be destroyed as well.
It was such a bad smell.
The leader muttered with an expression of agony.
「It’s a devil’s deception ...」(Leader)
And at that time「a lot of small things that can not be seen by the eyes」jumped out of the ruptured container and flew aiming at the water field with full speed while crying.
Translator’s Note: Please keep it civil.