Chapter 342: From Exhaustion to Breakthrough (1)

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The Empire platoon had suffered such a considerable damage from the unexpected golem attack that it could not function as a military unit anymore.

The reason was because the attack had caused human casualties, when the platoon only had a few dozen men to begin with.

The soldiers, who were trampled, were not the only ones who lost their lives. Some of those who were attacked by the swinging arms were unlucky enough to meet the same fate, and taking into account that some soldiers were so seriously injured that they could not move, the platoon strength had been severely reduced.

When Loren asked why the soldiers insisted on continuing on despite this fact, they said it was because it would be closer to join their comrades, who had established a stronghold in the Kingdom’s territory, rather than getting back into the Empire’s territory from their current location.

“That was the original plan, but we had to change it.”

A soldier apologetically informed Loren and his team of this, but from Loren’s point of view, it was inevitable, and he could not say no.

“Since some of the carts were destroyed, we’ll have to leave behind many of the things we had requisitioned in the town.”

From the beginning, the plan was to leave a certain amount of goods in the town. It was impossible for a single platoon to carry and transport the goods of a whole town anyway, even after Lapis and Gula had pocketed a good number of them. But the carts used to transport the goods were destroyed by the golem, which further reduced the amount they could carry.

“So does that mean what we can’t carry will be thrown away?”

“Yes, that’s what happens. I hope we can recover them later.”

If they left the goods in a town where not even thieves and bandits would come, no one would come to snatch them, and normally there would be no problem sending some personnel to retrieve them later.

However, Gula and Lapis were present here.

The two of them would not miss the goods that were being thrown away, and Loren lightly poked them to make them stop their scheming as they nodded at each other with evil smiles on their faces. A considerable amount of goods had been moved to Gula’s residence at this point anyway, and he did not think it was a good idea to be too greedy.

“Have you finished your investigation?”

A soldier asked Lapis and Gula, who were writhing in pain while holding their heads where they had been poked by Loren, in a timid voice.

Lapis twisted around with her hands still on her head, wondering what the soldier was talking about. But she immediately remembered the original purpose for which their team had been sent to their current location, and while she kept a calm exterior and nodded, inside she was panicking as she had almost forgotten about it.

“Ahem, yes…. We have gathered enough information to report to the General.”

“I see. I’m glad to hear that.”

The soldier looked relieved.

Even though they had been able to obtain a considerable amount of goods and magic tools, it would be meaningless if the results of the investigation were not favourable, given their current situation where friendly troops were suffering casualties.

That was why the soldiers looked relieved at Lapis’ answer. But from Loren’s point of view, as Lapis and Gula had already figured out what was going on before they entered the town, there was no need for them to go to the trouble of entering the town. And if they had not entered the town, they would not have been caught in the golem trap, and the dead soldiers would not have lost their lives.

“It’s not like entering the town was an unnecessary move just because we had a rough idea of who did it.”

“Is that true?”

“It’s not a lie. Look into my eyes.”

The light in Gula’s eyes, which were peering straight at him, seemed fake somehow, and Loren turned his face away to avoid her gaze.

Meanwhile, Lapis kept her eyes downcast and did not make eye contact with Loren, which told the truth of the matter.

With this exchange, Loren and his team left the town they had visited and continued on through the Kingdom’s territory to a place where the Empire army was said to have a base of operations.

On the way, they had to make camp once, but even there they did not encounter any bandits, monsters, or wild beasts, so they had a quiet and uneventful journey.

Thus, on the evening of the second day after leaving the town where the golem attack took place, Loren and his team were able to arrive at one of the Empire army’s strongholds.

“What the hell?”

That was Loren’s first reaction when they arrived at the Empire army base.

Although they did not say it out loud, the others probably felt the same, as they stopped pulling the carts and stared at the other side of the road.

Over there was a base that had certainly been built by the Empire army.

Surrounded by a wooden fence, huts and tents were set up, a scene that would certainly suggest that a large number of people had been there.

However, there were no people among those huts and tents.

The first thing that came to everyone’s mind when they saw the scene, where there was no sign of life, excepts hints of people leaving everything, was the image of a town that had lost its citizens.

“This was also a bit unexpected, but… If you think about it, it is not necessarily impossible for what happened to the towns and villages of the Kingdom to happen to an Empire army base, is it?”

No one answered Lapis, who raised her eyebrows and said something like that.

But standing there for any length of time was not going to make the situation any better, so Loren’s group called out to the stunned soldiers and stepped into the Empire army base.

“There are some signs of a battle.”

Some of the huts and tents had blood stains on them, redder than the sun’s rays at dusk, and some of the fences had been destroyed and burned.

Whoever the blood belonged to, it seemed certain that there had been some kind of battle or struggle here. The size of the base suggested that only a small part of it had been involved in the battle.

But the problem was that none of the bodies, friend or foe, that should have been left behind as a result of a battle, were found.

“Is there a possibility that they had to retreat after fighting with something?”

“In that case, it is strange that they haven’t met up with us at some point.”

A soldier answered Gula’s question.

The path that Loren and his team had taken to reach this base was a straight one, with no branches on the road. If the army was retreating, it was certainly strange that they had not encountered it at some point.

Even if there had been a major upheaval within the Empire army and they had been unable to retreat in an organized manner and had fled in groups, it would not be surprising if they had encountered at least a portion of it.

However, Loren and his team did not encounter or see any group that looked like them on their way to the base.

“Even if the worst had happened and everything had been destroyed here, it is strange that there are no bodies.”

Lapis spoke ominously, but Loren thought that in war, one never knew what might happen, and that one should certainly take this possibility into consideration.

Even so, it was indeed strange that there were no bodies left.

If there had been a counterattack by the Kingdom army, they would not go out of their way to bring back the corpses of enemy soldiers, and would usually throw them away.

“Isn’t it possible that they were eaten by monsters or beasts?”

“The size of the base suggests that there were too many people to be eaten up. If they were eaten, it must have been by a huge monster or a large number of monsters, but the destruction of the base was too limited for that.”

Except for some parts that had been wrecked or burned, the rest of the base remained in a state that could be described as almost intact.

It was hard to imagine that such a large-scale battle had been fought that the entire Empire army would have been wiped out, but here was a strange scene that one could not think of anything at all to explain what had happened.

When they examined the inside of the huts and tents, they found that there was no sign of any damage, with food on the table, untouched dishes, and beds that someone had slept in.

“The Commander… Nah, was General Yuri here?”

Loren asked one of the soldiers, who shook his head.

“This is a relay base. The General is supposed to be positioned further ahead.”

“If the relay point is in such a state, the army ahead of us is…”

Gula was about to say something, but stopped halfway.

Everyone could have guessed what she was going to say, but she seemed to have read the atmosphere and deemed it to be too ominous.

“I can’t help but think… Gula, what do you think? Do you smell something?”

What Loren asked was the scent of the Evil God of Lust, which Gula had smelled before entering the previous town. If the situation was similar, the cause might also be the same, he thought.

Gula sniffed a few times at Loren’s suggestion, then tilted her head with a troubled expression on her face.

“I think there’s a faint residue, but it smells more like flesh and blood.”

“But it doesn’t look like there was a big battle?”

Loren thought that if the smell of blood and flesh was so strong that it cancelled out the smell of the Evil God, then it would be strange if there were not more marks of a spectacular battle. It was hard to imagine that a battle that only left marks in a small portion of the area could mask the smell of an Evil God and confuse Gula’s olfactory sense.

“I think you’re right. I don’t think something at that scale would leave such a strong smell of flesh and blood.”

“Does that mean she didn’t use much of her Evil God’s authority?”

If Noel exercised enough authority to affect all the inhabitants of a town, there should be a recognizable residue, and Gula would be able to smell it. If it was so slight, then it was possible that the authority was not exercised much, as Lapis said.

If that was the case, however, it was hard to understand how they could have uprooted all the personnel belonging to a troop and moved them out of the base.

“Anyhow, I don’t think we’ll be able to move further now.”

Loren grumbled as he looked up at the sky, which continued to darken.

The sun would be completely gone in no time, and it was obvious that it would be difficult to go any further.

But if they were to camp, they would have no choice but to use the Empire army base, which had been deserted for unknown reasons, and that was eerie to say the least.

“We don’t have the luxury of time. It can’t be helped.”

“Mister Loren…”

When a soldier, who could not hide his anxiety, called out to him, Loren scratched his head.

“I’m not being optimistic, but I think we’ll be okay. Whatever happened seems to have finished, and it seems that only places with a certain number of people are targeted, such as the town and this place. They wouldn’t go out of their way to attack a small group like us in such a bizarre way, would they?”

“Hopefully not.”

“Even if it is not so, it is too dangerous to go on from here. Since there is a base here, there’s no reason not to use it. Let’s just make it through the night and then figure out what we’re going to do.”

There were many causes for concern, but that did not mean that he had any brilliant ideas that would solve all of them at once.

Loren, thinking that regular soldiers are not as dependable as one might think under such circumstances, half forced a smile at the anxious soldiers and began talking to Lapis and the others about preparing for the night camp using the remaining facilities of the base.

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