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Cortina gave Kayle, who stood at attention, instructions with a mean-looking expression.

“You and your comrades… Let’s see, take about 10 people as a detached force and go up north on the western side of the river.”
“Ten people!?”

Kayle raised an astonished voice. But that was only natural.

Ten people were already 20 percent of their entire combat power. That meant that his mission would be so important that they’d have to shave off their power by that much.

“Yes. Honestly what I want to ask of you is unreasonable enough that even that is not enough.”

The instructions she gave out after that were indeed unreasonable enough to warrant that.

While the Goblins were clinging to the castle walls, they would have to go through the river that flowed in the urban areas and go to its west, and then go around to the north and attack the Goblins from behind.

The Goblins already had the preconception that they would get bombed from above if they approached the river. None should be attempting to do it at this point.

As such, the west side of the river could currently be called a safety zone. That said, the Goblins would probably still be vigilant towards that side. For that reason, people who excelled in covert actions would be necessary.

“Going there undetected is a must, but if you can manage to attack their backs, I also want you to defeat the Goblin Lord.”
“Those are some heavy conditions.”
“The current horde is clearly being led by a Lord. If we sever the source of their intention to attack Raum, the rest should disperse too.”
“So my role is to crush the enemy’s cornerstone? Now I’m getting fired up!”
“But you would need an able scout to accomplish that. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Oh, I do.”

Saying that, he turned towards me.

“I saw his performance earlier and he has some good skills.”
“Huh?”
“You spent most of the time on the frontlines during the surprise attacks, right? You approached the enemies without getting spotted and conducted hit-and-run tactics. It was quite something.”
“O-Oh, yeah?”

I wanted to help Cortina as much as I could. For that reason, whenever there was a surprise attack, I tried to participate in them whenever I could while disguised. My current appearance was that of Gideon, the powerful foe that I fought in the past.

Given that he was the head of an assassin sect, his face wasn’t well known.

Even so, I still gave off an aura of an expert, so my high-pitched voice felt quite out of place with the appearance.

Anyway, leaving that aside, acting as a vanguard continuously meant that I would fight side by side with a top-class warrior like Kayle. Thinking back, I recalled a few scenes where I led a charge, while Kayle followed after me and dealt hard blows.

After it happened over and over, he probably became conscious of my existence.

“I can guarantee his skills after watching him from the side. With my party and him, as well as a few skilled individuals, we can surely make it.”
“I see. Then I leave that to you. You will set out tonight. When the Goblins start attacking the walls tomorrow, their monitoring eyes should grow looser.”
“Understood. You’re fine with that too, right?”
“Do I have the option to refuse?”
“Naturally, not!”
“Figured as much.”

I covered my mouth with the scarf and mumbled back. My appearance was disguised, but the same couldn’t be said for my voice.

I had a high-pitched voice characteristic of a girl, so I tried my best to muffle it as I could, squeezing out a threatening voice. But even that sounded too childish compared to an average man.

“What the, you sound like a girl.”
“Ugh, I-I’m conscious of it.”
“I see, so that’s why you cover your mouth with a scarf and speak so little.”

There were female Adventurers on the battlefield too, so it wouldn’t have been that conspicuous even if I used my real voice to yell there. They would just mistake it for some female Adventurer.

But when talking face-to-face like this, it stood out very much. As such, I tried to avoid speaking to others as much as I could, but it was unavoidable in this situation.

“Sorry if it bothered you. But we really need your strength now.”
“I never said I wouldn’t.”
“I see! I’m glad to hear that!”

He tried to give me a friendly jab, but if I allowed it, he would notice the difference in height between me and my disguise, so I took a step back and dodged it.

This guy didn’t have a bad personality like he already displayed. Rather, if you removed his illness that people tended to catch when they were fourteen, his personality could even be called refreshing.

He didn’t seem to take offense at my current action either, and realized that I didn’t want to be touched on top of my voice problem.

“Whoops, sorry. Is touching your body no good either?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“I see. I’ll let the others know.”
“Thanks.”

Kayle folded his arms, perhaps so he wouldn’t accidentally touch me, and nodded two-three times. Seeing us like that, Cortina clapped her hands.

“Well then, start making your preparations at once. You guys are one of the trump cards of this battle. Be sure to carefully prepare.”
“Right, leave it to us!”

With those words, Kayle rushed out of the Guild at full speed.

I was worried about Cortina’s state, but it was true that if we succeeded here, the Goblins would lose their control and we would gain an advantage over them.

That said, we needed to carefully prepare for that.

I left the guild while having uneasy thoughts.

　　◇◆◇◆◇

The capital of the United Alliance of the north, Tryad.

In one room of the Adventurer’s Guild there, a single person slipped in.

It was someone with a skin-tight female Guild staff uniform on their small build. They did not stand out from the surrounding people, so they managed to perfectly blend in.

In that room, there was a tool that recorded the information relayed by the Guild with magic to all places using the automatic recorder.

This telepathic spell could be used in military ways, so the formula of the spell wasn’t disclosed to the public, and instead, it was strictly controlled by the Guild.

As such, this room was strictly locked too.

The staff that entered, however, had the key in their hand. In other words, it was someone who had been permitted entry.

“Report of the raid of Raum, huh. Urgently asking for Lord Maxwell. Unfortunately, he will not see it.”

From the female staff’s mouth leaked words that were too low-pitched to belong to a woman, to the point you’d think it was a man.

They gave one stroke to their face, and what was until then a womanly face had been replaced by that of a young man.

The young man—Kufar, made sure to lock the door, and then took the document he came for, and tapped on it with his finger. The next moment, it suddenly blazed up and burned.

He released the paper just before the flames reached his fingers and watched as it burned to the end on the floor.

“Sorry, but I have to get Raum to feel some pain. And not just for Haumea’s matter.”

He then stepped down on the remaining cinders and extinguished them, after which he kicked them to the corner of the room. If the ashes remained on the floor, they would catch on earlier.

Following that, he brushed his face once more and returned to the female form, and slipped out of the room.

He had taken this inconspicuous form and stolen the key to this room. Naturally, the strictly guarded key would not be stolen so easily. However, if it was someone who checked the room periodically for information, they wouldn’t suspect the theft.

As such, the information that was supposed to reach Maxwell had been destroyed beforehand.

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