The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 3: Trap (1)

That night. Calia headed to the Great Sanctuary. The Paladins confirmed her identity and let her inside.

The saintess was waiting in front of the gate.

“Can I get in touch with Iris?”

“Iris? I haven’t heard anything from her either.”

“… That’s very strange. Then come in.”

I was a little concerned about not being able to reach Iris, but I didn’t need her that much anyway.

The saintess led Calia to her meeting room. About half of her chief priests were already there.

I saw Rogue, Blue, and the Wizard of the Semi-Magic Tower.

“Additional information came in a while ago. A second teleportation signal was picked up in the White Forest. The time zone is about 15 minutes after Edmund arrives.”

Godfrey, the mage of Rogue Tower, reported.

“Can you tell me where the destination is?”

“It says it’s still being tracked. However, the most influential is the city of Speth in the White Forest.”

“Speth? Are you talking about the space Pesima found?”

“Yes, you are probably right.”

‘… In the end, he managed to escape.’

When the saintess heard Godfrey’s report, she thought for a moment. But then, there was something I didn’t understand.

“Edmund must have been dying. I don’t think he teleported. Someone must have helped.”

“Then you are not a wizard in Speth? Oh, there is one wizard that comes to mind right now.”

At that moment, Godfrey made an expression as if he had chewed sh*t.

“Who are you?”

“I am Rafaela, a wizard who was banished for helping the demons. She was last seen in the White Forest, so circumstantial. That b*tch helped Edmund.”

Once the name Raphaella was mentioned, the other Mage Tower wizards were agitated. Calia and the saintess were also familiar names for some reason.

“… So, does that wizard have any skills?”

When Calia asked, Godfrey’s expression hardened. Instead, Rachel of the Blue Mage Tower answered.

“I was the top graduate of the academy.”

“… Even so, I am a second-class wizard who could not enter the Mage Tower.”

Godfrey added, but anyone could see that it was a disparagement.

“It was a mistake to only banish you last time. I have a sense of what to do.”

Calia stood up from her seat and said. All eyes in the conference room were on Calia.

“You don’t have to think long. Let’s just send a large army to Speth. We will wipe out Edmund and the exiled wizard, as well as everyone who helped him.”

“Are we going to war now? We only need to kill one Edmund. Don’t make things too big for nothing.”

“Are you saying this because you don’t know what kind of city Speth is?”

Calia raises her voice. The saintess also took a step back this time.

“After the existence of the city was discovered by Pesima, Count Kalen sent an envoy there. Then we knew. That they are the ones who want to distance themselves from our empire.”

“But….”

“First of all, they don’t believe in Etoile. There is a priestess who is said to be able to communicate with another goddess, and she is the head of the city. In other words, they are heretics.”

The chief priests reacted to the word pagan. The saintess also made an expression as if she was thinking for a moment.

“The war with the demons has just ended. The soldiers must be tired, but I don’t think it’s good to move the military carelessly.”

“You speak like Her Highness the Princess. We have already defeated the Demon King. A small city like that could easily be subjugated!”

“If you conquered Space like that, what will happen if you miss the really important Edmund? Wasn’t he just wasting precious time? Sooner or later, even the Holy Sword will disappear.”

Calia paused at the mention of the holy sword. She knew her too.

Usually, the holy sword disappears within 15 days after the demon lord is defeated. Without the Holy Sword, Calia degenerates into an ordinary knight A of the Empire.

“… I mean, there is no time. We need to get into Speth right now and turn it over!”

“If you act in such a hurry, you may miss your chance to kill Edmund forever.”

A situation where both Calia and the saintess are in a tense confrontation.

At this time, Rachel quietly raised her hand and said.

“You are thinking too hard. How about this? Tomorrow I’ll go to the White Forest myself and find him. I send you the coordinates as soon as you find him, and you can ambush Edmund by teleporting to them.”

“Edmund is pretty good at detecting things. He also shows strength in long-range attacks. Are you okay?”

“I will transform into a bird and be high in the sky, and I will mobilize my summoned clones as well. Even Edmund in perfect condition would have a hard time finding me. Even if he finds it, he has no means to hold me.”

“Could there be a wizard to help Edmund?”

“Rafaela is a skilled mage, but she is not very talented in combat.”

“… ….”

The saintess thought she was worth a try.

Calia still regretted not being able to hit her space, but on the one hand, she agreed that she had to kill Edmund quickly, so she didn’t object. It won’t be too late to take over Speth later.

“Then I will. Instead, since I contributed this much, how much should I receive?”

Rachel demands the price just as her plan seems to be working.

Seeing that, the chief priests clicked their tongues at her, and the saintess spoke with her expression unshakable.

“How much do you want?”

“I want as much as Edmund’s ransom.”

“The ransom for Edmund set by the Church of Etoile is 10,000 gold coins.”

“The conditions are good. Then give it to me right now.”

“The reward will be given after killing Edmund.”

“Then….”

Rachel looks a bit disappointed. However, the saintess immediately made an unconventional proposal.

“Instead, if you really come back with Edmund’s head, I’ll give you three times this amount. How is it?”

“I will definitely make it a success.”

A greedy smile spread across Rachel’s lips.

***

The next day. I, like Rafaela, went to see her Swann.

‘I’m really famous.’

People passing by stopped and looked at me as soon as they saw me.

A look that yearns for me. Really, they had high expectations of me.

“You really had the protection of the goddess. To recover like this in just a few days.”

“Rafaela was very helpful. By the way, now the Empire will make plans to invade here as well. To prepare for this, I came to see the priestess.”

“… Eventually, the unexpected moment came.”

Swan’s expression was calm as if he had accepted it now.

“I sent summons to Sordon early this morning. If anything is going on there, I can see it all.”

To prepare for this, the summoned beast Rafaela sent is now watching the situation in Sordon. With this, the dynamics of the Imperial Army can be grasped.

“The next problem is, what do you think will come out of the hero’s side?”

“… Right now, it’s not even confirmed whether I’ll survive or not, so they’ll try to find my traces in the White Forest. And with the conclusions drawn from there, they will come to Speth and ask where I am.”

Actually, if it was Nopaku Calia, she could invade Speth with full force from the start. However, the saintess will definitely be involved in this matter.

She tends to be more careful in solving matters than Calia, so she won’t bother to increase the damage.

‘Of course, war is inevitable in the end.’

But she will try to invade Speth sooner or later to improve Calia’s castle. So she should start preparing now.

“Is there any possibility of a peaceful solution?”

“No. As she explained before, when Calia still has her holy sword on her, she will somehow try to further her exploits.”

“So, it must be a war after all.”

I nodded.

“I know that your body has recovered. But do you have a good plan to defeat the Imperial Army?”

“About that part, I want to ask you something first. Exactly how many Speth’s forces?”

I need to know the history of this place in order to properly plan.

I wonder if Swann still doesn’t completely trust me, she hesitated for a moment.

“I think I can come up with a strategy only when I can objectively judge the situation here.”

“… 30,000 Soldiers who received constant training. If you really pull it to the limit, it is 80,000 people.”

The troops Calia can use are the 17th, 18th, and 19th corps of the Empire. In all, there are about 70,000 people. If you look at the total number of troops, you can see that they are equal.

However, the 140,000 people Swann mentioned is a number that only comes from mobilizing all the people in Speth, excluding children and the elderly.

The difference in equipment here is also quite large. Unlike the imperial army, which was fully armed with iron armor, they only had armor made of leather. Because Speth is precious in iron.

Still, the part I thought was worthwhile….

“We are basically good at ambush. In particular, I tend to use a tactic of climbing up a tree and attacking enemies one-sidedly.”

“So is it possible to move from tree to tree?”

“Of course not.”

The elite army’s outstanding archery skills, stealth, and ambush abilities. In particular, being able to move from tree to tree makes it possible to use the terrain of the White Forest to the extreme.

The advantage of being familiar with the geography of this place cannot be ignored either.

“Thank you for letting me know. I want to explore the White Forest this time, is that okay? If possible, I would like to go with the commander here.”

“Of course.”

Swan contacted the commander through the crystal ball.

“Did you call?”

Then a man with brown hair and a thick beard came in.

He also had a slender figure that stood out for his agility.

“Take them to the White Forest.”

“I will do as you command.”

So we followed Leon to the White Forest.

And I turned on the detection magic to prepare for an unexpected enemy appearance.

***

“You have to cross the river to get to Speth from Sordon.”

“It is a small river. Even if it rains and overflows, there is no problem crossing it.”

“Still, the army is basically most vulnerable when crossing a river. At this point, even concentrated fire can cause great damage.”

Walking through the White Forest, I explored terrain that was good for ambush. I also looked at the map I received from Commander Leon.

Watching the match by the riverside would be one way, but it bothers me that this river is far away from the space.

We have to lure the imperial army to a deeper place and then fight.

“If there is a good place for concentrated fire from all sides, this is definitely the clearing.”

The worry was not long. As soon as I reached the vacant lot Leon had guided me to, I immediately felt ‘here it is!’.

If tightly packed, 70,000 imperial troops would fit into the space.

But there was not a single tree, and there was no good cover.

At the same time, the surrounding area was densely covered with trees, so a one-sided game was possible.

“In the past, trees were cut down to build a village here, but the location was changed due to a revelation from the goddess. After that, it was abandoned like this.”

“This would be nice.”

Do you have the discernment of being a commander? It guided me just where I wanted to go.

“I am concerned, however. Passing through this place is a shortcut, but the enemy may return if they know this in advance.”

“You can throw a bait and lure it here.”

“And, even if you lure them here, it won’t be too difficult to escape. Is there any way to stop them?”

“Before I am a swordsman, I am also a mage. It is also possible to activate a magic circle here to hold the Imperial Army at their feet.”

Of course, this will require some preliminary work.

So I decided to make a magic circle here in advance and hide it on the ground.

So that it can be triggered later when the imperial army arrives here.

The moment I was about to make the magic circle, I suddenly felt strange and looked up at the sky.

“What happened?”

“Shh.”

I cast my detection magic even stronger and looked up at the sky.

Confirmed soon.

About 50 meters in the air. At a point 250 meters away from 11 o’clock, five bluebirds gathered and were flying around this area. Their flight was slow, as if they were looking for something, and occasionally one or two would fly low and search the entire forest.

You must be looking for me.

‘One of them is a wizard.’

In order to control so many summons precisely, the wizard also had to be close to them.

I tried to figure out who the sorcerer was among those birds.

Soon alone, I found a bird with a different mana energy.

Concentrating on tracking the bird’s location, I reached out to the sky and cast a spell.

Kwarreung!!!

At that moment, a lightning bolt fell from the dry sky, and the lightning bolt struck the bird’s torso.

A blue bird crashes without being able to do anything.

Puuuong!!!

At the same time, the rest of the birds disappeared.

I quickly ran to the spot where the bird crashed.

Paaat….

I adjusted the blue bird to fall slowly using slowdown magic.

“… Also.”

Where the bluebird landed, there were no more birds to be seen.

Instead, only a woman with long blue hair was lying down.