Volume 8 Chapter 304
Unfortunately, the voices that were gradually getting closer didn’t belong to the imperial army or Roahn’s army.
Alain spoke from next to Lil.
“…Captain, smugglers…”
“Shh…”
‘If battle is unavoidable, a pre-emptive strike will be advantageous, but we can’t engage prematurely when we’re injured from the start. Instead, it’s only right to wait for them to pass quietly like this.’
Lil just turned her eyes and looked at Ed. His face looked hazy due to the fog that had settled between them. As the chilly air crawled onto the back of her neck and her bad feeling worsened.
The crude singing sound of rough voices got closer and closer. The song was unfamiliar to Lil, but she could tell it was a Western-style folk song.
At some point, the song ended and their voices were now clear enough to make out what they were saying.
“…Why is the weather so bad…”
“…Which bastard chose today…”
Soon enough, the sound of footsteps was right around the corner.
‘If they’re trying to pass this way, then they must be heading to the coast. Had we delayed our departure a little longer, we would’ve been trapped in that cabin and run into them.’
Unsure whether it was cold sweat or fog, but something wet formed on Lil’s forehead.
“…Today was annoying. Some imperial soldiers have been wandering around the entry of the forest since yesterday and to make matters worse, people I’ve never seen before are suddenly patrolling as well. Thanks to them, we had to circle back for half an hour, causing a delay. Damn it! Just our luck…”
A different yet equally grumpy voice came through the woods between them.
“…Did they know that today is the day the ship comes in?…”
“…No clue. Still, we aren’t as late as those guys from Rose*… don’t tell me they got caught on patrol?…”
“…Bullshit. In all these years, those imperial bastards didn’t know, so why come for us now?…”
“…That’s true…”
Someone spat phlegm loudly.
The six pairs of feet passed in front of the tree that concealed Lil one after another. The last slanted shadow moved before her eyes and gradually disappeared. Before long, one of them started singing again.
Lil crouched and held her breath until the singing could no longer be heard.
As Alain slowly got up and took the lead again, Jericho helped Ed and followed. The group started walking once more without any of them opening their mouths.
Lil eventually clung to Ed’s back and commented softly.
“…It looks like Linhardt and his men have already entered the forest…”
“But it will still be hard to meet them without a proper meeting spot.”
“Once the smuggling ship docks, the area will become busy, so as long as the Imperial Army is patrolling near the entrance, why don’t we just go straight out of the forest?”
“It’s too far.”
“…”
Jericho, whose back was towards Lil as he supported Ed, turned his head slightly to nod at her.
“It will take about half a day to reach the end of the forest at this pace of ours.”
Lil didn’t say it with much conviction in the first place, but half a day was indeed too long.
“In that case, we just need to hurry and hide. It looks like there will be more people gathering than expected. Did you hear that the rest of their members are running late?”
Alain muttered from the front.
“…Shit, nothing is working out…”
Lil racked her brain for a breakthrough.
‘All I can see are trees and fog… even if there was a large rock we probably couldn’t even find it… Reaching a spot where we can hide well, at the very least, increases our chances of survival, but the terrain in this flat forest is the worst…’
Lil looked around the trees as she let her imagination run wild.
‘It might be safer if we were to climb a tree…!’
Suddenly, Lil made eye contact with a shadow on a tree. Watching more intently convinced her that she was staring at some ‘human looking eyes’.
‘The figure sitting on a thick branch among the dense leaves is clearly a person…’
Lil reflexively lowered her eyes. Her opponent’s hand seemed to be aiming at something.
In the sunlight barely shining through the fog, the water droplets on familiar metal shone dully. Her own gun was currently pointing toward the ground as she had mindlessly lowered her arms when she looked overhead…
In a reflex, she threw her whole body forward and shouted.
“Get down!”
She pushed Ed and Jericho, before frantically covering her head. Alain, who was in front of them, also dove out of the way in a panic.
– Bang! –
Pebbles and leaves bounced off the ground where she had just stepped on.
– Bang! –
A flock of birds, startled by the noise, flew up.
Lil quickly stretched out her arms and tried to press the backs of Jericho and Ed’s heads. But Ed, who caught her arm, rolled on top of her.
Lil cried out as she was pulled into his embrace.
“On the tree! A sentry!”
Protecting her head, Ed hurriedly looked down at her.
“Are you all right…”
“Move!”
Lil pushed Ed away. When they rolled half a turn, Lil was finally able to aim at the tree. But just as she was about to pull the trigger…
– Buuuuu! –
The sentry’s horn vibrated through the trees like an echo.
It was a low, booming sound that seemed to resonate with the forest air. The sentry, who noticed Lil’s muzzle, quickly descended the tree as if he were a monkey. Feet, that already knew the next stable point, stepped on the pillars and branches with precision, making their way further and further down.
Anticipating his next step on intuition, Lil aimed and pulled the trigger.
– Bang! –
“…Aaaahhh!”
The sentry’s body dropped straight down from the tree. Blood burst from the shins that made contact with the ground first. As the man shouted and rolled over fallen leaves, Lil stood up and rushed towards him.
– Buuuuu! –
Another longhorn sounded from behind. It rang two or three more times, so Lil wasted no time in issuing orders in the way she was accustomed to.
“Damn it! Stay on guard! There are more sentries!”
The man, who had been lying face down and crawling on his elbows, looked back at Lil with horrified eyes. Although he had run out of bullets a long time ago, he raised his empty gun towards her. Lil, on the other hand, mercilessly rushed forward and kicked the barrel of his gun without slowing down. She then grabbed and turned his helpless body against the direction where his gun flew.
“Who are you?”
“…Aaaah! Argh!”
Lil gripped his chin as he struggled, his trembling jaw was covered in sweat and dirt.
“Why did you open fire?”
With leaves and mud all over his face, the man shouted, his eyes tightly closed.
“Oh, I didn’t see anything! I’ll pretend I don’t know!”
“Fine, keep your eyes closed then. Just tell me why you attacked us.”
“Re… really, I didn’t see anything…”
With her free hand, Lil slapped his cheek in order to break him out of his panic.
“Come to your senses. I don’t have time for this, so just answer me and go. If I don’t know your purpose, then you’re leaving me with no choice but to kill you. It won’t be so rewarding to keep your eyes closed once you’re dead.”
“I saw you hide from the D-de-deer guys* earlier, so I thought you were outsiders.”
“Deer guys?”
“La… they’re from Lazilière…”
“…Deer? Lazilière? No way, they’re working for Count Lazilière?”
“That’s right! Yes! Heuk… heuk… so pl-please…”
Lil let go of the man’s chin. The moment she did, he quickly turned around and crawled on the ground, choking back his tears, until the sound of leaves rustling loudly faded away. Lil wondered whether or not to tie him up, but in the end, she thought it would be better if he ran away and lost his sense of direction out of fear, so she left him alone. She did, however, take the horn just in case before returning to the group, giving them no space to argue.
Ed stood alone as she gestured at Jericho.
“We should hurry. Our cover has already been blown.”
Ed stopped Jericho’s arm from trying to support him and nonchalantly walked on his own two feet.
“I don’t think you have the leisure to nag anymore.”
That was what he said, but his steps were limp and his breathing unstable. However, Lil couldn’t tell him not to overdo it, especially when they were in a situation where they didn’t know who could come after them at any given moment. Reading Lil’s countenance, Alain moved first, followed by an almost running Jericho. Lil then trod forward, leading the way for Ed, who insisted he would walk alone…
– – – – –
Footnote:
Rose and Deer: For the past week we’ve been racking our brains over this one. ‘Deer and Rose guys’ what could that possibly mean? We first thought some sort of code name or a mistranslation, but two mistranslations in one chapter is rare, it also felt weird that the author made us just assume that they were code names. Then last night it snapped; family crests.
From Lil’s thought process she puts two and two together after thinking about ‘Deer’ and ‘Lazilière’, as if those two have a clear connection with each other. The progress of the story should prove if we’re right. 🙂
Bell Rock Translations 
Leave a comment