Chapter 1. Preparation (3)
All the dust accumulated in the surrounding grasses was washed away, but this grass was just too much.
“Hmph!”
A smile of remorse came to Krietz’s mouth.
In this fight, Krietz’s pursuers are more skilled than anyone he’s ever faced. But luckily, I met some of the clumsiest.
Those who investigated for a long time began to gather around Creetz, as if promising.
“It looks like about 20 people have moved. ”
“I sat here and ate. ”
“The direction of travel continues south. ”
“I’ve been gone for about four hours. ”
“They’re armed. We should consider them mercenaries. ”
Creetz nods slowly as he hears the crew’s report. It’s because the traces of his discovery were the same.
Krietz slowly looks up at the heavenly sun. There was still about three hours until sundown.
It’s been about four hours since they left, but as soon as you clear your tracks and move, you’ll slow down. If we follow them now, we’ll have enough time to surpass them.
Creetz’s eyes fill with cold light as he thinks of it. So we can finally catch the tails of those who suffered them.
“Following the trail. Moving in two. 20 meters across, 50 meters on the bell. Signals are loud! ”
At the same time as Krietz’s orders, two of the crew rush to the ground first. The direction is to the south, where mercenaries are thought to have disappeared. And then one after the other, two in succession, with Holden and Creetz moving at the end.
It was a method of tracking across a range at once.
If you move as Kritz has said, a pair of sailors standing at a distance of 20 meters across will stand 50 meters back and forth. There are ten members in total, so if you take a large line from where they stand, a square space with a width of 20 meters and a length of 200 meters is created. When each of these ten members surveys their position, the square space is examined at once.
If any one of them finds a trail in the space it’s made of, they send a signal, gather there, measure the direction again, and track it in the same way. If more than one person finds traces at the same time, the reliability of the results can be increased by comparing traces to each other.
It was a sophisticated tracking technique that allowed it to move quickly. In case the fugitives tried to disrupt in two or three directions, there was little risk of getting caught because they investigated the broad range at once.
However, it could only be used if all of the individual skills included in the group were exceptional, as Kritz and his assistants did.
Pyriririx!
The signal rings without rest in the forest, and the chase begins to run swiftly.
Tracked them for four kilometers in an instant, they were moving in a straight line south by south.
“Hmm, if you keep moving south, is that Baron Bellvonne? What’s unusual about Baron Bellvon? ”
Jason, the most senior member of the crew, shakes his head.
“I’ve been aggressive and hostile with the territories around me in the past, but the last Conquest War is quiet from the beginning. There’s nothing else about this mercenary incident. ”
“Baron Bellvon……. You must have been quite a grumpy person, even though you looked progressive and hypertensive. ”
“Internal assessment in the information says so. But it doesn’t seem to be relevant. It’s actually close to where the mercenaries are gathering, so even though we’ve investigated several times, there’s nothing particularly conspicuous. ”
“Well, I’m sure the grim one didn’t make such a mess of himself. ”
“We should assume you moved somewhere else in the middle. ”
Krietz nods to see if he thought the same.
“You’re right about this mountain being the middle landing, right? ”
“It seems so. ”
At that time, Holden, who has been wandering around with his head tilted so far, suddenly interrupted.
“Cho, it seems strange. ”
“Huh?”
“I felt it earlier…. The trail feels strangely explicit. ”
The process was a bit slow, but Holden was investigating it with that much detail. The discreet nature of it was worth reconsidering if Holben didn’t speak up if he didn’t have confidence.
“Tell me in detail. ”
“First things first. Those involved in this mercenary incident are all extremely cautious, so they never leave a trace. But only these poisonous bastards are left behind. ”
“Aren’t there always a few fools? And I thought you said it was blatant. ”
“Yes, the spacing of the traces I found is constant. ”
“Hmm?”
Krietz tilts his head in a way that he can’t understand. It was because they remembered that the distance between the tracks was random.
“The distance between the trail and the next, and then the trail, is not constant. But if you look at the entire four-kilometer road that we’ve been chasing, there’s a pattern in it. ”
There are no patterns in narrow spaces, but if you move to large spaces, you see patterns.
When the dice are rolled, the odds of each eye being rolled ten times are not 1/6, but when it is rolled a thousand times, the odds of each eye being almost 1/6 are similar.
“A constant interval……. ”
“Yes, if you look at the whole thing, you can see a constant gap. And none of the traces that we found overlapped. ”
“Without intent, all traces can’t be different. ”
“That’s right.”
It was definitely something to consider carefully. Holden’s words are promising enough, but we can’t be sure.
However, it was not a good way to divide people in half. Distribution of power was not only dangerous, but it also dropped to the efficiency of tracking. Even if I split it, I put most of it on the more suspicious side, and only a few on the bait-like side.
But it was not easy to decide which side was real. The traces are pretending to be bait, but in fact, it could be a bluff.
In this case, I had to rely on my senses.
Critz opens his mouth, thinking about it for a long time.
“Jason, follow the trail. The rest of you go back to where you were before. ”
“Yes!”
Krietz’s hunch was that there were traces of bait. Creetz adds to Jason as he prepares to run.
“If it’s bait for distraction anyway, you don’t need to look at it in detail. Pursue them as if they were visible. Time till dawn tomorrow morning. Until then, return to the place where you found the first trace and follow the marks you left behind. If what you’re looking for is real, report back to that place by then. ”
“Yes, I understand! ”
At the same time as the answer, Jason flew south. Then Krietz and the rest of his crew start running back the way they came.
The silence came as soon as ten informants stood still. However, for a moment, five or six figures fell from a tall tree.
“Hehe, if you don’t do something about it, the name of the Brent Kingdom Intelligence Service will cry. ”
It was Joel’s Artroom Guild runner-up, Duterne, who stared at Kritz and his crew in the direction of disappearance.
“Phase 1 went smoothly. Fly the front page to Anton. ”
A guild member who was behind Duterne’s words hurriedly left his post and disappeared somewhere. After a while, a pigeon flaps its wings to the north, with a sound of food in the distance.
Duternes mutters as he looks at the flying windshield.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it, Anton. ”
* * *
The landscape outside the fortified walls of Earl Frost has always been similar. Knight Cadets walking in a jumping posture, carrying rocks in heavy armor. Those who hold walls everywhere and wash their own vomit. Those who are tired of walking.
In the beginning, many colonists were gathered to watch because of the curiosity of the knights, but now there is no one who gives particular attention because it has become completely everyday. Some people sometimes stare at it with their mouths wide, but they are not residents of Earl Procures.
“Huff, puff! ”
Among the Knight Cadets who were wearing dragons, there was one who stepped forward with a resolute face. A face filled with sweat and a willingness to never rest, even though the knees were already shaking.
He was an heir to Earl Poldenwein and a soldier of Earl Prokers, Rudy Poldenwein. And behind Rudy, you hear a very loud noise.
“Damn it! I’m crazy, I’m crazy! ”
“Damn, I’m glad I know that now. ”
“I thought you were crazy from the start! ”
“If you put it that way, Rudy, he’s the craziest. ”
“Shut up, you bastards. Just turn around. ”
It was a platoon of fellow soldiers belonging to Rudy, including Hurley. Hurley trained for no reason because he saw Rudy use his strength and energy to become a knight, and so the rest of the crew also ran around the mountain and together they became knight candidates.
And where that power came from, he was gasping and constantly grumbling like he could barely breathe.
“Huff-puff! If I’m going to make the biggest mistake of my life, I’m going to make it.” ”
Then Rudy, who was a little ahead, turns his head vigorously and shouts.
“Oh, yeah, who’s with me? Why are you doing this to me when you said you liked them?! ”
“Oh, look at that guy. Who told you that? ”
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