After leaving Wallace and the coachmen, we continued on the road for about 10 kilometers. As we carefully made our way along the river that ran parallel to the road, we eventually saw the faint light of a campfire in the distance.

“Van…” [So that’s where they are…]

With that confirmed, I stopped and sat on the ground.

By nature, even in the deep areas of the forest, the Kobold race, which has good night vision, can perceive their enemies in the dark better than the Human race. This is especially true if there are lights that shine in the darkness.

Because human eyesight adapts to light, their ability to see in the dark is reduced. When they move from a bright place to a dark place, it becomes difficult for them to see until their eyes get used to it.

In other words, their light-adapted vision due to the campfire will reduce their perception in the dark. In this situation, it is only natural that we can recognize their presence before they do.

(Now, there’s a limit to how much we can get close to them in this unobstructed, well-maintained road…)

After thinking a little more, I tap my sister on the shoulder and make her look at me, and she immediately sends me a hand sign.

What is it, big brother?

“…” [I want to confirm whether the Werecat mother and her daughter are in there. Can you do it?]

Since it would be too awkward to say that it was the wrong person after setting up an attack and overpowering them, I conveyed my intentions through telepathy to the fox-mixed Kobold who nodded and cast a compound version of her illusion magic.

【Illusion：Shrinkage】+【Illusion: Weak Body Disguise】

After a moment, a little fox emerged from the equipment that had fallen off and piled up on the ground.

“Kyuh.”

After a single small cry, the small beast trotted towards the Merchant’s caravan.

En route, she stopped as she seems to have tripped up the detection-based magic that one of the magic-users or diviners among the guards handled, but the weakness disguise worked, and they did not see her as a threat as she slipped inside the Merchant’s encampment.

We waited as we watched her retreating figure from afar… The little fox, who seemed like she was looking for something, entered through the canopy of the middle carriage and returned to our side after a while.

(Found them～～♪)

According to my sister who was in a good mood after perfectly pulling off her performance, there was another person inside the carriage who was being held captive. But since the rescue of the Werecat mother and daughter pair is our top priority, we will not worry about them in the current situation.

With that in mind, I approached the Merchant’s encampment up to a distance of 60 meters once and warned my companions who were following me to stand down. If we proceed any further, then we would step into the range of the weak magic flowing in the ground and inform the other party of our presence. 

[…It’s “Surveillance” magic.]

This is a magic that is useful to adventurers, as it detects magic power above a certain level within a radius of about 40 to 80 meters and is centered on the magic-user.

Well, minute things like insects are ignored, but since it also detects the magic power flowing inside the bodies of small animals, its application is hard to judge. That was also the reason why my sister was able to pass through earlier.

(Rather, since it was a little fox disguised as a weakling, then I wouldn’t consider it a threat either…)

In any case, if we step beyond our current location, we will be inevitably detected, but there are various ways to go about it. Surveillance magic is not all-powerful after all.

First of all, its range is narrower than the range of a bow, so it cannot respond to sniping, nor is it far away enough to react to a quickly approaching enemy.

(Well, if they use wind protection magic in conjunction with it to guard against bows and arrows, then the efficacy of the attacks will certainly decrease, and it can nullify long-range sniping too.)

There’s a good chance of that happening, so sniping with my Mechanical Bow Baroque from this location is also tricky. We could have Dagger use her illusion magic on all of us, but it cannot completely keep us from being detected either, and it would be meaningless if they could confirm our intrusion visually too.

What do we do next, Leader?

[…What, I wonder.]

I let my thoughts wander after the tall, skinny Kobold sent me a hand sign.

The number of enemies within my visual range is five, and assuming two or three are out of my field of vision, then I could assume that there are around seven to eight of them. Add to that the sleeping guards, and my estimate comes to about a dozen or so…

Well, we don’t have to deal with all of them if the other half is sleeping, so we could just think of it as two waves of battles with seven or eight opponents.

If that’s the case, then let’s opt for an orthodox approach and rapidly launch an attack from outside of their range.

[We’ll take them in one fell swoop. Let’s take down the ones by the fire first. Let’s go!]

In order to disguise myself as a mere monster, I take off my Mithril mask and place it on the ground to prevent my opponent from being able to hear my telepathic messages and stand to my full height. At the same time, I activated the Hellhound’s roar which raises the capabilities of those belonging to the Kobold race.

“UWOOOOOOOOON!!”

【Activated：Battlecry】

“Garuoaaaaan!” (Let’s go!)

“Kuoruaooooon!” (I’m going to run them through!)

Furthermore, as I wrapped my magically generated whirlwind around both of my legs and rushed into the Merchants’ encampment, everyone else followed their hunting instincts with howls of their own!

“Oh shit, the monsters are attacking!”

“Even if you don’t say it we could tell just with the howling!”

“Hey, aren’t those Kobolds!?”

“Watch out! Those are mutated variants!!

As expected, in addition to the five guards who reacted quickly and held their weapons at the ready, I concentrated my power in my right palm while confirming that three more guards have appeared from behind the carriages.

“Wofuh, ruaaaan!” (O wind, show them your rage!)

Among the guards facing me, I aim at the sorcerer standing beside the bonfire and shoot a wind bullet concentrated with as much magic power as possible!

“It’s useless…”

As expected, it seems that wind protection magic has been deployed. And although my wind bullet was suddenly blocked by a wall of upward airflow that caused it to roll and be launched into the sky…

“U-uoh!?”

“What the–!!”

The gale caused by the collision between the Wind Bullet and the wall of wind blew out the lights of the campfire and instantly enveloped the area in darkness. The mage seemed to have anticipated the situation and jumped backward, but an attack window caused by a momentary delay in the response of the other guards was created.

And like I said earlier, the human eye is vulnerable to sudden changes in light and dark.

“Garuoaaa!!” (Gotcha!!)

“Gaah… Aaah!?”

A black-painted Longsword flew from within the darkness and pierced the young Swordsman’s chest through his Leather Armor, inflicting a fatal wound.