The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

Loren and the group started moving again, but nothing happened as time just went on.

Their opposer didn’t seem to want to do anything, possibly because her forces were mainly undead, and there was no sign of them since the attack on the camp.

Since they were off the road, they didn’t meet anyone, and since Dia selected a route that avoided villages, they didn’t see any of those either.

Then there was the possibility of being attacked by wild monsters, but Loren had denied that possibility at an early stage.

The one who was leading them, although she looked like a girl, she was in an Elder vampire who was over five hundred years old.

Although she had kept it in within the city because it would be troublesome if people found out, but since there weren’t people in the area, her presence was flowing out freely.

Anyone or anything with the ability to sense it would know better than getting even remotely close, so monsters, let alone beasts, didn’t approach them.

Loren saw something in the distance run away in a hurry when it felt Dia’s presence, so he guessed that no matter how hungry the beast was, it wouldn’t come close to them.

“How about we camp here for tonight?”

As they progressed smoothly without any trouble, Dia stopped at an area that was an hour or two away from their destination and decided to camp there.

“I think there’s still some room to move, though.”

When she looked up, although the sun was on the way of setting, it was still high up in the sky.

Dia thought that it would be possible to reach their destination within daytime if they continued, but both Loren and Lapis were thinking that it was a good time to start setting up camp.

“We have a good view.”

“It’s good that there’s nothing in the way.”

After saying so, Loren started setting their things down from the donkey.

Dia, who thought they would start with setting up a tent, furrowed her brows as she saw what Loren had pulled out.

“What are you trying to do?”

Loren didn’t bring out the tent.

It was a single shovel.

It was a tool mainly used to dig holes, but in times of need it could serve as a weapon as well, and commonly used to set up camp, so it wasn’t unusual.

Of course, Loren’s next course of action was to dig a hole, so as Loren started digging fiercely, Dia thought he was digging something like a toilet, but soon realized she was wrong.

It was because the hole Loren dug was deep and wide.

The dirt that was dug out with Loren’s strength soon started piling up around him, but Lapis took another shovel and started hardening it.

“What are you doing?”

Neither of them replied, and Loren continued digging silently, and Lapis continued piling up and hardening the dirt that came out, and eventually circled around back to where he started digging.

Seeing that it was a complete circle, Loren started widening it, and eventually the hole was deep enough to come up to his waist, and wide enough for two Lorens to walk side by side, and Loren finally stopped digging.

The dirt that came out of the hole was piled high up on the outside of the circle by Lapis, and this was waist height as well.

Dia finally realized what Loren and Lapis were making.

“This is an encampment, is it not?”

Although small, it was an encampment surrounded by a dirt wall.

After finishing it, Loren finally started pitching the tent within it, and after breaking down a small section and making a pathway, he started collecting dry branches and grass.

Meanwhile, Lapis was gathering stones of different sizes, from ones that were fist size, to ones that were the size of a baby’s head.

As she piled them up on one portion of the encampment and went outside to get more when she ran out, Dia was watching them, and noticed what Loren and Lapis were trying to do.

“You’re thinking that there’s going to be an attack, don’t you?”

What Loren and Lapis were building was an encampment for facing off an attack.

Although simple, they made a moat and a dirt wall for defenses, and Lapis was collecting stones to throw at the enemy from inside, so Loren won’t have to run into the enemy from the start.

“This is the last chance to do so before we reach our destination, after all.”

Although he didn’t know if it would end when they reached their destination, if their opposer was trying to fail Dia, not letting them reach it was the surest way to do so.

Then the last chance would be to attack the campsite right before they reached it.

“But her schedule is messed up, isn’t it not?”

Unless someone saw them, they wouldn’t know about them moving slowly on purpose as well as setting up camp right before their destination, so it would be impossible to launch an attack.

“If we were on schedule, we would be at our destination by now.”

With the time spent setting up the encampment, the sky went from blue to red, and the sun was slowly setting.

“I thought that if our plan wasn’t known to our enemy, there would be an attack right before we reach our destination.”

Time wise, it was a very convenient time for the enemy since the undead were more powerful during nighttime.

With their surroundings getting darker and darker, Loren thought that it would be quite dangerous if they were attacked with a force like the night before or an even larger one without any preparation.

But from where they currently were, an hour away from their destination, neither Lapis nor Shayna, who was within Loren, and of course Dia, couldn’t sense anything like attackers from the direction of their destination.

“But my thoughts are wrong, it means that our enemy somehow knows that we aren’t near the ruins.”

“Are you saying that we’re being watched?”

Dia looked around in a slight panic.

With the sun setting and their surroundings getting darker, it was difficult for a human like Loren to see, but Dia was an Elder, and she was more suited to the darkness in the first place.

Because of that, the nighttime was the same as daytime to her, so the darkness wasn’t a problem.

“There’s no one out there, from what I could see.”

“I’m sure they won’t be stalking us every second. In any case, I’m guessing that there will be an attack here. Well, if there isn’t, that’s even better.”

“It’s way better than being attacked unprepared, don’t you think?”

Quite a few stones were at Lapis’ feet.

Out of those, Lapis took a small one and drew her arm back and threw it outside the encampment.

Along with the sharp sound of tearing through the air, the stone disappeared into the dark at an incredible speed.

Loren couldn’t hear nor see anything, but Lapis, who was squinting in the direction the stone flew, and Dia, who was looking in that direction as well, could see where the stone landed.

“I think that’s pretty far.”

“With that amount of force, I’d say that two or three of those would be dangerous enough for a normal vampire.”

Loren had Lapis collect the stones to use for those that were undead but weren’t vampires, but with the strength of a demon like Lapis, apparently it was powerful enough to defeat normal vampires.

“Is it not enough at all for True class vampires?”

“Trues and Elders can alter the state of our bodies, so.”

As she said so, her right hand, which she waved at them, turned into mist in front of their eyes.

It lurked unnaturally at the end of her wrist, but after a moment, the mist solidified back into her right hand.

“If they just became one, it may be possible. If not, the chances are slim, but still higher than zero.”

“It’s useless against Elders, isn’t it?”

“Even I can completely negate it, so it’s hard to think that it would do anything against the others.”

As Dia asked if she wanted to try, but Lapis shook her head, and since she found out that it would be useful on everything else, she went out to gather more stones.

During that time, Loren checked the weapon he was planning to use.

Although Loren was confident in his arm strength, he didn’t have the strength needed to throw stones like Lapis did.

So he decided to use a tool.

It was a thin strip of cloth which he put a handle on.

It was a sling that he could use to swing a stone around and shoot it with great speed and force.

He couldn’t use large stones since the sling wouldn’t be able to bear the weight, but for fist size stones, it was more powerful than throwing it by hand.

“Now to get some vision…”

‘Onii-san, leave that to Shayna!’

As Shayna’s voice rang in the back of his mind, the darkness around Loren started opening.

Although it wasn’t fully colored, the sight of a no life king enabled to see quite far into the distance, so Loren nodded in satisfaction.

“This should do it for preparations. All that’s left now is to see whether there’s an attack or not.”

“Looks like we won’t be able to sleep at all tonight either.”

If so, it would mean that they would be sleep depraved for two nights in a row.

For an Elder like Dia and a demon like Lapis it didn’t seem to be much of a problem yet, but to Loren, who was just a human, lack of sleep and fending off an attack, if there was going to be one, would take quite a toll on his mind and body.

“I wish there was some time to nap, regardless of an attack or not.”

“Then how about you take one until the attack? I’ll wake you up.”

It was hard to tell if Lapis was joking or if she was concerned about him, but Loren had no intention of going with her suggestion.

“There’s no way I could sleep while my client is still awake.”

“You’re so obligated about these things.”

As Lapis let out a troubled laugh, Dia nodded, as if agreeing with her.

But to Loren, it was a line he couldn’t cross, and even as he felt Lapis’ concerned gaze, he started checking the defenses and his equipment again, in preparation for the possible attack.