NOVEL WEB Ch14 - Disguise Work
Chapter 14: Disguise Work
Lena and the others, having exited the Labyrinth Fall, trembled at the sight of the transformed forest before them. Their faces drained of color as they exchanged tense glances.
“…It’s good we fell into that hole…!”
This was written on everyone’s face.
The forest was no longer rich in nature; it had become a complete wreck, turning into a lumberyard. The green carpet was gouged out, exposing the brown earth, and the large trees were splintered from their trunks, with shattered rock fragments scattered about. It seemed a bear, frustrated after losing its prey, had rampaged through the area. Thankfully, it was nowhere to be seen now, allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief.
“…Maybe we should just be grateful for our luck?”
“Yeah…”
“Ughh—!
Look at those claw marks from the bear! They’re huge!”
“…And there are footprints too! They’re big…”
“Of course, it’s a ‘man-eating giant bear.’”
The group solemnly absorbed the threat of the level 35 creature. Meanwhile, their teacher was scanning the surroundings with his cheat-like eyes. If there were any monsters nearby, they wouldn’t be able to observe so leisurely. Perhaps fearing the unreasonable tantrum of the man-eating giant bear, other monsters seemed to have distanced themselves from the area as well. Was this part of their good fortune? Regardless, they felt overwhelming gratitude toward the Labyrinth Fall. They clasped their hands together in thanks. Truly, thank you…!
“Isn’t this a good spot to set up the fake slime?”
Teacher Luka muttered quietly. He glanced at Kureha and Izumi.
“Yeah?
Even Ku and the others were stumped by this attack!”
“I tried to dissolve, but my fur was too tough!
It can’t be helped, right?”
“Ahh!
We got taken out!”
The slimes seemed to be in a situation where they could be easily defeated. It appeared they had lost in the simulated battle.
If they used the rare species Jewel Slime’s unique skill, [Super Hardening], they might have been able to withstand the bear’s claw attacks, but there was no need to think that far ahead. The pursuers didn’t know the detailed strength of the slimes, so placing a fake corpse would likely not raise any suspicion. Lena had checked the card details about ‘Mini Jewel Slime’ with the guild members, but her greedy nature had only allowed her to notice the part that described “spitting out jewels.”
“Shall we do it around here?”
Lena placed the fake slime tentatively in an area roughly between the shattered tree and claw marks. After tossing the fake slime onto the ground, it blended in quite well.
“Yeah, I think this works.
It looks like the place that was hit the hardest… If they received such an attack, even a rare species wouldn’t stand a chance.
That’s what I would think.”
“Alright, it’s settled!
Let’s break it up a bit to make it look more realistic.”
Once again, they picked up the fake slime. Rather than leaving it as is, it seemed more convincing to give the impression that it had been smashed with force.
Luka and Lily began to modify the surrounding wood fragments, creating a scene that shouted, “The slime was defeated!”
“Please, Master!
Be gentle with me!”
Kureha and Izumi trembled as they looked at the baby slime and whispered to Lena. She smiled apologetically.
“Hmm, this might be a bit difficult.
I’m sorry?”
“Ahh!”
Splat!
Creating the appearance of a naturally squished slime was quite tricky, so they decided to throw it with force. They couldn’t afford to be suspected of a disguise.
Seeing the slime gel’s edge brutally crushed, Ku and Izumi screamed. Next, their master raised the now-decorative whip high, imagining the bear’s claws, and struck the gel! Splat! Splat! Kachunk!
Nice impressions of denting appeared. Even with her athletic sense boosted, Lena’s attack power was still on the lower end, so the body wasn’t completely destroyed, giving just the right corpse-like appearance.
As a finishing touch, Luka used his magic sword to scratch the jewel, leaving significant cracks on the less sturdy types.
…In the shadows, Jewel Slime watched the remnants of its former baby with a dark expression. They had once been parents too…
“I’m sorry.
But I’ll take good care of you in your place. Come here.”
“Ahh—! Master—!
Puff puff!”
How callous.
Well, the bonds between monster parents are generally rather shallow. Though it seemed pitiful for the fake slimes to be used as mere playthings, this was the normal operation for the master and servant dynamic. Despite saying “puff puff,” Lena’s chest was a special A size, causing confusion, and she apologized.
Luka and Lily wore satisfied expressions as they successfully disguised the corpse.
While they were in the forest, they weren’t far from the main road, and there were obvious beast paths the bear had traveled, so the fake slimes would likely be discovered by the pursuers. Buying time… If things went well, they might even fabricate a death. They hoped the pursuers would interpret things conveniently for them and had a little expectation of that. They needed one more push for the performance.
“…By the way, if we scattered ‘the blood of the devoured master’ around, it would make it look even more convincing, right?”
Teacher Luka looked at Lena with eyes full of expectation.
“Ugh…!?”
Feeling an ominous presence behind her, Lena froze. Someone lightly tapped her shoulder from behind. She felt a strong urge not to look. However, the tapping continued.
…Slowly, she turned around. Wow, what a nice smile!
“…You can leave everything to me!”
“Ahhh!”
Thus, Lena, who had provided (been forced to provide) blood for the scene, seemed to have developed an even greater aversion to injections.
The scene was perfectly staged.
Now, let’s move on.
As for how Lady Lily sprinkled the blood she had sucked through her mouth onto the ground…?
For the sake of the maiden’s honor, I’ll keep that to myself.
Having exited the forest, Lena and the others walked back to the vicinity of the main road. Naturally, they didn’t go down the clear path but instead hid behind a stone wall, watching the area. They had taken a three-hour nap at the Labyrinth Fall. It had been a little over four hours since they last passed this road.
On the road, the men from the “Akazuki” band of thieves were still sprawled out like mammoth meat. Their teacher seemed to have unleashed a rather intense lightning strike. There was no sign of blood splattered around, so it appeared those men were not attacked by monsters. Since there were many monsters in the forest, if they had been lying there for several hours, they would typically be found and devoured.
It was evident how excellent Lily’s choice of illusion for their bodies had been. She smiled with satisfaction.
“…Luka.
Could you help me set up a different disguise for those men as well?”
Lena said, glancing at the red-clad men, suggesting something unsettling. It seemed she was getting quite used to this world. Very well. Luka raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.
“Hmm.
You’ve become quite resilient, Lena? I’m very pleased, teacher.
So, can I ask what you’re thinking? You want to sacrifice those men, right…?”
“Watch your words!
Please phrase it more gently; my conscience still hurts…!
Can we use [Telepathy], please?”
“Sure.”
Luka activated telepathy. He included the summoned beasts as well. Though the voice of the master explaining the plan wouldn’t be heard by them, at least they would hear Luka’s voice, saving a bit of explaining later. He intended to provide a supplementary explanation of the plan afterward.
Lena gazed intently into his purple eyes.
“(…Those people were calling themselves a ‘band’ of thieves, right?
Then I think there are other members of their group around.
I want to guide the thoughts of all those thieves.
To put it simply, I want them to believe that the ‘Royal Army of Gararajure’ is responsible for knocking out their companions.)”
Luka’s eyes widened in surprise.
“(…Interesting idea. How exactly are you planning to do this?
Since the kingdom and thieves are in opposition, it might not be impossible depending on the method.)”
“(…First, we’ll release the [Illusion] and create a situation where people are just lying down.
Then… we’ll leave their dying messages on the ground!
Uh…
If I fake it so that it looks like the old man wrote, ‘The kingdom’s army did this,’ then…”
Rena sometimes displays a tremendous level of natural cluelessness.
This plan using thieves is like something out of a cheap detective drama or a daytime soap opera about victims. To put it simply, it’s cheap.
What a peaceful way of thinking.
I can hardly believe that there are foolish adults who would fall for such a ruse.
First of all, it’s 99.9% impossible.
The earlier scheme with the fake jewels was quite good, but… to be honest, this one is just not going to work.
The deliberately gentle gaze from Luca stabs at Rena.
…Has she lost her confidence? She was averting her eyes from the old thieves.
“See, teacher?
Because you were just nodding along, the familiars didn’t understand the content of the conversation and are floating question marks above their heads.
Why do you look so soft now? Could you please explain the plan you heard from your master properly?”
“(…It’s like this and that, okay?)”
“Rena, that’s amazing!”
“Yay!”
“We’re so hyped!”
“…Huh? Is it amazing? Is this plan cool?”
“““Rena! Rena! Rena!”””
“Wow!”
“…Oh, right…”
These familiars were just like that.
Luca’s mental fortitude was being eroded little by little.
The familiars were basically doting on their master.
They were pouring oil onto the flickering fire.
The slime was dancing around modestly, and Lily was holding Rena’s hand tightly as if to encourage her.
With the adorable familiars cheering her on, Rena seemed to quickly regain her mental composure.
She was looking at Luca with hopeful eyes!
▽ Rena is eagerly awaiting approval for the plan!
Those expectant eyes are not revenge for the earlier bloodsucking incident, right?
(I was planning to ignore this and rush ahead… sigh)
Luca scratched his head, looking troubled.
After lightly pushing his hair behind his ear, he let out a faint, troubled sigh and scanned the surroundings with his magical eye.
It seemed he was still quite sociable despite everything.
Upon searching, he found no monsters or pursuers that would rush over immediately.
Well, this plan can be executed quickly. It can’t be helped, so he beckoned Rena over.
He put a finger to his lips in a “be quiet” gesture to prevent her from getting too excited and spoke softly.
“You can execute the plan.
However, it’s an absolute condition that you finish the disguise quickly to avoid running into the enemy… okay?”
“…! Yay, thank you!”
“““Yay!
That’s great, Rena!”””
“Shh! Be quiet!”
Luca cautioned Rena and the others, who couldn’t contain their joy even in whispers, to “calm down” once more, and then he narrowed his eyes, staring at the forest beyond the fallen thieves.
He judged it was safe since there was still quite a distance before “they” would come this way.
He could see the figures of men who seemed to be from a band of thieves in the distance.
They were probably looking for the mystery meat lying in front of him.
Though the thieves wandering around were a nuisance, it was the perfect timing to execute Rena’s modest “Dying Message Operation!”
If they were going to do it, it had to be now.
“I’ll keep an eye on the surroundings, so you go ahead, Rena.
I don’t think there’s much of a problem, but be quick.
Can you write in Ranasu script?”
“…Is this good enough?”
Rena tried writing on the ground as a test.
She intended to write in Japanese, but as she began moving her fingers, they moved in a different direction than she expected and ended up writing in a mysterious language.
“That’s right.
It seems the correction from when you came over here is also applied to the letters. Quite handy.
If you want to disguise it as though a thief wrote it, I think it would be better to write sloppily and roughly.”
“Yes!”
After glancing around, Rena dashed over to the old men.
As Lily dispelled the meat illusion, it turned back into a drooling, ragged red cloth, sleeping in a disheveled manner.
Despite the horrible expression with its eyes rolled back, Rena adjusted the position of the thief’s arm and traced the letters “Kingdom Army” with his fingertips.
(Imagining that it ran out of strength before finishing “Army.”)
The thief’s red clothing was singed from Luca’s lightning, clearly indicating that something had happened here.
She also scattered small stones and sand around.
Finally, after confirming once more that the thief was unconscious, she whispered “Kingdom Army, Kingdom Army, Kingdom Army, Kingdom Army” into his ear.
He’s going to have nightmares… that’s quite a clever little trick.
When she finished her work and looked at Luca, he conveyed via telepathy, (Passed. Come back.)
She regrouped and stood up to set off again.
While in the forest, they planned to progress along this path.
To avoid encountering a bear again, they would be vigilant in their search.
They couldn’t wait here to see the results of the ruse played on the thieves.
Regrettably, they decided to leave it to fate.
They prayed that the leader of the thieves was not too bright!
If they got eaten by another monster before encountering the thieves, that was no longer their concern.
To survive in this world, they needed to abandon the naïve idea of wanting to help even the bad guys.
They had to prioritize their survival above all else.
…Rena pressed her chest tightly to suppress the aching pain.
…To avoid forgetting what she had done, she looked back and firmly engraved the sight of the thieves into her memory… and then turned back to face forward, never to look back again.
The road was filled with red.
“Boss! Arne and Pone are down here!?
They’re almost dead!”
“What did you say!? Hey, you guys, who did this to you… The Kingdom Army?”
“…I can’t forgive this.
Those guys just came here recently, saying they take taxes from thieves; how ridiculous!
Did they target individuals because they couldn’t handle a group?”
“Cowardly!
Let’s return the favor as we always do, boss!”
“Of course.
If we just stand by while our comrades are treated like this, we can’t show our face as the great band of thieves that rules this area.
…Gather all 300 members!
We’ll make a bloodbath of the Kingdom Army!”
“““Ooooooooh!”””
“Arne and Pone are the weakest in the Akazuki band of thieves.
Both their brains and their abilities are lacking.
…Don’t get cocky just because you defeated these guys, government!!”
“““Ooooooooh!”””
“Boss! Arne and Pone have regained consciousness.
They said, ‘Something about the Kingdom Army is stuck in my head… but I don’t really know anything else. Who am I?’
It’s terrible…”
“Damn it!!!
I won’t forgive you, Kingdom Army. Just wait for me!!
Men, let’s goooooo!! Ooooooh!!”
“““Ooooooooh!”””
From this day on, the forest and roads between Danatzela and the small village were filled with an eerie red color.
Occasionally mixed with the blue of the Galalajer Kingdom’s uniforms, the Kingdom Army was being forced to draw their swords without knowing why.
Fierce battles ensued.
【Akazuki Band of Thieves】
Overall, they were a bunch of silly decoy mobs.