in the morning, Haru continued thinking about the situation. Eventually, he decided to voice his thoughts to Premeus. He knocked politely on the door. When he opened it, Premeus was sitting on his bed. Haru bowed respectfully with a polite greeting.
"Lord Premeus, I apologize for disturbing you this early, but I have an idea."
"What is it at this hour, Haru?"
"My lord, in truth, none of the information Rei provided may be correct. Acting based on any of it would be a mistake. We don't need to do anything."
"The same topic again, Haru? I thought we had closed this matter."
"My lord, this matter is truly important."
Premeus continued looking around with a bored expression.
"So you're saying we should just wait for some strategy, Haru?"
"Yes, my lord. Avoiding risk is the best option in this situation. Rei may be planning something on a larger scale."
Premeus kept staring with a dull expression, lost in his own thoughts.
This bastard irritates me every time he tells me what to do. What, do we really need to be this careful? That Rei is just a loser. By the time the game starts, we're planning to have at least a hundred people. Is he really going to stop us? I'll come up with an idea myself. In fact, I already have. We'll use the spy to lure Rei somewhere. We'll station our men in the area we pull him to. When Rei arrives, we'll kill him!
Premeus grinned to himself, thinking he had come up with something clever, feeding his own arrogance. Haru tried not to let his hidden thoughts show on his face.
This man is a complete moron. Rei deliberately planted that symbol, which means he's aware of the spy. If he's aware of the spy, why would he walk into a trap the spy suggested? Did this man seriously forget that? I've truly made the wrong choice in fighting alongside him against Rei again. I can't get through to this man. He's a complete idiot. The most honest part is, I'm certain Rei knew this man's nature from the very beginning. He executed this move knowing I wouldn't be able to convince him.
I need to shift his thinking indirectly. Otherwise, we'll waste time.
"My lord, we don't know where Rei is. Finding him will take time. At the same time, since he deliberately placed that symbol, he's clearly aware of the spy. He won't fall for the trap."
When Premeus remembered the symbol, he realized his mistake.
"Even princes make mistakes sometimes. I'm thinking about so many things that I occasionally forget things. Hahaha!"
Truly a complete moron.
"What do you think of this, my lord? First, let's go to the goblins, then the elves, with soldiers and offer them money. I don't think they'll accept, but just in case, we might gain some troops."
Premeus was irritated by yet another logical suggestion from Haru.
"I'll handle it myself. I'll think of something. Leave my room."
"I understand, my lord. You'll handle it."
He left the room and gently closed the door. His thoughts were filled with hatred for this stupid man.
On Rei's side:
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I woke up in the morning and had breakfast with my teammates in the village. I was thinking about my next move.
"It's been a few days since we've been in touch with Akari's side, hasn't it, Lie?"
"Yeah. I wonder what they've been up to."
"I don't know. She's probably become the village leader by now. I'm going to check on the goblins and come back. Wait here."
"Okay, Rei."
I walked for about ten minutes. I asked the guards at the entrance of the goblins' nest if any soldiers had come by. They told me no one had been there. After getting the information, I waved my hand at them and disappeared from their sight.
I'm curious about the inside of that cave we went to the other day. I'm going to check it out.
I moved a little further and entered the cave located between the game area. It was dark inside. Nothing was visible. The space wasn't very large.
The soldiers who came last time probably stayed inside for a while because they thought we were hiding in the dark. So the cave has no continuation after all. They had swords in their hands. Is that the general level of weaponry they have? I also saw that they had horses.
After leaving the cave, I climbed to the middle section of the mountain. I cut the ropes of the wooden bridge with the knife I had brought from the village. The bridge collapsed, and wooden pieces fell to the ground. There was no longer a quick passage through the middle.
If I think about that man, his strategy will probably be to gather as many people as possible and attack with everything he's got. If I've achieved my goal, Haru is no longer able to get through to him.
I thought someone might come because of the noise. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and returned to the elf village.
Celebria ran up to me and began looking at me with curious eyes.
"What did you do, Rei?"
I couldn't mention that I had cooperated with the goblins, so I decided to lie.
"I went to check out the supplies in the village."
"I see. Is your day going well?"
"Yes, it seems to be going well. I won't be able to spend much time with you. Sorry. I need to stay focused on winning the game."
When she realized I was speaking with her in mind, Celebria felt good about it. That was exactly what I intended.
"I'm going to discuss strategy with Lie. We'll talk later."
"Okay, Rei."
I came to Lie and told her the goblins hadn't seen anything.
"Could they be lying?"
"I don't know. They probably aren't. Now let's head to the other village together."
After walking for about another hour, we arrived at the other village. When I walked toward the center of the village, I saw Akari next to Wakamura. When I saw Wakamura, I felt a slight sense of amusement and quickly approached them. Lie immediately followed behind me and came to my side.
"Well, well. Look who I'm seeing. Have you been here, Wakamura?"
"Yes. I've been spending time with Akari for a while now."
"Are you part of the cult too, then?"
Akari answered in Wakamura's place.
"Yes, he is."
"I see. What have you two been up to lately, Akari?"
"We've strengthened our ties with the village leader. We're carrying on with our lives. It feels peaceful, I suppose."
"I see. That's good. I'm preparing for the battle, as you know."
The weapon shop next to us caught my attention. I left them and entered the shop. Inside, there were various attack tools. After thinking for a moment, I decided I needed range. So I bought a bow and some arrows for a thousand game coins.
"It was a good deal, sir."
"Good day."
Akari and the others had continued talking together. After I returned to them, I asked Akari a question.
"Have Haru or any soldiers come here?"
"No. They haven't."
I began studying her body language. I was trying to determine whether she was lying. Akari noticed what I was thinking, but she didn't care.
"If you join me and help me in the upcoming game, I can help you with information, Rei."
"Alright. It's a deal."
They kept watching us. From a distance, mounted soldiers had spotted our location. They were charging toward the second village to capture us.
"They really are constantly watching us. Hold on to me, Lie."
"Okay!"
Lie immediately held on to me tightly. I teleported us to the elf village using my phone. Everyone who saw what happened was stunned. They wondered where I had gone.
On Premeus's side:
Premeus heard the information shortly after. He couldn't control his temper and stomped his foot hard against the ground.
"Where are they teleporting to, those bastards? I was just about to catch them!"
A logical idea crossed Premeus's mind.
"That's right! Since we have so many people, I'll just restrict their movements. They can't have gone too far."
Premeus issued orders to all his soldiers. He would station five soldiers in each designated area. The soldiers would stand guard in those locations. This way, they would restrict Rei's movements. The villages, the areas between the forests, the goblin territory, the elf territory... He would place his soldiers everywhere. His team had already grown to fifty members.
"Let's see if you can move around now, stupid Rei!"
Premeus started laughing to himself. His confidence in his movement restriction strategy was absolute.