Reincarnated Maid is About To Be Captured by All Players

At the border of Duke Obi's territory, Acklin.

As evening approached, we finally reached one of the five exits opened after the [Barrier] was activated: Acklin. Well-equipped soldiers could be seen everywhere, along with large numbers of adventurers moving about.

"That's... Grumman from the Black Eagle Mercenary Group..."

I activated my [Detection] skill, peering through the jade lion and wooden boards to scout the situation outside. Fortunately, both the jade lion and wooden boards weren't very thick, still within the effective range of my detection skill. Incidentally, this skill can't see through clothing, and its skill description is quite mischievous.

Didn't expect that, did you! This skill cannot penetrate worn clothing! All your efforts to learn this skill have been in vain—such was the description that made you want to drag the writer out and beat them up.

However, I never intended to use the detection skill for peeping anyway. After all, I'm not unfamiliar with male bodies, and if I wanted to see a girl's body, I could just look at my own.

"There are far more people outside than I imagined..."

"Is it dangerous outside?"

"Yes, but as long as we stay hidden, it'll be fine."

The detection skill couldn't be maintained for too long. After the cooldown period passed, I used the detection skill to scout again.

The [Barrier] was nominally invisible, but it allowed color filling for distinction. Now at Acklin's border, there was a colorful aurora wall, with only an extremely narrow area lacking the aurora. Although we were near the [Barrier]'s open exit, I still couldn't use spatial transfer skills.

"Lily, when we need to pass through the barrier, I'll turn off the area silencing."

"Why?"

"Because we'd be easily discovered, it's like... the principle of big fish eating small fish."

I made a clumsy analogy. Area silencing was a type of small-scale barrier, but compared to a real barrier, its effectiveness was worlds apart. If a small barrier tried to penetrate a large-scale Barrier, it would be absorbed by the large Barrier. Although this wouldn't cause direct harm to those inside, I couldn't risk being discovered by forcibly using area silencing.

When the time came, we would just need to hold our breath and stay quiet.

Outside the jade lion, Grumman from the Black Eagle Mercenary Group spotted Enrique's merchant caravan and approached for small talk.

"Isn't this Enrique? It's rare to see you moving personally."

"Who doesn't like sitting at home counting money? But this shipment is somewhat special. It's a gift for the Third Princess's wedding banquet."

"Huh? But the Third Princess's convoy just departed from Obi this afternoon."

"So I had my servants apply to the guards... for permission to pass through first."

"Since you're here personally, they'll definitely give you face."

Grumman said while beginning to examine Enrique's merchant caravan. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novelfire(.)net

"What's in here?"

"Fine wine, silk, and quite a few gold and silver accessories."

"Big spending... Want us to escort you? You'll need to travel through the night to catch up with the princess's convoy. It won’t be safe to travel alone."

"I've hired quite a few people here, we have enough manpower."

Grumman stopped in front of the wagon where Lily and I were hiding.

"What's this? Quite large."

"A sculpture dedicated to the Third Princess."

"May I take a look?"

"Please, go ahead."

Hey... what's going on... Shouldn't he refuse at this point...

I held Lily tightly to avoid making any noise. If our movements were too large and caused the jade lion to shift, we'd still be exposed.

Enrique's attendants removed the wooden boards, and Grumman clicked his tongue in amazement, jumping onto the wagon for a closer look.

I activated my detection skill, constantly vigilant of Grumman's movements. He put his hands behind his back, walking around the jade lion looking left and right. I had the strange feeling that I was the one being observed.

The ventilation holes were very well hidden, Grumman discovered no abnormalities.

But Grumman continued to observe with admiration... Haven't you seen a jade lion before? What's so interesting about it...

"—You're an officer of the Black Eagle Mercenary Group, right?"

Hearing the voice behind him, Grumman finally looked away.

It was Chris.

She knew we were hiding in the jade lion and, worried about our exposure, came to help us out of this situation.

"That's correct, you are..."

"I'm the daughter of Count Montefeltro, Christiana. Actually, some members of your mercenary group caused some trouble in Ende."

"Is that so?"

Grumman jumped down from the wagon in surprise.

The distance was too far. I couldn't hear clearly what Chris said to Grumman next.

The Black Eagle Mercenary Group seemed to have many adventurers at Acklin's border, along with many other adventurers. Perhaps they thought we might desperately attempt to cross illegally and came to the border to wait for us?

While Chris distracted Grumman, several fully armed guards approached Enrique's merchant caravan.

Their equipment was on a completely different level from Uncle François and his men in Rothschild. Ordinary village guards wore light armor or cloth armor, but the guards stationed at the border were regular army troops deployed by Duke Borgia. Rather than calling them guards or soldiers, they were more like knights.

They all wore white full-body armor in a style similar to Gothic plate armor, with their entire bodies, including heads, protected by the armor.

I couldn't see the actual knights inside the armor. Their armor only left gaps to ensure vision, and the helmets had magical protection to ensure the knights wouldn't be hit by archers' arrows.

The evening weather wasn't particularly hot, but they had definitely been stationed in full armor for the entire day. Thanks to magic, the armor was equipped with weight-reducing and temperature-regulating magic that kept them cool in summer and warm in winter, all requiring at least master-level armorsmith work and magical inscription engraving.

If conflict erupted, the knights' movements would definitely not be slow or cumbersome, and they could react at the first moment.