Chapter 201
The march through the forest was slow, and a large part of that was due to the inefficiency of the [Mercenaries]. Alice had never before appreciated just how much of a difference training made on travel speed. The Illvarian army that she and Ethan had traveled with last time had moved at a ground-eating pace, travelling across well-paved roads while [Scouts] and [Commanders] constantly buffed the soldiers and found the most optimal route.
The [Mercenaries] didn’t have that advantage. They didn’t move slowly, but they didn’t move quickly, either. Alice guessed that they were probably moving at half the speed the Illvarian [Soldiers] had moved at - and the [Mercenaries] also had a strong tendency to get slightly lost. If it weren’t for Allira’s shadows helping the group find their way, Alice suspected the group might spend hours wandering around the forest, trying to find their target.
The second thing that Alice noticed was that the [Mercenary] band was loud. Every single footfall echoed through the forest like the beat of a drum, which made Alice wince. If the Society had any competent [Scouts], they would definitely know that the [Mercenaries] were coming. There was no plausible way that they would miss the loud, clumsy tramping of the small army through the forest. Admittedly, even during the previous base raid, Alice had noticed that the Society lacked the kind of efficient command structure a military had. However, she still didn’t think the group would have surprise on their side when they arrived.
The only thing that slightly reassured Alice was Allira. The Immortal was capable of filling in for several of the logistical roles that the [Mercenaries] were missing. After seeing the hopelessly slow and loud march, Allira started humming at the makeshift army. After that, Alice saw little flecks of rainbow mana crawl out of her shadow, before swarming the [Mercenaries] and covering up their feet. With each note, the [Mercenaries] became faster. Their feet would subconsciously start to dodge little branches and rocks, becoming surer and less easily disturbed.
Of course, singing wasn’t exactly a quiet activity. Thus, even though Allira could help with the group’s movement speed, there was nothing she could do to fix the sound problem.
After nearly four hours of walking, Alice was starting to grow increasingly nervous. The Society hadn’t responded to the group’s approach at all. And Alice couldn’t figure out why. Was the Society preparing an ambush? After she thought of all of the traps and dangers a Mage could create, Alice started to constantly sweep their surroundings with her Perks. She kept imagining something out of a movie from home – perhaps a scene where a soldier steps onto a landmine, killing him and his companions. She could certainly imagine ways to create similar weapons using magic.
However, none of Alice’s scans with mana turned up anything. Far from making Alice feel relieved, this made her feel even more tense. The Society should have a response prepared. If she didn’t see one, that meant she was missing it. Ethan and Allira seemed to share her anxiety. Allira’s shadows got more and more restless as the group approached the base, and Ethan constantly emitted flashes of rainbow mana as he searched the area for any threats that they had missed.
“There is no way the Society would be this careless,” Allira finally hissed, as the group entered the final stretch of forest. “We’re less than a kilometer away. We spent days trying to find a [Mercenary] group. The Society must have some contacts with the surrounding population. That’s just how they operate. They should already know that we’re coming, and this is the perfect spot to set up an ambush, and we’ve passed several other spots where they could have at least set up a few magic traps to slow us down. Why does this area seem so empty?”
Ethan also frowned. “My father used to say that if an enemy is behaving oddly, or a situation is going too well, it’s because the enemy has you right where they want you. I’m inclined to agree with him,” said Ethan. “Something is wrong here.”