Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

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That night in the wilderness, they made camp.

Malin, as usual, began to set up the defense, noting that the captain of the mercenary squad seemed to want to say something, but he ultimately remained silent.

Was it doubt about his own abilities? Malin wondered, but doubt was indeed warranted, after all, the one giving orders in front of him was a child, and any rational adult would engage in such skeptical behavior.

First, Malin set up a very common pressure plate trap near the forest close to the camp, using materials found in the forest itself—branches dehydrated with a spell, then sharpened with a dagger, tied together with vines, and covered with brush to conceal the trigger mechanism.

He used no metal or leather. The middle-aged man watched until Malin tested the trap and the sharpened branches that formed the ’stakes’ suddenly shot up to a height of about one meter and sixty centimeters.

The middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his forehead and silently began assisting Malin.

There were fifteen pressure plates in total, all placed at strategic positions favorable for action.

Then Malin started setting up pit traps—a circumference of 40 shoe-lengths and about five centimeters deeper than ankle height with a dozen or so very sharp, pointed sticks at the bottom, which Malin had specifically reinforced with a spell.

By now, the middle-aged man was becoming restless—he kept looking at the soft leather boots on his feet.