Chapter 44: The Tunnel and the Tempest

Chapter 44: The Tunnel and the Tempest They said he had no restraint, that he’d already "devoured" half of the good-looking men around—regardless of their age. He was a man with no sense of boundaries. With his silver hair, dangerously seductive looks, and a strong build that could have suited a knight just as well as a mage, Aaron was a striking figure. His magical power was top-tier, and he had a solid reputation for creating high-performance, high-quality magical tools. Despite his skill and status as a first-class mages, the bad rumors never stopped. It was even said he’d been exiled from the royal capital and sent to this Dashtadem Fortress as a result. —I’m going to get killed by the Captain! At that exact moment, a light knock sounded at the door, and Shiao Yi appeared. Speak of the devil, and he shows up! "I got a message from Dominic. I’m flying out to pick him up—anything you want me to tell him?" "Oh, thank goodness! Actually, the Dalmasca army is moving faster than we expected. They’ve already passed through the town two stops before this one, and at this rate, they’ll be here by tomorrow or the day after. Tell the Captain there’s no time to wait. He needs to hurry!" Shiao Yi’s cute face tightened with concern. "Understood. I’ll go right now." And just like that, he vanished—melting into the air right in front of them. It was the second time Louis had seen it, but even so, both he and Lyon stood frozen in place while widened their eyes in awe. After a moment, Louis let out a long breath and shook off the tension. He turned to Lyon to ask about how the preparations were going. "So, where are we at with that tunnel we’ve been digging?" They had asked Jesse, a beast-tamer and mage, to dig a tunnel that would pass underneath the monster-filled forest and break through to the other side. During the last magical beasts attack, much of the forest had been burned, so in theory, they could blast a pathway through it. The problem was, the magical beast kept showing up every single day without fail. The magical beasts coming out of that summoning magic circle seemed to prefer heading to the nearby forest rather than the distant villages of Dalmasca. It could be said that the circle had been designed that way from the beginning—but more likely, they were simply drawn to the magical energy of the forest of magical beast. That was something even Captain Dominic had feared and predicted. Trying to continue tunnel construction while fighting off the monsters at the same time was annoying, to say the least. On top of that, most of their available manpower was already tied up dealing with the frequent magical beast attacks and constantly repairing the protective barriers. There were no spare soldiers to assign elsewhere. However, once reinforcements arrived, they’d need to march toward Dalmasca. At the very least, they had to secure a path wide enough for mounted troops. If they got stuck trying to fight through the forest, they’d lose precious time. And so, they had no choice but to call on Jesse—the one who always looked like he had nothing to do. "Ehh? You want me to work my poor, adorable Whiskers for something like that? That’s so mean," Jesse said, clearly not thrilled. Why were mages always like this? So uncooperative. On top of that, selfish. Louis often wondered why these kinds of people even came to the Dashtadem Fortress in the first place. Actually, he had asked that question once. And Jesse had answered, "Because I was bored~? There were extra rooms~ I can do whatever I want here without people complaining~ And there’s a steady supply of food in the forest of magical beast~" Louis had never asked again after that. It felt like something better left alone. "If you do it, I’ll give you a jar of my special honey. A big jar." "Ohhh? In that case... can I also set up traps for field rats? Slimer and the others already ate all the ones in the fortress." "So it was your pet after all, wasn’t it?" Louis said, exasperated. "We’ve been getting complaints about a sticky, creepy monster slithering along the walls at night. A giant millipede was even spotted." "What’s the problem?" Jesse replied in a lazy tone. "I’m helping with pest control, getting rid of the rats on my own, you know?" "Make sure to mark the spots where you place those rat traps, alright? Last time, five of my guys got their feet caught in them, and it turned into a serious mess." The local field rats in this forest were no joke. Each one was about fifty to sixty centimeters long. Naturally, the traps had to be big, strong, and vicious enough to match. "Soldiers or not, they’re pretty dumb," Jesse muttered under his breath. Louis chose to pretend he didn’t hear that. Ever since that incident, placing bait traps around the forest had been banned. Thanks to Louis’s hard-earned effort and persistence, Jesse finally agreed to begin the excavation project using his group of giant worm-like creatures, that was lovingly named Whiskers. The goal was to dig a tunnel all the way through the forest, from this side to the other. And when it came to digging, those creatures were absolute pros. Their sheer numbers made them a force to be reckoned with. The work had begun the morning after the captain departed for the royal capital. Now, five days later, the tunnel had nearly broken through to the far side. At the moment, they were widening the tunnel and reinforcing the walls using mucus secreted by Jesse’s slug-like monsters. The smell was quite foul—fishy and damp—but once it dried, it became a tough, rubbery membrane that looked like white glue. The odor would fade after that. Apparently, the secretion was originally meant to create protective walls around their eggs underground. "So that means the path is almost secured, huh?" Louis said, nodding toward Lyon, who gave a quick nod back. Then Louis turned his eyes toward the direction of the royal capital. He really wanted the captain to come back as soon as possible—but at the same time, after hearing about the whole Aaron situation earlier, he also kind of didn’t want him to return at all. His feelings were... complicated, to say the least.