[NR] The Cutest Person On Watch - Chapter 666

Lily hopped around the field, nibbling on the various stalks. She wasn’t supposed to, but they didn’t actually care about the stalks themselves, anyway. It is a shame that she couldn’t hang out in the roughly harvested fields. There were a lot of actual crops left on the ground for her to taste.

However, the danger of being spotted meant such a risk would not be tolerated. Any other time, it wouldn’t have mattered. Too bad the current event meant even something as common as a rabbit, would stand out.

Lily didn’t quite get the details, but that was fine. She was a good bunny and would stay hidden. Her job? To watch for people coming from the direction everyone figured they wouldn’t come from.

So of course that means on the third night, she saw people sneaking in from the forest. They were doing a decent job of hiding themselves. Too bad they only used skills to hide their presence. Presence, which Lily was admittedly using to look for them, but only partly.

The other part is looking for human shapes. Now, with the group’s skill, they could have likely hidden this as well. Except they were too confident and didn’t bother setting up any kind countermeasures. That or they were drunk on their own Skills.

A common failing among both travellers and locals. Too many gain a skill for something and let it replace common sense.

Whatever the case, Lily has seen them and so now has to inform the others. So a hop hop hop, and she is heading off towards Jason. It is slow going at first so as to not be noticed, but after far enough into the grown field, she takes off!

And while she can’t exactly say what is up, not having a voice box capable of regular speech, they had set up things so that wouldn’t matter. The system was simple enough, see something? Go to Jason. Anything else? Go to Rosha.

She had, uh, spent more time than not cozying up to Rosha over the past few nights. Yeah, none of them had actually expected the raiders to come from that direction. Yet now here she was, hopping up to Jason.

This revealed a gap in their planning. Jason didn’t actually have a way to inform Courtney that it was Lily who saw the enemy. After all, they simply had the hollow clay balls, one each. So with no other choice, Jason picks up Lily and hoofs it to Courtney.

Though he doesn’t have to actually get all the way to town. Jason only needs to get close enough. Then, as he sees Courtney wave at him, he lifts Lily up with one hand and points at her with his other.

It takes Courtney a moment to catch on, but once she does, a quick thumbs up to Jason and she turns to Siegfried. Jason can’t tell what they’re saying, but they should at least know to get ready and so he continues running towards the town to meet up with them.

Once close enough, Courtney shouts down, “They’re coming from Lily’s direction?”

Jason shouts back up, “You’ve got it!”

And by the time he gets to the gate, the guards are all ready. Except for three guards stripped of their armor and in manacles. Courtney nods towards them, “Tried to sneak out. We aren’t certain that they’re traitors, but we’re treating it as such.”

Jason, “Yeah, they’re in trouble. Is Rosha coming back?”

Courtney sighed, “Well, that’s a bit of a hole in our planning. I’ve spiked the clay sphere she has and hopefully she notices. If she did get the message, she’ll be here before we set off.”

They both turn to watch the direction she would be coming from as the guards finish readying up.

It is close, but they see Rosha running towards the town moments before the guards were planning to set out.

Rosha, “We need a better way to talk over distances.”

Courtney shrugs, “I’m doing the best I can with shadows. Maybe pick up some wind magic? If anything, it would at least help with your archery skills.”

Rosha grimaces for a moment, “I don’t want to be a wind archer. Not to say that isn’t a powerful combo. It is just that being able to stabilize an arrow with wind magic tends to end up with people that depend on wind magic to hit their target. But we can talk more about that in the future, are we ready to head out?”

Courtney nods, “They want us mid-flank. Jason to run defense for the two of us as we focus on providing ranged damage. Though I doubt they’ll need us much. Given the town’s normal situation, they have more than their fair share of ranged attackers. 

“Almost inevitable when the primary threat requires you to hide behind your walls. Sure, there is the cleanup of the hanger-ons, but the giant beasts are less of a fight and more of a tedious grind involving people continually pelting them with attacks until they decide to leave.”

Then Siegfried announced it was time to move out and the guards began to march. It wasn’t some sharp formation, but this wasn’t a parade field. The focus was on moving quickly, but without making too much of a ruckus.

They’re under no illusion of sneaking up on the enemy. Still, the closer they can get without being noticed, the better. And they might manage to get quite close, indeed.

While the group is much too large to be silent without magic. All of them have experience with the Deep Wilds and so even in armor are quite light on their feet. They seem to almost flow through the fields, crouched below the stalks of grain.

The team follows behind them, maintaining a quieter pace, but that isn’t too hard when the path has already been cleared. Those in front had moved around or at least marked any impediments they came across. The grains on their path were destroyed by the passage of so many people, but the loss was considered worth it if they could catch the enemy.