This Hero is Too Curious! - 90 This Hero Makes a Plan!

“So… Styles, huh? Well, I’ll need to test it out more when I have the chance.” I gave a slight smile. Perhaps this will be my gateway to punching above my weight class. I can’t imagine what this type of method would have done when I was fighting Mully, or what it could do for me in the future.

Kany and Erana ran up to me while Tael dusted off his robe… or was he knocking crumbs off of it? Actually, just how many of those tart things did he eat, anyway?

“Kenji-san, are you alright? We heard about how you fought with hobgoblins! You’re not hurt anywhere are you?” Erana was examining my body incredibly quickly, like a parent that just saw their child fall.

“N-No I’m fine. Listen I-”

“Jeez Onii-san. Why is it always you that gets sent off random places? Can’t you just stick with us for once?”

“It’s not like I meant to-”

“Mphh! Mphh mphh mphh!” Tael interjected.

“Swallow your food then talk.”

Tael took a cartoonishly large swallow as he metaphorically inhaled the tart treat. After he smacked his stomach to ensure it was in there, he wiped his face and gave a smug smile.

“It’s good to see you could survive without me for once! Honestly, I was so worried for our poor little Kenji that I could do nothing but eat to reduce my stress!”

“Weren’t you the one that suggested that we share a snack to build our camaraderie, Tael-san?”

“Yep. That’s exactly what he did.”

“Did it not work? Now I know everybody’s names!”

“Well so do I and I only ate one. You ate 4.”

“The number does not matter! What matters is Kenji is safe and sound! Now we can get on with the plan!”

“Ah! Before that…” Erana reached into a small pocket and pulled out one of the tarts that everyone else had been eating. “I saved you one!” She smiled brightly.

Ah… mom, dad, a pretty girl just gave me food without me paying for it and she smiled while she did it… I hope you’re proud of me.

I took the tart happily and bit into it with gusto. My mouth exploded with flavor. I could taste strawberry jelly and could feel the soft crumble as it shifted around in my mouth. I can entirely understand why Tael ate 4 of these now.

“Why didn’t you eat more of these, Kany?”

“Huh? You expect me to just cling to the charity of others like that?”

“Aren’t we here because of you pipsqueak?” Tael put his hands on his hips and leaned down

Kany went silent. In an effort to avoid the awkwardness that had just been delivered I looked towards Jaq and his group. They seemed to be discussing something just like we were.

A woman shifted to look towards me when I said this. Her gaze pierced me like an arrow as I felt a chill up my spine. Before I could shake this eerie feeling, the woman had already approached me and placed a hand upon my shoulder.

“I apologize for our leaders actions. It was his fault that any of this happened in the first place. I hope you will forgive him.” She gave a deep bow when she said this. Her short brown hair fluttered in the wind as she moved her head.

“N-Nah it’s fine. He actually taught me something useful… I’m Kenji by the way.”

“Kenji-san, I am Yuna. I hope we can work together from now on.” She gave a light, business-like smile. Her face, while mature, contained an air of childishness that I can’t ignore.

“Come on Kenji-san, let’s talk to the others and find out a plan. I’m sure we’ll need you here.” Erana began to walk towards the pseudo camp as everyone else followed. I followed closely afterwards as everyone got into a circle to discuss. Jaq’s party and mine stood in their own clique’s, but we were all focused on the ground in front of us.

“Okay… so first of all, the camp is a circle.” Jaq began. He pulled out his sword and traced an oval on the ground. “I saw it when I jumped. It’s not enormous, but I’d wager a solid 1000 soldiers are stationed there.”

“1000? What type?” Ron seemed relaxed as he asked this. Numbers like these must be typical fare for someone of his experience.

“No idea. Kenji and I fought a few hobgoblins earlier so we can assume the main force is made up of them, but I have no idea if that’s true or not.”

“Any idea where the monster we need to take down is?” Yuna was drawing little tents inside of the oval Jaq had made with her finger.

“Though I didn’t see ’em, I would bet that they’re in the largest tent in the center. I’d also wager that the letter we need to grab is over there as well.”

“What about the rock we need so we can get out of here?” Kany interjected. Leave it to the rogue to think of an escape plan first.

“Oh, I didn’t see it but I’m sure Ron can find it. He has locate object so we’ll be fine.”

As if on cue, Ron held his necklace as his body was encapsulated by a golden light for a moment. After the glistening had stopped, he looked at the drawing on the floor and marked an X right next to the center.

“Huh…” Jaq let out.

“Okay. What’s the plan?” I quickly asked. I’ll leave it to my senpai’s to show me how it’s done when it comes to raiding an enemy camp.

“Well… We’re probably screwed if I’ll be entirely honest.” Jaq sat down on the dirt floor and cupped his head with his hand.

“Huh?”

“Well just, honestly Kenji-san, Jaq already said that there are at least a thousand enemies in that camp. How would we be able to raid the camp? Sure if it were 100 enemies we could do something, but it’s a thousand! That’s basically an entire army by itself! Ron sat down next to Jaq. The look on his face also told me that he had given up.

“So… We’re just gonna sit here and die?”

“Oh, absolutely not. We’ll sneak in and teleport by touching the stone when we can.” Jaq looked up at me as he said this.

I looked at my own party. Each of them looked as uncomfortable as I was.

“I assume that if we fail the mission we won’t get paid…?” Kany muttered.

“Yep. Oh well.” Jaq began looking at his nails once more.

“O-Onii-san! Do you have any ideas?”

I sighed. Looks like I’ll need to use my brain again.

“Alright gang, it’s time for a point by point analysis.” I said as I crouched down towards the drawing. Now that I look at it, I can see that Yuna has drawn little hobgoblins outside of the tents as well.

“Oh, can I ask the first question this time?” Erana raised her hand and smiled widely.

“Sure.”

“Okay… What do we know so far?”

“Oh, me me me!” Kany raised her hand giddily. Jaq and his crew were eyeing us like we were doing something odd. “We know that there are a lot of bad guys, that the biggest bad guy and our objective is at the center of the camp, and that our escape route is in the middle of the camp.”

“Don’t forget, our enemies can see in the dark and that they are at minimum all hobgoblins.” I added in.

“Right. So that means we can’t go in at night expecting to slip away.” Kany finished.

“Who wants to do question 2?” I looked around. Jaq seemed like he could no longer contain himself as he shouted to me.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s a point by point analysis. It’s how we figure out what to do with the information we have.”

“It’s how we were able to find out about who was behind the disappearances in Mulbik. It’s also how I was able to prove that this pipsqueak was wrong about monster origins.” Tael shook his head towards Kany as he declared this. Kany only responded by sticking her tongue out.

“Okay… and what’s your point?”

“Well, we haven’t given up yet.” I shrugged my shoulders and looked back down at the drawing.

“Okay then. I’ll ask the second question: How do we get inside of the camp without being discovered by the enemy?”

With this question, Tael stood up and cleared his throat, ready to begin.

“We cause a distraction… on the other side of the enemy camp!” He proudly declared.

“While that’s somewhat true, what about rear guards? Enemies that don’t move just in case something like that happens?” I deflated Tael immediately. His idea is good, but dangerous if we can’t get it done correctly.

“Perhaps we can cause the distraction during the assignment shift. There’s no way that the enemies are standing there the entire time like statues. If we hit them when they’re shifting out, we’ll be able to sneak in while they’re confused!” Erana hopped up to say this. She seemed positively giddy about being able to contribute this time.

“Awesome.” I let out. Our plan is coming together.

“Okay. Question 3. This is the rough one so any of you can ask this. I think we all know what this question is…”

At this point, all of Jaq’s party were watching us. They seem to be as enamored in our conversation as we were.

“What if the enemy we need to take down is too powerful, or they get reinforcements before we can act?”

“Exactly.” I smiled. I’m proud of these guys. They’re now able to figure these things out without me in case I get separated from them again.

“I don’t know…” Tael let out. The air around us deflated, but I didn’t give up hope. I instead looked towards Jaq’s party.

“Hey, is there a range of area for where something can be teleported?”

“Huh? Why does that matter?” Yuna scoffed at me, but I can tell she doesn’t understand.

“Well, I remember when we teleported back in Ruks we were told to stand in the circle and not leave it. What would have happened if we left it?”

“Worst case scenario you’d be split… in… half…” Jaq slowed his speech as he arrived at the same conclusion I had.

“So then, if the enemy is too strong, we grab it and teleport with it only halfway inside the teleport area. If all goes well then we’ll slice it in half through the teleport!”