Paki~ paki~, the sound of the burning campfire echoed around, it could be heard from the distance.
As the only sources of light that illuminated the area was the bonfire, several adventurers gathered around the campfire, wary of the surroundings.
It was currently night time. Alex and his temporary party members sat around the campfire to discuss strategy.
''Well, though we have arrived here safely at last. I want to scout the situation at the Gato's village first. Are there any volunteers?"
To Alex's words, Eleonora immediately proposed to help.
''Eleonora volunteered, is there anybody else?"
Nobody spoke after hearing his question.
''Okay, I will also tag along.''
Everybody was surprised at Alex's words.
Chuckling he explained, ''No need to worry, I may not have any previous scouting experience nor I'm thief, however, I have my own of handling this scouting mission. You know if I was not confident in my skills, I would have never volunteered.''
Hearing Alex's explanation, some were convinced, some were not, however as the leader there was nothing others could do, if he screws up, as the leader he will need to find a solution to fix his mess.
Alex observed every one expression before proceeding to speak,
''There is another problem besides the scouting.''
''Which is?"
Sebastian who stayed silent since the start raised a question.
''Do we mount a sneak attack tonight or we wait for tomorrow morning before making a move?"
Nobody spoke after hearing Alex's question.
Alex continued, ''If plan to attack tonight, they will one big problem, though. Everybody can't see in the dark even without the moon in the sky. For me and my sister, there is no problem because we can see in the dark as though it was daytime, Meera as an elf can see in the dark. As for the others, I have no idea.''
Alex forget to say that he was sure Eleonora also could see in the dark, just a feeling and he was pretty sure this feeling was not wrong.
And as expected Eleonora proved his assumption was right.
''Me I can see in the dark."
Alex sighed before looking at the others who shook their heads.
Suddenly as if he had remembered something, Lucien spoke.
''Leader the problem of not seeing in the dark won't be a problem because I know a spell that can help one see in the dark temporarily, it lasts three hours before you can recast it, it only needs a little bit of your MP to keep working.''
''Oh? There is a spell-like that?" Alex asked curiously.
''Indeed, there is. However, not everyone can cast it. I'm astonished Lucien can cast it.''
Conrad responded eyes full of praise as he stared at Lucien.
''Good. You'll use the spell on yourself, Golfak, and Sebastian after Eleonora and I return from our scouting. Let's go, Eleonora.''
Alex said before standing and left, he didn't forget to exchange few words with his sister whose mood had improved, her eyes were full of fighting intent.
Alex and Eleonora dressed in all black left the camp under Gracier and the other's eyes.
After walking for few minutes, Alex stopped and said,
''You take the left and I take the right. Rendezvous here in 30 minutes.''
Eleonora nodded her head before disappearing into the forest.
Kicking the ground Alex also disappeared into the right side of the forest.
....
In the dark night, a figure could be seen moving at extremely fast in a forest, naturally, this figure was Alex moving towards the Gato's village with the goal of scouting, he was not the only one who's going to accomplish this goal, Eleonora was on the other side with for the same purpose.
After running for a few minutes, Alex stopped because in front of him was a village, not too big but it can house hundreds of people, however currently this village is occupied by monsters.
Scanning the village Alex was able to see two watchtowers crudely made, guarded by an orc archer and a goblin.
Stealthily moving forward, Alex stopped before going too close to the village, summoning Silveria, he using one of her special bullets on himself, the Vanishing Bullet, this bullet can make you invisible for a short moment (3 minutes to be exact.)
'Vanishing Bullet'
After using the bullet on himself Alex moved toward the village, he was not planning to enter but just to find a good vantage point to observe the whole village, and soon he found the place he was looking for. After avoiding few sentries, Alex positioned himself at the vantage point and started scanning the whole village.
The houses in the village were destroyed, however not all of them were destroyed, those who were not destroyed were occupied by monsters, Alex saw some crudely made houses, probably made by the monsters after occupying the village.
Though Conrad had said there would be at least 30 monsters, the scale of the village was larger than expected he expected. There might be around 50 monsters, most of the monsters present were orcs.
''Perhaps the building larger than the others in the center is the home of the Orc leader.''
The buildings that the other Orcs and goblins lived in were poor ones made from a mix of wood and straw. However, the building in the center was on another level compared to other buildings around it. Alex judged that this building was the former house of the village chief.
''For the number of monsters, the situation has been confirmed. Now, I should be able to check the leader of this group of monsters, no, with my knowledge, I won't be able to tell if its a rare species or high ranking species, I guess however I'm sure it will be an orc whose size would be bigger than the one I previously saw.''
Muttering at that time, the appearance of an Orc entered Alex's eyes. It was about double the size of a normal Orc, it was equipped with some kind of armor while the rest of the orcs were armourless.
''I bet it's the leader.''
〖Yes, I think too.〗
To Alex's words, Silveria nodded before adding.
〖Master you should look further ahead.〗
Silveria's words drew Alex's attention to a place that he had looked at before, a bit further away.
''I see.''
There was an Orc at the place noted by Silveria. The Orc was also wearing armor and was double the size of the other Orcs. And when you looked at the state of the village carefully, similar Orcs were present, three to be exact.
''In that case, those armors denote officers or generals. I think?"
〖Probably〗
Alex nodded his head after hearing Silveria's words, continuing looking hut. Next, he caught sight of a place where the Orcs had gathered. It was a shack north of the village. There were 10 Orcs and 5 goblins wearing armors around the hut.
Before he could ask what was that Alex caught sight of Eleonora stealthily moving in the shadows on the other side, suddenly she stopped and glanced in his direction, waving her hands at Alex she disappeared.
Alex couldn't help but let out a chuckle, refocusing his attention on that particular but Alex asked.
''What? Is that a food storage or something?"
As he was thinking if he could go closer his skill Divine Sense could have worked, the next moment, as he was about to ask Silveria for help, something jumped out of the hut and began to run outside, it was held down by the Orcs and goblins that had gathered.
And because Alex's eyes, which were much sharper than a normal person's, confirmed what had jumped out. Wearing what seemed to be the remains of clothing on her body, it was a human woman that was almost stark naked. When he concentrated on his hearing, what he heard made his blood boiled in hatred.
(No, stop it! Please don't dirty meany more than this, I can't take anymore, pleased.)
The monsters seemed to be laughing at the woman's plea and having read a lot of web novels, Alex knew was the woman was being kept for, what she went through since the day she was caught.
Alex furrowed his eyebrows as he mused over.
''Help and jeopardize the whole operation or not help?"
If he only considered his personal feelings, he would have rushed down and killed all the monsters. However, even if he could take care of the monsters near the shack, it would likely make the rest of the Orcs wary. It could become a factor in the night attack and cause it to fail, finally, it would affect the number of people sacrificed from the subjugation force as well as the number of Orcs that would be able to escape.
〖Master calm down first, you can save her later, now is not the time.〗
Hearing Silveria's advice, Alex nodded. Before turning around he spotted Eleonora looking at him with her eternal smile on her face however on a closer look you could that her smile was a little bit cramped, she gave Alex a thumbs up before disappearing into the shadow.
Chuckling as he was not the only one feeling the anger after having seen that woman, Alex muttered in the direction of the woman who was being dragged back to the hut.
''Tonight. I'll help if you can hold out until tonight. So don't give up.''
Though he knew that the woman who had been pulled back into the hut couldn't hear him, he gave a small mutter and turned around left.
After scouting for few minutes, Alex decided that it was time to go back and start planning their assault.