Chapter 5: Preparation

After receiving a warning from AQA, they all went back to the castle with haste.

"You guys... what are we going to do?"

"I have a plan but I don't think it will work"

"What is it?"

"AQA said that they will need three days before they attack. We will first need to know where they are. Since they saw us, we should be able to track their movements"

"You mean..."

"Yes. We will have to confront them before they can"

"How do you know this, Aldo?"

"The <Market> shows all kinds of species and their description are there. It showed that trolls are little, like toddlers, but are ferocious and resilient. Despite that, they are pretty stupid.

Idiots like them are bound to leave traces that we can track. What's more is that they only live on areas where they can hide and make use of their small bodies to hunt"

WIth the castle at the center, there is a river on the south, a dessert on the east, a foggy land in the north, and a dense forest in the west.

After confirming Aldo's words by looking at it in the <Market>, they now have considered the success of his plan.

"What will we do after that?"

"I don't know. It is not like this is your typical strategy game where there are limited outcomes"

"How about we sabotaged them?"

"By laying traps?"

"Something like that"

Snap!

After Leon snapped his fingers loudly, they all stopped talking and turned their head to him.

"How about we scare them shitless that they consider to become our slaves?"

"....."

"If you think about it, an idiotic race like them can't do anything much. If we make use of them in exchange for giving them food, we should be able to become more productive in the long run"

"Tyranny from Mr. Detective... how unsurprising"

"I would prefer a give and take relationship"

"He is not wrong, but we can't just take the words 'ferocious' and 'resilient' from their description at face value. How are we suppose to scare them to submission?"

"You won't have to worry about that. But I do have a plan that ensures success, so... are you guys in or not?"

They all nodded their heads as they could not think of anything else other than his plan.

They then considered the failure of his plan and created a countermeasure by placing traps near the castle walls such as the classic 'Pitfall'.

...

[Third day]

Once again, the five of them woke up right before dawn due to the defeaning sound that echoed throughout the castle.

After gathering at the first floor, they all noticed that their partners were not affected at all.

"AQA, how come we are the only ones who can hear that sound?"

[Because only the five of you possess the title of <Player> in this world]

"How amazing"

They all said sarcastically.

Just like yesterday, they all went outside only to see something unbelieveable.

"I did saw it yesterday but... when did you guys created a big lake like this?"

All five of them were wondering how a one and a half footbal field size lake was meters away from the castle walls.

They then saw the two culprit for this event.

"Anise, did you two continued making the lake?"

"Yes, master. While Sir Aldo jr. kept on increasing the size, I made sure to accomodate the fishes"

The three who went to the forest yesterday looked at the two with eyes that said "Showoff!"

"At least we have a fish farm now"

"That's right"

They all ate fish while three continued to be petty by glaring at the two.

...

In order to complete the mission, they divided themselves into three teams.

Tracking team that consist of Marco, Lexi, Tony, and Veronica. The ones with the duty of knowing the location of the troll village as they are the ones who are nimble and suited for the forest among the group.

Trap team that consist of Leon, Persephone, Aldo, and Aldo jr. The ones with the duty of creating traps by the forest entrance as they are physically the strongest and the ones with the most stamina in the group.

Preparation team that consist of both Charlie and Anise. The ones with the duty of preparing all kinds of weapons such as gathering a concentrated poison of a Naga that can be use later on.

In the forest, about five hundred meters away from the forest entrance, the Tracking team found the troll village after an hour.

"There is about... sixty of them"

"Among them, twenty trolls at most are those who are capable of fighting. Approximately thirty trolls seem to be children. And the rest are elderly"

After receiving the report from Lexi and Veronica, the two begun to think what to do next.

"What sort of method do you think Leon will do?"

"We haven't known each other that long to guess such a thing... but, I think it is something only he can do among the current five of us. He seemed serious and cold when he said his plan"

"Do you think he will kill some of them in front of their village so that he can gain dominance over the trolls?"

"I think so. And while there is nothing wrong with that logically, it is quite morally questionable"

"Sooner or later, we will have to kill other creatures as well. There might even be a time where we have to kill a human as well"

"Right. Since we are done here, let's go back. Whatever he does will be for the betterment of all of us. Nothing wrong with trusting him about this matter"

The Tracking team went back quickly as two of them could not handle the 'itchiness' the forest bestowed upon them.

"So that's how it was. Do you still think it is possible to do it?"

Aldo asked Leon.

"Yes. From the information they have, I am now sure that it is possible"

"How will you do it?"

The tracking team were silently watching as Aldo asked the question that they themselves cannot bring to ask Leon about.

"It is a secret. I hope you do not mind"

"... Not at all. Each of us have secrets of their own, I won't pry any further if you do not want us to know"

"Thank you"

Leon replied with a smile.

They all went back to the castle and praised Charlie and Anise for preparing food for them.

"No need to suck up to us. We had spare time so we handled the cooking"

As if there is no danger lurking in the darkness that covered the castle they treat as their home, the ten of them ate and laugh all night long without a care about the world.

[Fourth day]

After Leon told the rest of his plan, everyone else went to do their own things.

Charlie practiced the movements and techniques from the book <Beginner Hunting moves 101> from the <Market> while Anise played with the fish.

Aldo was practicing magic incantations in his room as he felt too embarassed from having to say the spells out loud.

Tony created an improvised sling shot and hunt wild animals, which is at least two kilometers away from the troll village, as practice targets while Veronica practice acrobatic movement and melee combat.

Marco sing songs to replenish Lexi's small amount of energy as he Lexi uses his elven power to make the seeds sprout a little bit faster.

Several hours passed and most of them went back to the castle.

"Do you think he will be okay?"

"He has Aldo jr. along with Persephone who is a ghoul. If he dies then is his fault"

Aldo said before he entered his room.

"There is nothing we can do about it anyway so I will head back to my room as well"

"Me too"

"Then, I will be outside for lookout"