Actually, Mile had intended to ask everyone about the situation during the first break, but she waited for everyone to catch their breath, for Mile to return, for the weapon selection, and then the commotion took up so much time that she ended up not being able to properly check the situation.
She couldn't afford to waste too much time, and since they would be taking multiple breaks anyway, she decided to have the conversation during the next break. It was impossible for ordinary people to have important discussions while walking in a single file through the night forest.
After walking for quite a while from the short break, Mile noticed an odd reaction from the detection magic.
(...Brown?)
Enemies without hostility are blue, enemies with hostility are red, those who are neither are yellow, and those in between are shown in the colors between. The indicator slightly ahead was brown. Or rather, it was more of a yellowish-brown... Moreover, it only appeared when it was quite close.
The brownish marking, which was stationary to the side of their path, was just a short distance away. It would soon be in sight...
...It turned out to be a large pile of feces from a monster or animal.
The marking seemed to be a warning to avoid stepping in or getting too close to it. It was conveniently helpful, and ... she was grateful.
(Ah, right!)
Mile, who seemed to have had an idea, stopped and gave instructions to the people behind her.
"There's a large pile of feces here, so please be careful! And we'll take a short break a bit further ahead!"
The people following her passed by, being careful of the feces, and then found a suitable spot to take a break.
Mile, on the other hand, retraced her steps to the previous location...
"Hmm, let's make a thin and fragile container out of soil, coat the outside with magic to give it strength, put the feces inside, and... "
Of course, she used magic to put the feces into the container without touching it directly.
Then, Mile did something suspicious.
"The source of the particularly bad smell in flatulence is protein... Ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, indole, skatole, volatile amines, and so on... I remember reading something like that..."
She put various items from her item box into the container, altered them with magic, and mixed them together. Finally, she dropped a suspicious small stone into it.
It was a Mile-made "magic stone that continues to generate heat for a long time."
The nanomachines attached to the stone, which had no choice but to follow Mile's instruction to "continue generating heat for 24 hours or until this container breaks," realized their fate the moment they were dropped into the container.
(((((Screaaaaam!!!))))
Mile put the lid on the container, reapplied a magic coating to the entire container, and carefully fixed it to the base of a tree branch. Then, she tied a white handkerchief to the branch as a subtle but very noticeable marker. The marker carried Mile's scent, so the probability of the beastmen missing it was quite low.
"Sorry to keep you waiting! Let's get going then!"
Mile, who had returned to where everyone was taking a break, said this as if nothing had happened and began leading the group again...
The next morning, around sunrise.
The morning guard, heading to the hut where the prisoners were being held to relieve the night guard, was stunned by the scene that greeted him when he opened the door.
The wooden bars cut with sharp edges, the scattered fragments of the shackles, the night guard who had lost consciousness in a position as if he had fallen off a chair, and the large, semi-circular hole in the wall opposite the entrance...
"It's a breakout!!"
The guard's loud voice echoed.
"Damn it, I told you to build a proper detention facility!"
The man in charge of the hastily formed escapee capture team was complaining as he ran.
Still, the fact that he didn't say things like "We should have just killed them" was a testament to his good nature.
However, even a good person who had been a soldier and fought on the battlefield could kill without hesitation, believing it to be the right and good thing to do. Good and evil were, after all, relative, and the criteria for judgment existed in as many forms as there were living beings.
...Or perhaps even more. Like artificial intelligences or beings that transcended the realm of living organisms...
The capture team consisted of 20 people.
After investigation, it was clear that the escapees had not recovered their confiscated weapons. It was unthinkable that they could put up a fight in the forest with their bare hands. He had strongly argued that 10 people would be more than enough, but for safety reasons, the number was doubled to 20, in case there were others who had come to rescue them, and their numbers and identities were unknown.
Some suggested that it might have been the work of the female hunters they had repelled during the day, but it was hard to believe that the young women who had been scattered by the counterattack could have done something like this.
He was a bit suspicious about the fact that the counterattack team, who had claimed to have easily driven them off, had suffered considerable injuries and had not captured them, but it wasn't a big issue. After all, the excavation site hadn't been seen, and its location hadn't been discovered. It was just a matter of encountering beastmen in the forest and fleeing in surprise. As long as they hadn't harmed the other party, there was no problem. Carrying a large number of unnecessary prisoners was a disadvantage for both sides.
That was the leader's thinking.
If there wasn't a major problem, humans wouldn't unnecessarily provoke the beastmen.
Although their relationship wasn't particularly good, they maintained a peaceful relationship. Both sides would want to avoid causing a fight. If the relationship between humans and beastmen worsened, those responsible would be held accountable by other humans, and it was unlikely that they would do something so reckless.
...As long as the excavation site wasn't discovered.
Therefore, the escaped humans had to be captured at all costs.
Even if the information leaked, it was unlikely that the humans would act immediately. It was thought that there would still be some time, but he wanted to ensure enough time to withdraw without any problems. If they could just have 10 more days, it would be manageable...
During the night, the humans, who had poor night vision, wouldn't have made much progress.
Even though they knew it was an inefficient action that would only accumulate fatigue and drain their mental strength, they would have tried to put as much distance between themselves and the pursuers as possible. By the time it got light, they would probably be unable to move much due to injuries and fatigue. It was a foolish thing to do...
The leader, who was following the young man he had chosen as the guide based on his sense of smell, night vision, and judgment, almost bumped into him when he suddenly stopped. The others behind him also stopped and gathered around.
"What's wrong?"
"Yes, that..."
Looking in the direction the young man was pointing, they saw a white cloth tied to a tree branch, which seemed to be some kind of marker, and a pot-like container placed at the base of the branch.
"...What is it?"
"I don't know..."
There was no point in just standing there thinking. Time was of the essence. The longer they stood there, the further the escapees would get.
On the other hand, they couldn't just leave this obviously suspicious thing as it was.
"Did they think it would be difficult to carry this and escape, and left a marker to come back for it later?
Did they think we wouldn't be able to track them so accurately and wouldn't find it, or...?"
A trap.
Even if he thought it was a trap, he hesitated to just leave it and move on.
Moreover, he couldn't understand why they would have brought such a heavy and difficult-to-carry object.
What could someone who had come to investigate or search for a missing person, without knowing about the existence of beastmen, have been carrying?
"Could this be something they found near the excavation site? Did they try to take it back?
Could it be what we're looking for...?"
If that was the case, there was only one conclusion.
"Check it! Be careful and gently lower it!"
Following the leader's instructions, a few young men gathered at the base of the tree marked with the white cloth.
As they all gently touched the container placed on a branch about 160 centimeters above the ground, the magic coating on the container disappeared.
Paaan!
With an explosion, the container burst, and its contents scattered around.
The container itself was a very thin and fragile object made of hardened soil, and it had only held together due to the magic coating that supported it from the outside. Otherwise, it would have broken under the weight of its contents before the internal pressure increased due to the heat.
So, the thin and fragile fragments of the container did not cause significant harm to the beastmen.
However.
Thud
Thud, thud...
Several of the 20 people collapsed silently.
Some were rolling their eyes, foaming at the mouth, and convulsing. Some had wet their pants. And some were in a state that was too terrible to describe...
Gaaah!
Gyaaaaah!
Some were vomiting their guts out. Some were holding their noses and mouths, drooling and losing consciousness...
"...Retreat! Drag the ones who have collapsed! If you leave them, they'll die!!"
After vomiting for a good ten seconds and even bringing up stomach acid, the leader finally managed to squeeze out the order. The men, who desperately wanted to flee, mustered all their self-control and ran to their fallen comrades, grabbing their clothes and dragging them.
However, the bodies of their comrades, who had been doused in the mysterious liquid, were so foul-smelling that it was beyond the tolerance of the keen sense of smell of the beastmen. The men carrying them continued to vomit, their faces covered in tears and snot, barely able to keep conscious. Some couldn't take it and collapsed themselves.
"Take off their clothes! Breathe through your mouth, and stay conscious!"
Taking off the clothes soaked in the liquid would help. The next step was to get away from the scene as quickly as possible...
There was no longer any question of tracking or capturing the escapees.
Sense of smell? It would be days before anyone's would be usable again.
Combat? After vomiting so much and exhausting their strength, they couldn't even stand properly...
"We'll head straight for the water source. We'll return to the excavation site after that..."
The leader changed the destination.
It was only natural. If they returned as they were, everyone left at the excavation site would be in a similar state.
The smell was that bad.
The leader, with a pained expression, muttered,
"It's the work of the devil..."
Meanwhile, the "many small, invisible things" that had flown out of the burst container were heading for the water source at full speed, crying and screaming.