Chapter 121.1

Chapter 121.1 \n<h1>Chapter 121.1 – Jungle Tower’s Defense Plan</h1>\nJust as I had told everyone before, my fortress capture strategy was to wait until their side came to attack our Jungle Tower, leaving the tower empty when they came to attack, and commencing a blitzkrieg to capture their fortress as fast as possible.

It’s not wrong to say that our real fight started after we arrived at the fortress, but I wanted to pull the other side’s war potential towards the tower as much as possible too. The degree of difficulties in capturing the fortress depended on how long we could keep their main force busy with trying to capture the tower.

In short, we have to make the best preparation for both Jungle Tower defense and Fortress Capture in order to maximize the result.

And it started with the tower.

And as I said before, Rem would stay in the tower as a diversion. I actually wanted to leave the tower completely empty, but no matter how idiotic those Gomas were, they’re not stupid enough to attack an abandoned tower.

But as long there’s someone left in the tower-even if that person was alone- those guys wouldn’t think twice to do their best to kill that person.

「But still, leaving the defense to Rem alone is a bit too much, what if there were a mishap along the way or she got shot down with a hit?」

In the case something unexpected happened, I think it’s better to increase the number of defense personnel as much as possible.

「Well then, now let’s see how much is my limit … in creating the clay doll.」

Since I could make two, making three or four Rems should be possible for me. The only problem was how much 『Vile’s Clay Doll』 I could handle with my mana.

「Corpse, check! Magic circle, check! Offering, check!」

I lined up my carefully selected Goma’s corpses which dumped behind the tower. After I placed bones and monster meat in my magic circle’s 『Center of Hexagram』, in addition, I added Murasa mushroom and jungle’s mandragora.

I used a Goma’s corpse as the mold. After that, I added plenty of THAT MURKY WHITE LIQUID and my own blood.

I prioritize quantity over quality right now. It’s good enough as long as she had a human shape and could wield a weapon.

「Great, now come forth, Rem the Third!」

I mass-produced Rems in a grandiose manner. Naturally, the result was…

「――Momokawa-kun!」

「HAH!?」

Yamajun’s worried face up close was the first thing I saw when I woke up. Too close, you’re too close, Yamajun!

「Are you okay, Momokawa-kun!? It seems you’re fainted from mana exhaustion.」

「Ah.」

I did it again huh. I noticed again that I always fainted whenever I challenged 『Vile’s Clay Doll』 new power. I’d always passed out whenever I felt that I could still perservere.\n「… Rem!」

「GA!」

「GAGA!!」

「GAGAGA!!!」

When I turned around, I saw three Rems reply cheerfully.

The first one was the one who used Raptor as her base mold, the other two were normal black skeleton model. It seemed my eyes didn’t play a trick on me.

「Thank God, I barely made a fourth.」

「GA, GAGA」

As if congratulating their master, Rems were clapping with their skeletal hands.

Now then, the bait for tower defense had increased from one to four. Now you girls could bide us more time.

「Ah, keep lying down, Momokawa-kun.」

「Don’t worry. I won’t use any big sorcery again today.」

It’s not like I passed out due to anemia after all. Maybe it was thanks to my vocation, shaman, that my mana recovered even faster than my stamina. That’s why mana had recovered enough to allow me to walk at my own pace.

I had no idea when those guys would come to raid this tower. That’s why our sleeping time was a luxury.

I reassured Yamajun and went toward the warehouse, the working site of Totem Pole Trio.

「Heya, how’s the situation on your side?」

「Dirty coz we’re looking for any usable lo~ot.」

「We’re taking the first turn to dip into a hot bath today.」

「And don’t forget about food.」

Despite complaining about their jobs, I knew that they did their job seriously from the mountains of items next to the warehouse.

「I see, thank you for the good work.」

I did a brief inspection of the gathered materials while throwing apathetic words of gratitude.

Great, it seems we got quite a haul from those loots. They even found torch oil and few arrows. Oh look, this Goma’s drug was also in good condition. My plan didn’t consist of the use of this drug, but I guess there’s nothing wrong with giving this drug to our vanguard as our ace in the hole.\n「Rem, take all the bows and arrows.」

「GA」

「Third and Fourth, you’ll go with First to practice archery on the outside.」

「GAGA!!」

The trio of Rems moved at once while carrying bows and bundle of arrows with them.

「Hey, is Momokawa’s familiar just increased in number?」

「Indeed, they’ve increased just a while ago.」

I gave Ueda a half-hearted reply. My aim wasn’t solely to increase our number, it was also for Rem to gain more proficiency in archery.

A long-range weapon was a better choice when besieged by enemy from all sides. My original plan was to block all passage to enter the tower-including the entrance- and then shoot those Gomas down with a hail of arrows from the top of the tower. Since the number of our enemies was most likely far superior, there was no need for skilled archers, even randomly fired arrow would kill one or two unlucky Gomas.

In addition, since we had a lot of ragged cloths, we could make fire arrows by soaking them into the torch-oil. Since we can’t make this outside of the tower to prevent a leak in the information, we could only make it with everyone at night in the tower today.

But of course, there’s afternoon work before we get to that point.

「After lunch, we’ll start carrying the felled trees and shut the entrance once we’re done making the front gate.」

「O~u.」

「A lot of work to finish~」

""

「Hey, an aquamancer like me ain’t suited for manual labor.」

The trio was as listless as ever, but the plan would continue regardless of their choice.

Since we ate stew in the morning, the menu for our lunch was… well despite trying to sound cool, it’s just baked meat. Since I’d turned the plump part into preserved food, we ate another part right now. In short, our menu was the innards… or should I say, liver?

Part of it was thinly sliced and then grilled. I used the mixer function of Witch’s Kettle for the other half of the liver.

「SHO GOOOD」

「Yup, nothing can beat fresh meat.」

「This mysterious herb gives a nice kick to it.」

\n「Back at you, Yamajun, is something the matter?」

「I’d a short afternoon nap. Also, please don’t overwork your body, Momokawa-kun.」

「It’s okay, I have no intention to do that, to begin with.」

「That’s great but… What are you doing right now?」

「I’m making saddle and stirrup.」

Even though I was trying to make it sounds cooler than it was supposed to be, the materials were taken from Goma’s bag or clothes, in short, it looked a lot like a rag.

Nonetheless, it’s better than nothing. I mean, I’ve horse-like Raptor Rem, so it’s natural to make the proper preparation to ride her.

「I mean, riding raptor as it is would literally kill your a*ss, right?」

「Yup, I can imagine that. Riding a horse alone is already hard, not to mention when you did it without a saddle.」

「Could it be that you’ve prior experience in horse riding, Yamajun?」

「Sometimes, during a summer vacation trip.」

「Oooh, you’re like a celebrity, huh.」

「C’mon, that’s not true.」

During such seemingly idle chatters, I tried to ask something that I’d been worrying over. Or rather, I wish he would answer this question for me.

「Say, Yamajun, Do you happen to have 『Ancient Language Decoding・Beginner』 skill?」

「Yeah. I’ve no idea why I have this skill, I mean, I almost never used it up until now after all.」

It seems that’s his beginning skill set. He said that he got that skill at the beginning of this dungeon capture, at the same time when he and Yamada-kun arrived at their first fairy plaza.

「Can you read this ancient language?」

「Only some small part of it. It doesn’t mean that I can read it easily, some sentences might’ve to be read from underwater, some parts might’ve been lost and cannot be read.」

I see, we need a higher version of the skill to decipher higher priority words and sentences huh.

「Are you interested in ancient language too, Momokawa-kun?

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Note : In case You haven’t heard this, I caught fever and have to take a rest next week, I’ve got enough of my wife mixing sleeping drug in my tea.