Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

Kanoko rubbed her temples, "Now, where was I? Ahh... Right. You don't need to worry about Smoothie, and Princess Haelley. Only the elite escorts will be accompanying them. I'm guessing you'll be there as well after you do a preliminary investigation."

"Okay."

"I was going to give you another task but I will let you know once you come back. It's not urgent. For tonight, a team of military engineers will be coming with you. It's not a problem if you leave them behind but please don't cause them any trouble. They're there to gather some information. In the event you meet any enemies, please capture if possible. We need as much information as possible."

"That's fine. I'll bind them leave them to the engineers, right? And what if the enemy is stronger than me? Can I run?"

"Yes, and yes. You're more familiar with combat than I am. Your safety is important. I want the engineers to be safe as well if you can manage."

"No guarantees but I'll do what I can. Anything else?"

"For your record, this place will remain my office until the city barrier formation is restored. As much as I appreciate being kept in a safe place, I want to take a breather outside." She grumbled.  

I definitely don't want to stay in an office all day everyday. There's not even a bit of sunlight inside. Sure, it's pretty with all these glowing plants and mushrooms here but there's a limit to that.

"Then, go take a breather? No one is stopping you." I said.

"Can't you see I'm stacked with work?"

"A little breather wouldn't hurt, would it? I mean, we talked for quite long."

"That's exactly why I need to now catch up. Leave. I've spent too much time on you already."

"Do you enjoy doing paperwork all day?" I asked as she was practically pushing me out of her office.

"I don't dislike it. Just go play with your kid or something. You got what you came here for."

As a gift of gratitude, I created two bottles of sweet water after remembering how she chugged them down last time.

"Alright, alright, there's no need to push. I'm leaving! Here, have some drink."

"Huh? How kind of you, thanks." She smiled before shutting her office door at me.

There was still some time before night but since the permission was received, I decided to send Smoothie to go play with Haelley and wait for departure. After that, I joined the military engineers.

Most of the debris in the main tunnels were already cleared and all the breaches had been sealed.

A supervisor of the cleanup team reported to me, "Your Honorable, would you like a status update?"

"Yes, any signs of enemy movements? Camps or leftover weapons, anything?"

"Yes, we have found many dead enemy soldiers, likely to have died from poison. Her Excellency had previous warned us of potential poisonous air in the passages. We therefore took precautions and filtered the air with magic and sealed the breaches as soon as possible."

Oops, I guess I did a good job?

"Ah, that's good. Any survivors?"

"None in the area, they might have ventured deeper where air is less poisonous."

"I see. What a troublesome bunch." I grumbled.

Once everyone was ready, we entered the large tunnels.

The team of fifteen military engineers was fully equipped with most of their things loaded onto two drake pulled carriages. In addition, each soldier carried a small bag with daily essentials such as food and water. Obviously, they also carried weapons such as knives and swords whichever their preferred weapons were. Though, surprisingly, some carried rifles, the new weapons obtained from fallen enemies. Given how these rifles were in a way similar to crossbows, they shouldn't have too much trouble using them. If they needed condensed mana, I could technically charge them for a fee.

Anyway, in terms of the command structure, I was equal to them or their team leader. It was a cooperative assignment after all which was why I was allowed to leave these slow walkers behind if I wished.

We didn't talk much. Yet, their gazes often followed me. Perhaps it had to do with me walking in the front or maybe they saw me as an super idol?

I turned around and waved, "Hi, need something?"

"No, no, Your Honorable. We're just admiring you."

"You're absolutely stunning."

"Indeed, indeed!"

They answered quickly in succession.

I'm truly an idol! Hurray!

I smiled happily in reply to the praises before dashing off deeper into the tunnels.

Scars of battle were easily visible in the tunnels. Black burn marks, holes, and dead soldiers were here and there. I took the opportunity to rid of the rotting corpses along the way otherwise the tunnel would stink terribly.

For the most part of this main tunnel, I didn't encounter any branches or secret passages. Excluding the occasional ups and downs and turns, it was a straight path to our destination.

Using tactical sight ahead of my position, there was nothing that could escape my detection. With the nearest settlement being four days away via walking speed, I flew without reserve.

To my surprise though, the tunnel was traveller friendly. Washrooms and clean water were provided approximately in one such facility around every ten kilometers existed. I had to enter one to remove some decaying corpses.

Who knew I ended up becoming a janitor? Though, it probably couldn't be helped.

As I continued further, I found a residential area or something like an inn for travellers. This was where things got a bit messy. There was a large group of human soldiers occupying this place and no beastfolk in sight, at least no living ones. Barricades were set up around the building as if they were anticipating skirmishes.

Ah, should I do the honor?

I really wanted to finish this investigation as soon as possible. Given how deep the enemies had penetrated into the country, and how many tunnels there were, I wouldn't be let off the hook after this assignment.

Alright, I'll keep them alive for intelligence purposes.

Assassination was one of my specialties. In merely a few seconds, all the men in my tactical sight were paralyzed. To ensure they wouldn't escape, I siphoned most of the life force and bound them tightly with vines. It was an action no different from catching a few armed burglers.

"Greetings humans!" I announced proudly. It was a line I really wanted to say.

I waited, but there was no response. Apparently the paralysis poison overdid it. They couldn't even talk to me.

Oops, my bad! Next time I'll be more careful.

My job was technically done here. I captured enemy soldiers and the rest was for the military engineers to sort out. And to leave my mark on them, I placed a strawberry on top of the head of a soldier who had the highest level. It was my way of saying, "You lost to a strawberry."

When I took a few steps back and examined the scene, it was quite comical. Hopefully those military engineers shared my sense of humor!

Within this tunnel, not surprisingly, there were three of these inns. It was presumably calculated to have one per day of travel. On the fourth day, travellers should have reached the end of the tunnel and into a settlement.

Anyway, I cleared the remnants of enemy soldiers as I made my way to the nearest settlement. With my speed, plus the time I slowed down to explore, a few hours was all it took. As for the enemy soldiers, they were nicely bundled up like carrots. Their mouths were gagged to prevent them from chanting magic. Also, to prevent them from causing troubles and escaping, I drugged them with poisons. A long nap wouldn't hurt anyone.

How envious, I wish I could sleep soundly like that!