It had been quite a while since they left the abandoned village. The memory of last night's treatment in the ruined house still lingered. The warmth of Lilia's fingertips touching the wound on his back. That strange sense of solidarity when Aira had cut in from the side with "I require a report." Raid confirmed the weight of the black short sword inside his coat while treading through the grass. Aira stood ahead. Her lustrous reddish-brown long hair was tied back, and her green eyes were narrowed as she gazed toward the eastern woods. Her dignified posture remained unchanged. But just slightly—the tension in her shoulders was harder than last night. "There are presences in three directions," Aira said. Her voice was low and precise. The voice of a report with emotion suppressed. Raid felt it too. Imperial Army scouts—likely an advance squad sent ahead to secure the route via the Yetori Pass through the Sekihou Mountain Range. The way their center of gravity moved bore the distinc