"Haa..."

    Tim sighed. He had started to feel his age lately due to him encountering many troupe-subverting moments.

    In contrast to Godorfun who looked as fine and dandy as a young man while following the events of the outdoor classes, he was certainly feeling the hardship of being isolated in the mountain forest for nearly a week. However, given the fact that the former never complained despite being retired from the position of the Knight Order''s commander, he would never verbalize his inner feelings of the matter.

    He couldn''t help but feel blinded by how dazzling the kids appeared to be with their overflowing energy, even going so far as to raise the difficulty of their scenario voluntarily, and in a corner of his mind, he felt envious.

    ''No, I can''t let myself get caught in their pace...'' Tim murmured to cheer himself up, and lightly slapped both of his cheeks. Yet, he couldn''t shake off his sleepiness.

    ''It wouldn''t hurt to just close my eyes a bit. Only for five seconds—'' Murmuring that, Tim crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

    ◆◆◆

    "You''re now dead, Tim-san."

    I crept from my hideout to the northern base through the gap in the broken wall, put a dagger on Tim-san''s nape, and called out to him. However, his eyes had just snapped open, when he twisted my arms that held the dagger and locked both of them into a hold.

    "Hey, hey, it hurrrttts! You''re supposed to be dead now, Tim-san!"

    I had to raise my voice so that he''d finally realize the situation he was in. A pale expression showed on his face as he released my hands and apologized.

    "I-I''m so sorry! It was just out of reflex.................. No, did I fall asleep? But there''s no way I could have fallen asleep so deeply that I''d fail to notice your steps until your voice woke me up... not when you all must be more exhausted than me, having gone through all that hardship... How?......"

    Tim-san''s face contorted in lamentation, as if he couldn''t believe he had made such a grave blunder. Something tells me he would surely put in a letter of resignation unless he gets to know why.

    "I had contaminated the air with sleeping drugs using my wind magic. It''s actually quite a tricky method, and not surprising to not notice it at first encounter, so please do not fret over it. I will explain the details, but first......"

    After giving some reassuring words, I pushed myself and Tim-sann toward a blind spot from the entrance.

    "Is everything alright, Tim-sama? I heard some kind of noise..."

    I blew the paralysis drug toward the two newcomers.

    The two tilted their heads back in surprise, took reactive measures, and knelt to the ground in a crouching position.

    "And you two are now dead.” They were both startled as I left my cover and announced so, my bow pointed at them.

    Tim-san, who had been silently watching this, was surprised once again.

    "Lower the turret!"

    "No, have the mage corp first whittle down his stamina from a distance!"

    ......I guess lady luck was on my side here for now. The absence of Tim-san and two coordinators did break their chain of command.

    It might seem like their orders were good enough, and they were, but that was only if they didn''t have a huge troop. Their actions clearly diminished a number of advantages they could have had.

    I opened the top of the two phials clipped on my waist, and scattered the concentrated paralyzing gas — I increased the mixture''s potency to get even more powerful drugs — into the air while keeping it in one particular area.

    I imagined the flow of air to be like a donut, with the space where I was being hollow.

    "-Arggggh!!!"

    Lately, I had barely run out of mana, so the once familiar bitter sensation made me groan.

    But maybe the drug concentration had become diluted due to the large area, several soldiers still stood strong while my mana had been depleted by more than half of my capacity. Also, it was only a matter of time before my stock of normal paralyzing drugs dried up.

    I had one last phial left, but this was specially prepared for Godorfun— the Super Paralyzing Drug.

    It might not be good to use this...

    "What''s with the wind?!"

    "The air is poisoned!"

    "Don''t panic! It''s not enough to affect us!"

    "Stay on your feet! We''re going to press on!"

    Hey, hey, hey, please don''t do this. Don''t force me to open this red cap. It''s super-duper dangerous, just so you know!

    " "Keep Chaaaaargiiiiiiinggggg!!!" "

    Don''t come! Don''t come! Don''t come!

    Holy hell, can anyone tell me what to dooooooooo!?

    .........fwoomp

    Eventually, I lost to the rushing troops that moved like an avalanche, and... opened the red cap.