Chapter 62: Minor Intel
Last night, while she was "asleep", she had decided to spend the SC she had on a single pull.
Hilda hadn’t expected much from it, so colour her surprise when she discovered it was the one thing she needed the most today.
Information.
[Minor Intel]
"They will come. Split in two. When everyone is at their least. Two will invade two. And the one to remain after will only be one of the two."
The rhyming message from {Minor Intel} was cryptic and ominous, but it didn’t take a major genius to figure out what it was trying to say.
Today, the Predicaments were going to invade the two groups in Calais — most likely in the evening or late afternoon, when everyone believes the exam was about to end.
And from the way {Minor Intel} put it, the Predicaments were going to split into two groups, presumably to invade both Ross’ and Roxy’s groups at the same time.
But what troubled Hilda wasn’t the quantity of Predicaments, but rather how they were going to be led.
She presumed that one of the invading forces would be led by the Soldier Predicament and that the group it targeted would be the one to fall. But what about the other invading force?
Were they going to be composed of only Scoundrels? And if they were, would the group that’s going to face it be the "one to remain", like {Minor Intel} predicted?
Hilda was vexed.
’... It doesn’t feel right...’
The intelligence of Predicaments varied between classifications.
Scoundrels were the bottom of the barrel, with lacking intellect; they can’t process things beyond filling their bellies. While Soldiers were only slightly better; enough to form simple strategies, that was.
Fortunately, unless Scoundrels were in close vicinity of a Soldier, they lacked the ability to properly follow simple strategies. So the idea of an invading force composed of only Scoundrels sounded... incorrect to her.
’Thus, the only possible conclusion would be that the Poison Jar had actually brought about two Soldiers. Or... possibly this is the work of a General-class Predicament...’
Unlike Soldiers, Generals were able to command Scoundrels, and even Soldiers, from a distance. They were even said to be capable of using supernatural attacks.
Hilda thought about it, then shook her head.
’That’s impossible. There are only two Generals per Duke. Und they’ve already fallen when the Duke of this region died years ago.’
The only remaining Duke of Europe was in the East. And she doubted that the Duke of that region would send one of its Generals all the way over here.
’So, the only conclusion that sounds the most plausible would be that the Poison Jar had actually brought about two Soldiers...’
Hilda still felt it was unlikely, but perhaps she would be proven wrong when they eventually attack happened.
Though... not like it’ll matter whether she was wrong or not.
’As long as everything goes as planned, that’s good enough for me.’
Although she was slightly suspicious about the intel, she chose to believe it for now out of sheer curiosity.
The System had shown it was capable of creating things and storing them in what may be a pocket dimension, so it was reasonable to believe it might also be omniscient to some extent.
She also doubted that it would do anything that could possibly endanger Nadia by providing her with false information, given how it had been operating thus far.
’I wonder if the System would give me a Quest when the attack happens... Surely, right?’
Hilda soon snapped herself out of that thought when she noticed Elias’ squad turned a corner. She swiftly moved to chase after them.
They had now crossed a significant distance, notably far away from Rusty Den, unknowingly, more towards the west of Calais’ port — the direction where Roxy had stated to be where her camp was situated.
...
Elias kicked a stone on the side of the road, his brows furrowed and his face wrinkled with frustration.
"DAMNIT! Where are they hiding at?!"
He had been looking for almost an hour! How had they not come across a single Predicament at all!?
’We only have around 36 to 38 pairs of eyes in the inventory, the last time I checked.’
If they tried to split it amongst everyone evenly, they would definitely come up short, leaving a few people empty-handed, which could spark some issues.
’Not like any of those bums deserves it anyway...’ Elias thought with a twitchy eye. Why did he have to get the same amount as everyone, when he was one of the few people doing the most work?
Was this what it was like to be communist!?
Elias became slightly enraged.
He scratched the side of his head irritably, feeling the urge to slam his head against the wall because of the unfairness. But he eventually regained his composure and tossed the thought to the back of his mind.
Then he returned his attention to the matter at hand and wondered about the reason for the lack of Predicament activity.
And when he did, he remembered something from last night.
Didn’t Ross tell him something about this?
’Could that Poison Jar whatever be the reason for this?’ Elias thought, recalling what Ross had told him last night.
He hadn’t ever heard of the term Poison Jar before, so he still struggled with the idea that Predicaments would suddenly gather to stop one out-of-control Predicament.
"Argh... how are we supposed to bring back corpses, when there’s nothing out here?"
As Elias was about to lead his group around another corner, a squeaky, feminine voice called out to him from behind.
"Heh! Is that you, rat-eye Elias?"
The Street Rat’s face immediately contorted into a thug-like expression.
"Huuuh?"
He spun around and looked behind them, finding a group of people wandering over to them — led by a petite woman with black pigtails, streaked with pink, and velvet eyes. She wore a slim black dress and had a pompous look on her face.
"What the—! Beatrice?!" Elias shouted in surprise before pointing at her. "What’s a rut like you doing out here? Children aren’t meant to be in dangerous areas like this—"
"WHAT’D YOU CALL ME?!"
Beatrice glared intensely at Elias before snapping back at him:
"I’m not a child or a rut, you crappy rat! As for why I’m out here, it’s because Roxy is still recovering from her injuries that damned woman gave her!" Beatrice answered, making it clear she was a part of Roxy’s group.
"But, besides that, I should be the one asking why you guys are here. Why are you all lingering around on our side of the city!"
"Your... side?"
Elias blinked in confusion.
"Nothing’s yours! Who’d think you are claiming a part of an entire city as your own!?"
Beatrice snorted and flicked her hair.
"Hmph. Someone who belongs to a better group, obviously!"
She then raised a hand and began gesturing at them.
"Shoo, shoo. There’s nothing for you guys to find here, so go back the way you came. If you know what’s best for you."
A vein bulged on Elias’ forehead. He had met countless people who had annoyed him in the past, but for some reason, this woman before him trumped all of them in terms of "annoyingness".
"Yeah, fine. We’ll get out of your hair. But before that, tell us, have you managed to gather any eyes today, yet?"
"Hm?"
Beatrice stared suspiciously at Elias before smirking in a smug and mocking manner.
"Oh~? Sure we have. Unlike your people, we actually give all our efforts into doing things~"
"Why I oughta..." Elias clenched his fist, resisting the urge to do something he might actually regret.
He then turned around and left.
Hilda, who watched as the two went their separate ways, grinned. Having overheard their conversation on a nearby rooftop, Hilda couldn’t help but grow excited.
She was finally moving on to step two of her plan.
Instead of continuing to follow after Elias, she switched to trailing behind Beatrice’s group.
And when they reached a suitable area, she pulled out a Talisman from her bag.