TYBMB 39

Chapter 39 — Caroline
2024.02.08.

As the deputy commander, I was supposed to embrace all members equally without personal feelings, but well…

Caroline’s attitude had been strangely getting on my nerves for some time.

It was hard to say it was outright anger, but she scratched at me in a subtly irritating way.

I ignored her muttering and repeated to the commander,

“We need to move very carefully from here on.”

“Understood. Then we will need Oscar’s ability now. Oscar, use your power to scout ahead.”

“Yes!”

Oscar stepped forward and activated his power.

Soon, his eyes began to glow a deep blue, filled with magic.

Using his glowing eyes, Oscar scanned ahead and reported to the commander,

“There are no monsters hiding ahead. I don’t see any other dangers either. We can continue moving straight on.”

The commander nodded and advanced.

Oscar’s ability, simply put, was “clairvoyance”—the power to see through everything far away.

With it, spotting hidden monsters or traps from a distance was easy.

It was a very useful skill, but unfortunately, Oscar didn’t have much magical energy, so he couldn’t use it for more than five minutes at a time.

It was a power to be used only at crucial moments.

Anyway, Oscar’s ability alone wouldn’t let him smuggle monsters, but who knew?

The commander mentioned he might have awakened a second ability.

More importantly, Oscar was the second son of the Kerrenburg count family—Ernandt’s cousin.

They were blood relatives.

Because they were so close, Ernandt likely trusted Oscar and may have asked him to supply monsters.

Therefore, Oscar was the second prime suspect after Elma.

So when facing the Queen, I intended to keep my eyes wide open on him.

To see if he would activate another ability besides clairvoyance in a crisis.

While lost in such thoughts, Caroline’s sharp voice suddenly rang out.

“Oscar.”

“Yes?”

“Can you also see where monsters are densely gathered with that ability?”

For some reason, Caroline asked Oscar this strange question.

I walked ahead of them pretending not to listen, but I paid close attention to their conversation.

Oscar’s voice sounded timid, as if a little intimidated by Caroline.

“Yes, I can see that, but…”

“Where are the monsters gathered right now?”

“There are three near a cliff going straight northeast from here. It’s the cliff drawn on this map. But why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

Caroline answered “just because” as if there was no reason, but something felt off.

Since we were already taking a safe path without monsters, why did she want to know their location?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.

Could it be… she’s planning to smuggle them?

Caroline didn’t know I suspected her, so she let her guard down and asked Oscar openly about monster locations.

But thanks to Caroline’s carelessness, I gained a critical clue.

I decided to keep a close watch on Caroline and continued walking through the jungle.

Oscar used his power as soon as his magic recharged to check for safety ahead, and I gave him shortcut information from what I had learned before reincarnation.

Thanks to that, we moved safely all day without ambushes or getting lost.

As the sun set, the commander informed us.

“We can’t move any further. Let’s camp here.”

We immediately began preparing the camp.

Unlike yesterday, there was no nearby cave to rest in today, so we had to sleep under the stars.

I deliberately spread out my sleeping bag next to Caroline’s.

This was to properly watch her through the night, but Caroline soon muttered an irritating comment.

“You’re sleeping here?”

“…”

“It’s a bit uncomfortable.”

I ignored it during the day, but Caroline’s continued rude behavior was wearing down my patience.

I stopped unfolding my sleeping bag and snapped at her.

“I didn’t know I had to get your permission on where I sleep.”

“Who said you had to ask? I’m just saying it’s uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable? Is there a reason for that?”

“…”

Maybe Caroline was uncomfortable because she was hiding something.

She asked Oscar about monster locations during the day, she subtly avoided me, and something was definitely being concealed.

So I directly asked why she felt uncomfortable.

For a while, she didn’t answer.

After some time, avoiding my gaze, Caroline finally replied,

“Well, if you want to sleep here that badly, go ahead. I don’t care.”

She turned her back, clearly not wanting to talk anymore.

She still hadn’t answered why she felt uncomfortable around me.

Later, we ate a modest meal of dried meat and potato stew.

It was quite a bleak mealtime.

After eating, I quietly called the commander aside.

“Commander, assign Caroline the night watch tonight.”

“Why? Are you trying to get back at her for being rude to you?”

“Do I seem petty to you? I just want to watch her.”

I then told the commander about Caroline and Oscar’s daytime conversation.

After hearing me out, the commander stroked his chin and nodded.

“Caroline was curious about monster locations…? Definitely suspicious.”

“Yes, so assign her night watch duty. We’ll make sure everyone else is asleep and Caroline is left alone awake. If she’s smuggling monsters, she won’t miss that chance and will move stealthily when everyone else sleeps.”

“You plan to wait, pretending to sleep, then arrest Caroline on the spot if she commits a crime? Sneaky, but a good plan. Very well. Caroline will have night watch duty.”

Following my suggestion, the commander assigned Caroline to night watch.

Caroline didn’t show dislike.

If anything, she seemed to welcome it, which only strengthened my suspicion.

She was definitely scheming something.

If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have so readily accepted the unfair order to stand night watch alone.

As night deepened, I lay down in my sleeping bag and closed my eyes.

Pretending to sleep, I waited for Caroline to make a move.

Surprisingly, Caroline was cautious.

Even as dawn approached, she didn’t leave her post and stood watch quietly.

Questions flooded my mind.

Why isn’t she doing anything?

Why is she suddenly so cautious?

Well, thinking about it, unless she was crazy, she wouldn’t do anything suspicious while the commander and deputy commander were with her.

She might have gotten cautious because they were around, or maybe I was just wrong.

Maybe Caroline was innocent.

As I felt disappointed, I heard a rustle.

Finally, Caroline moved.

Still pretending to sleep, I listened closely.

Sure enough, Caroline left her post.

My guess was right.

I waited until her footsteps grew distant and then carefully got up silently.

The commander, who was also awake like me, got up too.

I whispered to him,

“I’ll follow her. Commander, please watch the others here.”

“Are you okay alone?”

“Alone is fine. It’s best for sneaky tailing. And if Caroline resists arrest, I can handle her.”

“Well, she is one of the strongest in the knights—”

The commander smiled at me and added,

“I don’t think you’ll lose.”

“Of course. I’ll return safely, no matter what.”

“All right, go ahead.”

Without delay, I quietly began tailing Caroline, even more silently than before.

Caroline was probably going to find the monsters Oscar mentioned earlier.

But something was strange.

To smuggle huge monsters, space teleportation ability was essential, so if Caroline was the culprit, she must have awakened that ability.

Yet Caroline was walking without teleporting.

Had she not awakened a second ability?

Then how was she smuggling monsters?

Had she been using another method?

While pondering these questions, Caroline suddenly stopped walking.

“…”

I held my breath and watched.

Caroline slowly turned toward me, gripping her bow tightly.