The next morning, I set out alone.
Most of the soldiers in the encampment were still asleep, though a few remained on watch through the morning hours.
Weaving right past their awareness, I slipped out of the camp by myself.
Just as when I had stepped outside with Henry the previous night, there were no issues this time either; not a single person stopped me.
Even as a mere encampment, it housed an army numbering in the thousands, making the hastily erected site resemble a small town in its own right.
Yet it was ultimately set in the wilderness, and a single step beyond its perimeter revealed an empty prairie stretching as far as the eye could see.
Fixing my bearings across that vast expanse, I began walking.
My first direction was west.
After a short while, I noticed something.
Someone was tailing me.
"How many are there, Leviathan?"
Without looking back and keeping my pace steady, I addressed Leviathan.
"Three. All are lightly equipped."
"So they're Henry's men, then."
"What makes you so certain?" Leviathan asked, sounding curious.
"Henry accepted the plan last night, but that doesn't mean he gave it his wholehearted blessing. He likely sent them along to back me up just in case."
"Then shall I deem them obstacles to Master's path?"
"They are, but... don't get worked up."
Chuckling softly, I reined her in.
She hadn't changed one bit since the old days.
Ever since the time she was known as Leviathan, she had always flown into a rage the instant she sensed anyone showing me the slightest disrespect.
A loyal hound and a rabid beast—she was a fascinating magic sword combining both extremes.
"Still, having them follow me around will only complicate things down the line."
"In that case, give me the order."
"Let's see..."
I considered the matter for a moment, then conveyed my plan to Leviathan.
"Think you can manage that?"
"A trivial task."
With that dependable answer from Leviathan, I decided to leave it all in her hands.
I kept walking.
Before long, I spotted a rock about the size of a chair resting isolated in the grassland.
Stopping before it, I drew a pen and paper from my breast pocket and jotted down a quick note.
Leaving the finished message on top of the rock, I stepped a short distance away.
A moment later, exactly three lightly equipped men—the precise number Leviathan had sensed—arrived before the stone.
"Huh? Where did His Majesty go?"
"He was right here a second ago!"
"S-Search the area!"
The three frantically looked around.
Though I stood practically right under their noses, their eyes slid past me every single time.
To an outside observer, it would have seemed an utterly bizarre sight, but this too was an application of awareness redirection.
Guided by Leviathan's awareness redirection, no matter how much they looked around, their eyes were diverted so that they would never settle on the space I occupied.
I had figured this would be simple enough to pull off.
The idea had stemmed from my past experiences of searching for misplaced items.
More often than not, no matter how desperately you search for something, it refuses to turn up.
Then, after some time passes, you find it in an obvious spot and wonder, How on earth did I miss this?
I had simply taken inspiration from that phenomenon.
Even when humans believe they are searching high and low, there are always blind spots.
Combining that human tendency with Leviathan's awareness redirection made it possible to remain hidden even at a distance where our eyes would have otherwise met.
"Ah, look at this!"
One of the men searching for me noticed the paper on the rock.
When he picked it up, all three crowded around to inspect it.
"It's written in His Majesty's own hand..."
"'Show this to Henry'..."
"Incredible... Does this mean he had seen right through our tail from the start?"
"Not only that—he left this behind and vanished into thin air while we were staring right at him."
"What do we do... about this?"
The three exchanged sour grimaces and looked down at the note I had left.
Before long, one of them let out a heavy sigh, and they all turned on their heels to head back the way they had come.
The paper contained nothing more than what the men had read aloud: "Show this to Henry."
Those few words were all it took; Henry would understand everything at a single glance.
Watching the three figures retreat into the distance, I turned around and set off walking once more.
The town of Kukuruk.
This was the town where Jerry Eisen was stationed on assignment.
Situated on the western frontier, it was a quiet, desolate town compared not only to the Imperial Capital, but even to the provincial capital of Almeria.
Desolate though it was, it was by no means devoid of life.
Throughout the streets, young men who appeared to be off-duty soldiers were drinking, eating, and making merry.
For a frontline settlement, it was an entirely appropriate atmosphere.
No one expected productive labor from a place like this.
Targeting the substantial wages earned by the soldiers, its main industry consisted of catering to their drinking, gambling, and whoring.
With such businesses forming the backbone of the economy, a certain vitality followed naturally.
Keeping my awareness redirection active, I walked through the town.
"Hmm, that western accent is remarkably thick."
As imperial subjects, they were ostensibly speaking the Empire's common tongue.
Yet the dialect was so heavy that even with total concentration, I could barely parse a tenth of it.
"Do you require my interpretation, Master?"
"Ah, right, you could do that. No, it's fine. If I catch ten percent, I can guess the rest."
I turned down Leviathan's offer.
It was my honest assessment.
I had only just entered the town, but the sights and snippets of conversation were enough to gather that nearly every discussion revolved around drinking, gambling, or women.
There was no need to trouble Leviathan for translations of that sort.
Maintaining my course, I directed my steps toward the local government office.
Once inside, I set out to locate Jerry.
Since government offices of this style shared a uniform layout, I simply headed toward the quarters reserved for the highest-ranking official.
After walking through the corridors for a while, I came upon a room whose double doors were thrown wide open.
Stepping inside, I found Jerry.
He sat behind an imposing desk, reading through documents with a deep furrow in his brow.
"What are you reading?"
"Who's there?!...Wait, M-My Lord?!"
The moment I dropped the awareness redirection and revealed myself, Jerry was caught completely flat-footed.
Panicking, he sprang from his chair and hurried over to me.
"I had no idea you were coming, My Lord! Blast it, can't those good-for-nothing sentries deliver a single proper report?!"
"Hahaha, do not blame your men. I slipped inside in secret."
"My Lord?"
"Indeed."
Saying that, I had Leviathan reactivate the awareness redirection.
As if suddenly sensing a presence behind him, Jerry whirled around with sharp intensity.
Finding empty air, he turned back around, looking completely bewildered.
"Huh? M-My Lord?"
Having turned back, Jerry entirely lost sight of me standing right before him.
Just like the three trackers Henry had sent earlier, he could no longer perceive my presence.
Jerry frantically scanned the room, eventually poking his head out into the hallway, utterly baffled by my disappearance.
At that point, I deactivated the awareness redirection once more.
"Over here."
"Wha?! Wh-Where were you hiding, My Lord?!"
Seeing me standing in the exact same spot, Jerry looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"It works like this. Now you understand why no one reported my arrival."
"I-I see... That is truly marvelous. Just what in the world did you do...?"
Jerry marveled in utter disbelief, still struggling to process the trick that had just played out before his eyes.