Chapter 128: Encountering the Female Knight
[Just like that, you struggled in hesitation for several minutes.]
[You still couldn't come up with a suitable, effective, and feasible method.]
[Seeing that the sky was getting darker, and knowing that mountain paths at night were very dangerous, you had to quickly resolve this issue.]
"No other choice, we can only be quick and decisive,"
Eikou said decisively,
"We can't just sit here waiting to die like this. Let's split up and go look for the clothes. That way, the chance of finding them should be a bit higher. Besides, demonic monkey isn't strong, even if we act alone we can deal with it easily."
"Whether we find the clothes or not, all of us must return to the hot spring before dark. Charlemagne will stay here to take care of Roland. As for Gawain, Tristan, and me, the three of us will go out to look for the clothes."
[You and the two Round Table Knights split up, while Charlemagne is responsible for guarding the hot spring—more specifically, guarding the unconscious Roland.]
[A few of you crawl out of the warm hot spring, wordlessly scatter, and begin searching for traces of the demonic monkey in the gradually darkening forest.]
[Although it is already summer, the night in the outskirts is still a bit chilly, making you feel cold.]
As the sun slowly sank below the horizon, the lush forest was instantly shrouded in twilight.
Visibility gradually dropped, the tree shadows seemed even more oppressive, and the branches trembled as if they possessed life.
Walking alone on the increasingly gloomy mountain path, Eikou suddenly realized that this idea of splitting up wasn't so great.
Although they hadn't encountered any danger or magical beast before, walking alone on a mountain path at night inevitably made one uneasy. If something unexpected happened, no one would be able to help.
"..."
Forget it, just search for a bit then head back quickly.
If he truly couldn't find the clothes, then he'd just have to accept the risk of being considered a pervert by the girls and return to camp naked — but compared to risking his life, that was still the lighter option. If something happened here, no one would even know if he died.
[You begin searching for the clothes.]
[Proceed with a skill check for "Instinct".]
[The result is EX, great failure.]
"Shit, exactly what I was afraid of!"
Eikou immediately panicked, quickly checking his number of encouragement dice,
"Getting a great failure here means my intuition is completely wrong, I lose all sense of direction…"
In other words, he would be lost in this forest.
Alone, without clothes, and deep in the mountains at night — could this situation get any worse?
"No, it really can get a bit worse…"
Eikou thought,
"If I then get unlucky and roll a few more failures, I might run into some dangerous magical beast in this pathetic state, then I'm done for!"
Without thinking further, he immediately used an encouragement dice.
He performed the check again.
He still had six encouragement dice left anyway, wasting one wasn't a big deal.
[You have used one encouragement dice. Initiating another check.]
A die rolled.
[The result is E, great success.]
"What…"
"And it's even a great success—so this time we're finally saved!"
[A miraculous flash of intuition surges within you, your instincts become incredibly sharp, as if you suddenly know the most effective, perfect method to find the stolen clothes.]
[Through your intuition, you finally find...]
"Clothes!"
[You have found a Servant who is extremely skilled at finding things, someone who can definitely help you retrieve your clothes!]
[With the assistance of this Servant, you will surely be able to find your clothes quickly.]
"What the hell, isn't the direction of this great success kind of wrong?!"
Eikou immediately panicked,
"I was trying to find clothes so that I wouldn't have to meet anyone! Why do I now have to meet someone during the process of finding the clothes? Isn't this like selling the treasure to buy the treasure map? The entire sequence is reversed now!"
Is this really a great success? Are you sure it's not actually some kind of great failure?
According to the effect of the great success, a graceful figure appeared ahead in the forest.
"It's… it's Sir Eikou!"
On the other side of the trees, someone seemed to have noticed the commotion on his end. That figure slowly turned around and shouted loudly toward him.
Wait a moment, that Servant seemed to be...
Bradamante?
That loud and powerful voice, the youthful twin-tailed hairstyle, and the clearly well-trained curve of her hips—other than Bradamante of the Twelve Paladins, it could be no one else!
Eikou's heart plummeted into the abyss.
Could this get any more embarrassing? Not only did he have to meet someone while completely naked like this, but it was even a girl from the team. If she saw him like this, it would be humiliation beyond humiliation.
"!"
Eikou's decision was instantaneous—without the slightest hesitation, he turned around and ran.
Of course, there was a better option at this moment.
If he could calm down, he would have thought of hiding behind a tree to cover himself, then explaining his situation in all seriousness and telling Bradamante not to come any closer.
Or he could have performed a check for 「Presence Concealment」 and used his personal skill to hide his presence.
But those are the kinds of ideas people think of only after the event is over. When you are naked in the wild and suddenly run into a seductive beautiful girl, it would be strange if you could think calmly.
Besides, Eikou's face was already thin enough. The prettier the girl, the more flustered he became, and his mind was already a tangled mess.
If he were seen like this, his student life at Chaldea Academy would practically be over.
And if Bradamante told Tomoe Gozen about it afterward, the consequences were unimaginable.
If he had known things would turn out like this, getting a great failure and simply getting lost in the outskirts would have been better.
"I finally found you, Sir Eikou!"
The moment he turned and ran, Bradamante immediately chased after him.
"『I finally found you』—what is that supposed to mean?"
A doubt flashed through Eikou's mind, and he used his own logic to answer it:
"You've mistaken me for someone else! I'm actually not a member of the Round Table Knight. Gawain and Tristan are over there. I advise you to go ask them for their autographs right now!"
Let others die, but not him. If he could redirect the "firepower" toward Tristan and the others, that would be perfect. The important thing was that he must not die socially.
However, Bradamante didn't change her target at all. She charged straight toward Eikou with absolute clarity.
Without a doubt, the female knight coming up the mountain today was heading straight for him.
"No, I came specifically to find you! I have something very important I need to tell you!"
Bradamante shouted with great seriousness, as if she had steeled herself with some kind of resolve.
"Did you really have to pick the worst possible time to say it!?"
Eikou grit his teeth, heart burning with panic.
In a forest so dark he could barely see his own hand, while completely naked no less—Bradamante still insisted on chasing him right now? What was she planning to do to him? This was way too scary!
"Gwaa!"
[Bradamante used her superior mobility to almost instantly catch up to you.]
[Proceed with an opposed Agility check, difficulty: very-hard!]
...
Note: I forgot to set the update time :v