The next day dawned as fast as it could, and Jurou and the others didn’t even feel the rest that they so badly wanted to enjoy. Then again, this new mission was of utmost importance, and somehow they were looking forward to it despite the hassle.

As for Kazuichi, he was already aware of the plan. And now that he had the entire night to contemplate about it, he realized that the plan was too easy. Someone could even pull it off solo, which just goes to show that three of them really thought about this plan for quite some time before bringing it up to him.

"And here I was, thinking that I could defeat the two strongholds just by brute-forcing it myself." Kazuichi forced a smile on his face before a kick landed directly on his cheeks.

"You should be more attentive, Kazuichi. How could you let me kick you? It wasn’t even a speedy kick." Arisu let out an exhale as Kazuichi rolled a couple of times on the ground before directly hitting his back against a tree.

The impact caused the tree to violently rustle, and the sound was heard all the way to the residential area of the stronghold. Fortunately, everyone was already fully aware of the sparring that Arisu and Kazuichi would engage in from time to time. That’s why no one questioned the sound.

"Sorry, I just had to wake myself up. That’s why I let you hit me." As soon as Kazuichi blurted out one of the lamest textbook excuses he could’ve thought of, his face grimaced, and then he stood up once again as if nothing happened.

"Are you sure about this, Kazuichi?" Arisu let out, disappearing from whence she stood and reappearing right in front of Kazuichi.

This suddenness caused Kazuichi to flinch back, but he had enough time in his system to react to Arisu, and he quickly activated his Blood Art.

Kabam— !

Despite echoing through the entire mountain, the attack didn’t faze Kazuichi at all. Not only was he able to block the attack, but he was able to grab Arisu by the leg as well, causing her to get flustered as she deactivated her Blood Art immediately.

Clearing her throat, Arisu then retracted her leg and then turned away from Kazuichi, her face turning into a nice shade of red. "Well, repeating my question... are you sure about this? You’re going to endanger the lives of the people in that stronghold. Even then, would you still push through?"

Arisu was right. In fact, the reason why Kazuichi couldn’t sleep a wink last night was because he was thinking of the same topic.

Then again, he knew that the residents of the East and West Yamanashi Strongholds were forced to fight each other against their will. That was more than enough for Kazuichi to ease his mind.

His thoughts were now clear as crystal. Of course, he wouldn’t mindlessly go through with the plan and cause needless casualties. His only goal and target were the leaders of the strongholds. That’s it.

— — —

The mid-morning sun peeked through the side of the mountain, overlooking the residential area and glinting at the waterwheel which constantly spun with the rhythm of the river.

Somehow, life was beginning to return to the stronghold, and compared to its deathly silence when the outbreak once started, the rustlings and songs of animals could now be heard in the background.

Kazuichi watched as a squirrel hopped from one tree to another, before it fell on the ground and skittered away. It was time for the group to go, and at this point, there was no turning back. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The next time they returned to the stronghold, the East and West Yamanashi Stronghold would already be erased from the map. And then, hopefully, new strongholds or shelters would emerge from the two.

"We good? We ready to go?" Jurou asked his three-man team before nodding his head at Kazuichi who was already walking towards them.

With the finalizations discussed just that morning, it was decided that the group would consist of four people— Kazuichi, along with Jurou, Kojiro, and Satoru. The reason they decided to go with the minimum headcount was to keep it as lowkey as possible.

After all, this mission required the utmost cautiousness. That’s why they couldn’t afford to add more people in the mix.

"I got pretty much everything." Kazuichi responded to the question a little bit late, shaking his small pouch which was slung on his shoulders.

For this journey, he only brought a couple of blood bags and meteorite ores himself. He figured he’d slowly absorb the ores just so he wouldn’t waste time during the trip.

As for the blood bags, well, they were there in case of emergency. If they had to camp out or if ever they found themselves in a situation where he couldn’t hunt, then he could make do with the blood bags so he wouldn’t go out of control.

"Let’s set off then," Jurou said as the four of htem walked to the entrance. There, a Bulwark on standby nodded his hed and immediately opened the entrance. "Have a safe trip, stronghold leader." The Bulwark greeted, bowing his head at Kazuichi.

With a nod, Kazuichi bowed his head at the Bulwark as well, making a mental note to get to know everyone else in the stronghold once he returned. Now that he thought about it, he never went out of his way to get to know everyone.

Of course, he would spend time with the residents from time to time, but he only knew them as residents of the Kazuichi Stronghold. Everyone treated him well, it was high time he returned the favor after he got back.

"Wait up!" A familiar voice spoke from the distance, waving her hand at Kazuichi and the others. She wore a huge smile on her face while she slung a small bag on her shoulders.

"Tris? What are you doing?" Kazuichi asked, dumbfounded. Of course, there was only one reason why she’d be here.

"I’m coming with you... well, Arisu told me to..." Tris let out one breath before assuming her position beside Kazuichi. "Let’s go." She chirped as she grabbed Kazuichi by the arm.