"I know. You're right. It's still irritating, though." The girl rubbed her cheek against my chest. "Tch. Armor. So then, what are you plotting this time?"
"And you don't believe I simply missed you and wanted some privacy with a beautiful lady?"
Unfortunately, the armor she wore was also seriously interfered with my wandering hands, though in truth I had entirely different plans for this evening and night anyway.
"I'd like to think I've gotten to know you fairly well. You are quite the 'admirer of feminine beauty,' after all…"
"Hey now, those are vile slanders and malicious attempts to tarnish my honorable name!" I protested theatrically.
"Oh, really? I saw the way you were staring at Dandan and Ju."
There was a note of jealousy in her voice, though not a particularly sharp one. Then again, why would she be deeply jealous? Yes, I'd looked. I wouldn't even deny it. But purely from an aesthetic standpoint, and I had made absolutely no advances in that direction.
"That was merely artistic inspiration! Perhaps I was considering taking up the brush again!" I continued portraying an eloquent stool.
"Mm-hm. The only thing you should be trusted with a brush for is calligraphy. Well, and the flute, of course. But painting…" She narrowed her eyes. "Don't change the subject! In any case, despite all your 'appreciation of feminine beauty,' your intentions this time was far too obvious, which is completely unlike you. If you'd genuinely missed me, you would've simply sneaked into my tent… or waited for me to sneak into yours. This has something to do with all those questions you were asking our 'dear' colonel about the Air Temple today, doesn't it?"
"All right, all right, you got me." I sighed. "I don't like our commandant. And he clearly doesn't understand the operating principles behind his machines, meaning he got those blueprints and descriptions from someone else. And lying to an inspector is bad manners. I'd even say very bad manners."
"And you think the source of those blueprints is somewhere in the temple? As far as I know, the Air Nomads were never famous for complicated engineering solutions."
"I don't know yet, but there's definitely something off about this temple. Morishita was hinting at it too. We should take a look before our gracious host decides to cover his tracks."
"And you want to head into unknown mountains alone? At night?" There were unmistakable notes of concern for my mental well-being in Suki's voice.
"Well, first of all, I'm pretty well trained and theoretically capable of making a trip like that."
"You certainly don't suffer from modesty," the girl hissed, though it was obvious she was worried about my continued physical integrity.
"And second, I won't actually have to go in alone. I'll just keep watch near the camp and see whether any of Bohin's messengers head toward the Temple. If they do, I'll simply tail them."
"I see. So I'm responsible for your alibi? The esteemed Fire Herald spent the entire night extremely occupied," the warrior smirked. "Ah, you get to go have fun while I'm stuck here all alone, bored out of my mind, occasionally rocking the camp bed."
"Well, you could invite the girls. More company means more fun," my suggestion nearly made Suki choke.
"You… you…" Mmm, the way she blushed—adorable.
"I should get going before I miss the departure of the 'equipment couriers,'" silencing any possible objections from the warrior with a kiss, I grabbed my weapons and a small emergency pack I'd prepared just in case, then stepped out into the thickening darkness.
I'd made it just in time. After only half an hour of waiting, a detachment finally set out from the camp toward the garrison, and barely two minutes after it disappeared beyond the visible stretch of the road, four sturdy-looking men split off from the group and broke into a brisk march toward the mountain trail on foot.
Made sense. They had no riding lizards, no earth-digger ostrich horses either, and no other beasts would have managed that mountain path in the first place. Falling in behind the group at a respectable distance, I followed my unwitting guides.
And as it turned out, the colonel hadn't lied about a single thing—without specialized gear, crossing some of those slopes would have been extremely difficult… assuming you didn't know about the hidden passages that had probably been carved out by the Air Nomads themselves ages ago.
Once night fully settled in, things became far harder for me. My "guides" could afford to light oil lanterns and at least illuminate the trail a little, while I was practically moving by touch alone. If not for Piandao's lessons, I'd have snapped my neck for sure… Though if not for his lessons, I probably wouldn't have ended up here at all. Yeah.
A couple more hours later, the group finally reached the temple and began pounding on the gates while demanding someone called the Mechanist. They shouted for him for nearly twenty minutes before the doors finally creaked open and a man around fifty stepped out to meet them—wild hair, an unkempt beard, and the overall appearance of a... hmm-m… slightly mad scientist.
Interesting. Very interesting.
"Y-Yes? What do you want? We had an agreement with the commandant — I still have three months left…"
"Shut up! We're not here about that. An inspector from the Capital showed up, and the idiot suddenly got it into his head to visit your little dump. The commandant strongly suggests you put on a display of loyal devotion and general delight, got it? If the official doesn't like something, the colonel's the one who'll catch hell for it. Only after that, the official'll leave… and you'll still be here with a pissed-off colonel. And you really don't want to upset the colonel. Right?"
(End of Chapter)
🙌Bonus chapter for 200 power stones!
🔥The next bonus chapter will be for 300 power stones.