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n“Are we ready to go?” I asked.

n“Yes!”

n“Yes, Master!”

n“Okay, all of the windows covered? They won’t see anything?”

nMiki shrugged. “They should be able to see the mana, but they don’t know what it is. I don’t think they’re smart enough even if they do know.”

nShe said that, but they did prepare a trap for us twice. They may not be individually intelligent, but they at least had the ability to surround us. Well, calling it surrounding was pretty relative, wasn’t it?

n“Portal.” I created a portal leading us back to our house. We grabbed all the supplies we carried and leaped on through.

nOnce we were back in the herbalist store, we dropped everything and I asked Lydia and Miki to look for ghosts. Thankfully, there were none watching outside. I didn’t recast the magic circle. If I did, there was a chance the ghosts would know we had moved. Rather, if we were going to take on a bunch of ghosts, I wanted to attack them from the side. They thought they had us pinned in the general store. This was a so-called surprise attack.

n“If we create a circle of Rosary dust around us, can we create a seal against ghosts?” I asked.

nMiki shrugged. “I do not know. It may repel and weaken, but it shouldn’t stop them completely. We’ll need to be prepared.”

n“How about dust bombs? If we can get a bag to exploded out in a group of them and it spreads as a fine powder…”

nMiki gave a wry smile. “Master is very smart. I’m sorry, I only know what the book said.”

nI decided to prepare a couple of things anyway. I wanted this ambush done properly. No mistakes. This was the first battle where there was truly a chance of danger.

nPulling out a map of the city we had acquired from the general store, I triangulated our position and created a path that would have the least chance of being seen.

n“We will enter this building here. We will lay out and purify it. It can be our fallback position should things go south. That way, we’ll be extra safe.”

nThe two girls nodded, only speaking up when it came to what they felt they were capable of doing. When it was all said and done, we only had a few hours of daylight left.

n“Let’s get a move on. They’re stronger at night.”

nAlthough I could see ghost better at night, that didn’t matter to the slaves, and they’d be the primary method of attack. I just needed to worry about supporting them and keeping them healthy. I equipped white mage and hero, but after my first attack, I planned to switch the slave master. I wanted to get a few levels in it. I already felt like a slave master benefitted the slaves simply by having the job equipped, but if I gained levels, I imagined more slave specific skills.

nWe quickly made out way down the quiet streets, keeping low. We had no portal to escape this time. If things went south, or the only option was the return skill. Would it even work now that I gave up the position? Perhaps I could mentally set the location of my return. It was too late to think of that now. Returning to Chalm, even briefly, would be quite embarrassing, so hopefully, it didn’t come to that.

nWe snuck into a small house and quickly covered the place with the rosary. Looking outside, the ghosts were staring at the general goods shop. A few more had gathered and now their army looked quite impressive. The goal was to hit them hard and keep hitting. This would be the first real test of our strength since Mina’s dungeon.

n“Are you both ready?” I whispered, peering out the window.

nThe two girls nodded, even though Lydia was shaking slightly.

n“Then… let’s go!”

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