Flight Instinct greatly increased Gauss's efficiency when using Fly.
Before, using Fly had required him to devote some of his attention to controlling it. Now, casting the spell was as easy as a bodily instinct.
It was as if he weren't casting a spell at all, but had grown a pair of invisible wings.
Before long,
Gauss reached the area near the explosion.
He descended slightly from the clouds, his gaze fixed on the people below.
Yes, people.
On a wilderness plain that should have held nothing but monsters, howling winds, and weeds, a company of more than a hundred people, with pack animals and wagons, had made camp in a clearing they had opened up.
It wasn't an ordinary caravan.
He narrowed his eyes slightly. As he did, the Eagle Eye Monocle rapidly adjusted its magnification like a telescope, bringing the scene several hundred meters away into sharp focus.
The first thing that caught his attention was the makeup of the company.
Though numerous, they were clearly divided into distinct groups.
Some wore matching Studded Leather Armor or steel armor, carried standard-issue weapons, and moved with the unmistakable air of soldiers.
The rest were support personnel, responsible for setting up camp and preparing supplies.
"Is that... an army?"
Gauss caught sight of the flags planted in the camp.
He didn't know much about heraldry, but he could tell that the emblem on the flag belonged to some noble family.
On a pitch-black field, a golden eagle was embroidered in gold thread, encircled by silver-white olive leaves.
"A well-trained regular army, possibly in the service of a noble."
As for the explosion—
Gauss looked toward another part of the crowd.
Black smoke drifted above a ruined site, with pieces of Gnoll corpses scattered here and there on the ground.
The