These guys' performance was a pleasant surprise. They had gone from green recruits to somewhat seasoned rookies after being tempered by experience. Their mental resilience and determination had grown, and they were no longer quite so immature.
But they were still only rookies.
Their spirit was commendable, but the results were poor.
They had neither horses nor ODM Gear, so there was no way their mobility could match Lianye's. And naturally, Lianye could not wait until every last one of them had caught up with him before launching a counterattack. That would waste far too much time.
"Though I'd like to say there's no need for you to come with me, since I'm the captain—but since none of you want to stay silent and do nothing, I'll give you a chance to prove yourselves."
Lianye said in a low voice, "Track the direction of the bandits' carriage from behind. I'll head out first. Whoever finds the carriage's location first, fire a flare so we can regroup."
Eren and the others exchanged glances, then nodded. They accepted their captain's proposal. This tracking method was indeed quite effective under the circumstances.
—The only slightly questionable point was why the plan assumed that all of them would move together while Lianye set off alone.
Wasn't that allocation of personnel far too strange?
But since it was a decision and arrangement made by Captain Lianye himself, they could only accept it.
"Alright, it's decided. Dismissed for now!"
The moment Lianye finished speaking, he leaped onto a thick branch nearby. After a few bounds, he vanished from before the group. His speed was as astonishing as someone rapidly swinging through the forest with ODM Gear, leaving them able to see only his afterimage.
"Wait, could it be that Lianye's ODM Gear wasn't taken by the bandits?"
Staring blankly at the shocking sight before them, someone voiced the question that had been lurking in everyone's mind.
"How could that be? His ODM Gear was also on his horse and was taken by the bandits. We saw it with our own eyes—and besides, Lianye didn't look like he was wearing ODM Gear just now."
Armin's mind was still fairly clear, though he too had been briefly stunned when he saw Lianye move.
"Forget about that. Let's get moving too. It'll be too embarrassing if all of us together can't match the efficiency of one person."
Eren seemed to have already grown used to Lianye's superhuman stamina as he urged everyone to get moving.
"That said, there are several roads through the forest that a carriage could take. Which way should we search?"
"At a time like this, we should go somewhere high up. We should be able to see the general direction the carriage left in from there."
Someone made the suggestion. When they looked over, it was none other than Sasha Braus, the Potato Girl who looked adorably vacant, almost foolish.
Why would that idiot foodie come up with such a reasonable method? Everyone probably had that same exasperated thought.
Still, Sasha really was an idiot foodie. Her obsession with food was practically stubborn, enough to make people wonder whether something was wrong with her head.
But the Potato Girl had grown up in a mountain village of hunters, so her skill at exploring forests was naturally better than everyone else's.
—Though the still-inexperienced girl was nowhere near the ultimate hunter who had just left.
No One Could Escape His Eyes
The bandits intended to sell the Expeditionary Team's ODM Gear to inland nobles through the black market, so they would inevitably head to a nearby town to unload the goods. Their hideout might even be somewhere nearby.
Of course, where the bandits' hideout was did not matter. What mattered was the direction in which they had left.
"@!￥!@#..."
Before you continue