Puer had returned. The reconnaissance squads scouting the canyon's outskirts had suffered very light losses, but only sixteen members of the three veteran reconnaissance squads Puer had personally trained early on had returned. More than half had been lost.
Still, this had been reconnaissance right in the enemy's face. That survival rate was already quite good.
Without any delay, Puer rode Kevin straight into the command tent. She jumped onto the map floating in midair, marked coordinates with her paws, and rapidly recounted everything she had discovered.
After finishing her account, Puer looked at Neo.
Neo nodded.
Then, just as Puer was about to leap back onto the dog's back, she paused and deliberately looked at Kallen as well.
Kallen nodded too.
"Whew... I'm exhausted, meow. I'm taking Stupid Dog to rest. If Philomina comes back, remember to tell me."
Kallen said, "All right. Get some rest."
"Come on, Stupid Dog!"
There were no unnecessary words or warm greetings. This was a military camp, not home. Puer showed no fussiness at a time like this; she had the basic qualities of a veteran adventurer, after all.
Kallen temporarily set aside his concern for Philomina and walked over to the map, watching Neo supplement the markings Puer had left.
Puer had only left the locations she had scouted, while Neo used the terrain map to "complete" the picture from the enemy commander's perspective.
It was like a pattern-finding game, extrapolating the fortifications across a broader area from their known density and placement.
Soon, the terrain map before Kallen was covered in densely packed markings, each of which could be understood as a trap or a bunker.
"That extreme?"
"They might not be this densely packed." Neo held a cigarette beneath his nose and sniffed it. "Perhaps they haven't had enough construction