At midnight, in a forest within Redwing Kingdom, nearby the Parnatau Mountains…

With only faint moonlight glowing through the leafless branches, a group of figures approach a collection of irregular shapes between the trees.

「…This is it.」

A man's voice says from behind a dark metal mask depicting a wolf's growling face. His green cloak flutters as he walks closer to a large sheet of cloth draped over something large in the forest.

Fffffffwap!…

He grabs onto the sheet, then with one forceful motion and a noisy flutter, pulls it up and away. Leaves woven into the cloth to obscure its form rustle as it falls to the ground, folding onto itself.

The growling wolf looks over his shoulder at the rest of the cloaked figures. An owl, a cat, a bull, and a handful of others look at him from behind.

「What are you waiting for? Get them ready and mount up.」

The wolf says to the rest of the group, and points his cloak-covered, growling head to the uncovered kubelwagen.

Cla-clack… Thud.

He opens the driver's side door and enters the car, then slams it shut, while the rest of the cloaked figures pull away the remaining sheets.

Fffffwap!… Fffffwapfffwap!…

The green sheets fall to the leaf-littered ground.

Cla- Cla-clack- Clack…

Multiple car doors open, and the cloaked figures take their seats. Three of them join the wolf-masked man.

After briefly glancing at the bear sitting beside him, who stares back with his masked gaze, the wolf turns his eyes downward, near the wheel.

Clakk…

He turns the key. Nothing seems to happen.

「Remember the plan! If we're forced to split off, continue with your mission!」

The wolf announces to the rest in the cars head, voice slightly echoing in his metal mask. He stomps the clutch with a thud, and moves the gear stick into the first gear.

Whirrrrrr…

The wolf-masked man steps on the gas pedal, and the car rolls forward with a soft whine, and a quiet rustle of dry leaves crushed beneath its wheels.

He spins the wheel, cautiously navigating between the nearly pitch-black trees. The rest of the vehicles follow quietly, with only a soft and barely audible whirr within them…

…

Less than half an hour later, at the foot of the Eastern Parnatau Mountains…

Whirrrrrrr…

The vehicle column slows to a stop, approximately half of the passengers jump out of their cars, then begin taking equipment out of the small space between the rear seats and the engine.

While they're taking the ropes, picks, backpacks, and other equipment, the wolf-masked man looks upward. Though it's dark, the moon provides just enough light to see the mountain's steep face. It stretches on and on upward, seemingly only tapering off into a gentler incline around its top. The goat-masked figure stands by the passenger side.

「…That's a climb. Good luck.」

The wolf remarks, turning his face to the goat.

「Luck? We don't need that.」

The goat tilts his head in response, then assembles in a large group with those who disembarked a few paces away.

Taking a quick peek behind himself, the driver raises his gloved hand, then throws it forward. The vehicles whirr and roll away, disappearing into the night.

「Alright, you know what to do!」

The goat gores the air with his curving horns as he nods up at the mountain. He approaches its face, briefly looks for something to grab onto, then begins scaling it.

The rest of the animal-masked team follow suit, laden with equipment, they begin climbing up…

…

Two hours later, high up the Parnatau Mountains…

Clank! Clank! Clank!…

The goat-masked man hammers in a piton into a crevice, then with a forceful motion, he hooks a simplistic, wrought iron carabiner that would be best holding a horse's muzzle, rather than a rope. Breathing heavily, he rests his gloved hand, tipped with steel attachments resembling jagged claws, onto a small rock that's jutting out of the vertical cliff face. With the piton in place he puts the hammer away, back into his belt beneath his fluttering cloak. He secures its head with a strap.

「Haaah… Come on! What are you all, tired!?」

The goat waves his now-free hand up, gesturing the rest attached to his rope. His heavy breathing echoes within his mask, and his breath's vapor warms his face as it escapes into the cold space outside through the mask's eyeholes. The rest of the team resumes their climb, slowly making their way up to the leader, but the belayer remains stationary. His watchful, hollow bear eyes continue staring upward. Waiting for the rest to catch up, the goat-masked man looks down past his team.

The ground below is only faintly lit with a pale blue light, almost giving off an illusion of a waveless ocean. It appears nearly featureless, owing to the fact that in this darkness, at this altitude, details such as forests, hills, dips in the landscape, roads, and many other things simply blend into different shades of dark colors. Steady, powerful, unyielding, and unforgiving wind continues howling away, scraping away at the rock face with its unseen claws. The green cloak flutters violently, shielding the leader from the bitter cold somewhat.

Slowly catching his breath, he raises his eyes. Far below and far in the distance, the vague shapes and lights of the cities dot the land very faintly. The sun's glow is slowly becoming visible, though it yet only presents hints of its orange hue above the distant mountain range on the other side of the kingdom. An owl-masked figure climbs up to the leader.

「How much longer before we can take a break?」

The owl asks the goat, stopping at a piton below.

「Let's see… Depending how easy it will be to find a path up… Fifteen or thirty minutes of climbing more. We'll take a short break somewhere flattish and covered.」

The goat-masked man replies, looking upwards at the dimly lit rock face.

「Climbing is one thing, but this cold is another.」

The owl remarks, and lets out a loud sigh.

「If it's too much, you have my permission to go back home.」

Speaking with a sarcastic tone to his voice, the goat shrugs, though it's not all that visible beneath his fluttering cloak. He resumes his climb while the owl waits.

「…Thanks.」

Matching his sarcastic tone, the owl replies as he glances downwards, looking at the far away land at the mountain's foot.

The clawed gloves provide much-needed grip as the leader continues upward. With steady, confident hands and feet, he wedges his fingers and boots wherever there is space. The bear-masked man below continues loosening the rope, providing its steady supply when needed. The wind doesn't let up, howling away. All eyes are on the goat as he places his boot on a conveniently jutting out rock, and reaches his gloved hand upward to another one.

Crack!… Fwwwpfwapfwwpfwp!…

「Shit!-」

An exclaimed curse echoes out in his mask as he accelerates downwards. His green cloak obscures his vision, fluttering loudly.

Though comparatively it's nearly instant, it takes him a moment to realize why he's plummeting. The very same rock that he had his foot on is now speeding downwards right next to him.

Thunk.

With only a fraction of a second to react and make decisions, he kicks the rock away, sending it sailing sideways, and out of the direct path down to the rest of the climbers.

FWAPpp!…

Likewise taking only a fraction to descend what it took him to ascend, he drops past the owl as a dark, blurry, noisy shape. The owl's mask snaps to it, tracking him on his way down.

Krrrrkkkkkk!… Fwup!

「Humpf!…」

The goat-masked man feels his harness lose its slack, and the next instant, his vertical momentum is snagged away by an abruptly tightening rope. Despite being somewhat evenly distributed around his waist and torso, his breath is stolen away by the sheer force, and his head is thrown forward from the sudden change in velocity. The hammer comes loose and flies out of the belt, diving away into the darkness.

Though his vertical speed has decreased, the goat now finds himself wildly swinging to the side, and towards his team.

Fwap!

「…Hngh!」

He grunts as another breath that he didn't know he had escapes his lungs, when the bear-masked man snaps his arm around him, roughly pulling him to a stop, dangling off the rope.

「What was that about luck?…」

The large bear asks as the goat finds a foothold for himself.

「Ahum… I'm still convinced we don't need it…」

The leader takes a breath and clears his throat, then replies.

「…We just need everyone to keep doing their part.」

Pat pat.

He adds, and pats the bear on what he is fairly sure is his shoulder, or at least his back. One cannot be sure when he, too, is covered by a green cloak.

「It could have ended worse… But we still lost a good deal of time. Think we'll still make it?」

The bear-masked man asks as he lets go, and the both of them look upward. The rest of the team is staring at the two, expressions hidden behind their masks.

「We might. We'll have to climb without ropes, though.」

「…That fall rumble your brain? We'd be lucky to find something solid enough of you to scrape into a box without the ropes, and now you want to get rid of them?」

「We've got no choice. I lost my hammer somewhere on the way down. Retracing my path should be easy enough… And the rest of the way, well…」

The goat replies while detaching the rope from his harness. He then turns his horned head to the bear.

「…Let's just say I'm feeling lucky.」

He adds, then begins climbing back up. The large, bear-masked man briefly shakes his head, and detaches his ropes as well before following him up…

…

Thirty minutes later…

Clakk!…

A small pickaxe digs into the ice slope, and the goat-masked leader pulls himself upward, before pulling it out and raising it again.

Clakk!…

The pickaxe shatters the ice, digging in deep. He pulls himself along further, reaching the ice-free, mostly horizontal slope with his gloved hand.

「Haaah… Haaaaah… Everyone still here!? Did we lose anyone!?」

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The goat shouts, crawling backwards under a rock overhang into a small but spacious enough crevice, sheltered from the howling wind. Crawling, he puts his pickaxe away into his belt.

…Clakk!…

While slowly making their way to him, he counts his team members. He sees the owl, the bear, the fox, and a few figures behind them.

「…Ahh. Good…」

He slumps onto his back, breathing heavily.

「…What's the matter, tired?」

The owl asks as he sits down beside him in the overhang crevice.

「No, I'm just so happy that none of you decided to jump off, that I need to have a celebratory nap…」

The goat replies in a sarcastic tone, glancing at the owl.

「If you're going to nap… Hmpf…」

The bear-masked man chimes in as he sits down with a grunt, joining them in the crevice.

「…Better make it quick. We've got a cozy place here, but we'll freeze to death in no time. We have no firewood to spare, unless you want to burn the parts.」

He adds, and nods his head towards the wooden beams and other blocky pieces that the rest of the team are dragging in into the crevice as they take shelter from the wind.

「The way down will be easier, at least. Let the part carriers regain their strength. It'd be a shame to make it through the hardest part, only to fall flat on your face at the very end.」

The goat sits up and shrugs his cloak-covered shoulders, briefly watching the rest of the team before turning his eyes to the horizon.

「That's true… It's a long way down if you trip here…」

The bear nods, and the two look at the distant mountains.

「…What a mess this mission is. Whose idea was this, anyway? We're chased by so many hourglasses here… Be ready by sunrise, huh? How about don't freeze and don't fall?」

He adds, throwing his large, gloved hand up through his green cloak.

「They wouldn't hand us this mission if they weren't sure that we can do it.」

「That's true…」

The goat nonchalantly replies, and the bear-masked man nods. A brief silence begins, with howling wind and the heavy breathing of the rest of the team as a background noise.

「…The team below has it worse. Do you think they'll manage?」

The bear asks, turning his head towards the goat-masked man.

「Of course.」

He replies in the same nonchalant tone with a shrug of his shoulders.

「Heh… If only we had as much firewood as we have confidence around here…」

The bear remarks, and glances at the rest of the masked man. The leader suddenly stands up, drawing the bear's attention.

「We have to be sighted in by noon, come on… Let's move up! If you still need to catch a breath, you have a minute or two, but don't dawdle!」

The goat waves his arm for the team to follow, and cautiously disappears upward as he leaves to the side of the crevice.

「Aghhhhh… Back to work.」

The bear declares with a displeased groan as he stands up, and reluctantly follows…

…

At noon, on a road leading to Parnatau Gap, one day before the ultimatum deadline…

Vrrrrroooommmmm…

The kubelwagen noisily rolls along the road with Straf at the head of a large caravan of carts, wagons, soldiers, and support elements in the form of healers and cooks. Infantry are marching along the caravan on both sides, and the First Rat Hunters are following the slow-rolling car, trailing just behind it.

「That fucking asshole…」

William grumbles, glaring at Straf as he's driving the car, unaware of his hateful gaze.

「Look, they said it's just an escort…」

Julius grins awkwardly in his pale white helm, though William can't see it.

「…Does that look like just an escort to you, Julius? Open your fucking eyes. We're going to war. Again.」

William turns his helmet to Julius, then nods it towards the horde of infantrymen following behind them.

「We can't be… That can't be legal… Can it?」

「I don't fucking know. I don't think they care at this point. If it's not legal, they'll quickly make it be, and then they'll tell us we need to rot in the military for another month…」

「You mean you?」

Julius inquisitively tilts his helm.

「What?- Ahhhhhh…」

William lets out a large, prolonged sigh when he grasps his meaning.

「…Yeah. They'll tell me that I need to rot here for another month. You are getting paid for this. Lucky you.」

He replies, grumbling while shaking his helm…

…

A few hours later, in Redwing Kingdom, near the Parnatau Gap…

「Eh?…」

While driving, Straf notices an army matching out of the Parnatau Gap into what is legally the land of Redwing Kindom.

「…Wait, they're not invading us, are they? That'd be fucking dirty.」

Vrrrrrmmm…

With his hand, he motions the caravan leader in a wagon behind behind him to halt. The secondary driver repeats the signal towards the rest.

「Is this why you took me with you, Straf? To explain to them why it's a terrible idea in a language that they will understand?」

Lily asks as she peeks over his seat from behind. Straf gently slows to a halt.

「No, Lily. I took you along to spend time with you while handling stuff for Lia.」

Straf shakes his head, peeking over his shoulder at her. Sitting right beside her, Nona hesitantly raises her hand, smiling slightly.

「…Um, why am I here?」

She asks, tilting her head, and her metal dragon-adorned hat.

「What, do you not want to be?」

He nonchalantly asks back, and shrugs his shoulders.

「Eheheh… I don't really mind, but… Shouldn't I be watching the bank?」

With an awkward grin, Nona scratches the back of her head, ruffling her hair.

「The deadbeat will handle it…」

Straf shrugs, and turns his head forward.

「Why am I here, then?」

Stripe asks from beside Straf, sitting with her arms crossed and her mouth aslant.

「Just in case.」

Turning his gaze to her, Straf replies with a little grimace, shrugging again.

「You took me on a multi-hour ride in this thing just in case!?」

She briefly throws her hands up before recrossing her arms.

「Just in case I need you to do stuff, but I don't, because all the stuff to do is already handled. Can't you just treat this as a day off?」

Straf asks, spreading his hands with his mouth scrunched.

「Tsk… Why do I have to spend my day off with you?…」

Stripe turns her golden eyes away, looking at the vast plains to the side instead.

「Lily doesn't seem to mind… Right, Lily?」

He remarks, then glances over his shoulder again.

「Naturally! Nothing can beat a day with Straf!」

Lily proudly declares with her golden head held high, and her clawed fists on her hips.

「See?…」

Straf smirks at Stripe. She scoffs, and turns her head away again.

「…Alright. It looks like they have some diplomat-looking guys there, so they might actually be here for the trade deal… Why the army, though?」

He remarks, rubbing his chin while looking at three important-looking officials sitting in palanquins carried by scrawny, thin men.

「Why did you bring an army? Just in case?」

Stripe asks with her mouth scrunched to the side.

Snap!

「Exactly!…」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at her. She scoffs even harder, and turns her head away once more.

「…Alright. Caravan master, the cargo goes with me! The rest of you stay put by that hill over there!」

Placing his elbow on his seat to peek over his shoulder, Straf waves his raised arm, gesturing to the driver in the wagon behind him. He points at a large hill overlooking the plains ahead and the marching Parnatau Kingdom army. Straf then turns forward, switches the gear from neutral to first, and stomps the formerly gas pedal.

Vrrrrrrrrrrommmmmmmmm!…

He rolls off the inclined road at a high speed, shifting gears as he drives towards the foreign army. A handful of wagons covered by a large sheet of cloth follow slowly…