After the war discussion was over, I called up Pham to begin negotiations.

''The request I need you to do this time is to open the gates of Samuk Castle, then disarm the magic trap and destroy the magic water vault. Is that possible?
Three. 'Well, I suppose it's possible. I've seen Samuk Castle once, and it wasn't a very well-defended castle. It's easy to sneak in.
How much do you want to be paid?
Two hundred and fifty gold pieces. I will ask you for 50 gold pieces in advance.
All right. You'll pay Mr. Clan for the advance. And how will you let me know when the operation is complete?
'That's no problem. I'll keep Ben outside and use sound magic to tell him.
Okay.

　That was the end of the negotiations.
　Then I asked the Clan for an advance, and they gave me the OK, as expected.

　Then we marched our troops to the vicinity of Samuk Castle, keeping a vigilant eye out for magic traps on the way. There was a large grassy field and we set up camp there.

　We camped in a position where we could invade the castle as soon as we received the report that the gate was open.

　The enemy soldiers are not coming out. They seem to be ready to be caged in.
　There is no information that reinforcements from Bertsd have entered Samk Castle.
　The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new pair of shoes.
　The troops at Samuk Castle are probably, but they are prepared to fight to the death. Their morale should be quite high. Soldiers who are prepared to die are very strong. If they were holed up in a siege, they would have been stranded for quite some time, not to say they couldn't be dropped by a straightforward attack, and their own troops would have been greatly reduced.
　It seems that dropping them by crafting was still the best way to do it.

'Master Clan has received further orders. He wants the gates to open at night.

　Opening the gates at night is likely to be a more effective surprise than opening the gates while the day is light.

That was the plan all along.
Okay.

　Pham said.

'Then I'm going to sneak into the gate. I'll have Ben call you when I've finished my crafting. You remember Ben's face, don't you?
'Well...'

　Speaking of which, he looked quite somber. I don't remember his face clearly.

　But I do remember that the name was very unique, I believe.
　Was it Alexandros Belmadrud?

　If a man with a face with such a name and an unassuming face came up to me and said his name was Ben, I'm sure it was safe to assume that he was Ben.

　I replied to Pham that I remembered his face.

　When Pham heard my reply, he headed for the castle.

　Maybe some of my friends other than Pham would be there somewhere, and they would sneak in with me.

　I prayed for success and waited for the good news to come.