by Hiro Ainana
Since it was a very wide street and Arisa’s magic was funneling the civilians into certain escape routes, it was easy to take aim.
“Everyone! Flee to the castle!” Arisa shouted as loudly as she could with her little lungs to direct the citizens. “The great hero is there! He’ll protect you!”
The citizens seemed perplexed at first, but as soon as they heard about the hero, they started sprinting in small groups toward the hilltop.
“Karinaaa!”
“We’re here to help, ma’am!”
“You came…”
Miss Karina grew emotional at the sight of her reinforcements, but now wasn’t really the time for that.
“Liza! Let’s trample these goblins and push them back toward the gate,” I called.
“Understood! Pochi, Tama, Nana, let’s go.”
“Aye-aye, siiir!”
“Roger, sir!”
“Orders registered, I report.”
The vanguard team joined forces with Miss Karina and started to run the goblins down.
I advanced with the rearguard team, shooting down any escapees from the first group.
We did see a bloodied citizen or two, but they had family members lending a shoulder to help them escape.
At the castle, there were priests who had been freed from the prison, plus the maids. Everyone should be able to get treatment there.
We joined up with the soldiers in front of the main gate, working together to take down the rest of the invaders.
The goblins were pretty weak, so we were able to claim the gate within about a half hour without any major incidents.
“Mia, now!”
“… Balloon Kyuubouchou!”
A new squadron tried to charge the gate, but Mia’s magic created green steam that pushed them back.
The vapor was the blood of the previous goblin invaders.
“Close the gates!” I called.
“Understood!”
“Aye-ayeee!”
“Raah, sir!”
I joined Miss Karina and the vanguard team in helping to lock the main gate.
It creaked shut with a heavy thud, and the nearby soldiers operated the crank to lock the gate.
These troops had seen the goblins invading and rushed over from other lookout towers.
“All right, the crank is turned. No need to push anymore, lads!”
We caught our breath, surveying the corpses of a hundred or more goblins in front of the main gate.
Some of my kids had light injuries, so I put Lulu and Mia in charge of treating them, then ascended the main gate tower with Miss Karina and Arisa.
The five soldiers at the top were shooting arrows at their enemies with a look of desperation.
“There are quite a lot of them, aren’t there?”
“I’d say so.”
“Geh, I feel like I’ll be seeing this in my nightmares.”
Beyond the great gate was a clamoring black throng so thick that the ground couldn’t be seen under them. It was like something out of a horror movie.
“Given how crowded together they are, couldn’t that catapult take out tons of them at once?”
“Afraid not.”
I pointed at the catapult and spoke to a soldier, but he answered brusquely.
“We don’t have any stones for it.”
“You didn’t replenish the stores?” Miss Karina asked. “Whyever not?”
“The magistrate said there wasn’t a budget for it… We ran out of heavy quarrels for the ballista during that swarm of spiderbears not long ago, too.”
The soldier responded to Miss Karina’s interrogation with barely suppressed anger.
Apparently, the demon magistrate had been busy preparing for the attack on Muno City.
Well, no point in shaking a fist at it now. I used my item search on the map to find large quarrels and stones in Muno City.
All right, this should work.
My kids had finished their medical treatment and were coming up the stairs, so I gave them their next instructions.
“Nana, I need you to run an errand for me, please. Behind that building with the red roof is a company that deals in weapons. They should have a lot of ammo for the ballista. Make sure they have normal arrows, too.”
I took out a bag stuffed with gold coins from under my coat and handed it to Nana as I spoke.
“Master, I do not have a telescopic sight unit equipped, so I cannot acquire a visual lock on the red roof, I report.”
“I can see it, sir!”
“All right, then please go with Nana, Pochi.”
“Yes, sir.”
Pochi and Nana ran off to buy the arrows.
“Liza and Tama, head to the stone wholesaler near the outer wall. You should be able to get plenty of good rocks for the catapult there.”
“Understood. Let’s go, Tama.”
“Aye-aye, siiir!”
I gave Liza and Tama another bag of money, and they rushed down the stairs.
“Lulu and Arisa, can you find out if we can use the nearest inn as a hospital in case anyone is seriously injured?”
“Okeydoke!”
“Certainly, sir.”
Arisa and Lulu pattered off after the other kids.
“Mia, I’ll have you stay here and help me make sure the goblins don’t get any closer.”
“Mm.”
Mia and I set out to shoot down the goblins attempting to climb the outer wall.
“Whoa, you guys are good. You never miss the mark…”
One of the soldiers whistled in admiration.
Whoops, did I go overboard? I should try and miss once every five shots or so.
“E-excuse me. What, erm… What might I do to be of use?”
Miss Karina looked at me a bit timidly. It was hard to believe that the brave heroine who’d charged in to rescue the townspeople was the same girl gazing at me like a lost child now.
“Oh right. Lady Karina, you should go back to the castle—”
“N-no, I shan’t! I shall fight here as well!” Miss Karina immediately cut me off.
“…Please let me finish. I’d like you to go back to the castle and gather Sir Hauto and any others who might be able to fight and bring them here.”
“…Me?”
“That’s right. This is something only you can do, Lady Karina.”
“I—I know that. I’ll be off, then!”
With that, Miss Karina jumped down from the building and broke into a run with a blue glow in her wake.
This girl is way too reckless. I get that she can run quickly with Raka’s Strength Enhancement, but wouldn’t it be faster to go by horse?
An hour had passed since we closed the gates, and our defensive capabilities had considerably improved.
The kids brought back plenty of heavy quarrels, and Hauto arrived with a recruited civilian militia of about two hundred. Maids equipped with the possessions of former soldiers accompanied Miss Karina.
In addition, Arisa used her Psychic Magic to buff everyone with Brave Heart Field, so morale would stay high even in the face of overwhelming odds.
Of course, Hauto, who was at the forefront encouraging the troops despite his own trembling, played a big part in this as well.
Outside, the goblins tried again and again to climb over the wall by using one another, but each time we successfully repelled them, often by using boiling oil.
On top of that, we snuck in Arisa’s Fear spell whenever possible to scare them back and caused them to attack one another with Confusion.
Nobody else could tell, but Arisa was a remarkable help in this defensive battle. I’d have to cook her favorite food or something later as thanks.
As for me, I wanted to slip away and disguise myself as the silver-masked hero to go defeat the demons as soon as possible, but I couldn’t seem to find a good opportunity.
The demons and their reinforcements would arrive within a half hour, so I would have to make a chance for myself soon…
“What’s thaaat?”
“A tube, sir?”
Tama and Pochi were pointing to a cylindrical four-legged monster that had appeared about half a mile away—the rock shooter that the demon had taken over.
My “Sense Danger” skill started tingling faintly.
…A white light shone on the horizon.
Just as the howling wind reached my ear, an intense vibration shook the castle.
“Satou.”
“Geh!”
I supported Mia and Arisa as they lost their balance, then tried to figure out what had happened.
Looking down from the observation room, I saw a rock about the size of a basketball sticking out of the wall. The projectile must have come from the rock shooter.
It wasn’t strong enough to bring down the ramparts in a single blow.
In the distance, I could see goblins reloading the rock shooter.
You think I’m gonna let you do that?
I loaded a heavy quarrel into the ballista and aimed it upward.
“It’s no use. That’s never going to reach that far!”
As the soldier shouted at me, my “Shooting” skill also informed me that it would never reach its target at this rate.
My longbow was a normal weapon, so it would shoot only up to about a thousand feet away, maybe fifteen hundred feet if precision didn’t matter.
So there’s no way it will hit an enemy almost half a mile away…
Another attack from the rock shooter hit the main gate, shaking the building above it where we stood.
“Satou?”
Mia looked up at me nervously, so I smiled back.
…but that’s only if I’m shooting normally.
I invoked the spell Blow from my magic menu, creating a strong tailwind around the building above the gate.
Then, I fired seven arrows into the wind in rapid succession.
With help from the strong air currents and my “Shooting,” “Sniping,” and “Aim” skills, the arrows hit their marks on the rock shooter’s three eyes and front legs, one after another.
Since the sudden gale had knocked the soldiers on top of our tower off balance, they probably hadn’t seen anything.
Angered by the pain, the rock shooter readied to fire its next shot, but with its front legs buckling, it couldn’t get a high-enough angle.
Instead, the missile just scattered a bunch of goblin archers and rolled to a stop on the ground.
Perfect. We shouldn’t have to worry about the rock shooter for a while now.
Meanwhile, the goblins on my radar had started crossing beyond the gate. The second shot had blown a hole big enough for goblins to come through.
Nana and the beastfolk girls had already run down from the tower to easily defeat the goblins pouring in through the gap.
Since the defense tower’s stockpile of magic recovery potions had run out, I sent Arisa to Lulu, who was on standby at the inn, to replenish our stores.
“Mia, go down there, too, and cover them, please.”
“Mm.”
Mia nodded and headed down the stairs.
On the other side of the catapult, Miss Karina was using Raka’s Strength Enhancement to hurl boulders at the goblins, but when she saw us, she paused to give orders to the maids guarding her.
“You all ought to go and help Liza and the others, too.”
“But Lady Karina!”
“That is an order.”
The armed maids left Miss Karina’s side to help get rid of the goblins.
“I shan’t let you set one foot inside this tower!”
More goblins clambered over one another in an attempt to enter our base, but Miss Karina warded them off using more stones.
With all the goblins she was defeating, Miss Karina’s level had risen from 5 to 7, and judging by her EXP bar in the AR display, she’d be hitting 8 before long.
“Miss Karina, please stop and take a break soon.”
“I assure you, I am perfectly fine. If anything, you’re the one who ought to take a—”
Miss Karina suddenly dropped to one knee. As I’d expected, this was a symptom of level-up sickness. It wasn’t a disease or anything, and she would be back to normal after a few hours of rest.
As I looked after Miss Karina, who seemed distressed by the sudden drop in her physical capabilities, a group of militiamen arrived with more ammunition.
“We’ve brought stones for the catapult, sir.”
“Pile them up over there, please.”
I sat Miss Karina against the wall to take a breather, then turned toward the militia.
The guy in the very back of the group of three men looked familiar…
The corner of his mouth curled up in a sneer under the shadow of his helmet as he withdrew a dagger from beneath his clothes.
The demon lord worshipper who was giving a speech in the plaza!
I could’ve easily knocked the man out before he drew his dagger, but for now, I pretended not to see anything.
“Death to all who bear the blood of Muno!”
The demon lord devotee readied his poisoned dagger before his chest, then charged toward Miss Karina.
I quickly stepped in front of him and took the blow from the assassin’s dagger in her stead—or made it look like I had, anyway—then tossed the man to the ground and relieved him of his weapon.
The bright-red liquid that sprayed into the air was animal blood that I’d had in Storage for use in magic potions.
The other two militiamen who’d come up with the would-be assassin quickly pinned him down.
“Satou! Hold still, I shall suck the poison out at once.”
Miss Karina dragged her weakened body toward me. I pretended to stagger away, leaning against the wall on the city side.
“Bwa-ha-ha, you’d do well to suck it up! That dagger was coated in deadly hydra poison. It’s toxic enough to kill people on contact! Suck the poison out and you can die along with him!”
…Is hydra poison the latest fad right now or what?
Oblivious to my bemused reaction, the man cackled maniacally to accompany his unnecessary exposition.
Well, the other two militiamen could probably take it from here.
I fell over the wall from the tower, busting through the ceiling of the barn below and landing in a pile of hay, scattering it everywhere.
“Master!”
Liza burst through the wall of the stable at tremendous speed.
Startled by her unexpected behavior, I nonetheless gave her an order.
“Liza, carry me to the inn where Lulu’s on standby, please.”
“Of course, sir.”
Carrying me bridal-style, Liza brought me to a room at the inn at the speed of a gale-force wind.
“M-master, are you all right?!”
“Oh… Oh no…”
There were other people in the room besides Lulu and Arisa, so I whispered in Liza’s ear and had her clear the room.
Once everyone else was gone, I confessed to the three girls that it was only an act.
“Sorry if I alarmed you. I’m perfectly fine.”
“D-don’t ever scare us like that again!”
“Th-thank goodness…”
I assumed Liza’s silence was because she was angry, so I turned toward her, only to find that huge tears were pouring down her cheeks.
Hugging her gently, I murmured an apology in her ear.
“I’m sorry, Liza. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
I explained the reason behind my act to the three of them and asked them to back up my alibi.
“Lulu, take this.”
“Is this…a monster-repellent Holy Stone?”
“Yeah, I want you to activate it here. That way, even if the worst happens and the enemy breaks through, the effect will make the goblins reluctant to come into the city.”
I handed the Holy Stone and the Garage Bag to Lulu as I explained. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was still important work.
“I’m
counting on you, Lulu.”
“Right! I’ll do my best!”
Lulu nodded intently, so I patted her black hair and stood up from the bed.
“B-but fighting a demon on your own? That’s insanity!” cried Arisa.
“Not for our master,” Liza said. “I may have become distraught earlier, but I trust that he can handle it.”
“Wh-what makes you so sure?”
Liza looked to me uncertainly, so I nodded my permission.
“Because I saw him defeat a giant hydra, which had destroyed a fortress, in a single attack. Truly, the only enemy that might pose a threat to master might be a dragon or a demon lord.”
“…A-are you really that strong?”
“Yeah. So don’t worry. Just wait here for the good news.”
“A-all right, then. But don’t get hurt, okay? I don’t want to see a single scratch on that pure young skin of y—”
A little too reassured, Arisa started to say something stupid, so I bonked her on the head.
“Good luck, sir.”
“Please be safe, master.”
I nodded to the other two, put on the silver mask, and headed into a back alley.
As I left the room behind, I heard Tama and Pochi enter. Nana and Mia had come along behind them, too.
Mentally apologizing to everyone for worrying them, I set about changing my title, name, and equipment.
Now, time to be a hero.
I sprang over the outer wall on the southwest side, cutting through the left flank of the five-thousand-goblin army.
Running up a hill, I jumped into the air.
Using the Blow spell, I created a gust that sent me several thousand feet higher.
> Title Acquired: Free Floater
“Time to burn.”
I created a barrage of Fire Shots from the magic menu, surrounding the goblins and torching them with each blast.
After six rounds, I’d burned up about 20 percent of the left flank and created a wall of fire that prevented the rest of them from escaping.
The demon wasn’t anywhere in this group.
I didn’t need to annihilate them, but it would be good to reduce their numbers as much as possible.
As I dashed between the outer wall of Muno City and the left section of the troops, I tossed more Fire Shots into the ring of flames.
A demi-goblin mounted on a soldier mantis came leaping toward me over the wall of flame.