kscans

Chapter 73 - The Defense of Nieren and My Impatient Hero

The three of us walked west through the city. The sun was beginning to dip toward the horizon. The battle had been raging for a long time.

There were no Big Hoppers flying over our heads. Compared to this morning, the number of monsters in the city seemed to have drastically decreased. Had the nomads put up a good fight?

Hyakka, her ponytail swinging, caught up to us.

"I went to the church, and they said you'd headed for the western wall,"

she said. So she came looking for us. Chihiro and the other New World members were with her.

"We went through hell because of you!"

I immediately lodged my complaint with Hyakka.

"What're ya talkin' about? It ain't my fault!"

Hyakka shot back.

"We really should have just pretended we didn't know anything and left town."

"No way. You say that, but you'd never be able to do it."

Hyakka said it like she knew me so well.

"Well, whatever. I'm still getting my kiss, as promised."

"W-Wait a minute. That'd be my first kiss. No way."

"If you don't want it to be your first kiss with me, then kiss Famu right now. Then you can kiss me after."

Hyakka's eyes darted to Famu and Cecily, pleading for help.

"You two are Mash's girlfriends, ain't ya? Are you really gonna let him do something like that with another woman?"

"Master, I will not kiss anyone but you,"

Famu answered.

"Of course it's not okay, but it's Mash, so..."

Cecily replied.

"So, what did you do with Mii and the others?"

"Threw 'em in a cell."

"They're otherworlders. They can use special skills."

He had shouted something about 'Pile Rain.' A skill like that would make a jailbreak easy.

"It's fine. It's that kind of prison,"

Hyakka answered. Was it the power of a Crystal Core? I remembered what Mii and Myra had said. Come to think of it, they'd also mentioned storage would become unusable.

"The Men in Black will be judged by the laws of this city. Well, whether the sentence is light or heavy, it'll probably be the death penalty."

"I see..."

I nodded. I noticed Famu was looking at my face, and I instinctively looked away.

I never wanted to see Mii and Kei's faces again. But they had survived. Couldn't I at least save the two slaves? I didn't know about Doris, but Fang might just brush off my offer of help.

"There's a chance Izaak will go to rescue them, and that whoever was sheltering them will try to free them,"

I said, voicing a possibility that had just occurred to me.

"It's impossible for one person to pull off a rescue. There are still guards on duty, even in this situation. Besides, even if a consul was their patron, if they freed someone who'd done all this, there'd be riots."

"I'd like to think so,"

I replied to Hyakka. Should we try to track down Izaak? But too much time had passed. And in a city this chaotic, it would be difficult now.

"So, where are you headed?"

"Like I said. The western wall. I want to go somewhere with a full view of the battle. Can you come with me and arrange for me to get up a defensive tower?"

"What're you planning to do?"

Hyakka asked.

"Myra is watching over me from the heavens. I'm going to fulfill her wish and become a hero to save this city."

At my words, Famu and Cecily stopped walking. They seemed to have realized what I was about to do.

"Master, my sister is not dead. Besides, didn't you say you didn't want to do anything conspicuous anymore?"

Did the expression even translate? From the heavens.

"...Mash. You should reconsider. You can reduce the number of casualties. But it won't be good for you. You'll just attract other otherworlders. It's better to leave the city's affairs to the city."

The two of them, usually so aggressive, were reacting negatively.

"It's fine. We're being underestimated, that's why jokers like the Men in Black come picking fights with us. I'm going to take this opportunity to utterly crush them and make an example of them."

Though I wouldn't be the one doing the crushing.

The closer we got to the defensive tower, the more frequently we encountered Big Hoppers.

Not that we had to do anything. It wasn't like the swarm we fought in front of the church, and the New World members were handling them.

The destructive power of the Minotaur Mohs's battle axe and the Rhinocerotidae Koorne's brawling was immense. All we had to do was walk behind them.

The area around the tower was littered with the corpses of many monsters. No, it wasn't just corpses. Some of them were still twitching their legs and antennae. I kept my distance as we advanced, just in case one of them suddenly got up and attacked.

We reached the western edge of the city.

The city walls had been breached in several places. The Big Hoppers must have charged them. Their power to break through stone walls was a real threat.

From atop the walls, I could hear shouts that sounded like roars, the clash of metal, and the sporadic sound of crossbows cutting through the air. The battle seemed to be taking place on and outside the city wall.

"We're here. What now?"

"Like I said before. I can't see everything from here. I want to go to the top of the tower."

"You're a demanding one."

As Hyakka said this, Chihiro went ahead into the defensive tower.

"Just wait a bit, Chihiro went to talk to them."

"You have connections with the knight order?"

"We've been living here for a year, ya know. We've completed a few big quests, too."

I nodded at Hyakka's reply, but I couldn't imagine getting friendly with the city's powerful people even if I spent a year here. In fact, I was confident I'd be on bad terms with them.

As I was thinking this, my eyes met Cecily's.

"What?"

She looked displeased before I'd even said anything.

"You're the type who'd pick a fight with the city's authorities instead of getting along with them, too."

"It's strange for a commoner to have connections with nobles in the first place. Even if you did, you'd just be treated like a pawn."

Now that she mentioned it, she was right. My recent encounters with otherworlders had skewed my perspective.

This wasn't my original world. There was a clear class divide here.

After waiting a while, Chihiro poked her head out of the tower entrance and beckoned us over.

The inside of the tower was filled with the stench of blood and sweat. There were several soldiers lying motionless on the ground. Others were crouched over, gasping for breath, or groaning while clutching their wounds. Some were being treated by priests, likely those dispatched from the church.

A man who appeared to be in charge of this place was looking at Hyakka. She nodded in response.

We carefully stepped around the soldiers lying on the floor and climbed the spiral staircase.

"I'm surprised they let us through."

"I told them I brought the hero of Richel, sent by Lady Laciel,"

Chihiro answered.

"They believed that?"

"The Myra you said was your wife. Don't know her well, but she was called a saint in Richel, wasn't she?"

I see. So the information had spread from the church.

We finally reached the top of the tower.

The scene before me was completely different from what I had seen a few days ago.

The arrows fired by the crossbowmen were sparse. Many crossbows had been abandoned. They were running out of ammunition.

There were also what looked like catapults, but no one was near them.

Soldiers were fighting on top of the defensive towers and the city walls. Some were even fighting outside the walls. It had devolved into a melee.

They must be utterly exhausted. There looked to be less than fifty of them in total. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call the situation catastrophic. And yet, the soldiers continued to fight. They couldn't retreat.

"I'd run,"

I muttered, looking at the scene.

"Master, your words and actions are contradictory."

Famu readied her sword, scanning our surroundings cautiously.

A soldier was down nearby. He seemed to be wearing more ornate armor than the others. He was probably the commander.

"It's okay. He's still alive."

Hyakka knelt down and cast a healing spell on him. The man coughed violently and then sat up.

She could use healing magic? Chihiro also started tending to a soldier lying nearby. Mohs and Koorne stood guard, protecting the two of them.

Outside the wall, there was a cage with iron bars. The bars were bent, likely from numerous body slams. The pink Big Hopper must have been inside. It was now barely recognizable. Regular Big Hoppers were swarming around it.

How many were left? It still looked like there were over a hundred. They had completely misjudged the enemy's numbers.

Several ladders had been placed against the wall, allowing people to climb down. Only humans would use them, so that wasn't an issue, but it still felt strange.

To save this dire situation and put an end to this battle. I raised my hand to the sky.

"Goddess Summon!"

As I shouted, the surroundings were enveloped in light.

From within the brilliance, a goddess appeared, sitting on a floating spear.

She looked down at the horde of monsters with a serene expression. She swept back her long, golden hair. Even that simple gesture was beautiful.

The soldiers' movements stopped.

Seeing the descended Laciel, they let out wordless cries. Those cries turned into cheers. The sound became a single roar that echoed throughout the city, spreading to its people. From within the city, a great shout returned like an echo.

"S-So this is... the real deal from the rumors?"

Hyakka was stunned. Beside her, Chihiro's mouth hung open.

Ignoring the reactions of those around her, Laciel descended to my side.

"I am a god, you know. Aren't you using me a little too conveniently? Please don't call me for enemies of this level."

Classic Laciel.

"I'll work you until those breasts of yours are flat."

"That's sexual harassment!"

Laciel puffed out her cheeks.

"Shut up. You're not very popular with Mizuki and me, you know. Why won't you tell us what you want us to do?"

"What do you mean, 'shut up,' to your lover?!"

Laciel exclaimed.

"...Are you trying to change the subject again? That's not what I want to know. Never mind me, Mizuki wants to go home. We'll cooperate in granting your wish."

At those words, Laciel's expression clouded over. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she said something. But I couldn't hear a word.

"Did you hear that?"

I asked Famu. She shook her head.

"Master, Lady Laciel is..."

Just as Famu began to speak, a sharp headache hit me. Was I out of mana? The timing was too soon. It felt like a huge chunk of my mana had been drained the moment Laciel spoke.

In this situation, I couldn't let her leave before she had done anything.

"Well, whatever. There are no limits today. Go all out,"

I told Laciel.

"The little bugs are very angry. You brutally murdered their queen, then put her in a cage so she couldn't move and left her out in the open. I have properly received their sorrow. Let us turn this city to ash."

At her words, the faces of Hyakka and the commander twitched.

"Hey, it's the other way around. Can't you hear the voices of the soldiers protecting this city? I feel bad for the bugs. But this is the fault of the otherworlders summoned by one of your kind. In other words, this is your doing."

I assumed she was joking, but I warned her just in case.

"I suppose I have no choice. Mash, I will grant your wish."

Laciel soared into the sky and raised her right hand.

Seeing her, the soldiers erupted in cheers once again. It wasn't just their voices. A loud cry reached us from within the city.

As if responding to their voices, she swung her arm down.

In an instant, the thousands, tens of thousands of arrows I had seen in the arena in Richel appeared.

The arrows accurately pierced the monsters, striking them down. The rain of arrows poured down on the monsters on the wall, outside the wall, and even inside the city.

As I watched the scene, my vision began to narrow. My body swayed.

It was the same as always. I felt intoxicated. I was losing track of what I had been thinking, what I had been feeling. Everything seemed trivial.

Cecily was saying something. She seemed to be shouting.

Laciel was also looking down at me and saying something. I couldn't hear her.

My mana was about to run out. Famu wrapped her arms around me to support my body.

Famu, my beloved Famu. I was glad I could protect you this time, too. I want you to stay with me forever.

"Master, I am always with you. And I always will be."

Only her voice came through clearly. Had I been speaking my thoughts aloud?

I didn't know. My consciousness was fading.