Morning a few days later. A tremor runs through the Briton Kingdom.
The Demon General Fumeless’ army came close to the capital, Rhodan.
“Why did nobody notice they came this far!”
Richard II is furious.
“I, I apologize.”
The kingdom’s knight order captain, Godref, apologizes.
The dungeon where Fumeless concealed himself is to the southeast of Rhodan. However, the enemy attacked from the northeast.
They went across the mountains, and advanced.
The distance they had to move doubled, but they succeeded in evading the eyes of the humans.
“I apologize, our supervision of that area was insufficient.”
Not only that, the Maou-class demons scouted out the area, and killed any scouts they found.
There's nobody who would be able to shake them off and report the attack.
Thus, nobody noticed them coming close to the capital.
“Father, now's not the time to be worrying about those matters.”
Yufilia's complexion was bad. Due to her worries, she couldn't sleep, and didn't eat.
“Yeah……now, we can only give up on the fortresses.”
Due to it not being wartime, the current soldiers stationed in the capital numbered only a little more than ten thousand.
The Briton Kingdom would normally be able to mobilize many times that number.
However, even if they called them now, they wouldn't be able to make it in time.
With the castle’s current manpower, it's not able to repel the army.
“The capital Rhodan is surrounded by tall walls, so it won't fall fall that easily.”
Godref declares strongly.
“Well that's relieving, I’ll leave command to you.”
“Wah!”
Godref lowers his head, and leaves.
Rhodan's walls are ten meters tall.
They're also strengthened by magic.
Normally, they wouldn't be broken very easily.
However, there are too little soldiers.
The enemy has more than ten times their numbers.
Furthermore, the demons are a problem. A lot of them have wings. Even those without them can fly through the sky with magic.
If they can fly through the sky, the castle's walls are useless.
To fight with such opponents, anti-air forces are necessary.
There's no choice but to rely on the bow units and the magic units to shoot them down from the sky.
Of course, the enemy also attacks those units first.
Because they have low defensive abilities, if they receive an attack from the demons, they’ll be swiftly defeated.
If they allow a group of demons through the walls, the situation will become serious.
If they get to the town, they won't even be able to defend themselves.
The command line will be distracted, and the battle will gradually become more and more difficult.
By that point, the town will become a battlefield.
And if the enemies who have gotten into the town open the gate, the battle will be over.
It's obvious that they wouldn't be able to deeat an enemy of 100,000.
“If the hero shows such a dark face, the soldier’s morale will fall.”
Yufilia's senior as hero, Fiona calls out to her.
“Wah, yeah, sorry.”
“You should stop checking the state of the battlefield. The results won't be anything good anyways.”
Fiona laughs, and slaps Yufilia's back.
“Well, it's better than an actual demonic calamity. For example, Serena-sama’s situation. On top of being in a situation like this, reinforcements wouldn't come. Humanity wouldn't have any surplus power. If you lose, humanity will be destroyed. Compared to that, isn't this situation much better?”
“That's true. I need to at least become able to talk back to that……”
In order to raise her spirits, Yufilia hits her cheeks.
“If we can just endure today, the knights from nearby territories will come to help, and soon reinforcements from other countries will arrive. As expected, other countries will have no choice to send reinforcements in this situation. Tomorrow, we won't be by ourselves.*
It wouldn't have become like this if they had just sent reinforcements in the beginning, however.
Having gone through many wars with the demons, humanity should've been able to cooperate though…….
Yufilia thought that, but parted with Fiona without saying them.
Leaving the castle, Yufilia headed to Vincent's mansion.
In the end, Yufilia could only come up with the idea of procuring reinforcements from him.
“Oh, Yufilia, you came just in time. Are you coming too?”
It seems that Vincent was preparing to go somewhere.
“Where are you going?”
“Of course, I'm going back to my home country. I know the battle situation. I can't stay here at this dangerous place!”
He was preparing to run away before the battle starts.
“But……the reinforcements!?”
“Since the situation is as it is, I'll dispatch them as soon as I can. However, the capital won't last. That's why Yufilia, come with me.”
“Don't joke around……I’m this country's princess, and a hero. I can't run away while leaving the citizens here.”
“Is that so……well then, I’ll go now.”
This is not Vincent's country. Thus, he doesn't have an obligation to protect it.
Yufilia also understands that.
However, he is also a student of the academy. The people who serve in his mansion. His acquaintances. Is he going to abandon all of those people, and run away by himself?
That was something that Yufilia couldn't understand.
“Wait, about the reinforcements…”
“I just told you didn't I? The third knight order should be on its way now.”
Vincent seems to be irritated by Yufilia who brought up the same subject.
“They won't make it in time. Send in an elite unit with warp, I want even one more person to fight.”
“There aren't that many people who are able to warp. My father won't allow me to send an elite unit to a battlefield where there have a low chance of survival.”
“But……”
“Well then. I'll be praying to see you again.”
When Vincent's subordinate casts warp, and they disappear, Yufilia falls on her knees in disappointment.
Vincent's words were terribly cold.
He doesn't have leeway, is that how he felt?
She started to dislike him more and more.
Also herself, for trying to rely on such a man.
Why did she ever try to rely on him?
Yufilia became ashamed of herself.
But then, who should she rely on? Yufilia didn't know the answer.
＊＊＊＊ ＊＊＊＊
“This is an unexpected situation.”
The old man says to me while eating udon in the dining room.
It was already a big fuss that the capital Rhodan was being attacked.
There isn't much time until the battle begins.
Everyone was desperately doing what they could.
“This is why fighting is so interesting.”
“Weren’t you observing their enemy’s movements with your Evil Vision?”
Evil Vision. A magic that lets me peek at most places in the world as much as I want.
“It'd be boring to watch, and it's impossible to monitor every corner of the world.”
“Anyways, what should we do?”
Jeko, who was by him, questions.
“When the enemy comes, we'll fight. Who and how we'll fight depends on the situation. The enemies will probably pass through the wall, so let's standby at the academy.”
“I understand.”
“I don't even have to say this, but be careful not to stand out too much.”
I point at them with my chopsticks, and warn them.
“That's bad manners, so please stop.”
A warning comes from the old man.
The people of the capital were accommodated in various sturdy facilities.
Needless to say, some of them were the royal castle, the Adventurer's Guild, and the academy.
“Ashtal-sama.”
Just before the battle, I visited Auretta at the Adventurer's Guild.
The guild was crammed with people.
“This place is dangerous, I’ll evacuate you to a safe place.”
By safe place, I mean the Dark Temple.
“But you’re staying right? If so, I'll stay here too.”
“I won't die here, but you're different.”
“I'm also attached to this guild, and this city. I can't allow the demons to overrun it.
It seems she also resolved herself, so I stopped trying to convince her.
There are times where people bet their lives.
I'd just be dishonoring her resolve.