Chapter 1185: On the Way

As we approached our destination, the frequency of monster attacks only increased. Some beasts fled upon sensing Urus.h.i.+’s presence, but others charged at us in a half-crazed frenzy, seemingly in such terror that they lost their sense of judgment.

None were particularly strong, but getting attacked so often certainly got annoying.

「Phew… To think we would encounter such vicious magical beasts in this forest…」

「Is that rare?」

「We’ve only crossed this place a few times, but we always made it through without a fight.」

Perhaps the monsters scared off by Maleficent were driven north, deeper into Raydoss. The further north we went, the more we encountered.

This forest with little mana is only supposed to have weak monsters. Yet we constantly b.u.mped into stuff like giant lizards and spiders.

It’s only been a few days since Maleficent’s rampage, so I can only imagine how far the impact will spread.

「It seems my skill isn’t being very effective.」

Come to think of it, didn’t Hoken have a skill for repelling monsters? Are you telling me we’d see even more if he wasn’t here?

Apparently, Lalar was thinking the same thing as me. Her face turned pale.

「I’m really worried about the village now! There’s way too many monsters!」

「True. Let’s pick up the pace a bit.」

「Okay!」

And thus, half a day pa.s.sed.

We hurried toward the village while defeating monsters along the way. Since Hoken was slow on his feet, we had him ride Urus.h.i.+ for most of the march.

Despite being quite a distance from the place where Maleficent went on a rampage, we could still see the effects. Rather, it seems the fleeing monsters were crowding up in this region.

「I see some monsters right next to the village.」

「A-Are they okay!?」

Lalar looked worried, but the outer walls of the village still seemed intact. I also noticed the villagers fighting back with magic and arrows.

They haven’t fallen yet, at least.

（Master!）

『Fran, throw some spells at the monsters near gate. Urus.h.i.+, you get the flying ones!』

「Nn!」

「Woof!」

I focused on the bug-like monsters clinging to the wooden outer wall.

They haven’t even noticed us, so I easily took them out with a surprise attack, invoking a wind spell that cut up the monsters without any damage to the wall.

Fran and the others also defeated the monsters they were in charge of.

「Well done, Black Lightning Princess-dono! Urus.h.i.+-dono!」

「Nn. Let’s enter the village!」

「Woof woof!」

That said, Fran can’t simply enter the village by herself.

They seemed to be on guard after we suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

No clue how much they’ve heard about the war, but they probably at least know that any adventurers are related to the Kingdom of Kranzel.

Since Fran is dressed as an adventurer, she might find herself in trouble.

「Lalar, lead the way!」

「Roger!」

Everyone approached the village as a group, then one man standing on the outer wall cheered.

「Oh! Lalar-chan! You saved us!」

「Is everyone okay?」

「Yeah! None of them managed to breach the walls!」

It was a close call, but it seems we made it in time. We pa.s.sed through the open gate, finding ourselves in what seemed like an ordinary village.

According to what we heard earlier, there should be about 200 villagers living here.

「Welcome back, Lalar-chan!」

「Yes, Bondis-san! I’m back!」

Bondis, a man in his forties, was in charge of the village’s defense. He explained that they had been fighting off a large number of monsters since yesterday.

Despite having little time to rest, Bondis didn’t seem very exhausted, probably due to his training. He was clearly a higher level than the Kranzel’s rank-and-file soldiers.

The other soldiers who had gathered around during the conversation seemed to be similar. All twenty or so were quite strong. That must be due to them hunting monsters on their own without the help of adventurers.

Moreover, there were more soldiers than I was expecting from a village of this size. Considering how many are still out on duty, there might be twice as many in total.

I’ve heard they’re supposed to call on the Red Knights for any monsters they can’t handle, but do they even need help in the first place?

I think the village can easily hunt any monster up to Threat Level E, and might be able to handle D as well, depending on the opponent.

Come to think of it, the earth mage we captured back in Kranzel said he had been a security force member. People of his caliber might not be so rare after all.

「This girl is new, right?」

「Nn. I’m Fran, the adven――black cat.」

「She’s one of our allies.」

「I see. Then I suppose I shouldn’t inquire too much about her background.」

The other soldiers nodded at Bondis’s words, accepting us surprisingly easily. It seems the cooperative relations.h.i.+p we heard about was no exaggeration.

「Shall we direct her to the room at the back of the inn?」

「Yes.」

「Okay, I’ll go tell the old man.」

One of the soldiers ran off somewhere. The inn?

「Oh, by the way, “the back of the inn” is like a pa.s.sphrase for our cooperators. The villagers here will understand your circ.u.mstances if you say you’re “staying at the back of the inn”.」

Even if Raydoss has no adventurers, there are still travelers. Various reasons for traveling include sightseeing, training, and trade.

It seems this village has an unspoken rule where they won’t inquire about the ident.i.ties of travelers who stay in the back room, thanks to the time when Neidhart saved them.

「Glad to have you with us.」

「You’re very welcome here. We were in trouble after the sudden increase in monsters.」

It seems they truly welcomed us without any pretenses. The monsters must be that serious of a problem.

I wonder if Maleficent really antic.i.p.ated all of this?