Just as Astraea said, since that dream, everything started to get worse.
"Bring more bandages!"
"The bleeding won't stop!"
"We need body bags!"
The war situation has worsened so much, that without realizing it, we reached September, the last ten days of the month left.
The vacation of the third school semester came long ago.
I have not been able to write home, it's all because of the war.
Apparently, the Kingdom of Estoria has sent monsters so strong that even our A-rank adventurers and knights of notable houses haven't been able to fight them.
While helping a guy who had his leg devoured, I overheard the maidservants' conversation.
"I heard that they have pushed back our forces again."
"They have retreated to the point where the battlefield is in our yard. I am afraid that the situation will get worse."
"I heard that the sword saint, envoy has been fighting nonstop against an enemy knight ever since. Even the capital's guild master can't against that man."
"To our good fortune I heard that allies will arrive no later than tonight. Nobles and neighboring knights."
"That's good. I was thinking of fleeing, but I have nowhere else to live but here."
"True, but it is thanks to that person that the situation is stabilized. Our forces may be retreating, but she's taking care of most of it."
"She?"
"Yes. One of the twelve candidates to be the next sword saint is here. And she's a woman."
The twelve candidates to be the next sword saint. A group of the finest knights or swordsmen this generation may have produced.
Lambert, one of the capture targets, is part of them, but because he is more important than the others is that he is part of the Three Swords, the three candidates with the greatest potential to be the next saint.
Also, the other two of that trio are paid capture targets, this crappy game was always looking for how to make players invest their money in the least unexpected.
Anyway, that caught my attention, was there a woman among those twelve? Since nothing was ever revealed about the other nine, I wouldn't actually be surprised if it was.
I wonder what she looked like?
◇◇◇
The battlefield was getting worse and worse.
The terrain was shattered.
The allied forces had to retreat due to the huge gap of enemy forces.
Some samurai kobold were running on all fours, straight at some knights.
They wore katana-like weapons in their mouths.
Being close to their enemy, the kobold, dog-like creatures, stood on their hind legs and grabbed their katanas.
The combat was intense.
The monsters backing Estoria's army had grown in number.
Not only that, new monsters were attacking.
A small group of goblins were approaching, they were riding hell boars, a hell boar is the same as a normal boar with the difference that its body burns in flames.
There were different types of goblins depending on the game.
Goblins, trolls, orcs and ogres, all of them were considered goblins because they belonged to the green race, the weakest race in rpg games.
In this otome game, they were special, some of them had specific jobs.
Scouts, thieves, assassins, and the current ones, shamans.
Goblins who were born with the ability to use magic power.
They could create their own staffs using small magic stones.
Their clothing was a hood as if they were part of a cult.
They were throwing fireballs while laughing.
One adventurer was pointing his rifle at them.
They were laughing thinking that their giant fireballs could crush him.
But the adventurer had experience fighting strong enemies.
Since he was...
"Eat this!"
Leonard von Algrand, one of Razel's fathers-in-law.
His adventurer's name was Leo, a burly, manly man with a scar on his face.
Leonard came to fight as a B-Rank adventurer.
The bullet he fired turned into a fiery snake which engulfed the boar, causing an explosion.
While at another end of the same place.
An old man with a long white beard was casting a spell.
"Dark magic: Necromancy."
He belonged to the ten holy mages, position number 8, Gregore von Exner, another father-in-law of Razel.
Dark magic was very rare, for Gregore it was natural as it was his attribute by nature.
Using his magic, a group of earth dragons rose up.
The dragons were the strongest creatures in the game.
The earth dragons looked like turtles with giant forelegs.
They had been killed before, but Gregore controlled them.
The earth dragons raised their forelegs and then a great landslide occurred.
The enemies Gregore faced were large goblins, better known as champion goblins.
A champion goblin is actually a hobgoblin, the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin is their size.
While a champion goblin is a born warrior for the goblins, they are loyal vassals of the goblin king, an existence that uses his charisma to control them all.
Champion goblins used spears and swords, but they could not get close to Gregore.
That's why they used their transport, prairie hyenas. A group of large, dangerous hyenas.
The hyenas were either trampled by their paws or by the landslide they caused.
While a group of fire dragons, known as salamanders, approached from the rear.
The goblins thought they were allies, they were wrong.
It was Gregore's trap.
The salamanders opened their mouths, a liquid gas came out and then flames.
The goblins were burned by the zombie salamanders.
Gregore won that battle. But the war continued.
Estoria's soldiers were still not fighting.
The empire's forces were getting smaller and smaller and tired.
Then, a person stood on that battlefield.
A knight in shining armor was walking calmly.
A large monster was approaching him.
It was 8 meters tall, had 50 heads and 100 arms. It was a Hecatonchyrus.
The large creature was approaching, tearing apart allies and enemies alike.
It was an A+++ class monster.
That person─ that female knight, she has a blue headband on her head, plum-colored neck-length hair that is tied in a ponytail in the back with a chin-length fringe, light purple eyes.
She was in her twenties or slightly older.
She was part of the twelve candidates to be the next sword saint, Emily Crossbell was.
Her armor was silver with borders and decorations the color of her eyes.
In her left hand she held a beautiful shield the size of half her body.
In the middle of that shield called Aegis, a beautiful sword with a golden bluish edge was drawn.
The sword was part of the seven sacred swords.
Emily was not a character in the game, so it was unknown how she obtained it.
She rested both hands on the sword.
A mysterious glow of the same color emanated from it.
The glow increased with each step the monster took.
Standing very close, Emily shouted.
"Shine with intensity! Apo─"
The light shone so brightly, that even under that bright sun, the glow of her sword shone brighter.
"... lloniaaaaaaa!"
A golden blue light shot out from his sword heading towards the monster, that monster was hit, and seconds later it was destroyed turning into ashes.
Not only that monster, all those behind it were wiped out.
This was the power of one of the seven sacred swords and also the power of one of the twelve candidates.
On that day, the victory of the empire was momentarily decided.
◇
Things on the battlefield were getting intense.
Several weeks passed and at last the diplomat from Estoria Kingdom came.
I was standing at the gate to greet him.
A handsome young man was walking along with several soldiers.
That man had very pale skin, his hair was purplish red and his eyes were reddish blue. A piercing in his right ear and under his eyes he appeared to be anemic.
The man upon arriving at the door was greeted by the head butler, I heard his name unintentionally.
"Welcome, Hugh Sera Granden-sama, we have been expecting you."
For some reason I felt familiar with that name. After crossing the door they were led to the room where Gerald was.
After entering, I could tell that the talks to end this war would end.
The knights backing him were also outside, there was no one but the diplomats inside.
If there was an assassination, it would be obvious who did it. That's why these negotiations were being done behind closed doors to listen in on their conversations.
Does it make sense? Not to me.
But it didn't matter.
I wanted to hear what they were saying to find out what was going on.
"Good to see you, Duke Granden. Please, let's get started with the negotiations."
So he's a duke huh. Interesting.
But, I don't understand politics, so let's hear what they say...
◇
Damn, I fell asleep.
I just sat there near the door, their conversation was too boring. I couldn't take it anymore and fell asleep.
Too bad, too bad.
The door opened.
Gerald and the others came out.
"I'm glad we came to an arrangement."
"Me too."
Damn, I want to know what they said.
The other servants around here will keep quiet since I'm an outsider working here.
But, if they came to an agreement, it means that soon this chaos will be over, right?
"Tomorrow we will have a party to celebrate what was said today."
"I'll be looking forward to it."
The men shook hands.
I hope this is over now. I want to go home.