It had been about a month since I had threatened Viscount Karl and asked
him to provide equipment for our troops.
Since then, Krone hadn't shown up at all, and not a single harassment was
inflicted on us, thankfully, so the Viscount must have put a hand in it.
As for Lucy, her physical wounds have been healed. Her mental wounds
seemed to be recovering too, being attended by me day after day.
Today, Lucy and the old man, the three of us, we're clearing up a pile of
papers.
Currently, my position in the unit is third only to the two in front of me.
The chief vassal old man here is already trusting me to a certain extent,
which is strange, but because of this, it is now easy for me to work with
them in many ways.
Then, as if suddenly becoming aware of the time, Lucy started talking to
me.
"It's almost time for the troops to finish their training. Yuushin, can you go
check on them for me?"
"Roger. I'll head to the training area and check."
That's when I got up from my chair. However, the moment I looked out of
the window, I couldn't believe what my eyes had seen.
Beyond the horizon, which was gradually turning dark, I saw a flickering
red and yellow light and smoke rising on top of it.
"Lady Finlay, it looks like there's a fire. Isn't that around the south gate?"
"What?"
At the time Lucy turned around in surprise, a bell-like sound rang,
announcing there was an emergency.
The reaction imprinted on them as military personnel caused Lucy and the
old man to move. I also followed suit.
"The fact that the emergency bell has been rung means that the fire is
probably the result of a monster attack. I'll get my gear and head there right
away!"
We headed straight for the training grounds and met up with the rest of the
troops.
Thankfully, the training has just finished, so they hadn't yet broken up.
"It's a good thing we're all still here. We'll head to the south gate first to
provide assistance."
Lucy gave the orders and was about to head out, when suddenly, a soldier
came running in front of her.
It was a liaison from the command headquarters, recognizable by the
different insignia on their uniform.
"Message from Command! We've received reports of attacks from all gates,
east, west, north, and south! The number of the enemy is unknown, and
we've already lost contact at the south gate!
The news was even worse than I had imagined. All the gates have been
attacked at the same time!
"Simultaneous attacks by monsters? I have never heard anything like this
before!"
The old man grumbled aloud. He had been serving since Lucy's
predecessor, so the fact that this wasn't in his experience means that it's
really unprecedented.
It was then when Lucy's voice echoed in the grounds that were on the brink
of breaking into a frenzy. If yo u a re abl e to r ead this me ssag e, you ar e
read in g from an unauth or ized agg rega te site. Re ad at my Wor dPre ss at
sta bbi ng wi th a syri nge. ho me. bl og to su ppo rt me and my tran slat
ions.
"Please calm down! We'll head to the south gate first, where we think the
damage is the worst!"
"You heard the commander. We're headed for the south gate. Everybody
move!"
With Lucy's and my words, the soldiers who were confused began to
march.
And when we reached the south gate with the troops, it was just as we
expected – it was already a battlefield.
Lucy immediately went to cover the allies fighting on the outer wall while I
sought out the commander of the defense force.
"Are you in command here, sir? We are Baroness Finlay's troops, here for
reinforcements."
"Thank God, the enemy are goblins! So many of them! They almost got
into the city!"
"We'll take care of this. But first, I need you to regroup the troops towards
the rear."
"Yeah, understood. But there's one more thing I need to tell you."
He then pointed outside through a hollow in the outer wall, just beyond the
shooting distance of a bow.
"See that flag? There is probably where the main force is, headed by an
enemy general. Or at least, that's what we think."
As I looked beyond, I could see a vast horde of goblins below me.
The number of goblins seemed to be well over a thousand, the largest
number I'd ever seen.
There was indeed a green flag waving slightly behind the army, and I could
see goblin troops around it as well.
If you include those currently trying to climb the outer wall and those
already fighting on it, the number would easily reach two thousand.
As soon as I saw them, I quickly returned to Lucy.
"Commander Finlay, the enemy's main force seems to be at this south gate.
I think the enemy general is there."
"General? Are you saying that there is an individual leading a pack of these
monsters?"
Lucy asked suspiciously, but that's understandable.
Monsters are generally expected to overrun humans by sheer numbers and
do not use anything that can be called tactics.
However, the fact that we were actually taken by surprise by such a large
number of opponents is a thing that couldn't be denied either.
"If I'm not mistaken, the enemy must have made a surprise attack with a
certain number of advance troops and while at it, let the main body
approach while hiding as the defending troops at the gate were distracted.
To pull off something like that, the presence of a general is essential."
When I said that, Lucy could only nod bitterly.
"Either way, the first thing we need to do is reclaim the outer wall from the
enemy, then we can talk. Yuushin, stay with me."
After this, we too climbed to the outer walls, and it wasn't later when Lucy
was kicking away and swinging her sword towards the goblins in a swift
motion.
Since the enemies are goblins, after about twenty minutes of deadly
fighting, we managed to retake the outer wall from the goblin army.
"Commander Lucy! It appears that the defense force has been reorganized.
Also, some reinforcements have arrived."
After receiving the report from the vassal, we immediately went and
regrouped with the other commanders.
One of them is the commander of the defense unit I just mentioned, but the
other is a woman.
She has long black hair and is standing with a spear in her hand. Her age
was a little older than Lucy's if I presumed.
What surprised me more than anything was the way she was dressed. There
was no armor on her as if she wasn't even thinking about being hit.
This figure looks like someone I've seen before... That's right, she was
the same person who pierced the ogre's heart with a single blow during my
first battle!
"My name is Tilda. I lead our Herder brethren-no, should I call us "The
Foreign Legion" first for you to understand?"
"I am Baroness Finlay. Looking forward to working with you."
Tilda's eyes sharpened for a moment when she heard that Lucy was a
titleholder, but she said nothing more.
It doesn't matter who you are, as long as we can fight together.
"As far as the situation is concerned, we will lose sooner or later by such a
simple force. Defense Force commander, are there no other reinforcements
coming, besides us?"
I was the first one to speak up to the assembled commanders.
But then, the commander of the defense force turned bitter.
"We are hoping it's not. But even if it's the case, it would take them some
time as most of the troops are camped at the northern gate near the city."
And now, every other direction is being attacked. In other words, we can't
expect any more reinforcements.
As the air around us grew heavy, Tilda suddenly spoke. Calmly, she said,
"If we can't expect reinforcements, we'll just have to crush the enemy's
core."
She then looked at the flags being raised by the goblins. She seemed to have
noticed their general. Thi s ch ap ter trans latio n is mad e possi bl e by stab
ing wi th a sy ri nge transl ati ons. check o nly up -to-da te tra nsl ati ons on
my Wor dpr ess sit e.
"Through that horde? We can't. We'll be crushed!"
The commander of the dense force argued, but Tilda refused to budge.
"So, you're saying we'll just sit here and wait for our deaths? If they get
through here, there will be nothing left of us. We're already breached.
There's no choice but to fight back."
The defense commander, who was probably only a year older than her, fell
silent.
"We, the Herderites, will carve out a new path. Those troops who want to
follow us use that path to take out the enemy general."
"Then my troops will do that role. We can't afford to have people from
other countries looking better than us while we defend our very own city."
It seems that Lucy is going along with Tilda's plan.
I wanted to shake my head, but I had to obey the commander's decision.
Tilda and Lucy's troops sailed out of the gate and began to charge at once,
taking advantage of the thinness of the enemy as they were being spread in
all directions.
"There are many enemies, but none as strong as the Ogre class. As long as
we keep going like this, we can succeed!"
Tilda's troops in the vanguard led their assault while Lucy and the others
covered them from behind.
After advancing without stopping despite taking damage, The end of the
group was in sight.
"We're almost there... We're finally through!"
Tilda, smeared with blood, looks at the flag flying in front of her.
She had finally broken through the enemy's main force and was now in
front of the rear guard group with the general.
However, it was at a high cost.
The Herder Legion's troops, led by Tilda, were reduced to about 30 percent
of their full strength.
"That's enough. We'll take care of the rest."
Lucy lined up beside Tilda and drew her sword. But Tilda stopped her.
"No, not yet. There are still some enemies in front of the general. Leave it
to our legion to take care of them."
Tilda then spun her spear, scattering the blood stuck to it around.
Her expression remained as calm as before the attack, but her eyes were
burning as if she was hungry for more.
The same is true for the Herder legion led by Tilda.
Their spirit was so strong that if their willpower was turned into a physical
entity, I felt it would be enough to destroy the enemy general's escort and
take his head off altogether.
"Why do you have to go so far...."
Meanwhile, Lucy is astonished that they can still maintain their will to fight
even after taking so many casualties.
"When you get back in one piece, you can look into our doctrine. That
should convince you."
With that said, the girl and her legion attacked the nearly five hundred
troops with force reduced to just under thirty.
But no matter how brave and daring they were, they would be bounced
back in the face of overwhelming numbers.
"Commander Finlay, we should go with them. If they're going to do it, we
should not waste their efforts and take advantage of the momentum. We'll
be too late to fall back here."
"Yes, you're right. All units, we're going to charge right up to the enemy
general!"
And just like that, Lucy recovered from my words and gave the order to her
troops.
As I watched the soldiers begin to move with an air of caution, I also
moved myself closer towards Lucy.