After gathering in front of the tunnel exit, we each got ready for the attack.
It appears that there are still signs of monsters outside.
"I'll go first. Cover me."
"Yeah, be careful."
I returned to Tilda her bulky spear and was responded with a thin smile.
The enemy should be waiting for us, but Tilda had no hesitation at all.
"Miss Tilda will jump out first to catch the enemy's attention. Then we will
come out next to get behind their backs. Is that clear?"
Anastasia and the other soldiers nodded at Lucy's words.
"Then, after you."
Taking that as a signal, Tilda runs outside as casually as if she were going
for a stroll.
Immediately after that, there was a roar that seemed to echo throughout the
tunnel.
It was probably the enemy's battle cries and seemed like an ogre's.
And based on the other sounds, there was even a Cyclops in the mix.
Twenty seconds later, after ensuring Tilda had the enemy's attention, we
went outside.
"Haaa, fuuh, haaaaah!!"
Immediately after stepping out into the sunlight, I was overwhelmed by the
battle taking place.
Tilda was making a great stand against about ten ogres and several cyclops.
The ogres were slightly inferior to the cyclops, as they only wielded a club
as big as the torso of the abominable fort commander. Still, they were more
than enough to be considered dangerous.
Nevertheless, Tilda is deflecting every attack from them and even
countering them with her spear.
"We're coming! Everyone, follow me!"
Since the monsters' attention was focused on Tilda, we succeeded in
inflicting heavy damage on the monsters around us with our surprise attack.
Within the first blow, five ogres sank, and several cyclops were seriously
wounded.
The enemy's strength was reduced at once, and a breach was in sight.
"Hey, hey, the enemy is right in front of you!"
Tilda thrusts her spear toward the staggering Cyclops.
The blow pierces its only eye socket and kills it in an instant.
As she pulled out the bloodied spear, she looked like a god of death that had
descended upon the battlefield. If yo u a re a bl e to re ad this m ess age, yo
u are r eading fro m an unaut hori zed ag grega te si te. R ead at my Word
Pre ss at sta bbi ng wit h a syr in ge. hom e. blo g to su pp ort me and my t
ransl ati ons.
"Shit. I can't just stand there gawking. I have to stay close to our allies."
I myself am not at all reliable in battle, but I gripped my sword and
prepared to deal with the enemy.
Next to me, Anastasia was releasing magic toward the monsters.
"Come. I'll roast you black!"
A series of fire arrows shot out in rapid succession pierced the group of
goblins, causing them to explode into bits.
But the monsters' ferocity was not diminished even though the multiple
explosions blew away their companions.
Or rather, they seemed to have set their sights on Anastasia even more, who
is now a high threat to them.
However, despite seeing several hobgoblins coming toward her, Anastasia
showed no signs of panic.
"Coming straight at me now? You're only making yourself my first target!"
Suddenly, Anastasia moved her hand to the side as if swinging a knifehand,
and then flames erupted there.
The blazing red flames gradually converged and turned pale, taking the
form of a large sword.
She then reared it toward the oncoming hobgoblins.
The sword, which was weightless due to the flames, was swung more
swiftly than an ordinary sword.
But despite its lightness, its power was immense.
"Giggah!"
"Gigi, gooohhh!"
Some of the bodies that were hit directly were bisected into two, and the
rest that survived the direct hit were scorched, leaving burn marks all over
their bodies.
"Fufufu, I wonder if I made it a little too hot?"
Anastasia gloated as she looks down at the dead monsters.
Once again, I saw the unreasonableness of magic, and I truly felt glad to
have her on my side.
After taking a breather, I looked around and saw that most of the enemies
had been cleared out.
Most of them were ogres and cyclops that could not enter the tunnel, so
there were probably not that many of them.
Since it seemed safe for the time being, we checked our location.
Apparently, we are at the foot of a small hill a short distance from the fort.
It was just in the shadows and out of sight from the fort.
"It's a good place to do underground dealings, but I wonder if that's why
they didn't notice the monsters gathering here."
I made a bitter face again, but there was no point in complaining anymore
here.
I joined up with Lucy, who was leading her men to clean up the ogres.
"How are things going over there, Commander?"
"It's all sorted out. It looks like you and Tilda are also done on your end."
The surrounding area, which was noisy with the monster's footsteps and
roars until a while ago, has become quiet.
However, the quietness didn't take long. It was disturbed by a clattering
sound coming from somewhere.
"What is it? It came from over here."
Lucy went behind a rock where the noise was coming from.
And there we found something unexpected.
"Ugh, this is…"
There we found a mangled corpse and several destroyed wagons.
The ferocious monsters had destroyed the wreckage so badly that it was no
wonder Lucy was frowning.
But amidst the devastation, there was one thing that was still intact.
Or rather, it was the only thing that is still moving.
It was a man in a large, sturdy cage.
"Hey, who's there? Are the monsters gone?"
As we approached the man who was rattling and shaking the cage, his
figure became clearer. Thi s ch ap er tran lati on is mad e po ssi ble by stab
bin g wit h a syri nge tran slatio ns. Check only up -to- da te tra nslations on
my Wo rdp ress s ite.
The man was well dressed, albeit dirty, and did not appear to be enslaved.
The fact that he was the only one who survived gave only one possible
explanation.
He probably saved himself by voluntarily locking himself in this cage.
"Yes. We cleaned up all the monsters around here."
The man pulled out a key from his pocket as if he was relieved. I knew it.
But when he inserted it into the keyhole, there was no sign of the door
opening at all.
"W-what the hell!? Open, you shit! How? How is this happening?"
"It must have been warped by the monster attack. You can't open it with
that key anymore."
I replied to the man who was moving the key messily with a confused look
on his face.
"No way… I'm not going to stay locked in here! Help me!"
I looked at Lucy and stood in front of the man.
"I'm fine with that, but first, I have a question."
"W-what is it?"
"Did you come here for the deal with the commander of the fort concerning
the 'diversion' of the luxury goods?"
"I just happened to be passing through here when I was attacked by those
monsters."
The man easily replied to my question.
But I also noticed that his expression was a little grimmer than normal.
Normally, one would have put on a poker face to get through this, but in
such a suspicious situation, I'm a bit annoyed that he is not reacting as I
would have expected.
Still, I am convinced that this is the merchant the fort commander is doing
shady business with.
"We're not trying to pin on you. Just tell us what you know, and we'll
promise not to press charges against you."
At these words, the man's expression became lost.
During wartime, it is a serious offense to smuggle valuable military
supplies.
Not only military personnel but also civilians would be severely punished if
caught.
"What are you guys after? I can't answer your question until you tell me
what you want, can I?"
"You still have the energy to negotiate. That's good. Well, we just want to
bring that fort back up to its tracks. There is just a little problem: the fort
commander went a little too greedy that it almost destroyed it instead. You
know what I mean, right? Since you witnessed it firsthand."
A small number of luxuries and a small amount of money being lost would
have little impact on the garrison of the fort.
But he got greedy and smuggled all the luxury goods in one go.
Certainly, he will get a lot of money that way. But this is at the expense of
the morale of the troops going down the drain.
"Even you can't stand to see the fort fall and put Krasland in jeopardy, can
you?"
When I said that, the merchant man finally nodded.
In this way, we now had the means to hunt down the fort commander, albeit
on a very short leash.