"No matter what happen, I want the two of you to stay here," I turned around and instructed my two companions.
"Huh? What are you planning to do?" Chester doubtfully ask.
"I changed my mind, there's no way I'll let you participate in this."
"I told you! I'm strong enough, and I want to get my revenge on those bastards!" he shouted.
"You might be strong enough to defeat some of them with your magic, but that's irrelevant," I blatantly said, "You'll only get in the way. I can handle all of them myself."
"Wha-What!? You arrogant...!"
Chester's overreaction was within my expectation, so I'm able to plan a proper response ahead of it. So, I began ignoring him again.
"Log, I want you to stay here too," I asked Log, kneeling down on one leg to face his height.
There was no plan to include Log in the fight in the first place, so he won't be insisting to go like Chester.
"Are you going to fight them all, master?"
"Yup! And since I'll be gone for a while, I want you to protect Chester."
"Keh...!" he groaned.
As I thought, he's still upset with what Chester did before. I don't blame him, what Chester did back then was stupid, and he could've actually gotten injured if I wasn't able to react in time.
Things were going well at first between them, but I don't think they're going to get along from now on...
"I'll do it...!" Log reluctant nodded. "But are you going to be okay, master?" he worryingly ask while taking a glance at the monster army ahead.
"Don't worry, they're no match for me. I'll come back before you know it!" I reassured him.
"Kah... Umu, okay..."
Log has a very high opinion of me as his master. After all this time, he never doubted I would lose a fight. This is the first time he's ever hesitated to let me go. That's not surprising, considering how large the advantage the enemy has over me - or so it seems to him and Chester.
After patting my wolf boy student's head, I jumped off the guard tower's roof and landed on the walls.
"H-Hey, wait a minute! At least let me down here first!"
I continued to ignore Chester's cries as I went to one particular knight. I thought he was still injured, but the healers must've done their job and he could now appear here as the Knight's leader.
"Marcus," I called out to him.
"E-Eria-san!? We were looking for you!" he practically screamed.
Marcus looked nervous and weak, but he still ran towards me with vigor. A weight of pressure seems to have lifted from his shoulders the moment he saw me.
"I expected as much..." I awkwardly comment.
"Th-That's right...! We were making plans on how to defend the town and counter the enemy forces in the guild yesterday, but you were not present. We couldn't find you anywhere..." he paused for moment before continuing, "Let me brief you quickly on our strategy!" he sternly say.
"There's no need for that."
I've already figured out what they were planning to do, and I concluded that they would undoubtedly fail. I'm sure Marcus and the others have realized that also. It's evident from the look on their faces.
"Tell your men and the adventurers to leave everything to me," I confidently reply.
"Eh...?" Marcus grumbled, clearly baffled.
"I can handle everything myself. Still, I want you to defend the town for any outliers that might get pass me. There's just too many of them, there's no guarantee if one or two manages to do so," I humored him and let out a small chuckle.
"What are you saying, Eria-san? Surely even you cannot..."
"Let her go, Marcus."
Before Marcus can finish his reply, another person arrived and interrupted our conversation.
"Nolan-sama! What are you doing here? You're one of our reserves!"
I heard that Nolan can fight, so it's not surprising to see him here. Out of all the Baron's sons, he was the most physically gifted. Even Nero admits that he was way stronger than him, despite him spending less time training.
In comparison to Marcus, Nolan was wearing a tougher set of armor and an even sharper sword was hanging on his waist. The difference in quality of their equipment was clearly apparent. While Nolan's appear custom and specifically-made, Marcus' equipment were clearly manifactured and mass-produced. I can see how most of the knights have the same armor and sword as him.
"You can go, Eria," Nolan repeated.
"But Nolan-sama...! You can't possibly believe she can defeat them all by herself...! Besides, we've already planned a strategy. Eria-san has a huge role in that, if we let her go now on her own, our only chance of winning will be gone!" he reasoned.
So they have another strategy other than gathering the ground troops for offense and admitting the mages and archers for defense? What's more, I apparently have a big role in it.
I'm curious on what strategy they came up with, but I don't think it would be any better than what I have in mind.
"Hmm..." Nolan crossed his arms, seemingly thinking and weighting down his options for a second time.
"Eria," Nolan directly faced me this time as he called my name. "Are you certain you can do it?" he asked in all seriousness, the usual arrogance in his voice was entirely gone now.
"Of course," I replied with no hesitation.
Nolan has supposedly researched my past, so similar to a few workers in the guild, he should know what I'm capable of. With that said, it's not like he could blindly believe in his research with no hesitation. It's clear from his expression that there's still doubt left in him.
Nolan has two options: to either believe me, or convince me to join forces with everyone. The former obviously has more benefits: if I was actually able to defeat the enemy army by myself, there will be no casualties on our side at all. However, the latter, based on his and the other's perspective, would better our side's chance of victory more.
"Umu, I've decided to trust my instincts. We'll do as you say and only defend the town from outliers," he answered with an exasperated sigh.
"Nolan-sama!" Marcus shouted in anger.
"Enough! We'll abandon our previous strategy and spread our men in a line outside the walls," Nolan declared so. "As for you, Eria... No, the Elf Heroine, Eria-san... We'll leave everything to you."
"Humph! It's nice of you to show respect every once in a while," I sneakily remark. "I only came here to stop you guys from following me. Who knows? Someone might be stupid enough to do that. Umu, even if you were against me going alone, I won't be obedient and follow your decision," I explained.
"Kuku... Is that so? I can see how you're quite timid in bed, but also confident outside of it," he laughed with a smirk.
"Urk..." I took a step back, but immediately tried to to maintain my cool. "Fufu, leaving that aside... You can leave it to me," I continued on with confidence from where I was cut off.