Full Battle Check
I’m translating the chapter directly and keeping the in-universe notices in styled HTML blocks as required. The main thing I’m watching is paragraph structure so the narration reads naturally rather than line-by-line.CHAPTER_TITLE: Full Combat Inspection
Even after the gray-stained world had brightened again, the faces of Rainpa’s guards only grew darker.
“You’re saying twenty Fog Hogs are going to appear out of nowhere? Like they’ve been summoned or something?”
They were slow to believe it. They had almost never been attacked by monsters before, and even as an allied force, their Influence was still nowhere near high enough.
“Yes. Not as if they were summoned, but literally summoned. Don’t ask me who’s doing it, why, or how, because I don’t know either.”
Ho-yeong shut down the three questions he had heard most often before they could even be asked.
We don’t have time to talk them through this one by one, and it’d be a pain. Should I just use [Area Edification]?
Fortunately, there was no need to waste EP.
“There’s definitely talk like that going around. Dimensional ruptures are happening, and monsters are spilling out through the cracks.”
Adventurers and mercenaries were telling them what they had seen and heard themselves.
“I don’t know about ruptures or whatever, but I saw it with my own eyes recently. I took a request from Whiteveed City to exterminate a monster, and know what it was? A Moss Golem.”
Just as the distribution of plants and animals differed by region, monsters also had habitats and ranges where they appeared.
“A Moss Golem?! Those things are supposed to be way out west, beyond the Serak Mountains and all the way into the Black Marsh. And now they just showed up on the eastern plains out of nowhere?!”
It was like meeting a polar bear in Africa.
“Yeah. In a whole pack, too. After that, a bunch of Fog Hogs appearing doesn’t seem so strange anymore.”
“There was even a herd of Minocentaurs that appeared in some nearby territory. When I saw the report in the time bulletin, I couldn’t believe it, so I went myself. Turns out some young noble came and wiped the whole lot out. There were even Hogrifon corpses lying everywhere. The whole party saw it, so we believe it.”
The associate knight from that “some territory” smoothly slipped into the conversation.
“Ahem. The man you speak of is none other than Joren Tamer, Byeonbangbaek, right here.”
The gathered eyes widened.
“Oh. That was your doing?”
Behind Ho-yeong, who looked somewhat bashful, Peach stepped up and let his cloak billow dramatically.
“Come to think of it, I knew that cloak looked familiar... It’s the crest of the Purple Banner Company, famous for monster suppression?! And the commander’s name was Tamer, too!”
“Wasn’t there a tale that he leaped onto a hobgoblin and smashed its skull in? Guards, if such a man is willing to help you, quit your chatter and follow him.”
The Guardian's recent exploits are amplifying the effects of the Totem of Unity! Adventurers and mercenaries are casting [Influence Projection], and the Rainpa guards’ edification level is rising.
Ho-yeong gathered the troops in front of the watchtower, which would serve as the stage for the decisive battle.
For the sake of command, and to test the tower’s durability, he climbed the ladder.
Warning! If excessive load is applied, the watchtower’s durability may decrease. Current load 230 ramken / limit load 240 ramken.
“Excessive load? I’m the only one going up, so why is the weight like this... What are you doing there?”
Something felt off, so he looked down and saw Shrakhim climbing the ladder after him.
“Why, naturally to stand by the Byeonbangbaek, of course.”
“Well, aren’t you full of yourself. What, are you my adjutant now? Still, I appreciate the thought.”
The eagerness to serve him was endearing, but Ho-yeong shook his head.
“But I think you should go back down. This tower looks like it’s groaning already, and I doubt it can take more than three people at most.”
“There are only two of us, so that shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”
“There is a problem. Your weight counts as three men.”
He was worried the tower would collapse before the stage even began.
“As I said earlier, I don’t know who is summoning the Fog Hogs, why, or how.”
Standing with the setting sun at his back, the Byeonbangbaek began to speak.
“Even if I did know, I couldn’t stop the summoning. But! If we can’t stop the summoning, does that mean we won’t stop the monsters themselves?”
“We will stop them!”
The will to protect rang out like a trumpet.
“What matters isn’t who, why, or how. What matters is when, where, and what the monsters are aiming for. For now, that’s enough. And I know the answer to that! So, will you trust me and follow my lead?”
“Let us follow the Byeonbangbaek! Let us stop the monsters!”
Shrakhim, standing below the watchtower, waved his arms and led the chant.
“We will trust you and follow you!”
* * *
Time remaining until stage start: 60 minutes.
Ho-yeong was busy issuing one order after another.
“Byeonbangbaek! I brought all the weapons you asked for.”
“Good work. Let’s have a look. What is this? This is too much.”
Ho-yeong nearly doubted his own eyes as he looked over the projectile weapons taken from Rainpa’s armory.
“If we need ranged weapons, how can the bows be in this condition?”
The longbows were badly warped, and the crossbows’ strings hung limp and slack.
They say there hasn’t been much fighting, but to manage weapons like this is truly pathetic. Compared to this, goblins look like Jumong. Should I tell big sister the Queen to order a full combat inspection?
Full combat inspection was short for combat equipment command inspection. It was a thorough annual check of military gear, and the artillery branch Ho-yeong had served in had been particularly brutal when it came to preparation.
The saying “prepare for the unforeseen” exists for a reason. Tsk. If I’d given up on the stage, this place would have been completely ruined.
Having gone through such things himself, Ho-yeong could only click his tongue.
“The small bows are at least serviceable, but the large ones are a disgrace. The little bows were probably maintained because they had to be carried around for appearances, but the big ones were just left in the armory and ignored.”
“...Ghh. We have no excuse.”
“Well, there’s no point fixing each one by hand with a bow straightener now, so let’s move on. What now? The small arrows won’t do enough damage to matter, so they’re useless... Oh? There are short spears. These are better.”
The short throwing spears, or short lances, were piled up in a fair amount.
“But even these are in... ugh.”
Ho-yeong sighed at the sight of the dull blades and the heavy rust on them.
“Don’t worry, Byeonbangbaek. I’ll grind them down for you in a flash.”
At that moment, a dwarf girl appeared as if on cue. She was Sera Rowgan, one of the warriors summoned by the Totem of Unity.
“Huh? You can do them all? All of these?”
“Of course. It won’t take long.”
“Miss, like I said earlier, we don’t have much time...”
Ho-yeong broke off in surprise. A single rub against the whetstone, and the blade was already sharpened. Looking closer, he saw that the whetstone’s surface itself was unusually sharp and glittering.
“What is this thing?”
“It’s made of karoum.”
“Even if it’s karoum, to sharpen them this fast...”
“Compared to dwarf-made weapons, these spearheads are little more than toothpicks.”
She sharpened at a pace close to one per second.
“Incredible. But if possible, please pay special attention to the tip. I want these to go in deep.”
“I’ll do that.”
Ho-yeong was a little surprised when Sera nodded without a word. Compared to the stubborn dwarf stereotype Berneval Luntin had shown him, she felt quite different.
Maybe that’s just her naturally easygoing temperament, but it seems like the Totem of Unity is helping a lot too.
It was certainly easier when everyone followed instructions properly.
“But what about all this rust? Should we just leave it? Maybe let the Fog Hogs catch tetanus.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll remove all the rust at once.”
The next to step forward was a man mage with an especially narrow set of shoulders, Macdonaf, as if it were his turn. His specialty, like Sera’s, was alchemy and material manipulation.
He picked up a spear that was especially rusted and began to chant. The rust on the blade darkened and darkened, until it was completely corroded.
What is he trying to do? He said he’d remove the rust, so why is he doing the opposite?
Ho-yeong was deeply puzzled, but he watched in silence. He had decided that, just as the adventurers trusted him and followed his lead, he should trust them as well.
Aggregation!
With Macdonaf’s shout, something astonishing happened. The rust on every spearhead rose as powder, then clung all at once to the spear he was holding.
“Oh! That’s amazing!”
“I’ve amplified the tendency of similar structures to gather together. I corroded the more rusted spearheads further so they could be turned into an aggregate capable of exerting cohesion. More precisely...”
“That’s enough. I get the gist.”
“Then I’ll turn this rust powder into iron powder. After that, I can return it to the original spearheads. Bringing together materials that were once one mass should not be difficult...”
Watching the chemical change with fascination, Ho-yeong suddenly called out, “Wait! Can you do the reverse? Not have the iron powder gather to the spearhead, but have the spearhead gather to the iron powder?”
“Huh? I suppose so, but I’d need to add transfer spells and the like. It’s easy enough to make light things gather to heavier things, but the reverse is difficult.”
“Okay, then that’s fine. Hold up for a moment.”
Ho-yeong ordered the gremlin to gather all the iron powder into a large sack.
“If you’re using the iron powder separately, how will you fill the gaps in the spearheads?”
Macdonaf pointed at the uneven spearheads where the rusted portions had flaked away.
“Use other iron powder.”
Ho-yeong pointed at Sera, who was busily sharpening blades.
“Wouldn’t it be faster to recycle the shavings from sharpening the edges on the spot?”
“Ah. Yes, that would work.”
“For some reason, all mages seem a bit clumsy.”
With the repaired short spears in hand, he headed to the wagon. He had already told the guards to move all the tribute there without missing a single item.
“Oh, fast work. You unloaded all that in no time. You can’t handle weapons, but you’re good at hauling things, aren’t you?”
The unloading was almost finished.
The reason the wagon had been emptied was so it could be used for combat.
“All right, then we need to assign our throwers.”
But unlike before, it was not being used as a barricade.
“Rainpa guards. Anyone who thinks they’re good at throwing something, step forward.”
Ten men stepped out. Ho-yeong had them throw spears, then selected the five who had thrown the farthest.
Blooming! Throwing ability upgrade!
He used his ability to turn the five of them into spear throwers.
“Now you will all begin training. Climb onto the wagon roof.”
“What?! Does that mean this wagon becomes a chariot?”
“That’s right. But don’t worry, I’m not asking you to jump down with blades in hand and fight hand-to-hand. There’s no one here who can do mounted swordwork anyway. Instead, you should at least be able to sit comfortably on the wagon and throw spears.”
Mounted combat was a difficult art to master. Mounted archery and spear throwing were especially so.
“A wagon roof is a lot easier than a swaying horse’s back. There’s plenty of room, and the edges have rails, so nobody’s falling off. If you’re still scared, step out. What’s it going to be?”
“We’ll do it!”
The wagon made by Berneval Luntin even had ample cargo space on the roof.
“Minocentaur, and Eollugi. Listen carefully. All you need to do is move this wagon. You do not need to fight the Fog Hogs. Understood?”
- Minoho! (Understood.)
- Mino-om~ (Understood.)
He had no intention of recklessly engaging in close combat and losing two of the rare monsters they had.
“But... how exactly does this wagon move?”
“How else? These fellows move it.”
Besides, the huge wagon could not move unless the Minocentaur pushed it.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a wagon that’s pushed instead of pulled. But I don’t see any mechanism for transmitting force either!”
Owensytn asked the perfectly reasonable question.
Ah, right. I should’ve attached some kind of bar or something.
Since the Minocentaur’s arms had been hidden by the Mana Soil magic circle, it looked to everyone else like a gigantic ox and horse were pushing the wagon with telekinesis.
“It’s been enchanted. Yes, that’s it. More importantly, Captain, didn’t you say you had an opinion?”
“Yes. If the watchtower is their target, how about reinforcing it now and setting up barricades around it? With this many people helping, it should be enough. We may be inexperienced in combat, but we’re skilled at this sort of work.”
Wearing the captain’s rank for form’s sake or not, Owensytn gave a solid suggestion.
But Ho-yeong shook his head.
“Reinforcement work and barricades. A good idea, if the things charging us weren’t boars the size of tanks.”
It would mean nothing if the watchtower’s durability went from 100 to 101. Not when one body slam from a Fog Hog was enough to knock roughly sixty points off it.
“No, the reinforcement work itself is necessary. Captain, find the thickest, strongest rope in this city and wrap every pillar of the watchtower tightly. Then tie an unbreakable knot at the top.”
“Yes. But will that really be enough?”
“The goal isn’t to make it stronger. It’s to make it easier to move.”
“Move it? But earlier you said moving the watchtower’s position would be useless. No matter how far you shift it, the Fog Hogs will be summoned around the tower...”
Owensytn looked startled at the idea of moving the watchtower.
Ho-yeong grinned and answered, “Distance isn’t what matters. What matters is the direction.”
* * *