20. City (1)
20. City (1)
"No, that's not it!!! Ah... it's like this..."
"............"
I'm learning about mana from Yui after bathing with Amber.
Yui, whose mind didn't break even after I tore off her limbs, just as I had expected.
I am learning magic from Yui, who is living with the help of Erina.
Unfortunately, it seems I have absolutely no talent for magic.
Thanks to the capable Dagos and Evolute, the Human Farm is starting to grow larger, and since all the elderly humans are handed over to the creatures, cannibalism has definitely decreased.
If some time passes like this, I should be able to awaken the numerous creatures that are sleeping and grow my strength.
Since time will solve the remaining problems, I am spending my time learning how to handle mana and holy power from Yui and Erina.
The problem is that I don't have much talent for handling mana and holy power.
I was able to use magic by just brute-forcing mana and holy power.
I've tried using basic magic like Heal and Magic Arrow, after all.
The problem is that the efficiency is absolutely abysmal. No, it's beyond abysmal; they said it's so extreme that it puts a strain on my heart.
They said if I weren't sturdy, I would have already died from my heart bursting due to mana overload.
Yui was scared and trembling when she first talked to me, but after seeing me handle mana, she became frustrated.
Just now, she seemed frustrated watching me operate mana, to the point where she even shouted, before lowering her voice while glancing at me.
"It's the level 10-year-olds learn at magic school..."
"..........."
It's a bit embarrassing that I can't do it even after she explains it so diligently, but I'm confident.
Even if she says that, I was someone who didn't know anything about mana or holy power.
Honestly, she should praise me for using magic at all! If you think about it, in this world's age, I'm not even 1 year old; I'm a baby who hasn't even been born for a week. A baby!
It's just because my body is huge, sexy, and mature-looking, but if you look at the facts, I'm a baby that hasn't hatched long ago.
Don't look at me with that "Is she an idiot?" expression, praise me!
My current state is, for example, if Yui uses Magic Arrow with 10 mana, I use Magic Arrow with 100 mana.
Normally, at this level, the mana would overload, the heart wouldn't be able to handle it, and it would burst before the Magic Arrow could even be cast, but the Queen's body itself is just too sturdy, so it's being forced to activate.
But now that I think about it... doesn't it not matter?
They say it takes a very long time and a lot of effort for humans to increase their mana.
That's why they say the efficiency of operating mana is very important. Even if they have the same amount of mana, if the efficiency is high, they can use more magic and stronger magic.
But I am different.
It doesn't take much effort to increase mana.
I just have to eat it.
My mana operation is trash and the efficiency is low? Can't I just eat all the mana and have overwhelming mana?
Recently, while attacking villages, I kidnapped a few adventurers who possessed mana.
Evolute took the rest, excluding 2, because it wanted to research mana.
The 2 were eaten by Dagos and Gluttony, respectively.
Humans are delicious as it is, but humans with mana are a delicacy, so they were handed over to the [Overlord]-class creatures.
I want to run over right now and say, "Give them back to me!", but the kids say they're hungry, so what can I do...
The kids need to eat delicious things too.
Tsk.
Should I eat something too?
==
Clatter. Clatter.
There are a total of 4 people living in my room right now.
Me, Amber, Yui, and Erina.
Me and Amber sleep on the bed, and Yui and Erina sleep on the floor, curled up.
The body of a Queen doesn't need to sleep, but I have spent much more time as a human than as a Queen, so when I sleep, it feels like the fatigue completely vanishes through the Hive Mind, so I sleep every single day without fail.
We are eating food obtained from mercenaries, adventurers, and villages.
I give Yui and Erina just enough to survive, and Amber and I eat abundantly.
But even if it's abundant, it didn't taste particularly good.
"Queen-nim. How about we bring out someone who is good at cooking from the Human Farm?"
I was eating when Amber brought it up.
"That sounds like a really great idea."
I put down my fork in front of the food Amber had prepared.
Honestly speaking, it's tasteless.
What's in front of me right now is bread, soup, and dried food like jerky.
Food just to fill the stomach. Nothing more than that.
I didn't think Amber would be good at cooking.
In the first place, adventurers don't need to be good at cooking. That's why Yui and Erina also said they aren't good at cooking.
So, there's nothing to do other than Amber preparing the food we obtained.
It's not like I'm good at cooking either.
I'm eating, but since there's no flavor, there's no fun in eating.
Four women have gathered, but not a single one knows how to cook.
If I ask the creatures to cook, there is a 100% chance that food made of creatures or humans will come out.
The only people who can cook food fit for humans are humans.
"Amber."
"Yes."
"Go to Evolute and pick out someone who is good at cooking and bring them here."
"Understood."
Things can't go on like this.
I need a cook.
==
Medherun City is in more chaos than ever before.
Starting with Beluta Village, surrounding small-scale villages were attacked by spider monsters simultaneously.
Before Medherun City could even finish preparing to respond to the spider monsters, they attacked the surrounding villages quickly, as if they knew that.
They even took measures to know about the spider monster attacks in advance.
Adventurers specialized in scouting were deployed in all villages, including the city.
On top of that, the Adventurer Guild gave them communication tools that cost an average adventurer's one month of work each.
Despite that, not a single communication came through.
Five villages have already been attacked.
The scary part is that no bodies were found anywhere. There was a tiny bit of blood on the floor, but there were no bodies, and not a single place had enough blood to suggest lives were in danger.
The number of missing people now exceeds 1,000.
No matter how huge Medherun City is, self-sufficiency is absolutely impossible.
Most of the villages damaged this time were villages that did farming and livestock, so Medherun City suffered great damage.
The damage is already great, but an even more serious problem is that trade is decreasing significantly.
They say Medherun City is a fortress city, but it's only safe if you get inside; ultimately, you have to go to Medherun City to trade. In that process, the Ners that have already attacked several villages could appear anytime, anywhere, and due to that anxiety, Medherun City became increasingly isolated.
The Padix Kingdom dispatched the Kingdom Knights and adventurer parties to Medherun to protect its city, Medherun.
The problem is that it takes too long to get there.
Gwen was in so much pain with the current situation.
People keep going missing, but there is nothing she can do.
This fortress city didn't feel like it was protecting the citizens, but like a wall trapping her inside.
She knows.
That she must not leave this city.
They are attacking several villages, so there is no guarantee they won't attack this city.
Now that it has been revealed that the spider monsters are under someone's command, Gwen, who holds the position of Knight Commander, must absolutely not leave the city.
All she can do now is pray that the Padix Kingdom's support comes as quickly as possible and inform the knights and adventurers of her memories and points of caution from when she faced the spider monsters.
Gwen, who finished everything she had to do today, returned to her room.
She wanted to keep training, but humans are living beings that need rest.
Gwen, who knew that, took off the pure white armor that symbolizes the knights, took a simple bath, lay down on the bed, and relaxed her body. With her sword right next to the bed.
So that she can mobilize immediately if an emergency situation arises.
'What on earth is the identity of the spider monsters, and what on earth was that terrible monster?'
How could that many numbers not have been observed until now? Surely, with that level of intelligence and that level of numbers, it should have been normal to know before they became this numerous.
It's not an animal; kidnapping humans clearly means those monsters need humans.
I don't know if they eat them as food or if they need them for breeding.
With that many monsters, the amount they need to eat per day must be enormous, but there haven't been any incidents where livestock suddenly disappeared or large numbers of people went missing in the last few months.
'It's like they just dropped from the sky.'
Gwen thought about various things and slowly fell asleep.
==
"Gwen-nim, it's a disaster!!!"
At the sound of Drake's voice coming from outside the door, Gwen opened her eyes and got up immediately.
Bang!
Drake, who just burst open the door where the Knight Commander and a woman are staying.
But Gwen didn't pay attention to such behavior from Drake. Because it's an action Drake would never do under normal circumstances.
She knows that for Drake, who gets angry often but is cold and calm in his mind, to act like that means it's that urgent and important.
"What's the matter."
"Th-the Knights who were coming to our city from the Padix Kingdom... have been annihilated...!"
"What...?"
She knew it was serious news from Drake's expression and behavior, but Gwen's head felt like it had been hit by a hammer at the news that was even more serious than she thought.