Unease (7)
More time passed. The situation along the border grew stranger by the day, yet still no major movement came. There was no telling when they meant to strike. Had they held back because we had uncovered their scheme and blocked it?
I would have liked nothing more than for the whole affair to blow over without incident, but that seemed impossible.
The one silver lining was that support from the Church was due to arrive soon. The numbers would not be large, but the difference between having even a few of them and having none at all would be enormous.
Before the Church's reinforcements could reach us, however, things went wrong.
The Monster Wave came first.
Wave or not, the scale was hardly overwhelming at the start.
At first I thought nothing of it. A pack of monsters had suddenly drawn near, so we put them down. Ordinary enough. But a few hours later, the same kind of monsters attacked again.
There were not many of them. Twenty at most. Small monsters, nothing particularly difficult to handle.
It was only after the second assault that I realized something was off—and that was when the Monster Wave came to mind.
"This is definitely a Monster Wave!"
If it weren't, the same monsters would never keep appearing separately like this!
My argument was accepted at once, and we agreed to raise the village's alert level. From the very start, though, opinions clashed.
"What? You're going to hold the line with just the self-defense force?"
The Instructor had declared that he would lead the self-defense force and hold the monsters off—without help from me, Emma, Priest Daniel, or the Holy Knights.
"If your deduction is right, a large-scale offensive will follow soon enough, won't it?"
"Ah—probably, yes?"
"Then consider this. Suppose the barbarians come pouring in. Could the self-defense force stand against them?"
Hmm…? He had a point. No matter how well trained the self-defense force was, facing cavalry would be hard. They had no real means of ranged attack, either. Honestly, the best they could manage would be dealing with enemies who had already gotten inside the village…
"It's impossible. Against infantry they might manage somehow, but the vanguard will be cavalry. Sending the kids out against that would be sending them to die."
The Instructor's voice was heavy with regret.
Fighting monsters was dangerous enough in its own right. Still, it was better than facing cavalry. I had faced cavalry myself, so I could only nod.
In my case, I couldn't cut down enemies along with their horses the way Emma could, so I had relied on magic to pin their movements. But could the self-defense force do anything like that? Absolutely not.
"You're right…"
"Which is why I want you and Emma held in reserve against the barbarians, just in case."
In other words, he wanted to keep us from exhausting ourselves holding back the Monster Wave.
"Of course, I won't claim we can stop every last monster on our own."
The bitter look on the Instructor's face made my chest ache.
"Please command carefully so the wounded don't push themselves. We have a priest, and I'm here too—we can heal everyone."
"Yes… that's a mercy, at least…"
He did say he would call for support the moment things turned dangerous, but…
I wasn't sure.
At any rate, the Forest of Delusion side was left to the self-defense force, while the Holy Knights under Priest Daniel took up watch toward the border.
The truly terrifying thing about a Monster Wave is that the monsters grow stronger as it goes on. If they had been strong to begin with, they would never have been driven out of their territory. In other words, the weak ones get pushed out first.
And why is that a problem?
Because it grinds down people's stamina and spirit. You stop one wave. Then before long, another comes.
You stop that one too. Are we safe now? The moment you start to relax, the next monsters appear.
This must be what people mean when they say their blood runs dry.
"Is everyone all right?"
I asked as I healed the wounded villagers. None of them were in good shape. Mentally worn down on top of everything else, they all wore the same gloomy look.
That no one had died was a blessing, but no amount of healing could mend the wounds left on the heart.
"Instructor…"
"Are the kids all right?"
"Yes. I've treated them all."
"Good…"
The Instructor was soaked head to toe in blood—proof of how many monsters he had cut down.
"Get some rest. From here on, Emma and I will take over."
"That…"
I knew exactly what he was worried about.
"They're not coming. Not yet."
"All right. I'm counting on you."
Exhausted, the Instructor stretched out on the ground and was asleep almost at once.
"Can we really hold out like this?"
A friend from the self-defense force came over and asked.
"We have to. What other choice is there?"
"Wouldn't it be better to just ask them to send soldiers?"
I understood the feeling. But we couldn't.
"Not yet. We can still manage on our own for now… And things will be chaos on their end too… Probably."
Fortunately, no more monsters came that day, so we managed to get some rest.
I would have been glad to simply sleep it off in peace—but of course something had to go wrong.
A loud noise rang through the village. Not the sound of people shouting, but a whistle. I jerked upright in alarm.
"What's going on?"
I threw on a coat, shoved my feet into my shoes, and bolted out of the house.
The commotion was coming from the beacon tower.
"Let go of me! At this rate—at this rate we're all going to die!"
The one causing the uproar was, regrettably, my friend. Half out of his mind, he was screaming that we had to light the beacon and call for soldiers if any of us were going to survive.
"Just knock him out!"
One of the Holy Knights guarding the beacon snapped, apparently fed up, and Priest Daniel—equally frustrated—drove a hard blow into the man's gut and dropped him cold.
Everyone who had come running saw it. And unfortunately, more than a few of them seemed to share the same thoughts as my unconscious friend.
"It's over. Go back and rest."
The Holy Knight dispersed the gathered villagers. A few self-defense force members who had rushed out in a panic looked relieved to find it was nothing serious.
Once things had more or less settled, Priest Daniel came over to me.
"I'm sorry…"
"Why are you apologizing? It wasn't your fault, Daniel."
"Haha…"
I asked him what had happened.
"There was a disturbance during the night patrol."
In other words, my friend had caused the scene while on night watch.
"Ah, buddy…"
It wasn't that I couldn't understand why he had done it. That only made it hurt more.
Fortunately, every night patrol had been assigned at least one Holy Knight, so they had been able to stop him.
"I understand how he feels, but still…"
A bitter feeling settled over me.
Whether I should call it fortunate or not, the Monster Wave seemed to have ended. Three days without incident made it look certain.
Holding the monsters back had not been without cost. The barriers I had raised were badly damaged, there were plenty of wounded, and a great deal of equipment had been ruined—but we had stopped it all the same.
"Everyone, well done!"
The Instructor gathered the exhausted self-defense force and praised them, clearly delighted.
People whose bodies and minds had been worn thin by the relentless fighting found some relief in his words. But it was not over yet.
"The rest is up to you."
The Instructor turned to me and the Holy Knights. That had been the plan from the beginning. If the barbarians came, I would use magic without holding anything back.
The situation at the border was growing ominous. Small-scale skirmishes had already broken out near the frontier. Fortunately their scouting force had been knights, so they had won—if it had been ordinary soldiers, they would have taken losses of their own.
"Damn it. Either come at us already or stop dragging this out…"
That was the source of the frustration.
War was a certainty. One look at the border made that clear. Countless soldiers and cavalry had been confirmed moving this way.
And yet they still had not attacked.
The mood in the council chamber was grim. Everyone was on edge. There was no way of knowing how many troops the enemy meant to gather by stalling like this, and that left them helpless.
The one comfort was that his father, Baron Meyer, had agreed to send a mage.
"It's a mercy the mage hasn't arrived yet."
Ideally the enemy would wait until after the mage got here.
"How is the soldiers' morale?"
"I can't honestly say it's good. With so few who have real combat experience, it can't be helped."
The knights and captains did their best to keep spirits up, but it was hard going.
It might almost be better if the fighting simply started… No—better still if the barbarians simply gave up. But that did not seem likely.
"Hah. This is maddening."
He struck the armrest of his chair in frustration.
"Maddening."
"Judging by their movements, they'll come down within a few days."
"I already know that. I've had the reports."
"In any case! Go settle the men down and make sure they get proper rest."
In a fit of irritation he drove his subordinates out of the chamber.
I wonder if Miss Julian is all right…
It had been more than ten days without word. He could have sent soldiers to check, but with no telling when the enemy might strike, he could not spare men for a private errand.
No—think positively.
The silence meant nothing had happened. If something had gone wrong, she would have come to tell him, just as she had when she came to warn them about the Monster Wave…
How had other people endured situations like this?
He was only now learning how hard it was to take charge and lead people.
What he had studied in theory and the reality of the battlefield were different—far too different.
He rose, went out to the training ground, and began swinging his sword, trying to clear his head.
Looking at the blade with its dark crimson sheen brought back the happy days he had spent with her. For nearly a year, he had been truly happy.
She had not returned his feelings, regrettably—but remembering those days still made him glad.
Yes. Even if it was frustrating, he had to endure.
That endurance was what would keep her safe.
He swung his sword and focused his mind. Again and again, he swung.
"Y-Young Master! The enemy—the enemy is coming!"
"Tch…"
So they had come down before the mage arrived?
"So it's war after all… I'm on my way!"