“Great, leave it there!”
“Yes!”
A minotaur followed the instructions of the master carpenter and laid on the ground a big trunk.
“Hahaha! I knew we’d have finished this quickly if we got help only by those huge guys!”
The man was delighted by the efficiency of the monster.
“Are my subordinates useful?”
“Yeah. They still have a lot to learn, but they’re working properly!”
Essentially, some of the minotaurs became the carpenters’ pupils. Given their inhuman strength and muscular bodies, they mainly had to transport the huge lumbers that men couldn’t move.
“Now that they’re working on the fence, my men can focus on helping each other.”
Since he could lower the number of people working on the fence, the other jobs were proceeding faster.
“Seems like there will be more monsters than usual this year, but thanks to your subordinates we can prepare accordingly!”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
There was no shortage of tasks for Raiz and his comrades until the monsters tried to raid the city. They had to repair the city walls, protect the construction of the fence, create pits to hindrance the attackers’ advance, and produce preserved food.
Also…
“Oh, right, the prototype model you asked for is almost complete. If nothing happens, we will be able to produce it in mass.”
They had to prepare for a face-off with the monsters.
“We got a lot of ideas from you guys, so everything should proceed smoother than last year!”
Raiz looked at the cackling carpenter while thinking about the discussion he had the day before with the Guild Master.
◆
“You see, maybe I know the reason why there are more monsters this year.”
After they finished their talk, Trow suddenly brought that topic up.
“Oh, did you figure something out?”
“Yeah, the key is something that was here until last year.”
“Something that was here until last year?”
“Let’s try to say it like this… Last year we didn’t have something we now have.”
Lety cocked her head. She didn’t understand his riddle.
“E-Err… a ranch to keep animals in?”
“No. It’s something abstract, not tangible.”
Trow placed his finger on the edge of the map.
“Peace. The war ended last year.”
“Eh? Why should it be connected with the increase of the monsters’ population?”
Lety didn’t take the hint in the slightest, but Raiz didn’t miss what Trow meant.
“I see! The corpses!”
“Exactly. People died in the front line and rear line as well. Sometimes, someone died while intercepting an enemy force that infiltrated in the country, sometimes someone died in secret battles, and sometimes a spy moved the wrong way and became food for monsters.”
“All those corpses were easy food for monsters, right?”
Monsters usually attacked humans, but their reason was mainly searching for food.
Raiz knew that very well.
“Right. Monsters could easily find food on battlefields, but now it became impossible, so they will try to search for another source of food. Actually, I tried to ask this city’s veterans, and they said that in their grandparents’ days, Dekuch faced many crises… but once the war started, the attacks subsided.”
The presents fell silent. Brooding over those words, complex feelings mixed in their hearts.
They fought to end the war for the sake of people, but they couldn’t help but feel bad now that it caused a disaster in a part of the country.
“Well, keep fighting might have destroyed Tend, so you did the right thing.”
Trow encouraged the other two, whose faces were gloomy. He really was a mature, composed adult.
“…Yeah, you’re right. We just have to win this battle to prove that ending the war wasn’t an error.”
“Indeed. I’m really sorry about this, but we can’t ask help to the knights. It will just take too much time until they receive our request and dispatch a force that will reach us. They could’ve at least sent here some subordinates, though…”
“Oh well, we shall handle this with our current resources, then. Having a super-knight with plenty of combat experience will be more than enough.”
“I’ll do my best!”
Lety’s gloomy expression brightened at his words.
◆
Three days went by.
“Lord Raaaiz~!”
Harpy, who was patrolling the forest, landed in front of the tamer.
“What happened?”
“A lot of monsters left the forest~!”
Hearing Harpy’s report, the nearby people started panicking a little.
“How many are them? How much time do we have before they reach us?”
“Uhm… They’re a lot! The forest went all roar and stuff! The faster ones will take a day or something, and the slower ones maybe two or three days.”
“Are flying monsters among them?”
“Not many, I think.”
“Is the entire forest moving or only a part of it?”
“Only a part.”
“Are they coming from multiple directions?”
“Yep, many!”
So, a part of the forest couldn’t keep them anymore… Let’s guess several hundred will come this way. Their real number will depend on their path:ì, though. Will they split and head toward other cities or will we have to handle their entire force by ourselves?
“Harpy, sorry, but could you go see if they are all coming here?”
“Okaaay~! Leave it to me!”
The next moment, she jumped and started to fly back toward the forest.
“We don’t have much time left.”
“Great, leave it there!”
“Yes!”
A minotaur followed the instructions of the master carpenter and laid on the ground a big trunk.
“Hahaha! I knew we’d have finished this quickly if we got help only by those huge guys!”
The man was delighted by the efficiency of the monster.
“Are my subordinates useful?”
“Yeah. They still have a lot to learn, but they’re working properly!”
Essentially, some of the minotaurs became the carpenters’ pupils. Given their inhuman strength and muscular bodies, they mainly had to transport the huge lumbers that men couldn’t move.
“Now that they’re working on the fence, my men can focus on helping each other.”
Since he could lower the number of people working on the fence, the other jobs were proceeding faster.
“Seems like there will be more monsters than usual this year, but thanks to your subordinates we can prepare accordingly!”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
There was no shortage of tasks for Raiz and his comrades until the monsters tried to raid the city. They had to repair the city walls, protect the construction of the fence, create pits to hindrance the attackers’ advance, and produce preserved food.
Also…
“Oh, right, the prototype model you asked for is almost complete. If nothing happens, we will be able to produce it in mass.”
They had to prepare for a face-off with the monsters.
“We got a lot of ideas from you guys, so everything should proceed smoother than last year!”
Raiz looked at the cackling carpenter while thinking about the discussion he had the day before with the Guild Master.
◆
“You see, maybe I know the reason why there are more monsters this year.”
After they finished their talk, Trow suddenly brought that topic up.
“Oh, did you figure something out?”
“Yeah, the key is something that was here until last year.”
“Something that was here until last year?”
“Let’s try to say it like this… Last year we didn’t have something we now have.”
Lety cocked her head. She didn’t understand his riddle.
“E-Err… a ranch to keep animals in?”
“No. It’s something abstract, not tangible.”
Trow placed his finger on the edge of the map.
“Peace. The war ended last year.”
“Eh? Why should it be connected with the increase of the monsters’ population?”
Lety didn’t take the hint in the slightest, but Raiz didn’t miss what Trow meant.
“I see! The corpses!”
“Exactly. People died in the front line and rear line as well. Sometimes, someone died while intercepting an enemy force that infiltrated in the country, sometimes someone died in secret battles, and sometimes a spy moved the wrong way and became food for monsters.”
“All those corpses were easy food for monsters, right?”
Monsters usually attacked humans, but their reason was mainly searching for food.
Raiz knew that very well.
“Right. Monsters could easily find food on battlefields, but now it became impossible, so they will try to search for another source of food. Actually, I tried to ask this city’s veterans, and they said that in their grandparents’ days, Dekuch faced many crises… but once the war started, the attacks subsided.”
The presents fell silent. Brooding over those words, complex feelings mixed in their hearts.
They fought to end the war for the sake of people, but they couldn’t help but feel bad now that it caused a disaster in a part of the country.
“Well, keep fighting might have destroyed Tend, so you did the right thing.”
Trow encouraged the other two, whose faces were gloomy. He really was a mature, composed adult.
“…Yeah, you’re right. We just have to win this battle to prove that ending the war wasn’t an error.”
“Indeed. I’m really sorry about this, but we can’t ask help to the knights. It will just take too much time until they receive our request and dispatch a force that will reach us. They could’ve at least sent here some subordinates, though…”
“Oh well, we shall handle this with our current resources, then. Having a super-knight with plenty of combat experience will be more than enough.”
“I’ll do my best!”
Lety’s gloomy expression brightened at his words.
◆
Three days went by.
“Lord Raaaiz~!”
Harpy, who was patrolling the forest, landed in front of the tamer.
“What happened?”
“A lot of monsters left the forest~!”
Hearing Harpy’s report, the nearby people started panicking a little.
“How many are them? How much time do we have before they reach us?”
“Uhm… They’re a lot! The forest went all roar and stuff! The faster ones will take a day or something, and the slower ones maybe two or three days.”
“Are flying monsters among them?”
“Not many, I think.”
“Is the entire forest moving or only a part of it?”
“Only a part.”
“Are they coming from multiple directions?”
“Yep, many!”
So, a part of the forest couldn’t keep them anymore… Let’s guess several hundred will come this way. Their real number will depend on their path:ì, though. Will they split and head toward other cities or will we have to handle their entire force by ourselves?
“Harpy, sorry, but could you go see if they are all coming here?”
“Okaaay~! Leave it to me!”
The next moment, she jumped and started to fly back toward the forest.
“We don’t have much time left.”
