Chapter 207: Fire Drips, Pantile Gets Wet 1
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“Longdagger-dono! You have truly saved us!”
The one who thanked me in a booming voice that resonated deep in my gut, using slightly archaic phrasing, was the Knight named Oscalonia, who was in charge of this Fortress.
After that—that is, while I was worrying about how I couldn’t come up with an excuse for the huge blunder of destroying the Fortress wall—Oscalonia appeared, leading his subordinates.
Honestly, when I was surrounded by several dozen Knights, all I could think about was how to escape. But I had completely forgotten that my friend was a Pantile.
Jen spoke quite imposingly, and proudly declared:
“Oscalonia-dono, my friend and my guard has rushed to our aid!”
Oscalonia and his subordinates let out cries of “Ooh!” at Jen’s words, and upon seeing the horde of Monsters that had been burned to Magic Stones by Erica’s magic, their faces were colored with astonishment.
After that, it was like magic or something.
Jen didn’t tell a single lie, yet she made them believe that the Fortress wall collapsing was due to unavoidable circumstances, and convinced them that we had luckily arrived just in time for the crisis.
I’ll say it again, Jen didn’t lie about a single thing.
“Due to the current circumstances, we cannot offer proper hospitality, but please rest well!”
Oscalonia slapped my shoulder repeatedly.
He was in quite a good mood.
But well, I understand how he feels.
I thought as I gazed out at the Training Grounds overflowing with civilians.
When I saw Oscalonia and his Knights, the first thing I thought wasn’t ‘How do I escape?’ but ‘Why were they still besieged by the horde of Monsters?’
I could tell their strength at a glance.
It wouldn’t be easy, perhaps, but it was clear they weren’t the sort who would be completely helpless against a horde of Monsters lacking even Dragonkin.
The reason they chose to hole up in the Fortress despite this.
It was the cluster of tents erected on the Training Grounds spreading out before my eyes.
Oscalonia and I walked, dodging the children running around.
They seemed to be residents from nearby villages.
The reason such people were gathered at a military facility like the Fortress was apparently due to damage caused by a Bandit Brigade.
Honestly, coming from Faltar, it was a situation that made me want to tilt my head in confusion.
Thieves, mountain bandits, bandits.
Call them what you will, but these people with no place in towns or villages are basically starving amateurs.
Sheltering from the elements in places where you never know when a Monster might appear next to you. Unable to secure enough food or water.
Even if such people gathered, taking down a single village is extremely difficult.
Because living in a village means living alongside Iniquity.
They might be exclusive and conservative, but they are tough. They would likely repel mere starving bandits. At least, if it were Faltar.
But well, setting those questions aside.
The reality seems to be that they decided to abandon their villages and sought refuge in the Fortress.
Having non-combatants within their walls, eliminating the Monsters besieging the Fortress—that would certainly make one hesitate.
Especially if the walls were functional.
“It seems you have various questions.”
The room I was led into was likely Oscalonia’s office; fitting for a Fortress commander, the room was filled with the smell of ink and paper.
Oscalonia offered me the Tea his attendant had prepared, letting out a sigh filled with regret.
As I nodded, Oscalonia answered.
“It’s infuriating, but our territory is currently plagued by a nasty Bandit Brigade.”
To roughly summarize Oscalonia’s words, it was like this:
One day, suddenly, a large-scale and well-organized Bandit Brigade appeared in the Helzcums Territory and began rampaging throughout the region.
Oscalonia received orders from the lord to search for the Bandit Brigade and was operating out of this Fortress as his base.
Judging from the situation that they seemed to be hiding nearby, he was in the middle of preparing for a large-scale search when this current commotion occurred, apparently.
Incidentally, Jen had heard rumors about it and got caught up in this mess when she came to sell supplies to earn some pocket money.
Should I call it bad timing, or just her being her usual self? I couldn’t decide.
Still, a ‘well-organized’ and ‘large-scale’ Bandit Brigade, huh?
I tilted my head, sitting in a corner of the tent village on the Training Grounds. For some reason, a toddler trying to climb onto my head lost their balance and tumbled down.
Catching them with one hand, I thought. Oh? Trying again? Good, that’s how a man should be.
A large-scale, organized Bandit Brigade—I can understand that concept itself. It’s not unheard of for an entire village to turn to banditry for some reason.
Since they aren’t just a gathering of strays, they have a certain degree of order, and having a village as a base allows them to ‘last longer’ and tend to grow larger in scale.
But if they are rampaging from place to place without a base, that changes the story.
The Bandit Brigade that appeared in the Helzcums Territory apparently has no fixed base and is rampaging from place to place.
It’s obvious, but humans need to eat and sleep.
Considering they can’t approach main roads with Monster Wards to avoid capture, maintaining themselves as an organized group for a long period is nearly impossible.
The larger the scale, the faster they collapse.
If such a thing were possible, it would have to be something like a Knights Order.
They possess special skills, like troop deployment for camping in places without Monster Repellent Magic Tools.
It would be far more convincing if the Bandit Brigade’s true identity was a Knights Order from some country.
I lowered my left hand nicely so the newly arrived toddler could climb onto me.
A sudden competition began with the toddler who had started climbing from my right side. Conquering the summit of my head won’t bring you much glory, you know?
Ignoring the toddlers giggling as they climbed my body, I continued thinking.
But the possibility of it being another country’s Knights Order is nil.
There are just too many impossibilities.
If there’s any possibility, it’s the pattern where groups of bandits, perhaps former adventurers who fell on hard times, happened to merge…
But even that…?
I hunched my back for yet another new challenger who appeared.
Thinking that far, I snapped back to reality.
It’s not my job.
Maintaining peace in one’s own territory is the job of the nobility.
Besides, the Margrave is even sending reinforcements to deal with it. It’ll probably be resolved sooner or later.
I should leave the difficult tasks to the smart people and focus on the job right in front of me.
Yeah, let’s do that.
“What are you doing?”
Just as I reached what seemed like an obvious conclusion, someone spoke to me. It was Erica.
“I was thinking about the future.”
“While playing with children?”
Erica sat down next to me, wearing an expression like she was looking at someone troublesome.
“I think children need mountains to challenge.”
“That’s quite a luxurious mountain.”
Erica gently picked up a Little Girl who approached and held her on her lap. I envy that Little Girl.
“By the way, how did things go on your end?”
I suppressed my jealousy towards the Little Girl whose hair Erica was combing with her fingers and asked.
“The wall repairs went without a hitch.”
“Since it wasn’t a wall with Magic Tools embedded, it wasn’t ‘much’ trouble.”
Hearing Erica answer so calmly, I inwardly acknowledged, ‘Yep, she’s off the charts.’
“I made you clean up my blunder.”
“That is also a wife’s duty.”
“I can’t hold my head high around you.”
I tilted my head for the three toddlers fiercely competing for its summit.
“So, what about you?”
As if matching my tilted head, Erica tilted her own and peered at me as she asked.
She must mean the reason the Fortress commander, Oscalonia, summoned me.
“He apparently wants us to escort these refugees to the city.”
“That is…”
Erica stroked the Little Girl’s head as if searching for words.
“Difficult, isn’t it?”
She said it was difficult, but I could clearly tell she didn’t really think so.
“Are you going to accept?”
Surprised by Erica’s words, I couldn’t help but stare at her face.
Because I moved suddenly, the tumbling toddlers made a soft landing on the ground.
Erica tilted her head, asking, “What’s wrong?” But I was the one who wanted to tilt my head.
‘Guardian of Orphans’ Solntsalri.
Coming from Erica, who belongs to a family with an extraordinary love for children, the very question ‘Are you going to accept?’ was earth-shattering.
Though surprised, I managed to answer.
“This isn’t a request, it’s a plea. And right now, we’re here as guards. So we can’t decide on our own.”
“Is that what you were worrying about?”
Well, rather than worrying, I was just thinking about pointless things.
Swallowing my words, I nodded back.
Before I started thinking about the Bandit Brigade, which has nothing to do with me, this is what I was thinking.
“How should we escort the refugees?”
While saying we couldn’t decide on our own, I had two convictions.
One, that Erica would definitely want to accept this request from Oscalonia.
And the other was—
“Well, I knew Jen, our employer, would agree, so it’s not like I was agonizing over it.”
It meant Jen would also readily accept this request.
“Um…”
Erica looked like she was searching for words again, hugging the Little Girl on her lap tightly. I’m jealous.
“You know her quite well, don’t you?”
The Little Girl hugged by Erica giggled happily. I’m jealous.
“We’ve known each other for three years, one way or another.”
It’s been three years where trouble was more common than not, but, well, yeah, ahh, it was definitely fun.
Remembering it makes me smile unintentionally.
“That’s unfair.”
Not understanding Erica’s words, I tilted my head. A protest rose from the toddler who had reached the summit of my head.
“Um…”
Searching for words for just a moment, Erica suddenly put on a serious expression. With a look that said she’d made up her mind, she opened her mouth.
“Jenniferlin-sama knows a lot about the you that I don’t, doesn’t she?”
Well, yeah, we’ve known each other for a long time, you know?
“But, I wonder?”
I tilted my head. The toddler patted my head repeatedly, telling me not to move.
A wry smile escaped me as Erica looked at me with somehow suspicious eyes.
“Most of the time I was with her, it was usually a battlefield, you know.”
That’s an exaggeration, but astonishingly, it’s true.
“She probably knows well the number of thugs I’ve beaten up, though.”
I shrugged. The toddler, having finally conquered the summit, let out a cute victory cry atop my head.
“She probably doesn’t even know my favorite snack.”
Erica made a strange face at my words.
What kind of face was that? Was she amazed that even though I introduced Jen as my best friend, we didn’t even know something that simple about each other?
I felt like knowing the number of thugs I’ve beaten up pretty much fulfilled the conditions for being best friends, though. Was that no good?
No good, huh. Yeah.
No, but, what exactly was I trying to tell Erica? The conversation’s destination was completely lost right now, but seeing her troubled expression, I somehow felt a sense of crisis about just staying silent.
As I was searching for words, a voice said, “Finally found you.”
“What are you doing in a place like this?”
Was the timing good or bad?
Jen appeared, leading Chako.
Seeing the toddler who had conquered my head lend a hand to the remaining two to help them ascend, Jen inexplicably laughed, “Whehhehheh.”
Your sense of humor is as mysterious as ever.
Following my conviction that she’d say something troublesome if left alone, I spoke first.
“Hey Jen, do you know my favorite snack?”
At my sudden question, Jen’s gaze wandered into the air.
“This is the first I’m hearing that you like anything other than meat.”
“I appreciate you not being surprised.”
With three toddlers perched on my shoulders, I carefully made a smug face, trying not to drop them.
“By the way, Erica knows.”
After letting her gaze wander into the air again, Jen looked at Erica, then said this to me.
“You’re really loved, my friend.”
As expected of my best friend.
Jen and I met eyes and laughed, “Whehhehheh.”
Erica let out a cute hiccup.
Afterword
Thank you always for the comments, likes, etc.
Last year I nearly died from a death march [of work], so this year I managed somehow thanks to building up a stockpile [of chapters/work].
Oscalonia-san, who appeared this time, got their name from an overseas reader who wrote a review for this work.
Also, sorry, my replies to comments might stop, but I assure you I am definitely reading them.