TL note: I don’t like beating around the bush: we are dropping this series.
We humbly apologize for all the readers who followed it so far, but nothing will change our mind.

The reasons are simple. First, I keep falling behind with my schedule, and this is starting to build stress on me. My hands are already full with other projects (all of which I find more fun than this one), and I don’t want to keep limping on my schedule like I’m doing for the past… two, maybe three months? Also, if I can be brutally honest, the more I translated this story, the less I liked it.
My editor feels the same for it, so we both decided to stop now.

Probably, in the next few days, I’ll update this series’ consistency guide for the last time, then leave behind this translation. We warmly invite any new translator interested in picking this series up to contact us, so that we can link their translation of the next chapter both here and in the project page.

Currently, we are not planning to do the same for any other series.
Again, sorry for this sudden decision, but I need to free my hands from those projects I am not enjoying or that are simply very time-consuming.

Thank you for understanding, and enjoy the last chapter of this first volume!

Everyone’s home

“It’s finally over”

“It really is!”

Lamia got closer to Raiz as she answered energetically.

“Our new home…”

It was way bigger then the old building, and it was solid enough to not get easily destroyed by another storm.

“Thinking about everyone’s needs was hard… but we finally did it!”

Raiz was overcome with emotions as tears started rolling down his cheeks.

“Finally…! Goodbye wall-less house!”

“That would be innovative, though…”

Lety said that as a joke, but she was impressed by the idea. The rainy season in Dekush brought along many tempests, so the carpenters had to come up with ways to prevent the houses to break down.
Raiz and his monsters had lived in there with simple cloths as walls and doors, something very old-fashioned even for the oldest people in Dekush.

“Our customers will finally stop looking at me suspiciously! I have my house and office again!”

The proof of their authenticity was hanging on the front door: a sign with ‘Monsters’ Delivery’ wrote on it.

“We also have a waiting room for the Dragon Express, so there won’t be any more chaos!”

Commented Lamia as she pointed to the simple but efficient room at the building’s side.
A sign showing ‘Dragon Express’ was placed over the door.

“We built it since people kept asking for one!”

Said the master carpenter while holding a bag of tools in one hand.

“Great job! Now people will know where to wait!”

Before, there wasn’t a specified place where people could wait for Dragon, so the town mayor asked the carpenters to build one to prevent any more confusion.

“Well, Dapta paid for it in advance, so you should thank him.”

Actually, the town mayor wanted to make profit for the city, so he gathered money from all the supporters of the idea.
As a living creature, Dragon couldn’t fly day and night, neither he could do extra rides when he felt to, so people had to find a place to get some sleep and food, meaning that they would contribute to the growth of the city’s economy.

Dragon Express was an outstanding service. Thanks to its speed and security, it attracted the attention of merchants, encouraging the improvement and comfortability of existent land travel services.
Nearby Raiz’s office, some branches of inns and restaurants were already under construction. They were still in the early stages, but the carpenters, along with Raiz’s minotaurs, were working hard to complete them as soon as possible.

“Thanks to Dragon Express, even our business took off. I’m so happy I might scream! And now my family’s funds are safe! By the way, wanna make a contract for adding a new wing to your house?”

“Ahahah! Let me finish paying you for this, first! Maybe in the future!”

“Is that so? Great. Lemme know if you need something! See ya!”

With that, the master carpenter started to walk to the nearby inn.

“If they didn’t allow us to pay when we can, we’d be screwed.”

“Indeed. Thanks to it, we even added more rooms compared to our original idea!”

At first, they wanted a somewhat normal house for him and the monsters that wanted to stay inside.
But then, the project changed, and waiting rooms and guest rooms were added so that they could finally live all under the same roof. There was even a barn for Unicorn and similar monsters, and a room for Lety.

“I am Raiz’s bodyguard, so it is only logical for me to stay here.”

Said Lety, but Raiz still couldn’t accept that she covered the cost of her room by herself.

“Don’t mind her, Meowster. If you’re lucky enough, you might see her change.”

Hearing Cat sith’s words, the tamer suddenly accepted it.
Not like he had dirty thought or anything.

All those changes brought the shape of the house to change drastically.
On a door was hanging the chivalry department branch’s sign, perches for flying monsters were placed on the roof, and behind the building were the stables and the cat doors. In front of that bizarre house, a wingless monster would wonder why the eaves were that large, and a normal man would be puzzled by the overall structure’s shape.

“I still can’t believe that my Master made a room only for me~!”

Lamia smiled happily. If one included the lower half of her body, she was quite a big monster.
That’s why human houses were usually too narrow for her race, and they normally lived in caves.
But Raiz tried his best to satisfy everyone’s needs.
Her room was long and thin to let her stretch as much as she wanted without touching the walls, and it had a big window to let her warm up in the morning sun, as well as a futon where she could entirely fit in. That was undoubtedly the ideal room for her.

“My barn is great too, and so is my hay bed! If there were also some little girls, I wouldn’t have had anything to say!”

No matter what, Unicorn was always the same.

Whenever a monster entered the rooms, they suggested changes to make them better, and most of them came even cheap.
Kobold, for example, used his savings to cover his room’s floor with ore, and Cat Sith wanted a wooden box with a towel as his bed.

“Guess I’ll go unpack my stuff.”
“I will bring here my things from the inn, then.”

The present monsters watched Raiz walk to his room and Lety heading to the city.

“There is no use in making arboreal monsters live in this house, huh…?”

“You lonelyyy?”

As Dryad was about to walk off too, Treant spoke to her.

“I am not. The soil is our house. I was only thinking about how happy they are looking, but I do not feel sad about it.”

“Master is kiiind.”

“Precisely. No tamer granted any private room to his monsters before.”

Those words came from her heart.
Dryads could share information and feelings among themselves. For example, they could feel or see what someone else had experienced.
Among those images were also tamers, which usually used their subordinates as tools and treated them as beasts. But Raiz didn’t. He was unique.

“This is… unprecedented.”

Dryad shifted her gaze to the bizarre building, the house of her comrades.

“They will be surpriiised.”

“They sure will. It should not take much before they reach this city.”

As they pondered on the approaching troubles, they ended their conversation.

<Prev | Index | Next>

Victory party

Torches lit the city as to drive the night away.

“Hahaha!”

“More meat incoming!”

“This’s good! Gimme more!”

People were drinking and wolfing down food, while others were improvising some strange dances, but everyone was enjoying the victory to the fullest.

“In the end, we managed to win.”

Lety was slowly chewing the cooked meat of a monster they killed in the afternoon.
Commanding amateurs wore her out more than she expected, so she was extremely tired.

“We didn’t have casualties, but many were injured. Thanks to Unicorn’s treatment, their life is not in danger anymore, but they’ll need to rest for some time.”

“Seems like the adventurer guild will help for that. They offered to provide medical discounts to those who got injured in battle.”

Raiz was relieved to hear that. He got close to the townspeople, so he was honestly happy.

“By the way, what was that frog?”

Lety recalled the apostle of Bael.

“Can demons simply be born like that? Aren’t they summoned with some sort of ritual?”

She was ignorant when it came to magic, and as far as she knew, only occultic and questionable parties summoned them by offering some living sacrifice in their rituals… or so she heard when she was a child.

“If the right conditions are met, the presence of a summoner is not necessary. I don’t think there was one this time.”

He didn’t have enough information, so that was the only conclusion he could come to.

“Also, if demons could only be summoned, how could the first guy who summoned one come up with the right ritual? You can’t know the ritual if you don’t know the summon, don’t you think?”

“Oh, you’re right.”

What should I eat next, some eggs or some chicken meat?
As Lety was stuck with that doubt in her mind, she agreed and accepted Raiz’s explanation.

“Oh well, let’s enjoy this night!”

◆

“Here, Lamia. Have this too.”

“Thank you.”

The nearby old women kept offering her food, and she gleefully accepted more and more, despite having her hands already full.
Her duty was simple, but essential: bringing arrows and supplies on the walls as fast as she could while they were under siege.

“Here, Unicorn, have a carrot.”

“Why… I spent all my time healing people in the rearguard, so how come that only old-farts are thanking me?!”

He was always the same.

Nearby Raiz’s ranch was Dragon, who watched over the festival from the distance like a stranger.
He was the only one there, but soon a lot of people went to him.

“Oh, here it is! It’s here!”

Drunk men were approaching him while holding booze and food.

“Dragon, join our party!”

“You deserve it, man! You kicked that monster’s ass in a jiffy!”

“Yeah, let’s have fun together!”

“I refuse. I acted only because my Master wanted me to. Humans like you should be terrified of a dragon like me. ”

“Oh, c’mon! Come have some fun!”

“Yeah! Have some meat, here!”

“Drink this!”

“O-Oi, you…”

One after the other, the drunkards placed food between Dragon’s claws like they were putting it in some storehouse.

“Dig in! It’s super tasty!”

“Ugh…”

None of them was listening, but they were really convinced of their words.
Ignoring them would have been easy, but the feeling of food between his claws was annoying, so he brought everything to his mouth and swallowed it whole.

“Woah! That’s a real drinker for you!”

“A real eater, if anything!”

“Gahahaha! Both are fine!”

“Guys, let’s bring him more food!”

“And more drinks!”

The fearless drunkards set off and soon returned with more supplies.

“You damn drunkards…”

He cursed them but didn’t leave the place.
Raiz watched him from afar.

“Oh, some guys are bringing him food?”

He turned and looked at the people in the city having fun along with monsters.

“…Maybe we will really be accepted in this city.”

The party grew livelier as the night grew deeper.

<Prev | Index | Next>

Bael’s apostle

The leader of the monsters, a humongous frog whose height almost reached five meters, towered over the surrounding monsters. On its head, a crown-like thing showed its strength.

“What the hell is that?!”

The fighting adventurers froze in place, while the frog started to slowly raise its forelegs.

“What is it gonna do?!”

It didn’t look like it was preparing to throw or spit something, and there weren’t any adventurers nearby it.

“Retreat!”

The fighters came back to their senses thanks to Raiz’s shout and started to run.
Then, the frog hit the ground and after putting strength in its legs, it propelled itself onward, jumping over the battlefield and crashing into the walls. No one died from the impact, but once it fell on the ground, its round body helped it to roll a little distance away and regain its stability without problems.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Horror painted the fighters’ faces while they peered at the frog’s face.
It jumped two hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

“D-Don’t let it jump again! Charge!”

Lety was the first to regain her cool, thanks to the large number of unexpected developments she had experienced before as a soldier, and started to once again issue orders to the adventurers.

Countless spears tried to impale the frog, but…

“Why can’t I stab it?!”

The fluids seeping through its hard skin made it too slippery to being stabbed.

“Shit!”

The adventurers tried to attack again, but the frog reacted and flailed its huge legs around, blowing them away. It was like it was trying to drive off some flies.

The one-sided battle was now reversed.

“Use magic! Warriors, push the other monsters back! Those who can’t fight must help the injured to withdraw before they get eaten!”

Trow yelled new orders to keep the soldiers under control.

“Raiz! What is the weak point of that monster?!”

Lety asked, but she didn’t hear the answer she wanted.

“That’s not a monster.”

“What?!”

She couldn’t understand what he just said, and shifted her gaze on the frog. No matter how she looked at it, it was just a giant frog.

“That’s an apostle of Bael… a demon.”

“A demon?!”

“Bael is a demon with a human, a frog, and a cat’s head, and it’s said that sometimes it manifests in the world granting a wish to one of those creatures, like in this case.”

“So, is this Bael?!”

“No, it isn’t. This is one of its underlings. To invoke Bael itself you need a huge amount of sacrifices. On the other hand, this one is just a demon that has spontaneously developed in this world, so it’s just a special case. Probably, it constantly wished for the monsters to find enough food to survive this breeding season, and this is what happened.”

“Okay, how can we defeat it?!”

She now understood the situation, but she still needed to know a way out of it.
Meanwhile, the frog was sending soldiers and adventurers flying, occasionally even monsters.

“Should we try to banish it on another plane?! Or should we just destroy its body?!”

Arrows and spells rained on it, but the formers were ineffective, and the demon could easily ignore everything else with its high magic resistance.

“There’re no such mages in this kingdom, and none of our attacks have any effect!”

Then, the frog was once again preparing to jump straight into the walls.

“Block it!”

Trow shouted at the top of his lungs, knowing that the next attack would have blasted the walls away, making the city vulnerable to the horde of monsters, or even directly jumped them.

The end was drawing closer…

“Only a divine blessing would grant a normal human a chance to defeat an apostle…”

Raiz let out a faint whisper, while everyone’s faces turned blue as the frog was about to slap the earth.

“…But we can do it.”

The tamer kept a straight, cool face, while a thunderous roar pierced the air.
Instead of jumping, the frog body trembled

“…”

“…”

“…What?”

Everyone expected it to blast the wall or jump over it, not to bury itself.

“W-Why is it hiding?!”

The frog was convulsing in horror, exactly like someone who was going to be beaten to death.
But how was that even possible?
Was there even someone who could scare a demon like that?

The next moment, a shadow covered the sun, and the sky turned dark like it was winter. A rumble shook the air violently, and the soldiers looked up only to freeze in fear.

The strongest monster in the world, the unbeatable foe, the lord of the skies, who could even fright demons, was hovering above them.

“Dragon can win this fight.”

Raiz’s strongest servant opened his mouth, and a huge amount of magical power started to flow from his throat. The next moment, an endless stream of fire, Dragon Breath, covered the monsters and their leader, as well as a vast area of the plains.

<Prev | Index | Next>

Secret weapons

“Bring forth the catapults!”

Lety ordered, and the unit she was in charge of pushed some big machines on the walls.
They looked like towers with a big, inclined pole as their summit. The extremity closer to the ground was spoon-shaped, while the other one had a big block with various cords fixed on it.
The soldiers started to load various bags while some of Raiz’s monsters took their place under the cords.
Some of the operators were even four-legged and worked fast, but despite their admirable speed, it took a while to finish the preparations.

“Fire!”

The monsters jumped simultaneously while grabbing the cords, and as they fell, the block swung down like a seesaw.
The moment they landed, they let go of the cords and the pole rotated quickly, propelling the bags in the air, that exploded into clouds of powder on impact.

When the approaching monsters inhaled that, they went berserk and started to attack whatever entered their field of vision, starting with their very comrades.

“Hey, it’s working! They’ve started to attack each other!”

Reported the lookout, and the adventurers started to scream with joy and laughed at that sight.

“I knew that Matango’s spores would work!”

“I’m sure it sucks to be in their shoes now, though!”

The monsters’ strange behavior was caused by Matango’s spores, a strong hallucinogenic.
While the hungry beasts were probably seeing their comrades as food right now, the adventurers and soldiers were imagining what would become of them if they met the same fate.
Oh, this is unrelated, but the drug created from that powder was widely known in the world.

“Reload!”

Lety issued another order, but this time the bullets were simple rocks.
Matango couldn’t produce too many spores, since he was still a living being, so they had to switch to normal projectiles. It was the catapults’ moment to shine.

“Fire!”

As Lety pointed her finger in front of her, countless rocks were shot in the sky.
Not only they were deadly weapons, but they also became hindrances once they landed, and the more they piled up, the more difficult was for the monsters to get closer.
Creating a battlefield filled with obstacles was the second stage of the plan.

“The enemy is dispersing again!”

Once the monsters changed their pattern of movement, they once again tried to aim at the walls.
When they got too close for the catapults to hit them, the archers were the only ones that could attack the monsters.

“Deploy the lancer and monster units!”

The veteran adventurers who were waiting in front of the walls followed Trow’s orders, let go of their bows and embraced their lances.

“Charge!”

The first line of monsters noticed the assault and reacted with thunderous roars, but when they tried to attack the approaching lancers, they couldn’t move.
Their legs were trapped by vines and ivy that were rooted to the ground, and remained shocked from finding out that they were completely stuck.

“Take this!”

The monsters tried to attack with their claws, but they couldn’t reach the adventurers and soldiers, and were soon annihilated.
Killing unmoving targets was like taking candy from a baby for the adventurers, who then moved against the next wave of monsters, that found itself rooted to the ground like the previous one.

“It is proceeding smoothly, is it not?”

“Yeeeah.”

Dryad and Treant talked from the nearby trees.
As arboreal monsters, they could control plants, and ordered them to block their targets.
Although it wasn’t a direct attack, that tactic proved to be working.
The average adventurer wouldn’t feel much difference, but the more experienced ones could finish their targets the moment they saw a gap in the enemy’s defense.
Their contribution drastically decreased the number of monsters on the front lines.

“It would be better to act in a more direct way, though…”

Dryad complained in a soft voice.

“Can’t help iiit!”

“I know. Master wanted us to support from the shadows, given how dangerous the situation is right now.”

Actually, they couldn’t do more. If they drew too much attention and were killed by accident, there was the chance that Raiz would decide to destroy the city instead of defending it.

That’s why the tamer restricted them to support the others like that.
Of course, Trow and those who had some experience in fighting knew how useful they were and hoped to maintain a friendly relationship.

Still, Dryad and Treant weren’t the only two who were supporting their faction.
In their enemy’s ranks, werewolves were roaring as they recklessly attacked the foes accompanied by noromas, monsters specialized in high-speed strikes. Together, they penetrated the front lines and started to decimate their victims before being noticed.

The werewolves didn’t blindly attack whatever crossed their path, but aimed at specific targets.
They sent normal wolves, who had little bodies and could move fast, ahead to attack and block the target, then they sneaked up to it and finished it off.
The adventurers were their top priority, given that the wolves could just slip into the lances’ defense, but when they tried to run under them, they were suddenly cut to pieces.

The werewolves couldn’t understand what was going on, but the lances had many thin strings fixated on them. Those were Arachne’s threads.
She could expel various kind of threads from the tip of her tail, and one of them was the beheading thread, which she used to hurt the preys that were trying to run away.
Honestly, it wasn’t something particularly frightful, as it only needed to be removed to prevent deep cuts.
The wolves were unfortunate, since they charged directly under the lances, thinking of taking advantage of their speed instead of getting around them, so it was as if they jumped at high-speed on a wall of sharp knives, which cut them into a bunch of noodles.
They were killed by their own speed.

That wasn’t the only unfortunate event the enemy had to face, though.
Since they couldn’t move under the lances, the werewolves thought that jumping over them would be a better move, but they landed on traps that collapsed under their weight, and they fell into holes filled with slimes’ acid.
They tried to get out of them, but the ground was too slippery, and they ended up falling again.
The unluckiest ones found their feet consumed before trying to do anything.
The speed was their strength, but now that they could barely move, the adventurers took the chance to finish them all.

Their lack of intelligence brought them to their end.

◆

“I see the boss in the distance!”

The lookout yelled, and the guards prepared themselves.

“Is it coming?!”

Trow stood up from his chair and looked in the midst of the horde, where a monster way bigger than the others was advancing.

“That’s quite big… There’s no doubt, it’s the horde’s boss!”

The decisive battle was looming on the city.

<Prev | Index | Next>

TL note: sorry for the irregular releases but summer weakens me more than sickness. Hope I can get back on track soon.

The volunteer soldiers and the monsters

The flying unit approached the incoming wave while clutching the bags with their claws.

“Guuuys! When we get over them, rip your bags!”

Harpy, their leader, started ordering the griffins and hippogriffs lined up behind her.
When they got close enough, blacksmiths and carpenters’ lumps of discarded metal fell from the cuts on the bags. Sword and axes didn’t deal much damage when threw, but metal falling from a vertiginous height became a deadly weapon, considering the acceleration and impact.
Countless monsters let out cries of pain under them. It was a simple, one-sided and nightmarish assault that could reach even the rear-guard of the enemy lines.

But this time, the enemy was a large number of starving beasts, none of which intelligent enough to escape after suffering from something that devastating.
Many monsters instantly died, but those who survived maintained their march while stepping over their comrades’ corpses and dividing into groups.

“Now it’s our turn!”

A huge butterfly, Papillon, the leader of the second flying unit, spoke from behind Harpy.
This unit’s duty was to attack the monsters who tried to jump over the corpses to avoid the piles of metal and corpses.

Slowing the wave down was one of Raiz and the others’ tactics. Decimating the front guard while the rear one was falling behind gave them enough time to regroup and focus on fewer targets.

“They’re starting to split! Third unit, it’s time to destroy them!”

The volunteer soldiers fired their arrows at once, and despite many of them missed their target, the outcome wasn’t bad.
That was possible only thanks to the hordes’ sheer number, given that aiming wasn’t necessary to hit.

Still, the monsters never stopped advancing.
If things kept going that way, it wouldn’t have taken them much to reach the walls…
Then, rustling sounds and thuds arose from their front line, who disappeared into dark holes on the ground: the traps. Wandworm dug them all around the city.
They were seven meters deep, three meters large, and their walls were hard to climb.

“Good! Close combat unit, finish those in the traps!”

The soldier immediately followed the commander’s order, and they started to attack the monsters with special spears that were longer than the average ones.
Those who didn’t meet Lety’s standard were assigned to that role.
The fallen monsters couldn’t attack back or dodge the spear strikes, considering the small space they were confined in. That way, even amateurs could still one-sidedly kill their targets.

Meanwhile, the experienced soldiers and Raiz’s monsters had started to move…

<Prev | Index | Next>

Battle start!

“They’re coming!”

The guards loudly screamed from the observation tower.

“How many and how far are they?!”

Hearing the warning, the soldiers stationed on the walls started to get ready.

“Too many! Eight green and two black hordes! More are coming!”

Counting the approaching wave was impossible.
Also, there weren’t many people who knew how to count, so even a rough estimation was worthy of praise. The city’s guild master assembled capable people for this job.

The monsters were approaching the city at great speed, and soon they would’ve reached Dekuch’s defensive line.

“Good, tell the long-distance team to attack when they cross the line!”

Trow gave the order from the observation tower that served also as a command office, and the volunteer soldiers, adventurers, and guards on the walls let out a war cry.
They readied their weapons and waited for the enemy to come close.

Three grooves dug on the ground around the city showed the range of magic and bows.
The external one was for experienced marksmen, wizards and hunters, the middle one was for those who had a tad of combat experience but never used a bow, and the last one was for those who barely had any combat ability but could still try to hit with a lucky arrow.

Luckily, the approaching wave was very numerous, so people didn’t really need to aim. That’s why Lety suggested hiring a bunch of citizens as volunteer soldiers. Since they would have to fight off an uncertain number of enemies, they needed as much manpower as they could get.

“They are close to the outer line!”

Hearing the sentry, those stationed outside the main gate started to get nervous.

“Don’t fire! Wait!”

Every team of civilians had an experienced soldier leading them, who issued that order to avoid any waste of arrows.

“Wait a little longer… Okay, they’re in range!”

“Fire!”

The next moment, the first line of soldiers started to cast their spells and to shot their arrows, that soon vanished in the midst of the approaching wave.

“Did we hit?!”

“What happened?!”

“We did hit them, but they’re too many! It was like throwing a pebble into a lake!”

“Damn!”

The first line started to let out frustrated cries.

“Keep shooting! You don’t have to aim, just keep shooting!”

“Yes, sir!”

Arrows flew through the air again, and this time some of their targets collapsed on the ground. It was heartening in one sense, but the monsters just kept multiplying like demons in a nightmare.

“Just how many are they?!”

◆

Ending the war dealt a huge impact on this, huh…

Trow kept that thought in his heart, where it found refuge.
He couldn’t let anyone hear it. A real commander shouldn’t let anyone feel his anxiety.

“Dispatch the flying unit!”

“Roger!”

Raiz, who stood beside him, nodded and told Lamia to give the signal.
She took the red flag and started to wave it outside the tower.

“Flying unit, sortie!”

The countless flying beasts tamed by Raiz clutched a bag each and flew over the walls while carrying the city’s hope on their wings.

“We are in your hands.”

<Prev | Index | Next>

Prepare for battle

“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.”

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Hunting business meeting

“Thanks for coming.”

Trow welcomed them as they stepped into his room.

When they arrived at the adventurer’s guild, they were greeted by the girl at the counter they grew accustomed to from selling raw materials, who then guided them to the Guild Master’s office.

“Hello. You have our most sincere gratitude for coming to us for help.”

Raiz saluted the Guild Master, who urged him to stop weaving his hand, with a manager-like tone.

“Drop the formalities. We don’t have time for speaking so elegantly.”

“Okay. Shall we get down to business, then?”

“Sure, but will Miss Knight join us too?”

He directed his gaze to the young lady behind the tamer.

“Yes. I’d also like to protect people as a knight. I’m not a sergeant, but I do have experience on the battlefield and as an officer.”

“Lety worked in the front-lines with me. She is pretty used to those situations, way more than the average knight.”

“Nice. I’m glad to have her with us, then. This will be a free-for-all battle, so I need some experienced commanders.”

“That’s good to hear… Anyway, I didn’t know you were acquaintances.”

Commented Raiz, who guessed they knew each other by sight.

“I’m a knight officially dispatched here, so it’s only natural that I introduced myself to all the influential people in the city!”

She said as she puffed her chest out with pride.

“It makes sense.”

“Can we get back to business? I’d like to start our discussion.”

Trow invited them to sit on the sofa and then spread a huge map on the table that was in front of them.
It showed the city and its surroundings.

“Where did you get this map? Have you bought it from someone?”

Lety’s face stiffened as soon as she saw it.

Oh, right. Maps are usually military secrets… She’s still on duty, so I guess it’s weird to see one here for her.

In this world, the requests to make maps were rare.
People hardly left their city, and if they had to, they almost never went further than the neighbouring ones. Travellers created their own maps as they gathered information and calculated the estimated time to reach their destinations, but given that the cities were connected by roads, there wasn’t a real reason to stray from them.

Strictly speaking, maps weren’t used in everyday-life.
The army, which was the strongest power in the country, the special units of powerful nobles and maybe criminals would use them.

The worst-case scenario for Lety was for a spy from another country to steal it.
With a map, they could move soldiers precisely to fight and resolve any hostile action. Also, the more details about cities, mines and so on it had, the more useful it was.
So why the Guild Master had one?

“We created this ourselves. We needed it to counteract the breeding season.”

“What do you mean?”

She wasn’t convinced by his answer, so she tried to pry further into the matter with a dubious expression.

“The walls around this city serve to defend the citizens from monsters. When they outnumber what the forest’s resources can feed, they leave it in search of food. And since we are the closest city, we always are their first target.”

He moved his index on the map from the Forest of Monsters to Dekuch.

“But the country never helped us so far, and the army was busy with war, so we had to do something about it on our own.”

Lety understood what he meant, and her clouded expression showed her feelings about the matter.
The Kingdom of Tend fought with Serga for several years.
To avoid a catastrophic scenario, they skirmished frequently, and especially when the war started to come to its end, the battlefields moved toward the borders.
That’s why, no matter the problems a city would face, the army couldn’t provide any support.

“This serves only to defend ourselves. Looking at the topography, we can guess where the monsters will move to, so we can think about where to place traps and where to fight them head-on.”

His serious tone made even Raiz, who wasn’t part of the army anymore, restless.

“I’m… really sorry about my rudeness.”

“Please, don’t be. Soldiers have a lot of duties, and you were only trying to properly do your job.”

He nonchalantly accepted her apology.

Woah, that was mature of him… or is this just another of his tactics?

“So, let’s get started. Is there another monster who can use Healing Magic aside from Unicorn?”

“He’s pretty much the only one who can, but there’s someone who can create potions, so we could use them.”

“Great. I’ll buy you the necessary ingredients. Now, what about the ones who can fight? Can we borrow someone who shots from a distance and one that can bind the monsters’ movements?”

“There’s plenty of them with those characteristics. Should I explain their abilities?”

“I’ll do it. Raiz’s monsters helped with construction even in the army, so I’ll tell you how to use them to their fullest.”

Lety joined the conversation when it came to monsters’ abilities.
It looked like she returned to her normal self.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“First…”

Then, they started to discuss which of Raiz’s monsters were going to contrast the invasion from the Forest of Monsters.

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The forest of Monsters

“We want to ask you to eliminate the big monsters that will come out from the forest.”

Ino looked quite tense while saying that.

“Is this related to the breeding season?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“But isn’t it an annual event? How did you handle it before?”

Raiz asked while guessing that there was more than simple lack of manpower.

“We used to hunt them down while cooperating with the adventurer’s guilds of the nearby cities. Since you promised to help with thinning their number, and the suppression pace this year is faster than usual, we were thinking that hunting would be relatively safe this year. Still, the monsters-per-adventurer ratio will be quite high.”

“I see…”

Even Dragon pointed that out…

“We’re not doubting you, Raiz. We can see your dragon fly toward the forest every day from the walls of Dekuch. It became quite famous among travellers and residences.”

Oh, is that so?

She wanted to clarify it right away, to avoid any misunderstanding. Judging by Raiz’s thoughtful face, it was probable that he would have guessed they thought he wasn’t keeping his word.

He still looked more surprised that his dragon was a sort of tourist attraction, though.

Does this mean that people started to accept him?

“Also, we have proof that you sell raw materials collected from monsters every day. I almost want to tell you to slow down your pace.”

“Dragon is the responsible. Either small monster should do the job for him, so he just attacks whatever comes his way. I guess he chooses the ones that taste better.”

“Oh, I see. No wonder that there are so many raw materials from certain monsters.”

After her doubt was cleared, Ino loosened her lips into a little smile.

So Raiz’s dragon likes bear monsters, huh.

Actually, she hadn’t the slightest idea that he liked them for their big body alone.

“That said, we’d need a monster with healing abilities and one strong fighter. If possible, the latter one should be able to attack from a distance. You can speak to the Guild Master for details, so can you come to the adventurer’s guild today or tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yes. I’ll try to organize my monsters’ schedule.”

“Thank you. If hunting will overlap with the citizens’ requests, feel free to tell your clients that you have accepted an urgent mission directly from the guild. You don’t have to worry, we will take our responsibilities.”

That said, Ino started to return to the adventurer’s guild.
Raiz tried to offer her some water, but she softly refused and walked away quickly.

“I can’t understand if she was unfriendly or if she’s just like that.”

“Maybe both?”

Lety brooded over his uncertain answer, and then spoke again.

“So, will you accept their request?”

“I guess so. It’s a great chance to make an impression on people, isn’t it? What will you do?”

“I’ll join you. A knight should defend the citizens from dangerous monsters… Oh, but yours are harmless!”

For some reason, she blushed and Raiz thought she was kind of cute.

“Let’s start our hunt, then!”

At the time, Raiz had no clue that he was connected to the absurd outbreak of monsters, and neither was Lety.

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Incoming troubles¹

“Aaah!”

“Gwaaahhh!”

The soldier wrapped in a leather armour swung his battle axe down, splitting the monster’s head in two.

“Ice sphere!”

Considering the environment, the wizard decided to cast a water spell.

“Gyah!”

The surrounding trees and bushes froze, cutting the monsters’ escape route and freezing the lower part of those who were already pushing their way through the vegetation.

“Take this!”

The warrior started to mercilessly cut all of them down, one after the other.

After finishing, they couldn’t help but sigh. They were accustomed to this, but the monsters were not few.

“We got a lot of them. Let’s take the raw materials and get back to the city.”

“Okay.”

They were adventurers, people who travel from city to city while undertaking dangerous tasks every day.
Death might wait behind every corner for them, but there were times where their work wasn’t exactly life-threatening.
Lately, the number of youngsters who wanted to go down that road was decreasing.

“There’s really a lot of monsters in this forest. Isn’t that tamer’s dragon thinning out their number?”

Groaned the warrior while harvesting their loot.

“Well, the breeding season will start soon, you know?”

“So we’re going to have more work, huh?”

The warrior looked toward the Forest of Monsters as he thought about what they were going to experience this year.

◆

“That said, I’m a knight formally assigned to this role, so I’ll keep living here.”

Said Lety. A month already passed since Merck returned back.

“Congratulations, I guess?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Aren’t they basically demoting her?

Thought Raiz, but he couldn’t say it after seeing her so happy.

“So, what will your job be? There are already guards, so you can’t steal theirs.”

He already knew what she had to do, but asked anyway to avoid misunderstandings.

“Apparently, I’ll be part of the garrison in charge of protecting the citizens from the creatures of the Forest of Monsters, but the truth is that I’ll act as your bodyguard. You have a lot of strong monsters, but they occasionally aren’t around because someone requests for their help. In those cases, I’ll use my authority to protect you!”

She put a lot of emphasis on the last part, but her duty wasn’t different from what Raiz and Merck agreed on.

Essentially, she is not a guard but has the authority to be one? I don’t think I’ll have to worry since I have already neutralized a special unit, though…

“And… where are your comrades?”

If there were any, they should have at least shown their faces to the man they were going to protect.

“Nowhere. I’m the only knight in Dekuch!”

Thinking about it rationally, her work was really absurd, but that made things easier for Raiz, who didn’t pry further in the matter.

Well, dispatching her alone means reducing the costs of my protection to the bare minimum, but there’re still people who are keeping an eye on me. Seems like some of them are preparing for something, but so far, no one noticed that each cat of the city is Cat sith’s underling.

Cat siths were also called the ‘Kings of cats’.
They couldn’t only share information at a long distance, but also subjugate any normal cat.
That ability was another reason why Raiz was an exemplary soldier, since he could gather a lot of information. It even made him know about Dekuch’s crisis.

“Sorry, is Raiz there?!”

A loud, girlish voice rang from outside the hut.

“Yes, I’m coming!”

He had to cut the conversation with Lety short and started to walk to what would soon become a full-fledged entrance, since someone was probably waiting outside.
His guess was soon revealed correct when, reaching the hut’s ‘provisional door’, he saw a serious-looking girl in her twenties.

“Raiz Tamer, right? My name is Ino, from the Adventurer’s union.”

She bowed lightly to him as a greeting.

She looks so rigid…

“I’m here for a request.”

“What is it?”

She stared right into his eyes, her firm gaze showed her determination.

It had to be an important request.

“Can you help us with the Forest of Monsters? The breeding season has started.”

1 The original says “にじり寄る食欲” but we couldn’t figure out how appetite fitted this chapter, so we changed it for now. We might change it again in the future.

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