第１９２０堀：さあ時が来た (Part1)
Excavation 1920: The Time Has Come
Side: Yuki
“Emergency report. While en route to the Kingdom of Ioa, we stopped for the night at a scheduled town. Reports indicate a swarm of monsters is approaching. The town is in a state of panic. Can you confirm from your end?”
“Understood. I’m diverting one of the drones deployed nearby for reconnaissance.”
The message arrived just before dinner, shattering the evening calm with the sudden weight of a crisis.
“What’s the plan? Should we move to the conference room?” Seraria asked.
Eris, Ratz, and Kaya were already standing by, their postures sharpening as they prepared to move at a moment’s notice.
“No, we’ll stay here in the banquet hall. The others will be back soon anyway. It’s better to gather everyone here, confirm the situation, and eat while we work.”
“With the children?”
“Ah... better to avoid that. We should keep work and family separate for this.”
“I agree. That would be for the best,” Seraria nodded.
Emergency meetings held within the living quarters of our inn were a recurring reality. On such occasions, the children were usually ushered to a different banquet hall to have their meal.
“I’m counting on you two. Kirue, Sasari.”
“Yes. Leave it to us,” Kirue replied.
“Don’t you worry~. The young ladies are such good girls~,” Sasari added with a smile.
“Tell them I’ll make it up to them. Tell them I’ll play with them later,” I said.
“As you wish.”
“You really are a softie, aren’t you~?”
With those parting words, Kirue and Sasari led the children out of the hall. Once the doors closed behind them, Eris spoke up.
“I know you feel bad for them, but if you keep making up for every lost moment, there will be no end to it.”
“She’s right~. Even the quiet ones like Schans and Aria talk about how they want to go everywhere with their big brother~,” Ratz agreed with a wry smile.
I knew they were right. There was a mountain of work to do, and the children would inevitably have to bear the brunt of my absence. However, I couldn't bring myself to be the kind of adult who simply demanded their patience as a matter of course.
“Well, when I was a kid, adults were always telling me to just deal with it because they were working. I decided then that I wouldn’t be that kind of adult. I want to be the kind of man who can look them in the eye, apologize, and actually make the time to play with them.”
“My love...”
“Yuki-san...”
“Big brother...”
“Could you all stop looking at me like I’m some tragic figure?” I asked, feeling the weight of their pity. My parents were perfectly normal; it wasn't like I had some traumatic childhood.
“Don’t take it so seriously. This just gives me a grand excuse to spend time with them later.”
“I see. That is a fair point,” Seraria conceded.
“Indeed. If that is the reason you’re setting time aside, no one will complain,” Eris added.
“I’d like to join in when that time comes~,” Ratz chirped.
“Sure. A family outing wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.”
It seemed we were all in agreement that being consumed entirely by work was a dangerous path. My proposal met with unanimous approval, though the logistics of where to take such a large family remained a puzzle for another time.
Setting that aside, the focus shifted back to Vilia and the others.
“Kirika, you were listening?”
“Yes. I have already diverted a surveillance drone to scout the perimeter. Shall I put the feed on the monitor?”
“Yeah, do it.”
The banquet hall was equipped with monitors on the raised platform, used for everything from makeshift briefings to watching movies and entertainment. Kirika activated the screen, and the drone’s perspective flickered to life.
The monitor displayed a majestic landscape—vast grasslands rolling out toward the horizon, bisected by a long, winding road.
“This footage shows the main road leading to the town of Uesa in the Kingdom of Dona. It is two countries away from the Kingdom of Ioa, where Lady Vilia and her party are currently staying.”
As she spoke, she overlaid the image with satellite photos taken by Luna to illustrate their position. They were southeast of the central Kingdom of Phiana. It was just a step away from the region known as the North—or rather, according to Nina’s reports, it was already considered part of the North.
The Kingdom of Giadana had been the boundary between south and north. Then again, the "North" was a distinction we had made ourselves; it wasn't a term used by King Giadana or Chancellor Daeda. Regardless, the country where Vilia now stood was undoubtedly part of the northern territories currently suffering under the heavy offensive of monster hordes. The frequency of attacks there would likely be higher than in Giadana.
Wait. If that was the case, it was strange that word of the Clearstream Church’s atrocities hadn't reached the North. Information suppression within the Kingdom of Dona or Giadana might account for it, but usually, such news would leak through common travelers when crossing borders.
I realized I was spiraling into speculation. I’d have to have that investigated later. For now, we needed to confirm the approaching threat.
“There they are. Approximately twenty kilometers out,” Kirika said.
The camera zoomed in on her command. In the distance, a thick plume of dust choked the air above the road. Within that haze, a mass of monsters—primarily Orcs, but interspersed with Ogres—came into focus.
“Nina. We have them on the drone. Are you seeing this?”
『I see them. I’d estimate they’ll arrive in two hours... no, maybe three?』
“Yes. They are running now, but they will likely stop to rest along the way. Three hours would be a fast arrival,” Kirika noted.
“Should we consider that a decent amount of time?” I asked.
“No,” Kirika replied firmly. “Communication in that town is slow. Two to three hours is barely enough to organize a defense. If you factor in alerting the residents and managing an evacuation, the window is dangerously narrow.”
She was right. Between moving supplies from warehouses to the walls, repositioning soldiers, and guiding civilians to safety, three hours was practically nothing, even by modern standards.
“Actually, why was the detection so late? Twenty kilometers is practically on their doorstep,” I muttered.
『I don't know. We don't have that information yet,』 Nina’s voice crackled over the link. 『More importantly, what’s the move? Do we move to gather intel? Or do we join the Guild as adventurers? At a glance, there are nearly five hundred of them. Depending on the quality of the local garrison, they might be able to repel them.』
“Five hundred... Whether that’s a lot or a little depends entirely on the town’s standing army. And the quality of the adventurers currently at the Guild,” I mused.
Kirika spoke up again, her voice clinical. “I have confirmed the dimensions of Uesa. It is a standard walled town built on a plain, with a radius of roughly two kilometers. Based on our data, the population should be between ten and thirty thousand. That would put their soldier count at one to three thousand at most.”
“A standing army of ten percent would be a logistical ruin,” I noted. “In times of peace, it’s usually less than one percent.”
Otherwise, the economy couldn't sustain the soldiers' livelihoods. But that was the logic of Earth. In this world, where the threat of monsters was a constant shadow and conscription of the populace was common, the burden of defense shifted the scales.