195: You'd do well to actually listen to what people are saying

Three months had passed since the horde of monsters descended upon Mizuho.

The city walls were already down. The situation had shifted to a siege of the three castles surrounding the Imperial Shrine.

But that was always the plan.

Not only did it reduce the defensive perimeter, but while the city walls still stood, the reinforced castle walls were an iron wall.

The monster numbers were steadily dwindling. For the first time, the end was in sight.

Today, Alphard, the military observer, was helping with food distribution. The front was stable enough now, and he just wanted to lend a hand without stepping too far into active combat.

As he finished handing out meals to a group of archers taking a break, Alphard spotted someone he recognized.

“Lucas?”

“Hey! Long time no see!”

The guy in ranger gear was Lucas Lindblum. An adventurer from the Empire, but unlucky—he’d gotten caught up in the monster war and couldn’t escape, stuck in Mizuho with no way out.

I’d heard he’d met Kyle back when Kyle was leading the delegation. And Craft had called him a player. Alphard himself had met him a few times during the pre-war exchange period, and even after the war started, they’d chatted now and then.

"Seriously, when the hell am I gonna get back to the Empire?"

"Bad luck. But you’re earning a living now as a temporary archer, right?"

"Only when I feel like it."

"I’ve seen you shoot a few times. Not bad for a guy like you....Oh, food’s here."

"Hey, thanks!"

Lucas took the tray, stepped aside—then just stared down at his meal, silent.

Today’s meal’s bread made from Craft wheat, stewed beans, meat and vegetable stir-fry, and miso soup. I figured maybe you’re annoyed there’s no rice, so Alphard speaks up.

“What’s wrong? Did something you hate slip in? Or is the bread getting old?”

“No, I’m Imperial. Bread’s a welcome sight.”

“Still, you looked deep in thought. Something on your mind?”

“Just thinking how the food never runs out. Amazing.”

Alphard tilts his head.

“Well, the Kingdom of Maugaria sends us massive food aid.”

“…Huh?”

“You haven’t heard? We’ve had a large teleport gate set up between the two nations. Weapons, food—full-scale support. They’ve announced it like, a hundred times.”

“Ah. Probably missed it. Been too busy hitting on the girls.”

Alphard rubs his forehead, shaking his head at the sheer level of shameless charm.

"Guess he's just a temporary mercenary, huh."

"Only shows up when it suits him, that's all."

"Seriously..."

The information was being spread far and wide—boosting morale, calming the citizens—but Alphard figured, given the man's status as an Imperial adventurer, he probably hadn't been listening properly.

"Fight after eating, huh?"

"No way, we already won. Now it's just a matter of hanging around the brothels until the city opens up."

"Hanging around... you're not supposed to be hiding out like a refugee."

"Hey, I'm a city lady with my own room. Best get back to the Empire soon, alright?"

"Keep it down."

Lucas wolfed down his meal, waved a hand in lazy farewell, then vanished into the dark.

But Lucas’s wish wouldn’t come true.

◆

The next day, the Mizoho Shrine Nation had returned to its true form as a battlefield.

“Not enough arrows! Bring more! Now!”

“Anything—stones, anything—just throw it at them!”

“Damn it! Damn monsters!”

“Hey! Over here! The beasts are piling up, trying to breach the wall!”

“Coming right now!”

“Damn it! What’s going on!?”

“Shut up and fight! You’re samurai, aren’t you!?”

The defensive battle that had dragged on like routine work suddenly shattered into chaos—shouts flying, soldiers sprinting across the field.

Alphard hurriedly sprinted up to the keep, already finding Nobuna glaring at the city wall.

“What happened!?”

“They just swarmed all at once—went mad, like a stampede.”

“Too sudden!”

“Tell me about it.”

Alphard’s eyes followed the horde of monsters filling the castle grounds.

“Feels like a stampede.”

"...It was always a stampede, really."

"Yeah, that's right....Wait, doesn't it feel off somehow?"

"Everything about it's been off from the start. I think the whole thing was off from the beginning—those monsters attacking Mizoho Shrine Nation gradually like they were just wearing it down. That's what felt wrong."

Alphard and Nobuna had debated this endlessly. A true stampede meant monsters losing all reason, charging en masse at the nearest humans like rabid beasts. But this horde of monsters? They’d surrounded Mizoho Shrine Nation, sure—but not like a stampede. More like a siege. Slow. Grinding. Squeezing you to death with a silk rope, inch by inch.

Specifically, monsters kept attacking nonstop, day and night. A constant, unignorable force pressed in, keeping Mizoho on edge at all times—mentally and materially, it was a grueling, hateful war of attrition.

Worse, while stampedes usually involve just one kind of monster going wild, this time various species were mixed together.

No actual cooperation between different species—no way—but from the defenders’ side, each species required a different response, making things harder.

“Why the hell did they suddenly all go stampede mode?”

“Don’t know.”

“Sorry. Talking to myself.”

The enemy assault grew fiercer—but Alphard felt it like an opening.

The attack had definitely intensified—but the sense of command she’d felt before was gone. They’re flustered now. But if Mizuho’s samurai are anything, they’re not gonna lose to a bunch of mindless monsters, are they?

"Of course not! This is our moment. I’m going in too!"

Nobuna, who’d been watching the skies for flying monsters, led her unit straight to the gate.

Just then, Hanbee was gathering his two-legged bird cavalry right in front of the gate.

"Mizuho’s warriors! Now’s the time to crush the enemy! Every man for himself—attack!"

Hanbee raised his katana high. The soldiers roared back, their voices raw with pent-up fury.

"Nobuna!"

"Leave it to me! I call upon you—come forth from the underworld! Nyakudōji!"

Nobuna summoned, through her Onmyō technique and Mizuho’s unique summoning magic, a familiar—what the locals called a summon creature—about the size of a bear. It had a monkey’s face, a raccoon’s body, and tiger-like limbs. A monstrous beast.

The creature—whom they called Yato—leapt from the castle gate, landing with a crash, crushing several monsters beneath it. Without pause, it shredded the monsters before it with razor claws.

Not just Yato. Various familiars were summoned one after another before the gate, mowing down the horde of monsters. Summoned by Nobuna’s subordinates and Kanetsugu’s troops.

As space split open before the gate, the drawbridge slammed down with a thud, and the gate swung open.

"Let’s go!"

Hanbee led the charge, and the Mizuho samurai surged forward.

"We’ve won."

As Alphard had muttered, within a few days after that, the majority of the monsters had been eradicated.

Nobuna collapsed, exhausted, sitting atop the city gate.

"Finally… it’s over."

"Looks like you’re worn out."

Kanetsugu dropped down beside her, drenched in sweat.

The moment the entire army breathed a collective sigh of relief, it happened.

"Th-they’re coming! The Empire’s army is advancing this way!"

The lookout’s scream echoed across the battlements.