༺ Ominous Premonition ༻
After the meeting with the three guild leaders ended, the preparations for the city’s defense proceeded smoothly.
As if they had been waiting for this moment, they began work by fortifying the walls, setting traps, and each took their role in preparing.
The number of city guards stationed in Shubaltsheim was about 5,000.
And the number of adventurers affiliated with the three major adventurer guilds was about 10,000.
The enemy forces numbered tens of thousands, maybe even more. If the defense of the city relies on just 15,000 soldiers, one might feel quite disadvantaged.
But if all those 10,000 were adventurers, the situation was different.
They had the advantage in battles against the undead, armed with all sorts of magical weapons that were qualitatively different from military supplies, and there was an abundance of special classes like mages and priests. Not to mention the fact that S-rank adventurers, who were master-class in skill, were holding out.
Additionally, they didn’t have to defeat the undead army, but only needed to hold out until proper reinforcements arrived, so the city’s morale was quite high.
Perhaps the presence of Elizabeth might have influenced the morale of the adventurers and soldiers. The relief that they would not be abandoned as long as the princess was here.
The actual situation was a bit delicate due to the struggle for the throne…
There was an opportunity to discuss this with Elizabeth.
The relationship was still a bit awkward, but given the situation, both of us decided to put aside the subtle awkwardness we felt towards each other for the time being.
Elizabeth talked about the reinforcements.
‘The first prince won’t be able to do much now. There’s already a lot of talk in the diplomatic circles after the unfair terrorism, so if he ignores the rescue request from the border city, public sentiment will worsen. And since the Imperial Army is under the jurisdiction of the Marquis Kalshtein, he wouldn’t have a reason to stop someone who says they’re going to rescue his granddaughter.’
We immediately sent a Juggler to the neighboring cities to ask for help.
Whether Elizabeth’s speculation was accurate or not, we received a reply that the nearest border defense unit was already moving.
However, as Mayor Roman said, the bridge connecting Shubaltsheim and the imperial mainland was broken, so it was written that it would take at least a week for the army to arrive.
A week. It’s a long time, but also a short one.
We didn’t know when the undead would attack again. It could be right now, or they might not attack at all until a week has passed.
But it would be better to be over-prepared.
As I climbed onto the walls, the repair work was already in full swing.
“Don’t dawdle like snails and work properly! Would you still dither when those skull-heads attack?”
“Is the work going smoothly?”
“Huh?”
The dwarf warrior, an S-rank adventurer ‘Ironhammer’ Bane, was overseeing the repair work while driving the dwarfs.
Bane was one of the leaders of the three major adventurer guilds that had gathered at the city hall. Bane, with his trademark giant hammer slung over his shoulder, opened his mouth cheerfully.
“Of course! What do you think we dwarfs are? Since birth, we’ve been closer to the hammer than a milk bottle! Although I’m using this hammer to crush monsters, if needed, I can stand in front of a furnace anytime!”
It was a voice like a boiling kettle.
I felt the urge to cover my ears and spoke calmly.
“I’ve never doubted your skills. I was asking if the work is going smoothly. The walls have been heavily hit by cannonballs.”
“Hmm, that’s right. Fortunately, the damage is only at the corners. It seems it was built sturdy because there’s not a single place that has completely collapsed. We’re now strengthening it to last even longer.”
“I see.”
It was only natural that the walls of Shubaltsheim, a border city built to serve as a fortress in case of emergency, were sturdy.
Despite being built years ago and having never faced an undead invasion, it was regrettable that most of the facilities had been neglected under the mayor’s indifference, but they were still fixable.
Looking down from the city wall, I could definitely see that they were busy attaching iron plates. It was a little ugly as they prioritized practicality over aesthetics, but it seemed that it would at least be better at blocking cannonballs than before.
Priests were gathered in the city square, conducting a ritual to spread an anti-demon barrier, and the mages were infusing mana into the various magic circles etched into the city walls. In an emergency, these would serve as magic artillery.
The city’s defense could be left to the adventurers like this.
Anyway.
I had climbed onto the city wall not only because I wanted to check on the progress of the work, but also because I had something specific to ask the guild leaders.
“There’s something I’m curious about.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“When did the city start getting attacked?”
Bane scratched his thick-bearded chin and spoke.
“Well, uh… it started last night. We could see them swarming from the darkness. We quickly closed the city gates and prepared for battle, but that bastard mayor started spouting nonsense about conscription instead of compensation, and so we just! He basically told us to fight until we drop for free! What the hell!?”
I raised a hand to cut off Bane who had started to get excited.
“I’ve heard that story already. Were there any other signs before that?”
“Other signs?”
Up until now, the undead of Ionia had been quiet, but they suddenly crossed the border and attacked the empire. This situation couldn’t have happened without any reason.
Every result has a clear cause. We just hadn’t discovered it yet, but there must have been some sign before the incident.
I needed to confirm that to find out the cause of this situation.
“I heard that the undead appeared within the city. Did that also start yesterday?”
When I first arrived in the city, the woman who had blocked the way to the mayor had said that her daughter was taken away by a monster.
But even though a fierce battle was taking place at the city walls, the inside of the city was intact, and there was no sign that any intrusion had been allowed from the outside. This was a clear contradiction.
Bane, seeming to guess something from my words, spoke with a nervous expression.
“Ah, you mean that. From what I heard, a few people disappeared… Honestly, I don’t really know either. Why don’t you go ask that Louis guy?”
“Louis?”
The only one that came to mind at the name Louis was one of the three guild leaders, ‘Bombard’ Louis.
Bane nodded at my guess, confirming it.
“That shiny armor-wearing guy. He used to be a knight, or was it a soldier… Anyway, he’s got a few useful guys under him who act as rangers. So, most of the tracking requests go to his guild. Our guys, well, they’re good at building and destroying, but they’re hopeless at finding things…”
So, Louis’s guild usually handles the tasks of finding people.
Anyway, I didn’t sense the distinct discomfort Bane usually exhibited when lying from his tone. He genuinely seemed to know nothing.
I immediately turned my back to the city wall and headed for the outskirts. According to what I heard, Louis would have been setting traps around the city.
Finding Louis was not difficult. He was absorbed in digging trenches with his subordinates.
Upon recognizing me, he happily struck up a conversation.
“Hmm, the hero of the city is here. What brings you?”
Louis displayed a surprisingly friendly attitude toward me, even though he didn’t particularly strike me as sociable.
My guess was that he probably felt a sense of camaraderie as a fellow military man.
Judging from his reaction when he first met Elizabeth, it was easy to infer that he was a former imperial soldier.
In my case, I had recently declared myself to be part of the special task force.
“How’s the work going?”
“It’s going smoothly. We’re going to dig a long trench around the city and fill it with oil. Undead are weak to fire, so even if we just keep the fire in the trench, their momentum should diminish considerably.”
“But won’t the oil burn out quickly?”
“Well, it would if we just put oil. We have a formula known only to our guild members. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but we’ve made it as viscous as possible, so it should burn fiercely for at least a day.”
Was he planning to create a wall of fire? If the flame could be maintained for more than a day, as Louis assured, it indeed seemed effective against the undead.
Anyway, the work situation was merely casual talk. The real question I wanted to ask was different, so I asked Louis the same thing I had asked Bane.
Louis briefly hardened his expression, then nodded and replied.
“It’s true that there were cases of missing people within the city before the undead attack began a few days ago. It’s also true that our guild investigated this. But I’m not sure what correlation it has with this attack.”
“What were the results of the investigation?”
“Ha… the results, you say…”
Louis spoke while furrowing his brow, as if he was experiencing a severe headache.
“To be honest, it was a flop. There was no sign that they had left their houses, nor were there any signs of intrusion from the outside… It was as if the people just evaporated. Every witness says they saw a monster, but they can’t explain exactly what kind of monster it was.”
“Is that the end? Did you stop investigating further from there?”
“…I’m sorry to say, but adventurers aren’t beings that provide services for free. We just solve the requests we receive. The missing person cases should originally be handled by the guards. The request for this case was originally received from the guard side as well.”
Louis shook his head as he spoke.
“As soon as it seemed like the request fee would increase, they concluded the case themselves. It’s not a one or two-day thing for low-class women to disappear all of a sudden. Regrettably, there’s no justification for us to continue investigating once the request is terminated.”
“Low-class women?”
“Yes, that’s right. They were all young women who disappeared.”
A sense of ominous foreboding washed over me.
After a moment of contemplation, I asked heavily,
“Where are the houses where those disappeared women lived?”
