The last part of Toles state was quite mountainous, so Billy wasted some time crossing those parts. While he only crossed the Northeastern part of the barbarians' state, Billy still managed to see a lot of them moving toward the North. They knew that they would be the next targets if the Tersaris state falls, so they couldn't refuse the plea for help from Galatea followers, even despite their numerous differences.
"It seems that even more people than before are coming to help, maybe Svan won't be the only one leading the barbarians this time," Billy thought.
Regardless, while Billy was approaching the temple city, he wondered what he should do. Join the forces there and focus on protecting the city with the troops there or look for Icarus and Lucyna, they probably were nearby. Working with those two would give him more freedom and he won't have to hide most of his skills.
When Billy finally could see the city, he confirmed that thousands of monsters were attacking it. Despite that, some pretty large beams of energy were being fired toward the monsters and killing them. It made Billy recall the attacks that Felipe used against the dragon one year ago.
In the end, Billy didn't find any signs of those two, so he headed toward the temple city. Just like before, he found a lot of barbarians in the travellers' district. Things sure looked different there and the district also seemed bigger than before. Maybe it was Billy's impression, or maybe the people of the town started to get more visitors lately. Nevertheless, Billy arrived just when the first battle of the day ended. So, he quickly found Svan, who looked speechless when he saw him.
"How did you… well, if it is you, I guess arriving this fast is possible," Svan said after frowning. "Seriously, we arrived yesterday after marching for three days nonstop, and you… Ah, whatever. It is good to know that you are going to help."
"Well, I have a score to settle with the enemy," Billy said. "How are things going here?"
"Until now, thanks to the weapons that Felipe develop over the last year, we have been managing to repel the monsters," Svan replied. "However, the hordes keep coming more than five times a day, and Felipe looked more worried today than yesterday. I can't explain, but it seemed that those weapons have a limited time of use."
Billy figured as much, he was charging them with the power of the relic. He had decided to take some drastic measures, but he didn't imagine that the summoner would attack so often. Come to think of it, staying in the city was the right choice, if it comes down to it, Billy can always take the relic and run away. No one will be able to complain if the city falls. The real issue was the fact that Billy knew that Felipe would try to escape with it. He didn't know what to do with him if that happened.
"I should make my move first if things get dicey," Billy thought."
Billy also wanted to question Felipe and his daughter about the relic, but that would only put him in a bad spot. Showing interest in that now would make him look suspicious. After all, he showed up to help without being called. In any case, Billy helped Svan with the preparations to the next fight. Most of that he did was to carry throwable spears toward the northern part of the city, though.
Around lunchtime, the next wave of enemies arrived and Billy saw the magic crossbows being used by Galatea soldiers. Since they didn't use the power of their wielders as a basis, they didn't have that much difference in strength between each other. In any case, the summoner was using the same monsters there as well.
"I don't have time for this," Billy thought.
Billy made several earth spears emerge from the ground and then fly toward the crows. All of them got hit in the head and died instantly, their defense was laughable. Billy did that so fast that three hundred of them were killed in less than a minute.
You obtained 200 experience points.
The skill Earth Manipulation obtained 100 experience points.
You obtained 200 experience points.
The skill Earth Manipulation obtained 100 experience points.
…
"I will leave the underground monsters to your group," Billy said. "I will use this time to recover mana."
"... All right," Svan said after he recovered from the surprise.
He had seen something even more crazy last year, but Svan had kind of forgotten about it. Truth to be told, Billy didn't have to recover his mana, but he would need the people to fight when the real battle started and they begin to move toward the enemy territory. Billy could deal with the flying enemies with ease, at least those, but he would be overwhelmed if he had to deal with both groups.
"When I saw that, I didn't believe it, but then I realized where the spears came from, and then I remembered you," Beatrice suddenly appeared and said. "You once again show up to help without having any reason to do so. You have my thanks."
"I knew that a friend would come to help, so I had one reason to come," Billy said while he was still pretending to be meditating.
After what he learned a few months ago with Ollen, Billy decided that it was for the best to keep his distance from Felipe and Beatrice. The possibility of them being descendants of a reincarnated individual was pretty high, so they could be hearing a similar voice that Ollen had heard. It was very possible that Galatea was the name of a reincarnated woman instead of a goddess now that Billy thought about it. With that in mind, he should keep his distance since it was hard to say if that being could get in his way or not.
