"So, what's going on with this town? Is there a problem that will require us to visit?" Anna asked.
"Yeah. The city has three major problems right now. First of all, before the building of our city, it was the only fort that withstood the incoming attacks from the demons." Noel explained.
"Their walls are destroyed and the buildings are still in repair, something like that?"
"I don't know the extent of the damage, but it will definitely need our attention. In the end, this city will change its role to become the hub that connects the main city with the rest of the kingdom after all."
"Fair enough." Anna nodded. "How about the second problem?"
"Food and water supplies. According to the information, the city has been selling demon crystals in exchange for supplies. The food can still be taken from the demon meats, but they don't have any farmland due to the continuous onslaught."
"Water problems shouldn't be a problem, right? We have a river and can redirect it to them."
"No. The river is actually not that far from them, so they can utilize it if they want. It's just that the city is not suitable for water wells. I've heard that they don't have any in that city. I'm not sure about the reason though."
"Is that so? That's rather concerning. Even if we can relieve the water problem, it won't be sustainable."
"Indeed. That's why I'm thinking about connecting the river. If we solve this problem not carefully, they might haunt us and force us to go out of the main city to help them again in the future."
Anna thought for a moment, wondering if Noel had implemented something in the past. Anna being Anna, her memory was a bit fuzzy since she was only focused on the main city.
"Say! The fact that it's a fort means there should be a lot of soldiers stationed there, right?" Anna asked.
"Indeed. Unlike us, who only have elite soldiers, this fort has about five to six hundred normal soldiers. That's why they have been able to fend off demons the whole time."
"If that's the case, why don't we use runes to help these people? I mean, they have a constant supply of Demon Crystals, right? If that's the case, we can use the rune to direct the water."
"Rune, huh…" Noel looked down. Instead of selling Demon Crystals and buying water, it would be more effective to use the Demon Crystals to supply the rune's energy. The rest of the Demon Crystals could be sold to improve the city.
Now that he thought about it, since this place was going to be the gate to reach the main city, he could improve the city with runes. This way, the people who entered his territory could see the wonders of runes firsthand and had their opinions increased when they reached the main city.
What Anna found was just a small detail in her memory, but for Noel, it was a big opportunity.
"That's right. We can set up a few runes later." Noel nodded. "But we will need to see the city's condition first before deciding which runes we can set up."
"That's settled."
"Then, the last problem would be their current condition. I mean, the people's characters. Because it has been a border city this whole time, the people there are a rough bunch. So, we will need a lot of people to improve the city, especially to maintain the connection with the main city as well as nearby villages. There are other problems with those villages, but that can wait for a bit."
"Should we just use force to make them submit?" Anna frowned. "But that's not your style."
"For now, we'll be improving the city. We don't know much about them, so it's better to learn first." Noel turned to Grandell. "I will need you and the others to set up a few things later."
"Understood, Sir. We'll be ready anytime." Grandell knew that even though they were soldiers, with Noel and Anna's strength, they weren't necessarily needed. So, they would definitely be used in a different way.
Their destination was called Stain City. When Noel first heard that name, he wondered if the person who named that city was in the right mind or not. He learned that it was to reflect the condition, which was stained by the demon's blood.
The city was two days away by horse, which was normal since this city was slightly near the edge of their territory. Noel planned to create two more cities in the east and west, but that would be for later.
Once they reached the city, he was surprised to find the condition of Stain City.
The city wall was already half-destroyed. There were numerous cracks and they seemed to be going to collapse any time soon. The blood had a red stain that was so thick that it showed the number of demons and people that had died in this place.
However, Noel still noticed a few people standing on top of the city wall as if they didn't care about their own safety. No, they might simply have no choice.
To Noel's surprise, the people from the city didn't seem to notice their arrival, which was odd since it was a clear day with infinite visibility.
All of a sudden, Anna opened her mouth. "Hmm, I sense danger."
Noel couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows while glancing to the left. A few flying demons were heading toward the city. Because of the tall grass, they had a hard time seeing the demons on the ground, but it was clear that the people from the city wall could see them.
"Number?" Noel asked while furrowing his eyebrows. It seemed that those soldiers were focusing on the demons.
"Approximately sixty to seventy demons. I can feel one Peak Level Demon, but that's all." Anna pulled out her sword. "I guess both of us are going to deal with them."
"Yeah. It's been a while since we last fought together." Noel ordered Grandell, "You and the rest will set up the base near the wall in case a demon slips past us. Also, establish contact with the people on the wall and inform them about our arrival."
"Understood, Sir." Grandell wanted to suggest the other way around since it was the soldiers job to kill the demons, but Noel and Anna's strength was simply too overwhelming, so it shouldn't be that dangerous for their lord.
"Alright. Here we go. Superior Speed!" Anna snapped her fingers as a big rune appeared underneath them. Instead of themselves, Anna actually boosted their horses.
After filling the surge of energy, the horses suddenly sped up far faster than any horses one would ever see.
Obviously, their movement was noticed when they were closing in on the people on the wall.
"Who are they?"
"Two people?"
"What are they doing?"
"Don't tell me they are going to fight all those demons by themselves?"
The soldiers were confused, thinking they were just going to die. However, Noel and Anna begged to differ.
"Hoho! It's been a while since I've been riding at this speed!" Anna smirked while gathering her energy for the sword.
"Really?" Noel also did the same. He used the Sword Transmutation.
Ardagan sucked a lot of energy from Noel. This energy was already close to what Dimitri showed him in the past.
He still remembered the time Dimitri helped Clara defeat her opponent from afar.
"Huu…" Noel recalled the way Dimitri held the sword and unleashed his power before swinging downward.
In that instant, the energy ran through the ground and traveled one hundred meters in just one second, slicing a few demons on its path.
"Tsk. It's still weaker than the one Dimitri released back then." Noel clicked his tongue.
"You seriously compared yourself to him?" Anna was taken aback before shaking her head helplessly. She started placing her feet on the saddle as if she were about to stand up on top of a horse. "Anyway, I need your platform rune to handle those flying demons."
"Alright." Noel pointed his palm toward the demon. A total of ten runes appeared in the air, starting from a staircase to a few random runes around the flying demons.
As soon as she saw the path, Anna jumped into the platform rune and took off into the sky. She calculated the path to kill all these demons before landing on top of the rune in the middle of the demon group.
She struck the Platform Rune with her sword, sending forth lightning sparks in all directions.
The demons were alarmed and hurriedly flew away, but two of them were too close to her and got electrocuted. Still, the attack also destroyed the Platform Rune, so she jumped onto another rune before falling.
After that, she coated her sword with lightning and started jumping from one rune to another, slashing the demons one by one.
Meanwhile, Noel was about to reach the demons, so he formed an ice lotus above his head.
The petals flew toward the area in the demon's path and actually bloomed into an ice crystal. They lined up and created a wall.
The demons hurriedly stopped to avoid the walls, but because of the distance, some of them didn't manage to stop in time. As a result, they hit the ice crystals, which had pointy tips. They ended up getting heavily injured or dying.
In the air, Anna couldn't help but notice the difference in Noel's ability.
'His ability looks more versatile. Instead of hitting the enemies directly, he creates a wall that can both kill enemies and stop their charge. In that case…' Anna shot out a lightning strike at the ground, which surprisingly shattered the ice crystals.
"!!!" Noel was startled. At first, it looked like Anna was just messing with him. But to Noel, he could see what Anna was planning to do.
He formed a few more Platform Runes so that she could go down safely. After that, he halted his horse before jumping forward.
The demons had to stop because their path was blocked earlier, but once the path was clear, the demons would definitely continue forward. As a result, those demons stepped on their comrades' bodies and those who didn't die earlier ultimately got their end because of this.
After that, Noel stood on their path with a pair of phoenix wings on his back. With a single flap of his wings, the scorching heat gale passed the demon's bodies.
If they were stronger or their skin was thicker, they would be able to resist that heat. But most of the demons fell to the ground, unable to continue. After that, multiple feathers fell on top of them and blasted them.
Yes, Noel actually released the Undying Fire Feathers alongside the Fire Gale. But the former was used after he stopped the enemies.
His control and the way he utilized his abilities were far different compared to a few months ago. He had to thank his grandfather for teaching such a precious lesson.
"Mooo!" While Noel was satisfied with his performance, the Peak Level Demon suddenly rushed forward and tried to hit Noel with its horn.
If Noel was alone, he might have to stop this charge. But Anna was with him this time.
All of a sudden, an extremely long sword fell on top of the bull and precisely sliced its neck.
Noel only glanced to the side, finding Anna smiling brightly as if she had done a great job. Though, Noel still had to use his Spiritual Barrier Rune to stop the bull's momentum.
And Anna also had her sword fall to the ground as she was struggling to hold it still.
"Why does the sword have an increase in weight even though it's being extended by rune? Ugh, I hate gravity." Anna complained. She finally used the rune that had been embedded in her sword.
Noel chuckled while looking at the remaining demons. "Time to clean up."
