Chapter 50
After watching the soldiers head toward the Valdis estate, the public carriage set off along the road again.
"Do you think they'll really go to the estate?"
Felicia looked out the window.
"Probably."
"Will someone come after us?"
"Father and Kyle don't seem to be here, so I think we'll be fine."
"Is your mother not there?"
"No... My mother died when I was little."
"Oh... I see... I'm sorry."
"It's all right. That was a long time ago."
For an instant, I remembered the days when my mother was alive.
But I'm an adventurer now.
Maybe I should stop calling myself a Valdis.
Don't think about unnecessary things.
Right now, we're just heading to the capital.
◇
After we'd gone a little farther, we heard the sound of pounding hooves coming from ahead.
The driver slowed the carriage.
"What's that?"
A horse was coming toward us.
Its rider was a soldier from the territory.
"Stop! Stop the carriage!"
The driver hurriedly pulled the reins.
"What happened?"
"Don't go any farther! Turn back!"
The soldier stopped his horse and shouted, panting.
"A large number of monsters have emerged from the forest to the northeast!"
"The forest to the northeast?"
"Yes! The horde has reached the highway and is heading southwest!"
Southwest.
The direction we'd come from.
"Does that mean..."
"If they keep going, they'll reach the town we just passed!"
I knew it.
The town where we'd eaten lunch.
"How many are there?"
"I don't know. The scouts saw at least several dozen."
"Gray Wolves, Blood Boars, Armored Apes. There are even Ogres mixed in!"
They were all different kinds.
Those monsters wouldn't normally travel together.
"How many soldiers are in town?"
"About twenty. We've called for help from the nearby garrison, but it won't be nearly enough."
"We've also sent word to the territorial capital, but I don't know if they'll make it in time..."
Felicia and I exchanged glances.
"Should we go back?"
"Yes."
There was no need to hesitate.
"We're going back to town."
The soldier looked surprised when I said that.
"Wait! It's dangerous!"
"We're adventurers."
"But there are a lot of them!"
"I know. Even so, we can't keep going when we know the town's about to be attacked."
Felicia gripped her staff, too.
"I'll fight, too."
The soldier looked back and forth between us.
"The two of you?"
"We'll assess the situation first. If it's too much, we'll help evacuate the residents."
Behind us, the driver was calling out to the other passengers.
"We can't go any farther! We're turning back to town!"
The carriage turned around.
We started back the way we'd come.
◇
By the time we returned to town, the atmosphere was completely different from before.
"Hurry!"
"Evacuate the children and elderly first!"
"Leave your belongings behind!"
The soldiers were running around, moving the residents to the north side of town.
There was only a simple fence on the northeastern side of the highway.
I doubted it would be enough to stop a large horde of monsters.
"Allen-san."
"Yes?"
"Can you sense anything?"
I focused on Mana Detection.
"...They're there."
"How many?"
"Quite a lot."
There were several small mana signatures in the direction of the forest.
They were all heading toward us at once.
"Fifty... no, there might be more."
"That many..."
A nearby soldier gasped.
"So it really is a stampede."
"A stampede?"
"It's when a large number of monsters leave their habitat all at once and rush toward somewhere. At this scale, there's no doubt."
That's when it happened.
Birds took flight all at once from the forest.
A moment later,
the ground trembled faintly.
"They're coming!"
A soldier shouted.
The first monster burst out from between the trees.
A Gray Wolf.
It wasn't alone.
More than ten of them spread across the highway as they charged toward us.
Blood Boars followed behind them.
"Anyone who can fight, get to the front!"
The soldiers raised their swords and spears.
I drew my Flamefang Sword, too.
"Felicia-san, please cover our rear."
"Yes!"
I kicked off the ground.
"Wait!"
I heard a soldier call after me, but I charged straight at the horde.
The first Gray Wolf leaped at me.
I shifted aside and cut its throat.
【You acquired 15P】
I immediately stepped in toward the second.
【You acquired 15P】
The third came at me from the side.
I reversed my sword.
【You acquired 15P】
Too slow.
Before, I would have carefully checked their numbers and fought them one at a time.
Things were different now.
A Blood Boar charged at me head-on.
I dodged to the side at the last moment and swept my Flamefang Sword across its neck as it passed.
【You acquired 180P】
"Magic Bullet!"
Blue-white light shot in from behind me.
Three Magic Bullets hit three different Gray Wolves.
An Armored Ape charged at me, raising both arms.
I dodged its descending arms and slipped inside its guard.
I slashed my Flamefang Sword across its torso.
【You acquired 400P】
"They're coming from the right!"
A soldier shouted.
Several Blood Boars were trying to circle around toward the fence.
"Felicia-san!"
"I see them!"
The Silverwood Staff was pointed toward them.
Five Magic Bullets floated around Felicia.
"Magic Bullet!"
The five lights shot out at once, each hitting a different monster.
The soldiers rushed over to the fallen monsters.
"Now!"
Spears thrust forward.
The soldiers, who'd been confused at first, gradually began to move in sync.
Three more Gray Wolves burst out of the forest.
I knew where they were thanks to Mana Detection.
The first.
【You acquired 15P】
The second.
【You acquired 15P】
The third.
【You acquired 15P】
Just after I took down the last one, a huge shadow appeared beyond it.
"An Ogre!"
Its skin looked like black metal.
An Iron Ogre.
It raised a massive club.
I channeled mana into my Flamefang Sword.
Red flames enveloped the blade.
The club came crashing down.
I dodged to the side.
The ground shattered.
Right after it swung,
I slammed my Flamefang Sword into its unguarded flank.
"Hah!"
I followed through with a deep slash.
The Iron Ogre's massive body tilted to one side.
Thud!
【You acquired 2,000P】
"...He defeated it all by himself."
I heard someone say behind me.
But I didn't have time to turn around.
"More are coming!"
Monsters continued pouring out of the forest.
I held them back at the front.
Felicia fired Magic Bullets from behind, thinning their numbers.
The soldiers finished off the wounded monsters.
"To the left!"
"Don't let them get past the fence!"
"Fall back if you're wounded!"
The voices that had been scattered before gradually became coordinated.
How long had we been fighting?
By the time I noticed, dozens of monsters were lying in front of the town.
Eventually,
no more monsters emerged from the forest.
"...Have they stopped?"
One of the soldiers panted heavily.
None of the monsters had broken through to the town.
When I looked back, the residents we'd evacuated were peering over at us anxiously.
"We're saved..."
"Is it over?"
I wiped the blood from my Flamefang Sword.
"Allen-san, are you all right?"
"Yes. What about you, Felicia-san?"
"I'm still fine."
The display was still in my field of vision.
【You have: 35,935P】
【Your total P acquired: 88,145P】
I'd gained 2,670P in one go.
Just then,
"Lord Allen!"
A voice called out from behind me.
I turned around.
It was the older soldier from the territory who'd recognized me earlier.
"Are you injured?"
"I'm fine."
The area fell quiet.
"...Allen?"
One of the residents murmured.
"Did he just say Lord Allen?"
"No way..."
The man we'd seen at the restaurant at lunchtime was there, too.
He stared at me with wide eyes.
"Allen Valdis?"
"The one who defeated the Sword Saint of the Doran Empire?"
Everyone's gazes turned toward me.
"It was him all along..."
"He was at the restaurant earlier."
"Then that story really was true..."
"Allen-san."
"What is it?"
"Everyone's staring at you."
"I know."
I felt awkward.
But I only had a moment to worry about that.
"...Huh?"
Mana Detection had picked something up.
Deep in the forest.
It was clearly different from before.
"What's wrong?"
"There's still something out there."
"A monster?"
"Yes."
It wasn't a mass of small signatures.
One.
Just one, but it was strong.
And it was heading this way.
"Something's coming."
Thud.
The ground shook.
A short while later, again.
Thud.
Birds flew up all at once from deep in the forest.
The soldiers noticed something was wrong and raised their weapons again.
"What is that...?"
A tree swayed violently.
The next moment,
Crack-crack-crack!
A thick trunk snapped and fell sideways.
A huge shadow appeared from behind it.
An Ogre.
But it was far larger than the Iron Ogre I'd just defeated.
Its massive body was well over three meters tall.
Its skin was dark.
It held a club in its thick arms, larger than a person.
Two horns grew from its forehead.
"That can't be..."
The color drained from the soldier's face.
"A King Ogre..."
"You know what it is?"
"Yes."
The soldier answered in a trembling voice.
"It's a superior species of Ogre. It's nothing like an ordinary one."
The King Ogre emerged fully from the forest.
There were still several mana signatures behind it.
That horde from before—
It hadn't been everything.
The King Ogre lifted its massive club.
"GROOOOOOAAARR!"
Its roar echoed all the way to town.
I readied my Flamefang Sword.
The stampede wasn't over yet.
Total P Acquired: 88,145P