On a barren hill, far southeast from the walls of Crossroad, stood a lone figure.
An old man, seated on his steed, analyzed the defensive proceedings with a grim demeanor.
This was Charles, the Margrave of Crossroad.
"..."
A life spent in battle against monstrous threats and leading defenses had honed his instincts.
He knew instantly - this monster onslaught was unlike any other.
It was unrecognizable compared to his own tenure as the lord.
The magnitude was mind-bogglingly vast, and the monsters were distinctively organized. They didn’t emerge in a disordered jumble, but as a cohesive army.
’Something’s off.’
And there was more. As the mysterious bard, who had surfaced from the lake, began his flute melody, the monsters’ movements shifted dramatically.
’The battle flow against these monsters is different... Is Prince Ash truly leading such a battle for the third time?’
It was no surprise why the newly appointed lord – the youngest prince, Ash, had beseeched him for assistance.
Even if he, the Margrave of Crossroad, hadn’t retired and had continued as commander, these foes would have posed a formidable challenge.
Prince Ash was holding his ground astonishingly well, almost unbelievable for someone who was once a capital’s idler.
Nevertheless, the situation hung in the balance.
’Should I intervene?’
The question formed unbidden in his mind.
Beside his saddle lay the armor and weaponry he had worn for his lifetime, carried out of habit.
’No.’
Charles, the Margrave of Crossroad, eventually shook his head.
He had retired, hadn’t he? There was no call for his intervention now.
He loathed this frontline. He abhorred this land.
Even after a life of devotion, this barren wasteland that ultimately claimed his wife and drove his daughter away filled him with intense resentment.
He no longer wished to safeguard it.
’I just... need to die in the orchard.’
Charles, the Margrave of Crossroad, viewed this as his penance.
His final act of contrition, after neglecting his wife in the face of defending the monster-ridden frontline.
He would draw his last breath in the same place his wife did.
Charles, the Margrave of Crossroad, dismissed his watch over the defensive operations and started to turn away.
He had come to inspect the situation due to its peculiar nature, but now, it felt too late.
What could he possibly do?
’There’s no use, no use at all...’
Charles, the Margrave of Crossroad, planned to return to his final sanctuary, the orchard.
Just then,
Boom!
A thunderous sound reverberated.
"...?!"
Startled, he swiveled around to see the city wall trembling in sync with a massive cloud of dust.
Along with thousands of rat-like creatures burrowing under the wall, the cries of humans were audible. The Margrave’s eyes twitched.
’No. No! I won’t fight anymore.’
The Margrave, gritting his teeth, guided his horse’s head back towards the orchard.
’I must return. To the orchard...’
If, by any chance, the frontline were to fall, all the regions behind it would be preyed upon by the monsters.
His orchard would be next in line for the monsters’ rampage.
"Hold on, my love."
In that moment, the image of his late wife, her smile shining with joy, flickered across the mind of the Margrave of Crossroad.
Her memory lingered: her face smeared with dirt as she fed him a grape, asking him, ’Is it sweet?’
"This time, I will keep you safe."
The Margrave of Crossroad envisioned his wife’s grave, nestled beside the orchard.
That’s where he would meet his end.
Thud, thud...
Leaving the chaos of the front lines in his wake, the Margrave of Crossroad trod towards his orchard.
***
Boom, boom...!
As the trembling and explosions ceased, I regained my footing and yelled towards the heart of the fortress.
"Report on the damage to the fortress wall!"
Moments later, the standby soldiers within the fortress answered.
"It’s not entirely compromised yet!"
"But it’s only a matter of time! We can hear the rats gnawing at the stones inside the walls!"
Brushing my hair back, I shook with anger.
"Why on earth are they eating rocks, they need a more balanced diet...!"
The fortress wall was a complex structure, layered with stone and iron plates.
It wouldn’t be breached in a single attack. The issue was the freshly mended part of the wall, now hopelessly cracked due to the Ratman Champion’s onslaught.
Eventually, they would punch a hole in the fortress wall.
I covered my face with one hand, deep in thought, and then growled in a low voice.
"....Issue an evacuation order."
"Excuse me?"
Lucas, baffled, asked again. I shot back curtly.
"Tell the citizens in the city to evacuate! Now!"
"Do you mean..."
"There’s a high probability of monsters breaching the walls! Rather than getting caught and killed needlessly, all citizens should head north!"
This was, of course, a precaution for the worst-case scenario.
We must be ready to fend them all off here.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding-!
The bells rang out an emergency, the sound piercing my ears. It was a call for the citizens to evacuate.
Hoping for a swift evacuation, I issued the next command.
"Except for the minimum required artillery and archers to operate the cannons and ballistas, everyone else skilled in close combat should head to the walls."
I turned to Lucas.
"Lucas, you take charge of the infantry. Form a defensive line within the walls. Hold them back."
Lucas looked at me, concern etched on his face.
"What about you, your Majesty?"
"I’ll lead from above."
"It’s dangerous, your Majesty!"
Lucas pointed at my feet.
"The wall has already given way once. It could fall again. It’s too risky!"
Indeed, the wall was visibly trembling.
The soldiers, trying to reset the aim and stabilize the cannons and ballistas, were struggling.
"Are you suggesting we forfeit the defense from above and face the remaining 1,500 rats without any weaponry?"
Despite the imminent risk of further wall collapse, we couldn’t afford to abandon the aerial defense.
Without the supporting fire from above, our infantry would face heavy losses and the defense might ultimately collapse.
"Understood, Your Highness."
Lucas nodded, albeit reluctantly.
"But if the conditions on the walls deteriorate even slightly, you must come down straight away."
"Sure thing. Now quit worrying and get down there quickly."
Even with the walls at risk, could it be as hazardous as the impending clash with the monsters at the ground level?
Still, Lucas was concerned about me till the end. Only when I started my way down did he dash towards the ground level. His fussing was almost motherly.
"Jupiter, fight as you see fit, but try to take down as many of those bastards as possible at once."
The team instinctively gathered around me. I met their gazes and handed out orders.
"Don’t hold back on your magic. As soon as you have enough for a lightning spell, let it loose."
"Understood, Your Highness."
As the situation intensified, Jupiter’s expression hardened.
Jupiter quickly clutched her yellow magic power with both hands and dashed towards the walls.
"Lilly. Which artifacts can be activated right now?"
"Only the Haste artifact for speed enhancement is available. The gravity field artifact and the magic amplifier artifact are on cooldown. They won’t be accessible until the battle is over."
"And the flame spray artifact?"
"There are 10 minutes left until it recharges."
"Use the Haste right away on the infantry soldiers. The moment the flame spray recharges, use it."
"Understood!"
Lilly raced off to activate the Haste artifact. Finally, my gaze fell upon Damien.
"Damien."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
Damien stood bowed, his face clouded with defeat.
He had failed to take down the man blowing the flute, and he hadn’t managed to stop the Ratman champion.
He must have believed that the current crisis was his fault.
I brought my fingers together and lightly tapped on Damien’s smooth forehead –
Pop!
“Ouch!”
Damien’s head snapped back as his eyes welled up. He looked at me and I smiled.
"You’ve done a good job so far, you little rascal."
"Yo-Your Highness..."
"I won’t hold a couple of small mistakes against you. So, don’t lose heart."
A sniper who never misses his mark.
Pretty much a cheat character.
Just having Damien in my team significantly expands the strategies I can use.
To me, Damien’s presence was a blessing.
"Your mere presence gives me enormous strength."
“...!”
"So, you should also trust in yourself as much as I trust in you."
I delivered a hearty slap on Damien’s shoulder, a bit harder than usual.
"Let’s get through this crisis together. Okay?"
"Yes, yes! Your Highness!"
"Good. Damien, your role is the... ’last line of defense’."
I gently dragged my foot across the wall, feeling the subtle vibrations.
"It’s inevitable that the walls will be breached. The pests that break through will face our infantry on the ground floor."
"Indeed."
"But our infantry are human, not a wall. There will inevitably be openings... which could let some of these pests through."
Damien and I both turned our gaze towards the interior of the walls.
Smoke from baking bread painted a peaceful portrait of the town.
"If even one rat makes it into the town, the extent of the havoc they could wreak is incalculable. You mustn’t let any of the escaped rats through, and take them out."
The boss monster, the Ratman Champion, was already vanquished. All that remained were about fifteen hundred rats.
Damien should be able to readily handle rats breaking away from the defensive line.
’As long as not ten escape at once.’
Damien was an accurate sniper, but his slow speed was becoming increasingly evident.
We needed to figure out a way to work around this weakness...
"I understand, Your Highness! I’ll give it my best shot!"
With an energetic response, Damien hoisted his crossbow and sprinted towards the interior of the walls.
That’s good. Now, we had to trust that everyone would fulfill their roles well.
"Phew!"
I drew a breath and slapped my own cheeks, trying to look beyond the town walls.
I wanted to verify if the kill zone had been re-established.
Just then...
"The wall is broken! They’re coming in!"
A cry echoed from within the walls.
"They’re too quick, damn it...!"
I gritted my teeth and peered inside the walls.
The ground level was in the distance. The interior walls were trembling, and then...
Thud-!
Amidst a flurry of bricks and dust, rats exploded through the opening.
Squeak! Squeeeaaak!
Dusty rats who had made the hole attempted to charge at the humans ahead.
Slash!
But Lucas, who was positioned right in front of the hole, slit their throats with a single stroke.
The saw-like blade in Lucas’s hand, the ’Rat Cutter’, shimmered with a sinister light.
Lucas, unblinking and unfazed after taking down the rats, barked orders.
"The opening they’re coming out of is narrow! Keep calm and take them down one by one!"
"Yes!"
The soldiers echoed Lucas’s command in unison.
But Lucas had overlooked one thing.
Indeed, the hole was narrow, but our opponents were rats. Despite the narrow opening, they pushed through, a ceaseless torrent.
Moreover, it seemed as if they were broadening the opening, allowing an increasing number of rats to flood through.
Watching from my elevated position, I was astounded.
"What kind of rats are these? They’re more like moles..."
The infantry initially managed to hold back the rats quite easily, but as their numbers surged, fatigue started to set in.
And it wasn’t over yet.
"The flame-thrower artifact! It’s ready. Activate immediately... Aaargh?!"
Lilly, preparing to activate the artifact, let out a cry. Startled, I dashed to her side.
"What’s wrong, Lilly?"
"The rats, the rats...!"
A few rats were arrayed before the flame-thrower artifact.
Numerous alchemists, bitten and bleeding, had fallen nearby.
Without hesitation, I lunged in and threw a punch.
“Prince Punch-!”
Smack!
The moment my fist made contact with a rat, a lucky strike got triggered in my hand.
Ding, ding, ding!
The digits that popped up on the roulette wheel were 0, 1, 5.
15 Damage!
Smack!
Though modest, these figures were adequate to dispatch a level 5 sewer rat.
Retracting my fist, I quickly surveyed the area outside the wall.
"Have they scaled the wall?!"
I had neglected them while focusing on the breached part of the wall.
Some of the sewer rats had merely climbed over the wall. A few were assaulting the artifact.
“Shit! Damn it!”
Lilly released a fire spell, incinerating the remaining sewer rats.
Afterward, Lilly checked the wounded alchemists and called out to me.
"They’ll live! But, the rats have damaged the artifact. It needs to be recalibrated to activate again...!"
"Do it as swiftly as you can! We’re running out of time."
Given that all the forces holding back the surging rats had shifted to the ground level, the number of creatures clambering over the wall started to surge.
The artillerymen and archers stationed on the wall had no choice but to draw their weapons and engage them.
“Aaaargh!”
“My hand, my hand!”
The ground-level defense infantry began to suffer casualties.
The long-range interception unit needed to strike effectively in order to wipe out the sewer rats burrowing towards the infantry, thus easing the defensive burden and blocking the adversaries more effectively.
However, currently, both sides were merely absorbing damage as they used their bodies to halt the influx of rats.
’At this rate...!’
In front of Jupiter, who was panting as she prepared the next spell, I swung a lucky strike repeatedly.
Damien, too, frantically fired his crossbow from my side, but his pace was sluggish.
’If this continues, the damage will spiral out of control...!’
The worst-case scenario naturally painted itself in my mind. Desperately, I racked my brain to find a way out. Damn, isn’t there anything?!
At that moment.
One of the veterans, who was on the wall slitting rat throats with a dagger, suddenly widened his eyes.
It was the veteran soldier who had served under the Margrave.
As if he’d spotted a ghost, he turned towards the southern plains and murmured,
"Margrave...?"
"...What?"
I looked in the same direction and quickly spotted what he was referring to.
Clatter, clatter, clatter-!
From the distant side of the wall.
I saw an elderly knight in tarnished armor, galloping towards us.
--TL Notes--
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/MattReading