I had been staying at the defensive fortress for four days now.
At first, Sera wanted to leave immediately, and so did I.
However, after hearing that transportation from the capital would be arriving, I tried to convince Sera to be a little more patient.
Fortunately, she agreed to wait.
Until today, nothing dangerous, such as another attack, had happened.
I hoped nothing would happen before we could leave.
During those four days of waiting, I hadn’t done much.
I simply continued doing the same things I had done while in prison.
Meditating, training my body, and other things.
Even though I hadn’t done anything particularly conspicuous, I felt like the soldiers here were always watching me.
They would stare at me from a distance, and whenever I tried approaching them to ask something or simply talk to them, they would move away from me.
I’m pretty sure my appearance isn’t bad.
If anything, I could be considered attractive.
So why did they keep avoiding me?
Only Sera and Meila frequently talked to me.
Meila was easy to approach, and her personality was quite comforting, if I ignored the side of her that appeared during battle.
As for Sera, even though she could be a little rough, she was easy to talk to.
Meanwhile, I could talk to Marc and Arturia, but for some reason, it felt like we were strangers sharing the same room.
Awkward would be a better way to describe it, especially with Marc.
On the other hand, I wasn’t very good at starting conversations with people I didn’t consider acquaintances yet.
This solitude was starting to frustrate me.
Over the past four days, many villagers from the surrounding areas had been evacuated here, resulting in a large number of people occupying the evacuation camps.
Fortunately, the fortress was spacious enough, with plenty of empty land that could be used to establish evacuation camps.
I was impressed.
Whoever designed this fortress must have taken situations like this into consideration.
“Transportation from the capital will arrive in less than a day.
I hope everything goes smoothly.” Right now, I was sitting against a wall while watching soldiers distribute food to the refugees.
I was getting quite bored with doing the same things over and over again.
I needed to relax for a while.
Remembering the view from the top of the defensive wall, I decided to go there again.
I stood up, entered the defensive wall, and climbed all the way to the top.
The view was the same as before, but the wind was much stronger today.
A cluster of dark clouds could be seen in the distance, and I could smell the coming storm.
Flashes of lightning occasionally appeared within the dark clouds.
“Looks like there’s going to be a storm later.” I stared at the storm in the distance.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” A flock of birds flew past the fortress.
There were so many of them, all flying away from the storm as if there were something they were afraid of.
The people below looked up at the birds flying overhead.
This made both the villagers and soldiers inside the fortress feel that some kind of danger was approaching, especially since they could also sense the coming storm.
In the distance, I saw several black dots flying beneath the storm clouds.
Below those flying dots, I could also see something approaching in large numbers.
The soldiers standing guard atop the defensive wall noticed the same thing.
They tried to determine what was approaching the fortress.
One of the soldiers pulled out a telescope.
He suddenly looked shocked before running toward one of the bells installed along the top of the defensive wall.
Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
The soldier rang the bell several times before shouting.
“Blight!!” Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
The soldiers who heard the warning immediately prepared themselves for defense, while the refugees were directed toward underground shelters for their safety.
Everyone was panicking, and from atop the defensive wall, I could clearly see the chaos spreading throughout the fortress.
“Again?” Another Blight attack.
I intended to climb down from the wall and follow the evacuation instructions to the shelter with the villagers, but I was stuck at the top because so many soldiers had immediately taken up positions along the defensive wall.
There were simply too many people here, making it difficult for me to get down.
“Just my luck.” I saw Meila and Arturia coordinating the soldiers under their command as they prepared for what was coming.
Arturia carried her sword, while Meila wore a massive gauntlet with sharp spikes protruding from its end.
If Arturia was the type who cut things apart, then Meila was definitely the type who punched things apart.
“Prepare for aerial defense!” one of the soldiers shouted, warning everyone about the enemies approaching from the sky.
Several female soldiers took positions atop the defensive wall, while multiple ballistae were already being prepared at various points along the wall.
The female soldiers preparing for battle looked somewhat different from the others.
Some of them had scales covering parts of their skin, while others had eyes that looked different from ordinary humans.
“Are they witches?” The sound of flapping wings grew closer.
The flying creatures I had seen earlier were now clearly visible.
Their forms varied.
Some looked like birds with horse-like legs, while others resembled creatures from the dinosaur era.
There was no doubt, however, that these creatures were Blight, judging from the distinctive characteristics covering their bodies.
“Fire!” The ballistae were fired, with several bolts striking the flying creatures.
Some managed to evade the attacks, but a witch successfully brought one down with a powerful blast of electricity.
Another witch pointed toward the sky while shaping her hand like a pistol.
Flames shot out at incredible speed like bullets, exploding the moment they struck a flying Blight.
Honestly, that was cool.
If only I could do something like that.
The soldiers stationed atop the defensive wall fought as hard as they could, while other troops prepared themselves and formed defensive formations behind the main gate.
The flying Blight continued to arrive, but they were being dealt with relatively easily because there were fewer flying Blight.
However, there was another, much more serious problem.
There were far more Blight approaching from the ground.
I simply stood near the group of soldiers who had been firing magic into the sky.
One of them repeatedly fired magical projectiles, almost like someone shooting a bolt-action rifle.
I couldn’t see the person’s face because it was covered with a piece of cloth.
The witch beside me suddenly looked toward me.
“Val?” She looked surprised.
How did she know my name?
She pulled down the cloth covering her face.
It was Sera.
“Sera, what are you doing here?
Why didn’t you go to the shelter with the villagers?” “I should be asking you the same thing.
Since I’m a witch, the captain of Division 12 asked me to serve as additional support in case of an emergency.
At first, I refused because I thought an emergency wouldn’t actually happen.” She glanced toward the approaching Blight.
“But I didn’t expect one to actually happen.” I understood the situation.
In short, she had been forced to serve as a defensive soldier because Meila had ordered her to help in the event of an emergency.
If I were in her position, I probably would have asked Sera to do the same.
When you’re in a dangerous situation, if someone has a useful ability, you might as well make use of it.
Sera raised both hands toward the sky, forming them like pistols.
She began firing repeatedly.
She looked like an automatic anti-aircraft gun.
Damn, she’s so cool.
A bird-like Blight managed to slip through the aerial barrage.
It dove downward before turning sharply, intending to attack Sera from the side with its sharp beak.
The creature was coming from my direction, flying rapidly toward Sera.
Unfortunately for it, I caught the long neck of the bird-like Blight.
The creature struggled violently, but Sera eventually shot it dead.
Its body disintegrated into dust and scattering crystals.
My reflexes were pretty good too.
The physical training I had been doing all this time hadn’t been pointless after all.
“Thank you.” Sera immediately resumed shooting down the flying Blight.
“You’re welcome.” Her accuracy was terrifyingly good.