After the month of Bilf, came the month of Toura. The light of spring fell upon the colonial city that was about to be engulfed by war.
Ra Gilmi Fishiga and his soldiers concentrated on carrying out various tasks as they tried to fill the moat.
“Fire!”
At Gilmi’s behest, the goblins of Ganra let loose their bows, and countless arrows shot over the walls of colonia, giving rise to many screams.
They knew that a powerful counterattack would come right after, so…
“Retreat!”
Without even checking how much damage they’ve dealt, they ran back to an area near the forest. As soon as they did, an arrow as big as one’s arm landed in the place they were standing at before.
“Damn, are the humans raising a giant?” Gilmi spat.
Gilmi had a platoon meant for sieging the colonial city, but the powerful attacks of the enemy kept them from putting their plans into action.
This was the goblins’ first time sieging an enemy city. No matter how hard they racked their heads to find a way to siege the colonial city (colonia) while limiting casualties, they couldn’t think of anything.
Even Gilmi himself who believed that the archers of Ganra wouldn’t lose out to the human archers cowered before their giant arrows.
As a result, they have been fighting the humans like the waves of the sea, coming and going.
While they fought, the orcs would take their shields and run for the moats, and they would try to fill them up.
“Support the retreating orcs! Proud goblins of Ganra, don’t let these orcs prove themselves braver than us!” Gilmi said.
It was rare for him to say so much, but he needed to to encourage his soldiers.
As soon as he gave that command, the goblins of Ganra hiding in between the trees, crawled out and shot their bows at the humans.
Gilmi stood at the frontline to manage the horde that was made up of half their tribe.
“Fire!” Gilmi said.
The arrows flew above the walls once more.
“Over there! Run!” Gilmi said.
The goblins ran the opposite direction that the orcs did.
As they dodged the incoming arrows, Gilmi gave another order.
“Bows at the ready!” Gilmi said.
When everyone had nocked their arrows, Gilmi immediately gave his next order.
“Stop! Shoot!” Gilmi said.
After those two simple orders, Gilmi and his soldiers ran back to the forest.
When they got back to the forest, Fanfan of the tarpidae called out to him.
“The ants have a problem,” Fanfan said.
Apparently, the killer ants tried to dig a hole to fill the moat, but they ended up hitting a barrier that kept them from moving any further.
“Are the humans that meticulous?” Gilmi asked.
“Fanfan doesn’t know. They felt like something made by a god.” Fanfan said.
“Hmm…” Gilmi became thoughtful.
—Does this have something to do with the unencroachable area dictated by the gods? Did the humans accidentally build their fortress on top of it?
Gilmi wasn’t sure, but if the killer ants can’t get through, then that’s that.
“Got it. Thank the killer ants for us,” Gilmi said.
For the meantime, Gilmi decided to promise them food and rest, then he went to meet Bui.
“I’ve thrown the logs just like you told me too, but we just can’t seem to fill those things,” Bui said.
“Did you suffer any casualties?” Gilmi asked.
“We have about 3 wounded,” Bui said.
“That’s good then,” Gilmi said.
“Those giant arrows are a problem,” Bui said.
“Indeed, and here I thought we’d win for sure in a contest of archery,” Gilmi said.
Seeing Gilmi crying sour grapes, Bui couldn’t help but raise his brows in his anxiety.
“How about using the lizardman?” Bui asked.
“There’s water underground, but we can’t quite figure out how to get it to flow into the moat,” Gilmi said.
It wasn’t easy for the lizardman, who normally lived by the river, to go underground.
There was no way for them to reach that water source either.
As Gilmi sighed and Bui quietly listened, the latter came up with an idea.
“Then how about this?” Bui said.
After Gilmi listened to Bui’s proposition, he decided to stop the attacks during the day.
◆◆◇
On the side of the humans, who were under attack by the goblins, Yuan and his men defended the village as they waited for Gowen’s reinforcements.
“How are the ballistae doing?” Yuan asked.
“There are currently no problems, sir!” The young soldier replied.
Commanders like Yuan always had to act dignified lest they wished to make their soldiers anxious.
As someone who had studied under Gowen himself, Yuan did his best to stifle his own worries and act like a dignified commander.
“Keep up the good work. Those monsters won’t cower just from something like this,” Yuan said.
“Understood!” The young soldier happily replied, and Yuan nodded.
Yuan’s attention was focused on the distant west. They have been successfully defending against the goblin attacks thanks to the defensive weapons of the fortress, and the moats – despite having been slightly filled – were still alright, but it was curious whether they would be able to say the same in the hour of the night god.
The darkness belonged to the monsters.
Of course, Yuan had come up with a countermeasure himself.
For one, he’s hired the adventurers staying at the colonial city for a long time and promised them a handsome reward. It was for that reason that he had them wield one part of the defensive weapons.
Having been designed to defend for perpetuity, the colonial city comes outfitted with bountiful fields.
The emergency reserves should hold even half a year later.
The knights, the soldiers, the farmers and tenant farmers all currently had high morale.
But even then…
Yuan gripped the hilt of his sword tight.
The memories of that night when that monster-like king of goblins sent him flying just won’t leave.
Did I overlook something? Is everything really alright?
Yuan could not rid himself of his worries, so despite it being his free time, he could not help but inspect the defensive weapons, the farms, and various other places.
“Nothing seems amiss,” Yuan said to himself.
But although Yuan had checked for himself that nothing was amiss, when he want to the streets, his anxiety still weighed heavily on his shoulders.
“Hey, mister,” a voice said to him.
That voice belonged to a fearfully beautiful young girl with black hair that extended down to her waist. There was a faint blush on her porcelain-like cheeks, and her red tongue could be seen peeking out of her thin lips.
Her most striking feature, however, was none of these but her red eyes.
The girl was dressed in nothing more than rags, but for some reason, there was an aura of nobility about her. It was enough to make Yuan want to kneel.
Who knew there was a girl like this in the colonial city?
“A-Ahh,” Yuan caught himself saying.
“Shall I rid you of your worries?” The girl said.
That haughtiness that was completely unlike how she was dressed and that soothing voice of hers made Yuan instinctively nod.
He could not even respond properly.
The young girl sweetly smiled, then as she closed her eyes, she muttered something.
When she opened her eyes again, she smiled with her mouth alone at Yuan.
“Don’t worry. You won’t die. At least, not here,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Yuan asked.
“Who knows?” The girl said.
As she sweetly smiled at him one last time, she turned around. It was almost as if she hadn’t been talking to Yuan at all.
“W-Wait a moment,” Yuan called out to her.
He tried to chase after her, but a wind blew at him, keeping him from going any further. By the time the breeze had gone, the girl was nowhere to be seen.
“W-What just happened?” Yuan asked to himself.
He was so dumbfounded by what had transpired that he stood still in that same spot, looking blankly toward the direction the girl had vanished until the sun set.
