Ch.215Vampire (2)

On the day the incident occurred, I happened to be enjoying toast made with garlic that I had managed to obtain after a long time.

While garlic is recognized as healthy and is a fairly notable ingredient even in the Western Continent, it tends to be overshadowed by onions, which are more popular and have a similar taste.

Particularly, onions are not only palatable but also relatively easy to grow, making them famous as the “spice of the poor.” Garlic, on the other hand, tends to divide opinion quite strongly, so it was easily displaced by onions, which serve a similar purpose but are cheaper.

Since no one in the village cultivated garlic, I had been experiencing garlic withdrawal for some time. However, after water transportation improved and merchants increased, opening up distribution networks, I was able to source garlic from outside.

…Of course, most of this garlic was used to mask the gamey smell of wild game meat, and since I consumed it so quickly, the frequency with which I actually ate it wasn’t particularly high.

Anyway, I was enjoying this crispy and beautiful flavor of garlic toast, topped with thinly sliced onions and cheese.

Recently, as the village’s financial situation had improved considerably, I was able to spend money on food, allowing me to invest in my diet, if not quite reaching the level of proper cooking…

“…Hmm?”

Just as I was about to move to wash the wooden plate after finishing my deliciously crispy toast, I began to sense something that shouldn’t have been felt at this point in time.

‘What’s this? Why now…?’

The intuition conveyed a warning of threat, more precisely, a warning about external invaders.

Normally, such a sudden sense of foreboding might just lead to an “if” speculation, but when it arises from someone like me who possesses an almost supernatural “hyper-intuition,” the situation changes entirely.

Especially since there is clearly an external threat in the village that can be identified—the guerrilla forces under the Vampire Lord—and the moment I think of this, my intuition works furiously, as if confirming my suspicion.

The power of the “hyper-intuition” trait works at full capacity when one has more definite information, and a scenario quickly formed in my mind as I possessed numerous elements to understand this situation.

Given that my intuition wasn’t extremely intense, the “enemy” was still approaching. Rather than specifically targeting this village, they were likely approaching because conditions happened to align.

Judging from the circumstances and information, they probably hadn’t been aware of the village’s existence for very long.

However, assuming this raises one question.

‘…Didn’t Father say he would stop them?’

A few days ago, the village was visited by a knight order and domain army composed entirely of cavalry. As if previously arranged, they only left the village after paying a fair price for supplies.

Based on the situation, they should very likely be engaging the vampire guerrilla forces right now…

So what does it mean that these vampire guerrillas are approaching here now?

For one thing, the possibility that they defeated our domain’s knight order and elite cavalry and are now approaching us is virtually non-existent.

To be frank, if the enemies were that formidable, my intuition’s warning wouldn’t be this mild.

A knight order with ten knights and their retainers, 300 cavalry from the domain army, plus a bishop-level priest from the Pantheon and 30 other priests.

If those guerrillas were capable of defeating such forces, my warning wouldn’t just stop here—it would be going berserk.

After all, intuitive warnings become more intense when my life is in danger.

So at this point, the most objective guess I can make is that they might have divided their guerrilla forces in two…

‘…I need more information.’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t reach any further conclusions, so I decided to gather additional information to improve the accuracy of my situation assessment.

Based on the intensity of my intuition’s warning, the enemy numbers probably exceed 1,000, but to obtain more precise information, reconnaissance would be the best option.

So I decided to dispatch our village’s best scout.

“…Hannah, could I ask for your help?”

“Yes! If it’s your request, anytime!”

As both an intermediate warrior and a natural hunter by race, she is an exceptional warrior in reconnaissance, using her werewolf transformation abilities and various innate hunting techniques.

Thanks to this, it wasn’t long after I asked Hannah, with whom I’ve grown closer, that she returned and provided me with detailed results of her reconnaissance.

“About 2,000 in number! All bloodsuckers! One intermediate-level, quite strong!”

The identity of the approaching enemies, who would naturally reach our village in a few days, was of course vampires. And apparently, a force of about 2,000 was being led by a rather powerful intermediate-level vampire.

“…What about those 2,000?”

“About 500? are beast bloodsuckers! A thousand are just filler! The remaining 500 are real.”

According to Hannah, roughly 500 were vampire beasts, a thousand were probably “vampire zombies” or “vampire ghouls,” and the remaining 500 were likely lower-level vampires—”Lesser Vampires.”

Of course, the fact that their numbers are higher than expected, especially compared to the intermediate-level, is indeed strange…

But if they were originally smaller in number and increased by attacking border villages or slash-and-burn farming communities in unexplored territories, then a force of 2,000 becomes quite plausible.

Anyway, at the very moment when the enemy’s clear identity was revealed.

‘…Two days from now.’

Based on the enemy’s marching speed and approximate movement rate, I could determine when they would arrive at the village, and I began to prepare in earnest for the impending invasion.

Considering that they had divided their forces, the other side (the knight order and domain army) must be engaged in battle right now, so we would have to defend the village on our own without immediate reinforcements…

Fortunately, our village’s current military strength is truly remarkable.

A militia of about 100 people armed with easy-to-handle crossbows or ballistas. 35 medium infantry. 24 elite rangers. About 20 hunters. This alone would be sufficient for village defense.

Add to that myself, Gus, Corin, Hannah, Gretel, Durup, Malakai, and two chimeras—that’s nine intermediate-level fighters, and if Magni brings his all-purpose machine, that makes ten.

Honestly, with this kind of power difference, victory itself can be considered a foregone conclusion if actual combat breaks out, but the question is how to achieve this victory with minimal casualties.

Casualties in war are inevitable even with significant power differences, and since they are tenacious undead (vampires), the possibility of chaotic battle is very high.

In such chaos, even intermediate-level fighters can be killed by lower-level ones.

To minimize casualties, we would need to establish overwhelming dominance and aim for complete annihilation.

Additionally, if those vampires spread to other areas after the battle, that would also be problematic, as our village’s farmland exists outside the walls.

Fortunately, most of our farmland is located in the safer western region, but what could be worse than having to risk danger just to farm?

Therefore, after considering all these conditions, the conclusion is—complete and overwhelming annihilation of the enemy forces.

Following this doctrine of completely annihilating the enemy without letting a single one escape, our village began preparing for war by diligently carving wooden arrows and preparing weapons.

We quickly finished at least the eastern part of the moat construction that was in progress, released the holy water stock stored in the temple for makeshift fortifications, and so on.

Just as we were meticulously arranging these rules according to the doctrine specifically designed to counter vampires, we received a message from the werewolves who were conducting light guerrilla warfare while scouting without being detected.

The message was that the vampire army had finally arrived.