Ch.397Fighting the Mountain NPC. (3)

“Intercept it?”

“…Acting Dean, I don’t think that’s a good decision. Even with the addition of 500 knights from the elves, beastkin, and Ponia, our total force is only about 3,800. Moreover, they’re still on their way here, right?”

“Ha. Wouldn’t it be better to flee while the Behemoth is being held back? I think it would be better to preserve their forces, combine them with Ponia’s, and then strike. Even with the addition of those exhausted pointy-ears and beastkin who’ve been rushing here at full speed, the chances of winning are…”

“There is a chance. I’m saying this because there is, and because we’re preparing for it. Now, let me explain.”

Ragni had summoned the guild masters and Avalitia early in the morning to announce her intention to intercept the monster and request their support. Of course, I plan to follow Ragni’s lead. Though all three of them disliked her plan.

“…Wait. Really? Will this work?”

“I don’t know. I’ve read all the historical records from 4,000 years ago, but there was nothing written about battles with that thing. Even when I asked Elder Green Dol, who has lived for over 4,000 years, he said he wasn’t called to that battle back then.”

“So we’re shooting in the dark. But…”

“It’s a method we couldn’t even attempt without Neity.”

“…I’m not sure if there will be anything left even if we succeed…”

“If people survive, everything else will work out somehow. Don’t you think?”

“Hmm.”

Ragni explains her prepared strategy, its progress, and pace, leading everyone to reluctantly accept it. Ragni really is good with words—even Avalitia, who was crossing her arms and refusing to listen until just now, is starting to get hooked.

“Then, we’ll prepare for this operation here. Please guide the citizens to the outer shelters immediately. I’m delegating full authority over the Neity Guard to Mr. Devil from now on. Mr. Kannu Ra, please mobilize Neity’s adventurers to deal with the surrounding monsters.”

“Understood.”

“Hmm. Leave it to me.”

“Sigh~ I didn’t expect to be dealing with that crazy old man again.”

I don’t know if Ragni’s strategy will succeed. Our opponent is a field boss, but not one that stays in place waiting—it’s coming on its own to destroy the country, and behind it is the ep.7 boss. Well, Green Dol did say that no attacks imbued with holy power came while he was holding it back, so maybe the Pope isn’t with the Behemoth. I really hope they’re not together. Anyway.

“I wonder if Ray, Miho, and Chikuyo are doing well?”

“They’ll manage fine on their own. Jack, this isn’t the time for you to be lounging around, is it? Even Luxuria is working, so hurry up and get moving.”

“Yes, yes. I can’t be idle when my heaven-like wife tells me to move. However.”

*kiss*

“You haven’t been sleeping properly for four days now. You should rest too.”

I kiss her on the forehead. With dark circles under her eyes and her usually neat hair completely disheveled and hastily tied up, Ragni looks pitiful. I find even this appearance of hers lovable, but I think it would be better for her to wash up and rest a bit.

“…No, I can’t rest now. Not just because the Dean entrusted this to me, but because I don’t want to let it be destroyed this time. That’s why I can’t rest.”

“This time, huh.”

I feel like I’ve told her many times that what happened to the Empire wasn’t her fault. But I guess when it’s your own business, it’s not so easy to let go. In that case.

“Yeah. Let’s all rest comfortably when this is over. Well, I’ll be going now.”

“…Wait.”

*kiss!*

Ragni grabbed me as I was about to leave and kissed me on the cheek. Well, that was a surprise attack.

“…It feels like you’re always the one doing it to me, and I never get to do it back.”

“Ha! Your lips have gotten rough.”

“Ugh…! Fine! Call Ms. Manie on your way out!”

Somehow, I feel like I’ve been getting kicked out of here more often since Ragni started occupying the Dean’s office. I was pushed out by her cute tapping on my back, and I told the secretary in the Vice Dean’s office, whose eyes were just as darkly circled as Ragni’s, that she was being called.

“…Haha, hahaha. I, I thought my workload would decrease with Ms. Ragni acting as Dean. But a Behemoth? I might really die from overwork at this rate…”

“Uh, well, let’s just endure a little longer…?”

“…That ‘little’ might be my limit. I’ll die from overwork before getting trampled by the Behemoth.”

After handing her a potion as encouragement, I also left the academy. But seriously, Gor and Ira, what are they doing that they haven’t shown themselves? Is big brother going to cry? I really will cry!

[I’m too busy to take calls right now. If you need something, please leave a reservation.]

“…How? At least give me a keyboard to leave a message.”

The status window that Gor unilaterally contacted me with just says he’s too busy. That’s it. It’s not even connecting to a voicemail where I could leave a message. How am I supposed to make a reservation? Well, judging by the fact that my note at home saying the Behemoth is approaching and they should stay home is gone, it seems both of them did stop by the house. This is a bit sad. Anyway.

“I guess I’ll go do what Ragni asked me to.”

It’s been a while since I’ve gone mountain climbing alone.

*

“Run!! Run with all your might!!”

“Elder!! We need to rest soon!! The beastkin are starting to fall behind from exhaustion!!”

“Hmm! I understand. We’ll run at full speed for 10 more minutes, then take a 5-minute break! Until then, run with all your might!!”

“””””Yes!!”””””

The Siltra Army. How did elves and beastkin end up here? To explain that, we need to go back about 8 months.

Jack disappeared due to a spirit water mistake, and the Seven Deadly Sins appeared in Ponia. Siltra mobilized an army for revenge against the demons who had corrupted their brethren, led by the Grand Elder and the Elders. However, just before deployment, Jack reappeared and stopped their expedition. As a result, the military funds and equipment they had prepared were left hanging.

[Hey! News!! They say Ponia and the Empire are at war, and demons have joined the Empire!!]

[Send a messenger to Ponia!! From now on, Siltra will put arrows into the Empire that has joined hands with demons!!]

Thanks to having intelligence channels in Ponia, they eventually obtained this information. The joint forces of beastkin, spirit folk, and elves arrived long after Green Dol, Chikuyo, and Miho had defeated Greed. As a result, rather than fighting demons…

[Hmm? Why are you all here?]

They ended up joining Green Dol, who was with the Spirit King. Then, under Green Dol’s judgment, they spent about a month providing civilian support in the border region to help Ponia’s recovery.

[Siltra and Ponia have agreed to form an alliance every five years. Thanks to your troops coming this time, I, as an Elder, was able to hold my head high in a foreign country for the first time! Haha! I never thought this day would come.]

Before being dragged to meet Neity’s Dean, Ponia’s king and Green Dol, who was supposed to lead the Siltra army, had an unexpected meeting and formed an alliance. And there…

[The task requested by our new ally, the King of Ponia, is to protect Aigram, a war supply route. Perfect! That happens to be the city where I stayed the longest! Since we raised an army to take revenge on the demons anyway, guarding a place likely to be attacked by the Church that has joined hands with demons is good for our army too! Plus, Rize still wants to help people.]

Ponia had lost a significant portion of its army and needed to focus on rebuilding its cities, so it couldn’t move its remaining forces. But the Siltra army, which had mobilized too late, could move anywhere as long as they received supplies.

Moreover, there was a mutual understanding between Ponia, which wanted to sell supplies cheaply to the Siltra army to raise funds from resources that became unusable after the walls were destroyed, and the Siltra army, which didn’t want to return home empty-handed. But even this…

[Somehow, we keep going in circles, don’t we?]

[Not we, but you all. I participated in the battle of Ponia.]

[…Green Dol. I feel sorry for the Siltra people who came to fight demons. You don’t need to speak like that.]

It takes a year by circulating carriage from Ponia to Aigram, but the direct distance is 5 months. When they were less than a month away from Aigram, news came of Aigram’s destruction and even the dissolution of the Empire. With nothing left for the Siltra army to do, the result…

[…Elder. The only place where the Siltra army can diplomatically rest or receive supplies is…]

[Nowhere but Ponia. This is the price we pay for our isolationism until now.]

They were completely stranded. The King of Ponia wanted to move the Siltra army to inquire about Aigram’s situation, but after discussions with Jack, Ragni, and Luxuria, he couldn’t easily ask them to move, not knowing what the powerful enemy called the Pope might do to the army. In the end…

[…Sigh. Let’s focus on diplomacy from now on. It takes a week just to set up camp in front of small countries while sweating over our alliance with Ponia. There’s nothing we can do.]

[Right! Well said! By the way, how old are you now?]

[I’m 2,706 this year.]

[Haha! I see! Would you consider becoming an Elder when you’re 300 years older?!]

[…If Elder Green Dol would take the position of Grand Elder, I might consider it.]

[Ahem.]

[…Hehe. You tried to pass it off but ended up losing out.]

They weren’t mercenaries, but they found themselves moving from one small country’s frontline to another, chasing after demons. Just as they were about to turn the army back, having accomplished nothing…

[Elder Green Dol! Where is the Siltra army’s current position?! Right now, from the direction of Aigram…!!]

The King of Ponia thought he couldn’t entrust the Siltra army, which hadn’t received a declaration of war, with just the Pope as an enemy. But if the opponent was a monster from thousands of years ago, a disaster called the Behemoth, that was a different story, so he asked them to defend the Neity area. Finally finding their purpose…

[Die!!!]

[Throw bombs under the bridge!!]

[Ponian bombs are amazing!! Throw them! Throw them all!!]

[We’ll fire the spirit cannon!! Front line, fall back!!!]

[-KABOOM!!!]

[Finally, we fight!!]

[Kill it!! Who cares if it’s a 4,000-year-old monster!!]

[Our Elder is over 4,000 years old too, you bastard!!]

A monster carrying a huge mountain on its back—but they were elves and beastkin who had lived their entire lives, spanning thousands of years, in forests. They were like fish in water, finally able to enter their long-awaited first battle. However…

[Wait, we used all those bombs and couldn’t destroy even one bridge? Is this right?]

[The spirit folk’s elemental power is completely depleted! The beastkin will carry them and retreat the formation!]

[This is not a problem we can handle on our own.]

With mostly bows, spears, and swords except for the bombs received from Ponia, and with the spirit folk’s elemental arts ineffective, it was impossible to defeat the enormous Behemoth. So they decided to join Neity to intercept the monster to the end, and while they were at it…

[For diplomacy!! Stop by the villages in Behemoth’s path and evacuate everyone!!]

[So that our Siltra army won’t look like mercenaries next time we deploy! Protect the humans!]

[E-elves?!]

[Huh?! Beastkin?! Uh, um, spirits?!!]

They started focusing on protecting people. Thus, until two days before arriving at Neity, they rescued and evacuated people, creating a legend of the elves of Siltra appearing in the continent’s crisis, leading beastkin and spirit folk to fight against the legendary continental disaster, the Behemoth. Of course, the current situation…

“Wow, Neity is really far. Did that human called Jack really cover this distance in just a week?”

“With his current abilities, he’d be much faster. Of course, we’re moving as an army, so we’re a bit slower. Anyway, if the break is over, let’s run again.”

“When we get to Neity, we’ll be able to form an alliance and rest, right?”

“Whew! I want to kill that monster quickly and get some rest.”

“They say it’s a city with many mages, so they must have plenty of firepower.”

They thought going to Neity would be a better excuse than returning to Siltra without killing the demon. That’s why the elves, beastkin, and spirit folk ran. Faster than the mountain-carrying monster behind them. To reach Neity.