Ch.4949. The Defense of Osoptera (1)

The southward-moving Osoftera. The emptied western garrison troops and residents. Commander Muniher could only sigh at the alien situation in western Schütt Province that Dalia had reported.

‘To think they would pull such a stunt just to score political points.’

It was obvious that the nobles who governed those territories were behind the withdrawal of even the garrison troops.

It made sense if they had completely removed the garrison troops and territory residents as if expecting the Osoftera to descend.

It meant they didn’t want to suffer losses to their own territory when monsters appeared, nor did they want to handle it directly.

Passing the problem to others, then finding fault to slander and drag down someone’s position or reputation—it was a typical move from those who were faithful only to greed and self-interest.

‘But I can’t leave this place empty.’

There was no need for multiple reconnaissance missions. A single scouting was enough to confirm that Kanolat was still swarming, and the moment troops were withdrawn from Lemtert Village, they would mercilessly pounce on the residents to satisfy their hunger.

He had no choice but to leave it to them.

“Dalia. Take a squad and move to Levrant Academy immediately.”

-What? To the Academy?

The southward-moving Osoftera would notice the lack of food and target humans instead. And they would be even more ferocious due to hunger.

Estimating where these southward-moving Osoftera would head, there was only one place left.

“As quickly as possible. If the squad is delayed, you should arrive first.”

With those scoundrels’ skills, they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves—they’d all be massacred and only serve to fill the monsters’ bellies.

***

‘They’re gone! Finally!’

Just to be safe, Junon had been keeping an eye on the window. Fortunately, they seemed to have retreated after seeing him buy cake for Silvia. Now he could finally relax.

Though he had been sweating profusely under their piercing gazes, he was relieved to have brought her indoors where those guys would have trouble seeing, and to feed her something.

He chose a rather expensive place, thinking they might pool their money to come in and keep watching.

To think he’d end up spending his academy allowance savings like this.

‘Comforting a crying girl requires more mental fortitude than most training sessions.’

Training would have been much easier on his mind.

“Junon, why aren’t you eating?”

When he didn’t touch the cake at all, Silvia suddenly asked.

“I’ve been here often. You eat more.”

Of course, it supposedly tasted good, but the problem was he had no appetite right now, so he couldn’t bring himself to eat.

He couldn’t possibly tell Silvia the truth.

“But still…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it and just eat.”

In truth, he was still a bit nervous. He didn’t want to continue receiving the stares of Silvia’s devotees who watched with eyes that said “Just try messing with our girl!” regardless of whether they were men or women.

His eyes naturally drifted toward the cake.

‘More than that… she’s clearly well-practiced.’

Normally when eating cake, cream tends to get on one’s face, and the soft bread easily crumbles when cutting.

But the knife in Silvia’s hand divided the cake with barely any crumbs, maintaining its original shape perfectly.

Even when drinking tea, she maintained a posture that most people would find uncomfortable, sitting perfectly straight with impeccable manners.

As if the thought of getting food on her face never crossed her mind, Silvia was imitating a mature and noble lady.

This must be exactly the collection of desires that the Count had wanted to create. That thought occurred to him.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t returned to the Count’s house since then, right?”

Silvia, who had elegantly put a neatly cut bite-sized piece of cake in her mouth, quietly nodded.

“I was an illegitimate child anyway. The Kutelli family must be swimming in money, so they won’t come to collect me, and no one in high society would find it strange if someone like me disappeared.”

That was fortunate. He had been worried that if the family came directly to cause trouble, things might get complicated.

You know, there are parents like that. Demanding their children pay back the money spent raising them, or forcing their children to show gratitude.

Given that such examples were far from normal humans, it seemed possible that the head of a noble house corrupted by greed might do something similar.

However, the fact that there had been no contact from the Count’s family in the current situation was also problematic.

This time, they would be planning to prune some of the lesser nobles.

‘So they were planning to involve Silvia too.’

How blatant, one might say.

When Silvia suddenly burst into tears earlier, he had been at a loss, but now he thought it had worked out for the best.

He had brought Silvia away from the academy to the western district of Levrant’s capital.

In this area, Silvia wouldn’t get caught up in that incident.

“I can’t finish it all… can I take the rest with me?”

“Of course. Do whatever makes you comfortable, Silvia. Oh, and I heard there’s a traveling troupe performing up ahead. Want to go see?”

“Yes! I want to, I want to!”

As long as they didn’t enter the eastern part of the academy, nothing unusual should happen.

Aris. Erika.

The two of them couldn’t participate in the subjugation mission for their respective reasons—oversleeping and personal matters.

This time too, he had confirmed Erika’s return to the academy, so he thought they would handle this situation well between themselves.

Even if there were one or two fewer students compared to last time, those guys had memories of the past, so it shouldn’t be a major issue.

They must be diligently preparing for the monsters’ arrival. That was Junon’s assumption.

“But I should be the one paying for this…”

“Um… Miss Silvia? Please, would you let me pay for this?”

“Why are you being so formal again? You’re acting strange today.”

“Formal…? Oh… r-right! That is strange! Anyway, I’ll pay! Come with me!”

And so he led Silvia, who was excited about spending more time together, further and further away from where the incident would occur.

Without knowing what was about to unfold.

Meanwhile, at the academy, a statue erected along the main student route had been damaged.

Two passing students discovered this and tilted their heads in confusion.

“Was this statue broken like this before?”

“No, never. Just yesterday I came to school this way and it was fine.”

“I bet those noble bastards broke it because they didn’t like looking at it.”

“No way. No matter how much they disliked it, that’s going too far. Even at a glance, you can see it was sliced by something sharp.”

“I guess what those guys carry would be staffs, orbs, or artifacts. But something seems off.”

“Right? It doesn’t look broken so much as cut by someone with a blade… huh?”

“What? Did your crush just walk by or something? What’s wrong?”

“Th-that… it’s a monster!!!”

The friend follows the gaze of their panicking classmate to confirm.

Before the two students’ eyes was a monster chewing on the cut part of the statue, having mistaken it for prey.

***

Caw. Caw.

A crow flies over the stage where the performance has ended.

Like those dark feathers, the sun was gradually setting, and the surroundings were slowly being tinged with darkness.

The first performance ended after an hour, and the second was also coming to an end, which meant it was about time to head back.

“Silvia.”

“Mmph…! I-I wasn’t sleeping!”

“Seems it was more boring than I thought. Sorry, Silvia. I didn’t know it would be this type.”

“No… it’s not boring, just a bit long so my eyes got tired… ugh…”

“That means it was boring. I was going to say something during it, but you were already asleep.”

I also found the play boring, but there weren’t many other leisure activities to kill time with.

We had already eaten a hearty lunch, and though we had cake nearby while keeping an eye out, that was just dessert.

So all that remained was to pass this excess time in a safe place.

‘The timing seems just right.’

Since we met at an awkward time, I had planned to keep spending time until evening, so the objective was accomplished, and it seemed like we could just return to the academy.

However, just as I was about to tell Silvia we should head back to the academy.

-Wh-what is that!!

-Help me!!

Along with the screams of residents fleeing as if being chased by something, there they were—things that absolutely should not have been here in the western district of the academy.

‘Why are those… here?’

Exoskeletons colored in shades of green, brown, and yellow like grains, with hind legs developed for jumping.

A pair of antennae on the head, middle legs protruding toward the chest, and a pair of wings spread above them.

If one only saw this much, they might think it was simply a herbivorous animal.

But it was absolutely not a herbivore.

It was the size of a wolf, large enough to throw off a human’s center of gravity if they collided head-on.

How bizarre were its sharp teeth, which looked like they could chew through meat despite its appearance suggesting it should only eat grass.

And the pair of sharp, sickle-shaped forelegs that seemed perfect for cutting through chunks of meat.

It was a monster known as an Osoftera.

Having recognized this, there was no time to think.

“Silvia. Can you provide support?”

“Yes. I’ll follow your lead.”

“It would be good to crush them with something hard, but they can jump high, and though they’re heavy, they can fly briefly. So slow attacks won’t work. Just keep their forelegs in check.”

“So… don’t make it into a weapon form. Got it.”

She’s smart. Silvia seems to have understood perfectly after I explained the characteristics.

I broke off a wooden chair leg to use.

Though it was makeshift, it would be enough to swing as a blunt weapon and crush bones.

Slipping between the panicking, fleeing residents, he swung the blunt weapon directly at the grasshopper-like monster.

-Crack!

There was a sound of internal organs bursting inside the Osoftera.

The monster, not yet dead, desperately lunged at the human, its sharp sickle-shaped forelegs swinging, but they failed to reach the human flesh it had seen only as prey.

With a scraping sound, its attack path was disrupted once more.

Junon’s mana shield had perfectly blocked both forelegs.

As the main attacking limbs couldn’t penetrate the transparent barrier and only made a metal-scraping sound, in a brief moment, both forelegs were cleanly severed. It was due to the sharp wind blades that Silvia had quickly shot after spotting an opening.

Then, as he drove a blunt fist into its abdomen, the monster convulsed and stuck to the ground.

The broken bones had pierced its organs, meaning its life was gradually fading.

Soon after, the Osoftera completely stopped breathing.

“Is… is the monster dead…?”

“It seems definitely dead… Thanks to you two, we survived…”

“Where did these things come from? Surely monsters couldn’t invade near the city center…”

The murmuring residents were still colored with fear.

He had no intention of criticizing them for that—they had suddenly been threatened by monsters.

However, Osoftera were a type that lived in groups. The possibility that more of them had already settled in the city couldn’t be ruled out.

What made it worse was that the academy was right nearby.

The students of Levrant Academy were precisely the ones who could become soldiers to defeat monsters in an emergency, but the Osoftera had passed through that academy to get here.

‘What on earth is happening?’

Did Aris and Erika just stand by and watch this obvious situation at the academy?

If the academy interior was now filled with monsters like before, he couldn’t just stand by.

It would mean the last pillar of the principality, the academy, was crumbling.