episode_0197

195. Sacrifice

It’s midnight on the 7th day, 6 days after the wave of monsters began.

Gooo-

“What the…”

We, who had just woken up to take turns fighting the monsters with Juri’s subordinates, and even the sub-party members who had just finished the battle and fallen asleep and woke up early, just stared blankly at the empty streets.

Only the countless fallen stones, like pebbles, reflect the lights of the inn and sparkle, and the streets are filled with silence.

“Mr. Kyle. Ms. Julie.”

“Uh.”

“What is this….”

Among the people who joined us from the store next door, the man who first greeted us, Kyle, also had a puzzled expression on his face.

Anxiety appears on the faces of more than 60 people as they face yet another unknown situation.

Crack!!

I clapped my hands and cheered the people around me.

“First, the last group that fought so far should rest quickly. Even if something happens, we can’t deploy at full strength due to the accumulated fatigue.”

“…..”

Among the people in the store next door who survived, including Kyle, at least one combatant was a level 3. Kyle was a level 5 explorer.

In comparison, among Juri’s subordinates, only No. 2, who was her closest aide, was level 5, and the rest were level 2 or 3, so they were barely able to fend off the monsters with Zion’s traps and potions.

It was Juri’s subordinates who had an indignant expression on their faces.

“Why don’t you hurry up and get in? Those guys are going to come looking for you.”

Julie glared and shouted at her subordinates.

Sia stepped forward in front of her subordinates, who had been hesitating while watching her scream.

When everyone looked at Sia with questioning eyes, Sia raised both hands to her waist and shouted.

“Right now… If you don’t listen to Sister Juri… I won’t let you recover!”

He pretended to be threatening, even blowing air into his cheeks, but he was just cute.

Sia was not stupid, she just had a slightly clear and innocent mind.

There were also times when Carmela and the clever Tanya continued to explain the current situation to Sia in a way that was easy for her to understand.

Finally, one of Juri’s subordinates answered Sia’s words with a smirk.

“Yes!! Your Majesty ”

“I… am… not a saint…!!”

The tense atmosphere was slightly relieved by Sia’s actions of joking and fluttering in embarrassment.

“These kids don’t even listen when I talk…!”

“If my sister gets sick, I can’t fix it right away.”

“That’s right. That’s right.”

“Hey!!!!!”

The joking conversation between Juri and her subordinates caused laughter.

Those who had been fighting until just a moment ago went to rest, and we were left nervously watching the situation outside.

“What the hell is going to happen this time…”

“That’s right.”

“Hey~ Have some of this.”

“Oh, Ms. Camella. Thank you.”

“Hehehe. No problem.”

In a situation where everyone had to wait, Carmela quickly brought out a snack.

Other non-combatants also handed out snacks on trays to the people.

“Milla. Let’s go outside.”

“Huhhh…”

As if now was the chance, when the demons were not pouring in, Zion moved busily with Mila.

“Zion. How many people should I send?”

“Um… Jury’s subordinates are enough.”

“Yeah.”

As if to increase the radius of the barrier and set up more traps, Sion ordered Juri’s subordinates to bring him various items. He looked at the bundle of parchments and muttered to himself with a serious expression.

If you were to pick the busiest person in the past six days, everyone would probably point to Zion.

He makes potions and traps from time to time, and even uses large-scale magic during battle and touches up lukewarm magic when resting.

‘Hitomi.’

[Mion Gresha]

[Cain] – 80%

[Caron Martinez] – 20%

Just before the demon wave exploded, Juri’s subordinates had searched around here and there and brought back books on sorcery that they had studied on their own, but they were already close to removing the sorcery engraved on Mion’s tongue.

“Cute….”

“Don’t you find it really annoying when people sometimes cross their arms to look dignified?”

“I want to lick that twitching ear…”

As we watch Zion moving busily, we can faintly hear the voices of men chattering.

At someone’s mention of wanting to lick their ears, Julie and Lauren’s ears twitched, but neither of them showed it on their faces.

Sion, who drank the potion himself and gave many potions to Juri’s subordinates, left the dorm with Mila.

Juri’s twenty subordinates quickly followed them, replacing the magic stones in the traps set up on the street.

Then, he started to extend the barrier to the building Kyle had crossed over from, the building on the opposite side, and the buildings on either side of Uncle Frank’s building.

*

*

*

Two hours had passed since Zion had returned to his quarters, having busily completed the barrier work and moved the traps outside the expanded barrier.

“The buildings on both sides are now safe!”

Zion enters the dormitory entrance, arms folded, shouting in triumph.

Her adorable gesture drew exclamations from those around her, but I pretended not to notice.

After hearing her words, we immediately moved to gather supplies here.

Before the incident broke out, I had stockpiled quite a bit of supplies by raiding unknown sources for nearly ten days.

Purely three months’ worth of food, various combat supplies, and even ingredients needed for alchemy and potion making.

There were also people joining in, and since we didn’t know how long this situation would last, the more supplies the better.

“I wish there were survivors.”

“Wow… It hasn’t even been a week yet, so I guess there are still survivors?”

“I guess so?”

“Usually, explorers who explore at the middle level or higher tend to have long exploration cycles. They don’t have to worry about making a living even if they don’t explore every month.”

“Yes.”

Kyle answered my muttering.

The place we are in is the commercial district. Most of the people who enter the residential district are classified as high-level workers in this city, or people who have given up exploring and retired and have accumulated some capital and made money.

Meanwhile, most of the people who are currently rolling around in the labyrinth stay in the commercial district.

As Kyle said, explorers who have reached a certain level don’t necessarily keep their exploration schedules tight.

Because even if you just reach the 3rd level, you are guaranteed a certain amount of income.

Since Uncle Frank’s shop is located almost on the main street, the buildings behind us that were blocked by the wave of monsters suffered little damage.

If we think about survival in a situation where monsters aren’t summoned like now, I thought that the survivors might come to our side.

And that expectation.

“Here…here!!!”

“Save the people!!!”

I found people asking for help.

Thanks to our defenses up front, the damage was minimal, but since there were few barriers or defensive measures, we could hear people screaming in the damaged accommodations.

After searching and catching the remaining monsters, we found thirty survivors.

He said that because there were so many level 1 and non-combat personnel spread out, they were so busy just trying to block the few monsters that came that they didn’t dare come towards us.

Those who needed treatment were sent directly to Sia, and the rest were sent to the building where Kyle was staying.

The area of the barrier has been expanded so that they can enter and exit our quarters, but we have restricted access to the quarters entrance only during meal times, and have distributed plenty of Zion potions and combat supplies.

95 people… It’s almost 100 already.

“Cain. But why did you send those people to a different building?”

After distributing supplies to the newly brought in people and organizing the newly farmed supplies, Kyle approached me while I was resting and asked me a question.

It was a little awkward to see a white-haired, gangster-like man scratching his head and asking me questions.

However, even such trivial questions are ones that anyone leading a squad-sized sub-party would naturally ask.

Despite his appearance, he is a person with the qualities of a party leader.

“Well… I’ve gained some trust from Kyle after spending a few days with him… but I’m still suspicious of those people.”

“Really?”

“Honestly, looking at those people’s records, it’s understandable that they couldn’t come even if they thought they were dead and ran all the way to our dorm, but it’s also a bit suspicious.”

“Can you think like that?”

“Mr. Kyle turned around and met us right away and started talking to us.”

“Uh…um.”

Kyle scratches his philtrum and looks embarrassed at my words.

The impression I have of him and his actual personality don’t match well.

“I’m a little short on small tasks, so I want to assign them to chores right away, but I don’t know how things will turn out right now, so I’ve gathered them separately for now.”

“I see. I understand.”

They are not people who gathered together for the same purpose from the beginning, but people who gathered together in a situation like a natural disaster.

Now that the number has surpassed 100, we are worried about our immediate survival, but if the situation becomes prolonged, it is natural that division and conflict will occur among the many people.

There are countless anonymous members scattered there like a guerrilla organization, and there may still be survivors mixed in, aside from the ones that Juri and I are familiar with.

So the newly admitted people were sent to another building.

“Gyaaah!!!”

“Lukewarm!!!!”

Zion’s voice was heard along with the painful screams of Mi-on.

When I turned my head, I saw that black energy was emanating from Mi-on’s body and she was lying on the floor, writhing.

Zion was shaking her lukewarm body and crying loudly.

It was about 6 days and 6 hours after the demon wave began.