Chapter 136

The one who spoke up was a slender female knight belonging to the imperial faction.

The name floating above her head was Reina.

…I had been somewhat doubtful just from seeing her face, but seeing her name made it certain.

Reina was a supporting character frequently seen if you pursued Arianne’s route.

Within the imperial forces stood the Imperial Knights led by Frederick, along with several other subordinate knighthoods under their command.

Reina was the commander of the 2nd Imperial Knights, as they were called.

“Excuse me, I’d like an explanation.”

‘Ah.’

What I had missed while looking away finally came into view.

There were fresh gashes and scratches on Reina’s body, as well as the knights behind her.

It was easy to deduce that they had just survived a brutal battle, narrowly escaping fatal injuries.

After quickly assessing the situation, I cleared my throat and spoke.

“I am the Duke’s exclusive maid, and I have been ordered to deliver a message. His Grace has currently bravely led the knighthood out to deal with the magic beasts at the very root of this crisis.”

If you’re going to lie, you have to be brazen about it.

My unshakeable tone startled Reina.

“Pardon? He suddenly did that without any prior warning?”

“There is a reason. He will explain upon his return. Because the operation had to be carried out in strict secrecy, he only tipped off those he could completely trust… myself as his dedicated maid, and Lord Drott, the squire of Young Master Hereis.”

“Just what kind of operation could require…? Still, if it’s an operation like that, it explains why several knights belonging to the ducal house vanished without a trace, but….”

The knights following behind Reina wore expressions that were half-doubt, half-relief.

The situation didn’t fully add up, but because they didn’t want to accept the reality that they had been abandoned, they seemed eager to believe my words.

This level of willingness was more than enough.

With this, the scandal that the Duke of Rubel had tucked tail and fled while abandoning his own territory’s citizens could be avoided.

Purchasing ten potions, I pretended to pull them out from my apron pocket and handed them over to the knights.

“Here, these potions were brewed directly by Sir Carlo. His Grace entrusted them to me, saying they would help with physical recovery. Even a single sip is highly effective, so please drink them sparingly.”

Three hundred points vanished in an instant, but it was a reasonable consumption.
Though slightly dazed, the knights gladly accepted them.

“Oh… Sir Carlo! Thank you.”

“And I ask that you take charge of organizing and commanding the people.”

From that point on, things proceeded smoothly.

With her exceptional leadership, Reina calmed the panicked people in an instant.

“Holding out right here is the Duke’s command. We can survive. Let’s hold the line.”

Hesitating amidst their fear, the people ultimately moved according to Reina’s instructions.

Reina had every single person gather in front of the food warehouse, ordering the knights to form a protective circular perimeter around them.

And I took up a position where people would fall within the radius of the holy artifact as much as possible.

My plan was as follows.

With people clustered together in one spot, the magic beasts’ aggro would unquestionably lock onto this direction.

The moment they entered the sphere of influence of the artifact, the magic beasts would be neutralized, and if the knights launched their attacks targeting that exact window, they could swiftly dispatch the magic beasts without taking any risks.

‘It’s simple, simple, but….’

Keeping things simple was always the best way to minimize operational errors.

‘Though depending on the number of magic beasts, it could turn into a war of attrition.’

In that case, stamina management would be the key.

‘Fortunately, there are still enough knights left to rotate shifts.’

After Robert fled with the core combat power of the knighthood, many knights had deserted the battlefield or fallen in combat, so I was told.

Even so, thanks to the roughly twenty knights who had stayed behind to protect the people, rotating in squads of ten would allow us to hold out for quite a while. Especially since we had potions.

I viewed this plan quite favorably.

Except for one fatal flaw.

‘There are way too many people compared to the artifact’s range.’

Originally, the maximum range was a fifty-meter radius.

However…

In this second run, a change had occurred in the settings.

When you activate the Armor of Bamea, the mode and range become visible, and this is astonishingly…

‘It’s been nerfed way too much.’

I hadn’t minded the functions of blocking demonic energy or adjusting the magic beasts’ aggression too much since they weren’t strictly necessary for a peaceful maid’s life.

However, that was a mistake. If it had been hit with a downward patch, I should have figured out the reason from the start.

The range hadn’t been that wide right from the beginning in the first run either; it had gradually increased as the story progressed.

Range increases are always good, I thought back then, not paying it much mind—and now I bitterly resented my past self.

Whether due to the system’s influence or not, even without seeing the sacred armor’s range visually, I could vaguely sense and recognize it.

The number of non-combatants here right now was forty. Including the knights, it totaled around sixty.

Judging by eye, no matter how hard I tried, a good ten or so people would inevitably fall outside the boundary.

If we packed them in tightly like penguins, making it completely impossible to include everyone within the range wasn’t out of the question, but that would ramp up the risk factor way too high. If I failed to secure enough movable space for myself, responding flexibly to changing situations would become extremely difficult.

Which meant, to reliably protect all these people…

‘I either need to move around personally to cover high-risk areas, or gather a large crowd as bait while splitting the rest appropriately to downsize the main group’s headcount.’

There was the option of ushering people inside the food warehouse and guarding the perimeter.

‘Though from what I saw earlier, the magic beasts break through walls.’

Since the sacred armor couldn’t cover the entire warehouse, and the back of the warehouse was an outer building wall, it would likely draw the aggro of magic beasts lingering outside.

Fighting with the warehouse at our backs was far safer.

That way, we only had to worry about magic beasts swarming from the front and both flanks.

‘What should I do?’

The people left on the shorter end of the stick might not readily agree to go somewhere they wouldn’t be protected by the knights.

Naturally. How could they possibly understand my situation regarding holy artifact ranges and all that? Trust was paramount in a plan like this.

I had already uttered things that didn’t inspire much confidence earlier, and I was going to have to bark out bizarre orders going forward, too.

If we lacked trust right from the start, this strategy would shatter like a cracked piece of pottery the moment any single joint failed to align.

‘…We’re going with the first alternative.’

If people give up and run away before it even starts, we’re in trouble.

I’d better step in myself.

Let’s put my trust in Belita’s physical abilities.

‘I have no idea if this is the best option, though.’

There isn’t even enough time to think.

…A nail-biting defense battle is forecasted.

“Belita! So you were here! Are you okay?”

“Noah.”

Noah squeezed through the crowd of people and approached me.

I had seen Noah and Villero evacuate earlier, too.

Though I hadn’t been able to say hello with everything going on.

“Ah, Lord Drott is here with you, too. What on earth is going on…”

Kwakwaguaguang!

Well, I guess the reunion ends here.

The stone wall to our right collapsed, revealing a giant golem.

Since it was a safe distance away from the wall, the disaster of falling rubble burying us didn’t happen.

The real threat, however, were the wolf-type magic beasts that poured in through the breached wall.

The wolf magic beasts rushed toward us at high speed, and I gestured to Drott.

“Tell them to aim for the moment the magic beasts freeze up and attack.”

“Ha.”

Frowning with visible anxiety, Drott narrowed his brows, but squeezing his eyes shut, he rallied the knights.

“Everyone, get ready! Don’t miss the moment the magic beasts act strange!”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”

Bang! Kwakwakwang!

Tudududu-duk!

“Kyaaaah!”

“Uaaaaaaah!”

As dust rained down in droves from the ceiling with the continuous impacts, people covered their heads and let out shrill screams.

At that moment, a knight with a youthful face who looked like he had just reached adulthood asked Drott.

“I-is this really the Duke’s order?”

Looks like they were intimidated by the magic beasts’ momentum and panicked.

The exact crisis I had feared.

Still, we’re in trouble if they lose their mental fortitude right now. I quickly boosted their courage.

“Aren’t you staying behind precisely because you want to save people? Humour me and trust me just this once.”

“No, w-well, but… Ah, damn it, whatever!”

Schwing!

The moment the most cowardly knight drew his sword, the other knights scrambled to ready their weapons in succession.

The moment five wolf-type magic beasts entered the sacred armor’s range, they stuttered and came to a dead halt!

“Now!”

The moment Drott shouted, the knights dashed forward and simultaneously slashed at the necks of the wolf-type magic beasts. The magic beasts breathed their last amidst a spray of blood, and before they even had a chance to celebrate the successful defense, the next attack came in.

This time it was from the right. The moment a magic beast took an offensive stance, I moved my feet to the right, causing the magic beast that entered the firing line to lose its will to attack.

Perhaps catching onto the pattern, the knights began picking out and dealing with the strangely moving magic beasts on their own without needing any extra instructions.

“Hey, what the heck is going on here? Are you like, blowing some kind of energy or something? Why are the magic beasts acting like idiots and freezing up?”

At Drott’s question, I brushed it off by saying it was something similar.

Thud-thud-thud—

The ceiling rumbled once more.

Dust fell directly overhead, brushing against my ears.

“Whoa! Crazy. Shouldn’t we do something about that golem first? The ceiling’s gonna cave in at this rate!”

“It’s not because of the golem.”

“What?”

I stared upward with intense concentration.

Red dots dotted my field of view.

Thanks to the sacred armor’s ability, I could see magic beasts within a range as far as Belita’s eyesight permitted.

The downside was that it required a lot of concentration, making my eyes tire out easily.

“I don’t know how the magic beasts managed to get upstairs, but they’re swarming right above our heads.”

“Wait, why?”

I didn’t know either.

Probably while rushing in earlier, a few magic beasts got shoved by others and ended up scrambling upstairs.

Magic beasts weren’t particularly intelligent. They just blindly charged toward wherever they sensed human presence.

Which was why they were running amok right above the ceiling closest to a straight line from us.

‘That part doesn’t matter.’

A light-bodied wolf-type couldn’t possibly collapse a fortress built of thick stone. With multiple of them stomping around upstairs, all it was doing was raining dust.

There was no need to pay it special attention, but separate from that, just like Drott said…

‘We do need to deal with the golem first.’

Sturdy, stone-composed magic beasts like golems took time to deal with.

The advantage of the sacred armor lay in its ability to stun magic beasts and take them out in a single blow.

If the target didn’t die in one blow, that advantage couldn’t be leveraged at all.

‘We need to take that down before it enters the sacred armor’s range.’

Wanting to tidy up my grip on my sword, I approached Reina, who had swapped out for a shift, and asked.

“Commander Reina! Can we take care of that golem first?”

“Of course. I can handle it alone with ease.”

“Then may I ask you to? Lord Drott mentioned it’d be better to deal with it before it gets too close.”

“…Understood.”

True to the skill backing up her confidence and leadership while commanding the other knights, Reina deftly sliced through the magic beasts blocking her path.

Then, with a few swift strokes of her blade, she dispatched the golem that was currently battering the wall.

“Whoa, that lady’s got moves.”

I agreed, but Drott really did have a knack for phrasing things in a totally unrefined way.

“At this rate, we might actually pull this off!”

Thud! Thud! Thud-thud!

Thud-thud-thud!

The magic beasts upstairs were acting up again.

It probably wouldn’t collapse, but the dust kept…

“K-Kyaaah! Th, they’re coming from above! Run awayyyyy!”

‘What?’

“We can’t hold out any longer! The ceiling’s going to cave in! I’m running away!”

Some crazy person, losing their nerve early, broke away from the formation!

“The ceiling’s collapsing! Everyone, run awayyyyy!”

And hearing those words, other people began crying out in panic, scrambling around in confusion.

I tried to calm the people down.

“It’s not collapsing! Stay still!”

“How are we supposed to stay still! Who do you think you are telling us what to do! Get out of the way!”

It didn’t work at all!

“I-I wanna go too! Staying here is a death sentence!”

Was a magic-beast-infested field safer, then?

Fear seemed to have robbed them of proper judgment.

Of course, only a small minority had fallen into extreme panic, but the problem was that we were standing in a tightly packed formation.

“W-why am I…!”

“D-don’t push!”

Having lost all reason, even people who had been standing still got shoved,

“Ugh, stop shoving… Huh?”

Squish! Crunch-crunch…

Before the knights could notice in time, someone ended up becoming a magic beast’s meal.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

With blood staining everywhere, the situation truly spiraled out of control.

“Damn it! Everyone, it’s dangerous! Come back!”

“Crap. Leonard, leave that maid alone!”

To make matters worse, that cowardly knight from earlier, Leonard, broke out of formation to rescue a fleeing maid.

Reina tried to stop him, but Leonard had already vanished among the swarming magic beasts.

Leonard’s spot was quickly filled by a nearby knight, but as order began to unravel one by one, the formation that had been holding up reasonably well ultimately completely collapsed.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“Guaaack!”

“My leg, my leg is pinned under! Please save me!”

“No way! The magic beasts, the magic beasts are—!”

Kuaaaaang!

“Pull yourselves together, everyone! Regroup quickly… Wait, watch Owen’s back!”

Crunch-!

“Ah, ah…”

A magic beast clamped its jaws around the neck of a knight named Owen, growling in satisfaction.

Even Reina, who had looked so composed, must have found keeping her sanity difficult. Rushing forward in a single bound, she cleaved the magic beast in half and began swinging her sword wildly as if berserk.

Ding!

Ah.

‘How on earth do I fix this mess?’

Having lost all motivation, I stood there simply observing the situation as a spectator…

The one who jolted me back to reality amidst all that was an unexpected voice.

“Crazy. Hey, what do we do now? Shouldn’t we just run away right now?”

The pink-haired guy, Drott.

Seeing a hair color so rare you’d practically never find it in reality unless it was a celebrity snapped my brain back into gear.

Drott had faithfully stuck right by my side even amidst all this.