Less Than A Sanctuary

When the end was in sight, everyone could muster their final bit of strength.

After all, humans were simple creatures—dangle a carrot before their eyes, and they’d find the will to move forward.

Those who had looked half-dead just moments ago were now walking with renewed vigor, their faces alight with energy.

The end was near—but in truth, that “end” was merely the beginning.

I had a feeling things wouldn’t be so easy, so I decided to ask Wheel-san at the front.

“So… we can’t create a Sanctuary right away?”

“That’s right. A Sanctuary can’t be formed unless several conditions are met.”

“Really? But if I recall correctly, Simurg-san seemed to create one quite effortlessly.”

At Aira’s question, Nadja and I both nodded.

Indeed, back when Simurg-san turned Shekuri-san’s village into my territory, he had spread his Sanctuary almost instantly, without any elaborate setup or preparation.

“Well, everyone’s got their specialty. That bird controls the wind, see? He can manipulate the air currents to shape the environment however he wants.”

“And you, Wheel-dono, are the Divine Rat who governs earth, correct?”

“Exactly. My strength lies not in creating Sanctuaries, but in what comes after—when I’ve already rooted myself in one. Once established, I can refine the land within the Sanctuary: coat the area in mana to allow crops to grow year-round regardless of season, open mines, shape the terrain, even create lakes… So you can look forward to that.”

H-He could create mines?

That level of power… truly befitting a Divine Beast.

From detection and truth perception to flight and even phasing through buildings, Simurg-san’s powers had been invaluable during the early days of village building.

It seemed every Divine Beast had its own strengths. Unlike Simurg-san, Wheel-san excelled more in manipulating the established Sanctuary rather than conjuring it.

Meeting Simurg-san first had actually been an incredible stroke of luck.

Apparently, creating a Sanctuary usually required multiple factors to align.

“First, you need a ley line to draw mana from. Without one, you can’t supply the energy needed to sustain the Sanctuary. The surrounding area also needs to be rich in mana particles…”

“I see, I see…”

Aira listened intently, nodding in understanding—while I, frankly, was lost.

To put it simply: to create a Sanctuary, you needed people, mana, and a Divine Beast.

That meant we’d need to find a location with access to a ley line—a point where the continent’s inexhaustible magical energy could be drawn forth.

Fortunately, as a Divine Rat who governed earth, Wheel-san seemed to have already located one.

“From here, we should reach it in half a day.”

If a Divine Beast said so, then there was no reason to doubt it.

Despite their fatigue, everyone pushed forward.

And as predicted, by sunset, we finally arrived near the site of the future village.

However—

“Hmm… looks like the ley line point’s been taken over by monsters. If we leave things as they are, the heart of the Sanctuary’ll end up being their den.”

With that shocking revelation, our village construction plans suddenly hit a major roadblock.

Though his precision wasn’t quite on par with Simurg-san’s wind-based detection, Wheel-san’s own sensing ability was highly accurate.

If he hadn’t noticed the creatures until now, that meant they possessed stealth capable of evading even a Divine Beast’s awareness.

Which could only mean one thing—these monsters were strong.

A straight fight wouldn’t be easy.

“Well, one option is to turn back for now…”

But that would mean retracing our steps—at an even slower pace than before.

And even if we somehow made it back safely, would the people who had followed me this far really be willing to endure such a brutal journey again?

The answer was obvious: absolutely not.

They’d refuse outright, saying it would just end the same way again.

“…Yeah. We’ll have to take them down ourselves.”

We were already here. Turning back now wasn’t an option.

Even if Wheel-san and the others couldn’t fight directly, just like Simurg-san, we had our own strength to rely on.

That included my Wood Golems.

And of course, there was more.

“Hah! Then we’ll simply cut down such obstacles ourselves. To retreat now would be unworthy of the name ‘Sword Saint.’”

“I too shall do all that a Water Magus can,” Aira declared firmly.

Nadja and Aira—both were ready to fight beside me.

And this time, things were different from before, when I had left the sand bandit extermination entirely to Nadja.

This time, I would fight alongside them.

Up to now, I’d always been carried by their strength in battle, even if I contributed in other ways.

But now, with my new abilities, I could finally stand as their equal in combat.

Just realizing that filled my chest with emotion and pride.

My eyes burned; my nose stung.

“Woody-sama, are you alright!?”

Seeing my trembling smile, Aira hurried over, and Nadja joined her, gently patting my back.

“I’m fine… I’m fine.”

And because I was fine—

—we’d crush those monsters together.

We could do it. I was certain of it.

Especially since my Wood Golems still had one more transformation left in reserve.

Once I’d composed myself, we began planning the operation.

If we wanted to win without losses, we needed information first.

So we’d start with reconnaissance—to scout the monsters occupying the ley line.

Ah, but before that, I’d need to explain the situation to everyone.

So many things to do.

But this… this would surely be our final push.

So just a little longer—let’s give it our all.