After reading Shane’s message, Klein immediately contacted his father Lowell.
[Hmm, as a matter of fact, Shane left a message for you as well. He asked you to visit once your current exploration is complete. He specifically mentioned bringing that non-human girl with you.]
Having spent nearly two months dedicated to dungeon exploration, Klein promptly responded to Shane’s summons.
A war with the orcs!
Klein hadn’t heard any such news before heading to the dwarf outpost dungeon, so he first sought Dilaila’s opinion.
“What? Arunvida? Orcs? Orcs using magic?”
What on earth had happened in that one month?
Though Dilaila found it puzzling, she didn’t refuse Shane’s call.
Thanks to Shane, Dilaila had gained considerable fame among adventurers by exploring various dungeons alongside Klein recently.
Her gratitude towards Shane and the political view that the first and second princesses were currently acting in unison also influenced her decision.
After that, Klein asked the remaining three members out of courtesy, and among them, Alex was the first to step forward.
“I want to go too! Please include me!”
Alex, who had been learning swordsmanship from Klein every day recently, was strangely friendly toward Shane.
Klein’s close friend, Al Ross, joined purely out of a desire to experience war, while Artia had recently become quite interested in Shane who was gaining recognition as a mage.
“If it’s magic using essence, my grandfather would be very interested too…”
With that, all of Klein’s team members stepped through the portal to Arunvida.
However, when they arrived there, the situation at Viduron Castle didn’t look promising.
Half-collapsed walls and an ongoing bloody battle with monsters.
The group’s spirits were slightly dampened by the screams coming from all directions, so Shane took the lead and guided them.
“I’m glad you arrived on time, Klein. It’s been a while. Have you been taking care of yourself?”
“Ah, yes, big brother. I’ve been doing well, but you seem a bit tired.”
“I haven’t slept for days, that’s all. I’ve also used a lot of magical power. Anyway, you must be tired from the long journey, so why don’t we take a break while I explain?”
“…Yes, brother.”
Though the portal spared them the fatigue of travel, Shane himself looked tired so Klein nodded his head.
“First, your deployment will be handled under the Adventurer Guild. Negotiations regarding that are still ongoing, but it will be officially announced soon.”
“I see…”
“I can’t say exactly what’s been decided yet, but the rewards will be very good, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
While Klein wasn’t particularly concerned about money, as the team leader, he felt it was necessary to be attentive to his team members’ interests.
That’s why Shane prioritized sharing this information.
At that moment, Artia raised her hand and asked.
“Aside from the commission fee to the Adventurer Guild, I won’t accept any other rewards. Could you personally compensate me?”
“Are you the granddaughter of Head Arcan? What kind of compensation are you asking for?”
“I heard you’ve formalized life essence into magical pattern. Could you explain the mechanism to me?”
“If it’s just that, it won’t be difficult.”
Shane accepted her proposal.
Artia was a mage who specialized in lightning-type magic. This made her particularly powerful in large-scale battles.
Additionally, since she was the granddaughter of the head of the Magic Union, her skills were beyond doubt.
In fact, she had been one of the heroes who fought alongside Klein in Shane’s previous life.
“I-I want to learn magic from you, Sir Shane!”
“Alex?”
When Alex bravely raised his hand and spoke up, Shane turned his attention to him.
Alex, who had once been a simple young man from the countryside, had steadily trained and now displayed the qualities of a warrior.
Normally, Alex wouldn’t have had the influence to make such a request, but Shane nodded at his words as well.
“Alright. Since versatility is your strong suit, it would be good for you to learn some magic.”
In his previous life, Alex had pursued a combat style that used a wide variety of weapons. This allowed for highly versatile and unpredictable battles.
If he added magic to his arsenal, he would surely perform even better than in his past life.
Even though he was too old to learn magic, Klein had been personally teaching him and this meant that Alex was quite skilled at handling magic, so there was no reason not to teach him.
On the other hand, Dilaila and Al Ross didn’t have any particular requests for Shane, so they quietly decided to accept the rewards provided by the imperial family.
“Now, let me explain the current situation in detail. At the moment, we’re not at much of a disadvantage.”
“Is that so?”
Considering the partially destroyed state of the city walls, Dilaila had assumed they were at a disadvantage, but Shane’s next words made her eyes widen in surprise.
“D-Do you mean I have to take action here too?”
“Yes. The walls are in need of repair, so your strength is crucial. Of course, you’ll be rewarded accordingly for your efforts.”
“Well… if that’s the case.”
In the past, Dilaila had craved attention and recognition of her worth, but after the constant attention following the Great Mezaiya Forest incident, she began to feel that it wasn’t exactly what she had imagined.
Although much of that unwanted attention had subsided thanks to Klein and Artia…
“Even Princess Anastasia will remember your name.”
“Huh? I-Is that so?”
The attention of imperial family members was a bit different, right?
From what she had heard, the Crown Prince was a bad person, and opposing him were the First and Second Princesses.
Since it’s come to this, it might be wise to maintain this connection.
Because if she wanted to one day find her family and the Hermes Adventurers, she knew she needed to establish connections with the higher-ups of the human world.
“It’s not a difficult task! Besides, I recently ate something really good.”
“Something good?”
“Hehe, have you heard of it? Shape-memory mineral! This body personally consumed a mineral made by ancient dwarves. Just leave it to me!”
“Oh…”
This was an unexpected outcome even for Shane.
Shane knew well the effects of the shape-memory mineral from his previous life.
“So you’ll have much more time to invest elsewhere.”
“Huh?”
When Shane’s gaze suddenly turned to one of looking at a slave, Dilaila felt cold sweat trickle down her back.
In any group, there’s a wisdom in not showing off too much but Dilaila had realized this far too late.
***
“A mage who has awakened a single attribute surpasses a hundred people; a skilled mage matches the efficiency of a thousand; and a master mage inspires ten thousand to look up in awe.”
At Mimir’s words, Anastasia nodded her head before she gazed out at the castle’s terrace.
“That’s true.”
Just one day.
This was the time it took to repair the tattered walls of the castle, which had been torn apart by the attack of seventy thousand monsters. It was all thanks to Dilaila’s efforts.
Those days were now in the past.
Shane focused on changing the supply list. He prioritized the purchase of shells, magic stones, and flasks containing the essence of elves from the Clayton family.
The shells and magic stones were used to reduce the number of advancing monsters as much as possible, while the flasks with elven essence were mainly used to heal those injured in battle.
The approach to battle has also changed from simply defending the walls to using them strategically to minimize casualties.
As a result, the walls crumbled more each day, but Shane’s worries vanished the moment he brought Dilaila along.
Truly, she was someone who should be called an underground race member.
With her innate talent for manipulating the earth, Dilaila screamed as she took on the task of rebuilding the walls.
“Waaah─!”
Of course, since her magical power reserves had limits, she had to consume magic stones like a cow chewing cud in order to repair the walls.
Though she had always been desperate to eat magic stones, it was only today that she could consume them endlessly, yet with each stone she ate, the magical power immediately drained from her which made her heart pump more furiously than ever.
“What a great talent.”
Even Anastasia, who typically had little desire for more talent, looked at Dilaila with greedy eyes. This spoke volumes of how talented she was.
“You seem to know how to find such talent well.”
Shane responded to Anastasia’s remark as if it were nothing special.
“Isn’t she a student of the coalition’s Academy? It’s only natural that such talents would be found there.”
“No wonder my sister has a strong desire for talent.”
Since Anastasia was the type of person who could only accept what was given to her by Arunvida, she couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
But those days were soon coming to an end.
Thanks to Shane’s portal, the time when Arunvida would be ostracized was now over.
“Thanks to that, defending will be much easier.”
There were about five days left until the arrival of the First Princess’s advance party.
Now that the castle walls had been repaired, as long as no mistakes were made, it seemed likely they could manage a smooth defense.
“Hmm… I’m not so sure about that.”
Mimir’s expression hardened at Shane’s remark.
“They’re probably watching too. That miracle of the castle walls being rebuilt in just one day.”
“Hmm?”
Anastasia looked at him as if to ask why he was stating the obvious and waited for his next words.
“Soon, a full-scale attack will likely begin.”
The orcs of fifty years ago would have learned about humans through their past wars.
Therefore, they would have a rough idea of how much time it would take for a human army to rise again.
So from the enemy’s point of view, they should have destroyed the walls of Viduron Castle earlier, but when they were faced with the unexpected reality that it had been rebuilt in just one day, they realized that they too were running out of time.
“Indeed, it’s not an unlikely scenario. Their attack will be fiercer than ever.”
“Yes, but it will take time… we should make preparations.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you two.”
“Yes. And, Your Highness.”
Before leaving Anastasia’s office, Shane added one more thing.
“There’s something else I need to discuss with you. Is that alright?”
“Hmm. Go ahead.”
***
Just as Shane and Mimir feared, the next three days passed unusually peacefully.
After the first wave, the orcs realized once again the power of the cannons and changed their strategy. Instead of sending large numbers of monsters at once, they opted for shorter and more sustained attacks.
It was clear that they originally intended to wear the humans down through a war of attrition.
However, now that the castle walls had been repaired, that tactic was no longer viable, so this time they were planning to send all their monsters at once.
On the day they received the message that the advance party from Olicia would arrive in two days, the final attack by the monster horde began early in the morning.
“Ugh, oh no …”
In the darkness, Dilaila shrank back as if she was terrified by the countless red eyes gleaming at her.
A horde of monsters numbering a staggering eighty thousand.
It was an overwhelming number that far exceeded their previous estimates.
While there weren’t many large monsters, the majority were medium- and small-sized ones.
The outcome of this final wave of monsters will determine the future. How much blood they would have to shed to stop it.
Bwoooooo─!
The sound of a horn announcing the final monster wave echoed far and wide.
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