An alarm bell is ringing, and I quickly get up from my bed and leave the room.
Everything is ready. The people we sent to the fortress city have already been gradually coming here since a few days back.
A lot of people leaving at once would draw attention, so not everyone has come here, but there’s nothing we can do about that. Although we did arrange for the best ones to come here first.
When I leave the room, I hear the sound of another door opening and closing. It’s Ryuryu, already equipped.
“I’m all set.”
“It’s nice to be fired up, but we need to check the situation first. And the positions of the soldiers.”
I say as I smile awkwardly, to get Ryuryu to loosen up a little.
She’s strong, but she really is still a kid. It’s not her first battle, but she really does lack experience, and a lot too.
Not that a lot of people have experience with this sort of thing anyway.
We go down the stairs to the dining hall, and see the owner of this inn still in her sleepwear.
“I’m going to see what’s happening. If there’s a shelter, it might be best to head there.”
I say, and she nods.
Once I leave the inn, I see the alarm has turned the streets that are usually quiet around this time into a noisy environment.
Sightings of demons have already reached this city, so everyone was already on alert anyway.
Since merchants have been leaving to take refuge in nearby towns, the flow of people has gone down compared to when we got here too.
Although of course, people who have been living here a long time ago didn’t leave for other towns.
If they found themselves unable to make a living there, they would end up on the streets.
Some nobles in the capital were seen leaving, but a surprisingly low amount. Are they loyal, or do they just think the capital is not likely to be attacked…
The more people there are, the harder it will be when we attack, but in the end, how many of them are really going to move out to defend the castle when we take action?
“End, is it starting?”
I get a little lost in thought, and then I see Argo and his party also showed up, without making a sound.
We’re near a wall that separates the central section where nobles live from a section where common people live.
And of course, we are hiding in a back street, away from people’s attention.
Our eyes are on the gate to the central section. There are guards posted at each side of it, but there’s also a station on the other side of the wall with dozens of soldiers.
By the way, the gate is made up of thick metal, and apparently it’s also strong against magic. And the same goes for the rest of the wall.
Said wall is not as tall as the outer wall, but it still easily goes beyond ten meters. And the gap is too wide for us to use nearby buildings to jump on it.
“I think End could jump over it.”
Don’t be crazy, Ryuryu.
Well, if it was just the height, probably, but the sentries on the walls would spot me.
But I feel like it’d be easy if we went into it with the assumption that we’ll be caught anyway, and just attacked.
Of course, that also depends on how much power we’re facing, but according to Heat’s scouting, the humans there aren’t that capable.
“Well, let’s keep our heads down for now. The sun will be up soon, so I’m sure there will be some movement before then.”
They said they would show themselves before dawn quite a while back. And by quite a while back, I mean when this whole operation was proposed to me, so dozens, maybe hundreds of days before?
Now that I’m really thinking about it, I have some reservations about whether or not I’m remembering it right, but I also have a backup plan in mind, so I want to think it will be fine.
They called for us in the first place because the capital is protected by a barrier, and their movements will get duller. And when I say us, I mean me.
◇ ◇ ◇
How many days ago was it… In any case, it was when we went to the dark forest to have a look, and I went out on my own.
I met strong people there, who introduced themselves as Ignis and Ghido.
I instantly knew from their distinctive features that they were demons, enemies of mankind. But strangely enough, I didn’t get a bad feeling from them.
So I just challenged them to a fight, to see if they really were as strong as the rumors said.
They were surprised at first, but Ghido gladly took me up on it.
The result was a total defeat. I was unrivaled in the fighting tournament to decide the next beast king, but I was basically a baby against him… Well, let’s not go that far, but I really was pretty powerless.
An overwhelmingly powerful individual. I had forgotten the feeling, so I lost track of time, and I challenged him again and again.
Ignis also fought me once. As for which was stronger… It was hard to tell at my level.
After that, Ignis had a request for me.
If you refuse I’ll kill you! It wasn’t like that, but after hearing what he had to say, I said yes immediately.
I knew instinctively that it wasn’t a lie.
Yes, due to the rules of the beast kingdom, I am the one on the throne. I don’t have any royal blood, and I’m originally just a martial artist.
But still, I rule over a country, and as such, I can’t overlook what Elesya is doing.
“H-hey. Is that the one you talked about, End?”
As I think back to what happened then, Argo speaks, sounding flustered.
Oh right, I didn’t tell them what was coming.
“Yes, that’s right.”
I say, and I hear them gulp.
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Thanks for the treat.
So that’s how they joined forces well the kingdom was using the beast people as pawns in the wars