There are almost twenty demons hovering in the air.
It’s fine because there aren’t any people walking around outside yet, but the guards are panicking.
It makes sense, considering a single demon is like a calamity. Well, it’s not like all demons are equal in strength.
The alarm bell keeps ringing.
“What’s going on? Those are enemies of mankind!”
Argo tries to grab me, so I dodge him, and twist his arm to restrain him.
Those were pretty good moves.
“Demons are enemies of mankind? Why do you say that?”
“They’re the underlings of the demon king, you know!?”
In a way, that is correct. That’s what’s commonly said.
But rather than just ‘knowing the truth’, I looked into it on my own. And various things popped up that corroborate what the demons say.
“I’m not telling you to fight alongside them, just don’t get in their way. Focus on your objective. You have someone to rescue, right?”
“…”
It looks like I’ve made Argo remember his goal.
Still, there might be something here I didn’t account for. I’ve heard that a demon killed a lot of knights and adventurers near the capital. Maybe there were people he knew among them.
Eventually, the demons all fire magic at once, and attack the wall.
They can fly, so I think they could go over it, but it looks like it’s not that simple.
I only heard the short version, so I don’t know the details, but apparently there’s a barrier centered on the capital that hinders the movement of demons.
I heard it gets stronger the closer they are to the capital, and it originally reached the fortress city and even the dark forest beyond it.
But right now, its effect is weaker.
Even just flying like that is spending quite a bit of magic energy, so we’ll be leading the attack on the castle for now.
What’s happening now is basically just a performance so we can infiltrate the central section. There’s no doubt that demons showing up and attacking have thrown this country’s soldiers into disarray.
Our infiltration unit reaches the other side of the wall without any issues, and opens the door from the inside.
I can hear fighting from here, despite being a little far. They’re really going at it.
And of course, that noise ends up waking up the people living in the capital.
Demons stand out so much, that I doubt anyone is going to even notice us. And even if they do, I doubt common people are going to do anything.
“Let’s go.”
I say, and a group emerges from the shadows, and heads to the open gate without a single wasted movement.
Some soldiers notice them, but are too busy to deal with us.
Really, all that does is distract them long enough for them to be rendered unconscious.
“Did they kill them?”
“No, I told them to avoid killing if possible. But I also told them not to hesitate if they were in danger.”
“R-really?”
“Is that surprising?”
Showing mercy to an enemy is exposing ourselves to danger.
What’s even more surprising is that this was a request from Ghido. He even provided weapons infused with magic energy for that purpose.
I don’t know what their goal is, but there has to be something I can’t imagine.
I don’t like to be thinking about this and that. Figuel and Ryuryu get mad about that sort of thing, but I leave the thinking to people that are good at it.
I’m better at using my fists to take out the enemies in front of me.
I pass through the gate, and I’m immediately attacked.
But their movements are slow. Simply put, they’re weak.
They wouldn’t stand a chance against Ghido and the others, even if they are weakened.
But they’re focused on attracting the soldiers’ attention, so this is our job. We can’t get around it, even if these people are so weak.
“End, it’s over!”
“All right. Ten of you go up to the wall and patrol. Twenty of you stay here and defend the gate no matter what. Don’t forget to make it look like you’re defending it from demons!”
The real goal is to not let anyone get in. Although considering what the relationship between this country’s nobles and adventurers is like, I can’t see adventurers taking the initiative to come save them.
Still, there are guard and knight stations outside, so we need people to hold them back.
Also, how many soldiers do nobles have in their private armies?
There are nobles who led soldiers to the dark forest under orders of the kingdom, so some of them aren’t even in the capital. But not all of them went, and the ones that did left their mansions in the hands of others.
But the nobles of this country also like to live in the capital, and send governors to rule their territories. Does that mean there are going to be more nobles in the capital compared to our country?
“Who are you!?”
Someone who looks like a guard comes running right away. And apparently he has a low sense of danger.
I move my hands faster than my mouth and silence him. The ones behind him get ready to fight when they see him be attacked, but unfortunately for them, it’s too late.
They’re quickly subdued, and I leave a team to restrain them as I head straight for the castle.
But of course, I can’t just run in.
I guess they’re employed by a high ranking noble, even if a rotten one?
They attack us by surprise, positioning soldiers not just in front of us to block our path, but behind us too.
It looks like they have a competent commander and skillful soldiers.
“I thought I recognized you. Aren’t you the A ranked adventurers Argo? Why are you…”
Apparently I was wrong.
Does he lack the ability to gauge his opponent’s power? He’s too careless in the face of an enemy.
The moment his eyes are drawn to Argo, I close the distance and deliver a strong blow to the pit of his stomach.
“Mere beasts…”
It looks like he’s wearing high quality armor. It’s light, but it has pretty high defense.
I give him another blow, and he steps down hard when he’s about to fall.
Did he finally shut up?
“Too slow.”
And as the others are shaken by seeing their leader go down, Ryuryu takes them out one after the other.
No one’s dying, but I see a lot of blood, and I can hear groans here and there.
Well, it’s natural for her to get upset about being called a beast.
“Ryuryu, that’s enough.”
I guess she lost her cool, because she’s attacking without mercy.
Her opponent’s faces are twisted with fear.
“…All right.”
But it’s not all bad. There were others who came running, but they immediately surrender.
I’m sure saying we won’t attack if they don’t resist plays a part, but also, seeing that carnage must have made them think they don’t stand a chance.
I’m not sure how I feel about that attitude coming from people who were hired to do this, but if they’re obeying us, we won’t hurt them.
They’ll just be stripped of their weapons and restrained.
“Now it’s a race against time. We’re going to be taking out enemies with intent to kill.”
I say, and Ryuryu and the others silently nod, and so do Argo and his party, looking nervous.
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Thanks for the treat.