Chapter 115 – Battlefield Stampede
Ralph borrowed a horse from the Merchants Guild and went scouting for monsters.
With Kanon on his head, he went around the battlefield and towards the giant spears that Menew had made.
In the corner of his vision, he could see the terrible sight of the Hahinof plains. But he knew that Menew would do something about that.
There was a reason that the nearby villages and settlements had not been able to recover after the war. It was the presence of monsters.
They had appeared in places where the fighting had been especially bad, and it was just a matter of time before they started attacking the settlements. And so for now, it was not farmers, who were good at taking care of fields, but Adventurers, who tended to the land.
As for why Ralph headed to the center of the fighting immediately…
It was because monsters were threatened when fighting humans gathered together in one place. Getting rid of a threat was only natural…and so they appeared there.
As this war had been an invasion, it was easy to figure out where the outbreak point was.
Since the war had attracted so much criticism already, it was necessary to fight in an honorable and fair manner.
Therefore, the Nadar army had arranged themselves neatly into camps, rear, and frontline. And they followed a strict schedule. The war would begin with the morning bell, followed by a retreat and rest period, and at night, they slept in their camps. They would never engage in nighttime battles. It was also decided that their clashes with the Magikarjia forces would occur near the border.
Even if there was no justice in starting the war, as long as they put on a show of justice, people would follow.
With all of that considered, it was easy to surmise that the location that had the most humans would be around the border, where both armies clashed.
Ralph had been riding down the road towards Magikarjia, but as the number of monsters increased, he moved over to the coast.
Once he was close to the spears, he dismounted from his horse and crawled through the tall grass.
Near Menew’s spears, he saw a dark horde. Humanoid monsters like goblins and skeletons. They brandished weapons as well. Ralph sighed with relief, as their scouting ability was very limited in range.
There could be more than ten thousand of them. And while he had no idea what they planned to do, they were still a threat when in these numbers.
(…A stampede then…)
Even someone as strong as Ralph would not be able to handle it.
An abnormal outbreak of monsters. As there were clearly too many, he determined that it must be a stampede. If it was, the aggressiveness of individual monsters would also be higher.
He decided to withdraw quietly before they saw him. And so he climbed back onto his horse and made his way back.
While riding, he thought about what he had seen.
If that was a stampede that had occurred due to the soldiers gathered on the battlefield, then where would they be headed?
Without an outlet, anger was something that just kept on growing. And so there must be a reason that a horde so large continued to stay in one place, instead of going down to one of the human settlements.
(Could it be…?)
A chilling thought came to Ralph’s mind as he rushed on.
When he returned to the Adventurers Guild, he saw that Menew, Totto, Mofusen and Sety had not returned yet.
He thought of rushing to the hospital building, but it would be no good if he accidentally passed them on the way.
And so he waited patiently. Just as the sun started to set, the others returned.
“Ah, you’re already back, Ralph. How was it?”
“It’s bad, Menew. …This town will be attacked.”
“What?”
Menew had been ready to relax after a hard day’s work, and so this was quite a surprise.
But though he was sleepy from magic energy loss, he joined the others as they looked at a map.
“The monster horde is gathering around the border, here. I didn’t see any other monsters on the way, so monsters from other areas must be gathering at this point as well.”
“Horde…? That’s strange. I flew over that area during the day and did not see anything.”
“…In that case, we must be wary. They must be moving to the Vala forest, where they are gathering their strength.”
That’s where the spawn point must be.
“…I still don’t understand why you think this town is going to be attacked.”
Menew furrowed his brows and scratched his head. Replied in a hushed but furious voice.
“…You idiot! The monsters increased as a reaction to the sudden appearance of human armies! And the monsters don’t understand that the war is done! If they are to target a place, then it will be the closest place with a lot of people, which is this town!”
While he did not say it out loud, it was clear that this was a serious and urgent problem.
Menew finally understood, and thought about it for a while.
“…Back then, how many people were on the battlefield?”
“Including both armies, it would be around thirty thousand.”
“Indeed. But the Magikarjia side were being pushed back due to inferior numbers. I think they had around ten thousand.”
“You people were at the battlefield?”
A horde of monsters that were meant to crush that army. They would not flood into this town.
(The capacity of Tokyo Dome…)
But Menew should have been able to see them from the sky.
Were they really gathering their forces in the Vala forest? After the earthquake and all the work he had done, there was no guarantee that they would not move. However, a march would take a lot longer when there were so many of them.
Surely there would be no attack today.
He thought of reporting to Van, but if this turned into a big incident, it would be more difficult to move.
“Alright. I’ll do something about it tomorrow then.”
“You can?”
Ralph looked at Menew skeptically. Menew nodded.
“If they are going to come at me with quantity, then I will retaliate with quality. But for that, I need to rest. As soon as Totto returns, if possible…”
Just then, Totto returned.
“Um, sorry. After you left, more Adventurers arrived, and I had to treat them. Why are you all looking like that?”
They explained the matter quietly to Totto, and then the group disbanded for the night, agreeing to meet up again there the next morning.
Thank you so much for this chapter!