Chapter 58 – Magic Tools for Defense

“Nyaaa~~h.”

It was the second morning since Lord Selfers and the others left the capital city of Klaufendamm. Isamu was awakened as Orihime licked his face.

“Mnn~~~good morning, Orihime.”

“Nyaon.”

As usual, Isamu washed his face and headed to the dining room, where breakfast would be served. Orihime followed him, trotting along behind him. While she often roamed freely around the estate and the knights’ quarters, especially when they were not sleeping, since Selfers and the others left, Orihime had been staying close to Isamu.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“””Good morning!”””

When Isamu appeared, Lady Nicolette, the lord’s wife, and their children, AnneMarie and Julius, were already seated.

“Thank you for your hard work until late yesterday.”

“No problem. If it helps with the defense even a little, it’s our pleasure. Well, it would be better not to use it, though…”

While preparing Orihime’s breakfast, Isamu responded with a wry smile to Nicolette’s words of appreciation. Even after Selfers and the others left, he had been busy, trying to contribute to the defense.

“Indeed… Well, the enemies are said to be coming along the highway, so the knight order should be handling them as they approach.”

“How far are Father and the others going?”

“Well… At the very least, they’ll reach the edge of the Klaufendamm Territory. If it seems safe there, they’ll leave some knights and soldiers behind and return. If anything happens, they might go as far as Yanseil.”

“Yanseil is the capital of the neighboring Viscount Janssen’s territory, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. The lord there is an old friend of Sel’s.”

“I see. I hope everything goes well…”

While having breakfast, Isamu expressed concern for Selfers and the others.

Just as they were doing so, they heard hurried footsteps in the corridor. Then, with a bang, the dining room door was knocked forcefully.

“Nicolette-sama!!!”

“What’s the matter?”

As soon as Nicolette responded, the door was flung open, and a flustered soldier began reporting.

“We’re under attack! Monsters are heading this way!! According to the returning patrol, they’ll reach Klaufendamm in about one-fifth of a bell (18 minutes)!!!”

“What!? How many enemies?”

“Estimated around 200! Also, unconfirmed, but there’s a high possibility of Ogres mixed in!!”

At that report, tension in the room skyrocketed.

“How could we not notice such a large number of enemies approaching so close…”

“They suddenly appeared from the forest… According to information from the patrol, soldiers patrolling mainly along the highway noticed the noise and discovered them.”

“Moving through the forest… and possibly increasing their numbers by merging. It’s highly likely.”

Nicolette closed her eyes with a stern expression, letting out a small sigh.

“Understood. Prepare for a siege immediately! It’s reckless to go out against that many. Tell Felix to take overall command! Anne, you and I will intercept them with magic!”

“Understood!”

“What about Isamu-san…”

Nicolette glanced at Isamu for a moment.

“I’ll quickly prepare that thing! After that, I’ll join you two.”

“…Understood. I’m sorry for involving you in a battle like this. But honestly, it’s a relief.”

“Hahaha, it’s okay. This place is already like my hometown. Let’s join forces and protect it!”

“Yeah… So, once you activate that thing, return immediately. Even though it’s right in front of us, there’s no need to stay outside the gate for long. Messenger! Once Isamu-san returns, close the gate and prepare for a siege. We don’t want a laughable story of nowhere for Sel and the others to return to. Get ready for it!”

With that, Nicolette clapped her hands, leaving the dining room promptly.

Continuing after Nicolette, Orihime hopped onto Isamu’s shoulder.

“Oh? Are you worried, Orihime? Haha, it’s a bit scary, but it’s normal in this world. Don’t worry; there are ancient magic, so we’ll be fine.”

“Nyan-nyan~”

Orihime lightly punched Isamu’s ear.

“Haha, I’m counting on you, Orihime-sensei!”

“Nyaaaa~~~~”

Upon those words, Orihime rubbed her face against Isamu’s cheek and let out a gentle long meow.

Isamu hurriedly arranged for a carriage from Rudolf and, accompanied by Eto, who had been staying at the workshop, was sent to the main gate. As they left the gate, which was in chaos with preparations for the siege, the two checked the ground.

“Well, well, I didn’t think we’d be using this so soon.”

“Me neither… I did a light test, but it’s like a live performance.”

Eto said with a wry smile, and Isamu responded with a similar smile.

“Alright. No problems. Well, the mechanism itself is simple.”

“Yes, indeed. It’s like a giant frying pan buried underground.”

After finishing the checks, Eto gave his approval, and Isamu agreed.

“I’m going to activate it, so keep an eye on the temperature.”

“Understood!”

Eto, who had returned to just inside the gate, hurried toward what seemed to be magic devices protruding from the ground. He touched the magic stones for activation attached to their tips one by one, activating the magic devices.

“I’ve activated it!”

“Got it!”

Hearing that, Isamu waited for about ten seconds and then began casting a water spell.

“Water, come forth from nothingness, gather in my hands, Water Ball!”

He created water balls the size of ping pong balls and dropped them onto the ground he had checked earlier.

The water balls that fell to the ground made a sizzling sound and quickly evaporated. Confirming that the water balls also evaporated when dropped a little farther away, Isamu hurriedly returned inside the gate.

“I’ve confirmed the activation of the Scorching Floor! Please close the gate!”

“Understood!”

Responding to Isamu’s voice, the gatekeeper quickly closed the main gate. Soon, with a dull sound, the gate closed, and preparations for the siege were complete.

After Selfers and the others set out, the members of Isamu’s research workshop tried various experiments to create magic devices for base defense. They initially began producing additional units of the Felis series, but realizing that using them in battle would already indicate a failed defense, they abandoned that idea promptly.

Next, they experimented with the Sharpness enchantment, which they had also used in the Felis series, to see if it could be applied to armor or gates to make them harder. However, this experiment also ended in failure. The magic circle seemed to increase the sharpness by improving the cutting ability of blades rather than making objects harder, and it didn’t even activate on armor or walls.

After various twists and turns, they arrived at the application of the Heat Enchantment, Heat, which provided heat. This magic circle had a simple and easily applicable effect.

Isamu had already created a magic device that could quickly heat water.

The Scorching Floor they had prototyped this time was essentially an advanced version of this water-heating device.

The mechanism was simple, extending copper rods, which served as both heat conductors and heat generators, from the magic circle to transmit heat. A steel plate was placed on top of these rods. In essence, it was a giant hot plate.

The firepower was equivalent to the high flame of a magic stove, so it could sear meat in a matter of seconds. If someone stepped on it barefoot, they wouldn’t escape without burns, so it was expected to be effective for restraining movement.

The iron plate part was buried in the ground in front of the gate, and by extending the heat conductor through the gate to the inside, the magic circle body with the Heat Enchantment drawn on it could be installed inside the gate.

All that remained was to thinly cover the iron plate with decoy sand, and the preparations would be complete. In an attempt to reduce heat conduction loss even slightly, they surrounded the heat conductor with foam urethane.

It would have been better if they could embed it over a wide area, but unfortunately, time was lacking, so they were limited to a square with a width and height of 5 meters, equivalent to the gate’s width.

Even so, it covered an area of around 16 tatami mats, so it should help prevent monsters from gathering in front of the gate to some extent. They considered pitfalls and moats, but digging holes took unexpectedly long, so they settled for this method, which only required shallow digging.

“Now, let’s see how effective it is.”

“It’s something we made in haste… If it can restrain them even a little, we can target them with magic or bows, so I hope it proves somewhat useful.”

As Eto and Isamu discussed this, a voice came from the observation platform next to the gate.

“I see them!! They’re coming straight from the highway! Everyone, prepare for combat!”

Finally, the enemy group was visible at a close distance. Ismau, who was also part of the interception team using magic, hurriedly climbed the stairs next to the gate for preparation and went up to the top of the defensive wall.

On top of the defensive wall, there was chaos with knights and soldiers preparing for interception, including Felix, appointed as the commander. In the midst of it, Isamu spotted Nicolette and Annemarie talking to Liddell. He rushed over to them.

“Oh, Isam-sama! And Orihime-sensei too!”

“As long as you two are here, there’s nothing to fear!”

“Sensei! Please watch us! We’ll show you the results of our special training!”

As they ran, voices calling out to Isamu and Orihime on his shoulder came one after another. Isamu smiled and nodded, and Orihime responded with a short “Nya” to each voice, finally reaching Nicolette and the others.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

“So, how was the Scorching Floor? Did it work properly?”

“Yes. For now, I think it’s working as planned. We won’t know how effective it is until we try it, though.”

“No problem. Ideally, instead of using it like this, we could have had a barbecue party together.”

Nicolette shrugged her shoulders in response to Isamu’s remark.

“Now, let’s review the plan. First, interception will be carried out in two stages. The first stage is until the enemies approach the gate. The second stage is after the enemies have approached the gate. In the first stage, priority is given to reducing their numbers, so we’ll mainly use area-of-effect magic. Since the distance to the forest is not far, we’d prefer to avoid fire attribute magic, but this time, we have no choice…”

Nicolette paused for a moment and slowly surveyed everyone.

Lined up were Liddell, Marcela, six knights and soldiers proficient in magic, Annemarie, Isamu, the steward Rudolf, and the head maid Karina, making a total of ten people.

“However, keep more than half of your magic power in reserve. We should ideally finish them off in the first stage, but it’s unlikely we can reduce their numbers enough…”

Saying this, she glanced at the approaching group of magic creatures.

Everyone also looked in the same direction, nodding slightly.

“Now, the second stage will be individual attacks. Aim for the most threatening ones. Since there might be Ogres mixed in, we absolutely want to defeat them with magic. If we can defeat the Ogres, we should be able to prevent the gate from being breached. However, because we’re near the gate, we can’t use area-of-effect magic. It would be counterproductive if we ended up destroying the gate or walls. Also, be prepared for sudden reinforcements or unexpected situations. Ideally, at least two people should keep some magic power in reserve.”

When she surveyed everyone again, they all nodded slightly.

“Liddell, Karina, and I specialize in fire magic, right? Who else is good with fire magic?”

In response to Nicolette’s question, one knight and one soldier raised their hands.

“That makes five in total. So, for the rest, please use wind or earth magic.”

With the strategy confirmed, they checked the approaching enemies again. Through the gaps in the forest, the leading group of the enemy emerged. Orcs and Goblins appeared one after another, spreading across the entire highway. Pointing towards them, they made a commotion with strange noises, and finally, with a strange cry, they all rushed forward.

“Gyaa, gyaa!!”

“Bumo, bumomo!!”

Waving weapons in their hands, the wave of magic creatures approached.

“Magic team, get ready for interception! Archery team, start suppressing fire!”

Upon seeing this, sharp instructions came from Felix, the commander.

“All right. Let’s go all out first. Start chanting fire magic! Others, start chanting after a beat!”

Following Nicolette’s instructions, the chanting of fire magic began, and the battle was officially initiated.

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