Chapter 36: The Attack

The following morning, all four of us were standing in front of the alchemist Zegal’s house.

“Mr. Zegal, we’ve come to collect the bomb.”

I knocked, and the door opened a short while later.

“It’s in here. Come.”

As brusque as ever, Zegal led us inside. A large barrel sat there. It looked to be about 1.2 meters tall.

“It’s packed full of explosives. Pull out this cord and it’ll detonate in about seven seconds. I could only make one, so don’t miss.”

I hoisted the large barrel onto my shoulder.

This thing’s heavy…! But not so heavy that I can’t carry it. Coward or not, I’d been forced to train for years without much purpose.

“Boss, can you carry it?”

“Easily. Leave it to me.”

It seemed I’d be able to throw it somehow. Still, I’d have to get dangerously close.

“Aren’t you going to evacuate, Mr. Zegal?”

“I considered it, but it sounded like too much trouble. I’ll spend the day as usual.”

“At least be ready to run if things get bad.”

“I know.”

Apparently finished with the conversation, Zegal rose from his seat. We were about to leave for the workshop to collect the extending iron rod when he called out to me again.

“Sibyl. I heard you sold Mei’s keepsake cheaply to old Nomos even though it was merchandise. Thank you. I’ll be praying for your victory.”

It was encouragement in Zegal’s own gruff way.

“Then wait here and expect good news.”

I said it with a smile.

“What do you mean it still isn’t finished!?”

At the workshop we visited next, Diller shouted. The dwarf smith grimaced at him.

“Don’t rush me! I’ve been working without sleep. The harder I make it, the worse it extends. Balancing the two is difficult. Shut up and wait.”

I’d known this beforehand, but come to think of it, I hadn’t told Diller.

“If it isn’t ready in time, this won’t be a joke! We’ll have no choice but to wait for the thing to open its mouth and throw the bomb then. It’ll just close its jaws, and that’ll be the end of us!”

“You’re too damn loud! Shut up and wait!”

Diller and the smith began arguing. According to Lady Metis, however, it should be ready in time for our battle with the grand crocodile.

Whether that could really be called “in time” was questionable, but there was no point saying so now.

“Diller, let’s trust him and wait quietly.”

“Yeah, that’s all we can do now.”

Perhaps my calm response settled him down, because Diller took a seat.

“It’ll be all right. He’ll finish it in time.”

“Can your skill even tell whether this’ll be ready in time?”

“Yeah. It’ll probably be at the very last moment. Whether it’ll be ready by the time the battle starts is doubtful, but there’s nothing we can do about that. Until then, let’s conserve our strength.”

And so we simply waited outside the workshop for it to be completed.

There were flanking watchtowers near each of Delcour’s gates, with sentries posted at the top to survey the surroundings. The western gate was no exception.

But no monsters had attacked the town in decades. There was only one sentry on duty, and his vigilance was low.

The soldier manning the watchtower by the western gate was no different. Just then, the beautiful chime of Delcour’s great bell rang out, announcing noon.

“Noon already? Ah, this is boring. At least the gate guards have someone to talk to.”

The man stared vaguely into the distance, looking thoroughly bored. Then he noticed a cloud of dust rising ahead.

“Hmm? Were we expecting a knight order today?”

He assumed the dust came from a marching formation of knights. But as the distance steadily closed, the blood drained from his face.

“Hey, hey… That’s a horde of monsters! You have to be kidding me! Nothing like this has ever…”

Though the sudden crisis threw him into a panic, he still shouted.

“Hey! A monster horde! Call for reinforcements right now!”

“What are you talking about…?”

The soldiers guarding the gate below thought it was some kind of joke, but when they looked ahead, they could clearly see the cloud of dust.

“He’s right! Get reinforcements!”

One of the gate guards immediately ran to notify his superior.

When word of the monster horde reached the barracks, the entire place erupted into chaos. They hadn’t been attacked in recent years, and their response could hardly be called swift.

The red-haired soldier Eve had warned beforehand was the first to move, his face pale.

“N-no way…!”

He raced to the western gate. The moment he saw the monster horde from the watchtower, despair swallowed his expression.

“Th-that woman was telling the truth! Then the leader of that horde is a grand crocodile! W-we have to tell the lord at once! And request aid from the imperial capital. There’s no way we alone can—”

Defeat a rank-B monster.

He barely managed to swallow those words. Forcing his tangled legs to move, the red-haired soldier ran to inform his superiors about the horde’s leader.

The officers’ faces darkened when they learned the leader was a grand crocodile. They could think of no way to defeat it.

“The horde will reach the walls any moment now!”

“Shouldn’t we evacuate the townspeople through the eastern gate?”

“Red crocodiles are swarming every gate!”

“There are too many! Far more than five hundred!”

The officers were in utter confusion.

But the monsters weren’t going to wait for them.