115 – Foreboding
After the meeting with the 3 guild leaders, the work to defend the city went smoothly.
As if they had been waiting for this moment, they began work by dividing their roles by strengthening the walls and setting up traps.
About 5,000 city guards stationed in Schwarzheim.
And the number of adventurers belonging to the three major adventurer guilds is about 10,000.
The number of enemies may be tens of thousands, maybe even more, but if there are only 15,000 troops to protect the city, you might feel at a disadvantage.
But if all 10,000 of them were adventurers, the story was different.
The battle against the undead was successful, armed with all kinds of magical weapons that were qualitatively different from the military supplies, and the number of special occupations such as wizards and priests overflowed. Needless to say, the S-rank adventurer, who was a master-level skill, was holding out.
In addition, the morale of the city was quite high because it was a situation where they had to endure only until the proper reinforcements arrived, rather than defeating the undead army.
Perhaps Elizabeth’s existence had an effect on the morale of adventurers and soldiers. She gave me the reassurance that if the princess was here, at least she wouldn’t be abandoned.
Actually, the situation was a bit delicate because of the throne fight, but….
I had a chance to talk to Elisabeth about this.
There was still a little awkwardness between her and her, but I decided to put aside the subtle awkwardness we felt towards each other for a while as each situation was a situation.
Elizabeth had this to say about her reinforcements.
‘There’s not much the first prince can do right now. There’s been a lot of talk in social circles since the last airship attack, but if you ignore the border town’s request for help, public opinion will get worse. And since the Imperial Army is also under the jurisdiction of Marquis Karlstein, there’s no reason to stop someone from going to rescue his granddaughter.’
We immediately blew up the zeggler and called for help from the surrounding towns.
Elisabeth’s guess was correct, but she had already received a reply saying that the nearest border guard was moving.
However, as Mayor Roman said, the bridge between Schwarzheim and the mainland was cut, so it was written that it would take at least a week for the troops to arrive.
One week. Long is long, short is short.
You never know when the undead will attack again. It could be today, or it might not be raided until a week later.
But it would be right to over-prepare.
When I went up to the top of the wall, the repair work was already in full swing.
“Don’t sway like a slug, work straight! Even if the skull gourds come in, you’re going to be so lazy!”
“Is the work going smoothly?”
“What?”
Dwarf warrior, S-rank adventurer ‘Iron Hammer’ Bane, who was carrying out repair work while craving dwarves.
Bane was one of the heads of the 3 adventurer’s guilds gathered at City Hall. Bane opened his mouth in a big voice as he slung his trademark giant hammer over his shoulder.
“Of course not! What do you see us dwarves as? Since I was born, I have lived closer to fire and a hammer than to a baby! Even though I’m using it to defeat this hammer monster, I can always stand in front of the furnace again if need be!”
It was a voice that seemed to have been boiled and eaten.
I said calmly, feeling the urge to cover my ears.
“I have never doubted your skills. I asked if the work went smoothly. It’s a castle wall that has been hit by shells for a long time.”
“Keuheum, that’s right. Fortunately, the only crack is around the corner. It must have been built strong when it was built, and not a single place has collapsed. Now we are working on reinforcing it to make it last longer.”
“I see.”
Since Schwarzheim is a border city built to serve as a fortress in case of emergency, it was only natural that the walls were strong.
It was a flaw that the undead hadn’t invaded for several years after it was built, so most of the facilities had been left unattended by the mayor, but it was still enough to be repaired and put to good use.
Looking down at the bottom of the castle wall, it was clear that the work of attaching the iron plates was in full swing. It was a bit unsightly to look at because it only focused on practicality without caring about aesthetics, but at least it seemed to be able to block shells better than before.
The priests gathered in the city square and were conducting a ritual to spread the anti-demon barrier, and the wizards were filling the magic circles engraved on the castle wall with magic. In case of emergency, that would serve as a magic bag.
I guess we can leave the defense of the city to the adventurers.
Anyway.
The reason I went up the wall was because I wanted to check the progress of the work, but I also wanted to ask each guild leader something else.
“I have a question.”
“Hmm? What?”
“Since when has this city been raided?”
Bane said, scratching his shaggy lower jaw.
“Yeah, what… It was from last night. I saw them crowding around in the dark. I hurriedly closed the gates and prepared for battle, but the bastard bastard, let alone pay, said bullsh*t about forced conscription, so my fever spread and I just did it! Are you telling us to fight for free and then die!?”
I raised one hand and interrupted Bane, who suddenly started to get excited.
“Have you heard about that already, and were there any other signs before that?
“Another sign?”
The undead of Ionia, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly crossed the border and attacked the empire. There is no way this situation could have happened for no reason.
Every result has a clear cause. I just haven’t figured it out yet, but there must have been some sign before the incident happened.
I had to check that to figure out the cause of this situation.
“I heard that the undead appeared in the city. Was that from yesterday?”
When she first arrived in the city, she said this to the woman who stood in the way of the mayor. That her baby, her daughter, was taken by a monster.
However, even though the city was in the middle of a battle on the walls, the inside of the city was intact and there was no sign of allowing intrusion from the outside. This was an obvious contradiction.
As if there was something in my words, Bane said with a puzzled expression.
“Ah, that’s what you mean. Well, I heard that a few people have disappeared… Actually I don’t know either. Why don’t you go and ask Louise?”
“Lewis?”
When it comes to Lewis, one of the top 3 guild leaders, ‘Explosive Sword’ Lewis, didn’t come to mind.
As if my prediction was correct, Bane nodded and said.
“The skinny guy in that armor. Was he originally a knight or a soldier… Anyway, how many useful guys who used to be rangers under him? So, most tracking quests are taken from the Gnome Guild. My kids, well, they’re good at making and destroying things, but they’re really bad at finding things….”
Guild side of Lewis takes care of the quest to find people.
Anyway, in Bane’s tone, I didn’t feel the unique sense of heterogeneity when telling lies. He really didn’t seem to know anything.
I immediately left the city wall behind and went out to the outskirts of the city. From what I’ve heard, Lewis must have been setting traps around the city.
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It wasn’t difficult to find Lewis. He was busy leading his men in digging a moat.
Then he recognized me and greeted me.
“Hmm, here comes the hero of the city. Do you have any business?”
Lewis unexpectedly showed me a friendly attitude. Even though he didn’t seem particularly sociable.
My guess is that he probably felt a sense of kinship as he was from the same military.
Judging from his reaction when he first met Elisabeth, it was easy to guess that he was a former member of the Imperial Army.
In my case, he recently went around saying he was on a special lease.
“How is your work situation?”
“Not going well. We’re going to dig a long moat around the city and fill it up with oil. The undead are weak against fire, so even if they complain well in the moat, their momentum will shrink even more.”
“Will the oil burn quickly?”
“That’s right, just add oil. There is a recipe that only our guild members know. It’s too hard to tell you the details, but I made it as thick as possible, so even if I can’t do it, I’ll burn it for about a day.”
Are you trying to build a wall of fire? As Louis had promised, if the firepower could be maintained for more than a day, it would certainly be effective against the undead.
Anyway, the work situation was just a combination, and there was something else I really wanted to ask, so I asked Louis the same thing I asked Bain.
Lewis stiffened for a moment, then nodded his head.
“It is true that there was a missing person in the city a few days before the undead attack. It’s true that our guild investigated it. But, I’m not sure what that has to do with this raid.”
“What were the results of the investigation?”
“Ha… As for the results of the investigation….”
Lewis said with a deep frown, as if feeling a deep headache.
“To be honest, it sucked. There is no sign of leaving the house, and there is no sign of breaking in from the outside… Only people disappeared as if evaporating. All eyewitnesses say they saw a monster, but they couldn’t explain exactly what kind of monster it was.”
“Is that the end? Didn’t you investigate further?”
“… I’m sorry, but adventurers don’t do things for free. We only deal with requests, but the disappearance case is the original guard’s job. In the first place, that job was also commissioned by the guards.”
Lewis shook his head.
“Since the request fee seems to be going up, they decided to close the case on their own. It’s not a matter of a day or two for women from the lower classes to suddenly disappear. It’s a pity, but since the request has been cut off, there’s no justification on our side.”
“Lower class women?”
“Oh, right. All of them chose only young women and disappeared.”
I had an ominous feeling.
After thinking for a while, I spoke heavily.
“Where is the house where the missing women lived?”