"Young miss, Lady Kayda, how may I help you today?" A man knelt before us with a professional smile on his face, yet his posture resembled that of an eager puppy waiting for his master's attention—tail wag not included, but implied.
"As you can see, we found two towns working together and want to investigate it ourselves," I said, gesturing toward the cloth Kayda held in her hand. The blood-stained fabric bore two crude symbols: one resembling a snarling bear, the other a howling wolf.
"Yes, I see the Blood Bear and Blood Wolf towns..." The man leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at the markings. "Hmm... but how are they working together?" he asked, his tone suddenly doubtful as if trying to solve a puzzle.
"Why are you saying it like that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the shift in his voice.
"You see, young miss," he said, respectfully crouching instead of kneeling, "the towns of the bear and wolf aren't very close to each other." In fact, there are four towns between them."
Kayda and I blinked. Then, without a word, we both turned our heads toward the bloody battlefield behind us. Dozens of orc and goblin corpses lay strewn across the ground, and in unspoken agreement, we knelt to check for more markings on their clothing.
"What?" I muttered, finding a third symbol—this one of a serpent coiled around a fang. Kayda found a fourth, a crude lizard face with a single eye.
"Ah, it seems the situation is on a bigger scale than we thought," Kayda said, chuckling, though her voice was strained with irritation.
"Yes," I agreed. "It seems we don't only have two towns working together, but a minimum of six." I stood up and dusted off my hands. "How many monsters live in one town?"
"Each town averages about fifty thousand monsters, young miss," the man said, nodding gravely. "Must I call for reinforcements?"
He looked at Kayda for confirmation, but he spoke to me with deference. Smart move.
"Nah," I said with a grin, glancing at Kayda. "We'll take care of the main problem. You guys can handle the cleanup afterward."
"You mean you're taking care of it," Kayda said, pointing a thumb at me.
"Ah, if you say so," I replied with a shrug.
"I see. I will let my commander know at once." The man bowed again and ran off in a blur, leaving a faint cloud of dust in his wake.
As silence returned to the clearing, I looked over at Kayda. "...So were you serious when you said I need to take care of this alone?"
"Yes. I'll help with a spell occasionally," Kayda replied without hesitation.
I sighed, long and deep. "Okay, okay. Hmm, now that I think about it… We didn't actually get any info about where they are."
I clapped my hands together in realization.
"Well, shit." Kayda clicked her tongue, clearly annoyed. "Hmm. Let's head toward the mountain for now." She pointed toward the misty peaks in the distance.
"Okay!" I said cheerfully, skipping toward the looming ridges like a child headed to a candy store—one filled with violent, bloodthirsty candies.
We walked over monster corpses as we went, the scent of iron thick in the air.
"Did you get a level from all this?" Kayda asked.
"Of course not. You know how challenging it is for me to level up," I groaned.
"Right. That is true."
Suddenly, I stopped mid-skip. "Ah. Here they come. And way more than before."
From the forest depths, a thunderous wave of footsteps echoed.
"Hmm. Well, enjoy," Kayda said, casually stepping away and letting the distance grow between us.
"Sigh… yeah, will do." I grumbled, cracking my knuckles and turning toward the noise.
I created a large claymore in my right hand, its transparent blade humming with invisible mana. Flicking my left hand, I sent threads of razor-thin wire lashing out into the trees ahead, attaching to trunks like anchors.
'Let's take the initiative this time.' I yanked the wires hard.
Eight trees ripped from the earth like weeds, roots tearing out dirt and moss as they tumbled forward. The wires tied them into a giant bundle. I pulled again, dragging the tree bouquet close.
"Hup." I jumped high into the air, bringing the bundle with me.
As I twisted midair, I began to spin the trees in a circular motion like a monstrous flail. Below me, a fresh horde of monsters charged through the clearing, two ogres leading the way, their clubs raised.
'Well, this helps.'
I hurled the spinning mass downward. It struck like a meteor.
BOOOM
The ogres were flattened instantly. Screams erupted around them.
Arg!!
Ugh!!
Grrrr!!
Chaos spread. I landed in the middle of it, swinging the claymore in a wide arc and beheading the first orc to charge me.
"Man, that took far too much stamina," I muttered, dodging two blades and killing both wielders in the same breath.
A kobold lunged, and I spun left, letting its weapon miss before skewering it through the chest. Another monster tried to grab me from behind, but I pivoted and removed its head.
"It's boring," I said flatly, dancing between them, claymore slicing in wide, bloody arcs.
Despite the monotony, it was an experience—holding off an entire horde alone. Not bad for a warm-up.
Mom had trained me in all weapons, and my class gave me adaptability, but the claymore was always the one I used the least. Too heavy, too slow. But in this chaos, it felt right.
The deeper I moved into the horde, the more I noticed something odd. Their strength increased slightly—not in body, but in equipment. The gear was getting better.
'I can't believe monsters are capable of forging armor,' I thought, eyeing a goblin wearing a surprisingly well-crafted iron chestplate with minimal dents. 'Who the hell is supplying them?'
Eventually, the monsters began avoiding me, trying to spread out and stay away from my blade's reach. Cute strategy—but ineffective.
I formed a ring of ice arrows around me, infused each with lightning magic, then sent them flying into the horde's rear ranks.
CRACK—BOOM—ZAP!
Monsters screamed as the arrows exploded in bursts of frost and sparks. With their backline torn apart, they had no choice but to charge me again.
"Gha grr!" One snarled, eyes gleaming with desperation.
Hooooorrrrrrrroooooo!
A loud war horn echoed through the forest.
Every monster froze. Heads turned toward the sound. It came from the east, low and resonant like the roar of something ancient.
'A retreat horn?' I wondered, stopping my spellcasting.
The goblins around me glanced at each other before turning and fleeing without hesitation.
"Hmm, what was that?" I muttered aloud, still cleaving a few stragglers who were too slow to escape.
"Kitsu, let's go. Something exciting is happening," Kayda called, floating down beside me, her feet just above the blood-soaked ground.
"What was that horn?" I asked, looking up at her.
"It's a war horn," Kayda said, not taking her eyes off the retreating army.
"I thought so. But what does it mean?"
"War," she said again, sharper this time.
"Ah. "Ah. Right," I said, feeling embarrassed about my question.
"Hmm."
"So this horde was normal?" I asked as we began to follow the retreating wave.
"Hordes happen," Kayda replied, her voice thoughtful. "But not like this. There are more of them… and they're weaker than expected. It doesn't feel right."
"You still think there's a stronger monster behind all this?" I asked, more seriously this time.
"Yes and no. I think there's a new monster in the forest… But I also think someone is using the chaos to stir things up. Maybe even target Draig territory."
Her theory made me frown.
"Hmm. Do you have any suspects?" I asked, jogging alongside her.
"I have one… maybe working with the main culprit," she said, then stopped and picked up a piece of armor from a fallen orc.
"Hmm?"
"Look here." She held up the breastplate. There was a small blacksmith's stamp near the collarbone. "Here's another one." She pulled a second armor piece from a goblin nearby.
"Huh… Stamps are like crafting seals, right?" I said, squinting.
"Yes. And both of these are from Draig territory," she said, sounding disappointed.
"Is that so?" I looked at the stamp again, not recognizing the marking.
"Well, take a few of the bodies. We'll examine the gear later and check the seals."
"Okay," I said, running around the battlefield and tossing corpses with armor into my storage. At least a hundred made the cut.
"Are you done?"
"Yes. We can move on again."
"We go and watch the war, of course," Kayda said with a mischievous grin.
"Hmm. Okay. Where is it?"
"Should be this way," she said, though her voice wasn't very confident.
"Then let us go and see bloodshed!" I shouted, already moving ahead with a grin on my face.
Kayda followed with a hum, and we ran in the direction of the war horn.
[7 minutes later]
"Right… this seems bad," I said, crouching on a hill with Kayda, looking down into a massive clearing. It was easily a kilometer wide, maybe more, and filled with monsters—thousands upon thousands of them, marching, assembling, shouting. A literal army.
"That's an understatement," Kayda muttered, arms crossed.
"I thought the few thousand I killed earlier was a lot..."
"It was a lot—for a town."
"Ah, shit. How long has this been going on?" I said, clenching my fists.
"Way longer than the reports suggest," Kayda said, her face grim.
"Haha… Now what?" I asked with an awkward laugh.
"We watch," Kayda said. "This is clearly a war between two intelligence factions. We need to figure out who they are… and what they want."
"Alright, then we have our picnic now."
"What?"
"Yeah, when we got halfway through the tour, I had planned for a picnic break." I pulled out a thick cloth from my storage and started laying it on the grass.
Kayda blinked, stunned. "...Huh. That might've actually been quite romantic."
"Thank you. I actually thought of the idea," I said proudly, setting down plates. "Didn't make the food, though. You know I suck at that."
"Yes, I know. Don't worry about it."
"I'm not," I said, finishing the setup with a satisfied smile. "Now let's eat while we watch the monsters try to kill each other."
"...Romantic in a very you way."