After finishing breakfast and exchanging a brief farewell with the two women, Roy left the Aozaki residence and made his way to Fuyuki City Hall.
Today was the day of his guard unit assignment.
In the mayor's office, a young female secretary from the Zenjō family quickly briefed the captain of the guard unit on the key points of their mission before hurrying off.
The captain himself was a mage, one of the many who had come from Europe. Aside from him, the unit included over a dozen other mages like Roy, as well as thirty to forty soldiers armed with rifles.
Many of the mages let their eyes linger on Roy. Some looked down on him with open disdain. Others greeted him with forced friendliness. A few remained indifferent, watching silently.
Roy responded to each with an easy smile, bantering with those who spoke to him and even saying things like, "I'll be sure to recommend you to my family head." Of course, he promptly forgot such promises the moment he turned away.
With the mission assigned, the guard unit soon departed from Fuyuki's gates.
Along with the armed soldiers were miners—including Aki Tomoya—who had been drafted to work in the pits.
Though the world had burned for over a year, rendering farmland nearly useless, the mines remained largely unaffected. Ore was still essential, and so Fuyuki had long since seized control of a nearby mine. Refugees were forced to dig, while mages were stationed there to oversee them.
After several hours of travel, near midday, the guard unit reached the mine without incident. The miners were handed over to the overseers to be assigned quarters, while the unit collected the ore excavated over the past weeks. With that, the group of dozens began the return trip.
But their mission was not yet finished.
Originally, the guard unit's task was limited to escorting miners and transporting resources. However, starting last month, they had been given an additional duty:
Patrolling the wilderness to search for possible refugees.
"Why do we have to bother with those refugees? We can barely survive ourselves!"
"Don't say that. Refugees are still a form of manpower. There could be people among them who can help the city grow."
"Must be nice to be a mage. They get to pick out refugees as attendants. If we could do the same, I'd be a lot more motivated!"
"Yeah, right. There are more soldiers in the guard than there are refugees left. How would that even work…?"
Clustered in groups of two or three, the riflemen whispered among themselves, their words brimming with envy for the mages.
In this era, those who could dispel farmland curses and battle magical beasts were truly the elite of society.
"Split into three groups and search near the walls. Don't wander too far!" the captain ordered.
Monsters rarely lingered close to Fuyuki. Even magical beasts and cursed spirits seemed to instinctively avoid the city, recognizing it as dangerous territory. This allowed the patrol to relax slightly.
Roy followed orders, joining several mages and soldiers to comb the outskirts for refugees. He took the task seriously—there was always the chance he might encounter someone he knew.
But after hours of searching, with the sun sinking low, not a single trace of a refugee had been found.
"No helping it. Let's regroup," the squad leader suggested.
The others were more than happy to comply, though Roy felt a pang of disappointment as he turned to rejoin the main force.
"Wait—massive surge of magical energy incoming!"
Roy's expression hardened as he raised his voice in warning.
"What?!"
The others froze, but reacted quickly. Soldiers leveled their rifles, forming a protective cordon around the mages. The mages, in turn, began preparing spells, all suddenly tense with dread.
The source of the magic moved rapidly. Within moments, the other mages too sensed the overflowing aura.
And when they did, their faces drained of color.
"This magical pressure—impossible!""It's enormous—unbelievably vast!""And there's a wave of spiritual corruption in it!""What kind of enemy is this?!""Retreat! Fall back to the walls, now!"
Without hesitation, the mages turned and fled.
The soldiers hesitated, confused at first. Some exchanged bewildered glances, while others went pale with terror and bolted after them. In an instant, the unit dissolved into chaos as they streamed back toward Fuyuki's walls.
Roy inscribed speed runes across his legs and sprinted as well. But unlike the others, he glanced back repeatedly, gauging the situation even as he ran.
"Chitter… chitter!""Chiiiitter!"
The sound came first: a shrill, piercing chorus that clawed at the eardrums, like the screeching of apes echoing through a valley.
Roy looked back.
What he saw made his stomach turn.
A tide of monstrous creatures surged forward. Each stood half as tall as a man, their bodies lacking faces or limbs, resembling grotesque sea life. They propelled themselves forward with seven or eight twitching tentacles, their "faces" twisted like starfish. Black mist spewed from their maws, while bulbous growths in blue, green, and red mottled their slick hides. Just looking at them made one nauseous.
At the heart of this swarm was a figure in flowing robes, clutching a heavy tome. His body radiated a suffocating aura of sorcery. His face was hidden, arms spread wide as though in reverence to some unseen god.
"Chitter!"
The creatures' tentacles whipped as they sprang forward. The lead monsters screeched and lunged at the rearmost soldiers. Their starfish-like maws yawned open, revealing row upon row of jagged fangs, enough to rend flesh and bone to pulp.
"Stay back!"
The soldiers screamed, pulling their triggers. Gunfire erupted, bullets punching into the monsters' bodies and tearing gory holes. But the creatures didn't falter. They felt no pain, pouncing with the relentless hunger of predators.
"Aaah—!"
A soldier's death seemed inevitable—
Until Roy moved.
In less than a second, he scrawled four or five runes into the air. Flames erupted at once, crashing forward like a tidal wave, engulfing the creatures.
"Run!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers didn't waste a moment on thanks. They bolted forward, terror lending wings to their feet. Looking ahead, they realized only Roy remained with them—the other mages had long since abandoned them to their fate.
Some clenched their teeth bitterly. Others seemed unsurprised. A few looked to Roy with desperate gratitude.
The tentacled horrors shrank from the flames, unwilling to cross. Roy layered rune after rune, raising firewalls that slowed their advance long enough to herd the soldiers safely through the city gates. Not one of them was left behind.
"Hrrmm…"
From afar, the robed mage let out a guttural hum. After lingering for a moment, he turned and departed.
The swarm followed him, tentacles writhing as though escorting him like an honor guard. In moments, they vanished beyond the horizon.
Only then did the defenders on the walls finally let out shaky breaths. Some collapsed where they stood, trembling.
"I thought the walls were going to be breached…""Gods, I thought Fuyuki was finished…""Who was that? To command so many sea demons at once…"
The wall buzzed with voices, soldiers and citizens alike shaken to their core.
Roy caught his breath, his chest heaving. Narrowing his eyes, he gazed at the horizon where the swarm had vanished.
"There wasn't just one massive magical presence. There were five. And one of them… one was more terrifying than the other four combined."
Fuyuki City now faced its greatest crisis since the Cataclysm began.