73 Episode 72 Forests and Abuses

I use my magic to blow away the nearest enemies, and start treating the adventurers, starting with those who seem to be seriously injured.

I want to save medicine as much as possible, so I'm going to treat them manually with magic.

Are you okay?

Oh, yeah. ...... Thank you. Who are you, anyway?

I'm a reinforcement from the Photoren Guild. My name is Kaede.

I'm from the Photoren Guild. My name is Kaede. ...... You're one of the adventurers who fought in the Decibatore?

Yes, I am. I've finished healing you, so can you help me defend the gate?　I'm going to go kill some demons.

Judging from the battle we just fought, I don't think we'll be able to add to our strength by fighting with the adventurers here.

I'll go kill some demons.

We'd love to join you, but we'd only be slowing you down. Sorry, but please.

The adventurers seemed to understand this, and left the outside to me.

Got it.

After watching the adventurers begin to move, I jumped up to a suitable height and began to fight the demon.

However, the battle itself is quite simple.

First of all, the demons are weak, and in the vicinity of the Decibatore, they can be used as a check, or if they are not, they can be killed easily by attacks that are not even a check.

The only annoying thing is the number of them, but even then, it's only about the level of Decibatore.

This can't even be called combat, it's just work.

As expected, the work of clearing out the demons that had accumulated in the city and elsewhere was done in less than half an hour by simply scattering small rock spears, being careful not to misfire.

As for the outside of the city, I went around the walls and rained down rock spears on them.

With this much reduction, the adventurers should be able to deal with them for the time being.

I'm worried about the demons coming out of the forest, so I'll ask the guild what to do.

We've already crushed most of the ones that gathered outside, so can we ask you to continue defending the area?　I'm out of time, so I'll go to the guild and see what they have to say.

As a result, the adventurers who had originally defended the town were now in a situation where it didn't make much difference whether they were there or not, but there was nothing we could do about it.

There are demons in the city, and we can't afford to slow down to match the pace of the normal adventurers.

Besides, it seemed that the attack was not limited to this city, so if it was going to be quick, it had to be quick.

When I entered the guild, the receptionist from earlier was still there, so I reported to her.

We've defeated most of the monsters in the city, and enough of the ones outside that we can defend ourselves for the time being with the strength we have here. But there are still demons coming out of the forest, what should we do?

I'm not sure what to do.　...... I'm afraid I can't judge, I'll go ask the branch manager.

The receptionist then retreated to the back.

Not long after, the receptionist came out with an old man.

From the flow of the conversation, I guessed it was the branch manager, but unlike the other guilds, he didn't seem to be able to fight at all.

He seems like a nice guy, though.

"Oh, I'm the head of the Forchma guild. Is the city safe?

"It's fine for now. But with the new demons coming out of the forest, the city's strength will be ......

Will it be tough without you?

Yes.

It's not as if you can just leave some restorative medicine behind.

"Even so, I can't keep you here indefinitely. We've got other cities to deal with.

There's been a string of attacks. ......

It would be nice if we could destroy the forest, but that's impossible under the current circumstances and in such a short time. The only thing we can do is to hope that we can get adventurers of D rank or higher from other towns, which is probably impossible.

Is it okay to destroy the forest?　It would be easier if we just set it on fire or something.

If I could do that, I would have done it already. But trees don't burn unless they're left alone for a while after they're cut down.

Is that so?

If you use firewood, you can start a fire, but you can't expect it to spread, so it's better to cut it down.

I didn't know that.

Apparently, there was no need to worry about forest fires when using fire magic.

"Is it safe to erase the forest?

It's common knowledge that demons come out of the forest.

As far as the mountains of Herrera are concerned, it should not be so difficult to cut them down, unlike the demon realm.

The fact that the forest has been left untouched in spite of this means that it needs to be left untouched for some reason.

It will affect the harvest of crops from next year. But it's better than having the whole city destroyed right now, if that's possible.

I could crush it with my magic if I wanted to, but if we're not in such a hurry, why don't I just stay here until the other reinforcements arrive?

"...... That's impossible. The guilds in the nearby towns can't afford to send adventurers.

What about the reinforcements from Fotolen?　It'll probably be a few days before anyone but me arrives.

It seems that Photoren has sent a lot more reinforcements than just me.

It will take some time, but I wouldn't be surprised if they come to this city.

I'm also prioritizing my city. I'd like to prioritize the city I'm in as well, but you're a C-ranked player with the greatest strength, and I can't keep you in this city alone forever.

C-rank is the most powerful?

I'm not sure what to do.

I'm not sure what to do.

"If you can, please. Are you sure about your magic power?

I can afford it. Then let's get going.

You can't lose magic.

Yeah, just take it easy and hurry up.

All right. I'm off.

After we left the guild, we gained altitude and saw the forest.

I wanted to see if there were any people, so I approached the forest, but there were demons everywhere, and it didn't look like there were any people.

I have an explosive spell on standby, along with a magic armor to use in case something happens, so I just need to use it.

I haven't tried it in an ordinary forest though.

I'll need to adjust the power, but the trees in Desibatore are strong, and I'll probably only need half the power of a normal tree.

So I released it with about half the density of the Decibatore.

A moment after it landed, the spell blew the trees away with an explosion, sending pieces of wood and tree trunks high into the sky.

Clearly overkill.

...... In the first place, it was a mistake to equate trees that could not be cut down at a decent speed without bringing out a magic sword with ordinary trees that grow everywhere.

Having reflected on my mistake, I lowered the power to about one-tenth that of the Decibatore and tried again.

The sound was still the same, but the trees were still living, just jumping around a little.

It seems to have worked.

It may have been a little too strong, but I figured it was better than having leftovers, so I went with it.

If you go straight from the city to the depths of the forest and spread out your explosion magic, the forest will break up a little further on.

The forest seems to end here.

It's so easy that it's a bit of a letdown, but there's nothing wrong with finishing early.

When I returned to the guild, the branch manager was still near the counter, so I reported directly to him.

It seems that the safety of the city has not yet been confirmed, and the evacuees are staying in the guild.

We've blown up most of the nearby forest, sir. I don't think they'll be coming out of the woods any time soon.

"Shall we go to ......?　Isn't that too soon?

That's about right. It's a much softer tree than the Desibatore and it's not as big.

I don't care how many wizards from Desibatore you are, it's still not right. ......

Technology advances, you know. Thanks to this, we were able to push the battle line back to Brokens.

In fact, it was mostly magic and INT.

"...... is a world I can't imagine. I'm not really familiar with Decibatore, so if you're from there and you say so, I guess you're right.

"That's right. By the way, what should I do next?

Move to another city?

If this city is safe, ...... I can't say for sure because I don't know what's going on, but Forthema is probably the most dangerous. You'll have to go there tomorrow, and we'll get you a place to stay for the day.

I'm not sure what to do.　Are you sure you want to sleep?

It's nighttime. You can't move around. Besides, even adventurers need to rest.

That's funny. ......

Most adventurers I know would stay up and fight for at least a few days if there was an emergency.

They can cover a half-day's distance on foot in about two hours, and they can run through a forest at night as well.

That's what an adventurer is.

By Decibatore standards.

"No, I'm fine. These nights are much safer than Desibatore's days, and I'm not so tired that I need to sleep yet.

If you're young, but still a Desibatore adventurer, you're still a monster. ...... If your magic is good, I'd like you to move now.

I'm not a monster.

If I had been on Earth and seen me now, I probably would have felt the same way.

"All right. Which way do you want me to go?

"Go straight left out of the guild and you'll see a gate. The door is closed. ...... Shall I have someone take the key and show you the way?

"No, I can jump over the gate. Is it straight out of the gate?

Yeah, go straight down that road and the first thing you'll see is a forte.

Okay, I'll go now.

We leave the guild again, this time going out the gate.

I'm busy, but the city is dying even while I'm taking my time.

I'm not in the mood to rest.

I flew along the road, but the distance of half a day on foot was much closer than I expected.

I think it took less than ten minutes.

The town of Fortamer is similar to that of Fortima.

I took a quick look around ...... and found that the situation was much the same as in Forcima.

It seems that demons have entered the city, but the places where people are holed up are probably safe.

I guess the reason I was sent to Forcima in the first place was because of the urgency of the situation, but it might have been dangerous if I hadn't been asleep.

When I went to the guild, they asked me to do the same thing as in Forcima, so I just dealt with it.

The quality of the adventurers was much the same as in Forthema, and the demons were similar.

In the end, I ended up blowing up the forest, and they were worried about my magic power.

I wonder if there's a manual for this, as they recommended lodging and treated me like a monster.

My work here was over in about two and a half hours, and I took off for the next city.

At this rate, I'll be saving nearly ten cities a day.

Incidentally, the next city is called Fortate.

That's confusing.