Chapter 366: Surrounded by Enemies

Mallegory, the capital of the Kingdom of Tsuaobal, was in a state of high alert from the unprecedented prospect of war.

The same Tsuaobal army soldiers were surrounding the city.

It was said that the number of soldiers exceeded 10,000.

“However, isn’t this too exaggerated? If they wanted to prevent people from leaving town, they could just seal the gate.”

The rookie guards said with cold sweat from the top of the outer wall.

He leaned out slightly, saw a siege catapult, and quickly drew back.

He exhaled once to stabilize his breathing.

“Concentrate on your task.”

“I know. Anyway, senpai. Where did all those soldiers come from?”

“It’s the Kingdom’s army. Obviously, they were in the royal capital. See that tent over there?”

The senior guard looked at the luxurious tent set up centered in the rear facing the gate directly.

He made sure to not point at it.

“It seems that His Majesty is inside.”

“Huh? Not only is the Kingdom army here, but even His Majesty is also here just to contain the sick people in the city?”

“The Frenzy curse is just that fearsome.”

The senior guard commented and looked at the other side.

They were still busy responding to the residents at the gate.

That was expected.

Not only the main gate but all the gates were sealed and there was no explanation on the Frenzy curse.

The Frenzy curse could be examined by performing Blood Appraisal.

But there were not many Magic Investigation Researchers capable of conducting Blood Appraisal so they could not appraise every single resident.

And according to the Kingdom army messenger, the Shaman that scattered the Frenzy curse should still be in the city so nobody could leave until that criminal was captured.

“Haa … I don’t care what method is used, I just want it to be over soon. I wanted to go to the doujinshi book sale event but they will all be sold out before I can at this rate.”

“Relax, there’s no way there would still be a book sale in this circumstance. It will be postponed.”

“Seriously? Eh? But why would senpai know that? Ah, now that I think about it, senpai wanted to take leave today since a long time ago, right?”

“Don’t recall such meaningless matters.”

“I see … Hn?”

The rookie guard suddenly looked up.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought I felt a gaze but was it my imagination?”

“A gaze from above? Was it a bird?”

“It was probably my imagination. More importantly, is it still not lunchtime yet?”

The rookie guard commented and sighed.

※※※

I dispelled Hawk Eye because there was a soldier with good sense.

Was there a skill that allows the user to sense gazes?

I didn’t know what kind of conversation they were having but the guard definitely looked up to the sky.

“Ichino-sama, how was it?”

“There are a lot of soldiers on the city walls and their tension was high. The soldiers outside the city even have siege machines like catapults but there weren’t many of them. There were only around 200 cavalry as well. They were positioned to not let anybody slip by as we were told.”

“I see …”

I was gathering information with Carol.

Carol fundamentally gathered information by listening but she could not gather much information on what was going on outside of the city. So that was where my Hawk Eye came into use.

By using the skill that could allow me to see the entire city from the sky, I could gather information that couldn’t be seen from within the city.

It would be suspicious if we stayed near the outer wall for too long so we were walking along the Showa Street.

“Unrest is spreading in the city.”

“But there is not much chaos. I thought a riot would happen.”

“Because there is a dungeon inside the city. The beginner’s dungeon in this city is called the food storage dungeon because there is a lot of food drops.”

“Are there many plant-type monsters?”

“And monsters that drop meat as well. There are also herbivore monsters that eat the plant-type monsters.”

“Herbivore monsters that eat monsters … I guess there’s nothing wrong there. It’s a food chain in the dungeon as well.”

“Humans are at the top of the food chain, just like in nature.”

Carol said with a smile.

Currently, general use of the beginner’s dungeon was prohibited and adventurers and mercenaries hired by the Adventurers Guild and Mercenary Guild gathered food materials there.

After tomorrow, the distribution would start with priority to the residents.

Also, the city didn’t have any issues with garbage because there was a dungeon.

After all, the dungeon would absorb any waste that was placed inside it.

“Haa, let’s wait in town for a while. If it was revealed that all this started because of me, I would be beaten by the peddlers.”

“Ichino-sama wasn’t at fault. More importantly, I am concerned about the quick action of the army.”

“Quick? About a week has passed since the Frenzy curse has been spread.”

“A week is way too fast to prepare 10,000 soldiers. In the first place, 10,000 is way too many.”

“ … Yeah. It is as though they came for war. If they started the song from outside the city, the city would probably surrender.”

“Song … ?”

Carol asked.

The idiom ‘surrounded by enemies on all sides’ could not be translated accurately in this world and I guess song couldn’t convey the proper meaning. (TLN: Surrounded by enemies on all sides = 四面楚歌; 楚歌roughly translate to Chu song)

“It’s something that happened in my world in the past. The king of a country called Chu barricaded himself in a castle and the people surrounding him sang the song of their country. That was when the leaders of that nation realized that the other countries had already surrendered and despaired …”

The moral of the story was that a lack of knowledge would lead to a lack of ability to make a decision.

I think I got it right but I wasn’t certain.

I wonder if Miri’s item bag had world history textbooks?

“I wonder what feelings the people singing experienced.”

“The people singing?”

“Yes. They were singing for the king of their nation to surrender. Did they sing because the enemy country commanded them to or were they singing with the hope that their country’s king would surrender and survive.”

I didn’t have an answer to Carol’s question.