CH 61

As we entered the city, we could hear the sounds of metal clashing and shouting from everywhere. The battle was taking place over a large area.

「 It’s hard to know where to go when there’s so much going on. 」

「 Basically, just run around and beat up any undead you see. I’ll follow you. 」

「 Okay 」

We jumped over the wall and entered an industrial area in the northern part of the city. As smoke billowed out of the chimneys, the metallic sounds that just before we could hear from everywhere were now inaudible.

As far as I can see, there’s no damage to the buildings, which is a relief, but I don’t know when the battle will reach this place.

After thinking a bit about which way to go, I decided to head towards the adventurer’s district, from where we could still hear the sound of fighting since a while ago, stepping hard on the cobblestones.

Rikka-chan and I are running normally, but Helvetia just disappears for a moment every time she raises her foot, and then lands after gaining some distance.

The way she moves, disappearing and reappearing in quick succession, is cool and sneaky.

On the way to the adventurer’s district, I encountered undead several times, but I was able to knock them out with one punch the moment they attacked.1

When I reached the gate, the adventurers were fighting the undead, although they were confused by the tremendous thunder.

I looked at the gate from the outside, black clouds were covering the sky above the capital, but neither the thunder nor the rain fell beyond the gate and only shot through the undead swarming outside.

「 Damn, when is this thunder going to end, am I getting crazy? 」

「 I think it’s an ally’s large-scale magic because it’s not falling on us, but…… there’s no one in this group that can use such great magic, so I wonder what’s going on. 」

「 Felicy! 」

Felicy replied to the mutterings of a male adventurer covered in scars all over his body, and as I approach her with my hand raised, Felicy came running to me with a smile on her face.

「 Toto-chan! Eh, Toto… chan? 」

As she approached us, Felicy looked at Helvetia and tilted her head to the side. There’s two of me, I guess that’s a natural reaction.

「 I am not called Toto. Call this one Helvetia. 」

Helvetia spoke up, folding her arms across her chest in a pompous manner, but of course Felicy’s confusion didn’t clear.

「 Uh, umm. Twins? 」

「 It’s a long story. We don’t have the time for that now. 」

Rikka-chan looks at Felicy who nods her head, confirming that she doesn’t understand but it’s definitely not the right time to talk about it.

「 I’d like to introduce you to my childhood friend, Rikka-chan. 」

「 Please to meet you 」

「 I’m Felicy, nice to meet you too, Rikka-chan. 」

「 Yes 」

When I walked behind Rikka to tell her, she only bowed a little and seemed to be as distant as she was with Helvetia.

I guess it’s because I only know Rikka-chan, who’s always talking about me. There were no other children close to my age in the village, so I guess she’s a little too cautious.

Thinking back, the first time I met her she was hiding behind Barbara-san, so I guess she’s shy by nature.

「 So, Felicy, what’s going on here? 」

「Ah, you see 」

It seems that the undead attacked at midnight on the day I left, and since there were so many of them, they were initially fighting a defensive battle, sniping from above the gate with bows and long range magic.

The fact that the raids started on the day I left means that Idry might have been hired by Marius, considering that he had used a tele-stone to contact someone just before I left, that he had taken a course that would buy him time, and that he had said that he hadn’t been tasked to do anything.

I’m not sure what to make of this.

The original instructions probably said they were planning to bring a girl with undead eyes named Toto as a follower of the nobleman. Then to use the tele-stone before leaving the capital, and to take the long way around, as they have a lot of preparations to make. I guess that’s about it.

However, if you think about it, Count Revenant, who sent the perfectly marked letter, was definitely an accomplice of Marius.

If Rikka-chan hadn’t come along when I was facing the Giant, I would have been in a lot of trouble.

They also launched an attack on the royal capital at the same time, and they seem to be thinking that if they can take it down before anyone knows about the connection, that’s all that matters.

Even if the capital had been subdued, if I had been killed by the giant, they could have just said that I had died in the middle of a request.

I digress, but it seems that Virgilio-san, Ars-san, and some other A-rank adventurers are fighting alongside everyone here, and they also told me that a pair of people, a short-haired two-handed swordsmen and a rather scary priest-like man are very strong, but I wonder if they mean Zambara-san and Hano-san. I wonder when they came back.

Felicy, Letty and Kanna are in a three-person rotation, and one by one, they’re taking a break to check on each other.

Also, it seems that the undead have invaded the commoners’ town, and the knights have been ordered to immediately use the halls of the royal castle as a refuge and guide the residents there.

Marius is missing, and I wonder if she didn’t come here in that carriage.

The easiest scenario would be that she got involved in Helvetia’s great magic and that defeated her, but I wonder if that would be counterproductive because we wouldn’t be able to confirm that she was safe.

「 This place looks fine, Toto. Let’s go check out the Commoners’ District. 」

「 Nn, alright 」

After Felicy finished, Helvetia said that while looking at the large number of adventurers that were overwhelming the undead horde.

It looks like Ars-san is doing a good job of allocating forces, making it much easier to fight. He may have been doing this for a long time, but he’s been shouting and pointing out instructions for a while now.

「 Okay, I’m going to go check on the Commoners’ District. Good luck. 」

「 Yeah, the knights went there to evacuate the residents, so I think there are a lot of knights there, but sometimes strong undead show up, so be careful, Toto-chan! 」

「 Nn, thank you 」

I waved goodbye to Felicy and ran to the Commoners’ District. The undead were still attacking me, but I beat them mercilessly.

After the long boulevard, we reach the Commoners’ District, but the familiar streets and alleyways lined with single-family houses are stained with undead corpses and blood, making me feel as if I’ve come to a different place.

Felicy had said that the Knights had come this way, but I couldn’t see any Knights, and it was awfully quiet.

「 Kuh! 」

「 Wah 」

As I was walking down the alleyway, I saw a fallen member of the Order out of the corner of my eye, and my heart jumped and Rikka-chan let out a small cry of surprise at the same time.

Helvetia, who stepped forward quickly, saw the member and cast a recovery spell.

「 Broken bones, but he’s alive. If he was left in this state, this could be bad. Toto, pick up the pace. Let’s run. 」

「 Got it 」

The sound I hear is not so far away, but…….

Dripping with cold sweat from a bad feeling, I started running to the source of the sound.