Volume 5, Chapter 19 – Strategy Meeting

“Saint-sama! Welcome to Chi Tien. I am Yan Lu, the Governor entrusted with overseeing this city. I offer my deepest gratitude for granting blessings and miracles to my soldiers, and for saving the people of Chi Tien with your power.”

The man greeting me was a rather plump middle-aged man, roughly forty to fifty years old, and he was bowing repeatedly before me.

“Not at all, Governor-sama. This is just my job, after all. I only did what anyone would have done.”

“To consider saving the people a mere expectation… as expected of Saint-sama!”

“Well, I can’t exactly accept rewards without doing the work first, after all.”

“Eh? Rewards?”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

Now, I had asked Yihua-san to arrange a strategy meeting and a discussion with the Governor, but this is how it turned out.

Do the people of this country think we live on dew or something?

Perhaps His Majesty the Emperor, who explicitly mentioned rewarding me, is the most sane person here.

By the way, the only ones participating in this meeting were Chris-san, Shizuku-san, and I; Lu-chan had been lured away to the cafeteria by the smell of food.

To be fair, Lu-chan rarely speaks up in these kinds of meetings anyway, so perhaps it wasn’t necessary for everyone to attend.

“ Ahem . More importantly, Governor-sama, please tell me about the current situation.”

“Y-yes! Saint-sama. As for the current state of affairs, this is the first time those monsters have advanced as far as Chi Tien. Had your arrival been delayed, I cannot imagine the extent of the damage… I, Yan Lu, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Ah… yes.”

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And the bowing started again.

We weren’t getting anywhere like this. I wish he’d stop and just move on.

For the record, the town of Chi Tien is a fortified city, surrounded by high, sturdy walls.

So I couldn’t imagine it being infiltrated as easily as Fu Yie Village, and I didn’t think the damage could have been that severe.

“So, what is the situation outside of Chi Tien?”

I asked a question to push the conversation forward and force him to stop bowing.

“Yes. The monsters began appearing on the road crossing the Fanlin Mountains around early April of this year. We dispatched a subjugation force, but they were unable to kill those monsters clad in black mist, and we immediately requested reinforcements from the capital. However, the situation has not improved at all, leading us to this day.”

I see. Since it’s now mid-July, that road has been unusable for nearly three months.

“Was everything alright in Jinsha?”

“Yes. I understand a similar situation occurred in Jinsha. However, Jinsha stores many weapons that were granted blessings by Saint-sama, and it was discovered that those weapons could defeat the monsters. Upon learning this, His Majesty the Emperor assured us that he would make arrangements whenever Saint-sama passed through.”

The Governor wore a grave expression. Even if it’s a grueling mountain pass, having a trade route severed must be a serious matter.

“Ah, come to think of it, I did mass-produce weapons with a Purification Encha—err, a Blessing, to counter Vampires.”

“As I thought. We were given a few swords, but we were told that no more could be spared, as they were needed for the town’s defense and to secure the roads.”

“I see. I thought I’d made quite a lot. But in terms of protecting the town of Jinsha, I can’t blame the mayor for that decision.”

“Yes. That is exactly as you say.”

“So, is Fu Yie Village safe?”

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“Regarding that… the road to our town has been unusable for quite some time, and we have heard from Jinsha that the road to their city has also become impassable. Therefore, I believe they are currently completely isolated.”

Hmm, isn’t that a pretty big problem?

“Roughly how many Undying Beasts—err, monsters clad in black mist—are there?”

“That, I cannot say for certain. There are simply so many. It seems there are enough that if one steps into the forest, they will be attacked within an hour.”

“I see. Which means there are about as many as there were on the side path from Fu Yie Village to Jinsha.”

“Eh? Saint-sama, do you perhaps know of these monsters?”

“Yes. We took care of the monsters that first attacked Fu Yie Village.”

“Then why…?”

“I offered to investigate at the time, but the village chief turned me down. Besides, we had other business then, and I never imagined things would turn out like this.”

“I… see…”

However, if the situation has spread this far, it’s serious.

Logically, Fu Yie Village couldn’t have come through this unscathed.

No matter how many axes and hoes I enchanted with Purification Magic, they probably don’t have many people capable of fighting.

Moreover, with the quality of iron they use, the Purification should only trigger a few times at most.

Still, why did it spread over such a wide area?

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“I wonder why this happened…?”

Hearing my monologue, Shizuku-san calmly offered her opinion.

“There are several possible causes, but I believe the most likely is that the number of those beasts is increasing.”

“Increasing?”

“Indeed. I suspect that for some reason, the population of those beasts exploded, and they overflowed and descended upon human settlements.”

“I see.”

Then Chris-san raised a question.

“Couldn’t it be that they’re being driven out by some other, more powerful entity? Also, I felt something in those beasts’ eyes—a hatred toward us, or rather, something bordering on madness. Is it possible they are intentionally targeting places where humans are?”

“That is a possibility. However, I believe the former is unlikely. For something to drive those beasts away, it would have to be capable of killing them. Logically, the probability of that is low.”

“True, that’s a fair point.”

“The latter is certainly possible. It is possible, but compared to the case where they are increasing in number, it would be easier to deal with. Therefore, would it not be better to act based on the worst-case assumption?”

“I see. That’s true.”

Oh, as expected of Shizuku-san. She’s as smart as her calculations are fast!

“I think Shizuku-san’s reasoning is sound. Governor-sama, what do you think?”

“Haha! I believe everything is exactly as Saint-sama’s attendant says. So, what should we do?”

Eh? You’re just dumping it all on us?

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“Um, well, assuming the number of beasts is increasing, we need to find the cause. I doubt they’re just reproducing normally and raising their young.”

“True…”

“Fiene-sama, I think it would be best to first secure the road to Fu Yie Village. That village was the first to be attacked by those Undying Beasts. It wouldn’t be strange to think there’s something nearby.”

“True, that makes sense.”

“Furthermore, if we can secure the road, we can greatly lower the difficulty of the mountain hunt. The standard procedure would be to first secure the road and a base of operations, then gradually expand the area where we can conduct tactical operations.”

I see. So that’s how it’s done. As expected of Chris-san; she was, after all, a former Vice Commander of some Knight Order unit.

“Then, the first step is to give the town’s weapons a Purification Encha—err, a Blessing, so the soldiers can fight. Then, the soldiers of Chi Tien will secure the road while conducting the mountain hunt. Meanwhile, we’ll go to Fu Yie Village with the General to investigate the cause of the mass outbreak. How does that sound?”

“I think that is good.”

“I agree as well.”

“Hahaha! As you wish. Truly, you are amazing, Saint-sama!”

The Governor is a total yes-man. Is it really okay for him to act this far based on the opinion of someone like me, who isn’t a military expert?

“Then, once I’ve had lunch, I’ll start the work of granting blessings. Oh, and of course, the payment can be settled at a later date.”

“Eh?”

Leaving the frozen Governor behind, we headed for the cafeteria where Lu-chan was waiting.