Volume 6, Chapter 41 – The Defense of Airoll (6)

We had finished dinner, but those two were still standing there chatting.

Just as I was pondering the grave question of whether I should, in fact, pray for them to explode, a panicked voice rang out from outside.

“Saint-sama! Where is Saint-sama?!”

It sounded like they were looking for me. Had there been another critically injured person?

“Fiene-sama.”

“You’re right. I suppose it’s back to the hospital, isn’t it?”

As I started toward the voice, the dining hall doors swung open and a pale-faced knight rushed toward me.

“Saint-sama! You were here! It’s terrible. A massive horde of Undead!”

“Undead?! Why on earth would Undead appear during a Monster Stampede?!”

Chris-san demanded of the knight who had come to fetch me, unable to hide her shock.

“I-I don’t know! But the corpses of the monsters we slew today have become Zombies, and Skeletons and Wraiths are emerging from the depths of the forest! Furthermore, a swarm of Giant Roaches has appeared; it’s only a matter of time before the gates are breached!”

“Ugh! Giant Roaches, you say?!”

Shizuku-san made a face of disgust, which was rare for her.

“Shizuku-san, what are Giant Roaches?”

“Ah, they’re cockroach monsters about 50 centimeters long. Just like ordinary cockroaches, they’ll eat just about anything, which makes them a real nuisance. They often multiply in garbage dumps or unsanitary places, so it is said that simply touching one can make you sick.”

“Eww.”

A 50-centimeter cockroach… just imagining it gave me goosebumps.

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“They are relatively weak as monsters, but their shiny black appearance is repulsive and they appear in vast numbers. They must have come in search of all those monster carcasses.”

Ugh… I’d seriously rather fight a Dragon than deal with those things.

I glanced at Lu-chan and saw she had completely frozen.

She wasn’t moving in the slightest.

“Lu-chan? Lu-chan?”

After I shook her shoulder for a while, she suddenly snapped back to consciousness.

“I HATE COCKROACHES!”

With tears in her eyes, Lu-chan clung to me.

“They’re all black and skittery, and once they got into my foooood—!”

With that scream, Lu-chan buried her face in my modest chest and burst into tears.

Ah… I see. I completely understand why she’s traumatized.

I feel like I couldn’t stand it either.

“Now, now, Lu-chan, it’s okay. I’ll protect you with a Barrier.”

“Uuu, really?”

Lu-chan asked in a muffled voice, still refusing to let go of me.

“Yes. Really. You can leave it to me.”

“Really, really?”

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“Yes. Lu-chan is my cute little sister-figure, after all.”

“Uuu, okay.”

After patting her back to calm her down, I headed toward the battle, though I was completely dreading it. Fortunately, since none of us had changed clothes yet, we could leave immediately.

Sigh, I really don’t want to do this.

When we stepped outside, I could already see whitish, translucent ghosts heading our way.

Apparently, those were the Wraiths, and they had already managed to infiltrate.

“U-aaah, those are! Fi-Fi-Fi-Fiene-sama, h-hurry, the Purification!”

Chris-san urged me to use Purification, though she was visibly trembling. Looking around, it seemed a considerable number had broken through.

“Alright then, for starters… this garrison and the field hospital, Purify!”

I casually cast a burst of Purification Magic, cleansing the Knight Order’s facilities all at once.

“Saint-sama!”

Captain Lazare, having spotted the light, approached us.

“What is the situation? Why have the Undead managed to get inside?”

“T-that is, we were prepared for a Monster Stampede, so we never imagined this many Undead would appear. They are reportedly coming from the forest, but this town has no powerful clerics…”

“I see. So they’ve spread throughout the town, and there might still be some in the forest?”

“Y-yes. That is correct.”

Which means I’m the only one who can handle all of it.

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“Alright, Chris-san, Shizuku-san. I’m going to use up all my MP and purify everything from the town all the way to the nearby forest in one go, so could I ask you to handle the remaining cockroaches?”

“Y-yes.”

“It cannot be helped.”

Both of them wore expressions of clear reluctance. I wanted to avoid splitting the Party as much as possible, but since the ghosts had already infiltrated this far, it couldn’t be helped.

“Um, what about me?”

“Lu-chan, please stay by my side and protect me. Your job is to wake me up if a cockroach comes after me.”

When I said that, her face lit up and she nodded vigorously.

“Alright… here I go.”

I began to visualize the area to be purified.

From here… the entire town. Every building, from the shadows outside to the rooms inside. The sky above too. Then spread farther out… about 500 meters beyond the town. Everything… all at once!

“Purify!”

An intense light erupted from me. The light illuminated the town of Airoll and the forest as brightly as midday.

I could feel the Wraiths wandering throughout the town being purified as though the light itself were swallowing them whole.

“Oooooh.”

“It is just like the time at Tukat.”

“No, Fiene-sama’s power has grown even stronger than then. This should purify all the Undead.”

“Onee-sama…”

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The light of purification spread beyond the city walls, cleansing everything in its path. It seemed there was a massive concentration of them in one spot, but I purified those all together as well.

Even beyond the city walls, I could still feel plenty of responses to the south—especially the southwest.

I stopped focusing on the north, where I could no longer feel any response, and concentrated on the south instead.

“Kh… ugh…”

As I pushed the range even farther and purified one last massive cluster, my MP finally hit rock bottom.

The light vanished abruptly, and silence enveloped the area.

“Onee-sama!”

Having exhausted all my MP, I stumbled, and Lu-chan caught me to support me.

“Fiene-sama, that was magnificent. Please leave the rest to the two of us.”

“Indeed, we shall dispose of the cockroaches.”

Their expressions were a little stiff, considering the enemy was cockroaches, but I decided to leave it to them.

“Yes, please. Once I’ve recovered enough for MP Recovery Medicines to work, I’ll come help.”

The thing is, if you completely drain your MP to absolute zero, MP Recovery Medicines aren’t very effective. If I went with them now, I’d surely just be a hindrance.

Given Lu-chan’s reaction to cockroaches, it would be difficult for her to fight too, so I decided to let the two of them handle it while I rested.

Besides, they were cockroaches. If they bit me, I’d probably end up catching some disease, and there was no guarantee that more Undead wouldn’t show up.

I watched the two of them dash off, then leaned on Lu-chan’s shoulder to return to my room.