the attack start

While the men hadn't seen him, Josh knows that the stranger, no Alex, could run fast enough to be far from here by the time the horde strike. He didn't know how much he would help, but Josh was at least grateful that he stay back to give the settlement a chance.

Josh had been rapidly disillusioned of the life of an adventurer after arriving at Orario. Most of them are the dreg of the society, more brawn than brain, and violent bunch unable to settle and live a peaceful life properly.

Sure it was only accurate for most of the level 1 and 2, as they would often die facing more than they can chew, or promote higher. But those were the only who could help. Past level 3, the adventurers are the backbone of the Familia, and no gods would willingly send their children clear the suburb of danger, it wasn't worth it.

Like any children hearing the courageous stories of his parent, Josh had once a time, Dreamed to become an Adventurer, only to be violently wakened. Without any other choice, he had finally enlisted into the Guard corps, a branch of the guild created to keep the lands outside Orario relatively peaceful, or warn them when hordes gather.

This turned out to be the best decision of his life. Not only he had a relatively more comfortable life and better income than his farmer of parents, but he was also always near them, able to keep an eye on them.

Under thirty, all men in the settlement worked as guards, while the older turned into the farmer further south to provide to the settlement. Since the founding of the place, this system had been in place, forty years before, and until then working rather well.

All know that the system was flawed, as if all guards were to die, no men would be up to take the fields from their father, but most of the time, the lack of guard would signify that the settlements were destructed, so the question never arose.

~~~

Josh had been a guard for five years now. Enlisted at fifteen, two years of training with simple education, he returned to Tiris at seventeen and then a guarded the walls and forest every day.

It was a tedious and thankless job, but he would never exchange it for dungeon diving, not after learning of the job's death rate and cruelty. Dungeon diving was a real cut-throat for level 1 and level 2. Not only because of the monster, but other adventurers who were ready to do everything for a quick Valis.

It was an unspoken rule that murder was an everyday thing underground, but the guild could not act there, as the dungeon would swallow bodies under an hour. The other reason was that new adventurers have difficulty gathering income without a strong Familia backing you. Goblins were worthless and robust, like any starting monster. One would need to kill hundreds daily to gather sufficiently only to eat, less pass a night comfortably.

It not that goblins were lacking in Orario, the caves they live in were full of them, but the numbers of adventurers were equally large. One would need to go deeper, and those part were uncharted and dangerous.

Yes, Josh was relatively happy with his boring life, it means that each passing day blesses him with the occasion of seeing his parent and take care of them. As Tiris was a small settlement, the inhabitants took care of each other.

~~~

This is why the words of Alex surprised him. Very few outsides of the settlement would be willing to risks their life to defend a place surely condemned. That Alex was a therianthrope was an even greater shock; the race is known to not care for other than those of their races.

He also knows some tidbits of information from the animal race. All were stronger than average men, the carnivorous one even more so. Seeing one in his teen was telling him that he could be the strongest in the settlement. He also know that he wasn't an adventurer, other than his evident lack of knowledge, no Familia would let him roam the land and risk his life foolishly.

This, for the simple reason that therianthropes were among those with the most potential. Correctly nurtured, a therianthrope would quickly become a level 3 or even 4 under a few years. No, Alex seems to have never put a foot inside Orario; otherwise, he would have been spot en enrolled rapidly, even if he was starting to be a little old.

~~~

Snapping out of his daydreaming, Josh apologised.

"We are a small settlement; the guild provides all our weapons, we are short on them. While we have bows, we lack bowstring, as it easier to carve a bow than create a bowstring, this is out of our skill set."

"If it a question of bowstrings, I was able to retrieve five from the outpost." Said Alex, while emptying the quiver, retrieving the bowstrings inside.

When they heard and saw the bowstring, the guards' mood rose significantly. While none all of them were good archers, they can correctly aim at a target twenty metre far. The addition of those bowstrings would ensure that everyone on the wall had a bow in working condition. It wouldn't help much, but the additional bows would go far to reduce the horde number.

"Bob, Mark, go prepare the bows and arrows. Everyone else is to eat and ready your weapons! Keep an eye on the forest, if the horde arrives before the teams of the outpost, close the gate!" Shooted Josh, making everyone scamper to their posts. "Came with me, it would poorly reflect on us to leave you to starve before a fight."

Alex was pleasantly surprised but didn't refuse. While he wouldn't eat his fill, and food was welcome after skipping breakfast and running all the way here.

~~~

Rapidly eating, Alex exit the mess and looked through the settlement. Walking to the pounding and grinding sound that attracted his attention, he rapidly found the forge. There, a man busily looked after their weapons, sharpening swords and spears head, before going over large stock arrows.

Nearing the forge, he briefly looked over the still burning heath, before spotting the blacksmith. The already in his fifty was one of the only men that didn't work in the fields. While the settlement did not need his service frequently, the guards do, to make sure their weapons were in good shape.

Seeing that he caught the man gaze, he asked.

"Can I use the smithy? I'm not good with hatchets, better with knives."

Were it was another time, the man wouldn't have even allowed the young near the fire, but this wasn't, so he let it.

"Don't burn yourself; we need all hands possible to fend-off the fucking goblins." Shouted him gruffly, before returning to the arrow he had in hand.

Alex didn't lose time, approaching the fire without protection, not needing them; he retrieved two hatchets. Pulling out the handle, he threw the head in the fire, before pumping on the bellows. Feeding coals, the hatchets head colour dangerously turn red, and gradually brighten, until nearing their melting point.

He felt the temperature rapidly increase, and the blacksmith nearly shouted at Alex, but shut up when he sees the ease he had playing with the block of iron. It was clear that the boy had more experience with smithing than himself and it baffled him, as he had already a good forty years of experience!

~~~

Not paying attention to the surrounding look, Alex caught the hot-red heads with the tongs, Depositing them on the anvil, he lightly sniffed the blocks, before frowning.

'Did they use the cheapest iron to craft them?'

-Possible, those seem to be somewhat mass-forged, I doubt that this guild had enough fund to arms small settlement with top refined weapons.-

Nodding at CS, he threw the third head in the coal, before returning to the two he had. Bringing his hand just above them, he spread his craft magic to them. Feeling it sink in, he was momently surprised that, in their state, he wouldn't need to spend much to extract the impurities, nor shape them.

Refining them further, he turned the two blocks in two long rectangles. Retrieving the third, he refined it too, before reheating them.

Catching a lump of coal, he crushed it bare-hand, retrieving the pure carbon inside. Using his craft magic as a layer above the metal, depriving them of air, he spread a carbon layer on. Without air, the carbon couldn't burn and was slowly mixed with the iron, turning it in steel. After several minutes of folding, blending, layering and re-heating, the trashy iron-made hatchets heads turned into highly refined steel.

Heating the blocks, Alex separated them in two, while morphed into their blade shapes. Alex was thankful to found a small oil tank to quench the blades. Done, he carefully examined them, feeling the composition, taste and touch, he nodded.

~~~

Behind him, the smith had stopped task, looking with wide eyes at the created six knives blades without tool other than pliers.

'To think that I would witness magic smithing. No wonder the boy knows more than me, he only took half an hour to create a work that would take me three to four hours, each.'

Having his back turned to him, he didn't witness most of the process but understood that what happened wasn't realisable by the common men.

Alex used the handles' wood to craft the ones of the knives. Shaping an Evans head on the guards, he admired the twenty-five-centimetre long single-edged blade. Straight on the first two-third, before slightly incurving inward and finish on an elongated tip, the edge had a smooth light grey colour.

Using a whetstone, he sharpens each of the edges, before sealing the blades. As Alex pass the man on his way out, his arm was lightly gripped by the man.

"You will want to hide this craft of you, son. Gods are greedy, and men easily jealous. Should it be known, your future isn't bright. We're a small place here, and if we survive, came back." Warned him, before offering to share his forge.

Smiling at the man, Alex nodded his thank. Left with an hour, he returned to the walls to prepare himself.

~~~

In the following hour, the settlement buzzed with activity. After being warned, every inhabitant packed, before absconding themselves in their house, reinforcing doors and windows as much as possible.

Contrary to what Alex through, they didn't panic, but all showed helpless expressions and resignation, knowing that they could die before the end of the day. Before the two-hour time limit rings, three groups appear from the forest and another from the plains. He could see the horses packed like mules even from a distance, carrying an extensive array of weapons and shields.

The horses were promptly discharged from their burdens and weapons brought to the walls. This was one of the goods news, other than the outpost Alex saw, the goblins hadn't raided others, and the totality of the weapons brought here.

The bad news was this attack was indeed a horde. The riders had barely enough time to warn and help the teams charge the weapons that the goblin assaulted the outposts. When they learn that at least an equal number of goblins had attacked the outpost, worry had rapidly spread, since none had yet to spot the hob-goblin, meaning that they were possibly another fifth hidden force marching on them.

The total number of assaulting horde was staggering. At least six hundred goblins and fifty variants were accounted for, this even without the force surrounds the Hob-goblin. Left with very little time, the men rapidly go through the weapons maintenance to be sure everything was ready to be used.

Set of arrows were rapidly divided throughout the men, leaving each with near a hundred per men. There were few chances that they would even use half, but as their survival was peril, nothing was spared.

On Josh order, after he was made aware that Alex was more than average with a bow, another two hundred was allowed, from his initial ninety. All know of the strength of a therianthrope, and with him, a bow would make some kills before they start. All the three teams from the forest were grateful for Alex's warning as it saved their lives and allowed them to return to the settlement in time to help.

"Dips your fletching, they will be here shortly." Order Josh, while passing Alex a small pouch with a flat tip. "All guard has a personal code they put on their arrows. This allows them to reclaim their spoil once the fight end. You are the only one with this shade of blue, so make what you want." Say him curtly, before returning to his portion of the wall.

Following the men's example to his sides, Alex simply paints one of every fletching on his arrows. As all were white, it would be easy to differentiate between them all.

~~~

Done with is preparation, Alex stood, guarding the wall. The two-hour deadline was cross for a few minutes now, and anxiety hadn't stopped to rise since then. All possible preparations were made, and everything now would depend on their ability to defend the stronghold.

Alex's nose twitched slightly when the breeze shifted. All the hair on his body stood as the specific odour register.

"Incoming!"

The yell surprised all the guards and inhabitant before it snaps in their mind. All guards instinctively gripped their hold on bow thither, an arrow already resing on the bowstring. A minute after the yell, all heard the sound of snapping branches and stomping; the horde had come.