Strategic Meeting

"Sorry about this, Mr. Barrus. Father thought that it was a good idea to have you and your friends here given that you gentlemens have experienced the fight with the monsters."

Brock nodded, "Don't worry, we understand."

Herald nodded in relief and guided Brock, Marcel, and Delirious inside the hall.

Currently, our three idiotic main characters are in the city hall. The Count had convened a meeting with the leaders of the adventurers and hunter parties plus the powerhouses in the city. The meeting was to discuss the strategies to face the monster's wave.

Plus, he also sent messages to other nearby cities for aid not too long ago.

Herald had gone to the three's house in the morning to invite them to the meeting, and none of them did not refuse.

For them, this was a good opportunity to share what they knew about the monsters.

When Brock, Delirious, and Marcel entered the hall, they realized that it was already full. More than a hundred warriors and mages were seated or standing inside the hall. Each one of them sported serious expressions and were looking anxiously in the direction of the city lord.

Especially some demi-humans or beastmens among the group, but rarely so.

The three members of Team 6 were surprised when they observed the people here. They realized that there were another three Legendary Realm experts in this hall besides Count Liam.

One of them was a buff man with a greatsword resting beside him, the other was a refined-looking old man seated in a chair with his eyes closed, and the last one was a mage-like woman standing behind a group of warriors with an ice-cold expression.

Each one of them emitted a sense of pressure that intimidated the people in their surroundings. It was obvious that they were the top people in this city.

When most of the people invited arrived, the Count started his speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are reunited here due to the disaster our city is facing. I think that everybody here knows the gist of the situation, so we will not explain that. Instead, I will focus on defensive strategies."

Count Liam then talked about the plans for the defense, the number of monsters, the logistics during the battle, the distribution of the hunters, and some other things.

But when he reached a certain point, a commotion arose in the hall.

"City lord, are you saying that we are forced to participate in the defensive battle?" An insidious looking man asked. He had a scar in his cheek, and his eyes seemed filled with venom. "Why would we risk our lives in a battle like this?"

"It was an order of the kingdom. If any of the people in the city runs away, the kingdom will brand them as traitors and give them any punishment depending on your actions."

"Hahaha, city lord, stop joking. Many of the people here are not from this kingdom. To be honest, the only reason I'm here is that it's more convenient to hunt in this city. As for risking my life for this city?" He laughed loudly, "Hahahaha, you need more than a threat like that to make me stay. To be honest, I don't care if I'm branded as a criminal. At most, I will leave this country."

Count Liam frowned. He could see that although only the insidious-looking man spoke, many of the warriors and Adventurers in the hall seemed to share the same thought.

In the end, not many people were noble enough to risk their lives to fight a 100 thousand strong army of monsters for a city and people they barely knew.

In the end, he sighed, "I understand. How about this, the city hall will pay double the price of all the spoils you get in this battle. That is enough as a reward, right?"

The insidious-looking adventurer smiled and closed his eyes. It was obvious that he was content with the Count's words.

At that moment, it was the buff looking man, one of the three Legendary Realm experts beside the Count, turn to speak.

"Lord Arcavdol, I heard the kingdom is sending a Demigod here. Do you know how much it will take to arrive here, and what demigod it is?"

The Count shook his head, "Unfortunately, I don't receive information about his or her identity, but he will arrive tonight. Well, no Demigod is weak. I'm sure whoever that demigod is, he will make the battle much easier."

The buff man nodded.

After that, some others asked some questions, and Count Liam replied to them. After half an hour, most of the questions were replied.

"Any other opinion?" The Count asked after replying to the last question.

Nobody raised their hands, so Liam heaved a tired sigh and got ready to put an end to this meeting.

But at that moment, someone spoke.

"I have something to say!"

Everybody turned in the direction of the voice.

Instantly, they saw a dark skinned young man in the middle of the crowd alongside two other men and one Iron Golem. The three look fairly attractive a bit but not that much. All of their faces were very calm, like they seemed like they were experienced.

When the Count saw the young man, he frowned.

"Basically, what is it?"

"City lord, I fear the information you have is wrong."

"Huh?"

"Wrong? What do you mean, young man?" A random female hunter asked.

"The number of enemies is not a hundred thousand, it's over two million... maybe more"

"!!!"

Instantly, a commotion ensued in the hall. Some of the adventurers stood up, while others turned pale. But nobody was able to remain calm after hearing those words.

"And who are you, boy, and why would we believe you?" The old man at the legendary realm looked at Marcel with sharp eyes. "Could it be that you are trying to lower our morale."

Instantly, the pressure of a Legendary Realm expert attacked Marcel.

But who let that happen, Delirious who was beside him. He lazily went forward and instantly blocked the pressure with his new skill as though it was nothing and looked at the old man with a menacing look.

There is no reason to hide some power, so it did not matter if he showed it anyway, at least while they were in this city.

The old man's eyes narrowed. Not only him, but every strong person in the hall looked at the guy with a mask in pale as anybody near it stepped backwards.

The Count furrowed his brows, "Everybody, stop! Mr. Cunningham, can you tell me how you get this information.

Marcel nodded, "Well... you see. We have this artifact that has the ability to allow us to see its perspective and let us see things far, far away from us."

"So it's a surveillance Item." A random adventurer said, not feeling surprised by this statement as surveillance Items, artifacts and spells are kinda common in Fordalt.

Though very expensive, with enough money you can bring it, if not, there are spells and skills you can learn but the most high level surveillance items and spells are hard to achieve, that is why you rarely see someone have these types of things.

Panning back to Marcel, he began to explain, "Yesterday in the morning, I used it to find the approximate number of monsters... And believe me, two million is a conservative estimate."

The capabilities of the drones why Marcel said was the half-truth technically.

The Count was stunned. He fell silent for a moment to consider Marcel's words.

"Can you prove your words, Basically? How do you know if your words about your magic Item is true?"

Marcel looked fixedly at the Count and shrugged, "Why do I need to prove them? You can decide if you want to believe me or not. I don't care."

The Count narrowed his eyes, "I see, you are right. By the way, is there anything else you want to say?"

"None."

"Okay, so... are we ready to-"

"I also have a few words to say."

The Count, the people in the hall especially the three look at the source of the one spoken reveals to be a figure laying in the wall, the shade blocks the person's view that none of the people were able to see. But the only clue the people got was that it is a girl based on her voice.

"Is there something to say, young miss?"

"Yeah, one more thing. Be careful of the black things."

"Black things?" Liam asked.

"Is she talking about black people?" Delirious added.

*Whack!*

Marcel whacks his friend in the back of the head in annoyance.

"Ow!"

"Don't ask me, that's all you should know. I only know that these things are the real culprits behind all of this."

And just like that, the person left the mansion, leaving the people confuse on what her words meant.

———

"Hey, Basically. Were your words true earlier?" Herald asked after the meeting ended.

Marcel looked at him deadpanned and shrugged. "I have no reason to lie about some shit like this."

"That is true. Anyway, thank you for the information. I'll make sure that father takes it seriously."

Marcel nodded and boarded the carriage followed by Delirious and Moo.

"We'll go to make our preparations for tomorrow's battle."

Although Herald wanted to talk with Basically a bit more, he did not have an excuse to keep him behind. Thus, he could only watch him and his friends and the others leave.

As the four were in the carriage in silence, the first one who spoke was Delirious who peeks through the window looking at Herald.

"I highly dislike that hypocrite. How I would like to punch him in the face. At least once, no, twice, wait no, let's add a knuckle bracelet."

Moo agreed, "Me too. But we can't be rash. Punching the Count's son is the same as putting the entire city against us." 

"If you guys want, I can kill them by putting shit ton of blocks of TNTs, grieving them Doomsday style."

Hearing that conversation, Marcel rolled his eyes, "Were supposed to hide most of our equipment. You are not putting effort into it."

"Huhhh??? I was not going to let that old man humiliate us. Besides, the Count, all of the Adventurers and people in that place already heard the surveillance drone you just told about! Even showing more people of our weapons and armor in our previous fights! There is no point in hiding our equipment anymore."

Brock smiled wryly and heaved a sigh, "Anyway you two, I hope they truly pay attention to Marcel's words and don't ignore them. In fact, the ideal would be if they evacuate the city."

"Evacuate the city? So serious?" Delirious is slightly suprise.

"Delirious, do you think this town has the strength to fight against a wave of millions of monsters? Even with a Demigod what they called, they were unable to protect the entirety of the city walls. And once a monster gets inside the city, even a Rank 3 like us, or is it Rank 4?" Moo placed his finger under his chin, thinking before continued, "Nevermind, I mean the number of casualties on the population will be immense, like shooting a flamethrower to an ant's hive."

"Then, the Count..."

"He probably will not evacuate the population."

"I see, but-"

Basically interjects, "There is simply too little time. Besides, if the population evacuates there is the possibility that some people will take the opportunity to desert. The best conclusion is the Count leaving behind a special team to take care of the monsters that break through the defensive line."

In the end, he could only wish for the best.

"I hope not too many people die this time." Moo said.