Defending the Walls of Lasta Castle

The manami, or demon wave. It was a phenomenon of monsters

appearing en masse from the Demon Lord's Domain and moving south.

The second year after Souma assumed the throne, the 1,547th year of the

Continental Calendar, was the year that the third demon wave after the

Demon Lord's Domain's appearance broke out.

In cases where monsters overflowed from a dungeon, even if those

monsters formed groups, there were, at most, several dozens of them. But in

the case of a demon wave, over 10,000 monsters would suddenly invade the

nations of mankind.

Naturally, unlike when they emerged from a narrow dungeon, the

monsters would be scattered across the border as they invaded, so there

would be fewer monsters on any given battlefield, and the pressure put on

defenses would vary from place to place, depending on the monsters'

weakness or strength.

However, if thousands of powerful monsters invaded at once, a small

country would be mercilessly trampled underfoot, and a medium-sized

country would likely face an existential crisis.

One of the locations seeing heavy fighting in this year's demon wave

was the Kingdom of Lastania on the northwest edge of the collection of

small- to medium-sized countries known as the Union of Eastern Nations.

This country had a population of under 20,000 and a force of merely 500

career soldiers, but a swarm of over 5,000 monsters was now bearing down

on it.

Most of them were lizardmen, which had lizard heads and scaly upper

bodies that were humanoid, but their legs more in line with a small beast.

(If one were to compare them to a dinosaur from Souma's world, the closest

would be a deinonychus.) Their name may be lizardmen, but their actions

were purely bestial in nature, and there was no sign of the high intelligence

said to be possessed by the demons.

There were also countless chimeras lurking around near the lizardmen.

The number of these monsters was more than the Kingdom of Lastania

could handle alone, but both the Union of Eastern Nations they belonged to

and the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom they were allied with were being

affected by the demon wave and were too busy attending to their own

problems to be able to send help.

So, in response to this situation, the Kingdom of Lastania gathered the

people who had been unable to escape southward in time to the country's

sole walled city, Lasta, and settled in for a siege.

Unfortunately, the Kingdom of Lastania only had a regular army of

around 500 men, and even with another fifty volunteer soldiers, they still

had fewer than 600 men in total. These weren't numbers that could repel

over 5,000 monsters.

To make up for that, they conscripted 3,000 combat-capable men from

the 10,000 citizens they had taken in and assigned them to guard the castle

walls. This brought the number of defenders up to 3,500, but most of them

were ordinary people. A common person couldn't take on even a weak

monster alone, so it was fair to call their situation desperate.

But the Kingdom of Lastania was still doing a good job of holding out.

—Noon of the 15th day, 10th month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar

—On the walls of Lasta— "Archers, take aim! There's no need to target

distant enemies on the ground! Focus fire on those climbing the walls and

be sure to hit them!"

Julius was giving commands at the southern gate of the walls as they

were attacked by lizardmen.

Julius was a visiting general in this country, but no one in this land was a

more experienced commander than him, so he had temporarily been given

total control over the forces of Lastania.

Before Julius's eyes, he could see soldiers focused on the enemies that

had approached the gate. They had arrows nocked and turned toward the

gate that must not fall.

Julius hurriedly shouted at them. "You fools! Focus on the enemy in

front of you!"

"No, but if the gate were to fall..." one of the soldiers began objecting.

"Uwah?!"

His legs gave out as a lizardman poked its head through the arrow slit in

front of him. It had climbed up the wall.

The lizardman stood before the soldier, who was too shocked to regain

his footing. It flicked its lizard tongue and opened its mouth wide to feed on

the soldier.

"Eek!" The soldier raised his arms to cover his face in abject terror.

In the next instant, the dull sound of something piercing flesh reached

the soldier's ears. However, the man didn't feel any pain, so he hesitantly

dropped his arms.

There was a single saber piercing the lizardman through the mouth.

"...I warned you," Julius said.

It was his saber piercing the lizardman.

Julius pushed the lizardman against the edge of the wall along with his

saber. Then, kicking it in the torso, he sent it over while tearing his saber

free. The dead lizardman's body fell straight down the outside of the wall.

Eventually, realizing he had been saved, the soldier looked up to Julius.

"Th-Thank you so much!"

"...Hmph." Julius swung his saber, flinging the lizardman's blood from

it, then raised his voice once more. "Listen! The enemy is not fighting a

siege! The ones surrounding this castle don't have the intellect to enter a

house through the front door to begin with! They try to climb both the walls

and the gate! That's why you should all focus on the enemy in front of

you!"

"""Yes, sir!"""

Impressed by their commander's show of bravery, the soldiers' morale

went up just a little.

The soldiers fired on the lizardmen as they tried climbing the walls and

knocked them down with thrusts of their spears. The sight gave Julius a

moment of relief, but he continued shouting.

"That's the way! Don't let up on guarding the anti-air repeating bolt

throwers on the corners of the walls! If they're destroyed, fliers will be able

to cross the walls and attack those behind us!"

He was referring to those warped chimera monsters that wandered

around within the pack of lizardmen. These monsters were a mishmash of

different animal features, and it was not possible to describe them

uniformly. Some crawled on the ground, while others flew, making it more

difficult to respond to them.

It wasn't that the lizardmen and chimera monsters were working

together. The chimeras were scavengers. When the lizardmen attacked the

soldiers, the chimeras stalked the area, looking to claim the dead soldiers

and lizardmen's meat for themselves.

They were nothing but scavengers so long as those around them were

dangerous to them, such as the soldiers and lizardmen. But if the chimeras

encountered weaker prey, they would attack fiercely.

If the anti-air repeating bolt throwers were destroyed, the winged

monsters would attack the non-combatants hiding behind the walls. That

had to be prevented at all costs.

One of the experienced soldiers rushed over to Julius. "Sir Julius, do you

think the other walls are safe?"

"Madam Lauren is defending the east gate, and Jirukoma is protecting

the west gate. We have positioned many of the regular forces on the north

side, where there is no gate. If I am being honest, the defenses are weakest

here. So long as there is no breach here, I doubt they will get through

anywhere else."

"I see..." The experienced soldier nodded in satisfaction, then returned

to his post.

Julius continued directing the troops as he watched him go. "Listen!

Those behind us cannot fight! To defend them, we must not let the enemy

get past us here! If we fight hard and buy time, I am sure reinforcements

from another country will eventually arrive! We must be patient until then!

Everyone, be brave, and fight!"

"""Yeahhhhhh!""" the soldiers cried out in response.

Maybe the soldiers on the east and west walls heard, because a cheer

went up from both of their groups as well.

Even surrounded by the heated atmosphere of a battle to the death,

Julius was maintaining his natural coolness, and he had a firm grasp of the

current situation.

I know I said that to the soldiers, but...I have no idea when support will

arrive, he reflected grimly. I cannot be sure that it will. We're managing to

hold them off for now, but if they continue to wear us down, then

eventually...

Julius shook his head. If their commander was overcome by negative

thinking, the men would panic. He had to stay cool and composed.

Julius glanced north toward the royal manor. Behind him there was

someone he wanted to, had to, protect, no matter what happened.

I won't let these things eat Tia!

Clinging to the innocent smile of the girl who had saved his heart, Julius

continued giving orders.

Eventually the sun went down, and night fell on Lasta.

Maybe the lizardmen had poor night vision, because they didn't attack at

night. In their place, the chimera monsters grew more active, and while

none tried crossing the walls, they feasted on the corpses of soldiers and

lizardmen that were scattered outside the walls.

They couldn't lower their guards, but for the soldiers who had fought

through the day, night was an important time of rest.

Julius, who had been commanding from atop the wall for the entire time,

went on break too, and he sat around a campfire with Jirukoma and Lauren.

They had both fought hard at their own positions, and the signs of

exhaustion were visible on each of their faces.

Julius asked Lauren a question. "This makes five days now, doesn't it?

How many have we lost?"

Lauren bit her lip. "Another hundred today... If we were to tally up all

the dead and heavily wounded, it would be around 600."

That meant almost a sixth of the roughly 3,500 defending soldiers had

been rendered unfit for combat.

Jirukoma sighed as he maintained his kukri blades. "We're at less than

3,000 defenders... Meanwhile, the enemy doesn't seem to have dropped

from 5,000. Even though I'm sure we killed a fair number of them today."

Julius crossed his arms and spat out his next words. "It seems like more

and more keep piling in from the north. Honestly, it troubles me."

The terror of the demon wave was that monsters would be replenished,

with one group following another like waves. It was exhausting to think

that, no matter how many they defeated, the number of enemies would

never go down.

Admittedly, these were unintelligent monsters, so if too many were in an

area, not all of them could participate in battle. That meant they would go

past this city and move further south. In other words, while their numbers

wouldn't decrease, they would never build up too much either.

"Do you think the lands to the south are all right?" Lauren pondered.

"We're in no position to be worrying about others." Julius completely

rejected her concern. "For as long as we hold out here, the number of

monsters going south will be kept lower. From the point of view of the

countries in the south, even if our country is ultimately destroyed, I'm sure

they want us to hold out as long as possible and slay as many monsters as

we can."

"While they have their own countries and families to think of, that does

feel a little heartless," Lauren admitted.

"That's just how things are. If you haven't first taken care of yourself,

you can't extend a helping hand to others."

"I suppose you're right... I'm sorry, Sir Julius, Sir Jirukoma." Lauren

bowed deeply to the two of them. "I'm sorry for getting foreigners like

yourselves caught up in a battle like this. I even have Sir Julius taking full

command of our forces... I feel pathetic."

Though Lauren clenched her fists and bowed her head with a pained

look on her face, Jirukoma laughed heartily and put his arm around Julius's

shoulder.

"Raise your head, please, Madam Lauren. We are fonder of this

kingdom than you may think. Right, Sir Julius?"

"Get away from me. This is suffocating." Julius brushed the other man's

arm away, then loudly cleared his throat. "Well...I had no time to escape

south after all. As for commanding the troops, there was no one more

capable than me, so this was the inevitable result. I'd rather not die under

the command of some incompetent fool after all."

"Hahaha! You say that, but you didn't have the slightest intent of fleeing

without Princess Tia."

"...You talk too much."

The awkward frown on Julius's face made Jirukoma and Lauren burst

out laughing.

Light footsteps approached near the three of them. When the three

looked up, a petite figure was bringing something large toward them. When

that person approached the campfire, Julius's eyes went wide as he realized

who it was.

"Princess, why have you left the royal manor?!"

It was the princess of this country, Tia Lastania. She was wearing her

usual Tyrolean-style dirndl with an apron over the top, and she held an

earthenware pot in her mittened hands.

When Tia saw Julius, her face burst into a smile.

"I was helping the ladies in town hand out food," she explained as she

offered the pot to the three of them. "Lord Julius, Lauren, Sir Jirukoma. It's

bread porridge with pumpkin and milk. I'm sorry this is all we have for you

after you've fought so hard..."

"D-Don't be ridiculous, princess! We gratefully accept it!" Lauren

sputtered.

She saluted as she accepted the pot, and Jirukoma patted his belly with a

laugh.

"We're hungry from fighting after all. I'm sure anything will feel

satisfying at this point."

"That's a rude way to put it..." Julius shook his head in exasperation, but

his expression had softened slightly from before.

Then the three of them sat around Tia's pot of bread porridge to eat.

Tia shrewdly sat herself down in a position where her shoulders would

be touching Julius's. That put a wry smile on Lauren's face, but she

suddenly returned to a more serious expression and asked Julius a question.

"Ultimately, is holing up here our only option?"

"Now that we're surrounded, escape is impossible," Julius answered in a

calm tone between sips of porridge. "If the enemy were sentient, we could

negotiate, but they have nothing in their minds beyond eating the prey in

front of them. They just repeatedly attempt to rush the walls. That's why

we're barely able to fend them off. But...if this is a battle of attrition, it's

going to be difficult."

"Lord Julius..." Tia grasped his sleeve, her eyes wavering with

uncertainty.

Julius put his own hand atop hers as he said, "Whatever the case, we

must hold out for now, whatever it takes. We will hold the city while

waiting for reinforcements to come from somewhere. That is all we can do

now."

"Will reinforcements...really come?" Tia asked hesitantly. "Father was

saying he's asked the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom and Union of

Eastern Nations to send help."

Julius shook his head. "They may come, but as the other countries of the

union and the Dragon Knight Kingdom are also affected by the demon

wave, their arrival will be delayed. They all have to prioritize their own

countries after all."

"Oh..." Tia's shoulders slumped.

Feeling bad for her, Jirukoma asked Julius, "You sent out a request for

reinforcements using your own connections, didn't you? Do we have any

hope of them showing up?"

"You did?!" Tia's face shot up and she looked at Julius.

Unable to meet her pleading eyes, Julius turned away as he answered. "I

give us fifty-fifty odds. In the end, it's a matter of if that man will send

troops or not."

Julius's connections. That meant relying on his little sister Roroa, who

was now the candidate to become third primary queen to the provisional

king, Souma Kazuya of the Kingdom of Friedonia. It meant having Roroa

put in a word with Souma to have him dispatch troops.

For Julius, they were both people he had been antagonistic toward, but

he could in no way afford to be fixated on that now. To protect the darling

girl who was beside him, Julius was prepared to bow his head to those he

was at odds with.

However, on hearing him say the odds were fifty-fifty, Jirukoma tilted

his head to the side questioningly. "Is it really fifty-fifty? I understand there

are two options for Souma, to send troops or not, but isn't there the question

of whether your sister passes the request along or not too?"

"No, Roroa will definitely pass it along."

"You sound certain."

"My sister is calculating, but once emotions get involved, she's

indecisive. If the brother she exiled comes to her for help, she won't be able

to decide what to do on her own. She will leave the decision up to Souma."

"So that's why it's King Souma's decision, huh..." Jirukoma shrugged,

showing a hint of exasperation. If Julius had asked his sister for help

knowing that personality of hers, he was one devious fellow.

Julius laughed derisively at himself before looking at Tia. "Princess.

This is the kind of man I am. I'll even take advantage of my own family if

necessary. The blood of the venomous snake of the Princely House of

Amidonia still runs in my veins. So..."

"But you're doing it for us, right?" Tia interrupted Julius's self-rejecting

words. She enveloped his left hand with her own and gave him a warm

smile. "It's okay if you're a venomous snake. When I see you doing

whatever it takes to defend us, Lord Julius...you're so reliable, and lovable.

If the reinforcements come, and you feel bad for what you've put your

sister through, I will bow my head down alongside you. Because I want

your sister to understand that you did it for us."

"Princess..."

When he was touched by Tia's smile, Julius could feel the old

obsessions inside him melting away.

Julius naturally put his right hand atop Tia's hands, which were wrapped

around his left hand.

They sat together in silence.

Sensing the atmosphere between the two of them, Jirukoma and Lauren

quietly slipped away.

The next day, the lizardmen began attacking the walls of Lasta at

daybreak.

Their numbers still didn't appear to have dropped from 5,000 so it was

clear another pack of lizardmen had joined up with them.

After days of continuous battle, the defenders' exhaustion was building.

If this had been an ordinary siege, the attackers would have avoided

pressing the attack in a way that only increased losses, seeking instead to

find an opening in the defense. They would have desisted immediately

when it became clear the defenders wouldn't break, trying instead to limit

the damage to their own forces.

The lizardmen, however, tried scaling the walls no matter how many of

their fellows fell, charging in to eat the people inside. The death of their

comrades and the exhaustion of their forces meant nothing to them.

Because of that, the defenders had almost no time to relax, and they had

been pushed to the edge both mentally and physically.

Even so, the soldiers of Lastania up on the walls fought their hardest to

prevent a break in their defenses.

When Jirukoma was giving commands near the west gate, one of the

volunteer soldiers, who were made up of refugees, came to ask him a

question.

"What do you think those things are thinking about when they attack?"

"What do you mean...'what are they thinking about'?"

"It feels like, rather than trying to take the city, they're only trying to eat

us," the soldier said. "If they're that hungry, surely they could just eat the

monsters that are lurking around. I mean, they don't seem to be buddies, as

far as I can tell."

Jirukoma was silent, nodding. That was certainly something he had

sensed too.

The first thing the lizardmen did after scaling the walls was try to bite

the soldiers. He'd seen that action as a sign of intense hunger.

Looking at the way they continued to rush the walls in search of food,

no matter how many of their kind fell, they seemed to have hardly any

intelligence. However, if that were true, then why didn't they try to sate

their hunger on the chimera monsters that were nearby? The chimera

monsters were feeding on their corpses after all.

Is there some deep reason for it...? Jirukoma wondered, then pushed the

thought away. He couldn't sense any intellect from the lizardmen out there.

There was likely no deep reason, and the reason why was probably

incredibly simple.

For instance...

"Perhaps we look tasty to them? Maybe that's why they rush to us?" he

suggested.

"Like they think we're a delicacy?" the soldier asked.

"Who knows. Please, ask the lizardmen."

While they were talking about that, there was a shout from a soldier near

the west gate.

"Sir Jirukoma! They're close to pushing through on the north side of the

western wall!"

The moment he heard that voice, Jirukoma readied the twin kukris that

were his favored weapons.

The man who had been asking Jirukoma questions steeled himself,

placing a hand on the hilt of the sword slung over his back.

"Strike team, let's go," Jirukoma said simply to the volunteer soldiers

around him, then took off running toward the northern side.

About five volunteer soldiers followed behind him.

When they eventually reached the point where the lizardmen were close

to pushing through, Jirukoma simultaneously severed the heads of two that

had just climbed up the wall. Those who had followed him each took down

the lizardmen near them, securing the wall.

When Jirukoma saw that they were done, he gave an order to those who

had followed him. "We're lightening the load here. Follow me!"

No sooner had he said that than Jirukoma leapt down outside the wall

where lizardmen were swarming.

Using wind magic to land safely, he spun himself around, cutting apart

the lizardmen around him. Then he cut his way through the middle of the

pack, taking down one target after another.

The members of what was called the strike team did likewise, cutting

down any lizardmen they could get their hands on.

Being a fighter by nature, Jirukoma couldn't command the whole force

as well as Julius might. However, as a single warrior, he was better than

anyone in this kingdom. Because of that, when there was a point in the

western defense that looked like it may fail, he and his men would jump in

and use their rare combat ability to push the enemy back.

In addition to the martial prowess of Jirukoma and his men, it raised

morale whenever Jirukoma displayed his power, so the western wall's

defense was sturdier than any other.

"That's enough," he ordered. "We're going back."

Whenever the number of lizardmen near the wall dropped off to a

degree, Jirukoma immediately ordered a retreat. Though the six of them

could launch sneak attacks, they would eventually be surrounded and

pulverized.

It was also true that, because they had to keep moving around to avoid

being surrounded, they couldn't keep it up for long. Regardless of the

reasons why, it was unwise to stay long.

Jirukoma and his men found indentations in the wall that had to be over

ten meters high, quickly bounding up it to return.

"Still...there's just no end to them, is there?" one of the volunteer

soldiers complained as Jirukoma wiped his own sweat from his brow.

Jirukoma slapped that volunteer soldier in the back to encourage him.

"We've come to this land to return to our homelands. If you let something

like this make you whimper, going home will never be anything more than

a dream."

"I-I know, but..."

That was when it happened.

There was the sound of a bugle from the middle of Lasta.

This was the sign to check for smoke signals, and the soldier on lookout

shouted, "Sir Jirukoma! There are smoke signs from the east gate!"

"From Madam Lauren, huh?" he called. "What do they say?"

"It's a sign for the commanders to gather!"

The smoke signal was calling for the commanders, which was to say

Jirukoma and Julius, to gather. That must mean that Lauren had something

to discuss with them.

"Understood." Jirukoma nodded sharply. "I will be leaving this place

briefly! Everyone, hold your positions! You must hold out until I return!

Understood?!"

"""Yeahhhh!""" the soldiers roared.

Jirukoma nodded, then jumped onto a horse prepared and waiting on the

inside of the wall.

When Jirukoma reached the center of the city, Julius and Lauren were

already there.

"Madam Lauren, has something happened?" Jirukoma asked as he

dismounted his horse.

Lauren took off her helmet and stuck it under her arm, then suddenly

cried, "I'm sorry!" and bowed her head. "I just received the report, but from

what the person managing the castle's armory says, our supply of arrows is

about to run out."

"No arrows..." Julius murmured.

This was a serious issue. It was only because they had ranged weapons

like bows and arrows that the conscripts were able to fight. Without enough

arrows, their ability to defend the walls would take a big hit.

Julius squeezed his temples. "It's only been six days since we settled in

for the siege. Did we not have reserves?"

"It's because the number of regular soldiers we had was low to begin

with. We should have had enough to last for two weeks with our current

numbers, but the enemy offensive has been intense. Not to mention that

many of the men aren't used to using a bow and arrow, so I think that made

us burn through them faster. We currently have the blacksmiths in town

making more, but at the rate we're going through them, they can't keep up."

"It's hopeless then..."

"I'm sorry." Lauren bowed her head in despair.

Jirukoma put a hand on her shoulder. "Raise your head, Madam Lauren.

Surely this isn't your fault. I believe the people of this country are doing

well to hold out while at a disadvantage. If it comes to it, we'll drop bricks

from the rampart, scatter oil, and fend them off with spears."

"Sir Jirukoma..."

Lauren's eyes were moist, and Jirukoma patted her on the shoulders to

calm her down.

Once he could see Lauren had regained her composure, Jirukoma spoke

to Julius. "Still, if it's come to this, we really are going to be relying on

reinforcements. I don't suppose any of them might happen to be nearby

already?"

However, Julius shook his head.

"With us surrounded like this, there's no information coming in. There's

little hope of reinforcements from inside the Union of Eastern Nations,

so...I guess it's up to the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom."

"What about reinforcements from the Kingdom of Friedonia? You said

you sent a request there, didn't you?"

"Even if Souma is sending reinforcements, this country is a long way

from there. If we consider the pace their troops would move, I can't see

them arriving today or tomorrow."

"I see..."

The two men frowned, then it happened.

One of the soldiers rushed over in a hurry, taking a knee as if he'd

stumbled and fallen over. Looking closer, he had gashes on his arm like

he'd been clawed.

"I-I have a report, Captain!"

"Where did you get those wounds?!" Lauren cried.

The soldier kept his head bowed and rapidly gave his report. "The

lizardmen rushed the north wall, and they have broken through in places!

More than ten of them have headed for the castle and are now fighting the

guards!"

Before the soldier could finish his report, Julius had started moving.

"Julius!" cried Jirukoma.

He ignored his fellow soldier, mounted his horse, and raced headlong

toward the castle. He couldn't sit still once he heard the castle was under

attack.

Princess Tia...

The royal couple and Princess Tia were in the castle. The princess, the

girl who had set Julius's hardened heart free.

Rushing down the cobblestone road, Julius reached the castle to see

lizardmen crawling around the castle like geckos.

"Dammit! Haaaaaa!" he shouted.

Deciding to ignore the lizardmen outside the castle, he rushed into the

building still on horseback. Not far inside, he found three lizardmen

feasting on the bodies of what must have been the guards. He raced past

them, making an angry swing and severing one of their heads from its body

as he did.

With an effort, he calmed himself down and thought, If they've made it

inside the castle, Princess Tia and her family will have fled deeper and

deeper inside. There were refugees inside the castle too. In that case, they

will have headed for...the great hall!

If one needed a place deep inside that could hold many people, the great

hall was about the only one that would be apt.

Having come to that conclusion, Julius raced down the corridors with

their high ceilings. He encountered one lizardman along the way, but he

calmly dispatched it with his sword. Then he spotted three lizardmen

clustered around the door to the great hall. They were clawing at the door,

trying to get in.

"Move it!" Julius dismounted from his horse and put his hands on the

ground.

In the next moment, spikes of earth erupted through the corridor floor,

impaling the three lizardmen at once. It was the same earth-type magic his

father Gaius had once used.

The lizardmen let out a muffled cry, then moved no more.

Julius didn't so much as look at them as he rushed to the door of the

great hall. He tried prying the door open, but...he couldn't.

Julius pressed his body to the door, knocking on it and calling out to the

other side. "Princess Tia, are you all right?! It's me! Julius!"

"Lord Julius?!"

He heard a young girl's voice from inside. The moment he realized it

was Tia's, Julius was so relieved that his legs nearly gave out beneath him.

There were, however, still quite many lizardmen left, so Julius turned his

back to the door and stayed alert.

Most likely, a barricade had been set up inside. He heard movement

inside for a while, then eventually the door opened, and Tia burst out to hug

him.

"Lord Julius!" she cried.

"Princess Tia... Thank goodness you're safe." Julius hugged her back

gently.

Beyond the door, he could see Tia's parents and the refugees. Some were

relieved to see Julius, while others were scared witless and unable to

comprehend the situation. Their responses varied greatly.

Julius separated himself from Tia and addressed the rest through the

door.

"Please, wait in this great hall for now. There are lizardmen wandering

around the manor. Our allies will be here soon, I am sure."

While Julius was calming the people in the great hall, Jirukoma caught

up with him. "Julius, it was too reckless for you to come alone!"

"Hmph, you were simply too slow."

Julius made a snide remark, but Jirukoma pulled on Julius's arm as if he

had no time to care about that.

"Just come. There's something strange going on outside."

"Strange?" Julius asked, alert.

He told Tia and the others to close the door tight once more, then cut his

way through the lizardmen along with Jirukoma to get back outside.

When they looked up to the sky, they saw a formation of well over a

hundred wyverns passing over Lasta. They must have been flying high,

because they looked awfully small.

They were likely flying at a height where the anti-air repeating bolt

throwers wouldn't target them.

These clearly weren't monsters. It was an air force on the side of

mankind.

Jirukoma squinted. "Are those...Nothungian soldiers?"

"No, Nothung wouldn't use wyverns... Besides, they're coming from the

south."

When Julius said that, he saw something fall from a wyvern. As they

squinted up into the skies, some uncountable number of the things suddenly

popped open like flowers blooming.

White, round objects were scattered through the sky. They were almost

like a swarm of jellyfish.

As they fluttered toward the castle walls, it became clear that there were

armed soldiers hanging beneath those white, round things. Then, at that

moment, threading between the floating white objects, a big, black shadow

descended to the ground.

Swimming through the air like a fish in water, a creature like a massive

black sea serpent landed in front of Julius.

It had long whiskers, and horns on its head. It held something

resembling a gondola in its hands.

Seeing it was unlike a wyvern or dragon, Julius and Jirukoma both

feared it was a new monster attacking and readied their weapons. When

they did, the monster shrank before their eyes.

At last, before it shrank away completely, a figure jumped down from its

back.

That person in a military uniform with a black cape turned to them and

said, "It's been a while, Jirukoma. You too...Sir Julius."

Julius was more taken aback. "Sir...Souma, huh."

This was the first reunion between the current King of Friedonia, Souma

Kazuya, and the former Crown Prince of Amidonia, Julius Amidonia, after

a whole year.