Chapter 27

The walls of the fortress are built very long horizontally to prevent the invasion of monsters.

A large wall surrounds the empire, and there is a large fortress in each of the four directions.

Since monsters have the habit of concentrating where there are people, hundreds of knights are stationed at each fortress.

The southern fortress is the place where the most and the most ferocious monsters gather, and the Spencer Dukedom is entrusted with its protection.

Because they are the strongest among the four great duchies.

Many mages stand on top of the fortress walls, casting spells in turn at the monsters below.

And there were dozens of monsters below.

"Those who have recovered their magic power, aim at the monsters and attack! Don't hit your fellow knights!"

"Be careful above too! There are bird monsters, so don't let them escape!"

Such voices flew back and forth without pause, and the monsters were defeated one after another.

There are times when monsters surge into the fortress all at once in a day.

When that happens, all the knights in the fortress deal with it.

The first time I came here before the regression, I didn't expect it to be such a battlefield, and I was very surprised and scared.

"It seems we've already defeated quite a few monsters."

I muttered, looking at the number of monsters below.

"Asaria, how did you know that?"

"Uh? Ah, Father always said that hundreds of them come."

"…I see, that's right. It seems we've already reduced their numbers by fifty."

Oh, dangerous, I almost let slip the information I gained from my previous experience.

The number of monsters is actually quite low now... but something feels off.

"Asaria, you should take care of the monsters in the sky first."

"Yes, brother."

"Lauro, you go down and crush as many monsters as possible."

"Is it alright to leave Lady Asaria?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"...Understood."

Lauro bowed to me and left, though he seemed a bit reluctant.

Since I'm on top of the fortress, I think I'll be in a relatively safe place to cast spells.

I wonder how weak Lauro thinks I am.

Well, it's true that if we fought one-on-one, I might lose to Lauro.

But I don't think I'm weaker in terms of monster extermination.

"Lauro, be careful up there."

I called out to Lauro, who was standing at the edge of the fortress wall.

"Up there?"

"Yes, I'll knock all the monsters down, so be careful not to get crushed."

"...Haha, understood."

Lauro turned around, smiled lightly, and then fell off the fortress.

The mages, who saw this, exclaimed in surprise.

"Thirty meters high here!?"

The mage quickly looked down, and his eyes widened even more.

"He's falling, hitting the ground... wait, he landed normally and started running towards the monsters... when did he draw his sword? The monster's head is... off? What, what?"

Good reaction, I can tell what Lauro is doing even though I can't see him.

"Mages on the wall, stop casting spells at the ground!"

When Ivan called out, everyone stopped casting spells, though they were confused.

"I-Ivan-sama! Why? If we don't support the knights below with magic, they will be at a disadvantage!"

"Leave the ground to the knights... no, to one knight."

"One knight...?"

"Yes, a man who can control the battlefield alone. You can just watch if you have time."

While listening to Ivan explain to the knights, I looked at the bird monsters in the sky.

There are about ten of them, I think.

"Ivan, I'll do it too. So please tell the mages aiming at the sky to stop."

"...Alright."

Ivan said and called out loudly, "Everyone, stop casting!"

The mages seem to follow Ivan's orders absolutely, so they stopped immediately.

Well, if I just stand around, Lauro will defeat all the monsters below.

Ten, I don't intend to miss any, so I create ten fireballs around my body.

"Who is that woman? Suddenly creating ten fireballs...?"

"Look closely! She has the same hair and eye color as Ivan-sama!"

"Wait, then that must be...!"

I carefully observed the movements of the bird monsters and controlled the ten fireballs at once.

Impact, impact, impact... all the fireballs hit the monsters.

The bird monsters that were hit turned black and fell to the ground.

Good, I haven't aimed at moving targets in a while, but I did it properly.

"Such difficult bird monsters, and he defeated them so easily...!?"

"Even though it becomes harder to control spells the farther they are, he controlled ten at once and didn't miss a single one!?"

Hehe, you're giving me a good reaction.

"Brother, I'm done."

"...Good job."

Brother seemed a bit surprised, but he quickly praised me.

This is the first time I've fought monsters after the regression, but there doesn't seem to be any problem.

Of course, I'm casting spells from a safe place on the wall.

I'm done, now it's Lauro's turn.

Brother and I stand at the edge of the wall and look down.

It seems to be over already.

"Too fast. I couldn't even see him fighting, and suddenly all the monsters are defeated...!"

I heard a mage who was looking down when Lauro fell say that.

I wonder who was faster, me or Lauro?

I want to think it was me, but Lauro probably defeated more than twice as many monsters.

Moreover, he did it instantly in close combat, just by getting close to the monsters and slashing them.

Lauro is standing on the last monster he defeated, a lion monster.

He doesn't seem to have been splattered with much blood, and his face is as expressionless as usual.

I've seen many dead monsters before, so I'm used to it, but this is Lauro's first time, and he really seems calm.