Reinheit had wanted to expand his barrier to cover the whole building, but it was unfortunately too big for him to push the barrier out that far in the few seconds he’d had. Besides, he’d needed to make it strong enough to withstand multiple dragonmen’s breath attacks, so he wouldn’t have been able to make it much bigger regardless.
“See you later, Rigan. Wait for me up there in heaven, all right?”
Upon hearing Baharl pay his respects to Rigan, Shirley bit her lip and silently said her own farewells. The pair then stepped out of the rubble and saw breath attacks flying back and forth from all sides. It seemed some of the neighbors had come to their aid, and were fighting back against Shival’s soldiers despite being regular citizens themselves. Thanks to these dragonmen’s aid, Baharl and Shirley were able to make their way into the barrier without getting incinerated.
“You’re back. Where’s Ri—? No, I guess there’s no need to ask. I’m glad you’re safe, Shirley.”
“Thank you, Karg-san...”
While the rest of Andika’s residents and the prisoners that had been freed from the execution grounds were huddling together, Karg was sitting off to the side, desperately working on something. He could tell just from the look on Shirley’s face what had happened to Rigan.
“Where’s the army? We won’t last much longer,” Baharl asked as he looked over at the front porch.
Reinheit was standing there defiantly, absorbing the concentrated fire of dozens of dragonmen. The fact that he was able to block them at all was a testament to how suitable he was to be a hero, but judging by the way he was gritting his teeth, he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
“No clue,” Karg replied. “I didn’t want to entertain the possibility, but it’s looking like there really may have been a coup.”
“You think all the generals are dead? Now that’s a scary thought.”
Shirley glanced around, looking for someone. When she didn’t see him, she asked in a fearful voice, “Where’s Sharm-kun? I don’t see him anywhere.”
Karg and the others glanced away awkwardly...and Shirley paled, thinking for a moment that he might be dead.
But then, suddenly, Reinheit looked over his shoulder and said, “Sharm-sama has gone to his family.”
It was clear from his tone that he was forcibly holding himself back from running after Sharm.
“Wait, you let him go by himself?!”
The Barn family were technically prisoners, so they’d been housed in a manor at the edge of the city instead of here with everyone else. With the city now a battlefield, that was an incredibly dangerous journey for an eight-year-old child to make alone.
“Sharm-sama’s instincts told him that if he didn’t go now, he’d never get to see his family again.”
“But you let him go alone?!”
“I have to stay here to protect everyone,” Reinheit replied simply.
In response, Shirley shouted, “Didn’t you pledge to serve him?! How could you let him—? If you go now, you can still reach him in time!”
“Sharm-sama ordered me to remain here! It’s because I pledged to serve him that I must follow his orders!”
Sharm had told Reinheit to protect everyone before running off right after the initial assault. Reinheit had, of course, wanted to stop him, but he’d seen the look in Sharm’s eyes. Sharm wasn’t just a child who couldn’t read the situation, so he had made the decision to go knowing the consequences. His resolve had been real. In that moment, he’d looked just like his father...and Reinheit would have spit in the face of Sharm’s trust and his own loyalty if he’d gone against Sharm’s orders.
“Besides, I am a knight! It is my duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves! No true knight can allow personal feelings to cloud their judgment and choose the safety of one over the safety of many!”
Reinheit Ashe was a true knight to his very core. Laus and Sharm both knew this, which was why they trusted him so much. When the time called for it, they knew he would always protect everyone he could, the same way he’d protected them.
Shirley could find no words to argue back, so it was Karg who filled the ensuing silence by saying, “All right, this’ll work!”
This whole time, Karg had been working on repairing a small cylindrical object. He clapped his hands together, put on the finishing touches and exclaimed, “Transmute!”
The former head of the Orcus Workshop was a master synergist second only to Oscar, and while the barrier artifact that Oscar had left behind on the off-chance that the Liberators were attacked in the Dragon Kingdom had been damaged in the initial assault, Karg had been able to swiftly repair it. Thanks to that, a glowing golden spatial barrier appeared on top of Reinheit’s Hallowed Ground.
“Perfect, I managed to get it running at least!”
Reinheit looked back in surprise, and another group of workers shouted, “Karg-san! The metal slime things are back!”
“Oscar really is a genius. I can’t believe his slimes brought back more artifacts and survivors!”
There was a hole in the floor of the living room and Metal Batlams were coming out of it one after another, bringing salvaged artifacts and rescued survivors with them.
Oscar had left behind a plethora of artifacts, as well as all the remaining Metal Batlams that had survived the battle with the church. There were barrier generators, shields, enchanted swords, and even crossbows.
A second later, a group of Andikan residents came down the stairs, yelling, “We got some more artifacts from upstairs!”
Karg and the others hadn’t just sat around while Reinheit had protected them. They’d been working on protecting themselves so Reinheit would be free to chase after Sharm.
“Go, Reinheit! We’ll take care of things here!”
“B-But—”
“We can buy some time, but not much, so hurry up and bring the kid back as soon as possible, okay?”
Everyone was looking at Reinheit, their expressions making it clear that they wanted him to go.
“If a hero protects someone, it’s only natural that those people will want to protect the hero in turn, right?” Shirley said with a smile.
“Think of how bad we’ll feel if a kid dies because you were stuck protecting us,” Baharl added.
“Thank you, everyone. I promise I’ll return soon.”
With tears in his eyes, Reinheit dashed out of the building.
As soon as he was out of sight, Karg let out a sigh and collapsed.
“Karg?!”
“Karg-san!”
Baharl and Shirley ran over to him, pale-faced. Baharl helped him into a sitting position and shouted, “Come on, get a grip! What happened?! Did you run out of mana?!”
“Ha ha, it’s not that. I’ve just hit my limit,” Karg said as he unbuttoned his shirt. Baharl gasped upon seeing what was beneath it. Karg’s entire right side was covered with a Metal Batlam...and blood was dripping out of the cracks in it.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been like this the whole time...”
Karg simply smiled at Baharl. He had indeed taken a fatal injury during the initial assault, but he’d stopped the bleeding with a Metal Batlam.
“Listen up. I was able to repair this thing...but not fully. What I did was...just a stopgap measure...”
In a strained voice, Karg explained that he’d just jump-started it and that it was currently draining more mana than usual to remain active. Everyone would need to work together to keep providing it with mana because if it stopped, there was no guarantee it would start up again.
Baharl and the others gritted their teeth as they watched all the color drain from Karg’s face. Without Meiru or Diene’s help, there was no saving him. Thus, they listened to the master synergist’s final words because that was all they could do for him.
“Tell Oscar... Actually, I’ve already said all I want to him...so just tell him to keep walking the path he believes in.”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Also, tell Miledi...thanks for...freeing my son...from his cage...” he mumbled, trailing off faintly. Then, in the faintest of whispers, he added, “Oh, and tell her not to push herself too hard...”
As Karg breathed his last, Baharl took over maintaining the barrier artifact. Breath attacks slammed into it as the dying man growled, “The rest of you better survive this!”
Kaime and Selm watched the chaotic battle unfold from atop a tall hill on the outskirts of the city.