While the reconstruction of Atriesta continued apace, a patrol headquarters had been set up right outside its north gate.
“Squad One reporting back. No monsters encountered in our assigned area in the north.”
“Squad Two, same in the east.”
“Squad Three, same in the west.”
“Squad Four, same in the south.”
Standing with her back against the imposing outer wall that had been one of the first structures to go up, Lydia noted down the update from the last of the squads who had gone out on patrol earlier. The taciturn former personal guard under Frederica was now a member of the Libertadores and vice captain of the Wayside Knights.
She was using a magic tool that Gawain had made from the horn from a Floating Continent monster that had been giving other monsters orders, which allowed her to freely communicate with someone else within a thousand kilometers. Of course, the display windows that Sol could grant temporary access to were far more convenient than voice-only communication. In fact, because enemies would automatically show up on the map as red dots, there was no need to send out patrols at all. However, it simply wasn’t feasible to keep relying on him for minor things like this, as he was—understandably—a very busy person. All the more so when the tasks in question had an alternative solution, even if it was clumsier. It wasn’t taking the task in question lightly, but avoiding wasting his time with what others could do too. That was the whole purpose of creating ancillary organizations.
Therefore, four squads of ten members each were patrolling Atriesta’s vicinity and keeping it monster-free. Everyone who would be seeing combat had already received a stat boost and new skills from Sol through Player. Their organizations were now dedicating themselves to improving and streamlining their workflow so that they could be weaned from Sol’s help as much as possible. It was nothing less than the All Dragon’s mood on the line.
When not being compared to Sol’s display windows, this communication tool was a complete game changer in its own right. Being able to instantly exchange information—and no battle would ever stretch beyond the tool’s range of a thousand kilometers—provided an overwhelming advantage.
“HQ, all received. Return to base ASAP.”
Four voices said in unison, “Copy.”
Considering that the squads were running about the expansive wilderness with superhuman levels and stats, being able to receive status reports from them back at headquarters in real time was huge.
“Squad Two here. We’ve encountered a spawn in the east at point 1042-301-144.”
“HQ, received. We see your smoke signal. Scale?”
Getting reports in real time meant being able to deal with problems right away when they popped up too. All the areas meant to be patrolled had been divided and labeled, and when the assigned squad came across a monster spawning, they were to send word and set up a smoke signal to mark the spot. The last part was primitive but effective. And by going through all these steps, headquarters could tell almost instantly what was happening and where.
“Area size: level 2. Conception mana: around 3,000. We can handle this ourselves.”
Monster spawning was the phenomenon of monsters appearing out of thin air. As a basic rule, this was how the world was populated by monsters, as they did not procreate. They could grow but not be born. This was true of all monsters, down to the weakest ones. Through analysis of the data gathered from the spawning of monsters above a certain strength, protocols had been developed so that the strength of emerging monsters could be gauged and, especially in the case of the more troublesome ones, they could be killed before reaching their full strength.
All this had been learned and developed by studying the territory bosses killed by Sol’s group and footage of monster spawnings captured by his display windows. The biggest paradigm shift that this world had seen was undoubtedly the relationship between humans and monsters. Breakneck progress was being made to defang what had once been the worst threat imaginable. As part of that push, a system was needed to quantify how much of a menace each monster was, and what Squad Two had just encountered, an “Area size: level 2, conception mana: 3,000” could be easily resolved by the squad alone.
The Wayside Knights, essentially being Sol’s personal force, were next in strength to the Libertadores and outfitted with official equipment produced by Gawain’s workshop. Though taboo territory bosses were still beyond them, they were more than capable of facing even unique monsters that had newly spawned.
To put the numbers into context, the largest area size of a spawning event was level 5, and the strongest monsters the Knights could handle were conceived with at most ten thousand mana points. Part of their loadout was giant arms that their captain and vice captain, out of a deep admiration for Frederica’s Type Hecatoncheires, had asked for, and all ten of Squad Two had theirs out already at the moment. However, they were knights, so their arms were holding giant swords and shields rather than being bunched up to throw punches. These weapons looked normal but were sized for giants, and more than explained—along with their plethora of skills—how the Knights could handle most monsters.
After forwarding the details of the report somewhere using the terminal in her hand, Lydia said, “No, do not engage. Leave it and return.”
This order was normal when the monster in question had numbers so high that it required the attention of Sol’s monsters, but that wasn’t the case here.
The squad leader asked reflexively, “Are you sure, HQ?”
Lydia sighed. “We’ve received a roundabout request from Acting Pope Ishli for opportunities for the Church to show off too.”
Protecting the common people from threats was a noble undertaking and therefore something that all organizations wanted to take part in. The Wayside Knights and the Divers were reaching a sweet spot in terms of how they divided this work, but come to think of it, it was true that the Church had not had much time in the spotlight recently.
As the continent’s powers and interests gathered toward the western expanse, the Church had continued providing support to the areas in the rest of the continent too destitute to support themselves. There was nothing glamorous about that. However, it was important work, and Lydia and Leticia, who had come from remote villages themselves, understood that all too well. As such, they couldn’t find it in themselves to turn Ishli down, especially when he was practically living out the life of the ideal clergyman these days.
“I see. Understood,” said the squad leader, who then joked, “A shame about the dispatch reward, though.”
The basic salary of the Wayside Knights was extremely generous, and the reward in question was more of a bonus than anything. Knowing that, Lydia returned in jest, “You’ll have to make do with just the discovery reward this time.”
“Since it looks like I’m getting a reward today, can I interest you and Captain in dinner?”
“To show my respect for your courage in asking over this channel where Lord Sol is privy to every word, I just might take you up on your offer. You might have to ask Captain Leticia some other way, though.”
“I’m in here too,” said Leticia. “I like the sound of a free meal.”
Since her subordinate was stepping out of line, Lydia was reining him back in. Their chivalric order wasn’t so uptight that joking was entirely forbidden during missions, but this was a bit too frivolous in the middle of an active monster spawning. It was a superior officer’s duty to take responsibility for the mistakes of those underneath them, so Lydia and Leticia were playing along so they would get into trouble too.
“Thank you very— Uh, are you serious about Lord Sol knowing?”
The squad leader was over the moon for a brief moment at finally getting a yes from the captain and vice captain who had always turned him down, but all levity quickly drained from his voice as realization caught up.
Lydia sighed heavily. “I have no reason to lie. Why would you think otherwise in the first place?”
Understanding that he had gotten his superiors caught up in deep trouble, the squad leader cried, “I have spoken out of line during a mission! I’m deeply sorry!”
“We’re in the same boat, so let’s take the heat for it together later.”
It was too late, unfortunately. Lydia and Leticia knew Sol wouldn’t reprimand the squad leader for this, much less the two of them. But Frederica most certainly would. The pair weren’t actively protecting her anymore but were still technically her personal guard as the Wayside Knights were under the princess’s direct command. If the exchange just now had taken place under anyone else’s jurisdiction—Steve’s Adventurer’s Guild, Ishli’s Holy Church, or Eliza’s underground world—Frederica would undoubtedly have simply laughed it off. However, as someone shouldering responsibility for the great power that was the Wayside Knights, she had to hold not only herself to a higher standard, but those under her as well.
That was why Leticia and Lydia had purposely jumped into the fire too. Their subordinates understood this, which was why the gesture was effective as a lesson for all of them.
As Squad Two, led by a very dejected leader, made its way back to headquarters, large magic circles appeared around the area where the spawning was happening. This was followed by smaller magic circles above the area piling up toward the sky and spaced apart at regular intervals. The latter were for aiming. Upon receiving the notification and coordinates from Lydia earlier, the Church was now pointing its last remaining orbital satellite, Uranos, at the spawning area. The next instant, the encircling magic circles deployed barriers to protect the surroundings as a Divine Punishment energy beam crashed down. The emerging monster had no hope of resisting the torrent of destruction and was therefore erased without any resistance, serving as a demonstration that any crisis could be headed off with the bare minimum of power when caught early.
“How can I put this? Monster fighting...sure has changed from what we knew.” Leticia shivered a little at the thought that an orbital strike from a Divine Punishment, something that had been firmly within the realm of myth and legend until recently, was considered the minimum of anything.
“No choice but to get used to it,” Lydia said bluntly. Though taciturn, she had a rather bold personality that could roll along with things quite easily. And she was right, especially considering their proximity to Sol.
Leticia shrugged. “Yeah, I know.”
These two had already received from Sol personalized equipment on par with the Numbers armaments as well as enough strength to easily deflect Divine Punishment. It was about time they stopped being overwhelmed by the enormity of the power entrusted to them and properly thought about what they could achieve with it, especially in ways that could help their liege. Though at the foot of the table, they were among the founding members of the Libertadores. As those whom so many looked up to, it was their obligation to carry themselves accordingly and produce results commensurate with their position.