The power of miracles is the power of faith.
Ask and be given, wish and be not given; eventually, the world will change.
✦ ✦ ✦
I want a break from work. Oh, but please don’t fire me! I’ll die!
Hey guys, it’s me, PotatoStarch. I’ve just been instinctively repeatedly doing lateral jumps in a circle. Very shocking. Hop, hop! Ring-a-round the sorcerer, a pocket full of posies. Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down.
Let me say this again, for those who missed it: the deluxe version seems to be patched with a human salvation route. Judging from the stats, this Raging Flames spell can take down vampires. An average one will go down in one hit, even. Elves have high magic resistance and affinity so they’d be more difficult, but it would certainly be damaging. It’ll just take a little bit of creativity.
Hm? Oh! The sorcerer’s faith stat is rising. Good, good. The Devil God’s overall faith points are continuing to shoot up, too. The knight’s faith just jumped up; the priest’s is the same as always; and the soldiers and frontier settlers are slowly but steadily starting to come around. This is looking very good.
But what I’m focused on is Sira. This girl is crazy. She could even become an apostle herself soon enough. She seems to have already learned Accept magic, even if it is just a limited version that she gets for being a servant.
Back to our Kuroi, though... It’s frustrating, or should I say a waste? Her faith stat is already at max and she’s fulfilled almost all the requirements to receive the bonuses for being an apostle, but the key power—her Devil God power—is lacking. To be honest, this Devil God is weak compared to the Dragon God and Demon God. But that’s DDR for you. Even in the human salvation patch, the devs never forget to dump on the humans.
If this is all the Devil God is, I think the humans are bound to be crushed. I guess the problem is the overall faith level. Low numbers mean low power. In terms of population, vampires, elves, and humans are about equal. But in human society, religion doesn’t seem to be functioning properly. It’s like they don’t know who to pray to.
But for now, the people around Kuroi are growing well. I’ll have to spread the word from here—
Hmm. Kuroi has high stats and Accept Blade, so her survival is pretty much a given. But if I’m going to protect the Frontier, I really want Call magic. Damn you, Devil God! Is there anything I can do? I wish there was... How can I keep the Frontier alive?
I mean, the recovery after the monster attack is going swimmingly. People took action quickly, and order has been restored. The people’s satisfaction is rising. But the most surprising thing? That our supplies didn’t take that big of a hit. The reinforcement of the garrison is going dramatically well, too. This is all quite good. Hmm... Excluding the injured soldiers, we have 328 armed men. The cavalry dwarf them at 530. Good, good. Cavalry is important. They’re the key to human battles.
One of the features of DDR is that each race has a limit to the weapons they’re proficient with. Basically, the Guardian God provides more than just blessings, spells, and magical alignments. Humans are skilled with blades, which means they receive a buff towards swords, spears, and axes. Vampires are skilled with blunt weapons like staves, hammers, and fist weapons, while elves are basically all about bows. When you take into account the superhuman strength of vampires and the magical superiority of elves, each race’s fighting style naturally becomes limited.
But it’s not like humans can’t use bows. It’s just that if they shoot an arrow at an elf, their opponent’s wind magic will prevent it from hitting. In contrast, elven arrows are basically homing missiles. Scary stuff. Humans can also try taking on vampires with staves, but that would turn into a bloodbath in no time at all. It’d be like a pro wrestler going all-out against a kid. Tragic, tragic. And so, our only hope is to rely on cavalry. Horses hate vampires and elves alike, so they can’t ride them.
I guess it all really comes down to tenacity. Humans were once always expected to lose. That’s in the past tense, though. With the advent of the deluxe edition and the Devil God... Maybe... Just maybe?
✦ ✦ ✦
Feeling cold, I wake up. It is still night, and I’m alone in bed. Father’s sword is cold and hard. As I thought, I need Lady Kuroi. I go outside, and there she is.
Lady Kuroi. She’s looking intently into the distance. The sky is pitch black. The direction she’s looking in is where the sun is hiding. It’s kind of like her—a warm fire in the silent darkness. A light that you can feel, even if you can’t see it.
Oh! The wind is picking up. Lady Kuroi’s hair, darker than the night, gracefully flows in the breeze. It’s beautiful. I bet if her hair absorbed all of the monster blood showered onto her, each strand would become a mighty sword.
I tightly squeeze the bag-covered sword in my arms. It’s Dad’s sword that Lady Kuroi returned to me. God exists, and He is within arm’s reach.
Yeah. That’s why it’s so warm. The warmth of Dad’s hands has returned. It hugs me close and pats me on the head. It also pinches my cheeks a bit, which I don’t really like, but Dad always did it anyway. Come on, Lady Kuroi is looking this way. Don’t make a weird face. She’ll laugh at you.
“Sira.” See, Dad? Now she’s calling me. “Lie down.”
Huh? She steps on me. Wah! Lady Kuroi’s on my shoulders! Hm? She’s not that heavy, so she must be standing on Dad’s hands. Then she jumps high into the air and cuts down a bird. What was it doing out at night? Or is it something else?
“Sira, light.” Lady Kuroi is looking down at her kill. But she doesn’t dismiss the rapier in her hand. Is something else coming? Is it an enemy? I run. I stumble into the kitchen and make my way to the furnace. I scoop some embers from the ashes, place them on dried leaves, and breathe over them. Shoot. I was too rough. I have to calm down. I have to light this quickly.
“Sira, what’re you doing?” It’s the magic man. Good timing.
“Come! Lady Kuroi wants light! Outside!”
“Oh! Sure, leave it to me!” The man grabs a torch and charcoal. Is he going to do that thing again? We leave the kitchen together and go back to Lady Kuroi.
“Kuroi!” With a loud snap, the torch lights up. Was that the man’s magic? Lady Kuroi is still standing over the bird-thing, rapier in hand. Whose sword was that? What did they use it to fight against? Its guard and sheath are like silver ivy.
“Wh-What the hell?” The man makes a scary face after seeing what the torch illuminates.
It was a bird after all. Its feathers are the color of ash, with black beak and legs. Its eyes are off-white.
“That’s a death heron! The long-ears use them as familiars!”
“Yes. It was doing some night scouting.”
Huh? He said long-ears. That means elves. They’re the white-skinned masters of the forest with unbelievably powerful magic. And Lady Kuroi said it was scouting. Does that mean...?
“Huh? What the hell’re they scouting the human frontier for?”
“Checking on... our progress... perhaps.” It’s the slightly overweight priest. He must have run over here in a panic. He’s breathing heavily, and his sash isn’t tied.
“The elves are scouting at night... Huff... Huff... And not against vampires, either... Huff! The meaning of this is clear as day—they’re checking to see the results of the massacre.”
“Y’mean... The monster attack? Damned long-ears!”
“If we’d only been able to repel either the troll or the monster swarm, we would likely have died after three days of struggle. If we hadn’t managed to fend off either, we would have been crushed overnight and this place would have been the site of a monster civil war for the next three days.”
“Pieces of shit... They sure are thorough.”
“Yes, they’re being oddly thorough. I heard a village to the east was saved by elves, though.”
The adults talk amongst themselves about something I don’t understand. Their faces are scary.
Huh? When did all these soldiers get here? Are they protecting us? Lady Kuroi is looking at the ground, eyes squinted and concentrating. Is she searching for something?
“Oh!” I yelp. I couldn’t help it. Dad’s hand drove Dad’s sword into the ground at my feet.
“What is it? Whoa, nice job!”
“Heh, another elven vanguard. They really are being thorough.”
“You ain’t hurt are you, Sira? That sword must be really heavy.”
The sword chopped a lizard in two. Its scales were light blue, and it had one eye. The monster’s blood was cold.