Chapter Six: Emergency Evacuations
As I expected, we were sent to nearby Riyute, not too far from the Melromarc castle town. Ren, Itsuki, and their companions were racing toward the fissure. The whole scene felt very nostalgic.
In my first wave, without even stopping to hear what Father had to say, I had simply dashed straight for the wave. My heart had been racing to jump into battle! I had wanted to see just how far my training had gotten me.
“Oh, come on!” Father shouted. I had cast an illumination spell to show Father what Ren and Itsuki were doing. “It’s just like you said! Ren and Itsuki jumped straight into battle without even thinking about bystanders!”
We could’ve intervened to try to hold them back, but we didn’t want to get into an argument again. Just as Father had proposed, we remained calm and let them do as they wished.
“All right then,” Father said. “Let’s stick to the plan and focus on evacuating the villagers. Keel, Sakura, Yuki, Kou, Elena, fight off the monsters coming for the village and do your best to make sure no one gets hurt—Motoyasu and I will evacuate the villagers.”
“No problem, Big Bro!” Keel said, tail wagging in excitement. “And once we get everyone out, should we go fight the boss? I’ll protect everyone! Arf!”
“Keel, calm down,” said Father. “Sakura, keep your eyes on Keel and make sure he doesn’t get hurt.”
“You got it!”
“Keep everyone safe, Yuki and Kou,” I told them.
“At all costs.”
“Are the monsters tasty? I want Naofumi to cook ’em up once we’re done!”
“I told you I would,” Father said. “Can we even turn those monsters into food in the first place? Aren’t they . . . what, ghouls, zombies, locusts, bees? I’m not sure if any of those would be any good. Maybe boil them in soy . . .” Father trailed off, muttering to himself.
The corpses of the monsters would probably rot fast, so once Kou saw them, I figured he would lose interest. He might be able to get a taste of the boss if he made it in time though.
“Oink oink,” said Lazy Pig.
“Yep. I need you to help us out here, Elena. Keep an eye on the time so you can stop the others if they get too into fighting the monsters.”
Lazy Pig oinked regretfully.
“Then let’s get going!”
At Father’s direction, we started evacuating Riyute. The filolials were so fast that we arrived at the village before any monsters had infiltrated it.
From the villagers’ expressions, you could tell that they knew there would be a wave of destruction somewhere but had never imagined in their wildest dreams that it would hit so close. I also saw a number of adventurers assuming their fighting stances to face the monsters, but I could tell that their movements were slow. From the last go-around, I knew that if Father didn’t come to protect these villagers, then the village would’ve been totally destroyed. However, I remembered that even with his help in the first go-around, the village still needed a lot of repairs.
This time, we’ll protect them for sure!
“Are those filolials!?”
Of course! There was that filolial farmer in Riyute. If the filolials got caught up in the wave, monsters might kill them, since humans always prioritized their own lives over those of precious filolials.
“FILOOOOLIAAAAALLLS!”
“Motoyasu! Wait! Where are you going!?”
I sprinted as fast as I could to the filolial ranch, destroyed the fence, and herded the filolials out. Once I had evacuated all the filolials to safety, I returned back to Father and the others.
“Hurry, this way!”
Father was shouting at the villagers, pointing them in the right direction.
“You’re back,” Father said, turning to me. “What the heck were you doing?”
“I was rescuing the filolials, I say!”
“Oh, of course. I mean, I understand why you would do that, but we need you here. You’re the strongest. Remember that, okay?”
And then, under Father’s orders, I proceeded with evacuating the villagers. At first, they sneered at the detested Shield Hero, but when they saw the monsters pouring out of the fissure and storming toward the village, they quickly started to follow his instructions.
Meanwhile, Keel and Sakura fought the monsters that were racing toward Riyute and protected all of the villagers that they could.
“Get out of here, everyone!” Keel screamed. “If you don’t, you’re toast! Sakura! Look—a big one right there!”
A huge ghoul had broken through the crowd and reached the entrance to the village. If I showed my true strength, I could instantly crush all of the monsters in this area. Unfortunately, that was not the plan. I had to hide my true strength as best as I could, like Father told me to.
“Leave it to me!” Sakura cried, shifting into her filolial queen form, drawing her two swords in a flurry, and cutting down the ghoul in three swift blows.
“Incredible.”
The other adventurers watched Sakura in amazement.
Was the dispatch from Melromarc castle not here yet? There were so many monsters that if I kept holding back, sooner or later there would be some casualties. While I was trying to decide whether or not to eradicate the whole field of monsters with one spell, more and more giant insects and ghouls stormed in toward the village.
What in the world were Ren and Itsuki doing? Well, they weren’t particularly strong in the first place, so whatever.
“Motoyasu! Don’t let them get any closer!”
“Yes, Father! Air Strike Javelin, I say!”
I launched my spear with all my strength, scattering the approaching monsters.
“Heeeelp!”
I saw Father turn and rush toward the sound of a pig’s scream. A monster rushed toward a pig, threatening to devour it whole. Father extended his hand.