Chapter 168: Tiamo

Tiamo

"Oh my God, the city is on fire!"

Kurena shouted at the situation of the city burning in the distance.

We were flying, each one mounted on a B-rank Bird Griffin, but there was still some distance to Tiamo City, which was finally in sight. But the battle situation was not clear.

"Hollow, use [Midnight Sun]!"

"Ho!"

In the middle of the night when it was completely dark, hundreds of thousands of torches or some kind of lights surrounded the city.

And the city was on fire in a number of places.

I activated D-rank Bird's awakening skill [Midnight Sun].

This skill was limited to nighttime, but can recognize everything in a radius of 100 kilometers.

(Okay, I see it! The city hasn't fallen yet! There are still elves in the city!)

I directly received information in my mind from Hollow since I was using <Sharing> on it. I couldn't see inside the buildings, but I could see the burning city as if it were broad daylight, as well as the Demon King's army outside the city.

Probably because it was night, but there was no sign of any battle between the elves and the Demon King's army.

However, the elves were working incessantly to put out the fires on the buildings and trees of the city, and carrying the injured to somewhere else.

"The city is still safe! Everyone, we're going into the city!"

A look of relief came over Sophie.

Some of the Demon King's army can fly. Even though it was late at night, we tried to avoid being spotted by the Demon King's army, so we flew up to reach the sky above the city and then started to descend.

Our target was the largest building near the center of the city.

"We're going down."

""Huh?""

With my word, the Griffins began their descent.

The large building in the center of the city was packed with many elven soldiers.

I didn't care about any of this and descended into the city, riding my summon as the soldiers gathered.

"What? Enemy Attack! Magical beasts have invaded!"

Many of the soldiers hurriedly grabbed their bows on their backs and pulled out arrows from their quiver.

Spirit Magic users' hands also began to glow.

"No, no! Wait! Lady Sophiarone is with us!"

(I thought it would work. I am sorry but considering the circumstances, this was the safest way. Good luck handling this, Formar.)

While being completely recognized as an enemy, Formar panicked and shouted not to attack. I supported Formar from the shadows. Even if we were attacked, we could get away if I summoned C-rank Stone.

Formar didn't expect me to make such a steep descent, and to suddenly land in front of the soldiers guarding the center of the city. He wondered why I was doing this, but he was careful not to provoke the soldiers and restrained them from attacking.

"Lady Sophiarone?"

One by one, the soldiers began to notice Formar's shout and the sight of Sophie, with her pure white hair and golden eyes, mounted on Griffin's back, lit by the lights of the magic tools.

"I'm back now. I'm sorry for startling you. Please lower your weapons."

""Please forgive us!""

The soldiers kneeled like a wave. "It's okay," Sophie replied softly, calming them down.

"I'll take you to Her Majesty, Lady Sophiarone."

One of the soldiers, who seemed to be of high rank, said he would take Sophie to the Queen.

I put my summons away and followed him as he walked into the largest building in the city.

As we proceeded upstairs to the hall, we could hear a commotion. There seemed to be some kind of dispute.

In the great hall, a dozen elves stood in a circle.

"Please, Your Majesty, please retreat! We'll open a path for you!"

"This place is going to fall tomorrow!"

"No. There are many people who have not yet been evacuated to Nest City. I will be on the front lines, so if you fear for my life, you must survive tomorrow."

"Many soldiers have died and are hurt, and many are at their limit, Your Majesty but as long as you survive Rosenheim will continue to exist!"

"No, Rosenheim won't exist without the elves."

"Excuse me! I've brought Lady Sophiarone and Master Formar with me!"

(We're here too. Anyway, Master Formar, huh? Well, Formar is Princess escort, so his status should be pretty high too, right?"

Formar, who was always by Sophie's side as her bodyguard, was quiet and didn't talk much about himself.

"What? At a time like this, huh? Lady Sophiarone."

The hustle and bustle quietened down as the elves noticed Sophie.

(The Queen looks just like Sophie. Hmm? Is that a flying squirrel on her shoulder?)

There was also a throne at the far end of this hall, but the female elf, who I assumed to be Her Majesty the Queen based on the conversation, was participating in the meeting as one of the people in the circle like the other elves.

Her Majesty, who looked just like Sophie, was probably in her late twenties, with pure white hair, golden eyes, and a pure white dress ... instead of armor.

The Queen has a flying squirrel on her shoulder. I wondered if the elves, with their nature-loving image, got along well with the animals but I didn't think that it was an appropriate time or place to ask about it.

The flying squirrel noticed and stared at me, so I munched back like a middle school student.

"Sophie, I'm so glad you're back."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I'm back."

I heard a pessimistic voice saying, "Oh no. We were talking about how this place would fall tomorrow, and now not only the Queen but also the Princess is here."

"Sophie, you heard what we were just talking about. Tiamo will fall tomorrow, 2 days at the most. It's been a long time coming."

I almost told her to evacuate, but then I remembered the situation outside the city and how we entered.

This city was surrounded by the Demon King's army. The officers in the hall had been advising the Queen to evacuate, but it was not realistic. How was she going to escape from the city?

The Queen stopped speaking in the middle of her sentence when she noticed the dark-haired boy, me, standing next to Sophie.

"Your Majesty, I have brought Master Allen to you. There's no need to worry about this war any longer."

Sophie assured her that Rosenheim, which was in danger of being destroyed, was saved. At these words, all eyes were drawn to me.

"Ah, Master Allen. You're the boy from the Spirit King's prophecy."

One of the elves, who seemed to be an officer, muttered.

"Yes, my name is Allen. Her Majesty, the Queen of Rosenheim. I have come to you at your urgent request."

I bowed my head and gave a respectful greeting to the Queen.

"Oh, oh, yes, I see. I'm glad you're here."

For a moment, the officers looked at us wondering just what 7 kids could do, but they did their best to hide their thoughts and welcomed us.

(Not everyone fully believes in the Spirit King's sleep talk. Well, we're in the midst of a crisis of destruction, and we can't just turn our backs on reality. There are things we should do before we ask for help from the Spirit King.)

By the attitudes of those present, I could guess what Rosenheim's perception of me was.

"Dear Allen, thank you for coming. I have heard about your battle against the Hero Helmios. I hope you will be able to help us."

Apparently, the Spirit King's prophecy was not the only reason why I was requested.

The Queen seemed to have heard about my fight with Helmios at the Academy Martial Arts Tournament a few months ago.

"Of course."

"So, let me explain our current situation."

(Another meeting? Well, this fortress might fall tomorrow so I guess meetings are important. But time is precious, too.)

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but how many wounded soldiers are currently in the city and how many are available to fight?"

I didn't know his rank, but one of the officers was about to explain the current situation, when I interrupted him. As with the Nest City, the situations change, so I didn't want to waste a lot of time listening to everything he has to say.

"Hmm? We've got 140,000 wounded soldiers and 60,000 that can fight."

I interrupted him, but he didn't seem too offended.

(Hmm? That's quite a lot. The Demon King's army outside was about 300,000, according to what I saw with [Midnight Sun] earlier. Oh, and the injured soldiers aren't necessarily injured from the battle in this city.)

I estimated the Demon King's army outside the city to be around 300,000 when I had used [Midnight Sun].

In siege, it is common sense for the invaders to have 3 times the number of defenders.

With 200,000 elves on the defense, the 300,000 of the Demon King's army on the offense seem like a small number.

Probably, Tiamo's troops themselves numbered 100,000 or less. With more than a month of war having passed, many of the wounded soldiers were brought in from cities and fortresses further north.

(Nearly 10 Magic Ships can land in the Nest City at a time. So they have a certain amount of carrying capacity.)

"For those 140,000 wounded soldiers, please use this to heal them as soon as possible."

I pulled one [Blessing of Heaven] out of <Inventory> and showed it to the elves who were staring at me in a circle.

"What's this?"

"This is an Elven Elixir. A single Elven Elixir can heal anyone within a range of at least four buildings. Naturally, all their injuries will be healed completely, including regrowing missing limbs."

Even if the one hearing was the Queen of the Elves, I used the 'Elven Elixir' to push through.

""What?""

"I have 1,000 of them, so if you could start distributing them in preparation for tomorrow's battle, that would be great."

"Tha-That's impossible!"

Either the effect was impossible, or the number was impossible, or maybe both were impossible.

"All of Master Allen's words are true. The 100,000 wounded soldiers brought to the Nest City will be completely healed by tomorrow."

Sophie looked at the Queen and all the officers and assured them clearly.

"Is it really true ...? This means that we can still fight."

"... Looks like it. How can we thank you?"

The Queen wondered what she did to deserve this miracle.

"Let's talk about that later. First, let's break the impending crisis of destruction."

(I didn't say I wouldn't ask for something in return.)

"But there is one problem. If we make a big move in this situation, surrounded by enemies, the Demon King's army might make a move."

She meant that if the Demon King's army found out that the Elves could heal overnight then they would attack even during nighttime.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I was planning to launch a night raid anyway. It'll buy you some time, so I hope you'll act quickly."

""Night raid!?""

"Yes, they seemed to be sleeping very well in their encampment."

Allen made a bad face, as usual.

Translator's Corner

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