Daybreak Rondo

by Yuri Kitayama

  And if there really were minotaurs remaining, it was highly likely they would make planned movements, at worst placing the city in danger of attack. There were rarely any adventurers with skill on par with knights, but they were many in number. If the monsters attacked in droves, they would be a reliable source of combat power.

  “That is a most justified decision,” Duke Huguenot said, nodding worriedly.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Meanwhile, in the depths of the forest west of Amande, Lucius and Reiss were seated around a campfire. Surrounding them were countless dark-skinned revenants, standing silently. It made an extremely eerie sight.

  “The bodies recreated towards the end should be completely settled soon.” Reiss chuckled in satisfaction as he looked around at the revenants.

  “Good to hear... But the way they swarm around pisses me off. Put them away already,” Lucius demanded uneasily.

  “Oh? I would have liked to keep my new collection up for a little longer to gaze upon them.”

  “Hah, you really are a creepier bastard than I am.”

  Reiss grinned. “Why, that’s because they’re basically my children. But if you insist, then I suppose I have no choice,” he said, breathing a small sigh. The revenants standing around them immediately began to sink into the earth.

  “I can finally breathe again. Now I can have a good night’s rest, at least,” Lucius huffed through his nose in satisfaction.

  “The plan will be set in motion tomorrow morning, before the sun rises. Make sure you don’t sleep in.”

  “Hey, hey. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

  “I suppose you would never sleep in before a fight, hmm?” Reiss said with a chuckle.

  “If you’re going to worry about sleeping in, worry about our Alphonse, our newest member, over there. Right? Hey,” Lucius bantered lightly, looking over at the third person sitting by the fire to warm up. There sat a revenant with jet black skin far darker than the dark grey skin of the other revenants, silently watching on.

  “...Hmph. In that case. You. Should have let me. Go to Amande alone. And clean up. Everything. Before the other defectives. Settle in.” The jet black revenant named Alphonse huffed unhappily through his nose before boasting in a terribly ghastly voice.

  “Hahaha, what a revolting voice,” Lucius said lightly, mouth turned in a carefree grin.

  “This is the final form of the revenant. While it is notably more powerful and aggressive than the enhanced version, it’s all intellect and no reason, making it difficult to handle,” Reiss muttered tiredly.

  “But he’ll be of use in tomorrow’s attack, no?” Lucius asked, his mouth in a relaxed grin.

  Reiss nodded in exasperation. “Well, yes.”

  As a disposable pawn, anyway. His mouth twisted faintly in a repulsive smile.

  “Well, that’s what it’s gonna be. We have high expectations of you, Alphonse,” Lucius said brightly, his smile completely hollow.

  The jet black revenant nodded, his reply disjointed. “Yeah. I’ll kill them. All. Of them.” Nothing but hatred swirled within those eyes that had lost all sense of reason.

  “Haha. How hopeless.”

  Lucius’ disgusted laugh echoed throughout the quiet forest.

  Chapter 7: Another Attack

  The next morning, at a time before the sun had risen and the sky was dyed a lapis blue, when the earth was just starting to illuminate with the coming dawn, Aishia visited Rio’s bedroom to try and wake up him.

  “Haruto, wake up.”

  “...Aishia? Good morning.” Rio immediately opened his eyes, but his expression was still half asleep as he replied.

  “Good morning. It’s an emergency,” Aishia said in a flat voice.

  “What happened?” Rio asked with a serious look.

  “Monsters suddenly appeared.”

  “...Inside or outside the city?”

  “Don’t know their exact position. But they’re to the west. Their presence is jumbled up, so there’s probably a lot of them. I should have noticed a presence this strong much earlier, but I couldn’t tell,” Aishia said in a rare display of worry.

  “...I understand.” Rio got out of bed and patted Aishia on the shoulder. “For now, let’s get a clearer understanding of the situation. Where’s the professor?” he asked in a calm voice.

  “Still sleeping.” Aishia stared at Rio’s face as she replied. Immediately after, the emergency bells of the city started ringing, echoing from the city’s gate.

  A beat later, the familiar sound of a monster’s roar resonated loudly through the air.

  “MROOOOOOOH!”

  ◇　◇　◇

  Earlier that day, at the lookout post of Amande’s western gate...

  “Aaaah...” a soldier yawned loudly.

  “It’s still too early for the next shift to arrive. Pull yourself together — we’re on high alert right now,” his superior, who was on guard with him, scolded him in a harsher voice than usual.

  Presently, Amande had strengthened its guard due to certain unforeseen circumstances, making shifts more frequent and increasing the number of soldiers at the east and west gates. A large number of soldiers had been assigned in particular to the west gate, which was where the huge number of monsters had spawned in the forest.

  Incidentally, the northern section of Amande was a lake — their main water source — so there was no entrance there. Furthermore, the formerly small city of Amande had rapidly developed into this large city in the last few years, and they were still in the middle of clearing forests for more expansion. With the expansion of the city came allocating the metro areas, so the farmlands that had once been scattered between the east and west were now allocated to the cleared lands to the south.

  The outermost walls of the city were not made of stone like castle walls, but logs that could be moved every time expansion occurred.

  “Yes sir.” The soldier who yawned pulled himself together and nodded. He must have felt pride for his job in protecting Amande, as his face was quite serious.

  Suddenly, another soldier on the lookout spotted a figure in the distance. “Hey! Is there someone on the road?!”

  “A person? At this hour?” The superior rubbed his eyes in doubt.

  “There’s a lot of them. How many people is that?” Another soldier next to them spoke up quickly. The gate was lit by fire torches, but the surroundings were still dim and their visions were obscured by the fog. It was unthinkable to be walking along the forest road at this hour to begin with; though there was a path, the forests were pitch black at night. On top of being unable to perceive even the shortest distance, there was also the danger of roaming nocturnal beasts. Even the city’s gates were firmly shut until morning came.

  “Come to think of it, we received a message that the foreign knights that went to investigate the forest might return. Oh, but the message warned that unidentified monsters could also appear...” the superior recalled with a dubious face. In that time, the figures gradually drew nearer.

  “Uuuh...” Dozens of revenants appeared with an eerie groan. There were gray-skinned ones scattered between darker gray ones, but it was hard to tell them apart in the dim lighting.

  From their hairless heads, expressions of sinister madness, and completely naked bodies, it was clear they were not human.

  “I-It’s the unidentified monsters! Sound the alarm!” The superior ordered a nearby soldier in shock.

  “Y-Yes sir!” The ordered soldier replied in a fluster, ringing the bells of the lookout post at a fixed rhythm. The sound of the bells echoed loudly through the quiet city.

  “Geehehehe!” A large army of goblins and orcs leapt out of the forest all at once.

  “We’re stopping them here, everyone! Don’t let them inside the gate!” the superior yelled with determination at the shoulders, obviously conscious of the worst-case scenario.

  “Right!” The soldiers nodded firmly. However, a ferocious monster’s roar echoed loudly from the ba
ck of the road.

  “MROOOOOOOOOH!”

  The soldiers trembled at the sound. “?!”

  “D-Don’t tell me...” A bad feeling came over the superior, making him grimace. He recalled the message and how it said there was one more type of monster other than the unidentified revenants.

  They were called minotaurs — monsters that had rampaged with fury during the Divine War. One moment later, a thump, thump, thump shook the ground.

  “I-It’s coming!” the superior yelled.

  “MROOH!” From the depths of the foggy road appeared the minotaur. The monsters packed on the road moved to the sides to allow it to pass.

  “I-It’s huge!” The lookout post the soldiers were standing on was ten meters above the ground, but the minotaur still looked huge when they looked down on it. It was easily four meters tall.

  Suddenly, the minotaur took a running leap.

  “Ah...!” The soldiers were momentarily at eye level with it, and their jaws dropped in shock. The minotaur swung its stone greatsword down with force.

  “I-It’s going to break the gate! Retreat!” The very moment the superior yelled aloud, the city gate was destroyed by the stone sword. The foundation was crushed into pieces, sending the lookout post on top crumbling to the ground.

  “Tch. Prepare for impact! Combat begins as soon as we reach the ground!” The superior barely managed to yell.

  “Gufufufu.” The minotaur gazed upon the ruins of the gate it destroyed and let its mouth widen into a smile filled with dominance.

  It looks like we’ve succeeded in obtaining an entry route without issue. All that’s left is to spread the combat as far as possible and draw out their power. The east gate is next. Reiss was hidden among the monsters in the forest, quietly observing the minotaur and the surrounding situation. He sighed quietly, before gently floating into the air.

  But the problem will be that humanoid spirit and its contractee. We’ll have to adapt to their movements, but if the spirit is materialized, it will be easy enough to locate. For now, we should take this chance to open the east gate. There shouldn’t be as many soldiers placed over there, Reiss thought as he moved swiftly towards the east gate.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Elsewhere, Rio took Aishia out of his bedroom and through the living room, continuing quickly towards the bedroom where Celia was sleeping... only to have Celia burst out of the room in a panic.

  “Rio, Aishia, are you there?!” It seemed like the commotion outside had woken her up.

  “Professor.”

  “Rio, Aishia — thank goodness...!” Celia sighed in relief, hugging Rio tightly. When she’d startled awake, the bed that Aishia was supposed to be sleeping in was empty. She’d probably been worried.

  “It’s all right. There’s no need to worry,” Rio said, gently hugging Celia.

  “Y-Yeah...” Celia buried her face into Rio’s chest, nodding hesitantly.

  Once Rio confirmed that Celia had calmed down, he explained the circumstances. “It seems like a large number of monsters have spawned, either inside or outside the city. There are probably minotaurs too.”

  Celia stared at Rio’s face. “...What will you do?” she asked nervously.

  “Let’s see...” Rio mumbled as he pondered to himself.

  He was merely an outsider, and it was Liselotte’s duty to protect the city of Amande. As this land was Liselotte’s home base, she surely had enough military strength under her name, unlike when they were attacked on the road. While the minotaurs would be tough, it was possible to drive them away with a large number of people equal in strength to a knight.

  However, he couldn’t take an optimistic approach without more information. If the number of monsters surpassed that of the city’s defense, the worst-case scenario could surely occur.

  It’s not that I’m obligated to protect Amande, but I can’t have Liselotte falling here... And I can’t expose the professor to danger, either, Rio thought, organizing his motives and the situation at hand. If he was only thinking about fleeing, then he could just fly out of the city with spirit arts. It was undesirable to use spirit arts in front of others, but he could explain away his most often-used wind spirit arts as a product of his wind elemental enchanted sword.

  However, it wouldn’t look very good to Liselotte if she later found out that the first thing they did was flee to safety by themselves. Not to mention that if Amande was destroyed here, the favorable relationship he had been building with Liselotte would cease. If possible, Rio wanted to avoid that. Which meant —

  I need more information first. My final decision can come after that.

  Either way, rushing into action was both reckless and irresponsible. As long as it wasn’t a life-threatening dilemma where it would be better to flee without a second thought, it was the perfect chance to further make Liselotte indebted to him.

  “Hey, Rio. You don’t have to worry about me. I know I’m the biggest hindrance out of us, but I can also fight a bit if I can use magic. That’s why... umm. You should choose the action that’s best for you.” Celia sensed that Rio’s expression was serious and spoke with hesitation. Her eyes showed a glimpse of her firm intention to follow Rio — no matter what.

  “...Okay.” Rio nodded with an indescribable feeling. “Then let’s get changed first, so we can move around easily,” he suggested with his usual smile to reassure Celia.

  ◇　◇　◇

  After Rio finished changing from his sleepwear into his black wyvern combat clothes, he headed to the inn’s back garden alone. The inn employees and guests had noticed the commotion some time ago, but their attention was drawn to the entrance facing the square, so there was no one in the back garden. Rio took advantage of this and rose into the air, then looked down on the west side of the city from above. From the sky, the ground below looked rather dim.

  The gate’s been destroyed... There must be a lot of monsters.

  Rio took note of the situation. The square at the western gate that would normally be overflowing with stalls and customers was currently surging with a stream of goblins and orcs. The minotaurs and revenants brought up the rear, but they were still observing from afar. On the other hand...

  The city’s reaction is also swift.

  Soldiers and adventurers were already gathering at the entrance of the road leading to the west gate and assuming battle formations. They were forming an improvised defense line to prevent the monsters from invading further; it was possible that personnel had been placed at the west gate in advance as a precaution.

  Further, the square near the gate was apparently designed with the intention of inviting external enemies in and blocking them off. As long as the road into the city was defended, the remaining buildings would act as a barricade preventing invasion. Even if a large number of monsters pushed past the mouth of the road, the width limitations meant the number of monsters within reach would decrease. Thankfully, it appeared as though they would be able to hold the fort. During that time, the residents along the road would evacuate towards the center of the city.

  Reinforcements are arriving one after another. It looks like this’ll be... — Rio thought, determining the status of the west gate, when Aishia’s telepathy echoed inside Rio’s head.

  Haruto, lots of monsters just spawned at the east gate.

  East? Rio turned on the spot and looked to the east. There, swarms of monsters were appearing from the forest right before the east gate. The lookouts at the gate noticed the surprise attack and rang the bell in a hurry, but a new minotaur appeared, letting out a ferocious roar.

  “MROOOOOH!”

  It drowned out the sound of the warning bell, alerting the city of its own presence.

  “MROGH!” The minotaur used its tremendous physical abilities to take a running leap, soaring over the heads of the goblins and orcs to arrive at the gate first. It then swung its stone greatsword down, smashing the gate into pieces.

  “Guheehee!”

  “Buhee! Buhee!”


  Shortly after the attack from the minotaur, the goblins and orcs flowed past the creature, invading the city one after another.

  ...That’s a lot. How many are there in total? Roughly estimating, Rio would guess the number of monsters to the east and west easily surpassed one thousand.

  And they were still appearing from the forests. The situation was gradually becoming worse.

  Haruto, what do we do? Aishia asked.

  Rio didn’t reply immediately, looking over the entire city instead. With the east and west gates breached, the only gate unharmed was to the south. The south gate faced wide, open farmlands, where there were still no signs of any monsters.

  Meanwhile, the northern area where Liselotte’s mansion was located faced a lake, so there was no gate there at all. The area was also surrounded by tall and sturdy ramparts, able to be used as an evacuation area in an emergency. Judging by the movements of the citizens at the south, they were moving towards the north block.

  For now, could you stay with the professor in the room and wait? It doesn’t seem like the monsters will reach the middle of the city anytime soon, and all the citizens from the west are relocating to the center. It looks like they’re evacuating to the north. Even if you went outside now, you wouldn’t be able to move, Rio directed Aishia calmly as he looked down at the ground. The square before the inn they were staying in was already crammed with residents coming from the west. If the eastern citizens started moving here too, then it would be safer to stay inside the inn.

  ...What will you do, Haruto? Aishia asked Rio again.

  The defensive forces at the east gate are thin. I’ll go block them off. Presently, only a few lance-wielding soldiers were guarding the road facing the east gate square. Facing them were easily several hundred monsters, making them simply outnumbered.

  They wouldn’t even last a minute, which meant the monsters had a chance of reaching the inn where Aishia and Celia were. But he could still make it in time.