Daybreak Rondo

by Yuri Kitayama

  “?!” Natalie and the others gawked. A cannonball of magic essence coated in wind spirit arts had just burst from the tip of Rio’s sword. The single shot traveled past the wall at the speed of sound.

  “Geehee?!” The monsters that had leapt at Rio were blown away by the aftershock, and the cannonball of essence wrapped in wind ripped through the minotaur’s heart with precision.

  “M...rogh?! Mroh...?” Even the minotaur didn’t understand what had happened. It had no time to react, finding itself kneeling to the ground. It died, just like that, crumbling helplessly.

  I’ll do one more push, just in case. With that thought, Rio poured essence into his sword again. A windstorm raged from his sword. Rio closed in on the monsters at the front and slammed the storm into the monsters.

  “Buhee?!” Several dozens of orcs and goblins were blown away.

  “...” Natalie and the others behind her were completely stunned.

  “Now, I’ll excuse myself here.” Rio turned back and bowed once, as Natalie returned to her senses with a gasp

  “Y-Yes! Thank you so much!”

  “...Sir Haruto is wonderful,” Cosette said vacantly to Rio, who couldn’t help but be confused.

  “Huh?”

  Natalie shoved Cosette away in a panic. “Geez, what are you saying?! Sir Haruto, please don’t mind this one and be along your way. Take care!”

  “...Yes. The same goes for everyone here.” Rio smiled in faint amusement before rushing off to the center city where the inn was.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Meanwhile, inside Liselotte’s mansion, Hiroaki, Flora, Roanna, and Duke Huguenot had evacuated to a guest living room. Inside stood four knights as guards, including Stewart Huguenot and the elite squad commander, Raymond Brandt.

  Hiroaki’s leg shook nervously while he sat on the sofa. “Ah... Is it normal for monsters to attack cities this regularly?”

  “While it isn’t a regular occurence, it isn’t unheard of, either. There have been cities and towns that have been annihilated by monsters in the past,” Duke Huguenot answered calmly.

  “I see...” Hiroaki heaved a dramatic sigh.

  He seems to be rather worked up. The fear from the previous fight must be taking an effect. Duke Huguenot narrowed his eyes. Normally, Hiroaki would be boasting to feign confidence.

  “Hmph.” Stewart huffed through his nose disparagingly as he looked at Hiroaki. He must have noticed, as he stared back at Stewart.

  Realizing his mistake, Stewart cleared his throat with exaggeration. “...Excuse me. My throat was dry from nerves.”

  Duke Huguenot glared at Stewart, and he averted eyes from his father in a panic. A tense air hung over the room.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Elsewhere, at the square just before Amande’s west gate, Aria aggressively lead her subordinate attendants, experienced soldiers, and adventurers against the crowded square of monsters.

  “There’s just too many.”

  No matter how many they defeated, the monsters kept coming in from outside the gate. There were simply too many. Aria grumbled as she calmly beheaded the orc before her.

  There’s clearly more than when the monsters attacked in the forest. I’d love to clear them all up at once with large-scale magic, but I have to be careful not to run out of magic essence. Those things are waiting at the back, after all. She looked at the three minotaurs standing outside the gate.

  “Guheehee.” The minotaurs were enjoying the view from afar with unpleasant grins.

  But it’s baffling why they’re not invading into the city. Aria furrowed her brows in suspicion. Just like Rio, she had doubts towards the actions the minotaurs were taking. However, while Aria had the same thoughts, she couldn’t afford to move as freely as Rio. At least, not until she defeated the three minotaurs.

  It’s a little risky, but I’ll have to move forward a bit more, Aria decided boldly.

  “Captain Mattias,” she called out to a handsome male fighting nearby. He was in his late twenties and wearing higher quality combat clothes than the other soldiers, wielding a sword with a unique design in his hands. It was the enchanted sword Liselotte had temporarily lent him.

  “What is it, Miss Aria?” The man named Mattias cut down an approaching monster easily before replying in a flirtatious tone unsuitable for a battlefield.

  “It’s disconcerting how the minotaurs have showed no movement. Shall we leave this place to the others and head outside the gate to take care of them?”

  “...Just you and me?” Mattias asked, seemingly taken aback.

  “Yes,” Aria nodded solemnly.

  “You serious?”

  “This is not the time to be making jokes.”

  “I figured. Well, if it’s an invitation from you, I guess so. Let’s do it. I wouldn’t want to exhaust myself here before facing those things last, anyway,” Mattias said breezily, shrugging his shoulders.

  Aria was about to reply, when...

  “Kshaaa!” The dark-skinned revenants that had been waiting outside the gate suddenly let out a screech.

  “Shaah!” The other revenants followed, all screeching one after another.

  Aria braced herself with her brow furrowed in suspicion. “...What’s going on?”

  “MROOOOOH!” The minotaur let out a tremendous roar, loud enough to echo through all the areas of Amande.

  “What? What is it?” Mattias asked in confusion.

  “Kshaa!” The twenty or so revenants suddenly started running towards the gate all at once.

  “What?!” Even Aria was taken aback by that. The revenants used their inherent physical abilities to rush inside the gate.

  “Bring those down no matter what!” Aria ordered with determination. And yet...

  “MROOH!”

  Suddenly, the minotaurs moved too. With nimble movements unsuited for their giant size, they made a running leap over the gate and straight to the middle of the square.

  Despite the panic on her face, Aria voiced her orders calmly. “Attendants, take out the revenants! Everyone else, continue to concentrate on the goblins and orcs! Captain Mattias!”

  “Got it. Let’s do something about those big guys!” Mattias responded resolutely.

  ◇　◇　◇

  At the same time, at the north ramparts of Amande, Lucius and Reiss were hiding in a back alleyway.

  “That’s the signal. I couldn’t hear any voices from the east, so I guess they were taken out,” Reiss muttered quietly.

  “It’s finally our turn. My body’s stiff to all hell now.” Lucius said, stretching lazily.

  “Let us hurry. It appears the decoy monsters will be eliminated faster than expected. The real show begins with you. I’m counting on you, Alphonse.” Reiss urged for their departure, looking at the black revenant standing near them.

  “Yeah. Leave it. To me,” Alphonse said, nodding with a grin of delight.

  ◇　◇　◇

  At the same time, Rio was moving towards the inn he had stayed in before. The monsters’ attack had begun when the surroundings were still dark, but now, the sun was rising and everything was much brighter. Citizens were still evacuating through the square before the inn, but there were much fewer people than before. The large numbers of soldiers directing the evacuation were gone too; it seemed as though the evacuation had proceeded smoothly. Then, just as Rio landed in front of the inn while surveying the area, the roar of the minotaur at the west gate echoed through the city.

  “MROOOOOH!”

  ...The voice of the minotaur at the west gate, Rio guessed correctly. The situation was changing by the moment, and it was possible that the roar just now was a sign of something worse to come

  I’d better hurry. Rio thought, heading into the inn and towards his room with haste. But the door opened from the other side first, Aishia coming out to greet Rio.

  “Welcome home.”

  “I’m back, Aishia,” Rio replied with a smile; Celia poked her head out from behind Aishia.
<
br />   “Welcome back!” she said with a gentle smile of relief.

  “I’ve returned — sorry for making you wait so long.”

  “No, that’s fine... But how is it outside? I saw Aria heading towards the west gate from the window, but what was that roar just now...?”

  “The number of monsters at the east gate has fallen a lot, so it should be fine now. I believe the roar was a minotaur at the west gate, but if Aria’s there, then I think they’ll be well-matched.”

  While Aria was could handle multiple minotaurs and revenants at an equal or higher level of combat to them, there were just too many monsters at the west gate. So he couldn’t say anything too optimistic.

  “What do we do now?” Aishia asked.

  “I’m thinking of going on to assisting the defense of the city and having Professor and Aishia evacuate to outside of the city.” Not wanting to cause unnecessary concern, Rio hid the strange feeling he had about the monsters and told them his next actions.

  “Got it,” Aishia nodded immediately with no hesitation. Celia watched Rio’s expression and nodded anxiously.

  “...Okay.”

  “With the professor in a safe location, I’ll be able to fight to my heart’s content too. Can I ask this of you?” Rio addressed Celia with a troubled look. Having it put that way made it hard for Celia to refuse.

  “...Okay.” Despite the worried look on her face, Celia still nodded obediently.

  “Thank you. Please evacuate outside the south gate. It leads to open farmland, and there are no monsters there. I’ll accompany you partway — if the streets are empty, we can fly through the air part of the way.”

  “Yup, got it.”

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  ◇　◇　◇

  And so, Rio and the girls left the inn.

  There were even less people in the square out front than before, but evacuating residents could still be spotted here and there. They were hurrying along, cowering from the minotaur’s roar.

  “We should go too. This way.” Rio checked the sight of the evacuees before the inn and took a step towards south in order to lead Celia and Aishia.

  “Haruto, monster!” Aishia exclaimed with a gasp.

  “Kshaaa!” The revenant’s screech echoed through the square.

  “...Sorry. I was slow to realize,” Aishia apologized guiltily.

  “No, it’s fine. Your detection of them is purely intuitive. Take the professor and fall back to the inn for now,” Rio said. Thankfully, the revenants surging into the square had yet to notice their presence. However, there were people they had spotted. Just in front of them was a mother and daughter, running away from a grey-colored revenant that had targeted them.

  “Eek...!” They screamed, parent and child cowering in fear.

  “Rrrgh...” The revenant glared at the two with a ferocious look.

  The mother, around her thirties, collapsed as her knees gave out. “Ah...”

  “N-No! Don’t come closer! Go away!” The girl was around ten years old and stood before her mother resolutely.

  “Mireille, run away!” The mother called out to her daughter in a panic. An unpleasant possibility crossed the back of Rio’s head; he definitely didn’t want Celia to see this.

  This is bad. Rio burst into a run on reflex.

  Using wind spirit arts to push himself forward and accelerate, he moved at a tremendous speed to close the distance between them in an instant.

  The revenant was sent flying by Rio’s punch. “Gufuh?!” It crashed to the ground with a loud noise and rolled.

  “Kshaaa?!” The other revenants in the square noticed the commotion. There were others besides the mother and daughter that had been targeted by the revenants, but all the revenants now had their attention drawn to Rio. There was a total of four of them, including the one Rio had just sent flying.

  “Over here!” Rio yelled to attract even more attention to himself, drawing his sword from the sheath at his waist.

  “Shaah!” With that, the revenants all attacked Rio at once. Rio charged towards the closest approaching revenant and thrust his sword through its heart, ending it in one blow.

  “?!” The other two froze in shock. Rio took that opportunity to close in on one of them, once more thrusting his sword through its heart with precision. Then, once he pulled his sword out, He turned back and landed a knee-kick into the abdomen of the other one approaching from behind.

  “Vuh...!” The revenant easily lifted into the air. Rio kicked off the ground and pursued its body in an instant, finishing it off in a similar single blow by stabbing it through the heart. All that was left was the one Rio punched away first.

  “Vurrgh...” Rio closed in on it instantly as it staggered back to its feet, and once again, stabbed it through the heart like the others to finish it off.

  He withdrew his sword. “...Phew.” With the mental fatigue kicking in, he sighed quietly.

  “...T-Thank you so much!” The mother that had been watching Rio’s fight in a daze snapped back to her senses after a pause and thanked him.

  “...No, I’m just glad to see you aren’t hurt. Can you stand?” Rio asked, approaching the mother and offering his hand.

  “Yes, I’ll manage...” The mother grabbed Rio’s hand and hesitantly stood up.

  “T-Thank you so much, mister! Mom, are you all right?” Mireille asked, running over to support her mother.

  “I’m fine,” the mother replied, giving an awkward smile to reassure her daughter.

  “Mom? Mireille?!”

  Chloe came running in her attendant uniform. She stopped in her tracks when she spotted Rio, before her expression changed at the sight of the mother and daughter. They appeared to be family.

  Chloe’s mother. Hm? That means... she’s the innkeeper from back then, huh? Rio realized the mother was the one who had managed the inn he had stayed in several years ago. He also recalled there was a little sister, though he had forgotten her name.

  “U-Umm, why are my mother and sister...?” Chloe asked Rio in confusion.

  “We were being attacked by monsters when this man saved us! He was really strong!” Mireille explained proudly.

  “R-Really? Thank you for saving them!”

  “It was nothing... But why are you here, Chloe?” Rio asked. “U-Umm, because some of the humanoid monsters got into the city, so the others went to exterminate them while I was sent to report to Lady Liselotte,” Chloe answered with a troubled look. She seemed to be in a hurry, and her explanation was sparse. Just then, other citizens started gathering nearby.

  “Ooh, Li’l Chloe!”

  “Are ya hurt, Rebecca?”

  “Thanks a lot, boy. You really saved us.”

  Everything got noisier all at once.

  “Ah, umm... S-Sorry. I’m in a bit of a hurry right now. Could everyone here quickly evacuate within the north walls? If you inform the soldiers at the ramparts, I’m sure they’ll let you in.” In her rush, Chloe gave only essential instructions.

  “Oh, that’s right. Okay, you get outta here, Li’l Chloe! We’ll evacuate with this boy here,” A good-natured middle-aged man said, looking at Rio.

  “No, umm...” Rio had no intention of heading to the north district, so he found himself at a loss for how to answer.

  “Go send them off, Haruto.” Celia said, appearing with Aishia in tow. The two of them had cloaks on top of their clothes with hoods that hid their faces.

  “Cecilia...” Rio looked at Celia and frowned worriedly.

  “It’s okay — you don’t have to worry about me.” Celia said to Rio apologetically. The ramparts were right before them anyway; even if he were to go there, it wouldn’t take much time to reach the entrance.

  “...I understand. I’ll get going, then.”

  Rio steeled himself to head towards the gate of the north ramparts.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Rio and the others arrived at the rampart gate within a matter of minutes. There were soldiers waiting
before the gate, but like Chloe had said, they were allowed inside without incident.

  “Phew, we can finally take a breather. Thanks again, mister.” Chloe’s little sister Mireille sighed in relief and thanked Rio once more.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. All I did was walk with you.”

  Honestly, all he had done was walk with them for the short distance between the square and the gate. No other revenants appeared along the way. From here onwards, it was the duty of the soldiers to protect them, so Rio’s job here was done.

  “Excuse me. Firstly, thank you for escorting the citizens this far. If I may so ask, are you perhaps Sir Haruto?” One of the soldiers guarding the rampart interior asked Rio.

  “...Yes, I am.” Rio nodded curiously, surprised his name and face was known by a stranger.

  “So it was you after all. We were informed of your party’s appearance, so it was easy to spot you.”

  “My party’s appearance?”

  “Yes. The soldier took Rio aside and quietly explained things to him with a bashful glance at Celia and Aishia. “The truth is, Lady Liselotte has given us strict orders to escort you and your acquaintances to her mansion for shelter at the highest priority.” Celia and Aishia currently had their hoods lowered to speak with Mireille.

  “Ah, I see.” Rio had an idea what the soldier was talking about; after all, Celia and Aishia certainly had an appearance that drew attention.

  “I shall lead the way immediately, so please follow me. The mansion is the safest place right now, and both you and your acquaintances will be sheltered,” the soldier said with confidence.

  Rio glanced at Celia. While he was conversing with the soldier, Mireille and the others were being led away by another soldier.

  “Thank you for helping too, miss!” Mireille thanked Celia and Aishia politely before leaving.

  Rio hesitated for a moment, but soon nodded his head. “...Then we shall take you up on your offer. Please lead the way.”

  They had greatly swerved off course from his original plan to head outside the south gate, but it would be too unnatural to turn back now. Not to mention the possibility of encountering more revenants if they did. Taking refuge at the mansion was an acceptable alternative plan.