As my father explained the situation, I realized that a crisis was approaching the village where I lived, and anxiety began to rise within me.
“In the first place, even if the monsters haven’t come this far, the situation is already pretty troublesome. I have placed a magic circle in the royal capital, so I can do business and I can ask for necessary supplies, but other people can’t sell or buy things. If this situation continues, it will definitely be bad. However, there is a 50/50 chance that a Saint will be dispatched to the town.”
“Fifty-fifty? Why? It’s definitely a major disaster, isn’t it?”
It’s true that the town is quite far from the royal capital. But the fact that the maga occurred in a town and not a village makes me think it must be a major disaster. Surely this isn’t the only isolated place.
“Just now, the alchemist received a message from the temple in the royal capital asking that we continue to protect the saint, or at least deliver her to them. Since the town is impassable, it seems they are thinking of making a detour and heading for this village. But honestly, it’s going to be difficult.”
Father explained calmly as if it was nothing, but judging from the way he used the word “detour,” it was unlikely that a Saint would be dispatched to purify the maga anytime soon.
“I, I will… purify it…”
“Don’t say things you can’t do. You don’t have enough magical power to purify it all by yourself. And there are too few people to escort you close to the maga.”
When Alice tremblingly expressed her opinion, my father immediately rejected it.
“The extent of the damage, the location of the maga, everything is unknown. It would be a waste of time for me to go and defend it alone. Besides, if we can’t dispatch a Saint, then I can at least eliminate the worst-case scenario.”
“Eh? Dad, can you do that even though you don’t have the light attribute?”
It was mentioned in passing, but that is exactly what I am currently researching.
I don’t know why he didn’t tell me if he knew.
“It’s not purification, it’s just erasure. In the past, when I turned a mountain into a crater, the maga disappeared. I don’t know how deep into the ground we need to dig in order for it to disappear, but I think even Amelia could do it if she just focused on erasing it.”
A mountain into a crater? Wait. It was carved out, not just scraped away?!
I tried to imagine it, but I couldn’t quite get it out of my head. It’s a solution that would be so big in scale and would have such a devastating impact. The maga has disappeared, but at the same time, everything else has disappeared.
“Can Amelia do that too?”
“You don’t need to try to do everything with magic alone. There are useful magical tools and materials specialized for destruction in the world.”
“Yeah. Well, if you ask whether it’s possible or not, I think it’s probably possible…”
I nodded at my father’s words. It’s true that it’s unclear whether it would be possible to do it using magic alone, but I feel like it might be possible if I use some tools.
“But that’s really a last resort, right? You shouldn’t do that, right?”
“That’s right. We have no idea what kind of repercussions it will have after that, and if it continues, both the country and humanity will be destroyed.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when my father agreed with me.
It’s scary that my father has actually tried it and proven it, but it might be good to know it as a true last resort. In other words, the source of the maga is underground. I don’t know how far it is, but if it’s destroyed, it will disappear. No, if it’s the size of a mountain, that means it’s not a kilometer or anything like that level of destruction…
…It’s not something that can be easily tested, so it seems impossible to determine to what extent.
“I feel bad for Amelia, but I want you to come with me to investigate the maga. I’m reluctant to take you to a dangerous place, but we can’t afford to leave people who can move around idle right now. You also had purification experience at school, right?”
“Yeah, I understand. I want to save even one townsperson if I can, and being forced to wait in this situation would be unsettling in the first place.”
There are only a few people in the village who can deal with monsters.
In order to minimize the impact on the village, I, a magician, cannot be allowed to run away.
“If you want to cure them of monster transformation, then I should too.”
“You’re in the way. If all you want is to suppress the monsterization, then the method has already been established, so you can just wait. If you really want to help, the medicine to reverse the monsterization takes too long, so go to my father’s clinic and purify the patients who are brought in from now on.”
Alice raised her hand tremblingly, but my father again rejected her opinion.
But as my father said, if the people have just started to turn into monsters, we can still make it in time. If we infect them with mushrooms, we can stop the progression, so we can bring in the injured and monsterized people in a wagon and use Alice’s powers to heal them. However, since it’s only the village clinic, the number of people it can accommodate is limited. The more people there are, the more food problems we’ll have.
I want to help if I can. But…
“Father. This village alone doesn’t have enough space and food to accommodate them…”
“That’s true. But if they don’t turn into monsters and their wounds heal, they can become human resources who can fight or call for support. If they’re from the town, they can also carry food and supplies. However, this is only temporary, as it only covers what’s in the town right now. But it will buy us more time than if the village tried to do it on its own.”
I realized that instead of trying to provide for everything in the village as my father said, we should put the energized people in the town to work. In a town, there should be mercenaries, magicians, and alchemists.
If we can get through the town, we can directly request support from the royal capital.
“Anyway, we’ll start with our investigation. The villagers who can fight are gathering at the entrance to the village, so Amelia, get changed and come.”
“Yeah.”
I hurried up to the second floor.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
After leaving Alice and Sylphia at the clinic, my father and I arrived at the entrance to the village.
Several men were gathered at the entrance to the village, next to a horse-drawn cart. They were farmers and an old hardware store owner who had been into the mountains a little bit but didn’t make a living from it.
“Amelia, don’t worry. Even though we can’t use magic like you, everyone here is able to protect themselves.”
Perhaps it was because I had shown signs of anxiety on my face that the old man from the hardware store burst out laughing.
“I’m glad Clark and his family were there.”
“That’s right. I was only a mercenary a while back, so I’m not that much of a fighting force. But I can at least carry people.”
He laughs as he shows off his muscular upper arms from farming.
I don’t know what the uncles were like when they were younger, but the fact that my father didn’t tell them to go home probably means they can be counted as a fighting force. Or rather, maybe they have no choice but to be counted.
If we were to transport people, there’s no way my father and I could do it alone.
“We will defeat any monsters that appear along the way so they don’t reach the village. Then, when we get close to the town, Amelia and I will use wind magic to spread mushroom spores throughout the town. Therefore, everyone should take medicine to prevent mushroom disease beforehand. However, if you take the medicine, you will not be able to get infected by the mushrooms, so if you are injured by a monster, you will not be able to prevent your monsterization.”
“Don’t worry about it, there were no mushrooms in the past.”
“That’s right. In the past, if you turned into a monster you would prepare yourself for death, so it’s normal to die if you turn into a monster.”
But my father shook his head.
“A Saint is currently staying in the village, so I have had her make some holy water. We will leave the wagon a little distance from the town, so if you are injured by a monster, please return to drink some. We will each carry one bottle in case of an emergency, but you can only use three bottles per day. Therefore, please leave the rest in the wagon and have one person wait and guard the wagon.”
Apparently, while I was out picking mushrooms in the mountains, my father had asked Alice to make holy water. I knew about the existence of holy water and could have asked her right away, but I didn’t think about it that much and was quite upset.
“Please consider that the holy water will only be effective until tomorrow morning. The undead become more active at night, so we will return to the village before sunset. We will also return when the number of people that the wagon can carry has been reached. If there is a problem with the wagon, light a red signal, and if the number of people rescued exceeds the capacity, light a blue signal. We will take turns waiting for the wagon.”
Everyone nodded at my father’s words.
I can’t think of a better strategy than my father’s, and I feel at ease because he has more experience than anyone else.
“Well, first we need some medicine to prevent mushroom disease.”
We drank the contents of the medicine bottle my father handed us in one gulp.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
