1093. The Fairy Castle Wall
“let’s go.”
Aurelia headed south along that path. Rumors occasionally reached her that the monsters emerging from the Demon Realm were of a kind never seen before.
She saw people who had readily set out on the path of evacuation. Some merchant caravans were heading south in the opposite direction,
intending to sell the supplies that were currently scarce there. Since prices skyrocket during wartime, they were moving for the sake of profit as merchants.
She also saw processions of minstrels traveling together, as well as groups of over a dozen people abandoning their bases to flee.
It was war. A real war.
A war that started on this side, yet the sacrifices had to be borne by the Knights of the Red Cloak in the South.
When she finally arrived in the south, Aurelia felt an atmosphere completely different from what she had imagined.
The rain had stopped, and the gloomy sky had just cleared. Thanks to the cloudless blue sky, the heavens felt incredibly high.
After passing through a vast plain and a few clouds, she roughly wiped the dirt from her cheeks and looked ahead.
Instead of the monsters swarming from the Demon Realm, a group of people formed ahead caught her eye.
One of them approached, making a crackling sound.
The reason for that crackling noise was that the opponent was a Woodguard, one of the tree fairies.
And not just any Woodguard, but a giant of dark brown dry wood. Not all Woodguards make this kind of sound.
I had heard that only the Woodguards specialized for combat did.
“Who? Allies? Are there four of them serving?”
His tone was nonchalant. He acted as if he had seen many people like this before.
This was only natural, considering Crys had chosen this place as his battlefield.
There were no particularly high or wide walls, just a vast plain perfect for hordes of monsters to advance.
Wasn’t this too disadvantageous terrain? Everyone thought so, which is why they speculated that the Knights of the Red Cloak from the South had become the sacrificial lambs.
Big Eyes.
Aurelia pictured the face of the guy who acted obnoxious on the outside but cared for people deep down, ultimately giving away four horses and dismissing the three friends who had followed him this far as dispatches rather than desertions.
At the same time, she pictured Encred’s composed expression.
These bastards know it all.
Aurelia saw the wooden wall blocking the southern front.
She had wondered if some miracle would be needed if this place were to be used as a battlefield, but that miracle was now right before her eyes.
You’re late, Aurelia.
A little later, Cyprus, my grandfather, came out to greet her himself. Aurelia set her pack horse aside and approached, keeping a distance from her three surprised friends.
May I ask what happened?
Coming here, my old way of speaking came out naturally again.
It’s the magic shown by the Fairy Queen.
Should I say that this side is still the same?
Cyprus spoke as if it were no big deal. However, the situation right before their eyes could not be dismissed lightly, and to add to that, Cyprus had not just been sitting around doing nothing until things reached this point.
* * *
“Well, by now, our Fairy Queen and the Captain’s fiancée must have prepared the battlefield, right? And those connected across the entire continent are likely organizing their units as well. The battle has just begun. We will engage in a defensive battle throughout the autumn and winter.”
It was after Aurelia had left. At the time, everyone brushed it off as nothing serious, because nothing would change even if there was a slight misunderstanding.
After all, Aurelia was destined to return to her grandfather in the South. To be honest, Encred was aware of her existence but left her alone.
It was simply because she grew up just fine on her own after just a little intervention.
Lord Cyprus would like it if he saw this.
I had paved the way for Encred, but I thought that was all there was to it. She grew on her own and moved forward toward a new world on her own.
Although we only crossed paths briefly, I saw that her skills had improved significantly, and I also wondered if this might be the turning point for her to aim higher.
Junior Knight.
Moreover, she was a junior knight capable of aiming for the rank of knight in a short period of time.
Now that he had developed a discernment comparable to that of a prok, it was not difficult to recognize.
Her posture, attitude, actions, and tone of voice, and even the way she turned away while steeling herself and remaining calm. What
Encreed particularly valued was her mindset. Even after grasping the unfolding situation, she strengthened her resolve instead of making demands.
It was an action born of knowing exactly what was needed and what was the best course of action.
“Aren’t you saying we aren’t needed in a defensive battle?”
Rem chimed in, responding to Krys.
“Well, this is already the nth meeting that isn’t really a meeting.”
“Yes, we are gathering power before spring comes, and the Fairy City is holding the line until then. Well, if we don’t, we’re doomed, so some of us have already left.”
To be precise, he sent a fairy. Members of the dwarf city will join him shortly.
Crys has been truly diligent in the meantime, and one of the things he accomplished without Encred’s help was forging a friendship with the dwarf Argan of Rotten Eyes and establishing diplomatic relations with their city.
Well, it was the King’s job to appease and lead the city until the very end, though.
“Okay, I understand.”
Encreed listened attentively to Crys, his entire body drenched in sweat.
He exercises and trains every day without counting the time. It was an unchanging routine.
What makes him truly remarkable is that even his attitude hasn’t changed—the way he listens intently to someone and focuses.
If what the other person is saying is the barking of a dog with a human face, he would simply ignore it, but otherwise, he learns something from them.
Is it a terrifying obsession? Or a habit? Or perhaps an innate disposition?
With this, we’ve practically revealed one hand as well.
Kreis continued speaking. There was no sign of fatigue whatsoever. His mind wouldn’t function properly if he trembled with anxiety and couldn’t sleep well, so he spent his time relaxing his body as much as possible.
His daily routine was to predict and prepare for new tasks with such a sharp mind.
“Our goal hasn’t changed. It is spring.”
“Sinar is going to have a hard time.”
Esther replied to Crys’s words; while it might have seemed quite awkward for that witch to worry about someone, it didn’t necessarily feel that way anymore.
People change. This was especially true for those close to Encred.
* * *
What about the seeds?
Sinar stepped onto the battlefield alone first. He departed the very next day after the banquet, long before Aurelia had left.
Regardless of training or discipline, he moved forward leading all the resources prepared within the city and the full strength of the fairies.
Since he moved through the forest rather than the safe highway, he remained unseen.
In any case, it was after they had arrived.
From afar, black soot coalesced and transformed into an evil spirit, approaching. The creature did not strike all at once. It approached little by little each day, as if hoping that someone on their side would step forward to fight.
It seemed that the realm of the Demon Realm was expanding and the territory of the Intellectuals was shrinking accordingly.
Faced with this, Sinar and the group of fairies stood in their way to block the path.
“There are a lot.”
“Didn’t you say you don’t fight in the winter?”
Several members of the Order of the Red Cloak Knights welcomed the fairies. Cypress stepped forward, and Ingis also extended a warm welcome.
There was much to be said as they watched them.
It was understandable that they were surprised, as roughly over five hundred fairies had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Nevertheless, they were clearly allies, and having joined at a critical moment when hordes of monsters in the Demon Realm were determined to expand their territory, everyone was favorable toward them.
Exactly two days later, it is now that Sinar has set out, making the surrounding forest her encampment. The horde of fairies stretched out in long lines to the left and right of her.
Oho.
Cypress let out a faint sigh of admiration. His keen senses detected the mass of vital energy the fairy now possessed.
I wonder what he’s planning to do.
Not only that, everyone merely expressed their doubts.
After conversing with Sinar and traveling back and forth to the Fairy City several times, Crys asked them to prepare ‘magic.’
Now, it was bearing fruit.
Sinar pulled out the Ny-Dragon and plunged it into the ground. With a thud, the blade was embedded more than halfway into the earth.
At the same time, her cloak fluttered in the wind. With a rustling sound, a cluster of green light gathered and flowed through the cloak.
She gripped the handle of the Ny-Dragon with her right hand and popped three small fruits into her mouth with her left.
Preparation is complete.
The vital energy swirling inside her body rose like a burning fire.
With the summer sunshine.
For a short time, she filled this surrounding area solely with her own vital energy.
Using her as a reference point, the Woodguards lined up in the field at regular intervals planted their weapons into the ground in similar fashion.
Some even thrust their hands directly into the earth.
In between, the Woodguards and Dryuers planted leaves containing their seeds and vital energy.
They had cast a spell on the seeds that emerged from their bodies to bring them out, a spell that normally manifests only within a city protected by the Fairy God.
Now, let’s go. My fiancée. This is my first engagement gift.
Sinar muttered as he instantly poured all his vital energy into the ages stuck in the ground.
It began with a stream of water. Drrrrrr, an earthquake struck, the ground ahead bursting open and creating a long horizontal rift.
“Oh.”
Some of the non-knight soldiers slumped to the ground. A soldier dropped his weapon with a thud.
Some barely managed to regain their balance, and the castle wall far behind the southern front trembled violently.
Had this earthquake occurred just a little further back, the wall would have been riddled with cracks.
In any case, the earthquake caused a fissure in the ground, and groundwater gushed forth from within.
A surging stream of water rose to fill the gap. It was a moat created by nature.
It was quite wide, so much so that it could be considered a shallow river.
Looking back at our position, we were inside the moat. To Cyprus, trees were growing rapidly from the ground at a considerable distance from the moat—more than twenty paces away—a sight that seemed to pull decades of time forward in an instant.
As the trees grew, trunks formed, and green leaves filled the spaces between them. They formed a wall, creating a harmony of brown and green.
Whenever the City of Fairies migrated, they sought out forests to establish a settlement.
After that, using the vital energy gathered by the forest, one builds a house, erects walls, and establishes a foundation like this.
Sinar accomplished this by enlisting the help of a few fairies with exceptional talent for manipulating vital energy and pouring out his own energy.
The castle walls are being built in real time. Of course, it didn’t happen overnight. Sinar had anticipated it would take at least three to four days when he started.
Naturally, most of the onlookers were left gaping in astonishment.
That’s all for today.
Sinar spoke as if making a declaration. At his words, the horde of fairies withdrew their strength. The castle walls looked like half-standing tree giants.
“Seeing how she acts so carelessly, that woman is definitely part of the Order of the Mad Knights.”
Cyprus let out this exclamation of admiration. The next day, the soot drew closer, but Sinar ignored it and began his work.
Crunch crunch.
The tree giant was turning into a wall. After repeating this for a full four days, the approaching black soot stopped.
The fortress wall was a wall made of vital energy. It was a structure that was inconvenient for the monsters of the Demon Realm to approach.
The wide and long harmony of brown and green made me suspect that a god had briefly descended and molded the earth to create it.
“Is it okay?”
Cypress saw the fairy radiating such mystery.
Sinargi’s original golden hair had lost its color. Looking at it now, it seemed like silver rather than blonde. The color hadn’t faded completely, so glimpses of gold were visible here and there.
“Do not worry, old man. I am merely tired for a moment.”
As the wall was being built, the lump of soot prepared by the Demon Mirror—which should have been called the enemy—came to a halt.
But should we just leave it there?
Cyprus stood atop the wall erected in the south by the mysteries, miracles, and spells created by the fairies .
The ground wasn’t perfectly flat; it was filled with dirt, and roots were exposed here and there. There was no reason to complain about the unevenness. After all,
the advance of the Demon Mirror horde had effectively stopped thanks to this wall created by the fairies.
Cyprus quietly cast his gaze into the distance, pondered for a moment what he should do, and made a decision.
He spoke to the weary fairy.
Half the opinions say we should step up and handle it, and the other half say it’s a trap; I’m on the former side.
He jumped straight down. Although it was only slightly higher than a standard castle wall, such a height was nothing to a Knight of Resolve and one capable of doing anything.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he bent his knees to absorb part of the impact of the fall using the elasticity of his entire body, then instantly seized the rebound generated by pushing off the ground and used that force to spring forward.
pop!
With a violent kick, the earth in front of the castle wall soared into the air. As the earth, which had briefly obscured the view like a fountain, fell, Cyprus was already standing at the moat.
He immediately leaped over the moat as well. It was a width that would make an ordinary soldier hesitate, but it was no problem for him.
Instead of soaring upward, he jumped forward as if flying. His red cloak fluttered loudly in the wind.
Having crossed the moat, he ran without rest.
As he charged at the black mass of evil spirit, some of the soldiers watching became worried. To be precise, they were those who had recently joined the army and had not properly witnessed Cyprus’s feats until now.
Lord Cyprus isn’t what he used to be, is he?
I had heard such rumors as well.
There was even talk that he was half-convalescent following the battle with the South.
Lord Ingis was the one stepping forward publicly, and it was a foregone conclusion that he would inherit the Order. Everyone accepted it as such.
Then, Cypress returned, having sliced through the black smoke with his sword, scattering it away.
At first, he seemed like a madman, but as his sword strikes continued, a succession of sounds like “Screech,” “Screech,” “Crrrrr,” and “Keeeeee” could be heard from afar.
The black soot clumped together and clung to Cypress’s armor or cloak; each time, the power of the Sun Water residing in the cloak erupted, burning everything like flames.
The technique of imbuing one’s sword, armor, and cloak with Will is not the exclusive property of Encred. Cypress was a knight of that caliber, too.
And so, the mass of black soot met with both disaster and miracle, disintegrating. It scattered across the ground or rose like smoke, vanishing without a trace.
Cyprus finished his sword strokes and trudged back; on his way back, he jumped over the moat and, upon reaching the front of the castle wall, tilted his head back to look up and asked.
“Is there no door here?”
If there is no door, do I have to jump down every time?
A siege battle isn’t a fight where you can just defend from inside the walls.
Well, that was what I was thinking.
“there is.”
Woodguard Bran replied. As he snapped his fingers, the gate, which had previously concealed its seams, opened with the grinding sound of wood. It
was a gate as large as a standard castle wall—large enough to allow a cavalry unit to march out.
“That’s nice.”
Cyprus entered, showing his favor.
All of this had taken place three days before Aurelia arrived. By the time Aurelia arrived, the army of the Mirror of Evil had already formed its second formation.
