Water Magician

Chapter 135: Collapse

Autonomous Region.

A liaison region in the royal capital for the elves that live in the 『West Forest』.

Due to the relocation and expansion five years ago, it had moved to a corner of the aristocratic district, and currently, about 25 elves were residing in it.

Fifteen of them, who were considered to be elite among the residents, were being trained by a woman who had been staying since yesterday.

It had only been less than a day, but when they saw the woman, there was fear and dread … don’t worry about how both words have similar meanings.

After training more than yesterday in the morning, they somehow tried to down their lunch.

They already knew that they wouldn’t last during training in the afternoon if they didn’t eat.

After a lunch break, they came out to the courtyard and found the woman, Sera, on the road in front of the Autonomous Region.

Roxley, who had a bitter experience with Sera yesterday, approached her.

Of course, Roxley, like the other elves, looked at Sera with fear and dread, but at the same time, he began to admire her strength.

It’s unclear if that was the reason he approached her.

Recognizing the approaching Roxley, Sera called out.

“Roxley, is that kind of event popular in the royal capital these days?”

At the point where Sera was looking at, a creature about three meters tall was coming toward them with what looked like a club in its hand.

Upon closer examination, it was an Ogre.

“No … there isn’t such an event … it looks like an Ogre … an Ogre in the royal capital?”

A monster on the road of the royal capital … it was an absurd sight.

That was why Sera asked, but it was a scene that even Roxley couldn’t understand.

“I’ll have the pleasure of slaying it if it continues on its path and attacks but …”

Sera muttered terrifying words, which Roxley could hear.

However, Roxley pretended not to hear it.

Somehow, it smelled dangerous.

At that moment, Sara suddenly turned to look at the road behind her.

From there, she saw people chased by something and running desperately to escape.

The beings chasing them …

“Orcs?”

Height that was about the same as humans. A monster with a pig’s head, a little stronger than a goblin.

“I see, something abnormal is happening.”

Sera murmured, drawing her waist sword and giving instructions.

“Roxley, save those who are fleeing and shelter them in the Autonomous Region. I will defeat the Ogre.”

In addition, she raised a loud voice toward the courtyard.

“An emergency has occurred! Teams 1 and 2 are to defend the road. Help those who are fleeing. Team 3 is to prepare all the stored weapons in the courtyard. Call Baba-sama as soon as possible.”

After shouting out commands, without verifying if any of the elves moved to action, she charged at the Ogre on her own.

With a height close to 3 meters tall, it was difficult to behead it as it was.

Simply because the position of the neck was too high up.

Recognizing that Sera was heading towards it, the Ogre raised its club and swung it down.

Sara ran past the right side of the Ogre and cut its knee.

When the Ogre knelt and his head lowered, his head was sliced off from behind.

Her appearance of defeating the Ogre without any danger was imprinted in the eyes of all the elves of the first and second teams who were building a line of defense on the road.

No one said a word.

Just as Sera returned to the line of defense that was being set up, Baba-sama ran out of the courtyard.

“I heard that there are monsters?”

Baba-sama looked around while asking Sera.

The carcasses of Orcs and the Ogre, or broken skeleton bones, were already scattered on the road.

“I can’t imagine this happening in the royal capital …”

Baba-sama remembered the divination that spoke of 『Signs of unrest in the royal capital』.

Perhaps it was referring to this.

“Baba-sama, maybe we could shelter the people on the road and those fleeing in the Autonomous Region. I have a feeling this won’t end so quickly.”

“Sure. This is the aristocratic part of town, so most of the aristocrats stay in their mansions, but … they would be in danger if they encounter this while they’re out, so we’ll protect them. As long as the end is nowhere in sight, it’s better if we reserve our magical powers as much as possible.”

Baba-sama nodded and responded to Sera’s report and suggestions.

“From a distance then. Focus on killing with bow and arrow without allowing them to get close. Skeletons and Ogres cannot be killed with bow and arrow, so we’ll deal with those with close combat or magic.”

“That’s right. Let’s go with that policy.”

In that way, a long defensive battle began at the Autonomous Region.

But that was only part of the turmoil that was occurring in various parts of the royal capital.

Viscount House of Westwood in the aristocratic town of the royal capital.

The Kingdom’s Knights’ Order Knights Zack Cooler and Scotty Cobook visited the Viscount’s residence to deliver some documents from the order.

Originally, it was not a task that a Knight belonging to the Kingdom’s Knights’ Order would do, moreover by two Knights, but these two took the initiative in taking on this kind of work.

By no means did they like to buy and eat snacks after delivery, go to a cafe that interests them, or wander around the city … that was not the case.

“That’s not true? Ahahahahaha …”

If pointed out, Zack would reply with such a dry laugh.

They would return a little late and they would just be assigned to patrol the city again so it didn’t matter!

Basically, the security of the royal capital was carried out by the guards, an organization separate from the Knights’ Order, together with the Knights.

But that day, they were late after leaving the Viscount’s residence for another reason.

That was because the chef of the Viscount’s residence asked them to sample the new dish.

The Viscount Westwood family had been known as a gourmand for generations.

In addition, Harvey, the current head of the family, had assumed the position of Chief of the State Guesthouse, and was responsible for the dishes served at the State Guesthouses in three locations in the Kingdom, including the royal capital.

In other words, in the Kingdom, 『Viscount Westwood』 was a position that could be said to be synonymous with 『gastronomy』.

The dishes served by the chef who manages Viscount Westwood’s residence could be nothing but extraordinary.

If his wife asks them to sample such the chef’s new work, no one could refuse it.

From the chef’s point of view, he knew their names very well.

Because the chef’s sister was the proprietress of the tavern 『A drowning man drowns in alcohol』.

『A drowning man drowns in alcohol』 was the favorite tavern of the 『Second Son Union』.

In fact, the members of the Second Son Union were recognized by the regulars as young people who could understand their taste.

They have been playing around since they were teenagers so their palates were refined.

Therefore, the chef requested the Viscount’s wife to invite them to try the dish the moment he heard that they were coming.

Naturally, those two people could not resist.

Thus, they were having a good time in the dining room of the Viscount’s residence, even though their delivery work was over.

As Zack and Scotty praised the chef’s last new dessert, they heard a woman scream in the garden.

They looked at each other and ran into the garden with their swords.

In the garden, a maid sat on the ground.

The maid was looking at the gate of the Viscount’s residence. A gate made by weaving thin iron rods.

When they looked at the gate, a skeleton was looking inside from the outside of the gate.

A real skeleton was not a sight seen before in the royal capital.

The first thing that went through their heads was, was it someone’s prank? That was unavoidable.

However, when a second skeleton appeared, and it was a skeleton archer that fired an arrow at them … it was probably not someone’s prank.

A skeleton archer’s arrow would hurt and would even cause death if they were shot in a critical area.

That would not be a prank.

At this point, both of them had to admit that something unusual was happening.

They struck the archer’s arrow with their sword and rushed to the gate.

Zack poked his sword through the gap between the iron rods that make up the gate and pierced the archer’s forehead.

Scotty similarly pierced the remaining skeleton’s forehead with his sword.

The two skeletons collapsed on the spot.

The most effective weapons against skeletons were blunt instruments such as clubs and mallets.

They would stop moving once you crushed their skulls.

However, swordsmen and spearmen preferred to pierce their skulls.

Of course, that was more difficult than it looked.

If the sword did not enter completely perpendicular to the bone, it would slip on the bone and fail to penetrate.

The two had better than ordinary skills as Swordsmen.

After they defeated the skeletons, they looked down the road through a gap on the gate.

Not only skeletons, but also goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and even ogres were on the road.

“Hey … what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know but … I’m sure it’s a dangerous situation.”

Both Zack and Scotty were confused by the situation they encountered for the first time.

“For the time being, do you want to check the surroundings of the mansion from the second floor?”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s do it.”

After whispering and consulting each other, Zack and Scotty carried the maid, who was still sitting in the garden, to the mansion.

Royal Castle Palace.

“In other words, the monsters are spreading out from the aristocratic town.”

King Stafford IV muttered.

On the round conference table, a map of the fairly large royal capital was spread out.

The royal capital in an almost circular shape centered on the Sanctum.

Neighboring the northern end of the Sanctum was the Kingdom’s Knights’ Order guard station.

Since the royal castle was built in the center of the north side of the royal capital, the area further north of the Sanctum was a region with many mansions of wealthy merchants and aristocrats, and was generally called the aristocratic town.

And now, the monsters were ruining that aristocratic town.

“Just how …”

It was Finance Minister Fuka who muttered.

In response, someone raised their hand.

“We managed to organize some information, so I will explain.”

The speaker was Count Harold Lawrence, Minister of Home Affairs.

“The monster outbreak originated from the catacombs under the Sanctum. They reported a considerable number. I was told that they are still in the process of containing it, but with the cooperation of adventurers, it seems that they will be able to hold them back.”

It went without saying that many people were relieved to hear that.

The Sanctum was not only the center of the royal capital but also the center of worship.

If the monsters overflowed from there, the faith in the temple would fall to the ground.

It would lead to political instability.

Those there knew that religion could be a powerful tool of governance, depending on how it was used.

That was the first good news since the series of problems occurred.

But that was the end of good news.

“The monsters also appeared at the Knights’ Order Second Training Ground, which was connected to the underground tomb of the Sanctum. It seems that they continued to attack the First Training Ground and then the Knights’ Order’s guard station, and then spread to the aristocratic district.”

“Do you know why they attached the Knights’ Order’s guard station?”

Sir Mattia, the Chief of Construction of the Royal Capital, questioned Harold Lawrence’s explanation.

“I don’t know the exact reason, but experts point out that they’ve been heading for crowded places. That is, places with a lot of vitality. As you know, that is a characteristic of the undead. Among the monsters, there are quite a lot of undead such as skeletons and wraiths. That may be expected since the underground tomb was the origin. But the goblins and orcs show a similar tendency. There are reports that they attack and kill living humans and eat them. The guards responsible for the security of the royal capital were also shredded and torn to pieces so there are few people left to maintain contact …”

No one spoke for a while after Harold Lawrence completed his report.

If you open your mouth first, the monsters will hear, and they will come … those who were frightened by such illusions were there.

“The Kingdom’s Knights’ Order guard station was destroyed?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

Harold Lawrence replied with a grave expression to Finance Minister Fuka’s question.

“The only survivors of the Kingdom’s Knights’ Order are the roughly 100 men who were stationed at the headquarters in the royal castle. Currently, those at the headquarters are guarding the royal castle.”

“In other words, our current combat strength …”

“Apart from the 100 magicians centered on the Court Magician Group and the survivors of the Knights protecting the royal castle, there are only the personal guards …”

The attendees of the conference were speechless because of the minuscule forces.

It was unavoidable that the guards, which were by no means strong individually, were destroyed.

There were so many monsters. The guards scattered all over the royal capital would have been crushed one by one.

However, it was completely unexpected that even the Kingdom’s Knights’ Order, the greatest force in the royal capital, was destroyed without putting up any resistance.

They all heard rumors of Knight-Captain Baccara’s amassing of wealth from bribes.

However, no one denounced him.

There were those who … were more or less doing something similar.

Those who …. Baccara gave the flexibility to enter their petitioned place of employment.

And those who … kept the information and evidence so they may be able to use it someday.

All of them understood that they had incurred the current predicament with the rotten Kingdom’s Knights’ Order.

Of course, no one admitted to it aloud.

Even at this time, no one stepped up.

The collapse of the country was just around the corner.