Monsters! Hide in your houses!

The city was noisy.

(Third rule of the Makkarens Adventurer Guild: in the case the monsters around the city rampage, cooperate with the guards and templars, and protect the city) (Makoto)

Rozes lacks soldiers.

Makkaren suffers from this problem the most, being close to the continents prominent giant dungeon, the Demonic Forest.

Because of that, in emergencies, theres a lot of times when the members of the Adventurer Guild have to lend their strength -thats what Mary-san taught me when I was a newbie.

(Even so, she also said that a horde of monsters only comes once every several years) (Makoto)

Is this the result of the monsters getting more active?

I run to the gate where the monsters apparently are showing up at.

I could see several adventurers around.

Makoto!

Jean! (Makoto)

I met a party I know.

A party of 4 with Emily, the brawler guy, and the mage girl.

Wheres Lucy, Makoto-kun? (Emily)

Today we are moving separately. She told me she would be meeting you though. (Makoto)

Yeah, we were together in the morning, but she left in the afternoon. (Emily)

Hearing this from Emily, I got a bit anxious.

She didnt go alone to the Great Forest, did she?

The horde of monsters are coming from the Great Forest.

Sa-san is together with Nina-san, right?

Nina-san should know the rules of adventurers.

I hope we can group up somewhere.

While I was thinking that, I arrived at the west gate.

There were already several adventurers, Makkaren soldiers, and templars.

Oh! The Hero is here!

Oi, Makoto, they said theres around 500 monsters.

A pack of Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres.

Makoto, give us instructions quickly.

Counting on you.

(Eh?) (Makoto)

The gathered adventurers were looking over here.

No, not only the adventurers.

The soldiers and the templars too.

W-Wait! (Makoto)

Why am I the one taking command?!

Makoto, in cases of emergencies, it is settled that the one with the highest standing takes command. Theres no one here who has a higher post than you as a Hero, Makoto. (Jean)

Jean explained to me while I was confused.

R-Right!

It is rule 8 of the Makkaren Adventurer Guild!

In the past, I thought it wouldnt ever apply to me anyways, so I erased it from my mind.

Eh, seriously?

I have to take command?

A ton of stares were concentrating on me.

I seriously am no good at this though!

W-What about Lucas-san?! (Makoto)

If it is that veteran, he should be able to command well!

Lucas-san said a dragon showed up at a neighboring town, so he went to assist. (Emily)

Emily says as if apologetic.

N-No way

Makoto-senpai! Show us your Hero-like visage real good! I will listen to everything you say!

The brawler comrade of Jean seems to be the hot-blooded type. He told me this with true passion.

(I have no experience with this though) (Makoto)

Commanding a large number of people is the thing I am the worst at doing

The gazes of everyone strengthen even more.

I could feel their pressure as if they were saying do it already.

I-I dont wanna be here anymore

Okay okay, everyone. Takatsuki-sama isnt used to this kind of stuff, so I will take command in his place.

Someone gathered the attention of everyone with a loud voice.

Nina-san? (Makoto)

The female martial artist with rabbit ears raised her hand.

It is Nina-san. She became a Gold Rank recently. She is currently the wife of the Fujiwara Companys president, right? Didnt she retire?

I could hear the small commotion it was making.

Takatsuki-kun! Sa-san!

Sa-san!

What a relief. I found a party member!

Takatsuki-kun, it is okay to leave it to Nina-san, right?! (Aya)

Y-Yeahplease do so, Nina-san. (Makoto)

Alright, I will! (Nina)

Nina-san was quickly deciding the roles of everyone.

She manages a company with a whole lot of subordinates on the regular, so she is good at leading.

Sa-san, you saved me there (Makoto)

Nina-san told me about the rules of the Adventurer Guild. You are bad at that kind of stuff, right? (Aya)

Aah, I am glad I have Sa-san.

She understands me

The monsters have come!

From the direction one of the adventurers points a finger to, the horde of monsters raising clouds of dust showed up.

Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres.

I could see man-eating giants here and there.

They dont have as much overpowering presence as the more than 5,000 monsters in the Sun Country.

But compared to the fighting force of Highland, the one here is fatally low.

In other words, it is quite a threat for Makkaren.

Mages, fire! (Nina)

The mages begin their volley at the order of Nina-san.

The first move is a long range attack.

It is the same tactic as the Sun Knights, huh.

At that moment

[Meteor Rain]!

A familiar voice echoes and giant rocks crash onto the army of monsters.

A large cloud of dust raises and the ground trembles.

The monsters raise loud screams as they are sent flying.

No matter how many times I see it, the firepower is just unbelievable

Makoto, Aya, are you okay?! Lucy-san!

Lucy came rushing to us out of breath.

She looks at the horde of monsters as she breathes a sigh of relief.

Theres still a lot remaining. (Makoto)

Around a hundred were defeated with the long range attack of the mages.

But the majority of the monsters are still alive.

Shield unit, take formation! (Nina)

The ones readying their shields are the templars and the soldiers.

Theres around 50 people in the shield unit, 20 people for the mage unit, and around 30 close combat warriors.

If we put our all numbers together, we are around a 100.

Makkaren doesnt have a lot of fighting force

Do they not have the funds for it?

We still have more than 300 monsters to face.

In terms of numbers, they are three times more than us.

Whats scary in a group battle is being pushed by the numbers and losing momentum.

The expressions of the soldiers of Makkaren were stiff.

They must be having doubts whether they can actually stop the enemies from advancing.

Alright, lets do the same as that time in the Sun Country and make a wall to buy time.

Also, theres something about Spirit Magic thats better than before.

(Spirit-sans, Spirit-sans.) (Makoto)

(What~?) (Did you call~?) (Lets play~.)

I get along with the Spirits of Makkaren.

We have been together for the longest after all.

I still cant call the Great Spirit, but if it is just using Spirit Magic, Makkaren is the best place.

(Spirit-sans, I am troubled. Please help me.) (Makoto)

I use the Charm Magic I learned from Furiae-san and I ask of them with everything I have.

(((((Okay~!)))))

The comfortable chorus-like response of the Spirits rang.

The mana of the Spirits surrounds me very fast.

Woah, Makoto! (Lucy)

Takatsuki-kuns surroundings are zappy (Sa-san)

I heard the mutter of Lucy and Sa-san.

I could feel the shocked gazes of the Makkaren mages.

The Spirit Magic of todayis feeling good.

I raise my right hand and shout.

Water Magic: [Ice World]! (Makoto)

In an instant, the bluish gigantic mana became light, and swept onto the monsters.

Not creating an Ice Wall, but freezing the monsters itself to create a wall!

It reduces the number of monsters as well, so two birds with one stone!

Is what I thought, bute-eh?

The row of monsters that were rushing towards us had become ice sculptures.

That was my intent but

The eyes of everyone gather at me.

Yeah, I know what you want to say.

Takatsuki-sama, you froze them all (Nina)

Nina-san said with a troubled expression.

Yeah, I ended up freezing all 300 monsters.

The close combat warriors and brawlers that were all hyped up saying this will be our time to shine!, were making complicated expressions.

S-Sorry.

I ended up taking that spotlight.

Well, isnt it fine? Thanks to the magic of Makoto, everyone is okay. (Lucy)

Yeah yeah, we didnt get a turn, but whats best is that we werent hurt So cold! (Aya)

Lucy and Sa-san cover for me.

Looks like the Spirit Magic was too strong and Sa-san was freezing.

Haah, Lucy-san, you are so warm~. (Aya)

Sa-san is hugging Lucy.

My body was hot after using magic, so your skin is cold and refreshes me too, Aya. (Lucy)

Lucy is touching the body of Sa-san.

It looks kinda yuri.

What, it is over already?

Will we get a reward from the guild like this?

Who knows.

The tension of the adventurers around melted and they began chatting.

Makoto, that was an incredible spell! (Jean)

Makoto-senpai, thats crazy-ssu!

Jean and a newbie adventurer praised me.

But why did these guys suddenly show up here?

There were a lot this time around.

It looked as if they were being chased by something.

Aah, you are right.

Chased?

The moment I heard a conversation that bothered me

GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!

A cry that made the air tremble resonated from above.

When I looked up, a monster with a dark green body and gigantic wings looked down on us.

A Green Dragon!

The dragon suspends its giant body in the air flapping his wings.

The monster thats said to be the ruler of the Great Forest has shown up!

Everyone, spread out! If you are gathered in a bunch, you will be targeted! (Nina)

The adventurers all dispersed at the order of Nina-san.

There were also people who were chanting spells as they moved, but

They are not reaching. (Aya)

Just as Sa-san said, the place the dragon is flying at is too high for magic to reach.

What about Meteor, Lucy? (Makoto)

I think it can reach, but if I miss, it will end up falling at us instead (Lucy)

No good then. (Makoto)

The risk is too high.

Guoooooooooooooooohhh!!

Something was shot from the wings of the Green Dragon as it roared.

It is attacking! Avoid it!

I look up prompted by that voice, and several hundreds of what looked like wooden spears were raining at us?!

Takatsuki-kun, Lucy-san, watch out! (Aya)

Sa-san kicked away a number of spears that might have hit us.

Thats dangerous.

When I looked around, there were many injured.

Theresno one deadyet.

This is bad. Our attacks dont reach, but the enemy can still attack us.

That guyhe has the sun at his back. (Lucy)

Lucy says mortified.

True, the dragon is flying in a position thats like it is overlapping with the sun.

Is it doing it on purpose?

It is intelligent as well.

It seems like, because of that, many mages aside from Lucy were having a hard time adjusting their aim.

The warriors didnt have a turn again.

Nina-san also has a troubled expression.

Whatsour next move?

I look around to see if theres someone with knowledge around.

There should be a number of veterans in Makkaren aside from Lucas-san, but today of all days, they were somewhere else.

So unlucky.

(Should I try using a throwaway Water Dragon and see if it works?) (Makoto)

Water Magic isnt too effective on a Green Dragon that is wood element.

I learned this at the Water Temple a long time ago.

But theres no other magic I can use.

The moment I tried calling the Spirits to use Spirit Magic

A light covered the whole area and dazzled my eyes.

When I try to squint my eyes and see, I could tell there was a cross-shaped light.

Gyoooooh!!

The Green Dragon raised a dying cry and its figure disintegrated inside the light.

(That light was) (Makoto)

I have seen it before.

It is the same one I saw at the time when we subjugated the Taboo Dragons outside Laberintos.

In other words, the Light Hero.

Someone landed gracefully on the ground.

White travelling clothes that seemed to be made with extravagant embroidery.

His light brown hair was shining orange with the light of the sun.

Hey there, Takatsuki-kun. Was it okay for me to defeat it?

The handsome man that spoke with a refreshing voice seemed to be troubled.

The female adventurers raised screams.

We met just a few days ago at the Sun Country, so it doesnt feel like it has been a while.

My classmate, Sakurai-kun.

What are you doing here?

l