“Yes. Protecting this many people at once will be very difficult. If possible, I believe we will need to borrow reinforcements from the south, or perhaps obtain some sort of transport like horses and carriages.”
Caspond smiled thinly as he heard Gustavo’s suggestion.
“What nonsense are you spouting? Who said we’re talking about that?”
“Were we not supposed to consider how to move ourselves south?”
“Let me speak plainly. We will not flee south right away. We will do battle with Jaldabaoth’s army here.”
“That’s far too rash!”
As she heard Gustavo’s words, Remedios continued speaking.
“While we have city walls, we’ll be finished once we’re surrounded and the food runs out. A siege would be foolish without reinforcements to count on.”
While Remedios may not have been good at thinking, she was very reliable when it came to battle. Gustavo nodded as he heard his Captain’s confident words.
“Even so, we must fight here.”
As the two of them turned questioning gazes on him, Caspond smiled cruelly and explained himself.
“You heard it too, right? The Sorcerer King is conserving his mana for the battle with Jaldabaoth…”
After seeing Gustavo nod, Caspond continued.
“That would be troublesome. After he defeats Jaldabaoth and takes the maid demons, the Sorcerer King will return to the Sorcerous Kingdom. Before that, we need to have him decrease the amount of demihumans who have invaded this nation. Therefore, we must place ourselves in dire straits.”
“But our agreement with the Sorcerer King…”
“Every time the Sorcerer King slays several demihumans with his magic, fewer people of the Holy Kingdom will be lost, no? Which will you choose? Your pact with the undead, or the lives of the Holy Kingdom’s innocent civilians?”
Gustavo had a bitter look on his face, while the blank-faced Remedios promptly answered:
“The innocents of the Holy Kingdom, of course.”
“That’s how it is, Captain. Therefore, you must make the Sorcerer King fight. Since we have made an agreement, there must be a good reason to break it.”
“And so we must fight Jaldabaoth’s army for that?”
“Correct. Or rather — we began our work to flee to the south, but since we took more time than we expected, we were surrounded by Jaldabaoth’s army. With no options left, we had no choice but to seek the Sorcerer King’s strength. What do you think?”
He’s right, Remedios and Gustavo’s eyes seemed to say to each other. However—
“I have a question. What if the mana that the Sorcerer King expends becomes a disadvantage during the battle with Jaldabaoth?”
“I hear mana can be recovered quickly, no?”
“My sister said so too.”
Remedios’s little sister was a priestess. If she said, “I heard it from her,” nobody could refute it.
“We’ll release a few demihumans on purpose and lure Jaldabaoth’s army here. We need to do it before we run out of rations, remember.”
“...But how many of Jaldabaoth’s men will come?”
The three of them had already shared what they knew. After a series of battles, Jaldabaoth’s army was less than one hundred thousand strong.
The army was formed of twelve species, as well as six other species who were not numerous enough to qualify as armies in their own right, for a total of eighteen species.
The twelve races were:
Snakemen — serpent-headed demihumans, considered close relatives of Lizardmen.
Armatts — a bipedal rat-like species with iron-like fur. They were considered close relatives of the Quagoa.
Cabens — they resembled apes that were slightly larger than human beings, whose eyes had atrophied.
Zerns — a slimy species with whose upper bodies were like eels with arms and whose slimy lower bodies were like blue-colored maggots. Some people wondered Are you sure they aren’t heteromorphs? but they were affected by spells that worked on demihumans, so they were classed as demihumans.
Bladers — an insectile species whose fingernails sprouted knife-like blades and whose bodies were protected by an armor-like exoskeleton. Much like the Zerns, they were also affected by spells that worked on demihumans, so they were classed as demihumans
Horuners — demihumans with horse-like legs who were adept at sprinting. They could run for long periods without rest and possessed shocking mobility.
Spidans — Spider-like demihumans with four long and slender arms and legs who resembled spiders. They could spit all sorts of silk from their mouths and make all manner of clothes and items with that silk. The silk clothing they made in this way was as hard as steel.
Stone Eaters — armed with crude weapons, their most frightening feature was their ability to spit the rocks they ate. They could spit stone fragments that could easily dent metal armor, and do so at ranges in excess of one hundred meters. However, they could only do that a limited number of times, so if one could weather their onslaught, they were nothing to fear.
Orthrous — they were a version of Centaurs whose lower bodies were replaced by those of carnivorous beasts. They had better fighting power than Centaurs, but conversely they were less mobile.
Magilos — born with the ability to use spells of up to the fourth tier. The spells they could use apparently appeared on their bodies like tattoos. Their more powerful members were covered in tattoos. Sometimes there were individuals who could develop skills as magic casters, and those were rumored to be able to cast spells of up to the fifth tier. They might be Lord level entities.
Pteropos — a species which lived on cliffsides, they were very adept at long distance gliding. While they could fly, it seemed to require a lot of strength, so they could only fly for a while every day, and after that they could not even glide. If they did not fly, they could rend armor with the wind, so defending against it was very difficult. They were a species which was stronger when they could not fly.
And then, there were the Bafolk.
The remaining six races were not particularly numerous, but each of them was quite powerful.
Ogres.
Buri Uns — an Ogre-like race with the power to control the earth, who could be considered a superior species. They possessed special abilities associated with the earth.
Vah Uns — Similar to Buri Uns, they were water-controlling beings. They had water-linked special abilities.
Nagarajas — they looked like snakes with scaly bodies and arms. They were a completely different species from the similarly-named Nagas, and they did not get along well with the latter. They were born with the ability to cast many spells, and sometimes they would even equip themselves with swords and armor.
Spriggans — a species that could freely change their size from small to large. They were fundamentally a good species and evil Spriggans were very rare. That said, both good and bad Spriggans were unmanageable when they went berserk.
Zoastia — carnivores with the upper bodies of beastmen. They were relatives of Centaurs and Orthrous. They wore plate armor and carried round shields. They had no special abilities, but they were heavy cavalry with the savagery and strength of wild beasts. Just one of them was very powerful, and the Orthrous often relied on them. It was apparently a relationship like the one between Goblins and Hobgoblins. However, due to their lack of special abilities, they were not very strong foes against adventurers who could cast the 「Fly」 spell. Still, in a head to head clash, even orichalcum ranked adventurers would have a hard time.