NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27
That was so clumsy.
I completely underestimated the degree to which the magical creatures would be empowered by the Demon Race and the Fortress of Twilight.
“I should have considered the distance to the fortress.”
The enhanced creations lose strength the further they are from their source.
But right now, the Fortress of Twilight and the Western Gate of Alpharest are, to exaggerate, a stone’s throw away, so the enhancement hasn’t weakened.
“Above all, the Demon Race that executed the enhancement must be quite strong.”
It can’t be anyone other than the Demon Race from the original story… because this “Fortress of Twilight” is a unique magic of a Demon.
It’s better to see it as a difference in depiction that arose between the original and reality.
“Ha…”
So, I naturally breathed heavily as I hurriedly created the incantation.
While buffing my party members, I was also pouring my mind and mana into developing the spell, causing me to feel dizzy.
“Hah.”
“Rui!”
Thankfully, Rapirie caught me from behind, so I didn’t fall flat on the ground.
“What did you just do?!”
“I just… used a bit of magic on everyone’s gear.”
“What…?! No, everyone has different body types and equipment… surely not?”
In fact, that part took me two hours.
If I were just enchanting everything as a whole, I wouldn’t have needed to create a spell in the first place, but since I had to reflect each individual’s information, collecting, calculating, and applying the data took a lot of time.
“You’re insane… insane…”
“Rui!”
Soon, the three people who had been fighting in front of me approached.
“Was that just now your doing?”
I nodded while leaning against Rapirie.
Then the three looked at me with disbelief.
“Aswel, thanks to Rui, our burden has been significantly reduced.”
“That’s true. I was also worried about my arrows running out.”
“Thank you, Rui.”
“Not at all.”
The three heroines defended me and expressed their gratitude.
“Thank you, Rui. Thanks to you, everyone can fight better.”
As I turned my gaze, I saw the fighters who had just been struggling now effortlessly dispatching the magical creatures before them.
“Aswel, if we’re this confident, I think we can reorganize our formation.”
Serelin’s words were met with the hero’s nod. Soon, they greeted us and called together the leaders of the three fighting forces.
“I think the church members will be arriving soon. I’ll go inform them of the situation.”
Ariya also left, leaving just me and Rapirie behind.
“Rui.”
“Yes?”
“Using magic is good, but next time, let me know beforehand.”
Had dust been gathering in my hair without me noticing?
She stroked my hair and said with worried eyes.
Seeing her like that, I couldn’t just say, ‘I don’t want to.’
“I’ll definitely let you know next time!”
“Make sure to say it, alright? Honestly, I was worried thinking you were going to pass out.”
“I know, so stop patting my head.”
Barely escaping from Rapirie’s grasp, I put the master key back and took out my pen.
Since I had pushed myself a bit, I should stick to using just the pen for another hour or two.
“Rapirie, over there.”
“Okay.”
I handed Rapirie a golden incantation and shared our next target.
As this battle continued towards nightfall, a sudden change occurred.
“The magical creatures aren’t coming out anymore!”
The howls of the magical creatures from the Fortress of Twilight had ceased.
*
“Everyone has gone into preparation time.”
“Since the battle just started as soon as they arrived at another gate, everyone must be exhausted. They should at least have a bit more time to rest…”
The hero’s party was also taking a short break in the central tent set up by the district guards.
“Here, Serelin. Use this. Don’t let your hands go numb.”
“Ah? Thanks.”
When I tried to wipe the blood off my sword, I handed over a cloth I’d made a while ago.
It only has one spell attached, but it should be good for cleaning the sword.
‘It’s microfiber.’
The hero’s sacred sword doesn’t even get stained with blood, so he didn’t really need it.
“…”
But when the hero was looking at Serelin’s sword and then glanced at me, he tilted his head and asked.
“…? Hero, what’s up?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes.”
“…”
I had no idea why he was acting like that.
Fortunately, someone entered the tent, changing the atmosphere.
“Lord Alpharest.”
“Please, sit. You have been working hard until just a moment ago.”
As we stood to greet him, Lord Alpharest beckoned us to remain seated.
Instead, he assigned maids and butlers from his mansion to us.
“Rui.”
“Oh, maid.”
“You don’t need to be so formal. Oh, your shoulder muscles are really tense. Let me loosen them up for you.”
“I don’t really need that…”
But I couldn’t refuse the maid’s skilled massage, and soon my shoulders melted away into relaxation.
“Thanks to the hero party stepping up, we didn’t suffer major damage. Truly… as the leader of this city, I’m grateful.”
“If it weren’t for the Alpharest guards, adventurers, and mercenaries, we would have had a tough time.”
“I plan to give them rewards separately as well. I came here specifically to thank you all.”
‘Oh.’
He looks greedy enough to end up doing only embezzling, but his words are just so unnaturally kind.
Then again, he was well-regarded by the city’s citizens in the original story, so one could say he has a good nature by birth.
Suddenly, the hero stood up and approached me.
“While we all worked hard, the one who did the most was Rui.”
“Huh?”
“The guards informed me that some black substance flew from that fortress toward the walls. But thanks to Rui reinforcing the walls beforehand, there was no damage.”
‘What. There was no need to say something like that.’
But Lord Alpharest’s eyes were wide open with surprise.
“Is that true?”
The count looked extremely surprised. It seems like there was a lack of trust.
“Yes. Plus, you reinforced our weapons and gear…”
“No, there’s no need to hype it up like that…”
It’s strange.
The hero and Rapirie began praising me, competing against each other in front of Lord Alpharest and the others.
Serelin and Ariya, who should have been calming things down, were just going along with it.
“Oh Rui, your mouth is twitching.”
“Shut up.”
Fortunately, the seemingly endless time of praise finally passed.
I felt utterly exhausted, like I had weathered a storm. The maid’s incredible shoulder massage had definitely contributed to that.
“Is that so? For this matter, I will compensate Rui separately.”
There really is no need for that.
But I nodded, as if there was no other choice, at the count’s words that he would provide high-quality materials.
“I will take my leave now. It might be better to leave anything related to battle to the hero.”
Lord Alpharest left, adjusting his mustache while maintaining his courtesy.
He came merely to commend the prevention of the Fortress of Twilight’s assault—not to meddle in our operations or future plans.
After Lord Alpharest and his party had left, we began to formulate a plan regarding the Fortress of Twilight.
“Everyone, I have a suggestion.”
The eyes of the three heroines met mine and focused on the hero.
“I think… now that the monsters aren’t coming out of that fortress, it’s actually the perfect time to go in.”
The hero proposed a mission to invade the Fortress of Twilight.
“I agree with Aswel. I don’t think the monsters will stay quiet forever, so it’s best to finish this before that happens.”
“As long as there aren’t any traps… it might not be bad.”
“If it’s the hero and everyone’s opinion, I’ll go along with it.”
The three heroines also sided with the hero’s opinion.
At that moment, a scene suddenly flashed in my mind.
[Just a moment ago, everyone was tired from the battle, yet the hero party decided on one plan. To enter that fortress and end everything.]
[We can’t allow any more damage. That word pushed the hero party into action despite their exhausted bodies.]
In the original story, they entered the fortress amid endless monster attacks and interference from the Demon Race, unprepared.
Thus, the hero party, driven by fatigue, entered the fortress and suffered countless attacks from the Demon Race.
Those who were summoned separately didn’t die but suffered many injuries.
In the end, they managed to kill the master of the fortress, but many of the ordinary citizens and troops they aimed to protect were killed in the struggle.
An episode where nothing was gained and everything was lost.
But this time it’s different.
There were no casualties, and the hero party was in much better spirits.
They weren’t entering due to being unable to withstand the attacks but were fully prepared and ready to act for the future.
“Rui, what do you think?”
The hero asked me. All gazes that had been directed toward the hero were now on me.
That’s right. I, too, am part of the hero party.
They were asking for my opinion.
I slowly rose and opened my mouth.
“Sounds good.”
Can we achieve a future where no one gets hurt?
It’s possible.
“So, we have an agreement.”
Finally, the hero turned to us all, nodding with a resolute expression.
“Then, let’s get ready.”
The Fortress of Twilight.
One hour before the assault.
*
People were emerging from numerous tents.
Guards, adventurers, mercenaries.
But they weren’t the only ones.
The church, chefs, porters, and even ordinary citizens.
Everyone was looking toward only one place.
Us, the hero party.
“Come back safely!”
“Do your best!”
“Hero, you got this!!”
The cheers of everyone filled the air, and the hero quietly closed his eyes and embraced the sound.
The other heroines looked tense, but there was no sign of fear or dread.
“Ready?”
“All set. We can go in now.”
The Fortress of Twilight had a large gate standing tall.
And right now, that gate was wide open, seemingly inviting us in.
All we had to do was step inside.
“Hero, and everyone.”
Before that, I called out to them.
“What is it, Rui?”
I handed them a bracelet embedded with mana stones.
Crafted from the techniques I learned from Diayursil, the mana stone had a spell inscribed on it.
“This is a bracelet that can track a person’s location and condition. And for Serelin, Ariya, and Rapirie, their bracelets have the hero’s location indicated.”
“Oh…”
I had inscribed a separate spell on my master key to track the hero.
“And me?”
“The hero’s bracelet allows you to know the locations of the three.”
It took a lot of effort to layer multiple spells together.
“What about you?”
“Me? I don’t have one.”
“Why?”
“If you’re asking why…”
Well, I would just know how to find them myself. But before I could say that, the hero chimed in.
“It would be good if you could know your location as well.”
“Hmm, alright.”
I gently took the hero’s hand and infused the bracelet with my mana.
“Anyway, with this, we should be able to gather quickly no matter what happens in there.”
I also added several other spells, so in simple terms, it’s a bracelet that prevents us from being defenseless once we enter.
“Wow… having this makes me feel much more at ease. Thanks, Rui.”
“Not at all.”
The bracelet handover ceremony ended with Serelin’s gratitude.
Now it was truly time to set off.
“…Let’s go.”
With the cheers of many behind us, we approached the fortress and soon stepped through the gate.
Kaboom…
And with a thunderous sound that felt like the earth was splitting, my vision was engulfed in darkness until I found myself alone in a black corridor.
“It begins.”
I had finally entered the Fortress of Twilight.