I’m Just an Ordinary Human

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“Uuuung.”

“Oh, ooooh…”

“Is that what the mage from the hero party created? A golem? For real?”

“It’s oddly shaped…”

“I honestly can’t believe that thing will fight in our place.”

Most people were skeptical overall, but there was no bad feeling, as all of them, including the Captain of the Guard and Count Winterguard, were, at the very least, willing to give this lifeline a try.

The best way to alleviate doubts at such a moment was to demonstrate the performance directly.

“Rui!”

When a demon that Rapierie had loosely bound shrieked, Opelite’s gaze shifted in that direction.

Then, after finishing the analysis with a click, he slowly moved toward that spot.

“Ooh.”

Rapierie quickly pulled back as Opelite approached, and the demon’s attention turned to Opelite, who was advancing toward it.

—-!!

It was a bug-like demon about half the size of a person.

The demon, resembling a beetle, charged at it while clicking its jaws.

Bang!

Then something flashed, and with a tremendous sound, a thick cloud of dust arose.

“What just happened… huh?”

As the cloud cleared, there stood only Opelite, impeccably poised.

“Insane…”

Beneath him lay the corpse of the demon, instantly killed by a mithril spear.

“U, uwaaaa!!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

If there had been any worry that such power might be directed against them, such a reaction would never have come forth.

[Look, see? Even if I hit it like this, it won’t retaliate at all. If you want, you can take a shot too.]

Feeling completely on their side, such extreme reactions spilled out.

Well, it wasn’t too surprising.

After all, they had been living a life akin to an infinite hell—fighting tirelessly only to switch off and battle again shortly thereafter after painful combat.

In that sense, it was surely a relief for the guards, which felt adequately joyful.

‘Hm, I didn’t get much info, but it’s still not bad.’

I wanted to see more detailed movements, but due to the power gap, the demon perished instantly, yielding little information.

Still, I could check this aspect separately later; what mattered was confirming that it could be used as a core weapon against the great demon.

“……….Huh?”

As I listened to the cheers of others with a satisfied expression, the entire hero party, including Rapierie, approached me.

“Rui!”

“……Yes?”

“Great job! Congratulations!”

“Uh, well, um.”

I replied with gratitude while avoiding their gazes, but Rapierie’s praise didn’t end there.

“You’re a genius, after all!”

“Ugh.”

Then Serelin chimed in.

“I already knew you were a genius from the start.”

“………”

“Me too!”

“Sis, me too!”

“………”

Aria and Nia echoed their support.

And then.

“See? Rui is a genius mage, right?”

“……Stop it.”

Even Aswel joined in.

Aside from the fact that they were praising me, all their faces had one common point.

They couldn’t suppress their laughter.

“Puuhuh!!”

“Haha!!”

Ugh.

I had been trying my best to ignore it!

After completing Opelite, I headed toward the wall with them, trying to maintain the iciest tone possible in the awkward room.

Then, after asking them to help with Opelite’s first activation, we successfully completed it.

So, wasn’t it enough to just move on from that?

But this is just too embarrassing!

I glared at them with a burning face and said, “I-I won’t be providing equipment support from now on.”

“Ah, ahh! I’m sorry!”

“Rui is really sulking!”

“I’m not sulking!”

“I’ll apologize! It’s all Rie’s fault for making us do it…!”

“Aswel?! Don’t blame me there…!”

Anyway, that marked the successful completion of Opelite’s first operation.

In the days that followed, testing Opelite showed that it could be entrusted with defense without any issues.

As long as mana was continuously supplied, it could operate indefinitely, significantly reducing the number of guards assigned.

As a result, the frequency of shifts for each guard also decreased naturally, boosting overall morale.

‘Opelite 2? …Maybe I should hold off for now.’

Receiving such delightful results made me consider the production of the second unit, but I soon gave that thought up.

Ultimately, the key issue wasn’t successfully defending the wall but uprooting the source of this problem entirely.

Now that there was room in the general defense formation, it was a good time for the hero party to take action.

“Everyone, ready?”

“Yes!”

“Sure!”

“Let’s go!”

We all finished the final checks in front of the wall gates.

Because I needed to assess the assaults from three directions, it might take longer than expected.

However, we decided not to ride horses, due to the unknown number of demons.

If we were to be surrounded, it would be difficult to fight while keeping horses safe, so leaving them behind from the get-go felt less stressful.

“Lux, don’t cause any trouble and stay safe, okay?”

I, too, didn’t want to see Knight Lux hurt or killed, so I patted his mane and bid him a temporary farewell.

Whoosh.

Hearing Knight Lux’s snorting, I waved subtly to the guards seeing us off.

“Oh Goddess of Bombardment! I assure you that I’ll take good care of this metal friend!!”

“Uoooh!!”

“Eh.”

Wait, why is that nickname ringing in my ears right now?

I wanted to settle my confused feelings somehow, but the hero party had already started crossing the gate.

In the end, I followed the hero party, gnashing my teeth to suppress the rising tide of anger while alternating glances between the guards and the party.

New landscapes began to enter my view.

*

The great mountain range stretching across the northern part of the Empire is mostly characterized by its rugged and jagged peaks.

In contrast, the smaller mountain range in the east is generally more gentle in shape.

“Wow… How fascinating.”

And since Winterguard existed at the junction where these two mountain ranges met, we could enjoy both sceneries at once.

Technically, including the massive canyon existing between them, it was three sceneries.

They say that around early spring, a wondrous sight appears where the eternal snow from the northern mountains and the spring flowers of the eastern mountains coexist, and a small river emerges in the canyon.

But we didn’t have time to savor such vistas.

“First, the northern mountain range.”

Since I intended to tackle all three assaults, I prioritized the northern mountains, which would demand the most stamina.

Thus, we would proceed in the order of the northern mountains, the canyon, and finally the eastern mountains, eliminating the source of the issues as we went along.

‘If this goes well… We won’t need to leave Opelite behind at Winterguard.’

A small number of demons should suffice for the guards of Winterguard.

“But what could be the reason?”

“The reason? Are you talking about the assaults?”

“Yeah. It’s certainly not common for different groups of demons to attack in turns.”

“That’s almost impossible.”

The hero party theorized about the current situation, each voicing their opinions, but no suitable answers emerged.

I maintained my silence.

Ah, it wasn’t that I already knew the original story and shouldn’t speak carelessly about it.

“Heh… Hek…”

“Sis, are you alright?”

No matter how much I wanted to say something, I found it hard to do so, as I was panting heavily.

Gradually, I started to feel dizzy, and my vision went out of focus.

‘This is way tougher than I thought…?!’

It felt like I had to almost crawl just to make my way up the ground.

How were the others climbing these steep heights…?

“Rui, why are you trying to stick to the ground so much…? Isn’t it tough?”

“One of the royal knight training programs in winter is to crawl up mountains, but you’re the mage doing it…?”

Weird.

The party members stood at an angle, defying gravity.

What was going on here…?

Pat.

“Aswel, should I carry you?”

“No, I’m fine. Rui is light enough.”

“Huh…?”

Just as I was sweating profusely and looking around in confusion, I suddenly noticed that someone was carrying me.

“Aswel…?”

“Oh, sorry, Rui. We didn’t think about that. We’re almost at the first target point, so just hold on a bit longer.”

I’m not uncomfortable or anything!

Thump.

I quickly tidied my sweat-soaked hair, fearing that he might look back.

And I figured it might be best to do more than just rest, so I additionally granted magical spells regarding stamina and strength to all members, including Aswel from the hero party.

You might wonder why I didn’t just cast all the stamina and strength-related magic on myself from the start.

I did!

That’s why I could manage to ascend at least a third of the mountain.

“………”

Anyway, since the spells I cast on myself were also granted to everyone else, Aswel started moving rapidly even while carrying me.

Cha-ching!

“It seems we’re getting close. The frequency of demons has increased.”

“Exactly… I can see flying-type demons starting to show up as well.”

Serelin and Aria’s predictions were spot on.

Soon, the gradient began to ease, and we spotted numerous demons waiting in the distance.

Behind those demon hordes, there was indeed a cave that kept expanding their ranks.

I guessed that the source of the assaults was likely asleep in there.