Chương 189: Chapter 186 - Siege Preparations

After taking a short rest and recovering my mana to one hundred units, enough to at least function like a normal human, I made my way to the central district with Leif and Lela. I left the rest of my squad under Peter's command to patrol the wall. When I entered the central district, the changes were drastic. Clear signs of high-level battle were everywhere.

Several of the small artificial islands in the central district had either been destroyed or submerged, and even the central island, where the mayor's house and city hall stood, had been affected. None of this damage had been here when we left the central district. That meant a heavy battle had taken place here after we were gone, and from the way the destruction spread outward, it looked like this was where the fighting had started. The destroyed mayor's house had mostly been cleared away.

In place of the main building stood a huge, crude-looking, bunker-like hall with thick walls made of earth and a large opening at the front. But more surprising than the massive structure that had appeared out of nowhere was something else. Near the entrance, House Petrae's guardian beast was lying in a strange position. It lay almost upright, its feet buried deep in the ground while thick pillars of earth supported its chest, stomach, and tail, holding its wounded body in place.

If not for its slow breathing, I might have thought it was already dead. I was not sure where it had been during the invasion, but even the beast was injured. A huge scar ran across its back and down toward its stomach. All three of us stopped in our tracks as soon as we approached the entrance. Because even in that condition, the moment the beast's eyes locked onto us, we felt a dread unlike anything we had ever sensed before.

Thankfully, after looking at us for a few seconds, the beast diverted its attention to the officers coming up behind us.

"Oh, how I wish I could get a magnificent beast like this as a mount," Leif whispered as we walked forward. As soon as we entered, I saw Senior Lieutenant Caeso standing near the entrance. He looked much better than the last time I had seen him, when he had been half-buried under rubble. The moment he saw me, Caeso smiled.

"Yo, Edward!" he called, as if we had known each other for years. He slowly limped toward me.

"I never got the chance to talk to you. How is your master? It has been a long time. Does he still give long lectures and preach?" I smiled at the question. It was hard to imagine any conversation with Lieutenant Cicero that did not involve a lecture. It was comforting to know that even his friends received the same treatment.

"Yes, sir," I replied. Then, after a moment of hesitation, I asked, "How is Lieutenant Scaevola?" Unlike Caeso, who had only been half-covered by rubble, Scaevola had been completely buried. The only thing that had saved him was Caeso's silver liquid.

"Well, he is a tough bastard. He will survive," Caeso said.

"But it took all my mana." He pointed toward his limping legs.

"So, as you can see, I am paying for it." Then his eyes moved to my hands.

"But from the smell of herbs on you and the bruises on your fingers, I am not the only fool who wasted all his mana trying to save people today." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He pulled out a small bottle and passed it to me.

"Drink this, or Tellus will get angry." I took the bottle. The man really was like Santa Claus with potion bottles. But before drinking it, I paused and asked, "Shouldn't you be drinking this, sir?" He smiled at me and just waved his hand.

"This small bottle would be useless for me. It will only restore a thousand units of mana. That is nothing for me. And believe me, I have already reached my quota of mana potions and healing potions. Any more, and I will be bedridden." I nodded and drank the potion on the spot. Just as the lieutenant had said, my mana rose to 1100. Caeso nodded.

"In situations like this, always, always try to keep at least one-fifth of your mana." He patted my back and pushed me farther inside.

"Go stand somewhere near the front." After ten minutes, more than thirty officers had assembled inside the hall. Most of them were Royal Army lieutenants, but there were also several people wearing town guard uniforms. Moreover, it looked like only Leif, Lela, and I were Tier-2. Everyone else was Tier-3 or above. When Captain Tellus walked in, even his uniform looked messy. A moment later, I felt multiple types of mana spread through the entire building, probably to ensure the privacy of the meeting.

The Captain took his place at the front.

"If you all do not know yet, we are fucked," he said.

"And worse is yet to come."

"It will take everyone's effort to save this town. Today, we are here to review the initial reports and establish how we will proceed." The hall went silent.

"Lieutenant Crispus, proceed with your report." A lieutenant standing near the front stepped forward.

"All districts have been secured. By nightfall, we should have enough men to guard the walls again, but only at half of our normal capacity. By the fifteenth day, once the wounded recover and the new militia units have received basic training, we should have enough personnel to restore full wall coverage." He paused before continuing.

"But we have several major concerns. In case of another invasion, that capacity will be nowhere near enough to defend the town. With the protection array active, we could still put up a fight, but currently, the arrays are destroyed, and the rune master responsible for maintaining them died during the attack."

"As for the Royal Army rune masters present in town, we have two three-star rune masters, but both are artificers. They do not have experience working with town-sized arrays." The lieutenant's expression tightened.

"We are also running low on food. For now, we have enough food for forty days." The lieutenant finished his report, but before stepping back, he looked at the Captain as if he wanted to ask something but was afraid to do so. Captain Tellus noticed.

"Lieutenant, speak freely."

"Captain, does any of this even matter?" At the lieutenant's question, the Captain raised an eyebrow, but he did not say anything. The lieutenant continued, this time almost in a whisper.

"There is a Tier-5 individual with an established domain outside." The Captain nodded and stepped forward.

"I am the head of House Petrae's current generation. I have my own way of dealing with that threat. I cannot discuss the details here, but for now, plan under the assumption that a Tier-5 opponent can be handled." Then his expression hardened.

"But there is something everyone should know about this domain. The most important thing is that anything that happens under that field, he can know about." He looked across the hall.

"Hearing this many voices and processing them all at the same time should not be possible, but he will definitely monitor important locations and important people. So from this moment onward, assume everything is known to Frosthallow." A heavy silence settled over the hall.

"As some of our squads have already demonstrated, this domain is made of fast-moving wind. If a Tier-1 touches it, they will be sucked into it and killed on the spot. Anyone Tier-2 or above might survive, but the damage can still be severe." The Captain paused.

"Any questions related to the Tier-5?" No one spoke. When no questions came, the Captain stepped forward again.

"Everyone present here has lost someone close to them," the Captain said.

"And as all of you already know, we have lost many administrative personnel, including the mayor and his family." He paused for a moment.

"So Captain Roscoe's family will be taking charge of the town's administration. Edmund Roscoe has informed me that their family is capable of handling it. As for Captain Roscoe's condition, he is still unconscious, but he should be back on his feet within a week." Then he looked toward the lieutenants.

"Any administrative requirements we have will go through House Roscoe." He continued.

"As everyone knows, we have also lost the town guard commander. From this moment onward, the town guard will come under the authority of the Royal Army." The hall remained silent.

"According to my estimate, we have two months before Frosthallow's army and the mercenary army lay siege to us. That should also be close to the limit of how long any Tier-5 can maintain a domain of this scale. After that, they will take their sweet time." His expression darkened.

"It will be a long siege. Everyone here knows how bad things can become when people are trapped inside a town without enough food. And that is exactly what they want." He let those words settle for a moment before continuing.

"But all of that is for later. Right now, we prepare as best as we can. Every three days, the people present here will meet again to discuss and plan our defense." Then the Captain looked at me.

"Sergeant Edward." I straightened.

"You are a two-star rune master with experience working on defense arrays. I want you to work with Lady Flavia. Let me or her know if you need anything." His gaze stayed on me.

"You are the only surviving rune master here with experience handling defense arrays, so see if you can help us restore the city's array. I am assigning your whole squad to this task."