“Eliminating the safe zone—did Father send the demon tribe to the village?”
Grit.
If it were usual, Klad would have cursed and rushed out to the village, but he clenched his teeth tightly and calmed his excitement. He couldn’t leave Jake, who knew nothing, all alone. He had to explain the situation, decide together, and move together.
“No. I don’t sense the demon tribe’s movements.”
“Didn’t you just say you felt demonic energy?”
“That’s not because the demon tribe is there, but because the range of the demonic energy’s spread has widened.”
“Ah! Don’t tell me the demonic energy is spreading even to the area where the safe zone was.”
Klad nodded briefly and continued his explanation.
“The safe zone of Breakwater Village is a safe zone in name only—it wasn’t created through special methods like magic. They simply planted grass that the mutated Sandworms dislike to keep them from approaching the area.”
“Isn’t that not safe at all!”
“Right. That’s why it’s only called a safe zone. If the Sandworms put their minds to it even a little, they can harm the village’s humans anytime.”
Breakwater Village was stained with demonic energy because the Sandworms that devoured the demon tribe swept through underground. But if the demonic energy spread when there was no demon tribe, it would be because the Sandworms’ activity range increased.
“Sandworms are few in number but large in size with wide activity ranges, so if their routes overlap with other Sandworms, food supply becomes difficult. That’s why they live while thoroughly guarding their territory.”
“Would that apply even though there’s only one Sandworm in the village and it doesn’t live in a sand desert?”
“Species characteristics don’t change, so it would be the same. There are two ways to expand a Sandworm’s activity range.”
“As many as two?”
“Right. First, starving it.”
Sandworms, knowing that if they encroached on areas outside their activity range they would only meet other Sandworms and fight to death rather than finding food, don’t easily leave their territory. However, firmly guarding territory is also for survival. What meaning would there be in sitting still and thoroughly guarding one’s territory when not finding food threatens one’s life?
When hungry, Sandworms move. Even while accepting that they’ll fight other Sandworms.
“Right now, since prey called the demon tribe appears periodically, there’s no need to approach areas that give off smells they dislike. But what if the food supply is cut off?”
“They’d set out to find food without minding even the safe zone.”
“Ones that move territories from starvation usually move prepared to fight, so violent tendencies appear strongly. The village residents who have no way to respond to monster attacks will be struck down without a chance to resist.”
Jake’s face turned pale. With Baron Nolson, who was in charge of the demon tribe, disappearing and the Duke having no mental space to care about the village, the demon tribe that had been sent to the village at regular intervals was completely cut off. What could be done if the Sandworm, hungry from starving for days, moved to target the village residents!
“If the Sandworm is moving because it’s hungry, it’s already too late to go help.”
“Then…!”
“But fortunately, the Sandworm isn’t starving yet.”
“…Klad, did you deceive me?”
“Deceive? I said from the beginning there are two methods.”
Seeing Klad’s reaction, the second method didn’t seem as serious as the first. Jake let out a long sigh of relief and focused on the continuing words.
“The second method is simple. Just narrow the range of the safe zone, that is, the grass.”
“Ah!”
Come to think of it, Klad had mentioned ‘the Duke is trying to eliminate the safe zone.’ Jake realized this explanation was the main point.
“Someone removed the grass so the space they can comfortably roam around expanded.”
“Right. As the Sandworm enjoys and roams around the expanded space, the demonic energy is spreading rapidly. Right now, even at this moment.”
“Are you certain that eliminating the safe zone is Father’s doing? Couldn’t there be another problem in the village? Like a massive fire breaking out, or the grass being swept away by a flood.”
“The range of the safe zone that disappeared at once is too wide for that.”
“Father’s plan should have been to send the demon tribe here, so why on earth did he do such a thing?”
Jake shouted as if frustrated. Though he said that, he actually knew.
The plan to send the demon tribe to the city was something he overheard from the conversation between the knight and Duke through the crystal orb. And that conversation took place before Jake escaped.
Until then, they might have been planning to unleash the demon tribe on the city. But as the situation afterward changed, the Duke also changed his plan. Instead of unleashing the demon tribe on the city and pinning the blame on Jake, he changed to a method of luring Jake out of the city.
‘He must have realized Klad is stronger than expected.’
Even after seeing the underground prison of the Duke’s castle destroyed, the Duke would have evaluated Klad’s abilities lowly. After all, Jake’s supporter was only one person, and what he had to face was a huge noble family with an army.
However, the Duke changed that thinking after directly facing Klad. Seeing Klad appear at perfect timing as if they had planned it and destroy the lord’s castle, he must have thought Jake’s party, who noticed his visit, had dug a trap. He probably thought the disappeared Baron Nolson had sided with Jake, lied to him, and lured him there.
The Duke judged it dangerous to remain in the city. So instead of pursuing the escaped Jake, he withdrew and discarded the original plan. But he couldn’t just watch Jake strut around freely, so he pulled this stunt.
“We need to think carefully, Klad. This isn’t a problem that can be solved by simply rushing out to save the village.”
“……”
Klad, who due to his nature of getting angry first when it came to West matters had been thinking of simply rushing out, had nothing to say.
“They could send the demon tribe to the city while we head to the village.”
“With no lord present, if the demon tribe appeared, there’d be chaos.”
Digging a trap at the village, and if Jake headed there, destroying this city. It was a good plan where they could blow away both the village, which was their disgrace, along with Jake entirely, or blame the demon tribe’s city attack on Jake.
No matter how strong Jake’s supporter was, they considered that if there were only two of them, they couldn’t resolve things happening in two different places. Though their force might be stronger than expected, they wanted to show Jake that they still had numerical superiority.
You may have luckily found a decent supporter, but you can never beat me. To engrave those words in Jake’s head.
“Is it a situation where we have to choose between the village or the city?”
At Klad’s muttering, Jake’s face hardened. In truth, the answer was already decided.
“If I have to choose one of the two, I would naturally choose the city. To save even one more person, it’s better to choose the side with more population. But,”
Jake met Klad’s gaze.
“You’ll give me a better option.”
“Ahem.”
Klad covered his mouth with his fist, cleared his throat, and turned his head. He felt good, but still, he had his dignity. He didn’t want to show himself grinning widely.
“We only need to prepare for two possibilities. Either we’re attacked when we arrive at the village, or the city is attacked while we’re gone.”
“Right.”
“Actually, us being attacked isn’t something to worry much about. I can defend against that much by myself.”
“Then we only need to worry about the demon tribe attacking the city. How about putting protective magic around the entire city, Klad?”
It was an option he wasn’t keen on.
Putting protective magic around the entire city wasn’t something just anyone could do, but it wasn’t impossible for Klad. However, it required tremendous time, and he couldn’t protect Jake while casting the magic.
Moreover, if he deployed magic large enough to cover the entire city, his existence might be revealed to the world. He couldn’t take on all those risks.
“Putting protective magic around the entire city requires a considerable amount of magic power. If I deploy magic of that scale, the Duke will also notice that large-scale magic has been placed around the city.”
“If our operation is exposed, Father will also change his plans, so that won’t do.”
Jake fell into thought again.
While it was pleasant that the options had increased, distinguishing between what was possible and impossible for Klad to properly establish a plan was a more troublesome task than expected.
A method that wouldn’t take too long or expose the plan but could avoid the Duke’s trap.
“…How about doing it this way, Klad?”
“Tell me.”
After much deliberation, the best option they could choose in this situation came to mind.
An option that could only be executed with Klad’s help.
“We blow up the city before Father does.”
