“Ahahaha. Ah, I’m out of time. Goodnight, Enri.”

“Mm. Goodnight. Don’t work too hard when you get back and sleep early.”

Nfirea smiled to show he understood, and then he left through the front door. After watching the floating mote of his magical light recede into the distance, Enri returned to her house. In the darkness, it felt especially lonely.

“Ah― I’m so tired…”

Enri lazily stripped off her clothing and burrowed under the covers. She’d been so noisy when learning just now, but now all she could hear were the cute sounds of her little sister sleeping. Enri calmly closed her eyes.

Having worked her brains so hard earlier, Enri was certain she would fall asleep right away. Just as she expected, she passed out within seconds of closing her eyes.

She didn’t know how long she’d slept, but a distant sound woke her from her slumber.

Three knocks. A pause, and then three more knocks.

Realizing what that signal meant, Enri forced her eyes open in the darkness. Having woken with abnormal speed and realizing she was still at home, she practically leapt out of bed. In the same moment her sister bolted awake too.

“Are you alright?”

“Mm.”

Her voice had threads of fear in it, but it sounded like she could still move.

“Get ready now!”

“Mm!”

Lighting a lamp would waste too much time, so Enri prepared herself to flee in the dark.

As the sound of the bells carried over the wind, Enri and Nemu readied themselves swiftly. Theirs was a speed born not just of repeated evacuation drills, but of the old terror that remained from when their village had been attacked in the past. And after hearing Agu’s words, she had an idea of what was to come.

“Nemu! Get to the rendezvous point! I’ll go take care of the others!”

Without waiting for her sister’s answer, Enri grabbed Nemu’s hand and ran out the door.

The bell was still ringing loudly, which meant there was an emergency situation. This was definitely a sign that an attack as coming.

The training sequence for the evacuation repeated itself countless times in her heart, and she couldn’t completely abandon her desire to run away from reality and this, but the chill in the air denied it. It was the same chill that was there when the soldiers attacked the village.

As they neared the rendezvous point, Enri pushed Nemu forward.

“All right, go!”

Nemu nodded very slightly in reply, and then dashed toward the meeting place.

However, as a days-old village chief, Enri had to consider how she would move the whole village.

The bad feelings she had before assuming the position now flowed out uncontrollably from her heart.

“It’s as though the gods want to see me suffer.”

Without thinking, Enri let the words slip out of her mouth. This was the worst-case scenario.

A goblin ran up to Enri.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“We found monsters in the forest. High chance they’ll be attacking us.”

“Understood, now let’s go!”

With the goblin leading the way, Enri soon came to the main gate. She saw that the night-time barricades were set up and the goblins were massing here. Wearing the weapons and armor Enri had bought for them, they looked like seasoned veterans.

As she drew close she could scent a stink on the air, which clued Enri in to the fact that there were ogres present. The ogres clutched their new clubs, which looked spiky and menacing.

Along with Enri, a panting Nfirea and the members of the self-defence force led by Brita gathered at the main gate. Agu and some of his fellow goblins, the ones who had recovered enough from their ordeal to fight, stood with them as well.

“Is that everyone? How about Madam Lizzie? Did something keep her?”

Nfirea’s grandmother Lizzie was a notable magic caster in her own right. It wouldn’t have been out of place for her to take part in the village’s defense.

“No, Obaa-chan’s not coming here. She’s at the rendezvous point. That place is important too.”

The villagers nodded as they heard Nfirea’s words. Since their family members had fled to the rendezvous point, they had to keep it secure too.

“All those who can’t use bows are already over there. Since you guys are strong, would it be all right for one of you to go over there?”

“We can’t do that.”

Jugem flatly refused Brita’s request.

He hadn’t done this out of malice toward the villagers whom he had lived and worked with. As the surging tension made Enri gulp, Jugem explained his position.

“There’s a lot of monsters. And there are others, in addition to the ogres. Splitting up would be very dangerous.”

“Do you have a clear picture of their numbers?”

“Brita-san, the enemy was lurking in the forest. There’s no way to accurately judge their numbers. However, we did manage to get an estimate… seven ogres, several giant snakes, several wargs, several somethings we think might be barghests and something big following behind them.”

“Wargs, giant snakes and ogres? Is there a druid behind them?”

Wargs were monsters that looked like wolves, but bigger. They were smarter than wolves and bad news if you encountered them in the forest.

“It’s very likely. Things will be really bad if they have a magic caster on their side. We can probably assume that they also have ranged attackers. So it would be better to marshal all our fighting power here, right? Should I call Obaa-chan over?”

“That… is hard to say, Ani-san. The rendezvous point is one of the strongest buildings in the village. If anything happens, it’ll be the final defensive line or in other words, the village’s keep. We can’t let anyone protecting that place leave.”

“…So we’ll be falling back as we fight, then? Where should I go?”

“Brita-san will direct the defense force. I hope you can relay my orders to them so they can understand. Then, act as the situation requires.”

“So we’ll use the second strategy against invaders, then? After feathering them with arrows, we’ll use barricades to keep them at bay while we stab them through the gaps with spears. Doesn’t matter how skilled our people are once they’re that close.”