Seirei Gensouki's
Chapter 81: Almond Disorders

Time returned a short while after Almond was attacked by the monster attack coming from the west gate.

The chaos that ensued after this was like a lie, the inner part of the city prospered with busy people.

Many stalls lined up along the city.

Every now and then Rio stopped at the stalls and pretended to enjoy the goods.

There was one reason he pretended to act like this.

It was after he sensed someone was secretly following him.

According to Rio's estimation, it might be Liselotte's subordinate.

From Liselotte's point of view, she just wanted to know the other party's background in the contract.

And then, since there was nothing like identification paper as proof of Rio's background, there was no other choice but to gather information with his own resources.

Therefore, after leaving the mansion, Rio raised his vigilance knowing he would be followed.

As he expected, as soon as he left the mansion, he saw someone start tracking him.

Although the tracking skill to blend in with the surroundings and remove his presence was something sufficient, the other party's miscalculation was the fact that the range of Rio's means of vigilance surpassed that of a normal person.

It was also their fault for starting to tail him from a high-end residential area with so few people in it.

If they started trailing him by sneaking into the crowd, even Rio would have a hard time finding them.

Although he was looking around the market and wandering aimlessly since a while ago, from the fact that the person continued to follow him at a fixed distance, it was impossible for the person's purpose to be the same as his.

Rio came to the conclusion that the person was following him.

Although there were more chances that they went with a two-layer tailing, for the other party to be too focused with one person was too rash.

When the urge to push, he would only rush to a place without anyone, although he could sneak out of the city and disappear with spirit arts, he said, he didn't want to do something that would leave too much of a mystery.

After a while, a human would immediately lose concentration and it would be easier for him to spread his tracks and dodge the other party.

Thinking so, he decided to take a walk in the city in a moment, the number of bells then echoed in the city.

「O-Oi. It's……"

「Y-Ya ....」.

Perhaps because they knew the meaning of that ringing bell, the people among those around Rio, they looked at each other as if it was pre-planned.

Along with angry roars, screams, and jeers resounded from a distance.

「A-What is dangerous?」

"What's going on?"

Although the people who lived while in the city did not understand the meaning of the bell, they began to sense danger due to the hustle and bustle of the crowd around them.

Before long, they could see the sight of a large number of humans coming from the western part of the city like waves, in the blink of an eye the entire place became noisy.

「O-Oi, That ....」.

「WITHOUT IT SCARY」

"RUNNING……"

"RUN AWAY!"

Section 2

As if being pushed by the waves, the citizens began to run in succession.

Due to the mentality of the masses*, even the people who pretended to be calm until now fell into a panic. [TL*: ⁇ ⁇ Mental mobility]

The trading town of Almond was a place where hordes of people came and went, with booths standing along lanes and plazas.

The shop was calling people, Rio was walking around with the aim to shop on the path where there were many people.

If so many people start running at once, the results are expected

Inside the lane jammed with people in the blink of an eye, the crowd rushed towards the east.

「RUN AWAAAAAY!」

"But!"

Everyone rushed to escape, pushing others aside and competing to be the first to escape while Rio approached the end of the passage calmly.

The warning bells echoed, meaning that they found shelter, apparently some sort of assailant attacking from the west gate of the city.

If that was the case, it seemed that the city soldiers and adventurers were already preparing to intercept them, he hoped that until the monster arrived at this place, there would be no monsters coming.

Rio decided to look at the judging situation that disappearing into the crowd would be difficult with the human wave.

So he expanded his line of sight while ascertaining the identity of the person who was restraining him.

After which, he caught the figure of a woman who seemed to be the treasurer of Liselotte mansion in front of his line of sight.

Although there was no evidence she followed him just by him wearing the treasurer's uniform, she could remember his face.

The woman was panicking at what had just happened all of a sudden, and it was a bit contradictory whether or not she should continue to follow him.

He immediately made up his mind and sought shelter towards the end of his way out of the crowd. .

He probably thinks the same as Rio.

Moreover, the people who found shelter at the end of the hall thought the same thing, all of them were gunmen.

Although there were city soldiers, there were also people who seemed to be adventurers.

Almost a few minutes passed, the flow of people finally started to calm down.

「YOSH, ALMOND SOLDIER BRIGADE ASSEMBLY!」

Suddenly, a male warrior with a graceful appearance and wearing high-quality equipment spoke in a loud voice to summon the surrounding soldiers.

After which, the surrounding 50 city soldiers began to rapidly collect their ranks.

Even Natalie, the treasurer who was trailing Rio together— Gathered to the place.

「SAFETY TOO, PLEASE ASSEMBLY!」

After that, even the scattered adventurers were being summoned.

About 10 adventurers around him started to move.

Rio tried to leave before being swallowed by the troublesome things but,

「O ~ i, son there！ You are an adventurer too. You're not gonna come here fast？ 」

Section 3

The male warrior with a graceful appearance called out to Rio's back.

Although he was not even an adventurer or a soldier, something like a human carrying a weapon in the city was a rare existence, from that prejudice, even the male knight seemed to conclude Rio as an adventurer.

Against his own will, Rio directed his face towards where they were.

After which, he saw the appearance of the male knight waving his hand with a friendly smile, Rio stepped out while sighing a little.

With regards to Rio being left behind in the gathering, a seemingly ominous line of sight came from the adventurers or soldiers gathered on him.

「Are you new here, Lad？ Adventurers who stayed during the emergency would be temporarily employed as city soldiers. Moments like this will trouble the surrounding area if we do not move quickly 」

Not out of blame, the male soldier said those words in a tone as if persuading him.

Adventurer guilds existed if there was an invasion of foreign troops in the city, the prefectural governor could make an emergency request to the adventurers living in this city.

The content of the request was simple―― Defense city.

Punishment was meted out if one refused the emergency request for no reason, although one would be punished by being exiled from the city in the worst case, Rio who was not an adventurer did not know about such a rule.

Thought I'm not an adventurer 」

Rio honestly told his own status.

Although the impression on him was probably the worst, saying this would make things quickly resolved rather than explaining in detail.

After which, the male knight showed an expression as if he was in trouble.

「EH-AAH, so that's why Tag Adventurer tag is ……. . You don't have it. I saw . I see……"

When he looked at Rio's neck casually, the male knight timidly said those words.

Adventurers were obliged to wear their own tags on their necks to show that they belonged to the adventurer guild.

The adventurer's personal information was recorded on the label, from the fact that severe punishments were imposed when one thought of removing their label to falsify their own status, no one would easily tell such a lie.

In that case, even if Rio lied, if he would be active in this city after this, it would be identified immediately when questioned by the guild later.

Since it seems that he has no acquaintance among the adventurers in this city, the commander decided to believe in Rio's story.

"I saw . Sorry to stop you. Run away from this place as quickly as possible. If possible, please save the attacked citizens left behind 」

The male knight shrugged and conveyed his wish to Rio.

「Ya, recognized」

Rio nodded while sighing shortly.

Just like that, he turned his heels and left the place.

「KEH, coward ....」.

「It's okay. Because the man will feel more nervous about this unpaid job 」

「Such sprouts will only be a barrier」

Section 4

Some mocking voices from the adventurers turned to Rio's back.

Of course even for them, it did not mean that they were fond of wanting to fight.

But, if they did it from those who were hired for this battle had weapons, there was common sense about the matter of escaping at the first opportunity with the scene where they had to fight was an embarrassing behavior and would be talked about from behind by the environment .

Even though he was not an adventurer, seeing his figure trying to leave even when he was armed, it made no sense for them to insult and hate Rio because of their jealousy.

Although it did not leave their lips, it was not only for the adventurers, the soldiers and Natalie also somehow showed a dissatisfied expression.

Although he could hear the voices of the adventurers, Rio did not even care and immediately walked forward.

To Rio, the way people looked at him was only a trivial matter.

Because he was more worried about the situation of Miharu and co than something like that.

Although Miharu and co were in a place completely separate from Almond, it was no guarantee that it was free from danger.

Although it seemed like the worst situation would not come from the fact that they had Aisia as their guardian, even so she did not feel like spending more of her time.

「Seeing he is not an adventurer or an army, we cannot force him to fight. Although it's not like I don't understand your feelings, release those emotions to your enemies 」

The male warrior who acted as the peacemaker smiled sadly as if being bullied by Rio, and calmed down those who felt dissatisfied.

Just like that, to the treasurer waiting beside— He glanced at Natalie.

「Alright, Natalie-chan. Although there is a huge lack of information, for the time being, I will order these people to head towards the city center from the west gate. You should report this to Liselotte-sama 」

He stopped talking after saying that.

"Yes nih . Entiendo. That was my intention from the beginning, Matthias-san, may the luck of the war be with you 」

After saluting and nodding her head, Natalie showed a smile as she tried to strengthen her heart.

「Oo, sounds good. If it comes to us to help the cute Natalie-chan, my motivation suddenly radiates out 」

The man named Matthias shrugged as if making a joke.

Although that bright smiling face could be underestimated, it did not cause any discomfort to humans or was strange.

「Ya yes. Please say such foolish things after you repel the invaders. Since I was in a hurry, I would gladly accept the opportunity to leave for a short time. 『Smagic Body Strengthening Hyper Physical Ability』 」

After she uttered the aria, a magical box light enveloped her body, Natalie left the place at a speed that should have been called a storm.

「As expected, only the child of the treasury corps has it. Even we can't defend against them 」

After whistling gently with "hyu ~ t", Matthias showed a wide smile.

「YOSH, NOW THE FIRST ARD BASTARD, WE HEAD TOWARDS THE CENTRAL PLAZA. LET'S GO GO FOLLOW ME！ 」

Section 5

Matthias called out to them in a loud voice.

Afterwards, the soldiers and adventurers retaliated with their overlapping loud voices 「OU!」.

☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

After parting ways and walking along the road approaching the western side of the city until some time ago, Rio arrived at the central square.

Although there were battles with monsters taking place at various places in the city, the defensive line spread out on the main road before the central square that stretched straight from the west gate, which was the main square, the adventurers and nearly 200 warriors were almost all of their human strength in the midst of the battle.

「ORAORA, LET'S KILL THEM QUICKLY！ COORDINATE WITH EACH OTHER SO THAT THE FORMATION WILL BE TWO FOR ONE PERSON, THREE FOR ONE ORC！ ONE WITHOUT A PAIR AND ONE WITHOUT THE CONFIDENCE TO GO AGAINST THE GOBLINS! THE COLLECTION OF MAGIC STONES OF MURDERED MONSTERS WAS PAID！ EXCLUSION OF HUMAN-SHAPED MONSTERS, LEFT TO THE ATTORNEY

The commander shouted his orders, turning them into furious roars for adventurers and soldiers to hear.

The male warrior from his lifetime with a masculine body drifted away with a long style of military service.

Although there were a large number of monsters, they were unable to perform skilled commands, they could use the narrow passageway to withstand the entry.

But as expected, controlling everything was impossible, the monsters that escaped from the siege went to the city bit by bit.

Even Rio reluctantly killed the monster that blocked him during his movements.

Although he could barely see anyone but combatants, those monsters charged so deeply into Almond beyond Rio's expectations.

Even Rio had defeated several monsters since a while ago, even though he killed every monster under a single slash, the number of monsters dodging the defensive line did not seem to decrease.

「CEH」

He would move to a place that had absolutely no human presence if possible, although he wanted to leave by flying in the air with spirit arts, it would stand out if he flew in the middle of the city.

He had no choice but to continue advancing by strengthening his body and physical abilities with spirit arts.

Perhaps from the fact that the east gate is jammed with people, the thing left by jumping off the fence around the city is the best option.

And just like that he kept killing them one after another as he got bored with the monsters that appeared, eventually the number of monsters that came reduced.

「YAA-G-GO REMOTE！ LEAVE THIS PLACE!」

Rio was met with a situation where a girl of around 10 years old was facing an orc and a goblin.

He stood as if protecting the women who had somehow fallen to the ground.

「RUN, MIREY！

The wooden arrow shot by the goblin was sticking out on both of the woman's legs, it seemed like she was unable to move.

「A-I WON'T！ IF MOM DOESN'T RUN, THEN I'M TOO！

Section 6

Mirey confirmed the figure of her mother falling on her shoulder.

Even to extract the arrow that pierced through his thigh, the acute pain seemed to be a hindrance and made him unable to gather his strength.

「I can't walk anymore. So please. Run. Mom is fine 」

「NO！ I DEFINITELY WON'T RUN FAR!」

To her mother who desperately urged her to run away, Mirey refused in a voice as if she was crying.

The approaching goblins and orcs showed their crooked faces as if they were pleased with him in this kind of situation.

This distance became only a few steps, Mirey's face narrow with fear at the huge body of orcs standing in front of her.

「Gofu」

Stuck into the space between them in one step from behind, Rio moved a sweeping kick to the neck of the orc.

Due to the power behind the kick, the large yet sturdy and stacked orc building that exceeded 2 meters was easily thrown away like a cannonball.

「EH .....?」

Mirey let out a silly sound as the huge building in front of him disappeared in an instant.

「GA」

After which, Rio moved the heel of his palm to the remaining body of the orc.

The large body of the Orc flew a few meters behind and then fell to the ground.

Now he snatched the goblin's arm in an irregular state and then threw it high up into the air.

The goblins fainted in pain from the pain with their impact thrown onto the ground from a high place.

Perhaps because every place that was hit was in a dangerous place, he died instantly and his body became ashes leaving nothing in this world except that magic stone.

After Rio confirmed that.

"Are you okay?"

While saying so, he confirmed whether there were any injuries on Mirey's body.

"Yes, that"

Mirey looked at Rio face with a dumbfounded expression.

At a glance, Rio stepped onto that fallen woman.

「...... I will extract the arrow for treatment. It will be a little painful, please hold 」

Although Rio felt some sort of deja vu in seeing the woman's face, he immediately left that thought and conveyed that to her.

「Y-Ya」

After hearing his reply, Rio took out a wooden arrow that pierced his thighs and calves.

Section 7

「…… !!!」

The woman's face was cringing in pain.

「『 Recovery Magic Recovery 』」

When Rio placed his hand on the leg of the woman drilled into the small hole, he cast a camouflage aria-like spell and started to quickly treat the wound with spirit arts.

Except for the fact that the magic box was not produced, if the woman had a little knowledge of magic, it was not strange for her to feel a strange phenomenon.

Fortunately, the woman closed her eyes due to the pain, with Mirey looking at the situation from behind out of curiosity, it seemed like she was unaware of the fact that there was no magic box floating in the air.

And then, the healing was completed after about 20 seconds,

「Shouldn't be a problem with this. The truth is, it's better if you hold yourself back from running but, I'm not going to stop him because it's an emergency. For now, can you stand up?

So he talked to her.

「You-Yes. Thank you very much！ How should I say thank you .... 」.

The woman bowed to Rio as if expressing her gratitude.

After that, they arrived at their place,

「Rebecca-san What happened to you?」

Natalie who was on her way back to Liselotte house happened to pass by.

He then looked at Rio with slightly wary eyes when he saw the woman named Rebecca bowing towards Rio.

「Onii-chan this just saved us from monsters！ And heal mother's wounds too!」

Therefore, Mirey happily explained the situation from their side.

To her figure who jumped in joy, Natalie showed an expression as if dumbfounded.

「Uhhmm ....」.

Natalie looked at Rio doubtfully, but a few wooden arrows rolled around on the ground, bloody traces, and then seeing Mirey's appearance did not feel like she was lying.

His gaze wandered for a while to set the situation up and then,

「J-So so. I'm sorry！ Ah, no, I mean thank you very much！ 」

Natalie somehow apologizes and then follows him saying thank you.

Rio's head tilted slightly as he said 「N?」, because he doesn't know what he's sorry for.

Even though Rio knew that Natalie was the one stalking him, Natalie never expected that Rio knew about her stalking him.

Section 8

Even though it was to tail it or not, it seemed to be for a different matter.

To be honest, Natalie misunderstood Rio.

Although the exchange between Matts and Rio from some time ago was seen by Natalie straight from the side, even when she was carrying a weapon, it was not, he felt that his desire to save a city that was in a dangerous situation was only zero, an insensitive person.who left this place as if fleeing— That was Natalie's impression of Rio.

Of course, despite being dissatisfied with the almost infuriating situation, Natalie as an individual who almost never showed dissatisfaction in such a situation, was, the thing about Rio who easily left this place did not have much good impression in him. .

But, as long as he heard Mirey's story just now, Rio was performing a completely opposite action from an insensitive person.

Looking at Rebecca who was bowing to Rio in panic, she felt embarrassed for doubting that she might be planning to do something bad, Natalie apologized for the misunderstanding, instead, that was to say his gratitude for protecting the citizens of the city.

「No, I happened to pass this place」

Although it doesn't mean he never thought that misunderstanding was revealed, Rio shook his head while showing a slightly wry smile.

「Alright, I'll go first. You two too, if you are going to take refuge at the east gate, will you come along？ 」

For some reason, feeling that a subtle atmosphere was floating in the air, Rio immediately left the place dismissing Natalie.

And invited Mirey and Rebecca at the same time.

Although she wanted to move on her own if possible, as expected, even Rio was unable to carry out such inhumane acts of going alone and leaving this mother and child pair alone.

「Ah, wait a minute please!」

At that time, Natalie called Rio――

Rio sensed the approaching presence quickly from behind.

When He turned around, at that moment all he saw in that place was a gray-colored ghost figure rushing over to Natalie.

"AWAS!"

Rio rushed at the same time shouting and diving into the gap between Natalie and the ghost.

Natalie who was unable to respond to Rio muttered 「EH?」 with a dumbfounded face.

Seizing the hand of the ghost who tried to use his hand to stab Natalie in the heart with a sharp nail, twisting that hand with every bit of his strength and throwing the ghost to smash her posture with that power.

「GAH ....」.

When he jumped to the side and landed on the ground, a slight groan shot out from the ghost's mouth.

Although the arm twisted by Rio was bent in such a way that it was impossible from the point of view of the human structure, the ghost gripped the arm and firmly corrected it.

And then, the damage in the area was restored in the blink of an eye.

「What kind of creatures are those. The crooked creature .... 」.

Section 9

Natalie muttered in a dumbfounded tone at the sight.

Rio kept staring at the ghost.

「Well, even though I didn't know it either, it was probably a true monster. It seems that it is still quite alive in terms of troublesome 」

He grumbled as if he was upset by it.

When confirming at the back with a glance over her shoulder, she saw the figures of Rebecca and Mirey curled up tightly with an anxious face.

Rio's a little grieving.

「You must protect both behind me. I'll be an opponent of that. In that case you have a dagger, so you should be able to fight a little right？ 」

He said that to Natalie with an expression as if deciding something.

「T-But, the monster was clearly different from the others. It seems that it unexpectedly has healing magic and physical abilities, even if we work together …. . 」

Natalie furrowed her brows and immediately rejected the idea.

Although he was a treasurer, from the fact that he also received combat training, he had the confidence not to lose against the knights who boasted their skills.

But, even though he could capture the speed of ghosts just a moment before, they were beings who had strengthened their physical abilities to the limit of their flesh with magic.

Summing up is their regeneration ability.

Although he did not think that he could not win, since it was the opponent he met the first time, it did not limit them to not having any other troublesome abilities.

Therefore, he chose a safe plan, he judged that it would be better to fight it very carefully.

「Well, I should be fine if it's just that level. We should not even cooperate in the condition that we have no knowledge of each other's fighting styles. If the situation seems to turn into a dangerous situation, please protect them 」

Rio faced Natalie as he gave a lighthearted reply to her as if everything was under control.

Natalie was flabbergasted to Rio who showed a carefree attitude and said that fact as if she was telling him that she was going for a light walk.

Conflicting expressions floated on his face, and while he was being troubled inside,

「. Then, I'll hand it to you 」

Natalie decides to entrust the task of being the ghostly opponent with a guilt-ridden heart.

One of the reasons was in Rio's statement, because Rebecca and Mirey's protection was also a must.

「Yes, you should not let the two of them be in danger, I look forward to your cooperation then. Because there is no reason for other monsters not to come rushing to attack us us

"Yes nih . Sure"

Answering her, Natalie looked at Mirey and Rebecca behind her.

The two of them were low-ranking nobles, it did not mean that they did not have a personal relationship with Natalie.

Nonetheless, they were the cherished citizens of Liselotte, who was her master.

If he can't protect them――

Overly serious Natalie actually followed her words, she swore in her heart that she would definitely protect her.

Section 10

「Go for it, Onii-chan!」

"Yes nih . 」

Rio waved his hand as he replied to Mirey.

Perhaps because the ghost had already completely restored her arm, it was intimidated by Rio as if he was on guard against her.

But, Rio calmly approached the ghost.

Natalie stared at Rios' back strongly.

May be fine if it's her――

Although his body was rather slender compared to the trained bodies of adventurers and soldiers, he wondered why he felt that.

That back that reflected in Natalie's eyes seemed to give her an absolute sense of security.