After the meeting in the town hall ended, Bella comes near me and positions herself to use〖Telepathy〗.

【“Forgive me for asking, but…… can we request for you patrol around the village?”】

Bella asks me and I reluctantly nod.
I planned to do this from the start though.

Sure, but first, can you tell me what you were discussing in your little meeting?

【“At present, we do not know how large the numbers of our enemy is, what they’re really after, nor when they’ll possibly attack. We also don’t know if they set any more traps for us. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that all the fighters will be needed to guard the village. While it’s true that we can attack them right now under the cover of darkness…… but, if the night raid doesn’t succeed, then we’ll just be exhausting unnecessary manpower.”】

…… I see, so if we just attack them at full arms with all our fighters, not only will they be aware of us, but that’ll also leave the village defenseless.
Thinking about it, they cursed the river to weaken the village, but they probably haven’t considered yet that I’d dispel the curse and heal everyone…… however, the problem here is that even though we have multiple options to choose from, we decided to just stay put instead.

【“If we count all the fighters we have available for battle…… combining both villages, we have about 250 all together.”】

…… According to what Bella said as we walk around, it seems like only 2/3 of the fighters in the Ryujin village are fighting fit.
I healed about 300 fighters from the curse already, and I thought that we’d have more than 200 fighters at our disposal…… but compared to the total of 300, we’re 50 men short than I expected.
There’s still a lot of people who aren’t completely healed from the cursed water, huh.
Even if I fully heal them to full HP and remove all their abnormal status conditions, it’s their fatigue and weariness that can’t be restored.
I’m sure there are even people mixed in the 250 who’re pushing themselves to join the fight despite not being fully healed……
I don’t even need to use〖Status Inspection〗to tell which one.

【“Out of our available fighters, we’ll have 100 of them stay on guard and leave the rest to sleep for the night. 70 of them will be divided into groups and guard the outskirts of the village while the other 30 will remain here to guard the village from the inside.”】

So then, in case the enemy breaks through the village…… we’ll either have the 30 guards face them or wake up the others.
If that happens, how many casualties are we going to have……
I can only hope it doesn’t reach that point.

【“We deduced that the enemy is spending the night at the river downstream. There is no sign of them making any suspicious movements yet, and they also haven’t found out about our village further upstream. That’s why…… can we ask you to go with the other 70 guards and watch over the river downstream?”】

No problem.
How far should I go, by the way?

【“Far enough from the village that you can still hear the sound of the trouga, about two distances…… please”】

Hm? Trouga?
Two distances?

【“Eh, erm…… it’s the bone of a Grafant that we use to whistle…… blowing air in its hole creates a sound, you see……”】

Bella must be assuming that I don’t know the concept of what a whistle is because she’s desperately trying to whistle with her hands but she’s only coughing up spit instead.

…… Right now while faced under a crisis at our hands, compared to Hibi who’s more sophisticated, you can really tell that Bella is still rough around the edges.
Hibi is the calm and elegant one…… while Bella is the more unrefined and still growing younger sister.
But, it doesn’t mean that Hibi is cold at heart.
Even when Derek was attacked by a monster and back when Derek was being doubted by the villagers, she still showed sincerity towards a total outsider.

Reminiscing about Hibi, it makes me sad.
I shake my head to wipe the uneasiness off my chest.
I have to focus on the enemies that’s invading us firsthand.

…… And, about the Trouga…… oh, so she meant that flute thing that guard used back then when we arrived at the village.
So, that’s what its called.

【“Trouga uses magic that enables the sound it releases to echo to faraway distances. By two distances to each other, position in place between two people who’ll relay back with their trouga after a delay……”】

I have no idea what you’re talking about so I’ll just follow your lead.

It’s faster if I search for the enemy in the air, but…… the terrain here is certainly not ideal for me.
The enemies can hide under the trees.
I’ll get better vision when it’s daytime, but not now while it’s dark at night.

Lastly, I circle around the village one last time and have Partner use her〖High Rest〗on more sick people.
Just in case…… we left half of our MP intact.
With this much, along with〖Automatic MP Recovery〗, I’m sure I won’t run out of it even when a battle begins out of nowhere.

After that, the 70 men were divided into four groups of 20, 20, 20, and 10.
I went with the group of 10 to the river downstream.
Bella is also coming with us so she can inform the others if I found something.

While walking, Bella occasionally closes her eyes and raises her staff, muttering her chant.
She seems to be using a similar skill, similar to my〖Presence Sense〗.
I’m also using〖Presence Sense〗too, just so you know.
Though so far, we haven’t detected anything out of the ordinary yet.

After walking for a while, I sensed something strange in the far distance.
It was…… as if it’s radiating with dark magic.
I don’t think it’s even coming from a human.

I narrow my eyes and look closer…… and I see Alo and one of the Arachne watching over us.
When they noticed me looking at them, they quickly hid out of sight.
…… They must’ve been worried and went to check on me.

Bella must’ve also sensed Alo’s magic too since she’s waving her staff looking frightful.
Then shortly after, she lowers her staff and mumbles “Did I imagine it……?” to herself.
That was close, at least she just brushed it off.
Alo, I know you’re worried about your home village…… but, it’ll only cause trouble for both of us if they find out about you, so just stay hidden please.
Leave the village to me, I’ll do something about it, I promise.

Come to think of it, can Bella's〖Presence Sense〗detect Alo……?
Alo is looking more human now, but…… I don't think Bella can be fooled by just her appearance.
Maybe I can trick them into going the other way……

“…… We’re having no luck”
“The enemy might not even be in this area. Should we go back to the others now?”

The men walking with us started suggesting to Bella and me that we should turn back, and they sound tired saying so.
Well, it’s understandable, they’ve been worked to the bone all day now, and they’re still being tasked to work late at night.
They must be way past their limit.

I look at Bella to see what she decides.
But, Bella looks back at the other men behind us.

“We have Ryujin-sama with us. If we end up having to fight the enemy, you will be renowned as the most successful group…… and, if Ryujin-sama’s group returns first, that marks the end of this patrol……”

Bella tries to explain to the other warriors in a way that would let them understand how she really feels.

“Even so…… we haven’t found anythi-……”

While I was listening to them talking at the corner of my eye, I finally detected something.
It wasn’t one or two people.
Just up ahead, there’s a whole crowd of humans.
I expected we’d have at least 20 enemies, but this is more than I thought.
I counted…… at least 50 of them.

“Gru~u……”

I lowly growl, alerting Bella and the others.

“…… Eh?”

Bella immediately uses〖Presence Sense〗in haste.
But then, the group of humans suddenly speeds up their approach.
Seems like they also have a sensory type with them.

…… I don’t think this is a confrontation we can avoid.
The direction they’re heading to, is directly to the Lithuvar Tribe’s village…… which means that if we leave this spot, there’s no stopping their advances.
Since they’ve killed the previous shrine maiden, poisoned the river, and weakened the villagers, they’ve come here with full intent to destroy the village.

I’ll…… probably end up mass murdering lots of humans.
But, I remind myself of what they did to Hibi and face forward.