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The current gate assignments for the hero’s party were as follows:
Hero: East Gate.
Raphilia: South Gate.
Serin: North Gate.
Aria: All Gates.
And lastly, Rui: West Gate.
The East Gate had the highest reported monster appearances, followed by the North and South Gates. Monsters did appear at the West Gate, but they were few enough to be handled by mercenaries and adventurers.
That meant she wouldn’t have much to do even if she went to the West Gate right away.
‘But that’s even better.’
This gave her time to prepare for the Twilight Fortress.
‘The western wall collapsed, causing significant damage.’
The original hero’s party, without her, followed the same deployment. Then, the Twilight Fortress appeared near the West Gate, prompting them to assemble. During that time, the wall collapsed. This resulted in heavy casualties among the civilians and the western forces.
“[If the hero had been even two days late, we would have all died…]”
The soldier said that because the hero had saved the city, which was on the verge of being overrun after the west was breached. The hero’s talent, strength, and speed allowed him to reach the west quickly, minimizing the damage and enabling them to prepare for the subsequent battle, which they ultimately won.
‘This time will be different.’
Because she was here. The hero’s party gained no lessons or growth from this series of events in the original story.
Rushing to the west to save the weak? Learning a lesson from seeing the dead?
They had already done that countless times. The hero always did that.
So, there was no need to let it happen again.
‘I have plenty of time.’
She had found a faster route, saving them two days, so she had ample time. Reinforcing the walls with the Master Key should prevent the collapse.
Crackle!
She summoned the Master Key and slowly left through the West Gate. Currently, Alphares was closed to ordinary citizens. Only those with special permits could enter or leave, so there was hardly anyone at the gate.
She saw guards, mercenaries, and adventurers chatting amongst themselves. They glanced at her but quickly returned to their duties. She passed them and left the city.
“Lux, can you put me down?”
Nightlux pawed the ground, found a stable spot, and gently lowered its body. She jumped off and examined the towering city walls. They were made of beautiful white stone produced in this region.
“Oof.”
Nicker.
She lost her balance while craning her neck to look up and almost fell backward. Fortunately, Nightlux caught her just in time.
“I’ll give you something delicious later.”
Nightlux, being a horse, also loved carrots. Which was a problem, because she had been saving various regional specialty carrots to make soup for herself. She could give Lux a set of Alphares carrots and fruits as thanks later.
“Let’s reinforce one-third of the wall for now… Should I use Mithril-like?”
She had some real mithril, which was highly resistant to magic and incredibly strong, but not enough to cover the entire wall. She had a liquid metal she developed, Mithril-like, with similar properties, so she could use that instead.
She took out the Master Key and summoned a subspace, preparing for the reinforcement work.
“Excuse me, who are you?”
A guard approached and cautiously asked. He seemed to mistake her for someone important because of her robe.
“I’m a mage. I’m assigned to the West Gate.”
“A mage…? I’m the captain of the West Gate guards, but I haven’t received any such report.”
So he was the captain. He certainly looked older than the other guards. Since he was in charge of one of Alphares’ four main gates, it seemed all reports regarding troop deployments went through him.
The other guards’ gazes sharpened at his words. They seemed to be on high alert.
‘I should have brought a butler with me.’
Since her status as the hero’s party’s mage wasn’t widely known, the only ones who could vouch for her were members of the Alphares family. Or the hero’s party, but they had already left for their assigned posts.
“Do you have any documents…?”
“Wait, I can vouch for this mage.”
Just then, her savior appeared.
“Serin?”
The blue-haired knight. It was Serin.
“What? Serin…?”
“The Serin… of the hero’s party?”
Not just the guards, but even the mercenaries and adventurers stirred at her reaction. And so did her inner thoughts.
‘Why are you here?’
She was supposed to be at the North Gate by now.
“So you know me.”
“Of course. Your past achievements, as well as your contributions to the hero’s party, are an inspiration to all knights.”
“That’s a bit much… Anyway, you can trust this mage.”
Serin walked over and put her arm around Rui’s shoulders.
“She’s the mage of our hero’s party.”
“The hero’s party?!”
“No wonder her robe looked so expensive…”
Just a single word from Serin, and everyone was convinced. Only the guard captain seemed troubled.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Serin. But I need an official report…”
“Ah, a butler from the Alphares family is on their way. You can ask them.”
Perhaps relieved to pass the responsibility, the guard captain’s expression brightened at the mention of the butler.
“Understood. Then we’ll excuse ourselves!”
“Thank you.”
She looked up at Serin, who had resolved the situation so quickly.
“Serin.”
“Yes?”
After the guards and the others left, Serin’s tone became more casual. She asked Serin why she was here.
“Ah~ that’s… Aswell asked me to come.”
“The hero?”
“Yes. He said you might run into trouble, so he asked for my help. He said he was too far away to come himself.”
So the hero had anticipated even this situation.
“But then wouldn’t the north be unguarded?”
“Ah, Aria went to the north first. There are apparently quite a few injured there.”
If that was the case, there was nothing more to say. She had been worried about the hero’s party being shorthanded, but Aria could handle it.
‘She’ll probably make sure no one dies or gets seriously injured…’
Aria was popular among the soldiers due to her beauty, gentle nature, and healing abilities. Just having Aria there to heal them would boost their morale significantly.
‘This might actually work out.’
It would be better to create an opportunity for Serin before the Twilight Fortress incident. Then she could witness Serin fighting monsters and demons with burning passion.
“I’ve taken care of the situation… do you need anything else?”
“Um, not right now.”
Serin couldn’t help her with the wall reinforcement or other preparations. But she did need Serin’s help with the hero’s party’s harem.
“Really? Then can I go to the north now?”
“Yes, of course. You’re just as Aswell described.”
“…Huh?”
“Then have a safe trip.”
Push and pull was important in conversations with Serin. The key was to say something suggestive and then act like she was leaving.
Then Serin, caught off guard, would stop her…
“Oof.”
“W-what did you mean by what you just said?!”
…And crave praise.
She wriggled free from Serin’s embrace, caught her breath, and asked,
“What do you mean?”
Serin wouldn’t give up unless she was specific.
“What… Aswell said about me.”
“Ah, of course. But can you wait a moment? I need to set something up first.”
She had taken the bait. Now she just had to rephrase the hero’s lines from the novel and relay them to Serin. But that would take a while, so she had to give the Master Key instructions first.
Woooong.
“Assess. Restore. Reinforce. Material… Mithril-like.”
She input the simple commands and leaned the Master Key against the wall.
Nicker!!
“Ah, Lux. Stay still.”
There weren’t any suitable rocks or trees, so she had to use Nightlux as a support for the staff. She would appease Lux’s displeased expression later by sharing her stash of premium carrots.
“Serin, I’m done.”
“Okay.”
It was time to play with the knight’s heart.
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