Quietness loomed over the farm fields south of Bailey. They had been stripped bare of crops, leaving nothing but damp soil underneath. Farmer homes hosted not a single family, and the paved road bore the weight of neither pedestrians nor vehicles. At first glance, one would rightfully guess that the area had been abandoned by its people.

The drawbridge in front of the south town gate was still down, allowing people to safely cross the river separating Bailey walls and the farm fields. A number of people were opening water gates which served as part of the irrigation system for the farm fields. Once the water gates opened, parts of the river flowed into the fields instead and slowly filled them all to the brim.

From above the rampart of the south wall, Elana and the guildmaster were watching the scene unfolding. The city lord Viscount Brid Varine along with his butler Dalton stood nearby overlooking the scene as well.

Brid clicked his tongue with a frown on his face as he looked below. “I can’t believe I’ve agreed to that peasant’s idea! Months of crop cultivation wasted!”

“But stashing unripe crops is better than having them trampled by calamity beasts, Master.” Dalton said. “And the now flooded fields can serve to slow down their stampede.”

“We are not even sure if the beasts will head here!” Brid said, then he angrily turned his head to the guildmaster. “Hey, Luke! I definitely shall demand you to pay for damages if this later turns out to be for naught!”

Luke, the guildmaster, let out a sigh before turning to Brid and replying with a warm smile. “Yes, Sir Brid. I will. We have agreed to that.”

“Ugh, I cannot take any more of this.” Brid covered his eyes with his hand. “We’re going home, Dalton!”

“Right away, Master.” Dalton said, and the two men left the rampart.

“I must apologize, guildmaster.” Elana said. “For getting you into more trouble than necessary.”

“Don’t sweat it.” The guildmaster said while giving Elana a pat on the back. “Your idea is solid. It comes with a risk, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Also, he has a point.”

“Care to explain?” Elana asked.

“It’s a fact that we had to harvest unripe crops to do this strategy. Indeed it improves this town’s odds, but what comes after that? The townspeople need to put food on the table, and that’s a fact that never stops being true.” The guildmaster said, briefly pausing to take a breath. “After the town survives this ordeal, chances are fair that a food shortage will follow. In order to prevent that from happening, we’ll have to import ripe crops from other towns or intensify gathering quests at the guild. Either way, someone has to bear the costs involved.”

“Oh, right...” Elana said with her head slightly lowered. “It should have been obvious, but for some reason it escaped my mind. I need to reflect on that.”

“Like I said, don’t sweat it.” The guildmaster said with a smile on his face. “You’re an adventurer suited for combat. Leave all the headache over management stuff to us.”

Elana wanted to disagree because among the crash survivors she was the captain. Thinking ahead about the potential consequences of each decision was part of her job in leading her men, and she had done it so many times without fail. But just now, she had failed to do that. She had no idea why she could have forgotten such a basic thing. Was it simply negligence that came once in a blue moon, or perhaps something more than just that? Ultimately, Elana decided to keep it to herself because she didn’t want to needlessly stretch the topic.

“Still...” The guildmaster said while glancing around in a dejected expression. “Despite the increased rewards, there aren’t many adventurers staying. I’m afraid that our odds are slim to none.”

Elana also took quick glances at other adventurer teams on the rampart. She made quick preliminary judgments inside her head based on their equipment and their current behavior. Some were discussing among themselves with their faces showing a mixture of worry and tension, while some others sat idly leaning on the parapet without a care.

“We may still need to be careful about the ones who stay.” Elana said. “Those who are moved by money will possibly turn tail and run the moment things go south, or even long before that.”

“Yes, I’m fully aware of that.” The guildmaster said. “But even the mere presence of more adventurers right now gives hope to the townspeople.”

“Hope, huh?” Elana rested her arms on the parapet overlooking the southern field, which were now fully flooded. “I personally hope no attacks happen until reinforcements arrive.”

“We all do, Elana. We all do.” The guildmaster said while gently putting his hand on Elana’s shoulder. The scenery of sunray reflections on the watered fields would have been a nice sight to behold along with the sound of waterfalls, if not for the fact that the town could face a calamity beast stampede at any minute.

***

Night had fallen, shrouding Bailey in darkness. Both the north and south drawbridges had been raised, forbidding anyone from entering or exiting the town. The waterfalls east and west of Bailey never ceased dropping water into the river surrounding the town, continuously covering the area with their rumbling sound, which in the particular situation became a disadvantage.

Despite the magic lamps and torches strewn all over in advance, the farm fields ahead were still mostly nothing but pitch black darkness. Detecting incoming enemies by sight would prove to be a challenge, and so would detecting by sound due to the constant sound of waterfall.

Adventurers had set up tents and stood guard on the rampart in shifts, working in tandem with the official town guards. The adventurers numbered about thirty in total, with the ones on guard duty standing sharp, looking out beyond the parapet for anything suspicious approaching the town. Meanwhile, the others rested inside the tent of their respective team until their turn to stay awake.

In one of the tents, Elana was lying down on a thin mattress. Her eyes were open in full alert, while Gregory and Ulysses beside her were sound asleep.

Strange... I can’t sleep for some reason. Did I forget to put myself to sleep mode?

Elana took a quick glance at her own status according to her nanom and immediately confirmed that she was supposedly in sleep mode already. Her nanom should have already been assisting her to fall asleep, but she hadn’t yet somehow.

Maybe I should take a walk for a bit.

With that thought in mind, Elana turned off the sleep mode and stood up. The rumbling sound of waterfalls went into her ears the moment she stepped out of the tent. All she could see in the darkness of night were the few lights of torches carried by guards and adventurers currently on the lookout.

Right now is Lillie’s turn, isn’t it? I wonder if she’s doing alright.

Elana searched for Lillie’s current location with the nanom link and immediately found that she was conveniently close, therefore she walked to the location casually.

Soon later, Elana got Lillie in her sight. However, something looked strange. She seemed to be in a conversation with two male adventurers, and said conversation wasn’t a pleasant one judging from Lillie’s nervous facial expression. By instinct, Elana felt the urge to step in, and she immediately did.

Elana heard one of the two guys speaking once she was within earshot. “No worries, sweetie. We’ll take good care of yo-“ He said with a suspicious smirk and his right hand reaching for Lillie, right before Elana grabbed his wrist. “O-Ow!”

“What were you going to do just now?” Elana asked with a fierce glare on the guy without letting go of his wrist.

“C-Captain?” Lillie startlingly said.

“You bitch! Let go of m-!” The guy angrily said right before Elana tightened her grip on the guy’s wrist. “Ow! Ow! Ow!”

Elana pulled the guy, drawing his face closer to hers. “You haven’t answered my question.” She said with an even fiercer glare.

“Hey!” The other guy spoke up. “We just thought that she was cute and wanted to get to know her better! That’s it!”

Elana briefly glared at that other guy before going back to the guy she was grabbing. “Even if that’s true, flirting in times like this is not a wise move to make.”

“Eugh! So what!? Eat this!” The guy used his other hand to punch Elana’s face, but she evaded and followed up with a flow of swift movements which ultimately put him into a joint lock, all within the course of a single second. “What the-?”

“Why you!” The other guy stepped forward, but he immediately stopped the moment he noticed that Lillie pointed her handgun at him.

Lillie sternly spoke at the other guy. “Don’t move.”

“What’re you doing!? Help me out here, Rick!” The guy locked by Elana shouted.

Rick shook his head with his hands raised to level with his shoulders. “Marty. She’s got one of those small guns.”

“Like what?” Marty asked in a momentary surprise followed by a brief silence. “Heh. I see now.” He said before he began laughing.

Looking at Marty’s behavior, Elana squinted in suspicion and asked. “What’s funny?” However, Marty didn’t say a single word. Instead, his free hand moved around strangely and Elana failed to realize what was happening until it was too late.

“HA!” Marty suddenly shouted before rising up and breaking free from the join lock, throwing Elana away in the process. She managed to control her fall and landed safely in a kneeling position right beside Lillie, but it still had been a surprise for her.

“Captain! You alright?” Lillie asked.

Elana stood up and dusted herself off. “Don’t worry about me. Be wary of them.”

In front of Elana and Lillie, Marty stood upright beside Rick with his body seemingly having gained a notable amount of muscle mass on top of it faintly glowing in yellow. His wide grin accompanying the menacing expression on his eyes clearly implied that he was up to no good.

“I see now.” Marty said as he unsheathed his scimitar. “Your cover’s blown now. Too bad for you.”

“See what? What cover?” Lillie asked.

Marty spat on the stone floor below him. “It’s useless playing dumb, lass. I already know that you’re all Belmott spies.”

“What!? What kind of nonse-“ Lillie asked before Elana intervened by raising her hand in front of Lillie’s face.

“I figure that you got that idea after hearing about her gun from your friend there.” Elana said as she lowered her hand.

Rick smirked while resting his scimitar on his shoulder. “That goes without saying. It’s mass produced in the empire, but here? None can afford it. Except nobles, for decoration.”

“But you must have been mistaken.” Elana said. “We carry guns around all the time and nobody in the guild made a fuss over it.”

“Pah!” Marty spat on the stone floor again. “They’re a bunch of useless, gullible buffoons! Too bad for you, I’m not the same as them!”

Elana frowned after hearing Marty’s words. She had already encountered so many kinds of people throughout her colorful career path, thus she knew that mere words wouldn’t work on someone like Marty, who most likely would never admit that they had been mistaken. It could also be merely a bluff made to extort her.

For the time being, Elana decided to try getting more information about Marty’s intentions, so she spoke up to ask. “So what are you going to do?”

“Huh? You’re not gonna deny it or something?” Marty asked while tilting his head a bit.

Elana folded her arms. “Even if I did, you would never change your mind, would you?”

“Heh, damn straight!” Marty said. His cynical grin returned on his face. “But I would’ve liked to see you plead uselessly.”

“Too bad for you then.” Elana said. “So?”

Upon hearing Elana’s question, the two guys looked at Lillie with lustful eyes. Rick even licked his own lips as he stared, and Elana noticed. Her disgust on them took a sharp rise inside and she could easily guess what any of them was going to say next.

Marty soon opened his mouth. “Well, in exchange for not ratting you out, how about letting that girl spend the night with us?” He said, pointing at Lillie with his scimitar. She was still pointing her handgun at the guys, but she got startled by the request regardless. In fact, Elana knew through the nanom link that Lillie’s heartbeat accelerated just now.

“Rejected.” Elana said without hesitation. “We have nothing to hide to begin with. Go ahead and rat us out. See how far you can get with that.”

Both guys looked surprised for a second, but then Marty went back to his cynical grin and took a deep breath.

“HEEEY!! HELP ME OUT HERE!” Marty shouted from the top of his lungs. His call for help definitely would reach all guards and adventurers on the rampart, and soon more people would come in response to the call.

“What? What were you doing?” Lillie asked.

Marty’s face once again sported the cynical grin. “Oh, we sure can get far. You’re just a bunch of rocks with a silver leader from another town, while we’re all gold and have been living a goody-two-shoes life in Bailey for a while. Who do you think the guards and other adventurers will believe more?”

Elana frowned at Marty’s statement. His logic was actually sound and he had put her group in a disadvantage. He probably didn’t know yet about the Jagaia card in her possession, but hastily showing it right now would possibly backfire so Elana decided to hold off until more people were present.

“Too bad we can’t get the girl, but at least we’ll get a handsome reward for ratting out Belmott spies, right Marty?” Rick said.

Marty replied as his off hand met Rick’s in a clap. “Damn straight!”

“C-Captain...” Lillie called with an audibly worried tone, to which Elana responded with a simple hand gesture which essentially told her to lower her gun. She understood and complied.

Elana soon heard approaching hurried footsteps along with the visible torches moving closer. Her mind quickly calculated the possible courses of action for overcoming the situation along with contingency plans in case her decision didn’t bring out the outcome she expected.

However...

“Incoming!”

CRASH! DRRRD!

“U-Uwaaaaaa!!”

Elana had no idea what had just happened with the sound of hard impact followed by Marty’s scream which quickly faded away. The sudden warning from her nanom had triggered her instinct and trained reflexes, pushing her to leap away from the spot she had been standing on within that instant. She also had taken Lillie along, embracing her as the two hit the stone floor merely a meter from the impact point.

“You alright?” Elana asked while still embracing Lillie.

“Y-Yes, Captain.” Lillie replied. “What just happened? The nanom suddenly warned us and-”

“I know. Keep calm.” Elana said. She quickly glanced around and immediately noticed the fact that a portion of the rampart and parapet had crumbled right on the spot Marty had been standing. Rick was across the resulting hole, having fallen on his bottom. He shivered with his eyes wide and mouth agape. “Get up and suit up.”

“Affirmative!” Lillie said as she and Elana stood up. She immediately began suiting up while Elana approached the hole cautiously, knowing that a single misstep would lead her swimming in the moat below.

“You alright over there?” Elana asked with a shout. “Where’s your friend?”

“H-H-He... He fell down!” Rick shouted back without moving from his spot. “What just happened!? What did you do!?”

Elana didn’t bother to answer the accusing question. Instead, she quickly leaned forward over the parapet and looked below.

“Someone fell down! He’s still alive!” Elana shouted the moment she noticed the figure of a man frantically trying to swim in the moat, which clearly was a difficult task with the armor on him. “Quick! Rescue him!”

“Lower the drawbridge!” One guard shouted at another who immediately ran off. “What happened here?” He then asked as he hurriedly approached Elana.

“No idea.” Elana replied. “We were just talking when this suddenly happened. What could have caused this?”

The guard quickly redirected his attention at the damaged part of the rampart. Elana helped the guard by illuminating the spot with her flashlight, and she soon noticed that there was something in the middle of the hole.

“Is that a boulder?” Elana asked.

The guard crouched and looked at the boulder closely, poking it with the tip of his spear once. “Where did this boulder come from?”

“Error. Unable to determine attack source location.”

Elana frowned and clicked her tongue hearing the failure of her nanom. However, it had determined the boulder to be an attack, which could only mean one thing.

“We’re under attack. The calamity beasts are here.” Elana said. “Prepare for battle!”

“What!? Are you sure!?” The guard jolted up and turned to Elana. However, another loud crash followed by some screams occurred at a far distance before she could reply to the guard. In addition, the weather started getting rainy, which was a bad omen for anyone who knew about the corrupted cloud. “Okay! Now I’m sure! We’re under attack!”

The guard then took the horn which had been hanging on his waist and blew it loudly. Soon, the sounds of multiple bells tolling followed along with other horns being blown. Together, they engulfed the waterfall sound and echoed throughout the rampart, perhaps the entire city as well.

“What was that about?” Elana asked once the guard stopped blowing. She could make a guess, but she thought that confirming would be better.

“We’re under attack! What else?” The guard replied. “That means we shut all gates and get people to safety!”

“Wait! Did you just say shut all gates? What about the man who just fell?” Elana asked while pointing at the nearby hole. “Didn’t you give order to lower the drawbridge and help him!?”

“Yes, but this new order overrides it.” The guard replied, which made Elana grit her teeth.

Rick, who had been in earshot, hastily and frantically crawled to Elana and the guard. “N-No! Please! Save Marty! He’s been my friend since we were kids!” He pleaded while prostrating under the intensifying rain.

“The safety of citizens takes priority over a single adventurer. I’m sorry.” The guard said while shaking his head in a displeased look.

Without warning, Rick pulled out a dagger and brandished it at the guard. “Lower the drawbridge and save Marty, or I’m gonna kill you!” He said with his eyes full of rage. The sudden turn of events startled the guard, causing him to leap backward a bit and bump his back on the parapet.

In hopes that Rick’s attention was fully on the guard, Elana raised the flashlight on her hand and maximized its intensity. The flashlight produced a blinding flash which momentarily caused Rick to shut his eyes in reflex. Elana immediately took the fleeting chance and slapped the dagger out of Rick’s hand, followed by a shoulder charge which successfully brought him down on the stone floor.

“You’re under arrest for brandishing a weapon on a town guard!” The guard said while stepping forward as Elana put Rick under a joint lock like how she had previously done with Marty.

“No!” Elana spoke up. “Please hold. He was overwhelmed by the situation and couldn’t think clearly. Imagine if the one down there was your childhood friend or your loved one. Wouldn’t you try to save them at all cost?”

The guard didn’t immediately answer. His brows furrowed but he didn’t say a word. Perhaps he was contemplating Elana's question.

“At least please hold off from arresting him for the time being.” Elana said to push the matter further. “We are under attack by calamity beasts. We need all the help we can get.”

The guard sighed before looking straight at Rick. “Fine! I’ll pretend that it never happened just this once! But keep in mind that I still can’t withdraw the order.”

“Thank you.” Elana said, and then the guard ran off. She looked down on Rick, and immediately noticed that he was sobbing. She released the joint lock and stood up, but Rick didn’t move from his spot, clearly having fallen into despair.

Elana leaned forward beyond the parapet and looked down. Marty was still there, but he was no longer swimming against the current. He was now holding on to the very narrow rocky ground right under the wall. Elana then looked toward the distant south, on which the darkness of night was still shrouding. The rain had extinguished the torches on the field ahead, and thus she failed to spot anything suspicious.

If only I still could use the drone to scout ahead...

A little regret crept up inside Elana’s mind. The factory reset attempt back then had severed Elana’s link to the drone, and for safety she had decided not to reestablish the link knowing that it had been hijacked by a calamity corruption. Due to that fact, she now had to make a decision with a severe lack of reconnaissance information.

“Tch!” Elana clicked her tongue and gritted as she pulled out a length of cable from her belt and tied it around one part of the parapet.

“Captain! What are you doing?” Lillie asked.

Not stopping her work, Elana replied. “What else? I’m going to pull that guy up.”

Right after Elana spoke her reply, Rick raised his head and looked at Elana with his eyes wide and mouth agape.

“What? Captain, no! It’s dangerous! Another attack may come at any second!” Lillie objected. At the same time, Ulysses and Gregory arrived at the scene in a hurry, fully alert and already in their exoskeleton suit like Lillie.

“Which is why I’m going to count on you three. Work together to intercept any incoming attack you see.”

Ulysses quickly stepped forward. “Captain! Let me do it in your stead!”

“No, that would mean one less interceptor and this cable may snap under the weight of your suit.” Elana said while quickly confirming that the cables were as tightly bound as they should be. “No more objections!”

“Affirmative, Captain!” Lillie said. “Uly! Greg! Stand on my sides! We’re using armor piercing cannons!”

“Roger that!” Ulysses and Gregory answered in unison and immediately pulled out the weapons from their arsenal as commanded.

Elana hopped over the parapet and readied herself to rappel down the wall, but Rick hastily approached and spoke. “W-Wait! Why are you helping us after what we just did?”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I was not upset about it.” Elana replied. “But drowning or getting mauled to death by monsters isn’t the karma he deserves for that.”

Without waiting for response, Elana rappelled down the walls as fast as she could. She went down a meter with each hop while barrages of stones smaller than the prior boulder struck the fortified wall. The beasts were hurling rocks en masse at the town, but nobody could pinpoint their location due to the shrouds of night. The guards and adventurers on the rampart couldn’t launch any counterattacks, but thankfully the wall still stood strong.

“Incoming!”

“Oh crap!” Elana muttered the moment she heard the warning and noticed the boulder coming straight at her. Her currently limited mobility wouldn’t allow her to get out of the way in time, so she braced herself.

Blam! Crash!

The boulder suddenly exploded by itself into small pieces. The Mountain Squad above had successfully intercepted the boulder, thus Elana only had to endure a few shrapnels which were mostly harmless against her military suit. Soon later, Elana arrived at the bottom of the wall unscathed and Marty was almost within her reach. He was still desperately holding on the rocky ground trying not to get washed away by the river current, which had grown stronger due to the rain which had become a downpour.

“Marty!” Elana called while reaching her right hand out. “Take my hand!”

“What!? Why are you-?” Marty asked while still holding on tight against the current, but Elana shook her head and interrupted.

“No time to ask! The town’s under attack and your friend’s worried about you up there!” Elana shouted. “Just take my hand!”

Marty gritted and looked around, definitely noticing all rocks falling in the vicinity. He soon made his decision and reached his left hand out, grabbing Elana’s right hand.

“Don’t let go, you hear me?” Elana said, and Marty responded with a quick nod. She then engaged a switch on her belt and it began reeling the cable, pulling both her and Marty up until his body completely got out of the river before stopping. “Now stand still there while I secure the ropes!”

Marty complied as instructed, and Elana pulled a different cable from her belt. She looped the cable around Marty’s waist and hooked it back on her own belt, tethering herself with Marty on the waists. After making sure the tether was secure, Elana engaged the switch on her belt once more. However, nothing happened.

Malfunction? Right now of all times?

Elana looked above and frowned at the height she now had to climb while carrying another person tethered to her. She could change the cable arrangement and have Marty climb by himself alongside her instead, but she ultimately decided that there was no time for changing. The monsters could get to them at any second.

“Activate enhanced physical strength.” Elana commanded her nanom.

“Affirmative.”

Immediately, Elana felt the effect of the nanom boosting all her muscles beyond their normal capabilities. Her hands tightly gripped the cable and her feet firmly placed on the wall as she climbed. Despite the armored guy tethered to her waist, the climb felt as if she was carrying no burden, and within half a minute they were already about halfway up.

“Incoming!”

“Ah damn!” Elana cursed as she turned her head. A large boulder zoomed onto her at high speed and she wouldn’t be able to evade in time despite the temporary strength enhancement. She could only hope that the Mountain Squad above would intercept the attack.

“Ha!” Marty suddenly shouted from below and a yellow crescent-shaped energy slash went through the boulder from bottom up. The energy slash sliced the boulder in half and redirected the two halves to the sides slightly, resulting in them missing Elana and Marty by a narrow margin. Elana looked below and saw that Marty was wielding his scimitar, which was glowing in a golden aura. “Keep climbing quickly! I can only do that once!” He shouted as his scimitar lost its glow.

Without saying any word in response, Elana continued climbing with all her strength. Stiffness began to linger over her arms and legs in mere seconds, which clearly implied that she would suffer a recoil after the enhanced strength ended. Regardless, half a minute later she got close to the top of the wall, and the parapet was almost within her reach.

Then suddenly Elana’s strength faded and she felt intense pains all over her limbs. Her eyes opened wide and her teeth gritted hard as she put her utmost effort to ignore the pain and, at the very least, not let go of the cable. However, the cable was more slippery than normal due to the rain, and eventually her fingers slipped.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl at that very moment. Elana could feel the sensation of falling down and the sense of failure upon herself for failing to accomplish what she had set herself to do. She had misjudged, and the person she was carrying would be the one paying the price of her failure.

Grab!

However, a sudden sensation on her right wrist jolted Elana back to her senses. Someone above had grabbed her arm, stopping her and Marty from falling back down.

“I got you, Captain!” Lillie, the one who had saved Elana in the nick of time, shouted. “Hrrah!”

Lillie boosted herself up using the jet thrusters on her suit, taking both Elana and Marty along in the process. Gregory and Ulysses caught Elana and Marty respectively, and put them down on the rampart floor safely. Marty could still stand on his feet, but Elana barely had any strength left on top of the recoil pain, so she sat down on the rampart floor leaning on the parapet.

“Hey.” Marty said while looking at Elana as Ulysses removed the cable tethering him and her. “I must thank you for saving me. But why?”

“Because we aren’t enemies.” Elana said while being short of breath. “And we need all the help we can get against the calamity beasts.”

Right after Elana replied, Rick jumped at Marty and hugged him from the side. “Thank goodness you’re safe!” He said.

“And your childhood friend was worried sick about you.” Elana said with a slight smile on her face.

“Heh, whatever.” Marty said. “Don’t get me wrong. I still believe that you’re all Belmott spies!” He continued while pointing at Elana’s group. “But for now I’ll put that aside. We’ve got a bigger matter at hand.” He lowered his hand.

“Right.” Elana said as she stood up. The recoil had subsided a bit, so she could at least physically function albeit at a significantly reduced performance. “We’re far from the end. In fact, this is just the beginning.”

Elana pulled out her rifle and set her sight on the fields beyond the wall. She now could faintly hear the roars of beasts coming from the shrouds of darkness. Yet another defensive battle was imminent, and this time she had to hold the line for the sake of a town instead of just a village.

***