Chapter 167-168

Chapter 167 – Driven Away!

"Seize Princess Alyssa and a few of the others as hostages! You can kill the rest!"

Shouted one man who must have been the captain. And with that, the soldiers of the holy place raised their weapons and attacked us.

"What a joke! I'll deal with them all myself! Arrrghh!"

Erevan held his axe in both hands and knocked down the waves of soldiers who swept towards him.

The Golems picked up the flailing soldiers while the Goblins, Kobolds and Orcs worked together to knock the others unconscious.

In the meantime, I cast Shield on Erevan and the Sheorl guards.

I wanted to see what they were capable of now.

While this was happening, Alyssa was shouting at the soldiers to stop.

The guardians were also shouting.

However, none of the soldiers obeyed them. They continued to act with hostility.

Still, I could see that Erevan and Sheorl's guards were not struggling in the least.

As for the soldiers of the holy place, they were falling like flies.

Upon seeing this, the one who appeared to be the captain took a step back.

"What!? Why are they so tough!?"

"Ha! First of all, there's the difference in weapons! The Chief dug up the materials and that Mappa bastard forged them! But given how weak you all are, you wouldn't even be able to defeat our children!"

Erevan said as he sent another group of soldiers flying into the air.

"Ah! Ahh! Ca-call for reinforcements! We cannot win against this many of them!"

The captain shouted, and a light-armored messenger began running away.

If this continued, they would keep sending men and this would never end.

I didn't want to show it, but…

I raised a hand to the sky.

Elto had taught me to use the fire magic, Hell Explosion…but since it was too powerful, I unleashed Fire instead.

A massive pillar of flame rose up into the shy, bathing the surrounding area in scorching wind.

"AAAH!? Fire?!"

The soldiers of the holy place began to shriek.

And then Erevan shouted.

"See! If you value your lives, you will carry your unconscious comrades and return home!"

"Re-retreat! We cannot beat them!"

The captain shouted. The soldiers immediately started to run away from the gate. They carried their unconscious soldiers and rushed down the stairs of the tower.

As we watched them leave, I turned to Erevan.

"Erevan. Are you hurt?"

"Not at all, as you can see. The others are fine too. Well, I doubt anyone on Sheorl would lose to the likes of those soldiers."

"They have good equipment, but it seems like they lack experience."

My own opinion was that it had more to do with Erevan and Sheorl's guards being exceptionally strong.

Besides, our equipment was made of Orichalcum and Mithril. That was very different from the iron armor of these soldiers.

This was how we made it through many battles in the past, including the attack of a Leviathan.

So we had experience as well.

As for Alyssa and the guardians…they were looking at me with something like fear.

"Uh, Alyssa?"

"L-Lord Heal. This and the magic you showed on the wall… Are you really human?"

"I don't know if our definitions are the same, but yes, I am just a human. But more importantly…"

I began, but Ogus the guardian suddenly bowed his head.

"I'm sorry… I meant to make the report to the king, but…"

"It was Grand Duke Bilene who came out? I understand the situation. And since they know how strong we are now, they might send more soldiers next time."

Alyssa nodded.

"I think they'll want to investigate what is on the other side of the gate as soon as possible, so that they can take your resources… He is a greedy man."

"But we cannot keep fighting them forever… Alyssa, I have to talk to you about something."

"Talk?"

"If they can build a wall, then you should also…build a wall between the city and the holy place. A high wall."

"Th-tha…"

In other words, separate the two sides of the city completely.

Ogus immediately knelt before Alyssa.

"Your Highness. We will obey your order. And so will the rest of your people."

Vanessa, the other guardian, also went down to her knee.

"The people's hearts have left the royal family a long time ago. You are the only one who can lead us."

"You two…"

Alyssa's eyes went towards the city.

The people from the holy place did not care about the citizens at all.

And so Alyssa had chosen the road of leaving so that she could fight alongside her people.

Besides, there was one thing that she was certain of. And that was that the people did not need the holy place.

And so I asked Alyssa to decide.

Once she made a decision, she would never be able to return to the holy place.

I could tell by her expression that she knew what to do. She then turned and bowed her head.

"…Lord Heal. Please help us. And I will cut off my ties with that place."

"Well said, Alyssa."

The guardians also nodded in approval.

"However, Lord Heal. Building a stone wall will take a long time. The people in the holy place will surely try to stop us. And we will also have to deal with the undead outside of the walls."

Erevan laughed upon hearing this.

"Don't worry about that, young lady. It won't take a day with Lord Heal here."

"Y-you must be exaggerating! I've never heard of magic like that before."

Alyssa looked a little irritated, as if he was making fun of her. However, Erevan just said, 'now, now, just watch.'

And then he shouted at the other guards.

"All of you! Continue to guard this area! I will be escorting the Chief. Now, Chief. Let's get this over with."

"Yes. I have enough boulders. It shouldn't take long."

And so we made our way to the holy place once again.

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Chapter 168 – We made a boundary!

"Thank you. You were all a great help."

I got off of one of the Cave Spiders and thanked them.

As Taran was not with us, we had the other Cave Spiders carry us to the holy place. Some were Taran's children and others were from the underground city.

Thanks to them, we were able to arrive at the holy place as if chasing the running soldiers.

The soldiers were in a panic and started running for their lives when they saw the Cave Spiders. Well, it was no surprise, as they could be very scary.

And perhaps it was because of this tremendous fear, that they did not come out again after they had entered the holy place.

There was no one guarding it from the outside now, and the gates were closed shut.

Erevan spat with exasperation.

"Hah. They have no spine."

"But this is quite convenient for us. Now we will be able to build the wall without being disturbed."

"Yes. The Cave Spiders and I will guard the area, so you can work without worrying, Chief."

I nodded to Erevan.

However, Alyssa looked at me with a worried expression.

"Is it really safe? You should allow me to post my own soldiers here as well."

"No, we won't need them. However, could you prepare some water and barrels?"

"V-very well."

And so Alyssa and the guardians rushed off towards the city.

In the meantime, I used the workshop feature and started to cut out stone blocks to use for the wall. And since I also wanted mortar to strengthen them, I created cement with limestone.

Eventually, Alyssa returned with other people from the city. They were all carrying barrels of water.

I put the cement into the barrels and mixed it to create mortar.

As one of Mappa's apprentices gave me instructions on the right formula, I had no problem making it.

Still, Mappa… He had yet to make his reappearance.

He would usually just pop up out of nowhere.

Well, now that I thought about it, this was work that I could do. And so maybe it wasn't the right time yet.

Once I finished with the mortar, I started to lay down the stone materials.

Then I added the mortar between and above the stone and created another layer on top…

I just had to repeat this process over and over again.

I was used to doing it now.

As for Alyssa and the other people of Arancia, they raised their voices as the wall grew higher.

Some were puzzled as to why we were even building a wall here, but they were satisfied once Alyssa promised to explain it to them later. Clearly they had a lot of respect for her.

It was possible that there were some among them who did not wish to be permanently cut off from the holy place. Maybe some still had hope that the royals would save them. Perhaps she would tell them once we had helped, and eased their minds a little.

I could see people on the other side, looking at us with wide eyes, but as the stones piled up, their faces became hidden to us.

And then after an hour of working… A great wall that was four times taller than a person was now standing before us.

Now no one would be able to move into and out of the holy place. Of course, unless you used siege towers or ladders.

But I doubted they had siege towers in their little haven.

We could hear murmuring coming from the other side, but nothing to suggest that they were preparing to attack.

That being said, it would be necessary to be cautious.

And so I asked the Cave Spiders to watch the holy place from on top of the wall.

As there were also stairs, I would have them post Arancia guards later on.

"Th-there really is…a wall…"

Alyssa looked up at the wall with a stunned expression.

The guardians and civilians were also raising their voices in astonishment.

Erevan folded his arms and muttered proudly.

"Didn't I tell you? Our Chief could do it without breaking a sweat."

"But it would be so much faster if I could make mortar on my own."

I said while checking my inventory.

I had used up a lot of rock materials… Well, I guess I could just dig up more.

Just then, Rienna's voice rang.

"Lord Heal! We brought the food!"

I turned in the direction that the voice was coming from, and saw Rienna leading a long line of Slimes.

The Slimes were all carrying barrels and boxes.

"Oh, Rienna. And the rest of you came as well!"

"Yes. But this is just the first group!"

Under Shiel's guidance, the Slimes put down their cargo in a neat pile.

It was like we were at a small market now. There were so many crates and barrels.

And they contained fish and seafood that had already been cut up.

"So, they've already been prepared."

"The cooks all worked very hard. After seeing Alyssa, they realized just how hungry the rest of the people must be."

"But they already work so hard making food for the people of Sheorl… I'll have to go and thank them later. So, what are you going to make?"

"We'll start with a fish soup. I think that way, we can feed the most people. Lord Heal, will you help us make a fire in order to heat up the pots? I want to have stone blocks piled so they make a square."

Rienna looked towards the giant pots that she had brought with her.

She had said that they would send ten thousand fish at first.

The Arancia population was thirty thousand.

And so she would have realized that grilled fish would not be enough for everyone.

"Of course. I'll start right away. But first…"

I turned towards Alyssa.

"Alyssa. We're going to start cooking now. And we want to be able to feed as many people as possible. Can I leave it to you?"

"We have a rationing system, so it should be fine. There are several rationing points throughout the city, so we just need to tell everyone to bring their own plates."

"Very well. Then we'll bring the pots to those places."

And with that, we started making the soup.