Chapter 37: Before the Attack

"Mc pov"

Hearing Tohru's nonchalant words, everyone fell silent and looked at her. Snapping out of my stupor I asked, "Why didn't you say anything until now?"

Tohru tilted her head and said, "Because you didn't ask, and I am not interested in these guys."

"..."

"I see", Rihito sighed.

…

Tio, whenever she looks at the girl named Tohru. She felt very strange as if something was compelling her to bow down to Tohru. Tio ignored the sensation and said, "Miss Tohru, I thank you for helping me." To which Tohru nodded slightly.

"And Miss Yue, I also thank you, I never expected to see one who knew of us in this age…"

Yue, seeing the surprise on Tio's face, said with a small smile, "No need to thank me. As the last survivor of the Vampire Race, three hundred years ago, I was often told about the Dragon Men as an example of royalty."

Listening to Yue, Tio's eyes widen in surprise. "Three hundred years…" [A vampire has survived that long.] Tio thought in disbelief, then she remembered a certain queen of vampires. "That phenomenon mastery of magic, could it be you are that Vampire Q…"

Before Tio could say more, Yue cut her off and said, "Yue. that's my name."

"I have received it from my important person." Yue grasped Hajime's hand and continued, "I have already left behind my previous name."

"..."

Tio seeing the situation nodded, "I see."

Right then, Tio suddenly remembered something and urgently exclaimed, "I remember!"

The sudden exclamation of Tio made me frown, so I asked, "What happened?"

"It's about the man in the black robe. He wants to use the monster army he controls with his dark magic and attack the town."

Aiko and her students panicked when they heard Tio's words and exclaimed.

"Oh my god."

"We have to do something."

While Rihito and others just frowned.

Tohru remembering something spoke out, "Now that I think about it, that scoundrel was spotting something about becoming a True Hero and Emperor or something."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Yuka one of Aiko's students called out to Aiko with mixed emotions of panic and surprise. "Ai Sensei…"

Aiko, who also had a similar expression on her face, said, "I know Yuka. but we can still hope it's someone else."

Hajime thinking about the scale of monsters, asked, "Give me an estimated number of monsters."

Tio "From what I have seen it is somewhere from 3000 to 4000."

"..."

"This is concerning," Rihito said.

Then I looked at Hajime and asked, "Do you think this black robe guy has joined the demon's side."

"Possible", Hajime responded.

Hajime then continued, "Let's get out of here. If monsters are really coming to attack the city, we need to hurry."

Tio said, looking at Hajime, "If you don't mind, I'd like to join you guys to stop the robed man."

Hajime looked back at Tio with confusion and said, "What does that have to do with me."

Tio seeing the confusion on Hajime's face, explained with a slight blush while rubbing her butt "I want to join Hajime dono as a companion."

"..."

"Huh?" Hajime exclaimed questioningly not understanding the situation he found himself in.

After that, for another hour Hajime, Yue, and Tio argued. In the middle of an argument many times Hajime was about to attack Tio in irritation, but seeing Tio squirming he controlled himself. Yue who used to revere the dragon man looked shocked. I could literally see the admiration crumbling from Yue, the poor girl. Hajime then didn't say anything after that, probably he decided to ignore her completely.

…

After that, Hajime pulled out the armoured vehicle 'Brise' from his <Treasure box> and everyone sat inside except one, Tio. Inside the car, Tohru took extra space because of her large tale, so Tio was thrown on top of Brise and was roped by Hajime. The whole time Tio kept squirming and saying, "So Rough~"

"..."

This time, on our way back I was driving Brise, and because it was urgent to reach the city I drove at full speed. While Hajime was scouting using 'Ornis.'

"Hey, how many did the masochistic dragon say the number of monsters was," Hajime asked.

Yue who was sitting on top of Hajime's lap spoke up "It was about 3000 to 4000."

"Wrong, that number is nowhere near the number of monsters I am seeing. The real number is about 30000,"

"!!!!!"

Hearing that number many gasping sounds were heard.

"They already moving towards the city. They will reach the city by morning at the very least." Hajime said with a grimace.

Aiko, upon hearing the number of monsters, exclaimed in panic, "30000...?! We can't deal with that many, it's too much. We need an army to handle such forces. Even if we inform the church or kingdom now, it will be too late by the time they arrive here."

"..."

"..."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing that. Will then spoke up, "Um... perhaps Rihito-dono and Hajime-dono would be able to..." Will stopped mid-way, knowing how absurd the request was.

Hearing those words both Hajime and I kept our silence not responding.

…

After about 2 hours of driving off-road, everyone from Will and Aiko's group looked pale, unable to handle the intense shaking throughout the journey.

We then finally got out of the forest as the wall of Ull City was in view. As I stopped the brise I saw 5 people running towards us with weapons in hand and a determined look.

Aiko notices the 5 guards and sticks her head out from Brise's window, exclaiming "Ahh… David~."

David's eyes widen seeing the missing Aiko, whose head coming out from a strange monster-like creature. At first, he thought the monster had eaten her or something, but as he kept watching he understood she was not harmed. As a trained paladin, David knows what an undead feels like, so it is easy to see whether Aiko in front of him is real or not.

David then stopped his compatriots who were ready to fire magic at the monster-like creature.

…

After parking the car, Will quickly got out and ran towards the entrance gate. Meanwhile, Aiko and her students were being questioned by David's associates, and David himself stood frozen like a statue, not moving an inch.

As I looked at David, he seemed to be frozen in the headlights. I still remember what he said about Shea, but I had already punished him for it. So, I decided to ignore him, as long as he kept his mouth shut. I wouldn't do anything.

As we all headed toward the town office where the lord was, I kept an eye on Will's location using my <Magic Sense>. Just as we reached the office gate, we heard an angry voice scolding someone.

"Imbecile!! That's enough of your nonsense! There is no way something like that is happening here, an army of 30000 monsters do you think I am a fool."

Inside the office, a half-bald man wearing noble clothing scolds Will. Aiko saw this as hurried and stood before the lord and explained the situation.

The lord of Ull received confirmation from Aiko and looked pale. He slumped into his chair, both hands on his head, and said, "No, no, it can't be! What are we going to do? This town will be completely destroyed." Seeing him like this, his subordinates tried to calm him down and took him to a separate room.

"..."

Aiko noticed the dire state of the city, decided something and turned to us, asking, "Rihito, Hajime, can you please help us save this town?"

Rihito, seeing the determined look on Aiko's face, appeared troubled. [Help Huh, I don't mind, but as for Hajime.] I glanced at Hajime, wondering what his decision would be. [In the canon timeline, Aiko had to convince Hajime, but this version of Hajime is not as extreme as his alter ego. However, he has still changed, except for a few classmates, he doesn't care for others. So, what will his decision be?]

"..."

"..."

Hajime looked Aiko in the eye wanting to see the depth of her conviction, Hajime asked, "Why?"

Aiko, not understanding Hajime's question, said, "What?"

"Why, do you want us to save some people we don't even know? Why do you want us to risk our life for a stranger? It's not our responsibility in the first place."

"Weren't you supposed to put your student's lives first sensei? Are you abandoning us?" Hajime's eyes sharpened and he unconsciously released some of his pressure.

Aiko felt the pressure, but she didn't flinch and said with conviction "Of course not, I always think of my students first. But I like you to hear me out."

…

As everyone focused on Hajime and Aiko, Rihito noticed that the conversation was starting to resemble that of the anime. Anticipating how the conversation would end, he turned around and left the office. Shea and Tohru noticing Rihito leaving decided to follow him.

Shea walking beside Rihito asked with a sad undertone, "Do you not want to help them."

Sensing Shea's sad tone I responded, "No, that's not it, by how the conversation was going I already knew how it was going to end. Hajime will accept. So, before the fight, we had some preparations to do."

Then I looked at Tohru, she was walking on my other side, "Tohru, I will need your help to repair something."

Tohru tilted her head in confusion and nodded "Sure Master I will help."

Then I pulled out Muramasa from <Item Box>, and seeing the crack on its blade I muttered, "Guess I will be upgrading you sooner than expected." saying that we headed towards the forest.

...

"Chapter end"

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Author note:

I apologize for the delayed chapter. My motivation to write was at an all-time low for the past few days, and I was also preoccupied with my job.

(If you like my story please comment, give me power stone, and Rate my FF. It will motivate me plenty to write more. Thank you.)