The Second Day of the Expedition

As the world brightened, the sun rising behind the layer of clouds that filled the sky, the adventurers woke up, each preparing for the final fight that would take place.

People were climbing out of bed, doing pre-sunrise warms and light training, putting on clothes, and pushing open their windows to let some air in. As people prepared for the morning though, the servants were also busy, preparing breakfast for the adventurers.

Chelsea, who had risen long before the crack of dawn, was returning from the northern wall after having thanked the guards for taking the night shift and weathering the blizzard, killing the monsters that wandered too close while taking shelter inside the wall.

While Chelsea returned to the castle after finishing some of her responsibilities as the duchess, Kaitlyn was rising from bed with a long yawn.

Being one of the late risers, Kaitlyn climbed out of bed like a snail trying to make a pilgrimage, trying to wake up while putting on her clothes with staggering movements.

Taking a breather, Kaitlyn sat on the bed for a moment, staring off at the cloudy sky once more, wondering how Chelsea lived here year round while putting on her shoes.

In a separate room, having already gotten dressed and then having raided Josephine's room, Rachel, who, as always, had an annoying amount of energy in the morning, began to update Josephine on her plans to confess.

The words flowing out of her mouth like a gushing stream, Rachel mentioned how she liked Kaitlyn about 5 times while also talking about how Josephine could beat her up if she didn't do it.

With her stream of words waking up and exciting a groggy Josephine, the two talked in hushed, rapid whispers all the way down to the dining hall.

Following that, as everyone had eaten a steaming, filling breakfast once more, all a little subdued before what was coming, the morning had truly begun, each person awake and ready to fight.

The group of adventurers, all awake and equipped with their weapons, made their way to the northern gates.

"Ready?"

"""Ready!"""

As the shouts of affirmation fell, the gates swung open, revealing a field dotted with the corpses of dead monsters the guards had killed throughout the night.

Chelsea, taking charge of the situation, directed some of the lower ranked adventurers to carry away the bodies while directing some higher ranked adventurers to go ahead and kill some of the encroaching monsters.

As the adventurers carried out their duties, Chelsea waved over a guard, whispering a few words into their ear before letting them run off into the armory. Satisfied, Chelsea turned back towards the group, addressing the crowd of adventurers that was now standing in the field.

"Alright, everyone," Chelsea began, her voice silencing the rest of the adventurers, "Because the swords of execution have arrived, the plan will be slightly different. Everyone A-Ranked and below, your job is the same, kill the monsters that come barreling down this path."

Clearing her throat, Chelsea continued after the crowd quieted down once more, "The dragons will be in charge of Nero, afterward they will help with that. I will be leading everyone in killing the smaller monsters, while all the S-Ranked Adventurers and above, please focus on the larger monsters along with the nature elemental."

Seeing and hearing the adventurers agree without too much fuss, Chelsea turned away once she felt Millicent tap on her shoulder, "What is it, Millie?"

"Your swords have been delivered," Millicent whispered before leaving once more to direct the knights in preparation of setting up a defensive line.

Thanking Millicent, Chelsea spun, checking that the carts filled with swords had been placed in the correct positions before turning back towards the group, "Now then... let's begin."

As her words fell, all the adventurers dispersed from the area in front of the main gate, spreading out along the long wall that divided the barren northern wasteland from the city itself. On the other hand, the city knights, being directed by Millicent the knight commander, dispersed as well. Under her command, the majority of the knights formed a defensive line around the gate, as the gate was the weakest point and most critical to be defended while the rest of the knights joined up with some of the adventurers, helping with clean up and being in charge of killing smaller monsters.

With the cloudy skies above head, the wind blowing the winter chill through their bones, the adventurers began to push back against the wandering monsters, each of the high-rank adventurers taking charge of a certain section of the wall with several weaker people behind them.

The load being lightened with the appearance of 7 additional S-Ranked adventurers, the morning passed without much fuss, with the flow of monsters increasing bit by bit, going from a goblin here, an ogre there, to a constant barrage of a group of ogres here while a lumbering mutated bear was over there.

Around noon, Kaitlyn, having taken charge of a section of the wall right near the large gates, was taking a short break, eating some light food while Dexter covered both of their sections.

The wind blowing the dark hair she had pulled back, Kaitlyn, swallowing the last of her food, did a few stretches, picking up her swords while waving towards a still relaxed Dexter, "I can take over now! I'll cover both our sections while you eat!"

"Alright!" shouted Dexter in reply while blowing the head off a goblin with a punch, "I'll eat quickly, so no need to worry about the main part of the monster wave arriving while you're covering for me!"

High-fiving Dexter as he walked by her towards the wall, Kaitlyn shook her head with a sigh, "I'd make you drop your food and come fight if that happened."

"Of course, I'd do the same for you!" Dexter laughed, a wide smile on his face as he packed some snow into a snowball, throwing it as hard as possible towards another poor goblin, giving it grievous injury.

Still amazed by Dexter's monstrous brute strength, Kaitlyn ran forward, unsheathing her swords while beginning to dance between the monsters, letting their heads fall one by one as she blew by.

'... It's surprisingly easy this year, motivation-wise...'

'... maybe because of her.'

So with a smile, Kaitlyn pushed on, her legs moving just a bit faster, her arms swinging with just a bit more force, and her swords slicing just a bit preciser.