Abnormality

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 An urgent message was handed to me by the butler, Brandon.
 The hand holding that memo trembled.
 
 “A horde of monsters?! Why’s there something like that in our territory???”
 
 Seeing me trembling, Brandon knelt down, matching his gaze with mine as he addressed me with gentle words.
 
 “Ojou-sama. Sofia-sama has already sent out the evacuation order. The preliminary response has already begun on-site. ——— In fact, when I received that memo, the communications machine was busy receiving even more news. How about we first confirm the second report.”
 
 “… yeah. This isn’t the time to get upset. Let’s go to the communications room!”
 
 “Understood.”
 
 Hearing my words, the senior butler smiled.
 
 And so, we headed to the communications room installed at the end of our mansion.
 
 
 
 “Ojou-sama!”
 
 When I opened the door to the communications room, of the two female soldiers son charge of communications, one of them turned around to face me.
 
 In addition, the other soldier had headphones on, and was busily running a pen across paper.
 
 “This is the second report.”
 
 I received the memo held out by the official in charge, and confirmed its contents.
 
 
 『Swarming confirmed at the foot of the northern mountain
 3000 goblins
 500 orcs
 dozens of devil crows』
 
 
 “… what on earth. I’ve never heard of them swarming together to this scale.”
 
 Anna received the memo from me, and seeing the contents, she too froze.
 
 “Even in the yearly periodic subjugations, I’ve only heard of goblin subjugation numbers reaching at most a thousand.”
 
 “That’s because the periodic subjugations only went as far as a shallow portion of the forest. If you gathered all the goblins in the territory, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be tens of thousands of them, but… Even so, a single nest could have at most 200 goblins in an extreme case, right? Unless you gathered multiple hordes, it shouldn’t reach this number.”
 
 “That’s right. And it’s even weirder that the goblins and orcs have all gathered in one place…”
 
 Saying so, Anna began to ponder.
 
 “…… yeah, that’s right.”
 
 It’s just as she said.
 If this report is correct, it’s obvious that something strange is happening.
 
 Normally, orcs and goblins should be living separate from one another to some extent.
 
 Orcs feed on goblins, and goblins target female orcs.^[1]
 
 Things like goblins and orcs gathering in one place are normally unthinkable.
 
 
 
 “In any case, we won’t be able to stand a chance with the current state of the county’s military strength. We’ll have to request reinforcements.”
 
 Even for the regular subjugations, they had the same number of people as their were goblins, and as for orcs, they had double, charging forward with a subjugation unit in the 200s.
 
 In order to merely match these monsters, if it’s soldiers equipped with the old equipment^[2], we’d probably have to mobilise 4000 soldiers.
 
 The current state of the county’s standing army is 800 people.
 The kingdom’s expeditionary force has 700, and the newly-established county army has 100.
 Furthermore, the combined number of soldiers with magic rifles from both armies doesn’t pass 100.
 
 Even if I were to join in, if the monsters attacked all at once, they would without a doubt push past me.
 
 Our military force was overwhelmingly insufficient.
 
 
 
 I drew up a map in my head.
 
 “Supposing the monsters went south, they’ll probably arrive at the three northern most villages in a day, and the five villages south of that in two days. And then on the third day, they’ll have reached the outskirts of the territory capital Cocomel… There’s no time. If we at least get everyone within the city walls of Cocomel———”
 
 At that moment, the communications officer behind the official in charge who’d been writing things down turned around and handed over a new memo.
 
 “Ojou-sama. The third report. I shall now decode it.”
 
 The official in charge who received the memo decoded the signal as is in the air.
 
 
 『Northernmost three villages ordered to evacuate
 Northern eight villages instructed to be vigilant.』
 
 
 Hearing the report, I shook my head.
 
 “Then they’d be too late. Reply immediately. ——— 『Evacuation orders for the entire northern region. Please escape to Cocomel urgently』!”
 
 “Understood!”
 
 The official in charge saluted and instructed the communications officer, who immediately relayed my instructions to Sofia.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “Well then Brandon, I’ll leave the rest to you!”
 
 Having gone out to the garden in the back, I looked back at our butler.
 
 “Understood. Please leave the rest to me.”
 
 Holding the present box addressed to Theo under his arm, Brandon politely bowed his head.
 
 
 ——— after that.
 I sent out magic communications to various places.
 
 
 To Otou-sama, who was attending a meeting with the delegation at the royal castle, an explanation of the current state.
 
 To His Majesty, a request for a portion of the new territory’s expeditionary army to be sent to Cocomel.
 
 And then to Theo, an apology for having no choice but to change the plans.
 
 
 That’s right.
 From here, Anna and I will be returning to Cocomel at full speed.
 
 “Anna. You prepared?”
 
 “Yes, Ojou-sama!”
 
 Seeing my attendant nod, I began sending her magic power.
 
 No.
 To be accurate, I began supplying magic power to the orange teddy bear Anna had hooked to her waist.
 
 That teddy’s name is Ren.^[3]
 He’s the boy I presented to Anna yesterday, in order to play a support role for her.
 
 “Ren, 『Flight Assist 《Forle Edio》』!”
 
 The moment Anna shouted that, a light shot out from both of Ren’s hands, and 『Air Layer Generation 《Dia Flamma》』 and 『Temperature Preservation 《Kipto Temprees》』, as well as one other spell, was simultaneously activated.
 
 ——— If you’re going to activate multiple spells anyway, use just one magic circuit to do it.
 
 Thinking like that, when making the support teddy for her to use, I designed it in order to activate multiple spells with a single phrase.
 
 By the way, three of these teddy bears have been made up till now, with two of them having been given to Anna and Otou-sama yesterday as presents.
 
 And the last of them was inside the box which Brandon held tucked under his arm.
 
 In other words, it was Theo’s reconciliation present.
 
 
 
 “Well then, we’ll be off!”
 
 “Ojou-sama, do take care!”
 
 Nodding to the shouting Brandon, Anna and I soared up into the skies of the royal capital.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “Amazing… Ojou-sama, it’s amazing!!”
 
 Having risen to a high altitude all at once and then entered a high-speed cruise headed west, Anna came to her senses and raised her voice in wonder.
 
 The city below our feet disappeared into the distance in a blink of an eye.
 
 “How are you feeling? You’re not feeling uncomfortable with the 『pull』 of the sudden acceleration?”
 
 “I’m fine! Or rather, it’s fun!!”
 
 “I-, I see. That’s good.”
 
 Seeing Anna’s eyes sparkle, I replied as such while pulling back a bit.
 
 She’s also been good at horse riding, and has also never gotten nauseous riding in a carriage.
 
 (I guess she’s got well-developed semicircular canals?)
 
 I just can’t stop thinking that.
 
 ——— That third spell that Ren activated just now.
 That is the spell that I developed, called 『Follow 《Traheliol》』.
 
 The effect is just as the name suggests.
 Maintain a defined distance to the magic power supplier.
 It’s that kind of magic.
 
 Right now, we were flying with an invisible rope tying our bodies together… that’s how it felt.
 
 
 
 “About how long is it to Cocomel?”
 
 “Probably, around two hours.”
 
 Right now, I was flying at something like two gears higher than what I did when I was headed towards the royal capital the other day.
 
 Although I flew carefully that time because it was evening and I wasn’t able to confirm my location, since the sun is high right now, I can fly ahead boldly as I confirm the towns and villages on the ground.
 
 “Till yesterday, I never thought I’d hear that the journey that takes 3 days on horse would pass in several hours. ——— Ojou-sama really is amazing after all, for being able to implement such a thing.”
 
 Saying so, Anna smiled beside me.
 
 I turned my face away, embarrassed, and murmured “thanks,” turned forward, and flew toward our city.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 
 “——— Ojou-sama!”
 
 I landed in the garden of Cocomel’s mansion and entered the meeting room without taking a rest, and Loretta, who was the closest to the door, called out.
 
 Having heard that, everyone that had been peering at the map and magic communications machine spread across the meeting table turned around this way.
 
 Sofia straightened her posture.
 
 “Welcome back, Ojou-sama. I apologise for the sudden contact.”
 
 “I don’t mind. Rather, it helps that you contacted me immediately. ——— So, what’s the situation like now?”
 
 Sofia nodded in response to my question, saying “Please take a look here” while pointing on the map with a pointing stick.
 
 “The monster swarm was discovered in the forest at the base of the northern mountain range. The discoverer was a local huntsman, who sent an urgent report via magic communications from the nearest village of Nakuha. Based on the report shortly before you arrived, all members of Nakuha village appear to have evacuated.”
 
 “And the movements of the monsters?”
 
 When I asked that, this time it was Lionel, formerly the leader of the Owleys Knights Order and now the commander of the territory soldiers, who opened his mouth.
 
 “It appears they currently have not moved. According to the report of the soldiers stationed at Nakuha, they’ve gathered at the forest’s edge, and seem to be standing around in a daze…”
 
 “They’re just standing there?”
 
 “Yeah. The report said 『It’s like they’ve been drained of their souls』.”
 
 “What’s that supposed to mean? Despite it being strange in itself that monsters of different races have gathered together, for them to simply be just standing there…”
 
 When I muttered that, Commander Virgil of the kingdom’s expeditionary force, who’d been keeping an eye on things, opened his mouth.
 
 “It’s been 5 years since I came here, yet this is also a first for me.”
 
 Saying so, he shook his head.
 
 ““……””
 
 For a moment, silence dominated the space.
 
 
 
 Lionel opened his mouth.
 
 “Hey, Miss. There’s something suspicious I’d like to tell you.”
 
 “Something suspicious?”
 
 “Yeah. I don’t know if it’s related to what’s happening now, but…”
 
 “I don’t mind. Tell me.”
 
 When I said so, the territory army commander nodded.
 
 “Since this morning, this magic communications machine occasionally seems to pick up some noise.”
 
 “Noise?”
 
 “Yeah. It seems unlikely that it’s the usual communications, but it makes this grating sound occasionally, like 『Ja, jaja』.”
 
 “That’s———”
 
 It happened as I was about to ask for more information.
 
 
 The very same magic communications machine we’d been talking about now.
 
 The female telecoms operator, who’d been running her pen from across the machine, turned around this way, and shouted with the colour drained from her face.
 
 
 “Urgent report from Nakuha!!
 
 ———『Monster swarm, beginning to move south』!!”