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Chapter 350 – Reclaiming their Homeland
The upgraded mobile blast cannon spewed fire. Generated using sorcery, the flame cast blue light. The monsters howled as a bombardment of shells exploded on impact, ripping their flesh and burning them whole. Pushed back a few meters by the force, they toppled over.
『Load the next round!』
But Gin didn’t let up.
『Target, sir?』
『The big one!』
『Understood!』
The blast cannons spewed fire again. One missed, boring through the cobblestones, but the other four shells scored direct hits, then burst into flames. The monster had stopped moving. The lack of wind made it difficult for the smoke to clear.
『Did it work?』
『Target is not moving!』the scout said.
Blood poured out of the monster’s body, staining the ground. Frightened perhaps by the explosion, the monster’s children—big as horses nevertheless—shrank back, unmoving.
『Assault team, draw your swords! Go!』
The soldiers dashed forward at Gin’s command.
『How dare you eat our friends!』
『Die!』
『You’ll pay!』
For the soldiers of Dream Maker, who fought huge monsters frequently, monsters as big as horses were of no match to them.
After taking down the remnants, the men dragged out the monsters peeking out of the pile of corpses and killed them as well.
It didn’t take long for the city to be quiet once more.
『Damn it… This is too awful…』
Tears streamed down the soldiers’ faces as regarded the mountain of their comrades’ corpses. Gin asked them to bring the jar of oil that he had them prepare in advance and sprinkled it on the pile of bodies.
『Fire, please.』Gin, holding a torch, spoke.『I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to save you. But we are back. May you all rest in peace…』
The pile of corpses blazed as soon as he set it on fire. Highly flammable, the oil burned even when the pile was covered in fluids. The few monsters left inside shrieked, then went silent. A thick column of smoke rose towards the skies of Dream Maker.
Gin knew they must move to control the city immediately, but he wanted to stay for just a little longer.
As there weren’t too many monsters left, the clean-up took only a day. The monsters that should have been there were nowhere to be found, and they couldn’t spot any Yamamaneki in the distance either.
Grucel decided that in order to confirm any doubts, it would be necessary to restore the city first and scout the vicinity. And so they all landed on Dream Maker. To declare that their long refugee life was now over.
『Excellent job, Gin.』
『I, uhh… didn’t do much…』
Gin was undoubtedly the one who played the most important role in this operation. Grucel noticed Gin’s slur in his speech.
『Lord Grucel. I know we have to put on a smile today.』
They didn’t enter the houses yet, as securing them would require spending resources. Instead the soldiers set up tents on the public square. There was a lot of work to be done tomorrow. Grucel gathered them all in one spot so he would know everyone’s location.
Around the blazing bonfire, soldiers sang songs of their home. They all looked happy—that’s what it looked like at first glance, at least.
『In the back of my mind, I knew some didn’t get away.』Gin continued.『Back then, we did our best to let everyone escape, but I heard some scream that their family wasn’t with them. And now the bodies…』
『It’s not your fault.』Grucel replied.
『I understand. I just can’t help but wish I could’ve done something.』
It sounded like he was about to cry, but Gin held back the tears. He understood that shedding tears now would affect the men’s morale.
And Grucel offered no words of comfort. It was unnecessary. Gin already knew. And now he was growing at a tremendous rate.
The next morning, the reconstruction of the city began. Gin and his team of scouts went out into the forest to check the outside of the city.
The forest was strangely quiet. The scouting mission was about to come to a disappointing end, without them running to any sort of trouble. In fact, without any animal to hunt, they would have trouble with meat supply.
Then something unusual occurred the next day.
『Gin… Isn’t that the Quinbland army?』
『Looks like it.』
As they proceeded silently through the forest, the scouting team happened upon a familiar set of armor—the Quinbland army, moving furtively through the woods as well.
『Hmph. Maybe they’re worried about us, so they came here to check how we’re doing.』
『I find that hard to believe. They didn’t seem to care about Dream Maker.』
『Nah. They’re the kind of people who will help you in your time of need.』
『I think they wanna move their base of operations from Lands Harvest to Dream Maker.』
『Well, there’s no point in talking about it here. Let’s go meet them.』
Since Gin’s team was more skilled in concealing themselves in the woods, the other party didn’t notice them. So Gin deliberately called out to them.
「Hello there! This Dream Maker!」Gin called in broken language.
Although only for a short time, Gin had interacted with the people of the other continent and learned a bit of their language.
Yet for some reason, the men from Quinbland gave a start and stopped in their tracks.
『Hmm?』
『Hey, Gin. They’re acting a bit strange.』
They huddled around, talking things over.
『Watch out!』
Dolan pushed Gin away. Several arrows zipped past where they were a second ago. Quinbland fired at them with great accuracy.
『Wh-What’s wrong with those guys?!』
『Ugh…』
『Hey, Dolan! Dolan!』
Dolan, who fell over Gin, let out a groan. Gin quickly pulled the arrow sticking from his friend’s right shoulder. Dolan trembled, his face pale.
Poison, Gin thought. They actually want to kill us.
『Gin and Dolan are down!』
『Return fire!』
『No, we have to retreat…』
『Check on them both!』
Anger filled Gin. His comrades’ voices sounded distant in his ears. His vision red, he glared at the enemy spreading out among the trees.
『Zuzun, get Dolan somewhere safe.』
『Gin?』
Driven by rage, Gin charged, screaming. Even through the uneven forest floor, Gin ran like the wind, weaving in a zigzag pattern. The enemy’s archers couldn’t get a clear shot. Gin threw himself upon the enemy.
The sounds of battle echoed through the forest.
『How’s Dolan?』
『He’s fine. But Gin’s a mess…』
Grucel frowned upon hearing the news later that night. The light of the bonfire illuminated his clean-cut profile. Though he was usually quiet, Zuzun could speak calmly even at times like this. The scouting team were all on edge. They had almost never fought against humans before.
『You are certain the enemy is the Quinbland Empire, correct?』
『Yes, sir.』
Grucel had no idea why Quinbland attacked them. Gin didn’t do anything wrong when he called out to them, and it didn’t seem like they were lying either.
『What happened in Lands Harvest?』
There was no way to verify the reality of the situation. He regretted that they didn’t leave a liaison behind in Lands Harvest.
『We’ll set sail for Lands Harvest in the morning. We have no choice but to find out what their intention is.』
Dream Maker’s high-ranking officials listened with grim looks on their faces.
『We’ll gather our troops to the west. Worst-case scenario, there will be a battle.』