“ ―――――― I am back.”
The piled up sandbags and abandoned household goods formed a new defense camp near the drawbridge that connected to headquarters in the shape of the letter『C』.
The defense soldier placed on guard replied curtly with an “Ou” when he saw Karito returned with the accompaniment of one of Ordy’s subordinate. The subordinate who came along with him was a man of the Garm Tribe (a wolf therianthrope), just like his Captain, Ordy, but most of the soldiers placed for the Defense Camp were humans.
The night had completely fallen and numerous torches were lit around the headquarters, scattering illumination around and exposing any enemies that would creep out from the dark world.
“Is there any movement from over there (the Alwina army)? ”
“There was no change so far. They seemed to have completely stopped their movements in the middle of main street. It is so obvious that they are being cautious ever since they got caught by the traps that you have set up.”
Although they have succeeded in invading the Citadel city, the Alwina army stopped their advancement to a mere hundred meters away without being able to reach the headquarters by the time the sun had set.
The reason was of course the result of Karito and Ordy’s group, and a few people from the Citadel Defense Forces repet.i.tive delaying attempts against them.
The content of the tactics were really simple, when the Alwina force advanced, Karito’s group who lay hidden in the buildings along the main street, will deliver attacks as they were caught by the claymore landmines and stopped moving, Karito’s group will then retreat before the Alwina army could recover from the confusion. The process will then be repeated.
The effective distance of the Claymore which could shootout 700 iron bullets at a time, is around 50m. The scope of the iron b.a.l.l.s could cover the sides of the main street from one side to the other if the angle was adjusted. There was no escape for the alwina soldiers who filled the main street in rows.
At least 100 infantrymen fell victim to the Claymore in a single suppression. The speed of the iron b.a.l.l.s released at once by the high performance explosives wasn’t something that could be compared with stone throwing or arrows. The soldiers had their bodies successively destroyed along with their shields and armours.
In addition, when their formation stopped due to the explosions, Karito’s group who had hidden on the top floor of the buildings, showered them with arrows, bullets, and grenades (Karito shared with them and easily taught Ordy and the rest on how to use it). On the contrary, brave soldiers who stepped up to help their companions became easy targets.
Just like that, a few tens of them fell victims again. The enemy paid the price in losing more than 200 casualties and injuries in just one ambush attack. If this was to be repeated many times, it was not something that even the Alwina army who still have 10,000 soldiers can endure. The soldiers’ morals had plummeted onto the ground a long time ago.
Of course, the Commander of the Alwina army had tried several countermeasures. However, even when they had sent the Sky Cavalry ahead to scout from the sky, they couldn’t possibly detect those hiding under the roofs unless they got see-through abilities.
If it was the case, they would have destroyed any buildings that seemed to be the hidden places of the Defense Force using the magic from the Magician units, but then the stamina of those magicians would be empty before they could even attack the fundamental headquarters command center. Almost all of the magicians of the Alwina troops had been exhausted from the fierce fight that broke through the two layers of the castle’s urban area.
Above all, what scared the vanguards to advance forward was its spontaneity. Unable to detect any signs of magic and arrow attacks, every step they took closer to the enemy headquarters, showers of iron b.a.l.l.s and explosion a.s.saulted them from the front. Having been caught by it for several times, the infantries taking the brunt of the attack were almost in a panicked state.
Of course, the Commanders knew fully well the importance of the infantries even though they aren’t as rare as archers and magicians.
As result, taking into account of the need to restore the stamina of the magicians in charge of support attacks and to appease the infantries’ who were falling into a panicked state, the Alwina army decided to stop their advance.
“I have also set up traps in the alley entrance near the headquarters, so we will be able to know immediately if the enemy had come from the back alley from the explosions. However, since it sets off indiscriminately, please tell the others not approach to it as much as possible.”
By the way, what Karito had set up in the alleys was not a claymore, but another trap called the bouncing betty.
[TL: it is S mine ]
Bouncing Betty is the popular name of a bouncing landmine. It was another type with interpersonal sensor built into it, and when a person approaches within a fixed range, the safety device will disengage and its main body will jump in front of the enemy and explode in the air scattering the splinters. Among the wide variety of antipersonnel landmines, it is one of the dreadful kinds. As it explodes in the air, it has a wide range and once set in a narrow s.p.a.ce like the alley, there was no place for the enemy to escape.
The position of the trap was displayed on the PDA as part of the game’s specification, and it is possible to avoid and collect the traps by sneakily approach it, but there was no way for them to know about it.
Because the Alwina army also had lighten up their torches, there was a blank spot where darkness spread out on the main street between the headquarters and the Alwina army’s camp. Since there were some points where the Claymore has been installed, even if they were to try creeping close under the cover of the darkness, they will be discovered sooner or later.
A shadow of a Sky cavalry circled around the sky above the Alwina main army in vigilance. The Defense Force side however did not have enough aerial forces to even do that.
“Hey Karito, go and take a rest too. we will keep watch here, so at least go and fetch your meal inside.”
“No, I am still okay. I am not that hungry yet.”
“Nevermind that and just go take a rest. This is an order, not a suggestion. Your face looks pretty awful right now.”
“...... then, I will take your offer.”
Although it was not as strong as Ordy, nevertheless, being told so by a powerful gaze made Karito drew back his body in dejection as he headed towards the drawbridge, suddenly remembering something, he operated his PDA and made a U-turn back to the defense camp .
“Then I will leave this here just in case.”
Simultaneously, something appeared on Karito’s arms, and he placed a two legged standard equipment on the sandbag. The soldier was stunned as they looked at the object made from metal and a material that they have never seen before.
“Wh, what is this?”
“A M240 light machine gun ―――― well, to put it simply, it is one of the weapons of my world. Please use it when the Alwina army attacks.”
He continued to operate his PDA and decided to leave around 1000 ammunition of the M240 just in case. Then, the 7.62 mm Nato bullets linked to the belt link appeared like a small mountain.
“The bullets have been loaded, and all you need to do is just to grip this place like this and pull this trigger, then the bullets will continuously come out from this muzzle. When the bullets lined up here are used up or if it can’t be fired, please call me.”
Even though they had seen Karito using similar weapons many times before , it was the first time for Ordy’s subordinate and the soldiers to touch it, and they gripped on the M240 timidly as they were told. They tried to imitate Karito, and when they were just about to place their finger on the trigger, Karito stopped them.
“There are other points to take note of, while you are shooting, this barrel part will become quite hot, so be careful to not touch it with your bare hands. Also, please be careful not to point it towards strange directions if you are surprised by the loud sounds that will be produced continuously.”
“Un, understood. We will be careful.”
“This is my first time to see a weapon like this.”
“This is heavier than a sword.”
While hearing the soldiers’ comments on the back, Karito staggered across the lowered drawbridge and entered the headquarters.
Inside the fort which surrounded the headquarters and barracks, it was somewhat filled with a gloomy atmosphere. The source were the people who didn’t manage to escape before the Alwina army attacked, likewise Karito and Reona’s group, and with no other choice, the refugees could only escape to the headquarters. Their numbers amounted to more than several hundreds of people.
The children who couldn’t suppress their fear sobbed in the arms of their family members. That alone was enough to make the surroundings fall into depression. Their parents desperately tried to stop the cries but to no avail.
The strong sense of uneasiness a.s.saulted the adults when they thought of being isolated by enemy’s attacks, and the wariness and murderous intent released from the surviving Defense Force soldiers caused the young, sensitive children not to be able to calm down easily.
Amongst them were also children who had lost their entire family, and there was no one left who could comfort them anymore. Of course, the surroundings didn’t have any leeway to care for them .
Karito glanced at such sight from the corner of his eyes, letting himself tumble against an empty side of a wall. The surrounding noise seemed like an event from a distant world.
Looking at his own hands, he had dirtied it without realising. His hands were stained from the gunpowder of countless bullets he shot, the ashes from burning flesh and soot, and probably the enemies’ blood.
He silently operated the PDA, pulled a mineral water out of the item box, and poured it over his palms. He rubbed both of his hands trying to wash off the dirt as much as possible, and then threw the remaining contents of the bottle onto his head.
As the lukewarm water washed his head, he could feel his mind clearing up by a little bit. Just like they have said, Karito’s current state was pretty bad. Although it was just his body was a little bit fatigued. No, isn’t that fact itself is strange?
“After shooting that much, it will be strange if my body doesn’t hurt at all...”
The moment he felt exhaustion catching up, his stomach growled.
It wasn’t a small growl or a cute growling of the stomach, but it was a rumble a magnificent growl that indicated his stomach complaints of hunger.
Just today, Karito could no longer remember how many humans and beastmen he had turned into lumps of protein, yet he himself was healthily rumbling his own stomach, something must be wrong with him, he thought himself.
Nevertheless, it is a fact that he was hungry, and when he was about to take out a war ration from the item box to eat dinner, Reona and Rina found Karito’s figure and approached him.
“I’m glad you are safe. But Karito your face looks awful right now. Did something happen?”
“... Does my face look that awful?”
“Rather than awful, it is more like grim. Especially around the eyes....”
“Does it give that impression?”
“Yeah, like the eyes of a wounded beast that can’t move and became extremely agitated and ferocious.”
“Although it is a difficult example to understand, I understand that it is quite bad.”
He dropped his shoulders while ma.s.saging the area between his eyebrows when he heard the sisters’ words. Although his body itself inherited the status from the game settings and has physical strength easily exceeding any regular people, however rather than the body, it seemed that Karito’s spirit was the one considerably exhausted over several hours of on going battle.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, there is no injury. Me and onee-chan is alright.”
“I see. That is good.”
“Hey Karito, what is that wound?”
As Reona brought her face closer, Karito spontaneously withdrew his head. He suddenly swung back forgetting the wall behind, the back of his head hit it immediately. After holding the back of his head in agony for a while, he looked up again as his nose almost touched with Reona’s face. He became surprised again and repeated it a few times.
While his eyes became tearful from the acc.u.mulated pain on the back of his head, Reona finally pointed out, a wound about several cm in length was engraved on his cheeks.
“I wonder when I was injured. Was it when the orc threw the axe?”
“We, were you fighting with an Orc!?”
“Yeah. Because there was also support from Ordy-san and that the target is big, I defeated it pretty easily. It made a big hole on the roof of the building where we were hiding, and it did freak me out.”
“I think that Orcs are not an opponent that can be beaten with simply expressing it by freaking out. Anyways you might want to disinfect the wound before it starts festering.”
“That is right. But I do not have any antiseptics or anything....”
Speaking about recovery item inside , it mostly referred to the pencil type of syringe. And within there was no concept of bleeding injuries, the only recovery item was to restore LP (Life Points) which was reduced by damage.
However, when he used a recovery item after arriving in this world, Karito noticed that it was designed to treat injuries as well as LP (Life Points). The resurrection medicine used on Rina was a good example.
Except damages resulting in an instant death, if the resurrection medicine could be delivered within a certain period of time after the death, it will have the same effect as a physical recovery medicine, where after the resurrection, the wounds on the belly would be closed up in a blink of an eye and there was not even a single scar left on the body. However, if asked what will happen with torn off limbs, he couldn’t give an answer since he has never tried it before.
Anyways, to use the recovery medicine just for one small wound, Karito thought, although the item can be used indefinitely, the spirit of not to be wasteful has been imprinted among j.a.panese people from ancient times to instinctively avoid being wasteful more than necessary.
When Karito was hesitating, Reona took action.
“It can’t be helped, I will disinfect it.”
“I appreciate tha―――― wait a minute your face is too close, too close!”
Reona’s face got even closer as she grabbed Karito’s head with both of her hands to stop him from moving. As Reona’s body suddenly leaned onto his own and the feeling of her breath on his face, he can’t help his face become increasingly hot.
“Hey don’t struggle.”
“Even if you said so, what do you plan to do?”
“Like I said, I am going to sterilize it”
Reona extended her tongue to touch Karito’s cheek.
A warm tongue smeared with saliva traced on the wound on his cheek. The stinging kind of sensation was somewhat indescribable as the touch of the tongue was slightly rough like a dog, the warm saliva, Reona’s erotic face as she opened her mouth and sticked out her tongue, the feeling of Reona’s body as she leaned on, a large amount of information pa.s.sed through Karito’s mind as he froze for several seconds. Currently, his brain was restoring its functions.
His mind successfully restarted at the same time as Reona’s face got away.
“If it is only a scratch, you can just lick it to sterilize it. Does it still hurt? ”
“Th, that was quite a good performance ”
“??? performance? What do you mean?”
“Ah, don’t worry if you don’t understand it. And the two of you haven’t eat dinner yet, do you want to eat together?”
“Of course!”
“Thank you.”
He took out military rations for 3 people from the item box. This time, it was french military rations (commonly called by R.I.E). It is a type that does not require fire and can be eaten without warming it up.
The main dish was canned beef salad. Although it says salad, the beef was cooked properly together with beans and sauce.
“Delicious, it is delicious. Even if it is cold, it is still delicious as usual.”
“True, it is the first time for me to eat something like this. It is really delicious.”
Now that he think about it, is it safe for Reona and people from this world to eat a processed food?
In the manga with the same settings which Karito read in the past, (the one where SDF troops made a time slip and arrive in the Sengoku period. No, that one was a time slip while this one is an alternate world trip.) the humans from the past had spoiled their stomachs because they ate the food SDF brought, remembering that development, he couldn’t help but worry for them. Just the other day when they ate together, there doesn’t seem to be any complications.
While thinking so, he swore to apologize if such a thing ever occurred next time.
“What were the two of you eating when you were living in the village?”
“Umm, mostly animals hunted in the forest, the vegetables raised by everyone in the village, and the fishes we caught in the nearby river. It was then cooked by Rina at home. I only specialize in catching though .”
“Do you hunt animals using traps and arrows or something like that?”
“That is only for humans I guess. If it is only a wild boar, using bare hands is enough for me. If I am to use spirit magic, I can even knock down a bear in a single shot.”
“.... such a wild thinking.”
“I, I am not good at hunting, but I do go fishing with the children of the same age group.”
“Fishing huh. I have never even been to the fishing pond in the neighborhood.”
“What is a fishing pond?”
Forgetting that they were in the midst of deadlock with the enemy, they continued to eat lively, that was when they noticed someone staring at them that they stopped the chatter.
Before they knew it, a young child had appeared. A cute sound of growling coming out from his stomach could be heard.
“Are you hungry?”
“..... (*nods *nods)”
The boy nodded silently. Looking at his slightly dirty figure, they immediately realized that the child was a survivor from the refugee attacked by Alwina’s detached force.
“Do you want to eat this?”
He took out the jelly bar dessert that was included in the R.I.E and tore open the wrapping paper. It was an orange coloured apricot flavor.
When the boy received the food that he saw for the first time, he gazed the jelly bar for a while before slowly carrying it nervously to his mouth, then he bit the tip a little bit.
The boy opened his eyes wide and his face became full smiles. Karito smiled too while looking at him.
After all, cheerful smiles looked much better for children.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yes! It is my first time to eat something like this!”
Then suddenly, his sight focused on the surrounding area behind the boy as he felt an even stronger stares coming from beyond the little boy.
This time, the refugees in the courtyard had gathered together and were staring at Karito. Even without sunlight or gla.s.ses, he could feel the pressure of the gazes, ‘Hiii’ Rina leaked out a small scream when she noticed it.
To be more accurate, the gaze of refugees were focused on the half eaten meal that the three of them were holding.
The sound of stomach growling rumbled from everywhere.
“...... does everyone want to eat too?”
All of them nodded simultaneously.
“There, there, no need to rush since there is enough share for everyone!”
“Oi the Ossan over there! As an adult don’t make a racket like children! Do you want me to sent you flying!?”
[TL: Ossan is a rude way to call old man, I leave it behind since it is much better than just use old man]
“Ye, yes, next person please!!”
Ordy who was bothered about the refugees after he had finished with the strategy meeting with each of the person in charge, became dumbfounded as he looked at the scene of Karito and his daughters sharing a large quant.i.ty of food out of nowhere to the refugees.
At the same time, Ordy also tried the food from the alternate world and liked it very much.
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TL Note : there is one more chapter to be released this month when the donation has been reached.