The enemy will come soon.
Traveling from the enemy's fort to here, it will take around five days to arrive with their forces.
I do not know how many days it would take for a scout to complete a round trip, but they won't make a five day trip in only a single day.
Neither will they make it on the third or the second day.
The enemy will be here in the blink of an eye.
The inside of the fort became an uproar.
Zanoba with Garrick began to reorganize the troops, meanwhile Roxy started writing magic circles on the roof of the fort.
Sharpening weapons; refurbishing armor; the soldiers of the fort were even counting their arrows.
Among them were even guys writing wills for the event that the enemy sacs the fort.
I became bored.
There didn't seem to be anything for me to do.
I had already finished everything that I could do over the last few days.
At best the only thing I can help with is writing magic circles with Roxy.
According to Roxy these circles are for the Saint rank magic [Flashover].
Roxy did not learn this spell formally.
Controlling it is difficult if you are not good with fire magic.
However it seems she is able to with the assistance of magic circles.
Nevertheless these magic circles are not set up for Roxy's use.
These are set up so that multiple soldiers can pour magic power into them at the same time.
Roxy will likely use water saint rank magic exclusively.
Fire magic is not used on demon foes.
It has high power but inside a labyrinth it can cause oxygen deprivation and also possesses a high probability of splash damage. For these reasons it is not preferred.
However it is very effective on human opponents.
After all, there are no human beings who are not weak to fire.
When the battle begins, along with Roxy, I will be commencing magical bombardment of the enemy from the roof of the fort.
We have a detailed plan, but fundamentally I'll just be bombarding the enemy.
That is my role.
However there is one concern.
Will I actually be able to fire?
Every single time since I have come to this world I have hesitated when faced with killing a person.
It's too late, I am already guilty of murder, I won't pretend to be a good little boy.
In the future, I don't plan on becoming an unreasonable adult by telling kids that killing is never justified.
Now that I think about it, I once told Ruijerd not to kill people.
In the past I have killed a man once.
Senior Minister Darius.
As far as that goes, Auber as well.
I did not deliver the finishing blow, but I was the one who cornered and killed him.
It left a bad aftertaste.
However he was someone that had to be brought down.
This time, though, the opponent is relatively innocent.
Yet I'll have to kill them.
This is no just cause.
When you come right down to it, I am only here for Zanoba...
Regardless, I will be killing many people from a distance with my magic.
Unlike my fight with Auber, this is going to be one sided.
If you ask whether I can or can't, then I can.
If you ask whether I will or I won't, then I will.
But when it is over, will I be okay?
I wonder if I'll feel sick and retch and vomit.
Then if the Death God attacks, will I be able to fight properly...
" .... "
"How are you doing, Rudy?"
Roxy is looking up at my troubled face.
She has ink on her cheek.
Come to think of it, she has been pretty calm considering this is war.
Because Roxy spent her time as an adventurer she should not have experienced war before.
I wonder if she has killed anyone in the past.
I certainly haven't heard that kind of story from her.
"Roxy... well, it's kind of like this."
But I hesitate to ask.
Have you ever killed a person?
In my previous life it's the kind of remark that might cause [Did you mean this fellow...] to be blurted out.
"Aah... I understand. It absolutely can't be helped."
"Eh?"
"I hear that before a fight, a man should embrace a woman to quiet his troubled heart. If its so much that I can no longer stand then I will be troubled, but since I am Rudy's wife I can take care of that."
"No no no, it's not that kind of thing."
"It's... something different?"
Even I can't get into a pink frame of mind during such a time.
I mean, Roxy, that's a little disappointing.
If Roxy wants to do it, I am pleased...
No, let's set that aside.
Alright, I'll have her listen to me.
"Roxy... have you ever had times like this when you had to kill people?"
"There has been."
She replied frankly.
I was taken back.
Roxy, that Roxy who was immediately able to befriend the soldiers of this fort...
"Since I had spent a long time as an adventurer it should not be that surprising."
"Huh... but who was the opponent?"
"The first party I was in... back when I was an adventurer on the magic continent. At that time I was still only a child and, because of a fight where one of the members tried to cheat us, it became a situation where we tried to kill one another."
The situation just naturally escalated, it should be that kind of thing.
"Just that?"
"When I was adventuring alone... there were several more times... Ah, when I would go on trips alone often I would be targeted by kidnappers. It is because I have such an appearance of someone who would be an easy target for kidnapping. When all of their members were together I turned the tables on them and wiped them out."
Oh, is that the case.
This is that kind of world.
No one living here can be completely clean.
"Roxy may have settled down... but is this your first time experiencing war?"
"Yes, but I have stared death in the eyes many times until now."
The answer was decisive.
"Here you won't likely have to face the enemies you kill. You can also take refuge in the rear. I can handle it."
"And just run?"
"Yes. If it comes down to it just run away and I will take over your responsibilities. I came here in order to protect Rudy."
Roxy raised the hand that was holding the brush and posed while flexing her bicep.
Her upper arm is soft.
It's still nice and reliable...
"Rudy, are you afraid to kill people?"
"Yes, I'm scared."
"How come?"
"I don't know..."
Roxy nodded with an, [I see.] and wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve.
The ink that had gotten on her sleeve when she took her pose is now smeared across her forehead.
"Even in the past Rudy was timid, but you can ride a horse even if you are scared."
Ah.
That reminds me, 15 years ago I was too scared to even go outside.
How nostalgic.
"Do you have something you are having trouble with? Then please talk to me about it."
Like that, Roxy was teaching me for the first time in a long while.
"If there is a situation where you hesitate to kill a person. Don't worry about it, I will take care of it."
"Just don't worry about it? Is that really okay?"
Why?
I would not be troubled if I understood it.
But I think it would be bad to just not worry about it.
Until recently I never thought about killing people.
"... I have been adjusting my magic since the time I traveled the Magic continent so that I could decide when to kill and when not to kill."
Originally I began to adjust the power of my stone cannon so that Eris could have experience fighting demons.
That experience allowed me to continue to adjust the power so that I wouldn't have to kill human opponents.
The reason was because of Rujerd.... the party of [Dead End] was a group that could not kill.
"At that time our party decided that we would not kill people. Because I was the leader I had to set a good example like that. Somehow I've continued on in that manner and it has become ingrained behavior."