As the night dawned, a torrential downpour began, drowning out the sounds of the fierce battle between humans and monsters.
On top of the hill stood an ancient solid castle. Inside were three hundred young elites, the students of the Royal Spada Academy, who would bear the future of the Spada Army.
With no ambush or clever tactics, the mixed army of monsters gathered from the Ischia Hills advanced straightforwardly toward the castle. Their numbers were unknown.
A siege battle began, with an overwhelming numerical advantage of more than three times, and the fate of the castle was hanging by a thread.
“Whoa! One slash!”
As the orc attempted to climb the castle wall and finally break into the castle, Knight Apprentice Eddie struck with his longsword and killed him.
Just as the orc was half over the wall, it was deeply slashed in the chest with a martial arts move and fell back down the way it came in free fall.
“Shena! This is getting really dangerous here!”
“What do you mean, where can we retreat to— ‘Wind Blade’!”
With her light green hair swaying, the bespectacled mage girl Shena fired her attack magic downward.
Her target was a goblin desperately trying to wall-climb, its sharp claws digging into the stone wall.
The goblin, severed at the arm by the wind blade, fell straight down, taking its comrades with it.
“Get back! The castle wall can’t hold any longer! Fall back to the castle interior!”
In response to the question of where to escape, the desperate voice of the general, Prince Wilhart Tristan Spada, the Second Prince, rose up.
There were already not enough hands to issue satisfactory orders. The general himself was running along the top of the wall, relaying instructions to the corners of the troops.
“To the castle interior… this is the end.”
The only things holding off the monster invasion now were the empty moat and the castle wall standing before them.
In less than half a short hour since the battle began, the moat was piling up with the corpses of monsters, and the vertical castle wall was on the verge of being scaled.
Only the main castle building, referred to as the ‘Donjon,’ remained.
Once the walls were breached, the castle would effectively fall.
Retreating to the Donjon was a last-ditch effort — yet, the truth was that options were running out given the battle situation.
“Don’t give up, Shena! We can still fight, we’ll definitely find a way!”
But there still was hope.
Wingroad might defeat Greedg at this very moment, and the elite knights of Spada might come rushing in.
Because of this belief, the students were united and able to fight.
Even in this moment of absolute crisis.
“Oh, is that you, my knights Eddie and Shena? May I ask for your protection for a short time?”
Seeing the two who were nominally grouped under his direct command, Wilhart approached, making a request that sounded like both an order and a plea.
“Understood, Your Excellency!”
“But what do you mean by a short time?”
Eddie instantly replied, while Shena returned the question.
“The northern defensive tower is the last place to convey the retreat order. However, monsters are already climbing up the castle wall; it’s too dangerous for me to go alone.”
“Is it just the two of us that you need?”
“I can’t spare more soldiers. Let’s hurry!”
With his dirty red cape fluttering in the mud and rain, Wilhart took the lead and dashed out.
“…I can’t really tell if that guy is a coward or has guts.”
Shena muttered to herself.
Right before the battle, Wilhart appeared so unseemly compared to Nero that it was hard to believe he was a prince.
She thought he might demand an excessive amount of protection for his own safety, but he was mindful of the situation and only requested the minimal amount.
Wilhart, the least popular prince since the school’s inception, was someone Shena didn’t quite understand.
Could he really be the useless prince as rumored, or was he not as terrible as people said?
“I can trust him. Far more than that stuck-up Prince Nero.”
Surprisingly, Eddie asserted his support for Wilhart.
But the situation did not allow for further inquiry into why he felt that way.
“Shena!”
“I know!”
Ahead, several goblins had appeared, having climbed over the castle wall and landed in the passageway.
As sword flashes ran and wind blades surged, a line of flame flickered.
“Hmph, those who block my path shall regret it in the depths of the dark underworld.”
Wilhart’s rifle had smoke rising from its muzzle after being fired.
The bullet that was fired accurately shot one of the goblins that had dashed into the passage, sending it to its death.
Wilhart raised a triumphant shout, stepping over the monsters’ corpses as he pressed on toward the castle wall.
His two subordinates felt a slight sense of anxiety at this display, but they concluded that the power of his weapon was undeniable, deeming it a helpful cover fire.
Thus, after repelling goblins, slimes, and even the occasionally whimsically flying harpies from above several times, the three of them arrived at the northern defensive tower as planned.
With the force of kicking through the door that connected directly from the castle wall, Wilhart rushed in while shouting the retreat order.
“Retreat to the castle interior! Abandon the castle walls! Hurry, Simon!”
Inside the defensive tower were a few archers and mages, as well as Wilhart’s friend Simon Friedrich Balthier, who had recently been the subject of secretive rumors with Prince Wilhart.
A small sniper who had just finished firing through the small window let out a small sigh, then turned around. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead, and his delicate gray hair fluttered as he moved.
“Thank goodness, I was wondering what to do since monsters were entering the first floor.”
Carrying an elongated sniper rifle, Simon said with a wry smile.
Indeed, sounds resembling monster groans could be heard from below. The door connecting the stairs to this chamber would soon start getting struck heavily.
Though the sturdy stone walls and steel doors wouldn’t be easily breached, the timing to abandon the tower was cutting it close.
“Hurry, we’re going to run out of time!”
Urged by Wilhart’s words, Simon and the other students guarding the tower began to move toward the passage leading to the castle walls.
“…Severe injuries.”
“Everyone is out of potions.”
Even if they were to attack from the tower, the monsters would reciprocate.
Centaurs’ arrows came incessantly, and worst of all, slimes that had climbed the walls might leap in through the windows.
There were spots of blood smeared on their armor or uniforms.
Even if physically unharmed, the mages who continuously cast spells to their limits were on the verge of running out of magical power, staggering as they clung onto their staffs.
Fortuitously or because of skill, Simon particularly showed no signs of injury.
Naturally, those with more severe injuries would exit the tower first.
As the soldiers lined up to pass through the narrow door, Simon was at the very back of the line.
That said, they weren’t a substantial number, and it wouldn’t take them thirty seconds to get everyone out to the castle walls— or so it was supposed to be.
“—What!?”
Suddenly, a violent tremor struck the tower, causing Simon to cry out in high-pitched terror and fall over.
In the next moment, the iron door closed with force, severing the tower from the passage.
“Simon! Damn it, what was that— whoa!?”
Another wave of tremors struck like an earthquake.
As Wilhart leaned against the castle wall, he quickly identified the source of the vibrations right beneath him.
“That must be Dortus charging… damn it…”
There stood the furious giant Dortus, repeatedly ramming himself against the tower.
It wasn’t a castle gate or anything; that was just a part of the wall, and yet, he was charging it as if to avenge a parent.
Wilhart aimed his reloaded rifle at the rampaging monster below and fired.
It seemed Simon, still remaining in the tower, took a counterattack action as well, as the muzzle of a Yatagarasu poked out from the window and fired.
Six bullets, five from the rifle and one from the sniper’s large-caliber rifle, surged towards the Dortus’s head, destroying the small brain that could only order it to ram.
“Hmph, did I get it…?”
Satisfied with having defeated a large monster for the first time, Wilhart muttered a triumphant line and turned back to the iron door that had just closed to greet his friend.
“Ugh!”
But it wouldn’t budge.
The knob certainly turned with a click, but no matter whether he pushed or pulled, it wouldn’t move an inch.
The vibrations from earlier had warped the frame of the door itself. The cause was easily imagined.
“Eh, wait, this can’t be happening…”
Through the door came Simon’s trembling voice.
“Calm down! I’m going to break it down right now, so step back a bit, Simon! Eddie, help me!”
From here on, there was no choice but to rely on brute force.
Wilhart and Eddie threw their bodies against the door with all their might.
“Ugh… damn…”
Despite repeated attempts, the steel door continued to seal the entrance as if fulfilling its original purpose.
“Damn! Damn it!”
They couldn’t afford to dawdle here. A sense of desperation overtook him.
“Still not open!? If we don’t hurry, monsters will surround this place, too!”
Shena’s voice felt as if it was a scream.
She was still focused on repelling the ongoing monsters climbing the castle wall with the archers and mages who had exited earlier.
Wilhart understood without needing to be told that there was no time to waste.
At the same time, he also realized that those present couldn’t possibly open the warped iron door again with just their strength.
“Wilm…”
“I’m fine! A door like this is bound to open soon!”
“That’s enough.”
“Huh?”
“Just… it’s fine. Leave me behind—”
“Don’t say something stupid!”
Wilhart shouted, drowning out Simon’s weak voice that resonated through the door, one that sounded as if he had given up entirely.
“Don’t say something stupid; there’s no way we can do that! I, the illustrious Second Prince of Spada, could never abandon a friend and escape!”
With a firm fist, he pounded the iron door. It still remained unyielding.
“Thank you. But I can’t let everyone here be sacrificed for just my sake.”
“Ugh…”
Next to him was Eddie, still straining with all his might to open the door.
When Wilhart looked back, he saw Shena struggling and several wounded students showing anxious faces.
“Though Nero couldn’t do it, you can, Wil… it’s the resolve to abandon your comrades.”
“Simon!”
“I’m your friend, so I think I get you to some extent, Wil.”
He thought no one would understand the meaning of his bowing.
However, there was someone here who comprehended that true intent. One of the rare friends.
Therefore, that was precisely why he shouldn’t make a gesture that would flip that resolve.
One shouldn’t expose many others to danger for the sake of one person.
It was a simple matter of numerical logic. But it was the clearest accounting of justice.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“I’m sorry, Simon.”
“It’s okay. If we can just hold out a little longer, we might be able to manage.”
Even if it was a hopeful conjecture he didn’t believe, he couldn’t help but say it.
He could clearly picture his friend’s face, smiling wryly on the other side of the door.
“Damn, ugh… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
“Then, Wil—tell big brother I’m sorry.”
Thus, leaving his soul ally behind in the closed defensive tower, Wilhart turned back towards the castle wall.
While kicking away the continuously appearing monsters, he ran in earnest, fleeing for survival.
“Haha… it’s over… everything… is… over…”
With tears streaming from his vacant eyes, Wilhart pulled the trigger of his rifle towards the monsters.