“In the midst of the busy battlefield situation, you confirmed a defect in the wall? With your own eyes?”
“That’s right.”
Frondier answered calmly. But the content was so unbelievable that Sanders turned his gaze to Aten.
“Princess, what do you think? You inspected the barrier, didn’t you?”
Aten furrowed her brows and brought her hand to her mouth. She, too, was somehow surprised by Frondier.
“…The spot that Sir Roach pointed out is indeed the weakest part of the barrier. It’s just that whether it’s about to collapse immediately as Sir Roach says is another matter…”
Aten’s response made the atmosphere even more solemn.
Even if it wasn’t certain to collapse immediately, the fact that both Frondier and Aten were pointing to the same location increased his credibility.
Ludwig spoke up.
Lead away the monsters so they don’t reach the weak point of the barrier. Position the archers on the opposite side and open the castle gate to send out the prisoners, and we can put out the immediate fire.
However, Frondier shook his head again this time.
“That won’t be easy.”
“What is it?”
“The part I said is dangerous is completely different in its vulnerability and condition from the other walls.”
“Different? How dangerous is it?”
“……Well. For example,”
Frondier ran his hand around his mouth. He seemed to be thinking about how to say it.
“If we hit any part of the wall right now, the right wall will collapse.”
“……!”
The group of people were astounded at those words. A few of them opened their eyes wide in surprise at what that meant.
Like a sandcastle collapsing just by a wave touching a single pillar, it meant that the current wall was at its limit.
The starting point of that was the right wall.
“……Isn’t that too pessimistic? Isn’t it possible that you’re mistaken?”
Sanders said.
“My judgment may have been clouded due to the sudden decrease in casualties. That’s my fault for not thoroughly checking the barrier.”
At Frondier’s words, everyone recalled the last ten days.
Frondier said that it was his own fault, but, in fact, it was the responsibility of all of them. Both the carelessness and neglect were the knights’ fault.
“……However, an actual battle is……”
Sanders said again.
Sanders continued to raise objections because, aside from the facts, morale was an issue.
Right now, all the knights were listening to Frondier’s words. There was a risk of their morale being crushed before they could even start fighting. Even if he was telling the truth, he had to let it go for now.
Knowing this, Frondier nodded.
“Of course, there is a solution.”
“A solution?”
“You have a solution?”
Sanders and Ludwig spoke at the same time. They couldn’t see an answer from just listening to Frondier’s words.
“Yes. If the walls are in danger of collapsing, we have to build them up again. Even if it’s temporary.”
After saying that, Frondier looked at Aten.
“First, I need the princess’ help.”
“……Ice, is it?”
Aten replied, guessing the answer.
If she had enough time to fully activate the spell, it was possible to cover some of the wall with ice.
Moreover, this area is extremely cold, even for the north. It wouldn’t be a problem for ice to form.
…The problem, though, was mana.
“…At most, about 30 minutes, I suppose.”
Aten provided an answer based on her calculations.
The expressions of the knights did not brighten, as expected. 30 minutes. It was far too short a time to withstand the onslaught of monsters.
“Yes. That’s why we need one more person.”
“One more person?”
“Yes. Even if they can’t cast magic from scratch like Her Highness, it would be enough if they could add mana to an already cast spell.”
“…Is there such a person?”
Frondier spoke as if it were simple, but to add mana to an existing spell, even that would qualify one beyond a novice magician.
“Not yet, but there is someone who could achieve that in a short time.”
“That person is… Ah.”
Aten guessed as much, and Frondier nodded slightly as if to confirm she was correct.
“Sybil. She could do it. Probably in about 5 days.”
Huh, listening to this, Ludwig couldn’t hold back his incredulity and interjected.
“5 days? Is Sybil some kind of once-in-a-lifetime genius? For an ordinary person, just sensing and handling mana could take months, let alone injecting it into something in 5 days?”
Of course, from the perspective of someone like Ludwig, who knows the principles of magic and is very sensible, this sounded utterly absurd.
But there was only one answer I could give.
“To call Sybil a ‘once-in-a-lifetime genius’ would be an understatement.”
“…”
Ludwig blinked in astonishment, looking at me, then at Aten.
Aten, expressionless, nodded. As if my words were completely obvious.
“─Assuming that’s possible, what about the remaining 5 days?”
This time, Hector spoke up.
The frequency of monster invasions is getting shorter. Hoping that no monsters would come within 5 days was beyond optimistic; it was delusional.
Of course, my answer was as expected.
“I will handle it.”
“…Uh, what?”
Hector asked back in pure confusion.
So, I explained a bit more kindly.
“Before the monsters reach the barrier, I will eliminate them all.”