Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Volume 2  Chapter 31   Carelessness

For some reason, Tenshi looked at me.

I haven’t done anything to be liked or trusted by this girl, have I?

“I’d be troubled if you had such high expectations… Well, if it’s something simple.”

Even in this situation, it’s not like I haven’t thought about countermeasures.

But the basic approach remains the same, regardless.

“Water-based mages, sprinkle water around the building and create a muddy terrain. To slow down the approaching enemies’ movements.”

With that, I give instructions to the students around me.

On my own, they probably wouldn’t trust me, but with Tenshi, a special-grade student, and someone renowned as the “White Knight” like Kudo, they should be willing to cooperate. If they couldn’t come up with any solutions themselves, they would lend a hand.

“And also, Earth-based mages, create some simple pitfalls beneath the mud. Yeah, small ones that just trip them up.”

There’s no need to create massive holes where people can get buried. We can leave the task of dealing with those who fall to others.

Earth-based mages are already exerting their power to protect the school building, so it doesn’t matter if the task is trivial in terms of conserving magical energy.

If the enemy advances over the mud, their movements will slow down, and by being wary of pitfalls, their movements will be further hindered. We can attack them in those moments.

In such a situation, the enemy will inevitably become cautious and their offensive will weaken.

At the very least, it should be sufficient for buying time.

“Y-Yes, understood! I’ll gather people immediately!”

The students who heard my words seemed to have a clear understanding of what they needed to do with proper instructions. They immediately ran off from the scene and left the classroom.

“However, with this strategy, won’t there still be the possibility of infiltration from upper floors or the rooftop?”

Of course, that possibility exists.

However, I believe it’s better for these students to fight inside than outside. They can’t give their all when they’re constantly worried about being attacked from behind.

But it’s not the same with a single corridor. There’s no need to worry about being flanked. We just need to defeat the enemies directly in front of us.

With this approach, we won’t be taken from behind or surrounded. It provides some level of safety, and by limiting the routes, we can expand our options.

“Ah, but the path ahead is limited. It’s either north or south. The ceiling seems to have already been reinforced, so there’s no need to destroy it and disregard the path. Therefore, let’s have the alchemists specialize in setting traps in the northern passage. It’s inefficient to have them work directly on the ground without alchemical platforms, but there’s no other choice.”

“What about traps for the southern staircase?”

“No, you’ll be protecting that.”

When I said that, Tenshi widened her eyes and stared at me, but my answer remained unchanged.

“You are both special-class mages. Kudo is injured and may have difficulty with prolonged combat, so he’ll stay here to defend and prepare for unforeseen circumstances. You, on the other hand, will protect the southern staircase alone. A few people will accompany you as messengers, but they won’t get close to you. Essentially, you’ll be fighting alone.”

To be honest, I’d prefer to allocate more people, but we simply don’t have enough.

Based on the information from Asada and the battles with the special-class monsters, Tenshi is among the top special-class mages… at least of mid-level talent.

I don’t know how capable she is as an adventurer, but we don’t have the luxury to confirm that now, so she has to do it.

Besides, in the current situation where there might be traitors, I feel more at ease with her alone rather than assigning others.

“You said you want to protect people, and you have the power to do so. Those were your words. Will you do it?”

“Igami-san! But that means the young lady will be in danger—”

“Of course.”

“Young lady!”

Kudo, Tenshi’s bodyguard, raised his voice in response to my provocation, but Tenshi doesn’t seem willing to back down.

“Shun, you stay here and protect everyone.”

“…Please don’t do anything reckless.”

In this situation, Tenshi Asuka won’t flee. Kudo seems to understand that too, reluctantly furrowing his brows, but accepting that Tenshi will fight alone.

After concluding our discussion, we didn’t need to stay in that spot any longer, so we immediately started moving.

Tenshi would defend the southern passage, while Kudo, unable to engage in prolonged combat, would guard the injured.

And as for me, I would keep watch. Even though the walls were reinforced, there might still be weak points in the defense, and we needed to ensure there were no gaps in the traps set in the front and northern corridors to prevent the enemy from infiltrating.

“The battle has begun…”

While we were in the midst of preparations, the sounds of combat reached us from the entrance. We weren’t fully ready, but as the ones being attacked, there was no other choice. In fact, we should consider ourselves fortunate to have had even a brief respite.

Well, the attackers must have been surprised by the sudden appearance of a special-class threat and were probably busy communicating with others.

“Nevertheless, it’s quite audacious to launch such an aggressive attack. True, by striking here, they can severely reduce the number of future adventurers… but do they really want to kill adventurers to that extent?”

After confirming the traps, assessing the situation, and providing instructions for handling any traps that might be disarmed, I moved away from the classroom where Kudo was guarding the injured, to a corner of another classroom where injured individuals were resting, ensuring I wouldn’t disturb anyone as I contemplated.

(And besides, I can’t understand the intention behind the attack. Is it to kill the students? But it seems so sporadic… too weak.)

If they were serious about killing, they would have launched a more coordinated and decisive assault. They could have disregarded the students’ reinforcements and even resorted to blowing up the entire building. If the enemy truly is the Savior’s Army, they have been an organization that has challenged the world so far. There’s no way they are incapable of such actions.

The fact that they haven’t done that means they either won’t do it or can’t do it at the moment…

Come to think of it, if Saeki-san’s place is also under attack, did they allocate more personnel over there? Is that why we’re lacking people here?

…In any case, I have no idea what they’re thinking. Why would they initiate simultaneous operations in two different places are they aware that we’re short on manpower?

Could it be that this attack isn’t just about killing students? Is there another objective?

It’s often said that dividing your forces and deploying them incrementally is a foolish tactic, but it depends on the situation.

If the enemy commander isn’t a fool and they have a reason for executing such a strategy…

However, no matter how much I ponder, I can’t grasp anything. The only thing I know is that it has been over two hours, and help hasn’t arrived.

I did inform Miyano and the others about our situation, but it seems they still have some leeway over there.

And as the situation remains unclear and shows no signs of improvement, enduring for another hour or so……suddenly a female student burst into the classroom where I was stationed.

“H-Hey, please! Help! We received a report that more intruders have appeared! We can’t keep up with setting up traps!”

“Tch… understood!”

If they can’t keep up with the traps, does that mean it’s the staircase on the northern side? They probably wouldn’t have had enough time to set up traps at the entrance repeatedly.

However, not knowing how long it will take for reinforcements to arrive, the situation might become difficult if the traps can’t keep up—

“—Gah!?”

“Oh, and be careful, there are intruders here too,” she said as she led the way.

I was running behind the girl, following her closely. But the moment we turned the corner, I felt a blow to my head.

“Ugh! Dammit!”

Instinctively, I managed to dodge the direct hit, but it hurt quite a bit. There might be a crack or something, but now wasn’t the time to complain about it.

Having evaded the attack, I threw the tool I had in hand to counter-attack, but it was easily avoided.

“Tch. Just a third-class! In that case…”

The woman who attacked me said so, then performed a movement reminiscent of peeling off a disguise, like something you’d see on TV.

“Eh?”

Why, you… how can you be…!

Suddenly, in front of me, appeared Mika—my deceased lover. My thoughts turned blank at the sight.

But immediately after, something was splashed on my face, followed by a jolt of impact to my abdomen.

Damn it… an illusion…?

“With this, all that’s left is to bring the world’s strongest…”

With those words as the last thing I heard, my consciousness faded away.