ASDP Chapter 65

The journey to the north gate was peaceful, as usual, with no monsters appearing. However, the moment we entered the gate, everything changed.
The sky turned black along with a loud howling sound, and the moment I looked up, black shadows seemed to rain down from the sky and attack us.
“Amelia. I’m going to chop them up, then you burn them.”
As soon as my father gave the command, he quickly chanted a spell and cut the bird monsters into pieces with a wind mixed with ice particles. Before they fell to the ground, I also chanted a spell quickly.
“Spirit of fire, Salamander. Grant me the power to mourn the soul of the person before me. A flame of requiem to send that soul to the Supreme God. Cremation.”
There are so many of them, and the smell of burning flesh fills the air. I’m worried that the smell will attract monsters, but I feel like the smell of blood is more likely to lure monsters, so it can’t be helped. And since the corpses could turn into undead, it’s best to burn them.

When everything turned to charcoal and fell to the ground, I exhaled. The cries of the bird monsters stopped, and everything became silent. It was so quiet that when I looked around, the people who came with us were staring at us blankly.
“Everyone, let’s head to the evacuation shelter at once. We should confirm the current state of the town before rescuing or exterminating.”
Until yesterday, monsters had rarely come to the north gate. Moreover, it was the first time I’d ever seen such a large group of them moving around.
This just shows how much the monsters have suddenly increased.

We ran to the temple that was serving as a shelter. The surroundings of the temple were a very strange sight. There was ashes everywhere, like something had burned out, and it was horrifying.
“Maybe the undead roamed the area at night and disappeared at sunrise.”
“But normally, when the sun rises, they would take refuge in the shade…”
I wonder how many undead have been reduced to ashes here. It pains me to see them die without even bones remaining.
“Maybe they had mushrooms growing on their heads? There are mushrooms everywhere, you know?”
“Oh. Really.”
If you look closely, you can see mushrooms growing on the ground.
In other words, the undead controlled by the mushrooms continued to plant mushrooms without caring about the sun rising, and eventually burned out… It’s quite horrifying when you think about it. Well, the fact that they’re undead means that their corpses are moving, so it’s quite horrifying.

Although there are many things that are bothering me, I don’t want to be in trouble if monsters show up, so I knock on the temple door.
I was worried that something terrible might have happened inside the temple as well, but I was relieved when the evacuees opened the door.
“Hello. I’ll go inside for now.”
As soon as my father said that, he quickly brought everyone inside and closed the door. … Maybe my father was in a bit of a hurry?
It doesn’t show on his face, but I feel like his behavior is different from yesterday.
There was no damage inside the building, and no signs of monsters having infiltrated inside. However, whereas it had seemed to be a bit more lively yesterday, today it was once again a quiet haven.

“What is the priest doing?”
“The priests are… well, planting mushrooms.”
Oops. Right. Well, infected again.
There’s nothing that can be done about it. My father seemed to think the same, and brushed it off. For a priest to become a mushroom craftsman is an inevitable sacrifice.
“Has anything changed? It was especially noisy outside yesterday, right?”
There were so many traces of the undead left behind. There was no way they couldn’t hear any sounds outside at all.

“There was constant knocking on the door, screams and cries all day yesterday, so no one got much sleep. The children were finally able to fall asleep after the sun rose, and are still sleeping now. No monsters have come inside the building, but we were always worried that the door would be broken down at any moment. We knew you would be coming, so we moved the barricade to the side, but we blocked the door at night anyway.”
If there was so much banging on the door or screams that I couldn’t sleep, I think it would be mentally draining.
But just like the bird monsters that attacked all at once earlier, the monsters will probably increase in number from now on. And because there isn’t enough food, the monsters will start to cannibalize each other, which will result in the birth of larger and stronger monsters. I don’t know if this temple will be able to withstand it.

“…Thank you. First, let’s remove the mushrooms from the priest and then decide on our next course of action after observing the state of the seriously injured room.”
The man who was telling me about what had happened yesterday seemed anxious, but nodded in agreement with my father’s suggestion.
The plan for the future is to either barricade themselves in or flee. After hearing what was said earlier, we’re not sure if it’s okay to continue barricading themselves in like this. But even if they do flee, it will be very difficult to travel on foot while facing monsters on their own. We’d like to at least get a carriage, but there aren’t any left in this town.
Although my village is now safer, we can’t provide them with a place to stay or enough food, so they will have to escape through the south gate. We don’t know what’s on the other side of the south gate, so we need to do some research before they move.

I don’t want to make them too worried because they must be feeling quite stressed already. However, we don’t know when a Saint will be dispatched. We need to think about what to do if she doesn’t come. I ask the men to remove the mushrooms from the priestess, and I head to the room for the seriously injured.
All the patients in the seriously injured room were recovering, and most were now able to move about freely. Those who were recovering slowly were not monsterized, while those who were recovering faster than normal were likely monsterized.
Those whose injuries have completely healed should drink holy water, and those whose wounds have not yet closed should be disinfected. The fractures are already a temporary fix, so there is nothing to be done but to immobilize them and keep them at rest, but for now they will not get any worse.
It seemed that the room my father had seen was in a similar state, so we decided that it would probably be okay.
“If we are to have the Saint treat them, then priority should be given to those who have broken bones or other injuries that would make it difficult for them to move. They can’t keep barricading themselves here forever without knowing when the Saint will arrive.”
There are no more patients who are at risk of sudden deterioration, but there are still some who have difficulty moving. Looking ahead, it would be best if everyone could be moved at any time.

“…In your opinion, how long do you think it will be before monsters invade this building?”
The condition worsened rapidly from the first day to the second day to the third day. Father must have had a different impression of it than when we were talking in the carriage.
“They may only be able to stay for a week after the maga occurs. The monsters grow faster than I thought. This is my first time coming to the town right after the maga outbreak, so I haven’t seen the process of them turning into monsters, but I’m sure the next thing that will happen is the monsters will start cannibalizing each other, and the number of larger monsters will undoubtedly increase from now on. The magic circle protecting this building is only effective against small monsters, so I don’t think it will be able to protect it.”
One week.
Three days have already passed, so there are only four days left.
If we go out through the south gate, investigate, get a carriage, and come back, we’ll be too late if they don’t start investigating now. There’s also the possibility that the neighboring town will refuse to accept them. There’s also the issue of what to do in that case.

“However, glowing mushrooms work well when it comes to undead at night, so they’re not that scary. We should also be able to deal with the undead that appear on the way to the next town with glowing mushrooms. If we ask the saint to make lots of holy water and bring a water gun, even people who aren’t used to fighting will be able to defend themselves easily.”
“Oh. Maybe if they pour holy water over their heads and walk around I won’t get eaten?”
When I told him about the image of a group of people walking around with messy heads, my dad burst out laughing.
“Dad?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But they know that if they try to eat it, they’ll get burned, so they might not eat it, but it’s cold and disgusting, and I think it would be a lot of work to have her prepare all that holy water for them.”
“I’m just thinking about it.”
I’m not serious about that, it was just a thought.
I’m not sure they could survive being chewed on by it and spat out.

“But it’s interesting. In the worst case scenario, pouring holy water on yourself and running away might be a last-ditch decision. It’s important to think of countermeasures without being too caught up in common sense.”
“Can we do without common sense?”
“Well, the moment maga occurs in a town, it’s an extraordinary event. It’s only natural that we can’t use the common sense we use on a daily basis, right? I’m thinking that in the worst case scenario, if we can evacuate everyone, it might be a good idea to gouge out and destroy the area in this town where the maga is believed to be occurring.”
“What? Seriously?”
That’s surely a rather problematic method of wiping out the area where the maga originated.

“I think there is no other way if the Saint doesn’t come in the future. If we don’t do that, our village will be in big trouble. I would like to make changing the terrain a last resort if possible.”
I’m sure the town’s buildings and everything else will be destroyed, but lives will be spared.
“Is that okay?”
A town would disappear. Won’t my father be held responsible?
Father shrugged without answering my question and headed towards the priest to discuss the matter.
I’m sure that if the time came when he really had to do it, my father would do it even if he knew he would be blamed later.
Is there any way to prevent this from happening, if possible?

I followed behind my father feeling anxious.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!