Chapter 967

967: Forces Gathering at Nocta

Three days have passed since we pretty much forced the Holy Nation of Silard’s participation.

Various countries were gathering their troops in Nocta, one after another.

The town didn’t have the space for so many soldiers, so many had to set up tents outside the city. Nearly 500 tents of various sizes could be seen lined up from the south gate, along with the smoke from cooking for all of those armies.

I don’t know the total number, but I think an additional 1,000 or so adventurers and dragonkin had come in from the surrounding towns and reservations. In addition, the nations responding to the call sent about 4,000 knights and soldiers.

I heard some of the smaller countries sent as few as 10 men, so it’s difficult to say exactly how many were sent from each country.

Moreover, not all the troops were gathered in Nocta.

Five other towns had been selected as rallying points, and more than 30,000 troops were to deploy in total.

And this number was only half of the expected amount.

That’s because the titan-types had already caused a massive amount of damage.

Nocta, Sendia, and Bultori managed to defeat them with few casualties. But of course, not all towns were as successful.

There were certainly a few towns that succeeded in defeating the titans with the help of reinforcements from the dragonkin and the ports.

Those were the lucky ones, since they managed to defeat the titans before they woke up. The rest apparently got decimated or half-collapsed after the titans started their rampage.

The titans apparently awakened when the amniotic fluid surrounding them was reduced to a certain level, so a few titans left untouched were still sleeping. On the other hand, more than half of them continued rampaging around the continent unchecked.

This was a huge blow to many nations, so several of them no longer had any forces to spare. In fact, there were some armies that were completely wiped out, commanders included.

One of the executive members of the administrative council arrived in Nocta, and they were currently discussing the future course of action.

Also participating in the discussion were the generals and commanders from each country, as well as several dragonkin generals. In addition, senior adventurers such as Izario and Fran, and representatives from mercenary companies. There were probably about 50 people in total.

Everyone was gathered on the first floor of a medical facility, similar in shape to the Sanatorium. They seem to always be towers on this continent, although it was rare for one to be as large and powerful as Sendia’s. The floor was spacious enough, since it’s usually used as a waiting room for patients.

However, it was difficult to replace the long chairs and other furniture, so they were used as is. It looked just like the waiting room of a hospital on Earth, except these pompous-looking old men sat around in suits of armor with grim expressions.

The scene looked somewhat comical, and I struggled to hold back my laughter. The fact that these men had little say in the matter added to the surrealism of the situation.

The majority of the people sitting here were the representatives of weaker countries, so they could not defy the decisions of larger nations.

There’s literally nothing for them to do, so all of them probably thought “Hurry up and just tell me the results”. But as representatives of their country, they had to sit there through the meeting, and they couldn’t afford to doze off either.

I saw some knights struggling to stay awake by pinching their own thighs, wearing completely serious looks on their faces the entire time.

Only about a dozen people actually spoke during the meeting.

Oh, I guess Fran technically had the right to speak too. Right now, she was no mere adventurer.

The current Fran represented the Kingdom of Belioth. We sat in the meeting alongside Admiral Brunen.

The Kingdom of Belioth was considered a major power, although not nearly as influential as the two superpowers from the northern continent. Belioth always held plenty of influence and maintained a reasonably strong navy. Well, I guess their navy didn’t do much aside from sending troops to Gordicia once every few years. Weena Rhyn was usually with them, so that probably affected everyone’s perception of their strength. Also, since the Academy of Magic was located in Belioth, they had large numbers of sorcerers in their army. No one doubted their capabilities despite their generally low numbers.

Moreover, now they employed an adventurer with an alias, Fran, as well as the Rank A adventurer leading the Dimitris school.

Even if Belioth didn’t bring many troops this time, they had a lot of top-ranking names that played an active role in the front lines.

That put Belioth as one of the five most important countries in the conference.

Though they were still no match for Snorabbit or the demonkin nation, two countries led personally by their powerful queens.

Besides, Fran will be working as a member of the Adventurers Guild after the meeting. The same probably went for Hilt.

We were only representing Belioth right now because Brunen asked us to do so. He wanted to make the impression that Belioth had provided the adventurers with major forces, so that their nation could reap the benefits later.

Among the members of the council was William, the muscled elf and an apprentice of Weena Rhyn. His position of “magician consultant” might be more influential than we thought.

The administrative council generally took the lead and the other nations followed their guidance.

Our plan of action was to form several divisions out of the elites from the gathered forces. Each division would then search out and destroy the titans closest to Nocta. The remaining troops will mainly work as scouts, information relay, and support in various areas.

Oh yeah, and zero dragonkin came in from the northern reservation. It’s not that they didn’t respond to the request. By the time the messenger arrived, it seems all the dragonkin had disappeared without a trace.

Like I thought, they must be working for the Dragon King. That increased the possibility of his involvement in the current incident.

We took a look at the division of troops announced at the end of the meeting. Fran was, of course, assigned to one of the elite divisions. We also saw the names of Mea, Hilt, Colbert, Diggins, and other adventurers on the list as well.

Next there was Silard, Hagane, the dwarves and demonkin along with their queens. The dragonkin Chelsea, the mercenary Tzaluta Camellia, and the knight Yagilale were also assigned to a division.

Although these were some dependable names, it also indicated that the guys in charge deemed it necessary to organize such powerful forces.

The usual strategy of dealing with antidemons would be to send in whoever was available. This was sufficient to destroy the hordes eventually.

For this incident, however, they took the trouble of organizing several divisions over a period of three days. In other words, they knew sending a weak force would be pointless, a sign of how strong they believed these titans were.

『This is starting to seem like one tough job.』