Slime Reincarnation

"Are you sure it’s correct!?"

Zoria’s face grew even more grim. If it got any grimmer, it would be too scary, so I wished he’d stop there.

"Are you sure?"

『Yes. The human horses were also running at full speed, so information from the humans should arrive soon as well.』

"So that’s it. Since the human horses were running too, the guards’ report should come in shortly."

"I see. So they managed to escape safely and reach here."

Zoria sat back down, looking slightly relieved.

"And what is the scale of the threat?"

Deputy Magistrate Naise wanted further confirmation.

"So, how big is it? Where are they heading?"

『Yes... I saw it with my own eyes, but...』

"Hmm? It’s rare for Captain Hiyoko to hesitate like this. What’s wrong?"

Sensing the ominous atmosphere, both Zoria and Naise turned serious.

『Their numbers... approximately ten thousand.』

"T-Ten thousand!?"

Even I couldn’t help my voice cracking at the unexpected number. Normally, in these situations, a few hundred would already be pushing it, right?

""What did you say!!?""

Zoria and Naise shot up from their seats at the same time.

"D-Did you just say ten thousand!? You mean ten thousand monsters!?"

Zoria grabbed my robe and started shaking me. It wasn’t painful, but I wished he’d stop.

"S-So... ten thousand monsters have overflowed from the dungeon...?"

Naise sat back down with an expression of disbelief.

"And where are they heading?"

I asked Captain Hiyoko for confirmation.

『Yes. The ten thousand monsters are heading straight here.』

"They’re coming straight here!?"

I looked up at the ceiling.

I figured it was because this town was the closest to the dungeon, but still! They’re advancing in perfect order, straight toward us. Couldn’t they take a little detour...? No, that would be bad if they went somewhere else.

"What the...!? Ten thousand monsters are heading straight for this town!?"

Seriously, Zoria, stop pulling on my robe.

"Lord Zoria. This town has about 1,000 guards. Roughly half of them are assigned to security and patrols inside the town. That leaves only about 500 for external defense. Of course, this ignores shifts and rest periods."

Deputy Magistrate Naise clasped his fingers together, elbows on his knees, deep in thought. He was probably trying to figure out a strategy to protect the town.

"Lord Naise. The Adventurer’s Guild’s compulsory request order can only be issued to C-rank adventurers and above. Currently, the C-rank party are all injured and unable to move. As for the others, there are only two more C-rank parties: and ."

"...Neither of those party names sound like they specialize in combat."

I asked, slightly dumbfounded.

"Yeah, that’s right. Both of them built up their achievements through exploration and material gathering. They can handle monster extermination well enough to reach C-rank overall, but they’re not suited for head-on battles."

"What about D-rank and below? They’re not compulsory?"

"No, they aren’t. D-rank and below are purely voluntary. They’ll only respond if they choose to accept the emergency request."

"And how many adventurers of D-rank and below are there?"

"...Around 100, I’d say. And that’s assuming they actually accept the request."

Zoria answered Naise’s question with a bitter expression.

"Even if we gather every last one, we might barely reach 1,000 defenders... against roughly ten times as many monsters."

"Yeah. At this point, we can only rely on the outer walls. We need to start gathering bows and arrows immediately. There’s no time."

Just then, a guard burst into the room.

"T-The monsters from the dungeon have overflowed!"

The guard’s report came in, but everyone present had already accepted the reality of the stampede.

"And the scale?"

Deputy Magistrate Naise asked for the necessary details.

"W-Well... the monsters suddenly poured out of the dungeon and are heading straight toward us in massive numbers, so the exact scale is..."

The guard answered in a fluster.

"Is anyone else confirming the scale besides you?"

"There were six of us including myself on rotation and on standby, but I rushed back immediately to deliver this information as quickly as possible..."

"Understood. Please go rest. Once the others return, tell them to contact the Adventurer’s Guild immediately."

"Understood."

The guard left the room.

"...We might actually be quite lucky. Thanks to Yabe, we got accurate information."

"Indeed. We can only call that a stroke of good fortune."

Oh, I received more praise than expected.

"I don’t know how accurate my information actually is, though?"

I tried to sound cheerful and playful.

"There’s no need for that kind of modesty now."

"How critical accurate information is... If it were only the guards, they might not have realized it was ten thousand and could have handled it with normal measures, thinking it was manageable."

"Exactly."

"Lord Yabe is truly magnificent. More importantly, I will now issue a Level One Emergency Alert. All guards will be summoned, and a martial law will be declared requiring ordinary citizens to stay indoors. Additionally, I would like to designate this guild as the command center from my deputy residence. What do you think?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Let’s cooperate."

As the two continued their discussion, I decided to carefully examine the information as well.

"Captain Hiyoko, what are the monster types?"

『Yes sir! The vanguard consists of approximately 4,000 goblins. Following them is a group of about 4,000 orcs. These groups of 4,000 are organized into units of 100 and are advancing almost in a straight line. The remaining 2,000 include large monsters like ogres and trolls, as well as beast-type monsters such as giant apes.』

"I see. So they’re not spreading out in a wide fan formation?"

『Correct. They are maintaining a straight formation... Though whether they are consciously maintaining formation is unknown.』

"Hmm. A straight-line formation charging directly forward... huh."

I began formulating a strategy in my head.

"For now, even if we can’t make it in time, we should request reinforcements from the capital—" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Wait a moment."

I stood up.

"What is it?"

Zoria asked. Naise was also looking at me.

"I have a suggestion... Will you hear it?"

I grinned as I spoke. (Of course, they couldn’t see my expression under the robe.)

"Of course... If there is any way to avoid this crisis, I will gladly listen to anything..."

Naise looked at me with eyes that seemed ready to clutch at straws.

"I’ll take them on with just my own forces."

"..."

"..."

Zoria and Naise looked at each other in silence, then—

""Ehhhhhhhhh!!!???""

They harmonized perfectly in shock.

Now then, let me present my strategy.