saiki

ch 33

The next day dawned.

As soon as the first rays of light sliced through the morning haze, I departed from the mansion. My plan was to supervise the preparations for our upcoming defensive clash by making a complete tour of Crossroads.

The city walls were my first stop.

There, I found the laborers glistening with sweat, toiling since the crack of dawn. They were all clearly putting their heart and soul into their work.

"Ah, Your Highness!"

The leader of the stone masons' guild, who was supervising the repair work, acknowledged me with a bow. I reciprocated with a slight nod.

"How is the repair work coming along?"

"We just succeeded in extracting the giant sword that was stuck in the wall."

Following the guild master's direction, I saw fragments of shattered metal strewn around.

The Phantom Knight, the boss from the previous stage, had wedged his immense sword into our wall. At last, we had managed to dislodge it.

"Today, we aim to clear all the debris and kickstart the actual repair work on the wall."

"No need to get rid of the sword remains."

I motioned towards the open field beyond the wall.

"Scatter them in front of the wall. They'll serve as an effective barrier."

The next wave of monsters was anticipated to be a swarm of rats.

The sword fragments would provide a fitting greeting for these tiny pests. Perfect as a rat deterrent.

My eyes traced the part of the wall from where we had removed the sword. The impact zone was dreadfully damaged.

The internal metal structure was bent out of shape, looking akin to a twisted candy cane.

"How long until the wall repairs are complete?"

At my inquiry, the guild master hesitated a bit.

"Your Highness, although you've arranged for extra workers and the soldiers have been aiding the repair work... we've discovered additional damage to the wall post the sword's removal. The situation is grimmer than we initially estimated."

The walls of Crossroads were designed robustly to ward off monstrous threats.

They were built with a skeleton of interwoven iron rods, around which stones were stacked. Metal plates were then layered on top.

This was the height of imperial construction technology. Thanks to that, our walls boasted an impressive level of defense, even against the Phantom Knight's massive sword.

A regular wall would have caved in and crumbled.

However, the complexity of the construction meant repairs weren't as straightforward as stacking a few stones.

"Cut to the chase. What's the projected timeline?"

"Approximately ten days from now."

"Ten days..."

I couldn't help but sigh.

There was just over a week left until the next stage. Time was running short.

"Could we cut it down to a week if we inject more resources and manpower?"

I was ready to invest as much manpower and funding as necessary if it would help us gain more time.

But the guild master decisively shook his head.

"There are limits to what just extra manpower and resources can achieve. It's a tough call."