Chapter 299: Outbreak of War
299 – Outbreak of War
Once the meeting is over, Bella comes towards me and calls out with [Telepathy].
『My apologies, but… dragon-god-sama, could you perhaps search the area around the village for enemies?』
Bella requests, and I nod unhesitantly. That was what I intended to do from the start.
Would you mind giving me a brief summary of what was decided in the meeting?
『Currently, we know neither their numbers, their ultimate objective, nor when they will attack. But it would not be strange for an attack to come any moment. However, we also cannot commit all our capable fighters to defense. It is likely that an attack will come in the night, but… If not, we will have pointlessly fatigued our fighting power. 』
…I see, if we foolishly commit everyone now, they’ll have succeeded in exhausting us just by having revealed their existence. If you look at the situation properly, the longer until they attack, the more time for the damage from the cursed water to soften, so in that sense it helps us… The problem is that we have to assume the worst.
『The number of combatants gathered here… If you combine the two villages, we have about two hundred and fifty. 』
…From what Bella told me on the way here, about two of every three people in the dragon-god village should be able to fight. When I went around healing, there were about three hundred people in total, so the number of combatants from the dragon-god village should number around two hundred, but… There are fifty less than expected. There must still be quite a few that haven’t fully recovered from the cursed water. Even if their HP is restored and their status conditions are cleared, a lot of them can’t escape from the fatigue caused by the curse. Within the two hundred and fifty, a few will be dragging their bodies through sheer willpower. I’ll have to check every now and again with [Status Inspection] to make sure none of them are overdoing it.