Monsters were spawning from the spot in the forest at a rate of about one every 20 seconds.

The main types were the familiar bony "Skeletons," along with "Goblins," "Kobolds," and some "Orcs" mixed in.

'Goblins' were small imps less than a meter tall that swarmed you while swinging daggers or hand axes. They were what you'd call small-fry enemies. Their movement and attacks were generally slow, and they were fragile enough to die from a single shallow sword thrust. They were undoubtedly easy monsters.

That said, they were carrying weapons—shabby as they may have been—so if you underestimated them too much, there was always a chance of taking a nasty hit. I had to remember that even against a goblin, a fight was always a life-or-death struggle.

'Kobolds' were slightly larger than goblins, dog-men with faces like a dog suffering from rabies (not that I'd ever seen one). They had thinner frames than goblins and tended to attack timidly with rapiers or spears. Like goblins, they were weak.

Finally, there were the pig-men, the 'Orcs'. Their most defining trait was their large, powerful bodies. You had to be careful, as they'd occasionally hurl nearby rocks at you. For the recruits, these guys might have been the first real wall. Once you got used to them, though, they were nothing special.

The common trait among all of them was that their movements were incredibly sluggish. In a game, they'd have been perfect target practice for magic. They seemed great for archery practice, too. I suppose that was exactly why they were considered small-fry.

Currently, we had the central path closed off, hunting the monsters as they were funneled to the left and right. Just because it was a Hitotsuzuki didn't mean incredibly strong enemies appeared right out of the gate. While they'd be a threat to civilians, for us, with our solid preparations, they weren't even an issue.

Shamash-san was currently away on business in Lucraella. She had to summon and set up Twilight Mimics at several mine shaft entrances. Since she'd made a promise to the people there, she faithfully flew off to honor it. She was expected back in an hour or so.

I wasn't participating in the fighting myself; instead, I was watching the battle unfold from atop a lookout tower.

"Things seem pretty relaxed so far."

"At this level, yes."

Despite my worries, the warriors of this world had lived through the Hitotsuzuki their whole lives.

Unlike Marina, Elepipi, and the new recruits—who were experiencing this for the first time—the former mercenary members were moving in formations without a hint of danger, systematically erasing the monsters. Even Marina and Elepipi looked comfortable for now.

Elepipi used a one-handed sword and didn't have the specialized attack power Marina had, but she'd become quite capable. I was worried because she'd been stuck on shopkeeper duty lately and hadn't had much combat training, but she seemed fine for the first day. I planned to move the less experienced girls to support roles starting tomorrow, though.

"And over there is an even bigger monster..."

At the exit opposite where the knights were waiting, an ogre-like man with a greatsword had taken up his position. A giant of a man, laughing as he slaughtered the emerging monsters single-handedly.

That was Shello-san—more of a monster than the monsters themselves.

"He was actually happy when he heard this Hitotsuzuki was a 'Globe-Trotter.' It makes my head ache, even if he is my father. He's at an age where he should know better..."

Rebecca-san let out a sigh.

From a daughter's perspective, having a battle-crazy father must have been complicated.

Father... huh?

If I married Rebecca-san, Shello-san would be my father-in-law. Well, he certainly seemed reliable. Muscle was power, after all.

I hadn't told Rebecca-san about the marriage thing yet... Actually, I hadn't intended to tell Diana or Marina yet either.

Not because of "death flags" or anything—I just wanted to wait until the Hitotsuzuki was over and things had settled down so I could prepare properly (you know, with rings and stuff!).

But in the heat of the moment, I just blurted it out... I'm choosing to blame God.

I told Diana and Marina to keep quiet, but Diana's face kept relaxing into a grin, only for her to snap into a serious expression every time she realized it, before breaking into a smirk again a moment later. It was quite a solo performance.

Marina, on the other hand, was in incredibly high spirits, running around encouraging her comrades with shouts like, "We are absolutely, positively surviving this, de-arimasu!"

But marriage... marriage, huh?

I'd thought there was a non-zero chance of being rejected, but there wasn't a hint of hesitation from them... Hehe.

"What's up, Jirou? You're smirking. Did something good happen?"

"Ah, no. It's nothing!"

Was it that obvious? Not good. I couldn't really judge Diana.

"Oh, Rebecca-san. There's another one. A Harpy."

"Indeed."

A giant bird-human hybrid flew out from the forest. A monster like Icarus with wings. A Harpy. However—

"One Harpy sighted. Take care of it."

Rebecca-san gave the order through a walkie-talkie. A few moments later, the Harpy, which was about to dive-bomb the people below, was pierced by five high-speed arrows and vanished.

"Impressive."

On the ground, a ten-person archery squad was on standby, making our anti-air measures flawless.

"Well, at this rate, the first day should be fine. It'll probably stay within the range of a normal Hitotsuzuki. The problem will be tomorrow and the day after."

"I hope so... By the way, can I go join the fight soon?"

"No."

Denied.

The thing is, even though I'd prepared from the start to fight as a regular combatant, I somehow got pushed away from the front lines and found myself assigned to lookout duty.

Currently, the assignments were as follows: the command watchtower was manned by Rebecca-san and me. The summoning tower was handled by Shamash-san (who had returned from Lucraella) and Etowa. Field command was under Hetty-san. A priest girl was positioned slightly to the rear as a support magic unit.

Shello-san was fighting a lone battle on the western front. We had a few people on standby to go help him if needed, though. I thought I'd head over later to bring him some food and drinks.

* * *

"Not that we're letting our guard down, but... this feels very much like things are going exactly according to plan..."

Five hours had passed since the Hitotsuzuki began.

It was now past 2 PM, and so far the battle had progressed without the slightest danger.

The number of monsters defeated had probably reached around 900 by now. Perhaps we were simply too strong, because most monsters were being wiped out in a single blow. The ballistae were also firing at regular intervals, so many monsters were getting taken out in groups.

Shamash-san had returned as well, making it easier to deal with flying monsters.

"According to plan, huh? Well, it might look that way, but the truth is we just have that much strength. The weapons and tactics you prepared are working too, Jirou. Fighting blindly in the plaza like we used to almost feels stupid now. I just spoke with the priest—apparently, other spots have already used two spirit stones."

Seriously?

Should we have sent some people to the other spots? We basically had an entire legendary mercenary band here...

No, no, negligence is the enemy... Besides, in terms of being able to spare people, we were already operating outside the Guild's official assignments anyway.

By the way, the Priestess-chan was constantly in contact with priests at other spots via Spirit Communication. Depending on the situation, we might actually have to send reinforcements.

New monsters had appeared as well: the "Skull Knight," apparently an upper-tier version of the skeleton, and the "Gargoyle," a small stone demon.

The Skull Knight wore armor, had four arms, and attacked with four swords at once—a rather amusing monster. Amusing, or maybe just a novelty enemy...

With brilliant swordplay and agility far beyond that of a normal skeleton, it should have been a formidable close-range opponent—but it was crushed by Marina's war hammer and chopped to pieces by Noririn's battle axe, going down without accomplishing much of anything.

The Gargoyle, despite being made of stone, could fly with its wings—but after taking a spell from Shamash-san, it crashed heavily to the ground. After that, it was beaten to death by the surrounding fighters.

Glancing back at the base camp, I saw Diana leisurely sipping tea and eating snacks. The knights were also resting, eating and drinking as they pleased. They were on a rotation for breaks.

All the knights had smiles on their faces and didn't look tired at all. Of course, the recruits must have been somewhat fatigued, but they were still fighting with room to spare. Mentally, they seemed fine.

And so, without me getting a single chance to actually fight, it hit 4:30 PM. By this time, everyone was starting to show some wear. Naturally—they'd been fighting all day. That said, it was more of a "Man, I'm a bit tired" vibe. Since they were a group accustomed to combat, they didn't seem to consume as much energy during the fray.

"...It's about time."

Rebecca-san murmured.

The monster spawns had started to become sporadic. After a continuous wave of Skull Knights, we'd hit a lull.

"Hm? Is it over? That was surprisingly easy."

"No. The Last Monster of the day should appear at the end—"

Right then—

—A pillar of light shot up from the vicinity of the monster spot in the forest.

『Please be careful nodesu! This one is on a completely different level than the ones before!』

Diana's tense voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. With a loud rustling of branches, something massive began to emerge from the trees.

"Hmm. I didn't think that would show up on the first day..."

Rebecca-san muttered to herself.

Stepping out from the forest was a giant, pure-white stone statue. It was a relatively staple monster for a Hitotsuzuki, but it was a living statue that plunged warriors limited to melee combat into the depths of despair through its sheer hardness, weight, and size.

A Living Statue.

That said, it was only one enemy. We'd prepared specifically to handle opponents like this without issue.

"Okay, Rebecca-san, I'll leave the command to you."

"Got it."

Rebecca-san used the walkie-talkie to issue instructions to each group. These things were low-key incredibly useful. According to Hetty-san, being able to relay orders seamlessly was basically cheating—it was like having an elf stationed with every squad.

Shamash-san ordered the golems to open the central gate. We created a "Monster Torch," which was handed to Etowa to lure the monster in. The wrecking ball was put on standby. The knights gathered at the central front, while a few members of the ballista crew remained at the west and east positions to keep watch.

The Living Statue was about four meters tall and carried a stone club. It was designed like a soldier from the Roman era, with deep-set, chiseled features. Being a statue, its entire body was made of stone or something similar; it looked incredibly tough.

It trudged forward with heavy, rhythmic thuds in its "gladiator sandals." It moved slowly, but the sense of weight was immense. If you got stepped on, you'd be dead for sure.

The statue marched straight toward us. 3 meters. 2 meters. 1 meter—

"Fire!"

At Rebecca-san's signal, a thick ballista bolt flew out, striking the statue's torso with a dull thud.

Shards of light scattered violently. The bolt stayed lodged in the statue's body. The ballista bolts were reinforced with iron at the tips, making them sharp and hard—certainly effective even against stone monsters.

However, it seemed this wasn't a fatal wound yet. The statue silently pulled the bolt out and started walking again as if nothing had happened. If it had stayed put, we could have fired a second shot, but no luck. Next up: the wrecking ball.

As the statue walked and reached the central corridor, Rebecca-san gave the sign.

The two golems hoisting the wrecking ball with ropes released them on Shamash-san's command. The wrecking ball, weighing about a ton, consumed a massive amount of potential energy as it hurtled toward the stone statue.

The statue noticed the ball flying toward it at high speed and crossed its arms in a defensive stance. But in the next instant—

CRACK!!

The wrecking ball connected with a satisfying boom and tore straight through to the other side. All that remained was the upper half of the statue shattered into pieces, while the lower half stood there, abandoned and alone.

"O-Ooooh!"

"Wait, what? One hit?"

Defenses be damned; the Living Statue had been smashed to bits and vanished after a single strike from the ball.

"Wrecking Ball of Destruction" was a fitting name indeed.

They say that if you hit something hard with something even harder, this is what happens... but I didn't think it would be this effective.

"Wow. One hit. Look at that—everyone's just standing there stunned."

From the lookout tower, I could see everyone's faces clearly.

Those who had braced themselves for a boss battle were now just standing with their mouths agape, unable to process the situation, caught between relief and pure shock.

Well, it was a massive, hard, intimidating boss enemy, after all.

"...Anyway, the effort of setting up that wrecking ball was worth it, Rebecca-san. Though I suppose it was a matter of compatibility."

"That kind of thing is especially effective against Living Statues... but taking it down in one hit is incredible. Usually, people lose so many lives just trying to bring one of those down..."

"It is a 'Last Monster', after all..."

It seemed this was way outside of Rebecca-san's expectations.

Strictly speaking, the ballista had hit it too, so it wasn't technically one hit, but the impact of the wrecking ball was so overwhelming that in everyone's minds, it went down in a single blow.

Where the statue vanished, a large Magic Crystal was left behind. About the size of a volleyball, it was proof of the Last Monster's defeat.

By the way, our original plan was to weaken it with the ballista and wrecking ball, then have Shamash-san call Eyeball-chan to engage with magic, arrows, and physical force, and finally have the knights finish it off if it was still standing. To think it would end in the first exchange... I'd heard monsters were weak to physical impact, but this was almost too blunt.

"Well, in any case, it's a good thing. We still have two days to go."

"True. All's well that ends well. We need to save as much strength as we can for tomorrow and the day after."

"Exactly. Good work, Jirou."

"Good work to you too, Rebecca-san."

And so, the first day concluded safely, with almost no injuries at all.