The morning of the second day.

Needless to say, alcohol was prohibited the previous night.

If we'd gathered around a campfire, eating and drinking, and then added alcohol, it would have been a 100% guaranteed hangover.

The former mercenaries complained loudly, but I stood firm with my owner authority. The real event started from day two; I'd be in trouble if they thought it was over after the preliminaries.

In exchange, I was forced to promise they could eat and drink as much as they wanted once the third day ended.

Well, even from just the first day of the Hitotsuzuki, we'd already collected over a thousand magic crystals, and some monster equipment had also remained intact. Drops from the first day's monsters probably wouldn't sell for much, but the second and third days would be a different story.

If we could just push through this, we were guaranteed to be "Hitotsuzuki Millionaires." Or maybe not, since I had to distribute the shares among the members. Regardless, the celebration expenses would be easily covered.

On the first day of Hitotsuzuki, all the spots around Erishe seemed to have concluded without major problems.

We had a few people with minor injuries, but they were fully healed by the Priestess-chan's standard magic. We didn't use a single Spirit Stone, so we were carrying the full stock over. Apparently, some other spots had already burned through half their stones, which left them in an uneasy position.

Fortunately, my earlier warnings to prepare encouraged them to use ballistas effectively against those Statues (even if they were local models with lower power and accuracy than my blueprints), allowing them to win without any casualties.

And now, the second day of Hitotsuzuki began—

"Alright, today I'm definitely participating in the fight!"

I pressed our Commander-in-Chief, Rebecca-san.

Yesterday, I felt like I was the only one loafing around while everyone else played, and the lack of action left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to participate too. Everyone had already arrived at the site, and we were about to hold a general meeting.

"Of course, that's the plan. I'll be fighting today, too. We'll leave this spot to Etowa."

"Oh, really?"

"I don't think we'll have much leeway today or tomorrow. You should get your mind ready, Jirou. For example... be prepared to keep fighting to the end, even if someone dies."

Rebecca-san's words were heavy, but this was a life-or-death situation.

Only I knew that the clan members could be resurrected.

Only I knew that this world was essentially a game.

By the way, I registered the Priestess-chan as a clan member yesterday. She actually wanted to join herself, and watching her hop up and down with joy was so adorable it almost made me feel okay with dying. I'll need her to work hard today and tomorrow. Since that meant she'd be near the front lines, clan registration was a must.

There was a bit of a stir when Etowa was announced as the overall commander, but other than that, the only major change was moving the recruits to the rear.

The tactics remained the same as yesterday: use the wrecking ball for the big, hard ones, ballistas for the rest as needed, and split the horde to the left and right to be picked off.

Since the recruits were on rear-guard duty, their jobs were to help Orika with the cooking and bring honey-marinated lemons to their exhausted seniors. I told them to run inside the barrier if the front line collapsed, but that was probably a lost cause.

Even if they weren't strong yet, they were still "Knights." They wouldn't be able to run away when their villages and towns were right behind them. But well, we'd cross that bridge if we came to it.

The time came, and the curtain rose on the second day.

Today, the eastern side was held by the former mercenaries, and the western side by the veteran group. The center was manned by Shamash-san with her summoned beasts, a few former mercenary warriors, and the archery squad.

Etowa was in total command. It was a big job sending orders to each unit from the lookout tower, but she could handle it.

As for our side's lineup: the monster-like Shello-san, Rebecca-san the dragoon wielding a holy sword, Marina with her magic war hammer, and Ion, a general and holy knight.

We decided that the second day would be too much for Elepipi in terms of combat power, so she was working as the walkie-talkie operator at the Summoning Tower.

On the other side, led by the "Reaper" Hetty-san, were the battle-hardened mercenaries. With this much firepower, we shouldn't have suddenly fallen into a crisis. If we did, the whole world would be in trouble. We had several world-class powerhouses gathered here, after all.

A monster pushed through the trees and showed its face. According to the records, the types of monsters appearing changed completely on the second day—

『First one is a Weretiger! It's a monster that looks like my relative!』

Etowa's voice shouted through the walkie-talkie.

A Weretiger was apparently a human-like monster with a tiger's head. I confirmed it as it walked up to the fork in the road.

There was no other way to describe it. It just had a tiger's head. It was even wearing pants; it looked more like a weird middle-aged guy than a monster.

"Here it comes!"

Rebecca-san barked a warning.

The "middle-aged guy" decided to target our side. That characteristic monster gaze, void of emotion, locked onto me. And in the next instant, its body leaped.

"Fast!"

With agility incomparable to yesterday's monsters, it closed the distance in a flash. It was truly the nimbleness of a tiger—but—

"I won't let you!"

Ion stepped in its way.

"Ah! Marina wanted to do that, de-arimasu!"

Marina stamped her feet in frustration.

"Graw!"

The Weretiger threw a powerful punch at Ion.

It felt more like a boxer's straight right than a traditional punch... An unexpected fighting style.

What about tiger fangs and claws? Maybe using speed and weight in a boxer style was stronger? Or was it natural because it was Tiger Mask? Would it use aerial techniques?

Ion continued to parry and deflect the Weretiger's attacks with her shield and sword in a back-and-forth struggle.

The enemy was impressive; unlike previous monsters that relied on simple patterns, there was a spark of intelligence in its movements.

Ion was blessed with a great Job and had undergone training, but she hadn't exactly been through hellish battlefields. She was struggling against the fast, defensive Weretiger.

"Kh! Then take this!"

As the Weretiger nimbly dodged a horizontal slash with a backflip, Ion unleashed a streak of fire through magic.

Ion was a mage as well. I knew she had been studying under Shamash-san for two years, but I didn't expect her to be this sharp in actual combat. The flames shot straight through the air and hit the Weretiger square in the face.

"GWAUGH!"

As the monster screamed, Ion stepped in and slashed with her steel sword. Ion lunged in, her steel sword flashing.

Shards of light scattered violently. She pressed the advantage, her blade singing in a continuous barrage. Once its rhythm was broken, the fight was ours.

By the fourth strike, the Weretiger dissolved into particles of light.

The monster was stronger than I thought.

"Good work. Man, I'm surprised. That was nothing like yesterday's monsters."

"Huff... huff... You're right. If I'm going to struggle this much against just one..."

Ion replied, her breathing slightly ragged.

Ion was granted the General Job and had been training under Isaac for four or five years (even if only once a week), so she had a decent amount of combat ability.

She could have easily handled any of yesterday's monsters. Yet, she had a hard time with the very first one today.

This might actually be bad...

『Next one! It's out. It's a dog! A big dog with red eyes!』

Etowa's voice came over the walkie-talkie.

Looking over, I saw a massive black dog with glowing red eyes. This time, it ran toward Hetty-san's side.

"That's a Hellhound. The monsters might be even tougher than I anticipated..."

Rebecca-san murmured anxiously.

Well, that Hellhound was killed in a single blow by Noririn, but those guys are the exception.

『Another one! This time it's a humanoid with a dog's face!』

It was a Werewolf.

I wasn't sure what the exact difference was between it and the Weretiger, but I figured there's a significant gap in reality between a Wolfman and Tiger Mask.

It charged toward our side, but Shello-san killed it in one hit, so I didn't even have time to check.

"Etowa, what's the status? Roughly how many minutes between spawns?"

『It's more inconsistent than yesterday. The shortest is one minute, the longest is four.』

About an hour had passed since the second day began.

The interval between monster spawns was considerably longer than it was yesterday. Since many of these monsters could be taken down in a single blow, we actually had a fair amount of breathing room so far. It might just have been that our side was exceptionally strong, though.

『Goshujin-sama. An emergency request for reinforcement has been issued to Priestess』, Diana's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.

"What? Seriously?"

As if contacted at the exact same moment, Priestess-chan came running toward me, looking frantic.

"Jirou-san! Reports have come in that every spot except this one is on the verge of collapse! Fortunately, no one is dead yet, but it's only a matter of time...!"

"W-What? It's only been an hour since we started!?"

"It's this place being so relaxed that's strange! We haven't used a single Spirit Stone yet!"

Even if she said that...

All I'd done was take precautions to protect myself and the people around me.

Besides, the second day wasn't even over yet—and the third day, which seemed like the real challenge, was still coming.

"So, basically, you need reinforcements."

"...Yes. I know I have no right to ask this. I will give you whatever I can in return. Please... won't you help them?"

"Hmm..."

In this case, she was asking to borrow our combat strength because the other locations were in trouble. I had naturally considered this possibility, but... we didn't receive any warriors from Erishe. Our entire force was self-funded and self-sourced.

"To be honest... I don't want to. If my people die here, they die under my jurisdiction and my responsibility, so I can live with that. But lending them out to die in some place I know nothing about, under command I don't trust? I absolutely cannot accept that. To be blunt, I don't trust the way those other spots are being managed."

It might have been harsh to say this to Priestess-chan, but it was the truth that needed to be said.

If the other monster spots collapsed, that was on them. Why should we, who prepared properly, be the ones to suffer the loss? We were doing this with our own resources. We even provided our own Spirit Stones.

"You're... right... But if things continue like this, the monsters will swarm all the way to Erishe. You have acquaintances in the city too, don't you, Jirou-san...?"

"Well, yeah. I do."

That's what it boiled down to in the end.

At this stage, there was no choice but to send help. Ultimately, it meant the city's general Hitotsuzuki countermeasures were insufficient. That was the reality of it.

If I wanted to be truly thorough, I should have looked after the other spots from the beginning. No, actually, it was the Hunters' Guild's fault for letting their warriors be poached so they couldn't secure enough personnel. Or was it the fault of the warriors who left? Or whoever poached them?

Regardless, the moment the possibility of a "Globe-Trotter" arose, everyone should have thought this through more carefully.

"So, how much strength do they need? I can't exactly gut my own defenses... No, wait a second."

Splitting our forces haphazardly felt dangerous.

Sending individual warriors to be scattered across the remaining spots would be like pouring water on parched soil—maybe not entirely useless, but close to it. Instead of thinking in terms of headcounts, I should think in terms of units.

In that case—

"...We'll send Hetty-san's entire group of former mercenaries, excluding Hetty-san herself."

"Eh? Is that okay?"

"Yes. But in exchange, that unit will take full control of one spot. The warriors originally stationed there will rotate to reinforce the other spots. That way, we hold two spots, and the Guild holds the remaining two. Of course, I need an Elf to stay here, or we'll be in trouble."

There were four monster spots around Erishe.

The Guild was currently managing three, and since those were failing, we would take over one of them. The original defenders of that spot would merge with the other two.

Since each spot was supposed to have one Priestess, I'll have to insist they stay put.

I couldn't concede any more than this. Sending the entire mercenary band was already a heavy blow, so Hetty-san had to stay. That woman alone was worth a hundred men. The mercenaries would be fine without her; Miyamiya could take over the command.

Man, seriously—the Hunters' Guild is useless. They need to do their damn jobs.

"Priestess-sama, please give all the Spirit Stones you're carrying to Noririn or Miyamiya. The Priestess at the other spot can use them. We have our own supply here."

"...Thank you, Jirou-san. I will make sure this is repaid... both by the city and by me personally."

"Heh, well, let's talk about that if we actually survive."

I'm curious about that "personal thanks", but losing the mercenaries was a massive hit to our numbers.

Now, the only ones left who could actually fight here were me, Marina, Ion, Rebecca-san, Shamash-san, Hetty-san, Shello-san, and Priestess-chan. Exactly eight people.

Etowa and Elepipi were on comms. The recruits were on standby in the rear.

As for Diana... she was the healer. While her subtle spirit magic might have been useful against human opponents, it would be about as effective as a needle against the monsters we were facing today and tomorrow.

It hurt to lose such a huge chunk of our numbers, but everyone left was a warrior worth a thousand men. We still had Shamash-san's summoned magical beasts, too.

Even so, there were only eight of us. It was time to get serious.

Leave the living ones to me!!