Several days had passed since the three of us successfully destroyed that magic circle.
There were no longer any cases of monsters roaming from the ruins into the settlements of Riruyo.
Everything felt like nothing more than a mere story once the magic circle had been destroyed.
That meant my suspicion was correct. If the circle no longer existed, then the monsters would not be able to leave the ruins and attack the people.
Even so, the forests of Riruyo were home to a large number of wild monsters.
However, they would never attack the elves unless the people themselves provoked them first.
So, there were no wild monsters attacking the elves here—wasn't that a good thing? At first, I thought the forest here was nothing more than an empty woodland.
But when I thought about it again, there was no forest that contained only trees. Aside from monsters, there were also many different species of animals living here.
I even saw several animals with appearances unfamiliar to me when I went there.
Of course, we went as a group of five. Me, Luke, Yuu-chan, and Hime were guided by Iris as we explored the forest.
—
In the previous time loop, the threat was detected at night.
And one of Loki-san's subordinates would come to inform us while we were enjoying dinner.
However, in this current loop, the report arrived during the day, when each of us was occupied with our own activities.
That subordinate of Loki-san came to Iris's residence and stopped in front of it, having been blocked by the guards.
Naturally, they restrained him, because he ran toward the place as if he had free access to enter the building.
"What business do you have coming here?!"
The guards raised their bows to block his path.
"I have several reports that must be delivered to the leader! Hurry, we are in a critical situation right now!" he said.
Seeing the seriousness in his gaze, combined with a voice that did not tremble at all and carried no hesitation—
In the end, the guards allowed him to enter, though they remained by his side to keep watch over him.
Alright, I suppose it was time to head to the main hall. I had already seen what I needed to from my bedroom window.
Luke was still lying on his bed after lunch. He wasn't asleep, just reading several books.
Honestly… I knew he was brilliant, but wasn't he a bit too lazy?
"Oi, Luke, let's go see Loki-san. Otherwise, either Hime or Yuu-chan will come here later and say the same thing," I said while looking at him, who appeared very comfortable on the bed.
I wasn't lying about what I had just said—it was all based on my experience and intuition.
Hime and Yuu-chan would definitely be summoned to the main hall, and then they would come looking for us since we hadn't shown up yet.
"Hmm… you're imagining things too much… I'm at the best part," Luke replied, still focused on his book.
The best part of what, exactly? He was reading a book that seemed to be filled with knowledge and new theories.
Well, I suppose it wasn't strange for him to find it interesting. I had forgotten how serious he was when it came to logic and thought.
Bang.
The door to our room was opened forcefully from the outside, and the person who opened it stood near the entrance, staring at us.
The loud sound immediately drew both Luke's and my attention.
Even though his gaze shifted toward the door, Luke's hand still held the page of his book so he wouldn't lose his place.
"Hime? What brings you here… and why did you have to open the door like that?" I said, pointing at the door.
Of course, the one who had just opened our door so forcefully was Hime. Everything happened exactly as I had predicted earlier.
"A-ah, I got a bit carried away. Anyway, our party has been summoned to the main hall by Loki-san and Forn-san. They said the situation is critical," Hime said.
Luke finally closed his book and sat up on the bed, trying to process the situation.
Judging from his expression, he looked slightly shocked. Was it because what I had said earlier had immediately come true?
W-well, his mouth was slightly open. He really did seem surprised.
"I'll head there first. You two hurry up. My instincts tell me we'll be fighting monsters again very soon," Hime said before closing the door and returning to the main hall on the third floor.
…
"Yukito, wait for me a moment," Luke said as he put on his clothes.
"Yeah, yeah," I replied lazily.
The two of us immediately headed toward the third floor to get there as quickly as possible.
"Do you think what Hime said will really happen? About us fighting monsters again—that only means one thing, right…?" I said while continuing to walk beside him.
He nodded slightly before answering.
"Yes, there's likely going to be an Abyss invasion here. Back then, there were no signs of an invasion in the magic orb, but this time it's different," he replied.
That was true… the reaction shown by the magic orb now was clearly different from before. Perhaps Abyss intended to attack this place as well.
Ah, right—I remembered something.
Although the invasion in Necvalion had been repelled rather easily back then, the monster growth cycle increased drastically afterward.
Attacks and guild missions increased, making the work of adventurers much more demanding.
The same thing happened in Vannis and Danvis—there were still monster forces attacking those cities.
However, the remaining forces in all those cities managed to withstand the monster assaults.
That meant once our hero party left a place after an invasion occurred, subsequent invasions would continue to happen in that same location.
—
By the time we arrived at the main hall, many people were already present.
They included those close to Loki-san, or perhaps people who assisted him in managing the citizens of Riruyo.
Loki-san, Forn-san, and his daughter Iris were standing at the center of the room as the leaders of this place.
In front of the three of them, Hime and Yuu-chan were already seated at a table.
Almost everyone turned their heads toward us when we arrived.
"Yuusha, you finally made it," Loki-san said.
"Yukito-san, Luke-san, come over here quickly," Hime said, gesturing for us to approach.
Once the two of us sat among them, Hime immediately took out a magic orb from her Alter Box.
I see—Hime already knew exactly what she needed to check.
She brought both of her palms close to the surface of the orb, and soon it displayed a map of the Riruyo continent along with several others.
Seeing that, Loki-san looked slightly surprised.
"Could it be that this orb is the one used to detect Abyss threats, something only heroes can use?" Loki-san asked.
"Yes, Charles-san gave it to us," Hime replied.
"What is being shown there?" "Is there really a threat near Riruyo?"
The voices of the people in the room began to overlap, sounding like the murmurs of those gripped by fear.
"Everyone, calm yourselves!" Forn-san shouted.
His voice was unexpectedly loud, especially considering how gently he usually spoke to our party.
The room immediately fell silent upon hearing his shout—haha…
"At a distance of about five kilometers from the Barrier where our party previously entered Riruyo."
"There is a monster army led by demons, and one of them possesses an exceptionally great amount of power, judging by what this orb shows," Hime said.
"Possibly… the monster army consists of many types of monsters numbering in the thousands, and hundreds of demons."
The room once again grew noisy, filled with fear and unease caused by Hime's words.
"There's no time to argue! Quickly organize our defenses near the barrier and gather everyone who is prepared to fight!"
"For those who do not wish to fight, order them to stay inside their homes and flee if the situation worsens!"
"Go to the settlements and summon our archers and mages. Call those who can wield swords and shields as well—we will need them!"
"Do not concern yourselves with budgets or potential losses. This is not the time to worry about finances!"
"Hurry! We don't have much time!"
Loki-san's orders caused the subordinates who were still in the room to immediately rush outside.
They quickly began carrying out the tasks Loki-san had just given them.
"We should head near the barrier. We can organize things much better there," Luke suggested.
"That's the best place to coordinate our forces. Let's go there," Hime agreed.
"But before that, Iris and Yuusha… I want you to stay here… I'll entrust this to the two of you."
"The rest of us will head there first," Loki-san said, leading the remaining people toward the barrier.
Once again, in this time loop, Iris and I were left alone together in this situation.
Damn, I hadn't thought about what I should do in this position.
In that book back then, I was told to do all kinds of romantic things with Iris—things I couldn't possibly list one by one, right?
But… I'm not someone who can do that so easily, especially if it would make Iris uncomfortable.
"Iris, what do you want to do?" I asked.
She looked at me for a moment before replying while pacing back and forth.
"Yuusha, I know you don't want to stay here. I understand that. You want to fight alongside them, don't you?"
"I feel the same way, but are you sure about this, Yuusha?" Iris asked.
Her question felt like a final trial—one that would determine whether I could escape this time loop, though perhaps that was just my imagination.
…If that was the case, then I had already made up my mind about what I needed to do.
"I want to go there—of course, together with you, Iris," I answered.
"I figured as much. I didn't expect you would still want to go, even after failing before. Very well, I'll go with you," she replied.
Failed? How did she know about that? Whatever—I needed to focus on the troops.