Dream Life Chapter 31.2: “Birth”

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(I guess they were both worried after all. I guess they want their children and grandchildren to have a happy life, even if it is mediocre. And it’s enough that I’m the only one out of standard… ) (Zack)

　Afterward, I told my mother congratulations and looked longingly at my siblings.

　Their eyes weren’t even open yet, and I honestly couldn’t tell who they looked like, but I was filled with the euphoria of adding to my own family.

　When my father lifted them up in his arms, they began to cry in unison, and the house was filled with happy noise.

　Before I knew it, the storm outside had subsided.

　The twins were named Theophilus and Seraphine, respectively. They would be called Theo and Sera.

　The Lockhart family became all the more lively with the birth of the twins. Molly and Tricia are busy taking care of their mother and the twins, but they both seem to enjoy their work.

　In July, Polly and Claire gave birth one after the other.

　Polly gave birth safely to a boy and Claire to a girl, and the three of them, including their mother, are together more often.

　I don’t know if it is indeed too hard to breastfeed the twins or if they have other ideas, but it is as if the three of them are raising four babies.

　By the way, Polly’s baby is named Lyle, and Claire’s is named Eunice.

　And as for whether or not they are “God sent,” which is the most important question for me, there was no revelation of any kind for either of them.

　The only other child I have left is Jean’s child to be born in September, but since it was not born to the three people closely related to me, I am optimistic that it will not be born in this village.

　My brother and sister are first, and both are adorable babies who are likely to grow beautiful because of our Father’s and Mother’s blood. I do not deny the possibility of favoritism, but objectively speaking, I am sure of it.

　In mid-July, just before Polly and Claire’s birth, two pieces of information arrived in the village of Rathmore.

　Information provided by a merchant from Kilnarc, The first was a follow-up report of a large-scale demon invasion in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Caum, located south of the village, and the second was that a large-scale demon defeat had taken place in Pericritor, the kingdom of adventurers.

　A summary of the invasion of the demonfolk is as follows.

　On May 12, thousands of monsters rushed into Fort Tower, the front line of the Kingdom of Caum.

　A garrison of nearly 1,000 men was stationed at Fort Tower, but they struggled against attacks by flying monsters. The Kingdom of Caum requested support from other countries, and they themselves rushed 2,000 soldiers to Tower.

　On May 25, the 7,000-strong Demon Army attacked with no regard for damage and finally conquered Fort Tower.

　The 2,000 reinforcements from the Kingdom of Caum learned from the soldiers who had retreated from the fort that they had not made it in time. Considering the danger their army could fall into, while outnumbered. Rather than being destroyed individually, they decided to retreat and wait for reinforcements from other countries.

　The Kingdom of Caum’s army deployed a skillful retreat and toyed with the Demon Army without inflicting and taking serious damage.

　After a month-long retreat, the Caum Royal Army was pushed to a position near the Ars Highway, a major highway, and was encamped at the foot of a mountain called Acrychain, about 20 km east of Barbeige, the post town of the road. Was there.

　On June 23, the Caum Kingdom Army, which had received reinforcements from Fortis, the land of mercenaries, and the Kingdom of Lux, made a complete switch from its previous passive strategy and launched a major offensive.

　The commander of the Kingdom of Caum planned to launch a large-scale pincer attack jointly with the reinforcements. He asked 1,500 reinforcements from Fortis and 1,000 reinforcements from the Kingdom of Lux to hide behind Mount Acrychain and attack the rear of the pursuing Demon Army. The strategy was to serve as a decoy and draw out the demonic forces through a deceptive retreat.

　The 6,000-strong Demon Army began to pursue the retreating Caum Royal Army, but the Caum Royal Army, skillful in defensive battles, slowly retreated westward at the foot of Mount Acrychain while using delaying tactics.

　Just before sunset, when the Demon Army was beginning to think that it would remain on the defensive that day, the Caum Royal Army suddenly launched a reversal offensive. This signaled the appearance of Fortis and Lux reinforcements behind the Demon Army, and the Demon Army was thrown into turmoil.

　The mercenaries of Fortis, riding on their own momentum, rushed into the Demon Army, but with the demon’s side, even outnumbered, managed to hold their ground and, conversely, planned to destroy them all one by one.

The Demon Army decided to defeat the reinforcement side first and chose the Lux army, which had fewer numbers, as their target. However, the persistent fighting of Lux’s warriors stopped the demonic forces.

　The Kingdom of Caum and Fortis forces, who did not miss the opportunity, went on the offensive, and the Demon Army was crushed by attacks from three directions. The Kingdom of Caum’s army relentlessly pursued, and on June 30, they finally recaptured Fort Tower.

　The events in Pericritor, the land of adventurers, also involved the village of Rathmore.

　To begin with, information about the orc and ogre packs had come from Kilnarc at the end of February.

　In other words, it all started with the information the Lockhart family had passed on to us.

　The information was delivered from the Adventurer’s Guild branch in Kilnarc to the general headquarters in Pericritor.

　Like the Kilnarc branch, the general headquarters doubted the veracity of the information, but just to be safe, it was passed on to neighboring branches as warning information.

　Every year, around mid-March, when the snow melts, adventurers become active. And in the same way in the southern town of Pericritor, adventurers went into the forest to hunt for monsters that move in the spring.

　In mid-April, the Adventurer’s Guild branch in Kilnarc sent out a request for an investigation into the whereabouts of the orcs, just in case. In response, a party of adventurers ventured north from Kilnarc. They discovered a large herd of demons in the forests ahead of them.

　They found a herd of nearly two hundred orcs. The location was about 30 km north of Kilnarc and about 150 km southeast of Pericritor, and they had established a settlement there.

　Further reports came in.

　In late April, another party entered the forest from the village of Tisect, southeast of Pericritor, in response to a request to take down a huge spider, the Giant Spider. Then, about 20 km east of the village, they found a huge footprint.

　They were the footprints of an ogre, a giant over three meters tall.

　The information was immediately conveyed to the general headquarters of Pericritor. The information was then compared with the information from Kilnarc, which had been delivered two months earlier, and it was concluded that there had been a large-scale movement of demons.

　The headquarters ordered a large-scale survey of adventurers in Pericritor.

　The summoned adventurers surveyed the forests at the foot of the Aquila Mountains, following the traces of orcs and ogres.

　On May 15, the orc pack seemed to have moved north from the settlement where it had been discovered and was found again about 25 km southeast of the village of Tisect. The ogre had likewise moved to the northwest and was found about 15 km north of the village of Tisect.

　The general headquarters called for an emergency meeting to defeat both demonic groups.

　On May 20, 1,000 adventurers were summoned and moved to Tisect Village.

　On May 25, the adventurers were divided into groups of 500 to destroy the ogres to the north and the orcs to the southeast, and they began their march.

　With an overwhelming volume of material, they destroyed 200 orcs and 14 ogres that day. The surrounding area was scouted for more than a month, but no large herds were found. The Adventurer’s Guild’s quick action solved the problem without causing any damage.

　There was a continuation to this account.

　The two stories may be connected.

　The orcs and ogres may have been sent to the rear to coincide with the demonfolk invasion.

　The Kilnarc branch had accidentally received information about the orcs, and the general headquarters had responded quickly, so the timing was off and the invasion could not be linked to the invasion. If the orcs and ogres around Pericritor had not been discovered by the beginning of May, some villages would have been attacked. If that had happened, they said that forces could have been allocated to defeat them around Pericritor in order to deal with the situation.

　The leaders believed that there was much that was unnatural about the movements of orcs and ogres this time.

　Why did orcs and ogres, which are supposed to move on instinct, not attack villages and towns in their path and move to the vicinity of Pericritor? Why did they move to surround the small village of Tisect?

　And why did the demon folks, which had not moved in the past few years, suddenly invade?

　The peddler told me that there were discussions in various countries and guilds, but no conclusion had been reached.

　I listened to him and remembered what God had said.

(If this invasion is not for the purpose of the invasion itself, but to get rid of the “Fated Child” the one sent by God… It makes sense. But even the demon folks are followers of Noctis, the God of Darkness. It is hard to believe that Noctis, the God of Darkness, one of the 12 gods, would order them to do so. If that were the case, then who would do it…) (Zack)

　I ponder deeper, but,

(I can’t even make a deduction because I don’t have enough information. It seems irresponsible, but at least this village wasn’t the target. Then there’s nothing I can do about it. At least for now…) (Zack)

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