The first thing I started with was building the Barrier Wall.
As I had already mentioned.
With the East Hut destroyed and all the girls gathered in the West Hut, the Ultra Wave wouldn’t happen right now.
But.
‘What if all the girls start moving north at the break of dawn?’
The culprit, watching for an opportunity, would immediately launch the Ultra Wave.
The monster was only targeting the moment when the girls had escaped and the boys were grouped together.
I had to prepare for that exact moment from now on.
‘Turn the West Hut into a fortress.’
A fortress sturdy enough to protect all the kids even if a massive Monster Wave crashed down.
That had to be ready.
Fortunately, there was enough time, and the plan for the fortress was perfect.
It was all already in my head.
But then a problem surfaced from an unexpected place.
Something that had never happened in the original game.
“…Why do we have to do that?”
“Why go that far?”
As soon as I suggested turning the West Hut into a fortress, that was the response from the boys.
‘Gid Iyemer’ and ‘Erquado Peanut’.
Aside from Hexter, they were the small faction leaders, each leading a team of boys.
Those two were glaring at me with crooked eyes, questioning me like that.
“Sigh…”
A sudden wave of extreme fatigue washed over me.
‘These nobodies…
I’m already exhausted from arguing with Eve, and now I have to convince these guys too?
I can’t just push them to cooperate, telling them to shut up since you’re about to be torn to shreds.’
“Who are you guys, suddenly talking nonsense? Do you think I’m an easy target?”
“I get that you want safety, but we’re not exactly your subordinates.”
…There was no way they’d listen to reasonable words.
‘More than anything, I don’t even want to try talking nicely.’
Ah, I just want to beat them up!
I want to beat them fiercely!
While I was silently locked in a battle of wills with those two, Karls stepped forward smoothly.
“Shan, want me to teach them a lesson?”
He had probably gotten a taste for beating up Hexter, as he was starting to loosen his wrists.
“Yeah, bro. Give them a lesson three times as strong…”
“W-Wait!”
Suddenly, Eve interrupted.
Just as I was about to tell them to destroy those two’s faces until I didn’t recognize them, she stepped in.
“Oh, hi, Eve?”
“You alright? Is your team all safe?”
The two men’s faces brightened immediately at the appearance of the flower-like girl.
Happy? Happy?
These despicable bastards.
I shook my head and gestured to Karls.
“Bro, I think that lesson needs to be… unlimited…”
But Eve didn’t let Karls take the lead.
“Hey! Wait a minute!”
“What?”
I frowned, but she firmly separated me and the two boys and said,
“I’ll take care of convincing them. No violence.”
At those words, I chuckled.
“Wow, so you’re the Gandhi meta, huh?”
“What? What’s Gandhi?”
A little lacking in common sense.
“…Well, anyway.”
I crossed my arms and said quietly.
“What exactly do you plan to do? You can’t tell me everything.”
But Eve twisted the corner of her mouth, showing confidence.
“I’ll handle it. Just think of this as my apology for messing up yesterday.”
“…?”
And just five minutes later.
The work of building the Barrier Wall around the hut had begun.
Except for a few who hadn’t returned from the hunt, all the boys were passionately hauling rocks.
Honestly, even I was a bit surprised by this.
“What? How did you manage that? Did you use a beauty trap or something?”
“That’s a really rude thing to say, Prince.”
“I doubt there’s a strategy I don’t know.”
“There’s no rule saying everything can be solved by strategy.”
“…Well, yeah, that’s true.”
I got hit.
Eve smiled lightly and explained very simply.
“I just told the girls they were worried because there was no defense. Then their switches just flipped on their own.”
“Switches?”
“The boys’ idiot switches. Everyone’s got them.”
“…Ah.”
I finally understood that simple method.
The psychology of adolescents, just past puberty, exploding with interest in the opposite sex.
Eve had triggered that.
Not bad.
‘I was just about to get annoyed and beat them all up.’
From that rather seasoned behavior, I wondered if she was actually a bit older.
She definitely wasn’t a teenager like she looked.
‘How old is she?’
Thirty? Forty?
…Maybe she’s a generation with children because she likes kids.
I was briefly curious, but then.
‘What does it matter to me?’
I quickly dismissed the thought and turned away.
“I…”
She wasn’t someone I needed to be personally curious about.
I pictured the design of the Barrier Wall in my head and began directing the work on-site.
By the time the sun had fully set and the moon had risen,
The Barrier Wall was about 70% complete.
And it was just then that Hexter Walt’s team returned to the lodging.
“…Captain?”
“Why are you doing this here?”
They looked bewildered at Hexter struggling to push rocks.
But their confusion didn’t end there.
“Who are these girls?”
“Yeah? Didn’t they say these girls were using the East Hut?”
Construction work whose purpose they couldn’t understand was in full swing.
And with the girls joining in, the place was bustling, leaving them blinking in surprise.
“Oh, my shuttles are here?”
I had gathered all the mages and was talking about various spells we would soon need when I spotted them.
“Hey! Why are you just standing there like statues? Come here!”
“…!”
When I shouted, they flinched reflexively.
“What’re you doing? If the hunt’s over, you should bring the badges.”
I waved my hand, and their expressions crumpled miserably.
“That guy, seriously.”
“Hey! How long do you think we’ll keep wiping your ass?”
[Random Event ‘Proxy Hunting’ ends.]
I clicked my tongue inside.
‘Wow, that event just ended in one blow.’
I didn’t know the details, but seeing their captain wandering around freely must have relaxed their tension.
“Captain, are you okay after earlier?”
“Did it not trigger?”
“What are you looking at? Just came to watch?”
The guys, now relaxed, asked Hexter if he was alright and raised their voices at the kids around them.
The attitude that had shrunk back momentarily while getting beaten by Karls was nowhere to be found.
But…
“Shut up, you bastards.”
“Huh?”
“What did you say, Captain?”
“Shut your mouths and move these rocks quickly!”
At Hexter’s sharp command, all four froze.
“W-Why are you like this?”
“Does it still hurt from getting hit earlier?”
But Hexter quietly whispered something while slapping each of their heads.
The boys looked back at me with an expression of disbelief.
I didn’t know what he said.
But one thing was clear—Hexter Walt was a truly great leader.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
“We didn’t know…”
I was extremely curious what he said to instantly make them so obedient.
Anyway, as a result, three types of badges fell into my hands.
‘Three Lesser Lizardman Archers, an Inexperienced Kobold Squad Leader, and a Corrupted Groll Warrior.’
[Team member Karls Alledro has achieved the ritual goal.]
[Team member En Alledro has achieved the ritual goal.]
[Team member Shark Robren has achieved the ritual goal.]
Thus, except for Barel and me, three others had fulfilled the conditions to complete the Rite of the Crimson Wind.
The kids who achieved their hunting targets could leave the hunting ground immediately.
Reaching the Aurax Northern Ramparts and completing the procedure with the officers there would mark the end.
That alone would count as success.
But among the 60 or so kids here, not one showed such signs.
Even if they had completed their targets on the first day, they all stayed behind, naturally preparing for the next hunt.
For their other team members.
‘No one seems to be seriously injured either.’
Thanks to that, everyone who had wandered the campsite yesterday was gathered here now.
And together, they were building the Barrier Wall.
Of course, none of them knew the detailed truth about the Ultra Wave.
They only knew they were making a defense wall and happily laughed as they stacked the stones.
‘Good. If anyone deserted, I would have had to worry about that too.’
As I promised Eve, I would finish this quest without a single casualty.
And in the process, I planned to scoop up my share completely.
‘A storm of leveling up.
Just thinking about it is thrilling.’
A pitch-black night had fallen.
“It’s done.”
I nodded as I looked at the roughly completed Barrier Wall.
The wall of rocks, just over two meters tall, firmly surrounded the hut.
Using thick logs cut nearby as the base,
And huge boulders moved and embedded with magic,
I had cast multiple layers of binding spells on top.
When the time came, Tirvaen would use magic again to reinforce this wall.
Since we needed to balance cohesion and durability, she was instructed to use mana efficiently,
With the Root Defense Spell ready.
“Now, and…”
I slowly lifted my head and gazed at the forest shrouded in darkness.
It should be time for them to return, right?
No sooner had I finished the thought than the kids appeared from the woods.
“We’re back, Team Leader.”
“We finished well, just as you said.”
“Damn, why am I the one you’re conscripting?”
It was Shark, Barel, and Hexter.
Empty oil cans hung in their hands.
“Did you apply it thoroughly?”
“Of course.”
Shark answered confidently.
But Hexter, standing next to him, sighed at me for some reason.
“Hey, is this really okay?”
“What?”
“What do you mean what? I’m asking if it’s alright to burn down the whole forest.”
I chuckled at the irritated remark.
First, there was a pacifist, and now an environmentalist.
“Then what other way is there? Crazy monsters will pour out of the forest. If not fire magic, what do you suggest? You gonna go out there and mow them down yourself?”
I was going to herd the kids here and then light a massive blaze outside.
Using that to suppress the flood of monsters.
“Why the sudden objection?”
That kid with no alternatives?
“No, I mean—!”
“…?”
Unexpectedly, Hexter gestured emphatically.
He looked frustrated but asked me again.
“The Ultra Wave means monsters are going berserk, right? Do you really think just setting the forest on fire will solve anything?”
“The monsters will keep coming out of the tunnels anyway! What happens if the flames die down? That’s what I’m asking!”
Surprisingly, he was seriously predicting the next situation and questioning me.
I was a little surprised.
“Hey, you actually think? That’s different from the image you give…”
Hexter’s face twisted fiercely again.
I smirked and said,
“Good point. Of course, it won’t end there.”
This Barrier Wall and fire magic were only defensive measures.
They were just tools to endure and hold out against the endless Ultra Wave.
With that done,
“We need to prepare an offense too.”
“Offense? Who are we attacking?”
“Are you stupid? Who else? Obviously the bastard causing this madness!”
When the Ultra Wave started and our defense here began,
“I’ll strike directly at the source.”
A so-called preemptive strike.
I would personally go to attack the origin point of the Wave.
Hexter looked confused at my explanation.
“How? How?”
With monsters swarming in after the flames were put out, he couldn’t understand how we’d mount an offensive.
But I just smiled gently.
“Just wait and see.”
The Shield of Balance Karls was holding right now was saved for that exact moment.
Just then, Eve, holding the same shield, stepped out of the hut and nodded at me.
“You two ready? Shall we go?”
I nodded and took a step into the forest.
‘This is the final task.’
Awakening these shields, transforming them into the ‘true’ Shield of Balance, finishing the work, and when dawn came…
‘The Wave will begin.’
Of course, it wouldn’t take long.
That went for my level-up too.
‘Can I really reach level 30?’
…I was looking forward to it.