Valorie gazed upon the field in front of her with purpose. One can never know when another attack might hit their town.

The forest looked as serene as usual in front of her. Before, it would’ve been peaceful to watch. Now they filled her and every soldier around her with dread and concern.

A swarm of monsters could come to raze their town to the ground, destroying everything they ever built over the past years. It was amazing what a horde of monsters can ruin in just a day or two compared to building a town in a decade and a half.

It just wasn’t fair.

But her husband would always say the same thing. ‘Everything has a purpose–we just have to make sure we survive to see through it’. She often nodded to that, but she couldn’t help but want to strangle his neck everytime he seemed so lackadaisical about this.

Oh, what am I saying? I’m just gonna give him a big ol’ hug and kiss when I get home.

If there was anybody working harder than her, it would be her husband. While she was out by the ramparts, taking care of the immediate threats, her husband was investigating the true reason behind the attacks. It’s been about a month or so since the attacks started, and he had been trying to find out the cause of it.

But the numbers were strange, even to her husbands’ eyes. It was starting to overwhelm the small number of fighters they had available, and losing any one of their valuable crafters and artisans could potentially devastate their way of living.

“G’morning, Captain! Here to report the latest survey!”

Val turned around, taken out of her musings, to find a young man in his twenties saluting to her. He was the scout of their group, focusing on Dexterity which clearly showed with his dual sabres at his hip. She nodded to him with a smile.

“Paul, good to see you back. Anything noteworthy to report?”

“Yes, though I’m afraid there’s no good news. Just… news, I suppose,” The young man replied hesitantly before facing her directly with a solemn professional expression. “The monsters continue filling the forest day by day. We’re not sure how, but I believe they are charging into the forest from somewhere.

“My Identify shows that they range between level 30 and 60. We believe they are also taking out the weaker monsters, increasing their levels as they go along.”

“Are any of the higher tier monsters getting killed off?” Val asked, her hope rising just a smidge.

“Unfortunately, no. It’s like they’re just keeping territory, slight skirmishes and stuff like that. They retreat the moment things start to look bleak.”

“I see…” Val shook her head dismissively.

She knew it was wishful thinking, but with how things are running, they need a break. Not only are they intelligent enough that they can bother the town, but also keep up their strength and kill weaker monsters. How can the humans try and gain strength if all the weaklings get snuffed out and only have the tougher prey around?

Must be nice, being able to retreat into whatever hellish depths they crawled out from.

“Captain, may I suggest taking some of them out with the investigation team?” The young man noticed her plight, and a gleam of excitement and battle lust flashed in his eyes. “We can diminish their numbers for the next fight.”

“No,” Val shook her head, pouring water over the flames of his excitement as she explained. “We cannot have the investigation team take any unnecessary losses. The more we sent out for damage control, the more the monsters become aware of our counter attacks. They will only increase their ferocity even more here.”

“Oh… I see,” The young man didn’t seem to notice that tidbit, lowering his head in shame. “My apologies, I offered something foolish.”

“Don’t be,” Val grinned back at him. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to level up. But we must consider everyone else. Trust me, I wish I could just go out and hunt them to extinction so we wouldn’t have to preserve for so long here, but there’s a reason why I’m here and not out there.”

Stolen story; please report.

“I see… but in a sense, I’m glad,” The young man grinned. “If you go out there, there will be nothing left over for ourselves.”

“Isn’t that why I’m holding myself back?” The captain replied cockily. “Now if I can make the great sacrifice of holding onto my boredom, surely you can focus on building the defenses to get started on any crafting skills you might have developed?”

The young man let out a defeated breath, but not before saluting to his captain and going on his way. Val can understand the young man’s desire for power–it was written all over his face.

Everyone in the younger generation of soldiers here joined up to increase their levels and develop their combat skills. With this situation, they don’t have to travel far to tackle powerful foes, and at the end of the night they can sleep in their comfortable beds for free.

But this wasn’t a treasure trove of experience. One wrong mistake and that could easily destroy everything they have worked for. Their homes would be squashed, the people making their homes easier to live in killed. They’d be left with a sour taste of defeat and guilt.

It wasn’t worth all that for just a few levels. She knew that by heart.

But still, how long can they hold like this? That young boy who wanted power will surely get his desire if the hordes keep coming like this so sporadically. The drops they gain is also a considerable gain in wealth.

Still, it’s not always a great solution. Thanks to these hordes often coming by and wiping out the weakling monsters, merchants have a harder time coming by to sell their wares.

So commercial wise, the town was in the dumps. Their morale was still high, so despite the inconveniences that could arrive, the townsfolk did whatever they could. Of course, this also included supporting the fighters by providing what little service they can give, but they also need food and supplies to live.

They’re barely making it by the skin of their teeth, especially if the hordes continue to become numerous. They need to do something to turn the tide. This battle of attrition, according to her estimates, will only turn in the horde’s favor.

She heard footsteps approaching, leading her to turn to find two young similar looking men who were twins, and a woman in charge of them. Her on-and-off student, Myra.

“Captain, the west gate held off against the tide. The south and east gate, however, had some damage done to the walls,” The young woman, tanned skin with auburn hair, reported dutifully with a solemn look.

“Any casualties?” Valorie asked.

“Nope! All good from here!” One of the men replied with a haughty smirk before his twin slapped behind his head. “Ouch!”

“Speak formally when addressing the captain!” The other man replied harshly, leaving his twin to wince in pain.

“It’s fine,” Val dissuaded the notion, turning her attention back to Myra. “Truly, there are no casualties?”

“There were some that got injured,” Myra admitted. “But the healers managed to get them back on track. They’re now resting to recover their mana.”

“I see,” Val nodded. “That’s good news. Better than I could hope for.”

It was difficult for Val to go around the town all on her own. While her Dexterity was nothing to sneeze at, she can’t exactly teleport from one place or another, especially in her weakened state. She had to direct her energies to the side where they are getting the worst heat of the bunch. Myra narrowed her eyes as she spoke to the captain.

“Captain, can’t we do something about this?” Myra asked, desperation clinging to her tone. “It feels like we’re going nowhere. I don’t mind the levels, but I don’t like feeling like we’re trapped here. Can’t we just go out there and hunt the big boss and end all this?”

“No,” Val shook her head, shotting Myra down in a flash. “Where would the town be if we do that? What if we can’t find the boss, or perhaps there are multiple of them and it could take days. What makes you so sure that we can end this once and for all doing that?”

“That’s…” Myra grimaced, her eyes darting away. The twins couldn’t reply either, even though they clearly showed the same frustration as Myra did.

Val let out a breath. “Those are the question my hubby and I are currently finding the answers for. There are too many variables for what could go wrong, and not enough resources to find them out. The only thing we can do right now is to ‘wait and see’. That, and continue to strengthen ourselves. I know it’s frustrating, but take this chance to shore up any weak points you may have for the upcoming battles ahead.”

Myra and the twins nodded in unison before saluting her and returning back to their posts. Val could only grit her teeth behind closed lips as she once again had to force herself to utter those words.

She hated this as well, but as the leader of the town, and the captain of their town militia, she had no other choice but to push through.

Dear, I really hope you can find a way to get us out of this situation, Val thought, once again leaving the world for her thoughts. I’m not sure how long I can keep everyone at bay. Everyone wants to change things for the better. I'm even inclined to do so myself.

She can only hope that things will get better, but she knows well enough the only way to do so is to work hard to make sure it stays that way. She can already see herself working the next few nights keeping watch, leaving her to let out a tired breath.