After a long conversation, me and Ririna finally settled on a plan. I gave her the go-ahead to make the Torn Violence Potion, and she sneaked back into town to fast-travel back home. As for me, I’m going back to the real world to talk to Katja. It was hard to fight after getting surrounded, so I’m gonna use this time to get some special lessons from her. We agreed to meet up again the day before the deadline so we could finish our preparations. We’re gonna to try to tackle the problem one last time. It’s all or nothing.

All I want is for Ririna to live, so I tried asking her about other solutions. Did we have to kill all the monsters on our own? Couldn’t we ask for help? Couldn’t we just lure them away? But, of course, it was not that simple. We can’t get any help since everyone I, town hates us, and the soldiers were busy preparing for their own intervention. Sarasa was our last hope, but she has her own circumstances and cannot get involved. Ririna already felt bad about getting me involved, so she was really against the idea of asking for Sarasa’s help. Luring the monsters away was also not gonna work. The dirt itself is what attracts the monsters, but without any crops, the effect quickly fades away. That means we’d need a field bigger than all the fields around the town combined for the monsters to leave. That’s just not possible. Without crops, it’s possible to attract monsters for a moment, but then they would just go back. And without a big enough field, they wouldn’t even care.

We’re going to have to do this the hard way, but we already knew that from the start. I pushed open the door to the dorm, and inside were Katja and Carol. Katja was sitting down on the table, while Carol was on the opposite side of the room, sitting on the couch. Carol looks fine… I haven’t seen her since she left the dojo after our match, so I’m glad she’s okay. She is glaring at me, though. Is she still mad about losing? She never really liked me, so this is par for the course. I tried waving at her, but she immediately turned her head to the side. Ahahaha… What else was I expecting?

“Katja, I need your help.” I didn’t have time to worry about Carol right now, so I left her alone and headed straight for Katja.

“What’s wrong, Iroha? Were you out training? Did you get hurt?”

“Uhmm… That’s not it. I need your advice. I need you to teach me how to fight against multiple enemies when I get surrounded.”

“You need help with your training, then? I can help you with that, but… where did that come from? Why do you learn how to fight multiple enemies? Don’t tell me you were surrounded by a large group of monsters. Their numbers aren’t supposed to be that high here. That’s cause for alarm!” I was a little too careless and ended up saying too much. Katja got up in a rush and was acting like she was about to head to the forest herself.

“No no no, that’s not it! I- I was only asking for future reference! It’s just in case I ever get surrounded and have to fight a lot of monsters. Uhmm… I found myself thinking about it and… thought I should ask you. It’s better to learn now than regret later, right?” My excuse convinced Katja, and she calmed down. Everything should have been fine, but Carol clicked her tongue and disappeared into the dorm. Why? Did I say something bad?

“Hmm… That’s what you meant…” Katja followed Carol with her head, then looked at me again. “Alright, Iroha. I’ll help you out. Tell me more about what you want to know.”

The two of us went to the dojo, and I explained the situation to Katja without revealing too many details.

“So you want me to teach you how to fight against multiple opponents after you get surrounded? Hmm… Truth be told, the trick to fighting when you’re surrounded is to not be surrounded.”

“What?” That’s not very helpful advice. We’re skipping some steps here.

“I know it sounds weird, but whenever you’re surrounded, you’re at a disadvantage. Whenever that happens, your goal should be to break through whatever it is that is surrounding you. If you get surrounded, you have to look for a weak point and fight your way through. Then you run away until you find a place where you can’t get surrounded anymore, like a tight hallway.”

That’s pretty obvious… but it’s not like it’s always possible to break out. “What if there are so many monsters that it’s impossible to break through? What should I do then?”

Katja paced around the dojo before sitting down on the spectator’s bench. “Ideally, you want to avoid being surrounded in the first place, but if that’s not possible… Well, I guess the same principle still applies. If you’re gonna be fighting either way, you want to be moving in the direction of the weakest point and hoping that you break through eventually. When you’re surrounded, you’re going to be at a disadvantage, no matter what. Either you’re strong enough that you make up for the disadvantage, or you need to get into an advantageous position. There’s really no other way, is there?”

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There’s no other way? She might be right… I knew the best way to handle being surrounded was to not getting surrounded in the first place, but then what do I do? The monsters are out in vast open fields. I can’t avoid getting surrounded. If I could fight them in a different location… Hmm… That might not be impossible… I’ll have to check with Ririna later.

“Thanks, Katja. I get it now.”

“Sorry I couldn’t help you out more. There isn’t really a trick to it, as far as I know. There are, however, lots of techniques with a sword meant to combat multiple opponents. If you’re interested, there’s still a lot I could teach you.” Katja got up from her seat and went to grab our wooden swords.

“Really? That would be very helpful!”

I spent the next few days training with Katja until it was time to meet with Ririna. Even though I trained alone with Katja, I’ve gotten a lot better at fighting multiple enemies. She’s so agile that it was harder than when I fought the horde. I also got to level 8 after I defeated the monsters from the horde. Now I have 20 skill points to spend, but I’m not spending anything yet. I’ll use them during the fight if I run into any obstacles. I can buy Crushing Blade if a tough enough enemy appears, and I also have a new skill available for purchase.

[Swordsmanship – Wing Slash (Cost: 20 Skill Points)]

I used so many Agility Burst combos that I’ve received a dash attack skill. Wing Slash would allow me to quickly fly towards an enemy with a sword slash. Really cool skill, but might it not be very useful when dealing with a horde? I could potentially use it to kill some flying enemies, but how am I going to get down? Still, it’s something to keep in mind. I’ll buy them in case I need them.

“Sorry I’m late. The fast-travel station was crowded today.” I was lost in thought when Ririna showed up. We’re meeting in the same clearing where we talked the other day. She was wearing a cape, and she took off her hood before sitting down.

“Don’t worry about it. I just got here myself.” Is this a date? “Uhmm… Did you do it?”

“Taadaa~! A Torn Violence Potion just for you!” Ririna held onto a flask with a bubbling red liquid.

“*Gulp* Not very appetizing…”

“I know, but it’s very effective. And it tastes like strawberries. Just like I promised.” Ririna tried to hand me the potion.

“You should keep it… I’m afraid I might spill it… Just give it to me when it’s time to take it.” I wasn’t keen on carrying around a scary looking thing like that, but that wasn’t all. I genuinely believe that it’s safer in Ririna’s hands. “By the way, Ririna. We can’t lure the monsters away from the town permanently, but it is possible to lure them temporarily, right?”

“I think so… If we cram a lot of that dirt into a small spot, the luring effect is going to be very powerful. The problem is that without any crops, the luring magic is gonna quickly dissipate.”

“That’s fine. I actually got an idea on how I can avoid getting surrounded…” I explained the idea of moving the fight to a more favorable terrain, and we went over some of the details.

“That could work… It’s just that I don’t know anywhere with a choke point like that. I pay a lot of attention to materials, but not to things like that. That’s more something Sarasa would know. Since the deadline’s tomorrow, I don’t think we’ll have time to look for the perfect location.”

“Can’t we ask Sarasa for help?”

“I told you Sarasa has her own circumstances. She won’t be able to help us with our fight.”

“She doesn’t need to help us fight anything. We just need to ask her for a good location. Isn’t it fine if it’s just talking?”

“That’s a good point. She talked to me after I was released, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Let’s go see if we can talk to her.”

Ririna thinks she knows where Sarasa is, so the two of us sneaked back into town. We were covering our faces with hoodies, but we got past the soldiers at the gate without any problem. They understand the situation, so they’re not gonna stop us. The townsfolk were the ones we had to stay hidden from. As soon as we entered, we dove into an alleyway. I followed Ririna through the dim streets of Rocky Ridges until we arrived in front of the Gathering of Flowers. Inside, Sarasa sat alone at a table, and we quietly sat down with her. Her ears twitched, and she tried to take a peek under our hoods.

“Ririna?! And Iroha too?! What are you doing here? You still haven’t run away? Didn’t you go back to the capital, Ririna?” Sarasa was surprised, but kept her head low and whispered to us.

“I stopped by the capital, but I told you I wasn’t going to run away. My life as an alchemist would be over if I did… More importantly, we need your help.” Sarasa immediately said she couldn’t help us fight, but we explained the situation to her and what our plan was.

“Oh… Okay. As long as it’s not fighting, I’ll help you out however I can! Your plan is probably fine. You’ll be able to wing it somehow. If I were there, it would be flawless, but it is what it is. Nyahahah! Remember what I taught you, Iroha, and everything will be fine!” What the hell did she ever teach me? How to fall off trees? She’s gotten really carefree all of a sudden.

“Do you know a good location or not? Something like a valley would be nice.” Sarasa thought for a second before answering my question.

“There’s lots of good places around here. This is a pretty mountainous area after all.” That’s right, this place is filled with crazy rock formations. I’ve been here long enough that they’ve started to blend into the background. “For example, remember the place with the Golem Munchers? There’s a big valley a little beyond that hill.”

“Really?” This is it. Things are finally looking up for us.

“I remember now, Iroha. Me and Sarasa have been there before. I think it’s just what we’re looking for.”

“That’s good to know. We should check it out, and we’ll have everything ready to go.”

“Don’t be too reckless, okay? As long as you’re alive, everything will work itself out. You don’t need to stop being alchemist just because of this incident, Ririna. Don’t turn yourself in, even if it doesn’t work out. I promise I’ll help you at some point.” Sarasa’s right. Everything would sort itself out if Ririna wasn’t so stubborn about taking responsibility for something she didn’t do. In a valley, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll be able to run away, so the only way Ririna doesn’t survive is…

“You know I can’t do that. It’s my own alchemy that causes problems, so I have to be the one to solve them. I’m happy you’re worried about me, but it’s not over yet.” Ririna looked toward me.

“As long as you haven’t given up, it will be fine. I’ll be rooting for you two. Good luck!”

We thanked Sarasa for her help and left the town before anyone could find out our identities. We’re as prepared as we’ll ever be. All that’s left is to put our plan into practice. Will we be able to defeat all the monsters? That’s the only way to save Ririna.