Tower Defense (Part 1)

The day of my departure now mere hours away, I was taking in the cool nightly breeze on the balcony of my room to clear my head.

"Is our hero perhaps feeling restless on the eve of his first public appearance ?"

"More anxiety than anticipation to be honest."

That unusually soft yet unmistakably teasing tone came from none other than Nika. Leaning lazily on one side of her own alcove with her head resting sideways in her arms, it seemed she had also come out to take a breather.

"How honest. I thought men really liked these kinds of celebrations though, does that not hold true in your case ?"

"I'm not very good at forcing a smile, much less stand amidst large crowds. And to think all of these people will be there to see me specifically, I cannot help but feel the weight of their expectations by anticipation."

Since I had announced my will to act as the hero they had been wishing for at the last war council, before I knew it the king had made preparations to set up a parade in my honor.
The news had been relayed to me during dinner earlier so I was now contemplating how I had been a fool to come to the conclusion that everything would necessarily take more time in this world.

"Your consideration is one of your virtues Taiyo-sama."

"Give me a break..."

Incidentally, since I had been told that only people of noble birth had the right to use a family name in addition to their surname, I had been asked to only use one of mine, if only publicly.
And as a result I told them to go with 'Taiyo'. 

It was my gaming teammates who came up with it. With both my names shortened and combined, the moniker or pet name was created. And the fact that it meant 'the sun' in japanese was no coincidence either.

My teammates were all "commoners" if you compared their family situations with mine. And most of them had had real trouble to have their parents accept their will to pursue the dream of a career in e-sport. One of them has even had to leave his home, which had led to me to provide him with shelter for a while.
As a result, I spent a lot of time listening to their woes and confessions of insecurity. Naturally I did my best to be there for them and also helped them materially whenever necessary.
And that's how they came up with the nickname 'Taiyo'.
To them I was like the sun, shining warmly over them and providing direction in harsh wintry days. Or so they'd told me. Which had obviously brought me to tears.

So in hopes of being able to provide at least a little of that warmth and guiding light to the people of this world, I decided to carry over this moniker and wear it with pride here too.

"Did the moon do something to earn your distaste ? You look at it with such a serious expression."

"No, not at all. It's just, the sight of you under its rays was too much for me to behold, so I was simply trying to divert my attention elswhere so I would not risk losing my eyes in yours."

"!?"

 I did not intend to declare my love or anything like that, but I still wanted to put my spur of the moment feelings into words.

She who I had only seen wear dark colored garments until then, was now wearing a frilly pink nightgown. It was not revealing in the slightest with its long sleeves and turtleneck colar, but the light fabric coupled with the present colour gave it such a feminine appeal that she appeared all the more charming, if only by contrast.

Yeah, spending time with her really does ease my nerves after all.

"W-well t-then I guess you're feeling better already if you're able to crack jokes, so I w-will excuse myself, good night..."

"Hm ? Ah, no it was genuine don't worry. But you're right, talking to you even shortly really did help me settle down. Thanks for that. And a good night to you too."

With that, she made a sharp turn and went back to her bedroom in a hurry, forgetting to close her shutters and curtains on the way.

Did she get embarassed by what I said ? Cute.
Though I hope she won't misinterpret and think I'm hitting on her just because we grew a little closer. Especially since I still can't exactly picture myself giving love another shot yet.
Plus I'd hate for her to grow wary and distant because of that...

Better to set things straight next time I see her.

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The following day it was time for the welcoming parade. Handwritten newspapers had spread among the nobility and every one of them was expected to attend the proceedings. 

As for the common folk, minstrels and merchants had heard the word and had been tasked with alerting the masses. Needless to say that it was mainly for this part of the population that we fought wars in the first place, so the vast majority of them would be present. 

"Taiyo-sama, your cape."

"Thank you Vradio."

For the occasion, I wore the hero costume they had prepared for me post-summoning. The one thing that was added to the ensemble however, was this cape. It was dark red with golden embroidery and black-dotted white fur around the colar, and most importantly with a golden sun sewn right in the middle.

The craftsmen here sure work fast. To come up with a design based off the meaning of the name I gave them in the span of a couple days, it's actually crazy to me. I won't complain though, even if it adds to the overall pressure.

Reviewing the schedule I had been handed along with the short memo for the speech I was to give, I made my way to the ground floor of the castle and prepared to board the carriage.

"Please wait sir, you are expected to ride this one after the ceremony, not during the proceedings."

Wait, don't tell me...

Further removed from the ostentacious-looking carriage which turned out to be the one I would board for the road to Fort Brighton, sat an extravagant throne affixed to larger and rectangular piece of wood from which two large logs protruted on each side to allow multiple people to carry it.

Thinking back, I'd say it resembled the Danjiri Carts from that one festival I had attended back home.

"T-then, am I to ride this one by any chance ?" I asked the soldier in charge of organizing the carts.

"But of course sir ! The people have been hoping for this everlasting conflict to end for long enough. The arrival of a figure of hope such as yourself simply has to be celebrated in order."

I understood where they were coming from but, well... It was still a little too much for me to handle. Though I can't exactly tell them this late into the game.

Come to think of it, it all happened so fast that I had to wonder what they would have done if I had ultimately refused the role and had gone back to my world.

Master Prakia had told me how taxing and complicated it had been to perform the summoning, so I knew it wouldn't have been easy to prepare another one too. That being said, it was no use thinking about what-ifs so I had better focus on preparing myself for the event ahead of me.

                                                                      _________________


The parade proceeded without issue. All I did was sit there atop a throne with soldiers merrily carrying me along, while I occasionally waved at the crowds on both sides. 
By the way, before I climbed onto the thingy, when I asked the soldiers if it wasn't too much asking for them to carry such a heavy load, they had looked at me dumbfounded and had praised my solicitude before telling me all about the honor they had been afforded.

Then once the timing was right, all carts and carriages stopped and, using the makeshift microphone born from magic engineering which used the wind element to function, I gave a little speech.

I say "little" because all it amounted to was me giving a self introduction and making a vow to see this conflict to its end or die trying, basically.

Come to think of it, between the rapidity with which they prepared the whole parade and what they asked me to say during my adress, I am completely cornered now. I can't go back.

Is this okay ? Is what the part of my brain in charge of risk management kept asking over and over since the day before, but ultimately I figured that it would be no use to dwell on it and rather focalise on doing things right and to make coming back alive my main focus.


"You're awfully quiet for a first timer, did the nerves get the better of you already ?"

The one casually taunting me while he seated across from me in the carriage was, of course, Richard.

"I will not deny that it is part of the reason. But more importantly, is it okay for the commander to be holed up in here instead of say, leading the charge ?"

"Hah ! Trying to be witty with me aren't you ? I guess my worries were for naught then."

Which part of your comment exactly was supposed to come off as worried ?

"We'll spend five days on the road, which means we'll have to camp out four of those days, so brace yourself."

"There is no need for that, I've had enough time to acclimate to this sort of experience."

"You don't say... Oh right, that woman did teach you the ropes, didn't she ? I bet she'd be thrilled to know you've kept it up until now."

I thought I saw a hint of fatherly, or maybe rather mentorly pride in his otherwise raucous laughter, but it must have been my imagination after all.

Yeah no way this guy is the type to care about his comrades enough to value such trivial stuff.

                                                                      _________________


With that, another three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Monsters attacks had been few and far between and his men had managed mostly without the need for him to even step out of the carriage. 

And that's why I pondered. If this guy is this insufferable on the daily, how are his troops so orderly and well-behaved ? So I decided to pay closer attention to his interactions with his men.

"Nicholas, you'll be on lookout first for tonight."

"Yes sir !"

"Good enthusiasm, but stop staying later than instructed. I know you don't want to burden the younger recruits and want to ensure everything is truly under control but this is part of their training. And I'd rather have you in peak condition during the day than at night, otherwise who can I trust for handling monster attacks ?"

"Sorry sir, it is as you say. I will be careful."

"Good."


"Marie, please teach these guys how to set up the tents will you ? They'll take until morning at this rate."

With a salute she followed his instruction without complaint. 

Maybe I'm just a poor judge of character. Was the conclusion I reached on the third night. 

Not only did Richard remember the names of all of his soldiers, he gave them precise instructions helping all the while. But the most surprising to me was that he was in fact quite patient.

His squad consisted of fourty soldiers, there were more troops to the second division he was in charge of, but most of them were stationed either at Fort Brighton or were bringing reinforcement to the front where his Highness Tokesa was fighting.

Incidentally, from the fourty who traveled with him, roughly thirty of them were the same age as me or younger. All humans however. And because they were so young, their lack of experience led them to make plenty of mistakes. Be it setting up camp properly, staying awake on lookout at night or managing monster hordes, they were often reprimanded by the vice captain, Nicholas.

That being said, Richard never seemed eager to fault them himself. When I inquired into this and questioned one of the soldiers, they immediately brushed it off saying that the commander was both a very good teacher and a forgiving man.

More than meets the eye huh ?


Two days later, we reached our destination.

"Alright, those of you who were either on patrol or on night watch yesterday can go and use the baths first. The rest will help carry the provisions into the cold chamber. Now someone please go ahead and tell the ice mage to prepare the new circle."

With a collective yes sir shouted with enthusiasm, everyone disembarked and moved as instructed.

"'Taiyo' now was it ? I'll show you to your quarters first. Come with me."

Following his imposing form, I made my way inside the fort. We entered through the main gate and passed through a small plaza before we headed to the right wing tower where a room had been prepared for me.

"It's probably smaller than your room back at the castle but I'll ask you to bear with it for a while."

"..."

Had he said it in anything other than a mocking manner, I'd have answered that it was fine. But since he decided to tease me, I simply kept my mouth shut and left him be.

"We'll keep the theatrical greetings for tomorrow so for now you can just unpack and rest up until dinner. I'll show you to the baths later."

"Got it, thanks."

With only a wave over his shoulder, Richard left.


After dinner, as promised he guided me to the baths.

"Oh yeah it's a mixed bath since there are so few women in my ranks, so I hope you won't be rude to them since I can't exactly go against your authority now that you are a hero. Anyway, please spare them, will ya ?"

"I had no intention of fooling around in this context anyway, power or not."

"Then it's all good."

I guess I could see how men my age or even those in their thirties and older would want to abuse their status to fool around with women from a different world but, in my case my consciousness wouldn't leave me alone later on if I did anything like that. Not like I'm in the mood for it anyway.


On the next day, after introducing myself to the gathered troops, Richard laid out his plan to me.

"Are you familiar with tower defense ?"

"Yeah I think so. Basically, instead of sieging we are the ones being sieged."

"That's right and then ?"

"Then we focus on holding the front gate and put archers and long distance fighter in general on the towers on each side, and block the windows to avoid projectiles from reaching inside."

"Good, this'll make the plan easier to go through."

The plan in question would have two objectives this time around. First and foremost was to quite literally hold the fort, but second was to thin out their numbers with an ambush.

The fort being close to a mountain, the goal was to have a large unit stationed in the rocky landscape on the side, and have them push forward enough so that they could attack the advancing army's flank at a moment's notice.
That way if the battle is in our favor, the flank will manage to thin out their numbers. And if instead its the enemy who's in a favorable position and pushing us back, the flanking unit will be able to put their formation into disarray and hopefully force them to retreat.

"And where will you have me assigned ?"

"Nowhere today. I heard you were a strategist of some kind, was that wrong ?"

"No."

"Then I want to you to familiarize yourself with our war tactics and that of our enemies first. And to provide Nicholas with your observations in real-time."

"Understood."

Yeah, he isn't the leader of the second platoon for nothing I guess.

"What about you, will you be spearheading the blockade at the front gate then ?"

"Heh, no way."

Gesturing for the guard close to the weapon stand to bring him something, he continued.

"My speciality is this."

A gigantic and metalic bow. With a string made of something akin to those of guitars, it seemed it was his weapon of choice. Uncharacteristically as it sounded.

"I thought you used a sword."

"Nah, this one is only for close quarters combat. Otherwise I'm a backliner. The best out there too, of course." Wahahaha, he roared.

Following this exchange, a solider trotted down the corridor and knocked on the opened door to the meeting room.

"Commander, enemies were sighted at about twelve kilometers southeast. All units are on standby, awaiting instructions."

"Good, then I'll be on my way. Tell the ice mage to rest and to stand ready after his break."

"Understood."


We were in mid-september, a month and a half away from the winter break negociated by Glursem. This mission was all about protecting this structure and head back home unscathed.

Alright, let's survive this.