Lawrence, a B-ranked adventurer, was in despair.

　This was because hundreds of demons were approaching the city of Gareth, which he guarded, in droves. It was called the Stampede, a calamity in which demons of numerous species gathered together and proceeded to destroy everything in their path.

　In the past, Lawrence had led four adventurer parties to fight off small-scale stampede. For this reason, he was sent to this city by the Adventurer's Guild and entrusted with leading the defense.

　However, this Stampede was different in scale from the Stampede that he had previously defeated with about thirty C- to D-ranked demons that were running amok.

　Some of the attacking demons were confirmed to be above the B rank. Demons at such a high level would not naturally gather together to become a stampede.

　In fact, there was a culprit that caused this to happen.
　An existence that was harmful to humans - a demon.

　However, at this point in time, Lawrence and the other adventurers were unaware of the existence of demons.

　Inside the city, people had begun to evacuate to the east side of the city, as opposed to the protective wall on the west side where the stampede was approaching.

　Lawrence had decided that the stampede could not be prevented this time and advised the city's vigilantes to evacuate the residents.

Bad. I shouldn't have accepted this request.

It's too late for that. If it was you, you would have made a decision to retreat as soon as you found out there were more than a hundred demons out there, right?

　The brown-haired female archer said this to Lawrence as she checked the bow and arrows in her hand.

''Yes, even though I got good benefits from the guild, it was a bad idea to stay in this city for a month.

　The stern, dark-colored man, equipped with a huge shield and lance, let out a few words of self-mockery.

The people of this town and the vigilantes have been very good to me. We can't just run away now,

　So said the female monk, a member of Lawrence's party, as well as the previous two.

　To buy the inhabitants a little time to escape, Lawrence, his companions, and the city's vigilantes had set up a camp in front of the city's western protective wall to try to stop the stampede.

　The adventurers are free-living people. Even though they were entrusted by the guild to protect this city of Gareth, many adventurers would flee as soon as they judged that their lives were in danger.

　However, Lawrence and the others did not choose to flee. It has been a month since they were dispatched to this city with the expectation of a stampede in the near future. It was because the city's residents had given them the best possible hospitality as they came to protect the city from the threat of the demons.

　In order to strengthen their cooperation with the vigilantes, they became friends as they hunted and drank with the demons around the city together.

　If the female archer was right, the usual Lawrence would make a decision to retreat immediately if he knew that the number of demons was over a hundred, and there were several B-ranked demons.

　But on his wrist was a bracelet given to him by a child from this city. The dazzling smile on his face when he was handed it to me - I wanted to protect it.

　So I couldn't escape.


'Mr. Lawrence, I'm really sorry. I'm sorry I got you guys into this mess...

　The leader of the vigilante group in the city of Gareth bows to Lawrence and the others. When he found out that a stampede on a far greater scale than he had expected was approaching, he had expected the adventurers to all flee.

　But out of the four adventurer parties that were there, only Lawrence and the others remained in this city.

　The stampede that was coming towards this city could never be prevented by the forces that were here now. Still, the vigilantes are here to buy time for their families and friends to escape.

　If they are here, they will surely lose their lives in a few minutes - and in such a place, Lawrence and his friends, who are not residents of the city and do not know anyone in the city, will be there.

　The Commander was sincerely grateful to Lawrence and the others, but at the same time he was sorry.

'Don't be silly, Commander, we're here on business too. We're here to do our job, and we're finally going to be able to do it. For that matter, if you die, Yuca will be sad, so don't ever die.

　While Lawrence is on patrol outside the city, Euca, the daughter of the vigilante leader, is being attacked by a monster.

　He saves her, and in return she makes a bracelet out of her old wish stone and gives it to him.

She made a bracelet out of her old wish stone and gave it to him. My daughter will grieve for you when you're gone.

I know, I know. So, the plan is to give our lives a chance. Okay?　Don't ever take it easy. I will protect my family, my friends, my people, my city!

""Ooh!"

　Lawrence borrows the words of a brave man from another world who used to say to his friends, party members, and the vigilantes.


　I'm the one who has to do the impossible, I'm the one who has to do it.

　That's what Lawrence thought.

　He's a B-ranked adventurer alone. He was confident in his skills. And he was the only one who could personally defeat the B-ranked demons in the oncoming stampede.

　He was going to have the vigilantes and his companions manage to prevent the C-ranked and below demons, and he was going to take down the B-ranked demons that were capable of destroying the defensive line.

　Of course, there was no way he could continue to fight a B-ranked demon by himself. But he couldn't protect this city without doing so.

　Lawrence was prepared to die on his own, despite his orders to his friends and the vigilantes.


　The earth rumbles.
　It was the sound of about three hundred demons coming toward them.

　The Stampede was approaching.

Did you try to contact him?

'Yes. I have letter-birded the Guild of the Stampede's occurrence and magnitude. Perhaps they will contact that gentleman as well.

'The problem is that there's a rumour that there was a stampede on another continent a while ago. If that rumor was true, they would have gone that way.

Okay.

　The hope that "he" might come - such a hope is gone, and although Lawrence was inwardly despairing, he still did not show any signs of despair.

　It's not just a matter of time before he or she will be able to get the job done.


　The Stampede comes within range.

''Magic squad!　Archers!　I'll shoot you for everything!

　At Lawrence's signal, the twelve wizards and the thirty archers who had been waiting on the protective wall and the thirty archers released their magic and arrows at once.

　The demon that was running in front of the Stampede was hit by it and fell - but the demons trampled on its corpse and continued their march into the city.

　The advance did not stop, but they could probably cut down about fifty of them. There were approximately two hundred and fifty demons left.

　After this, the magic and archery troops would continue to fire magic and arrows at the back of the Stampede to reduce their numbers.


''Let's go!
''Oh!''

　The ground troops, led by Lawrence, began the battle.

　It had started out well. They had succeeded in killing the momentum of the demons with magic and arrows, so Lawrence's friends and the vigilantes were able to work together to defeat dozens of demons.

　In the midst of all this...

...gulp!

　Lawrence had withstood the onslaught of the three B-ranked demons. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't kill them all, and it was all he could do to keep them from going to the vigilantes.

　His fellow female archers would cover him from the top of the protective barrier, but all he could do was keep the C-ranked demons away from him.

''d*mn it!''

　Lawrence let the dark wolf bite (...) his left hand (...) and beheaded him. Then, he slashed down the B-ranked demons that were reduced to two in succession.

　It was a fairly forceful method, but he was able to eliminate three demons that could break the defensive line. However, the blood wouldn't stop flowing from his bitten left hand.

''Tch.......this isn't good.''

　When he said that...

Mr. Lawrence!

　As Lawrence was charging into the swarm of demons by himself, a female monk, surrounded by several vigilantes, came to his side and began to cast a recovery spell.

　The vigilantes who came with her kept the demons around her in check so the female monk could focus on Lawrence's recovery.

'Ba, you idiot!　Don't you dare step out in front of me like this!

You asked me to give up life!　And yet... and yet, this is a strange way to fight!

That's...?　That's dangerous!
Aah!

　Lawrence jumped to the side with the female monk in his arms.

　Immediately after that, a great sword of disaster was swung down at the place where they were, with a roaring sound.

　The vigilantes who were checking the surrounding demons were blown away and the orc fighters attacked at Lawrence and the female monk.

　What appeared were five orc fighters; they were high ranking beings among the B-ranked demons.

　Five top B-ranked species - Lawrence had no chance of winning the fight.

''This is it........''

　He held the female monk in a strong embrace and bent down to protect her.

　It's impossible to block an orc fighter's sword with your body at first. If that's the case, let him slay the female monk himself. That way, at least the woman I love won't be defiled by the orcs.

　That's what he thought. I hugged the trembling woman monk with all my might, hoping to ease her fear as much as possible.

　The orc-fighter held the great sword and placed it on Lawrence's back──.


　A splattering of blood danced loudly.

　The blood did not belong to Lawrence and the others.

　Both of the orc fighters' hands had been severed as they tried to swing the great sword down, and a large amount of blood had gushed out.

'You managed to make it in time,'

　He heard voices and looked up and saw what Lawrence saw...

　It was a dark-haired young man wielding a slightly curved sword and slashing down five orc fighters in an instant.


''No way........Oh, you're supposed to be in another continent!

''Yeah!　That's why I had to jump in a big hurry.

　As he said this, the young man was sprinkling some kind of potion on the vigilante who had just been blown up by an orc fighter.

　It was a pretty deep hand, but the wound disappeared in no time.

''Well then, I'll take care of this one, please.''

　Arguably, the young man hands the unconscious vigilante over to Lawrence.

'Whoa!　A wishstone bracelet, huh? Maybe that's what got me there in time.

　The young man said that while looking at the bracelet on Lawrence's wrist.

　The wish stone works like a talisman when you wear it. Also, by processing it with a strong wish in mind, the wish stone will shine in a color that matches the wish.

　The bracelet Lawrence was wearing glowed strongly in yellow, which meant a safety prayer.


'I'll take care of the rest,'

　The dark-haired young man - Haruto - turned his back to Lawrence, held the sword in his hand and said.

"Let me protect this city...