Moon Goddess Festival. It is a festival our people do once every year. The festival celebrates the day of the Moon Goddess Lunaria coming to our kingdom and blessing our land. It is one of the few festivals that I love.

The reason? It is the day when I can explore the city the entire day without the guard reminding me about my duty.

Moon Goddess Festival is all about celebration. Wine and food need to be used on this day. Luckily for us, we did not have that many people in this village, and we did not need to spend too much food and drink on this celebration.

"My lord, we are ready."

I snap from my thoughts and nod to Sebastian.

"Let's get this over with."

I get inside the carriage and wave my hand to Cassandra, who needs to stay here to prepare for the festival. I look at Sebastian and say.

"Sebastian, how long does it take to get to Irton City?"

"If nothing holds us back, it will take us the entire day, my lord. We are going early, so we should arrive in Irton City before the sun goes down or just after the sun goes down."

"I see. This will be a long day, huh?"

"It is, my lord. Please take some rest, my lord. We will make sure to protect you and the carriage."

I nod and say.

"Very well. I will take some more sleep. I will leave everything to you, Sebastian."

"Of course, my lord. Leave it to me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|3rd POV|

Arma and his companion go to the Southwest from their home and arrive in Irton City just before the sun goes down. The monsters in the desert did not move much, and they only stopped twice during the entire journey because of the ambush.

When they arrive at the city gate, the guard stops them and says.

"Halt! Inspection!"

Sebastian nods and lets them inspect the carriage. They inspect the carriage where Arma stays, and when they see him, they bow a little and move on. They can see Arma's badge on his cloak, which shows them he is a noble.

As the child of Viscount, Arma has the same authority as a Noble Knight. The entire kingdom will hunt them down if they dare to do anything to him.

They move to the next carriage and see the corpse of a monster. They walk to Arma and say.

"My lord, is this the monster you hunt?"

Arma nods and says.

"Aye. They are attacking us on the road."

"I see. Can you tell us where the monster is attacking?"

"They are attacking us just after we are passing the small village oasis to the north."

"Does the village have the banner of a scorpion on the field of green?"

"That is right."

Arma answers truthfully, and the guard notices his head, but Arma notices a frown on his face when he answers the guard's question.

"I see. Thank you for informing us, my lord. Do you want us to inform the lord?"

"No. We come here to trade and nothing else. We did not need to make the City Lord busy with our presence."

"Of course. Please have a nice day and don't cause any trouble."

"I will."

As Arma and his group get inside the city, the guard looks at the other guards and says.

"We need to inform the captain about this."

"Aye. Harmas Village was already asking for reinforcement because of the sudden spike of monsters from the north and now four convoys already attacked on the same day. Let's go."

The two of them walk to the barracks, where they enter the captain's office.

"Captain."

"Ah! Yulan! Jordan! What can I do for you?"

Yulan, a man with blue hair and blue eyes, walks forward and explains the situation to the captain. After a minute of explanation, the captain nods his head and says.

"I see. This is indeed a dire situation. However, as much as I want to help them, we cannot do that."

"Can I ask the reason why?"

The captain looks at Jordan, a young man with brown hair and green eyes, and says.

"It is because the kingdom is to the east. They are gathering soldiers on the border and we cannot ignore that. Our Lord is ordering us to make sure the soldiers stay in the city or at the border to the east. We cannot spare people to clear the monster to the north."

"Then what should we do?"

The captain thinks for a few seconds before an idea gets inside his head. It is a great idea, but at the same time, it is a bad idea.

"I will ask the City Lord to use his blessing to repel the monster."

"What?! Doesn't the King forbid that blessing?"

"No. Not forbidden but rather restricted. He can only use them when the situation requires it. With our back exposed to the monster, we can ask the City Lord to use his blessing."

The blessing they are talking about is a blessing that lets the user cover the entire area with a semi-transparent barrier and make any monster passing this barrier attack in the direction the user chooses.

It is a dangerous ability because it can ignite a war between a kingdom or get friendly fire from this blessing. If the City Lord creates this barrier and aims it at the neighborhood kingdom, they will declare war. The monster will attack their allies' city if they aim it in the other direction.

"Where should the City Lord aim his blessing?"

"North. There is nothing there."

"But there are three villages in there!"

The captain looks at Jordan and says with a serious expression.

"The good of the many is more important than the good of the few. We need to think of the greater good, Jordan. However, I understand your feelings. I will personally help them if they survive for the next year."

Jordan can only nod his head, but he grits his teeth in frustration. The captain might not know this, but the village in the north is his hometown, and he does not want them to get destroyed by monsters.

When he returns to the barracks, he prepares to inform the people in his hometown about this plan so they can migrate to another city. However, as he leaves the barrack in the middle of the night, Yulan stops him.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't stop me, Yulan. I need to inform the others about this plan."

"Who says that I want to stop you? Here"

Yulan throws a key to Jordan and says,

"You can use the emergency door. You know the location."

Jordan looks at the key and back at Yulan before saying.

"Thank you"

Jordan and Yulan did not know it, but their action also indirectly helped Arma and his companion.