As Dawn stood beside the gate, two people approached her.

  “May I assist?” “Can I help?” Stevin and Rosalia asked in unison.

  “Sure. However, you must keep yourselves alive to the best of your abilities. Am I understood?”

  “Yes,” the two responded in unison.

  The three readied themselves for battle. Dawn manifested her halberd, Rosalia readied her [Flame] runes, and Stevin manifested his spear.

  The wave of cannibals soon crashed onto them, and they responded with force. Dawn slashed back, Rosalia carbonized many of them, and Stevin struck their weak points while using Dawn as a shield.

  The cannibal army, to their credit, didn’t freeze up at their injured, but dragged them back to heal. To Rosalia’s fireballs, they chucked their own. To Dawn’s sweeping strikes, they held back and only stepped into range just to strike, their neighbors ready to stop counters from Dawn and Stevin.

  “Stevin. Rosalia. It appears we won’t be able to escape if they finish surrounding us. You two make a break for it, and I will hold your retreat. Now, GO!” Dawn flooded the area with fire, switching from a defensive strategy to a highly offensive one. As Dawn headed forward into the cannibal army, she noticed both Stevin and Rosalia managed to break free, running a short distance away.

  Let’s see if I can retreat.

  Dawn kept glancing around her, but enemies surrounded her on all sides.

  I need to look everywhere at once. But how?

  While Dawn was slightly distracted, she failed to evade a strike from behind and had her arm pierced.

  Heal? No.

  Dawn stopped all her attempts to fight back and instead prepared a [Flame] inside herself, keeping it within herself.

  And when she had put all her mana into it, she looked up and lightly smiled.

  “Goodbye.”

  Dawn opened her eyes and saw leaves and foliage above her. She sat up, recognizing the forest around her.

  I’m naked again.

  She swiftly stripped leaves from the trees and used [Healing] to merge the leaves.

  With her now dressed, she peeked out of the forest to see the cannibals fleeing, many of them on fire. Stevin and Rosalia simply stood, frozen in a moment.

  Dawn waited until the cannibals were out of sight before she exited the forest and said hello to Stevin and Rosalia.

  “How… how are you alive?” Stevin asked, while Rosalia’s mouth was simply wide open.

  “I appear to return from the dead if I die. Now, how are you two?”

  They remained silent.

  “Well, if you won’t respond, I will ask later.” Dawn turned away and headed out to find the townspeople.

  “Dawn! You’re safe!” Samuel called out when he saw Dawn, Stevin and Rosalia following behind.

  “Is everyone alive? Healthy?”

  “Ah, yes! Everyone is fine. Joseph, less so, but he’s still alive.”

  “Is Joseph the rebel leader?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, Stevin. Why did you assist the rebels?” Dawn turned around on her heel to face him.

  Stevin turned away.

  Dawn summoned her mana and focused it onto him. His body began to shake, and he began to sweat rapidly.

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  “Why did you assist the rebels?”

  “B- because y-you stopped caring about me,” Stevin said in a whimper.

  Dawn reabsorbed her mana.

  “So, in an attempt to get my attention, you assisted a rebellion?”

  “...Yes.”

  “Your plan is rather lacking. If you wanted me to notice you, it would be more effective to just assist me. I’m speaking to you now because you helped me.”

  “But- but… you’re interrogating me about the rebellion! So it worked!”

  “Once. I’m going to jail you, and never look back at you.”

  Dawn turned away, and scanned the crowd.

  Silk isn’t here. I’ll head to the farm.

  Dawn called over Samuel. “Schedule a watch, day and night. Head back to town and see what remains. We’ll get to work restoring it soon. Ryan, Jared, you are to split day and night shifts, and help out the guards. Each of you will work for 12-hour shifts, and rest the remaining time. Am I understood?”

  The two soldiers nodded.

  Dawn then rushed off to the fields.

  “Silk?” she called out.

  A portion of the ground shook, and from it worms wearing a cloak of leaves emerged.

  “Mother! You’re alright!”

  “Yes I am.” She stared at Silk and inspected the cloak's coverage of Silk’s bodies.

  “I think you are capable of mingling with the town now. But, you are lacking arms, or at least the imitation of them. Your choice: reveal yourself now or remodel your cloak to allow you for arms and introduce yourself then.”

  Silk remained silent for many moments before saying, “I’ll stay hidden for now. If I can’t help, no one will like me.”

  “Alright. Then keep yourself hidden for now. I’ll sneak you into town soon.”

  The next days passed without any major issues. During the day, Dawn acquired food before keeping watch on a group that collects wood from the forest to restore the village. No attacks from Plerith, nor any attacks from monsters. Silk’s progress on their cloak’s modification was slow but steady. However, several days into the reconstruction period, something happened,

  “Commander!” Jared called out. Dawn rushed over.

  “What is it?”

  “A few monsters attacked the town, and several of the watch were hurt in the process.”

  “Where are the injured?”

  “In the town hall.”

  “What attacked?”

  “Giant rats.”

  “Were there a lot?”

  “A few? Looked like a standard pack, but the entire pack attacked.”

  “Is that unusual?”

  “Yes. Normally, only a few make a light attack to gauge our defences, but the whole pack made a suicidal charge at us.”

  “Keep watch, and call new people to fill the guard.”

  Dawn went over to the injured. Most of their injuries had been healed already, with an exhausted Stevin crumpled in the corner.

  “Did you heal them?”

  “Yes,” Stevin said, barely a voice to his words, a sign of exhaustion.

  “Good.” Dawn began to heal the remaining injured. Their wounds had an abnormal property though, taking much more mana to heal than usual.

  Abnormal behaviors. Attack in the middle of the day for no reason. Cursed wounds. Were they sent here to weaken us?

  Dawn returned to the main gate.

  “When do most attacks happen?”

  “Uh… typically at night. A few happen during the day, but those are wandering monsters.”

  “Got it. Bring everyone inside and lock the gates. Act under the assumption that Plerith is attacking.”

  “Understood, Commander!”

  Dawn grabbed a few of the giant rat corpses and brought them to her home, which had been repaired early on. She tossed them on the ground and began to scrutinize them.

  Light traces of mana on their claws. Different from the mana inside them. Something else made their attacks cursed.

  She manifested a blade and cut the rats open.

  Nothing unusual in the chest. No signs of starvation. Their brains have a slight tinge of mana though.

  Dawn checked the mana on the claws and brains of all the rats against each other. They were all a perfect match for each other.

  So our enemy can send animals out and enhance them. We need armor, and quickly. I’m adding a new regimen to training.

  Dawn found Samuel and made him call the town, barring those on watch.

  “We appear to be under attack by monsters. Their claws are cursed; if you are scratched, you will not heal, at least not easily. To resolve this, I’m implementing a new training policy. When you are not on duty, practice manifesting armor. Cover yourselves everywhere, but do not block your movements. Allow for bends and movements on your joints, like this.”

  Dawn manifested armor, covering her arm from fingertips to shoulder. She moved her elbow and wiggled her fingers about.

  “Am I understood?”

  “Yes, your majesty!” the crowd yelled in response.

  “Good. You are dismissed.”