Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Veit, are you in here?”

The one who quietly entered the grand archive was, as expected, Big Sis Fern. With her was Pia, the young werewolf who serves as her partner.
However, I don’t see Monsa or anyone from her squad..

“Yeah. Aylia and the daughter of the Governor are with me as well. What happened to Monsa and the others?”

Fern answers while looking over the floor littered with corpses.

“We spotted a suspicious group retreating out of the city, so they said they’d secretly tail them. They were marking walls with circles and crosses using white stones, so it caught our attention.”

Without a doubt, agents of the enemy.

“Those are probably markers for reinvading Zaria. If there’s time, record all of them and then erase them.”

Fern claps her hands lightly, nodding in understanding.

“Oh, I see. Humans can’t memorize routes by scent, after all.”

Truth be told, I’m not especially good at memorizing scents either, but the other werewolves apparently find it easier than remembering by sight.

There were about ten who retreated, it seems, but I issue an order to Pia.

“Bring the main werewolf unit into Zaria. We’ll remain in this grand archive. Tell the squad leaders to secure the surrounding area.”
“Understood, Captain!”

The city’s safety hasn’t been fully secured yet, so we won’t move until the main force arrives.
I’m uneasy about sending Pia alone, but I’ll have Big Sis Fern remain here as escort. I can’t handle this by myself.

After Pia leaves, Fern guards the entrance.
At last, I can speak calmly with Shatina.

“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Veit, adjutant to Her Majesty the Demon Lord Gomoviroa. Under any different circumstances, I would have loved to speak with Lord Mergio. His death is regrettable.”

When I express my condolences, Shatina returns the courtesy.

“I am Shatina Stahl, daughter of Mergio Jüm Stahl. My father would…”

She had been maintaining composure, but upon reaching that point, she suddenly bursts into tears.
Covering her face with both hands, she crouches down on the spot.

“Father… Father… why… how could this…”

Shatina sobs loudly.
She has no other family, as far as I know. Having lost her only blood relative and now being entrusted with Zaria’s complicated future, she can hardly remain calm.
Glancing beside me, I see Aylia wiping at the corners of her eyes. She is likely remembering her own father. She too inherited the governorship after losing him.
Aylia kneels beside Shatina, gently wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Lady Shatina, we are your allies. If there is anything I can do, please say so.”

Shatina nods repeatedly through her tears.

Shatina is still in her mid-teens. In this world, that makes her a newly recognized adult, but even so, it is too soon for her to bear everything.
After crying for a while and calming somewhat, she begins to murmur in fragments.

“My father would…my father always used to say, as though it was his own mantra, that ‘we must make the hardest decisions ourselves.’ He had told us that, should we try to protect and develop Zaria, the Senate would inevitably grow wary of us…”

Aylia nods and gently rubs her shoulder.

“The North sees Zaria like a knife on their throat. Lord Mergio did well to protect it this long.”

Bernehainen, Tübahn, Zaria, and Veiria—all the cities close to the border had struggled with their relations with the North.
Bernehainen deliberately became a relic of the past to show the North that they were harmless. Tübahn approached the North by selling its technological prowess.
Veiria managed to navigate this oppression by circulating its finest crafts and arts and increasing the number of pro-Veiria supporters among the northern cultural figures.

Meanwhile Zaria fell behind due to devastation from the Unification War, and none of those approaches worked.
Merchants avoided a city without walls, and its surroundings were barren wasteland.
Moreover, having fought fiercely during the unification war, it was branded as a dangerous territory by the North.
It’s easy to understand how difficult the governor’s position must have been.

While I hesitate over what to say to Shatina, Monsa and the others suddenly appear.

“Captain, you here?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s safe.”

Monsa speaks in an unusually tense voice.

“Captain, this is bad. While we were chasing the ones who fled, we found an army approaching Zaria.”
“What?”
“Oh, don’t worry. We eliminated the fleeing ones before they could rejoin the army.”

Monsa smiles brightly.

But if they were trying to regroup, the army is likely being directly mobilized by the Senate.

“About two thousand infantry. Roughly half spears and half bows, I’d say. They disguised it as supply wagons, but I saw seven or eight large catapults.”
“Catapults!?”

Shatina is the one who shouts.

“What do they intend to do with such things!?”

Monsa shrugs.

“This place is full of tall buildings made of sun-dried bricks. Seems easy to break.”

The upper floors here are merely stacked sun-dried bricks, which are surprisingly weak against lateral force.
Even a labyrinth city that devours intruders will die if force-fed stones.

I grind my knuckles into Monsa’s head to silence her.

“Don’t say something so rude. But yes, their target is likely the city of Zaria itself. There’s no point bringing catapults against werewolves.”

Shatina already knows the Senate assassinated the governor. It’s only a matter of time before Zaria withdraws from the Miraldia Alliance.
The Senate has likely realized that as well, given that their assassins haven’t returned.
So before Zaria bares its fangs against the Senate, they intend to crush it with a preemptive strike.
It’s somewhat crude as cleanup for their intrigue, but preventing Zaria from building walls was likely part of this plan, and they must have been preparing this assault for quite some time.
And indeed, now they could destroy Zaria.

Aylia’s expression is grave.

“We lack the sufficient forces to repel two thousand soldiers. Zaria’s guard unit must have suffered significant casualties in the earlier fighting, and there may be enemy agents among them.”
“We only have the werewolf unit. Two thousand is impossible.”

The enemy is already close.
Tübahn has five hundred cavalry nearby, but the numbers and time are insufficient.
Relying on skeleton soldiers for defense has the weakness that reinforcements may not arrive in time…

Shatina bites her lip in frustration.

“If only we could deal with the catapults, Zaria would not fall to a mere two thousand soldiers…”

Even if this was a labyrinth city designed specifically for urban warfare, our chance to eke out a victory against two thousand assailants must’ve been abysmal.
But she’s right—we must do something about the catapults.
Even if we hole up and fight defensively, if they start hurling massive rocks into buildings, even werewolves won’t be safe.

I think for a moment.

“Very well. Send requests for reinforcements to Lüenheit, Tübahn, and Schaldir. I believe we can manage until help arrives.”

Aylia turns toward me.

“Do you have a plan?”
“Yes. I’ll sortie myself.”
“What?”

Aylia, Shatina, Big Sis Fern, and Monsa all widen their eyes at the same time.